Old Ways Tea

I think? this was a freebie provided a few orders ago.

Dry leaf in the bag has the strong floral aroma other Old Ways Tea’s hongcha — sunflower and orchid plus a nut butter and eggshell undertone. Once in my hand, I smell the same florals, malted barley, old wooden furniture and a tangy cranberry tone.

Warming the leaf brings, in addition to the florals, nut butter and cranberry, aromas of oatmeal cookie and artichoke. Hm. I don’t like that vegetal note.

The aroma is woody, vegetal and sour like canned artichoke hearts on wooden furniture.

The taste is very, hm, vegetal tangy, rather savory-leather. No sweetness is present for me. A mild alkalinity stays at the back of the back of the mouth and in the throat, where a strange bitterness also arises.

Despite drinking several more steeps, I ended my notes here. Can’t say I’m a fan of this one, even though Roswell Strange and Togo seemed to really enjoy it. I feel like the tea fell from it’s dry leaf aromatic grace once brewed. The strong artichoke vibe , or I can see olive as Togo mentions, was very strange. It’s like a disjointed amalgamation of an aging sheng, a first flush Darjeeling and a Wuyi red tea. Oh well. I’m glad other people are enjoying it!

Here’s another review of one of my summer sample sipdowns for everyone. I think I finished what I had of this tea in either June or July, but at this point, I can’t remember. It doesn’t really matter anyway. At the time, I was plowing through as many 2018 and 2019 Old Ways Tea samples as I could, and this was one of the ones that impressed me the least. It should be noted, however, that medium roast Shui Xian is not my favorite thing in the world. If I’m drinking Wuyi Shui Xian, I almost always favor light roast or heavy roast variants over the medium roast teas.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a standard 10 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was chased by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to rinsing, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cinnamon, baked bread, roasted almond, butter, and earth. After rinsing, aromas of roasted peanut, pine, smoke, and char emerged. The first infusion brought out black cherry, blackberry, blueberry, and elderberry aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cinnamon, char, smoke, cream, pine, black cherry, and blackberry that were balanced by hints of roasted almond, butter, earth, and baked bread. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of black raspberry, minerals, roasted barley, and toasted rice. Stronger and more immediately noteworthy impressions of earth, butter, roasted almond, and baked bread appeared in the mouth along with mineral, moss, elderberry, blueberry, rock sugar, black raspberry, orange zest, grass, roasted barley, and toasted rice notes. Very subtle hints of plum, nutmeg, and roasted peanut could also be detected at times. As the tea faded, the liquor began to emphasize notes of minerals, grass, baked bread, cream, butter, roasted almond, moss, and earth notes that were chased by hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, toasted rice, roasted barley, roasted peanut, blueberry, blackberry, and orange zest.

This was such a perplexing offering. Compared to many of the other 2018 and 2019 Shui Xian offerings from Old Ways Tea, this tea stood out in a couple of ways. First, it consistently emphasized its grainy qualities and its heavy minerality over more typical spicy, earthy, woody, and roasted notes. It also displayed an absolutely lovely fruitiness. That unexpected elderberry presence was truly wonderful. Unfortunately, there were many times in which the tea did not pull all of its components together harmoniously, and some of the tea’s most appealing, memorable qualities disappeared or were too greatly muted by the end of my drinking session. Overall, this tea was enjoyable, but it was also a mixed bag. I wanted to like it a little more than I did, and part of me feels like it could have been so much more than it was.

