Spoonvonstup

Currently sipping on some of this shu. I’ve left the whole tuocha in the bottom of my cup, and I’ll refill once I get low.

It’s an odd sight: the top of my brew is a light clear brown, but down at the bottom, I can see this bloom of dark red spreading out around the little tuo-cha. So far, it’s pleasant, light and sweet (reminiscent of blooming teas and the smell of a bag of those Valnetine’s Day candy hearts), but I wonder what I’ll be tasting when the dark ruddy cloud fills the whole cup?

It’s a pleasant enough tea to drink while working. Having it in a big mug, it makes more sense than I remember when I first tried this in a gaiwan months and months ago. I’m still not completely sold on why rose and shu pu’er should go together, but I also can’t hold anything against the innocuous little tou.

Pulled this out of the old big-bag-o-tea-at-work and thought, hey! sheng! how did this get in the bag? Sounds like a nice afternoon tea.

Steeping in my brew basket.. quick “improv gongfu style” steepings.

The leaves smell pleasant enough (smoky, metallic shine, a faraway berry that’s almost musk-like). The nose reminds me of Banzhang, but I honestly haven’t looked into what makes up this particular recipe. Liquor is an orangey color.. auburn?

First steeping:
Hm.. not too much here, in terms of either taste or texture. I know there should be something here, so it’s a bit like playing hide-and-seek. Flavor? Where are yooou? Maybe it will come as I sip and the cup cools…

After sipping through half of my cup, I’ve found a little more. There’s a whisper of metallic smoke in the taste. The body of it reminds me of the last dying breaths of a sheng.. way into the 25+ steepings, where you have mostly just body, overlaid with ghost reflections of all that’s come before. Only issue here is that I don’t have any aftertastes and textures for this body to play with (since this is the first steeping), so I’m left puzzled. Most of what I get is in the aftertaste/texture. My tongue feels puckered.. dry only in the front of my tongue, but luckily not in the back of my throat. It almost feels like I’ve burnt my tongue, but goodness knows the water here at work can’t get that hot. The aftertaste is also reminding me a bit of a Chinese restaurant jasmine-green (some astringency on the sides of my tongue links of with dinner-grade jasmine perfume, plus the mellow vegetal grassiness).

Overall, mellow, but strangely absent. Since I’m working at the same time, the lack of complexity or..er…flavors are fine, but I’m a little sad. Guess I’m spoiled for sheng pu’er these days and was looking forward to a bit of unexpected sparkle and surprise. It’s also a young brick, so on the plus side, I don’t feel like I’m getting kicked in the teeth with a bucket of smokey, bitter coins!

I’ll try the next steepings with less water and hotter water to see if I can get this shy one to open up into something fun. No “chaqi” to speak of so far, but I am feeling a bit of the jitters creeping up on me.. Perhaps if someone were smoking, I would have an uneasy stomach, but luckily, this isn’t China.

Second Steep
Used much less water here, and steeped it for close to 40 seconds (normally, on a second steep of a similarly aged sheng, I would do 10-15..). There we go: there’s something in the cup this time. The color is a pretty orange (like some of the leaves outside).

I’m getting much more Banzhang now, but the taste reminds me much more of Banzhang fannings I’ve had on occassion (ends of bricks, or taking from the bottom of a pouch because I’m just drinking by myself). By that, I mean there’s grainy wood on the underside of the sides of my tongue. In other shengs, I’ve found this appealing, but I think that’s because it is so often paired with a chocolate or hazelnut or cream texture and taste in the middle. This one is hanging out by itself, reminding me of a dock in the middle of a bay. Where are you going? What are you pointing to? It’s just out by itself in a body that is sweet… simple and generic, with no berry or fruit specificity.

The puckering is still there, layering up on itself like quilts. Atringency turning to true bitterness, but not so unpleasant because it’s all concentrated on the front of my tongue, not the back.

Aftertaste seems at first nonexistant, or just a bright vegetal vibration that tapers off in a second or two. After a minute, I realize this now reminds me of citrus and spice. It doesn’t taste that way.. I just find myself reminded.

It’s certainly caffeinated (hello diuretic!), but in terms of energy. this feels more like a sloshy, unruly caffeine that wants to shake out into my arms or leave my with water in my shoes.. not a feeling of calm and center. As it cools, I realize that I do not want this to cool. The woodiness and astringency are bullying their way to the forefront as all of the other aspects fall asleep. Doing this from little cups would certainly eliminate this issue.

