This tea came packaged up with the Number 3 brew I enjoyed so much yesterday, thank to RABS and her incredible, creative, ingenious, wonderful Geek Tea Prize. In following the rules of the game, I have certainly consumed this tea within 24 hours but it may be longer for me to have posted this tasting note.
(Parenthetically: my mother in law is visiting and I’m feeling slightly deprived of computer time: I won’t have much access to the computer for the next week but I will be peeking in. We are going to take her on a road trip to meet up with another one of her sons. If you had told me a year ago that my biggest fears and trepidations about a roadtrip would not be car crashes or bed bugs, or a diet of fast food but rather no control over water temperatures for my teas, I may not have believed you). I hope that this deprivation will be good for my moral fibre.
This is a WONDERFUL tea. All of the tasting notes rave about this tea. I am now on infusion 4 or 5 and it’s going very strong. For those who do not like green tea, this might be one to sample. This tea never seems to get that bitterness that some greens have if they are not coddled. Perhaps because it is Chinese instead of Japanese? I am not sure.
As others have written, I can attest: this tea opens up to a floral/vegetal buttery aroma that is simply devastatingly wonderful. It seems to have a lighter touch than many greens in terms of going full-fledged vegetal—that is, I don’t have any sense that there is spinach or asparagus in my tea (are you listening to me, JacquelineM?). At the same time, perhaps paradoxically, I taste this tea as richer and deeper than many greens but more towards the floral side.
Like the An Xi Tie Guan Yin Charcoal Oolong of yesterday, this green counterpart is a miracle of tea growth. This plantation must be a spectacular place. This tea comes in a small package and yet contains within it a full canvas of artistic splendour.
I really have to agree with Morgana: newborn babes really smell exquisite. They have not accumulated bacteria. IF they sweat or burp or engage in other bodily functions there is a pureness to it. Stench is acquired with age! And this tea has that kind of brand-new purity and freshness and lightness. It tastes as if it has never been contaminated with man-made “stuff”. Other-worldly, I would say.
I really cannot thank Rabs enough for her kindness. Life in Teacup will hear from me, eager to place an order, when they return from holiday in August.
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LOL, stench is acquired with age may become my new motto. Right after retirement is wasted on the old. ;-)
I think I’ll make that my motto as well ;)
Doulton: I’m also really pleased that you liked this one. I wasn’t sure how you felt about oolongs so I put these two together. I guess I didn’t make clear in the instructions that if there’s more than one tea in an envelope then you get to chose which one is the “must have” and the other may be opened at your leisure.
Man the more I hear about this game, the more awesome it sounds and the more I wish I was clever enough to think of something like it :P
LOL, stench is acquired with age may become my new motto. Right after retirement is wasted on the old. ;-)
I think I’ll make that my motto as well ;)
Doulton: I’m also really pleased that you liked this one. I wasn’t sure how you felt about oolongs so I put these two together. I guess I didn’t make clear in the instructions that if there’s more than one tea in an envelope then you get to chose which one is the “must have” and the other may be opened at your leisure.
Man the more I hear about this game, the more awesome it sounds and the more I wish I was clever enough to think of something like it :P