1557 Tasting Notes

An oldie from the stamped bag era.

Had I tasted it blind, I would instantly be able to tell it was a Sun Moon Lake Ruby #18 varietal black tea. That wintergreen, that menthol! Felt absolutely therapeutic one morning last week after waking up with a rattling chest due to the smokey air. Coppery malt, leather, tangy cherry (Trader Joe’s sells dried Montmorency cherries from Michigan; that’s the exact flavor note I’m thinking of here), prune-raisin, and dark wood; warming spicy tone danced with the cooling effect. The tea lacked some of the complexity of a fresh harvest but it has otherwise held up fine all these years. Gotta get some more of this varietal back in my cupboard.

Flavors: Cherry, Dried Fruit, Herbs, Leather, Malt, Menthol, Metallic, Plum, Raisins, Spicy, Tangy

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML

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June 2018 harvest.

I only had one go at this old sample forwarded my way, so perhaps not a great assessment. It was a nice Assam, more in line with my tippy tastes than some of the malt-heavy leafy picks. It was bright and dark, tangy and vibrant with a cherry-rose theme: tart cherry candy, rosewood and rose florality, only some malt and a hint of chocolate if I went searching. My only quibble was the lack of a grounding bass note. It was kind of zippy?

Flavors: Candy, Cherry, Cherry Wood, Chocolate, Dark Wood, Dried Fruit, Malt, Rose, Tangy

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML
gmathis

There is a time and a place for zippy teas, just not first thing in the morning.

derk

I have another zippy tea, a Kenyan black, that upsets my stomach with its strength. Since I don’t add dairy, I think I’ll try it iced.

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drank Random Steepings by Various Artists
1557 tasting notes

“Sencha Origin Unknown”

Today has been a day of data gathering.

Confusion abounds again. It certainly doesn’t look like a Japanese sencha. Maybe it’s Chinese or Taiwanese. It looks dead whatever its provenance. Mixed in are very thin stems all cut to the same length. Closer inspection reveals the stems to be small bunches of pine needles I guess, blanched in their age. The dry leaf smells like sweetgrass and perfume. The aroma once brewed contains the vestiges of fruity jasmine. There isn’t much taste — dry sweetgrass I guess and a whiff of perfume. Certainly no pine so I question the small tufts of needles — it’s some kind of shrub. Almost no bitterness and no astringency. Butter on swallow. Undefined lingering stonefruit aftertaste with a hint of butter.

The tea’s not entirely dead but it shall remain a mystery.

addendum: after sniffing the wet leaf, I’m pretty the tufts are pine.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 g 7 OZ / 200 ML
gmathis

I need to do some of that “mystery bag” cleaning out myself. I found a baggie this weekend of some very ruffly green leaves and I have no idea, for the life of me, where they came from.

Martin Bednář

So it is sencha with pine needles?

derk

That’s my guess, Martin.

I hope you make a note for your neglected find, gmathis.

Martin Bednář

That’s so weird combination.

eastkyteaguy

I have decided to break my steepster silence specifically to comment on this note. In researching sencha blends, I have discovered that sencha and pine needle blends are, in fact, a thing. I know of at least one Middle Eastern vendor that currently sells blends of black sencha and pine needles. I am not certain that such blends are common, though, as I couldn’t find tons of them floating around on the market. I would say you probably are dealing with some sort of limited edition blend (perhaps even from a vendor that is defunct at this point).

derk

Thanks for popping in, guy. You’re a wealth of information :)

eastkyteaguy

No problem.

mrmopar

Yeah we miss him around here!

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drank Random Steepings by Various Artists
1557 tasting notes

An unmarked tea from White Antlers.

The leaf is flattened and brown. Is there such tea as black Dragon Well?
Dry, it smells like raspberry caramel chocolate. But the leaf shape and delicacy is not like a Da Hong Pao?
It tastes like Houjicha. Light bodied, roasty, caramel, hazelnut and rather mineral with a dry woody, lightly bitter caramel finish. But it just doesn’t look like any Houjicha I’ve had? No stems, all whole leaf.

Stumped but satisfied.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML
ashmanra

I believe Verdant sold a black dragonwell.

derk

Thank you for the info. I looked at both of Verdant’s black dragonwell. This tea matches the listed flavor profiles but the pressed leaf of this one does not resemble either of the two. I assume this is older’n; maybe the processing has changed in recent years.

tea-sipper

a black dragonwell? Interesting!

