Liquid Proust Teas

It’s been a bit of a rough week fighting off migraines while attempting to navigate through the more pressing life things. Ugh. Massive construction in the neighbourhood hasn’t helped. Thankfully, so far, things are quiet and still today.

Beautiful depth of flavour here. The toasted rice comes through with the nuttiness of dense whole grains, such as wheat berries for example. The chocolate notes are more of the baked goods type, along the lines of toasted chocolate nut bread: chocolate and bready, but not particularly sweet. Nice work, Liquid Proust!

Oh this is a fine cup of tea. Thanks to Verdant for their great Laoshan tea and thanks to LP for great blending. It’s like having a cup of chocolate in the morning. I wasn’t getting too much from the rice but my taste buds are not too awake in the morning. Next time I try this, I’ll make it an afternoon tea.

I’ve now tried this with 80c /90c / and 100c water and I come out with roughly the same experience at 30 to 45 second brews in a gaiwan.

For those who are unsure of what Cypress Dong Ding is: I decided to release a cypress (wood) infused 2013 dong ding oolong when my 20% sale went active.

Drinking this as if it isn’t my own creation and I find some positive and some negative aspects to it. The first steep comes off the strongest with the woodsy notes that are hard for me to explain, but as it goes on I believe it turns into an acorn taste as the nutty/wood/lowroast all come together. This dong ding seems to brew out a bit weak around the sixth steep, but I’ve been staying at 45 second steeps, but for the price of it I can’t complain; $8/oz. If there wasn’t a dryness to the liquid after it goes down it would be much better, but I’m kind of in a touch spot as I find myself associating wood/nut/roast as a dry’like taste anyways, however I prefer a nice sweet taste at the end. This would probably be better when the weather is more cooler than these summer days outside, but maybe I made a poor choice there by trying it while it was really hot out.

Overall it’s an interesting tea and I’m glad that the wood notes actually transferred over because it makes me want to experiment with other woods in the fashion I did here before I start buying the equipment to make my own home smoking machine/contraption for tea.

Finishing this off. Sad to see it go, but excited to see what other awesome creations Andrew comes up with. This one has really “hit the spot” every time that I’ve had it.

I steeped this longer to get more of the coffee in there. Thankfully the Jin Xuan didn’t become bitter with the longer steeps. Nice roasty, greens flavor in this one.

I last had rated this an 88. I got a new pack of this a few days ago and had it yesterday and today. It gave me great energy. My dad and sister both liked it too.

I let it steep for an hour or so in my later steeps, and that delicious coffee bitterness came out.

Up to a 90. I feel like coffee and tea have a nice synergistic effect. I’d like to see more blends with coffee and tea.

This is a very enjoyable tea. I’m really liking the toasty flavor and have liked all the Jin Xuans and Milk Oolongs that I have tried. I’m not sure how much of the coffee flavor I am tasting, but frankly it doesn’t matter to me much, because the tea tastes good.

I just woke up from an epic long nap, I say epic because it was five hours long and I am not really sure that counts as a nap or just a short sleep. Said nap was needed after helping Ben’s grandparents with getting ready to move, and the scorching almost 100 degree heat really wore me out, not that I have been sleeping well lately due to said heat, the heart monitor, and just general sleeping problems…so that nap was so welcome. Since I had been playing a bit of Ark (yay new update, boo leeches) my dreams were filled with amusingly mundane swamp adventures, like making sure the plants were fertilized. Fun times!

You know what, I hate the heat…in fact if you have been reading this blog for a while you probably are well aware of this. Luckily I live in a time of refrigeration and ease of cold-steeping, and that is what I did with today’s tea, Watermelon Baozhong from Liquid Proust Teas. First off, props to Andrew for actually using dried watermelon pieces rather than just flavoring, granted I love me some watermelon candy, but I like the real thing even more. Which can I point out that up to three years ago I loathed all melons with a burning passion? Now I love watermelon, this still weirds me out, but also makes me happy because I always felt so left out during the summer. The aroma of this tea with its big ol’ leaves and big ol’ watermelon chunks, is pretty darn sweet. Creamy notes of hyacinth and lilacs blend with crisp lettuce and surprisingly juicy watermelon. He used Beautiful Taiwan Tea’s Baozhong as a base, and that tea smells wonderful, so it is no surprise that it blends really well with the watermelon since it is one of the sweetest Baozhongs I have sniffed.

