921 Tasting Notes
Today was a good day! Ben and I went on an adventure, taking a bus to Crown Center to visit Shang Tea and enjoy good company, tea, and food. After that we went for Greek food after I got us both crazy craving it by talking about it on the way back from the bus stop. I was very pleased that I got a great meal of Dolmades and Gyros, lately my stomach has been full of stupid so this is the first real meal I have had all week. Greek food cures everything!
It is Dian Hong day! I am looking at Green Tea Guru’s ‘Mu Shu’ Old Arbor Black tea of Yunnan, a curly big leafed hong cha from Lincang. It is no secret, I am mildly addicted to Hong Cha, Yunnan being my favorite source of it (maybe, I really like the others too) and if I ever run out of it panic ensues. Seriously, last year I ran out of Dian Hong and it was awful, I still have nightmares. The aroma of the big ol’ leaves is sweet with notes of honey, molasses, yams, and a bit of cocoa. Alongside the sweetness is a resinous pine quality, gentle camphor, and a woody finish. It balances notes really well, no note overpowers the others and it is brisk enough to wake my nose up as well as tantalize my sweet-tooth.
Into the teapot the leaves go, I was sharing this session with Ben so that means I get to use a bigger pot. The aroma of the leaves from the first steep is a bit brisk with notes of wood and resinous pine sap. There are also notes of molasses, malt, and a sweet cocoa quality that lingers in my nose long after the pot was placed back on the desk. The aroma of the tea is sweet with notes of molasses, malt, honey, yams, and a nice resinous pine sap finish. I love when teas have that resinous quality, it makes me happy.
The first thing I notice about this steep is the thick mouthfeel, mix that with the delicate brown sugar sweetness at the front makes for a wonderful start to this tea. The middle notes are also sweet, molasses and cocoa with addition of woodiness and a finish of pine resin and a touch of camphor. It balances richness and sweetness without being too sweet.
Woo, the aroma of the next steep is sweet, strong notes of cocoa, yams, and molasses make my nose happy. This steep is richer, starting with a sweetness of brown sugar and molasses, but it is strong and when it moves into the notes of woodiness and yams for a mellow yet brisk middle. The finish is brown sugar cookies with a hint of cocoa, not quite chocolate chip cookies, but pretty close, with an aftertaste of molasses it is delightfully rich.
The third steep is pretty much identical to the second, but the fourth steep has a difference, adding more brisk woody and camphorous notes. This tea goes for quite a while, starting to fade to just faint sweetness and distant mineral notes after the fifth steep. I found this tea to be great in the evening, but also brisk enough to be an earlier in the day tea, waking up the senses. Delicious stuff!
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/08/green-tea-guru-mu-shu-old-arbor-black.html
I did something today that I rarely do, I spent several hours doing nothing. Even though I am disabled and really should spend more time relaxing, I can’t, I always have to be busy doing something even if that something is studying, painting, or just keeping my mind busy…I have never been one to just sit and watch TV, I am the type person who watches TV while also doing other stuff. Lately though I have been feeling pretty icky and really didn’t want to deal with another fibro flair, so I just laid in bed and relaxed. I napped off and on, snuggled the cat, and napped some more. It was surprisingly therapeutic, my pain is not diminished, but for the first time in days I don’t feel exhausted.
And so, with it being Friday, that means it is the last day of the Floating Leaves High Mountain Oolong Sampler adventure finishing it off with the 2016 Spring ShanLinXi High Mountain Oolong, ah ShanLinXi, you guessed it, another Oolong I love. What can I say, I drink a LOT of Oolong, my stash of it and Hong Chas are the biggest in my tea collection for a reason. A lot of my experience with this wonderful tea has been the harvest later in the year, so it is good to see the contrast between spring and autumn. From the first sniff I could tell this was a ShanLinXi, it has that to me iconic crisp alpine air, that blends morning fog, cedar leaves, and mineral notes. Alongside this mountainous goodness are notes of sugar cane, blooming tulip trees, and a gentle note of hyacinth and sesame seeds. A delicious combination to make my nose happy.
