JMKauftheil

Finally, something I can write a good review on – (I know, right?)

So, my girlfriend chose this one out when we were at the mall together. She HATES malls, but we were forced into with the pressure of mother’s day shopping, and she proved that she’s 100 times better than me at gift shopping, even for MY mother and sister. While we were there, I decided to take her up to Lupicia, because she’s slowly been coming around to tea.

She chose this one out herself, and I have to admit, I’ve never tried it – I usually kept company with more pure teas. She wanted an iced tea, and the guy (who has been working there FOREVER) suggested that one. So, I bought her a small iced tea brewer, and we cold-brewed this at my place.

It’s got a real pleasant smell, and the flavor’s good too – subtle, maybe a little watery, but it’s definitely more enjoyable than drinking plain cold H2O. What else can I say? It smells like green apple – as someone mentioned earlier, not so much REAL apple as artificial “green apple” flavor – and it tastes like you’d probably expect.
The only thing I could say against it, though not form experience, is that when my girlfriend tried making it hot, she said it wasn’t good at all – even after she chilled it. Whether she misbrewed it, or it’s just not a good tea to drink hot, I don’t know, but it’s something to look out for.

While this tea is really nothing special, it’s another one of those things she’s picked up as our lives begin to overlap – sharing interests, friends, family, certain other things I really shouldn’t mention on this site…
Anyway, it’s nice to be with her during her first steps into the great adventure that is Tea – an adventure I need to get back into.

The IDEA behind Adagio’s interpretation of this tea isn’t completely irrational.
Masala Chai is, afterall, generally made with very low quality tea, but then again – that’s the point. You don’t need to add sugar, spice and everything nice to GOOD tea. Masala Chai plays off its own unsophistication by making all the add-ins part of its personality. The tea is really just a base for the other ingredients to play out on your taste buds. It’s harsh and bitter enough that it gives even tea purists an excuse to throw in some milk (or, in my case, soymilk) and sugar (again, in my case, vegan sugar) so mellow it out, making it more of a fun treat than just a tea.
In that sense, making the tea with anything other than CTC Assam, promising a bold, straight forward flavor, is nothing but a novel experiment. Maybe I would be giving this tea a higher rating if I hadn’t had the following experience with it:

I wanted to make some Masala Chai for my girlfriend and her mom. They’ve both done a great deal of cooking for me over the months, and as I can’t make much more than a sandwich (and even then, not a good one) I wanted to repay the effort with something I CAN cook. My sister and I used to make MC in the kitchen almost every night, with a pan, a simple syrup, the tea, and some milk.
So I tried doing the same thing at my girlfriend’s place, with high expectations from all.
The first thing I noticed, as I neared what should have been the end of the process, was that the tea’s flavor was completely nonexistent amongst the soymilk and spices – what I didn’t know, was that the tea I was brewing was MUCH weaker than what should be used in a Masala Chai. So I brewed it longer, and eventually added more tea. I spent probably half an hour in the kitchen, trying my hardest to salvage something about of the mess. The end result, which I begrudgingly and with a great amount of chagrin served, was only drinkable because of the vast amounts of sugar I had to pour in. The ginger was absolutely overpowering, and the only flavor this “higher quality” product contributed was the unpleasantness of an over-stewed tea.

There’s definitely room in the world of tea to experiment, but when you undermine the driving concept behind a certain tea, maybe you should second-guess yourself. Maybe it’s my fault for not paying attention to the specifics of what I was buying, but when it goes to something like Masala Chai, the only variance I should be seeing is in the ratio of spices, not the tea itself.

Teavana disappoints again!

So I went to Teavana for the first time in a long while to buy a gift for my girlfriend’s mother. I got her an infusing mug, some flavored oolong, and some dragonwell, and for my girlfriend, I picked up some Jasmine Pearls – two ounces of each.
The first reminder that I should never shop at Teavana was when the chick behind the counter suggested that if I pick up one more tea, I’d be at half a pound – and at that point, if I DOUBLED my order, I could get 10% off my purchase. She was trying to turn my 6 ounces of thoughtfulness into a 16oz monster, made up by a majority of impulsive, poor self-control. Of course I declined this. And the reusable tins. And the $5 drink to go.