After letting it sit in my fridge for a bit, not only was the watermelon slice massive after rehydrating, the aroma really ramped up the watermelon too, blending watermelon and flowers and a tiny hint of dried basil. Weird but it really worked, reminded me a bit of a salad I had once with watermelon and basil leaves, a fantastic combo!

I feel like I am drinking the very embodiment of a summer picnic! Juicy sweet watermelon, sun warmed grass, lettuce, basil, blooming flowers, and a touch of mineral at the finish to of course call in the inevitable rain that arrives at picnics. The only thing missing is ants…or chiggers…and I am ok with those not being around. It is so refreshing! I love how it tastes like an actual watermelon and not a Jolly Rancher, and I love the way it blends with the Baozhong. Another blend well done, Liquid Proust Teas continues to impress me, and wow is it nice to have a summery tea to enjoy in this heat! Also, I was able to get a resteep, something I pretty much never get from cold steeping (except on occasion Jin Xuan or heavily rolled oolongs of that nature) it was lighter the second time around, but still quite refreshing and tasty.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/06/liquid-proust-teas-watermelon-baozhong.html

I haven’t reviewed a tea in forever it seems. School was crazy and I had a moment with coffee, and so I didn’t drink as much tea as I have in the past over this year. When I did, I was usually too zonked to think to log it.

Anyway, summer is here, and I am back. I like this one a lot. I love florals, but sometimes find them very strong. I like that there is a dessert-y quality, but also the soft floral. I have been starting out my day with this, very happily.

Like all of the teas I’ve tried from Liquid Proust this one doesn’t include any steeping instructions, so I decided to consult the oracle known as google and see what other companies recommend when steeping the base tea, in this case a Baozhong Oolong. Sadly I found that I didn’t have much luck when steeping this tea at 195˚F, which is what was recommended by several sources, it left my tea tasting like a watermelon jolly rancher. That really isn’t my thing, so I starting playing around with different water temperatures and steeping times. It turns out this is one stubborn tea. I finally gave up and tossed everything into my cold steeping pitcher.

In hindsight I probably should have saved this tea until after I’d had a cup of something a little less finicky, perhaps my favorite earl grey, but once I get an idea in my head there is no letting go. Fortunately I had excellent results cold steeping this overnight. The long cold steeping time left me with a pitcher of tea that had a mild, but pleasant grassy flavor and only the faintest hint of tart watermelon. A little added sugar smoothed out the tartness, leaving me with a pleasantly flavored oolong that’s perfect for the hot days of summer.

You can read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2016/6/14/watermelon-baozhong-liquid-proust-teas

I am not a big fan of shu anymore. Funny thing is I started drinking shu before sheng. I liked shu just fine but sheng turned out to be my favourite. Yet, I was excited to try out this tea by LP because I love rum.

Wow! This tea is amazing! Rum & earthy! This is a slight sour note to it too. I don’t know if that’s coming from the rum or the pu-erh but it really comes together well. I am really amazed with some of the teas from LP. This tea is certainly a winner.

It probably isn’t the best tea for the morning since I have to be on the road soon. Will I get stopped by the cops with alcohol on my breath? lol I will save the rest of those leaves for the afternoon.

Awesome! I haven’t tried any alcohol-flavored teas before (I’m not usually a fan of alcohol) but I was curious so I tried this. So far I love it!! I’ll plan on adding more detailed notes later.

Drinking this iced… finally, I’ve done it. For the first time I have captured that Butiki taste and feel through the cold steeping of this!
The wonderful vegetable, semi sweet, with summertime grassy notes coming through with a mild buttery texture from the baozhong (Beautiful Taiwan Tea) works so well cold. Throw in some notes of wet watermelon in there… YES!

I served this hot awhile back and I was iffy about it, but now that I am drinking it cold I have no doubts that I could drink the rest of the batch if I needed to :)

GCTTB V1

Another tea that I’ve been wanting to try from Liquid Proust for a while – I’m happy enough of it lasted in the box for me to get a mug’s worth for the way to work. It looks like this has definitely been a popular one in the box.

