What-Cha Thailand Sticky Rice Khao Hom Oolong

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Origin: Doi Mae Salong, Chiang Rai province, Thailand
Harvest: April 2015
Cultivar: TTes #12 (Jin Xuan) cross between Ying Zhi Hong Xin and TTES #8
Elevation: 1000m


I really should start sampling teas in the order I received them, I still have quite a few teas to try from my previous What-Cha shipment and I am already digging around in my latest. I decided to try this because I found out Alistair retired a rather interesting Jin Xuan from Fujian that I rather liked (luckily I still have a bit left over!) and I was in the mood for a nice milky tea. I’ll admit this tea scares me a little bit it seems so unlike anything Alistair has sourced so far, from the name alone it sounds more like the kind of a certain tea store infamous for their teas blended with feathers and nails than any of the teas from What-Cha. Nevertheless I decided to take the plunge and order 50g. What-Cha describes this as:
Has a creamy texture and sticky rice aroma, imparted unto the tea during processing by heating the sticky rice plant's leaves along with the tea leaves.
Sticky rice scented tea is a specialty of northern Thailand, although traditionally green tea is used, Jin Xuan Oolong produces just as good if not better results.
Produced in Northern Thailand in what was once the hub of the 'Golden Triangle', the farmers in 1994 turned their back on opium production and switched to tea, importing a range of tea plants from Taiwan's famed tea producing region Alishan. 
Despite my reservations I love Khao Neeo Mamuang and the idea of a tea that tastes like sticky rice is amusing.



Dry Leaves: The tea is very irregular which I am taking to be a good sign, I tend to have good luck with oolongs that are not perfectly uniform. And the aroma is amazing! There are tons of toasted rice smells, as well as the smell of slightly burnt rice (like the smell of rice at the bottom of a rice cooker that has started to brown). There are some fruity notes, but the toasted rice is too strong for me to distinguish anything else


First Steeping
Temperature: 176oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Sticky Rice
Flavor: Sticky Rice, Toasted Rice and Popcorn
Tasting Notes: Oh my god this is amazing! It tastes pretty much exactly like sticky rice, although it desperately feels like it is missing something. From what I can infer from the description this is a scented Jin Xuan and I feel scandalous for saying this, but what if this was coated in tapioca powder? While this does taste and smells very much like sticky rice it is missing the tapioca sauce commonly served with Kaho Neeo.



Other than the amazing tastes and aroma, this has a wonderful buttery mouthfeel, it feels much nice than a tea grown at 1000m should feel!  


Second Steeping
Temperature: 180oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Sticky Rice
Flavor: Sticky Rice, Toasted Rice and Popcorn
Tasting Notes: Pretty much everything is the same as last time, although the strength of the flavors are a little different. The primarily sticky rice flavor is a little stronger, while the toasted rice is weaker.



I’m in love with this tea! While it does feel a little one note, it is absolutely amazing.


Third Steeping
Temperature: 185oF
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Sticky Rice and Floral
Flavor: Sticky Rice, Popcorn and Fruity
Tasting Notes:  The toasted rice flavor disappeared entirely and the popcorn flavor is waning, although the sticky rice notes are as strong as ever. There is a new fruity flavor which I suspect is the base tea coming out. The sticky rice flavor stays around for a couple more infusions, but after this infusion I feel that the base tea’s flavors start to become very apparent. I feel pretty confident in saying that the base tea before it was scented was on the greener-floral side and slightly vegetal. According to What-Cha’s description Sticky Rice tea is traditionally made out of a green tea rather than an oolong and while that does sound interesting, I rather enjoy this and going to make an uneducated guess I probably prefer a Sticky Rice Oolong over a Sticky Rice Green tea because of how long I can continuously brew an oolong.



After my first experience with this tea I did experiment around with it a little, mostly changing how long I brew this for although I did mess around with how hot of water I use to brew this with since the recommended starting temperature is a little low for an oolong, but I think the aroma comes out better when using water below 190oF. Nevertheless I loved this Jin Xuan, even more than the Fujian Jin Xuan I wrote about last year although in an ideal world I’d love for this to have a tapioca flavor as well as a mango flavor, but I am perfectly content with this as it is. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling this tea for 50g at $7.50 and that is an amazing deal for this tea. I am a sad to say that What-Cha has retired the Fujian Jin Xuan I liked so much, but I think this is a nice replacement for it.