Gaiwan time! I originally used this gaiwan for red teas, but decided I had enough teaware devoted to that type of tea and decided this gaiwan wanted to be used for oolongs. The aroma of the leaves after the first steep is great, I say it smells alpine but really it reminds me of the air deep in the Smoky Mountains, you can smell the trees and the misty, cloud heavy air…it is kinda fantastic. Speaking of trees there are notes of blooming tulip trees, hyacinth, lilacs, and a distant note of apples. The liquid has notes of sweet snap peas, distant fresh peaches, sugar cane, tulip tree blossoms, and apple flowers. It is sweet and light, very refreshing.
This is one smooth steep, it has a buttery thickness but instead of being oily it is more smooth, like velvet. The taste is sweet and light, notes of sugar cane and sweet snap peas start it out, then it moves to sesame custard and buttery goodness, but the finish, well that is unique! Notes of fresh pears and gentle peaches with a lingering fruity, juicy, sweetness.
On to the second steep, the aroma is mountainous and blooming trees, on the very end of the aroma is a gentle pear and peach note that I am loving. Like the first steep this one is velvety smooth and light while being quite sweet. This tea reminds me more of spring than any of the others from this sampler, with notes of blooming tulip trees (seriously tulip tree nectar is so delicious) apple blossoms, juicy pears and fresh apples. With a gentle note of growing green mountainous air and snap peas, the majority of the taste is very sweet and delicately fruity.
So where the other two steeps were light this one really blooms. By the point the leaves have unfurled and wow, the aroma is intense! Sweet fruit, blooming flowers, and a touch of fresh green vegetation. The mouthfeel is thick and buttery while being buttery smooth, it compliments the juicy fruit notes and blooming flower notes wonderfully. I went in for many steeps MANY, I lost count. It is wonderfully sweet and refreshing and is a strong contender for favorite from the sampler!
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/08/floating-leaves-2016-spring-shanlinxi.html
Yours truly did one of the most girly things last night, well girly for me anyway…I was up til five in the morning working on my wedding registry and wish-listing wedding related clothing and things. My desire to dress like a princess, have my wedding dress be something I will use more than once, and to not spend a fortune has made this an exciting endeavor. We still haven’t set a date yet, it will at the least be a year away since we are waiting for Ben’s sister to come back from Peace Corps, and I am kinda hoping for a Halloween wedding as to be an excuse as to why my wedding garb looks possibly like a cosplay of two different characters of mine from two separate RPGs Ben and I play, that is a conversation I don’t want to have a million times, but if it is Halloween that is good enough! Oh man, I am such a dork.
You guessed it, today the adventure through the Floating Leaves High Mountain Oolong Sampler continues as I pretend to travel to these beautiful mountains through the taste of teas. Looking at 2016 Spring LiShan High Mountain Oolong today, and this tea mountain has a special place in my heart. If you travel back in time to September of 2013, it was one of the first High Mountain Oolongs I blogged about, I didn’t have my army of gaiwans or clay pots yet, I was doing pseudo gong-fu with quick steeps using a half filled mug and a steeping basket. Oh how times have changed, three years later and it is still a favorite…and I have more gaiwans/teapots/cups than sense now. I got fussed at by Ben while I was sniffing this tea, mainly because I started making a racket and he has a headache, but the aroma is pretty out of this world. It is very sweet, with notes of chestnut, sugar cane, and a bit of starchiness, but the thing that elicited the noise from me was the distinct note of bananas and pineapples, it smells so good!! I had my nose stuffed in the teapot snuffling like a truffle pig for far longer than necessary.
I decided to give my gaiwans a bread and pull out the green Oolong XiShi pot, I say green but really at this point it is only used for Taiwanese High Mountain Oolongs, TGY and Baozhong have their own pots, because I am a hoarder. The aroma of the leaves after the first steep still has that banana note of happiness, but is also has a savory spinach note, sesame seeds, bok choy, hyacinth, and a general aroma of growing things in summertime. The liquid smells like freshly baked slightly buttery banana bread, and I swear if it wasn’t 100° I would bake some. There are also gentle notes of pineapple, starch, and a bit of green vegetation.
Tasting time! While writing this I am watching Roman Holiday, a good backdrop to musing about fancy teas. It starts light and sweet with a wonderfully buttery viscous mouthfeel, it really lights up in the back of the throat, gentle at the front then a light show at the back. The taste of banana and orange blossom at the back if the throat is joined by a beginning of sweet peas and fresh vegetation. Delicious stuff!
