3294 Tasting Notes
First gongfu session of the day, this savory Jin Jun Mei the Charlotte Zero sent to me awhile back is doing the trick. It starts out like whole wheat honey toast, later taking on a peppery quality & a linen mouth. This is a tea Verdant use to offer, which I hoarded for awhile, & then finally reluctantly drank the last of it. It was a real treat when Charlotte sent me the rest of hers, & I have enough to drink it one more time.
Gratefully, I’ve discovered that Yunnan Sourcing carries a couple of different Jin Jun Mei’s, & they are excellent, so I am saved! :)
I few months ago I joined the Jalam Tea Club, & I’m a little behind on sampling the teas I’ve received, but 100G cake arrived this afternoon & I figured, why not?
I haven’t been drinking any sheng lately, & I miss it.
4G + 4oz yixing (rinse) X 10/20/30 etc seconds
Placing the leaf in my heated yixing for a minute, I was greeted with a pleasing scent of light fruit & cream.
I was teaching while sipping, so I didn’t take any notes, but I can say overall that this is a very creamy mild tea, with hints of spinach, apricot, & a little bit of a camphor mouth in the later steepings. The Chaqi is potent & hit me with a wonderful sense of peace & clarity in the 2nd steep, renewed by each successive cup. The even later steepings had an overall cooling sensation, that spread through my body, especially my chest.
Next time I will up the dosage of leaf, as this is a sweet gentle tea, & I want to see how bold I can go with it :)
If you’re interested in finding out more about Jalam’s tea club, here’s their link:
http://www.jalamteas.com
does he ever send out shou?
oh godness terri…stop encouraging me to get more tea! i need to get through some of my existing pu stash first!
Thanks for posting :-) I got mine today… Plan to try it the same way with more tea
apt: once in awhile
Sil: I’ll send you samples of all the ones I have so far
eh if it’s not often that’s okay. I don’t like shou and only drink sheng.
Sounds good
Steph, want samples?
Well sure Terri! I just updated my cupboard and added all my new Butiki treasures if you would like to pick out some stuff for me to send you, too :)
I haven’t added the TeaUrchin samples into my cupboard, but I could be convinced to part with some small samples of those, too.
pssssssst send terri some pineapple sencha…so she can send it to meeeeee
Sure Sil! LOL! :D
:D
haha woohoo!!!
I tried mine…. Love me some sheng! It’s much lighter than I expected.
Funny, I know I’ve reviewed this tea before, & yet, there is no review from me in the database. Oh well….
This was my friend Lisa’s next selection. I showed her how to man the yixing, gave her suggested parameters, & she did a great job! We drank cup after cup of this medium roast tea, & I don’t really have any tasting notes to offer, as I was restringing a harp for one of my students, while Lisa supplied me with lovely tea & great conversation.
It doesn’t get much better than that!
90% sure steepster is eating things again
:/
I’ve just noticed that at least two reviews that I posted (one on Old Silver Tea Pot and one on Silver Dragon Beard) are gone. Don’t feel like going over the list and checking each review, but it looks like Steepster is having database problems :(
It’s been doing this for a while now…there was a post on it but I can’t find that post and I don’t recall seeing Jason respond to it.
The Bermuda Triangle of Steepster :)
My friend Lisa picked this one out, & since I had already tried it western style, we put the rest of it into my 4 oz porcelain teapot & gave it the gongfu treatment.
I’m still not at full tasting mode, missing out on some of the subtleties that some of these teas have to offer, but I did pick up honey, a gentle cooked breakfast cereal, a touch of apricot, & a floral element as well.
A gentle soothing tea, very pleasant.
Sipdown! 361
I started the day with gongfu steepings of this tea, which still reminds me of maltomeal, drizzled with honey. I haven’t drank this one in awhile, not because it has fallen from favor, but simply because I have so many wonderful teas here to choose from!
A friend came over & I shared the last couple of steepings with her, & she loved it.
Damn! This tea is so awesomely decadent! I think this is my favorite flavored tea, at least from Butiki.
While I was brewing this, I was slicing up peaches from my peach tree, as well as eating them & feeding them to Tony. I don’t ever buy peaches, because you can never get a decent peach from the store. The boys & I have been picking, slicing, & freezing them (& eating them), so that we’ll have peaches for smoothies & things for awhile.
Grocery store peaches suck it. We have lots of peach orchards out in the Hill Country and they bring amazing peaches to the farmers market. I always freeze some for cobbler.
I have to admit, I’m a little jealous that you have your very own peach tree! That’s awesome.
