White2Tea’s Dawuye Dancong

(Tea provided for review)
Origin: Guangdong



I decided it was finally time to get back on the White2Tea hype train and try one of their oolongs. I know I have been sitting on the remainder of the White2Tea samples for a long time and I feel terrible for waiting so long to try some of them, especially because they are so good! Anyways White2Tea describes this tea as:
Dark Feather Dancong oolong tea is a Dawuye variety oolong from the Guangdong province of China.  The tea has a light to medium roast and is sweet, fragrant, and has a lasting complex finish. Best brewed Gongfu style, the Dark Feather can be resteeped many times.
The name makes this oolong sound like it is much darker than it actually is, while it is nowhere near the more heavily oxidized oolongs I would not describe as a greener oolong, it feels somewhere in the middle. I do tend to avoid a lot of the heavily oxidized oolongs, but the roast on this feels rather well done, it is very subtle.


Dry Leaves: The leaves have a slightly grayish tint, but the leaves are predominantly blackish with a little green mixed in. There are a couple long stems and it looks like the leaves are hand harvested. There is a slight aroma of vegetal sweetness to the leaves.



First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Floral and Oat
Flavor: Tangy, Fruity and Malty
Tasting Notes: I do not know why I was expecting a darker tea, I have had Dawuyes before. Regardless this is a very fragrant tea; I am getting tons of floral notes and a rather strange aroma that stumped me for a while. In the end I decided to describe it as oats, it does remind me a little of oats, but more so of young grain; although I am not exactly certain while I have seen and smelled wild grains I do not know of any place nearby that grows grains to be sure.





The actual individual tastes of this tea are amazing. It is very easy to see why a store that specializes in puerh. It has a very nice mix of tangy notes that are not exactly sweet, then the fruitiness has some definite sweetness to it and then the malty contrasts both the tangy (almost spicy) & sweet fruity flavors. So far this tea reminds me a little of barbeque sauce in a good way, I can taste some roasted notes in this tea, even though I did not include “Roasted” in the flavor description section. 

Second Steeping
Temperature: 195oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Floral and Woodsy
Flavor: Tangy, Malty, Ripe Fruit and Citron Peel
Tasting Notes: Very creamy this time, while the liquor had a nice (not necessarily thick) mouthfeel in the last infusion it’s becoming much thicker almost syrupy. The fruity notes have changed a bit; they feel much riper this time definitely sweeter than the last time, although it has yet to develop sickly sweet that you occasionally see in teas described as ripe fruit. And there is a new citron peel like bitterness taste this time.





The aroma still is rather lovely, the oat scent has disappeared and been replaced with a woodsy scent that is a little reminiscent of the smell of wood after the bark has been pulled off. The floral notes are still there, but they are starting to weaken. Besides the aroma the tea is becoming rather complex, there are the sweet, but not sweetness of the tangy & fruity notes contrasting with the matiness & bitterness of the citron; its feels like this tea is being pulled in two directions and for some reason it works rather well. While individually each taste is clashing with the others, but for some reason this tea has a perfect balance between them. It has that tanginess yet still malty, it has those sweet ripe fruity notes despite the sharp bitter citron.

Third Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Woodsy and Oat
Flavor: Tangy, Malty, Walnut, Ripe Fruit and Tart Citrus
Tasting Notes: Again wow! I am sad to say the bitterness of the last infusion is almost completely gone and instead there is a very murky tart citrus flavor. And there is a new walnut taste that offers another interesting flavor; in later infusions the tea starts to become simpler, but the fruity and tangy notes are the first tastes to wane and disappear. It’s interesting that this tea becomes very earthy and floral towards its end. I did get a lot out of these leaves, I did not really keep track of how many infusions after the eighth, but this has a lot to give.





At the time of writing this White2Tea is selling this for $21.50 and while it a little out of that comfortable $10-15 range I feel that is a pretty good price for this Dawuye.



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What-Cha's 2014 Korean Greens

What-Cha’s 2014 Korean Greens

I decided to my impressions on these three teas in a single post rather than separate ones since they are somewhat similar to each other, although each tea is distinct, perhaps not so much when comparing them to each other.


Origin: Dosimdawon, Hwagae Valley, Hadong Korea
Harvest: Sejak (Second Flush)
Dry Leaves: It’s quite obvious this tea is hand plucked, while there is nothing wrong with machine picked tea there are few tea producing countries that do so well most notably Japan and Taiwan. The leaves have a grassy aroma with floral undertones. Other than that the leaves are quite thin and remind me a little of Bahzhong crossed with Indian greens, especially the strands with the flattened tips.