On a brighter note, my girlfriend’s mom fell in love with the cup at first sight, and enjoyed the teas. But this review isn’t about those teas (which, mind you, I didn’t try.)
This is about the jasmine pearls.
I don’t go to Teavana with delusions of grandeur and wide-eyed amazement that I did some years ago when I started my explorations into tea, but I do carry with me an expectation of at least substantial mediocrity. When you keep your expectations low, you tend to avoid disappointment – but as this prestigious establishment has been so gracious to remind me, there’s always an exception to the rule.

The first thing I noticed when my girlfriend and I poured some water into our mug was that the tea was without a question NOT processed according to tradition. The pearls SHOULD be crafted from the bud and tender, top two leaves, rolled into a tight ball that unfurls into a graceful, slender figure that dances with its brethren in your cup once awakened by warm water. It was supposed to be a very special treat for my loved one.
What I got was a cup crowded with large, clumsy leaves that impatiently expanded. So much for aesthetics.
I would love to comment on the taste as well, but there wasn’t one. What we ended up with, essentially, was a cup of warm, greenish water, made inconvenient to drink by some useless leaves swirling around in it.
Sure, it smelled nice, because it was infused with Jasmine. But you can spray a floral aerosol in the bathroom after you take a dump, and that bathroom will smell like Jasmine too.
By no accident, that is the metaphor I’ll leave this review on – this tea was a piece of crap covered up by a flowery fragrance.

Maaaaaan

if I had known how effective this stuff was,
I would’ve used a lot less,
and I didn’t even use that much.
Just mixed a little into a few cups of Lapsang Souchong…
Drank this all well over an hour ago, and it’s gradually hitting me.

Maaaaaan

I am PUMPED.
I’m going to go for a WALK.

So, it’s me ’n my Yerba against another day of sore throatiness.
Made an infusion this morning. It was… good. What else?

But then I decided to try something….
crazy.

Hot chocolate mix.
So, second-infusion yerba mate (thus, a little weaker) with about half a packet of cocoa powder:
I’ve definitely had worse ideas!
Much worse ideas, in fact.
It’s not half bad.
The flavor is a bit weak, but the chocolate overrides the mate flavor.
Worth a try, you guys.

Maybe I’ll talk to some friends into holistic medicine about what else I could mix in with mate to make a good cold-fighting brew.

Made a few teas for work. Not hot, not iced – Room Temp tea. I guess a tiny bit on the colder side, because they were in my trunk for my commute, and it was cold in there. Got pretty shaken up on that ride… almost died on a slippery, winding road. (Raining on Highway 17, for you Californians.)

So, I mixed this stuff with Corn and Barley tea. A Korean mix!
Got it to the office, and everyone loved it. Yippieee.

Yeah, it was pretty good.

Special remedy for a slight cold?
A pot of Yerba Mate.
Learned how effective YM was when I was really into Matevana from Teavana…
but hey, the plain stuff is just as effective.
In any case, yeah, I got a sore throat, and I’m a little phlegmy. But when I got my mate, I’m just phlegmy.

Sorry about never actually following through on my previous posts about the iced teas…
Here’s the story:
They all turned out awesome.
I’ll post about them in a sec.

Oh, and I was the only one that brought anything to the potluck.

Jug #2: Black Teas

So, I had this Lapsang in an old Peet’s tin… I guessing it’s from Puripan?
Who knows!?
In any case, that stuff’s pretty good iced…
and in a moment of cRaZiNeSs, I decided to mix it with some other French tea – one of those flowery ones, what with sunflower and cornflower petals, flavored with strawberry and rhubarb, and a mix of Chinese and Sri Lankan teas – called Jardin Bleu, by Dammann Freres.
The result? Not bad! Well, I haven’t tried it officially cold, but from my taste-testing, it’s not as much of an atrocity as it could have been. We’ll see in the morning, perhaps.
Using a very large teapot for this, so two potfuls should about do a gallon. I might have to top it off with something special, but we’ll see.
Kind of considering putting sugar in this one… but mostly not.

