21 Tasting Notes
I have to up my rating on this one. I’ve finally cracked it. 3g of tea for 300ml of water just off boiling for 4 minutes gives an excellent brew. The maltiness comes through nice and strong as does the distinct character of the tea (which I attribute to it being wild arbor) without the astringency. Gives a second decent steep at 5 minutes.
This is a good reminder of why its definitely a good idea to play around with steeping parameters.
Preparation
Brewed this western style this morning, 3g in 300ml for 5 minutes. Much more balanced than it was gongfu. You get a nice mix of the maltiness and the strong body, which didn’t happen gongfu. This is good without being a standout brewed this way and might be something I drink on mornings when I prefer a stronger cup. Might also be a good choice for someone that likes adding a splash of milk (thinking of my dad here).
Preparation
This is probably the most tippy looking shou I’ve had so far. This was another sample from YS and is quite likely to translate into an order, provided I can figure out the local customs situation. (I got stuck with a $57 customs charge on my last $100 tea order from the US – not a YS order).
I used 10g in a 130ml gaiwan. Did a flash rinse and even that came out quite dark. Steeped it for 10 seconds the first 3 times before adding on 10 seconds on each steep. This lasted over 10 steeps in total with the last one being 2 minutes.
It was thick and dark from the first steep, just how I like it. A very small amount of fermentation flavour but not at all fishy. This was enjoyable though I struggle to describe the taste. You could say rather typical shou but not the earthy kind at all. Maybe more of a woodsy note, with hints of cocoa or even coffee. No smokiness. After the 5th steep an underlying sweetness emerged. I would recommend this if you like really bold and thick shou. Now if my local customs and postal services can clear up the issue of crazy fees on importing tea, this will be a part of my next YS order.Flavors: Cocoa, Coffee, Wood
Preparation
Can you get a package from a friend customs free? That may be a way to do it. Ship your order to a friend and then they reship it to you.
@mrmopar well this particular package was shipped as a gift by the vendor, so I assume not.
The frustrating thing is that per my reading of the rules and regulations there should be no extra or special charges for importing tea. However, I can’t get anyone at the post office or customs office to agree to that and I wonder if its as simple as not wanting to admit that they made a mistake. They keep insisting tea goes through a special handling process without being able to quote a specific part of the law to back it up. So its possible it was an error they wont confess to and future packages may have no trouble, but that’s a bit of an expensive risk to take.
Will send in a written complaint to the ombudsman and keep my fingers crossed.Yeah, hopefully you can get it sorted out. It just seems too high a tariff for something like that.
High tariffs that discourage the free-market are never a good idea.
Perhaps Scott may have some insights?
So I want to start off by just saying that I am very particular about my dian hong teas. Ordered this based off the same reddit recommendation that pointed me at the Imperial Mojiang, which I love.
This however is a mixed affair. It is a decent tea but not quite what I look for in a dian hong. I had this gong fu style today to evaluate it, will try it western style later too. Overall it was a decent tea, the first two steeps were a bit malty, light, and had a tiny bit of the peppery and caramel notes that I love so much in the mojiang. On the third steep the tea leaves really opened up and the tea was now nice and strong, however that is pretty much all that was there. All the delicate notes were gone as was the maltiness and it was a bit astringent and bitter too. Left me with a rather dry mouth. It may do better steeped western style so will try that next.
Preparation
I grabbed a sample of this amongst a few other ripes with my last YS order to evaluate towards a future purchase. Used 8g in a 120ml gaiwan. Did a 20 second rinse and then steeped for 15 seconds. The first steep was quite light, and the second still a bit on the lighter side but getting darker. A little earthy, slight hints of cocoa with the associated bitterness, no fermentation flavour. The leaves had really opened up by the 3rd steep and 15 seconds this was a tad too long. Very rich dark mahogny color, a bit of bitterness. Reduced the steeping time to ten seconds for the next infusion, lighter with a sweet after taste. The 4, 5 and 6 infusions were what I enjoyed most, earthy but smoothy and sweet.
This tea was still going strong at 8 infusions but I’m a bit tired and feel like a change. May continue with this in the morning. I have often have this problem with solo sessions and probably need to get a smaller gaiwan or pot.
Will try this western style later as well. I am finding that I like my shou thick and dark and apart from the really exceptional ones with more distinct notes that I like to gong fu, western style hits the spot more often especially when I’m at my desk working.
Flavors: Cocoa, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
So I threw one of these into my last YS order as I’ve heard people talk about them fondly as a daily drinker. Tried it today and I’m a little confused as to whether I liked it. Mind you, given the price I wasn’t expecting a lot either.
Used 8g in a 130ml gaiwan, and washed it for about 20 seconds. Then started steeping at 10 seconds. Slightly bitter, with some cocoa notes. Gets sweeter on subsequent infusions but the slight bitterness never entirely goes away. Overall it just felt a bit.. flat, light and mono-dimensional. I wouldn’t say its a bad tea, its decent, but I can’t see myself ever craving it.
