What-Cha's Fujian Milk Oolong Jin Xuan & Beautiful Taiwan Tea's Golden Lily Oolong

Today I am going to write a little something different then my thoughts on my first impressions of trying teas. Spoiler alert, I really enjoy the teas I’ve tried from both What-Cha and Beautiful Taiwan Tea, so I thought I’d compare two similar yet very different Jin Xuans. I love both of them, but for very different reasons.

What-Cha’s Fujian Milk Oolong




This is a very unique Milk Oolong, which isn’t much of a surprised as  I am always pleasantly surprised by What-Cha’s teas distinctiveness; this is a flavored Milk Oolong which is a little off putting to a lot of people. I’d probably have skipped this if it wasn’t from What-Cha, I’ll admit it I am a little prejudiced against flavored Jin Xuans, especially flavored ones from China, but I decided to take a risk and purchase it.


And I am glad that I took the risk. This is the best flavored Milk Oolong I have ever had, ok that bar isn’t set very high, but this along with the Golden Lily Oolong is my favorite Jin Xuan that I have tried this year. There are a lot of different tastes in this. If this was from that Tea Company that everyone knows it would probably be called something like “Majestic Tropical Milk Flowery Oolong”, ok probably something more ridiculous then that. The major flavors in this is Mango, Toasted Coconut, Butterscotch, and Orchid; while some of the minor notes are milk, pineapple and a little vegetal. While I don’t drink a lot of flavored teas, but from what I understand most flavored teas cannot be steeped more than once without a significance loss in flavor; I got four long (three minutes first steeping, four minutes second steeping, six minutes third steeping and seven minutes for my fourth) before the leaves started to feel completely used up.


Beautiful Taiwan Tea’s Golden Lily Oolong




Unlike What-Cha’s Jin Xuan this is unflavored. This was the first of BTT’s that I have tried and this is the tea that sold me on the company, while it isn’t as nuanced as the other GeoShanCha at BTT, it is wonderful, I almost want to say it is my favorite, but whenever I purchase this tea I always drink it all within a week and I won’t want to drink anything else besides this tea.


This feels like a more traditional Jin Xuan, and unlike the Fujian Milk oolong from What-cha, this has a very thick mouthfeel, almost syrupy. This is primarily milky (more a sweet creamy butter then milk though), but I can taste a little bit of nutty vegetables, and some strong floral notes. While I don’t have as much to say about this Jin Xuan, I’ll just say this leaves me breathless and when I am done I regret not having more.



While both are very different Jin Xuans, I have been comparing all Milk oolongs to these two, and most fall short.  I’ve bought 150g of What-Cha’s Fujian Milk Oolong within two weeks and I have no idea how much I’ve bought of Beautiful Taiwan Tea’s Golden Lily Oolong, I have at least four empty bags littering the bottom of my box of tea. I was actually surprised that Alistair had his Milk Oolong since starting his store and I hadn’t noticed it. If you like oolongs, you should definitely try both these teas, both are good introductions to the seller’s sites. 
Read More

Midweek Milky Matcha - Beautiful Taiwan Tea Matcha Powdered Green Tea from NanTou




I was lucky enough to be one of the few who purchased Beautiful Taiwan Tea’s r/Tea exclusive super deal, where I paid $15 for:

1)      A 2 oz. bag of Twisted Green Tea from Sanxia.
2)      A 2 oz. bag of Misty Mountain High Mountain Oolong also from Shanlinxi.
3)      A 2 oz. bag of BaoZhong Green Oolong from Pinling.
4)      A small sample of Winter 2014 Shanlinxi Premium

The owner also included a small sample of his Matcha PowderedGreen Tea from NanTou, which is what I’ll be looking at today. I was a little off put by the yellowish green color, but this tastes very similar to a Japanese powdered Sencha and you can tell it wasn’t dyed like some powdered teas are. I am a little curious to know more of the cultivar that produced this tea, it tastes so similar to a Japanese tea that I can’t help, but think it is one of the Taiwanese-Japanese hybrids or a transplanted Japanese cultivar. Anyways, I did prepare this both with water and milk; honestly this could easily be a higher end Japanese powdered Sencha or a matcha in the $10-15 range. Regardless this was a very good powdered green tea, I was surprised at how finely ground this is and this is prone to slight clumping, but nowhere as bad most Chinese powdered green teas. It didn’t froth up as much I would like when I made it with milk and when I made it with water, but I can ignore that. Definitely worth checking out.  
Read More

Beautiful Taiwan Tea - DaYuLing Premium High Mountain Oolong



I was so excited when the owner of Beautiful Taiwan Tea announced he secured a small batch of DaYuLing and immediately bought a small sample of it. The question is, “Was it worth it?” Yes!