I wonder if I can get another steeping out of these leaves? It’s kind of terrifying to imagine steeping a sheng of this age for over a minute on the third steep, but I think that’s what’s called for. Adventure time.. ho!

Third Steeping
Well, I did it. Tiny amount of water, and steeped for almost a minute and a half.

No disaster here, though. I had to sneak in a peanut butter cracker sandwich while this was steeping, since it definitely made me hungry. The first sip was actually pretty nice with the aftertaste of salty peanut butter.

This steeping is definitely more full and flavorful, but at the same time, it continues to feel as if this tea was already mostly steeped out before I started drinking. There are some floral elements, notes that remind me of nut skins in a savory sweet sauce (black bean or garlic?). These are all whispers and implications, so I may be working a little hard to pull them into substantial references. Mostly, this reminds me of a young sheng that is nearing the end of it’s steeping arc.

Conclusions
I’m not sure about this one. A friend and I put together a JASetea order quite awhile ago, and this is some of what’s left. On the whole, I’m perfectly fine not having a brick of this to age. The description emphasizes the high quality leaves and the classic recipe. Sure, fine. I don’t think there’s anything that stands out negatively.. except that nothing much has stood out during my steeping. It’s a wallflower plastered underneath the wallpaper, behind a giant chair. When pushed for more complexity and interest, it seems to just push right on over. At it’s best, it was sweet and mellow, with nothing to stick out and grab the interested sipper. Safe to the point of boredom. But then again, I don’t know if I would recommend this to someone who’s afraid of shengs, because it has offered little reward today, and it can get overly woody, wooly, and metallic. It’s no kick in the face, but it’s not much of anything else either.

To be fair I am steeping this at work in a brew-basket, not in my little gaiwan, not in spring water at just below boiling. This will probably be more generous in more loving conditions, but still.. I have my doubts about what this really could be giving, even treated in the most pampered way.

Has anyone else tried this recently? It’s been sold out for sometime from JASe Tea, but apparently it’s been a big hit with some pu’er bloggers? I’m not sure myself.. it mostly just leaves me puzzled.

One more update
The caffeine from this is harsher than I previously thought. Sure, it is a little chilly back here, but not enough to leave me shivering and my teeth chattering! Whoooo… I have no upset stomach, but I would not want to be balancing any fragile things right now. Generally, I am blissfully immune to caffeine’s stimulant effects. I don’t think I’ve had a reaction like this since the days of spending 8+ hours sampling teas with no breakfast or lunch in me.

Wow! I have to share something amazing quickly here:

Someone brought Whoppers malted milk balls to work and put them out for us all to share. I grabbed a handful, and then rooted around in my sack-o-tea-at-work to find an afternoon pick-me up. Luck put the Mi Lan black into my hands. THANK YOU, Lady Luck!

So, I ate a whopper, then I took a sip of this tea. Ugh- so delicious. The malt and milk chocolate really bring out the rich herbaceous qualities at the base in this tea, and emphasize the notes of fruit until it feels like I’m have some good and VERY purple concord jelly.

If you have this tea and if you like malt balls, you must give this pairing a try! Omnomnom..slurpityslurp. A match made in heaven.

This is the afternoon pick me up I needed.

Yum- this is a great afternoon tea. Longjing from this year’s spring sent by a friend.

Nutty and buttery (in a sweet way, not savory) with a texture that reminds me of pudding, plus the background layer of sweet, cool greens. Also a tiny bit of green apple skins.

Yeesh, I have to be careful to leave some buds in the cup to keep steeping and not eat them- they are quite tender and delicious. Looking forward to snacking – er- sipping on this all afternoon. I don’t often find myself in the mood for real Dragonwell (love ya, Laoshan!), so now that I am and I have it in front of me, here’s to soft and sunny!

Had another mystery tieguanyin this morning. Didn’t taste like a spring picking, but then again, the bag had been open, and I think this was something I received in 2011. First sips reminded me of breakfast.. a little thick and very slightly roasty, with berries and darker flavors couched within the usual sweet green TGY.
Leaves were large and beautiful, but as it sat in the cup, it turned and barreled towards metallic and lemony. Ah well, you were yummy while you were…. I bet you’ll still be nice for big ol’ morning pots.

