What-Cha

September Sipdown Prompt – a tea from Africa

This tea is marked as “the older the better” so I have been in no hurry to drink it, but I have had it at least twice, so I am befuddled as to why there is no tasting note from me.

I have had it with food each time I drank it, usually with breakfast, so I haven’t picked up as much detail as others here. Today we were just having cinnamon raisin bagels so it seemed like this little sweetie would be a good pairing.

My impressions each time have been: 1. Good, medium body with a light creaminess 2. Clear golden color 3. More flavor than I would expect from the stems of a tea plant, certainly enough flavor to pair with food.

Overall, it reminds me of the first shou mei I ever drank, which I liked very much. There is a little nuttiness, and rich, warm hay. It is certainly no shrinking violet so you don’t need to worry about searching for flavor in it, but it is a quite a lovely, soft tea for fall.

I forgot to review this when I drank it, all I remember is it was pretty unremarkable. Then only had half a serving left and combined it with some leftover India Assam Mancotta SFTGFOP-1 Clonal, and it made an excellent iced milk tea with a little bit of dark brown sugar!

Obviously can’t actually rate it based on this but had to make this note to remind myself of this great blend option for later, as I drink a lot of iced milk tea in the summer.

Addicted. This is so good. I’m just beginning my Oolong journey but out of the 10-12 I’ve had so far, this one is stand out. Good experience gong fu brewing. Great experience Western-style brew…I added goji berries and a bit of honey. So so good. I’m buying the biggest bag I can next time!

2020 Summer Harvest

This is not a forgiving tea and easily turns into astringent and bitter green territory. The reminds a little of a darjeeling that way. I see that if I’d read the tea’s page more carefully I wouldn’t have been surprised by that…

The finicky quality meant that this tea sat, neglected, in my cupboard longer than was warranted. After committing to drinking it up this month, I got some pretty exquisite tangy peach and stonefruit notes which really endeared it to me. I wish I hadn’t shied away from it for so long because I ended up enjoying it a lot!

The floral bouquet is decadent and complex too, even if often laced with stabby knives.

Not a fan of the menthol character

Отличный чай . Был приятно удивлен. Сбалонсирован по цене и качеству.

2nd flush, June 2022

Classy and elegant yet strong and rich with a dense aroma. Big hands with scratchy palms, firm squeeze, soft touch. Teak and tobacco, malt and prune. Such a classic black tea.

Assam teas don’t often find their way into my cupboard, usually because they’re too abrasive and without much nuance. This one, on the other hand, I’d be happy to buy again when the Assam itch needs scratched.

A very creamy oolong with the perfect amount of jasmine for me. Not really sweet but still manages to vibe like a cream puff or a jasmine-infused scone with clotted cream. There is this Korean purple rice and yogurt-based drink chain that does something with osmanthus jelly and rice wine (you can also add jasmine jelly). This tea reminds me of that as well: floral, creamy, rice-like, and faintly but pleasantly sour and bitter – in the way of yogurt and certain floral profiles.

Surprisingly, this isn’t really a grassy oolong (I get a hint on the finish in the second steep; it comes out more in subsequent steeps). It does have a vegetal quality but it’s on the milder lettuce & cucumber side of things.

I picked up 25g of this, figuring that it, in combination with 50g of Green Jasmine Dragon Pearls, would last me a while. Sadly, this is not proving to be the case.

Steep Count: 4

2023 Spring Harvest

While I’m trying (and failing) to avoid buying or accumulating new teas right now, it’s been years since I had one my absolute favourite types of tea: Jasmine Pearls (also Dragon Well). And, so, a short while ago I caved suddenly and all at once – buying both.

Green Jasmine Pearls always remind me of late winter turning into early spring. It’s probably the combination of clean and warm notes of grass, honeysuckle, melon, squash, stonefruit, and fresh evergreen. Jasmine is also pleasantly banana-ish to my brain – creamy, vanilla bean-like, and sugar-rum sweet. It’s such a decadent floral flavour.

I can’t get enough of it, although I’m not super picky about where I get it (What-Cha is a reliable go to when I’m craving it though… or Teavivre; I’m surprised I’ve never written up a note for this or the other varieties What-Cha carries! Oh, well). This is also one of my mom’s favourite teas so I should try and do a better job at keeping some around… Such a hardship given how much I love this tea :P

Steep Count: 4 (first steep @ 2min; last steep @ 5min)

I went through all of this tea I had in one gongfu session. Thank you derk for this wonderful tea.

Harvest April 2020. Almost 4 years old. I have it… who knows how long?
7 g/boiling/125 ml gaiwan, steeped all through my thermos, not sure about the volume?

When heated and after short rinse, fruit notes are here with some spices, nutmeg or/and cinnamon, warming and pleasant.

