1557 Tasting Notes

drank Schisandra Berries by Rishi Tea
1557 tasting notes

Pungent pearls!
Abundant acid!
Spicy, salty spheres!
Bitter balls!
Numbing nuggets!
Generous juniper!

TCM associations for sure. There is some semblance to Sichuan peppercorns.

Refreshing, sour and light when brewed hot then refrigerated .

Feeling: cleansing, fat digestive, tonic, invigorating

Flavors: Acidic, Berry, Bitter, Hibiscus, Pine, Pungent, Salty, Sour, Traditional Chinese Medicine

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 9 g 14 OZ / 400 ML

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drank Genmaicha by Rishi Tea
1557 tasting notes

Hefty sample from Rishi helping get me through food poisoning. The rice, when brewed, provides that smell that I can’t quite place. Acrylic paint? Did I see ashmanra mention a houjicha smelling like paint? Sobacha can have it, too. Chemical-ish.

Still a good genmaicha. Maybe it needs aired out. Could be a touch more savory as the amount of rice leads this to being a little too sweet. I’ll give it some more attention soon.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML
Courtney

Oh no! I hope you feel better soon!

Leafhopper

I also hope you feel better!

gmathis

Been there. Take care of yourself!

ashmanra

Hope you are already all better, derk!

beerandbeancurd

Ah, gross. Heals to you.

Martin Bednář

Oh dear. I hope you are doing alright already!

derk

All’s good, thanks evrybody <3 One of those 24-48hr deals.

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Better? in a steeper basket. Almost obnoxiously floral, so if that’s your thing, scoop this up. Classic tieguanyin taste but without the sourness. Still drying – less so; still viscous – more so. Handles high temps well and can be steeped 3-5 times. Ridiculous longevity for this preparation method. Way too high in caffeine for me, unfortunately, without enough of whatever compounds that mellow me out.

Preparation
3 g 12 OZ / 350 ML

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Really pleasant oolong whose light roast character seems to have faded since Daylon made a note, or maybe I’m not as sensitive.

Feels good in the mind and body. Floral dreaminess. Very sweet chestnut aroma and taste. Darker taste but still light and grassy. Cooling. Salty tingle.

I couldn’t brew out the leaves one session so jarred them with water in the fridge. The resulting cold brew was packed with flavor and sweetness.

Thanks for the share, Daylon <3

Flavors: Cherry Blossom, Chestnut, Coconut, Floral, Grass Seed, Malt, Menthol, Mineral, Narcissus, Nutmeg, Peach, Salad Greens, Salty, Squash, Sugarcane, Sweet, Toasty

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 tsp 3 OZ / 100 ML

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65

Berry-malty aroma with a touch of cocoa butter. Taste is malty, tabac and astringent, sweetness like brown coconut sugar, berry and orange undertone, some bitterness on the back end. With a second steep, the cup becomes coppery, tannic and bitter such that I want to drink it down quickly.

Halfway down this morning’s cup, I added a drizzle of hazelnut milk. This completely overwhelmed the tea. The hazelnut milk tastes like papery nut skins and smells strange. Oh well. Just not a milk tea person but thought I’d try!

When cold-brewed, the flavor is upfront more glassy coppery-woody “tea” with a thick oat-toffee kind of taste as an afterthought.

I’ve had a previous year’s harvest of this tea from another company and enjoyed it quite a bit more. Weather changes and so do tastes. While this tea is good quality and has a character of its own that stands out from basic plantation leaf, Sri Lankan teas aren’t high on my list.

Flavors: Astringent, Berry, Bitter, Brown Sugar, Chocolate, Fruity, Malt, Malty, Metallic, Oats, Orange, Tannin, Tea, Tobacco, Toffee, Wood, Woody

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 30 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML

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Edited to add:

After trying this western instead of gongfu, I can say this is most likely an aged Taiwanese red tea. Really nice chocolate and cherry-scented tobacco aroma with that wintergreen character present in Ruby 18s. Much more interesting gongfu!

What a ride! Is it an aged raw tea? Is it an old oxidized white? Is it a sun-dried red? Is it a GABA oolong or simply an oolong? The only thing I can feel confident declaring is that I have no idea how this tea was processed! Is it a forgotten relic, stashed away in some dark corner for years? Is it an experiment gone wrong, or rather oh-so-right? Like the Indonesian Yellow that Liquid Proust sells, this tea defies all preconceived notions of any specific processing. Most of the material is one leaf picking like Baozhong oolong and it’s well oxidized.

Taste- and aromawise, it starts out with humid aged nutty and forest floor notes, then moves to barnyard and mushroom, then to something almost malty, then to something lighter and fruitier like pear, then to pure watermelon-cucumber and yellow cherry with light grape skin tannins.

Several characteristics are apparent throughout all steeps: a welcome sweetness, a refreshing wintergreen-type quality, seamless transitions, an inability to be oversteeped and a complete lack of bitterness no matter what temperature water is used.

