1705 Tasting Notes
Backlog:
I’m a definite fan. Orchid aroma and taste throughout with some malt, roast and honey in the after taste. It actually reminded me of eating a chocolate orchid-the literal flower. This reminded me of black Darjeelings in the way I like them: floral, muscatel, a little dry, and bitter sweet.The darker amber color also reminded me of some Darjeelings. I got several cups gong fu-like 8 or 9. I need to try this western, but know if I am looking for a Darjeeling substitute, this would be a go to for me.
I liked the green Yushan, but I’m prejudiced. This oolong would probably store better anyway.
Shorter steeps Gong Fu worked best for me by starting at around 15 seconds and slowly adding to that range to emphasize the fruit. I also had to catch it while it was hotter to get the fruit and florals that I would want. The roast was pretty obvious and the tea was fairly savory bordering on butter toast or squash, but it was fruitier than I expected with honey in its profile. Some florals popped up though the roast dominated the tea. This took some skill to get a good balance between the more green elements and the more savory ones.
I’ll write another note. I still love me a good Da Hong Pao and Yan Cha-heck, I prefer them to many blacks for dark teas, but I still prefer greener oolongs to drink more often than dark ones. This one specifically was more medium in roast which I like, being very similar to a Dong Ding in more than one way-especially in the nutty fruity thing it had going on. I enjoyed it, but it would not be a go to tea for me.
Tumbler Test: I was pleased how well this did. It had a orange-pineapple thing going on with the florals. The minerals were still there, and it grandpa style three times. Most impressive.
With that said, I gotta find myself a lot of jade oolong soon. I should be looking for a daily drinker which this might work for, but there are others I’m debating on- I’m looking for heady florals, fruity, and sweet for any brew style imaginable.
This was very oolongy with more cocoa notes in the roast that I usually do not expect from an oolong. Overall, it reminded me of toasted grains, oatmeal, and cedar wood, but it was on the sweeter end. I enjoyed it, but I am glad that the sample is not too big. It good enough for me to enjoy another session respecting it as a quality tea but not good enough for me to seek it out.
I second Rasseru’s tasting notes: toasted rice, with emphasis on roast, chocolate, and fruity on notes. Reading this, do not expect to taste literally every one of those things as flavors because you know how pretentious tea notes work.
Back to speaking in pretentious tea notes. I was not expecting the cocoa notes to be as heavy as they were along with the fruit notes-they were things that I typically demand in my black teas but I got it in an oolong instead. If I were a total novice, I probably would have identified some of the teas in the group buy as blacks, but after LP’s extensive education of me in the world of oolongs, the only way that I could tell that this was an oolong was its roasty similarities to a Da Hong Pao and the woodiness that would pop up. Roast, wood, fruit, and nuts are tastes that I usually get in a black tea anyway, but this was lighter on the malt, and heavy on the roast, nuts, and fruity. What do I know anyway?
I liked that it was off of my oolong expectations and though it personally tasted close to a black, it has a lot of the qualities that I want in my blacks anyway. Guess I won’t have to reshelve my darker tea category too soon.
This was the Assam Oolong from the 2017 Liquid Proust Regional Oolong Group Buy( out of order).
I wondered if it would be on the greener end based on the emerald leaves online, but it was darker like I previously expected. Plum is the dominant note in aroma and taste, but I did not anticipate how thick, fruity, and juicy it would be. If I were to taste this blind, I would have thought it was an Assam Black on the light end because it had a very pronounced cocoa note in its strength, and the color of the tea was largely dark brown. I still enjoy it because it is so much closer to how I prefer my blacks anyway-light, complex, yet bold in their own right.
I will lighten up next time to see if its more oolongy, but know that this tea is great, and would make a killer breakfast or lunch tea.
Backlog:
Drank this as a pour over at Bloom Coffee Roasters.
This seems like a simple blend: Saigon cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorn, and lemongrass. I also happen to go nuts over those ingredients, and I am glad this was a simple herbal. The spices were all very fresh and the cinnamon was mouth-coating and warming. The peppercorn added a much needed kick in the aftertaste, and the lemongrass smoothed the rest out with a slight sweetness. Is it weird that I think lemongrass is smooth?
It’s frickin’ obvious that this is a foodie’s herbal, but I personally enjoyed it. I would probably rate it around an 85 or higher, but I have the bad tendencies to do one night stands with herbal teas. I have a great experience with them when I’m in the mood, sloppy seconds if they suck, and then I forget them altogether. If only my actual love life were as promiscuous.
Major Backlog: From Bloom Roasters Coffee Shop in Lansing.
Hell, there are so many notes to write. I had to make a review of this one, however.
The coffee shops that I’ve been typically stick to the some form of basic chai, green, earl grey, jasmine, chamomile, and what have you, but Bloom did something different. Written in the crisp white calligraphy on a chalk-board menu appeared the words “Silver Needle” with its notes saying “Vanilla frosting, hay, and cinnamon.” I immediately looked up the company named spirit tea. They had every solid basic that a snob would want-with a special emphasis on seasonal Baozhongs and roasted Tie Guan Yins on their website. I knew this was the real deal, as I knew this coffee shop took its fanciful audience’s taste seriously.
The way the brewed the tea was interesting: it was via pour over method like they do with their coffee: this was a coffee shop in the art district of a capital after all. I only got one cup of the tea, but it was satisfied me. The color was a light amber gold that you could only get from a white tea. The texture was thick and soft at the same time with no tannin and bare astringency, followed by a whispy character with a surprisingly strong cinnamon note. I’ve only had a few white teas do that, and this impressed me.
I would definitely try this tea again, and I at least had to share. This company seems to be right up the alley of people on here.
The Group Buy came!
And I am very excited to see them. I especially wanted to try this one. I did not expect the leaves to pop so open and beautifully gong fu. In terms of notes, there were a lot more minerals than I was expecting making me think of a creek melting from the winter into spring. Other notes were lightly floral, tart, and sweet. The sweetness reminded me of something a cross between pineapple and lemon grass, while the body was fairly creamy.
This was definitely my kind of oolong, but I think that I was missing something when brewing. Some moments were a touch too weak, some moments were a touch to bitter. There were times where I got a rise of heat and then an after taste of lemony leaves crushing its bitter juice in my mouth in the aftertaste. I’m totally exaggerating, but anyway, I think I was off on my brewing. I used about half the 10g bag in a gaiwan, started with a rinse, and steeped the first one in thirty seconds with 193 F water.
I’ll figure it out.
