Paru Tea Bar

I feel like I’ve just been inundated with Dry January marketing all month which, like, makes sense – and isn’t really a complaint. Just, as someone who barely drinks at all, most months are essentially Dry January for me. What all the marketing campaigns from various companies have been successful in doing, though, is making me crave more of my “alcohol themed” LLTs for my massive stash – this one included.

I feel like the more I drink this tea the more I like it. The bergamot and gin flavours just go so well together. It’s crisp and clean and the citrus just feels… more lively!? Plus I love the botanical notes that get folded into the mix.

After our two oolong sessions we switched to a sort of weird gongfu/Western tea steeping hybrid because we wanted to break out some flavoured teas but weren’t interested in committing to steeping a full teapot’s worth of tea or whole mugs. I was pleasantly surprised how well this tea worked with the weird steeping method. It came off more gin-like to me than necessarily the highly aromatic and pungently floral/pithy bergamot that sometimes comes through, and with a real unexpected sweetness to the top notes as well!

Sipped on over the weekend. Definitely got that boozy kind of gin note in addition to a heavy handed dose of bergamot. I’m not super big on Earl Grey, as you all know, but I do love gin and I think the botanical pine-y flavour of it is such a natural compliment to the citrus of bergamot. It elevates what would otherwise probably be a fairly boring (to me, at least) tea!

Y’know I was on the fence about ordering this one since I don’t love Earl Grey – although Earl Grey gin, if you’ve never had the chance to try one before, is pretty solid. Then the tea arrived and it didn’t really smell that impressive as dry leaf – barely boozy (especially when compared to the rum hojicha) and pretty strong bergamot note. However, steeped it was really interesting and unique. Definitely an Earl Grey but it had the botanical and almost pine-y juniper note of gin as well and it was actually much more apparent in taste than I’d guessed it would be. Also had a somewhat fruity note as well – one while felt a bit out of place for both a gin and an Earl Grey.

I’m not sure I’m fully on board, but I think I’m more on board than I expected to be. So that’s not nothing!

Oversteeped this cup and it resulted in it tasting far more savory than I would have ever thought would have been possible given the ingredient list here. I still got that soft creamy starchy quality of the pandan in the top notes, but the body was brothy with notes of anise and the finish pretty harsh and bitter. Milk probably would have softened it up, but I was tired and couldn’t be bothered to get some. Plus, I only have oat milk in the house right now and I felt like that wouldn’t have been the best flavour fit…

Short tasting note – I’ll write a fuller one with a future tasting I’m sure. This pandan chai is super unique; the blend of warming spices is perfectly balanced with the silky and creamy flavour of the pandan! Pandan often reminds me of coconut or sticky rice, so a total match made in heaven for this style of Chai.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CR2MljfBzCb/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F01hoI2PlTY&ab_channel=ScotchMist

Back at work now following what was probably the worst holiday break I’ve ever experienced. I feel mostly better now, but still definitely experiencing a lot of congestion. I’m finding it incredibly hard to fall asleep at night (on top of the normal insomnia) because of the congestion so my energy level is close to rock bottom – these last two days in office have felt so foggy…

All that to say, this was the first tea I steeped in office after getting back on Monday and, well, between the congestion and sleep deprevation I don’t think I tasted a drop of it. Like, it could have just as well been hot water. Feels like a shame and a waste of a tea; but I just didn’t expect to be soooo out of it when I was prepping it…

Steeped this one up on Thursday!

I always feel a little guilty drinking some of my different alcohol flavoured or barrel aged teas at work just because of how authentically boozy the aroma can actually get. That’s how I felt about drinking this one in our lab that morning; it really smelled like rum which may have been a lot at 10AM on a Thursday. Thankfully, no one ended up coming in and joining me in the lab before I had finished the cup so I got to just enjoy the warm and cozy flavoured of the hojicha with the sweet complexity of the rum overtones mostly guilt free.

Toasty golden and smooth but also pretty distinctly rum flavoured in the best kind of round, sweet and boozy sort of way. It reminds me a little bit of the chocolate rumballs that my mom used to make around the holidays, but also makes me feel a little bit like a pirate!? A pirate in the best way though.

