Old Ways Tea’s August Tea Club has us ready for superb autumn tea drinking! Inside, two black teas, 2021 Wuyi Jin Jun Mei, 2021 Wuyi Hong Cha, and 2020 Chunzhong Da Hong Pao oolong.
2021 Wuyi Jin Jun Mei from August Old Ways Tea Club
Fancy fancy Jin Jun Mei and only got 4 packets so make it count!
The leaves smell like sweet cinnamon. A tea like this you drink the rinse you don’t want to flush down cash. For both black teas, I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. The leaves now smell like apples and cardamon.
First and Second Infusion: Wuyi Jin Jun Mei is juicy, immediately making me salivate. This tea is pillowy malt, spun sugar caramel, wild honey in flavor. I can taste the cardamon aroma wafting up my sinuses as I drink.
Third and Fourth Infusion: The flavor opens up to fall apple cider and spices, with a buttery texture and continuing to encourage salivation. Each sip adds 50 points to tea drunk hype feeling and chest-thumping monkey brain. Tea infusion count is +or-2 as I started to lose my brain – I was not prepared for a high-quality energetic tea.
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: The final infusions of Wuyi Jin Jun Mei are astringent but spicy – I milked every drop of flavor in this tea, steeping for 20 minutes. As I drink I constantly debate whether or not if I am worthy to drink this amazingness.
Wuyi Jin Jun Mei golden packet is worth the entire club price – it was special. It gave me memories of amazing other black teas I’ve had in the past, long gone, now taking slot as one of the best black teas. Wuyi Jin Jun Mei is a flavorful, comforting profile all while being complex with lots of tea drunk. I had to take a walk after drinking this tea.
2021 Wuyi Hong Cha from August Old Ways Tea Club
10 packets of this Wuyi Hong Cha is just asking to be lazy style, in fact, I already drank some of them. I’ll gongfu it for the hell of it.
The leaves have berries on a buttery pastry scent. After a steep, the leaves are highly aromatic and fruity.
First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: Wuyi Hong Cha is tangy and a touch underripe berries with a buttery caramel note. Some sips have a starchy green banana quality. The tea finishes with a buttery caramel aftertaste before slinking into tart berries that tickle the back of the throat with astringency.
Sixth Infusion: I power steeped the final infusion, going 15 minutes. Wuyi Hong Cha is deeper, darker, rich berry tannic, and malt with a smooth caramel aftertaste along with a touch of astringency.
Overall, Wuyi Hong Cha tastes consistent across multiple infusions, making for good daily drinking office tea.
2020 Chunzhong Da Hong Pao
The leaves have a strong scent of dried prunes and dark raisins with a deep earthy roasted scent. In a hot gaiwan, the scent is even stronger in the roast.
I overleafed, 8g in a 75ml gaiwan and it looks like I’m steeping a tar pit. The scent is roast, tires, and red berries.
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: Chunzhong Da Hong Pao is highly aromatic, and sips in buttery dark caramel, roasted to charred campfire wood. The aftertaste is buttery and the texture is slick. As the tea develops, it has a concentrated dark raisin with my mind filling in it being dark chocolate covered – still with a charred note.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: Chunzhong Da Hong Pao settled into tasting like buttered dark raisins, plum skins, charred wood, ashes, and driftwood. There is some astringency, making my tongue feel dry. This tea reminds me of going camping and eating chocolate by the fire. The final infusions I steeped for 10 minutes+ and were just as dark and rich, but getting more raisins and sweet.
Chunzhong Da Hong Pao is aromatic, dark, roasty, and fruity. This is perfect for fall drinking – I did go heavy on the leaf and it was excellently rich and deep.
Subscribe to the Old Ways Tea Club, it is the best – I can literally retire on this club.
