UNYtea

Gongfu!

This weekend was the 10th Annual Toronto Tea Festival, and though I was only able to go on the Saturday I still had an AMAZING time. I bought a frankly ridiculous amount of tea, got to go to a few really good talks, and (perhaps best of all) was able to connect with so many tea friends – I think I saw over ten different tea bloggers I know from IG, some that I had met before like Yogateapoetry and some where it was our first time connecting in person, like with teaformeplease.

I actually flew in for the festival, and in order to be there in time for the 10AM open I had to catch a flight that departed at 7AM which meant I was up at 5AM. So, I was pretty tired at the start of the day – all the caffeine from the teas I sampled certainly helped push me through it, though! I did try to keep track of samples tasted at first, but it quickly became impossible so I think I’ll really only be doing tasting notes for the two teas I drank after the festival – like this one.

Since I was only doing one day, I also had a return flight on Saturday that left at 9:30PM. The festival ended at 5PM, but I wanted to give myself a few hours afterwards to hang out with the bloggers and drink some tea. A smaller groups of us (steap’d tea, teainspoons, and Chai Affairs) went out for supper and then afterwards Marco (steap’d tea) and Connie (teainspoons) and I met up with yogateapoety, teainfusiast, and chaimusafirblogs for some hotel room gongfu!

At this point I only had just under a half hour before I had to leave for the airport, but even still we managed to get in a few rounds of two teas! This was one, and it was really fun to be drinking something from UNYtea because Jeff was also one of the people I’d run into earlier in the day. I was also intrigued because I’ve never had a yellow tea from Taiwan before!!

Based on the two steeps I tried, I thought this was pleasant but a little too delicate and green-leaning for my own tastes. I really like when yellow teas have a strong nutty note, and the notes I got from these very light bodied and faint infusions were more like straw and dandelion greens. Nothing wrong with them at all, but just… not quite my jam.

Side note, I ended up leaving at the PERFECT time because I got to my gate about halfway through boarding. Closest I’ve ever been to missing a flight, which was kind of stressful. If I’d stayed for even one more round of infusions I would have missed that flight.

Interesting tea from one of my favorite companies. Whiteantlers sent me this sample a little bit ago, and funny enough, it was one I was meaning to try. I have the tendency to have too much black tea that I don’t drink enough of, so I didn’t purchase it initially because of that.

Trying it out, it’s very floral, malty and grassy for a black tea after flash style brewing. Even with less leaves, I usually don’t exceed 10 seconds when I steep it because this one can get bitter. Steep one and 5 are the mostly grassy for me a lot like a benifuki or a malty hojicha tea, but steeps 2-4 are the sweeter ones. The cherry blossom note is pretty prominent between steep two and three. The floral and almost oaky wood notes combine differently with vegetal ones like yams and squash, ending in a tannic and brown sugary sweet finish.

Like described, it packs a punch. I know it doesn’t have much caffeine, yet this tea can give me the sweats. The most I go with this one is to steep six, but I am having a hard time making it past steep 3 today. I personally would rate this one higher in terms of quality and taste, but it’s not a tea that I’d drink often.

Sipdown (603)!

This was a lot nicer than the first time that I tried it – more flavour to the cup overall, and fresher florals that reminded me so intensely of that “peak” in the Springtime. Peony/osmanthus notes in the top notes and body, quite strongly, with an almost magnolia like floral quality as well – it’s strong and defined but not strong. As a morning cup of tea, it’s almost too relaxing as well – I’m feeling very unmotivated to get out of bed and really start my day. The finish is interesting too; it’s creamy and sweet in more of a patisserie sort of way. Sort of a buttery, condensed milk note. Lovely to finish the sip on; and clean on the palate.

Mmmm!

A little bit weak tasting all brewed up, but this shows a lot of promise if I can figure out the right combo of things to really draw out the floral flavours. Though, as soft as they were the notes of osmanthus, orchid, and peach were quite pleasant. A creamier mouthfeel, and a bit of a gassy (wheatgrass?) undertone also. It was fine; I wanted something a bit less surface level though…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsx1hbJl5ro/

Sipdown (1513)!

Finished this one off yesterday morning and, in full transparency, I picked the tea because I knew I was going to be having a highly busy morning and I wanted to both get in a sipdown and pick something that I don’t find super special so that it didn’t feel overly wasteful when I drank it and didn’t get it attention. I just knew I wasn’t going to have the time. So, this was nice – a little fruity and very full bodied. However it wasn’t anything with a wow factor and really was just there to serve the purpose of keeping me caffeinated with a non offensive mug of black tea.

