Tea

Vendor: Grower:  Chen Huan Tang Cultivar:  Qing Xin Wulong Region:  Lugu, Nantou County Altitude:  700m Review: The tea has a layered structure: sweet dried fruit, roasted nuts, chocolate and some dried flowers and herbs. Each layer is clearly expressed, separate yet playfully interacting, like baroque counterpoint, long into the aftertaste.  The roast is very clean. The one flaw to me is that the flavors are a bit thin when brewed according to the vendor: 6g/100 mL 35s/30s/40s and so forth. This may be due to the poor winter harvest. Interestingly, the leaves expand so greatly, that I cannot fit more than 5g into my 85 mL gaiwan making it hard push harder with leaf:water. This tea should benefit from a teapot with high heat retention and longer brewing time. In Peter Kuo's teapot following same parameters, the tea is perfect and dynamic. With third infusion, bright fruit notes emerge like a flute over the ensemble.

Sent down memory lane By this 80s shou Remembrance of my grandfather's dusty library in Shanghai Can almost smell the wood shelves again and those old volumes of russian classics that somehow survived the cultural revolution

 Vendor Origin  : Kozeto, Aoi ward, Shizuoka city, Shizuoka prefecture Cultivar  : Kôju Harvest  : Aprile 23th & May 9th, 2020, hand picked Zairai so should have low bitterness unique fruity fragrance, recalling white grapes, peaches and also sweet citrus. Review Based on the description I treated it like a chinese oolong: threw 5 g in 85 mL gaiwan. Off boiling water: Rinse/35s/30s/35s etc The dry and wet leaves smell a bit like a hybrid of baozhong and zairai sencha: floral and vegetal. Unfortunately the first few infusions are quite bitter. The bitterness in the front is eye popping and devastating - I will start with the positives. The flavors in the back and in the aftertaste are much more pleasant: sweet grape juice, some light savory herbs, and a greenness that reminds me of gao shan. The aftertaste lingers for a long time and is nice. The infusion is also thick with a medium to heavy body. Regarding the bitterness, it is so strong and off putting that when...

 Cannot identify every tea. For both shou and sheng brewed ~ 5g / 100 mL, 2x rinse and then for sheng: flash brew until no more flavor followed by longer brews. For shou, first brew is about 30s followed by flash brews. 2019 brown sugar: white2tea makes a brown sugar. Very sweet with caramel, molasses and red bean notes. No wodui.  2019 raw man zhuang: possibly from ys. Very floral. Brew 3g/85 mL.  Fruity, floral.  Lively..beautiful at first...then funeral, sickly abominable. "brick shou":  Not much more info than that. I suspect it is the 2018 Dragon Brick, a shou puerh brick from XiZiHao, since that is the only brick shou he sells.  Tastes different from all other shous i have had: subtle balance between herbal chinese med2icine, light incense, fresh plum, strawberry jam, earthy minerality and beef bone broth. There is also a floral aroma like acacia and jasmine. The aromas and flavors shift as steepings progress. Infusions are very clear and elegant even...

Finally decided to brew the small sample of Hojo's high mountain formosa oolong that came with my order last year. The dried leaf is very tightly rolled and fragrant, smelling strongly like honey and green oolong. This is 5 grams in an 85 mL gaiwan. The balls look tiny to me: IMG_20210227_123912_928.jpg (90.99 KiB) Viewed 123 times Brewed like this: boiling water Rinse 40s 30s 40s 50s 1min 1min5s 1min10s 1min20s 1min30s 1min40s 2min 3min 5min Dropped in pint glass and steeped it out As those parameters suggest, yes very high stamina! First infusion was filled with honey sweetness. This sweetness was slightly reduced in the second and third infusions. Then it was reduced a lot but remained present at a similar level - sweet and enjoyable. The flavor is like a winter harvest gaoshan mixed with honey. The honey is not cloying and reminds me of an artisanal avocado flower honey. Hojo mentions ripe mangoes. Not sure I get that. Overall, It is quite refreshing. Price is high relative to ...

Vendor notes: Growing Region   Yame Year   2020 Harvest   First and/or Shincha Breed   Yabukita Shading   Full Shade (Gyokuro / Matcha) Steaming   Light Color   Green Aroma   Medium Taste   Sweet Astringency   Mild Clarity   Clear Review: After a several days of awful winter storm water, decided to test a local spring water with a budget gyokuro from o cha: yame gyokuro. Brewed like this: 5.5 g/ 65 mL in carbonized reduction mumyoi 13 min room temp 150s 50 C 180s 50 C 150s 70C 150s 75C 150s 80C 150s 90C Ate the leaves with rice, avocado and bagel spices and a bit of yuzu sauce Early steeps tasted of smooth dark chocolate. As I increased temperature, there was more fresh grassiness and sweetness. Best infusions were #3 and 4. Leaves had a nice nutty flavor. Ultimately, I preferred brewing in this way, 40 mL with 5.5 g 90s 40C 60s 45C 90s 50C 120s 55c 120s 65c 120s 75c 60s 90c Eat leaves  The umami in the first infusion is except...

 This is the earlier harvest of the da yu lin from Ethan kurland The tea is on another level in quality- floral and minty! There are less stems, and the leaves are a bit smaller. The tea had the best aromatics in a gaiwan. Interestingly, the tea tasted like the winter harvest version from the same farmer in kobiwako clay.