Wuyi Star

I bought a small sample packet of this tea with one of my Aliexpress 11/11 orders. It is my first Rou Gui oolong, so I have little to offer in terms of evaluating relative quality. It was a decently tasty yancha though. The dry leaves had a creamy, dark chocolate aroma. After a rinse, that was all overwhelmed by a pretty serious roasty, maybe even charred, smell.

I could definitely taste the roast, especially in the early steeps, but it didn’t come across as overpowering or sour or any of the unpleasant things roastiness can do. The tea had a mineral and ever so slightly woody sweetness and left my mouth feeling the opposite of dry. I know the opposite of dry is wet, but it sounded weird to say it left my mouth wet…so, it was mouthwatering I guess. Rou Gui oolongs are known to have a bit of a cinnamon flavor to them apparently – I think I may have noticed a bit of that in the woody part of the flavor, but there is a good chance I only tasted that flavor because I was looking for it based upon prior knowledge.

The tea also developed what might have been a bit of a floral flavor, and on occasion the chocolatey notes I smelled on the dry leaves came though in the flavor, though never strongly.

I wasn’t particularly wowed by this tea, but it was tasty. It will be a good point of comparison when I try some higher end Rou Gui oolongs. I’ve got one or two of those laying around. Not sure whether I would recommend it or not at this point, though!

I’m not sure if this is the exact grade of DHP I drank from Wuyi Star this morning – the Ali listing was rather laconic. Anyway, this tasting probably isn’t the most fair, as I used the whole 7.3g sample (heavier than I would normally go for yancha) in a 100mL pot. That wouldn’t have been at all bad, but these yancha seem to have a nasty habit of clogging the holes in this pot’s filter, so I got a good number of infusions which were much longer than I intended. I have to start brewing more of these samples, especially when I only have enough for a single attempt, in my gaiwan so I can control them a bit better.

This leaf had a nice aroma – roasty, nutty, and chocolatey. After a rinse, I smelled the roast pretty heavily, but some cocoa still came through. My first couple infusions were quite bitter, again mostly because half of the water sat in the teapot much longer than intended. So the bitterness was what I mainly tasted in my mouth, but after I swallowed, some of the sweet flavors came through (I didn’t much mind the bitter either). I got sweet and creamy notes, with a bit of floral. The second steep actually was a bit unpleasant, as it was oversteeped to the point of being sour, but still pleasant aftertaste.

After those first two steeps, I had better luck. The tea took on a pretty sweet, if a touch drying, floral character, with a sweet caramelized finish. The tea died off rather early – I got about 8 steeps from it. I’m sure part of the reason for this was the abuse I subjected it to early in the session.

This tea was pretty good – I’m not sure I’d order more, but I enjoyed it.

Thick walled gaiwan same prep for the Da Hong Pao I brewed yesterday. This tea in its dry state smells like the DHP but with a bit of smoke. Smooth, thick, bold almost chew-able and an incredible follow through. I especially made a point of aerating this more than my usual sip and the cigar smoke is heavenly. Not as flowery as some of the lighted roasted Shui Xian I’ve tried previously. The roast is very heavy resulting in a dark liquor that of a Shou Pu Ehr. The spent leaves are all uniform dark dark brown twisted and not a broken one in the bunch reminding me of hijiki. If you like big and bold this is for you

Comes in prepacked 8g foil packets. Used a thick walled gaiwan. Dry leaf has notes of molasses and cocoa. Did three steeps into my fair cup all just a few seconds in length. I can tell you that this tea can make you cry its so good. Deep brick soup color. Wet leaf aromas of toasted rice and slight florals, flavors of cocoa, grain, dried cherries, floral notes and a pleasant smokiness. Smooth, layered, just enough sweetness, medium roasted, thick on the tongue. I ended up with 16 steeps and a belly full of goodness. Glad I splurged on this.

Casey picked this as the tea we were going to drink tonight. In the first steeping I could smell and taste coffee, pipe tobacco, caramel and cinnamon. There was also a bit of rum raisin. As I am writing this, I’m thinking that it is sounding much better than it actually is! It is smooth going down, leaves a dusty texture in my mouth. Casey is noticing a smokiness on the second steeping. I can detect the aroma of burnt sugar. The flaw in this tea is that the beautiful aroma does not match the taste. The taste is not sweet or complex, it is slightly bitter and flat.