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Bah, I forgot to write a review on this yummy tea.

Update on those people upstairs that caused 7 cop cars, ambulances and more to come to our unit. They were evicted. Apparently, the guy beating the dog and his girlfriend wasn’t a tenant here and so because I called 911 on them, they were also busted for having extra pets (I didn’t know about that) and the guy wasn’t on the lease. So there ya go. It’s finally over and they are out. Looking forward to the next neighbors (not).

Back to the tea… Great tasting notes/reviews on this tea (which is why I purchased it) so I just wanted to put my two cents in. Lots of delicious notes. Fruits, nuts, cocoa with honey and caramel sweetness, malt and minerals. :D

Thank you Derk for this great Da Hong Pao. I began loving Jin Xuan right away but now I think I prefer a good Da Hong Pao these days. Not sure though, it’s just been a while since I drank the former. I’m fickle. I just love good tea. This is a good tea, and it’s also been sold out so I’m glad that Derk sent me this sample off my wishlist!

The texture is nice, very smooth and thick as described. I prepared it as their website suggested. I should’ve done gongfu style to get a full flavor profile but either way, it’s a good one. I’ve been distracted by work and have missed some timed infusions so hence my choice for longer infusions. I did three steeps: 3m, 4m, and 5m.

It is heavily and heavenly roasted :) and it has such a wonderful sweet roasted and minerally taste along with fruits and nuts. Lately, I prefer heavily roasted teas over green teas and this was just right… Not smoky nor campfire-like but perfectly roasted and toasted.

8g of huge dry brittle medium brown leaves, the kind when you’re walking along a path, and they crunch underneath your feet. They barely fit in my teapot. The dry leaves smelled of dust, soil, dirt. The liquor was super dark, like espresso. The rinse smelled of wet earth, mud, and dirt. After the first infusion, the aroma changed. The liquor had a strong earthy, wet and rich soil aroma, and now a very faint aroma of dirt. The taste and feel were really not what I expected from the aroma either. First of all, mouth and throat feel. What comfort. It was so smooth, almost slick on my tongue, no astringency at all… And yet, the finish gave me a very slight powdery feeling or graininess on the tip of my tongue.

The way I’m going to describe the taste may not sound so appealing. It was like digging up a huge tree, and taking a bite of the roots. I know, I know, sounds strange but it is uniquely good. I looked forward to more infusions. In the second and third infusion, I got some spice, cinnamon-like, some minerals, some wet rocks. As I went through infusion after infusion, it was indeed relaxing, calming, each time looking forward to filling my teapot up. The finish was a subtle sweetness, with a little spice in the exhale, root-earthy-rock mixture. Hard to describe but it was an experience and I swear, if I were creative, this tea could help me write about nature.

Thank you so much, Derk for this experience :D

Yixing teapot, 8g, 130ml, 205°F, who know how many steeps, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s… Etc.

I’ve been trying a lot of gong ting in orange and tangerines lately. I bought one from White2Tea and wish I got more now. They are expensive. One is $4.00. I had so many infusions yesterday I lost count. It began as Yixing gaiwan, 110ml, rinse, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 50s, 55s, 60s… And then I just kept filling my gaiwan up, used it all day.

The tea is meant to be drunk with the orange and all so I just put the little orange in without breaking it up as their site suggested. The fruit is tiny, young and unripe unlike the others I tried. It was so tiny and cute (yes, I went there lol. I love cute things.) and it did have a greenish hue. I especially loved the first 5 infusions because of the “fresh green bite”. Their site says you “can toss out the first 2-3 steeps, and drink the next 12 or so.” No way, I loved that part! :) It changed from a slightly astringent green taste to a very mellow mandarin and earthy ripe pu’erh taste. I broke the orange up towards the end of the day to get even more of that rind taste.

I think of all the Xinhui Green Mandarins I’ve tried so far, this was my favorite. I’ll have to do a comparison again if I can get another. I think they sold out… /cry. Note: I have two more to try: YS Tangerine Stuffed with 4 Years Aged Ripe Pu-erh Tea and YS Gong Ting Pu-erh in Tangerine “Golden Horse 8685” Ripe Tea. Maybe I’ll do those this week.

Quick note while it’s still fresh in my mind. It’s really good. I had it yesterday and am having it again today. Barely oxidized, very green with fruit notes and a non-perfumey floral taste. Also TGY-ish. Super creamy mouth-feel and sweet finish. I really feel my “tea analysis ability” shortcomings today… lol. There are no review notes on this one so thought I’d write a quick one in hoping others will try this and review it.