Okay, I’m back with some more reviews. I thought I was going to have time to post a couple yesterday afternoon, but I ended up driving to Flemingsburg for a job interview with the KY Department of Transportation. Truthfully, I did not want to go due to not feeling particularly well, but I decided not to turn down the opportunity. It was cool. I got to hang out at the Fleming County Public Library and see a pretty covered bridge and lots of attractive farmland. I also stopped in Morehead to wolf down ice cream and greasy food at Cook Out. I then drove home and immediately went to bed. Is it normal for a 35 year old man to go to bed at 7:23 pm on a Monday? Probably not, but it was enjoyable. I would do it again. Anyway, let’s move on and talk tea. This was another of my sample sipdowns from the summer. I had no clue what to expect prior to trying this tea, but it ended up being an excellent old tree Shui Xian.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a standard 10 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This initial infusion was chased by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to rinsing, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of char, blueberry, black cherry, baked bread, red grape, cinnamon, and black raspberry. After the rinse, aromas of orchid, smoke, plum, grass, and roasted almond emerged. The first infusion introduced an aroma of rock sugar and a much subtler roasted peanut scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of char, cinnamon, orchid, black raspberry, mushroom, toasted rice, blueberry, and roasted almond that were balanced by hints of baked bread, blackberry, plum, smoke, rock sugar, grass, caramel, wood, and red grape. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of orange zest, blackberry, toasted rice, roasted barley, and mushroom. Stronger and more immediately notable impressions of baked bread, wood, blackberry, plum, red grape, and rock sugar appeared in the mouth alongside mineral, orange zest, roasted barley, black cherry, and roasted peanut notes. Hints of earth, peach, moss, black currant, and pear could also be found here and there. As the tea faded, the liquor started emphasizing mineral, wood, roasted almond, blackberry, red grape, blueberry, toasted rice, baked bread, and roasted barley notes that were chased by delicate hints of earth, grass, moss, mushroom, orange zest, plum, black cherry, roasted peanut, caramel, and cinnamon.

This was an incredibly interesting and satisfying old tree Shui Xian with a ton to offer. I picked up some notes in this tea that I do not often find in Wuyi Shui Xian, but they worked. I also noted that this tea produced a liquor that had an incredibly lively presence and tremendous longevity on the nose and in the mouth. Everything about it just screamed quality. At this point, all I can really add is that I wholeheartedly recommend this tea. It may very well be among the best Shui Xian I have ever tried.

Okay, here is my final review for the day. This one comes from a little further back in my 2021 review notebook, but not from the first half of the year. I only had an 8g sample pouch of this tea, and I finished it back in either late July or early August. At the time, I was prioritizing some of the 2018 and 2019 teas that I needed to finish, so getting through the small amount of this tea that I had represented a quick sipdown. Prior to trying this tea, my experiences with Old Ways Tea’s Old Tree Shui Xian were largely great, and I had very high expectations for this offering. Though it did not live up to those lofty expectations, it was still a very satisfying, solid offering overall.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a standard 10 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This initial infusion was chased by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cinnamon, wood, blackberry, black raspberry, and black cherry. After the rinse, aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, and pomegranate emerged along with much subtler aromas of char and smoke. The first infusion introduced very faint scents of grass, chocolate, and orchid. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered up notes of roasted almond, orchid, cream, wood, roasted peanut, blueberry, and blackberry that were chased by hints of black raspberry, black cherry, pomegranate, butter, grass, chocolate, cinnamon, char, pear, and smoke. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of orange zest, roasted barley, cream, minerals, plum, blueberry, and red grape. Stronger and more immediately detectable notes of butter, black cherry, char, grass, pomegranate, and black raspberry appeared in the mouth alongside notes of minerals, earth, plum, orange zest, red grape, roasted barley, and popcorn. Hints of butterscotch and toasted rice could also be detected. As the tea settled and faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, earth, cream, wood, roasted almond, grass, roasted barley, and orange zest that were backed up by lingering hints of black cherry, blackberry, blueberry, red grape, popcorn, pomegranate, char, cinnamon, and butterscotch.

This tea produced a liquor that displayed a great deal of depth and complexity as well as good body and texture in the mouth, but I felt that some of its aroma and flavor components were slightly unbalanced. There were sips on which certain aromas and flavors seemed to pop out and dominate, and that produced a very up-and-down drinking experience. I was also hoping to get something new and unique out of this tea, since each of the previous offerings of this variety that I had tried from Old Ways Tea had differentiated themselves from one another in terms of what they had to offer. That wound up not really being the case with this tea. In terms of aroma and flavor, it reminded me of the 2018 Old Tree Shui Xian, but pricklier and more uneven. Still, this was far from a bad offering. As a matter of fact, I found it to be a more or less very good tea. I was just hoping for it to strike me as being a more or less excellent tea like its predecessors had, and it did not do that.

2021 harvest.

