New Tasting Notes

I have been off my tea game for most of this year. Moving got the best of me and then all of the sudden I started drinking more and more coffee. I’m trying to snap out of it though. I drank tea before work today so thats good. The last of this actually. Its fine. Stands up to milk and sugar. I tried the gold version first but maybe I should have started with the regular? Its ok. Easy every day tea. There are probably other black teas I like more tbh.

Another go to Sencha for me. The leaves are just a bit larger due to the cultivar, and it’s lovely. At 167f for 2 minutes on the first infusion, the lime green liquor gives me a unique floral and fruity array, together with a meadow grassiness. This is a very unique and lovable characteristic of sencha for me.

Second infusion, I bump it up to 185f and brew it for 3 minutes to get more caffeine out of it. It doesn’t disappoint, as a lot of it’s brighter notes covers up the bitter nature of caffeine.

The Koshun Cultivar in general is lovely in comparison to Yabukita. They both have their ups, and in the case of Koshun, it’s a bit more forgiving with brewing, and not as finicky. An indulgent introduction to someone who may be new to Japanese Tea!

Having had 2022 and 2023s batch, I have to say this is one of my favorite Sencha’s. I brew it western style, and usually start around 167f. (If I want to draw it out, i’ll start at 155f for that Theanine hit). The liquor is a deep, glowing yellow and has an immaculate steamed brocolli/spinach aromatics. These same aromatics turn up in the taste

I keep my steepings short and use about 200ml and 4 to 5g of leaf when brewing. I usually start at about a minute or two. Sencha’s require you to get to know them to really enjoy their best attributes, and that is especially true with this tea. You want to avoid over brewing it.

I’ll easily get 3 to 5 infusions out of this with the brewing parameters I use, and I up the temperature a bit each time after the second infusion. The first infusions have a Thick Texture of a soup broth with intensely satisfying vegetable notes. A tiny bit of grassyness, but just the right amount.

As is habit with me, I will end the sencha with an optional infusion at 195f for 4 minutes to extract all of the caffeine. Even then, the tasting notes still linger.

The Body sensation is a calming, and yet lively and alert. I recommend this highly, so long as you don’t overbrew.

This tea really gave me an appreciation for larger leaf White Tea. While the tasting notes aren’t as punchy, they have a persistence that goes on. Notes of oxidized Banana (for baking), Apple Peel, and a rustic vegetal quality.

I mainly brew this western style at around 204 to 210F for 3 to 5 minutes, as the larger leaves need to be pushed a bit. The body sensation was a lovely calm, warm feeling.

I will note for the record that it gave me an odd itchy feeling in my throat, but it didn’t detract from the experience much.

It’s not the best White Tea I’ve ever had, but it’s certainly not the worst. It wasn’t really made to be a top shelf White Tea to begin with, as that’s reserved for their Jade Star series. A great Tea to wind down with in the evening.

I bought a cake of this on a holiday sale, and don’t regret it. It has a few undesirable features, such as the odd little bit of fungus growing here and there, and plump tea seeds taking up some of the weight. It was priced appropriately considering these factors, however.

I’ve had this Gong Fu and Western style, and I enjoy it both ways. It’s unlike any other ripe I’ve had, in that it’s not a black murky tea. It’s lighter in color, but not in texture or taste. Tasting notes of Almond with a bit of Nutella. A rather uncomplicated Shou that didn’t have be best starter material, but for the unique tasting notes alone, I have to give this one an 8/10.

Whew, today was very tiring day. I am not used to stay 8 hours on my feet, I am more of an office person. But here, nobody asks and when it doesn’t work, you have to fix it (half of the shift) and then in second half you had to catch the work that wasn’t done because the break down.

So, when returning “home”, I bought raspberry flavoured energy drink, because honestly I didn’t had a mood for tea at all. But later on, for dinner I brewed this tea, being decaf, and with prominsing flavour profile. Sadly, the kettle I have here available is not temperature setting one, but I tried my “bubbles method” (first bubbles = approx. 80°C) and it went pretty well I guess.

It was quite floral, base tea of cut grass; and maybe the pear that Kaylee notices is there somehow as well. That said, thank you Kaylee for sharing this tea with me.
Perfectly serviceable tea bag when needed something simple.

This tea is very giving. I got 3 infusions from throwing it in my tea basket and steeping it at 203 for 5 to 7 minutes at a time. I got some Meadow notes contrasted by a sugar cube, baked goods sweetness, with a rustic quality. The liquor comes out a bit on the brown side, and that makes sense. This tea approaches Moonlight White territory, which deepens its nuance.

It is a very versatile White Tea, and evolves with each infusion. Even when I boiled it out for the last infusion for 7 minutes, it was lovely. It also had that medicinal quality I look for in white teas, as I find them very good for the gums personally.

The Body Sensation is all in itself unique, as I get the calming quality, but a little boost of clear headed energy.

I recommend it highly! This is my first taste of Vietnam, and I am glad to say that I was not disappointed.

I was staying with a family friend in NY for the eclipse, and they had this local tea, which I tried a cup of. It was a little sour/tart and thin. Not bad cold and sweetened, but not great. The ingredient list is a little too straightforward for my general tastes though.

Отличный чай . Был приятно удивлен. Сбалонсирован по цене и качеству.

