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Neti pots get a bad wrap but I tell you guys, if you use them correctly (like anything else) they work. That and a good night’s sleep helps. The dry aroma alone is worth the buy. Caramel, roasted marshmallows, roasted rose petals, plain rose, cherry liqueur. Oh the fascination! The initial aroma coming from the steeping leaves! So unique! Heavy cream, cream of wheat, marzipan?, my mouth is watering. At the suggested ten seconds I am getting hints of desert wood, rose, a bit of oat milk. Very nice. Oh now steeping 20 – 30 seconds. Chocolate notes. Chocolate milk, hot chocolate. Holy cow. At… what time is it? 1 minute? 2? I have no idea. It’s so thick! I feel like I’m drinking hot cocoa with a bit of a woody aftertaste. The wet leaf aroma is slightly bready and a bit woody. Silky mouth feel.
Second infusion. Too hot. Almost spit it out. Didn’t want to waste. Owie. Much of the same notes to be found. A bit more rose though.

NIO Tea advent calendar and a freaking sinus infection.
Had to rest up stairs for a bit. Now that I;ve done that I’m going to punch this thing with some matcha. Some very nice vegetal notes. A bit of green beans, asparagus, and maybe some pepper but also hints of cream and oat milk. I feel like I shouldn’t be tasting as much as I am considering the current state of my sniffer. Speaking of which I’m sure there is a dry aroma but my nose doesn’t really want to comprehend it at the moment. Luckily the taste is quite good.

NIO Advent 2023
A lovely looking sencha. Dark green with a bit of light green. Pleasant aroma filled with stone fruit, grass notes, and a bit of cream. I still haven’t gotten the hang of this shiboridashi but it’s so beautiful I can’t bear to let it just sit around. My first sip was a bit overboard. I could sense the vegetal, fruity, and grassy notes but the immediacy of the pairing was almost too much. Even my second steep is a bit too astringent on the tongue. Okay… This one just straight-up needs a bigger steeping vessel. Even at five seconds, my mouth is going wthecks… I reduced the amount of leaf now. That was a messy process. The flavor is a bit more palatable now, much grass, so wow.

Edit. I’m not sure if it was bc I drank this on an empty stomach or something else but I felt quite nauseated…

NIO advent tea.
I’ve come down with something. Sniffles and runny nose. I just want to sleep but kids and stuff… So matcha and some prayers are a necessary to get me through the day. The dry aroma is nice. Somewhat chocolaty and a bit sweet. The powder is meh. Which doesn’t bode well for the flavor but now that I am drinking it I’m actually surprised at the depth it has. Some good vegetal notes, great umami, and some marine notes.

NIO Advent 2023
These small packets of matcha always make me a bit pensive. I suppose if I go into it with little expectation then I can only go up from there. The powder is a nice green color. With a decent aroma. My favorite part so far was when whisking. The aroma was lovely. A bit creamy and a bit vegetal. It froths up nicely; even for someone like myself with tolerable whisking skill. The color of the liquor is a very nice green. A slight bit astringent in the mouth but not to the point of being annoying. It’s also smooth and thus far minimal grit. Very green. Slight bitterness and a bit creamy with vegetal notes. A bit of minerality also shows up when it first touches your tongue. I didn’t taste it right away but as it has cooled it showed up ever slow slightly. The powder is also staying nicely suspended!

NIO advent 2023. Ah, lovely dry aroma. Sweetgrass. Mixture of wet, just cut grass, and stale summer-dried grass. Glossy, dark jade leaves. Two minutes? Dang. I don’t think I can wait that long. Ooo no. Don’t wait. The sips at 20 seconds are nice. Full of light and swaying grass. I feel like I am eating more of the leaves than drinking them. Highly recommend an infuser for anyone else who is going to consume this tea. The mouthfeel begins silky and switches to a bit of astringency. Ooo whee… I don’t know… two minutes is a bit much for me. maybe 1.5 at tops. The overall flavor is nice. The usual grassiness with vegetal notes of cooked spinach and frozen parmesan.

This one I will have to explore with multiple sessions. Though it is a green, to me it tastes, looks, and smells more like a yellow. The dry leaf is slightly glossy and olive green. These are the sharpest-looking tips I’ve seen yet. Some silver hairs. Mine appear a yellower color than the picture. Almost like a yellow tea.
The flavors for the infusions remained fairly consistent though the third infusion is a bit sweeter. Vegetal. Green beans. Slight whole milk. Bit of fresh asparagus and spinach. The mouthfeel is silky with an ever-so-slight hint of astringency. It’s good but not one I would buy again. I need to revisit this one a few more times before I give my final say.

I was going to open up something new this morning but I couldn’t get this one out of my head so I’m revisiting it. This may be somewhat weird to say, but maybe not for those who are in the pu er/dark tea community, I want to age this tea and see if it changes anything. Right now I am getting a lot of overcooked peas with a bit of astringency; which I am finding myself somewhat insatiated by. Gong fu brewing at 180F.

Happy New Year! After following Mei Leaf and listening to their Youtube talks for many years, I’ve finally put my foot down and bought some tea. Oh boy, does that smell good! There is some serious sweetness flowing off these leaves. Stone fruits, mangos, some passion fruit, peaches. Ooo peach cobbler. And those buds are just amazing. Silver hairs, soft, and light green.
My first thought was slight white pepper. Sweetened pepper like you’d find in a chai. Pure cane sugar. But I like that it still has those traditional (in my opinion) white tea notes of barnyard in the background. Piled leaves, bales of hay, and tall summer grass. Smooth mouth feel. The aftertaste is incredible. Like I ate a sugar cube. I’ve never had such a sweet sensation without eating actual sugar.
Now just a note for the new year. It’s good to hope and look for the best but also important to realize that… sh*t happens. And how we handle that sh$t is just as important. I say this because I see more and more people losing their selves while driving to things that are so silly. Seen too many die because of it too. Let’s stop this now. Raise a glass to patience.

Look at that glorious leaf! And the trichomes all over the inside of the package. Fuzzy, silver buds with olive green first leaf, and sometimes a second leaf too. The aroma is a mixture of farm and late summer florals.
First impressions are a hint of nuts (cashews), hay, and a mix of other barnyard notes. Surprisingly the barnyard notes are not as strong as I figured they would be. Third infusion. Sweet hay, increasing sweet notes. Increase the infusion time with each infusion. Some savory white pepper notes. Aroma of slightly cooked green peppers. Super silky mouth feel and incredibly wet and heavy.

Taking a break, for a moment, from the shiboridashi to switch back to the kyusu. This lovely-looking kabusecha needs it. The leaves are a mix of dusty and glossy and mostly curled and tightly twisted. Slightly tropical floral but mostly grassy steeping aroma. All of the leaves open nicely revealing a mix of olive green and basil green tones. A nice vegetal brew with grassy notes and some nutty undertones.