Joy Long Time (AliExpress)

Today i got my Aliexpress order which i placed on 11/08. super fast. the tea is pretty good. I’m not sure whats the real name of it because it doesnt look like traditional DHP. Leaves are thin, medium long, golden tips. i quiet enjoyed a gongfu session of it this afternoon
6g 100ml gaiwan 195F
rinse/ 3/5/5/7/10/10 sec etc
the dry leaves smell incredibly like dark rye bread. there are some chocolate, rye bread, raw nuts noticed. Slight tobacco and sweet potato shows up in later steeps . this tea and Laoshan Black are seem to be related. i wonder whats the real cultivar name of it.
i purchased it thru this seller
http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/6313062997.html
the leaves on a picture are different from the actual one. thats alright, i dont mind, because the tea is delicious

http://instagram.com/p/vl4UAwhwvd/

I have had tea by this company before but bought through a reseller. I picked this up during an Aliexpress sale and got about 250g for under 7$. The tea itself smells of malty chocolate and grain notes with a touch of sugar. The leaf consists of fairly long thin flat folded blades that are dark chocolate brown with occassional hints of golden tips. http://instagram.com/p/t5wNzvmK_E/

I got this tea as part of my search for an amazing Lapsang I’ve sampled before. This is not that tea but it is still very nice. This tea has a higher degree of malt than some Lapsang I have had, it also has a sort of bready texture which is reflected in the taste of some Gongfu steeps. I steeped this tea in both western and Gongfu styles. While the western steep has a nice scalded milk hot chocolate flavour in the first steeps, it really only lasted three steeps so I was expecting great resiliency when steeped Gongfu style, surprisingly I got 9 steeps out of it.

I steeped 3g in 150ml of 95°C water. My steeping times were 5,15,20,35,45, and 65s then 2,5 and 6 minutes. The first steep was a deep aged saffron colour after which the tea was a red toned bright copper.
http://instagram.com/p/t51LPGmK4j/

The tea smelt of: cocoa,longan,apricot, hints of citrus, caramel, malt, faint hints of smoke and roasted notes, cinnamon, and a touch of molasses.

It tasted of: cocoa,longan,apricot, hints of citrus, caramel, malt, faint hints of smoke and roasted notes, cinnamon, sandalwood, and pepper, barley, cashews and a touch of molasses. The last few steeps were mostly malt, cocoa, and grain notes as the tea began to loose complexity after steep 5.

The tea had a fairly bready texture as a result of a mild astringency and tannins. And had hints of malty greasiness in even the early steeps.

Although the western steep is tasty this tea does very well as a Gongfu tea. It does have a good body to it and lies in the middle of the scale in strength of flavour of the low to no smoke Lapsang Souchong’s I have had. It is very enjoyable and I don’t regret purchasing this huge bag.

As a side note, this company shipped very quickly and I received it earlier than some of my Chinese purchases. I did have a small issue with some items being absent from my order. However this was addressed immediately and without complaint by the seller. They sent the missing items along with some extra samples almost immediately. I held back confirming my acceptance until all items were received. Overall I was impressed with their professionalism and would do business with them again.

I look forward to comparing this tea with the fall tea, as I have a few samples of it.