1837 Tasting Notes

90

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 8

This tea smells wonderful. I would bet it’s apple strudel. Anis being very strong too, but it’s not a spice for strudel! Baked apples aroma too.
Amazingly smooth in taste. Very strong taste of apple must (sweet cider). Not much of spices, though. Lovely tea base, but yep, a bit hidden behind all the apple.
A tea I would likely re-purchase from YDTC one day.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML

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Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 7

My very first experience with loose leaf Lapacho. I had once bagged one, and it was so long ago, I don’t remember anything.

It’s a bark, right? Tastes like bark, right! The tree Handroanthus impetiginosus is beautiful when blooming.

But the tea, it says nothing to me. It was like sweet bark, somehow similar to brewing stick of cinnamon.

Steeped for long time as suggested (20 minutes). But I have been expecting something more I guess. No rating.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 10 OZ / 300 ML

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71

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 6

Using quinoa in a tea blend is interesting and not my first experience with it. I remember that some B&B blend had it before.

Anyway, I feel that green rooibos would suit this tea better than green tea base. It’s standard hay-like green tea and quite a lot hidden between quinoa, whichtastes a bit like genmai and I didn’t had enough of cocoa beans in; so it was pretty much genmaicha, IMO. With quinoa instead of rice.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML
gmathis

Hmm…I have cocoa nibs and quinoa under my roof. I wonder if I could concoct a decent home version.

Martin Bednář

You can try… and if you do, let us know the results :)

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80

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 5

Expectations: smoky tea, with some kind of spicy notes. Mulled wine? I am fine with that.

Reality: Mulled wine? Is Dutch mulled wine that different? Could be. But for me it was a mildly roasty tea with flavours of cookies and cookie dough. With spices and hazelnuts. Cinnamon mostly. Well, as a festive tea, I feel it is great. In this gray summer afternoon, it’s fine.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Cookie, Hazelnut

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML

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81

Prepared western, 7 grams per 300 ml vessel, steeped for 5 minutes or so.
There is not many things that annoy me, but one of them are “funny” comments about my tea. For instance “You are having some awful smelling tea.”, or “Those weeds you call a tea?” and such. Today it was “You have some really strong tea today, right?”. I said nothing to this comment. Like coffee is refined drink, especialy when they use just pre-grinded coffee beans and fill the cup with hot water (not sure how this preparation method called in English).

So, I was drinking my really strong tea today afternoon, as again I was craving puerh somehow. I rarely get green teas as they don’t understand why I don’t want boiling water and of course, they use it for their coffee.

I got indeed a bit earthy, but not fishy, as AllanK says, indeed quite fermented. Following with sweet notes, quite like a dark caramel to me, with some notes of red berries and their seeds. Interesting flavour profile and I wonder how those flavours will develop during gongfu steeping one day.

Thank you Michelle and Rich for yet another shu puerh.

*they = my family members

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec 7 g 10 OZ / 300 ML
derk

Haha, I get being minorly annoyed at comments about tea. When I walk into work with a glass jar full of cold-brewed green tea, without fail, at least a few people will say something about beer or pee. Glass jars of black tea usually elicit some comment about “drinking on the job” or “having a stiff one” as a reference to whiskey.

Martin Bednář

Edit: why I don’t want it => _why I don’t want boiling water. Sometimes thinking is faster than writing. In English.

gmathis

Yeah, I’ve heard ‘em all at work—getting ribbed for bringing yellow tea (it was chamomile, for goodness sake) in a clear tumbler, "What’s that little baggie full of leaves on your desk?" and “It smells like shoes.”

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72

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 4

Ah well. A great daily drinking oolong. Very creamy, smooth and “green” flavours. A bit vegetal, a bit seaweedy, but overall just enjoyable. If I would like something smooth and easydrinking, this can be it. But compared to other loose leaf oolongs, it is subpar tea.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 3 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML

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70

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 3

I had to do a little research about this tea. It seems it is not available anymore on YDTC website; but ingredients are listed on leaflet I got with the calendar (with preparation method for each tea). I found out that Timboektoe is Dutch spelling of city of Timbuktu, Mali. Mali, being african country, close to Morocco, means that it will be similar to Moroccan mint I suppose. There is a picture of Malian tea on Wiki, but with no details. Further search brought me results of minty green tea indeed.