This tea is pretty old at this point, but I made a Western mug of it last week and I actually found it pretty nice. Not complex/dynamic (Japanese black teas rarely are; the age doesn’t help) but smooth, and easy to drink without off notes. More of an umami/brothy profile with hints of cherry wood and a raisin/brandy type of fruity undertone. Medium bodied; though a touch flat…

So I made this after work, to drink on my commute home.

To be fair, while I have tried Japenese black tea before once or twice, I don’t know a lot of Japanese black tea nor do I have a strong familiarity with how it normally tastes. However, the few times I’ve had it I found it very flat and lifeless in terms of flavour, and really just not what I typically want out of a good black tea.

I didn’t dislike this one; but I also didn’t find it overly complex or enticing either and it’s not the flavor profile I would generally be really craving from a black tea. It was, however, better than any other Japanese Black Tea I’ve had in the past. For me, I found it very smooth and lacking any sort of tannin and astringency – almost to a fault, since that left the flavor profile very dull and didn’t add any depth/nuance to the flavour notes. I thought the initial aroma of the dry leaf/steeped tea and the first bit of each sip had a touch of a leather-y quality to them, and then the body was more like fruit cake to me. By that, I mean it had that sort of “generic fruit”/dried fruit taste, with just a little bit of cinnamon and that cake-y/molasses sort of taste that the cake part of fruit cake has. All of those notes being on the softer side, and pretty equal in terms of presence.

Hence, fruit cake.

It was a fine tea – but simple/lacking complexity. It would be a really good option for something smooth and relatively mindless to sip on while doing other things throughout the day.

2018 sample- I brewed this tea 5 gs to 70ml which is a very low ratio for me. I kept my steeps short. I found this tea to have a very skinny body. The tastes I got were grassy, specifically wild grass. Sort of an early somertime kind of thing. This tea has a serious hui gan. It took me by surprise. There was very little aroma to the dry leaf. I think this would be a great tea for grandpa style.

Vegetable broth. Very savory and vegetal, with a slight tang present in their benifuki offering. The dry leaf smells very similar to benifuki. The wet leaf is actually quite green. I really enjoy drinking this tea at night as it is comforting and feels low in caffeine. Definitely an unusual tea, imo. I wasn’t sure I liked it or felt I had a use for it at first but it really grew on me and I’m missing it already.

I grabbed a sample of this because I wanted to call jeffery’s bluff about brewing this sencha like an oolong. Well, you really can do it! As far as what I’m used to for sencha, I found the taste to be a bit thin. It’s hard to describe. Here was the trade off: I drove around all afternoon with this sencha stewing at the bottom of my cup grand pa style and it never got bitter. I think that’s rad. I love sencha but it always feels like a hassle. With this stuff you can litterally chuck it in your cup, blast it with hot water at the gas station and let it cool for as long as you want. I’m serious. Try it. If anything, get a sample just to experience the adrenaline rush of pouring boiling water over a sencha. It will make you feel alive.

This is currently my favorite tea of all time, of any type. You’re only going to get A few infusions out of this but oh buddy, you’re not gonna care. This tea is sweet, and slightly bitter but not astringen. It has a surprising amount of caffeine. This is on of those teas that you can share with ANYONE. I will say that it is easy to miss the sweet spot, so leaf ratio and intact full leaves are to be notes. But as far as blowing any average person’s mind about what tea actually is, this is a go to. I reccomend 2g in 100ml for 2 min. Or, 5gs gong fu.

Steeped up a little cup using a cupping set earlier today – it was pretty nice and drinking it in the more concentrated cupping method brought out some unique and interesting flavour notes as well. A mix of yeasty bread/grass/nutty kind of elements as well as a fermented red fruit type of flavour too. Unique, distinct, and pretty nice as an afternoon cuppa.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09bAUwzODfI

From last weekend!

I definitely think I enjoy this a little bit more when brewed Gong Fu – but it was still really enjoyable steeped in a large Western mug of tea. More of the buttery and grassy elements of the coffee leaf come out when steeped – making it a bit more green tea-like in terms of taste. Still a hint of roastiness though that sucks me in.

Early evening cuppa.

