Jade Fire

My first tea at work! I brought in a mug, a thermometer, my Finum Brewing Basket, and some tea, of course! I figured I’d start wearing down some of my samples. I don’t want to be brewing stuff I haven’t tasted yet in the office.

I measured the water temperature in the office, and it tops out at 180. Bah. So I guess that means greens and whites for now, until I get a kettle. I’m scared of exploding water in the microwave, so blacks will have to wait.

Anyway, this one steeped up to a very light color. I adjusted the temperature and steep time to maybe mellow out some of the astringency and weird mineral flavors that I got the first time I tasted this one.

The infusion was really a very light cream-yellow, almost the color of a white tea. And the smell coming off of it was a lot more buttery than I remembered. But the leaves smell kind of gross wet. I can’t describe it. But it’s unappealing.

The taste this time… woah. Okay, so the mineral weirdness is still there. But now I’m really, really tasting pine cones. Like, wet, kind of old pine cones, mixed with a vegetal taste that’s really kind of like spinach. And then it’s blending into a sweet taste, but this only happens after the cup has cooled. I think the rating is staying where it is. This one isn’t exactly the best thing I’ve ever tasted, by far.

It’s good for mindless sipping, but I can’t say that I’m particularly enjoying the flavors that I’ve extracted out of this one.

SECOND STEEP OF IT, yay!

Or actually, really, nay. BLECH. What is going on with this tea. I brought the time up to three minutes, and watched the leaves completely unfurl. Very pretty! The leaves are all completely intact, and beautiful. I love it when I see leaves like this in my teapot. It’s the plant itself, and then you realize how wonderfully connected to the earth tea is, and then you wax poetic on the universe and life itself.

ANYWAY, the tea this time was a slight shade darker than the first, and I’m getting a real earthy smell from the cup. A little bit of spinach, but not completely overly-green. On first taste… yeah, I’m making a face and recoiling visibly from the cup. It’s even more minerally than before, and the sweetness seems to have vanished. There’s this really off-putting bitterness to it as well. Not even the usually tea-bitter taste that sometimes comes along with blacks. Just the base flavor of bitter on your tongue.

Surprisingly enough, this cup isn’t as astringent as the first, but there’s really no reason to continue drinking this one. I’m not getting salty, but I am getting the oceanic taste that Auggy described on her tasting note. I think it’s a seaweed flavor in this. Bitter and briny. It almost tastes like liquid sand from the beach in a cup, if that makes any sense.

I actually don’t think I can finish this cup, but I’m going to try. But the leaves are already in the garbage. There’s no way I’m trying a third steep of this!

Ever since teaplz had this as her work tea a day or two ago, I’ve been tempted to torture myself try this one again. I thought I’d try using a little cooler water so I put the water into the pot and let it sit for a moment before putting the leaves in and I left the lid off while brewing.

With the horror that is the second steep of this, I’ve forgotten how much I enjoyed the first steep. Actually, I think this is better than the other time I’ve had it because I can get a hint of buttery, grassy sweetness. There is a little brine-like tingle left on my tongue but it isn’t really salty – more like a salt lick which, if anyone has ever licked one (yes, I have*) have a mineral taste that doesn’t burn like straight salt and is a little… almost sweeter. Or at least the pink ones I used to give my hamster do.

As the tea cools, more of the salt-lick/mineral taste is coming out, almost overpowering the sweet grassy green taste I had at the beginning of the cup. Almost but not quite. But the dry taste it leaves in my mouth is stronger and not that fun. I’m bumping up the rating a little bit because even with that mineral taste, the tea is nice. I’m still going to try a second steep, but I full anticipate burning salty horror.

*For the record, I don’t lick a lot of salt licks. But you know, I was curious.

ETA: Second Steep @ 2:00. The not-brine taste at the end is more tingly but as long as the tea is still pretty hot, it is okay. But the second it starts to cool, I start making faces as I sip.
^5g/12oz

Bumping up this rating a bit on this one for my final cups. Nice, vegetal and sweet with a little mineral/salt-lick tingle that is nice when it isn’t too strong – and as long as the steep time isn’t too long, the tingle is under control. The second steep still isn’t worth much but the first steep is pretty good.
^10g/18oz

Well, I only steeped 2 minutes this time, as directed. I’m adding a couple rating points, but I’m still not happy with the flavor. Maybe this is supposed to taste bitter. My mouth feels so dry after each sip that I want to chug a glass of water now.