Powerful aroma that spans floral, woody, grassy, fruity and baking-spicy. First steeps were silky smooth swallowing juicy with tastes that spread across the tongue and coated. After that, it developed such a full, creamy oats mouthfeel that I found it distracting, creamiest I’ve had from Wuyi hongcha.

The florality is probably the second strongest characteristic. The tastes scream apple, tea rose, chamomile, orchid, yellow cedar. Vibrant golden flavors. Hints of barley malt, leather, dried fruits and apricots soaked in brandy and honey, rosewood, mineral, grass, lemon, lemon zest, cooked vegetables in no particular order of prominence. Camphor in chest, along chin and jawline.

Stronger and more complex aftertaste than the 2020 counterpart I had recently — apple, chamomile, apple flowers; then cinnamon, tea rose and rosewood. Another Old Ways Tea hongcha with great longevity.

The mouthfeel was a little too prominent for my liking, so if that’s something you seek in a floral-heavy red tea, I’d highly recommend this. On my preference scale, I give it a 88; on a snoot scale I’d go as high as 96.

Foggy morning <3

Dry leaf has the characteristic scent of Old Ways Tea’s hongcha – very floral orchid-sunflower, grassy, woody, malty. I can see the lichen impression they mention. It smells like being inside the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco, or within a misty mountain forest. Their hongcha is magical <3

Warming the leaf amplifies the aromas of the dry leaf and adds a deep richness akin to sunflower butter.

The brewed aroma, taste and aftertaste are very structured and seamless. The anchoring impression is a clear, fresh yellow cedar with nuances of almond, leather and malt. Mixed in is the tanginess of golden apple with lesser notes of lychee, honey, lemon and zest, orange zest. I attribute oats to the creamy impression. And of course, there is the orchid-sunflower grassy florality that lies atop all of this and spreads itself throughout. A hint of camphor. The bottom of the cup smell is very rich and sweet with golden syrup, almond, maybe something berry and tiny sparks of cinnamon and chocolate. The progression of taste sees the rise of the citrusy notes while still retaining the others with less intensity.

The tea is medium-bodied, smooth and swallows juicy with later steeps bringing out a coating mouthfeel and some tannins before going smooth again. The minerality is clean and induces salivation with the first steep.

This is a very durable tea. I usually brew Wuyi hongcha at 200F and get sometimes only 6 good infusions before it’s depleted. This one I started at 200F and later pushed it to water off the boil. I was able to get 14+ pours from this tea. Western brewing gives three good cups with the first 2 having a richer feel than brewing in a gaiwan.

Call me a fangirl.

Prepared western. Dry leaf smells like sandalwood in the bag; in my hand, like malted barley, brown toast, currants and cinnamon. The brewed aroma is full of orchid with honeyed and brandied stonefruit, and that moves toward orange-honey and orange zest with the second steep. The cup is tangy, slightly syrupy and bright with sweet potato, leather and orange tones. As the orchid returning aroma persists and grows after the swallow, so does a distinct dryness that I find troublesome. However, as the orchid fades in the coming minutes, a dry, perfectly ripe peach aftertaste develops – my gourd is that awesome!

I can see why this is the least expensive black tea offered by Old Ways Tea. While it has a face-filling aroma and drawn-out and developing aftertaste, there are some flaws. One being the disconnect between the aroma and aftertaste. Between those two lies the tea, and what’s there isn’t necessarily complex in taste or mouthfeel. Another issue being how dang drying it is. After the second cup I feel like I’m chewing on wood.

Okay, okay, so I haven’t brought this tea into the most positive light, but it is after all a budget Wuyi black. And because I’ve tried so many of Old Ways Tea’s more costly black teas, I’ve developed a snobbish baseline for Wuyi hongcha. In the case of their black teas, price does seem to correlate directly with quasi-objective quality. HOWEVER! This tea’s aroma and aftertaste have so much going for them with their strength and freshness that I believe this would be a good, affordable step into OWT’s catalog. This is worth getting a few bags to play around with temperature.