Next steep, woo! The aroma is sweet and green, a really good balance of the two. The taste, well, first let me touch on that texture, it is so thick and buttery, but the thickness is accompanied by a rich sweetness that lingers long into the aftertaste, I swear it is so long in the mouth. The taste, once I finally get my thoughts out of the mouthfeel, is floral and sweet, with distant bananas, pineapples, and orange blossoms.
Third steep, the aroma is still going strong with sweet and green, however there is a building hyacinth note that gets quite strong towards the end of the sniffing. The taste is also quite flowery this steep, notes of hyacinths, lilacs, orange blossoms, and a distant bit of plumeria. Towards the end the banana and fresh vegetation notes show up with a lingering buttery sweetness that stay forever. I pulled many steeps out of this tea, when it nears its finish the notes of lilac and hyacinth dominate til they fade away.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/08/floating-leaves-2016-spring-lishan-high.html
Today was a dreaded day that I have been putting off way too long, it was hair dye day. The blue/teal danger floof was getting faded and my roots were super obvious, I couldn’t neglect it any longer, though let me state for the record I hate the process. I’ve never found a hair dye that didn’t make my scalp burn (doubly so for when I have to bleach) or give me a rash, but I have skin issues so it is not the dye’s fault. I recently went from vibrant teal to dark blue, especially at the roots (my hair is getting super long, even with the death hawk) so that I can get away with not bleaching the roots and only having them be super dark blue. For some reason this time the dye barely took on the roots, looks great elsewhere, so I am going to plan three, blue-black roots! It was my go-to color for years and having a slow fade from blue-black, to dark blue to teal will look super cool.
Continuing on the Floating Leaves High Mountain Oolong Sampler Adventure with a tea that I was both the most excited for and the most apprehensive about reviewing, 2016 DaYuLing High Mountain Oolong. It is one of my favorite Oolongs, but not because of its intensity of taste or rarity, no it is my favorite because it is one of the most sublime of the Oolongs. I have, in the past, compared DaYuLing to a symphony, something about it always reminds me of music, of spring breezes clearing away mountain fog in the morning, of afternoon rain. This is not a tea that simply smells and tastes like other things, it is a tea that fills my mind with memories. But there is more to this tea than esoteric navel gazing, it does have quite the aroma. Notes of sweet honey butter, sugar cane, honey suckles, lilacs, and freshly baked fluffy sweet bread blend with a wonderful light note of pineapple and hyacinth.
For this tea I decided to use my carved serpentinite gaiwan, treasure for a treasure, and my camera does not do the luminous green of the leaves credit. The aroma of the leaves reminds me of baking yeasty bread, sage, sugar cane, a distant whiff of spicebush blooming, and a finish of lettuce and light hyacinth. The liquid for the first steep is pleasantly light and delicate while being quite distinct, notes of honeysuckle and lettuce blend with sweet yeasty biscuit dough.
Holy mackerel this tea is thick, super thick and buttery. The dominant taste note is yeasty starchy biscuits with a drizzle of honey. Alongside this sweet starchy goodness are notes of flowers, honeysuckles and lilacs with a faint hyacinth note. The aftertaste and finish combine a bit of lettuce and spicebush and it lingers for quite a long while.
I should warm that while writing this I feel pretty rubbish, but the idea of leaving a blog half finished seems wrong, so hopefully reading back over this later I will make sense! Sniffing this tea is an experience, savory lettuce and bok choy with a sweet starchy bread note that I have, in the past, compared to the aroma of one of my favorite mushrooms, the Destroying Angel. Yeah, I am a weirdo, but an armchair Mycologist weirdo needs to smell mushrooms, it helps with the IDing process. I cannot say if the tea tastes like these mushrooms since tasting them would kill me, but I can say it balances savory and sweet perfectly. It is a thick steep, immensely buttery with notes of sweet honey butter, cooked bok choy and lettuce, and a bit of cooked bamboo shoots. Alongside that is a blooming finish of honeysuckle and starchy yeast heavy bread that lingers for a long while allowing me to resume my introspective navel gazing before moving on to the next steep.