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Wymm Tea's Mangnuo Tengtiao Cane Sheng and Wangshuji Shou First grade

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(Tea Provided for Review)
I have a bit of bad news, my computer crashed and I lost a lot of photos that despite my best effort I could not recover. Even though my photography skills are lacking I don’t feel comfortable publishing blog posts without proof that I actually drank the teas. I did manage to recover a couple pictures so I decided to publish my thoughts on Wymm Tea’s Mangnuo Tengtiao Cane Sheng and Menghai Wangshuji First Grade Shou in one post, which is kind of a shame since these are the better of the four Wymm Tea samples I have although I did enjoy the Bazi Laohuangpian and the other grade of Wangshuji Shou I tried before.



Mangnuo Tengtiao Cane Sheng
Origin: Menku, Shuangjiang County, Yunnan
Harvest: Spring 2014
Wymm Tea describes this as:
This is WYMM’s signature tea. It is a sheng pu-erh that brews bright golden with a rich and sweet flavour, and with the aroma of fresh-cut grass in the morning. For the initial 6 steeps, there is a pronounce bitter taste that lingers in back of the tongue with hints of astringency, which are slowly replaced with a bold honey aftertaste. The liquor is heady because of the ultra concentrated nutrients in this tea. Each serving of this tea can be steeped up to 20 times.
This single state tea is sold nowhere else; grown only in the ancient tea gardens around town of Mengku, located in Shuangjiang county of Yunnan province in China, these 200 to 300 year-old trees have distinct branch shape differentiating them from the rest of the tea trees in China. The name Tengtiao "Cane Tea" was coined by Zhan Yingpei, an acclaimed scholar specializing in Yunnan tea culture. The name implies that the shape of branches of this type of tea trees is similar to cane. These trees are shaped using a special technique that trims off all the excessive sub-branches and bigger leaves, leaving only two fresh tea buds per branch. Over many centuries of painstaking care by the local tribes, the branches have grown long and slender, similar to the shape of cane, hence the name. The technique for growing, trimming and picking the tea, concentrates all the tea nutrients within the two tea buds in every branch, creating fragrance unseen in most pu-erh. Local tribes only pick one tea bud from each branch at a time, leaving the other one to grow for next round’s harvest. The production of this tea is very low as a result of special trimming and picking methods – many more trees are needed to collect the same amount of buds. However the harvested tea buds are very neat and delicate, without any tough stalk or old leaves. Each of the sun-dried tea buds are covered with very dense fine hair that shimmers under the sun. The final product – Qizibing Cha is presentable and highly sought after for collection
It is interesting that the Wymm Tea’s signature tea is a single state tea, I wonder if it is from a single farmer or a single township regardless. I do not believe I have ever encountered a puerh with tea leaves like these, I do hope Wymm Tea sources more teas from the same area as they did this one.


Dry Leaves: My sample is a mix of chunks and broken up strands, I have a feeling this is from a tightly compressed cake because of the chunks and tea dust. Although there is some strands that look like loose leaf whoever prepared this sample is obviously more efficient with a pick or knife then I am.

Temperature: Boiling
Brewing Time: Five Seconds (+ Five Seconds for each subsequent steeping)
Aroma: Sweet Peas and Orange Blossom
Flavor: Floral, Peppery, Fruity, Cucumber and Sweet Grass
Tasting Notes: This is a rather sweet tea, it reminds me more of a green tea or a floral oolong early on, perhaps because it takes quite some time for this to develop any bitterness and it lacks astringency although later on it becomes more sheng-like. Early on it is a little on the weak side, for me around the eight infusion it started to become noticeably stronger, the early infusions are not undrinkable, but they are very subtle.


This is not a particularly complex tea, it does not change much as you drink, but it is rather refreshing. This feels like the perfect sheng for someone who is new to puerh, I am not sure it is interesting enough if you are looking for pleasant bitterness or do not regularly drink young shengs. Definitely a sheng to drink now, while it seems to have some potential to be aged I can’t imagine not using the entirety of a cake as fast as possible. In my opinion this sheng does well with longer steeping times then I did and is definitely worth checking out if you like young shengs, at the time of writing this Wymm Tea is selling a fifteen gram sample for $10.80 CAD.

MenghaiWangshuji First Grade Shou
Origin: Menghai County
Harvest: 2008
Wymm tea describes this as:
This shou pu-erh brews with a smooth and sweet flavor and long-lasting jasmine rice aroma. Tender and fine buds from high mountains in Menghai County, located in west ofXishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, are picked to make the tea in 2008. Pu-erh tea has the potential to ferment over time, and this tea has been post-fermented for 6 years since its production. Post-fermentation gives the tea vibrant flavours and richer aroma as well as deep wine colour.
Note: First grade contains the smallest leaves while seventh grade contains the largest leaves. There is marginal difference in the taste; first grade has a slightly stronger and woodier flavour, while the seventh grade has a milder and sweeter flavour. The third and fifth grades fall in between of the first and seventh grade.

