Taiwan Tea Crafts

I drank some of this earlier in the day, shared with one of my morning students. I’ve reviewed it several times, so I won’t go on & on, but I did enjoy it! All in all, it’s been a wonderful day. I woke up, did my taichi, qigong, yoga mix, made a nice breakfast, & found myself singing throughout. I don’t know for sure, but I think the return of the sun, just a little earlier each day, is responsible. That & good tea ;)

I thought I’d brew a cup of this, as comparison to the Eco-Cha Red Jade. Both are tres 18 teas, & they are very similar. The appearance is slightly different, as these leaves appear to be larger, & less tightly twisted. Flavorwise, they are both tart, fruity, & spicy. The Eco-Cha features more of a minty sensation, more clove, & more bitterness. I’d say this one is sweeter, but the re-steep was weak.

To be fair, although I used the same steep times, I can’t be entirely sure I used the exact same amount of tea, so don’t take this comparison too seriously. I didn’t weigh either tea, & their leaf size & shape is very different. On my next steeping, I’ll weigh them both, & use same sized Gaiwans.

I drank this earlier today, while warming up on the Harp for a rehearsal. It’s a lovely fruity cup, with a sweet thick scent as well. I can’t believe I haven’t drank it awhile, because it really is divine!

I’m gonna be working from home today…oh wait, I almost always work from home, although sitting around in your pjs drinking tea is not exactly work, LOL. But I’m jumping back on my 45/15 plan, because I’ve got some very serious practicing to do! Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” is not for slackers, so I can’t be one. I will live, eat, & breath this music for the next month, with performances on the 8th & 21st.

But first, TEA! Gotta be fueled with food & caffeine. I decided to give this one the gongfu treatment this morning: 5G of tea in my 4 oz blue lotus tiny porcelain teapot (I love this little tea pot). 15 sec/30/45/60/etc…you get the idea. the 45/60 steeps were very potent!!
But all in all, success! Delicious fruity sweet success. Cup after cup of it. I think I made it through about 10 steeps, & although the last few were losing strength, they were still tasty & worthy of being enjoyed.

I’m feeling like a grumpus. In part, it’s due to lack of self-care. I haven’t been getting enough sleep, haven’t been spending enough quality time alone doing yoga, reiki, & such, & have been on a potato eating binge so my feet hurt (yes, it’s documented, more than once now…dammit).
I also have a bit of a resentment going, which I need to resolve by sending Reiki to the person in question. “Just for today, there is no anger.”
And I need to relax & enjoy more tea. Starting with this one, introduced to me by Sil. Thank you, tea sister, thank you.

Another tea from Sil, Thanks! You’re slacking on your reviews, sister, get with it! ;)
THIS is more like it!
I’m enjoying these teas from Taiwan Tea Crafts. I’ve decided I like the Assams from Sun Moon Lake. They all share a rich fruity flavor that is very different from the Assams I’m used to, but in a really nice way. This one is really lively in the mouth, with a full sensation, & a nice high note that reminds me of Apricot.

I’ve got a slow start going today, in part because I slept in, & in part because I wanted to really savor that last Golden Fleece by drinking a number of resteeps until it was spent.

Next up was this Aged Sun Moon lake, which was part of a shared order with Sil from Taiwan Tea Crafts. Their teas are very interesting, & today is the last day of their sale, BTW.
http://www.taiwanteacrafts.com

So this tea is probably my least favorite of the ones we tried, but still an interesting one, tasty, & worth drinking. The flavors are very savory, like roasted root veggies, especially beets. It’s not what I expect a cup of tea to taste like, but still a decent cup.

If you take those sun moon lake taiwans I was sampling earlier this morning & age them for 30 years, this is what you get! The flavor is of roasted carrots & beets, sweet, rich, & very very different!

This is another tea from my trade with Sil, & my first tea of the day.
The other sun moon Lake blacks I’ve sampled were rich with fruitiness, both in the flavor & aroma, & very smooth. They are very different, really in a lovely & unique way. If I understand it, this is one of ose same teas, aged 30 years. It is very smooth, & the fruit flavors have transmuted to root veggies: notably beets & carrots. There is also an earthy taste, like a root cellar, hinting at a Shu puer, but just a hint, with a touch of salt. It’s mellow & grounding.

