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Pai Mu Tan from Luka Te m.m.
85

Gosh, these leaves must be ancient! If there is some fading, however, it doesn’t really matter today as what I was looking for was something mild. Let’s not go too much into detail here. Suffice to say that I had milkshake-tummy all day yesterday and that yesterday’s diet consisted primarily of water and the glass of juice I had in the evening was somewhat regretted at bedtime.

So. Something mild for me, please. I’m feeling better in the stomach department today, but let’s not rock the boat, eh?

This turned out as orange as… an orange today. I always get surprised by the colour with this one. I keep expecting it to be very very light and then I get shocked at how dark it actually is.

The aroma is weirdly custard-y. A bit buttery and a bit sweet and I wonder if the fact that I made lemon curd earlier today is messing with my senses. I can’t really spot much nuttiness in the aroma. Perhaps a little almond here and there, but not really anything noteworthy.

Which is funny, because I distinctly remember it as being quite nutty. Or maybe that was just all in the flavour?

Yes it was. It is indeed quite mild, likely due to some fading, but the note of walnut is still quite obvious. Sad to say, however, that either the remainder of the leaves will have to be brewed somewhat stronger than this or it will mainly be used for occasions such as this where I’m feeling it best to stick with something mild.

I had originally given this one a grand total of 98 points, but seeing as how I’ve been so disinterested in it for so long, I’m going to take it down somewhat. No tea that one loses interest in like this is really worth 98 points.

IMPORTANT EDIT!!! GAH!! I completely forgot! Happy New Year, Steepsterites. Be careful around the fireworks.

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Comments

Rabs
Rabs 2010-12-31 13:40:24 -0500

Have a Happy (and safe) New Year too!

Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith 2010-12-31 14:55:01 -0500

Happy New Year!
In the vein of old Bai Mu Dan – I always set aside some of each batch I get for aging. If sealed away, airtight in proper cool conditions, it will just steadily decline over the course of a year or longer. However, if exposed to a bit of air as you would store puerh, wrapped in paper or stored with a lid slightly ajar and moved between warm and cool areas of the house according to season and the behavior of the leaves’ surfaces, you can get a progression and accentuation of smoky and fruited qualities in good examples of the tea as it continues to oxidize over time. Takes a fair bit of effort, just like in aging a sheng puerh, but it can help with batches of tea you can’t finish within the 3-6 month grace window of good flavor in certain white teas.

Angrboda
Angrboda 2010-12-31 19:08:21 -0500

This one must be about 1½ years or so old already and starting to fade. Would it be too late to start that sort of experiment with it now, do you think?

Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith 2010-12-31 21:41:50 -0500

Probably, but if you aren’t drinking it, there isn’t much harm, is there? Aging whites is just like puerh – alternate between warm and a tad drier to draw visible oils to the surface of the leaves and cool and lightly humid to force re-absorption. Heat around 60C with 50-70% humidity will dramatically change the tea by forcing oxidation in puerh and white teas, which is why Hong Kong/Vietnam/Malaysia storage results in huge differences in flavor in a pretty short time.

Angrboda
Angrboda 2011-01-01 09:51:13 -0500

True that. It wasn’t hugely expensive at the shop either (I think it’s a somewhat middle to low-ish of the higher end of quality to begin with) so not worth crying a lot if I ruin the leaves. I’ve got enough leaf too that I can do it with just half of them and keep the other half in the current tin so I can see about making a difference.

If I heat the oven up to 50C and put some oven dishes full of water in the bottom it might do the trick. Hmmm… I’ll need to do some planning here first, I think.

Thanks for the tip, I’m quite interested in giving it a go. Especially if I can make a smoky note come out (yay smoky!)

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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…
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Denmark

Website

http://angrboda.livejournal.com

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