jason

Through the Looking Glass..

Thank you Bonnie for this fragrant sample from Butiki!

I have been on a bit of an Oolong kick lately and decided to traipse down the path to the rose garden this weekend, inviting dubious glares from passers by. I cared nothing for their snide commentary and instead reveled in the aroma and texture that surrounded me. Yes, this cup is floral, fruity, sweet forget-me-nots awash with all the delicate nuances of a proper variety-hour garden show, but that’s not to say it wasn’t quite good in its own right. In point of fact, I’ve yet to try anything connected to Butiki that I wouldn’t gladly drink again in the future. While this one would certainly require an almost Mad Hatter sort of mood for me to fully appreciate, there’s clearly nothing wrong with that every now and again when you find you’re following the rabbit down the hole!

What a crazy last few days it has been. New home purchase had to be inspected and appraised, busy busy at work with the district people coming down this weekend, hail the size of golf balls pounding from the sky between tornado watches, my daughter learned a new word – and that word is "no"… just plain crazy.

Into this maelstrom comes a small window of sanity where I am alone to just breathe it all out after Zoey is down to bed and Leanne is off at the hospital making people whole again overnight. I read Lynne-tea’s review of this sought after Oolong and decided the time was right. Thank you Bonnie for giving me this sample of solace!

I found that my notes more often went sharply toward the intangible and read like “tree house” and “caught in a summer shower” as opposed to “grassy” or “tastes like buttery flowers?” as I went back through what I scrawled in my journal over the 22! steeps that poured out from the 6.8g that eventually overcame the confines of my little 4oz gaiwan like a slow growing vine.

Being 8 years young, sitting on the second step of our old, tattered, halfway screened in porch while my ankles and feet swing through too tall grass that leaves the earlier afternoon’s downpour sticky and sweet in my lungs. Pillaging an old mason jar and hounding after lightening bugs in the humid dusk to doze next to after dark. This tea doesn’t remind me of that time, I close my eyes and can relive it.

Oh yeah. It tastes good too.

Lions and Tigers and Tea! Thank you Stacy for sending this downy and delicious sample!

This one brews up into the most fascinating golden color, as if Apollo’s tears of joy at the taste had been collected in my cup! The base nuttiness woven with sweet pear makes for an understated but complex taste. In the mouth both flavors sit tightly together to form a dark cacao-ish hint of a profile but once the whisper of it is all that remains in your throat, the pieces melt into distinct and separate entities. There is a starchy (not in a bad way) mouthfeel that tells you up front this will be different and lingers slightly after each sip – moving your cup holding hand by divine intervention repeatedly toward your lips! Tasty!

My wife is headed back East in a few days with our daughter to visit the family, and as a result our work schedules are ridiculous over both the last few and the next several days. I work days and she works nights, so the few hours of togetherness over the weekend were fleeting and gone. And so it was with a heavy heart that I turned to this month’s order from Verdant and specifically the Mi Lan Xiang – hoping to find a spark of inspiration in a sullen night.

I am truly blown away by this tea. Please don’t stop reading the review as I will go into more detail shortly, but my overall impression begs to be stated ahead of how I got there. So much of the experience this tea delivers is in the range of ethereal and doesn’t translate well in terms of trying to describe its flavor profile. Sure, those elements are there, and it is a lusciously juicy and intricate tea in its own right. To say that it is positivity in a cup would sound over the top and nonsensical if you are reading this but haven’t tried it yourself. Please do so.

I measured 5g of Mi Lan Xiang into my little 120ml gaiwan and then put my new Secura thermo-controlled boiler to the task of making my tea life easier and more fulfilled. (After watching David’s video sessions using a Zojirushi, I opted for the cheaper but more practical-for-my-wallet Secura.) Two successive flash rinses warmed the wares and it was time to see if the outlook for my night was going to improve.

Boy did it ever.

The thing that struck me first was the weight of the tea in my mouth. It has an almost simple syrupy consistency and reminds me of the way that a wake will lap at the sides of a boathouse in the cove after slowly rolling in from the thoroughfare. At first the bright taste of an undefined melon is there, and the combination of the scent and the flavor is intoxicating.