There is something really magical about this tea, how the flavor notes are so delicate and yet so potent, it is amazing. The notes of honeysuckle, sweet bread, buttery lettuce, and bamboo are so clear distinct but none of them are very potent, it is beautiful in its subtlety. I was able to sit with this tea for quite a while, getting a total of twelve steeps out of it, draining every last bit of flavor from the leaves before they were complete, and let it be said I loved every minute of it. In fact, I think I am going to go have another session right now…
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/08/floating-leaves-2016-dayuling-high.html
You know what is adorable, Ben snuggling Espeon. She is in one of those super cuddly moods, but alas I am melting from the stupid heat, so Ben to the rescue! Usually I never mind a lap cat, but it is one of those days where it is hot and humid so my skin is all crawly. It is all good though since I get to see cuteness.
Day two of the Floating Leaves Taiwan High Mountain Oolong Sampler specifically looking at the 2016 Spring Alishan High Mountain Oolong! Alishan is one of my favorite mountains for tea, especially the green Oolong style, I always get excited when I get a chance to enjoy it. Made from the QinXin varietal, which means sweet goodness, seriously I have never had a QinXin that was not wonderfully sweet. The aroma is buttery and sweet, with notes of chestnuts, sweet snap peas, sugar cane, and crisp celery. It balances sweetness and that refreshing bit of green for a light yet nuanced blend of notes.
I brewed this tea a couple of different ways, specifically gongfu and cold-steep, and let me start by saying gongfu was AMAZING, it is a star example of an Alishan with a thick texture, sweet taste, and mellow feeling, if you get this sampler (or just this tea) I suggest trying it out this way at least once. Since it is swelteringly hot though I want to showcase how this tea really impressed me, cold-steeped! The day I cold-steeped this tea I knew the night (after my session of gongfu) that I had errands to run the next day and would want tea, so I tossed the leaves in for a morning treat.
Oh my goodness this tea, in the aroma it has crisp notes of sweet snap peas and sugar cane, buttery thickness, and nutty chestnut. These notes are present, but they are joined with ethereal notes of freesia and lilac. I pretty much downed my entire first steep instantaneously, I didn’t even get out of the house with it! It was so wonderfully light while being nuanced, I love that.
So here I am with a pile of leaves and the need for tea, so I go grandpa style and add warm water, let it steep for a few, and then top it off with some ice to inevitably melt in the heat while also keeping the leaves around. This time around it really showcases the green aspect of the tea, notes of lettuce and celery, herbaceous oregano and a bit of parsley. It is so crisp and refreshing while still being sweet and floral. I am going to go on the record and say this is my favorite cold-steeped Oolong to date, the perfect combo of sweet and crisp while never being overwhelming.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/08/floating-leaves-2016-spring-alishan.html
I do a decent amount of gluten free baking, basically because I like to bake and I don’t like paying the store prices for mediocre GF sweets. However one particular sweet eludes my skills, blasted traditional style shortbread! I decided I really wanted shortbread the other night, so I made some (with added black sesame to make it extra tasty) and the taste was great, but the texture was so crumbly. No matter what blend of flours I try I just cannot get the texture right, adding various gums, using eggs, even trying a flax seed ‘pseudo gluten’ cannot get the texture to be like shortbread. My greatest challenge, it is funny since when I was not baking GF I was godlike at shortbread!
It is time for another theme week! This time I am looking at all the teas in the Taiwan High Mountain Oolong Sampler from Floating Leaves (there is a handy coupon at the bottom of the blog) starting with HeHuanShan High Mountain Oolong. What really excited me about this Oolong was it is from a mountain I have not sampled, meaning it is time for an adventure! HeHuanShan is part of the Taroko Gorge National Park and sits on the boundry of Nantou and Hualien Counties, and do yourself a favor and google the park and the mountain, both are serious eye-candy for nature lovers. So now I am going to explore those mountains vicariously though these beautiful green leaves. The notes I am picking up are very intriguing, somewhat expected notes of flowers, specifically a touch of honeysuckle and gardenia, a delightful burst of plumeria, and a mellow note of hyacinth. The part that made me giggle a bit maniacally was the distinct sweet note of lemon cheesecake. Seriously, there is even a hint of graham cracker crust, and that cheesecake creaminess with the sweet zingy lemon burst is mouthwatering.