Later in the day I brewed this once more, this time western style. 3g in 300ml of water just off boiling for 5 minutes. Finally a bit thicker and definitely better, but still not remarkable. I could drink this at my desk while working etc, when I can’t pay full attention to my tea.
I wonder if an older v93 would be significantly different?
Gylx were kind enough to send over a sample of this for evaluation. A migraine meant being able to try this out today instead of over the weekend as planned. Used the entire 8g in a 120ml clay teapot. Did a flash rinse and then steeped for 10 seconds the first three times, before increasing the steeping time.
Very vegetal and floral the first time around, with a bit of astringency creeping in on the second steep and a sweet aftertaste in the mouth. Hints of apricot.The third steep was probably the strongest, with a nice balance of bitter and sweet. After the third steep, the sweetness takes over and in total I got ten steeps out of this before the taste began to fade and needed extended steeping times.
There were some nice large leaves in there but also a lot of broken leaf, not sure if that might be from breaking off the sample. This is a good young sheng for drinking now.
Preparation
most of the leaves are supposed to be intact! it might be due to the process of breaking up the cak. Glad that you like it!
Very full in the mouth while drinking.
@mrmopar agreed! I think that is part of what made it feel like this tea kept going quite nicely even towards the end.
Came across this tea on the Teasenz blog described as a sun dried Dian Hong that is supposed to get better with age. Since Dian Hong is my daily drinker of course I had to try it. As I understand it, this was never officially sold through their store but was available in a limited quantity if you contacted them. There is a 2015 brick version (which I also have a sample of) though this is the 2017 loose leaf version of the same.
Used 7g in a 150ml gaiwan and steeped for 10 seconds the first 6 times at 85 degrees. The soup is a nice dark red after just 10 seconds, similar to what you would get from a shou puerh. Tastes like a Dian Hong but different. The maltiness is subdued as are the floral/peppery aspects. I would say that all the flavors are mellower and the tea is smoother than a normal dian hong. Slightly reminiscent of a shou in its smoothness. It’s definitely good overall but I almost feel as if all the characteristics that I enjoy in a dian hong are not quite there. Will have to try the 2015 version to see if the extra 2 years have made any difference.
I did get 6 very good and strong steeps out of this at 10 seconds each and maybe 10 or 11 steeps in total whilst staying quite flavorful. Examining the leaf after the fact, there are some whole leaves but a lot of broken leaves as well as stems. Not many buds at all. So definitely not made from the best raw material which may also explain the subdued taste.
Preparation
Holy cocoa! For a moment this morning I almost thought I had prepared some hot cocoa and not some shou! The cocoa/dark chocolate notes in this tea are the strongest I have ever experienced. This is not a deep, dark and smooth shou like I normally like, which just goes down so smooth. Nope, this one totally grabs your attention but in a good way.
So this was a much anticipated shou for me to try, coming recommended by Crimson Lotus Tea in a reddit thread where we accidentally discovered that we enjoy shou that brews “thick and dark, a bit like motor oil”. Also a big thumbs up to CLT for helping out with some shipping issues and making it possible for me to get my hands on this tea.
So it was a quick and somewhat haphazard session this morning as I am away from home dealing with some family issues, but I am very impressed. I used approximately 7g of tea in a 150ml gaiwan. Rinsed twice and let it sit for 30 seconds. The first steep was pretty weak (about 10 seconds). Steeped about 15-20 seconds for the second, and woah, strong cocoa notes and a deep burgundy colour! A bit bitter, but a good bitter like a dark chocolate. No fermentation flavour or maybe its just well hidden, and didn’t really feel any earthiness either. I got 4 good 15-20 second steeps out of this, the 5th was a bit flat. Steeped it again for about 3 minutes but after the earlier explosion of flavour this felt pretty tame. I have a feeling that once I am back home and able to have a calmer session with shorter intial steeps, I’ll be able to get more out of it. I also want to try this western style as it feels like it would make a nice hot cocoao substitute!
I’ll reserve final judgement until I’ve had a calmer session at home but I strongly expect I’ll be ordering more of this (on top of the 500g I already got). Hmm.. it comes in a 2kg brick….
#archive
Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate
Preparation
When you rinse this let it sit for about 20 minutes. Then do short steeps 5 seconds or so.. It will probably brew a bit different.
Will do mrmopar, thanks for the suggestion! This morning was way too rushed and I know I didn’t manage to give it the attention it deserves, and probably missed a lot of the notes and flavors.
I know lots of times I rush too. That is just a little trade secret as they say that IMO helps the tea. It always seems the water tends to creep on into the tea with the rest.
Thanks for sharing mrmopar, much appreciated.
Finished this off today so may as well write it up. This was a present from a well meaning friend who heard me mention a while back that I wanted to get into puerh teas. It’s a loose leaf shou puerh and not bad as an introduction, with almost no fermentation flavour. I have to say that there isn’t much flavour or depth to it brewed gong fu.
However, it makes a very nice cup when brewed western style, hearty with a somewhat thick mouthfeel. Overall, not bad as an introduction to shou puerh but you can definitely do better.
