Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A brilliant white tea composed of whole leaves with a silky texture, combined with a gentle grass taste and wonderfully light finish with hints of spice.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have enjoyed many different types of white teas in my years as a tea reviewer. And while I do enjoy the many different types of white teas that I’ve tasted, I think I’m finally comfortable saying that my favorite white teas are Darjeeling white teas.
And this Darjeeling Jogmaya White Tea from What-Cha Tea is absolutely stunning! It’s so good! The dry leaves have a distinct grassy aroma with a soft floral note. I can smell a light, fruity sweetness in the background.
To brew this tea, I decided to reach for my Kati Brewing System. I measured 1 1/2 bamboo scoops into the basket of the Kati tumbler (I usually use a little more leaf when it comes to white teas because the leaves are considerably “bulkier”. I heat freshly filtered water to 170°F and poured the water into the tumbler and let the leaves steep for 3 minutes. 
Sweet and delicious! As with other white teas, the overall cup is delicate, but I generally find that Darjeeling white teas are a little less subtle in the flavor department than most other teas and that is the case with this Jogmaya White tea. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy them so much!
Or it could be the amazing spice notes of a Darjeeling white. This tea has a warm, zesty spice note. Think white pepper. Maybe not exactly white pepper, but think of the first time you tasted white pepper and how you noticed the gentler pepper note. It still tasted of pepper but it was definitely more subdued. That’s what I taste now, a soft, subtle spice note that is a little warm and zesty. Perhaps not as abundantly “spiced” as I might experience in say a Yunnan black tea, but there is absolutely some zippy spices that are capturing my taste buds’ attention.
This has a nice body to it, it’s silky and smooth. Notes of sweet grass and whispers of flower. I can taste notes of fruit as well. Melon and a crisp apple note. As I continue to sip, I start to pick up on a slight grape-y flavor.
This is a very refreshing white Darjeeling. The sip starts with grassy notes and almost immediately after I experience those notes, I start to pick up on the aforementioned gentle spice notes. As the sip progresses toward mid-sip, I taste the medley of fruit notes: melon, apple, and a touch of grape. As I reach the end of the sip, I taste a slight floral note that melds with the fruit. The sip ends with a slight dryness and the aftertaste is clean and slightly sweet.
A really enjoyable cup. What-Cha Tea delivers … again!
2014 Darjeeling 2nd Flush Goomtee Oolong Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A delightful oolong tea which evolves and develops with each subsequent brew. A great fruity nose with a complex taste of orange and spice.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was really happy to try this Darjeeling Oolong from What-Cha Tea. Darjeeling Oolong teas tend to be a bit more difficult to find and they’re so lovely that whenever I have the opportunity to try them, I’m excited!
And my excitement was justified because this second Flush Goomtee Oolong is really quite delightful!
I brewed this Darjeeling Oolong the same way I’d brew other Oolong teas, using my gaiwan. I heated the water to 180°F and measured out 1 bamboo scoop of leaves and placed them in the bottom of the gaiwan bowl. Then I gave the tea a quick rinse (15 seconds) and discarded the liquid, and then proceeded to infuse the tea for 45 seconds for the first infusion and then for each subsequent infusion, I added 15 seconds onto the steep time. My first cup was composed of a combination of the first two infusions; the second cup was a combination of infusions 3 and 4, and so on.
My first impression of this tea? Deliciously sweet and fruity! I taste the promised notes of orange and spice. I also taste a sweet, grape-y note. It’s quite smooth and very pleasant to sip. A little earthy and woodsy, with delicate spice notes that are peppery and warm.
Later infusions offered even more fruit notes. I started to pick up on an apple-y note in the second cup (infusions 3 and 4). The sweetness of the cup reminded me almost of a brown sugar sweetness. The cup is smooth yet crisp and vibrant. The light spice notes perk up the flavor.
What I love about Darjeeling Oolong teas like this is that they offer the best of Darjeeling and of Oolong in one cup. It’s smooth and creamy like I’d experience from an Oolong, but I am still tasting notes that are familiar with a second flush Darjeeling teas. I can taste notes of muscatel and the wonderfully warm spice notes and gentle woodsy tones.
With the third cup (infusions 5 and 6), the flavors became a little more unified and soft. The spice tones were not quite as defined as they were in the first two cups, but I found the sweetness from the fruit notes as well as that sweet brown sugar-y note more than made up for the waning spice notes.
