Hello there Steepsterites.
I bring to you a post that it took most of the day to write. I just took notes when drinking and figured I could write a proper post afterwards so as not to get distracted away from the cup by the forming of proper sentences and hopefully coming up with something witty here and there. I’ve been hibernating for most of the day, so I’m not really in any condition to be seriously posting about a tea I’ve never had before, but for some reason I was inspired to try this one today.
It’s a Bethany-tea and she sent me four balls. I used two for a glass cup and saved the other two. The pellets are large and tightly pressed. It’s hard to pick up any sort of aroma from the dry leaves but I feel like I’m catching a small whiff of cocoa. As I dropped them into the cup, one of them bounced off the edge and rolled off on adventures. Those little things can really roll! Found it again several meters away on the other side of the living room.
First Steep
Having thwarted the escape attempt, I poured water on and watched the cup while it steeped. The unfurling seemed rather slow and the occasional small bubble of air escaped to the surface. I resisted the temptation to stir the cup to see if I could get something to happen, but I could see a clear difference in colour around the leaves at the bottom and the water at the top of the cup. I didn’t want any thin nearly tea, I wanted a representative cup, so I waited until I thought it should be well steeeped and gave it a gentle stir, trying to not whirl everything around too much and let the leaves stay at the bottom of the cup. If I had made it in a pot instead this wouldn’t have been necessary since pouring would have mixed it up. It made the balls fall completely apart and the colour went from palest pale of paleness to a reddish amber that actually looked like a black tea. A bit cloudy, though.
Sniffing at the aroma I suddenly learned to recognised ‘malty’! I’ve noticed that particular taste and smell lots of times before, but I’ve never connected the two until now where it seems wildly obvious. I once upon a time found a tea glossary (here: http://www.chowbaby.com/10_2000/glossary/glossary.asp?synchpage=1&Z=4597646780) but I’ve learned that such a thing is pretty useless, because the only way to really learn how to recognise these things is by experience. To me, anyway.
Anyway, while waiting for some of the top water to get any tea into it, I managed to oversteep the bottom of the cup. Lovely. By the time I gave it a stir, the whole thing had acquired a slightly bitter bite. It had a malty flavour, but I couldn’t really find any of the cocoa notes that I had spotted in the dry aroma and remembered having seeing others mention. I even started wondering if it was something I had just imagined to be able to smell because I thought it was supposed to be there.
Given the slight bitterness, it probably would have helped with a little milk or a little sugar, but since it was brewed directly in the cup, that was not an option. I don’t really like the idea of those additives directly on my naked leaves.
Rating-wise I would say it was around 65, having knocked it down a bit due to the oversteep.
Second Steep
Second time around it was still a very malty aroma. An aroma that really filled the nose when sniffing it. I like that much better than the ones you sit there and smell and search for something TO smell.
It coloured up much quicker due to not having to wait for the balls to unfurl and it also meant that stirring wasn’t necessary. It had a more golden colour this time.
First thing I noticed on the first sip was a very sweet aftertaste. Almost as if it had been sugared. It was less malty that the first steep but I did find some cocoa notes this time, although still not as much as I had expected.
I liked the second steep a lot better, and I would rate this around 78
Third Steep
The colour is really pale now, and the aroma initially is just the smell of steam. I tried so hard to find some that I actually ended up dipping the tip my nose in it. Found nothing. Except, of course, a wet nose. After a really long steeping, mostly because I got distracted and momentarily forgot, some aroma showed up. No malt, but definitely cocoa.
Tastewise the third steep was very like the second, only much weaker. The sweetness was a little sweeter and the cocoa was a little cocoa-ier, but otherwise there wasn’t really anything noteworthy about it. I wouldn’t recommend bothering with a third steep at all.
This one was down at around 55.
Based on these three steeps, I’m landing at an average of about 66, but I’ll push it upwards a bit on account of the first steep having been a bit overdone.
You’ve been shuffling balls around, then, have you? This tea has been great, at the very least because the “ball” per tasting note count has skyrocketed on this site.
