Ethan Loke Send Message

Decent green! I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my recent YS order, and it’s pretty nice. Beautiful buddy leaves with a rich and complex aroma in the dry and wet leaf, slightly unique from other greens with a higher emphasis on the herbal aspect. Beautiful pale green liquor with a decent flavour but lacks a bit of potency and nuance. Texture is smooth and slightly bitey but not much else, character is okay, finish & aftertaste is decent, cha-qi is mediocre to decent, and steep longevity is pretty decent, could go up to steep 7. Overall, a great tea that could’ve been an 80+ but lacked just a bit for it to reach the mark. However, great value though.

Nice yancha. I got this tea from my OWT order, and it really does remind me of a Bai Jiguan as what the description mentions. Beautiful albeit slightly broken leaves paired with a rich aroma in the dry and wet leaf, with a vibrant liquor to boot. The flavour was pretty nice, light and citrusy yet boasting a roasty body to it. Texture was smooth and juicy, and the character was decent. Finish & aftertaste was average, with cha-qi relatively unnoticeable and steep longevity mediocre, peaking around steep 9. Overall, a decent yancha but nothing too amazing to shout about.

A nice taiwanese black! I got this tea from my MST order, and it’s decent but nothing special. Beautiful leaves with some buds, aroma was not very rich but quite complex, liquor was a beautiful vibrant red. Flavour was decent but felt a very prototypical taiwan black malt honey sweet flavour. Texture was smooth but that’s about that. Character was okay, the session adding a bit of complexity as it went on. Finish & aftertaste was mediocre, cha-qi was unnoticeable and steep longevity was mediocre to poor.

Nice, but eh could use your money elsewhere maybe.

Not a great ripe. I got this tea from my BLT order, and it just didn’t do much for me during the session. A lot of broken leaves with poor aroma but a really beautiful rich liquor, flavour was average, texture was average, character mediocre. Finish & aftertaste was average, cha-qi non-existent, and steep longevity poor. Disappointing and the tea made it a chore to write this review.

Not a great green. I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my recent Camellia Sinensis order, and it seems to be the first review for this tea in 9 years, so it seems like the anji baicha this year is a downgrade from a few years back. Beautiful leaves with a vibrant green colour yet boasting a yellow sheen, wet leaf aroma is rich and complex, dry leaf aroma is nuanced but not rich, and empty cup doesn’t boast much of an aroma. Liquor is a vibrant rich greenish yellow. Flavour is decent but somewhat short-lived in the mouth, and doesn’t highlight much complexity but is quite delicate. Texture is disappointingly slaty but tends towards juicy with slight astringency towards the end, character is pretty one-dimensional which was unfortunate. Finish & aftertaste was negatively impacted by the short-lived flavour, but improved as the session climaxed around steep 3. Cha-qi is unnoticeable, and steep longevity is average to poor, with the session reaching its end at around steep 5.

Overall, not the best green tea and probably not worth the price tag.

Not a very good yancha. I got this tea from my recent OWT order, and it lacked quite a bit in my opinion. Beautiful leaves with a beautiful wet leaf aroma, with a semi-vibrant liquor, the flavour was okay and took me by surprise as it was less roasty and more green than I thought. Texture was smooth and semi-juicy, character was pretty one-dimensional, finish & aftertaste is mediocre to decent, the tea had a slight digestive cha-qi, and steep longevity was relatively poor.

Great tea for the price! I got this tea from my BLT order a while back, and it is quite a spice/mineral juice bomb. Decent leaves that surprisingly have a few buds despite being generally on the stemmier side, rich and nuanced aroma that permeates through the dry leaf, wet leaf and empty cup, vibrant liquor, decent flavour with a slight bit of nuance and potency but could definitely do a lot better in those regards, as the flavour doesn’t have a distinct complexity but rather feels like a bundle of nuance (as reflected by my flavour notes). Texture is juicy and not the most astringent, character is average to decent but the session was relatively easy going. Finish & aftertaste is quite present, not the most potent especially in terms of the finish but it’s there and it is quite decent for huangpian, buzzy cha-qi is mediocre to decent but there, and the steep longevity is average to decent.

Overall, a really good value for this tea that surprised me quite a lot through the session, and for around $0.10/g, definitely could grab a tong to see how this tea moves a long without much of a financial dent.

Relatively disappointing. I got the 2021 harvest of this tea from my Mei Leaf order some time ago, but as far as I remember this tea hasn’t provided the greatest of sessions. Beautiful leaves with a slight golden sheen, rich yet nuanced aroma both in the dry and wet leaf, and a beautiful deep liquor that portrayed its golden ring slightly. Flavour was average to decent and I really had to brew it hard to bring out a nice and complex flavour, texture was smooth but nothing else to note of it. Character was lacking as the session was pretty one-dimensional, the finish & aftertaste was average to mediocre, the cha-qi was unnoticeable and the steep longevity is not very good either. Overall, spend your money elsewhere as this unsmoked lapsang isn’t worth your time in my opinion.

Decently nice tea! I got this tea from my recent FL order, and it’s a good example of a white tea. Great leaves with great aroma and vibrant liquor, decent flavour lacking a bit of richness and nuance with smooth yet juicy texture. Character is a bit lacking, where the finish & aftertaste were lacking too. Cha-qi is average to mediocre and steep longevity is really good.

Nice dancong! I got this tea from my BLT order, and it’s relatively decent. Beautiful leaves with a slight golden sheen, rich aroma that’s pervasive through the dry, wet leaf and empty cup. Decent liquor that is viscous but slightly dull. Nice flavour that is relatively rich and nuanced but fall short of exceptional, juicy texture that still brings an astringent aspect to the session. Average to decent “shan yun” in the character with the tea slightly shifting to a more mineral, body-centric flavour from the fragrant floral notes at the start. The finish is relatively okay, good level of astringency with a decent refreshness and a sweet yet juicy aftertaste. Cha-qi is a bit disappointing but the buzziness is still there, and the steep longevity is better than average, topping out at steep 11-12.

Decent tea overall but would need to be much more to reach an exceptional status.