Again- tea of yesterday evening (iced.. cold press) and first tea of the morning. Much more buckwheat coming out from a long steeping.

How is it the afternoon already? A whole half day has gone by, and no tea yet for me!

I rumage around in my big-bag-o’-tea-to-drink-at-work, and I find.. a little tucked away sample of this! I thought this was all gone, everywhere! shifty eyes yummmMMM!

I am loving this magic bag.

Quick notes: orange cream, roasty toasty, salted caramel ice cream
particularly this ice cream (don’t look, ye of weak wills!):
http://www.jenis.com/products/Salty-Caramel-Pint.html

I also love the feeling of this one on my tongue, both as I’m drinking and after I’ve finished the sip. The movement of flavors across my tongue.. like light in the water, or rolling waves of electricity. Or, as TeaEqualsBliss said it the other day:
flavors that move like a football-stadium-crowd-wave

I’ve found all exquisite teas share this movement, where my tongue feels like it’s changing colors like the lights on a deep-sea jelly-fish. A real treat to have this in my cup at work, and to have it linger so long in between sips.

Had several cups of this iced (cold brew) last night. I love how well Yunnan Blacks do this way- always refreshing with a really ..uh.. thick mouthfeel (like jelly? but not weird!)

Used more leaves to make a pot of this hot this morning: extreemly strong cereal taste in this one (reminds me of a breakfast of granola, vanilla cream/yogurt, and berries).

I’ve been drinking this one all day (just leaves in my cup.. adding water as I run out). So it’s official ladies and gents: cannot be oversteeped.

I love how springy-boingy and fresh this feels in my mouth. Not a trace of heaviness, dirtiness, fishiness- nothin but sweet flaky yumminess topped with a bit of mint and cinnamon sparkle. Do you know any other shu blend that could sit in a cup like so and still be delicious, 8 hrs later?

Best comparison is with Rishi’s Vanilla Mint Pu’er, which I got from time to time at the now-closed Teashop nearby. I enjoyed that one’s taste, but inevitably after awhile, it started to build up with sourness and stingy dirt (unpleasant), usually before i finished one mug. This certainly turned me off of curling up with the mug all day. No such thing here.

I therefore believe this blend is the Perfect Expression of This Concept (pu’er+sweet+bit o’ mint).

All is balanced. All is yummy. Time to refill my mug….

This was our evening tea last night and our morning tea today.

I owe this tea a real tasting note; I’ve been thinking about what to write since I first tried it in the spring. I will not do that justice today- let this serve as a reminder and placeholder.

Yes- I’ve been steeping this up again from yesterday (all morning and afternoon). Such a treat!

Steeped this one again for the first tea of the morning. Re-steeped pretty well, all things considered. Sweet, mildly vegetal with some powdered-sugar-spring taste. Aftertaste a bit metallic and lemony, but still a very pleasant thing to wake up to.

continuing the challenge: Backlog

Had a big pot of this last night. Yum! I am so glad to have Laoshan green available to me anytime I want. When I moved back to the States, I thought I’d never get to have any again, and kept a vaccuum-sealed stash in my freezer.

Yummmmm.. indulgent and amazing. A late afternoon-evening treat. I am definitely going to keep steeping this tomorrow.
Lots and lots of baked goods in this cup today: pumpkin pie (creamy, silky, so delicious) and baked apple pies (yum!). Can you believe the mouthfeel on this? And how stunning the buds are? Mmm.. also a field of clovers.
I’m a very lucky duck that a little sample of this found it’s way into my “Drink at work!” baggy.

:-/

Made this the old stick-in-a-glass-and-keep-drinking-off-of-it method as a personal dare. It was… uh… yep.

EDIT a real tasting note, thanks to Bonnie!
Normally, I wouldn’t have written anything about this, since I tend do go for the “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” approach (if not nice, at least helpful to someone else). But since I’m currently challenging myself to log every tea I drink in a day, no matter what, I couldn’t leave this one out!

