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Okay… this tea was magical.

The dry leaf of this tea smells so fruity and amazing – it took me a long while to place it, but it’s the kind of really bright and juicy citrus aroma of something like a Sunkist Soda. Does anyone else remember Sunkist Soda? No? Just me? It’s weird because Sunkist is this very specific, almost tangerine-like, orange soda flavour – but I don’t believe there’s any citrus in this blend at all? So it must just be the apricot – but it’s tickling all those nostalgia buttons for me in aroma…

The taste is great; it’s so fresh tasting and really fruity – I love how virbrant and full of life the cranberry, apricot, and – yes – citrus notes taste. It’s like this sunny medley of juicy freshness. Sadly, the compromise seems to be that I’m not really getting anything that would make me think of a muffin – but the trio of fruit flavours I’m getting (still not sure where the citrus is from) is so specific and distinct that it’s just making this inner seven year so happy. All the the good feelings about Sunkist fruit snacks and soda that I didn’t know I had… channeled into this cup.

Mmmm!

Cold Brew!

I’m so close to a sipdown now, which is good. Sadly I just haven’t been able to find a way to make this tea sparkle/shine. This brew was smooth and without any off notes, but the flat taste of rooibos with hints of vague “almost vanilla” don’t deliver on the name/description and the whole tea screams of missed potential to me. Aside from an obvious need to bump up the flavouring level, I think using less rooibos and more black tea also probably could have gone a long way here.

I think I have one cup left – maybe I’ll try it with sweetner and see if that does anything to perk it up at all.

Cold Brew!

Okay, woah. This was a Christmas present from my mom, who got it from a local/Saskatchewan made marketplace. It’s a fruit blend, with majority hibiscus, apple, cranberry, and lingonberry – and man is it tart! I actually like the flavour a lot, but it’s a sharp and pucker inducing cranberry and hibiscus that dominate this cup. Deeeeeep red liquor to compliment that intense flavour, to boot!

Noted, next time, to maybe dial back the leaf amount or steep time a bit. It’s pretty fine this way, but I think that I can achieve a better “sweet spot” that would be even greater.

Finally getting around to trying this tea and having owned it for, oh I don’t know, four years!? Maybe even five, potentially…

I brewed it up Grandpa style and I just don’t think that was the best way to steep it up – especially the first time when I didn’t have a great understanding/grasp on what the usual flavour profile is. I found it rather green/vegetal and biting, with a lot of dryness and tobacco notes. Not the kind of flavour profile that I personally gravitate towards in sheng, and it was just so concentrated that it made for a rough cup. I still drank a few “top ups” of my grandpa brew to not have wasted the leaf and see if it would improve, but…

Not my thing.

Cold Brew!

I sucked back this cold brew like it was a cold beer on a sweltering hot summer day. It’s super refreshing; I packed lots of leaf into my mason jar and let this go for longer than I usually do, so it was extra juicy and flavourful but it still had a lightness and airy quality mixed in with those fresh, sweet watermelon juice notes. It’s kind of tea that has a lot of flavour, but is still light and fresh enough that you can drink it by the pitcherful and not feel bloated or sick of it afterwards.

Gongfu!

I decided to use this sheng, gifted to me by Chen Sheng Hao to break in a brand new teapot from a local ceramist who’s work I’ve just fallen in love with – Arbee Ceramics! The pot is stunning, with an unglazed black clay outer appearance, but a clear glaze inside so it can be used with any tea – and the perfect 90ml size! Quick pour, well balanced, snug fitting lid, and perfect handle for a secure and controlled grip – very happy to add this into my growing teaware collection!

The tea is a beauty too; sweet and fruity at the top of the sip but more bite in the body. Pleasant bitter vegetal and astringent finish, with lingering throat sweetness. No surprise that I enjoyed the Yiwu more, but this is a nice one too! I got quite a few resteeps, and for a very fresh pressing I thought it was quite flavourful and interesting.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKZk3tMAQin/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvpLu96uPfE&ab_channel=VariousArtists-Topic

Gongfu!

Sunday was one of those days where you blink and half of it has gone by already. I barely managed to sneak this session in while there was still light out!! Really lovely tea though, with one of the most intriguing and hard to place fruity notes I’ve tasted in a hong cha for a while!! Landed somewhere in the zone of horned melon, plantain, and slightly under ripe banana – all with this heady floral and sticky honey undertone!? So weird, but so tasty! Love the consistent but light astringency throughout, and the lingering starchy sweetness…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKcaq_OADMH/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0xs3AVEisE&ab_channel=LP

Sipdown (1315)!

A feel like this sipdown was a long time company – I don’t think this is was the oldest 52Teas blend I own (actually, I know for sure it’s not) but it was the oldest one that I have in a sample bag and not a tin. It’s nice, with bright and crisp strawberry notes and warming cinnamon and nutmeg, but it’s not a flavour profile that strongly speaks to me personally which is why it took a bit longer to finish it off.

Such a unique concept though – it’s making me crave some type “Strawberry Brulee” profile with a hint of cinnamon…

Thank you VariaTEA for the share!

This was really pleasant – it’s a very good representation of a classic tasting Golden Monkey. Notes of malt, cocoa, and bread rule the cup with undertones of red fruit. Very full bodied and smooth, with a deepness to the flavour notes that commands attention. Highly enjoyable, and one of those teas where you don’t sip but you slurp and then feel sad when you finished it so fast.

I’ve been steeping a lot of Dancong Western style lately because I’m enjoying it more brewed that way than Gongfu, and this is one of several I’ve had with that method of brewing. More mineral and rock-y flavours in the top notes with bits of char and roast, but then floral notes like orchid that build up from undertones to more of a main body flavour with these flavour ribbons of stonefruit that lightly dance overtop of that. Complex, and medium bodied – and just so cozy feeling.