1666 Tasting Notes
I really enjoy a light roast applied to Taiwanese balled oolong.
April 2019 harvest. Freebie from an order last year.
Gongfu longer steeps starting at 30s:
Dense lilac and orchid aroma. Lubricating, viscous mouthfeel. Taste — getting a lot of milk and green cardamom in this one. Lilac, orchid, grass, green stems, sugar cookies, nectar, mineral, aluminum, dry grass, walnut, spinach. Cooling, complex. Fruity aftertaste I cannot place, something tropical-custardy? Excellent for 3 infusions. From the 4th on it becomes increasingly drying like walnut skin, bitter and more metallic.
Grandpa is so pectic thick!
Really nice tea for the price.
Flavors: Bitter, Butter, Cardamom, Cookie, Cream, Dry Grass, Drying, Floral, Flowers, Fruity, Grass, Herbs, Metallic, Milk, Mineral, Mint, Nectar, Orchid, Plant Stems, Spinach, Sweet, Tropical, Vegetal, Walnut
Cold-brewed. Smells like fruit punch, tastes like nothing but sour and in a thin way. Increasing brew time and number of bags doesn’t do much for the better.
Probably ok with sugar. Even then, it might taste like Kool-Aid.
Flavors: Cherry, Fruit Punch, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Sour
A short round of gongfu steeps didn’t do a thing for me, so I threw the leaves in a jar for cold brew. It was refreshing, sweet and toasty.
The remaining 3.5g of the pillow went western. Very mineral with a smooth roast, chocolate, raspberry. Tangy mid-tone. What-Cha describes this a being reminiscent of a Da Hong Pao; I can definitely see that. Perhaps the minerality isn’t as deep as in rock oolong. I don’t know. This week was rough. (Haven’t they all been lately?) Regardless, this oolong drank hot outdoors hit the spot as I finished up planting some native shrubs while the wind picked up and the temperature dropped near sundown.
Preparation
Saturdays, ugh. I needed my ‘1990s pilled polyester bald-headed eagle blanket’ today. My first ever western steeping of this shou puerh and chenpi combo was the comfort I desired but it doesn’t offer the kick needed to prepare for the crappiest work day of the week, Saturday. At least it’s my Friday.
This tea is fantastic steeped western and grandpa. Both methods offer the full flavor and thickness that gongfu steeping can’t attain due to the high compaction of the material. Simply a solid drinking shou with no off flavors even when I manage to let time slip by.
Flavors: Cedar, Dark Wood, Earth, Mineral, Orange Zest, Pine, Smooth, Spicy, Thick, Yeast
Preparation
“A Low Self-Esteem Self-Portrait”
Unassuming and mute until you prod her.
Her hopes, dreams and fears are packed away tightly.
You wonder if lengthier conversations and a gentle touch will offer some degree of success.
She has potential. She seems sweet enough.
Even still, all efforts to get her to open up are met with a perfumed air of arrogance that permeates your space.
What lies beneath is the bitter pill of reality.
Perhaps she’s less substantial than you thought.
Song pairing: Soul Coughing — White Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlXipLy6nI
[W2T freebie]
Flavors: Bitter, Fruit Tree Flowers, Hot Hay, Malt, Medicinal, Melon, Perfume, Powdered Sugar
Preparation
Coming back to Jinggu Bàng a year later, it has toned down a lot. No longer do I get green beans or creamy, custardy florals. Those have mellowed into a base of smokey straw and bitter kale tone with subdued dried yet damp meadow florals. Impression of mushrooms and bay leaf. It is savory-beany-vegetal, mineral, cooling in the mouth and body and bitter with very little sweetness. The bitterness might turn others away but I find it somehow refreshing. Astringency is short-lived for me. The aroma is savory and meadow floral with a hint of buttery apricot-osmanthus.
I’m actually quite enjoying the tea today. Nothing amazing but sometimes you don’t want sheng puerh to floor you.
Flavors: Apricot, Astringent, Beany, Bitter, Butter, Camphor, Flowers, Herbs, Honey, Kale, Mineral, Mushrooms, Osmanthus, Smoked, Straw, Vegetal
Preparation
I took a sip of it hot and intended to put the remaining tea in the fridge to have iced later today. I ended up letting it cool and instead swigged it away quickly.
When I think of an Hawaiian Breeze, the last taste my mind conjures is the strong coppery and clear malty taste of this tea. I had a teabag, composed of mostly what I think is Ceylon black tea fannings. It was a bit strong and didn’t merge too well with the passionfruit oil. Hibiscus, is it even there? The tea did taste better cooled to room temp. Strange flavor combination, though.
I want to grow passion fruits something fierce.
Preparation
Not sure if you saw my message about Banoffee Rumba being back on the VIP page: https://birdandblendtea.com/us_en/secretwebsite.html
I did via email, thank you! Been unable to access my messages here once again :/
Oh ok :D I didn’t want you to miss it if you wanted to grab some
How’s the shipping cost from England? I’m considering one or two other teas in addition to banoffee rumba but don’t know if it’s worth it.
derk – so pick other ones too! :D
But, as their shipping site says:
Orders up to £12 £4.80
Orders £12.01 – £30 £7.50
Orders £30.01 – £45 £10.20
Orders £45 – £64 £12.90
Orders £64+ FREE
I am happy that I was able to share you this little secret guys!
Yeah, the free shipping limit to the US is $90 which isn’t ideal… but they once didn’t have free shipping at all. Shipping is higher… you could try group ordering with a couple people to get to free shipping?
Thanks Martin. Searching for shipping costs slipped my mind. tea-sipper, I kind of don’t want to be responsible for a group buy from outside the US at this time but I will consider it when worldwide shipping logistics are ironed out. I’ll prob just submit to the shipping cost and hope it arrives.