Here’s the story:

I still have a few good friends in Qingdao who sometimes send over tea and fun stuff (and we send over chocolates and other fun US stuff). One of my friends is quite a funny gal who isn’t actually a fan a pu’er, but she knows that I am! So in part of a care package that included great TGY and green tea, there was this tea tucked away in a triple sealed bag. How could I resist! It was like a giant “:-P” face..daring me to try it. So we did- it was very funny in how little sense it made. A super duper dark base (not the greatest shu, not revolting but definitely murky..sour…ashy..drying) plus, for no particular reason, jasmine? Honestly, it was much better in a giant mug than it was when I first tried it in a gaiwan. Strangely juicy, with not a trace of jasmine or florals.. why were they stuck into it in the first place? In the mug, they are swallowed up by mud. In a gaiwan, they stick out like a sore thumb from the base.. but so unrelated, it’s more like a disembodied floating sore thumb.

Poor little tuocha- I know the plant that grew its leaves worked hard all season gathering the nutrients to turn into sugars and cell walls and everything needed to make it’s little tea leaves. So full of promise and good things! And someone picked those leaves and pile-fermented them and then said to themselves.. you know what? I’m going to take these jasmine flowers over here, and for no reason at all, I’m going to stick ’em onto this pile ’o leaves and make inexplicable tuochas! My friend also thought is was funny in how inappropriate it was.. but it can only be share through experience.

So here the tuocha’s are.. sitting in a baggie on my desk in all ways like a bad joke. I don’t want to laugh at you but.. there’s something in your complete lack-of-sense that also makes you endearing.. like some sort of terrible internet preposterous joke. I imagine unwrapping you and sticking googly eyes on you: that’s who you are.
http://i.imgur.com/4qiQy.jpg

It’s been quite a while since I tried this tea last, and when I came upon it in the giant TO-DRINK-AT-WORK bag, I giggled and said to myself.. Ok- I dare you! Do it! And I did. And survived with some fun! :-P
http://i.imgur.com/7RGy7.jpg

“Backlogging” :-p

This was my first tea of the day: a pleasant, mellow spring Tieguanyin.

Prominent notes of sweet grass and melon. Made in a big pot: lots of leaves for about 2min.

Ah- that’s better. Found a little sample of this hiding away.

Note to self: get new Spring picking into the house!

Starting an experiment.. actually log the teas I drink in a day, caring not a whit about rating or even notes. Just logging.

An Anji Bai Cha (which is often classified as green?). I have little experience with this tea. The leaves are gorgeous floating in my cup. I’m having trouble figuring out what Anji Bai Cha offers that’s unique.. that’s craveable.. that sets it apart from all other green or green-white teas.

So far, it’s sweet. interesting mouth coating that puckers the back of my tongue- verging on unpleasant but not quite. A little.. chalky? In a way that reminds me of some matcha-dusted green teas (again, not sure if I enjoy it, but I certainly don’t not enjoy). Reminds me of a sweet dragonwell-style green that is over a year old and that I’ve been steeping all day. But gorgeous leaves, I must say.

Steeping this way is not astrigent at all (just floating in a glass), but there is a building dryness that I remember from gong-fu-ing this one. Since I’m brewing something up to combat morning dryness, I think I will move onto something else when I near the end of this cup.

Those of you with Anji Bai Cha experience.. what do you look for? What are you craving? What should I listen for?

I feel very lucky to have received this gift of tea. So lucky, I have not wanted to write about this tea. What can I say about it that has not been said? To speak would imply judgement, and how can I pass judgement over a gift such as this? I am happy to drink and learn.

I can say nothing but Thank You.

It’s a pleasure to meet you, Golden Fleece. I am thoroughly enjoying our time together.

We did a cold press of this last night. 10 pinches in our gallon spigot/jar we got from Target.

Stirred it up and poured myself a glass just now. It tastes like chai.
Not kidding. Sweet sweet..with honey and cream and I don’t know what other magic. I had no idea.

yessssss…

This tea was actually the first tea I ever purchased for myself, way back in 2002 when I was 15. Angrboda recently sent me a care-package of tea, and the dry smell of the Raspberry Oolong made me think of this tea quite unexpectedly. (disclaimer: similarities end at the dry smell!)

In the London Trocadero (right by Picadilly Circus), there was a little Whittard of Chelsea store. At the time, “tea” to me was just an icky bitter taste that I covered up with tons of honey and milk. I couldn’t understand what it was that everyone else in the whole country seemed to enjoy about tea… so I avoided it (as I still do with coffee).

