1557 Tasting Notes

drank Wild Green Tea by Georgian Tea 1847
1557 tasting notes

Yay, it finally feels like spring!

Brewed in a glass gaiwan with lid off and modest with the leaf. Light and clean, silky brisk-sweet. Transparent blue-green taste like buffalo grass in spring water, hint of earth. Gently sweet finish with vibrant mineral-salty lingering tingle like the Wild White Tea.

Brewed western in a mason jar with longer infusion, the green sweetness of buffalo grass become more concentrated. Does it remind me of tarragon? I think I also get a short ripe apricot aftertaste. Can get bitter in a grassy way.

Ambient brewed with 7g in 32oz gives a cloudy spring green liquor that’s pretty different in taste compared to a hot steep. Mild green taste and refreshing sweetness with hints of light vanilla; no brisk, earthy tannins or mineral saltiness to be found, nor any apricot.

Pleasure in simplicity.

Flavors: Apricot, Brisk, Buffalo Grass, Clean, Cucumber, Earth, Mineral, Salt, Silky, Spring Water, Tannin, Vanilla, Zucchini

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 45 sec 3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML
gmathis

Sounds like a perfect tea for a beautiful day.

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88
drank Wild White Tea by Georgian Tea 1847
1557 tasting notes

Finishing off as a light-handed brew with longer steeps in a glass gaiwan, lid off.

Very clean and light, almost sparkling. Soft and oily spring water body with pungent herbaceous and spicy meadow/hot hay notes, acorn. Nutty finish like flax seed with pine nuts and ginkgo nuts, subtle meadow honey that quickly transitions to cleansing mineral sweetness with lingering salty tingle feel.

This white tea works very well with my constitution. Fairly neutral and light, subtle. Great texture transition that quickly quenches thirst. I would definitely repurchase.

Flavors: Barnyard, Clean, Clear, Herbaceous, Hot Hay, Meadow, Mineral, Oily, Salty, Soft, Spicy, Sunflower Seed

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 45 sec 3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML
Courtney

I also very much enjoy this one. :)

ashmanra

Ashman finds whitemteas the most thirst quenching of all the types.

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94
drank 2016 Last Thoughts by white2tea
1557 tasting notes

Finished the sample this evening. A tea best had for special occasion, of which there was none today but it was something instinctually plucked from the crock so I obliged the whim. The name of the tea is fitting for a week such as this, though. I had many last thoughts threading through my little circus peanut.

It started last Wednesday, when I called out from work due to debilitating depression from a big menstrual hormone swing. Shit got dark real quick as soon as I woke up that morning. Last Thoughts.

Sunday was the day of my Yia-yia’s passing 5 years ago. Last Thoughts.

A rough week at work, in which emotion overtook me several days ago and I lost my shit on a manager, who thankfully let me air my grievances with no repercussion. I was ready to walk out. Last Thoughts.

I got a call from my aunt on Wednesday that Kiki was taken by her employer to the emergency room. Heart attack? Mini strokes? Last Thoughts. Turns out Kiki is okay. Nothing shown on CT scan or MRI. She’s just Kiki being Kiki, a bit of a fireball, una diabla traviesa.

Wish I could’ve afforded a cake the year it was pressed. Good tea. Mellowed me right out. Healing.

Maybe one day I’ll listen to Bob Dylan’s Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie. Fuggit. I absorbed it right after I typed that. Healing. Thanks, white2tea <3

Flavors: Apricot, Camphor, Clean, Cotton Candy, Fig, Flowers, Herbs, Incense, Leather, Plum, Smooth, Spices, Sweet, Thick, Wet Moss, Wet Rocks, White Grapes, Wood

Martin Bednář

Sorry to hear that your week was rough. Mine somehow as well; work issues are burning the candle at both ways.

tea-sipper

Many thoughts (though not last thoughts) with you and Kiki!

Maddy Barone

What a rough week! Hope things get better. Thank goodness for tea. Hugs.

Leafhopper

That sounds like quite a week! I hope you get some time to unwind this weekend and I’m glad that Kiki is okay.

ashmanra

How I wish you were close enough to me to wrap my arms around and breathe, breathe, breathe. I wish you could come and rock and watch the storms pass by today.

beerandbeancurd

Oh, derk. Sending love and light and hugs if you’d want them. Your open heart is beautiful.

derk

Thanks for the warmth, everybody. Tea people and good tea help to weather the storms.

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2022 harvest

Leafhopper, have you tried this tea yet? I have another serving’s worth and would like to try your parameters. I think I did 3.5 grams in 300 mL for nearly 3.5 minutes.

I ask because I didn’t get much from this. It wasn’t bad by any means but I don’t remember anything standing out.

Leafhopper

I have a feeling I finished this tea, but will have a look in my archives. Your parameters are pretty close to mine, though I sometimes steep it for 4 minutes. I thought this was from spring 2022, but it could have been from 2021.

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A winter oolong sipped down during one of Steepster’s winters…

I finally prepared this in a tiny teapot to experience a greater range of aromas and flavors.

The scent of the dry and warmed leaf is a treat! Take your time with it.

First steep is young grass with slatey minerality and a full body. Second steep on is plenty of lily of the valley, young grass and milder minerality with many shy nuances. Light and silky body with some gentle tannins. Perfumey floral aftertaste transitions to squeaky-grassy tulip. I notice the bottom of the cup smells like sugared cherry blossoms. The overall feeling reminds me more of a spring harvest than winter. A pleasant send off :)

Flavors: Cherry Blossom, Cream, Egg, Flowers, Gardenias, Grass, Kale, Lily, Macadamia, Mineral, Mung Bean, Perfume, Pineapple, Silky, Spinach, Sugar, Sweet Corn, Tannin

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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91
drank Nilgiri Highland Gold by Ketlee
1557 tasting notes

2023 harvest sent as a freebie with my latest order.

