592 Tasting Notes
We got free water bottles from school, hooray! I was most excited because that means I have another cold brewing vessel. It’s kind of getting out of hand, actually. I now have at least one pitcher and two water bottles cold brewing, sometimes three water bottles at any given time. Anyway, this is the first time I’m cold brewing this houjicha. I think I left it in for too long, though, because I’m getting that sharp, intense taste that I don’t like in cold brews. Again, not my favorite houjicha, even iced, so I won’t be repurchasing, but it’s still a fine houjicha.
Sipdown (121)! I threw the rest of what I had in the fridge for a cold brew. The lychee is still very strong and juicy this way. There is something sharp about the taste that I get from cold brewing that I didn’t from drinking it hot. Surprisingly, I think I prefer this one hot because of that. Thanks again to Kat_Maria for sending me some to try out!
I know I’m probably getting repetitive about houjichas, but I needed this one today to really re-set myself tea-wise. For the past couple days, I just haven’t been in the mood for tea, so it’s nice to come back to a reliable, comforting tea to get me excited again. Like I have said in previous tasting notes, this particular houjicha is a bit less roasty than I prefer, but it’s still very delicious!
I couldn’t help but to cold brew this one again because I really enjoyed it last time. It’s definitely heavy on the toasted rice flavor when I prepare it this way. Still waiting to rate this until I have it hot as well, so let’s hope I get around to doing that before I use it all up on cold brewing!
I’ve been finding that lately my tastes have been leaning toward stronger teas. For example, I brought this one to school in my travel tumbler with the same amount of leaf that I usually add. However, it tasted a bit watery today. That’s when I realized that at home, I’ve been adding more leaf in general resulting in stronger teas. Interesting how things change in short amounts of time! This has nothing to do with Zhu Rong, so for actual tasting notes, see previous notes!
When I smelled this tea, I knew I had to try cold brewing it. So I stuck it in the fridge for too long (over 13 hours? oops), and just took a sip of it now. It smells like a juicy orange, but when I take a sip, the blood orange flavor comes out perfume-y for me. I also taste something a bit ginger-like. I’m not a huge fan of ginger, so it didn’t sit quite well with me. I don’t think this is the tea for me, but it was nice to try it out! Thanks to Skysamurai for the sample!
Cold brewed this for a bit too long (probably over 12 hours?). I got a nice, grassy taste that ended with a sweet note. I think that oversteeping did add some bitterness, but it was easily forgivable. Since I wasn’t too big of a fan of this tea hot, I will probably use up the rest in my cold brewing frenzy.
Sipdown (123)! Today didn’t start off so great, so I needed a tea that I knew I could rely on! I remembered this one fondly from last time, so I steeped up the rest of what I had. It’s nice and roasty but sweet. It also leaves a bit of a rich aftertaste. Anyway, I will be resteeping the heck out of these leaves because I’m sad to see it go. Thanks again to Kat_Maria for letting me try it out!
So my sleeping schedule is a bit out of whack tonight (today?). Fortunately, my classes don’t start until after lunch today, so I will be able to sleep in a little. Anyway, I steeped this tea to start unwinding and destressing a bit. I’m getting a very strong pea flavor out of this one today. It’s a nice, smooth tea. Not my favorite flavors, but I’ve somehow managed to avoid bitterness this time around, so hooray!
Sipdown (126)! I took the rest of this sample (a heaping tablespoon) and cold brewed in one of my water bottles. It’s probably more leaf than I would’ve used and I left it in there for quite a while on accident (maybe 12 hours or so?), so it had a pretty strong roasty taste by the time I tried it out. I did enjoy it, though, and I think it was the right idea to try a less roasty houjicha for cold brewing. I will miss this one, but not too much because I still have tons of it’s sister (dark roast) lying around waiting to be sipped on.