The Essence of Tea
That is quite an unexpected combination, yet somewhat intriguing since it comes from EoT, but I haven't tried it. More usual kind of mix would be aged sheng + shu, or dianhong + shu (this second blend one is something i've been served recently, to my great surprise, at a 'chinese tea culture' gathering). However, the one homemade blend I've actually enjoyed quite a bit was aged white + aged sheng.
I gave it another go today, only used half a disc (3.5g) and started with boiling water and then just used the same water from the kettle without reheating for subsequent brews, random infusion lengths, and then one last longer infusion with freshly boiled water. As expected, it's a mellower brew that way, but the taste is still not for me, whatever the combination. It's neither here nor there, and the baseline taste is not one I personally like (disclaimer: I drink a reasonable amount of young sheng but generally avoid shu). In theory, best case, I would hope for a combination of bright sheng freshness with some shu sweetness and depth that strikes an unusual but pleasing balance, but that would probably require some really high quality and forgiving teas, where one does not risk overextraction while the other still underextracts, which I don't think they would readily put into such a blend experiment. I wouldn't either. But from a means to and end perspective, I can still sense the alertness from half the dose here.
2016 yu qi lin
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/wu ... -yu-qi-lin
An interesting yancha that is a bit on the green side
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/wu ... -yu-qi-lin
An interesting yancha that is a bit on the green side
I've had the 2021 "Earth" Old Tree Shu Puerh last night. For all the hype that various small batch artisanal old tree shu puerhs get lately, it is still just a shu. Aromatic, yet thin, not much durability, aftertaste is a bit meh, throat feeling nonexistent. It does need a few more years to settle up, but I don't expect a drastic improvement. I mean it might be one of the better shus out there, and an affordable price too, but doesn't produce any spark of joy.
Today I'm drinking the 2022 Sun Moon Lake Red tea which is great. Robust Assam style with some astringency and plenty of fruitiness, good aftertaste, and no bad body feelings like those often produced by its Indian and Japanese counterparts. Can easy last for more than dozen infusions and some of the later ones are actually my preferred as they become more balanced and tolerant to a casual brewing with long steeping.
I've seen two different stories about the original Sun Moon Lake assamica bushes planted by the Japanese: 1 - they come from the British plantations in Assam, 2 - they came from wild assamica trees from Burma. I guess the two areas are not too far from each other and were both controlled by the British back then.
Today I'm drinking the 2022 Sun Moon Lake Red tea which is great. Robust Assam style with some astringency and plenty of fruitiness, good aftertaste, and no bad body feelings like those often produced by its Indian and Japanese counterparts. Can easy last for more than dozen infusions and some of the later ones are actually my preferred as they become more balanced and tolerant to a casual brewing with long steeping.
I've seen two different stories about the original Sun Moon Lake assamica bushes planted by the Japanese: 1 - they come from the British plantations in Assam, 2 - they came from wild assamica trees from Burma. I guess the two areas are not too far from each other and were both controlled by the British back then.
Yeah, but – what you find now in the Sun Moon Lake area is the creattion of the TRES Institute, N.18 the most famous. Or imported tea from Sri Lanka... A lot of fakery going on around the lake, also due to it being promoted so heavily to tourists (both lake and tea). Almost all road-side tea is fake for sure. The one sold at the old Japanese tea factory is authentic, the rest it depends..m. wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 2:58 pmI've had the 2021 "Earth" Old Tree Shu Puerh last night. For all the hype that various small batch artisanal old tree shu puerhs get lately, it is still just a shu. Aromatic, yet thin, not much durability, aftertaste is a bit meh, throat feeling nonexistent. It does need a few more years to settle up, but I don't expect a drastic improvement. I mean it might be one of the better shus out there, and an affordable price too, but doesn't produce any spark of joy.
Today I'm drinking the 2022 Sun Moon Lake Red tea which is great. Robust Assam style with some astringency and plenty of fruitiness, good aftertaste, and no bad body feelings like those often produced by its Indian and Japanese counterparts. Can easy last for more than dozen infusions and some of the later ones are actually my preferred as they become more balanced and tolerant to a casual brewing with long steeping.
I've seen two different stories about the original Sun Moon Lake assamica bushes planted by the Japanese: 1 - they come from the British plantations in Assam, 2 - they came from wild assamica trees from Burma. I guess the two areas are not too far from each other and were both controlled by the British back then.
I usually like the TRES 8 and 18 teas from the Yuchi area quite a bit. Not sure what is the relationship between TRES 8 and the japanese planted assamica bushes: seems to be a direct descendant from them? In the case of this tea EoT say it is indeed from some of the few remaining old bushes, which is interesting in itself to try.
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/re ... ke-red-tea
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/re ... ke-red-tea