Different than last year’s harvest but still an amazing tea!

In the bag, this smells like roses and carnations in cold mountain air.

Texture is crisp and clear, juicy and viscous, mouthwatering salty mineral, complementary astringency. I am encouraged to take big mouthfuls and let the tea roll around. No sipping here.

Aroma and taste — Roses less prominent than in the dry leaf. Cinnamon! Cardamom! Clean air! Buoyant malt, young grass, sweet orange, saffron and caramel with a prominent fruity peach finish — a real concentrated flavor like candy or canned peaches, much like in Ketlee’s Nilgiri Candy Green Tea.

Outstanding brewed western in a mason jar.

Flavors: Astringent, Candy, Caramel, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Crisp, Grass, Juicy, Mineral, Orange, Peach, Rose, Saffron, Salty, Viscous

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML
gmathis

There’s just something about sipping from a mason jar that makes you smile. Even better when you’re barefoot.

beerandbeancurd

Hehe, mason jar feels are real.

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When I sniffed the packet last night, it reminded me of Easter chocolates, hence why I’m drinking it today. Very rich and chocolaty-biscuity with an almost artificial bent. I think that’s the scent of buttery pancake syrup coming through because of the fenugreek.

Great dupe for the actual Chocolate Digestives! Very chocolaty and biscuity, faint cardamom intrigues, however, if I hadn’t known it was added, I’d never guess. The Sri Lankan black tea is a little brisk and bitter (or maybe the bitterness if from the fenugreek) but the creaminess imparted by the fats in the cocoa shells binds together the tea taste and flavorings such the flavor doesn’t separate. I get some lingering heat in the back of the mouth and my tongue has been tingling for quite some time.

As the tea has cooled, it tastes more like generic flat ‘black tea’ and with that fenugreek pancake syrup smell. Definitely going to have to drink the rest of this packet piping hot.

Thanks so much, beerandbeancurd! And here’s some chemsitry for you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sotolon Also present in candy cap mushrooms.

Flavors: Biscuit, Bitter, Brisk, Caramel, Chocolate, Creamy, Dark Wood, Graham, Pancake Syrup, Spices, Tannin, Tea

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML
beerandbeancurd

Ah, that’s super interesting that it’s the same compound that can go curry or maple, depending on concentration?! Yasss, science!

Sent because I (am so critical of flavored blends but actually) adore that one.

gmathis

Happy Easter! May all the teas on your periodic table be tasty ;)

Martin Bednář

I remember this one and I remember it fondly.

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75
drank Crescent Green by Spirit Tea
1557 tasting notes

A 2021 green tea and it’s held up very well!

Had as bowl tea this morning as I was looking to experience this tea at lower intensity, though I do think this session could’ve used another small pinch of leaf or hotter water.

It has a sweet and rounded taste of toasty honey-cocoa, sandalwood, millet and straw with an apricot undertone. Strong minerality in subsequent steeps.

This tea stands out from other Chinese greens in that it is not roasted nutty, floral, vegetal or umami. In character, it’s like a Japanese houjicha but with that apricot found in many Chinese green teas. A good green tea to try for its uniqueness.

Flavors: Apricot, Cocoa, Grain, Honey, Mineral, Round, Sandalwood, Straw, Sweet, Toasty

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML

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A refined and gentle tea with qualities quietly confident. I’m not encouraged to analyze.

Very warming on a spring day.

Thank you for the sample, The Essence of Tea.

Flavors: Allspice, Bell Pepper, Creamy, Fruity, Mineral, Moss, Oily, Peach

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drank 2016 Heart Of The City by white2tea
1557 tasting notes

woof – I’ve had this sample stored for almost 6 years and am just now getting around to it. That will be the case for most of my pu’er notes this year.

Sounds like Heart of the City had good reception when it was fresh. Now it’s 7 years old and kind of weak in a way (also strong) but that could be due to my storage or other factors.

The leaf is moderately chopped to over an inch long, some thin stems. Tan to browning with an olive hue. Sticky to the touch when wet. It gives an orange brew that turns amber and does not provide much in terms of aroma. The warmed leaf, however, has strength in the nose with sticky plum sweetness and goji berries.

The first few brews are mouth-filling and the sip finishes with a dry sweetness that tastes like palm sugar-caramel. Kind of a hollow mineral-herbaceous midground. Nutty-fruity-mushroomy tone stays in the background. Sticky, moderate sweetness. After the first cup, the mouth and throat are already cooled and a decent returning sweetness presents. Mouth is perfumed with bittersweet purple flowers and palm sugar is the background. Strong mineral taste-feeling under tongue.

With the third cup, the astringency that supposedly marked this tea while young shows up. The brew becomes thinner, less sweet and finally it becomes bitter for the fifth and sixth. A few more pours give less astringency and mild sweetness.

Not too much of a sneaker with caffeine but it is felt. A smooth buzz with a gently heavy and forceful restorative swell juxtaposes the astringency and bitterness.

As it stands now at 7 years old and being drunk before the weather turns full spring, the tea might be in an awkward phase or maybe my 60% humidity and 65-70F storage isn’t doing this tea any favors. Heart of the City is not one for me to drink now, but I didn’t want to keep the rest of the sample around to find out how much it might change in several years’ time. Finished.

Song pairing: Evol Intent – Red Soil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufI6LupwrNQ

Flavors: Astringent, Bittersweet, Brown Sugar, Caramel, Floral, Goji, Herbaceous, Lavender, Menthol, Mineral, Mushrooms, Nutty, Perfume, Plum, Tangerine, Violet, Wet Wood, Yeast

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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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California, USA

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