As the number of steeps move into the high single digits, a prevailing numbness and dissipating of any negativity builds and washes through my psyche. The flavor arc dances like a dervish, humming and swaying between nectar and spice never-ending.

This is the first tea that I have actually journeyed deeper into the teens with. I have tried with only one other and lost interest not in the taste but in the lack of change between steeps. To date, this is the most singularly enthralling tea that I have had the fortune to experience. Why is it after midnight and where can I put this moxie to best use?! This is one transcendent tea!

Thanks Stacy for sending me such a unique sample!

As green teas go, the Blue Nettle is a standout performer. It reminds me of the spinach and artichoke dip that we whip up for football parties, and that is definitely a good thing! Other reviewers have already alluded to the shape that the tea is rolled into, and the glass bodum pot that I used to brew it up let them twirl like a slow motion spinning top. I was a bit worried about how weak the flavor might be because of the faintly pale yellow liquor it had produced after its 3 minutes were up but I guess strength of color and strength of taste don’t necessarily go hand in hand. As tasty as this one is, I can only imagine that it might be hard to source down the line as its popularity grows since it is thankfully one of the fair trade and small farmed teas. I would order and experience it while you can!

Thanks Stacy for this unique and invigorating sample!

I feel slightly out of place here as the first to review the base Guayusa from Butiki.. If you have never tried this variety, please be aware that the leaves are very finely minced and will benefit greatly from a quality strainer like the ForLife Extra-Fine one that I use with any of the teas that like to drop floaties through my other strainer. But I digress.

This was actually quite a diversion from anything else that I have tried to date. It has a grassy sweetness that doesn’t really parallel the grassy taste I get from an actual green tea. Would it sound silly to say that this one tastes like a different kind of grass altogether?! There is the slightest earthy aftertaste that lingers in the back of your throat like the very first infusion of a gaiwan-steeped Pu’er that was given the four second treatment and hasn’t actually put down its roots. I don’t know that I would give it an extremely high score on my preference of its taste alone, although I could see it steadily growing on me and wouldn’t be surprised if ordering an ounce or two might bring me around. I liked it less in the yummy yummy sort of way and more in the intrigued and captivated sense. Overall it is well worth a try if for no other reason then to expand your horizon a bit and for the clean alertness it delivers without the jittery buzzsaw effect that some other beverages with similar caffeine levels usually inflict.

Thank you Stacy @ Butiki for sending me this delicious sample!

Although I had never tried a Guayusa before (which is not proper tea but is still tasty), I was very excited to give this one a go since I thoroughly enjoyed the Pistachio Ice Cream from Butiki and now have high expectations for everything Stacy is working on in the Northeast. I must say that this did not disappoint! The tangerine flavor doesn’t taste artificial in the least. In fact, it tastes very much like biting into a bit of dried real fruit. I found the creaminess to be slightly muted and more of a mouthfeel than a flavor but half a spoonful of agave turned a great fruit forward base tea into a delicious creamsicle of a dessert treat!

This one is going right back on the shopping list and the extra oomph from the added caffeine was just what I needed to get the afternoon going. Well done Stacy!

Big Trouble in Little Lapsang! #3 of 3

Ah yes and the best of the three for last. Thank you Bonnie for sending me another great tea from your backyard teahouse!

The reason I am rating this one highest is mostly because of two distinct factors. #1, the smokiness here actually has a flavor of its own instead of just tasting burnt. Try not to be grossed out, but if you have ever used a product called Liquid Smoke (hickory) as a boost to your barbequed chicken then you may have an idea of what I am talking about. Yes it’s smoky but not like an ashtray. #2, the base flavor of Happy Lucky’s LS holds its own – right through and through. There is a caramel nuttiness that goes pound for pound with the hickory smoke and creates, in my mind, what I imagine to be one of the better LS options out there for an aromatically charged balance of complexities that would impress many who like this kind of tea already from time to time.

Big Trouble in Little Lapsang! #2 of 3

After trying this LS and reading a number of the reviews I can certainly understand the attraction for many. It combines subdued smokiness with soft classic black honeyed-malt nicely. That being said, it just didn’t do it for me. While all of the nuances coexist in amity, there just wasn’t enough of a presence from any of them to make it remarkable based on my personal preferences of a bolder Lapsang Souchong. That sounds harsh and may not seem to align with my rating but I didn’t find it unpleasant or vile. It was perfectly drinkable but regretfully forgettable.