So much complexity wrapped up in ridiculous longevity. Did I mention watermelon?!!

Thank you for sharing, beerandbeancurd, you lovely creature.

Flavors: Barnyard, Caramel, Cherry, Chocolate, Cucumber, Cumin, Forest Floor, Grape Skin, Malt, Mineral, Mushrooms, Musty, Nutty, Pear, Pine, Salt, Smoke, Smooth, Spring Water, Tobacco, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Watermelon, Wintergreen

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 5 tsp 4 OZ / 110 ML
beerandbeancurd

Ahh, I’d quite forgotten about this one! Thank you back for the journey.

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Strong and comforting sweet and grainy aroma with a prominent cocoa note. First steep is sweet, grainy and nourishing. Second and third move into earthy territory with dominant tobacco and rye tastes as tannins and complementary bitterness present. A great breakfast tea.

It’s been years since I’ve had a straight up Yunnan gold tea. Thank you Whispering Pines for including this as a free sample with my order :)

Flavors: Beer, Burlap, Cactus, Cantaloupe, Cocoa, Earthy, Eggplant, Ginger, Grain, Leather, Malt, Malty, Orange Zest, Pine, Roasted Barley, Rye, Savory, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tannin, Tobacco, Vanilla, Wheat, White Grapes, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 0 sec 4 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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90
drank Spring Oolong by Light of Day Organics
1557 tasting notes

Daylon, your sample is threading like silk into this beautiful summer morning. Somebody put their full attention and energy into this tea.

This Michigan-grown leaf gives me great hope that one day I can grow and process tea here in California that, like this oolong, rivals the depth, complexity and longevity of fine eastern teas.

Thank you, Daylon. I can’t express enough gratitude <3

Flavors: Apricot, Butter, Camphor, Cedar, Clean, Crisp, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruity, Incense, Jam, Juicy, Oily, Orchid, Peach, Peony, Sandalwood, Spicy, Strawberry, Sugar, Viscous

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
ashmanra

So happy to see you happy and dreaming of your future teas!

beerandbeancurd

That flavor profile making me weak in the knees.

Daylon R Thomas

It’s really good…and insanely expensive. But I wanted to support local tea growing as much as I could. Their black tea is very good too, which I almost included. I can save some for later if you need me to. I’m very happy you like it!

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80

This past week, I had 4 different 2020 Old Ways Tea Rou Gui over 4 days and this was by far the standout!

My notes are an absolute mess probably because I was more with the tea than concerned about writing legibly.

Complex sweet aromatics, soft in the mouth, blooming vaporous aftertaste. Cooling mineral sweetness.
Warming and drying. Slowed breathing.
Refined, ethereal, silky.
Malty suede.

Flavors: Cacao, Cannabis, Caramel, Charcoal, Cinnamon, Cream, Dark Bittersweet, Drying, Leather, Malt, Mineral, Osmanthus, Peach, Peppermint, Roasted Barley, Silky, Soft, Wet Wood, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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55

2020 harvest

I don’t remember much about this. A lighter, fruitier Rou Gui.

Roswell Strange’s note has more to offer than my impressions which have slipped into oblivion.

Flavors: Cacao, Charcoal, Drying, Fruit Tree Flowers, Marzipan, Mineral, Nuts, Oak, Peach, Pear, White Grapes

Preparation
Boiling 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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Profile

Bio

This place, like the rest of the internet, is dead and overrun with bots. And thus I step away.

Eventual tea farmer. If you are a tea grower, want to grow your own plants or are simply curious, please follow me so we can chat.

I most enjoy loose-leaf, unflavored teas and tisanes. Teabags have their place. Some of my favorite teas have a profound effect on mind and body rather than having a specific flavor profile. Terpene fiend.

Favorite teas generally come from China (all provinces), Taiwan, India (Nilgiri and Manipur). Frequently enjoyed though less sipped are teas from Georgia, Japan, Nepal and Darjeeling. While I’m not actively on the hunt, a goal of mine is to try tea from every country that makes it available to the North American market. This is to gain a vague understanding of how Camellia sinensis performs in different climates. I realize that borders are arbitrary and some countries are huge with many climates and tea-growing regions.

I’m convinced European countries make the best herbal teas.

Personal Rating Scale:

100-90: A tea I can lose myself into. Something about it makes me slow down and appreciate not only the tea but all of life or a moment in time. If it’s a bagged or herbal tea, it’s of standout quality in comparison to similar items.

89-80: Fits my profile well enough to buy again.

79-70: Not a preferred tea. I might buy more or try a different harvest. Would gladly have a cup if offered.

69-60: Not necessarily a bad tea but one that I won’t buy again. Would have a cup if offered.

59-1: Lacking several elements, strangely clunky, possess off flavors/aroma/texture or something about it makes me not want to finish.

Unrated: Haven’t made up my mind or some other reason. If it’s pu’er, I likely think it needs more age.

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Location

California, USA

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