Taiwan Sourcing - Da Yu Ling Spring 2015

Wise tea drinkers who wish to experience the best taste, aroma, and energy that a tea has to offer know that it's best to slow down and take your time.  You should concentrate on brewing the tea correctly; you don't want to rush and understeep your tea, or get distracted and oversteep your tea.  A focused mind and attention dedicated to the brewing will allow you to extract the best qualities from the leaves.  In Chinese this is referred to as "gongfu cha" or the practice of making tea with great skill.  (And I'm not talking about a tea "ceremony" which is sometimes associated with gongfu cha, but just the act of brewing tea the best that you can with a patient focused intent.)

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

Taking your time is also a good idea when trying to gain experience with tea.  New tea drinkers, which would include me since I'm still learning all the different types of tea and quality spectrum, get very excited about trying good tea; experiencing one good tea makes us eager to find the next good one to compare it to.  This is a good way to gain experience quickly, but we must remember to slow down and take time to get to know each category of tea well.  This is the type of experience that must be acquired with patience to expose oneself to many complexities and characteristics within the same type of tea over time.  I doubt everyone would be able to agree on how much time it may take to gain a good understanding of any one type of tea, but it is obvious that the time cannot be quick.   Perhaps there actually is no finish line since we can continue to drink new teas throughout life.

But things get complicated when it comes to high mountain (gaoshan) oolong from Taiwan's Da Yu Ling area.  Some of the most famous quality gaoshan oolongs have come from the highest peak of Li Mountain, known as Da Yu Ling, and demand (and thus price) for these teas is quite high.  It would make sense for someone on a tea journey to get to know more accessible gaoshan oolongs first before finally reaching for something like Da Yu Ling. The issue though is that there are fewer Da Yu Ling tea farms now than just a couple years ago since the Taiwanese government has reclaimed some of this high mountain land to protect the peak from the negative side effects of farming, such as erosion and landslides.  Other farm area may be used for different agricultural products too, not always teas.   I do not know the future of tea from this area-- perhaps some tea will still be grown at Da Yu Ling for years to come, or perhaps not, but it is clear that the "famous" Da Yu Ling teas from the highest farms are already gone.  Those of us who have not had them, we may have waited too long.  But is it too late to have any good tea from Da Yu Ling at all?

Thankfully the Taiwan Sourcing team (taiwanoolongs.com) have trekked the winding narrow roads of Li Shan to reach Da Yu Ling and returned with what they believe is still a perfect Da Yu Ling oolong.  I have decided to delay no longer.  Now is my time to try Da Yu Ling.

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

(Taiwan Sourcing wrote a 3 part blog entry about their trip to Da Yu Ling.  Some great photos there.  Linked here is part I.  Click "next post" at the end to get to part II, then part III.  http://taiwanoolongs.com/blogs/ ...)

Although I have shopped with Yunnan Sourcing several times, this is my first order with their new sister company Taiwan Sourcing (taiwanoolongs.com).  I ordered four different Spring 2015 oolongs, including this Da Yu Ling Jade.  I was happy to see that the oolong I ordered came vacuum sealed, which I believe is very helpful at locking in the freshness that makes this type of oolong so good.  Although I've read that some oolong has aging potential, these "jade-style" oolongs may not be the best choice for aging and are probably best consumed as fresh as possible.  This tea was harvested in Spring 2015, but the vacuum seal has allowed it to stay very vibrantly green and aromatic.

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

In the past I have always brewed jade style oolong with water around 185 degrees (Fahrenheit).  I've heard though that high quality oolongs, even ones that are on the green end of the oxidization spectrum, will be able to handle boiling water just fine.  So far I have tried a couple different approaches, and as of right now I have settled on 200 degree water for this tea.  When brewed with water right under a boil it was certainly good and never became bitter, but the slightly lower temperature seemed to bring out a little more sweetness which I liked.

With this type of tea it is not really necessary to do a rinse.  I always expect the first 30 second infusion of a rolled oolong to be a bit weak because the leaves are still re-hydrating and unrolling, but I usually go ahead and drink this infusion instead of tossing it out like a rinse.  With the Da Yu Ling though I was amazed that even this weak first infusion was just as strong and flavorful as the best infusion of some lower quality jade oolongs I've had.  What a great start and an indication that this tea really is as good as I hoped it would be.