Pirates are fucking cool.

This was what we steeped up on the first evening at the hotel! My mom hates fish so one of the places she was really interested in eating at during her trip was a vegan sushi restaurant, so we had hojicha with vegan sushi. There were some really nice options, actually – my favourite ended up being one of green apple, asian pear, cucumber, and asparagus. It was very fresh and crisp! She liked… some of them.

Hojicha, even boozy tasting hojicha like this, paired great though!

I’ve seen a lot of barrel aged teas but rum barrel aged hojicha is totally new for me so I could not in any way resist trying this one out. The dry leaf is stem heavy to the point where this almost looks more like a kukicha, but I see some leaf throughout so we’re not totally over the line. The tea smells heavily of rum. Like, to the point where I was not comfortable steeping this one in my office when I first got the sample. However, there’s a sweetness to the thick aroma of booze and a toasty familiar hojicha nuttiness.

The tea tastes great! It’s all the cozy familiarity of a nuttier and well roasted hojicha with those big sweeping roasted barley and other grain-type of notes that are a hug of comfort and toasty deliciousness. However, it’s also mighty boozy. Not anywhere close to the intensity of that dry leaf smell, but there’s no second guessing the reality that this tea has come in contact with rum. It’s an excellent addition and compliments so nicely. But more than that, there’s just a small part of me that kind of feels a bit like a pirate when I drink it and nothing will take away that glorious feeling from me.

Cold Brew Sipdown (1407)!

This was a free sample from my order with Paru – I wasn’t expecting any free samples, let alone the two they included, so I was appreciative of both.

I thought this was pretty nice but I have to admit that, of everything I’ve tried from Paru so far, I found this the least interesting. I guess that makes sense; for a tea company to have mass appeal you definitely need some “safer” and more commercial blends and this felt like it fell in that range – a nice, non-complex and solidly executed mix of cooling and herbaceous mint with fresh, light citrus. It was very, very refreshing as a cold brew and easily brewed up without fuss. I knew what to expect, and it met those expectations well. I just personally have been more interested in exploring the more unique and innovative blends from Paru.

There’s a customer for this though, totally!

Grandpa style and only using a half of a coin, as well…

It was a bit grey and drizzly earlier, but now it’s pretty warm and cozy outside as the sun sets – perfect for this complexly floral and mineral tasting oolong! I really love the gentle roast of this tea; it reminds me of peanuts – but with that lovely characteristic orchid and sweet honey finish. Half a coin was a good call here, it’s lovely!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbx_Qclu8Jm/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKypyMY_rV4&ab_channel=SleepySoul-Topic

Gongfu!

This is the first straight/traditional tea I’m trying from Paru – I was intrigued because the only other compressed oolong in this style I’ve seen was from White2Tea, so I wanted to see how this would compare. It’s not as tasty as Milan Maocha, but I like it better than both the Fireflake and Snowflake coins.

I don’t drink much dancong (and I actually prefer it brewed Western) but this has some nice minerality and roasted notes up front – but then moves into more of those sweet honeyed and fragrant heady florals from which is gets its name. Orchid, magnolia, geranium. It’s also fruity! I get plummy undertones and fresh lychee top notes through the session – the lychee is the best part, in my opinion. Pretty smooth – only a little astringency/roughness around the edges.

Admittedly, I find more magic and interest in the unique tea blends from Paru versus this straight tea – just it was still really enjoyable!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPWmvcCgArb/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXhU6DWv8RY

I feel like whenever I make this tea in office my coworkers just gnuinely can’t wrap their heads around the fact this is not a sweet tasting tea despite the very visually present chunks of okinawa sugar in the blend. It’s just dark and cozy though with really thick notes of malty biscuits and hints of molasses. I realized today, actually, that it reminds me a lot of the Nadeshiko Japanese black tea that I really enjoy from Camellia Sinensis.

Went to a baby shower this weekend and because I’m that person and also didn’t want to order any alcohol I ended up bringing some of my own tea instead. Not pre-steeped though. Instead I paid for a mug of tea and just swapped out the teabag that they had provided. I thought the subtle sweetness and deeply malty molasses and biscuit flavour of this were surprisingly sophisticated for the venue though, and fortuitously they also ended up complimenting my meal as well.

