Taiwan Tea Crafts

sipdown! I finished up the last of this today, as i’m still trying my best to get things drunk up before my second cupboard explosion of the year happens. I’ve got plenty of things that are a cup or two away from being finished so i just need to take the time to drink them! :) I still really enjoy this offering from TTC – juicy and fresh and sweet and just a good time in my cup!

one of my teas from earlier this morning. I have 3 large bags of teas from TTC that i need to drink up, so i’m trying to weave them in to the rotation during the week. This is still really tasty and juicy but i have to admit i love some of the others just a teeeeeeny bit more. still lovely though!

backlogging – a few days ago i had this…it was tasty and delicious and made me smile… 16 hour work days suck.

and my other tea from this morning. Still enjoying this but need to order from TTC in smaller quantities haha. Either that or have the BBB Box come around more often and split more teas that way heh

Another cup from yesterday – I realised that in my effort to sipdown a number of my teas, there are a bunch that i haven’t had in a while. So the past couple of days i’ve been trying to pull out some of my other favourites as a reward for getting my cupboard down. I’ll have a few sipdowns in the next few days but mostly, i’m drinking what i want for the first week of april just to explore and try a few of the teas i haven’t had before. I have had this one before – it’s the reason i ordered another bag of it. This is a juicy, sweet taiwanese assam. It’s not bold of malty or in your face. Similar to stacy’s taiwanese assam but different – there is room for both in my cupboard. :)

oh man… i love this tea. I think i need to sit down with all my deliciously juicy assams and figure out which one is best. this one reminds me of the tea that i am currently lusting after from butiki (it’s almost here!!!!) though slightly different. I really like this one….it’s an assam but it’s not your typical malty, rosty dark :)

So I’m indulging a bit…I took his out of the cupboard to try this morning. It’s one of 8 teas that Terri and I shared on my half of the world. This one was picked because it smelled the least like Stacy’s mountain black that is out of stock until August.

Colour me impressed with this one! It’s a little lighter feeling than I expected, but I think that’s because I was a bit light in both my tea and my steeping time. I’m playing these ones by ear so that’s to be expected. This is not your usual malty Assam. Instead there are chocolate notes and jam?? Something fruity like in any case. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it is delicious! I’m now looking forward to trying the rest of these from Taiwan tea crafts even more!

This is a lightly-roasted oolong whose roasting (surprisingly) does not overwhelm other elements: the tongue can easily discern sweetness, and the nose the scent of flowers.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 90 deg., 2:00 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 4:00 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 7:00 min.

Fourth infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 10:00+ min.

Of all Oolongs, rolled, heavy roasted kind has been the least in my cup, but this one seems to have slightly baked (almost cacao) aroma instead of dry impression and it lacks that charcoal edge that I got familiar with so far.

The leaf brews into clear bronze liquor with notes of toasted nuts and flowery hints topped with slightly dry impression. In mouth it presents itself with medium body and pronounced roasted note at the sides of the tongue, followed with toasted (like rice in Genmaicha) and almost caramel finish. Roasted element is less pronounced in subsequent steeps (but it seems to be replaced with a dry-like bite on the tongue) and the liquor brings more smooth mouthfeel with pronounced lingering flowery component and sweetness at the end. Roasted component in this tea gives a slight hint to coffee, but altogether the cup can be more associated with Genmaicha and Houjicha.

Slightly shriveled wet leaf airs of toasted and flowery elements that seem to be more intense than what’s been released in the cup (could possibly hold one more steep). Among these dominant components there can be sensed some milky character in the background.

Side note: it may take more than one session with this tea to fully grasp and comprehend its offerings.

(Tasting setup: 4gr 180ml 95-100C 2,5m-1,5m-2m-3m)

This is a lovely green – the smell of the dry leaves alone is wonderful! The liquor initially tastes of fresh-cut garden vegetables, working to a more honeyed taste in the last infusion. Bright, crisp, clean & clear.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 75 deg., 1:30 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 80 deg., 5:00 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 85 deg., 10+ min.

Although the leaf might not impress you with its looks it carries a promising flowery fragrant aroma with a dry roasted edge. It brews into clear burgundy infusion with subtle flowery and fresh notes with hints of stone fruits rising from the surface.

First sip is crisp with sweetness at the tip. Later on roasted and flowery elements, along with notes of stone fruit, are more prominent on the palate with short lasting dry bite in the back (common with high roasted oolongs). Roasted elements in this tea add up to its thickness and medium body with more sweetness coming in subsequent infusions.

Wet leaf leaves a lot of rich and baked notes with hints of stone fruits. This tea takes boiling water very well and can be steeped at least three times. If there’s a critic to this tea than it can be easily recognized in the leaf – it has a relatively large amount of long stalks.

(Tasting setup: 4gr 180ml 95-100C 1m-1,5m-2m-3m)

Opened one of the packages, took some whiffs, and it is identical to the mystery oolong that I have been drinking for almost a year.
This one has a slightly greener smell to it.
I will update the rating later once i brew it.
I ended up with approx. 4 oz or 1/2 cup dry volume of tea.
I have about 1 cup and 1/4 of mystery oolong left as well. So I probably started with like… 3-5 dry cups of tea leaves when I first got my canister. :( I drink too much tea.

The dry leaf has a really complex malty-green-slightly peppery aroma. I’m not a tea expert, just an enthusiast, but I’ve not smelled another tea quite like this. The brewed tea is stronger than many oolongs, and reminds me quite a bit of a good single-estate Darjeeling. This is a really interesting and satisfying tea.

This is beautiful! It has a strikingly beautiful honey-floral aroma, and a delicate, barely honey-sweet flavor with no bitterness. Love this!