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

The aroma coming from the wet leaf and even the liquor was very strong and rich.  All the great gaoshan aromas were there-- buttery honey and fruity notes (this time being peach/apricot), and the Da Yu Ling also had a deep cooked greens vegetal aroma balanced with a gingerbread or brown sugar sweetness.

I was surprised to find that the mouthfeel was actually somewhat active.  Not as much as a good sheng puerh, but this tea definitely awakens the tongue, and the vibrant yellow liquor has a thick broth-like consistency.

The taste is bursting with tea perfume flavor.  I used the typical amount of leaf that I normally would for this type of tea (5g in 80ml), but the flavor overall is much more intense than I've had from others.  The tea has the buttery honey flavors that I like in goashan, but it also has a rich vegetal taste. Taiwan Sourcing notes that this is the result of high altitude slow growth and processing.  This is definitely one of those teas that can truly be described as being like a soup.

The aftertaste blossoms in the mouth immediately after swallowing and is very unique.  It has tea perfume and guava characteristics, but as those initial flavors fade, I also get a sense of fresh spring air and I am immediately reminded of the photos from part III of Taiwan Sourcing's Da Yu Ling blog entry where they are laying in the grass drinking oolong.   This fresh air is not the absence of taste though, but it is instead as if the tea has a cleansing effect. This effect is so strong that I get a really interesting sensation that my mouth has been cleaned and refreshed, as if drinking a cold glass of pure spring water outside on a pleasant spring day.  Perhaps this is the qi of Da Yu Ling.

By the time I decide that I have reached the end of this tea I feel a sensation of fullness as if I have finished eating a meal.  I can tell that this is a good quality tea because the flavor is so consistent and potent over many infusions.  It does not suddenly drop off or turn bad, or perhaps it is turning out so good because I am taking my time to brew it as well as I can.

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

I am glad that I decided to go ahead and try Da Yu Ling oolong while I had the opportunity to find one from a trusted tea seller.  Although I have reached this wonderful peak, I know I am not finished yet with discovering and learning about Taiwanese gaoshan.  I am going to continue my tea journey by seeing what else Taiwan can offer, and I feel like Taiwan Sourcing is doing a great job at this as well.  Looking through their list of other teas, I see that they are also exploring some mountains and regions that I am not familiar with, such as Lala Shan, Wu She, and Fu Shou Shan.  I look forward to trying all these other regions next, but for now I am going to slow down, relax and patiently enjoy the rest of my Da Yu Ling.


Link to Taiwan Sourcing's 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling.

NoirDragon - Asian Inspired Teaware on Etsy

For most of my tea reviews I use a white teacup, or sometimes clear glass.  If I'm drinking tea alone I use one of my cups that are the same volume as my brewing vessels so I can just pour my brews directly into the cup without using a cha hai.  A white teacup is perfect for showing the color of the tea liquor, and if you don't use a strainer and get some small leaf pieces in the cup you can easily judge the clarity of the liquor.

However, none of these white cups are my favorite teacup.  My favorite teacup doesn't end up in photos very often because it's one I use when I'm simply drinking tea for myself, for pure enjoyment.  So I decided that my favorite cup itself deserves to be in the spotlight today.

This cup came from an American artist who sells teaware on his Etsy store "NoirDragon."  One interesting thing about NoirDragon is that his path to producing beautiful ceramic teaware is completely rooted in his passion for tea.  His passion for tea naturally lead him to appreciate and collect teaware, and then eventually he decided to learn more about the art of pottery so that he could create his own teaware.  And now he is sharing his creations with fellow tea lovers.

NoirDragon has used a beautiful stoneware clay for this cup and left a band of unglazed clay at the outer bottom edge to show off both the color and texture of this clay.

The quality of my NoirDragon cup shows very precise craftsmanship and attention to detail.  I can turn this cup over and set it on a flat surface and the rim is perfectly even and the base is perfectly level.  I discovered this by chance while trying to photograph the bottom of the cup and was very impressed with the geometric perfection.

I'm really happy with the glaze/color of this cup.  The inside has a slight blue hue to it, and the outside has a bit more green.  I used to say that I don't have a favorite color because all colors can be great depending on context, but despite that, I do admit that I tend to gravitate toward green, and I absolutely love the color of this cup.

