The Essence of Tea

[LeoFox]

And now the 2017 old tree meizhan

https://essenceoftea.com/collections/wu ... uyi-yancha

This is a small production of old Mei Zhan bushes growing in Zhu Ke. The trees are approx 50-60 years old, which is relatively old for Wuyi tea bushes other than Shui Xian.

This tea has been had kill green in a wood fire heated drum, with machine rolling and charcoal roasted.

This tea has been processed in the traditional style, with greater oxidation and stronger charcoal roast than is common

A very nice tea, in my opinion.

[Baiyun]

@LeoFox Glad you enjoyed the MZ, I was waiting for a verdict because I really like this tea.

On the other side of things, I just had a fully packed session of that SX and it straight up dried my mouth out, two cups was enough. Unpleasant aftertaste now several minutes later, still dry. I think this was now much closer to the parameters you had, although I still infused relatively quickly to begin with.

I'll have to revert to light and quick again for the remainder of my sample, it's not like this tea can't be brewed to be pleasant, but it's surely not as straightforward or forgiving as others in the price range. Not a reorder for me just based on this one session. I'll use the full pot as a test more often.

[LeoFox]

LeoFox Glad you enjoyed the MZ, I was waiting for a verdict because I really like this tea.

On the other side of things, I just had a fully packed session of that SX and it straight up dried my mouth out, two cups was enough. Unpleasant aftertaste now several minutes later, still dry. I think this was now much closer to the parameters you had, although I still infused relatively quickly to begin with.

I'll have to revert to light and quick again for the remainder of my sample, it's not like this tea can't be brewed to be pleasant, but it's surely not as straightforward or forgiving as others in the price range. Not a reorder for me just based on this one session. I'll use the full pot as a test more often.

Try something very different - western. Get a big old 300-500 ml pot and brew 1g/100 ml, 5 min

[Baiyun]

Try something very different - western. Get a big old 300-500 ml pot and brew 1g/100 ml, 5 min

Something I have not done in years.

It comes out tasting very light but oddly enough I still get that slight astringency from this morning over a few sips. As if it had enough time to be slightly astringent, but not enough time to impart a lot of flavour.

Drinkable at first but I don't think I am in for the whole pot right now on my empty stomach.

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[LeoFox]

Try something very different - western. Get a big old 300-500 ml pot and brew 1g/100 ml, 5 min

Something I have not done in years.

It comes out tasting very light but oddly enough I still get that slight astringency from this morning over a few sips. As if it had enough time to be slightly astringent, but not enough time to impart a lot of flavour.

Drinkable at first but I don't think I am in for the whole pot right now on my empty stomach.

Would you be willing to add milk? That's a nice glass pot

[Baiyun]

Would you be willing to add milk? That's a nice glass pot

Willing yes - it's often how I manage red tea samples - but it's too late now. I'll simply try it again another day and give it a shot, 1g of an afforadble yancha is pretty inconsequential to experiment with. With milk, even strong shots could work fine for this one?

Now for anyone reading this thinking EoT teas need Western brewing or milk to enjoy, certainly not the case. Many fantastic teas from that vendor, probably makes up the majority of my stash at this point.

[Andrew S]

On the other side of things, I just had a fully packed session of that SX and it straight up dried my mouth out, two cups was enough. Unpleasant aftertaste now several minutes later, still dry. I think this was now much closer to the parameters you had, although I still infused relatively quickly to begin with.

I'll have to revert to light and quick again for the remainder of my sample, it's not like this tea can't be brewed to be pleasant, but it's surely not as straightforward or forgiving as others in the price range. Not a reorder for me just based on this one session. I'll use the full pot as a test more often.

I've found a big bag of this tea that I had lying around, which I'm going to brew in a gaiwan at work - I need to see if I've only remembered it through a romantic haze of some kind... Updates to follow in due course.

Andrew

[Andrew S]

I've found a big bag of this tea that I had lying around, which I'm going to brew in a gaiwan at work - I need to see if I've only remembered it through a romantic haze of some kind... Updates to follow in due course.

I've had some nice results recently at around 90 seconds, 30-45 seconds, 120 seconds, and then 'uncounted', for four strong fully-packed brews.

However, I'm conscious that not everybody would enjoy that style of tea (and I'm also conscious that, for my part, brewing tea like that has been a welcome replacement for espresso when I don't have much time).

Andrew

[LeoFox]

I've found a big bag of this tea that I had lying around, which I'm going to brew in a gaiwan at work - I need to see if I've only remembered it through a romantic haze of some kind... Updates to follow in due course.

I've had some nice results recently at around 90 seconds, 30-45 seconds, 120 seconds, and then 'uncounted', for four strong fully-packed brews.

However, I'm conscious that not everybody would enjoy that style of tea (and I'm also conscious that, for my part, brewing tea like that has been a welcome replacement for espresso when I don't have much time).

Andrew

Oh man- i can't imagine drinking that tea brewed like that hahahaha. It would destroy me.

I need to go back to my eot teas. Been taking a detour

[LeoFox]

2020 hui Yuan keng rougui
https://essenceoftea.com/products/2020- ... ng-rou-gui

This one felt disappointing for first few sips and then it suddenly got better as the minerality and aromatics opened up

At this price point, I may be expecting a bit more - but it is a nice tea

[LeoFox]

2019 Rui Quan ~ Jin Suo Shi Wuyi Yancha

https://essenceoftea.com/collections/wu ... uyi-yancha

This one was not particularly impressive - esp at that price point

[LeoFox]

Now trying the gold medal teas from eot.

https://essenceoftea.com/collections/wu ... te-of-gold


First is the gold rougui

Aside from a very strong rougui aroma, it is not very good. In fact, I am tempted to reset my teapot with percarbonate after having been exposed to this material...

