1336 Tasting Notes
On my way to Chicago for the Chicago Tea Festival. It’s Friday, and I have two missions. 1. Get safely to my Aunt’s house. 2. Visit Casting Whimsy. They close at five, so with that in mind, I began my day quite early. Upon my arrival at the shop, I was surprised to find a drive-thru board and window. Ah! But just kidding. It is not in use, but they did make the sign very whimsical. The shop is awesome. If you are a geek of any sort, you will enjoy this place. Now onto the tea.
Dry Appearance: The leaf is broken. CTC but not as sad as one would see in a tea bag. These are pretty pieces. Mostly darkish brown with highly of orangish brown. Twisted.
Dry Aroma: Slightly sweet and fruity.
Wet Appearance: Open leaf. All uniform in chocolate brown color.
Wet Aroma: I will come back to this. The second steep seems to have removed all of the aroma.. ?
Flavor: Woody. Planks of cedar. But also some sawdust. Bits of dark forest fruits.
Mouthfeel: Slightly astringent with soothing softness. That sounds weird, but it is astringent enough to wake you up but not punch you in the face.
Another sample from the Chicago Tea Festival. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Gunpowder tea. This brings back memories from when I went to China on a study abroad with my college. The Temple of Heaven is quite amazing.
Dry Appearance: Some shiny, some dusty. Tightly rolled into balls. Dark, greyish green. Smooth to touch.
Dry Aroma: Drying. Plaster?
Quick Rinse. (They say you should rinse the majority of the Chinese teas you buy)
Rinsed leaf aroma: Already experiencing some deep and complex notes. Dark fruits and marzipan.
Flavor: Roasting notes of charcoal and composting leaves.
Wet Leaf: At first, it seems somewhat plain, and you wonder if it was stored wrong but they are just complex notes braced with in roast. Deep fruity notes that hide amongst the plaster, and almost a slight cologne note.
Am I sure this is a good tea but I remember now why I don’t typically drink it.
On a side note: I had those business spam callers. Absolutely annoying.
This was a sample from the Chicago Teahouse. After a weekend of being tossed around, the leaves seem quite broken, but we will see once we open the bag. I wish the website would list where she gets this from. Obviously, it’s Japan. But which city? Shizuoka? Uji? Kagoshima? And what cultivar is this? Okumidori? Doesn’t quite taste like a Yabukita…
Dry Aroma: Umami. Butter. Sweet Grass. Wet Grass. A bit of seaweed. There is also a vegetal note that I can’t quite put my finger on.
Makes my mouth water
Dry Apperence: Mostly broken, but there are still a fair amount of longer leaves. Tightly twisted. Glossy dark green.
Steeping the way I learned with a larger cup filled with liquid and dumped on the leaves.
Taste: High in umami. Wet grass. A small bit of minerality. Fresh steamed spinach.
Mouth Feel: Smooth. A bit of astringency if steeped too long, but not unpleasant (unless you really forget ^^; )
My mum-in-law gave this to me for Christmas, and I apologize to you tea because I have been on a Japanese tea kick for the past year. Good news is I haven’t opened it yet
Dry aroma: Hmmm, I’m not sensing the usual notes. Perhaps it’s the packaging? I know it’s not because of where it is stored. I’m taking it out of the bag and adding a desiccant pack in to see if it reveals something better tomorrow.
Dry Appearance: Tightly rolled into balls. Mix of dark and light greens.
Quickly rinse with boiling water. Then 10 second infusion.
Flavor: Mineral. Wet rocks. Granite. Floral. Vibrant greens and tropical floral notes.
I can definitely tell my palate for oolongs has lessened with my insatiable appetite for Japanese greens. But I do love oolongs, so I want to get it back.
Wet Leaf aroma: A bit vegetal with hints of butter and slightly sweetened water.
It’s good but just not as good as I was hoping. Will try again tomorrow after the bag aroma has dissipated.
My mom bought this matcha. She doesn’t listen to me and store it properly. But according to the bag she is storing it properly. Granted even with proper storage this matcha wouldn’t be considered anything over lower grade. Culinary. Maybe slightly premium. If you are using western grading.
Color: muted green.
Aroma: metallic
Made for latte
The flavor is bad. Can’t do on its own. Metallic. Harsh winter veggies that have become bitter.
I need to write to Marc and thank him for this, and Davidsons’, and finish the Substack… and post on the MN Tea socials… But sometimes after a busy morning what our brains need is a moment to just chill.