At first I assumed that the speckled pattern on this cup was due to the glaze used, but when I asked the artist about it, NoirDragon told me that the speckles are actually due to manganese granules in the clay itself that produce this beautiful pattern through the glaze when fired in the kiln.  If white glaze is applied to this clay, it will show up as little brown speckles on the white glaze which also has an interesting effect.

This has easily become my favorite cup for more than just the appearance and craftsmanship as it functions very well for my typical personal tea brewing sessions.  True, it doesn't have a white interior so it doesn't show off the tea liquor, but adding a glass cha hai would take care of that if needed.  I really love this cup though because it is the perfect volume for holding the contents of an 80ml gaiwan.  The 80ml gaiwan is the brewing vessel I use about 85% of the time I brew tea, and I can pour directly into this cup and it fills it to the top.  The clay is thick enough to keep my hands from getting too hot, and once preheated, that thickness holds in heat well to keep the tea warm as I sip.  The size, shape, and weight of the cup feels perfect and natural in the hand.  Drinking from this cup allows me to have a better connection with the tea and I'm able to enjoy the tea without being distracted by an uncomfortable or awkward cup.

NoirDragon's creations are continually evolving, and I really look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.  Through recent conversations I have learned that he often tries out new glazes and clays.  He has some pieces that have a crackle glaze, and a few that have a really interesting highly textured "crawl glaze" that look like they were crafted directly from parched earth.  I have also heard that he is experimenting with brewing vessel designs such as shiboridashis and possibly gaiwans, and I think he may even be trying out some tea pet designs!

So you may not see this cup make an appearance too often in my tea reviews, but if you stop by when I'm having an enjoyable tea session with my favorite teas, there's a real good chance that I'll be sipping from my favorite teacup.



Link to NoirDragon on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoirDragon

White2Tea - 2015 Pin (Raw Puerh)

When White2Tea first shared a teaser image of the mao cha they were using for an upcoming sheng cake, I was quite confused by the apparent nei fei in the image.  The nei fei (a small inner label pressed into a puerh cake) had a reddish blob that appeared to be a pair of lips. But knowing that this is White2Tea, which never fails to amaze me with their unique style and creativity, I decided that this was probably not an optical illusion, and it was best to just accepted the high probability that I actually was seeing a mouth and hope the meaning of that would be clear later on.

I later learned that this new cake is named Pin, and the outer wrapper has not one but three colored blobs that are, without a doubt now, mouths.  I'm sure anyone with a good understanding of Chinese probably got a chuckle out of this, but the rest of us need some explanation from TwoDog.

White2Tea - 2015 Pin sheng puerh 200g cake

According to TwoDog, the Chinese word for "mouth" is "kou" and represented by the chinese radical 口.  If you have three of these radicals in a triangle configuration, you get 品, the word "pin."  The word "pin" is Chinese for "to savor" and he further explains that it could be applied to a drink, such as tea, to mean, "drinking with intent." Further he explains that the phrase "pin cha" (品茶) "literally means 'to taste tea.'"  This wrapper has even deeper meaning than that though.  The triangle theme is also represented in the red/pink background which is actually a triangle when the wrapper is unfolded.  The three mouths or three points/sides/angles of the triangle represent the tea material used to make Pin, which is a blend of Lincang material from 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Aww, the nei fei got flipped over during pressing.

Blended Lincang material from 2013, 2014, and 2015. 

The 200g cake as a whole shows a beautiful mosaic of colors.  This is partially due to the fuzzy white buds mixed with the fuller leaves, but is also likely a result of the blended material of different ages.  The older material was stored by TwoDog in Menghai to mellow out a bit in contrast to the young 2015 material.  The compression is a good "medium" -- not so loose that it can be pulled apart by hand, but loose enough that a tea pick can separate it without doing too much damage.

White2Tea - 2015 Pin sheng puerh

I wasn't entirely sure the best way to brew this tea and I'm still experimenting, but so far I have been using water around 200 degrees F which I sometimes use for younger raw puerh.  Of course this one also has components from 2014 and 2013, so going with water right off a boil might not be too risky.  I have stuck with my usual 5g per 80ml gaiwan for now and started my first few infusions around three to five seconds or so.

