Ming Ming Tea

Bought this in a small paper bag from my local shop (Ming Ming Tea, who generally has pretty good tea) about a year ago. I drank it once, thought “eww” and put it into storage until now. Here goes it’s second chance.

Brews a nice deep burgundy color. Tastes of cardboard, mineral water, and rich soil. Not bad per say, just nothing enjoyable enough to make me want to keep drinking it. I choked down two infusions and then tossed the leaves.

It’s better than I remember, but still not good.

200th tasting note! Being as I rarely make more than one note on a tea, and theres many I haven’t reviewed yet, that means I’ve tasted over 200 teas!

I went to Ming Ming about a month ago, hoping to pick up some Da Hong Pao or other Wuyi oolong, but they were out. What they did have however was a very fresh smelling Dragonwell from last year’s winter harvest. I had never heard of winter Dragonwell, but I was convinced by the freshness that it couldn’t have been from last autumn or spring.

It’s a very mellow green, much more to my liking than most of the other Dragonwells that I’ve tried. I’ve found it brews well with a little over four grams in my 120mL gaiwan. The strongest note is green bean, with background notes of chestnut, butter, and grass, and a touch of something marine.

It may not be the greatest to someone better versed in Dragonwell than I am, but I like milder greens and this one hits the spot.

Digging through my tea stash and finding things that I forgot I had!

This is the 2015 version of this, it’s a little bit different than the one I’d had before, but still delicious. Super chocolaty, I think the most chocolaty I’ve had other than Verdant’s Laoshan Black. I remember the last harvest being more like milk chocolate; this one is more dark chocolaty. Nice honey sweetness, wheaty malt, and just a touch of a floral note. It reminds me of a pastry that they used to have at Panera Bread, a dark chocolate and honey croissant. It’s really tasty and I’m glad I found this.

Ming Ming has expanded and opened up a sushi shop, which, while an odd combination with Chinese tea shop, seems to be bringing in quite a bit of business. The sushi is fairly good and very decently priced. I really hope that they don’t stop selling tea, but I doubt that would happen as the husband/owner is a big tea aficionado.

I’m sad to be finishing off the last of this tea, it was really good!

Flavor profile is similar to Yunnan golden bud teas, but distinctly different. Honey, milk chocolate, wheat, mildly floral, and has a unique fresh cherry taste and creamy mouthfeel. Lots of natural sweetness, perhaps the most I’ve had in a black tea.

I keep on meaning to get on here an log some tea, this one which I enjoyed on Sunday, has stood out the most in the last couple weeks. Sunday was beautiful, sunny and in the 60’s, it felt very much like spring and we took Rowan to a playground and out for ice cream.

But before that, I threw open all the windows and brewed this tea and it was perfect! Bright and fresh and sweet with notes of cherries! I didn’t take notes but I thoroughly enjoyed it over several infusions. Thank you tperez for sharing a sample with me, I have another serving left that I shall be sure to savor.

I’m not dead! But it has been forever since I’ve posted a tasting note, first due finals, then to my computer charger burning out, and then just spending time with friends and family back home.

This is a really tasty and interesting tea! The dry leaves are very green for Chinese tea, and there’s quite a lot of stems mixed in. When dry, the leaves look like they’re shredded or torn up, but once wet the reveal the smallest, tenderest tea leaves I’ve seen with a translucent, emerald green color.

The flavors are interesting, too. Notes of brown rice, grass, honey, and a sweet ginseng aftertaste. Blindfolded I’d guess I was drinking ginseng flavored kukicha. Fairly resteapable, but not extremely so. The brewed leaves are super tender and make for good munching.

Overall pretty nice, and completely different from what I’d expect in a Chinese green.

Yay, no more cold/flu/whatever I had! On another note, my parents officially think I’ve gone crazy with my tea drinking habit. :P This is the first time that I’ve been home for more than a few days since my tea obsession started.

Ming Ming’s: I got this tea from a (semi) local shop about 45 minutes from my parents house, which I’d been meaning to visit but never had gone through with. The stars had aligned, as I needed to pick up my final paycheck and turn in my uniform from a seasonal UPS job (the UPS headquarters was about 30 minutes in the right direction) and I had dropped and broken my gaiwan (and I saw online that Ming Ming’s sells some) a few days before. For more info, check out my place review, but to keep it short it was a great experience and I was impressed by their teas.

Dry Leaves: The dry leaves have a strong aroma of apricots and fresh hay with a stimulating, menthol-like quality. Most are either single leaf or one bud and a leaf sets. The leaves look pretty fresh despite being harvested last spring

Brewing: After a quick wash the leaves give off a dense, marine smell with vegetal qualities. Asparagus maybe? The tea brews a mellow green-yellow color that reminds me of a light Taiwanese oolong.

1st steep: The first steep has a smooth nectarine flavor with touches of asparagus, white grape, and allspice. A thick, heavy feeling rests on the back of my throat and tonsils.

2nd + 3rd steeps: The flavors of the second steep are rounder and the fruit and spice notes are balanced out by salty-savory ones.

4th steep: This steep brings the tingling, spicy notes to the front. The main player here is allspice, but there are also hints of clove and white peppercorn.

5th steep: The fifth steep brings back the white/green grape (whichever you call it) flavor. The sweet flavors definitely topple the savory here, but its a battle that continually tips back and forth.

Later: The flavors continues to ebb and flow in the later steepings (I got about nine) A delicate dance of peach, ocean, and spice. This tea definitely gives me an energizing cha-qi type feeling. I’ve got to say this is one of my favorite green teas that I’ve had, though I often don’t even like dragonwell.

This is a nice, clean tasting dragonwell from a small teashop near my hometown. Mild, marine flavor with notes of peach, allspice, and white grape. It has a strong throat feel and noticeably high caffeine.

More in depth review on its way when I get over this cold :(

This tea is no where near as strong as I was expecting for a black tea (forgot to put that little bit in the name here…). The tea has a very light floral note on the first brew and doesn’t seem to get much stronger as the tea steeped in the rest of the water. The second pot tastes a little bit stronger (and was steeped for a minute or so more), but still tastes more like an oolong than a proper black tea. This tea is very nice for sipping on, but I don’t think my other oolongs will have to worry about being replaced any time soon by their pu-eh brother.

This tea has an amazing floral scent and taste to it. If you’re not familiar with pu-erh teas, these are fermented, condensed tea “cakes”. You put one in your tea pot, add water, and then serve. One tea cake has made about 4 pots of tea before it got a bit of a bitter taste to it. Steep it for about 1 minute and use a ceramic tea pot.