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Tan Yang Te Ji from TeaSpring
100

And the oddness continues. Seriously there are strange things afoot in this tin!

I shall tell you why.

If you go check my other two posts about this one you will find the first one in january where I said that it was surprisingly fruity and sweet for a black tea, that it had a raisin-y note, and that if I hadn’t known otherwise I would have believed it to be a flavoured black.

The second post was the other day where most likely due to a slight over-steep it had turned totally smoky, and I couldn’t understand how that had happened, but I liked the tea better for it and gave it a few more points, from 76 to 80 if memory serves me right.

Then this morning I made a little pot for my travel mug. I wanted some of that smoke. And what did I get? Well, certainly not anything remotely smoky! Instead there was that distinct cardboard-y note that you’ll find in Assams. It was still a strong cup and I drank it with unusual haste, but it was still the third of three completely different cups.

And it is the same tin. I’ve checked.

I can’t for the life of me understand what’s going on here. Can tea-leaves have multiple personality disorder?

No matter what though, I can’t ignore the impulse give it some more points again.

I wonder what it will taste like tomorrow?

People who liked this

AmazonV
Auggy
sophistre
Dan
JustDuckyInNE
~lauren.
Jillian
SoccerMom
TeaEqualsBliss
Thomas Smith

Comments

AmazonV
AmazonV 2010-03-19 13:12:10 -0400

perhaps it’s a magical tin that changes the flavor every time you take some out….

Angrboda
Angrboda 2010-03-19 13:17:05 -0400

Or someone is sneaking in and messing with the labels behind my back! Perhaps I’ve got a poltergeist…

AmazonV
AmazonV 2010-03-19 13:29:35 -0400

hmmm well as long as this tea poltergeist doesn’t start putting in fannings I’d leave it be and not bother with banishing ;)

sophistre
sophistre 2010-03-19 13:46:54 -0400

Okay, I am curious.

Dan
Dan 2010-03-19 15:05:36 -0400

Cardboard-y note confuses me as I love assams and I’m not sure what cardboard tastes like. Is there any other way to describe it?

AmazonV
AmazonV 2010-03-19 15:17:24 -0400

@dan – not sure if you’ve had them but but those religious body/host disks ? as if you toasted that

AmazonV
AmazonV 2010-03-19 15:17:56 -0400

well, that or go lick the inside of a box j/k !

Dan
Dan 2010-03-19 15:44:45 -0400

I think I have some cardboard here somewhere. lol

Jim Marks
Jim Marks 2010-03-19 15:46:49 -0400

I’ve been reading this one super uber serious tea blog and the guy not only talks about how what you store the tea in radically effecting the final cup, but what you brew it in, as well. I mean, this guy gets into gas fired versus wood fired glazes on clay kind of serious.

So if your three different steeps used radically different tools, your odd results here aren’t too surprising.

~lauren.
~lauren. 2010-03-19 16:28:08 -0400

But so exciting – never knowing what your tea/tin is up to in the middle of the night! Stay tuned, only the next infusion can tell ….! I think we are all waiting for tomorrow (or your next adventure with this tea) with baited breath!

SoccerMom
SoccerMom 2010-03-19 18:33:50 -0400

It’s like the The Toy Story but with Tea leaves instead of toys THE Tea Story.

JustDuckyInNE
JustDuckyInNE 2010-03-19 20:57:00 -0400

I can help with “cardboard” scent/taste, having spent a semester of college working part-time in a box-making factory office. Cardboard smells & can taste like recycled paper, recycled horse/goat/pig glue & inks, and depending on how fresh each part of it is, that part comes through.
It’s usually not a good note. LOL

Auggy
Auggy 2010-03-20 14:45:47 -0400

I actually like most cardboard-y notes in my tea. It gives them a little substantial feel/taste to them though I will admit, some of the cardboard taste is like licking a very used and dirty shipping box! :)

Angrboda
Angrboda 2010-03-20 15:16:51 -0400

That’s the weird thing about the Assam cardboard! It’s most definitely unmistakably (to me anwyay) cardboard. But it’s not bad cardboard.

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Profile

Bio

Angrboda felt her bio needed to be re-written, but she failed to consider what she wanted it to say instead.

Um…

Okay. Ang prefers black teas and the darker sorts of oolongs. She has to be in the mood for green and white and she enjoys, but knows little to nothing about, pu-erh.

Her preferences with black teas are the Chinese ones, particularly from Fujian, but also Keemun and just about anything smoky. She occasionally enjoys Yunnans but they’re not favourites.

She is sceptical about Indian blacks as she generally finds them too astringent and too easy to get wrong. She doesn’t really care for Darjeelings at all.

She likes flavoured teas as well, particularly fruit flavoured ones, but also has an obsession with finding the Perfect Vanilla Flavoured Black.

However, she thinks Earl Grey is generally kind of boring. Cinnamon and ginger are also not really a hit, and she’s not very fond of chais. Evil hibiscus is evil. Even in small amounts, and yes, Ang can usually detect hibiscus, mostly by way of the metallic flavour of blood it has.

Ang is not super impressed with rooibos or honeybush. She doesn’t care for either, really, but when they are flavoured, there have been known to be surprising exceptions to this rule.

Ang has a number of teas that she regards her Standard Panel and will always try to have on hand.
-Lapsang Souchong, any brand really, but preferably AC Perchs.
-Blackberry flavoured black or similar, any brand.
-Late Summer Blend, AC Perchs
-Raspberry Oolong, AC Perchs OR Red Fruits Oolong, Le Palais des Thes
-Caramel, Kusmi OR Toffee, Le Palais des Thes
-Something orange flavoured, black or pu-erh, any brand.
-Tan Yang Te Ji, Teaspring OR Bai Lin Gongfu, Teavivre
-A good Keemun, any brand.
-The Perfect Vanilla Black if and when she ever finds it…

Angrboda is almost always open to swapping. Just ask her.

The Formalities

Contact Angrboda by email: iarnvidia@gmail.com
Contact Angrboda by YIM: angrboda@ymail.com
Angrboda does not respond to gmail chat.

Find Ang on…
Steam: Iarnvidia
Goodreads: Angrboda
Livejournal: See website.
Dreamwidth: Ask her
Teatra.de: Angrboda

Location

Denmark

Website

http://angrboda.livejournal.com

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