EDIT I tried this one again with some helpful suggestions from Jim Marks and have bumped my score slightly. In a more concentrated form, the reserved subtleties become dominant and more closely represent my personal preference of a tour de force Lapsang Souchong. Still not better than another that I have tried, but I appreciate the tip and the resulting cup!

Big Trouble in Little Lapsang! #1 of 3

Let me start by saying that I like Lapsang Souchong (or at least the three I tried) as a deviation from the more popular or mainstream fare and my scores for all three in this series indicate to how much I like each one in relation to the others, not whether or not I like this kind of tea at all. After reading many poorly scored reviews on several different LS offerings from those who simply don’t like this kind of tea in any fashion, that seemed like it needed to be clarified.

Ouch! Sorry, I tripped falling off of my soapbox. Anyhoo.. Of the three I tried, this one from DavidsTea was by far the most robustly smoky in the bunch. I ordered it a while back and had never tried a LS before so I didn’t have any frame of reference although I thought it was passable in the evening when I wasn’t looking for much of a caffeine kick. I enjoy both a dram of scotch whisky and a taste of maduro cigars on occasion so my temperament for this sort of thing should probably be taken into consideration if you’ve never tried a Lapsang Souchong and are considering it.

This one is closer to a cup of burnt embers than smoky subtlety. While that is not necessarily a bad thing if it’s what you’re looking for, I found it to be a little over the top. It is the only flavor I was able to taste. Although I am rating this one between the other two, it actually would match my mood better from time to time and could be a go-to on those evenings. Adding sweetener of any kind here is a waste unless you plan to throw it out instead – look elsewhere for variations on this type of tea that will respond better to that sort of meddling. Drink this one neat.

journalogging #4 of 4

Another great sample from Bonnie, this one comes with a small amount of unfounded hesitation on my part.

After comparing my notes to what I read from others here, I will summarily agree with those who enjoyed this one and felt foolish for worrying they wouldn’t. Butiki, you have my full attention!

journalogging #3 of 4

I must admit that I had never heard of Gyokuro before seeing it in the bag along with the others in the “welcome to tea” samples that Bonnie benevolently sent last week. I’m so very glad she did though because it truly stands up on its own in terms of having a differentiated flavor profile.

I first tried the preparation method of putting 2tsp in the bottom of a gaiwan and then covering it with ice, drinking sips as it melts. I was so intent on following directions literally after my fiasco (albiet a tasty one) with the Pu’er from Happy Lucky’s that I missed the point entirely and allowed this process to unfold in an air conditioned room that gave me a small gulp’s worth after around two hours of ice melt. I prefer my Lagavulin neat and I must say that gulp of Gyokuro made the hair on my neck stand up! note to self – try that again, outside, in the sun, and borrow some common sense if you are temporarily in short supply!

Luckily I was able to salvage the leaves and run them through a more traditional hot preparation and it was significantly, no, drastically better. English pea and macadamia nut are what came to mind as I enjoyed a yummy round on the Green.

journalogging #2 of 4

This one is from a local tea house in Colorado that Bonnie was gracious enough to add in with the other samples she sent. Thanks!

Alright! This one makes Pu’er number two! So similar yet so very different from the first one I tried..

I should start by saying that although I wouldn’t undo this encounter for anything – now wouldn’t be now if then wasn’t then – you should probably stick to 1 tsp per cup like the tea house recommends instead of being savvy with a digital scale and thinking 3g is the same thing as 1 tsp just because you read it somewhere! ..insert anecdote about men and following directions.. Regardless and moving on, using 3g per cup will yield a blackened amber colored liquor that reminded me of the water in the okefenokee swamp from a camping trip I took with my parents when I was in primary school! (Although I’m quite sure this tastes miles better and the comparison is just as it relates to the color.)

