TheTea

[Spring 2019 harvest]

This one has a classic MLX aroma at first – sweet, perfumy with a hint of cake scent. Once wet, the leaves smell like drinking hot apple and smoking shisha next to a clean fireplace in a wooden cabin.

The liquor has a slick, colloidal and not too thick texture with mild bubbliness. It is numbing and I find it actually very easy to drink, especially before some mild astringency arrives around steep #4.

The taste is also super smooth. It is more savoury and mineral than the average MLX and reminds me of hot apple cider at times. There are also flavours of apricots, ghee, wet rocks, molasses and caramelized carrots. In the warming aftertaste, I also get a hint of wild honey.

My first aged oolong. 5g in a 90ml Hongni.
Dry leaves: interesting nuts/acidic/chocolate/peanuts skins.
Wet leaves: roasted peanuts, something nutty and chocolate/fruity/floral deep and difficult to pinpoint. Yeast, “sparkling fermentation”.

1.
Light and fruity/floral, with an old furniture feeling similar to some aged Heicha brick. Juicy and thin mouthfeel, extremely smooth, faint aftertaste. Warming.

2.
a more solid character, but still very light and smooth even with a 30sec steeping time with less water. Feels really elegant with a mulled wine spiciness. Cloves. However I need more protein, so I’ll make a 75 sec steep for the 3rd one. The leaves look delicate and I feel like they may overcook. But I need a stronger brew.

3.
Now we’re talking. Richer and satisfying liquor, with a spicy cinnamon/clove/mulled wine quality and a base of orchid/old furniture. Very light and elegant tannins, zero bitterness. Qi is mellowing. The leaves preserve a stimulating fruity sourness.

4. – two minutes.
Similar to 3, but less body and a sense that is already dying a bit. At this point is very similar to an heicha brick I tried from Yunnan Sourcing. I’m going to do a 6 minutes infusion. Maybe I should have used the whole 10g sample in my 90ml teapot, because even if the tea is delicious I’m craving more intensity.

5.
With the 6 minutes brew the tea is kicking back, now with a slight beginning of bitterness and a mildly drying astringency. The spices are the main characters now, lingering nicely on the roof of the mouth. I feel slighly sedated, the Qi is probably the strongest I had from an Oolong.

6. – 12 min.
Much thinner with a faint sweetness and spiciness.

7. 30 min.
Light with more floral aftertaste.

Final thoughts:
This tea was at the same time surprising and familiar. I enjoyed it but I don’t think it offers enough (for me) to justify the price. I also want to improve my brewing skills.

Very interesting tea. I could relate it to maybe Taiwanese oolongs but it is really mellow, caramelly and refreshing at the same time. Amazing find from crafty supplier whose descriptions are void off cliches.

https://aftermath.social/invite/BsyqETJD

I got this one as a free sample, I am not sure if it was ever on offer on the website. Unfortunately, this tea takes a while to get going and once it does, it really doesn’t last very long. It has an interesting umami character peeking through the underlying earthiness. Its aroma has notes of nuts, miso, and a hint of peat. The taste is earthy, nutty, and spicy with notes of yeast, tobacco. There is a significant throat warming sensation and the tea’s energy then spreads throughout the body to complement the expanding sweet and cooling aftertaste that includes notes of star anise and licorice.

This is one of few greener teas that TheTea sells, so I was a bit wary of the fact that green oolongs are not their specialty. However, any worries proved unjustified, this is a lovely aromatic, sweet, and floral tea with really good longevity. The qi seems mostly caffeine driven and a little rushy for my liking. It is a good tea to get energized though, which is not the case with most oolongs for me.

Dry leaves smell milky and flowery with additional notes of cookies and sauerkraut. The wet leaf aroma is really pungent and hard to specify. It reminds me of rainforest, cut grass and stewed greens for example. In the empty cup, I can also smell passion fruits, jasmine and shea butter.

The tea is easy to drink with its lighter body and fleeting mouthfeel. However, there is a good astringency too and a strong floral sourness that make it quite engaging. The taste is predominately a mix of sweet and sour flavours. There are notes of spinach, milk, spices, lemongrass, and fermented vegetables.

