R/Tea’s Explorer’s Club Cicada Black Teas

R/Tea’s Explorer’s Club Cicada Black Teas and Aged Darjeeling
Source: M05H1 

18
Origin: Shi Family’s Farm in Yuchi Taiwan
Harvest: January 2015

Dry Leaves: Unfortunately like all the Cicada black teas there is not much an aroma to the dry leaves, I suspect due to the ziplock bags. These leaves are the most broken up of the three samples, but they are the most delicate so I am not surprised.



Temperature: 200oF (+ five degrees each subsequent infusion)
Brewing Time: Three Minutes (+ one minute each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Cinnamon
Flavor: Muscatel, Cinnamon and Mint
Tasting Notes: This is a very aromatic tea, I already mentioned that I am fairly inexperienced with black teas, but I have had a couple Taiwanese black teas in the last couple months and none a strong aroma like this. Regardless I rather enjoyed the muscatel taste as well as the cinnamon. There was a slight mint aftertaste that was very refreshing, but I do not think mint and cinnamon goes together that well although it did not ruin the tea for me.

While I did enjoy this tea it was probably my least favorite of the three, although it had the nicest aroma and mouthfeel. It has quite a lot of sweetness and I see why M05H1compared it to an Oriental Beauty, but I do think that it is much easier to brew than an Oriental Beauty. I do not think Oriental Beauties are particularly hard to brew, but this is pretty much idiot proof.

21
Origin: Shi Family’s Farm in Yuchi Taiwan
Harvest: March 2015

Dry Leaves: Again not much of an aroma and they are shaped pretty similar to 18, perhaps a little thicker & flatter, but not as delicate.

Temperature: 200oF (+ five degrees each subsequent infusion)
Brewing Time: Three Minutes (+ one minute each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Orange and Cinnamon
Flavor: Orange, Cocoa and Honey
Tasting Notes: Again very aromatic. This was rather interesting like the 18 it was a cross between two different varietals. 18 was a cross between Taiwanese wild mountain trees with Burmese Assam trees and it did not really taste like an tea made from an Assam plant, it felt very much like what I am coming to understand is Taiwanese black teas. While 21 is a cross between a Keemun and an Indian Kyang tree and this feels much more like an Indian black than either the 18 or the Wild.



Like 18 this is another tea that has been bitten by Green Leaf Cicada, and the leaves do not look that bitten when completely unfurled. (You can check out M05H1’s imgur gallery for better pitctures). I was actually surprised by how much I enjoy this tea since it feels very much like an Indian tea and I am not that fond of Indian teas.

Wild
Origin: Shi Family’s Farm in Yuchi Taiwan
Harvest: December 2015

Dry Leaves: The leaves are mostly long and curled, slightly twisted, while the tips have a slight corkscrew shape. For the most part my sample was mostly intake although I did notice a small amount of crushed tea towards the bottom of my sample which probably happened because my packaged arrived with quite a few dings.



Temperature: 200oF (+ five degrees each subsequent infusion)
Brewing Time: Three Minutes (+ one minute each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Stonefruits
Flavor: Apricot, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon and Cocoa
Tasting Notes:  I decided to list this one last because it is something of a strange duck. The other two teas were quite easy to brew and I doubt even I someone fairly inexperienced with black teas could not mess up; not to say this tea is hard to brew or temperamental, but it definitely feels very different depending on how you brew it. I regret buying such a small sample of this. Regardless it was my favorite of the three teas. It has a fruity aroma that is more on the peach/nectarine side of the spectrum. And the individual flavors are quite nice; I know I have compared Taiwanese black teas to “desert” teas although lacking those fillers that attract new people to tea. I rather enjoyed the brown sugar notes more than anything else. The cinnamon notes were a little lackluster especially when compared to the other two teas.


