987 Tasting Notes
First tasting note for this tea!
The dry leaf of this flower tea is a mix of white and pale green strands, but since I couldn’t see any jasmine buds or flowers, I’m assuming that the two weren’t mixed together to create the blend.
However, the taste of this tea wasn’t that memorable. The jasmine flavour was thick, but it was a surface-level thickness, without a lot of body underneath. A lot of the time, with really good jasmine, there’s an underlying sweetness that reminds me of oranges or orange blossom, but that secondary flavour wasn’t present here. I’m going to chalk that up to there being no jasmine flowers in the blend.
The green base was quite mild, which I didn’t appreciate — I think that if the base tea had a more intense flavour, it would have competed with the surface-level flavour of the jasmine and overall given it more body.
Full review at: http://booksandtea.ca/2015/10/random-flower-teas/
I’ve never had a purple tea before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I figured it would taste similar to a black tea. The dry tea itself is mixed with dry chrysanthemum flowers and compressed into a dense little cake — the yellow petals of the dried flowers are peeking through the tea itself, giving the cake quite a festive look.
I’ve had one or two teas before that tasted like chysanthemums, so I thought I was prepared for this tea. Oh, how wrong I was! The chrysanthemum flavour in this tea is pungent, and medicinal. The tea flavour itself is fairly weak, taking a back seat so that the chrysanthemum can drive. Overall, the tea feels quite thin and dry in my mouth, with a sensation of camphor and cedar being most prominent. The brewed tea was a deep reddish brown, like brandy.
Full review at: http://booksandtea.ca/2015/10/random-flower-teas/
Sipdown.
I’m having this at work, currently on the third steep of the day. It’s floral and slightly yeasty/bready, but otherwise somewhat inoffensive. I’m amazed at the difference between gongfu and western steeping with this one.
Sipdown!
I did two separate sessions with this, actually. I finished off the last of this tea this morning using a western-style steep and it was tart but smooth.
However, the bigger production was a few days ago when my sister and brother-in-law came over for Thanksgiving. They’ve had puerh on their own before, but this was the first time they tried it with gongfu brewing, so I was explaining things like the leaf-to-water ratio, the steeping times, the various vessels, the different flavours I’m getting, etc. I gave them about 4 different teas to choose from, but they went with this. It was probably the most appropriate choice, given how mild it tastes.
My sister said the tea reminded her of hay, and both of them noted that there was no bitterness. It became a little astringent if I steeped for more than a few seconds, so I used a lighter touch when my BIL said it was getting a bit too astringent for him.
They appreciated the tea, I think, but they tapped out after having only about 5 rounds of tea from the itty-bitty cups. I boiled about 5 cups of water, so I had the rest all to myself. I was bloated and a bit loopy by he end, but hey, 15 steeps is 15 steeps!
The leaves of this tea are long and spindly, and light pea green. They also smell like buttery vegetables and snap peas.
The resulting brew was pale yellow that darkened to a clear green as it cooled. This had a more traditional green tea taste – buttery, vegetal, and green-beany, but still remarkably light and clear.
Full review at: http://booksandtea.ca/2015/10/teasenz-teas-liu-an-melon-seed-and-anji-bai-cha/
The leaves are long, spindly tubes with a dark forest green colour and they smell faintly of licorice. The resulting brew was clear, light green, and had a delicious sweetness on the back of my tongue to complement the notes of greens and cooked vegetables. It reminded me of pine sap — a bit sticky and refreshing.
Full review at: http://booksandtea.ca/2015/10/teasenz-teas-liu-an-melon-seed-and-anji-bai-cha/
Backlog from a few nights ago.
I took a nice chunk of this (aboug 6g), gave it a rinse with 90C water, then steeped it for about 14 steepings. The dry leaf smelled very fresh and green.
However, this tea was really really mild. I got some fruitiness and some grassiness, maybe a little bit of astringency, but there wasn’t a whole lot there. I used 6g, 90C water, and quick steeps. Should I up the temperature a bit, perhaps? I just sent a sample to Ubacat and have about 9g left.