This is the first tea that I have got tea drunk off of the first steeping. I imagine if I drank the water I used to rinse the tea leaves I’d probably have gotten tea drunk off of that as well. Generally I avoid teas that make me feel drunk off of, but I may have to make an exception for this one in the future.  I am only going to post my first four steepings, I got to twenty three and the tea felt like it still had more to give sadly I just had to much tea by then. I’ve had DaYuLings before, but none have tasted like this (I am starting to suspect those were not true DaYuLings) and the dry leaves looked fairly typical of a hand rolled oolong. The dry leaves had a slight floral scent.




After I rinsed the tea with boiling water, I steeped at 190 °F for one minute. Immediately I could smell a very strong orchid aroma. The liquor was a light yellow, but it was like syrup! The mouthfeel was so nice! I’ve had thick feeling tea before, but this was absolutely wonderful as it coated my throat. It was very buttery and it had a slight edamame taste, but it was very sweet. I got very tea drunk off this steeping.



For my second infusion I brewed at 190°F for one and half minutes. The aroma became more intensely floral (still mostly orchid, but there was some other flowery scents in there). The mouthfeel is slightly thicker and it is starting to become creamy. The taste is largely the same although it had honey notes this time rather than general sweetness.





Next I brewed at 195 °F for two minutes. The floral aroma started to become distinctly orchid and violet. The mouthfeel is still thick, but from here on it becomes slightly thinner with each infusion, although it was still creamy. This time I was getting a little roasted chestnut, there still was the edamame and honey notes to it and there was a mineral aftertaste.





For my fourth infusion I brewed at 200 °F. The aroma is starting to become more mellow, mostly violet by now, but there is a little spicyness now; still very creamy and has a pleasant feel. A new orchid flavor started to show here, the roasted chestnuts and honey from previous infusions are still there, but the edamame was gone completely.




In my subsequent infusions the chestnut started to wane and the floral and honey notes lingered on to the end. I loved this tea, it was very typical of the High Mountain Oolongs from beautiful Taiwan Tea, but there is something in it that I can’t quite put my finger on that makes it very different from BTT’s other teas. It might be my new favorite Taiwanese oolong. I can only imagine how the earlier harvests tasted. Definitly worth checking out; Taiwanese oolongs are always very easy to love and hard to hate, but this DaYuLing is simply amazing. My only advice is drink it slowly and savor it. 
Read More

Midweek Milky Matcha (Powdered Green Tea) from eBay





Today I had a nice powdered green tea. It was a Korean powdered green tea from this eBay seller, while it was not as good as a proper Korean Malcha, it had a nice mix of sweetness and bitterness. I wouldn’t prepare it with water because it is considerably bitterer although when brewed with milk it is perfectly palatable. Like many powdered green teas it is prone to clumping, I mixed two grams of sugar in with the powdered tea and still it was very lumpy. Overall it is not bad for culinary grade powdered green tea, it is quite economical and I am probably going to use the rest baking something like green tea bread. 
Read More

What-Cha's Discover Russia Green Tea Sampler

Today I am looking at What-Cha’s Discover Russia Green TeaSampler, sadly Alistair of What-cha appears to have run out of one of the teas at the time of writing this, but it appears he has adjusted the price.  This time I am a little more prepared for what Russian teas taste like and I did have multiple steepings with each tea, although I am only posting my first impressions.

Krasnodar Dagomys Tea Estate Green Tea



The dry leaves were more broken up then I expected (I totally ignored the photos on What-Cha’s website, hopefully any reader ignores my own) although broken up may not be the right word since the tea leaves appear purposefully cut up. The tea leaves have a slight dried fruit scent. I brewed at 175 °F for three minutes.  The liquor had a very common greenish yellow color and there was a slight peachy aroma. The taste not surprisingly was of nectarines ( a lot of the greens I’ve tried from What-cha have a peach-nectarine taste I suspect Alistair likes them) and there was a slight tart edge. Compared to the Premium greens I had before the taste was a lot less clean.


I could very well see myself buying this tea again as a sort of everyday tea that I could easily serve to company.

