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4.7g, 90 mL ZZZ

wet leaf: YQH storage, light smoke, sweet, dark fruit, slight barnyard

1. sweet, slight cherry, effervescent alcohol tinge to taste and finish like the other YQHs recently. some woody and underlying bitterness though nowhere to the extent of the CWS and DJYS recently. light sugary quality like watermelon

2. herbal tea. some sweetness alongside oversteeped astringent bagged tea taste on rear of tongue. relatively strong bitterness here

3. similar in taste. bitter lingers on tongue.

4. sedative. woody. YQH dark marshmallow-y taste

took a long break in between to watch the snow outside since was super lethargic already. steeps 5-7 were mostly similar, and pewtering out. Outside of my earlier criticisms on taste (bitterness not resolving well, and fairly linear), I can’t drink this tea too often, because it is one of the most downing teas I own. There are some teas that are comforting and settling (e.g., aged BYHs and most older LBs), but this is not that. It feels forceful, like you are trapped doing nothing and unable to change that for some time. For an errand-free Saturday (hallelujah for modern day grocery delivery), it is fine. For any other day (which is 99% of the time), it hardly fits the bill.

4.4g 4GC LB 90s, 90 ml duanni

Mothball, beet smell

1. Kind of thin. Just a general beet taste, some powdery sweetness on finish. Light headiness, maybe from a recent caffeine break

2. Pushed a bit for thicker texture. Still beet, powdery finish. Some touch of floral in the finish that some dankly stored teas seem to get (like the changtai 03 bamboo spring/jinzhushan)

3. Steep color lightened. Beet, hint of spice/peppery, light warmth in shoulders

4. Color lightened here as well. Flatly sweet taste. Decided to simmer the rest for 5 min.

simmered mug was decent, drinkable enough. Not a huge fan of this one, since I prefer the woody profiles to the beet heavy ones

Stumbled on an old Hou De blog post about brewing aged oolongs. This one isn’t as old as the ones mentioned there, but anyway, adapted those parameters a little with excellent results. Will try to stick to these going forward for older oolongs.

5.4g, 90 ml ZZZ

Leaves in prewarmed pot: caramel, plum

Wet leaf: roast, inky sweet. Lid has the empty cup smell of a roasted oolong

1. 30s: tea has sour plum and medicinal in the cup. A bit bitter medicinal in taste and sweet grassy roast/smoke/plum in the finish w a strong celery/mineral note that I usually get w apparent zhengyan teas. Lingers in the throat
2. 35s. Sour plum aroma. Bitter medicinal taste and some sourness. Some aftertaste lingering smoky mineral
3. 40s. Mostly plummy. Not as much aftertaste as steeps one and two, but some sweetness on finish that builds into the lingering notes from those
4. Forgot about it but prob 1 min+. Lightened. Finish has shifted into mushroom-y and tire smoke
5. 2 min. Plummy hint

The first time where the cold remainder of the first cup didn’t actually taste chocolate-y or that great. But, over the course of steeps, the aftertaste continues to build and linger and is really lovely. A cursory glance at my notes on EoT offerings probably makes clear that I have a general indifference towards most of the teas I sampled from there, i.e., not terrible, but not worth chasing down. Happy to report then, that though this is pretty pricey, the tea is quite pleasant. Am I going to buy the full pillow pack after sampling though, probably not. One can dream about winning the lottery, but not healthy to do so too often.

Thermos’d (500ml) the rest for 2.5 hr. Was a solid but not outstanding cup the usual roast oolong thermos profile. Warming feeling that I didn’t feel during the active brew session, but tbf my apartment is sort of cold bc winter heating costs are borderline outrageous.

Simmered the rest for 10 min or so. Mostly dead but is the sharp floral of oversteeped light roast oolong w barest hint of plum on finish

5.7g, 70 ml gaiwan

Smell is roast and chocolate

1. Taste is watery roast. Aftertaste is a bit astringent, grassy, and floral

2. similar in taste. Something sweet lingers in rear nasal cavity

3. Really astringent

4. Similar watery. Stopped here

Overall not a fan of overly floral teas so DC is already not really my favorite and this one is just not very good. should be able to finally finish the bag soon.

