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I have been craving an oolong today afternoon.

But I wanted to prepare tea western, as this week was truly exhausting. Finishing the thesis, sending it to the Uni system, check from teacher, another MS Teams meeting because finals… But now, last exam awaits before the finals. I am afraid I will go on week long hiatus again.

But this tea. I had 6 grams, so I have used the half today and brewed for 4, maybe closer to 5 minutes.

It is still a tea that I like. It isn’t that great as prepared eastern method, but still very nice and tasty. Floral, a bit drying, but nice.

I am not good with descriptions recently. Probably I need to refocus on tea again as well. But… not now. I am looking forward to it though.

Hmm. For some reason I haven’t put this in my virtual cupboard. Anyway… this is the tea from the company I have ordered from and it was a free gift — so thank you to Prague!

I was looking for this one, but as shu puerhs aren’t my thing usually, I decided not to order it. I have received a loose leaf sample of this instead of thick chunks.

Western, 4 grams, 300 ml
It is decent, though not anyhow unique. Quite woody and sweet, but not much complex flavour profile.

I did two steeps, one in yesterday afternoon and second this morning. Both were pretty much same and both were quite thick too. A nice surprise in conclusion.

Hi everyone (waves). Week long hiatus because of my thesis. Thesis done (hopefully). Deadline on Friday. “I like to live dangerously!”

Anyway, I decided to try a new shop for me and I just decided to give a several new teas. I was craving buying new teas, but not from subsciption. Genuine, pure teas…

And as I wanted some pure black, I decided to order this one. Not only to mention that typo in the name… my pouch is saying 2nd Flush 2015. Not happy to see it much, but it was cheap tea. Truly, very cheap tea. That 15 grams sample was cheaper than a beer here. And beer is cheap.

Anyway, took two teaspoons and my 300 ml mug.

It’s described as very malty tea with raisins, honey and licorice flavour, but honestly… (it’s because age?) it was rather like a malty and tobacco. With strong tannic aftertaste. Raisins, in my opinion are different, and honey… no way, sadly.

Overall, it was quite mediocre tea. Far from Mokalbari Assam (but as well completely different area). And that biiter aftertaste isn’t a thing to look forward as well. Well, at least it was cheap and just a small sample. Not every tea is a winning tea.

Big bags tea and I thought I have finished all Fortnum & Mason teas already, but apparently not.

I was working on my thesis and in one moment I just found a dead end and I just couldn’t find any solution. I asked the company, they didn’t know. I asked my thesis leader teacher — she did not reply (I wrote it in the morning). I wrote another teacher (in the afternoon), probably it was too late for him as well. I was drinking this tea with my brother and father (both drinking coffee), explained them my problem (it is one of several parameters) and brother came up with solution. I will have to explain why I have used a bit another parameter than used in the formula from book, but at least there is some solution and hopefully working one.

Anyway to this tea… it is fairly generic black tea, although they claim they use Ceylon and Assam tea. I couldn’t notice it and maybe it is due to age as it is indeed old one and moreover bagged. It was quite heavy on tannic notes, a hint of bitterness and pretty much forgettable tea. I would love to find out if looseleaf is better, or fresher tea afterall, but it seems they do not export to the EU teas right now.

Not all teas are winners. This is sad example of that.

Although it is from big bags I have no idea if it is that old at all. It was foilwrapped though, so hopefully still alright, though a bit old.

I was craving a fruit tea today afternoon, and while cranberries isn’t a fruit I crave often, today it was different and decided to brew it anyway. They suggest 10 minutes steep, which is a lot, but I decided to follow it anyway.

It’s tart, very tart, and very cranberry forward. They claim there is some orange peel in and it should be noticeable, but not for me. It had expecting flavour profile though and honestly it wasn’t bad. Maybe a teaspoon of sugar would make it more lovely and less tart.

It is about 20 minutes since I finished the cup and I still notice its tartness on my tongue tip, but it’s okay. Nothing I would have to keep in my cupboard though.

Year ago I wrote a tasting note about this tea and now I was drinking it again and it is same deliciousness.

For a bagged tea (thanks to Izzy) it is one of the most perfect black teas I ever had. It’s not boring anyhow. A full-bodied, brisk tea I needed today with some a bit of other flavours that complement the malts. It is mostly cherry wood and tobacco somehow, but not in smoky way today.