Krasnodar Large Leaf Dagomys Tea Estate Green Tea



The dry leaves were not as cut up as the last in fact they appear twisted into tight spirals and are quite dark even though most of the Russian Teas I have tried had dry leaves darker then I normally see in greens and oolongs; I must remember to look into how Russian Tea growers roll their teas, I don’t remember seeing spiraled tea leaves before. There was a slight tangy scent to the dry leaves, almost like barbeque sauce without the smoke and spice. I brewed at 175 °F for three minutes once again and the liquor became very redish-brown for a green tea. This time there was a very slight smoky aroma, although not as smoky as the Yunnan Purple Zi Juan, but more than the ZhejiangPurple Zi Sun Cha. There was a very generally fruity taste, maybe more apple than anything else, but the taste lingered for a long time.


Once again I could definitely see myself buying this tea individually as an everyday tea. It is very non-offensive.

Krasnodar 'Since 1947' Matsesta Tea Estate Green Tea


This tea had the greenest dry leaves of the batch; they reminded me of Long Jing's tea leaves that have been mangled a bit. In fact they tasted very much like a Long Jing. I brewed at 175 °F for three minutes; this produced a very pale yellow liquor. There were some minor fruity and grassy notes. This was probably the most complex of the sampler.


I don’t know if I would buy this one again, while there was nothing wrong with it, it didn’t stand out beyond the appearance of the dry leaves.

Krasnodar Stem 'Chereshkovaya' Matsesta Tea


The tea leaves are dark and very strange, they remind me very much of chai blends a few longer strands while majority is finely cut. I brewed at 175 °F for three minutes and this produced a grassy tea with a lingering nutty taste. Not too grassy, but it was not light, almost just right.


I might purchase this again. It is neither bad nor good, it does nothing wrong, yet it does not do anything particularly well. To be honest it is a little middle of the class type of tea. While I could find better easily at the same time I could find a lot worse at the same time. I almost want to say it is mediocre, but this was my favorite tea of the sampler if that makes any sense. It doesn’t challenge me, but I don’t feel held back with this tea.

Krasnodar Stem 'Chereshkovaya' Host Tea Estate Green Tea


The tea leaves are very green for a Russian green tea (although I have not tried enough Russian tea to determine if dark tea leaves are normal) and there is a scent that I can’t identify. The leaves are a mix of chopped and longer strands. I brewed at 175 °F for three minutes and this produced a grassy tea. Not too grassy, but it was not light, almost just right.


While this tea was relatively simple I might purchase it if it was sold individually, I could easily find grassy teas that were complex, but if I was looking for a one note tea (not that this is bad) I would consider purchasing this.

Krasnodar 'VIP' Matsesta Tea Estate Green Tea


The dry leaves were a mix of tightly spiraled tea and cut up leaves. I brewed at 175 °F for three minutes. This one taste very similar to a Dragonwell even though the dry leaves look nothing like one, it was mostly nutty with a mild grassy taste, although there was no sweetness in this tea.


I may or may not buy this tea if it was sold individually, because it tastes so similar to a Dragonwell I feel I can easily find very complex ones relatively cheaply. If I were to buy it again it would have to be priced very competitively. While this may be my second favorite of the sampler, it doesn’t stand up to What-Cha’s Zhejiang Dragonwell which is very cheap for the quality.


This sampler was considerably harder for me to write on, while many of the teas from the Discover Russia Premium Non-Black Sampler had more distinctive tastes; the teas in this were more restrained. I enjoyed this sample more though, but if you are looking for teas that feel unfamiliar the other sampler is for you. I felt very comfortable with these teas since sampling them felt like trying on an old sweater.  Overall these teas felt like the easy kind of tea to enjoy whenever rather than the kind you have to be in the mood for. 
Read More

Sencha of the Earth 2013 from Obubu Teas via Tealet


I purchased the Alfredo and Akky Tea Box from Tealet fairly recently, and today I’ll be looking at the Sencha of the Earth from Obubu Tea. Before I get to the tea itself, I want to talk about the packaging a little. This was my first order from Tealet, even though I’ve known about Tealet for quite some time, I’ve never bought anything before because for the most part Tealet sells their teas by 15g, which is something of a weird increment to sell by when most tea stores sell either 25-28gs or an ounce for the smallest non-sample sized available, but I decided to buy the Alfreddo and Akky Tea Box because it was fairly inexpensive and I had an overwhelming desire to finally try some of their sourced teas. I like the idea and spirit behind Tealet, but I’d be more comfortable buying teas from them in the future if they increased the amount of tea, even if that means raising the price.