White2Tea - 2015 Pin sheng puerh

Maybe it’s because I just got over a mild cold and can breathe better today than any day this past week, but the wet leaf aroma of this tea is very strong, and although it does have a “young raw puerh” aroma, it seems much deeper than some, likely due to the older material also used.  Imagine autumn leaves coated in dark honey-- that may sound strange, but an aroma like that in a tea is amazing.

The honey colored clear liquor is very viscous and has a thick mouthfeel-- it is one of those teas that you almost feel the need to chew while drinking it.  The sides of the tongue feel some mild astringency at first, and then a couple minutes later the entire mouth feels a subtle tingly sensation.  It's suiting that a tea with three mouths on the wrapper would have such an active mouthfeel.

The overall taste of Pin is very well balanced.  It has a general herb-like flavor similar to oregano accompanied by grassy and hay notes, and early on it also has a hint of clean smoke which seems to fade in the middle and late infusions.  After the first three or so infusions the flavors become even more balanced and stay very consistent with each subsequent infusion.  These middle infusions bring out a pleasant sweetness that contrasts well with the young sheng bitter bite.  This is again one of those teas where I lost count of how many infusions I got out of it, but my 1.7L electric kettle was giving me a "Low H2O" warning before I was finished.   Well balanced flavors and many consistent infusions seems to be a great indicator of high quality material.

Beautiful deep olive green leaf color.  I broke this selection from a tighter part of the cake but was still able to leave many leaves mostly intact.

Beyond the taste is a wonderful aftertaste which further indicates the high quality of material used to make Pin.  The aftertaste first retains the hint of smoke and herbal characteristics found earlier, but then blossoms into a nice tea perfume hui gan that lingers in the mouth for several minutes.  I should also mention that the cha qi from this tea was quite noticeable when I drank it.  This is certainly a great tea to drink with intent and savor, and I'm very curious to see how this one will taste many years down the road.  

Pin was released in November to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the White2Tea monthly tea club, but is also for sale in the White2Tea 2015 raw puerh lineup; sample sizes also available.  More details can be found here: http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2015-pin/

Taiwan Tea Crafts - Red Jade Black

I recently did a tea trade with fellow tea drinker and received a generous 25g packet of Red Jade black tea sold by Taiwan Tea Crafts.  My friend also sent a 25g packet of Taiwan Tea Craft's GABA oolong, but I am trying the Red Jade first.  I have never actually ordered any teas from this vendor, but am thankful for the opportunity to give a couple of their teas a try.

This particular packet of Red Jade that I have is lot #346 and is the 2014 version of the current 2015 Sun Moon Lake Red Jade, which is a TRES #18 style black tea.  As I briefly mentioned in my Formosa Assam entry in August, Taiwan's Tea Research Extension Station (TRES) in the Sun Moon Lake/Yuchi area of Nantou County has done extensive research to develop various Camellia sinensis tea hybrids, and TRES #18 is one of the most popular Taiwanese black teas.  The 2014 and the 2015 versions of this tea are from the the same farmer/producer, and the foil package contained an oxygen scavenger packet which has likely helped keep this tea extremely fresh.

This offering from Taiwan Tea Crafts is a near perfect Taiwanese black tea.  The dry leaf is very fragrant with a nice fruity aroma and the leaves are very long and mostly whole.  The wet leaf has a yummy fruity sweet candy-like aroma which also comes across in the flavor.  Like my other favorite Taiwanese black tea, this one has lots of berry flavors and a nice creaminess to it.  The sweet berry flavors are held up by a solid foundation that I simply call "black tea" flavor-- it's the part of the flavor that gives the tea some boldness.  The mouthfeel is also very bold, thick, yet soft, and a hint of astringency.  Like many good teas, Red Jade provides a strong pleasant aftertaste similar to the main taste, and the leave have wonderful resteepability.  I used 5g in a 120ml gaiwan and almost ran my 1.7L kettle dry while brewing this tea today.  I imagine the leaves could have gone even further.

Again, I have not tried any other teas from Taiwan Tea Crafts yet, but Red Jade was an excellent introduction for me.  (I will try the GABA oolong soon.)  If the quality of Red Jade is representative of their other teas, then I look forward to shopping with them quite a bit in the future to try more of their large selection of oolong and black teas!

Tea From Vietnam (.com)

On September 2nd, Tea From Vietnam had a Vietnamese Independence Day sale and offered their tea 20% off and a reduced free shipping threshold.  I decided to take advantage this great sale and I picked up three of their oolong teas: Golden Lily (Jin Xuan), Ta, and Gui Fei.  I also received a sample of their "Red Lily" which is a black tea made from Jin Xuan leaf.