This is a really lovely tea. I enjoyed its many infusions (I infused this tea a total of eight times!) finding that the 2nd cup was my favorite because the spice notes were still quite zesty and I liked the way these spice tones married with the fruit notes.
I highly recommend this tea to both lovers of Darjeeling and of Oolong! You’ll really enjoy this tea!
Darjeeling 1st Flush 2014 Gopaldhara Silver Needle White Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
Another beautiful Silver Needle with a fruitier taste and delicate spicy finish. The ‘Cristal’ of the tea world; the most expensive type of tea from Darjeeling, known as the ‘Champagne’ region of the tea world.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of the dry leaf reminds me of the smell that fills the air in the early spring on Saturday afternoons – when everyone is mowing their lawns. The smell of freshly cut grass fills the air and that’s what I smell with these tea leaves. Fresh air and grass that has just been cut. There’s a slight herbaceous smell to it too, in fact, the first time that I smelled the dry leaf, the first thought that popped into my head was ‘mint’ so I took another sniff to see if I was imagining things, and I didn’t smell mint that time but there is a definite “herb-y” smell to these leaves.
To brew these leaves, I scooped out some of the leaves (a full scoop using my bamboo scoop) and put them into the chamber of my gaiwan. I heated freshly filtered water to 165°F and then I did a 15 second rinse, discarded the liquid from the rinse and proceeded to steep the first infusion for 90 seconds, adding 30 seconds onto each subsequent infusion. (I usually brew white teas a little longer than other tea types.) 
The tea is lightly fragrant and is a medium golden amber color. A little darker than the color in the picture to the right. Perhaps to obtain this color they either steeped it less time or used less leaf.
Nevertheless, the flavor is delightful so I’m not worried at all about the color of the cup! It is sweet and tastes of fruit! I taste notes of grape with subtle hints of apple and apricot at the start of the sip. As the sip progresses, I pick up on some warm spice notes, a gentle yet peppery spice, like white pepper. This peppery tone lingers into the aftertaste which is also peppery with an intriguing sweet contrast. One of the most interesting aftertastes I’ve experienced in a tea.
There is some astringency toward the finish – it is dry and I feel the insides of my cheeks puckering a bit from the dryness. It reminds me a bit of a dry wine.
I found my second cup (infusions 3 and 4) to be very much like the first. The sip began with notes of grape. Instead of tasting apple and apricot, though, I am picking up on melon notes now. The taste is sweet, crisp and vibrant. At mid-sip I start to pick up on the zesty tingle of pepper. The finish is dry. It’s a very refreshing and clean taste.
I started to notice the spice notes change a bit in the third cup (infusions 5 and 6). The peppery notes began to morph into a more nutmeg-like flavor with a warm, nutty, somewhat earthy taste. The melon notes were emerging more, while the notes of grape began to taper and become more unified with the melon flavor. This cup is definitely sweeter and smoother, it’s not quite as crisp tasting. It’s mellowed somewhat.
I was so happy to have the opportunity to try this tea. I have a soft spot for Darjeeling white tea, and this is one I’d recommend to anyone else who finds Darjeeling white teas to be as compelling as I do.
Nepal 2nd Flush 2014 Cannon Ball Green Tea from What-Cha Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A unique tightly rolled green tea with a citrus nose and well defined lemon blossom taste, a rare and unusual tea which is not to be missed.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
These leaves look very unusual, looking like the pellets of a Tie Guan Yin Oolong, but the leaves are not quite as large. The pellets are not uniform in size, some are quite small, while others are rather large. They have a vegetal aroma to them.
Since they looked to me like they’d be fun to watch unfurl, I decided to brew them in my glass teacup (the same one I use to watch a flowering tea bulb brew). The first infusion proved to be rather … lacking in show, to be quite honest. The leaves didn’t unfurl very much at all. But they did produce a very flavorful liquid after steeping for 2 minutes in 180°F water.
Nice! The tea is sweet, with a nice, buttery texture and a light flavor. Notes of citrus, flower and hints of vegetation. The citrus is especially noticeable toward the finish and this bright flavor lingers into the aftertaste. By the time I made it to mid-cup, I started to notice more buttery flavors than citrus and flower, the flavor becomes smoother as it cools.
Since the leaves hadn’t really opened up much with that first infusion, I decided to have another infusion and see if I would get more of a tea leaf dance from the leaves that were still looking more like tightly wound pellets.