Now for jug #3, I’m thinking herbal…
I wanted to do rooibos, but I’m pretty sure I’m out.
Was thinking, then, either Yerba Mate (which I have in excess), or Corn and Barley to make a refreshing Korean-style mix….
Refreshment, or energy?
Maybe energy… But I know one of my directors is on a no-caffeine fix… do you think this would be okay for him? I don’t know…

No notes yet.

…Huh?
What’s this on my dashboard?
…Could it really be?

JMKauftheil… that guy hasn’t posted in ages! I almost forgot about him…
Oh, who am I kidding? A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t tenderly missed the way his refined knowledge and appreciation of tea infuses so exquisitely with his masterful finesse of words, that it can’t be explained in any way but convenient metaphor.
Is he really back, to discuss teas in a way that causes my eyes to experience senses beyond sight? Words flowing so elegantly, it’s as if I’m seeing music, caressing the pupil like a lover’s touch…
Is it so? Is it really so?

Keep your clothes on ladies and gentlemen, it is so. Well, the gentlemen should keep their clothes on, at least.

Yep. I’m back. For the night at least.
I’m staying up late making a hefty load of iced teas tonight, and I figured I might as well spend it with an old friend – Tee Loggins McGee.

Where have I been, you ask? Oh, you’re asking all right…
It’s been a few months, right? Five or so…
Well, we can skip over a few identity crises, a few self-discoveries, a few mistakes, a few redemptions, a few steps backward, and a few steps forward, and just live in the moment:
I got a weekend job as a canvasser (the people that go door to door, raising funds for organizations (non-profit, political, etc), and I’m working with a group called Environment California. Long hours, hard work, and the rollercoaster of losing then regaining my faith in humanity – all at minimum wage. I love it.
Tomorrow, as I happened to remember after returning from school around 9:30, we planned to have a potluck at work. I promised to bring some iced tea. For about ten people. And I need to transport it over a windy highway – Highway 17, for those of you familiar – in the rain, no less.
I REALLY hope they didn’t change the plans without me.

I bought three 1-gallon jugs of water from 7-eleven, and I intend to fill them by the end of the night. I have three of my vessels in action, and my entire stock of tea to play with.
Let’s see how this all turns out, eh?

Jug #1: Green tea

So, I started with the remainder of the Chestnut green tea I’ve had from Lupicia, just sitting around.
Two infusions of that, in my Lupicia iced-tea maker, and I filled up about half a gallon. I turned to making some Jasmine in my tetsubin… but that’s a notably smaller quantity. So far, I’ve made two infusions of that, which is about equal to one of the ice-tea maker thing. I think I’ve about exhausted the Jasmine, so if anyone one is actively reading this, what do you think of maybe a little Gunpowder? Hm?
I’ll rate it all when I got the jug full.

Gonna be up all night, folks, so expect a few updates.

Having posted any tasting notes in a while…
Partly because I haven’t been drinking tea until recently, and also partly because I’m not sure what a lot of my teas are anymore, or where they come from. I would have to post them as things like “Indian(?) black tea” and “Some sort of Oolong… I’m pretty sure it’s on the greener side”.

Fire Jade, though, I know comes from Puripan.
Had this tea this morning. By morning, i mean at 4PM, which was like two hours after I woke up. It was really nice to drink. I listened to Van Morrison while i drink it. He’s good too.
Know what? Everything’s good lately.
Awesome things went down in my tea/bedroom yesterday.
I’m in too good of a mood to criticize a tea.
Everyone on Steepster: Look up Puripan, and order yourselves a package of this tea. Unless you live nearby, you’ll have to call them on the telephone. And only if you live in the US.
But it’s all good! /good/

I’ll try to post more serious reviews in the future.

