Exquisite Da Hong Pao from Teacuppa (previously Mystery Wuyi Yancha B)

Class: Oolong
Origin: Wuyi shan, China
Year: 2007
Vendor: Teacuppa (Product Page)
Price: $110 (100g) / $58 (50g) / $20 (12g)


Sample B in all its (unfortunately broken-up) glory

This is the second tea in the blind tasting I wrote about in my last post. As you can see in the above image, the dry leaf I had was pretty broken up. This has more to do with being the dregs of the bag than overall quality. I seem to remember that most of the leaf was decently whole. The leaf smells quite nice; it is not quite as rich as sample A, but it has some chocolate and caramel goin' on.


Sweet, sweet nectar.

Despite the state of the leaf, this tea tastes pretty good: caramel and chocolate. Thanks to the state of the leaf, the flavor is intense. [Tasters: This intensity is why I recommended brewing with short steeps, but if your dry leaf looks more whole than mine, feel free to disregard.] Unfortunately, a side-effect seems to be a loss of complexity. I didn't really notice any development over the rather prodigious number of steeps the tea survived. I'm interested to hear if that was similar/different from others' experiences.


So fresh and so clean.

I really like this tea, especially considering the condition of the leaves at the bottom of the bag. It has good, strong flavor, and even some nice qi (hell, even I could feel it). I'll most likely order another sample so I can get an impression of it at its best.