Eric Honaker Send Message

This is a very interesting white tea.

I picked this one up because my son and I have been enjoying white tea together, and it was inexpensive and a bit unusual.

I was not let down. What I got was a very light colored tea, with a slightly sweet vegetal flavor.

I’ve been pretty pleased with Hunan hei cha, and this one is no different.

It’s plummy, a bit sweet, but with a rich slightly earthy undertone. Very easy to drink warm or cool.

Woodsy, malty, fruity, astringent, a little bit bitter. This tea was very tasty. A classic red tea flavor without the chocolate overtones I’ve experienced from several recent teas.

Glad I picked this one up, for sure.

I bought this tea a few years ago, and mostly forgot about it. At the time, I had a pretty narrow idea about what tea is “supposed” to taste like, and this didn’t fit.

Now that my perspective has changed, I dug it out again. I’m glad I did.

1 cute little pressed heart in my 120mL gaiwan, with boiling water. 5 sec rinse, then started infusing at 5s.

The result is sweet, floral, and smooth. No discernible bitterness. The rose mostly comes through in the scent and the aftertaste.

A delicious, robust tea. The taste is strongly of malt and chocolate, with floral and fruity notes playing in the background. Very smooth, little astringency.

This tea is absolutely delicious.

The jasmine scent is quite strong, especially in the early steepings. I was worried that this would mean the tea flavor was overpowered or the soup would make me queasy. (Too much jasmine scent does that to me sometimes.)

Luckily, the cup was nicely balanced with a sweet, smooth tea taste and gentle jasmine overtones.

I enjoyed this with my son (12) who has been quite keen to try all my teas recently. He also loved it. I’ll make him a tea-head, yet. He had his with honey, which blended nicely with the overall flavor as well, if you like it sweet.

A pleasant, fruity black tea. Very little bitterness or astringency, and very easy to drink.

Despite the elaborate description, I did not find it to be at all unique. It just tastes like a run of the mill, quality Chinese black to me.

Perhaps gongfu style brewing will bring out more of its character when I try it at home.

Not sure if it’s continued mellowing of the tuos, or my evolving palate, but it’s better, again.

The main difference this time was that I broke up the tuo with my hands before rinsing. I think this allowed the storage/fermentation smells to rinse out faster, giving me a first steeping that was smooth, easy to drink, silky in the mouth and pleasantly earthy.

I’m also western-style brewing today, because my work gaiwan dropped in the sink and broke. RIP.

Nope.

Nopenopenope.

There are interesting flavors in here. Unfortunately, they’re hidden behind the taste of hamster bedding and ashes. I gave it 2 rinses and 4 steepings to mellow out before calling it quits.

Clearly, this is not the tea for me.