[Spring 2021 harvest]

This tea is sweeter and has fewer bourbon notes than one of my favourite black teas – the Yunnan Sourcing’s Feng Qing Yesheng Hong Cha. I have a sense this one has slightly higher oxidation level, but otherwise they are actually quite similar. The YS offering is cheaper, but when taxes and shipping to EU are accounted for, the difference is not as drastic.

The aftertaste is amazing here – it is very throat-biting and engaging. The flavours of resin, citrus zest, passion fruit and others linger and evolve for a while. There is also that bitterness characteristic for this varietal.

The mouthfeel is pleasant, but a little boring – there isn’t anything bad about it, it’s just not the selling point. 

[Spring 2020 harvest]

This is a fairly unique yancha, even though I find it a bit hard to phrase in what way. On the nose I get notes of banana bread, citrus fruits and strawberry on top of the more standard woody and cherry aromas.

Similar associations come from taste too. It is quite sour like citrus zest, a bit earthy, biting, and with a decent woody bitterness. The strawberry note is recurring. Minerality is strong, and I can also taste some flavours reminiscent of forest. Sometimes it feels like chewing on plant roots, which gives a funny contrast to all the fruitiness.

This is a comforting and balanced tea with hints of greatness. It lasts for a good 12 infusions at 5g in a 100ml gaiwan. Despite being almost 3 years old now, it feels very fresh and zesty.

The aroma is sweet, nutty and comforting with a distinctive cooling floral character, a bit like lilacs. The taste is somehow fresh with being vegetal at all. It has a mild floral sweetness and peatiness. There are also notes of grapevine, citrus, plant roots and limestone. I also like the silky texture and heady qi. The aftertaste is warming and protracted with notes of butter, spices, saffron and nectar.

My secong gong fu session after moving to Innsbruck is with this lovely black tea. It’s has a comforting, woody profile with underlying tartness. The aftertaste is long-lasting, cooling and expanding with a molasses sweetness and floral notes. The mouthfeel is soft, almost feathery, as well as active and somewhat thick.

In terms of aromas, there are notes of cookies, plum and apricot jams, and wood before the session and of flowers, moss, and cake throughout.

I have tried to sample a number of aged oolongs recently to expand my horizons. Usually, I find that they don’t offer a sufficient quality/price ratio as compared to most other tea categories. This is the first one that I reordered after trying, which may tell you a bit about my feelings towards it :)

The dry leaf aroma is spicy and nutty with hints of grass and fenugreek seeds, as well as stonefruit pits. When smelling wet leaves, I can imagine biting into an apricot at a grassy meadow after summer rain.

The taste is warming, smooth, and floral. First infusion reminds me of shellfish, summer honey, roasted lemons and popcorn. The second one has even stronger lemon peel flavour. Later I could also taste nettle. The mouthfeel is syrupy and quite thick.

One of the highlights is the pungent and protracted aftertaste with complex florals and nectar flavour. There is also a very interesting mouthfeel after swallowing. It is tempting to describe it as numbing and on the drier side, but in fact it is neither. I feel almost as if my mouth was completely overwhelmed by the sweet florals and therefore sending contradictory signals to the brain.

To top the experince, I have to say that the cha qi is top notch too. It is very grounding and quite chest focused.

This is a subtle and comforting tea that lasts for a while. Its most remarkable is the refreshing and peaceful cha qi. If I were to summarize the full experience of the tea in one word, I would liken it to sunshine.

Taste is a mix of nut oils, flowers, spices and roasted apples, none of which is particularly strong. The aftertaste, on the other hand, is herbaceous and sweet with a custard note.

This is a relatively sweet liu bao with a thick, creamy, and coating texture. The liquor is clear and of a beautiful burgundy colour.

Dry leaf aroma has notes of wood, cherries and milk. After rinse I get a wild mixture of mushrooms, baked bread, caves and wet rocks, roasted walnuts, sumac, and a hint of leather.