Replacing a can of soda for a pot of tea, for my breakfast. Seems like in all ways a good idea. I’m not sure how long I’ve had this tea in my cupboard, but I’m pretty sure it was less than a year, and it wasn’t opened.

I’m pretty sure this green is Korean – which, if you’re curious, is mighty close to Chinese in flavor. I do, however, prefer the appearance of Korean leaves after unfurling. Not sure if there’s a specific reason, I just tend to like them, they look pretty.
If you want a description of the taste just look at the company’s description. This tea is… good, but it doesn’t excite me, so I don’t feel like getting into an all-out explanation of the complexities of the flavor and so on.

What I will say, is that I probably purchased this tea because of the name.
Ha, Dong

I’ve noticed I’ve become more sensitive to water quality. Perhaps I’m not enjoying this tea so much because I used unfiltered tap water, and not the pure water I get at the store. It’s interesting, though – I’m beginning to distinguish the flavor of the water within the tea, and then judge how it affects the tea.

Getting this tea was a story on it’s own, but I don’t feel like telling it – because i have a better one!

So, this was my first time having this tea since I was in China, over a year ago. It was pretty good, actually – the sweetness is really an interesting touch. The first infusion was really good, and the second brew handled a vast over-steep extremely well. (I was playing a game online, and I forgot about it… I do that a lot). This is the infusion I used for the iced tea.

So, here we are, the morning after, with the continuing iced-tea concoction experiment. The ginseng really overpowers the flavor – it’s the newest, and constitutes about half of the total pitcher. So far, it’s not undrinkable. Not much to say this time – it really tastes a lot like the ginseng oolong.
Color-wise, it looks a lot like the pre-made oolongs you find in asian markets, in large plastic bottles. I love that color.

I took this tea with a vitamin, though I hate how those vitamins make me feel – they’re really big, so they give me chest pains. Also, I don’t like having lime-green pee. So, why am I taking vitamins?
To help heal…

My new piercing!
This makes number two – first was my eyebrow, this one is an industrial.
For those of you who are not familiar with the terminology, an industrial is a metal bar through the cartilage of the upper ear.
For those of you who want to know, it’s pretty painful to get – but with that good kind of pain – and it makes things awkward. Like, sleeping, washing your hair, and taking off your shirt. Of course, I had a similar experience with the brow, but this one is more fussy. Also, I have to put my ear in a glass of saltwater twice a day.
For those of you who are questioning, hell yes it was worth it.

Oh, and for those of you who are shyly curious,
it’s pretty damn sexy.

Now the fun part!
I have a very perceptive sister, and since my parents are on a roadtrip, it’s just us, her baby, and the dogs in the house. It’s become an inconsequential game of Secret Survival. Last night, the game almost ended prematurely – my sister saw my glass of salt solution in the bathroom, which I covered with the excuse that my eyebrow piercing got infected, and I was just cleaning it out. She looked at me with her narrow-eyed, “you’re hiding something” look, and told me to stick out my tongue. Fortunately, my sister is not knowledgeable in piercing concealment, so she didn’t recognize the classic “long hair over the ear” trick, nor did she understand that it’s nearly impossible to hide a tongue piercing for the first two weeks. Dodged a bullet there!
Of course, my family will have to find out eventually, but let’s see how long I can keep this going. Gods, I love getting holes in my skin.

On a related note, I’m looking at a possible career choice :)

Step two, in my in my CrAzY cOnCoCtIoN cOnVoRtInG
Added a half-pot of white tea. We can already forget about the ratios, by the way. It’s not 50-50, or 75-25. Probably somewhere inbetween.