Dry Leaves: Looks like this was not pressed into a cake, I was rather surprised at how small these leaves are, at first I thought I accidently was sent a sample of dried cloves.

Temperature: Boiling
Brewing Time: Five Seconds (+ Five Seconds for each subsequent steeping)
Aroma: Mineral, Tobacco and Musty
Flavor: Earthy, Mushroom, Cocoa, Peppery and Wet Wood
Tasting Notes: I tried the Seventh Grade version of this before and I prefer this over that one even though this lacks much of the sweetness of the Seventh Grade version. This one does not have that slight fishy aroma, but it does have a kind of musty smell something like an empty basement, not unpleasant, but not something I generally look for in teas. This is definitely more complex than the seventh grade. It has a stronger Cha Qi then the seventh grade, but it is still on the weak to moderate side.


I enjoyed this more than the Seventh Grade I had before. At the time of writing this Wymm Tea is selling a fifteen gram sample for $9.00 CAD and is worth checking out if you like shous that are not on the sweeter side.
The Mengnuo Tengtiao Cane Sheng is definitely my favorite of all of Wymm Teas I’ve had so far, I see why it is their signature tea. If I had to pick one of the four samples to buy again it would definitely be the Mengnu no questions asked probably because I love young floral Shengs.


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Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2005 Changtai "Yun Pu Zhi Dian / Top of the Clouds"

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Pressed by: Yunnan Changtai Tea Industry group
Harvest: 2005 Spring


So I finally got my Crimson Lotus Tea package, it took an ungodly long time to arrive a whole two days. I decided to start off with one of the samples Glen included rather than one of the 2015 cakes I’ve been lusting after since this is one of CLT’s teas that I’ve been avoiding. I’ll admit I am slightly prejudiced against puerhs not pressed by vendors, while I have had a lot of good factory cakes at the same time I had quite a lot more bad factory cakes. At the same time I am rarely disappointed with cakes pressed by the vendors themselves, but then again CLT is a small curated store so they must really believe in this tea. Anyways Crimson Lotus Tea describes this as:

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Tea From Taiwan’s Hua Gang

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Origin: Hua Gang area, Li Shan, Taichung County, Taiwan
Harvest: April 2015
Cultivar: Chin Shin (Green Heart)
Elevation: 2400m
I decided to start the day with this tea; I have been feeling a little off now that spring has started so please excuse my brevity. Tea From Taiwan describes this as:
This premium-quality oolong tea is grown in the Li Shan mountain range at an altitude of 2400 meters. The climate of these high mountains is ideal for growing fine oolong tea. The cool air and high humidity produce a tea with full, robust flavor and long-lasting aftertaste.
The brewed tea has an exquisite aroma and brews to an appealing amber liquor. The leaves can can be re-brewed many times while maintaining a full flavor.
Tea grown on Mount Li (Li Shan or Pear Mountain) is the most prized oolong tea in Taiwan. It is ideally suited for gong fu style brewing.
Which is a somewhat poor description for this tea, while I do think it does a good job giving a brief overview of LiShan teas, it seems kind of generic which is a shame since this tea is anything, but generic.




Dry Leaves: This is quite a stem-y tea. At first I was a little put off by the uniqueness of the tea, but there is something aesthetically pleasing about the inconsistency. For some reason quite a few of the stems remind me of canes or crab legs.  Nevertheless the leaves are mostly blue, although there is some green in there and a bit of yellow mostly in the stems.


First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Honeysuckle and Butter
Flavor: Floral and Spicy
Tasting Notes: This is quite interesting. Immediately I noticed the thick buttery mouthfeel as well as a butter aroma (a friend described it as buttered popcorn, but I would not go that far). Otherwise it has the typical floral tastes common in Taiwanese oolongs, but the honeysuckle aroma was a little strange, not bad, but not something I encounter often in Taiwanese oolongs.

There was something about this tea that I felt would do better using hotter water to brew so I did decided to go up ten degrees and while I do not feel I was wrong, I do think this benefits from shorter infusions, perhaps in intervals of thirty or fifteen seconds. My intuition tells me I brewed this too long and I lost out on some nuance. Sadly I did not notice realize the errors of my ways until after I used up the entirety of my sample.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Honeysuckle
Flavor: Spicy Cinnamon, Vegetal and Floral
Tasting Notes: Wow! It’s like it took a sudden turn into the dangerous part of town. The comfortable floral notes are starting to wane and some herbaceous notes suddenly appeared. And the spicy taste from the previous infusion has become like a spicy cinnamon.