First I need to reiterate that this was a sample Marc sent to me. I interviewed him about his company, Ooika, back in February and I tell you this guy is going to shake up the matcha industry!
We opened and tried it for the first time at the MN Tea Society on Mar 22nd. (Free to the public). The first brew was great. However, what was more interesting were people’s reactions. The lady who preferred Diet Coke, you could tell this was too much for her. But the lady who practices Urasenke, she could tell this was top of the line. We were split between liking it before or after the higashi (a dry Japanese sweet made entirely of very fine high-grade sugar).
Freshly gound matcha… you guys. If you haven’t tried some yet even just the color will blow you away.
Dry Aroma: Creamy. A bit nutty, more along the lines of a pecan. Lovely hints of fresh cut grass.
Dry Appearance: GREEN. So very green. The powder is smooth.
Whisking. Fairly easy to whisk into a foam. I’d say this is a slightly lower-grade milling because of the 3 or 4 bowls I’ve made each has contained a fair amount of big clumps. Could just have to do with this cultivar or something.
Taste: Like crystal clear water with delightful creamy and nutty notes.
Suspension: Stays for quite awhile. Not that I generally have long enough to see it sink because I just want to drink it ^^;
Please do check out Ooika: https://ooika.co/
And if you have time read his interview while drinking a cuppa: https://teatiff.com/2025/02/14/ooika/
VRBO cupboard tea. Good dry leaf aroma through the tea bag. Notes of various spices and a nice touch of vanilla. The infusing aroma is pleasent ntes of german christmas cookies.
Oh man. Licorice root! You know how some poeple think (me) cilantro tastes like soap? And others can only taste stevia when stevia is involved? Well I’m adding another one to the lise. Licorice Root. It overpowers this blend like a dictator. The spices and the black tea try to muscle themselves in but the licorice root is like a little mob boss. Overall, it’s a decent blend and I’ve learned a good lesson.
I feel the same way about licorice.
A certain type like black licorice or just all?
I wasn’t aware there were different types. I’m talking about the cloyingly sweet, anise-flavoured licorice that’s used in tea blends. Several years ago I was looking for a decaf chai and they all seemed to include licorice. (I eventually found a rooibos chai from Camellia Sinensis that doesn’t.)
Oh gotcha! Yeah so licorice root is an alternative to sugar kind of like stevia. I just usually say licorice root versus saying just licorice because most people think of the candy harhar
Yeah, I was thinking of black licorice. I was wondering why anyone would put that in a vanilla chai. Makes more sense now. :)
Mob boss. Beautiful licorice metaphor. I will add that to overbearing mother-in-law and bulldozer ;)
Hahaha oh man. Those are great descriptors too.
After my last teabag, I don’t have high expectations but one can always hope. This is, again, a cupboard tea from the vrbo in Kauai. The aroma starts kinda peachy, kind of grandma’s potpourri in the bathroom, and part very synthetic candy. The wet tea bag… It’s like a mix of wet leaves and someone decided to be funny and sprinkle peach flavoring on them. The taste. Nope. Just a lot of nope. I didn’t even steep it the entire time. It’s one part bitter, one part compost that is not being taken care of properly, and the last part is all synthetic notes.
When we went to Kaua’i on vacation, we stayed with my parents at a place similar to a VRBO. Long story short, they had this in one of the cupboards. It doesn’t look too old, and the aroma of the bag is pleasant—full of dried strawberries and bits of vanilla. The infusing tea smells of fruit roll-ups and those generic strawberry gummies with a slight tannic hint of leftover pieces of tea. The first, very careful, sip was reminiscent of Play-Doh. Subsequent sips have revealed nothing of note. Dead strawberries, plaster, cunk vanilla. I keep drinking it hoping I’m missing something.
I have no idea of what they were trying to do with this blend but I think this is a fail.
Dry, dusty looking leaf. Curled and twisting.
Most of this will be used for a nitro infusion later this morning after I get the kids up for school.
This is the end of the bag. Lots of chopped leaf and bits that look more like a ctc tea. I’d really have to dive more into Nepal greens to get a better feel for them. But it’s difficult to do when you feel like you have a good grasp on teas feom another country. Maybe it’s just because it’s the end of the bag? The flavor is top dusty and dry for me. Hay, grass that was cut weeks ago and left to compost in a pile.
Nitro: on its own it’s nothing special. No foam and thus no cascade. The taste is fresh and would be nice for a hit summer day.
