Organic Pan-Fired Pagoda

Ack!! I over tea’d this cup! The swiped tea mug had it’s cruel, cruel revenge!

FYI, the difference between the s.o.‘s David’sTea Perfect Mug and the FORLIFE mug that I usually drink from is about 3 ounces. A 12 ounce capacity is not like a 15 oz. Do not just double the measurement and call it ‘close enough’ to two 8 oz cups. :-/

Edit: try two: less tea and more good.

I am by no means an expert on green teas. My ability to describe them generally begins with ‘fishy’ or ‘grassy’ and doesn’t extend far past that. I think I need a flavor wheel-type device. Do they make those?

This one. Hmm. Now that I ‘learned the cup’ I can see myself drinking a lot of this tea, so I am glad I have a good stockpile. I’ve had one failed and two successful 12 oz cups tonight. I like it. It is a tiny bit astringent, but not bothersomely so, a little grassy and a little sweet and floral smelling with just a hint of seaweed. Actually very well rounded.

This was FAR too easy to drink. Someone drank my tea again. :) It is 8 pm and I have downed far too much green tea, and now I have nothing left to review. Will try again soon.

Edited, the rematch! Round three: FIGHT!
Wow. A Mortal Kombat moment. I think sipping green tea and watching Mortal Kombat fatalities collected onto YouTube is pretty much never what a tea company has in mind for their product. Still fun, though, in an odd kinda way. Anyway, on to the tea. This is really demmed good! The dry leaf is a beautiful deep green and the broth seems hearty to me, a rich full mouthfeel with barely any astringency. I blame my mis-steep the other night or making it seem astringent then. I like that this is one of the first deep greens that I have tried that doesn’t make me think of the fish-based plant fertilizer I use for my orchids.

I was going to have a black tea this morning, but I noticed I had not opened this final tin of tea from Christmas.

The directions call for one tablespoon of leaf per eight ounces of water and a two to three minute steep. It always makes me a little sad when directions call for more than a teaspoon per six to eight ounces because that means I am going to run out of tea sooner!

This produced a pale liquor that was richly scented of garden peas with a bare hint of root vegetable – rutabaga, I would say, possibly turnip.

The taste was strong, and I considered it somewhat grassy and a bit sour, but good. I drank the whole pot so it couldn’t have been bad. It did create a slow rising sweet aftertaste that bubbles up way behind the sip.

For the second steep I used a lot more water. I kept the steep at two minutes. Ah! Now I found my tea happy place! Everyone likes different things, so other people may very love this at the suggested parameters. I prefer it this way. And this means my tin is going to last longer, bwahaha!

There is still plenty of flavor in this, and though I finished it about ten minutes ago I am still enjoying the sweet rising aftertaste. I think this would be excellent with food, as in a hearty meal or nice Asian dinner.