Tea

Lowest to highest grade steeped 5 g / 450 mL 85-95 C water for 2 to 5 min (western parameters). Grade 2: small, fragmented, homogeneously black leaves. The orange red liquor is very malty, comparable to ceylon black tea. Bitterness is much less than in ceylon black. Medium flavor of honey and aroma of tobacco. Sweetness intensifies and bitterness decreases as tea cools. At the edge of needing milk. Caffeine rush is somewhat high and caused mild headache, comparable to drinking coffee. Full 5 min first steeping recommended. Second steeping similar to first in terms of flavor profile, but much weaker, though enjoyable. This is good value tea. Grade 1: dried leaves are black and small. There are some golden tips. In the mouth (after 5 min steeping), the tea is mellow and mildly flowery with honey aromas. Very little bitterness in the front while tea is hot. As the tea cools and in the aftertaste, bitterness intensifies greatly. Overall, this has much stronger astringency compared to grade

From vendor: Origin: Qiandao Lake, Chun'an County, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China Season: Spring Tea Harvest Date: March 25, 2020 Tea Bush: C. sinensis cv. Jiukeng Tea Garden: Qiandao Lake Organic Tea Garden Review: Brewed 5.2 g in 170 mL 75-80 C water No rinse / 30 s / 30 s / 40 s / 55 s / 1 m 30 s /2 m 30s Dry leaf: pale green and slightly yellow, suggesting lighter oxidation than standard. Small leaves, consistent with earlier harvest. Plenty of white fluff in bag and on leaves. 1 bud 1 leaf > 1 bud > 1 bud 2 leaves. Mild scent of nuts. Wet leaf has strong scent of sweet freshly blanched green beans or corn. In the mouth, persistent vegetal sweetness mostly of asparagus and corn mixed with milder aromas of raw nuts. Good minerality gives this all a nice structure and a "crisp hardness" like small bell ringing. Long aftertaste of sweet vegetal notes, butteriness and minerality. Astringency is very controlled. Overall, aroma is a bit too mild.

From vendor: Origin: Houkeng (猴坑), Xinming County, Huangshan, Anhui Province, China Season: Spring Tea Harvest Date: April 16, 2020 Dry Leaf:    Traditionally handmade into long flat, straight and evenly appearance, one bud surrounded by two leaves with plenty of white tips,dark green color Cultivar: shida Review : 5 g in 250 mL 85 C water Rinse / 1 min / 1:30 / 2:30 / 5:00 / 10 min / 20 mi Dry leaf: bud + 2 leaves for the most part. Color dark to medium green. Almost no scent. Inside of bag coated with white hair, as expected. There are criss cross indentations on the leaf, suggesting they were pressed by cloth and not smooth machine. Therefore, these leaves might be hand made or partially hand made. Brewed tea is light green with very mild scent of fresh nuts. In the mouth: very light and a little creamy. A little peach flavor. Very smooth and a bit oily as it cools down. There is a distinct ocean air saltiness/umami that is like very fresh raw scallops. Aftertaste is a little drying

From vendor: Harvest:  Hand-picked in medium batches, summer 2020. Shan Lin Xi, Nantou, Taiwan. Elevation:  1500m Farmer Chen and Zhang. Review : Dry leaf: mostly medium to small tight rolls with light to dark green yellow. Some balls are dark yellow orange. Vendor indicates leaves were slightly higher oxidized. Subtle guava, yeast and seaweed scents. Brewed 8 g / 125 mL 85-90 C Rinse / 40 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 1:00 /1:20 / 2:00 / 4:00 Early steeps were very light and flowery with clear guava and pastry flavors. There is some light honey sweetness pleasant minerality. It gave the impression of drinking very refreshing spring water in the alpines. Very uplifting and pleasant feeling down the throat. Later steeps (after 4th steep), green vegetal and herbal notes move to the fore, highlighting the thick body.  Guava and sweet pastry notes still rings in the back. A fruit sweetness is present even at the 8th steep. Very refreshing and satisfying tea with good stamina.

From vendor: Late March Harvest Tong Mu Guan Village (Fujian) Review: Strong yeast and honey suckle aroma from dry leaf. Lots of orange yellow powder from the small, tight buds. A small holed filter is necessary. Brew parameter: 4 g / 100 mL 90 C in porcelain Rinse / 10s / 10s / 15s / 35s / 1 min / 2 min / 5 min Strong honey and milk chocolate notes. Smooth and thick with stone fruit (peach) aromas and sweet yam flavors. Some vegetal notes develop in later steepings. Early steepings are quick and strong but drops off after 3rd steeping. Strangely, a pu-erh like wet pile funk is faintly present. This is not particularly pleasant. Western brewing is also acceptable at 1 g /100 mL for 3:30. However, the chocolate notes are much more mild when brewed in this way.

 From vendor: pu-erh cake made entirely from Spring 2019 Bu Lang mountain material.  First flush material was collected from several Bu Lang villages and fermented for 46 days.  After fermentation was completed, the tea was dried and graded.  We blended the various grades to create a balance recipe comprising of tippy golden buds and heavier grade Te Ji, 1,3, and 5 leaves. Brewing: 6.25 g in 125 mL porcelain. Boiling water Rinse/rinse/ 15 s / 20 s / 20 s / 25 s / 25 s / 30s / 35 s / 40 s / 1 min / 2 min / 6 min Dry leaf: a little wet pile funkiness Wet leaf: chinese medicine shop aroma and wet pile funk Strong chocolate and earthy (wet leaf, rich soil) flavors. Green tea vegetal notes in the middle. Some dried fruit sweetness. Wet pile fishy present. Exotic sweet and dry finish. May need some time to settle down.