First sipdown of the day, first sipdown of the week!
I took the weekend off from sipdowns. I just really needed to enjoy some of my favorite teas, so that’s what I did! Now I’m ready to dive back in, clearing out teas that are taking up space, teas that have been around for awhile, remnants of tea clubs, etc.
This has been a tasty tea, rich & fruity, and while I have enjoyed it’s company, & may eventually reorder, I don’t plan on making it a permanent resident. I was originally enamored somewhat with it’s interesting qualities, but the truth is, it just doesn’t really fit the profile of the kinds of teas that I really love. At least not today.
But that isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy it! It really is tasty, it’s just not a tea I crave.
345

I’m having a really nice leisurely day with my man, Tony. I drank this tea while I was fixing breakfast, & sadly, I’m still having a hypersensitivity to bitterness, so it wasn’t as fruity & tasty as I know it to be.

Sun Moon Lake Tea comparisons – Part 1
I made back to back cups of this one & the lot 269 version that CharlotteZero graciously sent to me, using the same amount of water & tea.
Both are fruity & wonderful, & although it was my intention to compare them, I was also working on my taxes, so although I enjoyed both cups, I can’t say that I really noticed a lot of difference, at least not in the first steepings.
In the bag, the 269 has a fuller aroma (although that may be because it is fresher?)
On to the 2nd round, which will be reported upon under the review for #269 later.

I’m still getting a fruity jam, with dark chocolate, & a hint of leafhoppers’ coriander. The mouthfeel is VERY thick with the chocolate sensation, & the tea is tasty & sweet!

A tasty fruity tea, almost like fruit dipped in chocolate.
I’m not as in love with it as I was originally, but I do love the flavor of it, which to me is not so much like an Assam.

I went with a little more leaf on this one, but then I forgot to set a timer, & got sidetracked a little & over-steeped it. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to have made a difference! It’s still delicious. I’m still thinking of a not too sweet dried fruit, dipped in chocolate.

I have to say that when I think of Assam, I’m thinking of something bold & malty, something that will wake me up, something from the Assam region of India. Transplanting assamica tea plants to other parts of the world, other soils, etc, makes for interesting & in this case tasty, variations in those teas.

First tea of the day, first tea of the month.
I think my tastebuds are a little off this morning, as I know I’ve enjoyed this tea before, but not really getting much today. It doesn’t taste bad, just not as nuanced as before.
Blame it on the Revelry of Pirates last night, see my facebook for photos https://www.facebook.com/terri.langerak
I ate some amazing (but too sweet) dark chocolate from a local chocolatier last night, as my treat, & within 15 minutes had terrible muscle cramps/kinks in my neck & shoulders on the left side. It’s the sugar, of course, does it to me every time, but like a mother who forgets just how intense childbirth is, I tend to downplay the consequences of poor choices in my mind, only to remember them when the suffering begins.
I’m better now, though somewhat groggy & unproductive.
More tea…breakfast…more tea…

Hey Sil, did your TTC order come yet? I think you’re gonna love the samples I’ll be sending you from mine, because I think I’m gonna love them! Since we love most of the same teas…well, except for that Jin Jun Mei thing…& the occasional floral…heh… ;)

So this was my first tea of the day, & I want to thank my tea sister Sil for turning me on to this company. It was fun going a little nuts during their recent sale, but I didn’t really go any more nuts than I usually do. I’m really looking forward to trying some of the sample sized I bought, & I got enough of this lovely black tea to enjoy for a little while. It’s a very sweet & fruity tea, perhaps not as bold as some of the teas I love, but unique & tasty in it’s own right.
I steeped 1 Tbls in my mug for 4 minutes, resteeped for 6. The resteep is, or course, not as exciting as the original cup, but still flavorful in it’s own way. To this tea I say, “Welcome to my collection!”

Sipdown.
I just reviewed this a few days ago. It’s very tasty!