While this Wild tea was not as aromatic as either the 18 or 21 and did not have as nice of mouthfeel as the others it definitely is the one I prefer. The other two teas did not feel like they needed a splash of milk, but I was tempted to use just a bit, while the wild felt perfect on it’s on.  But I must admit I was a little disappointed with how many steepings I got out of the Wild. I know these teas are meant to for one long infusion, but I did get at least four infusions out of the 18 and 21, but I only got two out of the Wild. Nevertheless I still liked it best, but like the 18 and 21 it had no astringency and a nice body.


Bonus:

Origin: Darjeeling
Aged in Ireland from around 1985


I’ve had this tea for a little over two months and I’ve been meaning to write a little something on it, but I was not sure if it was worth its own post. I am not saying it is not an interesting tea, because it absolutely is, but I do not have much to say about it.  

Dry Leaves: The leaves are quite broken up I am not sure if it is because of the age, I doubt it was because of shipping since the package arrived in perfect shape, or if that is just what the tea is meant to look like. Regardless there is not much of an aroma to the dry leaves although I could distinguish a woodsy smell.

Temperature: Boiling
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: N/A
Flavor: Fruity and Hay
Tasting Notes: I thought about saying I could not tell it apart from a fresh Darjeeling, but I do not feel like getting any hate mail for a cheap joke. But it does feel very much like an Indian tea even though it is around a quarter of a century old. There was no aroma I could pick up on, but there was still a bit of flavor. A little fruity and something like hay, definitely on the weaker side, but much stronger than what I was expecting. I have had teas of a similar aged stored in less than ideal conditions before (ie forgotten in that corner of cupboard that you never use) and this definitely is better.



Overall I was very impressed with what I got, although my expectations were pretty low and it was a free sample. Regardless I did try this with milk afterwards and I prefer it without.


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What-Cha’s India Nilgiri Green Smile Hari Muskan

Origin: Coonoor Tea Estate, Nikgiri, India         
Harvest: First Flush, Late February 2015
Cultivar: CR6017
Elevation: 1950m
Alistair of What-Cha has been gently trying to convert me to Indian greens for quite some while and while I have not hated the teas he has given me I never was that impressed with what I had. I preferred his Nepali teas over his Darjeelings and Assams, although there have been a few whites and oolongs that I enjoyed. I have something of a sordid history with Indian greens; I’ve had more bad experiences with them than anything else. There are quite a few reasons why I avoid Indian greens, but the two major ones are price and taste. I am not a fan of Darjeelings or first flush teas, in fact I prefer second flush teas for their muscatel tastes, but I do not care for how dark many second (and even later flush) Indian greens are. I feel Darjeeling’s in particular are overpriced for the quality. Regardless Alistair convinced me to try his new Nilgiri teas. I must admit I only had a few Nilgiri teas before; I was convinced they were one of the more inferior Indian teas. While I was not exactly looking forward to these teas I did plan to purchase them almost immediately after they were listed on What-cha.

They are pretty inexpensive so I was not expecting a lot from them, even though the images of the dry leaves on What-Cha are beautiful, I suspected the leaves were much smaller than they appeared and I was wrong. Before I go on What-Cha describes this tea as:

Indi Khanna, responsible for the tea's production, has followed the Chinese convention of naming tea in relation to what they look like. This particular tea has been given the name 'Hari Muskan' which roughly translates as Green Smile.
Sourced direct from Coonoor Tea Estate who produce five unique high quality teas from a specially cultivated area of their estate.
Dry Leaves: The leaves are very long and thin. Already I am impressed, I am used to seeing fragmented Indian greens, but these look handmade, I doubt they are considering the price. The leaves have a slight sweet grassy aroma. For the most part the leaves are tightly twisted into twig like shapes, but some are curled.
First Steeping
Temperature: 175oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Fruity
Flavor: Grassy, Grapefruit and Walnut
Tasting Notes: There is some astringency to this tea, not a lot, but enough to be noticed. Anyways I was surprised with this tea, it feels more like a Chinese green than an Indian green. I cannot help, but be reminded of What-Cha’s Neapli teas, while those felt like a Chinese-Japanese hybrid, these feel more like a Chinese tea than anything else, although it has some raw quality that reminds me of Indian teas.





