What-Cha

Again, the description is spot on: “A smooth sweet grassy tasting Sencha, produced from the Taiwanese cultivar Qingxin Da Pa, which is usually reserved for Oriental Beauty giving the tea a smooth sweetness which isn’t found in other Senchas.”

There is no doubt that this tea is a Sencha Green tea though. Unlike others, it has a very clean tropical taste that is more breezy than seaweed like. So highlights are clean body, a sweet healthy green taste, and great re-steepability. Of course I brewed this gong fu. Sencha lovers rejoice :)

This is not the same English Breakfast that What-Cha had before, but this tea is doubtlessly English Breakfast in taste. I tried to Gong Fu it, but my attempts didn’t work. It did however have a nice malt and cherry aftertaste going on. It was more suited for cream and sugar, however. I will probably try it again to see if I missed something straight. I had high hopes given the varieties of teas blended in this particular breakfast, but it is still a very English tea. At least to me. What-Cha is an English company, so you would have to ask them.

Sipdown (160)!

Short Gong Fu on Christmas Eve;

Christmas Eve is my mom’s birthday – so in the morning we all gathered while she opened her birthday presents, and I just drank this one Gong Fu during that hour or so all gathered. Very casual Gong Fu, though…

It was nice; though I think I have to say I preferred it steeped up Western because it just seemed a little more flavourful overall, albeit less nuanced. Gong Fu this tasted like anise, malt, cocoa, and black pepper – sort of in that order? It reminded me less of Assam blacks, this second time drinking it. Still very smooth; but not as perfectly as I did get a bit of astringency this time in the first infusions.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Evening cuppa.

Thanks to my unintended guest this evening (groan…) I didn’t get to do the session I’d originally intended for the evening – so instead I’m just drinking a Western cup of something from the regional buy.

This is so much nicer than the Bitaco Green. It obviously has an advantage to it, being that it’s a black tea which is my preferred type of the two, though. Still; anise is SUCH a good descriptor for this blend. When I cracked open the sample bag, I could immediately smell the anise just from the dry leaf. Very nice, very nice indeed.

Steeped, this is really smooth too! First flavour note I picked up on wasn’t actually the anise – though that was there too as sort of a body note/note in the finish. No, that first flavour note was a thick, malty quality! Almost sort of Assam like? But without quite the same caramel/honey sweetness. I mean, this is sweet in its own right – but I’d say that the sweetness comes from a combination of anise and cocoa notes.

It’s a nice sort of “curl up in bed with a mug of tea and lament about what a dick your roommate is” sort of tea. Thick, rich, and comforting enough to overrule an unkind gesture/thought…

Backlog that is 4 years old…I finished this one really quickly. It took me a minute to get used to the dry qualities combined with the sweater ones, but I really liked it in the end. This tea introduced me to Korean Blacks, which I actually prefer slightly to some Chinese and Japanese blacks. It was this tea that established for me that Korean blacks have a grainy, carob quality. Sometimes they can be a little bit too sweet for me, but I am still very into them. I’ve just been pre-occupied with Taiwanese blacks and Fujian ones as of late.

Alistair, know that I greatly enjoyed this sample.

The notes written in the description are pretty spot on. I would add that this tea was like a combo between a Darjeeling and a Japanese Black. It had the elusive cocoa and chocolate notes for sure, but its raisin and citrus profile was closer to that of a Darjeeling while its grassy roasted qualities were closer to a Japanese black. I’ve never had a tea with this odd combo before.

I will try it again to see if I get anything else.

Backlog: I had a physically exhausting walk after a previous leg day and a series of obnoxiously high bloodsugars. My tumbler was sealed shut, so I could not plug in the snails, dispense the hot water, and inject the smooth caffeine this tea provides.

I was dying for some tea in some proper form. So, I come into a dining hall with Shang’s Tangerine Blossom, disposable loose leaf bags, and this tea without a single intention to eat anything. I go by to the tea water dispensers, and thankfully, the temperature was just right for these two teas at a good 190 F. The hot water in the dining halls are almost always around boiling and they stay scalding for a near hour unless I splash cold water in. Luckily, I did not have to put a single thought into the temperature. All I had to do was pay attention to the ratio and qualities of the teas.

Upping up the stakes for the sake of my enjoyment, and really, my empty stomach craving something resembling taste, I double -fisted this tea with the Tangerine Blossom. I took time notice the little similarities and differences between the two. I only prefer the Tangerine Blossom only because of it’s floral-citrus character against the cocoa malt body of dry tannin. This one had the silkier body and the smoother run down. I thought it was odd how comparable it was to a cocoa infused rooibos I had. Cocoa really is an accurate approximation for this tea. Thank God I bought a decent size of it.

