Dao Tea

Parameters are approximate, and your mileage may vary. I don’t remember the exact temps – I think it was started at around 160 and brought down in later sessions. The infused aroma was light, airy, and very welcoming – almost citrus. The flavour was crisp, very very slightly vegetal, slight citrus, and nice and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste. Tea presented with a calm and warming Qi predominantly in the face and neck. Overall, it was very enjoyable and will be purchasing it again once the new harvest is available.

This is an expensive, touchy, hard to work with tea. And it’s amazing.

Pro tip: Normally I’m not a stickler for making sure your water doesn’t boil before brewing (I let it boil then cool pretty regularly), but for this it really makes a difference. Boiling cuts back on the brightness of the cup exponentially.

Tried the leaves over vanilla ice cream. Not really my cup of tea, but it was relatively tasty.

This tea is advertised as a Green Pu’Er. As my knowledge of Pu’Er is pretty poor and this being a Korean Pu’Er my knowledge is even poorer. Being described as mellow is very precise. There is only a faint smell of sweet from the brewed leaves and even less taste from the tea. I will have to try multiple steeps to really get a handle on the flavor, if there is any.

While I cant say how this Tea tastes with sesame seeds and Korean Chilli paste, I will say that steeped without condiments it is very nice indeed. While I don’t usually drink black(Yellow) teas this tea is something I would start drinking regularly. Pedro’s description of the teas taste as a mix of wood and raisins is very approximate. I would liken it to a Pu-ur lite. Smokey and warm. Yummy.

Matt has a more in depth review of this tea: http://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/2009-daotea-kim-shin-ho-hwagae-valley.html

This is a mild and very pleasant Green tea from Korea. It has a slightly toasted taste mixed with a classic smooth green tea flavor. Pedro over at Dao Tea was kind enough to send me a sample box of some of the finer Korean Teas of Tea Master Kin Jong Yeol.