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Sipdown!

I got this as a sample with my latest DT order and after reading the reviews I was curious to try a cup of my own.

I don’t really know what to say… My cup was lacking of much flavour. There was so little in the sample packet I don’t even know if I had enough for a cup to be honest.

I steeped it for 5 minutes and the resulting liquid was pale yellow with strong scent of cloves. Taste wise though, there wasn’t much. After a lot of sipping, closing my eyes and meditating to try and bring some flavours forth, I think I detected an apple.

Honestly I think I would need twice the amount I had available to make it a worthwhile cup. I think I see a potential but unfortunately I won’t know for sure because I won’t be purchasing any time soon. If DT sends me couple of samples in the future, I will combine them into one cup and give it another shot.

Ahh… it’s so good to sleep in, wake up and not have to go anywhere. It’s unforgivably cold outside, so I’m staying in, making homemade pancakes and drinking this wonderful tea.

Today I added extra leaf and that was a good choice. I used 7 gram for 6 ounces of water. I rinsed the leaves first and waited 1 minute to wake them up. I then steeped for 3/6/10 seconds.

Yummy! The tea tasted amazing from the first steep which was roasty, floral and sweet. By the third steep the tea was full bodied, roasty, floral with notes of caramel and fruit. My unsophisticated palate wasn’t sure what fruit was that. There was a slight astringency developing towards the end of the sip. Very delicious.

I’m going to continue stepping this for the rest of the afternoon and see where else it will take me. :)

Oh, after 2 hours of early morning chores and pushing an 8 year old munchkin out to school is so good to finally sit down, in complete silence with a breakfast and a cup of hot tea. This is my sacred time.

After trying Teavivre’s Superfine Organic Dragonwell yesterday, I couldn’t help but brew a cup of David’s one this morning. It’s a little bitter sweet though because no mater how I slice it I have to face it…. there is a big difference. I’ve enjoyed this tea a lot over the past year, it was the first Dragonwell I ever tried but now I think we’ll have to break up. It’s still a very tasty cup and I will finish the remaining stash I have, but after that I will be moving on.

Having said that, I’m still enjoying this tea quite a bit. Inspired by yesterday’s cup, I’ve changed the steeping parameters and I think I’ve improved the taste somewhat. Instead of steeping for the regular 5 minutes I did in the past, I overleafed a bit and steeped it for only 2 minutes. I also reduced the temperature to 79C from 82C I usually steeped it at.

The resulting liquid turned out pale green with a very vegetal scent. The taste is very vegetal as well, more than what I’ve been accustomed to in the past with notes of butter and nuts. This is probably one of the best David’s Tea Dragonwell cups I’ve ever had.

Oh, how much of this I used to drink last year…. It was my favourite evening tea. I either outgrown it or got tired of it or maybe both. Either way, I think I have an ounce of it I have to finish.

Overall it’s tasty, I’m just not in love with it anymore. I think I fell out of love with rooibos in general, I tend to steer away from it these days.

OMGsrsly mentioned adding a whip cream made with maple syrup to it in one of the reviews… That’s an idea! I didn’t have whip cream but I had whole milk and maple syrup.

Mmm.. ok… I could totally drink the rest of the package this way. I usually don’t add any sweeteners to my tea and only occasionally some milk but some teas need help and this is one of them. Besides, maple syrup is superfood, it’s so good for the body.

Oh wow… I have to hold on to my socks because they are about to fly off. This is some delicious Dragonwell.

I got it as a sample with my order couple of weeks ago and been waiting to try it. I used about half of the packet for 8 ounces of 80C water. The dry tea smelled fresh and vegetal and its color was beautifully green.

I steeped it for 2 minutes and was a little worried about the time because I usually steep my Dragonwell for 5 minutes… I did have a little less water though and visually this Dragonwell looked better quality than what I’m used to so I went along with it.

