Cypress Dong Ding

Aha! so now the infamous marinade tea – I do get what others have been saying about the dry leaf smelling like foodstuffs, like crisps or marinade..

After really trying to rack my brains I realised I am smelling oregano or Italian mixed herbs (a bit like sage & thyme maybe?) from the steeped leaf. From the liquor it is much less pronounced but still there. It tastes like hot Italian herb tea! But not in a bad way at all, I really quite liked it, it reminded me of craft gins that are infused with english herbs, and made me feel nice, like I was drinking something natural & healthy. This theme carried on through the session, & as I lean to the light & flashy side of brewing I’m appreciating the herbiness more than I thought I would.

Bascially herby all round, also a dry woody taste. When the leaf opens the dong ding comes through a bit & there is a slight perfume aroma appearing in the liquor. Basically it stayed pretty similar throughout the 10 or so steeps I gave it, just gradually losing herb strength. I preferred the later ones because I could taste that slightly thick dong ding flavour marrying with the cypress a bit more. I would have liked it more if these tastes were stronger earlier to balance the cypress. I did enjoy it though, felt like healthy herb tea.

I have read reports that Cypress oil reduces obesity in mice, so this is a proven weight loss tea! – Andrew, your marketing department needs to learn a thing or two from the Chinese on Aliexpress :lol:

I have had this one for a while. Interestingly enough, the first thing I thought of when I smelled the dry leaf (this time) was a candy bar. Definitely a different candy bar, but that’s what came to mind.

This is so much better made light than heavy. I was steeping it for way too long the first few times I have had it. It has a nice woodsy, I would even say nutty taste that I’m assuming is the cypress.

I wouldn’t put this as a daily drinker for myself, but I don’t think that was the intent. It’s now in the category of one of those surprise type of teas that I forget I even have, but when I see it, I’m like “that’s what I want right now.” Interesting tea for sure. I look forward to all the other creative teas Andrew comes up with.

Interesting.

The dry leaf smells like barbecue potato chips. The liquid tastes like a Mediterranean chicken marinade. So, this is a cooking tea. I appreciate the uniqueness, but not something I’d get.

I’ve now tried this with 80c /90c / and 100c water and I come out with roughly the same experience at 30 to 45 second brews in a gaiwan.

For those who are unsure of what Cypress Dong Ding is: I decided to release a cypress (wood) infused 2013 dong ding oolong when my 20% sale went active.

Drinking this as if it isn’t my own creation and I find some positive and some negative aspects to it. The first steep comes off the strongest with the woodsy notes that are hard for me to explain, but as it goes on I believe it turns into an acorn taste as the nutty/wood/lowroast all come together. This dong ding seems to brew out a bit weak around the sixth steep, but I’ve been staying at 45 second steeps, but for the price of it I can’t complain; $8/oz. If there wasn’t a dryness to the liquid after it goes down it would be much better, but I’m kind of in a touch spot as I find myself associating wood/nut/roast as a dry’like taste anyways, however I prefer a nice sweet taste at the end. This would probably be better when the weather is more cooler than these summer days outside, but maybe I made a poor choice there by trying it while it was really hot out.

Overall it’s an interesting tea and I’m glad that the wood notes actually transferred over because it makes me want to experiment with other woods in the fashion I did here before I start buying the equipment to make my own home smoking machine/contraption for tea.