I would give a try a loose leaf version, I never had it before yet.

I have decided to open this pouch I got from White Antlers last year while she bought some mystery teas, so Alistair chose this tea for me. It is harvested in April 2020, so it’s more than year old, but it was still in closed pouch.

I have decided to open this one to don’t bore you with another, same teas I had before, and moreover I felt I need something new as well. I have several black teas opened, but all together it seems they are unique on its own… Nepalese Ilam Pathiwara = super fresh, Guria Likhauri = Georgian tea, Unknown black = nice one, bready, soon to be sipped down, Zheng Shan Feizi Xiao by Tangpin = better in gaiwan…

So, yeah, opened this one and prepared western. Took two pinches of tea and steeped for 4 minutes.

I have to agree with derk, it seems eastern preparation method suits this tea better, as I got tea which seemed a bit underbrewed, athough I got nice notes too. I got malty, honeyish flavour, kind of floral as well. I wasn’t paying much attention to the tea though today, as my mind is thinking rather how to make my thesis. Kind of leathery aftertaste maybe?

It was easydrinking, smooth tea, good for afternoon cup as prepared. Gives me energy to work again on the thesis, though I am already quite tired of all the tables I had to do. Now I will work on the text part, which isn’t that much fun, as I found out I was calculating it wrongly, so I need to update that text part saying results. C’est la vie! In 14 days it must be done, sent online. Week for printing it out and having it binded together.

Enough of my thesis and my own problems. You want to read about tea, not my problems.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JJAXwAaA2w (they are singing about 2nd May :P, luckily I don’t need any alibi now)

Tasting note 1100; SIPDOWN 100

Leafhopper preparation method
So, thank you a lot derk! Decided to gongfu the rest and it is very, very similar to brewing western and equally perfect. First steeps were very floral, jasmine and while jasmine was fading, the tea took more and more of its qualites and it was wonderfully bready, malty flavour profile. But the jasmine never ever faded completely and it complements so well the base. It’s incredlibly smooth. I mean, I probably never had so smooth black tea. The notes of jasmine never were overpowering.

Not a tea for daily drinking, but for special occasions. Dunno why I have decided to consider a special day a tasting note with another finished hundred, and hundred of sipdowns, but well… here it is. And last April tea so stats time again!

Song pairing (today 20 years old!):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vqgdSsfqPs

Snack pairing: Tile Candy: Black Sesame Crunch from Bokksu (courtesy to snackexchange on reddit). Japanese with Chinese? Works well!

Wrote 2 or 3 pages on thesis. 10-15 remaining. While I was writing tasting note last time, I wrote two. Okay… I guess I should be faster. But the telemetry system was way too slow today! Hopefully it will be better during the weekend. I want to have it done on Monday.

Stats:

Tea types (again, black teas won):
Black 34
Herbal 9
Green 7
Rooibos 5
Oolong 4
Puerh 4
White 3
Fruit 3
Many herbals I have drank! But that’s it. Stats don’t lie.

Loose leaf?
Y 42
N 27
Decrease, because my strainer broke and I almost ran out of fill-your-own bags . I bought new ones two days ago.

Steepster?
Y 30
N 39
Busy days recently and no mood to write that much, so this time more non-written teas about.

Number of teas in April — 69 (total 335 in 2021), not great at all. It’s getting warmer, so drinking less tea probably!

Average rating in April: 76.84

A tea bag from Izzy, thank you!

It’s a bit crazy drinking Christmas Night tea in the time, when everything starts blooming, there are no more snow and it is spring all around!

But, I don’t care.

This tea, when I opened from clear plastic bag (without anything on it!) I noticed fairly typical black tea notes with cloves. When brewed, and again, as ETS teas are like, for long, I got some other notes as well. I got light base tea and then lots of spices — cloves and cinnamon; cocoa and/or chocolate and oranges. Altogether very mixed and it wasn’t working well together; it was very weird flavour mix.

SIPDOWN 99

Well, honestly, not gonna miss this one. I mean, it’s not bad and actually calming down one, but that turmeric with cocoa nibs make so weird flavour combo. I feel like it should be sweeter, but then the turmeric takes part and it is somehow creamy?

But guess what! I have last exam coming before finals! And it will be 21 May. So, quite a lot of time to prepare. I need to finish the thesis (hopefully during the weekend), and it will be all in on mathematics! Woo!