So, I used some white tea. I realized that Ginger Pu Erh is probably a terrible base, but whatchagonnado? I figured white tea would be a nice way to settle it out a bit – to be honest, White and Pu Erh taste kind of similar to me.
Insofar, I like how it tastes. The kick of the Ging. P. is much milder, but it’s still holding out in there. It’s kind of a high note against the low overtones of white and Pu Erh’s earthiness.
I let this refrigerate “overnight”, a period in which I did not sleep. I’ve been running 12-hour sleep sessions the past couple of days, and when that happens my body forces me into a roughly 30-hour waking binge to get me back into a normal swing. I realized this was happening after spending two hours trying to sleep.
I have a trivial story I feel like telling, so here it goes:
I went to an all-night diner at one point, to do some writing. When I got out, I noticed a s**t ton of smoke coming from nearby, (this was around 5AM), and I was like “Adventure!” So i got in my car, and went off to follow it, ‘cause "where there’s smoke, there’s fire."
Turns out, I was right.
Turns out, it was real close.
Turns out, it was an elementary school.
At least it’s summer vacation, right?
On the bright side, the event fits well into the autobiographical story I’m writing right now, so it’s not a total loss. That sounds terrible.
It was probably vandalism.
Happy 5th of July.

Summer tea project!

Hey, it’s been a while, and I know I say this from time to time, but I’m (again) trying to get back into tea. And this time, I have something in mind to keep me going.

So, it started earlier when I had myself a pot of Ginger Pu Erh. I figured I’d try the leaves for another steep, so I prepared another potful.
- oh, a quick distraction. Since I’m getting back into tea, I gave my two cast-iron pots a good cleaning (Baking soda and boiling water, overnight). I cannot tell you how much I love the sheen it gives to my pots’ enamel. They look as good as new (on the inside, at least.)
Back to the story…
By the time the water was ready, I didn’t feel like having any more. So, I figured, instead of wasting a good steep, I’d just throw it in the fridge for later.
It’s later now.
[I’ll throw this in for sake of making this a “Tasting Note”:
It was good. Ginger adds a nice sting.]
In any case, I still have half of the half-pitcher the pot made (a quarter pitcher is left, for those of you who had trouble with word-problems in math class), and I felt like having me some hot tea – and the idea hits me. What if I just throw all my leftover tea in the pitcher, and see how it turns out?
Second thought: Summer project!
Third Thought: I wonder how this will turn out!
Fourth thought: I wonder how how bad this will turn out…
Fifth thought: I might as well keep track of this on steepster.

Next ingredient, some white tea.
I’ll keep you beezies posted.

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ll try to make a come back here.

As usual, I’ll ramble a bit before getting to the actual review:
I was walking around the farmer’s market yesterday, scrounging up a breakfast in free samples, when I came across a Teagre stand. I really stopped by because it was hot out, and they had iced samples… in any case, I was a bit turned off from their teas, because it seemed like it was all just flavored hibbity-jibbity (not sure where that word just came from), but then I noticed a selection of African teas, like this one. I started up a conversation with the very lovely woman working the stand, and we started talking about tea – she actually knew her stuff pretty well, and we share similar tastes, which was a pleasant surprise – and she told me about the her tea business, and that she’s opening up a shop in the area this summer. Very exciting for me.
As I’ve interpreted it, she’s taking a different approach to tea than most of the bigger tea corporations. It’s not so much about providing a cultural tea experience, or being flashy and forerunner is tea pop-culture like Teavana, though it does dip a bit into both those realms, but it’s more focused on doing business Fair-Trade. Which is why here I have a Kenyan Oolong.

In any case, I’ll skip the rest of the boring detail, and get on to the tea.
The leaf itself is CTC, which I usually don’t go for in oolongs – I’m a whole-leaf kind of guy for sure. But, this being a tea from Africa, where they’re still finding their footing in the world of tea, and producing almost exclusively teas for blending, I can’t really complain, ya know? The leaves, before and after infusion, smelled a bit like Darjeeling, but, as I’ve talked about the origins of tea, it doesn’t quite hold the same “Champagne” quality.
So, I tested it out through three infusions. A consistent, very rich amber liquor – my second brew seemed a bit paler, but that’s because I used a shorter infusion – and the flavor… wasn’t so consistent. Granted, I didn’t really use many controls in this experience. My steep times were (roughly) 30sec, 25sec, and 30sec respectively, and I only heated the water once, so the temperature was a bit lower for each brew.

