Tea Urchin "Gao Shan Zhai 2011 Autumn"

I am not keen on Autumn tea, but this tea has a wicked sale price. I inquired to a tea friend and they came to the rescue with a sample to help me decide on if this cake was destined to be a guest in my cabinet. The dry leaf is loosely compressed with soft tones of spice, some sweetness, and an autumn leaf pile (figures). The leaves are very dark and are beginning to show their age. I warmed my pot up and slipped some inside. The aroma creeps out with sweet dark fruits, buckwheat honey, grain, graham cracker, and some fig. However, a note an odd blueberry note in the background that draws me in to this fruity medley. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste is leafy at first (so descriptive right), but it proceeds to a pronounced mossy taste with some brown sugar in the back. The next sip brings a clear peach note that pierces through the roughage. The brew flows with fruity sweetness; however, this flavor does not last long. This tea moves into a woody category with mild astringency, and I suppose the tea likes it best there cause it does not leave. In fact, the brew continues on this path of wood, dry, and bitter for the remainder of the session. On the contrary, this tea has some great qi. The sensation begins in the temples and slowly massages inwards and outwards; A full encompassing body high with good vibrations. The qi continues to move about and flows really well. Actually, I only continued to drink for the qi. I’m not sure how I feel about this tea, but I don’t believe I will buy a cake. The qi is good, but it is too much wood for me.

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Really dark first brews. Around the eighth steep it moves to a medium level. Throughout the entire session there is a solid mouth feel and a good ten minute lasting flavor. I drank this over three hours with about 15 minutes between each brew. Fun tea, but darker than my normal sheng likes.

MrMopar gave me a sample of this tea to encourage me to add a cake to my next TU order.

It is hard to write a review, since this is one of those teas that sends me into the lotus position to just drift with the cha qi. After 3 cups (about 6 oz) I needed to take a 30 minute break to recover. So, A+ on the cha qi.

The taste is good too.It started with a straw favor with a hint of wood and the balance gradually shifted toward wood with each steep. By the third steep, the tea displayed a nice balance between young sheng and old. Hard to tell how much of this is due to MrMopar’s famous pumidor storage. I found both the young and old flavors enjoyable, and they didn’t really clash at all: just two aspects of a well-integrated tea. Speaking of well-integrated, the taste drifts smoothly into a very nice finish that I’m still tasting 15 minutes after my 3rd cup. While the tea has good classic flavor it doesn’t really display much flavor beyond the basic straw/wood balance. It does what it does very well but lacks that something extra that would make me consider it a special occasion tea.

My rating is based entirely on taste. My internal system adds a second rating for cha qi and this one scores 100.

I enjoy the Tea Urchin offerings and a kind tea chum gave me a sample of this tea to try. I have mixed feelings about fall harvests for I have had some very enjoyable and some not so enjoyable Autumn shengs. I am sorry to say that for me, this particular tea is in the latter category for I think it falls short. The dry leaf is beautiful – nice large whole leaves with good color. The smell is not very strong for the dry leaf and the wet leaf has what I would describe as a dull smell. The taste is equally dull for my senses. The tea soup is a lovely yellow color and it is very clear (as mentioned earlier, this is very nice leaf). I must say that I am very glad to have had the opportunity to try this one for I might have been tempted to purchase the whole cake. For now, I am going to conclude that I should stay with spring pickings when it comes to Gao Shan Zhai tea cakes.