I rather enjoyed this infusion; as much as I love green floral oolongs I do like the occasional vegetal/herbaceous ones. I feel that I do not often encounter a lot of vegetal Taiwanese Oolongs and that is a shame, I can see why they are not for everyone, but I wish they were more common.

Third Steeping
Temperature: Boiling
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Green Beans and Honey
Flavor: Spicy Cinnamon, Vegetal and Ginger
Tasting Notes: Floral notes are completely gone instead there are some new green bean-esque aromas as well as honey. The tastes are pretty similar although the floral notes disappeared pretty suddenly, I did not expect them to weaken so fast.



While I do feel that I missed out on some of the nuances of this tea I did quite I enjoy it, I’m going to have to order at least 75 grams in my next order. I am not in love with this tea, but I would not say no to it. There is something comfortable about it, even though the easy to love floral notes disappear. Regardless Tea From Taiwan is currently selling this Hua Gang at $31 for 75 grams and is worth checking out if you are into herbaceous Taiwanese oolongs.


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What-Cha’s Houjicha and Genmaicha

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What-Cha’s Houjicha and Genmaicha

I decided to sample the What-Cha’s Australian teas almost immediately after trying the Sencha & Shincha. While some of the problems with the Sencha & Shincha are present in these teas (for instance weak aroma and thinness), but they are not as apparent. Anyways I was not really looking forward to these two teas, while I do enjoy Houjicha and Genmaicha I tend not to drink it that often. I recently was going through my tea horde and discovered seven different Genmaichas and three Houjichas (not counting the teas I roasted myself) all of which were pretty much untouched.



Origin: Two Rivers Green Tea, Acheron Valley, Australia
Harvest: Second Flush, December 2014
Elevation: 200m
Cultivar: Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Dry Leaves: The leaves are a little strange for a houjicha; while I am not surprised to see a mix of larger twisted leaves and some broken/fragmented segments I was a little startled to see the color of the leaves. They are mostly blueish-black, but there is quite a bit of green mixed in. I’m not sure how evenly roasted these leaves are, it’s almost like the farmer one batched then mixed in some steamed leaves.



Temperature: 176oF
Brewing Time: One Minute (+ fifteen seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Chocolate and Tobacco
Flavor: Espresso, Caramel, Roast and Chocolate
Tasting Notes: This tea is amazing. Yes, I described the primary flavor of this tea as espresso and that was the closest descriptor I could come up with; if you have ever had an Americano (shot of espresso and hot water) than you know the flavor. I do not think I have ever had a houjicha with this nuanced of flavors. While I tend to avoid most heavily roasted teas since I feel that it is very easy to cover up imperfections of a tea with a heavy roast and that I have had few heavily (or even moderately) roasted teas that I think were done by a skilled roaster.





Have I mentioned this tea is amazing?! While the aroma of the leaves and liquor was kind of weak I think that was for the best, I am not really big on teas with tobacco aromas, but it was weak enough for me not to care. As for the flavors, once again I noticed thinness, the more I think about it the more this reminds me of an Americano, I do not know how many of my readers are coffee drinkers, but if you have ever had a shot of espresso and compared it to an Americano you’ll notice certain flavors that were not present or prominent in the shot of espresso become apparent. While the liquor is a little light for a houjicha it is very reminiscent of a Japanese houjicha, in fact it is better than many Japanese Hounjichas I’ve had before. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling 50gs of this tea for $6.90 and I do think it is worth checking out. Because this was such a modestly priced tea I bought 50g of it rather than a sample and I am already half way done. Even though I do not drink Houjichas that often and I just had to through away quite a few of them I am almost running out, I think it is that good.

Origin: Two Rivers Green Tea, Acheron Valley, Australia
Harvest: Second Flush, December 2014
Elevation: 200m
Cultivar: Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Dry Leaves: This is a Matcha-iri Genmaicha so it is coated with matcha or powdered green tea. The leaves are pretty similar to the Sencha, pretty large and mostly intact, there are some fragmented pieces in there, but not a lot. As for the rice, I was a little disappointed by how small they are and how little rice is actually blended in. For those who do not know rice was a filler added to tea to make tea more affordable, it was originally known as something as a peasant tea. Most Genmaicha and Matcha-iri Genmaicha I have had in the past have been two parts rice for every one parts tea and this seems to be the opposite which I am a little disappointed by, I know the irony of someone who primarily drinks unflavored and unblended tea complaining that his tea blend has too much tea.