This is kind of a weird pairing: I don’t think I’ve ever seen blackberry and sage anything before. However, I’ve had Fauchon’s Peach and Thyme blend and I remember enjoying that quite a lot so I figured this would be similar in idea and delivery. And it is!

The blackberry flavouring is actually really, really nice. I’ve tried a handful or two of blackberry teas at this point and I find it’s a flavour that’s hard to execute well: it’s either not strong enough at all or it comes off as terribly cloying or unnatural/artificial. This is up there with Butiki’s blackberry flavouring though: it’s rich, distinct, has that sweetness that comes with perfectly ripe blackberries and it isn’t overpowering or fake tasting. I’m also finding that it compliments that jammy sweetness/stonefruit like note that good keemun has as well.

The sage is definitely less distinct: I 100% get a nice herbaceous sort of note in the background of the tea but I’m not confident I could blindly tell it was sage without this prior knowledge. It does compliment the blackberry though; the mix of sweet fruit and a more savory note elevates this tea and makes it both seem more exotic and nuanced. I feel like if I was just tasting the blackberry or just tasting the sage I would still enjoy the flavours but that this would be a more average or forgettable tea. The pairing brings more life to the drink, for sure.

Of the blackberry and sage, the blackberry is certainly the stronger note though. And actually, I think the sage is probably the more subtle out of it, the blackberry, and the base. And that would probably be my one criticism: if this were just a little stronger I think that flavour would be much more distinct. That said, if it were too much stronger I think that it would dominate the cup in an unpleasant way. It’s a tricky ratio/balance for sure.

I believe this is the second batch/version of this tea? I hope that means that there’ll be a third batch, because I found this one to be absolutely delightful. Definitely Top Five Liquid Proust teas I’ve tried so far; dare I say top three?

So I found this tea to be absolutely fascinating. I really like the weird tasting jackfruit, kind of tropical but also sorta tastes like overripe fruit/pudrid/rotting fruit, however I kind of like it.

I can taste tea, but can’t identify what type. It wasn’t weak but also wasn’t super strong. I didn’t taste any fermentation/classic pu’erh flavour (which I expected) and found it very interesting. I wil be brewing this more like a traditional pu’erh soon as I feel the tea taste was not very pronounced this time (western brew.) I enjoyed this blend a low and look forward to my next cup.

GCTTB V1

I was really happy to see that enough for one cup/mug of this tea had made it to me; it’s been on my wishlist for a while but when I placed my most recent LP order it was sold out. Since I’m pretty far on the list for this box I was worried I wouldn’t get a chance to try it…

The leaf for this one looks so pretty! Not getting much from the dry aroma, but as it’s infusing I can definitely smell some sweeter floral and fruity notes emerging from the cup.

First thing I taste with the initial sips is blueberry: I’m actually kind of surprised just how strong the blueberry flavour is. I’ve also tried LP’s Blueberry Sandstorm Genmaicha and enjoyed it, but the blueberry in that was subtle in comparison to this. Once the berry subsides, there’s some nice floral orchid notes as well as a floral flavour that’s almost like… gardenias? There’s also some faint peachyness from the base tea, presumably. It’s a nice, delicate flavour with the exception of the more bright blueberry top notes. I’m finding it really calming and enjoyable overall.

I’m very happy to have been able to get a taste of this one.

Puerh Tea TTB. This was an interesting tea. The taste of the rum was very strong at first, too strong to my taste buds. It lessened after a few steeps and I liked it better. The ripe tea itself was good, not having too strong a fermentation taste and not having any real bitterness. Overall I liked this tea.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 100ml gaiwan with 6.4g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min.

How have I not rated this yet?

Anyway, I love the Laoshan Black/Oolong tea from Verdant very much. I think I’ve shared that thought many times. But this tea, it adds so much more to already superior teas. The base really comes forward in the cup, but the added ingredients make these two teas work stupendously well together.

The cocoa nibs add a little more of that chocolate note to the base. The rice gives it a slight nutty flavor, which progresses after a while. Unfortunately, I’ve stopped drinking the tea alone after the fourth cup, since, after all, it IS Memorial Day, and there was food going around after the first few cups, so I had a lot of other flavors going on with it (I’ll most likely write a second review later on).