I’m wondering if making this one in the evening was a mistake; I’m having some troubles falling asleep again. I mean, I know this has caffeine in it but it’s not supposed to be a large amount and I’m usually pretty immune to caffeine so I don’t know…

Taste wise I greatly enjoyed this one though; it was different than having it Gong Fu because the flavour seemed a lot less nuanced/layered but that doesn’t mean that it was less good. Mostly a sweet earthy profile; most comparable to a very lightly roasted green yerba mate. I think. By which I mean it has the underlying sweetness of mate and that green/grassy quality but with the earthiness/nuttyness that sets mate apart from green tea. I think I made this comparison with the Gong Fu session, but it still stands. The sweetness reminds me of sugar cane juice. The very fresh stuff.

Yummy.

Gong Fu!

I’ve had flavoured coffee leaf teas/tisanes before and really liked them, so I was very excited to see that UNYTea was carrying a straight form of coffee leaf – and when they did their ‘Spring Clearing’ type sale I decided to grab some and try it out. It was weird to me that they recommended it Gong Fu; I wouldn’t have thought to try it that way. I recently acquired a 50ml Gaiwan though so I decided I’d break that Gaiwan in with some of my sample; that way if I wasn’t into it Gong Fu I wouldn’t be wasting a lot of tea leaf – it was the perfect way to sample it!

And you know what? It was actually REALLY good and worked very well Gong Fu – so long as the time increase between infusions was a good 20-30 seconds, and not just the normal five second increase I generally give. I ended up doing around eight infusions total; I think I could have done one or two more with some flavour, but I don’t really like running my tea leaf completely into the ground; the weaker infusions generally just aren’t worth it to me.

Flavour wise I found it quite sweet overall; not like unpleasantly sweet but just a lot of light, natural sugar cane type of notes in the top notes and then the sweetness of very, very fresh, green Yerba Mate in the body of the sip. Grassy, and smooth with just a hint of really generic sort of fruityness in the middle of the sip. I mean, really the closest thing I can think to compare this to is just a very good Yerba Mate or, like, a sweet and clean finishing Mao Jian green tea with the slight fruity elements going on in the profile. I did think this had some nuttier undertones, though. Like, an almost almond-y sort of thing. Just very, very good overall!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg90yjWAzPZ/?taken-by=ros_strange

I swear there was a note on here. Well, this was a Gaoshan that I had to try in my lifetime, and since Amanda raved about it on facebook, I had to get myself a small amount. If it weren’t as rare and expensive as it is, I would have more.

The website compares it to a Shan Lin Xi, and it has the fresh green qualities with the tropical fruits and florals amidst a sweeter and creamier texture, being a little closer to a Alishan. I got butterscotch every once in a while, but that is an exaggeration. A more accurate exaggeration is that it is like pineapple taffy…with an undeniable greenness. With that sweetness said, it does have a fresh quality that is akin to those mineral waters you get from hipster-eque places. The green qualities matched with the minerals got me the more “oceanic” qualities, but really, it reminded me of home in Hawaii. Think of a rainbow falling as clouds drift from the green mountains off of Waimanalo Bay. Shan Lin Xi’s are normally sunny, and while this tea is clear, there is something more pensive about it that makes me think of rain.

This tea works well gong fu, but I got sweeter, thicker notes western with 2-3 grams. I’ve also been lazy, but it’s a little too mineral thick and watery gong fu. I do not want to waste my leaves either. I highly recommend this one as I actually liked it more than several Shan Lin XI’s I’ve had lately, and I also recommend this company. As with most oolongs, the only detractor is price. Have your wallets ready, connoisseurs.

This was the last of the samples I purchased from Unytea towards the middle of the past year. I didn’t know what to expect from it, as I had never tried a Yu Lan Xiang, but I just had to purchase it since I had to see if it smelled and/or tasted like magnolia blossoms. And did it? Yes, it most certainly did. This was very smooth and mellow for a Dancong with a wonderful, distinct magnolia fragrance and taste to go along with rather admirable longevity.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 8 seconds. Unytea suggested starting with a 15 second steep time, but I’m used to starting with shorter infusions, so that’s what I did. This infusion was chased by 13 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted pronounced aromas of magnolia, cream, and vanilla. After the rinse, I found an emerging aroma of custard. The first proper infusion brought out hints of apple and citrus on the nose. In the mouth, I only noted faint impressions of cream, vanilla, magnolia, and apple. Subsequent infusions brought out stronger notes of cream, vanilla, magnolia, and apple on the palate. I also started noting flavors of custard, lemon, and orange zest. New impressions of minerals, sweetgrass, pear, butter, and apricot emerged around this point as well. Later infusions were heavy on the mineral, butter, apple, and pear notes, though I could still find traces of magnolia, citrus, and sweetgrass in the background.