After I finally convinced myself to pull my nose out of the leaves, it is steeping time! The aroma of the slightly unfurled leaves is buttery sweet and floral, notes of sweet cream, plumeria, gardenia, lilac, and teaberry. Ah yes, teaberry, a species of wintergreen that is made into a pink icecream in Pennsylvania that I would eat piles of when I worked at Dairy Queen, I was sad when they discontinued special flavors. It reminds me a bit of the same effect that Red Jade has, where it smells like mint but not minty, somewhat paradoxical but super delicious regardless. The aroma of the first steep’s liquid is light and buttery, floral and sweet, with an underlying green crispness. One thing that really stands out about the liquid is the distinct note of lichen and rocks at a mountain spring or after a rain, it is ghostly and only present as I am pulling the cup away from my nose, but it is there and evocative of the mountains where this tea is grown.
Ok wow, the first thing that struck me about this steep is that thick mouthfeel, buttery and creamy, my mouth is coated with oolong goodness…I would go as far as to say it is viscous. Thickness aside, the taste is sweet and wonderfully floral at the front, notes of summer lilacs and plumeria with a sweet honeysuckle nectar. In the middle there is a gentle gardenia note alongside orange blossom and gentle creamy note. The finish is gently savory and buttery, more savory like butter than buttery vegetal, but there is a touch of bok choy with an aftertaste of distant flowers and lemons.
On to the second steep, the leaves have unfurled a great bit and the liquid looks like afternoon sunlight. The aroma is thick, heady notes of flowers and buttery green with a sweet lingering lemon cheesecake quality that hangs around in my nose for a while. Wow this is a thick tea! I am loving how mouth coating it is, combine the texture with the slightly sour/sweet lemon cheesecake and teaberry notes and you have me salivating, it is pretty awesome. After this initial burst of sweetness, a thick savory blend of cooked buttery cabbage and bok choy arises, and the finish is sweet lemony which lingers into the aftertaste.
Third steep time! The aroma is flowery and sweet with a gentle crisp green undertone, to me it smells like early summer with the flowers all in bloom. You know, I am torn as to which is more striking about this tea, the mouthfeel or the aftertaste. The aftertaste lingers for so long, I had to sit and wait a bit between the second and third steep because it stuck around that long. The taste is a blend of flowers and crisp lettuce, then boom, lemon cheesecake that lingers well into the aftertaste again. This tea has great longevity too, I got nine steeps out of it before it faded away. Now, coupon time! Use the code teageekery35 for 35% off the High Mountain Sampler before August 31st!
For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/08/floating-leaves-hehuanshan-high.html
So, in Ark there are bosses (because every game has them) specifically a giant spider, a massive gorilla, and a dragon that looks like Spyro on steroids. The dragon has a fun mechanic where you can tame it and basically become a server god for 20 minutes and then poof, it disintegrates. In single player the only thing I want a dragon for is…well…it is a giant fire breathing, flying, death machine…I just want one. However I was sad that they always go poof, but I think I found a way to keep it around, now if only I could figure out how to keep the Titanosaurs from vanishing thing will be great!
Today’s tea is from Nelson’s Tea, their Vanilla Almond Black Tea, a blend of Black Tea, Almonds, and Natural Flavorings for a flavor combo I am notoriously fond of. What can I say, if I am going to drink a black tea that is flavored, chances are it is going to be either vanilla or almond, extra points for being both! Something about the blend of flavors reminds me of almond shortbread…which happens to be a favorite cookie, so no real surprise why I seek this out. The aroma is sweet, starchy, and nutty with strong notes of almond shortbread cookies, seriously the resemblance is a bit uncanny! Liquid cookies incoming!
The one complaint I ever have with almond (nutty in general really) teas is it makes the liquid cloudy due to the oily nature of nuts, but seriously that complaint is so minor. For the brewed leaves, the aroma is malty and a sweet, more like a cup of black tea sitting next to freshly baked almond shortbread cookies rather than just straight up cookies. The liquid is sweet, blending vanilla, malt, and almond in a shortbread cookie dance inside my cup.