My experience with Gong Ting Wang in the early western style steepings was reminiscent of standing on the beach in a light jacket waiting for a sunrise – the saline presence was light and airy like the breeze coming in off of the breaks at that time of day. Simultaneously, there was a humming profile of warm dark whole wheat loaf that had honey butter spread across and then was left to it’s own devices for long enough that the two had become one.
In the middle to later steepings, most of the briny top layer faded as a more velvety toffee sweetness carried the flavor arc to a deliciously subtle waning. Tasty!!

journalogging #1 of 4

Thank you to Bonnie for this decadent sample from TeaVivre!!

As I’ve never tried a straight White, this one completely refashioned my perception and respect for what they have to offer! This Bai Hao Yin Zhen is fragrantly refined and tempered living hayfields yet is also tinged with the slightest salt balance in the cup. The buds were amazingly downy and delicate but tripped the light fantastic when given the chance over five steepings. Simply quite wonderful and a splendid offering from TeaVivre!

Yay! I was so very excited to receive this order a few days ago from Verdant. After reading what seems like volumes of reviews and snippets around the web, I was finally going to try my first Pu’er! Now enough blabbering, it’s time to set the tone..

Mid-mornings in Colorado during this time of year are very centering in and of themselves. Warm sunlight that basks without baking and the slightest of constant breezes are enough to turn my feet into lead when I am sitting on the back porch facing the front range of the Rockies. It was on just the right kind of in-between sort of morning that I came to know my first Pu’er.

Measuring 2.6g into the glass gaiwan, I let a rinse course through the leaves twice. 4 seconds and zero breaths later I sat holding a cup of the lightest of amber colored odysseys. And then it began.

The first steep coated my mouth in ambience, it was an overture of something indefinable. By the second, there was a sparkling tingle that held what I can only describe as a memory of a vanilla wafer. Not the taste itself, mind you, but the way your mind creates a flavor when you think back on having tasted something. The third, fourth, and fifth took the memory and made it real. A taste that matches what cedar planks smell of continued to build just behind the vanilla and overtook it by the sixth, as the vanilla wafer retracted into a wider sweetness that lost any defining characteristic but presented most openly on the exhale. Seven through ten were muddled in my mind as my thoughts strayed from concentration on what I was drinking to chasing fleeting ruminations on the patchy cloud patterns and a passing squirrel. Strange how this cup makes it both incredibly easy and incredibly hard to focus!

If this is what I can expect from Pu’er going forward, I believe I will have to examine it in a far different light from other teas. No rating on this one though – seems like bad form to rate the first.

EDIT After trying several others and gaining even just a small amount of perspective, it doesn’t seem fair to Verdant not to rate this one as it really is worth your consideration!

Thank you to Bonnie for this amazing sample from Teavivre!!

I woke up this morning excited to start the day! Tuesdays and Thursdays mean “swim” class with my daughter – although it’s really more like splash around in the pool at the rec center. Regardless, at 15 months old she is a ball of energy and I love the time we are able to enjoy together doing anything at all. 45 minutes of romping in the shallow end left me waterlogged and ready for brunch so it was home and happy in the kitchen next for me! Bonnie was so kind to send me a wealth of samples which I received last night, and I promptly set aside this BaiLin Gongfu knowing that it would be the perfect way to start delving into the myriad of duct tape labeled packages with steeping times and anecdotes jotted carefully across them. This was my first taste of what Teavivre has to offer and I must say that I was very impressed! I was admittedly doubtful when I saw the sample packaging, thinking that it looked more like a bag of novelty candies than tea.. however it is very efficient and locks the flavor in nicely.

After having tried other loose black teas that went vindictive and downright hostile if steeped for more than 3 or 4 minutes, I decided to play it safe and stay just inside the low end of the company’s guidelines and let it dance in the cup for 2:15 on the first go. The result was a smoothly balanced liquor of salted caramel, toffee, and signature black with just a hint of clove in the aftertaste. All in all a deliciously understated cup that left me very pleased with myself for not overdoing it! But..

