141 Tasting Notes
So on Sunday, I decided to have this tea, and my hubby-to-be also chose this tea. I decided to have more practice with the gaiwan, so I steeped this tea in it.
Dry Leaf: Straight, long flat leaves, with orange peels and cornflowers.
Steep: The wet leaves have an orangey, almost lemony smell. It was nice to watch the leaves expand. The taste is citrusy and light, and it is also playful and light.
So I had this tea Friday ( the 25th) in the afternoon. I decided to steep this tea in my new gaiwan. The leaves have a grassy, almost hay-like smell.
First Steep: full body. Greenish colour, yet it is light. There is some sediment, which adds to the grassy flavour and aroma of the tea.
Second Steep: same as the first, except a little lighter.
Third Steep: light colour, almost no flavour.
I had this tea last Friday ( the 25th) alongside my breakfast.
Dry Leaf: Green and White tea with lemon peels and freeze-dried yoghurt. Usually there is a fragrant yoghurty taste, but it was light on friday morning. For breakfast I used my teal forlife tepot which makes about one and a half cups, depending on the size of the mug. It’s perfect for having a small amount of tea, but still wanting more than just one cup.
Steep: Greenish-white colour. Hints of fruit in the taste. Green tea influneces the colour of the tea, though it is a white tea. The flavours of the tea were very sublte that morning, perhaps I didn’t use enough leaves to get a stronger steep.
So I went to David’s Tea by myself after classes on thurs Jan, 24. I decided that I should try out some oolong tea. I’ve had two samples before, the skinny and the vanilla oolong, but I wanted to try a stragiht tea to get it’s flavour. So the nice DT person helping me let me smell this one, the milk oolong and another straight oolong that I cannot remember the name of.
This tea won for the evening and I decided to get it in my new bodum travel mug. I really love this mug becuase you can see the tea while it is steeping, which is very entertaining on a bus ride home, and while you are waiting for the water to cool. For all the the steeps, the leaves were left in the whole time, as it was in a travel mug. I was pretty impressed with this tea.
First Steep: Judging from the colour, I assumed that this was more of a green oolong, as it was light green and the leaves EXPLODED when touching hot water. What I mean is they went from these tiny ball-like shapes to fully open leaves, taking up a lot of space in the travel mug. It was a beautiful sight to see. The taste was almost sweet, with kind of a woodsy/earthy-like. There was also a warm, nutty felling and taste to it. The aroma of the tea was roasted, or toasty. There is a lingering flavour that holds onto you and leaves you wanting another sip. Leaving in the leaves did make the last bits of this steep a little bitter, so I didn’t drink it all. I still think that it is a good tea to drink on the go.
Second Steep: The leaves expanded even more with this steep. Its fun to see the bodum press compress the leaves. The colour is similar to the first steep, yet perhaps a little bit darker. There was some concentrated water from the first steep. The flavour is also very similar to the first steeping, only is it slightly changed. Fuller body, it is a very smooth tea. The flavour still lingers, but not as much as the first steep.
Third Steep: Fully flavoured, light taste. Losing body. lighter colour, and the scent of the tea is getting faint.
Fourth Steep: Almost all of the colour is gone so I judged this to be the final steep. The taste in this steep is very muted, due to multiple steepings, but I still quite liked it. The taste in this steep has become sweeter and more embracing. Thee taste of this final steep was also very light.
On Wednesday the 23, I decided to have some Genmaicha on the go. I like the kusmi version becuase the leaves look so fresh. The smell is also not as strong as other genmaichas I’ve had. The flavour is so fresh and light, which I find is characteristic of Kusmi teas.
So last Tuesday, on the 22, I had the last bag of this tea. Now I just have it in loose leaf form. This bag I’ve been saving for quite a while. I think it was exposed to too much air becuase usually the bag holds the smell of the tea quite nicely. This time I could barely smell the tea.
First Steep: SO the first steep, as I said above, the smell was very muted and so was the flavour. I only left the bag in for about five minutes, so that could have been a factor too.
Second Steep: I left the bag in this time. And it made a difference. The smell was still muted, but the flavour was much stronger than the first steep.
Last tuesday, during tutoring, I had this tea. Hooked from drinking it at DT, I decided to open up my sample that came with my boxing day tea order. I brewed it for the day and saved the other half for later in the evening. I was seduced by this lovely tasting and smelling tea. I really need to add this to my collection with a few other teas on my shopping list.
So, because I liked this tea so much from when I got it for my sister, I decided to go out and get some for myself. I made this tea monday january 21 for on the go for school. I don’t recommend doing this as I couldn’t throw away the leaves after steeping. It kind of got really strong. Even though it was strong, the nice light jasmine flavour came in, but it was almost completely overpowered by the bitterness of over-steeping white tea.
So this a new fave of mine. I think this is the chocolatey fix that I need to have once in a while. The flavour is so rich and smooth that every sip down to the last one is enjoyable. This was the tea of the day sample when I visited DT… I still don’t have it in my collection.