I will note here, though, that if you’re looking for a solid tea for the morning, this is one I’d grab. It’d make a great afternoon pick-me-up, too. And as far as Liquid Proust’s teas go, anything made by this guy is quality—even my wife is starting to drink tea (or least try it). So, with that said, go get ya’ll-selves some!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCaEw_A-4R/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCad5yA-5O/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1

Oh yeah, I’d totally go out and buy a large amount of the Laoshan Black, but it’s incredibly expensive, so it wouldn’t be the ideal ‘daily drinker.’ However, it’s on the long wishlist of “These will be the ‘guests only’ drinkers; that, or, ‘holidays only’ tea.”

https://www.etsy.com/listing/288562613/laoshan-chocolate-genmaicha?ref=shop_home_active_3

I might rate this higher, but I really like it hot. Like REALLY like it. Flavored Baozhongs are meant for me then.

What I said remains true. A good light and clean baozhong with a great dry leaf smell of sugar and watermelon, and a floral liquor with the same after tastes. Definitely recommend it as something unique, and for you to try.

I’ve actually had this tea for a while. Why I haven’t reviewed it: I have yet to properly cold brew it. The first time yielded some nice results. I put my pot instantly in the fridge overnight after splashing 190 F hot water. Eight hours past, and I got a cool baozhong with green hints and a discernible background of watermelon. Re-steeped it a few times with cool water, and the watermelon quality opened up more. Yet in that entire session, it was very light. The cool water overwhelmed the tea. I’ve looked up a few ways to brew it online, but I prefer listening to what you guys have to say about cold brewing.

Which brings me to being naughty this morning. I’ve asked Andrew before about this tea being served hot-and as I thought and as he thought OBVIOUS-this tea was meant for cold brewing. Hot watermelon=weird. However, I was curious.

I got a serving of only the baozhong leaves without the watermelon. Steeping it western, and I got an enhanced baozhong. It still had the crisp green and floral qualities of the oolong type, but with the accents of sugarcane and watermelon. A Baozhong with watermelon and sugarcane notes. A hot tea I have no complaint with drinking in the morning.

I will write another note when I’ve brewed the tea properly. For now, I’m just enjoying the sippin’.

GCTTB
The label on the tea says ‘Spa Oolong’ but here it’s called ‘Oolong Spa’ so I’m not sure which is the right one. Not that it really matters in the face of good tea. ;)

Lavender and oolong sound like an odd combination but somehow they manage to work here. It’s the creamy vanilla flavours that help meld everything together, I think. The tea is floral without being too overpowering (no lavender soap tea here!) and the mild woodsy flavour of the dark oolong base compliments the lavender quite well.

GCTTB
This is a very stemy oolong, making it a bit hard to measure with the twigs hanging over the side of the spoon like little spider legs, lol. The smell of the tea is beautifully floral, like fresh lilacs. The floral notes are also in the flavour but they’re mixed with a light blueberry flavour, and the tea finishes with a slight tanginess.

The second steep @ 4 min didn’t have much in the way of berry flavour though the oolong base itself was still full and flavourful. Those tangy ends note were more developped into something that might be pineapple or maybe citrus.

GCTTB
I love mead so naturally I had to try this tea. Given the Darjeeling base I lowered the steeping temperature from the usual boiling water I usually use with black teas. It tastes very much like a Darjeeling with that slightly astringent, muscatel wine flavour. As the tea cools off I can taste the smoother sweet honey flavour. It’s a great idea for a tea blend, I just wish a bit more of the honey flavour came through initially.

This is a queued tasting note.

Sipdown (141)!

Finished this one off hot; though finished is perhaps not quite the right word since most of what I had of this found its way into the GCTTB V1. Gotta share the tea love! Hot was definitely the right way to be drinking this one though: it was much smoother and the flavours were far better balanced. The dominate berry notes I experienced were strawberry and raspberry, though there could have been others present that just didn’t have the same impact. This was complimented by a very nice, toasty rice flavour and the subtle marine/grassy flavour of the base tea.

So, basically it was smooth, sweet and with just enough savory/umami from the toasted rice to really elevate this one and make it something special.