4.5g, 70 mL thin gaiwan

leaves in gaiwan smell super fruity, almost passionfruit like

wet leaf has a bit of smoke and a plasticky floral. standard DC territory. aroma from gongdaobei is tomato sweet like some light oolongs exhibit

1. green vine, floral. fruity notes linger on tongue

2. really nice aftertaste, with shifting florals in throat.

Did not take notes after but taste here was a bit light and did not linger as extensively as I expected from reading other notes and I felt like it was not fully extracted. I cold brewed the mostly spent leaves overnight and that was still a nice cup. Maybe both a water and ratio/size issue. My tap is decent enough, and I really don’t want to generate more plastic waste when I don’t need. Also am too lazy to customize water all the time. As for ratio/size, DXJD mentions 6-8g/100 mL as their suggestion, and have also personally had better luck with high ratios and flash steeps in a slightly bigger gaiwan (90 mL) for the last few DCs. i think 70 just does not hit critical mass for whatever reason, or maybe not fitting to my preference

5.4g, 90 mL ZZZ, water mix

wet leaf: medicinal, vanilla, sweet

1. dark, fruity, medicinal. sweet finish, a bit dank. weighty feeling

2. dark woody, medicinal, almost salty. fruity finish, a bit effervescent cherry somewhat reminiscent of the recent YQHs. serious, reflective, and a bit downing

3. bland medicinal sweet

was busy and also had to pick this up the next day after refrigerating so wasn’t quite the same and didn’t note those steeps.

5.4g, 90 mL duanni
lots of cobwebs, which I spent some time trying to pick out and then gave up because it was too hard to separate them from leaf bits. This is my shou pot, so I couldn’t distinguish if the wet leaf just smelled like shou because of that.

1. a bit gritty texture on finish from broken/powder-y bits. cocoa powder like taste and mouthfeel. bit of smoke? some bitter. mostly herbal. relaxing

2. grainy, herbal, slightly salty. last bit could be due to water though

3 and 4. similar. some happy feeling.

stopped here for work. Material is interesting, not really the bud-heavy or huge leaf ends of the spectrum for LB but sort of long gangly leaves on branches. kept leaves in fridge and simmered w 500 mL for 10 min the next day but have never had especially good results post-refrigeration or after sitting out. Tasted ok. anyway. Despite the price tag, enjoyed it more or less.

4.6g, 90ml ZZZ
wet: light fruit, smoky

1. soft woody sour. some background YQH taste. sweet cherry in finish, bitter taste when cooled a bit. same strange almost alcohol aspect as the CWS recently. slowed thoughts and motions.

2. similar. soft texture, woody, bitter, some storage.

I dropped after a few more steeps of similar notes about the texture in every steep because i was running late to something lol. Obviously have favorable thoughts on that aspect and wish I had a bit more time to sit with it. Never really reach for these, so it’s been a few years. Had tea with someone else recently and was reminded of the importance of pacing in evaluating and just waiting a bit between steeps. Have been used to chaining steeps in my routine drinking and so was often feeling overwhelmed and not picking up things as a result.

4.3g, 90 mL zzz

wet: sour, light smoke, fruit, plum. YQH storage surprisingly not dominant.

1. savory, with Yang storage undertones. medicinal and slight downing and heat. Very light sweetness on finish, w almost alcohol-tinged taste.

2. more intensely bitter and pill-like. coppery taste and subtle Yang storage note

3. very smokey and meaty. still sth wine-like. mushroom-y bitter finish.

4. a bit watery and mushroom-y. Leafy coppery mid notes and some sour medicinal taste

5. a bit sweet

6. leafy and bitter. stopped here to leave for work.

well, what a surprise. this wasn’t half bad this time, though it’s been a couple years. Very savory overall, with a strong bitter core, though it doesn’t resolve that nicely. was very alert at work all day, so the caffeine is certainly intact.

4.8g, 500ml porcelain pot

Wet: woody, shou like

Some spices, woody, sweet

Broadly a light shou like taste. Material is huge and so based on what ppl have said online too, wonder if this just needs a ton more heat than standard brewing usually gives. I guess the ratio was also very low here, but maybe will just boil some from the outset next time if I’m feeling lazy