Temperature: 176oF
Brewing Time: One Minute (+ fifteen seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Popcorn and Tobacco
Flavor: Toasted Rice, Vegetal and Sweet Grass
Tasting Notes: Again another thin tea with a weak aroma, and another tea with a tobacco aroma; once again I am not bothered by the tobacco aroma because of how weak it was. I am a little curious if the matcha/powdered green tea that coated these leaves was grown in Australia or if it was Japanese in origin (it doesn’t taste like a Chinese powdered tea, although I could be wrong) because of how inexpensive it is, my best bet is it is a powdered Sencha from Japan. Anyways this is another lovely tea, in fact I enjoyed even more than I enjoyed the Houjicha, although I have not drank as much of it as I have the Houjicha. The flavors are pretty standard for a Genmaicha, most interesting was that the subsequent infusions were pretty much the same as the first, like the Houjicha I got good four or five steeps out of this tea. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling this for $6.90 for 50g and is definitely worth checking out.


In my last post on What-Cha’s Australian teas I mentioned how I thought Alistair needs to be selling a sampler of this, I do not imagine he’ll have any trouble selling the Houjicha and Genmaicha individually I suspect he’ll have a little more trouble selling the Sencha and Shincha. While I am sure he’ll get some buyers who will buy samples of these Australian teas out of curiosity I do feel pretty confident that more people will be coming back for the Houjicha and Genmaicha.




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What-Cha Japan Yame Matured Kurajikomi Sencha

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What-Cha Japan Yame Matured Kurajikomi Sencha
Origin: Yame, Kyushu, Japan
Harvest: May 2014
Elevation: 400-500m



I decided to try one of What-Cha’s new Japanese greens after a rather good experience with his Australian Japanese-style teas and this one stood out to me (although I did forget to buy a sample of the 2015 Goishicha Bancha which is probably What-Cha’s most interesting new tea).
A matured Yame Sencha which has been carefully stored over the summer so as to allow the flavour to continue to develop, it has a smooth well rounded grassy taste with little to no astringency.
This tea has been specially stored in refrigeration for the past year in Japan, in addition to being bagged in Japan, so as to ensure the tea is as fresh as possible.
It seems this “matured” sencha is a pseudo-kuradashi sencha, kuradashi teas are traditionally enriched for around a year, although I have heard of kuradashi teas being refrigerated rather than stored in a warehouse away from heat and cold. Although there have always been stories about crafty businesspeople who sell those teas that were forgotten in the back of a wearhouse as Kuradashi teas, although only certain types of teas are supposed to benefit from aging.


Dry Leaves: The majority of my sample is tea dust (not like bagged tea tea dust, but typical of Japanese greens) as well as couple long leaves. There is a quite a pungent grassy aroma and hints of chocolate.


First Steeping
Temperature: 185oF
Brewing Time: Immediately
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Fresh Cut Grass, Citrus and Nutty
Tasting Notes: This is a rather interesting tea, it certainly tastes like a Kuradashi Sencha, it lacks the punch that some Senchas have. It has an incredibly mellow and crisp flavor, although there is quite a bit of depth to it. It was a little unusual for an aged tea to have as fresh of taste as this had.



Other than that the liquor is incredibly clear although you can’t really tell with my photos. It does have some very slight astringency and a little unami too it. This is definitely an Asamushi sencha rather than a Fukamushi, I am a little curious why I have ever encountered an aged Fukamushi Sencha.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 185oF
Brewing Time: Twenty Seconds
Aroma: Grassy                   
Flavor: Grassy and Nutty
Tasting Notes: I was a little hesitant to follow What-Cha’s recommended brewing parameters; What-Cha suggests for the first infusion to remove leaves immediately and for each subsequent infusion add twenty seconds). I decided to even though the last infusion was pretty strong, luckily I did not over brew! While it is a tad more potent than the last infusion, it is rather nice.



The flavors are still very crisp and mellow, but the citrus of the last is gone, and while this tea is still grassy it is not a fresh as the last. I rather liked this infusion; it has a nice unusual texture for a Japanese green and some astringency.


Third Steeping
Temperature: 185oF
Brewing Time: Forty Seconds
Aroma: Nutty
Flavor: Grassy and Nutty
Tasting Notes: Not much has changed from the last infusion, it has not started to wane, but you can definitely tell its days are numbered.





I enjoyed this Matured Kurajikomi Sencha, while it is not a complex tea it is rather nice because of how crisp and clean it is. It is very easy to enjoy while those new to Japanese greens may mistake this for a simple daily drinker, there is a lot of nuance to it. It could be a nice introduction to Japanese greens, but I’d feel more comfortable recommending this to someone with a more experienced palate and looking for really clean flavors. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling this at $13.50 for 50g. 

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