Tea Urchin

Another sipdown.

I’ve already reviewed this tea, but decided to add a review because the tea is a bit of a chameleon and wanted to capture this session.

The first steep had sweet straw and tropical fruit (or apricot?) dominate the nose and the taste. Very pleasant. Good long finish. After a few sips I notice a darker element lurking underneath. Medium-light body; no bitterness. Good cha qi. 2nd steep: The taste is now more woody, with less fruit or sweetness and a moderate bitterness ppears, especially in the finish. The fruit and straw are still there; they just have to share the stage. I’m really starting to feel teh effects of the cha qi. 3rd steep has a strong new flavor I just can’t describe. I want to say vegetable, but it’s like no vegetable I’ve ever had. 4th steep: Really good, but i’m getting tea drunk.

Every steep of this tea was different from the last in some way, yet with recurring themes. Like a good symphony. very complex and interesting. I rated this an 89 before but am bumping my rating up a notch because I am really enjoying the tea. Wish I had more.

I’ve had this several times. First session it was fairly sweet and reminded me of pecan pie, but without the pecans. Quite similar to the TU description of brown sugar. Next session was a bit more astringent and woody, with some fruit and spice: also quite enjoyable.

Both sessions had a big rich flavor with tons of cha qi and a big, long finish.

From the Sheng Olympics.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about this tea, but after tasting it, I have to conclude that the buzz is mostly about the buzz. Sorry, I know this is steepster rather than punster but I couldn’t resist. The cha qi is amazing. I rate puerh according to taste and cha qi and this one got a 100 for cha qi. The taste, however, didn’t excite me.

The taste is mostly a mix of straw and leather, starting out mostly straw but ending with leather. In the middle steeps it began to be astringent, with a bit of ashes in the taste. By the 6th steep, the taste was dominated by the astringency, and 25 minutes after I finished, my mouth was still puckered. It was an interesting tea, but not one I would invest in, since I have a few other teas with comparable cha qi whose taste I enjoy more.

BTW: I liked the 2007 version much better, so it is possible this is just going through an awkward stage.

If you have this, go get 6g right now and try/retry it.

I drank this all day at work and it was amazing.
At first this was like a dancong which was interesting, but then those undertone floral notes vanished and the light sheng came through. Why should you try this though? Well, this tea kicked my ass. I fell out of my chair once at work today which was the first time ever as well. This tea is a strong relaxing tea. Drink and feel your eyes become heavy.

10 second brews. 90c. 6g.
Absolutely wonderful, but it is a different feel than the 2011 Bang Wei that had me GONE

Third tea of the 2016 Sheng Olympics.

I am working rather slowly through these teas, only pulling them out when I have enough time to spend with them. The second tea I tried was the 2007 version of this, but to be honest I was a little under-impressed with that tea. It was nice, but seemed to my tastebuds to be rather one-dimensional and like many other aged shengs I have tried. I didn’t end up writing a note for it simply because I really couldn’t come up with that much to say.

This one is another story altogether. It is sweet and fresh and earthy, and while it still has an aged flavor, that note doesn’t entirely dominate the tea. It is very well balanced and leaves me feeling refreshed on a deep level. This is one I would definitely buy, where as the 2007 I would not. This is an excellent tea.

2016 sheng olympics. After my run-in with this ones younger brother (qi overload sent me to sleep after the 4th/5th steep, it hit me so nicely) I was expecting this one to be as strong, for me it wasnt as hard hitting, but crept up over the day.

Deeper aroma, still stonefruit but with a slight cooling menthol. Again I feel warm. Also some slight wet pile or leaves & twigs in there. Sweet nose makes it more like apricot & raspberry jam aroma.

Steep three, lovely taste. its less fussy being older, can take a bit more time with the brew. Even a bit of butter or milk was wrapped up in a tingling dry nommy mouthfeel.

Later steeps I pushed it a lot, revealing honey aroma with some sour from the pushing, i dont like to say bread, but something like that. maybe its yeasty? idk.

What I love about these two are that the stimulant effect is balanced nicely with the sedative effect, my mind felt clear but fuzzy. Its a nice feeling.

even later steeps I kept leaving in the gaiwan for ages and a pleasant soft sourness prevailed.