I’ve been using between five and seven balls per 8 ounce cup. Perhaps I’m just a ballsy kind of woman. The more I drink this tea, the more I like it.
No idea how they make them but I love watching jasmine pearls unfurl in my mug. There’s something terribly ‘zen’ about it.
I missed the promo-thingy on these guys unfortuntely but they sound interesting enough that I might buy them the next time I order from Adagio.
@takgoti: And there are sooo many jokes that this tea encourages me to make. That’s a total plus!
@Carolyn: I think 7 balls would scare me. That’s gotta be a fairly stout tea, yes?
@Jillian: These seemed fuzzier to me as they open compared to the jasmine pearls but that could have just been because of the size. Still, so fun.
This tea makes me wish Adagio sold something between the sample size and the 4oz tin (well, 5oz for this tea).
@Auggy: It brews up black as death with 7 balls and it produces a very stout, very caffeinated cup but not all that bitter. (Or at least it is bitter in a good, chocolatey way, not an unpleasant way.) It has a real body to it.
I’ve only drunk it at work where the water temperature gets to 190 degrees max, so that may be part of why 7 balls works.
I’m sort of tempted to try what I will now think of as Carolyn’s Black Balls of Death brew.
@Auggy: You make it sound almost like an STD! XD
/Sorry, my sense of humor isn’t very sophisticated when I’m this tired.
Haha – and please! I snicker every time I type “balls”! You ARE the sophisticated one here!
I’m really glad that I’m not alone when it comes to this kind of stuff. When I was in choir, we had to sing this song in Latin that had the word poenis [where the o and e are squished together – I don’t know how to do that on here without it involving more work than its worth]. It wasn’t even pronounced like what I think you know I’m getting to [poe-niece, if I remember correctly], but EVERY TIME, I would LOSE IT. And I’d make whoever was next to me start to lose it. Not too helpful when you’re trying to be all serious and dynamic and choir-y.
As for “Carolyn’s Black Balls of Death,” well done. I think that has a really nice ring to it. Someone should edit the tea name.
I would ask what a poenis is… but in my world I already know the answer.
Hehe.
Auggy, glad to see I’m not the only one here that weighs her tea!:) Mine has a .01 accuracy so I go for 2.25g/6oz. Although these balls are so dense I just round up and don’t sift thru them.
My scale is only accurate to .1g but I normally go for my normal 2.3g but sometimes I let it go of by .1… These little balls are tricky though! I think I just called it good at 2.5g after a few swaps and resisted the urge to dig through to get me the balls that would put me right at 2.3.
High-strung? Who, me? Nooooo.
I have this scale, I’m addicted to it! http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-AMW-100-Precision-Calibration/dp/B001ODPFXE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=office-products&qid=1258166818&sr=8-3
Nice! I have one of the My Weigh pocket scales… I’ll admit, I felt like Amazon thought I was a drug dealer when I bought it.
Why’s that?
I tend to think that more people buy inexpensive, small weight scales to weigh their drugs into friendly, deal-able amounts than those that use them to measure tea.
Of course, there could be dealers out there that are big time into tea and they get a 2-for-1 deal. Bonus!
lol, maybe they sell ‘special’ tea. ;)
Well I guess, if you want to automatically assume that they use those scales for drugs then don’t be surprised if amazon does as well. I; however, think tha’s very judgemental.
Okay then.
Wow. I’m surprised the mugs don’t dissolve with the amount of this tea you all are using. I made a pot tonight – 5 balls for a one pint pot.
And reading all of the comments on this tea, I am beginning to understand why Adagio refers to this tea as “pearls.” Dragon balls would be just way too entertaining.
I weighed them and to get 2.3 – 2.5 g I needed per cup was 3 balls. I was somewhat surprised but the tea is good so I run with it! :)
Auggy, how did I miss this epic post until now?! STDs, poenis, and drug dealing (and related “judgmental”-ness), oh my!
Thank you for commenting on this because it made me reread it all and laugh. So fun!