Tocha Tea

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
March 2022 → A floral tea

This is not my favorite. I’m so glad to see it gone!

There is something about this blend that I do not like. It has an off-putting aroma – maybe it’s the osmanthus flowers? I’m not too familiar with those, so perhaps that’s what’s throwing me off. This is also an older tea, so it could very well be that I’ve let it “age” a little longer than recommended. I’m not sure how long oolong typically keeps, but it also has green tea in the mix so maybe it’s gone off by now. Whatever the reason, I’ve tried this twice now and both times didn’t really care for it. I think I have one or two sachets left, so I’ll finish them off and leave this one behind.

I had a cup of this yesterday morning with breakfast, and since there was only one sachet left I decided to finish it off today as a sipdown. It does have an interesting floral element, but I’m not familiar at all with osmanthus flowers. According to the tea flavor wheel from ITMA, these fall under summer meadow flowers which is a nice image to think on this morning.

I am drinking this one with youngest today and marveling at how my family has become hooked on puerh teas. I was afraid to try the stuff in the beginning! Now it is the tea most enjoyed by guests and especially by coffee lovers.

This one is very different from our usual. We stick to mostly unflavored, unadultered shu.

I used two sachets in a 17 ounce pot. I didn’t time it, just kept an eye on it to see when the color looked good. I expect it steeped for about a minute and a half to two minutes.

I taste very little puerh. I can’t say that it is heavily woodsy, mushroomy, or horsey. It is very very fragrant with spices rose, though. I like it as a rose tea more than as a puerh tea. I have had rose scented puerh that was so lightly rose scented as to merely have a whiff and a sweetness. This one is ROSE.

I made a second steep. Now I taste a bit of puerh and still have a really nice level of rose. Nice!

I kind of see this tea as a rough cowboy sort who likes his Parliaments and meat, but then comes home to his wife in the garden and sits with her while she’s working. He occasionally does the tough stuff with the edger and the trimmer. He prunes the trees, and she makes him a pie. His Harley is parked next to her Prius at the end of their gravel driveway in the country.

For the full post on this sweet & smoky tea, click here:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/10/25/morning-pick-tocha-teas-2/