This wasn’t the heaviest or most complex Dancong in the world, but I could find quite a bit to like about it. For one, it did not leave one wondering what sort of floral notes it was presenting. Secondly, it never turned soapy, slick, or astringent in the mouth. As mentioned above, it also displayed admirable longevity. Personally, I would have liked to see more depth and complexity both on the nose and in the mouth, and I would have liked a mouthfeel with a touch more heft, but overall, this was very nice. I would definitely recommend it to those looking for a truly floral Dancong oolong.

Backlog

I’ve been bad at getting notes posted as I try the tea. For whatever reason, I feel most comfortable when allowing the notes to pile up, collect dust, and become long forgotten. However, my goal this morning is to ‘catch up’ and get everything—no matter how brief the note—down.

This tea was by far one of the better non-roasted oolong teas that I’ve had in a while. I’ve started to lean slightly toward the roasted oolong side of tea, so most of the time, I pretty ‘eh’ about the greener stuff. Ha-ha.

Notes: Pretty sweet melon-y notes throughout. I cannot remember any bitterness/astringency coming from this tea. I was able to push it to 13 steeps (the last 5 steeps were noted “1 min per following steep”), so it definitely had a bit of life in the leaf.

I was so close to completely cleaning out the backlog of reviews at the end of last week, but unfortunately, I got lazy and just stopped posting stuff. Now these things are starting to pile up again. At least the number is currently under six. Anyway, I finished a sample pouch of this tea earlier in the week. Despite my limited exposure to Dancong oolongs, I tend to enjoy Mi Lan Xiang most of the time. This one, however, exists in a gray area in the sense that there were things about it I greatly appreciated and things about it that irritated and disappointed me. It ended up being the sort of tea I could not honestly recommend, but also couldn’t caution others against.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by 11 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 35 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted fairly strong aromas of honey, roasted nuts, stone fruits, and orchid. The rinse brought out a stronger orchid scent and also introduced aromas of wood, spices, and vanilla. The first infusion then amplified the vanilla and spice aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered rather pronounced orchid notes balanced by some nuttiness and hints of honey and spices. Subsequent infusions produced a very smooth, mellow liquor lacking the expected Dancong soapiness. I picked up stronger notes of honey as well as impressions of orange blossom, plumeria, wood, lychee, cooked greens, cattail shoots, orange zest, toast, peach, apricot, golden raisin, butter, roasted almond, and minerals. The spice impressions also began to really distinguish themselves-I was reminded of a combination of ginger and cinnamon, though a licorice-like note was present as well. These spicy, herbal impressions lingered briefly in the mouth and throat after the swallow. The tea washed out quickly, even for a Dancong. The later infusions mostly offered mineral and cooked green notes with occasional, largely fleeting impressions of honey, peach, orchid, and spices.

So, this tea was a real mixed bag for me. I loved the complexity of the earlier infusions and appreciated the gentle texture of the liquor in the mouth. Dancongs can be particularly slick and/or strident, but that was not the case here. This tea, however, faded so quickly and the later infusions did not offer anything in the way of intrigue. Honestly, the first 4-5 infusions were the good ones, and I am not the sort of person who enjoys short gongfu sessions. What’s worse is that Unytea’s product description promised a tea with considerable longevity and that is not what I got. In the end, this was a very uneven, ridiculously front-loaded drinking experience. I’m glad I took the opportunity to try it, but I have had better and doubt I would ever be willing to return to it. That’s a shame too. I expected so much more considering I really enjoyed the Chou Shi (and I don’t even particularly like Chou Shi) that Unytea offered and rated it very highly.

I was thinking about this last night, but it seems that I am always looking for new examples of Tieguanyin to try. It’s one of my favorite types of oolong, and since there are so many on the market (it seems that literally every vendor offers at least one or two every year), there is always a new Tieguanyin for me to try. This one originated in Xianghua Township, Fujian Province. It was harvested in the Spring of this year. I found it to be a likable TGY, maybe not the best I have had to this point, but likable nonetheless.