I love #147, & I love #154. They are 2 different lots of the Sun Moon Lake Assams from Taiwan Tea Crafts. This one is a little ‘thicker’ than the other one, like a slice of candied fruit dipped in chocolate.
The ensemble here includes the same trio of Bassoon, Oboe, & clarinet, but I’d like to add one more instrument…I’m thinking a rich midrange bagpipe drone…
I need to start composing pieces as a reflection of teas I love…sigh…

Sil & I have split several tea orders over the last several months, & I think the order from Taiwan Tea Crafts might be one of my favorites.
First off, the website is beautifully designed! You can tell a lot of time & care went into it, & as a person who designs her own website…cough…ahem…currently a cobweb site, I appreciate that.
Second, I love the colorful packaging!
And finally, & of course most importantly, the teas are tasty! I haven’t had a chance to try all of them yet, but Ive enjoyed the ones I have tried, especially this one.
This tea has a much different profile than I initially expected. The leaves are very dark, & resemble Stacy’s premium Taiwanese Assam, only not as long & wild looking. Of course, the taste is completely different!
These leaves steep into a nice dark cup, very different from any of my other Assams. A very full & smooth mouth with a tongue tingle, a buttered slice of honey wheat toast aroma, which transforms halfway down the cup to malto meal drizzled with butter & honey. The flavor moves around a bit too. This cup started out a little grapey, then as it cooled a little it made me think of those candied fruit slices dipped in dark chocolate, & now at the end it’s a bowl of malto meal with a spoon of an unidentifiable jam & a sprinkle of dark chocolate powder. There is a lingering sensation of having had a bite of some really high quality dark chocolate.
This one’s a keeper!

The 2nd tea I’m sampling from my trade with Sil.
Did somebody say Jam & chocolate? :D
This one is kind of like #147 Plus. Initially, the dry leaf had a similar fruity aroma, but there is more to it, really hard for me to pinpoint exactly what, but on tasting the cup, it’s a little richer than the other one, and a little sweeter, & there is a little chocolate here, along with a hint of leaf-hopper-bite honey, which always translates to coriander to me, but just a hint, mind you.
Delicious & satisfying.

To celebrate Leif’s birthday, Drew & I took him to lunch @ Cheesecake Factory. Actually, I took him to lunch & Drew came along & paid for his own lunch, LOL.
Here’s a photo:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201626598282167&set=a.1840459966648.2104718.1095023403&type=1&theater

Then I drank the last of this tea, in 2 steepings, 3 & 5min
It’s delicious.

First Tea of the day!
This morning Tony flew to Kalamazoo, Michigan. His company is hosting a trade show there, or participating in one, something like that. Either way, he is gone until Tuesday night. I’m not used to being at MY house on sundays, & I don’t have any students or gigs, so it’s a total free day!!
I plan to spend at least part of this day drinking samples of all of the teas Sil & I shared from Taiwan Tea Crafts, in part because I haven’t drank any of them for awhile, & also because TTC is having a SALE! So I need to decide if I want MOAR of any (or all) of these!

This one wins the prize for the most beautiful packaging, lol. The packaging of all of these samples is absolutely beautiful, very colorful, but this one especially. Flavor-wise, this is also one of my favorites. This one & #154 are very similar, with a sweet fruity taste, & I have enough to drink them each one more time after today.

My steeping parameter today is to use my little blue lotus porcelain teapot (roughly 4oz, same size as my yixings, & they all look so nice together on the shelf). This allows me to run 3 full length steepings, but only drink about 12 oz total. As for quantity, I’m treating these teas like I treat Butiki’s Premium Taiwanese Assam, simply because they similar (though the taste is different), with similar leaf size. So I added a slightly heaping tsp to the pot, steeped 3 min at boiling, & then ran 2 more steepings at 4 & then 5min, each into a different cup.

I’m pleased to say that all 3 cups were delicious! This is a refined tea, a lady of Assams if you will. There are no bold bass or high notes here, more like a sweet woodwinds trio: bassoon, oboe, & clarinet. The flavor is rich, gentle, & fruity. Thanks again, Sil, for including me on this order!

I’m starting the morning with a tea from Sil.
This is a gentle Assam, with long twisted leaves like an Oolong. The flavor & aroma is fruity & sweet, with an undertone of toast maybe? If the more robust Assams were bold & studly guys, with one would be more like a strong but somewhat refined Chic. It’s not as bold of a brew, but the flavor is rich & I really like these Sun Moon Lake teas.
By the way, the packaging on these teas is absolutely beautiful! If you want to see the pic of the box Sil sent me, here it is:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201069287589748&set=pb.1095023403.-2207520000.1375451395.&type=3&theater
The tea I’m drinking now is in the wrapper with purple on it.