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And Here is the gold medal dahongpao. Good for those who likes the smell of petrol

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And Here is gold medal shuixian - so far the best of the lot

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And Here is gold medal Ming Cong- heavily perfumed aroma - not my cup or tea. If brewed lightly - perhaps would find favor with the scented tea folks in the US (though not at this price)

[Andrew S]

Now trying some gold medal rougui from essence of tea

Aside from a very strong rougui aroma, it is not very good. In fact, I am tempted to reset my teapot with percarbonate after having been exposed to this material...

I tried a packet of this one again after reading your comments - you're quite right, it has an uncomfortable and unpleasant bitter side to it.

I'm wondering why I didn't notice that when I tried it the first time. I probably brewed it harder that time, and I was definitely 'searching' for flavours rather than drinking it in my normal fashion. I might also have lost my sense of balance after starting that day with an even more uncomfortable yancha... I guess it's a problem of drawing conclusions from a single session.

(and no, I wouldn't recommend you trying it again with a heavier hand - I think I've poisoned you enough already, and bitter tea is bad tea)

Andrew

[Baisao]

Now trying some gold medal rougui from essence of tea

Aside from a very strong rougui aroma, it is not very good. In fact, I am tempted to reset my teapot with percarbonate after having been exposed to this material...

I tried a packet of this one again after reading your comments - you're quite right, it has an uncomfortable and unpleasant bitter side to it.

I'm wondering why I didn't notice that when I tried it the first time. I probably brewed it harder that time, and I was definitely 'searching' for flavours rather than drinking it in my normal fashion. I might also have lost my sense of balance after starting that day with an even more uncomfortable yancha... I guess it's a problem of drawing conclusions from a single session.

(and no, I wouldn't recommend you trying it again with a heavier hand - I think I've poisoned you enough already, and bitter tea is bad tea)

Andrew

I feel strongly that tea is about balance. Water shouldn’t be too low or two high in minerals, water shouldn’t be too hot or too cold, liquor shouldn’t be too strong or too light, aromatics shouldn’t be too little or too much.

Regarding aromatics being too much, I opened a package of yancha two nights ago and it smelled like potpourri. This isn’t natural and indicates it was sprayed with something. Green TGY is often too aromatic, naturally, and is off putting to many seasoned enthusiasts. Aromatics can be too much of a good thing.

When we are out of balance we stray further. This happens easily with bitterness. When I was making hop water I noticed that I became accustomed to increasing levels of bitterness so that when I served someone a glass it was unpleasantly bitter to them, yet I detected only a little bitterness.

[Baiyun]

The September tea club had a bit of a novelty thing in it which I thought were worth mentioning here. The bag (which I always hope contains some small scale wild Yiwu maocha find) contained little tongs containing 7g cakelets of a sheng/shu blend (both of unnamed origin), named 'Breakfast for Meditators'.

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I've given away my dark tea-yixing on a long term loan, and because the shu character is reasonably strong with this blend and it comes out dark, I switched to a gaiwan to keep the dark side out of my sheng yixing after my first try That said, I think the tea definitely did better in yixing because there is a specific note in it that does not work well for me, and it comes out clearer in my non-muting porcelain.

The 7g discs are compressed really well and open up nicely within the first 2 infusions. Definitely not one of these overcompressed petrified annoying little bricks. I can see how that format can be useful for on-the-go brewing, but I do not favour it for home use. Too much packaging and restriction around leaf amount without π calculations when splitting it up for small vessels. Half joking. Either way, I would not use this tea for extended on-the-go infusions either, aged white all the way for this in my world, not a blend with young sheng in it.

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The first couple of cups as the cakelet opens are the best in my opinion, there's a bit of character where I can taste the freshness of the sheng with a bit of shu depth playing in, and the first impressions were promising in that way. The liquor comes out lighter red in the opening phase, before turning proper fermented dark quickly for subsequent brews once the leaves are saturated.

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But unfortunately I have not really been able to make it work for a whole session. I get the most out of it with reasonably fast infusions, but the lazy brewing method alluded to in the accompanying letter is not for me. I assume the sheng part of the blend starts to add some less desirable notes at some point, while I am not getting satisfying notes to make up for it. I will have to experiment a bit more, perhaps with lower temperatures as I have always been hitting it with freshly boiled water.

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I am sure some people will like this kind of blend, and the vendors say it is one of their daily drinking favourites, but whilst I can't say I personally like or crave the taste of this tea after a few sessions, and I don't fancy the smell of the dry disc either, there is something to be said about the effects. EoT says gently uplifting, but for me it is rather like an espresso. This tea really wakes me up in the morning, so the right time for me will be tired mornings without a lot of time to spare, but likely will give a couple of these tongs away to see if it suits others more as I am sure it has potential for the right person. Whilst this tea provides a kind of caffeinated alertness, it is lacking the kind of energy I associate with meditation teas. And I am always looking for meditation teas.

I am curious what those that have received this tea think about it, or more generally, whether sheng/shu blends have been working for people. I've enjoyed home mixed blends in the past, but they were usually of a single tea or processing type, like mixing several liu baos, or yinzhen from several origins.