This is not one of those teas that reaches up and smacks you in the face with intensity or briskness, no this is a black tea that shows its lighter, sweeter side. This is good, if you are like me, and only want to add a tempering splash of cream to Masala Chai or Ostfriesen Tea. The start of the taste is sweet and malty with a burst of vanilla that segues into almond for the back half of the tasting. I found myself very glad that I drank this in the evening, as it seemed to fit as a late day tea more so than a morning one, but as someone who drinks all day and is resistant to caffeine I am bad at advising times to drink based on that, this was a taste based assumption. Plus this tea tastes like cookies, and that is always a win in my book.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/nelsons-tea-vanilla-almond-black-tea.html
Sometimes, miniature painting is a giant pain. I have this really neat mini of two ladies with their arms around each other, in a most obvious ‘we are kinda posing while looking natural’ pose, in renaissance garb. Since one of the ladies is a bit shorter I decided it would be really cool to make it as my mom and myself, problem is, this miniature has some seriously ugly faces. Not even in the way that some of the older miniatures have where it is hideous but fun (think epic shouts or was supposed to be an elf but really looks like an orc with a face scar.) No these are ugly as in they look like potatoes with noses, so that means any real definition I have to get with shading, and since the features are sooo small I keep losing it under layers of paint, meaning I have stripped this miniature twice and this is my third time giving it a go. Curse of the potato people!!
Miniature woes aside, today I am taking a look at 2015 Early Spring Harvest Enchanting Beauty Raw Pu-erh from Denong Tea. A spring harvest from Xishuangbanna described as being fruity, smooth, and soft…just what I like in my younger Shengs. The aroma of the tea is pretty potent, sweet notes of grapes, apples, and apricots blend with a surprisingly floral note of magnolia. Seriously, first time I have ever run into a magnolia note in a Puerh, usually that is one I find in Oolong. Magnolia trees are a thing in the South, so that note is hugely nostalgic to me and it goes really well with the fruity notes.
Into the gaiwan the little cake chunk went, rinsed and first steep concluded it was time for sniffing again. No magnolia this time, instead it is a balance between fruity and green, with notes of apricot, apples, grapes (the white ones specifically) raw spinach, and a bit of hay at the finish. The aroma of the first steep is sweet grapes and apricots with a touch of fruity tartness and a bit of raw honey and pollen, very mellow and pleasantly sweet.
The first couple of steeps are light and delicate with a smooth and gentle mouthfeel. The notes confuse me, they are very Oolong like, with notes of gardenia and magnolia combining with apples and a bit of grapes, it reminds me a bit of a Dancong. The third steep starts to change, bringing in a lemon zest and spinach note, finally reminding me that this is a Sheng rather than an Oolong. The best part about the first part of the session is the aftertaste of slightly under-ripe apricots being both sweet and a bit tart.
On to the middle steeps! So a lot of younger Shengs I find the middle steeps to be brisk and bitter, but not these, instead of bitterness we have sour lemony quality which has the delightful effect on my salivary glands that eating a lemon would. Toss in a growing tart fruit quality and a dry to thick and wet mouthfeel and this is a refreshing ‘my mouth is awake now’ Sheng. At steep five the lemony note is joined by cooked spinach giving a savory quality and the dryness has faded away entirely. This quality carries on to steep six and starts to have a very long lingering smooth texture.
For the end of the steeping session, the vegetal notes start to fade, as do the lemony sour notes, instead all that is left is crisp sweet apples and a bit of honey and lettuce. It is thick and sweet with a lingering honey note and long lasting smooth mouthfeel. Conveniently this tea does not bother my belly at all, so I was able to see this session to its finish. That finish was a gentle fade of apples and apple blossoms and a touch of mineral. I really enjoyed this tea, but I am a sucker for fruity shengs.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/denong-tea-2015-early-spring-harvest_30.html
Today I decided to have a change of name, specifically username. If you see me floating around social media, no longer am I SoggyEnderman, now I am TeaNecromancer. Still super dorky, but now with a more tea themed flair, as it should be. This review is going to be as a pirate, the internet requested and how could I deny that! Ben, ever the story-teller, helped me with the pirate speak!
Avast, ye lubbers! Let me tell you a tale of a lost tea of the high seas – the fabled Black Pearl of Gramercy Tea! But be it a treasure fit for Hong Beard, or a mere watery grave? I set sail to find out.
Me map was incomplete, so I know not what port the tea hails from – my keen sea-dog’s nose caught a hint of Yunnan on the breeze off the Black Pearl, which suited me well enough. I’ve a great fondness for those shores. But don’t hold me to that, mates – the Black Pearl’s scent is light as a mermaid’s sigh, and as varied as the haul of a fat merchant freighter. Cocoa, molasses, malt, peanuts… the tea played coy with the smell of such plunder, but what I could catch was robust and pleasant.
