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So yeah, Steepster frozen again, again on Friday. Oh well.

My oldest tea in my stash (aged); and sipdown 67. Soon I won’t have teas to sipdown I guess. No, just kidding, still lots of tea over here. But much less!

I drank this tea for last time when I was celebrating my 24th birthday. Like really? Does the time fly that fast? I was thinking I could finish those small puerh samples much earlier.

I used 8 grams, which was quite a lot! And my faithful, 125 ml gaiwan. I didn’t wanted to keep some funny amount worth grandpa brewing only… And there was approximately half of “loose leaf” and half in chunk. I did fast rinse and steeped with 10 seconds increments.

I have to say, this tea is thick. And I have to agree with Togo, its scent is interesting and I would say I have noticed the bell peppers in aroma after the rinse. Now, after first steep it’s indeed more raisiny, nutty and buttery; while taste is quite weak and not lasting much. It is fruity somehow though, with herbal undertone, but not impressive in any way. The rating I gave this tea almost 2 years ago, 96, is certainly too high, but I just hope I don’t have to lower it below my average. As for price… I can’t tell as it was sent to me for paying shipping only from France.

2nd steep, brought more of the herbals, and honestly very sweet, gaiwan is full of autumn leaf pile which started to decay. I noticed resin last time and maybe it’s that herbal note I declare with something added. It truly gets the vegetal note as well.

3rd steep and in gaiwan I feel I have truly bell peppers. It is certainly that. Kind of unfortunate they are in tea bowl as well. Yep, I completely get this note. Highly vegetal note. It’s smooth at least. No idea where I brought up the pine.

4th steep; honey-ish taste, sweet. Something lacking. Certainly I have been expecting a longer aftertaste, that is in this tea almost non-existent.

6th steep. A nice cup, but nope, it is way too similar to previous. I am truly missing the aftertaste. There is almost none. And that is sad about this tea. It is tasty, completely unoffensive, but lacking that typical puerh note.

Result: Lowering rating from 96 to 88 as it certainly lacks some long taste; some steeps were indeed boring. Sad to see it go, but ageing doesn’t help and maybe I was just hyped about that tea back then. Certainly it doesn’t deliver any astringency or bitterness… as they say. Even 88 could be considered very high. I know and I have to agree. But as I had it just two times, and once I was truly amazed and now I am considering rating it around average (which is around 75 in my case), I would keep it this way.

Thank you Dustin for this tea as well; and only one remains that I haven’t tried yet.

To be honest, it’s biggest dismal from THEODOR; it smells very nice, but brewed it isn’t that great at all. It’s pretty much basic, although nice green tea base and hints of cherry flavour. That fruit note is though very weak and I haven’t noticed anything from other flavours added nor coconut that should be in. No rhubarb at all. Sad!

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za05HBtGsgU (could I pick anything else? :D)

SIPDOWN 63
Thank you Izzy for this new for me tea company and nice apple flavoured tea!

It’s no fuzz tea bag of black tea with nice apple flavour. Both well present; apples are indeed red and quite sweet with pleasant sourness aftertaste. Again a nice bold base, with very nice taste without bitterness.

One of the finest apple flavoured teas I had; well, combination of Japanese and French teamasters brings a nice results I guess. See Lupicia, right?

Received a bag from Dustin, thank you!

It’s quite classical Ceylon tea; pretty much okay, lighter than usual. Not much malty, rather citrusy, lightly on malty + sweet side.

It’s better than MlesnA teas I have in previous days. Somehow more round. I wonder if it is because more quality leaf is used, or what.

Decided to brew this tea from derk, thank you!
And as I am curious person by nature I turned on VPN for my university and looked to the databases.

“The decoction of dried fruits of Ternstroemia pringlei (Rose) Standl. (Theaceae), commonly known as “Flor de Tila”, is used in the Mexican traditional medicine to diminish insomnia and fear.” (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2008.05.035, I have whole article available)

Enough of science, now to find out my own thoughts. I let it steep all time long, as there aren’t any steeping parameters. So, it could be around 25 minutes steep.

It brews lightly pink/red and thus certainly not similar to any Linden (Tilia sp.) tea! Tastes slightly berry like and quite pretty much nothing else. Quite drying aftertaste, I needed a gulp of fresh water afterwards.

Good to know it’s kosher, haha! I would rate after drinking the second bag.

Apparently they tweaked the recipe and it’s much less fiery than you guys noticed. I certainly received a pouch with peach (which isn’t that super fresh as on Izzy’s picture and some ginger, but much less of it than in pictures.

But in taste it isn’t a trouble! I notice both — a juicy peach with little fiery aftertaste of ginger. Bold and malty tea base. Well done! I can imagine being it blast for ice tea.

Again an example of well blended tea, because it delivers my favourite way of blending… there is the flavour expected, but as well the base tea. 4 minutes are a bit too much, I need to tweak it a bit. Not sure if I want to drink this tea in cold days (as today, it’s sunny, 11°C, spring-like) or prepare it cold-brewed and then drink it iced.

For some reason I never put this tea to my cupboard, or I have removed it accidentaly? Nevermind…

This tea is great, but somehow quite basic. Prepared western and all I got from derk, thank you a lot!

I noticed mostly tobacco notes with cocoa and leather notes. While tastes were complex, it was quite light and not much amusing. While drinking, there was one extra note — raisins; but not much present, just like a backbone.

I wonder what I am lacking today foggy morning?

I decided to broke in this pouch as well. It’s from boxing day sale and I just couldn’t resist as it sounded so good. I had banana bread maaaaybe just once, and one day I will try to bake my own. Hopefully the University workload will be slowly decreasing: as today I spent all day listening to the lectures in front of screen and I have no power doing some other things I should work on (eg. thesis).

Anyway, I digress a lot again.
Steeped two teaspoons in 300 ml. I have expecting more banana flavour, but it’s there. But the ginger is quite ruining it for me. I get it, it’s chai. But I notice only ginger and not the other spices. Maybe more of the bread note… something is lacking for me.

Decided to gongfu my last ball I have received; thank you derk and White Antlers. SIPDOWN 62

Longer rinse; around 10 seconds, and first steep being 20 seconds long.

I have hoped the ball would dissolve; but it is still a chunk of tea — I guess I will need to make several long steeps and then make short ones.
First steep, with parameters above, is very sweet with apricot fruit line, autumn leaf pile… and overall quite weak. That makes sense as the ball is still compact.
Second steep, 30 seconds, spilling the water on the ball directly to dissolve it: worked well! Stronger apricots; kind of punchy or something. Quite sweet, surprising considering the age, easydrinking cup.
Another steep with same parameters, but flavours more prominent, mostly the woodsy and “autumn leaf pile”.
4th steep, 45 seconds
Tends to be more woody, with sweet aftertaste, but the apricot notes are gone.
5th steep, 60 seconds
Nectar sweetness; that’s interesting twist from the woody notes in previous one.
6th steep, 60 seconds
Another sweet notes, but much less prominent.
7th steep, 90 seconds
Goodbye steep. Nonprominent tastes, sweet notes, but without anything else.

Well, this was a fun gongfu session with tasty steeps. Honestly I liked it more grandpa brewed, probably for more robust and bolder flavour, but brewing it this way worked well as well. Certainly I like Jingmai whites, especially if they are a bit aged. I wrote a note for myself for future reference.