April Sipdown Prompt – A pantry staple

I have had this tea on shelf for fourteen years (not the same tin ha ha) with very few months where there was none at all in the house. We definitely prefer the loose leaf version over the sachets. If you buy the pound, turn it upside down occasionally because this is FULL of vanilla bean specks and they need to be kept evenly distributed.

The first few times we drank it, we thought we had tea dust in the bottom of the pot until one day when JacquelineM wrote that those are vanilla bean specks! So instead of discarding what looks like the “sludge”, slurp it down because it is yummy.

I have made many notes on this tea already, so here is something new. When I made this last, I made a huge pot and we had about ten ounces leftover. I poured it in a jar, stirred in a little sugar, and put it in the fridge to have with lunch because we are working very hard on our outdoor projects and it is over 80F most days. Iced tea season is upon us. (We drink all year anyway.)

This made an absolutely brilliant iced tea. I may have to go back to buying it by the pound for this summer. The vanilla is so smooth and glides down when you are hot and thirsty. I highly recommend this tea both hot and cold!

A tropical-fruit laden jasmine green tea. The fragrance is of juicy green pear, mangosteen, pineapple gummies, flowering pear tree, lychee, honeycrisp apple, and tangy green grapes.

Tastes of watermelon and grape Jolly Ranchers, Nerds candies, white flower pollen, watermelon rind, magnolia tree, summer wind, and then finishes with buttery green tea notes like bok choy. Medium-intensity, fruity, and not soapy at all, as some jasmine teas can be.

Today hit 80 degrees in Los Angeles (about 27 degrees C) and the evening was perfectly cool and fragrant with orange blossoms. The hummingbirds seem delighted by the improving weather, chirping their happy hellos to one another, and maybe, I hope, to me as well. A quiet seat outside, enjoying the delicious silence after a beastly workday. The gift of a sunset. A perfect moment for this tea.

Know those little cheapie wafer cookies with various and sundry artificial flavored cream between the layers? (Lemon and strawberry are my favorites, especially chilled in the summer.) Imagine a smaller, chunkier, version filled with matcha and not-so-sweet cream—that was my afternoon break today and a lovely little birthday treat from my son. The office HVAC is out of whack, which meant it was way too sultry to steep something hot to accompany them, but once the universe is in balance again, they’ll pair nicely with something nice and green or nice and lemony.

This is like a black tea mixed with salad greens. There is a lovely underlying sweetness as well. A very unique cup.

The description notes seaweed notes and maritime briney-ness, but I don’t get that. I recently had Coastal Oolong from MS, so perhaps that has swayed me since that was very ocean-esque. Though to be fair, this is my second cup of this one and the taste profile has been the same both times.

Attempting to sip down/de clutter teas from my stash.

Well looking in the tin, its obvious I’ve tried this before a few times in the year and more since I bought it. But no notes or ratings, which means I didn’t like it.

Now, its not bad, but not a flavor profile I am wild about. Its more astringent and drying than I like, which becomes more pronounced as it cools.

I think this is one I should be able to finish. Might try this as a cold brew and see how I feel that way.

A sipdown! (M: 1 Y: 44), prompt: A tea with a special meaning to you
Just marking a sipdown as I finished it on Saturday. But well, it’s hard to make sipdowns when your stash is roughly 5 hours by car away.And in meantime, I have been busy and somehow not in mood writing a note.

Happy to have this finished and the special meaning? Of course I could pick so many others… but this will be as a tea bought on the 1st tea festival I have been to.

This is quite fake tasting, but not bad cold. I taste a pretty even mix of peach and raspberry flavoring, but I would have preferred more of a fresh flavor combo.

today’s brew had warmer water, and it’s much stronger! I feel that it may have lost some of the citrus, but it is still distinctly a grey, instead of a straight black tea (i.e., english breakfast, prince of wales, etc.)
this tea is shaping up to be quite versatile, and I’m glad I got it! might consider adding it to the repurchase list :)

Sipdown (2583)!

I was reorganizing my desk a few days ago and I can across a mug with a couple of these different Adagio “portions” stuffed in that, I’m gonna honest, I had totally forgotten I still had. So I figured I’d brew this one up and put the others somewhere a little more visable where I will hopefully not forget about them…

I’m not at all familiar with the fandom this tea is inspired by, so I’m drinking it and judging it on flavour alone. It steeps up bold and brisk with strong nutty notes of roasted almond. I like that there’s an almost chicory root kind of dark, “burnt” edge to it. Not enough to be, like, bitter – but it’s just so clearly not a sweet amaretto or marzipan style of almond. The finish is a little creamy and vanilla-like in a way that makes me think of coffee creamer. It’s nice, though there’s something about the almond and vanilla combination that feels eerily familiar. I’m confident that I must have had it in more than a handful of other Adagio fandom blends.

Gongfu!

It’s been pretty rainy the last couple of days and, like clockwork, I’m finding my cravings have shifted to darker and more cozy teas like this session of chenpi shou pu’erh!! It’s incredibly smooth with a dense, heavy woody and earthy flavour and a clean, medicinal aged citrus note. However, most striking is the very brothy and savory taste that runs like a current throughout the sip and lingers in the back of the mouth and throat after each swallow. It made for a really calm and grounding session with all the forest-y and petrichor aromas in the surrounding area.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5yjY9gOsyZ/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzeoOUGvVgU