As usual, the Old Ways Tea club delivers a strong selection of teas to comparison taste and a special gift!
The special gift is a teacup with a fruity branch design. I eventually saw all the designs through my other tea friends’ boxes, and they are all awesome cups!
Jin Xuan from 2022 February Old Ways Tea Club
I’m diving into the Jin Xuan first. Yes, Jin Xuan is just a cultivar, but all the ones I’ve had tend to be Taiwanese style rolled oolongs, so this version is a fun change of pace.
The leaves smell toasty and nutty.
After a rinse, this Jin Xuan smells bright and sweet, like loganberry.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: The Jin Xuan is smooth and milky to start, but it develops fruity juicy lychee and floral cherry wood. The fruity notes have plenty of salivation and a thick creamy texture. Slowly, the lychee/loganberry flavor lingers as a perfumey aftertaste.
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: The tea is opening up and is starting to bite back a little, tasting more wood, and sharp shards of minerals. The sip itself is savory now, but the aftertaste is perfumey fruity. Interestingly, I get a floral mango aftertaste.
Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: Jin Xuan’s flavor is waning quickly and what’s left is milky, bitter wood. Each steeping gets more stewy bitter but settles into a milky taste. The texture is dry too, so the tops of my tongue are starting to sandpaper. I did burp a few times and tasted mystery mango lychee.
In all, a good and interesting tea. I love the experience of Jin Xuan done another way than typically experienced. The fruity notes were top-notch and love how it held onto a more milky texture.
Huang Mei Hongcha and Yancha from the 2022 February Old Ways Tea Club
This is quite a cool experience to have the same tea garden but two teas processed into either a black tea or oolong. I haven’t done a side by side tea tasting in a while so I could not resist.
Hongcha smells strongly fruity whereas the Yancha is roasty woodsy.
Both teas I did at a ratio of 1g per 13ml, steeped in boiling water. Interestingly, both steep up a gorgeous mahogany reddish-brown – and my camera really picks up the red.
Hongcha is sweet potato, malt, and thick with hints of buttery caramel. Each steeping adds a layer of sweet caramel with a blackberry note. Huang Mei Hongcha starts to peak out a bitter note by the final infusions but maintains a smooth, berry malt flavor.
All while the Huang Mei Yancha is roasted nutty and opens to fruity stone fruit buttery, lingering after each sip. The main flavor is the roast. At its peak, Huang Mei Yancha is floral bitter peach skin over roasted peanut shells. End of the session, the Yancha shines as a lovely balance of bitter nutshells, butter, and floral roasted peaches.
I found it quite interesting that the Huang Mei Hongcha was berry whereas the Yancha was more stone fruit. Both had similar buttery notes and thick, oily textures. I preferred the black tea much more, but I think more roast rest on the Yancha would be more to my tastes. I got around 8 steepings on the black and 9 on the oolong.
In all, yet another banger of an Old Ways Tea Club! I can’t wait for the April shipment! Last year’s teas were White Tea and HuangPian.