Okay, since I have been rained out for the remainder of the day (no outdoor work for me), I figured I may as well pop back on here and post a review or two. I had to go back and add this tea to the database, though I could have sworn that I had already added it at least once. I couldn’t find any information about this tea online, and I could only get close with the photo. All I know about it is that it was the light roasted version of Old Ways Tea’s 2019 Gao Cong Shui Xian. I can’t provide any other information about this tea. I only had an 8g sample pouch to work with, and I ended up trying it alongside some of Old Ways Tea’s other 2019 Shui Xian oolongs several months back. Of the bunch that I tried at the time, this one was the least satisfying of the lot, though it was not exactly a bad offering. In truth, Gao Cong Shui Xian is always rather hit or miss with me.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a standard 10 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cinnamon, roasted almond, wood, char, roasted barley, and black cherry. After the rinse, I detected aromas of roasted peanut, blueberry, blackberry, and orange zest that were underscored by a subtle orchid scent. The first infusion introduced something of a red grape aroma. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of wood, roasted almond, grass, char, cream, and butter that were balanced by hints of orchid, daylily, red grape, cinnamon, and blueberry. The bulk of the subsequent infusions introduced aromas of caramel, rock candy, cream, butter, baked bread, minerals, and toasted rice. Stronger and more immediately apparent notes of orchid, red grape, daylily and cinnamon appeared in the mouth alongside mineral, roasted peanut, blackberry, roasted barley, baked bread, orange zest, black cherry, and toasted rice impressions. I also detected subtler notes of pomegranate, plum, rock candy, lemon, caramel, straw, and earth. As the tea settled and faded, the liquor started emphasizing notes of minerals, roasted almond, grass, roasted barley, orange zest, and toasted rice that were chased by notes of caramel, red grape, blackberry, blueberry, baked bread, roasted peanut, lemon, black cherry, and surprisingly enough, popcorn.

This was a pleasant enough Gao Cong Shui Xian, but it did not exactly captivate me. It did not offer anything that struck me as being unique, and there were numerous times in which I found the tea liquor to be a bit flabby and the balance of the flavor components to be somewhat out of whack. It was far from a terrible tea, but so far, it has also been the least appealing of Old Ways Tea’s 2019 oolongs that I have tried.

A full-bodied yancha is always welcome. This one is quite herbaceous on top of being mineral. There is also a whiskey-like bitterness to it. In terms of aromas, I mostly got notes of caramel, wood before the rinse; orchids and milk afterwards. Thanks for the sample, Ros!

This is one of the samples Ros so generously sent me home with when we met up in Montreal recently. Thank you my friend, I very much appreciate them! In particular, I am really happy I can try some tea from Old Ways Tea, a company I’ve been meaning to try for a while.

This tea is really lovely, I had it with my family in the morning today. The roast is not too strong and well-balanced. The roasting also seems a little uneven. Some of the leaves have a significant greenish hue to them.

Specifically, I love its cooling mineral aftertaste with its neverending sweetness.

I drank this one a while back, but I didn’t have time to write a note then. It’s another one from my recent tea swap with Roswell Strange. I have generally enjoyed the samples from Old Ways Tea, but this one might be my favourite, even though I haven’t tried all of them yet.

Dry leaf aroma is perfumy with notes of nectarine, dry wood, hookah and brownies. Afterwards, the wet leaves smell of cranberry, wood, fenugreek seeds, leather and watermelon. It is truly a a grab bag of scent sensations.

The taste is sweet and it reminds me of plant roots, olives and za’atar. I also really liked the sticky, full bodied liquor with a well integrated astringency.

For being once-roasted, the dry and warmed leaf have a surprisingly dry, dark and rich aroma. I catch aromas of dark chocolate syrup, pomegranate, raspberry, osmanthus and cannabis in the dry leaf; caramel sauce, brown toast, woodiness, black raspberry preserves, blackberry, black grape skin and canned bamboo shoot in the warmed leaf.

The tea itself doesn’t retain much of those impressions. The first few steeps beyond the rinse are alkaline. A strong mineral backbone supports the brothy body. The fragrance is light and sweet, reminiscent of caramel with a touch of cocoa, flowery. In subsequent steeps, the brew becomes somewhat tangy while still presenting very mineral. If left to cool, it becomes a little sour.

The tea finishes with a quickly disappearing floral bitterness on the back of the tongue, and after the swallow, the sweet fragrance returns and rises high, sometimes smelling like perfume. Later steeps bring more of the roast character to the fore as the minerality fades. Notes of coffee, caramel, char and wood are most prominent.