So when I went into Whittards after a Saturday at the arcades or wandering around HMV with my friends, the sweet smells and samples were completely outside the realm of my experience. Instead of icky, they were super sweet and tasty. Like Kool-Aid! “Yum yum!” I said, and used a £5 note to pick up a tin of this instant Dreamtime Tea. I stirred the pink powder into hot water and cold water, and thought it tasty enough to buy some and bring it back home on holiday for my Mom (I was going to boarding school at the time, since my parents were living in Angola and English language schooling in Luanda only went up to 8th grade).

I had this experience in mind when I made my next big purchase of tea a few years later (fruit-flavored tea bags from Pier 1… they were on sale, and I received an employee discount). The teas were labeled apple..strawberry..etc.. so I steeped them up with great anticipation. After about three minutes, I sniffed, and my nose detected no hint of sweet strawberry or apple! So I let it steep several minutes more. Still no smell, but I thought I should give it a taste. I was so sad to discover the bitter, drying brew I had muscled out of those teabags. Who knows what pleasant brew i would have tasted if I’d just let the tea bags be themselves? Sometimes, I think expectations (especially for blended teas), sometimes keep us from enjoying the great thing we have in front of us. Searching for the kool-aid taste of Whittard’s DreamTime instant tea, I thought the lack of berry-bursting-sparkle was due to my clear inability to steep “real” tea. I retired the remaining bags to a shelf, and sadly realized that I would never “get” tea.

I was saved a few years later by some bagged genmaicha my future-husband brewed me up. When he offered to make me tea, I was definitely nervous (oh no! should I tell him that I am tea-challenged? But no, that would be so rude!). As I’ve learned since then, I always enjoy anything he makes me, and this was no exception. Yum! Tea could be full and delicious, even if it wasn’t purple and didn’t taste like KapriSun.

I remember this tea fondly, if only because it was my first ever. It’s amazing to look back and see how much I’ve grown.. and how many amazing teas I’ve been privileged to try since then. Instant magical powder is pretty fun sometimes, but how much more amazing is the natural magical brew I get from steeping whole leaves gong-fu-style?

Thank you for the introduction, Whittards. You sure were sweet to me.

I’ve had this cup for about a year and a half, now, and use it at work. Mine is the jade (green) rather than the pale blue pictured above.

It’s lovely to look at, and I enjoy the fact that the crackling glaze of the cup changes over time with prolonged use. It’s a great tool, and I’m glad I have it, but I’ve been realizing more and more that this cup could be improved upon.

PROs:
Cup has matching strainer and cover/saucer
Looks lovely (classier to have on my desk than other options)
The strainer has more holes than otherwise-similar “Italian Mugs” from World Market and the like.

CONs:
The cup heats up quickly and stays hot for a long time. This often means it is very difficult to carry the cup back to my desk or drink from the cup right away without feeling like I’m going to drop it or burn myself. A double-walled cup with insulating air or a handle would eliminate this issue.
The strainer’s holes allow small particles to fall into the cup, so it really only works best with large, full leaf unblended teas (or teas that can steep forever without going bitter). At the same time, there aren’t a ton of holes (like in a mesh brew basket), so it takes the water a while to drain out of the stainer section.
The curved saucer/lid, if left on top of the cup for several minutes while steeping, directs condensation down the sides of the cup, leaving you with a wet ring under your cup. If the saucer were not quite so big and curved and styalized, I don’t think this would be an issue. Then again, it wouldn’t look as pretty that way.

So in general, I prefer to use a brew basket if I’m steeping a big mug of tea (otherwise, I’ll use a gaiwan or yixing pot gong-fu-style). However, compared to other similar all-in-one options on the market, this is both functional and lovely and not ridiculously expensive. I would certainly recommend this over tea balls or “Italian Mugs” or bags any day. I enjoy and appreciate having this at work, and since I don’t mind little bits in my cup at all, it makes me good tea!

SIDE NOTE: I didn’t realize I wasn’t supposed to put this through the dishwasher, and I’ve definitely run it through the one at work many times. So far, no worse for ware and no signs of cracks or damage. So.. I don’t know?