Oh ok, I understand. Hope you find some good teas though!
Good morning from the west coast.
A gentle green tea that can be had upon waking without causing an upset stomach. I enjoyed the entire sample from tea-sipper over the course of last week as grandpa-style brews before eating breakfast. Clean, sweet, beany-vegetal, nutty and toasty as long jing is known for. Impressions of cream, grain and apricot. Never astringent. It did, I think from the amount of loose trichomes, tear up my mouth a bit. I remember having that issue with long jing in the past. The effect on my mouth cleared up after 2 days of sipping. The calming aroma and flavor more than made up for that effect.
Thank you, tea-sipper :)
The garden is fully planted. Between the perennial growth and annual plantings, we have:
mandarin orange, lemon, loquats (too young to flower), pomegranate, pineapple guava, strawberries, blueberries, grapevines, honeydew, watermelon, avocado, native currant, quince, banana (it flowers but never fruits)
mints, parsley, thyme, oregano, bay tree, thai basil, cilantro, sage, borage, lemon balm, chamomile, lavender
chives, garlic, leeks, green onion, bulb onions, turmeric, ginger
arugula, chard, amaranth, bok choi, artichokes, fennel
yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, pole beans, beans for drying
sunflowers, roses, jasmine, honeysuckle
And those are just the edibles with multiple varieties of many plants. I don’t even know the extent of our flowers and succulents. I do have 8 or 9 Bay Area native trees and shrubs I’ll be planting today.
Flavors: Apricot, Beany, Chestnut, Cream, Grain, Green Beans, Nectar, Nutty, Soybean, Sweet, Toasty, Vegetal
Preparation
Sal-OOT! That’s not a garden, that’s a farm!
It’s amazing how much you can fit in a 1000 square foot backyard. We don’t have much grass :P
I need to buy plane tickets to see all those edibles! I agree with gmathis, if you have those edibles and MORE then your lot must be huge!
Amazing, indeed amazing! And I like the note that you have local trees! That’s always better!
Our backyard is probably closer to 1200 square feet. I’ll have to send you some photos, Martin, once everything starts taking off. All the local plants will be going in the front and side yard. Those are surprisingly barren in comparison to the back yard.
And P.S. I’ve tried this and really liked it. Dragonwell is my favorite green variety.
Wow. WOW! That’s sounds absolutely awesome and amazing.
It’s smaller than I thought. But I would gladly accept the photos :)
Wow! Your garden sounds amazing!
Amen to less mowing!
The best part about having a garden so abundant is sharing the harvest. I can’t take credit for most of the variety because my housemate has been here tending garden from lawn for 11 years. She takes care of layout and some of the planting (we have a lot of inter-planting) and fertilizing. I deal with weeding, the drip irrigation system and building/fixing/moving heavy stuff/breaking ground. We’re a prolific team.
gmathis, dragon well sure is an agreeable tea, though I’ve had some difficult to brew. And as mowing is my job and our lawn ryegrass my most offending allergen, I couldn’t agree more.
My dream is to turn one part of the front yard into a small stonefruit orchard but there’s this giant palm tree in the way.
You’re welcome! :D I was trying to think of the word for trichomes this very day. haha. AND THAT GARDEN. Wow. That’s a lot of work but I hope you get much reward from it!
It’s worth it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m0LewjkO4s
I have a feeling this will be worth its weight in gold this Summer. I have a feeling fresh produce will be in short supply. We have ours in the ground as well.
I agree, fresh produce might be in demand this summer. My favourite Thai restaurant has already run out of basil. Maybe you could start a side business selling herbs, fruit, and veggies!
mrmopar, I wish I knew more about our country’s food supply chain. On one hand, it seems the major US farms produce enough to feed the citizens. A lot (vague, yeah) is exported to other countries. I’ve seen headlines of massive food waste on the farmers’ end because the demand isn’t there. On the other hand, who knows how all this will pan out. So many customers at work are growing gardens for the first time. Our nursery can’t keep up with the demand for seed packs and vegetable starts. I wonder how apartment and city dwellers will be effected.
Leafhopper, I wish it were enough to sell. It’s more realistic to say our harvests feed 2 or 3 of us and supplement the meals of a handful of friends and coworkers. I make a terrible businessperson since I’m more willing to give away everything than make a dollar.
That makes sense. I’m sure your friends will be extra nice to you this summer. :D
not bad but
weak thin bland
dusty honey rooibos
artificial tropical-peachy flavor
faint short-lived caramel aftertaste does not redeem
i feel bad for sending this out in swaps unless you like it then i’m happy.
Preparation
Gotta be in the mood for licorice root. First time I tried Klarer Kopf I made the “eugh” face it was so sweet. The flavor profile, for me, is best utilized on days like today — late afternoon, warm outside but not immobilizing hot. It’s like a spicy chai with a base of that licorice root, spicy ginger, ginseng (listed as taiga root), black peppercorns, and cinnamon with herbal accents from basil, eleuthero and yerba maté. I’m unfamiliar with guarana besides knowing it has caffeine. I think I could recommend Klarer Kopf if you make sure not to brew too long because of the licorice root. It has a really nice revitalizing flavor.
It was a rooty and yerba maté kind of day. Started off with ginseng oolong then moved to a can of Guayakí yerba maté when my head almost hit the desk at work. Then this. Here’s hoping I’m not up until midnight.
Thanks again for sharing, Martin, and to your friend Fabiana :)
Flavors: Black Pepper, Cinnamon, Dry Grass, Ginger, Herbs, Licorice, Spicy, Sweet, Thick