Temperature: 140oF
Brewing Time: One Minute (+ Thirty Seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Citrus Blossoms
Flavor: Fresh Corn, Sharp Citrus and Wet Grass
Tasting Notes: This was quite an interesting tea to begin with, I suspect it will either be my favorite of the three or the one I like the least. While it is tastes distinctly like a Korean green I cannot think of Senchas, it has a little bit of astringency from the citrus notes. Otherwise it feels very different from What-Cha’s 2013 Korean Greens that had more of a roasted corn taste than this. As an aside I am sad to say I ran out of the 100g of each of What-Cha’s 2013 Korean greens in March.


Origin: Soa Tea, Hwagae Valley, Hadong, Korea
Harvest:  Between Woojeon and Sejak (May 20th)

Dry Leaves: Once again another hand plucked tea, the leaves are a little curlier than the Dosimdawon Sejak and this has a stronger floral aroma than it and it feels like a much greener tea. For some reason the leaves remind me of praying mantis arms more so than sparrow’s tongue granted I have never seen a sparrow’s tongue.




Temperature: 140oF
Brewing Time: One Minute (+ Thirty Seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Floral
Flavor: Corn and Grassy
Tasting Notes: This feels like much fresher than the Dosimdawon, although I suspect it is because it is lacking the sharp citrus notes and astringency. Other than that it had a rather unusual creamy mouthfeel, I hesitate to describe it as being thick or thin, but it stood out to me. Perhaps because it lacks the astringency it feels fresher? Regardless it was quite nice, it did feel a little light, perhaps I should use more leaves next time. This was my first Gukwoo and I rather enjoyed it; it tastes more like a Woojeon than a Sejak though.



Korea Yejeon Woojeon 2014 Sparrow's Tongue 'Jakseol'Green Tea
Origin: Yejeon Tea, Hwagae Valley, Hadong, Korea
Harvest: Woojeon (First Flush)
Dry Leaves: The leaves are a little strange; while the Soa Gukwoo and the Dosimdawon had long and thin leaves this has shorter and flat leaves. I cannot help, but notice there are quite a few smaller broken up leaves mixed in and the occasional silvery tip. I am a little perplexed by this tea, I suspect it is not hand plucked. Regardless this lacks the floral aroma the other two teas had instead it had a nice grassy scent.




Temperature: 140oF
Brewing Time: One Minute (+ Thirty Seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Corn and Hay
Tasting Notes: Another Korean green that tastes like corn! Color me surprised; joking aside this feels and tastes like the 2013 Korean greens What-Cha stocks, not as fresh and clean as the first two teas of this post, and have a slight roasted corn taste. Unfortunately this tea stands out the least out of the three and I imagine it doesn’t fair well against What-Cha’s 2013 teas.


I did enjoy all three teas, but they have a very similar flavor profile. I kind of regret sampling all of these in one sitting, because I do not want to sound overly critical of the Woojeon at the same time I feel I had to sample these three teas in one setting because I knew these were going to be very similar to each other. I mentioned before that I occasionally feel overwhelmed when drinking multiple teas in one session, but at the same time I believe my feelings are stronger. Nevertheless I have yet to say which of these is my favorite and you can probably guess which I liked the least. I prefer the Dosimdawon over the Gukwoo because of the astigency and it is the one I am most likely to order again, but each has their own merits. At the time of writing this the a 5g sample of the Dosimdawon is being sold for $4.55, a 5g sample of the Gukwoo for $4.74 and a 5g sample of the Woojeon for $5.37. 
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Tea Ave Wenshan Baochong

Origin: Ping Ling District, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Harvest: 2014
Cultivar: QinXin Oolong
Elevation: 400-800m



I decided finally write this review, I put off looking at another Tea Ave tea ever since they launched their site, not because I do not like Tea Ave teas, but Tea Ave had a very successful PR campaign leading to them being everywhere. I do not know how many samplers they sent out before they launched, but I have a feeling they sent out a lot judging by their presence on the various tea forums I regularly read. In fact when I published my Tea Ave preview I did so prematurely. I have not discussed why I publish my reviews or even what I get out of this blog. I do not make any money off this blog, but I do get the occasional samples; for every ten queries from tea vendors I reject nine of them for a number of reasons. In fact the few companies that I accept samples from I regularly buy tea from. If you have been an attentive reader of this blog you may notice I always disclose at the beginning of my posts whether or not I received samples for the sake of review.