I couldn’t help myself. The kettle went back on the boil and then over the unwitting leaves before they knew what was coming. 2.. 2.5.. 3.. 3.5.. 4 minutes of rolling red liquor later and I sat down to the business of hoping I hadn’t taken a beautiful thing and marred it with my ambition to pull a toasted monster from the wreckage. Oh WOW! THIS IS THE BEST BLACK TEA I HAVE EVER TASTED!! Sorry for shouting. I promise it wasn’t at you, although it was at the cup in my hands! Take every flavor I mentioned from the first steeping and crank it up 20 notches, then dip it in mocha and you might begin to get a feel for what the evil geniuses at Teavivre are concocting! Bravo!

My initial reaction to this one was just that my palate still has quite a bit of conditioning needed in order to comprehend the subtleties that others are describing. Having never tried a Dancong and only once before ever even tasting a dark oolong – Big Red Robe – that also left me feeling overmatched, I was set to merely finish out the ounce or so that came with this month’s order by enjoying the flavors for what they are and give up on trying to define them in a way that would warrant posting my thoughts here for others to read.

My wife and I are anxiously shopping for our first house and dealing with the ups and downs of balancing what we want, need, and can reasonably afford. As you can imagine or have experienced, this process can make for some trying times! After an afternoon of disappointing news from the realtor then followed by a surprisingly tasty effort at home-made carne asada tacos, I put my daughter to bed by reading a few pages of Ferdinand (about the length of her attention span) and then proceeded to doze off next to her unintentionally. When I woke up an hour later, it was too late to put on a pot of coffee so I decided to pitch the last 5 or 6 grams of Tong Tian Xiang Phoenix Mountain on the steep and make an effort at this week’s team assignment for my online classes.

And wouldn’t you know that when I stopped trying to focus so hard on what the tea was supposed to be, it stood up and demanded to be appreciated like a clingy toddler! The cacophony of flavor became distinctly layered weaves of dried apricot on the nose and what I can only imagine petrified wood might taste like on the lingering finish. Although not as comforting as other types of tea I’ve tried, in its own way it was very pleasant throughout the times I enjoyed it over the last two weeks but never more than tonight. As it is now all gone, I do look forward to trying other Dancongs in the future so I have something to compare it with and will save any ratings until then.

I put off writing a review of this blend until every leaf was sadly gone. My wife and I have nearly swapped tastes as I am leaning more toward tea after years of coffee and she is doing the opposite. (I guess working 12hr nursing shifts in the emergency department overnights can quite reasonably do that to a person!) This is absolutely one of those brews that went from a full bag to completely gone in less than a week even with us both trying to pull 4 and 5 steeps out of it throughout the days we enjoyed it together!!

small plug for a company I have no affiliation with other than loving their product – Ambrosia Honey Company’s raw honey from Longmont, CO blends AMAZINGLY well with this tea for breakfast, especially when it’s already on your biscuit with a smidge of butter..

I started out on my tea experience as an exclusively black tea drinker, so I am admittedly partial to the noir. This one warms my heart as it brings in a bawdy and rounded zing that really delivered on setting things in motion on days when I had a full plate or buzzing my head soft to enjoy the WSJ on my day off. It’s like it knew what I needed it to be. That’s weird, and creepy, and crazy, and true. Try it if you are looking for another diversion for black breakfast, but be warned – you may end up with pounds of it in your cupboard!

After trying the powerhouse that is Laoshan Green Autumn, this one does it more sneakily.. You have to be a little more quiet, a little more attentive, but the serenity is there. Between salaried work and a 14 month old, those quiet times are fleeting but this cup is great company!

EDIT After trying several others and gaining even just a small amount of perspective, it doesn’t seem fair to Verdant not to rate this one as it really is worth your consideration!

This is the first green tea that I have ever tried that didn’t come from a vending machine. I hope I haven’t ruined myself for every other green! This is amazingly complex and bursting with flavor, it really opened my mind to what loose leaf tea is about. This is my first review (and first green) so I will save a rating score until I have a bit more experience and have something to compare it too.

The second infusion, western style, was like a bowl of perfectly seasoned boiled greens from my childhood in southern GA! I know that may not be everyone’s thing and sorry to David for the description as my ignorant palate isn’t picking up on all of the flavors that I’m sure are there! This is definitely one that I won’t mind honing my taste buds with! Well done Verdant!

EDIT After trying several others and gaining even just a small amount of perspective, it doesn’t seem fair to Verdant not to rate this one as it really is worth your consideration!