I was craving this tea for most of the morning so I decided to steep some up this afternoon. It always catches me off guard how unsweet this tea is considering how much of the black sugar is in the blend. Like, intellectually I know that it’s not actually a very sweet sugar but it’s just this brain disconnect seeing the big lumps. Tasted lovely though in all the ways it usually is. Thick and very malty with a distinct biscuit kind of taste to it as well.

Made sure to consciously get more of the Okinawa Sugar in this cup because I wanted to see how much it would impact the flavour. My cup was very thick and malty with both a biscuit like and molasses type of flavour. Despite having a lot of “sugar” in it, it’s not really sweet/cloying. In fact, it almost has a bitterness to those darker dense sweet notes. In a way that adds complexity though, not in an off putting way.

Absolutely could not resist picking up a bag of this in my recent order – I was maybe a little worried it would be too sweet, but turns out I need not have been because this is just right in terms of sweetness! Like all the other blends I’ve tried so far, I’m impressed with the complexity of the ingredients and balance of flavour. The rich, malty black tea base and slightly nutty/roasted notes of the oolong come through in a smooth and full bodied way and Paru’s description of the Okinawa sugar in the blend have a malty biscuit-like taste is really spot on! It’s a little molasses-y, a bit creamy/milky, and has a slight undertone of red fruit. Really just delicious and spot on.

Cold Brew!

God, I want to place another Paru order to restock on this tea and try some of Paru’s new blends so badly but I see the shipping total and remember how much I got burned by duties last time I ordered and it stops me right in my tracks.

It’s not going to stop me from enjoying the last of this bag, though. The lychee has lost a little bit of its punch but the blend is still smooth and silk with a beautiful balance of floral lychee and more of the syrupy, sweet lychee juices. With some lemon in there for support, of course. Plus the golden sweet potato and dark honey notes of the base, too. Let’s all be honest though. As much as all of those flavours add to the chorus of flavours, it’s the lychee that’s singing the big solo here.

I’ve been sort of ‘rationing’ the last of this bag, but I pulled it out on Monday because I just had such a strong craving for lychee teas. Perhaps, because I wanted the lychee so badly, that’s why I found this mug just a hint underwhelming. Still delicious, though! Always delicious. It was just much more of the caramelized/golden sweet potato and honey notes of the black tea and that semi-candied lemon rind flavour with only a little bit of the floral sweetness of the lychee coming through. Beggars can’t be choosers and I’m not about to be upset just because this cup was amazingly delicious in a slightly different way than I wanted. It just didn’t scratch that lychee craving for me.

Steeped up as an early morning cuppa on Monday since I’d been craving it for a couple days. I found it wasn’t as enjoyable as past cups, but I also know I oversteeped it as well so I think that factored heavily into how the flavours presented differently. The top notes were really lemon forward with a honeyed kind of floral chrysanthemum. Much, much more floral than they’ve been in the past and that was the element that felt most off for me with this cup.

After the initial wave of lemon passed, however, I got more of the juicy lychee undertones and that very golden baked yam flavour as well. Lychee and yam of course seem like they shouldn’t work together, but it’s a surprisingly pleasant and complex profile and my favourite part of this tea overall!

I have dreamed about this tea on multiple occasions now, for whatever that is worth.

The bag of it is without eyeshot from my work desk and sometimes I feel like it just calls to me. It’s this perfect medley of sweet lemon, lush floral juicy lychee, honey and caramelized yam notes, malty cocoa, and just… the tears of angels. Sometimes when I drink it I tear up a little at how well balanced and dynamic all the flavours are. I hope, someday, to craft something as delicious. I’m getting emotional just thinking about it as I write it, and I want to make myself a mug of it right now.

AAAAAAAaaaaaaahhh!!!

Cold Brew!

Fuck me, this is good. I still don’t get a ton of lemon but the lychee is blowing my mind with how juicy, succulent and floral it is – like fresh and sticky lychee juices mixed with this honeyed black tea that’s also very sweet and rich, but with body and weight to it. It’s so refreshing and layered and summery. Hello instant summer favourite!