2958 Tasting Notes
Drinking “bulang ball” from Rasseru’s Singapore group buy.
This is a really nice sheng. Dry, it doesn’t smell like much, but it is very flavourful after steeping.
Steep 1:
Some bitterness at the end of each sip. Some licoice flavour, but without the metallic licorice root taste or the sweetness. Some mild puerh flavour.
Steep 2-5: Well, that got bitter fast. Had to resteep a few times in cold water until it was drinkable again.
Steep 6: This is definitely sheng; I can taste the bitterness of young pu, but it has none of the fermented taste of shou. I get anise and licorice taste mostly, followed by petrichor and loam/sand stone. Some hints of dried apple when I smell the liquid.
Rasseru mentioned fudge and caramel notes in this, but I didn’t get anything like that. I did, however, appreciate the strong licorice flavour. (side note: this was not stored with any flavoured teas). I am not much a fan of bitter teas, but several of the steeps had little to no bitterness (first steep and later ones). Overall, it is a solid 78/100
Flavors: Anise, Bitter, Licorice, Loam, Sand
I decided to brew the entire orange (well, the tea inside the orange, not the orange peel itself-too much citrus) and it made a few nice cups. It would have lasted a dozen steeps, but I don’t want that much caffeine.
20 second rinse including the peel (then removed peel)
Steep 1:
A lot of citrus (more like MAndarin orange/clemintines or pomelo than typical juicy navel orange). Slight bitterness (similar to how bergamot has that characteristic). The tea itself is mostly covered up by the dried clemintine taste.
Steep 2-3:
More of the same, added milk and made a latte
The first few steeps are clearly very citrus-heavy, not very much puerh flavour. The flavour that was there was not soil/Earthy/storage/mushrooms like many puerhs, but some of the tea tannins come through well. Overall, this tea is REALLY tasty and makes a nice latte if you aren’t into it straight. I drink puerh straight if it is unflavoured, but since I couldn’t taste much of the tea anyway I figured it wouldn’t matter.
Flavors: Citrus, Dried Fruit, Orange Zest, Tannin
Preparation
GCTTB sipdown
Notes of cherry, wood, peach, and red current. molasses. Slight sweetness like dried fruit (figs, dried currents). The fruity + woody notes are really nice, and combines with the slight sweetness well. This is a fairly stemy tea, and highly oxidized. Going in, I wasn’t sure if this was black or oolong. It tastes like a black tea, but the rolled leaf attached to the stems are characteristically oolong.
Flavors: Black Currant, Cranberry, Dried Fruit, Fig, Fruity, Peach, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
A sad sipdown, but I really wanted to finish it up. Because it has dairy in it, I will not be buying more. However, it makes a killer latte.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Caramel, Chocolate, Cocoa, Cream, Dark Wood, Sweet, Toffee
Preparation
This was a nice cup with breakfast. I really wanted a latte, and since this is my only teabag of this Indian black tea, I thought I might accomplish a sipdown as well.
This tea is strong, I found 1 minute in 450 mL hot water enough, and that was with milk already added. If you don’t oversteep, you will have a pleasant cup of bold, flavourful black tea. Notes of cream, nuts, and dry wood. It would easily do 2-3 more resteeps, and it expands in the sachet sightly. I don’t drink a lot of Indian blacks, but this reminds me of when I was a kid and would have Red Rose orange pekoe with milk at my grandmother’s, except this tea is definitely much higher grade. This is just a nice, smooth black tea, nothing fancy (and I enjoy its simplicity).
Flavors: Cream, Malt, Nuts, Tannic, Wood