The resulting liquid was very pale green and … oh my… 2 minutes was plenty and the taste: divine. It was sweet, creamy, buttery, vegetal, rich, crisp, nutty and magic…. It was magic… So very tasty, I didn’t know Dragonwell can be this amazing! It almost reminded me a tad of milk oolong, there was this natural milkiness to it that drove me crazy with every sip.

Teavivre, what have you done? How in the world can I finish the rest of the regular Dragonwell that I have, knowing this type of creamy goodness exists? How can I look my old and trusted Dragonwell in the tin and say “I love you”?

I have to have a plan…. and this plan might be drinking a lot of Dragonwell in the near future to deplete my inventory and order this sock blowing, yummy excellence instead.

Sipdown!

And so a special chapter ends in my book of tea adventures. Just about 14 months ago I walked into Teavana for the first time and inquired about their white and green tea. They didn’t have Dragonwell I wanted but they did have a stock of Silver Needle. Oh, how happy that made me. I’ve read about the Silver Needle on the web but didn’t know just where to order it from yet.

I flew home from the mall on the wings of pure joy. I steeped the tea, smelled it, tasted it and just like that I was sold. Sold into the world of loose tea. I was going to take a leap and never look back.

Here is to a tea that started my adventure… here is to a very special sipdown. :)

This is such a delicious sheng I’m kind of beating myself up for not ordering a cake while it was still available. Now it’s too late. They have 2013 Master Han’s Sheng and that’s getting great reviews, maybe I’ll go for that? I don’t know… I’m so torn… Yunnan Sourcing has some nice shengs too and then there is Mandala’s Wild Monk Sheng 2012… This is very stressful. I’ve never bought a cake or brick before and it seems to be such an investment both emotional and financial! :P

This sheng is absolutely delicious when prepared right. I used 7 g for 6 ounces of 95C water. First I rinsed the leaves and let them sit for 1 minute to wake up. My first steep was only 10 seconds long, second steep 15 second and based on my previous review I should keep it at that for a while.

My first couple of steeps smell sweet and floral and the taste follows in the same footsteps. It’s flowers and fruit with some notes of potato and sweetness lingering throughout the sip. Not even tiny bit bitter. Second steep developed a pleasant tanginess to it.

I’m sad I will never see it age.

For the time being though, as my house slowly disappears behind the piles of freshly fallen snow, I’ll just sit here and sip on this wonderful hot liquid. Yum!

Yummy, yummy, yum. Liquid apple pie. Beautiful pink colour and delicate fruity taste. I’ll just sit here and sip on this while reading a book and waiting for the snow storm to hit.

Weather gods, should I expect a snow day tomorrow?

This is yet another tea I only have a bit left of. Just enough for one more serving besides today’s cup.

This tea has really grown on me. Today’s cup is simply delicious. I get black tea base with strong caramel and coconut notes. A little astringent but not bitter, quite smooth and rich. Although the salt is in the name I don’t taste it or maybe I don’t know I’m tasting it… maybe my tastebuds are not refined enough to pick up a subtle saltiness in a tea? I don’t know but I’m not complaining…. My cup is yummy.

I would definitely consider a repurchase sometime in the future. I’m upping my rating a bit.

I was not sure what I wanted to drink today so I started going through my tea cabinet and I found this. Only 2 servings left on the bottom of the tin can, breathing all this air… how could I let that happen?? I decided to steep one of the remaining servings and I put the rest into a small plastic bag to eliminate any further air damage.

I felt a little scared while the tea was brewing… Did my careless actions rendered this tea undrinkable? I steeped it at 74C for 2 minutes and watched the color develop. Relief… It brewed its regular green color but will it taste the same?

Well, yes and no. It’s not as fresh and full bodied as I remember it to be but still very tasty, very vegetal and smooth with a slight astringency (not bitter) lingering at the back of my tongue. I will have to use up that last serving sometime soon though.

By the way… I wanted to put spinach as one of the flavours but there was no spinach flavour listed… I found sand instead. What does the sand taste like?