So, first infusion: Rather strong, and I could tell right off the bat this was a darker oolong, near black – of course, Victoria, the business owner, told me this when I was looking at it. It had a strong kick, and I remember reading somewhere that teas in Africa usually are generally from the Assamica Sinensis (for those of you who aren’t familiar, it’s the Assamese version of the tea plant, much broader leaves, which is why Assamese teas have such a kick), so I’m going to assume it’s going to be that type. Once I got used to the strength (a little bit stronger even, because I think I burned it), I found it not unpleasant. MUCH different from the mountain peak teas you’ll find in Taiwan, and tasted more black than oolong, but still had that hint of oolonginess. Interesting.

Second infusion: Yeah, the kick died down a bit after I brewed it a second time. That’s not to say it didn’t lose drinkability, though. It was a bit weaker – notably because of a lower temp and steep time – but different flavors came out. Reiterating previous points, it doesn’t have the same evolution of taste that a Taiwanese or Chinese oolong maintains through the infusions. This one had more of a splayed outcome of tastes, but… not bad. Honestly, I liked it. Makes it more of an interesting drinking experience.

Third infusion, again a different taste – hard to explain. Very mild, and getting near the verge of losing flavor, so that’s where I stopped. I think the second infusion had a better temp, but I hit the right steep time with this one.

So, in total, not a waste of my seven dollars.
She’s opening shop in June, potentially, so expect to hear a lot more from me about Teagre in the future.

Well, I needed more green oolong for seasoning my teapot. So, I bought the least expensive one the shop had – $12 for an ounce or two.

Eh… not my favorite oolong ever. I generally like green oolongs, but this one could handle a bit more oxidization. If Japan made an oolong, I have a feeling it would taste like this – it had vegetal notes very similar to the Japanese greens. Though, I would distinguish that the flavor was more of a gentle gyokuro or shin-cha than your everyday sencha. I suppose that’s an interesting flavor to find in an oolong.
I’d say this tea is much more on the green side when it comes to imperfect brewing – rather than just getting stronger and bitter, the tea became more stingy and unpleasant. Honestly, I’m much more a fan of the darker oolongs.

I’d relate this tea to wanting to hang out with a male buddy, but getting his feminine side. You’re expecting a broad, easy-going chill session, but you end up dealing with a pain-staking, sensitive personality-type. Eh.

By the time I got to the fourth brew, it was mellowed out a bit, but… by that time I was more or less done with the tea session. Oh well. Maybe I’ll learn to like it with time.

Fourth and final tea of my night of ExpeEeEerimentAAAtiooon.

Got it for my birthday in November from my sister. The box is mostly in Chinese, so all I really know about this tea is that it’s an oolong. Also, that it’s from Taiwan. And, since my sister left the price marker on there, it’s $12 for 150g. Upon tasting, I think it’s a green oolong.

Mmm… it’s okay. Not the best tea I’ve had, but also not the worst. Though I wish I knew more about it, it’s not a terrible tea to keep around. Gentle flavor.

Third thing to research tonight – the intricacies of the differences between green and dark oolongs.
Fourth thing- a general consensus on the proper maintenance for Yixing pots.

That’s all for t’night, folks.

Third tea of the night.

Less than enjoyable. Honestly, the first brew tasted faintly like gasoline. I brewed this twice, and poured out more than half of each infusion. I…really can’t say much more. I can see why people generally use this as a base tea for scenting and flavoring, rather than a tea on its own merit.
Granted, I know there have to be some great Pouchongs out there, somewhere, and I’m still open to trying them. As for this tea… anyone want it? Take it. Really.
The only upside to this tea is that I got it for free, from a small shop that was closing.

