Taiwan Tea Crafts

I’ve been drinking this during my first practice session of the day, working on piece #5 of Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols”.
I’ve concluded that I don’t care much for TTC’s aged black teas. There is an underlying fruitiness, which implies something, but in reality, the tea tasted kind of like an old root cellar. Their other aged tea I tried tasted strongly of beets. This one is fruitier, but just not to my liking today, which is disappointing because it was kind of pricey, even on sale, & they made it sound so good in their description. Oh well…we live, we learn. Maybe next month when I try it I’ll be in a better mood (yes, I’m still a grumpus) & will like it more.

I’ve had students all morning, & have to get ready to go play a wedding shortly. I wish I had more to say about this tea. I drank it during the morning, & I enjoyed it. The dry leaf smelled like dried fruit, at least I remember that, right?

This is the type of tea that makes me re-think my dislike of roasted oolongs. Pleasantly roasty-toasty throughout all infusions, but never bitter or over-powering. There is a underlying sweetness as well, along with hints of spice and a surprising peach finish.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 90 deg., 2:30 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 3:00 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 6:00 min.

Fourth infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 10:00+ min.

Sipdown, 146. Thanks once again to Sil for this sample. ANother Taiwan black tea!

The leaf of this one has much fewer whole leaves in it, but the are there if you go digging through. I guess that’s probably a result of mechanically picking. The aroma is honeyed and fruity like apricot. It also has that fruity-black scent that I’m not really a fan of, but that is hard for me to articulate.

Fortunately, I enjoy the tea itself quite a bit! Who knows, maybe fruity Taiwanese black teas are growing on me. This is nicely sweet, slightly fruity, with a texture that is at once tangy and juicy as well as smooth and creamy. Not a hint of bitterness or astringency. Whatever that note I don’t usually like, well, it’s not that prominent in this one. I don’t love this one as much as the Sun Moon Lake I had previously, but it is quite delicious and I’m really glad I got to try it.

Sipdown, 149 (new samples acquired last night). Thanks, Sil, for this sample!

This tea is totally blowing my mind. I’ve had a sample of Sun Moon Lake Black tea before, but this tea completely blows it out of the water. I guess this is also equivalent to Butiki’s PTA, and I can see some of the similarities, but this is definitely unique in my mind.

It didn’t seem that exceptional at first, and I kind of started drinking it without thinking about it too much. Then holy caramel! So sweet and soooooo much like caramel! I get it in the scent too now. Fruity, yes, and I agree with cooked fruit, like a jam. But this time the fruit isn’t accompanied by whatever notes usually are in a fruity black tea that I dislike (I have a hard time describing them, but I know them when I taste them). To me, this is almost like a caramel apple with the fruit and caramel together. Caramel apricot? Whatever, it is delicious. It is so smooth and silky. I know I will definitely be ordering from this company in November!

I sampled the Songboling Shui Xian Oolong, from TTC, and afterwards I went with this one, to see what happens when you age it. I’d like to preface this by saying that Sil & I have sampled some of the aged black teas from TTC, & they had earthy & musty qualities, that were interesting, but not necessarily desireable. One in particular tasted like beets that have spent the winter in the root cellar, if you know what I mean.

This tea however is not so. I think the aging & occasional re-roasting has done this tea justice, intensifying & deepening the jammy flavors a bit, bringing out a nutty hazelnut quality, & the overall feeling was incredibly smooth. No mustiness, no root veggies, just a lovely Oolong.

I have difficulties with comparing teas. I drank these 2 teas separately, enjoying the first one with resteeps while teaching, and then switching to this one. The problem with this method is I’m terrible about taking any kind of notes. While I’m drinking the cup, I’m loving it & thinking nice things, making note in my head of it’s wonders. Then I switch to a different tea, & all is forgotten, as I am now thinking of THIS cup. I have enough to drink this one more time, & I think that final comparison will be side by side, steep for steep.