This was my birthday tea on Friday. It was the tea I woke up with, and it seemed to be the theme of the day. My husband called tieguanyin my “birth tea” (like a birth stone, only tea!), and I find it’s more and more appropriate as time goes by. He’s certainly right, if only for the fact that the time of year lines up perfectly: the past couple of days, the big lilac bush has bloomed and it literally hits on in the head with that delicious smell every time we walk in the kitchen door, leaving us craving Guanyin’s nectar..

I woke up with this tea. My husband woke up before me (to decorate the living room with streamers! and also herding our cats so they didn’t /eat/ the streamers) and he brought up our raku tea bowls filled with this beautiful spring tieguanyin. Drinking it was like coming alive. At first, I could only smell. Opening sips were warmth soothing my throat and, gradually (as my sense continued to adjust to the waking world), that gorgeous creamy texture. Aahhh.. spring. Finally, around sips ten or so, my tongue came fully online and started sending me information about all of the lovely tastes. Definitely a great way to wake up to your birthday day off in the spring time: coming alive again with this tea, sense by sense.

Breakfast continued on the theme with perfectly ripe cantelope melon, apples dipped in local MN honey..so floral and wonderful.. and a selection of light cheeses from the Seward Coop. Yummm. We didn’t eat these with the tea, but the textures and particularly the melon/honey/apple flavors synergized extremely well with what the tea has already laid out. Home-made (did I luck out or what??) lunch included an incredible piece of salmon, marinated in soysauce-wasabi, cooked up just so with cilantro and ginger.. the texture- it just fell apart in your mouth! So sweet and mouthwatering, with a real feeling of nectar.. you wouldn’t think it would be so, but it still fell very in line with my tieguanyin day.

We continued drinking tieguanyin throughout the afternoon, and we could do so freely, because my birthday present included 8oz of this spring picking!! It makes me feel free to indulge and have the good stuff more often. Instead of saving it for a special night, we will have it and make the night special as a result. Open the windows, let the lilac pour in, drink it up from the thimble cups.

This tea makes me think of many things. With the fan running on low, it makes me want to play hooky all day and lay out in the freshly cut sweet grasses. It makes me feel like I’m in a spa, and I want to light candles and run a lilac bubble bath with intense moisturizers. It is so fine fine fine.. a classy lady that’s just gorgeous /and/ sweet. Dessert. The creamy flavors, the smooth and lovely textures that feel like you’re being wrapped up and taken care of… It could only taste better if I were drinking it in Hawaii.. on the rainy side of Kawaii, looking out over ocean cliffs, plumeria in the air.

It’s decadant nd fine, but it’s not blowing loud and brassy horns in your ear. Instead, the flavors are all soft (yet strong and impossible to ignore), full and bouyant: melons, creamy whipped florals, exotic melon-berry nectars (juice is too thin and tangy a word). It’s downright sensual. Be careful- you might have to resist the urge to kiss whoever’s drinking with you.

Spring spring spring. How lovely. How do these TGY’s keep being so good? It’s ridiculous. As chadao wrote a little while ago, these tieguanyin’s feels scandalous- like you’ve been slipped a sample of something that should have cost a fortune and is instead just under the price of Rishi’s Citron Oolong (in a tea shop… $10). I think I’ll always prefer autumn TGY’s secretly, just because they feel a little more complex, but not in this particular situation. It has all the oomph and depth I would want from Autumn, but wrapped in the lovely honey-soft touch of spring. Ridiculous. I am so lucky to be able to drink this whenever I want, plus I still have several ounces of Autumn left.

Just a quick note about water.

We moved into our new place this weekend, but we haven’t been able to install our water filter. The threading on the faucet just doesn’t want to grab any of the little plastic adapters that came with the filter, so it looks like we’ll have to get something else.

So- we made this tea on Saturday morning with water from the tap. Generally, the water is fine (no funky tastes or anything weird like huge calcium deposits, etc). However, we noticed that the tea seemed a lot juicier than normal? After many sips and a few other teas, it’s clear that the water has more metal of some sort in it. It’s a subtle difference, but immeadiatly noticeable. With this water, it’s as if this is a different picking or a different grade or a different season. Definitely LaoShan, but not quite the same as my last note described.

So! Water really is important. With a little bit of a filter, the house water is going to be sweet and full and an awesome base for teas. Right now, the light metal/juicy flavor will keep me from breaking out the awesome celebratory new-place teas until we get a filter or one of those pitchers.