As I already said I do not get any money from this blog, the primary reason I write this blog is that I enjoy having a space to record some of the teas I try and recommending teas that I enjoy or think are interesting. While I do try to limit the posts on this blog to teas I either enjoy drinking or at the very least have interesting characteristics I try not to post my thoughts on teas that I do not enjoy. This may come as something of a shock to some, but there are quite a lot of teas that I do not like, even more scandalous there are teas from some of my favorite vendors that I do not enjoy.

Regardless I finally feel like the various tea forums I read are not oversaturated with reviews of Tea Ave’s teas. Tea Ave describes their Wenshan Baochong as:

If oolong tea can be chic, Wenshan Baochung is it: sophisticated, refined, unctuous (save it for your fanciest friends—or for yourself). One of the most fragrant oolong teas in the world, Wenshan Baochung is known for its rich, long-lasting aroma (we highly recommend enjoying it with our aroma cup). Unroasted with floral aromas, most of Wenshan Baochung Oolong’s tea leaves are unoxidized, giving it a quality reminiscent of a green tea with a dash of Dong Ding. Floral notes and aroma arise naturally from the tea leaves.
Wenshan Baochung Oolong grows in the Wenshan region of Northern Taiwan, where the year-long mild climate and fog-filled air give the tea a distinct, refined quality. Wenshan Baochung tea turns a golden honey-green color when infused and has a delightful floral flavor with a sweet finish.
Tea leaves are bright green and twisted into long strands.

The only statement I disagree with Tea Ave’s description is “save it for your fanciest friends—or for yourself” makes this sound more like the kind of tea you want to save for special occasions, but I feel this is more of a daily drinker. I know some see the phrase “daily drinker” as a slight, as an inexpensive tea perhaps of dubious origins, but I am not using it in that sense. I like to describe some Taiwanese Oolongs (LiShan, DaYuLing, etc) as being like cotton candy, something that is quite enjoyable, but you cannot live off them; while daily drinkers are more nutrious. As much as I enjoy DaYuLings, I do not think I could ever regularly drink them, while teas like this I could easily see myself drinking this often.



Dry Leaves: The leaves are very aromatic, there are a lot of floral notes, but the strongest is orchid. The dry leaves are pretty evenly blue and green, generally in my experience in lower quality baochongs I often see leaves that are mostly blue while in higher quality baochongs I often see mostly greens; I rarely see baochongs that are equally balanced like this. While the color of the leaves do not always telegraph the quality of a tea, for a baochong I like to assess the quality by the aroma of dry leaves and the aroma of these leaves is simply amazing. I can see the occasional stem which I do not often see in Baochongs. 


First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Floral and Vanilla
Flavor: Orchid, Honeysuckle, Spinach and Honey
Tasting Notes: As always with Taiwanese oolongs I did a quick rinse with boiling water. I decided to not follow the recommended brewing parameters Tea Ave lists on their website and their packaging, not because I disagree with what they recommend, but I feel that brewing this in very short steepings will not produce very different tastes and aromas in subsequent steepings and if I brewed this for long periods of time I would undoubtedly miss out on some of the subtler flavors and aromas. Long time readers may have noticed I have a template for how I write my reviews, I generally only post my notes on the first three steepings of any tea, and I feel that the first three steepings are the most important. Not surprising this is a very floral tea, although there is a bit of a vegetal notes coming out.



I rather enjoyed the honeysuckle notes more so than the orchid ones, but I found the spinach notes lingered a bit which was a nice contrast to the floral notes; while the vegetal flavors pale in comparison to more vegetal teas like senchas (etc) I always enjoy Taiwanese oolongs that have both floral tastes and vegetal ones.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 195oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Floral and Vanilla  
Flavor: Orchid, Honeysuckle, Violet, Spinach and Honey
Tasting Notes: The floral flavors are becoming more intense! I’m rather enjoying how these very strong floral notes are interacting with the spinach.



It was not until this steeping that I realized how much I liked the vanilla aroma of the tea. I do not often encounter vanilla scents in oolongs as green as this, but it was quite enjoyable although it did kind of clash with the floral notes
.

Third Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Floral and Vanilla
Flavor: Floral, Spinach, Nutty and Honey
Tasting Notes: I’m sad to say the floral notes are starting to become less distinct, this tea still has quite a lot of life left, but from here on out it starts to become simpler. Although I am happy to say the spinach and nutty notes do not wane until the very end.



This is a very lovely Baochong, at the time of writing this Tea Ave is selling this for $13.75 (CAD) for 25g is well worth the price. It definitely ranks pretty high on the baochungs currently being sold between $10-15, you can tell it is machine harvested, but it tastes much more like a hand plucked tea.