Gong Fu last night, and the florals and smoky qualities were emphasized. Definitely some bitterness going on like raw cocoa. Though I prefer this western/grandpa, this was still nice and made a lovely morning cup from the leftovers. The color was amber. Woah-amber is the color of my morning tea-woah-shades of gold displayed naturally…

I am happy with my larger purchase of this tea. I am still figuring out how I like it Gong Fu, but so far I’ve gotten a very Guinness tasting tea. The cinnamon raisin rye notes are strong with this one.

What deeply impressed me was the buttery , chocolate notes I got Grandpa styling it in my tumbler. Malt, chocolate, yams, bread, smoke, and buttered toast were the things popping. More “chocolaty” in the first brew of it. Five brews grandpa in a portable bottle=happiness.

I will update this note later, but I wrote the basic idea behind the tea. For someone newly trying a golden Yunnan tea, this tea tastes like a malty, somewhat smokey buttered black tea.

This is a long ass story.

I’m so glad I’m taking my time with this tea. The little complexities and the layers of earth and sweetness makes this so enjoyable. I start off with a cocoa covered wisp of autumn leaves in the middle of winter, on a day that looks like the beginning of spring. Then the shift comes into the cocoa and then the honey all the while walking on a sunny day. I of course brewed this up in my 16 oz tumbler: today was a tumbling day of incidents beginning with a singular incident yesterday, after all.

The wind sneaks over at a chilly 27 F yesterday morning at 8: 05 AM. I slowly inch my car into a parking spot, and as soon as I tap the breaks and shift my gears- POP!- goes something in front of my hood. A bubbly mist rises there billowing through the cracks like dried ice. I lift the hood, and the mist is coming from a radiator hose bleeding out coolant all around the engine and all over the pavement.

“Fucking hell…” I grumble to myself. I pace back and forth like the business-casually dressed fop I am, re-center, then head into the middle school to start volunteering. I immediately let the wise Mr. Hopper know what the hell happened with absent surprise of it actually happening, and he starts to text his best mechanic, a past student who used to give him a little bit of trouble. I call my insurance, have it towed over to the shop, and proceeded to interacting with my kids.

Incident smiled then because another day prior to that prior day, a friend of mine wanted to stop by the classroom to see how the classroom dynamic was different from the school he volunteers at, the same school I tutor at and get paid for. People always get confused with this bit: I VOLUNTEER for Mr. Hopper, I WORK at the other school. Because I invited my classmate that I see at work prior, he was able to interact with the kids as well and get my tuckus back to campus.

From there on out, I played every step by pre-planned ear. I went to my classes, talked about pre-revolutionary American fashion oh-so-pretentiously, and proceeded to try to kick butt on an Exam about Chinese geography and history. I call up the shop and have them look at it intermittently throughout the day. I anxiously wait, gong fu some Li Shan from What-Cha, western some more Li Shan, and gong fu some Shang Tangerine Blossom. I head anxiously to my next class with my phone on full volume.

My professors of course know what the hell is going on too. I present a proposal for a Civics lesson plan on the U.S. Judicial Branch with the same classmate that I invited and got a ride from, and they let me talk on the phone during moments of class with well timed precision. Of course one professor is at a meeting two rooms away while the other teaches. The one at the meeting was the most concerned.

I get news as soon as I finished my lesson. The hose is replaced, but my car has more overheating problems. Again. And more problems with its bearings. So I let the shop keep my car overnight to do diagnostics the next morning.

The next morning is today’s morning. I wake up at 7, go back to sleep at 7:30, wake up at 8:30, go back to sleep, then my mom wakes me up at 9:45. She’s been informed and freaked out every step of the way. We make three plans on how I’m going to switch cars. I proceed to slowly wake myself up by drinking more Li Shan and Tangerine Blossom Gong Fu. I’m walking to get some lunch (i.e. breakfast), I’m about to call the shop, and I get the call from the student that has been looking at my car. He confirms the inevitable.

So I take the bus to get to the Middle School I volunteer at. I walk another two and a half miles to the shop. I pick up the car and meet the ex student mechanic in person. He is a twenty something like me and is incredibly nice. We talk about Mr. Hopper, how awesome he is, he tells me about the past that I just informed you, the reader about, and he proceeds to top me off with some coolant. I put my keys in the ignition, exhale, and drive down to my campus parking lot.

I call my mother. We start the paperwork for transferring the permit. I load up my tumbler with the Darjeeling and the rest of my teas with my lap top and toiletries as if I was going home. I take the first sip of the Darjeeling, and the cocoa covered wisp of autumn leaves meets my lips.

The final two incidents are the facts that I did not have “work” today, and the fact that I was planning on going to the DIA Museum with three friends of mine for a night out in Detroit. Of course, one of them has work, and of course, I give them another excuse not to go – never mind all four of us planned the night for over a week. So instead, I’m writing here, at the same place where this friend works – sipping my refill of this same Darjeeling in a coffee mug.