I almost always gongfu oolongs and that is what I did here. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of lilac, violet, and sweetgrass coming from the dry leaves. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of saffron, cream, rose, and butter. The first infusion then brought out scents of custard and coriander. In no particular order, I found notes of sweetgrass, coriander, cream, and butter in the mouth. These notes were balanced by hints of flowers, and oddly enough, touches of ripe melon and pear. Subsequent infusions allowed the floral impressions to separate in the mouth, as I began to detect more distinct impressions of saffron, violet, rose, and lilac. Notes of honeysuckle also emerged. More distinct impressions of pear, cantaloupe, and honeydew appeared, while impressions of watercress, celery, green apple, and minerals also began to make themselves known. Though I found a scent of custard on the nose, I do not recall ever finding custard notes in the mouth. The later infusions were dominated by relatively strong notes of minerals, coriander, and watercress, though faint hints of butter and fruit were still detectable in the background.

I have not been drinking much jade Tieguanyin lately, but this one seemed more consistently mineral-laden and heavier on the vegetal notes than many others I recall trying. I kept hoping for just a little extra sweetness or savoriness, especially in the latter two-thirds of the session. Still, this was not a bad Tieguanyin and I am glad I took the opportunity to try it. I imagine it would please most fans of jade Tieguanyin.

I usually try to write reviews post-tea session, but I figured that I need something else to work on while I drink tea….I’ve spent the majority of the last 3-4 hours watching Stranger Things 2, while drinking various teas throughout the episodes (no notes taken during that time). However, while my mind is still focusing on this tea at the moment, I figured I’d write my notes from the first few steeps to the last couple steeps being had at the current moment…

Notes:

Rinse: Nice fruity aromatics, forest green leaves, and slightly light-greenish/yellow liquor.

1st Steep: Light, floral, and honeydew.

2nd Steep: Creamy, floral, less fruity, & vibrant liquor.

3rd Steep: Oily mouthfeel, slightly mouth drying , heavy floral notes, and bright greenish/yellow (“Mt. Dew color”).

4th/5th Steep: Still pretty bright, more oily, however, the flavor is starting to lighten up.

6th Steep: Liquor color starting to become dull in comparison to previous steeps, less oily, less floral, and slight buttery aftertaste.

7th/Current/Final: The tea is dying down a bit. I might push it with the time (2-3 minutes) and/or cold brew the rest for tomorrow morning. I’ll add the note (maybe) tomorrow to update on the session following, but no promises. :P

Overall, this was a pretty refreshing tea. I’d say it’d be a great summer/spring tea, but on the account that the weather is officially borderline Autumn-nearing-Winter, I may save this leaf until the warmer weather (or not).

Tea Swap/Sipdown

Well, I’m back to reviewing stuff again. I went off of the social media grid for a while. I’m not sure how long the hiatus will be, but I’m okay with having some time to write, review, & drink tea naturally.

I started the past two days with this tea. I wanted to start brewing through the ever growing tea swap samples, prior to breaking into the rest of my tea via purchases. I feel that it is necessary for me to give the time to the teas in which others have so kindly shared with me; therefore, I’m finding that it is easier to review and thoroughly process these sessions again, now that I’m less distracted with my phone, and can write notes properly.

I must admit that the time away from Steepster has been fine, but I’ve completely disconnected myself from the “original” tea community that I had involved myself in. It is here that I find the most comfort—reviewing, reading, etc—and it is here that I must return.

Alright, back to the tea review….

Notes:

1st Steep (10s): Light & grassy.
2nd Steep (25s): Grassy, nutty, & buttery.
3rd Steep (40s): Slightly mouth drying, buttery, & grassy/seaweed.
4th Steep (1 minute): Buttery, grassy/seaweed, & slightly mouth drying.
5th Steep (1:30 mins): Light, grassy.
6th/Final (3 mins): Buttery, light/watery.

Sipdown/Sample Session

I’ll be brief for my mind is failing me this morning due to my inability to sleep properly. (>.<) I had this session prior to work and after work yesterday. I wanted to try to get my “weekly samples” worked through this week, but I’ve found it difficult to resist the urge to try some oolong tea. Ha-ha.

Notes: Thick mouthfeel. Sweet floral notes throughout with a touch of cinnamon. For a greener oolong, I was pretty surprised to taste cinnamon, but according to my notes, I wrote that down three times (steeps 3, 6, & 8). Brewed this to 9-10 steeps before moving onto another oolong.