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I quick note on this before I pass out from exhaustion. I was thinking about the fact that I have pretty much no time for tea drinking with my current schedule, and how I want to do some sipdowns. I figured that I probably have enough time between getting up and starting teaching to drink a cup of tea (I don’t leave a ton of time in the morning; not a morning person). So I made a cup of this in my ceramic “travel” mug (it has a silicone lid). I ran into two issues with this plan:

1. There is a hairline crack in the mug which was hissing during the making of the tea, although it doesn’t seem to have allowed much if any liquid in between the double walls. Ugh I need a new travel mug, but can never find the perfect one (99% ceramic or glass on the inside).

2. I forgot that midway between waking up and getting to work I brush my teeth (after breakfast). I ended up drinking the tea rather quickly pre-toothbrushing, and I guess I will keep trying that for now, but otherwise I don’t know if I have enough time.

Ugh, two more weeks of this heinous schedule. Is it September yet?

Last time I had this I noted a somewhat harsh vegetal note at my usual brewing parameters and thought I should try modifying them… unfortunately I didn’t read that note before I brewed this one so this is the same as last time.

All in all a tasty dragonwell. Buttery and nutty, but it does show some roughness around the edges when brewed a bit strong. All in all I am happy to have some of this this afternoon while I try to digest the massive lunch I had (oof).

A day for penultimate cups. Pretty much everything has one cup left after the one I am drinking, including this one. I still have to try this one back to back with my Tan Yang that I brought back from Beijing, so I guess I will be doing that next time I have it! This is nice; sweet, malty, honeyed, grainy. This time I used a bit more tea in my cup and I was afraid it might come out too strong, but it was quite delicious. Certainly a high quality tan yang.

Awww sipdown. This was really tasty, and I ended up drinking it cold brew mostly because I knew I would drink it regularly and use this fairly old tea up before it fades too much. Lovely black currant, and while sometimes violet can be overwhelming for me, this one is nice and well-balanced. A delicious fruity and floral iced tea.

I’m at 120 118 (eta: just discovered two teas which shouldn’t be in there!), which might be slightly cheating as I’m not counting teas that I have listed for sale. I’ve been hovering around 120 for a long time and I can never seem to hit 100… it’s like trying to lose those last 10 pounds! :P I want to make a smallish Dammann order soon, and I started thinking maybe I should wait until I hit 100 teas in my cupboard. This will be extra tough because I have almost no time to drink tea from now until August 22, so there’s that. But I guess maybe it can be a September purchase? We’ll see!

Mega exhausted after work today, so I decided to have a tea once at home, even though I would more normally be likely to have an alcoholic drink. I also needed a bit of raspberry leaf for reasons, and my favorite way to do raspberry leaf is to throw a bag into a cup of rose black tea. I still have this tea at home after picking it up at HomeGoods, so I used it. I had no fear of the raspberry leaf clouding the flavor of this tea, as it is perhaps one of the most intensely scented rose teas I’ve ever come across. That dry leaf is powerful.

I forgot that I have had this one before and enjoyed it. Well, I enjoyed it again. A very rosey, very nice tea, and it makes me really happy.

Tis’ the end of this tea. I would be sadder about it going away (since it is discontinued) if I didn’t have another one I liked a lot more. Even if the replacement tea is limited and highly inaccessible. So it goes! This made a tasty cold brew at the end, even though there is usually more spice than I would like in an iced tea (a bit of cinnamon).

When I first had this tea, I was contemplating quitting the blends club. I did, but have since rejoined (fickle, fickle, haha). It is blends like this that make me want to stay in (even though July’s box wasn’t my fave). Chocolatey, with bright berry flavor… just really tasty.

I am looking forward to next month’s box, which apparently will be vanilla themed.

It’s exam day, yay! I get to say yay because I give the exam, I don’t take it. Also, that means that my day is not made up by solid teaching, and I had enough time for a cup of tea this afternoon before we start grading (yaayyyy… not.)

My tin of this tea is getting distressingly low. As in, there is only enough for one more cup here at the office. I did take some home with me, so I will have to see how much is there, but it has to be less than 10g all together. Justification for a DF order in the near future? I can’t be without my hazelnutty, vanilla-y, creamy goodness.

Overall thoughts: Wow! I did not expect a white tea, and a Bai Mu Dan at that, would bowl me over quite like this. This is very much like homemade marshmallows, or perhaps more accurately like nutty, delicious nougat (montpelier or torrone, your choice!).

I got a free sample of this tea with my last Verdant order, and I decided to have a gongfu session with it this afternoon. My teaching schedule for the next month is totally bonkers; non-stop anatomy lab all day, 4 days a week. It is truly exhausting. It also means that I have no time for tea (which I typically drink at my desk), which adds to the exhaustion. It’s hard to want to do anything on the weekend, and I realized that sitting down and having a gongfu session would be a nice, relaxing activity.

I chose this one because the lightness would be good for a muggy summer day (never mind that I have central AC now, I know that it is muggy outside and that is enough). Also it is a one-off sample, so I would get a sipdown, too!

Bai Mu Dans are never really my favorite white tea (I tend to prefer Fudings), but one of the reasons I love Fudings is the lovely, light marshmallow flavor that they can have. Bai Mu Dans I usually find kind of hay-like, a bit sweet, but lacking that thick creaminess. But not this Bai Mu Dan! Yes, I get the hay notes, but I also get lovely marshmallowy-ness that goes toward a French nougat (montpelier) with almonds and pistachios. Delish! There are a lot of nuances in each steep that are hard to really pull apart, but I must admit it’s been a while since I’ve had a tea that shattered my expectations and made me step back and just say “Wow.” What a lovely harvest.

Last bit of this in a cold brew. This was never my favorite blend (too much fennel, I think), but as a cold brew it worked pretty well, especially since hot root beer isn’t totally appealing to me. At the same time, the tieguanyin in this kept it from really reminding me of a sarsaparilla soda or root beer… just a bit too vegetal, even with the traditional TGY.

I actually added a pinch of rose black tea to this cold brew, and I like the rosey flavor added to the blend. It’s an herby blend already, and the rose makes it a bit sweeter for me. Of course, I think almost everything could use a bit of rose. Yum!