Jin Guazi (2018)

Thank you derk for this wonderful tea.

I have prepared it gongfu, all (5g?) in my gaiwan and it lasted whole afternoon session from 2 pm to 5 pm — with my thermos from derk as well.

I even preheated my gaiwan, which I do not do every time, but I felt this tea deserved it. It brought aromas of sweet potatoes, malt, a little of tobacco. I haven’t rinsed it and instead I stearted with 10 s steep, which brought aromas of baked bread, rye, but also some floral notes and some other bright aromas. Taste-wise it was rather on the light spectrum, with notes of meadow, but with dark notes as well, considering nuts, thick smoothness and sweetness.
This was a story of most of the steeps.

I lost my track though pretty much soon and after a few 10 seconds increments I did also a few really long ones, mostly because I forgot about the tea — as I was making topics for finals which isn’t a best pairing with gongfu tea brewing, but it delivered me needed caffeine boost and also a little bit of distraction from transport economics.

In conclusion, I say I am happy with this tea and I am glad I have tried it, because it is really good one. However, for such a high rating I expect a little more… on the other hand it is 4 years old tea. Maybe it has faded a bit, maybe I just wasn’t exactly in the necessary attention that it deserves. It’s gone for me, which is a little sad, but every time I finish a box, pouch or a bag, I say to myself, that I have more space for another wonderful teas that will come one day.

Okay, time for another review of a late 2020 sipdown. I think this one comes from late 2020 at least. I can’t really be sure. I blew through a bunch of samples from Old Ways Tea late last year and early this year, and this was the second that I finished, so I’m guessing I drank it in 2020. Whatever the case may be, I found it to be a great Wuyi black tea. It was subtler than anticipated, but it also had a ton of appeal.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 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, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of baked bread, cinnamon, cedar, and blackberry. After the rinse, I detected novel aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, and cream as well as a subtle scent of hay. The first infusion saw the hay scent strengthen somewhat while aromas of grass, lemon zest, and pine also appeared. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of baked bread, malt, cream, butter, grass, hay, cedar, pine, and roasted almond that were balanced by hints of cinnamon, roasted peanut, and lemon zest. The majority of the subsequent infusions added aromas of butter, cherry, daisy, sunflower, and orange zest to the tea’s bouquet, though I also occasionally noted subtler scents that reminded me a bit of coriander and blueberry. Stronger and more immediately detectable notes of cinnamon, lemon zest, and roasted peanut emerged in the mouth along with mineral, blackberry, steamed milk, sweet potato, orange zest, sunflower seed, pumpkin seed, and nutmeg impressions. There were also some subtle touches of cherry, allspice, blueberry, and coriander that popped up here and there along with some vague floral notes that reminded me a bit of a combination of daisy, sunflower, and dandelion. As the tea faded, the liquor continued to emphasize notes of minerals, orange zest, roasted almond, malt, butter, cream, grass, and lemon zest that were chased by fleeting, ghostly hints of pine, cinnamon, roasted peanut, cedar, pumpkin seed, hay, coriander, and flowers.

Plopped in my desk chair typing out this review made me think back to jotting down my impressions of this tea while I sampled it. I was stunned to discover that I recalled drinking it very vividly. This tea struck me as being so unique that the memory of trying it for the first time is now etched into my brain. Even before I sat back down to write this review, I glanced down at my notes and thought, “Oh yeah, that’s the one that tasted like sunflower and pumpkin seeds.” Fortunately, this tea offered more than just an extremely novel drinking experience. It was also an incredibly deep, complex, tasty, balanced, and sophisticated offering. If you don’t mind a tea that offers a bit of a challenge, Jin Guazi would be for you. It takes a little time to get into, but it’s so worth it.

Another gift from derk!

I got all out of whack making my breakfast today. I usually start the tea first so that it is ready when the food is ready and everything is hot. I was nearly done making the bacon when I realized I had not chosen a tea and this pouch was closest. Thus the first steep was western.

It smelled marvelous and was a departure from what most of us think of as breakfast tea, but I don’t drink those much anyway. It was so good that I decided to have another gong fu session after breakfast, even if the leaves were already steeped western once.

Derk was right about the tea having a lot of steeps to give. I didn’t even play them all out, but I kept going for as much water as I had put in the kettle and it was still giving.

Medium body, round mouth effect, building briskness that is not at all sour but simply dries the tongue and makes a nice tingle. I dislike the tingle of many teas, but this is a kind I like, a scrapey feeling like you would get from unsweetened cocoa, but not bitter or unpleasant. Not that I felt there were chocolate notes here, just the sensation cocoa would give.

I sniffed these leaves so hard looking for the elusive grass note derk mentioned, but I concentrated as hard as I could. Deep sniff. Not smelling grass or flowers. Deep sniff. Mental image of my mother’s purse in my childhood. What?

Deep sniff. Aaaaaah, TOBACCO! Her cigaretttes, of course!

Definite sweet-ish tobacco aroma was the dominant scent for me. I suppose that is a little grassy and flowery underneath? But also it is a rich, warm, ever so slightly sweet smell to me.

I really enjoyed this one as I have ALL of the Old Ways tea I have tried, and I was shocked to see derk’s review that said they are in California! For some reason I have always assumed they were in Asia and hard to come by. I need to take a good look at their site now that I know.

Thank you, derk! Another lovely tea session thanks to you!

It is not often (enough) one is in awe.