Martin Bednář

a black dragonwell? Interesting! (I wanted to write exactly same as tea-sipper) But I never had green yet as well.

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I drink this sometimes at work since we sell it. I can’t taste the leafy, earthy yerba maté much which is nice since it’s a flavor I don’t much care for. In my opinion it’s perfectly sweetened and the blueberry and elderberry walk the line between jammy and tangy. Probably my favorite of the varieties we carry. Clean and clear energy. A full can makes my left eye twitch, though, and sometimes leaves me too aggressive. But this is worlds beyond any other energy drink out there.

Really, though, I went on a date today at the park. We shared a few cans of Bluephoria. It was a nice afternoon :)

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Berries, Blueberry, Earth, Sweet, Tangy

mrmopar

Well just make sure they are a tea lover……and have friends that obsess over teas as well. Oh remember we all have that blasted tea budget too…… ;P

tea-sipper

A FEW cans? If one can makes you aggressive, did a few cans turn you into the Hulk? muhaha

derk

tea-sipper: Even a full can could not transform me. The rare shy-derk took over.

mrmopar: <3

gmathis

You should be either comforted or annoyed that you have so many of us looking after your well-being ;)

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Big woody, earthy background with plummy mid and an apricot brightness, aged floral notes. Sweet tastes like caramel and powdered sugar are subdued. Still a touch of vegetal quality. Soft aroma. First steeps are oily and of medium body, lots of mouthwatering. Hint of mineral bitterness emerges in the back after swallow, coming more to the forefront later. Mouth-cooling, some tannic astringency. The aftertaste varies between thinned winter honey and maple butter.

Made it through an entire sample without much of an impression being made. With every session, I found myself taking a long break after the third steep and not feeling compelled to continue. I did persevere, though, and was rewarded with good longevity and a brew that become much more like the thinned honey aftertaste. The low-toned tastes and muscle-relaxing energy were very welcome after a long day, however the tea left my mind clouded rather than cleared.

Flavors: Apricot, Bitter, Butter, Caramel, Cherry, Earth, Flowers, Forest Floor, Maple, Mineral, Mint, Plum, Powdered Sugar, Tannin, Vegetal, Winter Honey, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 7 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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88

Moonlight white tea with snow chrysanthemum flowers, the orange ones that as of late, I’ve realized can be a polarizing flavor due to pickle perception.

I’m not going to lie about what the dry leaf smells like. It’s stinky — perfume, stale urine and dill. Care to read further? Stewed in my work thermos with water off-boil, the tea is fantastic. Brilliant orange-red with a strong aroma. Aging white tea taste with a hearty melding of the snow chrysanthemum taste. Medicinal, savory, sweet, thick, tannic, tangy and tingly; tangelo, hay, forest floor, Demerara sugar, white florals, pastries, minty cooling, black pepper, ginger and yes, I finally taste the dill pickle, quite strongly actually.

More, please.

Flavors: Black Pepper, Brown Sugar, Citrus, Citrusy, Dill, Floral, Flowers, Forest Floor, Ginger, Hot Hay, Malt, Medicinal, Mineral, Mint, Pastries, Perfume, Sweet, Tangy, Tannin, Thick, Wood

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 3 g 20 OZ / 591 ML
Martin Bednář

That aroma doesn’t sound good, but the result sounds great.

White Antlers

I remember when WPT was carrying this. Many folks who purchased complained about the dill smell/taste. I think I tried a sample; the toilet paper-iness of the chrysanthemums and the negative associations I had with them from acupuncture/TCM made this a no drinker for me. So glad it worked for you, derk.

derk

A small amount will be heading your way, Martin.

White Antlers, I can see how this would be jarring to people not expecting such a flavor! The pale yellow chrysanthemum is not something I care for at all, but these orange ones… something soothing about them. Thanks for passing this one on. I did really enjoy it.

Roswell Strange

Haha, I’m with you Derk – Snow Chrysanthemum is one of my favourite straight herbs, and I adore them in this tea. Didn’t realize how polarizing they were until recently though.

tea-sipper

Oops, my fault on the pickle note! Hopefully some people actually like the flavor, now that I have pointed it out. haha

White Antlers

tea-sipper Don’t blame yourself. So many people got that dill note, not just Steepster-ites but folks who reviewed the tea on the WPT site, I’m surprised WPT didn’t rename the tea-maybe Pickle Sonata.

tea-sipper

haha. okay. I hadn’t seen any WPT reviews. Just as long as I’m not the sole ruiner!