Besides that it is much thinner than a typical Indian green, but I hesitate to describe this as thin. This is a very clean tea with very sharp tastes. The grapefruit in particular had a nice bite, but I would not describe it as unpleasant. The walnut notes were the hardest for me, while this is not a nutty tea there are some nutmeat notes in it.
Second Steeping
Temperature: 180oF
Brewing Time: One Minute and Fifteen Seconds
Aroma: Citrus and Apricot
Flavor: Wet Grass, Grapefruit and Walnut
Tasting Notes: The grassy notes are becoming a little murky, I struggled to describe it. The wet grassy notes reminded me a little of that flavor you get in Japanese greens like Gyokuro or Kabusencha, but not as green. Regardless the aroma has changed from being simply that ambiguous fruity scent to citrus and apricots.


So far this is a very strange tea; while I am enjoying it I have not had many Indian greens that make me want to try more. Although there are quite a few nice flavors in it, it lacks nuance that is easy to find in Chinese greens.

Third Steeping
Temperature: 185oF
Brewing Time: One Minute and Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Citrus and Apricot
Flavor: Sweet Grass, Grapefruit and Walnut
Tasting Notes:  It’s still improving, but from here on out the flavors and aromas do not develop any further. This is a very straight forward tea that does not change much from the beginning. And there is nothing wrong with that, perhaps I am just spoiled with teas that change as time goes on whereas this tea wears it’s scents and flavors on its sleeve.





Nevertheless this is quite a nice tea, not nice enough to rethink my prejudice against Indian greens, but nice enough to have piqued my curiosity to be open to try more. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling 50g of this tea for $6.75 and that seems the perfect price for this. Because the flavors do not change over time and the modest price this is definitely a daily drinker. I suppose my criticism of this tea boils down to that it feels lie it is trying to be a Chinese green more so than an Indian green and that where it fails while this is a very good Indian tea it has a lot of competition amongst Chinese greens. Although I must admit I do not think I have ever encountered an equal Chinese green in this price range. Definitely worth trying out and I am looking forward to trying more tea from the Coonoor Tea estate if they continue to be different from the majority of Indian greens. In What-Cha’s description it is mentioned that this tea is named in the Chinese convention after what the tea looks like, I cannot help, but think that this is a Chinese inspired tea because it does not appear to be processes in the same way as many Indian greens.







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What-Cha's Australian Sencha and Shincha

What-Cha’s Australian Greens Sencha and Shincha

I decided to group my thoughts on What-Cha’s Australian teas together, mostly because I think that Alistair of What-Cha should sell them in his “Discover X Region” sampler collection, at the same time because they have the same faults. I was originally planning on featuring all four in one post, but the post was just too long, so I decided to break it up into two parts.

Origin: Two Rivers Green Tea, Acheron Valley, Victoria, Australia
Harvest: Second Flush December 2014
Cultivar: Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Elevation: 200m



So I recently got my What-Cha package and decided to immediately try one of the new Australian teas. And if you were like me you may have been confused with the description. How could a tea that was harvested in December be considered second flush, until you remember Australia is in the southern hemisphere and the seasons are inverted (Summer is from December to February, Autumn is from March to May, Winter is from June to August and Spring is September to November, roughly). It took me a much longer time than I care to admit to realize this. Anyways What-Cha describes this as:
Two Rivers Green Tea started producing tea in 2001 with the aid and encouragement of Japanese tea experts who were seeking to encourage Japanese style tea production for the domestic Japanese market. The Two Rivers farm was selected as it has the same latitude of southern Japanese tea farms, idea temperatures, rainfall and great quality topsoil. 
I wonder how old the tea plants are that this tea is made from. Regardless it is interesting to note that 25% of the price goes back to the farmer and this sencha is a blend of leaves from the Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori cultivars. While I am not that knowledgeable on Japanese tea cultivars I have never heard of Okuhikaori before, though judging by the first syllable Oku I’m assuming it is a slow growing tea, perhaps a relatively new cultivar. I’ve heard of Okuyutaka, Okumidori and Okumusashi before, perhaps it derives from one of these. I do know that the Yabukita and the Sayamamidori are more established cultivars. Both cultivars are known to be cold resistant and produce very aromatic leaves.   