From Vendor: Harvest:  Hand picked in small batches. Spring 2020. Yonglong, Nantou. Elevation:   700m Medium oxidized, heavily roasted tea with a hearty, complex, and robust character. This farm is managed by a father (Mr. Su) and son team who inherited their family tradition as artisans of Dong Ding Tea. Their tea has been awarded first prize in the  world's largest Oolong tea competition , and they consistently achieve top awards in their local competition of traditionally made Dong Ding Oolong. This family's tea gardens are 30-40 years old, and are solely comprised of an early strain of Qing Xin Oolong that some some farmers consider to be an heirloom strain that is no longer readily available. Review: Dry leaf: rolled balls appear heterogeneous in size. Color is even. Moderate scents of charcoal roast. Brewed 7.8 g / 125 mL boiling water in porcelain Rinse / 40 s / 30 s / 40 s / 50 s / 1 m 10 s / 2 min / 4 min / 15 min Wet leaf: medium charcoal smokiness. Tropical fruits cl

 From vendor: ORGANICALLY GROWN Organically grown STYLE OF TEA GABA Oolong Tea PICKING DATE April 2019 OXYDATION LEVEL Medium ,  Oxygen Deprived BAKING LEVEL Baked TERROIR Baguashan ADMINISTRATIVE REGION Nantou County PICKING STYLE Mechanically Picked CULTIVAR(S) USED Jin Xuan, TRES No. 12 GARDEN ELEVATION 350 m Lot 887 was baked in February 2020 from Spring 2019 tea .  ------------- The Dry leaf is not very aromatic, with some roasted seaweed notes. Stems are present as expected for machine picking but not too prominent, suggesting decent quality. Brewing: 8 g / 125 mL boiling water in porcelain pot. Rinse / 45 sec / 50 sec / 1:10 / 1:30 / 2 min / 3 min / 6 min Wet leaf has a strong scent of roasted seaweed that leads to some funky seaweed and soy sauce aromas along with raisins and baked fruit cake. The vendor claims this scent is comparable to third flush Darjeeling. I tested this by brewing an autumn flush Darjeeling a few days later. I concur that they share a similar fragrance ex

 From vendor: High Elevation Nuwara Eliya, Ceylon Mountain Tea (2000m+) ________________ Came in similar package as their slightly cheaper "Royal Black Tea", which is from lower elevation and reviewed previously. I contacted vendor about this. They confirmed they use the same packaging but with an additional sticker for the high elevation tea, which they forgot to include in mine.  Nonetheless, this tea brewed quite differently. The dry leaves are slightly more red than the lower elevation offering, and also had less smokiness. This tea was adequate for gongfu brewing: 5 grams in 125 mL 90-95 C for 25 sec / 35 sec / 50 sec / 1:30 / 3 min Very low astringency. Mild flowery scents and a hint of tobacco. Notes of honey, and very light maltiness. There is a touch of cinnamon sweetness. There is also a rocky minerality. Unlike the lower elevation tea, there is no butteriness. This tea goes very well with small amounts of ceylon cinnamon and/or saffron.

 From vendor: Growing Region   Kagoshima Prefecture Year   2020 Harvest   First and/or Shincha Breed   Sae Midori Shading   Full Sun Steaming   Deep _______________ I brewed the tea in the following way: 5-6 grams 250 mL 70-80C 45 sec / flash steep / 15 s / 1 min / 3 min More optimal parameters for solid 3 steeps: 6.5 grams / 200 mL, 70 -75 mL 45 sec / 20 sec / 2:20 This is a relatively mild and sweet tea and appears to be a bit more lightly steamed for a fukamushi, because many of the leaves appear quite long. The vendor recommends a 79C temperature. The first steep is quite mild and sweet with light asparagus notes. This is the only steep with stronger umami character. The second steep is very green and thick, as expected, with heavier grassiness and vegetal sweetness. There is some dried citrus peel aftertaste with this steep. Third and fourth steeps are very light and grassy. Fifth steep is very light. If using the optimized method, the third steep is more robust. A more aggressive

The container contains 4 grams of tea and looks expensive. The red label and the brushed aluminum surface has a minimalist, modern appeal, resembling the surface of an apple computer. The label, and the company website showcases associations with famous tea masters for each tea. However more important details of the tea such as terroir, cultivar and picking times are not disclosed. Tasting notes: Overall, the tea lacked stamina and did not impress. I steeped the tea in the following ways: 1.) 4 g / 125 mL boiling water. Rinse / 30 s / 45 s / 1 min 30 sec / 4 min 2.) 8 g / 125 mL boiling water. Rinse / 15 s / 20 s / 30 s / 1 min / 3 min In the first session, the taste tapered off after the second infusion and could not be recovered. Therefore, I doubled the leaf for the second session. However, the tea did not last many more infusions. The dry leaf has intense charcoal, roasted coffee and chocolate notes. These are enhanced in the wet leaf and completely reflected in the first steeping

I recently received this "west lake" LJ from a friend in Shanghai. He tells me this is 2019 harvest.   Seems to me it is bud and 2-3 leaves predominantly. Shape and size are a bit heterogeneous. Color is evenly green-yellow. Hard to tell from pics, but it is a bit more yellow than green.   What you cannot tell from pics: there is white fluff on the side of container but not on leaves. Dry leaf has very little scent. When wet, there is a subtle scent of green beans.  I brewed gongfu style 7 g / 200 mL at 80 C for 30 sec / 30 sec / 40 sec / 50 sec / 1 min / 1 min 30 sec / 2 min / 5 min Had acceptable taste and aromas for 5 steeps before tapering off. Aromas of sweet green beans and some nuts are there. Taste is distinctively sweet (mostly fresh corn), but also has a slight aspartame sweetness. Minerality is strong providing good structure. There is also a mild umami. Almost no bitterness in taste, but there is definitely astringency on the tongue and throat long after swallowin