Tea and Zen

This is part of my Sample Demolition: Verdant Tea series.

Dry leaves

I've had a lot of TieGuanYin. Far more than any other Anxi Oolong I've had the pleasure of sipping on. I've had "meh" and I've had some fantastic TGY. This one is hands down one of the best TGY I've ever had. From Verdant Tea I've had every TGY that Master Zhang has to offer except his 15 year aged TGY. This is my favorite of all of his offerings.

For this session I used 5g/120ml with 95C water and added 3-5 seconds per each additional brewing. 

Gong Fu Brewings 1-5

The aroma is extremely floral. From that alone I could taste orchid and honeysuckle with a hint of raspberry and melon. 

The first sip of the first brewing had a light, sweet taste like snap peas or sweet grass. Melon, raspberries, lilac, honeysuckle, orchid, jasmine, and cream being the tastes lingered all over my tongue in the after taste. The liquor was buttery smooth and had a very long finish.

Liquor

In the aroma of the second cup I could pick up on marzipan and cream mingled in with the floral notes. The flavor of the liquor was now explosive. Strawberries, sweet grass, and jasmine glided over my tongue. In the aftertaste, the jasmine was the strongest by far, lingering on the back of my pallet.

I found that raspberries had the strongest aroma for the third cup. There wasn't a whole lot of flavor aside from the sweetgrass, but the liquor was even lighter and had become more buttery than the first cup. Jasmine remained the main flavor in the aftertaste, but it mingled with raspberry.

Wet leaves

Raspberries and jasmine remained the main aroma. In this cup the floral sweetness of the tea began to disappear and become a little rough. The sweetgrass was the dominant profile, and I could barely detect some raspberry and boysenberry mixture at the back of my throat.. In the after taste fruity notes began to strengthen as the floral notes weakened. The boysenberry was barely present, the raspberry as strong as the past few cups.

In the fifth cup the liquor began to become astringent but it wasn't unpleasant. I could taste jasmine and melon at the back of my tongue mingled in with the sweetgrass. In the aftertaste it was a mixture of jasmine and raspberries once again. There was cream as well. I almost didn't notice it.

Gong Fu Brewing 6-10

In the 6th I primarily smelt sweetgrass with a tiny hint of raspberry. The astringency from the 5th brewing was gone. The mouthfeel was very silky now, still very full but no longer buttery. I mostly tasted sweetgrass and watercress (without the raddish-y part of watercress) in the liquor and aftertaste. At the sides of the back of my tongue and two spots on the center of my pallet I could taste melon and blueberry. I hadn't tasted blueberry yet so that came as a surprise. Raspberry and cream was still present, but it was very hard to detect.

Steeping leaves

The aroma was more or less the same as the 6th cup in the 7th. At the tip of my tongue I could taste cream, all across my pallet I could still taste sweetgrass, and at the back of my throat I could taste melon and raspberry. A hint of jasmine lingered in the aftertaste at the back of my throat.

I wasn't getting much aroma in the 8th cup which was a good sign to me that this tea was now on it's last legs. In the liquor I could taste water mingled with the sweetgrass which was the main flavor. The aftertaste was a gentle mix of jasmine, cream, and raspberries.

Since I was already this far, I decided to do two more brewings. They were more or less weaker versions of the 8th. In some of the earlier cups there was something sweet and savory I wasn't able to quite put a finger on because it was so subtle. Since most of the fruity and floral flavors had left, I was able to figure out it was caramelized banana. It was very nice.

Grandpa Style 

I don't have a whole lot to say about this tea grandpa style. It never went bitter, it was lightly floral and a little vegetale. It was definitely better when brewed Gong Fu style. I had it over a period of four hours. I used 3g/350ml, used 95C water for most of the time.

Best tumbler ever

Leaves in cup once done

Rating

This tea is fab. The aftertaste lingers forever. I had this tea with a friend before making this review and we ended on the 5th cup. The aftertaste that lingered was much stronger than the one that lingered when I went up to ten. So, I recommend stopping at the 5th or 6th brewing if you crave a wonderful, long lasting after taste like I do.

When I was with my friend we went out to eat. I had a buffalo "chicken" panini. The chicken being seitan, which is wheat gluten with a very meaty texture. After we were done it wasn't long till I could taste this tea again. A good TGY is supposed to have a sweet, floral and/or fruity aftertaste that lingers for a long time. This one certainly delivers.

Please take a moment to look at the leaf samples below. As you can see, many of them are not fully unrolled and are chipped/broken in many cases. I opened/flattened out a few of them on the left side. Most of the wet leaves never opened up fully even after all these brewings. While the liquor is absolutely delicious, this says something about the leaves: they're not very high quality. The price reflects that. Hojo of Hojo Tea has a very nice article Tips of Tea Quality Inspection that goes into some detail about this. I think it's a good, educational read. If you're familiar with tea it'll reinforce knowledge you probably have, and if you're new to tea it'll offer some new knowledge.

Gong Fu leaf samples

Grandpa leaf samples

Overall I give this tea a 9. If you do decide to try this tea, I suggest trying it next to their Traditional TGY or their Autumn TGY. You'll be able to taste and see the difference in quality. I have a review on their Autumn TGY if you are interested.

If you are interested in trying this tea, you can purchase it here.