The rinse drank the next morning is sweet, brothy and alkaline with a caramel-hazelnut-cocoa taste.

I’ve read some other reviews for purple da hong pao which is consistently offered by Yunnan Sourcing. I’d say my impression of this leaf falls fairly in line with others’, though I wouldn’t necessarily compare it to a dancong oolong as a few people have; it’s still very much a Wuyi oolong to me. If I’m going to have a da hong pao, I’d personally like a stronger roast and a mix of cultivars as opposed to one composed of only a purple leaf varietal.

Gongfu Sipdown (1429)!

Sipdown and lazy session with this “white Cockscomb” 2020 Bai Jiguanthis afternoon!! I think this is my first time trying this varietal, and it’s really interesting to me. It’s definitely a lighter leaning roast compared to my normal yancha preferences, but the oily soup is coating on the palate in a pleasing way to me. Early steeps have notes of perfectly toasted golden pecans, grilled corn, hazelnut oil, and gradually the tea picks up more of a fresh floral character amidst the session with some delicate undertones of white peaches. It’s pretty nuanced, and blowing my mind a little how it’s so different and so similar from the Wuyi oolong that I typically gravitate towards.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CRKD_EqBJK0/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrZzWpSLK1o&ab_channel=NineSparksRiots-Topic

Finally in the mood for yancha after the recent heatwave passed.

Bright (citrusy? stonefruity?) with mellow caramel-hazelnut-mineral taste. I found it difficult to balance some sourness, either from the roast or related to the citrusy taste. Rising floral on the swallow followed by a creeping, low-lying pithy bitterness. Dry aftertaste with guava and peach skin. Camphor sensation in chest.

Can’t say I’m fond of this one — it might be too green for me, disjointed, the bitterness is weird. It does have good longevity.

Gongfu Sipdown (1407)!

This sample is one that I somehow managed to miss finishing off from an older order, but it’s serving me well today! It’s nice and roasty with some really well defined notes of dark maple, tree sap, lucuma, and walnut!! Some of the midsession steeps had notes of cooked golden peaches as well, and a finish of plum skins! Really complex & beautiful – great inaugural session for this stunning gaiwan!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPYy83JBAr7/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3l3XH—XM&ab_channel=TheRubensTheRubensOfficialArtistChannel

Gongfu!

Dry leaf aroma of this smoked black tea is so enticing with its notes of pipe tobacco, syrupy golden raisins, and ash! Clouds are rolling in and it’s looking like it might rain; hopefully part of this session overlaps with some heavy rain so I can really capitalize on that super cozy feeling of a robust and cozy smoked tea during a storm – it’s the tea equivalent of sipping a Scotch under a giant flannel blanket in a log cabin the the middle of the woods!!

Steeped, it’s very similar to the dry aroma but vastly more fruity – brandied stonefruits, overripe red fruit, and the same raisin notes. Very, very syrupy in terms of mouthfeel as well – each sip was viscous and coating, leaving a lovely lingering smoke and overripe fruit note on the palate to enjoy between steeps. Sadly died off pretty quickly – five steeps total.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/COtVI3TAi86/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phGdPoBcxqs&ab_channel=JelaniAryeh

Wuyi yancha of the uncommon Que She (Sparrow Tongue) varietal. A first for me! This is a sweet, smooth and subtle rock oolong that Old Ways Tea calls ‘elusive’ and I have to agree. It’s different.

The dry leaf gives sweet and milky notes, caramel with darker notes of black currant and oak wood, a minty undertone. First impression from the warmed leaf is a very dark and strong mocha coffee with trails of caramel as I pull away. When I go back in for more, I notice dark brown toast and cardboard. Rinsing brings out the gentler characteristics of the tea: herbal, orange blossom, woodiness, wet vegetation, eucalyptus. I still notice coffee. It’s all so complex.

I gave it some intuitive brewing because that’s what it asked of me after the first short steep.

The flavor and aroma components are very active but the tea is overall very soothing. It’s at first a little alkaline I think from the roast, then opens up into a milky-woody-floral profile, a little caramel. It’s soft and somehow the deep and dark Wuyi minerality does not overplay. Balance. It travels in a minty cool stream down my throat and lingers there but not in my mouth.

