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Today was one of those days without accomplishment. Let’s call it Monday. Every little task became a boulder in the path. This evening I prepared another bowl of this mellow tea and the aroma was strikingly fruity, a departure from the low tones I’ve experienced before.

In my dark bedroom (the shade on the sliding door to the garden drawn because of a headache), the glint of my freshly polished silver-lined cup caught my eye. I figured what the heck, let’s pour from bowl to pitcher to cup. Bowls don’t pour well, so you can imagine the tea spilled in the process. It’s Monday.

I don’t know if it’s the silver, but this evening, the seaweed and nuttiness are subdued and what has come forward oh so gently is a starchy taste much like potato, maybe a new potato. And with that is a surprise mix of fruits, like banana, something red like an overripe strawberry and apricot. Even a hint of cinnamon. The flavors linger lightly in the mouth.

Small victory for a Monday.

Lovely, very gently sweet wintergreen. There’s a berry undertone to the aroma. The cup offers an embrace at once warming and cooling. Some may consider the taste medicinal because of an association with Pepto Bismol or Icy Hot. It’s nostalgic for me in the way that Teaberry gum is, or pink Necco wafers and Conversation Hearts.

Making room for some Japanese greens, I’ve brewed the last of this western since the remaining grammage was about 1/3 leaf and 2/3 flaky crumb. I’m getting a strong, sweet floral mango and coconut aroma. It tastes fruitier than usual and feels very pine forest cooling in the chest. Maybe western was the way to go all along. Oh wait, no. Maybe it wasn’t, at least with this much shake. Sipping deeper into the cup, it has a jarring bitterness and woo boy is my mouth dry!

Prepared this morning in a large duanni clay pot, I can appreciate this shou more than I ever have. Maybe it’s the clay. Maybe because the little brick is tightly compressed I have more control with balancing the brew in a pot rather than drinking from a mug. Maybe the tea is changing.

I’m getting an aroma this morning of baked dark bread, brown sugar and caramelized onions. Smooth, clean and dark. Some memorable aromatic tasting notes of ramps and sesame seed. The caramelized onion shows up in the aftertaste. Interesting, variable shou, though unfortunately the mouthfeel is rather non-existent.

Mmmm…

Clean. Intense sparkling citrusy-pine resin bitters that are at once forward and persistent in the throat. Deep stonefruit and complexity working magic in the background. Sweet aftertaste. Feels good in throat and body. Feels warm. Incense.

Lao Man E has my heart. Maybe Lao Man E could have yours if you opened to it.

Good morning teaheads. My mind listened to my body so this morning’s tea is a shou pu’er from mrmopar (thank you!) and an old one at that.

The aroma is harmonious with the taste and feeling. Smooth with some light astringency. The body may be a little thin for my likes but I’m not entirely attentive to brewing. It gives me a deep, mushroom-brothy feeling. No thick potting soil vibes here. Good balance of medicinal tones — mellow, bitter earthiness like burdock root with whole grain sourdough, a ‘dry’ petrichor, buffalo grass, darkened leather and even older hardwood furniture. A bit of a high-pitched raspberry tone. A cool camphor comes and goes without interrupting. Little aftertaste; on one steep I got the most fleeting impression of caramel-chocolate-coffee. Last few steeps, as the flavor becomes mostly depleted, present a licorice root sweetness and are drying-catching in the throat.

A nice step into this cold morning.

Not my favorite kind of herbal tea. Something about the combination of chamomile, mint, hibiscus and lemongrass drives me away from similar mixes. Luckily only a teaspoon left.

It is very fresh and cooling with a hint of sweetness. It made a thoughtful gift from my work father and his wife upon their return from Hawaii a few months ago.

Sipdown and glad to have this out of my stash.

Less mustardy than the other times but still too much going on. 16 ingredients with no flavorings added. The goji-elderberry-caceo-vanillla combination weirds me out.

Alright! Penultimate tea from Cameron.

Kiki incoming.

“Oh? Ohhhh it tastes like Maypo. Unbelivable. The commercial with a little coybow, the baby that the arm of the father… the spoon, the airplane, the father was feeding the baby who said ‘I want my Maypo.’ You know, I searched for Maypo, you know I went to all the mom and pop shops with all those grungy things on their shelves, but I finally found it at the Safeway by Jim’s over there but it was called something else before. You know I opened the box and I though it smelled like heaven. I bought all the boxes they had and then I burned out on it. I figured I was getting too fat on it. This tea is really unbelievable.

‘I Want My Maypo.’ Let me try another sip. Oh, I dropped some on the cat. Oh, I keep burping up the flavor. I give it an 8."

I guess Maypo is a breakfast cereal from Kiki’s generation. She loves this tea and wants me to buy more.

Jacques sitting at the table with us thinks it smells like Aunt Jemima. He’d give it a 1 because the smell is the epitome of processed foods.