Good morning yummy tea, you are going to be some great company in my tumbler. And that you were. Maybe we can work on our staying power…

DAMN this tea is yummy. Anytime I have a Darjeeling with muscatel wine AND chocolaty notes I am happy. Here’s how he describes it: “A wonderful Darjeeling with a smooth honey sweet caramel taste which shifts towards a sweet chocolate maltiness with subsequent and longer steeps.” Emphasis on the honey-it was sweet enough to remind me of mead. I would not be surprised if you sweet tooths would serve this tea with honey or honey crystals. I got three good cups out of it western, and you might be able to Gong Fu this, but it was too light for me personally. I wanted the elusive chocolate notes that make me so happy. In short, this is an excellent example of a Darjeeling.

I scented a sample of this with vanilla for a few months, and it turned out nicely as expected. The vanilla did make me think of pudding for a little bit, but it mostly accented the cardamom and the malty black tea. This makes me fairly happy.

I KNOW I reviewed this tea for Steepster. Surprised it was not. Anyway…

Alistair’s description was spot on. I usually get a really smooth and spicy cup of apple malt. If that makes sense. The Assam with the spices, namely the strong cardamom and the bay leaf, produce a red delicious apple taste that is also comparable to dried apple tisanes. The rest is consistent of a chai: it’s a malty, but smooth Assam with the right blend of spices in my opinion. They really play with each other, the ginger bouncing to the cardamom to the cinnamon to the clove and back to the cardamom . The cardamom , malt and the ginger were the strongest for me personally, which is why I particularly liked this chai.

I highly recommend for TRUE chai lovers because it is a TRUE chai, and it is very approachable for a new tea drinker. If you do not like malty Assams or chais, then stay away. Gong fu worked for me just as well as Western, but the Gong Fu gives you the snobbier mini notes of the Assam with subdivided categories for the spices. Western is easy to set lighter or thicker in terms of how malty the Assam was, though I can say that I was able to Grandpa Style this in my tea tumbler with a very small tea spoon. You cannot go wrong with the quality of this tea at this teas price.

Bergamot hits the tongue immediately, accompanied by a light malt base and subtle bitterness. This Earl Grey highlights the natural citrus, which is quite potent, and lacks any artificial perfumed note. The mouthfeel here is juicy and robust, though mildly drying in the finish. Enjoyable.

Smooth and subtly vegetal at first, revealing notes of green bean and corn with a slight sweetness in the finish. Absent of any bitterness, this tea is a gentle one, with balanced flavors that are light but still enjoyable.

Baltic amber color liquor, unique zucchini and canteloupe type flavor. Soothing.

Delicious citrus oil-like notes with a round white woody flavor. Maybe slightly like hay. I want to call this like a Kenyan Grey.

Sipdown (201)!

Finished this one off at work the other night with some added in honey. I may have added in a bit too much honey because the taste of the honey itself was a bit strong, and definitely a touch more so than I’d have wanted. Even still it did nicely play off the anise notes of the tea itself, and the buttery/creamy artichoke flavour that seemed to be going on as well. Other than that, it was just rather grassy.

From the Regional Group Buy.

I set this one aside to drink today, and the timing of my Gong Fu session just happened to line up with when the Pumpkin Earl Grey bread that I baked today came out of the oven, so I wound up with a somewhat unintentional pairing of the two.

I think this is my first green tea from Columbia; I have to say I’m definitely looking forward to the Columbian Black tea over the green but I’m down to try just about anything once. Before I started eating the bread, my impression of this tea was sort of neutral at best? I found it rather grassy, but in a sort of lawn clippings/less sweet way? If that makes any sort of sense? Essentially – it was grassy but not so much a sweet or pleasant grass note. Also a bit smoky in the top of the sip, with a somewhat creamy finish. Very interesting overall; probably a bit closer to a Chinese style green over a Japanese just in flavour. Not really my sort of thing, though.

However, pairing it with the pumpkin EG bread was a game changer though because the bread was really rich and sweet, and covered a lot of the unpleasant grass notes I was getting. What it didn’t cover was the smoke note though, and that tasted wonderful alongside the pumpkin and citrus/bergamot. Lovely pairing of sweet and smoky!

Unfortunately, you can’t really commit to a tea on the condition you’re always going to be drinking it whilst eating Pumpkin Earl Grey bread because that means always needing to have PEG around and I just can’t ensure that’ll happen. So, I’m gonna have to play with the rest of the sample (maybe Western style) to see if I can enjoy it any better without the food pairing.

Very strong milk aroma and I think therefore it’s missing the complexity. A bit overwhelming for my taste but good to drink on a cold day.