With the next few cups, I notice the rich and sweet aroma that carries the same floral, milky character. The brew has more of a sunflower seed nuttiness to it. It’s interesting to breath the tea out of my nose – it seems to stick to every receptor and every hair. Aftertaste develops into a kind of incense, more sweet herbal than woody. My sinuses open completely. I notice cannabis. A few cups later and my throat is very warm, my body feels like a furnace yet my neck feels like ice in the sun. Hints of unripe apricot in the aftertaste.

I did many short steeps in the beginning and it was just this amazing tea. Once I started getting into late steepings, it became rather citrus-acidic and bitter. Drank the rinse this morning, cold. Despite sitting all night, it was fantastic, rich and sweet. No char or lingering roast notes at all.

It has this medium-oxidized/medium-roasted character but then it also seems like low-roasted. I would need several more sessions of this tea to figure out its nuances and understand its nature better. The subtleties of the tea don’t require your attention to appreciate it, though. It’s clearly a high quality tea.

Gongfu Sipdown (1372)!

The dry leaf aroma was so interesting to me; chocolate covered peanuts and a big hit of freshly mowed summer grass. Most of those notes also translate into the infusions as well, with greener top notes of the same hot summer grass and complimentary notes of dill and cannabis. The body is a bit more nutty and mineral, with notes of lightly roasted chicory root, salted peanuts, semi-sweet dark chocolate, and alfalfa grass all throughout the session. The first few steeps also had a starchy green banana note as well. This is a really interesting oolong tea and I half wish I had more than just this tea sample because it’s an interesting one to wrap my head around!

Need to try more Ban Tian Yao – this may have been my first one? It’s not a style of yancha that I’ve seen widely available and it was very cool!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CM7sRRZhQin/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMEFtbf-FFA&ab_channel=RainbowKittenSurprise

I have thought I have drank this tea earlier, but there was written 6 grams from derk, and when I weighted it, it was exactly 6 grams from year 2018. So, no previous session. Thank you! And as I saw others making 6 grams per 100 ml approximately, I decided use all the tea in one session as well. So, technically not a sipdown for me, but one tea down anyway.

The leaves doesn’t need any rinse, but I made one mostly to let the humidity absorb to the leaves a bit and it woke up wonderful osmanthus aroma, combined with roasty notes and something reminiscent of dark chocolate. Quite interesting in my opinion, but truly wonderful.

First steep I made, as usual , 10 seconds long. Holy… this is mineral. But then roasty notes tame it down, with kind of creamy aftertaste with again, the osmanthus (and other) flowers? I still have some flowers of osmanthus somewhere buried, and I recall it being similar as this aftertaste. It is as well very smooth and indeed enjoyable cup, and I am already looking forward to next steeps.

Second, I did 5 seconds increment, so 15 seconds. Based on the colour of brew it seems it will be a thick one, smell going off the cup seems thick as well. It is! But the roasty notes started to be stronger, and there is some backbone I couldn’t put my finger on. Kind of refreshing… and floral/vegetal but not in green oolong/green tea style. The thickness of this tea is nice and interesting saying that with the second session. I feel a bit “tea high” — I can’t much express myself what it is like, just I want to write and dream.

As third steep, I have decided to keep same steeping parameters.
This time it is again 50/50 with mineral notes. That backbone is weaker, but still there. It is a bit stronger with osmanthus flavours; again a thick, full-bodied flavour. Not drying at all, though it sometimes seems like.

Another steep with 5 seconds increment. So.. 20 seconds.
It becomes lighter, more floral and maybe hints of fruity notes? It was drystored, in airproof pouch… more experienced personnel needed! It reminds me pears a wee bit. Sometimes they are a bit too mineral, and this tea isn’t that mineral, but that combination with roasty notes. Well… I am just confused about this tea. Why it is that complex? It is same plant as many teas I drank and… still learning how it can be different. Quite sweet as well.

Certainly it slowly goes towards sweet side of flavour spectrum. So, enjoy more vegetal (but still mineral) notes with sweet florals and somehow more easydrinking cups.