It was a long and bloody battle to claim those pearls of tea, and get them loaded into me pot for the long voyage down me throat, and into Davvy Jones’ Locker. I’ll spare the squeamish of ye lubbers the details – but I will say that as that tea steeped, the air grew sweet, as the molasses, peanuts, and malt from before were joined by honey and sweet potatoes. As for the tea itself, it was a thing of toffee, peanuts and caramel – with a molasses and cocoa finish, which almost distracted me from the terrifying sight of a veritable kraken rearing up in me own tea gear! Clearly, there was a fearsome curse upon these pearls, and if I’d be lucky to finish the session alive.
But no captain could show fear in front of their crew, and I led the charge into the first steep. Though it was light as a breeze with a smooth mouthfeel, it held tastes as rich as any galleon, from the start of molasses and honey-coated peanuts, through a cocoa middle, to a finish of yams with honey aftertaste.
The crew, though, were afeared of the tea kraken, and I knew they plotted mutiny against me – they were in it thick as thieves, though still less think than the second steep, richer than the first, with a cocoa and molasses aroma, tasting first of molasses and malt, then cocoa and peanuts, before finishing with the very taste of the pine wood deck me own first mate smashed my face down into, as he pressed the Black Spot into my hand. I chuckled for a moment, savorin’ the irony of our predicament, along with a light honey-yam aftertaste, before I shot the scallawag dead through the heart.
I’ll not lie to ye, mates – few of me crew lived to taste the third steep. In a way, that’s just fine – devouring their bodies kept the beast busy as I sailed away, and after all the taste was all but a twin what had come before – though a twin who spent a little more time in the malt, if you follow me. On the other hand, it was a bit of a shame to kill so many old salt dogs, when we could have shared the treasure among us all – it holds several good steeps in it, and is a fine bowl steep for a day caught in the doldrums.
Now isn’t that a tale worth the tellin’?
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/gramercy-tea-black-pearl-tea-tea-review.html
I have PC envy again!! The newest update for Ark came out on PC today and wow, I cannot wait til the Xbox has it, finally we get Allosaurus! Along with the new mod Primitive+ which I am so playing with my mom, because we are nerds, and some other awesome things like the Center getting an update. As much as I am sad about waiting a few weeks for our end of the update, I love what they posted in the update release notes! They admitted that rushing the update for the Xbox caused a LOT of problems (oh the bugs…) and they were going to do a better job of making sure this update is not a giant pile of bugs. Yay! I am glad they realized there was a serious problem and are fixing it, go Wildcard!
Continuing on the Gramercy Tea week with another green tea, Bamboo Bud, also known as Zhu Ye Qing, a Sichuan tea with very striking leaves, looking like their namesake. Seriously, it is hard to not just sit and ogle the leaves, so vibrantly green and looking like they just came from the tea plant. The aroma of the adorable needles is a combination of green and sweet, with notes of bamboo leaves, bok choy, edamame, and a sweet nutty sesame seed and honey finish, reminding me of my favorite sesame seed candies.
I decided for this tea to break out my very rarely used tall gaiwan set, bought several years ago specifically for these long needled teas. A classic way to enjoy this tea is brewing in a tall glass, but I wanted to use the neglected gaiwan. The aroma of the brewed leaves is a bit peppery with notes of lettuce, cabbage, and peas, with a finish of edamame and chervil. The aroma of the first steep is lightly sweet with notes of snap peas and sesame with a touch of chestnuts.
Ah, the first steep is quite crisp! Nice notes of sesame seeds and sweet peas start it out, then it moves to more green notes of cabbage and broccoli with a bit of a peppery arugula note at the finish. The mouthfeel is pleasantly light while being crisp, much like biting into lettuce, but warm.
Onward to the next steep, the aroma is continuing in the sweet and nutty with gentle green quality, very reminiscent of springtime. This steep really showcases the green aspect of the green tea, starting with notes of sweet peas and bamboo leaves. It then moves to an herbaceous quality of parsley and a touch of chervil. The finish is a gentle note of fresh lettuce and cabbage with a sweet aftertaste like spring rain.
For the final steep, the aroma and taste is pretty light, gentle spring rain and bamboo leaves with a slight sesame sweetness. The taste starts very light, bamboo leaves and lettuce with sweet peas, and this carries on to the finish. Not a very long lasting tea, but still quite tasty and the crispness is very refreshing.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/gramercy-tea-bamboo-bud-tea-review.html