Nice stuff

Got me very tea drunk, so much that by steep two my legs were warm and by steep four or five I actually fell asleep. At midday. So then I woke in a haze and drank more and the rest of the day was a bit of a blur. I was coherent but thinking back I cant really remember what I did apart from watch korean gangster movies. I certainly didnt take any notes.

Sweet lively apricotty younger brother.

It was never unpleasant, I know that! :)

gulp.

Second steep in my legs have gone very warm and my head feels wavy. Its going to be one of those teas isnt it.

Proper review later if I dont lose the damn thing

2016 Sheng Olympics

This tea is from yesterday. I didn’t know which one to choose so I closed my eyes and reached in the bag. Shared this one with Hubby who liked it enough. Neither of us are used to too much caffeine though so I didn’t go too many infusions.

The few infusions I had of this were great. It was smooth , silky, thick , & creamy. Not any fruity or apricot flavour I get from many shengs but I still really liked it. It was the thick creamy taste that I really enjoyed.

This tea had quite a kick to it and both Hubby and I only made it to infusion 5. I feel like a tea this good is just a waste for someone like me. I don’t get many infusions at all from my pu’erh’s and I don’t like leaving the leaves for the next day.

Here’s my pic from yesterday:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCBZmHINDGG/?taken-by=ubacat

A Sheng Olympics sample. :) 7g in the 4oz gaiwan, water 90-100C. Now I wish I had tried this one simultaneously with the 2011, to better compare. (This! This is why I need more gaiwans.) It has a similar flavour, a mix of sweet and bitter on a clean and mineral base. I don’t get much fruitiness or apricot, more of a dried hay sort of flavour. It does have a much more obvious aftertaste and sweet huigan than I remember the 2011 having, and maybe a slightly thicker mouthfeel. I don’t seem to be getting at all tea-drunk, unlike Andrew and his beenghole adventures, lol. :)

A Sheng Olympics sample. :) 7g sample in my 4oz gaiwan, steeping at 90-100C. I started drinking this yesterday… or was it 2 days ago? and now I’m taking it for a few more long steeps before I switch to something else. As I was drinking this earlier, I remember thinking that it would be hard to describe in a tasting note. It’s fairly smooth and clean-tasting, with that “old books” note that I associated with slightly-aged sheng. There’s a bit of pleasant bitterness, balanced against some sugar sweetness especially in the later steeps.

This was such a treat! This tea is the closest I’ve found to resemble the “legendary” 30 year aged Dong Ding that hooked me on aged oolongs. I knew that it was going to be perfect as soon as I opened the bag. I looked at these small brown curls and inhaled. I instantly spotted the quality aged oolong scent being raisin, plum, and sweet fruit. This heavy aroma is a syrup tang that lingers and fills the air. I got my trusty celadon gaiwan and warmed it up. I placed a fairly good amount inside and shook it up. I lifted the lid and let the heavy aroma fill my tea room. I was picking up tobacco, raisin, wet wood, and pungent over ripe cherries. This tea is highly aromatic and smells so very delicious. I sat for quite some time just sniffing the gaiwan. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves slowly unfurled and gave off an array of conflicting scents being: char, grape jelly, raspberry,and burnt sugar. The leaves kept jumping from sour to sweet. The taste was perfect. I was in love at first sip. The brew fills the mouth with a sweet juicy taste. The brew leaves the mouth with an intense ripe fruit aftertaste the stays at the back of the throat. I experienced an incredible amount of mouth action. The brew was filled with heavy concord grape flavors and a medley of berries. The sweetness that surrounded these flavors was stevia thick. The body of the brew was heavy and full with so many rounded flavors. The brew would fill your senses with an oily mouth,fruitful flavors, and a soft wooded base. I experienced no astringency and no bitterness. The tones flowed like silk through my senses. The qi began much later into the session. The sensation began at forehead and slowly warmed throughout the body. My mind began turning and slowly building up with an incredible lifted spirits feeling. This brew gives the iconic aged oolong tea drunk. I was slurring yet full of energy. I didn’t want this session to end, and I was able to pull a fairly good amount of steeping. I enjoyed this session a lot, and I am very happy to have tried it. I am saving some to drink with my friend that shared the 30 year aged Dong DIng with me. I highly recommend this brew as a fantastic aged oolong experience. This is what it should taste like, and this is some quality stuff.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBtccD_zGem/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBtdbPIzGQ5/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

2016 Sheng Olympics

Drinking this and I can’t even write a straight review for a tea I drank yesterday. This tea has me gone. What the feelz?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBtBenixYAh/
Seriously people, this tea has me….
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBtM_UnRYEi/

This tasting note only tells you that I’m having a great Friday night because of it. Wish I could coherently explain the tea, but my fingers are having a hard time finding the keys as my body sways in joy.