6th steep, no signs of this tea going bland. Oh, maybe this one is bland. As I am noticing just very sweet liquor of this tea, maybe I need to push it a bit than 30 seconds steep. The leaves aren’t that fragrant as wel. Maybe it is indeed time to call it done? I have water for one or two more steeps. While the latter => 8th will be with less water. But so good tea! Certainly a cultivar I need more experience with. An exceptional oolong. That’s for sure.

Let’s push it. I won’t count the time, but I will steep it for long. I think… it is around 2-3 minutes. Yep, it is over. Very similar to previous one, with more roasty base. And moreover I spilled it on myself. Ahh! Just a bit; but it always annoys me.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Saturday, October 9th: National Chess Day Tea#3

additional notes: Then I wanted to have a white tea with “white” in the title.  And it’s a sipdown!  I can’t really expand on my last note.  It’s a good white!  Still tastes like white paper (in a good way) which is a weird note from me.
2021 sipdowns:  129

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Wednesday, February 17th: Random Acts of Kindness Day Tea #1
I drank these theme days yesterday, but I’m slow to post the notes today. Another good theme day.  I’d say tea swaps are “gifted teas” so I wanted to go for teas from swaps and definitely teas I haven’t written notes about yet.  This is one!  Kindly sent by derk!  Thank you!  derk and Martin love this tea.  I keep trying it different ways, but to me it tastes like a typical white tea.  It was in  a sealed sample pouch, so the freshness should be fine.  I like that Roswell’s recent note about a white tea mentioned paper and YES sometimes white tea tastes like paper to me in all the best ways.  It really reminds me of crisp fresh white paper (cardboard teas are something else entirely.)   This time I tried with a ton of these autumnal looking leaves but short steeps.  It’s such a gentle tea, I think you could do anything with it but sometimes short steeps have more flavor nuance.  The second steep was very sweet and proving it’s a great white.  Very clear and crisp.  Cold, the last gulp has something like tangy tamarind. This is a lovely white tea but not really something that stands out. Maybe I shouldn’t be steeping this western? So I’m not finding this as special as a 99 rating like derk and Martin, but it’s a very good white.
Steep #1  // 3  teaspoons for full mug // 30 minutes after boiling  // 30 second steep
Steep #2  // 28 minutes after boiling //  1 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min

Gongfu Sipdown (1328)!

This free sample from my last Old Ways order was the perfect thing to sipdown during a mini comic binge & reread!! I brewed this up super strong with a high leaf ratio for the gaiwan so steeps were kept quite short; even still my first couple infusions were pure dark, deep mineral roasty goodness!! Took a good few steeps before some other tasting notes, like oak and cocobolo, and a few more yet for a bouquet of gorgeous florals to break through the charred nuts, roast, mineral, and dark wood notes. Some herbaceous and buttery notes on the finish, and even some cheeky stewed plum. Very complex, robust and long lasting session – made it through several comics and spanned a few hours!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CK9cV7YAIiL/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMOHzqTE4gM&ab_channel=RuzzelRoiRimorin

Gongfu!

Sunday was one of those days where you blink and half of it has gone by already. I barely managed to sneak this session in while there was still light out!! Really lovely tea though, with one of the most intriguing and hard to place fruity notes I’ve tasted in a hong cha for a while!! Landed somewhere in the zone of horned melon, plantain, and slightly under ripe banana – all with this heady floral and sticky honey undertone!? So weird, but so tasty! Love the consistent but light astringency throughout, and the lingering starchy sweetness…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKcaq_OADMH/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0xs3AVEisE&ab_channel=LP

Gongfu!

First session of the new year! It was a damn good one to kick things off with, but not really intentionally picked for any reason other than I was craving yancha.

So mineral and toasty in early infusions: dark mahogany, charred peanuts, tobacco, leather, & pine smoke. Then those flavours break, and the taste is like jammy, cooked down plum paste. Finally, the finish is fresh flowers – cherry blossom – and sweet plum and white peach juices. Such an evolution, and fucking immaculate. This is why I keep coming back to Old Ways Tea – the yancha they source is just mind blowing!!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJgw7K0gggk/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zeQN5iwqWY&list=LL&index=4&ab_channel=IndieSoundsGood