Review topics: ["taste","quality","aroma","tea","bitterness","color","material","notes","gong","mistake","leaves","effect","buds","profile","astringency"].
Reviews
Refreshing but weak
"This tea has a refreshing taste with a hoppy bitterness and forest fruit notes, some chokeberry and apple in the aftertaste. It is also naturally bitter and not astringent no matter the brew method, akin to a tonic water. However, its color is weak and its taste is too mild for my liking. Don't even bother with traditional steep times for black tea, try a 45s first steep and you might get what you want."
— Wojciech (4/5)
I enjoyed the tea much
"I enjoyed the tea much more at 70c, to get more of the fruity notes and have a balance on the bitterness."
— Tommy Z. (5/5)
Tasting notes: strong yet interesting
"Tasting notes: strong yet interesting bitter notes. When brewed with perfect water also gains a taste of various spices. 5g/100ml, 90C, 20s->+5s"
— Nikolay F. (5/5)
IPA black tea
"That's a incredible nice tea if you like bitterness and low caffeine. As said it reminds an IPA beer, it's like the IPA of teas. It keeps a nice and complex taste, the colour is light orange, not black or red, and it's been a very nice surprise. Maybe is not what you expect as a black tea, but it's indeed a very interesting quality and unique tea."
— K. (5/5)
Bitterness has mellowed after a couple of months, and I like it!
"Following one reviewer I let the tea rest, with the bag slightly opened, for a couple of months. The sharper, American hop-like bitterness has subsided into a more grapefruit-like astringency and a touch of palmelo rind bitterness. Very refreshing and stimulating of saliva production. Aroma remains very nice- floral, hint of pine and camphor. Chaqi is strong but even. Even at near-boiling the bitterness is not overwhelming as it was when I first tried it. I recommend getting this tea and letting it rest for a while. My cooler-pumidor is currently used for heicha; once I get one started for shengpu I would be curious to give it a year in more humid conditions."
— Nico D. (4/5)
Brew at lower temp. If you like hoppy beers you may like this.
"The aroma coming from the tea is insane- very floral, complex, and not entirely like any other tea I've had. When I first brewed it I had not read the advice and other reviews and used near-boiling temp, and it was extremely bitter. I then followed that advice and brewed with water at around 195 F. The bitterness was much more balanced by the aroma. The combination of flavor and aroma is not unlike some hops that you would find in a nice American IPA. It's not bad; it has a very nice aroma and the mouthfeel is similar to the hoppiness of a good beer. It's just not what I am looking for from a tea. Other reviewers mention that the bitterness subsides with age, so I am giving that a try."
— Nicolas D. (3/5)
Unique
"A unique, delicious tea, acidic and sweet, with an nice bitterness. Should be brewed carefully, I start at 80C. You;ll love or hate it"
— Georgios N. (5/5)
Purple wild buds black tea from Dehong
"From the first aroma smell to the taste this tea was great. Fruity. This will be on my order list again and again."
— Joan D. (5/5)
Disappointed
"It has a full deep taste, but with little flavor, so I was a little disappointed. I have since found that adding a little Jin Jun Mei (with a sweeter taste) mixes well with it, but I won't be buying any more of this particular tea."
— Nick A. (3/5)
Extremely bitter
"Extremely bitter tea, absolutely undrinkable. I played a lot with the parameters, but I could not make it work at all. With all parameters tuned down a lot, such that the bitterness becomes bearable, all that remains is a much more boring and still bitter version of the other purple hongchas by YS (which I love)."
— Matthias (1/5)