But let’s see how it is. I did the research just afterwards, so when I was brewing it, I had no idea what to expect. Also, I checked the ingredients afterwards too.

Yes, it’s green tea which is mellow and grassy, with peppermint menthol flavour. It is pretty balanced, as I do notice both; but also it’s a little citrusy; and sweet. The aftertaste is very short though and overall it’s not much memorable tea.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 15 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML

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65

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 2

A plain white tea. I reach them very rarely. Usually they are very plain to me and without much to enjoy. This one is as well a bit crushed, so it is not much wonderful as in the picture.

I used roughly 80°C water, and steeped it for 3 minutes or so.

Well, it’s like that. Hay/meadow flavors, pretty much easydrinking, little honeyish/spicy aftertaste. The last I expect it’s from contamination from other lovely, but “breathing” linen bags I got teas in.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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77

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 1

Okay, to be honest I forgot yesterday as I came home late from work and I had also no mood for hot tea, so I just prepared it today and I will do my best drinking Day 2 today as well.

This tea is one of teas by YDTC I already had. It is quite floral pu-erh, but not by itself, instead because orange blossoms, which I had many in my sample. It was less creamy this time as well, but on the other hand the strawberry note was much stronger and and overall it was surprisingly well done.

I will keep the rating, but I am pleasantly surprised today and moreover it fills my craving for puerh today afternoon!

Flavors: Earthy, Floral, Strawberry

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Shae

This is such a fun idea, Martin!

Martin Bednář

As I have received it in mid-December, it was only thing, that came to my mind. Apparently, looking at the list; it is very festive, but who cares and why not have festive teas in middle of the year? Afterall, for instance in Finland, a summer solstice is actually a bank holiday :)

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77

A sipdown! (M: 5, Y: 33), prompt: A tea with a three word name
Decided to gongfu remaining 7 grams of this tea. Preheated gaiwan gives me impressions of very strong pithy lemon, along with that typical Darjeeling profile which I am not much able to describe, then some herbals and meadow flowers.

First 15 seconds steep is strong in that lemon peel flavour, that I have detected as well in western steeping. However, much more mellow, a bit resembling a green tea — there are notes of hay and grass seeds. Round flavor profile too.

Second steep was as well 15 seconds long, made very similar results in terms of flavours and scents, on the other hand, all of them are stronger.

Third steep with doubled time and it’s like a green tea with freshly squeezed lemon. There is lots of lemon in taste, but not so throat shrinking note. And the base is much more like green tea for me — that meadow and grass seeds note, not so common in black teas. But FF Darjeelings are often like that.

Another 30 seconds steep. It’s more grass seed instead of lemon zest. It’s much less prominent here.

Fifth steep was terribly oversteeped and I have killed this tea with it. I completely forgot I filled the gaiwan, got distracted, and well, two, three minutes passed. What ends up with three minutes steep? A very strong, but with not so strong astringency, and overall, surprisingly, it’s not bad.

I tried another steep, about 45 secodns long, but as I said, it’s killed and thus it produced nothing but weakly flavoured grass seed water.

82? Maybe not that much. I mean it was better, but it hasn’t me impressed that much that I will likely re-order. 77 is a new rating.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 30 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 125 ML

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Bio

I am drinking almost everything. Tea bag collector who moved to wonderful world of loose leaf.

Trying to rate differently tea bags and loose leaf as tea bags have usually worse quality.

Photographer now and then. Postcrossing and geocaching member. Very curious person. Logistics student (should finish in June 2021).

Buried in tea right now. Is in my cupboard (trying to be updated) which sparkled your interest? Write me, I would gladly share with you. But I don’t want anything in return now :)

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