2016 Sheng Olympics

Story time: Instagram is one of my favorite places and I kind of enjoy looking at all the pictures, so it’s of no surprise that I have AllanK on my radar. This is someone, like many of us, who really enjoys tea. Now, here is where this is relevant, he buys tea by the car load and hires an Uber driver to deliver it once it arrives to the post office nearest to him. That’s the amount of tea that he has, now just imagine how much he has tasted and how critical he can be on tea. After about a year of observing his pictures, seeing the difference between the old and new phone, and reading what he has to say I can say this with no doubt: Allan has no bias towards any particular shop and is always on the hunt for good tea whether it is through Ebay or a well known vendor.

Now, let me first say that Allan does not hire an Uber driver to deliver tea and that it’s not a car load at a time. Humor just has to find its way in this because I’m sipping away at this 2011 Bang Wei when I shouldn’t be… there is other teas that I can drink that would be in a better order as I won’t be drinking the 07’ for some time. I’m drinking this because of the review I read, some trust is put in my tea friend as he made remarks of it being good and those thoughts ate at me…

Upon brewing this, the aroma hit me like: you sir will be my date tonight. Sure enough, 16 steeps into this tea and I’ll probably hit 20+ no problem. I will agree with everything Allan said about this tea and I am quite glad that I added it to the 2016 Sheng Olympics. Pretty excited to try the 2007 as well, hoping that it has the clarity and sweetness that this tea has when it comes to having a pure taste that doesn’t deviate from the earlier steeps.

This and the 07’ version will be compared to the CLT in regards to what to purchase as I suspect they will all be similar because the You Le (YS) is more of the medium level sheng for my taste buds so it fits in a different category.

2016 Sheng Olympics Group Buy. This is a nice tea. It is very smooth with little bitterness. While its got some sweet notes it does not have the apricoty sweetness of the 2011 Bang Wei Spring. It has aged into something quite pleasant though. There is no hint of wet storage in this tea yet it has aged somewhat. It has a nice dark colored tea soup. It has not yet developed any unpleasant aged flavors. It is quite good.

I steeped this twelve times in a 100ml gaiwan with 7g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 mini, 1.5 min, and 2 min.

I got a little sample of this from mrmopar through a swap (thanks!). I decided to go into this tea blind without looking the tea up first.

My initial impression after hitting the tea with boiling water was “burly” and “tobacco”. Interestingly that went away pretty much immediately and was replaced by gentler scents of mild pine-like woodsy character, musk, and a thick sweet pungency. The rinse smelled woody. After cooling off the wet leaves smelled wonderful with that sweet pungency.

I’ve brewed seven steeps so far (10s, 10s, 15s, 15s, 15s, 15s, 20s). This tea is quite relaxing and somewhat “stoney.” The fragrance of the brew and leaves were sweetly pungent and woodsy. A more noticeable aged character slipped in around the 3rd brew. The mouthfeel was pretty nice, slightly thick for the first and second brews, and slipping to a mild drying after the third. The beautiful greenish-brown leaves were fully hydrated and open by the 7th steep. All steeps were a nice orange color.

I quite enjoyed my experience with this tea, and was thrilled to see that it is also affordable.

2016 Sheng Olympics sheng sampler from Liquid Proust. This is without doubt one of the best shengs I have ever drank. It had very little bitterness and a sweet taste from the start. I would have to use the word apricot to describe the sweetness, apricots and stonefruits definitely. I gave this ten steeps and may go back to two more if I reheat my Anta Pottery Clay Boiler again. I don’t know how much this one cost and I’ve never ordered from Tea Urchin but I definitely want one. I think I want to buy one and store it it my pumidor for the long term. However, since I also want to go in on the group order from Yanqqinghao with Emmet I may have to wait on this.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 100ml gaiwan with 6.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min. The tea was not played out at ten steeps, I’m sure I could get a few more from it and may go back to it after I finish this review.