Sil & I have been sampling teas from Taiwan Tea Crafts, & so far they have all been tasty & interesting, rather different from some of the other teas I usually drink. This one is no exception!
The dry leaf is small nuggets, similar in color & size to dry elderberries. The dry aroma is a yummy fruity jam, thick & sweet. I preheated the gaiwan, & then let the tea sit in there for a minute & the aroma was of a fruity pipe tobacco. After a quick rinse, it smelled like roasty fruit wood.
I started with 5 G + 4oz Gaiwan X 15sec, adding 15 sec to each steep.
The first 3 steeps were almond/hazelnut butter, sweet & creamy with a caramelized fruit jam, increasing in butteriness with each steep.
4 – 6 A heavenly elixer! Hazelnut crusted fruit torte, I can’t quite pinpoint the fruit, with a brown sugar crust.
I smelled the leaf at this point, & the aroma was of roasted honeyed apricots!
7-9 I feel like I could keep steeping these leaves forever. The brew is still dark, the taste is still sweet & nutty, with a creamy nut butter sensation after the sip is swallowed.

This is a delightful tea! Everything I had hoped it would be. If it was earlier in the day, I’d keep steeping, but since it’s not, I put the rest of the leaf in a jar of water in the frig, where it will hopefully become a tasty refreshment for tomorrow!

Sipdown, 149. Thanks to Sil for a sample of this tea!

I was interested to try this one because I’ve only had one other Mi Xian, from Butiki. I like that one, although it’s not quite my style of black tea as it is very inherantly fruity.

This one is fruity to the MAX. It’s amazing that a tea can be so fruity naturally. Definitely getting similar notes from this as from the Butiki version, which I described there as “cooked, honey-covered peaches”. I think that description applies to this one as well. There is a bit of a zing to this one; not bitterness/astringency, but a slight tartness or tanginess, like the slightly sour skin of a plum against the sweet flesh. Really, objectively I can see that this is a really fine tea. I just don’t crave this kind of fruity black tea. I am, however, enjoying this cup and I’m glad I tried this one!

Another sample from Sil. This is a pretty interesting aged tea. Much sweeter than I’m used to! Still very earthy, but not fish at all. I’ll make it through a few more steeps, but I still haven’t developed a love for the aged teas yet. Thanks Sil for letting me try it!

I really like this one. It tastes like a cross between a roasty taiwanese oolong and a taiwanese wild mountain black. It’s light and juicy, but with a nice roasty flavor to it. This is definitely going on the reorder list.

This was a bonus sample from the always generous Sil as I’ve been curious about the teas from TTC. From what I read from Sil’s and Terri’s notes, this was good but not their favorite of the bunch of samples. That makes me so happy. Because I love this one! And if it’s not even the best, then I’m in for a huge treat. I need to order more of these TTC teas immediately! This tea has some notes that remind of Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black. A similar juicy sweetness I think. I’m excited about these Taiwanese teas!

Goal #1 (start pot of stew) is complete! I’ll add things to it as the day passes, so that by evening it will culminate in a very large pot of stew that can be eaten for dinner & savored over the weekend as well. My next goal? Get outside & plant those 4 elderberry bushes! I’m still a little sketchy as to where I’m planting 2 of them, and I need to remember that from now on I should choose a place to plant something first, then decide what to plant there & get the plants. My previous method has been to buy a bunch of plants, usually on a whim, & then frantically scramble to figure out where they should go & get them in the ground. Experience is teaching me that is not the best way to do things, but I am admittedly a slow learner…sigh…

About a year ago Sil & I placed our first Taiwan Tea Crafts order together. We had a great time on FB together, drooling over the TTC website, discussing the teas we wanted, & I pretty much gave her free rein on whatever sounded good to her. When she got the order, she split everything up & sent me my half. It was glorious. The teas are delicious, and even though we got them in small quantities, I’m still polishing mine off.

