Seven Cups

Smooth and clean tasting. Refreshing. Not very complex. Very cool that’s it’s all buds…no open leaves. Good tea to turn on new green tea drinkers.

very mild all around, but good. even though the taste is subtle there is depth to it. tastes very clean and pure, and reading a bit on how it is harvested and processed gives me a deeper appreciation for the work that went into it. no bitterness whatsoever.

Name: An Ji Bai Cha Organic
Type: Green
Region: Zhejiang Province, China
Method: Gaiwan, ~100ml
Water: Filtered tap
Temperature: 175 Fahrenheit
Amount: 3.5g
Time: ~20 sec.

Setting: Commute to work
Music: Jazz (Lee Morgan – I’m a fool to want you)

This was my first time preparing/drinking this tea. I decided to brew it 5 times and blend it all in a larger to go mug for my drive. Each infusion went well. The color appeared to be consistent with others’ reviews – a light golden yellow tint. The smell of the dry tea was more grassy than some other green teas I’ve had and very delicate. I’m curious to see how my multiple infusions blended together differ from one big western style infusion.

The first sip definitely met and exceeded my expectations. I usually like to get a sense of the mouth feel initially, and the result was great. It had a similar silkiness that I usually find with a tieguanyin and that familiar green tea after taste that lingered nicely. Unfortunately, I was drinking from a plastic to go mug so the flavors were somewhat muddled by my container, and the after taste was definitely the strongest aspect. Reminiscent of fields of tea plants after a morning shower, lifting the fragrance up, into the air, blending with the smells of the earth. A sweet taste though, no bitterness. I kept getting a chocolate vibe the entire time but would dismiss it. I am now sure there is a slight chocolate characteristic in the after taste, but maybe that’s just me.

The effect of sipping a great historical tea (see “Treatise on Tea” if you haven’t already) amidst the morning commuting traffic with Lee Morgan conducting the theme music was quite extraordinary. Was it the theanine? I think so. Since I’ve been drinking tea and meditating I’ve developed my senses to tune into slight changes in perception and state of mind. The tea, combined with the setting provided a wonderful contemplative state and before I knew it, I was at work still pondering why some people get up every morning and “fight” their way through traffic while mindlessly arguing on the phone, displaying their displeasure through their obvious body motions. I don’t get it. But that’s another topic.

Overall, I bought 50g of this tea and plan on experimenting with my brewing method and explore what else this tea has to offer.

Thanks,
Alexander

This is a sipdown for me, I’ve had this oolong for a while so it’s good to be clearing out something to make way for more tea :)

This definitely has a roasted dark flavor, but I’m also appreciating the floral notes that you get towards the end of the cup. Shui Xians and wuyi ooongs in general are probably my favorite type oolong. I’ve enjoyed this a lot but probably won’t restock soon since I also have the Verdant version of this tea in my cabinet.

I always thought you should steep oolongs at a lower temp. but just noticed on the bag it says to use boiling water, so I tried it that way today and it seems to be fine.

I love the aroma of this as well, very fruity.

Now that the weather is getting colder here, I am definitely finding myself attracted to some of my darker, roasty-er teas.

This dark oolong has a lot of yummy flavors, plum, burnt sugar and caramel come to mind. I like this steeped for a longer period of time, but you could do shorter steeps. Wuyi oolongs are some of my favorite and I hope to get more of them soon as they also seem to have a long shelf life.

Tea of the mid-morning here. I am fond of these darker oolongs but I usually drink them in the wintertime, However, today it’s foggy here as usual in the summertime. This tea is roasty and cozy, see previous notes for more details.

Last night I went out to a party with my adorable man, I think I’m a little too old to be partying on Thursday night so this will be a full throttle caffeine day for me. :)

This is a really good oolong if you like the darker styles. I love the roasted smell of this. Today I am picking up caramel notes and buckwheat. Definitely a great tea to sip on plain and it re-steeps well. See previous notes for more info.

Tea of the mid-morning here. I haven’t been drinking a lot of oolongs for some reason. Winter seems to be a season of black tea and shu puerh.

This tea is incredibly aromatic smelling while it is steeping. Great for a foggy day like we are having today. See previous notes for more details!

I got this with my most recent order from Seven Cups. Shui Xian is one of my favorite types of oolong tea so I figured I would like this. It has a very nice roasty smell and a light brown tea liquor.

My first steep was for around 1 minute and is quite nice. It has some lovely caramel notes along with some fruitiness, a bit of plum I am thinking. A very mellow tea with a bit of woody flavor present. I should be able to get at least 3 steeps out of it. I like it but I think it needs to be steeped up at home in the yixing teapot!

A sipdown, finally…
I’ve had these for a couple of years now, they are very tasty little tous. Good for travel or to take to the office. These have a nice date flavor. I’ve written about them extensively before so check my previous tasting notes for the details. I would re-order these again if I was going to buy more tea from Seven Cups.

I haven’t been drinking very much pu-erh lately as my pu-erh collection is in a box in the kitchen and it’s difficult for me to get to at the moment. I managed to fish out these tuos out of the box after lunch.

After a quick rinse I decided to steep this up in my yixing teapot I’ve reserved for shus. I did two steeps at 30 seconds each and combined them into one cup of tea. These are good tuos, the tea liquor is dark and creamy and this is so mellow with the date flavor. see previous notes for more details. I hope to drink up some of my other pu-erhs soon if I can manage to access them.

This is a lovely little mini tuo. I decided to steep one up this afternoon to try it for the first time.

The tea liquor is very rich and creamy — I am definitely getting the date flavor here but it isn’t as fruity as some I’ve had. It’s earthy, sweet and fairly mild. It’s been a while since I’ve had a shu puerh and this is definitely mushroomy/dirty/loamy in character. Pretty good for an afternoon cuppa. I got three steeps out of it before I gave up, but I think it could keep going for a while.

This was a sipdown for me yesterday…
what a good black tea this was, I could definitely see myself getting more of this. Love the sweet yam molasses type flavors, See previous notes for more details.

Tea of the morning here…

I decided to steep this for 4 minutes and the result is really interesting. It definitely got very malty and has a touch of tobacco but also with a floral note? Yeah and I’m drinking it with vanilla soymilk, it’s pretty good that way. Will have to try more things from Seven Cups in the future.

Here’s an intriguing tea I got from my Seven Cups order. I have a friend who is obsessed with peacocks so perhaps I will have to give her some of this. :)

First steep at two minutes: this smells a bit winey, and ergo reminds me of a keemun. The flavor is a bit like some golden monkeys I’ve had. It’s a bit “yammy” and starchy but the aftertaste is slightly bitter with a hint of tobacco.

Second steep: I decided to go for around 45 seconds instead of the longer steep time. This has brought forth some more gentle notes of plantain and caramel. Definitely good to keep the steeping time short on this tea unless you like something really strong and bitter.

More to come soon…