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Taiwan Tea Crafts Songboling Shui Xian

Origin: Songboling
Harvest: Fall 2013
Cultivar: Jin Xuan, Tres #12
Elevation: 350m


So I decided to write up a little bit on a rather interesting Taiwanese variation of a one of my favorite Wuyis. Shui Xian is sometimes transliterated as Water Fairy, Water Sprite, etc; unfortunately I don’t see a lot of them for some reason, I guess Shui Xians are not a popular Wuyi in the west, and normally a darker oolong than I normally drink. Taiwan Tea Crafts describes this as:

Some might find it unusual to see a Shui Xian tea listed in our collection of Taiwanese teas. Shui Xian Oolong Tea, otherwise known as Fairies’ Tears or Water Sprite tea, is a very famous oolong originating from the Wuyi Mountains in the northern part of Fujian Province in mainland China. Our local variation is made in the same style with a Taiwanese twist, featuring local leaf varietals grown in our local terroir and showcasing the roasting talents of our own tea master. An amateur of original Wuyi Shui Xian will find our tea quite surprising in the way it respects the distinctive aromatic characteristics of true Wuyi Shui Xians. Made from carefully twisted Jin Xuan leaves, this tea is oxidized (medium level) to retain the characteristic orchid scent, then, skillfully roasted to reveal the characteristic smooth wild honey taste and smooth finish with distinctive mineral notes. No overbearing, raspy finish here (like it is the case with some cheap Chinese variations you can find on the market)! The roasting skills of our tea master, that spans from generations of knowledge, shines despite his great humility. We are proud to showcase his skills with this deserving contribution.

I was rather interested in trying a Shui Xian grown in Taiwan, but I became a little hesitant when I read this is made with Jin Xuan leaves, although I am not sure if I could think of a better Taiwanese cultivar to use.


Dry Leaves: The majority of the leaves have an s like curve, there is quite a bit of reddish browns in the leaves, perhaps not as dark as a roasted TGY, but still a lot. And there is a little bit of roasted aroma to it, perhaps a little chocolate.


First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Chocolate and Orchid
Flavor: Roast, Floral, Wet Stone and Honey
Tasting Notes: This has a strangely thick mouthfeel for a tea grown at 350m, I’d be interested in seeing this grown around 1000m and see how much thicker it would be. The liquor is very creamy, unsurprising because it is made from Jin Xuan. The roasted notes are very mild, even though I do not enjoy roasted flavors that much I found this quite pleasant and was my favorite individual taste.



There some floral tastes, but they were not particularly pronounced; they were stronger than the wet stone and honey notes, but they felt overwhelmed by the roast. As for the aroma of the liquor, it was a rather nice blend of chocolate and orchid; I do not think I have ever encountered that combination before normally with roasted or baked oolongs I do not smell floral notes. Regardless I enjoyed the aroma more than the actual taste of the tea, so far nothing was wrong with the taste, but I loved the chocolate and orchid combination.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 195oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Chocolate, Woodsy and Orchid       
Flavor: Roast, Floral, Wet Stone and Honey
Tasting Notes: The new woodsy aroma was quite interesting, it starting to overpower the orchid notes, but it is still quite pleasant. I am reminded of floral infused chocolate, but now there is a woodsy, almost earthy taste to it. I do not ascribe to the belief that teas or certain aromas or flavors are masculine or feminine, but if I did I would probably describe this as a nice balance of masculine and feminine. While the chocolate and woodsy aromas are certainly stronger than the orchid, but there is something memorable about how they interact.



The flavors are pretty similar to the last infusion, but they are becoming slightly stronger; although the wet stone notes are becoming a little sharp. 


Third Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Dark Chocolate, Woodsy and Floral
Flavor: Roast, Violet, Spicy, Wet Stone and Honey
Tasting Notes: Wow! The aroma is simply divine! Sadly the flavor of the tea pales in comparison to how it smells. Again there is nothing wrong with how it tastes, but this is a very aromatic tea. It feels much more aromatic than many Shui Xians from Wuyi. The more I drink it the more confused I am. I already mentioned this was made from Jin Xuan, but it feels way more aromatic than most Jin Xuans, let alone a roasted one.



I am not sure if I have ever encountered a roasted tea with floral notes this strong. This was quite an enjoyable tea. Taiwan Tea Craft (at the time of writing this) is selling this for $7 for 50g and it is a bargain. Even though it is obvious from the leaves (and the addition information section of TTC’s site) that this is a machine harvested tea, but it is obvious that a lot of work went into the roast.



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