Yunnan Sourcing

A decent buttery tea that’s on the savoury side with very little bitterness and astringency.

Dry leaves smell of sawdust and earth, wet ones more like popcorn, fern fiddleheads and milk. Early steeps are a bit sweet and fruity, later ones become a bit more savoury. There are notes of popcorn, green pepper, butter, and banana to be found.

Grandpa Style!

It’s still very chilly and gross outside, so I needed a comfort tea today but wanted to switch things up from the shou I’ve been really gravitating towards as of late. This slick sun dried Feng Qing hongcha with snow chrysanthemum has always been a favourite of mine, and today the super syrupy and intensely soothing medicinal flavours of the chrysanthemum perfectly hit the spot and really warmed me up from the inside out. It’s amazing how this tea flips back and forth so fluidly between being almost saccharine in its citrusy florals to having such biting bitterness. I love both sides of the coin though, and honestly this tea has only continued to get richer and more pleasing with age!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2IxuiJuDoO/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgrMZ0jjLCE

Thickly textured and refreshing, but the flavor is milder than I prefer – brewing it strong just makes it bitter. I’d like to see some age on this.

After sitting on this for almost 5 years, I chipped off 6.5g and brewed 6.5g in a gaiwan, drinking from the fairness pitcher. The first two steeps have immediate returning sweetness, vegetal, earthy, spicy, and umami flavors. pleasant astringency, with very little bitter flavor. Almost smoky on the nose, but quickly turning to the expected raw aroma. Further steeps bring out more of the described grain flavor, which meshes well with this still, fairly green sheng. I will revisit this tea in another 4 or 5 years. Overall, a good purchase, and I’ll happily drink this over the next couple decades.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – March 2024 Tea #2 – A floral tea

I realized as I was unwrapping the tuocha to finish this today that there is “flower” in the name, so I’m counting it for this prompt!  The flavor isn’t much, isn’t spectacular, so I’m glad I’m clearing it from the cupboard. 
2024 sipdowns: 24

Album: Will Johnson – No Ordinary Crown
Song:  Along the Runner (No Ordinary Crown) -   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwByxoDfsks&list=OLAK5uy_nwHzFgnwPcCNu4vVxRilt5eLqmJB3CWNM&index=1

Thanks for letting me try this one, Meowster!  Hilarious tea mishaps today.  I brewed this one like a raw on the first steep!  (Better that than to steep a raw like a ripe, I guess.)  I don’t know why I thought this was a raw.  The leaves even looked dark and ripe when I threw the tuocha in the infuser.   By the third steep, it’s so smooth that I would definitely know by now if it was a harsh, overbrewed raw puerh.  No negative qualities here, but I also wish it had a stronger flavor.  I don’t know if the gingko just seamlessly blends in with the puerh flavors, but it really did almost seem like just a ripe puerh to me with no additional ingredients.  Four pretty consistent steeps (except for that first one that was brewed like sheng.)

A belated pull from Arby’s homemade advent! I was craving a straight black tea but didn’t want anything too malty or strong… this really fits the bill! Not sure what year my sample is from, but it’s pleasant: Light and just a little bit tart, with no big flavor notes except something faintly floral. There’s a tiiiny smidge of soapiness toward the end.

Now back to rereading Jane Eyre. :)

Really nice! This tea has an awesome wild vibe to it. The leaves are huge and burly and and slightly greenish. The tea has all the up-front strength and boldness that I hope for in a hongcha, yet also has nice layers of lingering vegetal and flowery ‘greener’ stuff going on. It’s nicely thick as well.

Oof. I like this. I have been trying to be less precious with my samples, and so grabbed this on a whim and brewed it western style last night. First sip took me aback, so I gong fu’d it today to see what was up.

There is a numbing camphor belt that develops around the center of my mouth — tongue/cheeks/roof, all get to play in the halo. Nut skins, florals, dried fruit, spices, toast… it’s smooth and complex and the qi is so lovely (ie. not making me want to crawl out of my skin, a feeling I’ve been having more often than I’d like lately).

I do not need a cake, for reals and truly, but I’d spring for one of these if I did.

Edited to add: I’m drinking this western again tonight and having the same sensory experience that I’m just now remembering I had last night: “This tastes like makeup smells… in a good way.” I guess that’s baby powder and whatever eau du essences… just popping in to bookend: “I like this.”

[End sample, persued by bear.]

After aging for 7 years, admittedly in a container with a Tibetan flame brick, this tea has mellowed considerably. The bitterness has faded a lot, while the vegetal, cooked vegetable, hay, and grassy notes stepped forward. Overall, this is not my favorite raw puer, but I feel that it aged a bit faster in the mini-tuo form. It has some returning sweetness, and is not a bad daily drinker. I brewed this western style, thinking it still intensely bitter, but next brew will be in a small teapot.

Wild grilled herbs and some crude newly roasted yancha notes. Some fruit and also leather/vinyl. Interesting but very brisk and in a different style / not as smooth to my taste as many top tier yancha for instance YS’s AA Da Hong Pao.

(2023 harvest) Roasted barley, cacao. Lots of minerals, moss, earth with some bitter notes running through the palate. Good when brewed carefully.

I brewed this tea Gong Fu style as I do with most teas.
The initial aroma of the wet leaves was super promising, nice sweet grass and twiggy notes with just a touch of malt. However, the actual first steep more closely resembled what I’d expect of a sheng pu’erh of this age: herbaceous and astringent notes with a pleasant touch of grassiness with an aftertaste of linen. Medium astringency and a thick body that coats the inside of your mouth

Overall, not a terrible tea. Well aged

Circling back to gong fu Day 9 of the Tea Thoughts Winter Countdown box, since I missed it. I really wish I was getting more out of this tea. I feel like I’m supposed to be. But I’m just not. It feels thick and rich with a pleasantly creamy note but beyond that ::shrug emoji:: Maybe I’ll have better luck with the other one on another day but it’s a bit of a bust today. Which is to say, this is enjoyable but doesn’t feel particularly distinctive today.

Adventageddon Day 9 – Tea 4/4

I wasn’t really in the mood to brew anything gongfu today so I decided to make one of the two dragon balls included for today as a big Western style pot of tea instead. It was actually quite a bit nicer than I expected it to be. The liquor has a thick syrupy quality to it that feels appropriate for the surprising notes of amber maple that are coming through. In addition to this sweeter component, it’s also quite fruity with a distinct ripe peach note that compliments a subtle creamy undertone and a more woody finish. Pretty complex, even for this Western style of steeping. I wasn’t really in the mood for a white tea at all when opened up my advents this morning, but I’m definitely having a very good time with it.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0pgjjIuitc/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xc7gCuGcXg

Spring 2023 Harvest
Brewed western style.

Dry leaves are beautiful, fine and golden.
Wet leaves smell of leather and caramelized sugar.

Sweet, caramel, sugarcane, malty. Light and delicious, with hints of burnt sugar and leather.

(Spring 2023 Harvest) Bouquet of flowers. Similar to pomelo flower, maybe even more perfumerie quality.

(Spring 2023 harvest) Florals and pencil lead on the nose. Some bitterness on the palate, somewhat astringent.