Roswell Strange

tea-sipper I taste the dill in it too; it’s just a positive for me ;)

tea-sipper

Ros – that’s good that you enjoy it anyway!I think you also noticed the dill before I did anyway. haha

derk

Oh cool, I can see my notices now. Time to catch up on comments.

tea-sipper: annie (Where have you been annie?) also says pickles regarding the buds. And yeah, there’s a whole posse of dill or pickle proclaimers hiding in the 3 pages of reviews here for Moonlight Sonata.

If this were pressed again, I’d buy a cake for sure.

tea-sipper

OH okay. I didn’t see any other notes for this tea. I thought it was my other note recently about another Chrysanthemum tea that did it.

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Autumn 2016 harvest

Age is doing these dragon balls well. The white tea delicacy is transforming into a more robust, tonal character. Red fruits, wood and a hint of malt fill out the deeper tones, supporting an otherwise bright, almost tangy-sweet taste with a mix of apricot-melon-honey-straw-oats, minerals and a little floofs of vanilla marshmallow and caramel. Very mild bitterness adds some depth. Good strength to the aroma, decent aftertaste and even some returning sweetness. This tea makes me long for autumn.

I’ve brewed a few of these dragon balls by stewing them in my work thermos with 200F water. A few others I’ve brewed western with water off boil and three flavorful steeps. Robust and woodier when stewed, sweeter with western. Both methods satisfying and caffeinating.

Flavors: Apricot, Caramel, Honey, Malt, Marshmallow, Melon, Mineral, Oats, Red Fruits, Straw, Sweet, Tangy, Tannin, Vanilla, Wood

Preparation
9 g
tea-sipper

Autumn will be here soon enough!

derk

Indeed :)

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80
drank Dandelion & Peach by steep by Bigelow
1557 tasting notes

I found it gmathis! It was hiding in a box of chamomile I had taken with me to my work father’s house a few months ago.

I really liked this blend of rooibos, green tea, dandelion leaf and peach/other flavors. The peach flavor is fresh and natural, like biting into fruit not quite ripe. It still has crunch. The star of this blend is definitely the peach but it’s tempered and rounded out by everything else. Leaving the bag in my glass past the recommended 4 minute steep time gave me a smooth and crisp green tea accented by that light woody sweetness of rooibos and a touch of something more grounding from the dandelion leaf.

What a nice no-nonsense teabag. Recommended for those times when you can’t be fussed with anything.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 6 min, 0 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML
gmathis

Well, poop. Now you’ve made me crave it again and I think I’m out! Glad you liked it.

gmathis

P.S. Waiting for the apple mint heads to dry so I can try to reclaim you some seeds.

derk

Exciting!

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18

A hot cup.

Very lemony taste and sickly sweetness mixed with piney earthy seaweed.

It met its fate with the kitchen sink after a few sips.

Flavors: Artificial, Candy, Earth, Lemon, Pine, Seaweed, Sweet

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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Bio

This place, like the rest of the internet, is dead and overrun with bots. And thus I step away.

Eventual tea farmer. If you are a tea grower, want to grow your own plants or are simply curious, please follow me so we can chat.

I most enjoy loose-leaf, unflavored teas and tisanes. Teabags have their place. Some of my favorite teas have a profound effect on mind and body rather than having a specific flavor profile. Terpene fiend.

Favorite teas generally come from China (all provinces), Taiwan, India (Nilgiri and Manipur). Frequently enjoyed though less sipped are teas from Georgia, Japan, Nepal and Darjeeling. While I’m not actively on the hunt, a goal of mine is to try tea from every country that makes it available to the North American market. This is to gain a vague understanding of how Camellia sinensis performs in different climates. I realize that borders are arbitrary and some countries are huge with many climates and tea-growing regions.

I’m convinced European countries make the best herbal teas.

Personal Rating Scale:

100-90: A tea I can lose myself into. Something about it makes me slow down and appreciate not only the tea but all of life or a moment in time. If it’s a bagged or herbal tea, it’s of standout quality in comparison to similar items.

89-80: Fits my profile well enough to buy again.

79-70: Not a preferred tea. I might buy more or try a different harvest. Would gladly have a cup if offered.

69-60: Not necessarily a bad tea but one that I won’t buy again. Would have a cup if offered.

59-1: Lacking several elements, strangely clunky, possess off flavors/aroma/texture or something about it makes me not want to finish.

Unrated: Haven’t made up my mind or some other reason. If it’s pu’er, I likely think it needs more age.

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California, USA

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