The taste is mineral, nutty and earthy with a sweet bite to it. There are flavours of coriander seeds, molasses, butter on top of the earthy bittersweet ones.

I’ve been very impressed with the two pu-erh teas I’ve tried from TheTea and by now I bought both as cakes. This one is a very pleasant tea with substantial bitterness and mild astringency left. It could totally be aged further, but it’s also great to drink now. I love how complex and pungent it is, while also having undergone some fermentation. At times, especially when smelling the gaiwan, it reminds me of YQH teas, but this one is better than any of those, even the ones that cost two or three times as much.

I’ve had two sessions with this tea by now and I think I liked it more slightly underleafed (1g/20ml rather than 1g/13ml), given how strong of a tea it is. In some sense with my normal ratio, I wasn’t able to pour the water out fast enough to keep the brews sufficiently short. The less aggressive brewing yielded more complexity, while the aftertaste was just as long and interesting. Also, the mouthfeel was super soft and less powdery.

Dry leaf aroma reminds me of cloves in a library. The smell of the leaves during the session is quite strong and pleasant for an aged tea like this. There are notes of clean fireplace, rainforest, milk, star anise, brioche, chenpi, and cannabis.

The taste is immediately bitter and crisp, but also sweet and woody. There is a floral bite as well as hints of quinine, camphor, walnut shells. The finish gives me cloves and milk associations. The aftertaste is pungent and long-lasting, with a nutty, sweet, and floral character. It induces quite a lot of salivation too.

The cha qi can be felt fast, but it is by no means overwhelming. I found it to be quite warming and focused in the head and spine.

Infusions 3 and 4 are spicy and sour with more pronounced woody notes along with new flavours of butter, cumin, and dried apples. There is a commendable huigan within the very aromatic aftertaste with various notes of forest.

From the remaining steeps, I would highlight flavours of root vegetables (beetroot and celery) emerging in the second half of the session. In any case, the tea remains interesting for a while and is a joy to spend time with.

Very pleasant tea with sweet aromas of baked fruits, nectar, flowers and wood. The taste is sweet and floral, but also refreshing. There is a woody bitterness and a light metallic character. Later infusions are mineral, almost marine, with a cooling finish. The mouthfeel is buttery and the aftertaste has a very long-lasting sweetness. All in all, a great tea to enjoy casually.

[Spring 2020 harvest]

I love the relaxing energy and refined aromatics of this tea. At first it smells as a mix of coffee, peat, fireplace, and guava. Then, during the session, we get pretty unique aroma that blends notes of milk, parsley root, paper, bread, and sweet cherries.

Initially, the taste is nutty and tart with fruity undertones and an aromatic incense in the finish. It is well-balanced and the yanyun is very smooth. I also found the mouthfeel to be very satisfying. The liquor is plump, foamy and light (in terms of its weight not body).

Later steeps have a touch of woody bitterness, mossy flavour, and a nicely cooling, mineral finish. It transforms into a buttery aftertaste with dominant notes of wood and cherries.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVGMJPQNZ34

I haven’t had many Liu An teas thus far. This one is the oldest and it may be the most interesting among them too. Besides being almost 20 years old, its aged character is influenced by the somewhat hot & humid Taiwanese environment it has been stored in. I would say the storage on this one is just right. It is really a well-balanced tea.

Dry leaves smell of dry earth, ant mounds, nuts, hazelnuts and, most prominently, poppy seeds. After the rinse, I can detect aromas of autumn leaf pile, fireplace/ash, limestone, and mushrooms.

First infusion is sweet and smooth with a woody bitterness and a lot of nutty notes. Second one is very mineral and has a very pronounced beetroot flavour. Later I also noted a flavour of fried/browned butter. The aftertaste is mostly marine and savoury. However, there is also a rock sugar (or sugar beet) sweetness. Additionally, I get a lasting menthol-like cooling sensation after drinking.

The tea is medium bodied with a creamy texture and somewhat numbing mouthfeel. I find it quite mouth-watering at first then drying after swallowing.

