77

This was another of my recent sipdowns. Like the review of What-Cha’s Taiwan Shan Lin Xi black tea that I just posted, I am also piecing this review together from the shredded remnants of my handwritten rough draft. Pet ownership is fun. The same cat responsible for shredding my current notebook enjoys making nests or little hoards out of things she steals from me. I’m certain that the pages she wallowed, ripped, and tore loose from the notebook’s binding would have quickly made their way into such a creation, and then there would have been no recovery of any information contained on them. The last time I stumbled upon a Mean Baby cache, I found ink pens, paper clips, bottle caps, rubber bands, cat toys, various coins, and a dirty sock. She had stuffed these items under the base of a floor lamp in my living room. I can only imagine where these notes would have ended up. Anyway, this tea represented something of a first for me, as I’m pretty sure it was the first tea from Sandakphu that I had ever tried. Bizarrely, I had previously tried several teas from each of the other major Nepalese tea producers, but at the time I was working my way through the sole pouch of this tea that I had purchased, I could not recall trying any other Sandakphu tea. It was a respectable enough offering with something of a different character compared to the other Nepalese black teas offered by What-Cha.

I took a break from gongfu brewing with this tea, opting to brew it Western style. I prepared it by steeping approximately 3 grams of loose leaf material in 8 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I did not rinse the tea leaves prior to infusion, nor did I attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material produced aromas of bread, malt, cocoa, brown sugar, and sweet potato. After infusion, I noted new aromas of earth, butter, roasted peanut, stewed tomato, geranium, and prune. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered a unique mix of earth, cream, stewed tomato, cooked green bean, brown sugar, sweet potato, orange zest, malt, bread, cocoa, grass, lemon zest, pine, roasted peanut, geranium, roasted almond, butter, hay, prune, and roasted walnut flavors. Additional impressions of black cherry, oak, and blackberry were little more than background notes. The finish was creamy, malty, and vegetal, but it also displayed a pronounced woodiness, powerful astringency, fairly heavy roasted nut notes, and something of a lingering fruity character.

Overall, this was a pretty good Nepalese black tea, but it struck me as having some obvious flaws. First, its flavors frequently came across as muddled. There were times when the balance of the tea liquor was lacking. It was also a bit lacking in texture, and the finish was a bit too astringent for me. Still, this was not a horrible offering, pretty far from one actually. I’m happy that I took the opportunity to give it a try.

Flavors: Almond, Astringent, Blackberry, Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Cherry, Cocoa, Cream, Earth, Geranium, Grass, Green Beans, Hay, Lemon Zest, Malt, Oak, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pine, Prune, Sweet Potatoes, Tomato, Walnut

Preparation
3 g 8 OZ / 236 ML
Leafhopper

I had to laugh at your cat’s hoarding instincts. I’m glad none of your tea has ended up in her nests!

eastkyteaguy

It actually has. She has been known to turn the garbage bin over to munch on spent tea leaves. She will also steal pouches of tea, tear them open, and then wallow and eat the dry leaves.

Leafhopper

Sounds like one determined (and destructive) cat! :)

eastkyteaguy

Oh, she is. Just in the recent past, she has stolen my wallet and hidden it, stolen my car keys, taken food out of my hands and run off with it, and stolen credit cards out of my wallet.

Leafhopper

Haha, she sounds like a toddler!

eastkyteaguy

I think she is a toddler. She’s one of the smartest, most inquistive, and most vocal cats I’ve ever encountered. You can look at her and just tell that the wheels are turning. She is constantly trying to figure out how to get more attention, how to get more food, how things in my house work, and how to get things she isn’t supposed to have.

eastkyteaguy

Just FYI, her name is Mean Baby.

Leafhopper

You named her well! Maybe you should invest in cat-proof bins for your tea, or lock it up and see if opening combination locks is one of her skills. If nothing else, you could post that on YouTube. :) I’m not sure how you’d go about protecting wallets and other important loose items.

tea-sipper

AH, I can’t stop laughing at Mean Baby’s name. And it sounds like a perfect name for her. :D

mrmopar

Too funny. We have one that will fetch a small ball of aluminum foil. Won’t bother with anything else.

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Comments

Leafhopper

I had to laugh at your cat’s hoarding instincts. I’m glad none of your tea has ended up in her nests!

eastkyteaguy

It actually has. She has been known to turn the garbage bin over to munch on spent tea leaves. She will also steal pouches of tea, tear them open, and then wallow and eat the dry leaves.

Leafhopper

Sounds like one determined (and destructive) cat! :)

eastkyteaguy

Oh, she is. Just in the recent past, she has stolen my wallet and hidden it, stolen my car keys, taken food out of my hands and run off with it, and stolen credit cards out of my wallet.

Leafhopper

Haha, she sounds like a toddler!

eastkyteaguy

I think she is a toddler. She’s one of the smartest, most inquistive, and most vocal cats I’ve ever encountered. You can look at her and just tell that the wheels are turning. She is constantly trying to figure out how to get more attention, how to get more food, how things in my house work, and how to get things she isn’t supposed to have.

eastkyteaguy

Just FYI, her name is Mean Baby.

Leafhopper

You named her well! Maybe you should invest in cat-proof bins for your tea, or lock it up and see if opening combination locks is one of her skills. If nothing else, you could post that on YouTube. :) I’m not sure how you’d go about protecting wallets and other important loose items.

tea-sipper

AH, I can’t stop laughing at Mean Baby’s name. And it sounds like a perfect name for her. :D

mrmopar

Too funny. We have one that will fetch a small ball of aluminum foil. Won’t bother with anything else.

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Profile

Bio

My grading criteria for tea is as follows:

90-100: Exceptional. I love this stuff. If I can get it, I will drink it pretty much every day.

80-89: Very good. I really like this stuff and wouldn’t mind keeping it around for regular consumption.

70-79: Good. I like this stuff, but may or may not reach for it regularly.

60-69: Solid. I rather like this stuff and think it’s a little bit better-than-average. I’ll drink it with no complaints, but am more likely to reach for something I find more enjoyable than revisit it with regularity.

50-59: Average. I find this stuff to be more or less okay, but it is highly doubtful that I will revisit it in the near future if at all.

40-49: A little below average. I don’t really care for this tea and likely won’t have it again.

39 and lower: Varying degrees of yucky.

Don’t be surprised if my average scores are a bit on the high side because I tend to know what I like and what I dislike and will steer clear of teas I am likely to find unappealing.

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KY

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