The dry leaf had a peppery vegetable smell and had the standard sencha look, mostly unbroken, but there were little bits of shredded leaf; mostly green, but with a little light yellow thrown in. Regardless I started brewing at 175 °F in my houhin for one minute. Immediately I could smell a green bean aroma while the taste was mostly nutty, but I could also distinguish both bark and something sweet, although there was some bitterness as well. I’d like the bitterness to be more pronounced, but this steeping was fine, right now it was sweeter than being bitter and has a pleasant astringency. It had a a very pleasant mouthfeel, a little thicker then what one’d expect for a Japanese tea.



For my next steeping I brewed at 180 °F for one and half minutes. This time the aroma was nutty and maybe a little seaweed. While the taste was drastically different from the last; this time it had a strong nutty taste, a mild seaweed taste and very mild honey notes. This infusion was still sweeter then bitter, but not as sweet as the last. I am starting to like this tea more. Generally I like bitterness in Japanese greens.


For my third steeping I brewed at 185 °F for two minutes. This was my favorite infusion; it had a perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness. The aroma was pretty much gone by now, but it still had a nutty taste, almost like a Long Jing, but a little more grassy this time, it still had a sweetness there, but it was a little muted. While it did not have the same mouthfeel of the first and second infusion, this was by far my favorite steeping



I got three more infusions out of the leaves, but after the third they became very light. Overall I rather enjoyed this tea. I haven’t had much luck with Japanese teas this year, but this is definitely my favorite Sencha that I tried (although I still have two more in the Tealet Tea Box, so who knows if it will still be my favorite afterwards). This Sencha of The Earth revitalized my interest in Japanese greens, and I’ll have to keep my eye on Obubu Tea.
Read More

Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2009 Xinghai Bulang Qiaomu Sheng Puerh


I tried a sample of Crimson lotus Tea’s 2009 Xinghai BulangQiaomu Sheng Puerh.  This is the first puerh I’ve looked at here although not my first puerh. I wanted to have a short gongfu session, but this tea lasted a lot longer than I thought it would (eighteen infusions in total). The sample I have was mostly in large chunks, each around five to eight grams a piece.


I began with three short rinses with boiling water for six seconds each. For my first infusion I steeped for ten seconds (subsequent steepings I added five seconds). For the most part my first three infusions were pretty similar; they had an earthy scent and it mostly had a woodsy taste, although there were hints of very dark chocolate and some bitterness. I didn’t really care for these three infusions; it was a little too dark for me although the liquor was a very light for the strength of the tea.


For my next three infusions I used boiling water for twenty –five seconds (plus five seconds for each subsequent infusions). This time it had a smokey aroma, although I could still smell wet earth. The taste became very smooth and dark chocolaty, there was a little bit of sweetness now, but it still had some bitterness. Normally I am not a fan of darker teas, but this was very pleasant, it reminded me a little of Mexican hot chocolate without cinnamon. Unfortunately at this point I burned my hand pretty bad so I stopped taking pictures, but I still continued on, for the most part it the liquor became darker as I went on, until the thirteenth infusion when it started to become lighter.


At the seventh steeping, it started to become really interesting. I used boiling water and steeped for forty-five seconds. The aroma was very similar to previous, earthy and smokey, but the taste had a new edge to it. While it still was very chocolaty and woodsy with a little sweetness , but there was new spiciness to it. I could taste a little chili, but I mostly was getting cinnamon and cocoa powder. I differentiate the dark chocolaty taste from before with the cocoa powder taste which was a little drier. There was still some bitterness, but it became very similar to Mexican hot chocolate now that I was getting the spicy notes. This was probably my favorite infusion even though it was still darker then my normal teas.

I am going to skip ahead to my thirteenth infusion, by now I was steeping for seventy seconds. By now the scent is mostly gone, although the leaves are starting to smell very burnt. As for taste it started to have a coffee taste, more like a French roast. Before the tea tasted bitter, but with a sweet aftertaste, this time I would say it was sweet with a bitter aftertaste.  I could still taste chocolate in this, but it became very mellow and the spicy notes were still present although the cinnamon and chili started to become murky. After this infusion the brewed tea became lighter.


I liked this tea, while I am normally not a darker teas so I generally avoid most puerhs, but I think I’ll have to reconsider a lot of teas I normally write off. And while I did enjoy the later infusions more so than the earlier ones, I’d definitely try this tea again if I can find it. 
Read More
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)