While thinking of my new Vietnamese teas, I had a craving for some pho and thought this would make a perfect pairing.

Unfortunately though, I made my pho much too spicy which completely ruined my palate.  I cannot possibly enjoy tea right now so instead I will use this time to read Tea From Vietnam's blog and learn a little bit more about them.

Tien Vu launched Tea From Vietnam earlier this year and is proud to offer tea produced by his family in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, Vietnam.  Mr. Vu respects the history, reputation, and ideal terroir associated with Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese teas and does not try to claim that his teas will outdo the best of those traditional teas but instead promotes his teas as examples of some of the finest tea that Vietnam can offer to a tea lover wanting to experience tea from other regions.  Although Taiwanese style teas have been grown in Vietnam only in recent years, Mr Vu has provided an in depth review of the history of tea from the Vietnamese perspective which shows how deep the tea roots really are in Vietnam and the importance of the Thai Nguyen province for high quality tea production.

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Of the teas I have in my order, the Golden Lily and the Ta oolongs both fall in the "jade" (low roast/low oxidization) oolong category.  The Golden Lily, as expected, is made from the Jin Xuan cultivar of leaf which was introduced to Vietnam from Taiwan a couple decades ago.  The Ta oolong though is a cultivar that is unique to Vietnam and is why I wanted to give it a try.

 

These two teas may seem pretty similar at fist.  The oxidation level is about the same and they both brew up a nice looking very clear light yellow liquor.  Both teas have the distinct "gao shan" aroma that you would expect from this style of oolong, and since these teas were grown at or slightly higher than 1,000m elevation, they may qualify as "high mountain" oolongs if defining that term by elevation alone.  The aroma does present slightly differently for each of these teas though.  Both teas smell of sweet honey and buttery toffee, but the Golden Lily is more vegetal and reminds me of tomatoes where as the Ta leaves are more floral with a slight nutty/cashew aroma.

The mouthfeel of the Golden Lily is surprisingly active with some pleasant atringency, though not much body, and the Ta oolong is very smooth and coats the mouth.

Golden Lily, also known as Jin Xuan is sometimes marketed as "milk oolong" due to a natural milk-like flavor that it can sometimes have.  The Vietnamese Jin Xuan definitely has a very creamy taste.  I even let my 5 year old daughter have a sip and she herself said that it tasted a bit "like milk and something else."  The "something else" in my opinion is the vegetal almost green tea-like flavors resulting from the low oxidization.  The green tea-like flavor also has a nutty characteristic to it like you might find in Dragonwell or some other green teas.  Although the vegetal flavor does dominate at first, there is a good floral aspect as well and later steeps reveal a pleasant lychee flavor.  (To avoid confusion, I should mention that this "milky" flavor is definitely a natural flavor in the tea and should not be confused with artificially flavored milk oolongs sold elsewhere.  TeaFromVietnam doesn't even mention this alternate name of Jin Xuan, but it's just a flavor note I picked up on.)

The Golden Lily aftertaste is slightly peppery early on, but then later becomes more floral.  Of the few times I have brewed this tea now, I find that it does best with slightly more leaf than I originally thought I would need.  Not much more, but an extra one half to one gram seemed to really help this tea deliver a fuller flavor and not taper off as quickly.  As the tea does taper off though, long infusions can produce a good vegetal tea soup that still provides an interesting floral aftertaste.

Tea From Vietnam - Golden Lily oolong - Great looking leaves!

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The flavor of the Ta oolong is also very creamy, but it does not have the same dominating vegetal nature as the Golden Lily and instead has a nice citrus (orange, grapefruit) flavor with lemongrass and a nice floral perfume taste in the back of the throat.  Subsequent infusions reveal more light honey sweetness that combines with the creaminess to create a sugar cookie-like taste.  The enjoyable aftertaste is floral and lingering.  

Tea From Vietnam - Ta oolong - Also great looking leaves!