Dry Leaves: The leaves are a mix of long flattish pieces with smaller twisted leaves. The majority of the leaves are light green with a little bit of forest green and yellow, although there are a bit of blueish green small pieces mixed in as well. I was a little surprised that there was not much of an aroma to these leaves especially since two of the cultivars that make up this sencha blend are known for having a distinct aroma.
Temperature: 165oF (+5 for every subsequent steeping)
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds (+ Fifteen seconds for every subsequent steeping)
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Grassy, Sweet Corn and Citrus
Tasting Notes: This is a rather interesting tea; I cannot help, but compare it to What-Cha’s Nepal Second Flush Sencha. Like the Nepal sencha it lacks the unami taste; while I did not feel the Nepal Sencha was lacking because of the absence of unami (mostly because it felt like the perfect hybrid of a Japanese and Chinese tea) this Australian Sencha feels like it is missing something. I am not saying it is a bad tea, but it feels very similar to eating your favorite dish only to discover the chef forgot to add an important ingredient.


Regardless this is a very thin and light tea, definitely an Asamushi (light steamed) Sencha rather than a Fukamushi (deep steamed) Sencha. Despite its thinness this is a rather nice tea, or perhaps because of it. There is some astringency to this tea, not a whole lot, but still enough to be quite pleasant. I imagine if this was a stronger tea I’d probably have missed the astringency entirely.


I was a little disappointed with this tea, the aroma of the dry leaves and brewed tea was rather weak, but I can overlook that since it was quite pleasant. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling this for $6.90 for 50g and 25% of the price goes back to the farmer. This is definitely worth checking out, while I would hesitate to describe this tea as being representative of Sencha (Japanese ones at least) it is still rather nice. It is definitely better than most Chinese senchas I’ve had in the past.

Origin: Two Rivers Green Tea, Archeron Valley, Victoria, Australia
Harvest: First Flush, October 2014
Cultivar: Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Elevation: 200m

Onto the Shincha!


Dry Leaves:  The leaves are darker than the Sencha and the aroma is still rather weak. Although this time there is a slightly stronger (than the Sencha) vegetal aroma.


Temperature: 165oF (+5 for every subsequent steeping)
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds (+ Fifteen seconds for every subsequent steeping)
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Grassy and Nutty
Tasting Notes:  This is quite a simple tea. It was a little strange to taste nutty flavors in a Shincha, I am use to tasting them in Senchas and later teas, but not a tea that was harvested so early. Regardless this is quite a thin tea, like the Sencha, but once again it is not unpleasant. Unlike the Sencha there is almost no astringency in this.


At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling this Shincha for $7.50 for 50g. As for whether or not I think it is worth checking out that is a little more complicated. While it is quite inexpensive, it is the weakest of What-Cha’s Australian teas. I think it is worth checking out just to see what an Australian grown Japanese inspired tea taste like, but this is not the kind of tea that you’d base an order around. Everything wrong with this tea (thinness, lackluster aroma, lack of astringency, etc) is present in the rest of What-Cha’s Australian teas, but the other three teas have some redeeming characteristic. Nevertheless I do feel What-Cha needs to have an Australian green tea sampler.


While I still have two more of What-Cha’s Australian teas to write about I am a little curious about Australian teas. I must preface this by saying I know very little of growing tea and even less about commercial farming so all that is following is my pure uneducated conjecture so take everything with a grain of salt.


