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Backlog Advent/Sipdown

First tea this week to allow me a moment to think on it. My wife wanted to play a game of 500 Rummy and drink coffee.** It was nice to have a moment where we both had energy (physical or mental) to play cards. I will note that I’ll avoid rating this based on the last cup, due to getting all ‘bits’ and little tea. This was essentially sugar crystals, very very little leaf, and white chocolate flakes. If memory serves me well, I do believe I liked this whenever there was a better balance of material.

**Tea has been one of those automated processes which I do to manage. My wife has been sick since Tuesday (Urgent Care on Wednesday to find out the issue) and work wasn’t allowing me the time to get stuff handled. But that’s life, right? Thankfully she’s been on the mend and finding the energy to eat a little more and have her first cup coffee today. She said that when one feels as she has, Green Tea + Ginger + Honey is ideal, but once you’ve started to recover, it’s a mixture which makes you think of illness.

Sipdown?

This was the first tea to be had during the February Tea Club. It was a terribly windy day. I wanted to drink some tea after waking too early on little sleep.. It was a rough morning and a rough evening, as nobody could sleep last night – the wife sick and I worried. She currently has a fairly high fever, but the doctor advised that if it remains in the morning, it’s recommended we take a trip to Statcare. Poor dear.

Notes: This was a warming tea – both in smell and flavor. I’m a sucker for a yancha and this was the type that really hits the spot. There were ‘soft’ mineral notes and a nice lingering sweet citrus aftertaste.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3YfaYAu3Rg/?img_index=1

Sipdown

My wife is sick today. She wanted hot tea with honey. I thought that sounded quite lovely, so I brewed a big batch of this (32 oz iced/32 oz hot) to top off the the first bag we purchased a few weeks ago.

Notes: The black tea base and bergamot are both forward in the sip, but the lavender really takes charge in the aftertaste. I really like that this tea holds up hot or iced.

*Adding ice brings the lavender out more, while the bergamot plays the biggest role in the aftertaste.

Sipdown

I grabbed this from the storage, after a recent rotation, and decided it’s time to start hitting the tea cakes more often. I have so many partial cakes remaining, so it’s only necessary to top them off. I really want to reduce buying any more tea, with the exception of a couple monthly clubs, to help reduce the pile of teas I own….

I don’t remember where or how I acquired this cake. I’m thinking that it may have been a Liquid Proust tea snag, but it’s possible I searched for it on my own. All I know is that this tea has been in my stash a long while, and I hoarded the last 14g for a reason (likely I enjoyed it so much, I wasn’t ready to part ways, yet). I split the remaining 14g into two 7ish gram sessions.

Notes – Part One: The first session was 7-8 infusions. I was in the middle of working, and work can easily distract me from the tea. I didn’t make any notes.

Notes – Part Two: Last night, I made myself take a lunch, so that I could give the time for the last session with this tea. My storage (semi dry – I will monitor the humidity and throw in a Boveda packet or two, as needed) has proven to allow this tea to keep the original “aged” taste, but has really reduced the previously noted menthol taste. It was still there, but the bitterness had faded some. The tea was smooth and sweet – I noted some menthol/mint notes. The qi was calming, and allowed me to feel creative and journal, prior to returning to my workload.

PS. I did manage to find the tea online. Roughly $25 per 100g. Not too shabby. I’ve added it to my wishlist.

https://sunsingtea.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=226&search=+2009

Sipdown

I had this before heading to bed this morning. I wanted tea, but 12 A.M. seemed a bad time to drink any. However, I spotted the remaining few grams of this in my sipdown stash, so I figured it’d make for a great read & tea before drifting off.

Notes: Nutty & savory (salted nuts, potato chips, & umami). It’s a good alternative when one is craving a roasted oolong or puerh, but it’s too late to indulge on the mild caffeinated teas or an herbal like chamomile.

Advent Backlog/Sipdown

I finally brewed this up today…I was feeling yancha after a stroll in the park. It was cold enough for my face to freeze a tad bit, so I wanted a warming tea. This was ok. Honestly, I love Wuyi/rock oolongs, but this was perhaps too light in flavor. There was a good bit of the roast playing the part in the flavor, but the tea was mild and wasn’t as elevated as some yanchas are…

Advent Backlog/Sipdown

I’ve learned a lesson on storage today. Especially in regards to puerh storage. Now, I usually have zero issues, but I had this cake broken down (likely to use as a daily drinker, but it lay forgotten), placed in a Ziplock baggie, and mixed in with a lot of unopened stuff (the container was 90% empty since the majority of the teas are vacuumed sealed oolongs awaiting their turn in my rotation). This is a result in being scatter minded during the midst of packing/moving, and sitting in a container for a few months…Anyway, I tried the broken cake and it was muted. The notes really hit in the aftertaste and very little in the initial tasting. I remembered that I did have a second, untouched cake, found during the recent puerh rotation….so, an experiment was necessary…

The second time was a success. There were brighter notes of pear and apricot, as I usually affiliate with huangpian material. This tea was something ‘affordable’ and it wasn’t really ever expected to be something amazing…Huangpian typically ages kind of strangely, so I find that it’s something to be had immediately, or stashed away for many years to come. After 4 years, this still has time to grow…the storage is fine, but I’ve learned my lesson with the previously opened/broken cake (I’ve stashed it deep in bottom of the other cakes to grow once more).

Sipdown

The owner of Ohio Tea Co gave me 1 oz of this blend a long while ago. He noted that they were looking for peach teas for the shop…to my surprise, this was when I understood that they don’t make their blends, as I assumed.

Notes: I made this iced. It has a very light peachy note, but I’m not tasting much of anything. I used 6 tsp for 18 ounces, so maybe it’s the tea. Whenever I imagine “ice cream,” I’d imagine it to be sweet; which this isn’t.