Second thing to research tonight – information on Pouchongs.

Second drink of the night – not an experiment, though.

I used this to clean my palate after the Australian black tea. I used my Lupicia tasting cup for this – haven’t used the set in a while. Nothing much to say about this – it’s always a nice herbal to keep around.
Infused it twice, had a bit of a break between them, though. My sister was in class, my five-month nephew was screaming, and my parents aren’t too good with quieting him. So, I took a break, and spent about ten minutes walking him in circles around my dark living room until he fell asleep. I guess I like the kid…

Back onto the tea – the nice thing about this herbal, as with most, is that it doesn’t really oversteep. Flavor was stronger, but still completely drinkable. Kind of an artichoke-y flavor. Like it a lot.

There was nothing on TV, so I decided to do a night of experimentation with tea.

The first was this – an Australian blend. I bought this today from an Aussie shop that’s right next to the place where I buy my clean water. (I did it on foot today, trying to build up my endurance.) Yeah… I’m kind of amazed how many different tea opportunities are open to me in my own backyard of San Jose. Looks like I got into a good passion.

So, yeah. Bought this, because I remembered someone I know in Australia offered to send me teas a while ago, though she never got around to it. Apparently, they do grow some black tea in Australia, so I decided to I might try some out. Unfortunately, it turns out this tea was grown in India, but I decided to give it a chance anyway – try out the tea tastes of the Outback, at the very least.

So, the leaves were extremely fine – really, a box full of fannings. Probably the smallest they could get it before being forced to put it in bags. Made it in a gaiwan, about half full. I would have used less leaf, but the box completely filled one of my biggest tins. Wasn’t expecting much of a good flavor, what with the obviously low-quality leaf, but it didn’t smell too bad.

Upon infusing… well, not bad. Bold – I’d say between English and Scottish Breakfasts, though I don’t have too much experience with those types of blends… Infused it three times, and it got progressively less enjoyable. Basically, all the good taste steeps out quickly, and the rest is the unpleasant flavors.

Though not a great tea, I am rather interested in exploring the Aussie tea culture. I’ll probably make more visits the shop in the future, though, what with import costs, everything is rather expensive. On that note, I should also look more into the UK’s tea cultures… I really haven’t paid much attention to these blends, as I’ve focused more on the teas from their source, and the countries that produce.

I’ve got a few things to research tonight, the first on the list is UK and AU tea styles.
Next up for review are an Herbal, a Pouchong, and a mystery oolong.

Man, I wish I could describe this tisane.
I wish I knew what it was, even.

I got it while visiting China, in Shanghai.
While touring the Yu Gardens – stunningly beautiful, and I don’t say that kind of thing often – and the guide took us up to a teahouse where they serve exclusive buddhist-picked teas (or something along those lines. I don’t recall all the information.)
All the teas had a number; I picked up #2 and 10. 10 was some sort of dried flower – chrysanthemum, perhaps. The other, 2… no clue. It’s green, with small leaves. I can’t tell what it is, because the containers are completely in Chinese.

In any case, I wrestled with the proper brewing of this tea for a while when I got back in April. Always came out EXTREMELY bitter, so I kind of gave up on it, and I’ve had the container sitting in my collection for ages. Yesterday, a friend came over for morning tea, and I decided to give it another try.
Realizing that any hint of heat gave it an offputting astringency, I decided to just put it in a gaiwan with some cool water. Wonder of wonders – absolutely delicious. I mean, I really wish I knew where to get more for when my stock runs out. Really refreshing – it felt as if the water actually got colder through brewing somehow… great stuff.

The taste is… well it tastes like somehting familiar, but neither my friend nor I could put our finger on it. In any case, flavor held out for several infusions, and the liquor had only a very slight green tinge in the water.
Something special, really. Love it.