I cannot help, but think the thinness of the tea is a result of how it was harvested or even where it was grown. According to Two River’s website (http://www.tworiversgreentea.com.au/harvesting-and-growing/) their Sencha is picked forty-five days after their Shincha which as far as I am aware is pretty standard in the Japanese tea industry. While the Sencha definitely had a stronger taste then the Shincha I cannot help, but think they are harvesting their Shincha just a tad early. Perhaps it is the blend of different cultivars that leads to the thinness? Or even the age of the plants, Two Rivers was established in 2001 so these plants are undoubtedly not that old perhaps the plants are not old enough. I know that many see plants under a certain age as not suitable for harvesting teas in part to promote growth as well as many see the tea from immature plants as poor. Another possibility is how the tea is processed; perhaps there is nothing wrong with the tea itself and the issue lies in the fact these tea was processed to be an Asamushi Senchas. 
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Tea From Taiwan’s AliShan Black 2014

(Tea provided For Review)

Origin: Alishan, Chia Yu County, Taiwan
Harvest: November 2014
Cultivar: Red Jade #18
Elevation: 1300m

Tea From Taiwan was gracious enough to send me a couple samples after I posted my thoughts on their DaYuLings, and they included a rather large tin of this AliShan black tea, while I am not a fan of black and darker teas I did decided to try this since I have had good experiences with Taiwanese Black teas in the past. But before I go on Tea From Taiwan describes this tea as:

75 grams of black tea in metal canister
This black tea is from Taiwan's Alishan tea district, grown at an altitude of 1300 meters.
This is an exceptionally smooth black tea with a naturally sweet honey flavor. This black tea has a hint of cinnamon without any astringency.
Alishan black tea is grown without pesticides.
Comes in an attractive metal cannister.


Dry Leaves: The dry leaves do not have a pungent aroma, but there is a bit of smoke in them. And the leaves are fairly uniform slightly coiled and twisted in a loose s shape with about a fourth of the leaves having golden tips. While it is hard to see in the photo, I did end up pouring the tin on a platter and it becomes much more apparent than.



First Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Cinnamon and Chocolate
Flavor: Malty and Honey
Tasting Notes: I decided to not follow Tea From Taiwan’s recommended brewing time (three to five minutes) although this was not a conscious decision I was just too lazy go online and look their recommendation up. Regardless this is a very nice tea even when I brewed it for such a short time.





Like the description says this is very smooth and lacks astringency. As I already mentioned before I am not big on drinking black teas, but I do know certain green teas do benefit from a little astringency, I wonder if the same is true for black teas. So far this tea seems perfect the way it is, I cannot imagine adding milk or sugar would improve it.
Second Steeping
Temperature: 205oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Cinnamon and Chocolate     
Flavor: Malty, Fruity and Honey
Tasting Notes: The chocolate aroma is starting to weaken which if I am honest I do not mind. I have not drunk “dessert” teas in quite some while, but this felt quite decadent to me, not necessarily rich. Again you must remember I do drink a lot of sharp greens so perhaps this is just my ignorance showing, but I rather enjoyed this so far. While the chocolate aroma is lessening the Cinnamon is becoming more distinct. As for the tastes there are some new fruity notes that I did not notice until I finished my cup.


And there was a touch of smokiness to it, something like that slight smokiness you find in barbeque sauce more so than the smokiness found in immature puerhs.

Third Steeping
Temperature: Boiling
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Cinnamon
Flavor: Malty, Fruity and Honey
Tasting Notes: The chocolate aroma is completely gone by now, but at this point the cinnamon aroma started to weaken. Regardless the individual tastes are pretty much the same in strength as the last steeping.  While I do not have a lot of experience with black teas, let alone Taiwanese Black teas this seems quite different from the others I have tried. It does not necessarily feel like a breakfast tea, like some of the black teas and teas made from Red Jade #18 that I have tried.


Nevertheless I rather enjoyed this tea. At the time of writing this Tea From Taiwan is selling 75g of this tea and a tin for $25.29 (marked down from $29.75) and it seems worth the price. I do not know what kind of value black tea drinkers look for in their teas, but this seems to me quite a steal.




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