During the second infusion, the leaves didn’t do much. Oh, they’ve unfurled quite a bit more, but they don’t really do much of a dance that I had hoped for. But that’s alright, the flavor is well worth the lack of showmanship. (Showteaship? Showleafship?) When they infused this time, it looked a lot like a seaweed garden at the bottom of the sea – not a lot of activity, just the motion of the water just barely causing the leaves to sway a little.
But as I said, the flavor is well worth what little show the leaves provide. After steeping for 2 1/2 minutes, the flavor is sweet with notes of tangy citrus and whispers of flower. I don’t taste as much buttery taste or texture this time, and the vegetal notes have emerged, offering a savory quality to the cup which contrasts with the aforementioned sweetness. As the cup cools a little, the buttery flavors are more discernible, but they are still considerably lighter than with the first cup.
This cup is a little more astringent than the first too. I didn’t notice a lot of astringency with the first cup, only the slight tangy note toward the finish that melded with the citrus-y notes that it barely seemed astringent at all. Now, there is a distinct separation between the citrus flavors and the astringency. This is still what I’d consider a mild to moderate astringency.
I decided to try a third infusion. With this third infusion, the leaves are now completely unfurled. I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes. The flavor is amazing. I think that this third cup is my favorite of the three! It is soft and buttery. The astringency I noted in the second cup has smoothed out. The citrus tones have also become softer and sweeter, reminiscent now of a citrus curd rather than a bright splash of fruit. The floral notes are not as sharp and the vegetative tones less focused, creating instead a very unified flavor that is very palatable.
While this Nepal 2nd Flush 2014 Cannon Ball Green Tea from What-Cha Tea shares many common characteristics with other green teas, I find it to be a truly unique green tea in ways that should be experienced by the tea connoisseur to be fully appreciated. It’s a remarkable tea, one I really enjoyed and am thrilled that I had the opportunity to try.
Taiwan Alishan Jin Xuan Oolong (2014) from Fong Mong Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Fong Mong Tea
Tea Description:
The hand-plucked leaves of Alishan Jin Xuan Oolong Tea are grown in the famous Ali Mountains (Alishan) in Taiwan. At the elevation of 1000 meters above, the mountainsides are covered with fog or clouds which are ideal for growing Oolong. Withbetter drought tolerance, also higher yield, the price is usually lower than Alishan Oolong.
Jin-Xuan is a special variety of Camellia Sinensis (tea plant) developed through research at the Taiwan Tea Agricultural Research center. This special variety is known for producing an Oolong with a special fragrance and a very light creaminess. Alishan Jin Xuan Oolong brings one of the great locations for growing Oolong tea together with one of the special Oolong varieties.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I reviewed this tea previously but it’s a new year and along with a new year comes a new harvest. And an AliShan Oolong is worth at least two reviews (maybe more when the new harvests arrive, right?)
And Fong Mong Tea has some really spectacular Oolong teas from Taiwan, including this amazing AliShan Jin Xuan! It’s beautifully sweet and creamy, with notes of flower and hints of vegetation. So many fantastic layers of flavor!
As I do with all AliShan Oolong teas, I use my gaiwan and fill my YiXing Mug with the first five infusions (following a 15 second rinse). I use 180°F water to steep each infusion. The first infusion is steeped for 45 seconds, and I add 15 seconds to each subsequent infusion.
The first cup (which is the combination of the first five infusions) is so smooth and creamy. The floral notes and vegetative notes are softened by this sweet, creamy taste that reminds me of fresh cream. It tastes indulgent and luxurious.
But even though it is a creamy and sweet tea, there is complexity to it. Layers of flavor. The creaminess is not overly heavy so that I can explore the floral notes which are reminiscent of orchid. There is a honey-like sweetness just beneath the floral tones. The next layer I notice is a mild vegetal flavor. It’s very soothing and has a silky smooth mouthfeel.
The second cup (the combination of infusions 6 – 10) was even nicer than the first! It is still quite creamy – which was surprising, as I had expected some of those creamy notes to wane considerably with this cup – and the tea is delectably sweet. The vegetal notes are less discernible now, and I taste more floral notes and even a hint or two of sweet fruit. Melon! NICE!
The honey notes are still there. The creamy notes are not quite as strong, but they are sweeter and more like vanilla! So while the creamy notes are not quite as velvety and thick, the vanilla notes more than make up for it!
An absolutely LOVELY AliShan! If you haven’t tried Fong Mong Tea – you really should! You’re missing out!