Organic Bai Lu T-17 GABA Tea Cakes, Lot 741 from Taiwan Tea Crafts

Organic Bai Lu T-17 GABA Tea Cakes, Lot 741

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Autumn Leaf Pile, Brown Sugar, Caraway, Dried Fruit, Earth, Honey, Mineral, Raisins, Roasted, Rye, Smooth, Sweet, Wet Wood, Berries, Blueberry, Bread, Brown Toast, Butter, Cherry, Floral, Grapes, Jam, Lemon, Nutty, Orchid, Salty, Tangy, Thick, Toasty, Umami, Violet, Wood
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Organic
Edit tea info Last updated by derk
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 g 16 oz / 473 ml

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2 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Sipdown! (26 | 478) This was a random free sample in one of my TTC orders, with a sweet note saying they thought I would like it based on my other selections. I love nice little things like that. ...” Read full tasting note
    80
  • “Curious concept, a GABA oolong cake. Dry leaf aromas of violet (strongest), red grapes, brown sugar. Warmed and rinsed leaf present baked bread, buttery grape jelly, violet, baked cherries and...” Read full tasting note
    83

From Taiwan Tea Crafts

We’ve always believed that GABA-style teas would make fantastic aged teas. It therefore simply made sense that we would put words to action and make it one of our first style of tea to process into tea cakes. But, it must be said this project is far from trendy window-dressing. This Lot 760 was devised right from the leaf onwards. First, we selected organically-produced leaves that we processed into gently rolled tea instead of ball-style so they would compress into a better cake. Then, as it is our usual practice, we have a marked preference for spring GABA tea as opposed to other seasonal offerings — spring tea is usually fruitier and more aromatic with a smoother mouthfeel. This is certainly the case here with the magnificent Bai Lu T-17 cultivar. GABA Tea is one of a rare bread of teas that was initially developed, not only for its resulting drinking enjoyment, but rather for its purported health benefits. If you are not familiar with this aspect, check out the info tab below. Now that this is said, we need to admit that the best thing about GABA tea is that it is wonderfully good in the cup! This tea is one of the most accessible, easy drinking teas we propose. The special, oxygen-deprived environment that increases the content of GABA while oxidising the leaves, also smoothes out the tannins leaving a crisp, slightly tart, but never bitter feeling in the mouth. The nose is all fruit, field berries to be more precise. As soon as hot water is poured on the leaves, a wonderfully inviting aroma of strawberry jam and sultana raisins invites us to taste the cup. Available in both 125 mm cake of 100 g, and 175 mm cake of 300 g, both sizes are proposed in a vacuum-sealed resealable pouch.

About Taiwan Tea Crafts View company

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2 Tasting Notes

80
Recommended
4158 tasting notes

Sipdown! (26 | 478)

This was a random free sample in one of my TTC orders, with a sweet note saying they thought I would like it based on my other selections. I love nice little things like that. :3

Anyway, I just steeped it up Western-style like a heathen. :D For some reason I was thinking it was a black tea at the time, though it doesn’t really matter much as far as steeping parameters. I gently broke apart the bigger chunks that were in my packet, just to speed up the steep a little bit.

I would have believed it was a black tea from the taste as well. To me, it tastes almost like a hybrid of an oxidized and slightly roasted oolong (maybe Da Hong Pao?) and a Fujian black tea. And maybe a bit of shou puerh in there as well. It has those nice toasty autumn leafy notes and honey/brown sugar sweetness from the oolong, distinctive caraway or rye sort of notes from the black tea, and a mellow earthy/woody base from the shou. There’s a bit of sparkling minerality that I generally attribute to oolong as well, and a pleasant raisiny dried fruit note.

Overall, super mellow and chuggable. It’s not really a standout for me, but it’s tasty and very easy to drink. One of those teas where the bottom of the mug comes sooner than you expect. It looks like they no longer carry this one, so I don’t have to ponder whether I would consider reordering it given the right price. :P

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Brown Sugar, Caraway, Dried Fruit, Earth, Honey, Mineral, Raisins, Roasted, Rye, Smooth, Sweet, Wet Wood

Preparation
5 g 16 OZ / 473 ML
7 comments
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Evol Ving Ness
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Like a heathen. :)

ashmanra
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Nice toasty autumn leafy sounds good!

gmathis
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I prefer to refer to myself as a barbarian, but I’ll share the label!

Cameron B.
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Ha ha, it just seemed weird to me to steep a tea cake sample Western-style I guess. But I haven’t been in the mood for gongfu lately so here we are… XD

Evol Ving Ness
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I have had a gaiwan and two prepped yixing pots sitting unused for years now.

Cameron B.
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I tend to go through phases, sometimes with more gongfu, sometimes with teapots, right now I’m in a cozy mug phase.

Evol Ving Ness
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I was quite happy with the DT’s steeper for a while. Now I’ve shifted to mostly flash steeps in my Libre.

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83
1604 tasting notes

Curious concept, a GABA oolong cake.

Dry leaf aromas of violet (strongest), red grapes, brown sugar. Warmed and rinsed leaf present baked bread, buttery grape jelly, violet, baked cherries and berries, fresh blueberry, orchid, brown toast, wood.

Brewed 3 ways:

1) Gongfu. Zee best. 5g, 100mL porcelain teapot, 200F, great longevity.

Thick and oily, coats the whole mouth. Tasted like cinnamon raisin brown toast, highly mineral plus salivation, tangy, ridiculously smooth. Consistent in character until the end. Later turns nutty and woody, a bit salty with a light bite in the throat. Liquor develops a neat purple hue. Very content energy. Rating: 87

2) Grandpa. I like. 2g, 8oz, 200F, 5! top-offs.

Thick, full-bodied, roasty-toasty, floral grape, raisin, wood, sweet lemon tartness, still lots of salivation. Leads into dried fruit flavors of sour cherries and berries. Rating 85.

3) Thermos. Basically stewed about 9 hours. 2.5g, 20oz, 200F.

Tastes like a highly mineral shou. Toasty, thick, salty-umami, sometimes strong notes of rye. Not bad. Rating 77.

Average: 83

Maybe worth buying a small cake for Sheetz und Kegels. I mean, I haven’t seen a GABA cake around. This is an opportunity to see how it holds up over the long term. What’s the purpose? Ease of storage like a shou cake? It’s already highly oxidized and there aren’t strong roast notes so I doubt it would transform much. Would make an excellent fall/winter tea.

Song pairing, I’m going to refrain from linking but it’s Milli Vanilli — Girl You Know It’s True
Lord, why.

Flavors: Berries, Blueberry, Bread, Brown Sugar, Brown Toast, Butter, Cherry, Dried Fruit, Floral, Grapes, Jam, Lemon, Mineral, Nutty, Orchid, Raisins, Rye, Salty, Smooth, Tangy, Thick, Toasty, Umami, Violet, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C
3 comments
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Kittenna
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This is intriguing! I will not go look at TTC’s site….

LuckyMe
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Ah, I haven’t heard that song in ages. Milli Vanilli used to be a guilty pleasure. I have a thing for one hit wonders.

tea-sipper
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Awesome experimental tasting note and interesting flavors!

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