Body & Soul 2020 Dianhong Black Tea & Ripe Puer

Shou and black tea doesn’t sound like the weirdest combination, but I still wouldn’t expect it to turn out as well as this tea performs. It is fairly well integrated and balanced overall with more savoury character than a straight black tea would have.

Dry leaf aroma is an funny mix of fish, wooden cabinet, black cherry, and crickets. Throughout the session, the smell has some of more familiar notes from dian hong – malt and chocolate – as well as some notes of fireplace, hazelnuts, maple syrup, and grilled peach.

First infusion is fairly sweet and medium bodied with a creamy texture to it that is a staple of the session. The dominant flavours are in the neighborhood of chocolate and autumn leaf pile. Second steep is more woody with notes of corn syrup and peanuts. The next then brings the savoury and umami aspects, as well as a prominent nutty cocoa bean flavour and hints of cannabis.

The aftertaste is a little biting and this is where the shou character tends to take over the show somewhat. After a short while, the expected earthiness emerges, as well as some vanilla and hints of sour fermentation notes.

I really like the cha qi too, which is very relaxing and (body and soul) melting. I personally wouldn’t bet on this performing great if aged, but what do I know. In any case, it is a lovely tea to drink now.

Geek Steep S1E19 – Frankenstein (Novel)

Gongfu!

One of the things I’ve most enjoyed about our “longer” fandoms this season is when I’ve had the chance to explore multiple pairings – either taking completely different approaches to my pairings or looking at the things that may not have worked the first time and finding ways to correct that.

When we decided on Frankenstein I had two very different ideas of how I might want to pair it and I got to explore both of those “paths”. The idea behind this one was that I wanted a kind of dark and deeply earthy shou pu’erh that kind of said “Hey, I’ve been buried six feed underground” to capture that state of decay and darkness that is at the core of this novel as a piece of Gothic Literature – and which is reflected in the ambiance of the novel/narrative. It just… felt right, y’know?

Then around November Bitterleaf teas released this tea and it seemed too perfect to not capitalize on it. It was a shou/black tea hybrid – this “unnatural” combination forced together to try and create something new, the name was fucking perfectly spot on, and I got to go down the Shou road that had been in my mind. I ordered a cake, paused reading the novel (because I was about 1/2 way through at that point) and waited until it arrived so that I could finish it with this tea that destiny seemed to be telling me pair with it.

I’m glad I did – it was brilliant with this novel! At least in the tea sessions I’ve had thus far, the shou really does dominate over the black tea, and the flavour is this glorious mix of malt, just a bit of stonefruit, and thick petrichor and decaying wood. It’s so dark and it has that eerie “hunting for body pieces” vibe that I wanted, in a very good way. It’s just such a brilliant pairing for the novel – and I know that’s NOT a modest thing to say because I thought of the pairing, but I’m gonna give myself that pat on the back because I just love it.

Also, definitely don’t regret caking it either – this is the kind of profile I’d enjoy super easily outside of the setting of this podcast as well.

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DB topic:
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