What a pleasant surprise to start my Friday! Eugene included this free sample in my latest order and I’m grateful. It has the perfect amount of herbal/medicinal/minty flavor that I love in semi-aged shengs, no bitterness, a hint of smoke and sweet vegetable component to boot.

It generates a nice tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue and solid qi (even if it does drop off somewhat quickly).

I feel I could drink this regularly and remained intrigued.

Another from the 2015 aged Oolong group buy.

I thought this tea was nice – much preferred it to the other, more roasted examples.

There was a pleasant meshing of flavour & aroma which made it really hard for me to pinpoint what they were (I have a pretty hard time with this anyway, with any tea) but I got dried bark, woods, nuts, some perfume, some fruit – plum I think. The roast was subtle (never re-roasted) which I liked.

What most stood out was the very soft & velvety nature of the feels in the mouth, as the flavours were quite more subtle than what I’m used to in an Oolong, and it wasnt oily or buttery, it was airy but not smokey. – Apparently I got a more creamy nose when I drank it last time. Ive got a cold and been stuffing sudafed up my nose and its affected it.

Thanks LiquidProust for organising and everyone at steepster for being awesome & making it happen by joining in!

Crème brûlée on wheels (leaves)

Starting from the tea leaves aroma, either when dry or after a flash rinse, of orchids or even wild flowers to the smoothness, burnt sugar caramel like taste and medium to high density of its liquor there is no end to positive adjectives I could add to describe this beautiful looking tea. One of the best young YiWu raw pu’er teas I have sipped.

kieblera5 sent me a generous sample of this some time ago. Thank you very much!

Had a gongfu session with a ceramic gaiwan. 10 second rinse. Steeping times: 20 seconds, 15, 15, 20, 40; 1 minute, 2, 5, 10.

The dry leaf aroma smells of chocolate and earth. The chocolate is strengthened in the rinse and wet leaf aromas.

The first infusion is very light – light in color (orange) and light in flavor (mushrooms). This shou gets going right after this, though. Both the color and flavors strengthen. Lovely shade of dark red in the pitcher, when held against sunlight. My session was split in about half, not counting the first cup. I had to take a four hour-long break. There is a difference in taste and texture. Infusions 2-5 are deliciously creamy, sweet, and cocoa-filled. I didn’t give much to my tea pet, Georgie. Sorry not sorry, buddy. The cocoa is still there in 6-8, but it is more bittersweet than sweet. And the texture is not quite as smooth but still thick.

Overall, a clean and light shou. Not heavy like other chocolately shous I’ve had perviously. Don’t underleaf, like I did in the first session (this review is based off of my session), otherwise it’s far too light. Very glad to have tried this! The price for a cake on Tea Urchin’s website is more than reasonable.

Awesome, I’m the first to review!

This tea is fantastic! This is everything I’m looking for in an aged oolong. The dry nuggets are still relatively green with some brown and yellow. I open up my jar, and I take in the nice fig and apricot tone. I was picking up some light wood in the background. I placed these in my warmed gaiwan and shook them up. The warmed leaf gave off a delicious honey covered figs aroma. I was picking up some sweet apricot and oats in the background. This tea is very fruity and syrupy. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves deepen to a sharper scent of smoked fruit and plums. The taste was phenomenal! This brew is the ideal golden liquor that has a powerful mouthfeel. My taste buds were struck with a potent wildflower honey and ripe apricot flavor. The flavor ends with an intense aftertaste. The brew carries a graham cracker sweetness in the background. The tea grows a little more roasted and bitter in later steeping sessions. The huigan continues throughout the entire session. This sensation is thick, syrupy, and a mouthwatering honey sweetness. The brew has a prescient bitterness that shows up in the later steeping. This bitterness clears the palette for a nice sweet aftertaste to follow.The final steeping reverts back to winter honey and slight grassy tones. This drink lasted me for some time, and the leaves are fairly durable. The qi is a exhilarating head buzzing and heart warming. The sweet taste lasts long after the session, and I expect to have this aftertaste all the way through today. I will definitely be picking more of this up, and I’m so happy to have found an adequate aged oolong.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-o2qGuTGRX/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Edit: Just found out this is sold out… facepalm