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GCTTB
Another one I was really happy to see in the box. There wasnt much left so my steep parameters were just a guess, but enough for me to sense that this isn’t your average ZSXZ. There are some unusual notes in here. Someone said cedar, yep I’m going with that. Not the ovoverwhelming pine smoke of some, just a subtle hint of smoky forest. There is also some earthiness to it, a hint of cocoa, maybe just a a wee whif of sweet fruit way in the back. I’m really happy that it has other flavors rather than just heavy smoke. I think I would be happy with some of this in my cupboard. :)

GCTTB
I couldn’t find this in the data base, so I’m just going to log it here.
Sencha Tropical – House of Tea.
I cold steeped this for about 6 hours with 2 tsp in a pint mason jar. It’s really nice. Tropical fruity, I’m getting quite a bit of pineapple – but what I really like is that it’s not drowning in coconut. In fact I’m not really getting any, that makes me happy. The sencha is present but not overwhelming. For me this is a really nice fruity green.

GCTTB
hmmmmm something weird in the background. I’m blaming the carob, I’m not sure what carob tastes like, but there is something funky. Nice vanilla, nice black base, and a hint of weird. Without the weird this would be crazy good, with it, it’s just ok.

GCTTB
I was really excited to see this in the box. I adore Verdant genmaicha blends so have been wanting to try this for quite awhile now. Not sure what I was expecting but this isn’t it. Its slightly vanilla, a little green, but not really toasty/roasty. This is ok but pales compared to some of their other blends.
Really happy I got to try it, but it wasa miss. :(

I am such an idiot……
Do you have days where you see something on the news, or you observe an incident that makes you question how you see the world, what you believe. I’m not talking about anything heavy, just something that makes you pause and question. I think of it more as emotionally challenged than upset. Anyway……I’m having one of those days…
So I come home from work and look for tea. I don’t want to make a decision so I just reach into my sample box and pull out a package from the wonderful Miss OMGsrsly. Perfect mini tou sheng….. A few minutes later I’m looking at the tea in my cup and the leaves in my teapot, this is weird. Why is sheng this color? Shrug oh well…. first sip and I’m looking at the package, and the looking it up on here…..yep I’m an idiot…. This isn’t sheng. Why did I think it was. Let’s try this again with shou steeping parameters.
Whatever this is it’s really good. Mmmmmm really earthy in a good way Smooth, yummy, sweet. I really like this. It goes perfectly with salsa, avacado, and lime tortilla chips. I don’t have specifics, but this is what like about shou…..
Now if I can just figure out why I’m watching Gone Girl…. I hated that book.

This is confusing me. Steeps 1 and 2 were really nice but mild. A little sweet, a little earthy, not bitter, not grassy. Steeps 3 and 4 were astringent and bitter, didn’t really like it. Steeps5 and 6 were still a little bitter and quite grassy.
In my experience sheng usually starts out bitter and grassy and gets milder in later steeps. Maybe user error but I was trying hard to be conservative with steep times.
This isn’t the one to convert me over to sheng. Thanks for the sample OMGsrsly. :)

I have spent most of the day playing with my tea stash. Comparing actual cupboard to spreadsheet and steepster. Weighing all my teas, updating my spreadsheet. Reorganizing, moving all the smallish amounts into the sample bin, etc. The moral of that project….I havea mountain of tea, and I have way more pu’erh than anything else.
So while I was doing that, I was drinking this tea. I wasn’t taking notes, but it was pretty good. What I consider a typical shou. Nothing nasty, but nothing that jumped out either. I think I liked this one more than the one last night, but theyywere both just nice nit spectacular. All in all a nice tea day.
Thanks OMGsrsly for the sample. :)

Spent a pleasant evening with this tea last night. I didn’t keep track of number of steeps or changes between steeps, I just spent the evening drinking it. In fairness I should also mention that I was eating spicy food and chocolate cake. Sometimes you just want to have good food with good tea that you don’t have to fuss with. This was one of those evenings. The tea was what I was expecting. This is what shou should taste like, not offensive, lots of flavor. This was just a nice pu’erh to hang out with.
Thank you OMGsrsly for the sample.

Moonlight comparison two. This time looking at loose leaf.

http://www.esgreen.com/yue-guang-bai-moonlight-white.html
vs
http://www.jkteashop.com/imperial-pure-old-tree-yue-guan-bai-tea-p-294.html

https://instagram.com/p/268QwyOEwa/?taken-by=dex3657

The esgreen leaves are huge and a nice white/black contrast. The jk tea shop – not so much. Smaller, not as black white.

I used the same teaware as the last comparison. 7g 80C 30 seconds.

https://instagram.com/p/26-V5PuEzU/?taken-by=dex3657

This isn’t really fair. These teas are not in the same league. The jk tea is closer to what I was drinking earlier but with a hint of pu’erh mustiness. The esgreen is was more refined, interesting, deep. Lots of honey notes, sweet, a little grassy.

I’m going to continue to drink them both through a couple more steepings and will edit in anything interesting, but this isn’t even close. ESGreen all the way.

I got the lost of my moonlight teas in the mail today, so I’m starting the quest to find my favorite. Or at least favorite of the ones that I have. I’m starting with two cakes that I got from different Aliexpress dealers.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/GRANDNESS-2012-YR-Chinese-Yunnan-JISHUNHAO-Moonlight-white-Pu-Er-Puer-Pu-Erh-RAW-tea/896777300.html
I’m calling this Grandness for simplicity sake…..

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/White-moonlight-puer-raw-tea-100g-yunnan-pu-er-sheng-cha-organic-chinese-puerh-brick-qizi/1883686482.html
And I’m calling this Teatime….

https://instagram.com/p/26pBIAOE-7/?taken-by=dex3657

The grandness leaves look larger and have a more distinct black/white quality to them. Both though do look like what I would expect from a moonlight cake. The Teatime cake isn’t as compressed and breaks apart easier.

I’m going to try to keep the parameters as similar as possible. For theses ones, I’m using 7g in my glass teapots – 80C water – rinse – 30 second first infusion.

https://instagram.com/p/26pQA5OE_S/?taken-by=dex3657

Interesting – both leaves don’t seem whole once they are steeped – broken mush is how I want to describe them. They looked so good in the cake but not once steeped. I don’t think I mutilated them that bad when I was breaking the cakes.
The teatime is significantly darker than the grandness.

Grandness is a little sharper, almost bitter – but does have the sweetness that I associate with moonlight. I’m not getting any earthy/musty pu’erh at all.
Teatime is smoother, gentler, sweeter and I’m not getting any pu’erh at all from it either.
At this point I’m calling both of these WHITE rather than PU’ERH….

2nd Steep – I upped the water temp to 85C and kept the time at 30 sec.

Same result the teatime one is still darker than the grandness.
Upping the water temp might have been a mistake, I don’t think it improved either of them. Both have some bitterness now and the sweetness isn’t as obvious. Putting it back down for next steep.

3rd steep
80C 45sec

80C is for sure a better water temp
These are both mellower at that temp.
I’m not getting much of a difference between them. Teatime might be just a hint deeper more flavor but not enough to notice unless drinking them side by side like this.

4th Steep
80C 1 minute

Both are getting more grassy, less sweet – disappointed should be getting more honey notes.

I’m quitting on both of these. I’m sure you could get a couple more decent steeps out of them, but they just aren’t changing enough, aren’t interesting enough to continue. Both are ok but neither is special. I’m forcing myself to choose a “winner” and that would be teatime, but it’s not going to win this contest. Interesting experiment, but I have more to try so I’m moving on.
https://instagram.com/p/262hvYOE3N/?taken-by=dex3657