Finally got water yesterday. Shwizam.
Was going to clean up and rearrange my tea room, but I ended up babysitting my 5-month nephew instead. Decided to turn him on to the Dark Side… (of the Moon). It’s pretty good babysitting music, actually – he fell asleep on my shoulder near the end of “Money”.

Onto the tea…
A Korean tea – I think it was relatively new when I bought it from the shop.
In taste, rather similar to Chinese tea. In scent, it’s identical. Kind of like a more refined Dragon Well, with a mild butteriness and a gentle flavor. Lasted well through four infusions.
Rather enjoyable. Nothing to fall in love with, but I could see a person having it as a daily tea. The flavor didn’t really jump out at me, but… wouldn’t mind having more on-hand.

So, to make up for my lack of description on the flavor, I’ll talk about the leaves – perhaps the best feature of this tea.
Dry, the leaves are tightly rolled, much like gunpowder, with a really… sexy glossiness. After steeping… I wish I had the equiptment to take a picture to show you guys. Maybe it wouldn’t excite you as much to see it, but it’s gorgeous. It’s this forest-green, twisty, seaweed, medusa hair, tangled mass of tea leaf beauty in my teapot.
If I met a woman with hair that looked like this, I would fall in love with her. She’d probably be a mermaid. A Korean one. Who lived in a sea of green tea.

Enough of my Pygmalion fantasies. Good tea. Buy it, if you get the chance. Though you probably won’t, unless you live near a Korean tea shop. Eh.

(Don’t swim away, Eun Jung… I’ll never oversteep your gentle locks…)

Shoot me.
I made this tea with bottled water.
Long story.

Nothing special about this cup, made it around 2AM. Of course, I mixed this with corn tea…
Know what? Forget the review of this tea.
Frustrated story time.

I’m having a small water crisis. All my jugs of clean water are empty, and I avoid using tap water for my good teas, because it ruins the flavor a bit. I also don’t like using tap water in my boiler
(this is it, by the way. Gorgeous machine, perfect element for my teatime)
http://www.capresso.com/water-kettle-frother-h20-plus.shtml
The main problem here with getting more water is that, as I’ve mentioned in a previous log, my sleeping hours are way off. Because of this, I’m generally not up and awake until around 9ish (PM), when everything closes. This means I can’t get to the clean water store – very annoying. Especially when a gallon of water costs only 25 cents. And while they technically have slots outside that actually vend water 24-hours a day, all my water jugs are gross – one of them has green junk on the bottom.
So, the other night, ‘round midnight I believe, I put on my family’s kettle with some nasty tap water, with the intention of making the very tea I’m reviewing – the kernals, in fact, were in the cup. While I waited for it to boil, I sat down for a moment at the computer and tried out a flash game. Nothing special, but pretty fun, so I keep playing. Eventually, my sister, with her childbirth-enhanced sense of smell, calls downstairs and asks if something is burning.
So, I’m down a kettle.
Still wanted tea. So I put a bit of tap water in my H2O boiler thing… watching it slosh into my glass kettle, with all the stuff added into our water becoming increasingly visible… I just poured it all out, losing my entire appetite for tea.

The next night, (technically yesterday morning) I was getting bored sometime after the witching hour – watching late-night television and taking care of my decrepit dog so he doesn’t wake everyone else up can only hold me for so long – so I took a trip to get some food and spend some time in front of this fence. Yeah, a fence – I’m not going to explain the whole story, but it’s a really special spot for me. So, I consulted the fence for advice.
It told me, in short, to stop being so lazy.
When I got home, I wrote out a hearty “to-do” list for the day, though I had to wait until the world woke up to do anything. I had things, like “set up appointment at DMV”, “take donations to Good Will” and “contact Alex about gig with the newspaper”. I was going to keep myself awake, too, and maybe even get onto a normal sleep schedule.
In the end, I fell asleep around 4 while waiting for my mother to return with the car so I could do stuff, and I didn’t check a single thing off my list. Including number 2, “Get Water.”

I made this tea this morning, the kernals still in the cup from a previous night, with bottled water.
Shoot me.