16374 Tasting Notes
Gongfu!
Honestly, not totally sure how I feel about this one. In general, I have absolutely nothing against “border pu’erh” and I’ve had some truly exceptional sheng and shou that were also grown in Laos but processed in Yunnan, like this tea. As I’ve said in the past with tea grown on the border, the soil and plants don’t really know the difference between what’s on one side of a man-made border or not…
It’s truly just the taste of this shou that’s leaving me a little pensive feeling. The liquor is so thick, coating, and smooth – truly deserving of the black velvet namesake. I get a lot of wet, earthy and woodsy flavours from the infusions but also a strange sort of fruitiness. Lots of somewhat under ripe, green banana notes which is a flavour I don’t come across often in a general sense but that does pop up quite a lot for me in Yiwu ripe pu’erh productions. I don’t think that’s a coincidence since BLT mentions that the varietal of tea tree used for this tea can also be found in Yiwu. It’s sort of really just the finish that I’m unsure of. It’s kind of waxy tasting and floral in a really perfume-y and lingering way. It not necessarily that I find it unpleasant, just different in a bit of an unsettling way. Probably something I will need to try a few more times to make my mind up about.
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAjA4_XOHfX/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teRXT-IT-Dk
Gongfu Sipdown (2654)!
It’s honestly taken me quite a while to sip this one down despite only having about twenty-five grams or so to drink through. I adore teas that are either rose scented and flavored or, like this tea, are just naturally very rosey tasting, but I’m truthfully not a very big fan of a lot of dancong oolongs and this was an especially fickle and temperamental one to brew up. This session was okay, with quite a lot of heady floral aromatics and a more mineral and slightly roasty and nutty finish. But even still, there was the odd steep where just a second or two of extra time gave the infusion an unpleasantly harsh edge. I’m happy to have experienced and been challenged by this tea, but I won’t particularly miss it.
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAg2joEyWPQ/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy5ZsHpxmvs
Gongfu!
Such a fantastically nuanced and flavourful scented tea with notes of oak, rye, bourbon vanilla, grilled peaches, and just a bit of sweetgrass. Basically, everything you would want and expect from a whiskey scented tea. And just so, so wicked smooth. I’ve never had a bad tea from Volition, but this one is definitely cream of the crop. Maybe only beaten by the gin barrel infused white tea, but the vibes are so different between the two that it makes it hard to compare…
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAlbfzwu_4m/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc4Z6PUZDvw
Grandpa Style!
This tea works really, really well brewed in this way. It’s quite full-bodied but slick and syrupy with a really overall sweet profile. W2T describes it as cotton candy-like in style, and while I agree there’s definitely a sort of caramelized or burnt sugar quality I find the sweetness a bit too dense and dark to make me think of spun sugar. More in the vein of brown sugar with undertones of malt, dates, fig cookies, prunes, bittersweet baker’s chocolate, and just a smidge of pomegranate molasses. Yeah, just a very approachable sweet and brown sort of vibe!!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAoxDoJOk-o/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlIuOZBKNoc
#mugtober
Today’s challenge theme was green/matcha – lots of options to riff on there. Green the colour, green tea, fruits that are green, and so forth. I went with matcha though because I had this as my first tea of the day and I thought I could use the little energy bump.
I’m not really a fan of this Blume powder when had straight, but to be fair that’s not the way it’s intended to be drank. It’s a pretty solid latte, though! Very, very buttery and fatty from the powdered coconut in the mix. It definitely has that rich, creamy sweetness of coconut but there’s also something that really just makes me think of coconut oil too. Not necessarily in a bad way. It’s almost like the matcha equivalent of a bullet coffee.
The matcha itself is smooth and umami with a fresh, grassyness to it. I despite the taste of moringa, but it’s well masked in this tea. Just sort of subtly amps up the veg of the matcha and some of those umami flavours. Milk, especially, helps mask it.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nBVrTC7fTY
Made myself a very strongly steeped mug of this one while working in the lab today and it was nice. Definitely very malty and just a little bit bitter/astringent but the hint of sweetness from the date crystals helped take some of that edge off. Probably would have been better with a bit of milk, but alas no milk in the lab kitchen this week.
#mugtober
It’s no secret that I have a pretty intensely large teaware collection. I mean, some of the comments I get most frequently are people complimenting my teaware or asking where it’s from. But, there’s one part of my teaware collection that is waaayyy larger than I think anyone realizes, and that’s my mugs. I own SO MANY mug. That was for sure my first teaware love, long before I got into gongfu and expanding my assortment of gaiwans, teacups and yunomi cups, yixing pots, and all the other bits and bobbles that come with that form of tea practice. I still constantly find myself adding to my mug collection, though now it’s largely handcrafted and one of a kind pieces from the small potters and ceramicists I follow here on instagram…
So, I’ve decided I want to turn the spotlight to some of my favourite mugs from my collection throughout the month of October. I’ll be sharing one a day on my stories, and because everything needs a catchy name, I’m calling it my #mugtober challenge. At the same time another insta tea friend is running her own tea challenge this month under the hashtag #octoberteas2024. I figured I’d double down and combine the two, so a mug and a tea based on the theme each day. Mug might be hard, but I’m committed to trying my best!! Wish me luck!
Today’s theme was Spiced/Chai, so I’m kicking things off with the recently returned Horchata Chai in this cinnamon brown mug with the appropriately (for DT) aqua/teal accents. This might be my favourite Chai that I’ve developed for DT. It’s very cozy with really rich notes of sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and of course rice along with warming cinnamon and ginger. Very much like the Agua Fresca it’s inspired by, just a bit spicier. So good with a splash of milk or as a full out latté. Hot or iced!
PS. I’m going to not so secretly push myself with an extra third challenge this month – no repeating tea companies…)
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DAmGT2WSBM7/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_NNjIj2Gbw
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Cold Brew!
This is what I’ve been drinking while working on tasting notes this morning, and I’ve just finished it off. It was very, very chuggable with a super bright, lively and just a little sour note of sweet lemon with a bit of tart apple that made up most of the sip. Very lemonade like in that refreshing sweet but pucker-y kind of way. It was balanced out by a hint of more woodsy and herbaceous sage which was present in the undertones and lingering a little on the front of the palate after each sip.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
It rained pretty hard here in Montreal this past Tuesday morning, so I found myself reaching towards some of those cozier, stormy weather favourites. This ended up being a giant mug of tea that I steeped up at work and it was exactly the smooth, starchy and glutinous rice tasting cup of tea that I needed to just have all those snuggly, warming feels.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Haven’t had this blend in a long time either – seems like I’m just revisiting old DT favourites this week. I made it hot because I remember enjoying it a lot more that way than iced, and it was really nice. Bright, sweet and almost syrupy top notes of orange liqueur and grenadine with a slight pineapple edge before finishing with a brisk, pithy bitterness to really sell the Aperol element of the tea. Not too bitter at all though!
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