I can’t wait to get more of this tea! Should be arriving some time this week, YAY! I’m jealous of your peach tree, too. I’ve got a grafted half peach half plum tree but it is still very young and not producing well yet. Do you do anything to keep insects from bugging your fruit, Terri?
Even better than Ruby Pie?!?!
TS, I def like this better than Ruby Pie, although it’s close…
Stephanie: Nope! So my peaches aren’t particularly pretty, although they are wonderfully fragrant (so glad I can smell again!) & delicious, They have to be sliced up, keeping eyes open for passengers, if you know what I mean.
2nd large mug of this today. It tastes best if you make a qt of it & chill it. Of course, it’s not something I drink for the flavor, but it’s great for allergies, & also high in minerals, & old ladies like me need to keep our bones healthy too.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals beat the Brewers, 3 – 2 :)
Watching the Cardinals play the Brewers from the couch.
Currently 3 – 2, Cards leading.
Nothing like tasty tea & baseball on a Sunday afternoon.
I love lazy Sunday afternoons. I’ve been just hanging out on the couch, drinking tea and browsing Steepster while watching random movies on TV. Lazy is the best kind of afternoon! :D
Yes it is!
I’ve been drooling over yixings again…I have one in my shopping cart, to be dedicated to Dian Hongs, most likely…but their system is being updated, so I can’t place my order until tomorrow….lol
Terri are you getting the one on sale @Teavivre? I got one and so did TeaFairy. It’s so cute
Yum, I need a Dian Hong pot, too. They tend to be my favorites, especially the bud variety. :D
<3 Dian Hong
no, I’ve been drooling over this one for awhile
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-MingTao-FlatXishi-All-Handmade-Ceramic-Purple-Clay-ZISHA-Yixing-Teapot-Tea-Pot-Set-Chinese-Gifts/1476908509.html
I wanted one that was different from the other 3 I have :)
OMG that is gorgeous!
That site is making me naughty. * hides TeaFairy’s eyes * I like this one but it’s too big I think (so pretty):
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Original-MingTao-ThreeFoot-All-Handmade-Ceramic-Purple-Clay-ZISHA-Yixing-Teapot-Tea-Pot-Set-Chinese-Gifts/346539_1477219800.html
OMG TOO LATE, I SAW, I SAW!!! Just want.
I knew you were gonna see that. I love that one Terri is getting.
Me too. Sigh.
It reminds me of really beautiful brocade fabric.
exactly! That’s why I love it!
Oh Pajama Day!
Feeling grateful for a full day off with Tony, for my sinuses clearing, for a tasty breakfast, & for tea. My lungs & kidneys are still messed up, but improving (I absolutely hate Florida, I’m never going there again), but I’m feeling a lot better otherwise, & I think another week of going to the salt room & drinking straight cranberry juice & I’ll be back to normal.
Meanwhile, I’m grateful to be able to taste things again, especially tea.
This is one of my favorite EBs.
I’m trying to find a salt room since you talked about it. I think I would find it helpful. I’m glad you’re feeling better.
I’ll ask Clay (the owner of ours) if he knows of any in your area. He originally built it because his daughter has asthma. They’ve been able to reduce her meds, etc, so he opened it up for the public. I’m going 3 times a week right now, & it always helps me.
Yes me too, glad you’re starting to feel better.
I’ve been googling and I found one guy doing a “Go Fund Me” to make one but haven’t found an actual one yet.
Is this the place you found?
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Austin-Salt-Cave/497276420502?sk=info
If I ever come to Austin, I want to go here:
http://www.saltandtime.com
Here’s the list of US salt rooms, posted on st louis salt room’s website, along with a ton of info about halo therapy
http://mysaltspa.com/list_of_salt_rooms_in_the_usa
Yeah, Salt & Time is pretty amazing. And yes, that was the place I found and sadly they are not open :(
Come to Austin! But not in the summer…
I have never heard of a salt room…I’ll have to look it up. As for Florida, I lived there for 30 years. I’m done with it barring visits to my friends and family.
What’s the BBBB grab bag? :o
the BBB box is a box that tastybrew, terri and i share. it’s a travelling teabox between the three of us. we each buy two teas to share in the box and put in half an ounce of each tea for the two other ppl..it’s been going around now for over a year. Only unflavoured black teas are allowed (with the occasional puerh)….and every now and then we’ll toss in random “grab bag teas” that are outside of what we’re actually sharing that month :)
That’s a cool idea, sounds fun. :D
it’s nice because we get to share in trying out new black teas together and with companies that force you to buy 2oz, still only leaves you with an ounce for yourself. haha
It is fun!