If you like beetroots and nutty, mineral profiles, this is one for you. Unfortunately, it is not available on TheTea.pl anymore.

Here is yet another example of a fascinating Taiwanese black tea. Apart from substantial complexity, its main selling point is the very thick and creamy texture.

The tea is very aromatic with notes of muscovado sugar, cookies, forest floor, and spruce noticeable right away. In the preheated gaiwan, these are complemented by caramel, soy sauce and beef broth; while the wet leaves smell of eucalyptus, milk, egg shells, and moss.

While the tea is flavourful, it is not necessarily my favourite taste profile. It is super smooth, mineral and quite woody. There is a burned meat bitterness and not that much sweetness. Specific flavours include coffee, brown sugar, candle, egg yolk, cranberries, and porter ale.

The tea has a dry finish with no astringency and an interesting residual mouthfeel. The aftertaste is a bit more sweet and flowery, with a hint of cardamom to it.

Last one of the aged dong ding series. Here, I like the aroma more than the taste. It is a comforting tea with an interesting finish and aftertaste. Its mouthfeel is mineral and a little numbing, but not that remarkable in the end.

The smell of dry leaves in a preheated gaiwan is just so deep and dark. I love it! Main notes are those of prunes, soil and gingerbread. Wet leaves have an even more beatiful aroma overall. There are hints of white grapes, roots, brownies, decaying wood, cranberries, and cannabis.

The taste is very woody with flavours of hazelnuts, roasted garlic as well as some of the spicier ripened cheeses. It can actually get reasonably bitter and the finish is a little sour too. It transitions into a biting and warming aftertaste with a fireplace character and a lasting spiciness in the throat.

Another aged dong ding, I don’t like it quite as much as the “Silver Medal” one. The overall impression I get from them is not that different at all, but this one here doesn’t stand quite out as much I think. The qi is warming and a somewhat defocusing, and maybe not as comforting. The tea also doesn’t last very long and its light and bubbly mouthfeel is ultimately not that engaging.

It smells of incense and apricot jam initially. After the rinse, I get a lovely and deep aromas of stonefruits, cake, baked tomatoes, peat, and spices (black pepper, cardamom).

The taste is sweet and woody with notes of leather, yeast as well as various spices, nuts and a sort of nigella seed bitterness. The aftertaste is very cooling and foresty with hints of dried limes (limoo amani) and almonds.

Just like Tea_Ass, I haven’t had much exposure to aged oolong, a category that is notoriously tricky to get in the West. That is why I was happily surprised to see TheTea carrying quite a few. As one would expect with a scarce product, the price/drinking value ratio is higher than usual among these. The educational value, however, is quite high for me.

The qi is very warming, and can be felt throughout chest and arms. I didn’t find it to be particularly sedating, rather it is generally just a pleasant tea to drink.

The dry leaf aroma is hard to describe other than just an “aged aroma”. There are, however, some hints of old wood, peat, and cherries. Also the smell of wet leaves is unique and cozy. It reminds me of candle, berry jam, matured cheese, glacier, petrichor aromas.

The taste feels a bit muted at times, even when brewed stronger. Its character interpolates sweet fruity notes with woody/nutty ones. Once again, I detect fruit jam in the liquor, but also tree sap, Chanterelle mushrooms and walnuts. Some steeps are a little sour, but not too much. In the finish there are some umami notes, such as butter and chicken meat. The aftertaste is actually quite pungent, but without any overwhelming flavours.

I found the mouthfeel to be a little dry, warm and bubbly. It is better when the tea cools down a bit in my opinion. There is some astringency, which doesn’t detract much from the smoothness of the liquor. I also get a lasting metallic sensation in the mouth.

On the one hand, I love the aromas and the well-balanced taste profile of this hong shui, while on the other hand I also think the roasting is too strong for my liking and I am not a big fan of the mouthfeel. I would still choose to drink this tea semi-regularly if I had more of it. It fills the niche of bug-bitten tea very well without being fussy like some oriental beauty can be.

