70 Tasting Notes
I had initially planned to go gong fu with this Grandpa. I undid the paper wire twisty thing, plopped the ball in a 100ml pot and turned the kettle on. But being curious ol’ me I didn’t just toss the wrapper in the wastepaper basket and, lo and behold, the crinkled little square had instructions printed on it. Eager to correct my mistake I take a water glass out of the cupboard and proceed to my first ever grandpa brewing. But this prologue is getting a bit out of hand so let’s get down to business.
I did a quick rinse and then filled the glass with water just off the boil. After a minute or two of waiting patiently for the brew to cool down a bit I had before me a glassful of unexpectedly dark liquor. One could easily have mistaken it for Coke that’s gone flat.
The nose had something sweet in it. Dark brown sugar, but not as strong as a muscovado, maybe demerara? There was some woodiness too, and old books, slightly dusty.
The taste made me think a while. At first I thought coffee, but that didn’t exactly hit the spot. So then I thought dark chocolate, it was after all slightly bitter, slightly sweet, but it lacked this roasted cocoa taste, so chocolate didn’t cut it either. And then I asked myself why do so many people associate shou pu’er with mushrooms. This is when a memory from a few years ago surfaced in my mind. You see I could never make the connection because I was thinking about the wrong kind of mushrooms. I was trying to find the aroma and taste of the most common button mushrooms and it simply wasn’t there. And then I had a revelation – the chaga and reishi tea I had back when I was in my superfood craze phase. Slightly bitter, slightly woody… Sweeten it with brown sugar to cover up the medicinal bitterness… Absolutely spot on.
It’s been some 15 minutes since I hit the leaf mark in my glass of grandpa style tea and all this time I’ve been having this lingering demerara sugar aftertaste on each out-breath. As much as I enjoy it I’d say it’s high time I went for a refill.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Dark Bittersweet, Earth, Mushrooms, Wood
Preparation
I just love this, so thick you can almost chew it. Cream? It certainly has a creamy mouthfeel but tastewise I can find no dairy products present. For me the taste is sweet and syrupy with lots of stewed fruits like apples and plums. But what about the traditional wet soil and wood and mushrooms and all that funky stuff you might be asking? Well, either I’ve suddenly become accustomed to the quirks of shou pu’er, or, and this certainly sounds more plausible, this is just some damn fine tea. I know it took me only 4 steeps to add it to my wishlist so make of that what you will.
Flavors: Apple, Plum, Stewed Fruits, Sweet, Thick
Preparation
Simple and unpretentious, but that’s exactly what I needed this morning. Light sugary sweetness and gentle astringency. A very delicate roasted tomatoes aroma from the leaf, a note I sometimes get in raw pu’er which brings back pleasant memories.
Flavors: Sugar, Sweet
Preparation
Generally sweet and woody with no off-putting notes. Thick and syrupy, very dark reddish-brown color that lightens by infusion number 10. The color reminds me of sweet vermouth. The first couple of infusions had notes of pancakes and maple syrup (but it might just be associative thinking). Fruity and mildly sweet with the ever-present woody base note. Slightly drying mouthfeel like with rose hips, more noticeable in later infusions. I stopped around infusion 12-13 and I can swear I even got some light floral note (rose, magnolia) on the out-breath similar to what I get in sheng pu’er (but much lighter) around 30 seconds after swallowing. A very easy drinking shou and also quite forgiving with brewing times.
Flavors: Caramel, Fruity, Rosehips, Sweet, Thick, Wet Wood
Preparation
Dominant flavor of cacao nibs, some toastiness – salted roasted nuts and dark, almost burnt, caramel. Hint of rose lokum and dark fruit, maybe prunes.
Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Cacao, Caramel, Dried Fruit, Nuts, Rose, Salty, Toasty
I don’t typically enjoy sweet shou but I do love medicinal, bitter and mushroom. Thanks for your review. I’ll consider adding some of these Grandpas to my next White2Tea order.
I do hope I won’t be misleading you, with me being a novice and with taste being such a subjective matter. Having said that, I will be looking forward to cross-referencing my notes with yours. Cheers!
No worries! I’m open to trying new things and most vendors offer tea in small enough amounts that if I don’t particularly care for a tea, I do not consider the purchase a loss, especially with something as inexpensive as Grandpa’s. Even if individuals’ experiences with a tea do not exactly align, by reading tasting notes, one can still get a decent idea of what the tea has to offer. I hope you continue to write reviews!