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Sipdown (137)!

I feel like I’m a little late to the hype train when it comes to this tea but oh well…

Had a very pleasant fifteen infusion gong fu session with this tea after getting back from filling out passport information today. Trey had a friend over and the two of them sat with me during my session and we had a very intense conversation about American politics throughout so no tea and music pairings for this session the few people who regularly read my tasting notes all collectively breathe a sigh of relief. In the same vain, I didn’t take my normal amount of notes while drinking this either because I was with company and I can’t ever really let them know how insane I am when it comes to tea. If I whipped out my laptop or a pad of paper to take physical notes then Trey would NEVER let me live it down. Also, just because I was talking politics doesn’t mean I want to talk politics now: I firmly believe talking about politics is important but it also gives me a headache because of all the stupid shit going on. And, for me at least, this tea community is my moment of peace/zen during the day – so the fewer headaches the better.

So, from memory…

Infusions one to four(ish) were a bit rougher; they had a very mild sort of roast to them, and underlying honey notes. Kind of what I originally interpreted as a wood flavour; but now that I’m thinking on it more consciously it’s a bit more like the smell of crunchy autumn leaves. Which, I know, makes NO sense as a flavour but that’s EXACTLY what it is. Fucking poetic flavour descriptors being so… poetic.

Infusions four to like eight(ish) were much lighter on the already light roast notes and then eventually not even really roasty at all. Lots of mild sweetness/honey though! But not really just honey; also kind of an agave like flavour, which is to say it tasted just a tiny bit caramel like/caramelized. Underlying fruit flavors such as raisin and lemon/lemon peel. All quite soft in terms of presence, though.

Infusions eight to fifteen were so delicate overall. Still a lot of honey in regard to flavour, just very lightly delivered in the sip. Finish was just the slightest bit lemony which was nice alongside the honey notes. Infusions twelve and thirteen were given to Trey and Gauge (Trey’s friend who was over talking politics with us) and they both found it very lovely although weren’t able to isolate any flavour notes. I’m not surprised; infusions fourteen and fifteen were SO soft to me that the flavour was barely detectable at all. Had I pushed for a sixteenth infusion I’m certain it would have just tasted like water.

Overall, very much liked this tea – it’s not often I push for so many infusions when brewing Gong Fu. I am surprised that I barely registered the “creamy” flavour that so many seemed to have observed. But the honey aspect was definitely DEAD on. There weren’t really any infusions that lacked that flavour.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention that my small Bitterleaf tea order came today so I got to enjoy this session using one of my new teacups. This probably isn’t the best place for a teaware review, but…

This is the cup in question: https://www.bitterleafteas.com/shop/teaware/cookies-and-cream-partial-glaze-teacup

I have to say that it’s just a BEAUTIFUL cup aesthetically speaking. I loved the way the liquor looked in the teacup, and the glaze itself is so charming and perfectly named. It’s also well balanced in my opinion, and sits very nicely which IS something I was concerned about because of the shape of the base. Only complaints are pretty small all things considered: it’s pretty heavy as far as other cups in my collection go, which is a very small thing. The other thing is that the ‘lip’ of the cup is very thick and it felt just a smidgen awkward drinking out of.

But that said, I still want like four more, so…