Another difference between Golden Lily and Ta is the price.  Golden Lily is $5.90 for 50g and Ta is $11.90 for 50g.  Part of the price difference is likely due to supply-- Jin Xuan cultivar is grown more commonly than Ta and is a high yield cultivar which can make it more affordable.  Of course personal preference will dictate if these are good deals, but I think the prices are good.  Although I am not personally a huge fan of the milky vegetal flavor of Golden Lily, I enjoy the tea enough that I think it's definitely worth $5.90 for 50g and I would be happy to buy this tea again as a daily drinker jade oolong.  I also think that the higher price for the Ta oolong is a good deal too because I prefer the flavor profile of the Ta much more-- it's a well balanced tea with good gao shan flavor and complexity. 

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In contrast to the low oxidized Golden Lily, I also received a small sample of the Red Lily which is a black tea made from Jin Xuan leaf.  Red Lily is fully oxidized and has a medium bake/roast. Close examination of the leaf though does show some greenness.

Due to the rolled nature of this tea and large leaf size, it seems to do better with more leaf than I typically use for black tea-- a good leaf to water ratio would be similar to what I use for oolongs, roughly 5g per 80ml, though I would like to experiment more to see if any other parameters would have an effect on this tea.  The first time I brewed it I did not use enough leaf so I used more leaf the second time which helped.

The Red Lily brews up a beautiful clear orange liquor and the leaves unroll fairly quickly and give off an aroma of dark raisins, black cherries, dark chocolate and a hint of strawberry.  The first infusion had a darker version of that milky "jin xuan" taste which I did not enjoy, but the tea became much more enjoyable in the second and third infusions where it transformed into a nice peach cobbler with ice cream flavor, dark cherry, and cotton candy.  Later it reminded me of apple cider spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc), dried orange peel, and figs with a similar aftertaste having a brown sugar sweetness.  Occasionally though I would get a slight milky reminder that this is Jin Xuan which is not something I'm used to in black teas and that made it difficult for me to really enjoy this one as much as I did the oolongs.  At $6.90 per 50g though, it may be worth a try for something unique as it is the only black tea available right now from Tea From Vietnam, but I would like to see them offer some others in the future-- perhaps a Vietnamese version of an Assam would be really interesting.  

Tea From Vietnam - Red Lily - Really nice looking leave, some greenness to them despite being a black tea.

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My final tea from Vietnam is the Gui Fei oolong.  This type of oolong is low roast but moderately oxidized and is similar to Oriental Beauty in that leafhopper insects are allowed to nibble on the leaves prior to harvest which causes the leaves to produce additional flavor compounds that add an extra layer of complexity and sweetness to the tea.

The Gui Fei ended up being my favorite tea that I tried from Vietnam.  The wet leaf is very fragrant of dark honey, nutmeg, raisin, a hint of chocolate, and the muscat grape that is common in Darjeelings and also leafhopper oolongs.  The liquor is an orange dark honey color and the mouthfeel is very soft yet has enough pleasant astringency to keep it interesting.

The initial flavor reminds me of gingerbread and molasses with a rose floral note.  The middle infusions are where it begins to taste like an autumn flush Darjeeling and muscat grape and it has a nice caramel sweetness.  The later steeps bring out some citrus flavors like lemon and lime.  The flavor alone is really enjoyable, but the aftertaste is what makes this tea my favorite.  Over the gingerbread base is a very intense floral aftertaste like red roses.  Overall this is a very pleasant tea to sip slowly and enjoy without haste.  This tea sells for $11.90 per 50g which I think is an excellent deal. (They also offer their teas in larger quantities for less per gram too.)

Tea From Vietnam - Gui Fei oolong - Also very high quality looking leaves - mostly "two leaf one bud" configuration

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In addition to these four teas, Tea From Vietnam also has a couple more oolongs and a few green teas.  I did not order any green teas this time, but I have a fellow tea friend who did order some of the greens and found them quite enjoyable.  I look forward to trying those in my next order!  At the time of writing this, they provide free shipping on orders over $30, but orders under $30 ship for a flat rate of only $4.90, so these teas are very accessible to anyone in the world.  

A Perfect Day with Whispering Sunshine (2015) from Crimson Lotus Tea

I'm not too picky when it comes to describing nice weather.  I want comfortable temperatures, no storms, and comfortable levels of humidity.  I do get picky though when describing the weather on a perfect day, which includes temperatures in the low 70's or upper 60's, low humidity, a gentle breeze, and generally blue skies but with just enough clouds to keep it interesting and give some intermittent shade.   These are stereotypical spring or fall days in my opinion.  In Kentucky we truly do experience all four seasons, though I often wish spring and fall would last longer than they do; if we do happen to get a perfect day, then I want to make sure I fully enjoy it.

We recently had one of these perfect days, and the timing could not be any better because my Crimson Lotus Tea order has just arrived with their 2015 teas.  On this perfect day I knew exactly what tea I wanted to brew.  Though based on nothing more than a non-scientific gut feeling (since I had not tried any of these new teas yet), I knew that the perfect tea for this perfect day would be Whispering Sunshine.

Crimson Lotus sourced the material for Whispering Sunshine in person earlier this year and pressed it in China before returning home to Seattle.  They report that the leaves were harvested by hand in Bai Ying Shan (Lincang) and hand processed into mao cha by tea producers in the He Tao village.  Crimson Lotus chose the name for this tea because of Bai Ying Shan's high elevation which exceeds 2000 meters; so high that the "tea trees were close enough to hear the gentle voice of the Sun."

On this perfect day I found a long extension cord (despite discouragement from the kettle manufacturer) so I could set up a nice gongfu session outside on the patio.  The birch tree in the yard provided some cool shade yet the gentle breeze moved through the branches just enough to allow a few rays of warm sunshine to float down to the ground and dance across the tea table.  I couldn't think of a more perfect way to admire this tea.

The compression of this sheng puerh cake appears pretty light from the outside, but upon further picking it seems to be more dense than first though.  This may be a good balance of being loose enough to pick apart without doing too much damage yet tight enough to help lock in some of the fresh aroma, though after an initial rinse it still may be helpful to tease apart some of the tighter leaf clusters to help with more consistent brewing.

I have brewed this more than once by the time of editing this writing, and I found that using water around 200F/93C degrees results in almost no bitterness, though near boiling will give it a bite that some people prefer.  I also found that if you want low bitterness yet strong body, adding an extra gram or two of leaf than usual in addition to using 200F water works out great.

Whispering Sunshine brews up a yellow liquor that is slightly cloudy due to leaf fuzz, and if the light catches it just right it can give off a pleasant warm golden glow.  The mouthfeel is soft yet thick enough to coat the mouth with lots of flavor.

Although the initial taste has a hint of smoke from the wood-fire processing, the tea overall is extremely clean and fresh tasting.  The amount of leaf used will make a difference, but Whispering Sunshine has a very light and delicate flavor.  It has some vegetal characteristics, however not that of bitter leafy vegetables but that of green beans fresh from the garden and sweet peas.  This is beginning to sound like the flavor profile of a green tea, and the first thing I thought of when drinking Whispering Sunshine was that it reminds me of fresh Huang Shan Mao Feng green tea, with a floral aftertaste and honey sweetness similar to a high mountain oolong and a hui gan you would expect from a high quality puerh.  As the tea cools it reveals a subtle petroleum taste like that of a Riesling white wine, and at one point the freshness and cleanliness of this tea simply made me think of clean linens hanging on a line outside to dry in the afternoon sun.

There are some puerhs that are hard to judge (at least for me) when they are this young because they could be fairly bitter and strong and are hopefully going to improve after years of age, and then there are others which are extremely good right away and may be best consumed now rather than later.  To me, Whispering Sunshine has a perfect "drink me now" flavor, and I imagine that I will probably end up drinking through the entire 200g cake before having a chance to see how it will do over time.

Is this the perfect tea for a perfect day?  I believe the tea alone has the ideal flavor profile for a perfect spring or fall day, so yes, it must be, but all the additional information that Crimson Lotus has shared about this tea is really what solidifies the distinction.  If you have been following Crimson Lotus through their various social media accounts, you know that they gave weekly if not daily updates about their travels throughout China earlier this year.  I may never get a chance to visit Lincang, but I am very thankful that Crimson Lotus shared photos and stories while they stayed in places such as the the He Tao village.  The more we can learn about the tea that we drink, the better we can understand the cha qi held within its leaves.

When I sit on my patio and drink Whispering Sunshine on a perfect day I feel the calm Kentucky breeze on my face, but when I close my eyes I imagine myself standing on the steep northern slopes of the Bai Ying mountain.  The rustling leaves I hear may be my birch tree behind me or my maple trees that were planted about 20 years ago when my house was built, but maybe I'm hearing the leaves of ancient tea trees that have been growing in a remote forest long before I or anyone I know was alive.  Is cha qi simply the energy we get from caffeine and theanine, or is it the energy represented as experiences that ancient trees have accumulated over centuries of growth while watching the world change around them?  Perhaps a part of cha qi is simply an acknowledgement that energy has been transferred to us through the consumption of the tea; an energy that was transferred to the leaves themselves through chloroform, photosynthesis, and rays of whispering sunshine.

Link to Crimson Lotus Tea: http://crimsonlotustea.com
Link to Whispering Sunshine.

What-Cha - Fujian Anxi 2008 Heavy Roasted Tie Guan Yin in Bitter Melon

(note:  This is a re-hosting of my review of this tea which I wrote in July 2015 on Reddit /r/tea)

I’ll be honest here. I bought this tea simply for the weirdness factor. OK, that may not be entirely true because I do really like roasted oolongs, but this is the first time I have seen anything like this, and when I first saw it on What-Cha, I immediately said, “I want that thing.” I even bought 100g of it because Alistair of What-Cha says, “We will endeavour to send out a whole bitter melon on orders of 100g or more.*” For some reason I felt that if I only ordered 50g I would only be getting half of the strangeness of this tea, and I didn’t want to feel cheated, and forget ordering just a 10g sample-- I imagine that would just be small handful of oolong balls and a few slivers of melon rind-- that’s hardly weird at all. I wanted to experience the full WTF (weird tea factor).

(*This was recently changed to, "All orders of 125g will be guaranteed to receive a whole bitter melon." as the 100g option has now been replaced with a 125g option.  I speculate that this is due to the many complex factors regarding the bitter melon market that I do not comprehend.)

So here it is. 100g (including the 5g in my gaiwan) of heavy roasted Tie Guan Yin stuffed into a Bitter Melon.

I can't stop staring into the intricate patterns and colors of the melon rind.  It's like an extraterrestrial landscape.

Although I did buy this because of how it looks, I was hopeful that my love for roasted oolongs would actually make this a useful purchase. It’s true, at first I was scared to even brew this tea; I have no idea what a bitter melon is, how it tastes, or if tea or anything else is routinely stored inside of one for practical reasons, but the tea itself looks like normal high roast TGY, though a bit squashed together, and it has a nice fruity smell like Fig Newton cookies, so that’s definitely a good sign!

Alistair said that it is recommended to break off some of the melon and brew it with the tea. For a moment I tried to pretend that I didn’t see that, but then I reminded myself that I want to experience this unique tea to the fullest so I made sure to toss a few melon chunks into my gaiwan. It’s much thinner and fragile than I imagined it would be; thin as an egg shell, but not quite that brittle, more like the bark of a sycamore tree.

The liquor looks like normal high roast TGY… nice light brown/orange color, and surprisingly very clear. A nice fruity smell with no unusual aromas... Maybe this isn’t scary after all...

I took a deep breath and then a sip. IT’S GOOD!

It has the flavors that I really like in a roasted TGY: cherry, charcoal, and hint a chocolate. This one is actually even better than the last roasted TGY I drank a week or two ago-- I’m also getting some raisin and tangerine flavors, and a very dominant flavor of figs. (The website mentioned plums… I haven't had any plums in a while-- Do figs and plums taste similar?)

Like a good oolong, this can be resteeped many times, and the fig flavor stays dominant throughout, with a nice fruity sweet fig aftertaste.

So my gamble of buying 100g of this tea definitely seems worth it-- not only did I get the entire full weird looking melon, but I also got 100g of tasty roasted oolong. And the price is actually very good. Although it’s weird, unique, and good tasting, it’s also very affordable-- the 100g package was less than $15.  I noticed that recently the 100g option has been replaced with a 125g option for just over $16, but you can also order this tea in 50g or 10g packages.  

This item to me is representative of why I really like shopping at What-cha. They seem to offer a wide variety of less common teas from a wide variety of sources, and the prices are very good. Even if I’m shopping for something somewhat normal, I try to look around their selection for at least one unique item to throw in my cart just because it’s not an opportunity you have everywhere. Don't be afraid to try something weird!

http://what-cha.com/oolong-tea/china-fujian-anxi-2008-heavy-roasted-tie-guan-yin-oolong-tea-in-bitter-melon/