This one is a rich infusion of honey, sweet woods, stone fruit jam, & coriander, with a lingering incense quality. I’m sorry to see it go. Sipdown – 395
Now out to the garden!

Starting the morning with this one, from a tea order Sil & I shared awhile back.
Such a wonderful sweet mouth thickening cup! I still haven’t tried this one gongfu.

I’m trying to get motivated, because one of my college students has her Senior Recital Hearing today at 12:30. She’ll play the recital for myself & 3 other faculty members. There are forms for their comments, & of course, they have to give the go ahead for the actual recital, which takes place next month. It’s mostly a formality, & I’m sure she’ll do great.
That’s the main thing on my agenda today :)

This is the final tea from the series of teas Sil & I sampled from TTC.
How to describe?
Delicious!
This is one of those ‘bug bite’ teas, so the honey sweetness is there, along with the stone fruit ‘jaminess’ of #154, & a hint of coriander (or at least what my tastebuds translate into coriander!). This also has a nice thickness to it. It’s really very tasty!

Welcome to day 7 of little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza!
I started the day with this Taiwanese black, part of the order that Sil & I shared a year ago. Of course, this was my first tea of the day, but that was hours ago, so I don’t really have much to say. I have enjoyed these teas from TTC, but they don’t have as much appeal to me as some of the other black teas that I love. Sipdown!
364

I’m working through my teas from Sil. We split an order from Taiwan Tea Crafts awhile back, & even though I placed another order by myself when they had their sale in Oct, I still have some of the original teas, including this one.

I’m feeling kind of like a grumpus, very cynical & crabby. I enjoyed a pot of this while I was fixing breakfast. It’s an interesting, fruity & earthy tea.

This is another interesting tea from TTC.
It’s very smooth, sweet, & again fruity, but not in the same way that the other ones were, & a little tangy. And once again, there is something I taste that I recognize, but can’t quite place.
These teas from TTC are a challenge to my taste buds, as they are very different from what I tend to drink, basically a while new genre of black tea, at least for me.

This tea is from an order Sil & I shared from Taiwan Tea Crafts awhile back. It’s an interesting tea, but definitely not my favorite from the box.
Sipdown! I think I’m at 216.

Following the same steeping parameters as for the other TTC teas today.
This medium roast oolong is interesting. The dry leaf is curled up, like a floral tieguantin might be, but instead of the beautiful jade green, it is more of a tan/brown color palette. There is a taste here that I immediately recognized, but could not place. Then all of a sudden there it was: Strawberry! The roasty taste is mild, & brought to mind toasted walnuts, which made me long for a walnut pastry with a creamy filling & strawberries on top! Wouldn’t that be lovely!

Another sipdown, this one from the order Sil & I split last year.
I really enjoyed this tea today. It reminds me of Ms Stacy’s, in a tasty pastry sort of way.
363

I spent a couple of hours working in my garden. It’s so beautiful outside, & it felt so good to be out there, crawling around, pulling weeds.

Now I’m enjoying this one, following the same parameters I set earlier today for the TTC teas: 1 rounded tsp in my 4 oz porcelain pot, 3/4/& 5 min steeps.

All 3 cups have been delicious, stone-fruity, a little pastry-like, & with a hint of coriander, & a slight floral quality.

sipdown! this is an interesting one from taiwan tea crafts. I’ve really enjoyed exploring their teas with terri :) soo many teas to drink, so little time haha

mmmmm i had this today as well, and while it’s a tasty tea, it’s not my favourite of the taiwan tea crafts teas. it reminds me of some roasty oolongs but with a bit more sweetness to it. Overall a pretty good tea :)

Another interesting tea from Taiwan tea crafts. This tea still has some of the juiciness as the others I’ve had today but much less so. Instead there’s a more….earthy? Note in here. But yet not. Something about this one leaves a hint of that sort of black base that reminds me of….Ceylon? Or not. I’m having trouble qualifying this one. Hmmmm….