536 Tasting Notes
Sipdown. I really liked this tea at one time, but the 2nd bag I had was much too spicy. Way too many red pepper flakes. So while I had milk, I powered through the last of this tea!
5 tsp to giant 20 oz mug. 190F 4 min. Milk to cut spicyness & honey. As a latte, this works ok. Still pretty spicy, cinnamon, little bit of cocoa, but the spice is overwhelming to where it’s all I can taste. 2nd steep is less spicy, but only just okay. I even sorted out a lot of the pepper flakes. Tea was drowned out under the heat.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Cocoa, Spicy
Tea club sheng (10/18). 3/17/19 – 4-5 months rest
7.4g, 100 ml gaiwan, 212F
1 rinse
time: 9s/10/15/20/15/10/15…
Really young sheng. I didn’t get hit with too much bitterness until I pushed steep time up to 20s.
Flavors: green citrus, apricot (was the most prominent and enduring flavor), later steeps had a bitter edge, with a thicker soup, bittergreens, green.
I think it’ll be interesting to see how this one changes with time.
I need to figure out better storage than a shoebox in the living room.
Flavors: Apricot, Bitter, Citrus, Green, Thick
I recently bought a big stoneware crock (after reading Cwyn’s blog) from the hardware store. Topped it with a terra cotta pot saucer big enough to fit the diameter. The fit of this lid isn’t perfect but that allows a little air exchange.
Hygrometer/thermometer inside. Pour a thin layer of distilled water on top which slowly seeps through the clay and keeps the humidity at a constant 65-70%. Just need to put the whole thing in a warmer part of the house.
Thanks! I need to try something. The low humidity during midwest winters isn’t doing my tea any favors.
I spent about $65 on that 3-piece set up. 5-gal Ohio Stoneware crock, 12-in terra cotta saucer and a non-electronic meter. Chose it mainly for simplicity and functionality. Each piece can easily be repurposed if this method of storage doesn’t work to my liking or, glorb forbid, I stop drinking puerh and sell off my stash. Hope you find something that works for that dry winter air.
The air in Idaho is extremely dry; no humidity at all. I don’t really have the space to try to set up a pumidor, though.
Sipdown. Backlog
This tea suffered from being open to air for a while.
190F, gaiwan
lilac, floral
I don’t think I drank that many steeps of this.
Flavors: Floral
Tea club – sundried white
6g, 212F, 100ml easy gaiwan
Steep times – 20s/20/25/20/25/30/30/30/40/45/1 min/1
Smells of honey and lemon hay. Soft honey, clover, sugar cane. Juicy
3 steeps in – pried apart chunk of tea to get the last of it steeping.
4th steep- all the flavors! Melon, honeydew with a full mouthfeel, thick, honey
flavors continued through the rest of the steeps. I had to stop before the tea was done. Probably should have either boiled it to get the rest or put it to cold brew.
Overall, the was a sunshine-y field of flowers tea on a cold winter’s day. Wish I could purchase more of this! I’ll be sad when it’s gone.
Flavors: Creamy, Flowers, Hay, Honey, Honeydew, Lemon, Melon, Sugarcane, Summer, Thick
Preparation
Backlog. 2/18/19.
This packet’s been in my stash for a while unopened.
It’s more of an amber oolong. Not quite roasted, but darker than the greener oolongs.
200F, 2-3 min, 12 oz, 3 steeps
honey, milky or thick, cooling, soft, creamy
Honey is the most consistent flavor from this tea.
Flavors: Creamy, Honey, Thick