Yixing teapot, 6.2g, rinse, 13 steeps, 5s, 10s, 15s (I’m right here right now), 20s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 1m, 1m30s, 2m, 2m30s, 3m

This was my second favorite out of the Dan Congs I tried yesterday.

Yesterday was a YS Dan Cong day. I drank the following teas:
Honey Orchid “Mi Lan Xiang” Dan Cong Oolong Tea * Spring 2018
Winter 2018 “Snowflake Duck Shit Aroma” Dan Cong Oolong Tea
Wu Dong Chou Shi Dan Cong Oolong tea * Spring 2018
Classic “Mi Lan Xiang” Dan Cong Oolong Tea * Spring 2018

Yixing teapot, 6g, temperature varied, rinse, 13 steeps, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 1m, 1m30s, 2m, 2m30s, 3m

Wu Dong Chou Shi was my favorite of all of them. For one, I’ve never had such a green Dan Cong before. Togo wrote a great review on it. It was reminiscent of a great TGY in that it was very green, grassy, fruity, some floral but not perfumey as the other Dan Congs. It was a nice thick, creamy, viscous mouth and throat feel with a sweet aftertaste. Like TGY it had some sour notes but it was subtle and delicate.

I’m seriously falling behind writing reviews but I’ll try to catch up. I have a lot of each so when I revisit them, I think that’ll be a good time to do it.

Long fuzzy green strips, pale yellow-greenish liquor. The liquor smelled like buttery lima beans, spinach, zucchini vegetable broth. There was an undertone of orchids with plenty of notes of stonefruits, such as apricots and peaches. On the second and third infusion, It was like yummy chestnut broth, umami, seaweed, spinach, sugar snap beans, lima beans, so vegetal with minerals. Lots of natural sweetness of honey and sugarcane and a long sweet finish, pleasant mouth and throat feel. Very nice.

Porcelain gaiwan, 4g, 185℉, 4 steeps: rinse, 30s, 50s, 70s, 90s

Nice and calm Sunday and thought I’d go through each of the Whispering Pines black tea that I have in stock to re-evaluate them. Sometimes when I get a lot of tea in, my head starts spinning lol. It’s nice to note which ones you really want on your shelf.

Instead of gongfu style, I’m putting 2 g in a 60 ml porcelain gaiwan for 3 min and 5 min.

Yunnan Gold Tips, Wildcrafted Dian Hong, and Golden Orchid so far. So, I had to stop and make an additional note on this one… This one is so good.

I want more. :)

Update: Just finished North Winds (Imperial grade), Ailaoshan and Golden Snail (this one was for 5m/8m instead of 3m/5m). The rest of my day will be Jabberwocky, Cocoa Amore, and Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black.

I’ll be playing Civilization 6 Gathering Storm, watching the news, maybe watch a musical later tonight, maybe finish a couple of books. Haven’t been in the mood to knit the past month so nah on that one. lol

You gotta love free days. Have a wonderful Sunday, all. ^^

note: I’ve done this with What-Cha, TeaVivre, Mandala Tea… Etc. It helps me realize which ones I really like.

The dry leaves were a mixture of dark and green long leaves, kind of looks like something you’d run into while snorkeling off an island, floating in the sea. It smells of super fresh hay… Like when you go down to the horse stables in the early morning to feed them. The aroma brings back good memories. It’s a vivid aroma. I still can’t say that it’s an aroma that makes me go yum, I’m sure horses think differently hehe. It is an aroma that brings back some precious youth memories, lost youth. The wet leaves added so many more different aromas: Wintergreen, mints in general, flowers, fruits, anise, grass, licorice. As the infusions continued, the mint became more pronounced. There were also sweet cherry notes, subtle peach, cinnamon, and spices, cocoa, malt, roasted yams, honey sweetness notes. Delicate flavors but complex. I wish I wasn’t the only one who reviewed this because I’m sure there is so much more… Just like I think that different temperatures and different tea prep would change this tea as well. It is a medium bodied tea, satisfying with many different notes and aromas but licorice and mint were always there. It never got bitter nor astringent and it has a long minty-cooling finish. I’m not into mint teas but this is very good because of the complexity.

Gaiwan, 7g, 194°F, 110ml, rinse, 9 steeps: 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m5s

Chocolatey, and a nice cup of tea. Dessert-like tea. I don’t get a lot of citrus flavor as Cameron noted so I agree with her. Maybe… Maaaybe a little citrus zest. I do like the dark cocoa flavor, and it tastes more chocolatey than other chocolate flavored teas I’ve tried. I’m thinking the very light bitterness is due to the citrus rind, and that adds to it. I like the base, it’s malty, some dried sweet fruit notes. I recommend it, it’s a good taste, just don’t expect a lot of citrus flavor, if at all. :P