Two little blog announcements before I start off on the tea ramble. First, the blog has received its first donation from a reader, and I have to say a huge THANK YOU!! When Ben gave me the news (since Paypal is connected to his email) I just sat in giddy awe for a bit, that wonderfully generous news put a positive spin on what was turning out to be a dreadful day. The second bit of news is as I am sure my steady readers noticed (or the ones who follow me on facebook and saw the announcement) I missed a day of blogging, boo!! I had hopped that with this new schedule that would not happen, but I didn’t take into account multiple days of being under the weather, so to make up for it I will post two reviews.

Today I am looking at Golden Tea Leaf’s Charcoal Roasted Jade Oolong, a uniquely roasted Oolong. Usually when I run into Oolongs that are charcoal roasted they are dark in color and very strong in the char department, but this one was roasted repeatedly over low heat meaning it retained some of its green while still having iconic charcoal roasted notes. I was surprised when I opened the package to find silk sachets full of tea rather than loose leaf, but was pleased to see the sachet is fairly large meaning the leaves will be able to expand some. The aroma of the leaves inside their little sack is delightfully roasty toasty, with notes of corn silk, roasted barley, sweet toasted buckwheat, and a bit of freshly baked oatcake. It certainly brings the grains and nutty notes, and even has a slight touch of toasted acorns at the finish, which was peculiar but quite fun.

I was torn on how to go about brewing this tea, on the one hand it is in a sachet so it would be so easy to toss it in a mug and call it a day, or grandpa steep it, or cut the bag open and gongfu as normal since my gaiwan was all ready to go. I decided to be silly with it and just gongfu the bag, I mean, why not? The wet bag of leaves smells strongly of toasted grains, like oats, buckwheat, barley, and a bit of cracked wheat. Alongside these sweet and toasted grains is a touch of cooked spinach at the finish. The liquid has notes of honey drizzled buckwheat and sweet corn with a touch of barley and a distant buttery quality. It is light and sweet with a great amount of toast, reminding me of cereal.

The first steep starts with a honey drizzled oatcake note with a side of toasted buckwheat. It is sweet with a toasted buttery grain quality that tastes sooo good, it is like drinking breakfast. Towards the middle the buttery quality increases, as does the buckwheat, it is not as sweet, but that is fine since the grain quality reminds me of toast. At the finish there is a delicate note of spinach that is light, but adds a touch of green and savory to a mostly sweet steep. There is a light honey aftertaste that does not linger for too long.

On to the second steep, which still smells strongly of cereal and a bit of toast. The roast is a bit more present this time, it is still honey sweet but the sweetness takes a step back and lets the notes of toasted grain become the dominant. Notes of toasted oats and roasted buckwheat blend with a touch of rye and wheat. The aroma reminds me a bit of granola and again, makes me think of breakfast.

For the third steep, there was not a ton of change between the second and third, and the third to fourth for that matter. I sat with this tea for several steeps and was amused by the bag stretched to its limit containing the puffed up leaves, though they did not really get to expand to their full size, it was like a leaf corset. Man, I really wish I could draw because that gave me the best mental image…anyway…On a whim I grandpa steeped the bag for its finish and was rewarded with a wonderful buttery, buckweat and honey tea that was both light and wonderfully sweet. It was my last tea session of the day and quite a relaxing one at that, even if I did really want oatcakes afterwards.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/09/golden-tea-leaf-charcoal-roasted-jade.html

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I am a nerdy, obsessive, crafty, tea blogging, gaming nut. Yeah, that about sums me up! Ok, you want something more informative….

I am a Geek, hardcore fan-girl Geek. It shapes my life. I spend a large chunk of my life painting miniatures and contemplating my various army layouts. I hoard dice, get obsessed with games, and will talk about whatever fandom, game, etc that I am obsessed over until I am blue in the face. I am not just a gamer girl type Geek, I also fit in the collecting knowledge and spending way too much time reading and researching category of Geek.

But there is more to me than just being a giant nerd. I love tea, always have and have just gotten more and more obsessed as I get older. I love trying new teas and then writing lengthy descriptions about them on my blog, I love reading and researching the history and culture of tea, I love collecting tea pots and fancy tea tools.

When the weather allows it, I love to go mushroom hunting. I don’t eat them, instead I use them for photography and spore prints. I love nature and worked as a Naturalist in the Northwoods one summer, it might have been the best job ever.

I have Fibromyalgia, it sucks, but I feel people who are going to interact with me should know since I tend to vanish because of it so fair warning! I do tend to not vanish very long though. Also I have some ‘social disorders’ which basically translates to I am really awkward and bad at socializing, so forgive any lack of social graces.

I also have cats, love the ocean and all aquatic life, have teal hair, love cheese, and collect hats.

My favorite tea is definitely Oolong, but I also love Japanese greens and…ok I just love tea actually :P I am not a huge fan of lemony black teas or tart fruit teas. I also loathe hibiscus (usually)

This is my actual tea wishlist, you know that I actually update and keep track of…I tend to forget Steepster’s https://www.facebook.com/notes/amanda-wilson/tea-wishlishtshopping-list-perpetually-in-progress/10152336515414411 I use my steepster WL to keep track of teas I have had and really want more of :P

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Kansas City, MO

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http://ramblingbutterflythoug...

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