I made approx. 6 or 7 steeps, starting with 10/20/10 seconds nad rest were up to one minute; last one was loooong, but not measured. Approx 3 minutes I assume.

Whoa, this tea have lots of to offer. Lovely fruit notes of pears and raisins, somehow followed with forest dark honey, through sweet and exciting flavours of vanilla crescents with creamy mouthfeel.
I would not thought it is a GABA, as it doesn’t had that note I noticed in other GABA oolong in the morning — the note of umami, vegetals and powder.

Actually I couldn’t pick up any vegetal note, and it wasn’t really the darkest oolong in my experience. That’s surprising.

Definitely a nice harvest and nice tea… with high probability buying one day.

I’m learning the Korean greens are different again from the Chinese and Japanese greens, in another distinctive way. This will take some experimentation to brew right, but so far it responds to brewing cooler and weaker than I’d do a Chinese green.

Sipdown prompt: Your oldest tea
Well, actually I am not sure if this is the oldest tea in my books; but rough look in my black tea box says it is at least from blacks. And I also decided to finish those last single session teas worth amounts; so those 3 grams from derk and White Antlers definitely passes that one too.

This tea I was afraid to prepare. Don’t ask me why… but definitely I have been storing it for longer time than it needs. Definitely old one and I had it for longer time as well. Maybe it was 176 F, or 30-45 sec. on the label? Well… I just set the temperature on the kettle for requested temperature. It’s not that strange temperature at all!

Steeped for 45 sec and it was indeed a bit too short as derk notices so, I did right after the 2-3 minute one (included the first one) and I got nice, cocoa notes, but sadly, in the flavour it is rather woody. I guess it’s because the age.

It reminds me a Wooricha from Dobrá čajovna, but that’s definitely possible as it is a cousin of this tea. That one is also a Korean black tea, sadly, I just haven’t found any more information but it’s from Mr. Cho garden. This one is rather a co-op tea and that effort is good for me as well.

Kept without a rating as it’s old. If I get a fresh batch, I would gladly rate it.

TTB tasting: This is my second steep with this tea. The first steep was mellow and almost creamy and smooth. This second steep have a more citrusy note as well as an astringency to it as well

TTB tasting: Having it in the afternoon after a sort of heavy meal. I steeped it at 165 F for 65 seconds. I like the smooth fresh green taste. It does leave a mouth a bit dry after drinking a couple of sips though. Its a nice mellow green tea.

I got a few humble samples from What-Cha. I thought about more, but I’m really happy to have gotten some unique blacks I wanted to try. I usually don’t like Ceylons, but this looked different enough as a eco-friendly tea without a teabag. I also like whole vanilla beans, so my basic self would like it.

Making it, it’s like a cigaretto, then it opens after hot water like a witches broom. I need a pick me up while I grade, so I put some in a kyusu and brewed it western for 5 minutes. Smooth vanilla smell, and smooth vanilla taste like a fine chocolate desert. The tea is naturally sweet with a little bit of plum, and a dark molasses-y character. It does approach chocolate territory, but that’s more from the sweeter maltier elements of the black tea combining with the vanilla. Essentially, a really good vanilla black tea….that has actually lasted more rebrews that are essentially grandpa brews of 4, 5, and 6 minutes. The flavor has slightly lightened on the vanilla, but it’s still there. I get more plum, malt, and tea in the later steeps. I’m going to brew some more up, hoping I get more.

I’m regretting not getting the 5 rods instead of the too. I really like this one. I’m impressed it has more dimension than some Ceylons I’ve had, and as per usual, Alistair and his company pick teas that tend to be less astringent and bitter. This one has just the right amount of bitterness. It might be able to take milk, but if you are a tea snob, it’s better straight because you might miss out on the cool plum and molasses notes in my opinion. I’m not ready to give it a numerical score, but 4 stars minmum out of 5 for me.

My new affordable daily drinker. Not the most complex but very drinkable. I like the woody flavor. Good with or without milk. Don’t think it would be very good iced.

I must have neglected this tea for long, as label from derk says harvest May 2020; and we have here almost November 2023. Thank you derk!

Prepared all 3 grams I had, so not a sipdown in my books, but finished tea nevertheless.

I have preheated the gaiwan and right after I knew I prepared one unique tea. The aroma was so familiar, lovely, vivid, but what is it? Nothing exact cames to my mind.

Brewed with, close to boiling, water. Lovely flavours again… very vivid and lovely notes of raisins, sweet potatoes, grapes. Aromas come across with some rye and sweet potatoes and surprisingly menthol.

Steeped 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 60 seconds and in the middle the flavours have moved from that “dark” ones to more refreshing, almost oolong-like notes with another descriptor — floral, both in flavour and aromas. Never tannic, always smooth. And lovely complexity even for 3 and half years old tea.