Dry leaf aroma is a beautiful mix of waffles, honeydew melon, longan, and ladyfingers. When wet, I am transported to an autumn meadow, churning butter with hibiscus and hops around.

The liquor is light-bodied and numbing with a foamy and chalky mouthfeel. It is imbued with a woody bitterness and fruity sweetness. There are also notes of ash, butter cookies, miso and nectarine skins. One is then left with a long-lasting floral sweetness mixed with the tartness of ripe fruits and a cooling, astringent bite.

I have had this cake for three years now, but only opened it now for the first time. Based on the sample though, I was expecting an enjoyable session and that is indeed what I got.

The tea is very flavourful and cooling. Its aromas remind me of wild garlic, coriander, and dried flowers. In the taste the floral notes (e.g. orchid) are very present, but we also have an sweetness (apple), bitterness (coffee, chicory), sour fruitiness (guava, carambola), as well as strong minerality and nutty notes. The aftertaste is particularly pungent and bittersweet. It presents a biting and spicy physicality that’s very cool.

There isn’t much more to ask from a tea than what this one offers. The bitterness is low, but the other flavours are so pungent and there is so much breadth that this is a non-issue. Maybe one could say that the cha qi isn’t nearly as obvious as with some other gu shu productions. However, I am quite fond of its subtle nature. I suspect the taste profile blending savoury, sweet and sour aspects isn’t going to be for everyone. Personally, I love it though.

Immediately, one is greeted by a deep dry leaf aroma which has some unusual notes like instant hot cocoa or caramel. Wet leaf smell is a bit more standard. You get the impression of forest with mushrooms, ferns and a mineral rich soil. Cream and celery appear too.

First steep is sweet and sour with hints of ale and celery again. It has a colloidal and coating mouthfeel that’s very interesting given that the session’s just starting. In the next one, the texture is more creamy and slightly powdery as well. The tea already has great depth without any astringency or bitterness. It is savoury, earthy, and vegetal with a lemon finish.

Third infusion brings more umami, deep sweetness and floral notes to the table. It is still sour though and now we also have a mild mineral bitterness that is reminiscent of (the neighboring) Naka teas.

Fourth steep has a super creamy texture with a numbing, mildly drying, and very dynamic mouthfeel. The tea is very pungent now and develops an expansive aftertaste that sticks around for quite a while.

Fifth infusion is the strongest yet. It is extremely mineral and also quite floral. The aftertaste is cooling and flowery. It is a bit spicy and has an apricot sweetness and a burnt butter flavour.

Next few steeps mark a transition in the profile. We see the emergence of fruity notes as well as some vanilla and chocolate in the background. There are also flavours of root vegetables (celery). When brewed for longer, the tea displays some very interesting sour notes that linger on the tongue and are hard to describe precisely. In the empty cup I also noted aromas of candle smoke and parsnips.

Eleventh infusion still has quite a thick and oily texture. There is some dryness and bitterness reminiscent of slightly unripe apricots. The taste also has a nutty aspect like apricot pits and a cut grass flavour. There is a very fragrant aftertaste. More apricot notes are to be found in subsequent steeps which also show a more classic Bu Lang like profile with notes of honey and beeswax in the aftertaste.

Music pairing: https://castelsotterra.bandcamp.com/album/omega-mai

This is such a cozy tea that embraces you with its toasty and nutty character. It was the right one for today, as we have just received 20cm of new snow. It reminds me some Tian Jian teas a little bit. Unfortunately, it only lasts for about 7 infusions or so.

Initialy, the smell is like a pear pie straight out of the oven. Later it gives off more of a woody and floral vibe with notes of conifer cones and oleander.

The taste is sweet, nutty and has a sort of cooling woody character. There are notes of bark, pine nuts, oats, almond shells, tobacco, nectar, and cheeses with rind (such as Brie and Tomme). Its aftertaste is then somewhat tart with a flavour of browned butter.

While I wouldn’t say the tea is particularly thick, I really like the soft, oily, and silky mouthfeel here.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PovmYjR-eA