I’m so far on the backlog….
Since I’ve been teaching so much on the computer, I’ve been trying to take breaks from technology. Now that I have a moment of respite, I wanted to get back some reviews of some of the teas I’ve hoarded from whiteantlers.
There’s one black tea that I’ve deeply enjoyed, but don’t know quite what it is. It’s only got Mandarin on the package, but if I were to guess, I think it’s either a Tongmu/Wuyi or Tie Guan Yin type black since the leaves are smoothened out with few to little gold tips and a longhan aroma, or it could be Taiwanese because it’s sickeningly sweet and fruity. I have had fruity Chinese and Fujians for sure, but they are usually limited to apricot, citrus, berry and cherry for blacks while the flavor is usually more savory. Taiwanese blacks in my experience are thicker and fruitier, especially leaning into more tropical and stonefruits.
Going into this tea, it’s a sugar bomb-I’ve questioned whether or not it’s been roasted with sugarcane because it’s that immense. Lychee, Longhan, Chocolate, Cherries, Brown Sugar, and Light Malt is what I get, but then it dies off after steep three western, and five if I really take the time to gong fu it. There were times were I’ve wondered if the tea has raised my bloodsugar because of how sweet it is.
I don’t know how else to describe it in terms of notes, but it’s one of those teas that I want to drink all the time, but I get overpowered by cloy if I do. I LOVE it, because it does have some depth and layers underneath all the sugariness, but it pack a punch. Whiteantlers, you might be able to define it?
Anyway, it’s one of the teas that I’ve drank the most so far. I’ve been occasionally trying my new teas if its a sample, but I’ve mostly drank Hugo’s Jasmine Green, What-Cha’s Li-Shan Black, Hugo’s Earl Grey, What-Cha’s Amber Gaba Oolong (SO SMOOTH), Unytea’s Jasmine Black, and Whispering Pines’s Imperial North Winds…which I’ll add today for notes. The rest I’ve already added from what I’ve listed-go check them out!
Selfish side note-Heavily missing my lack of Alice…
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Hey Daylon sorry-have no idea what that one was. When I was packing your tea box, I tried to put in as many oolongs as were fit to drink, then just some random things that would fit in as filler. I don’t even remember a packet with ‘Mandarin’ written on it…
Aww it sounds amazing, I would love to know what tea it was!
Oh man, this sounds so good!
Agreed! I wish I knew what it was as well.
Yes! I also wish I knew what that tea was. Sounds like something I’d want to pick up. Sadly, What-Cha’s Li Shan Black was out of stock when I tried to buy it, and I hope it comes back next year. I want fruity black teas!
Are the leaves all whole and needle-like? Twisted, shiny and hard? I had a big envelope of mystery tea from White Antlers with characters that looked Mandarin. I remember one of my first thoughts was “this smells like it was pan-fried in sugar.” Haven’t brewed it yet, though.
YES! That’s the one
I could be wrong in that they are Japanese characters-it’s hard to tell since it’s using calligraphy. Now how to use a translater app on my phone…And yes, derk. The are black, twisted, and pretty shiny. Some have small gold tips, but very few. And man, does it smell like pan fried rock sugar.
If anyone can get a good, CLEAR picture of the characters, I may be able to translate.
How do you post pictures on here? I’ve tried copying an pasting mine, but it would not let me. I’ll forward you a message with it.
Crap. It won’t let me do that either. I’ll just have to add a note with it’s picture.
Post a link to where the picture is uploaded?
Hmm… I do manga scanlation in my free time, but admittedly am used to dealing with type-printed text over hand-written/stylized which makes it harder for me to pick out some of the kanji. Will try to call in some phone-a-friends and see if any of them can fill in the ones I’m still blank on.
So the calligraphy is Japanese then? Thank you for taking all this time and effort for a simple translation. Let me know if you need me to take another picture.
(Although I know Kanji is Japanese use of Chinese based characters, too)
That’s the tea, Daylon. Martin Bednar might have the original packet in his possession unless I had sent it to somebody else.
I wonder if that came from Bitterleaf…
It’s Chinese. Japanese imported a good deal of Chinese characters into their language (as well as having their own characters as a phonetic system). I have my ways of dealing with them when I’m transcribing manga… but then, I’m usually dealing with typesetting, and not hand-scrawled calligraphy which is a whole different beast, ha!
Well, the consensus seems to be that the large text is 純手工制作 … but from what I can see that doesn’t appear to be the tea’s actual name, but “handmade” or “handcrafted.” And the smaller text is just a bit too small in the picture to try to make out.
Thank you. Is it bitterleaf’s sugar glider, maybe?
Daylon I believe so.
I looked at the package. The description is close, but it’s more decorated. It does taste like a Bitterleaf tea, though. I do have the Ya-Shi I’ve been saving from you. I’ve held back on the fruity Dancong oolongs lately. I’m not sure what it is, but they tend to slam me with a different punch of energy. I used to crave the sweetness, and I still like sweeter teas, but the ripeness of it all….intense.
I think our tastes, and not just in tea, change with the seasons and where we are at particular times in life.
Hey Daylon sorry-have no idea what that one was. When I was packing your tea box, I tried to put in as many oolongs as were fit to drink, then just some random things that would fit in as filler. I don’t even remember a packet with ‘Mandarin’ written on it…
Aww it sounds amazing, I would love to know what tea it was!
Oh man, this sounds so good!
Agreed! I wish I knew what it was as well.
Yes! I also wish I knew what that tea was. Sounds like something I’d want to pick up. Sadly, What-Cha’s Li Shan Black was out of stock when I tried to buy it, and I hope it comes back next year. I want fruity black teas!
Are the leaves all whole and needle-like? Twisted, shiny and hard? I had a big envelope of mystery tea from White Antlers with characters that looked Mandarin. I remember one of my first thoughts was “this smells like it was pan-fried in sugar.” Haven’t brewed it yet, though.
YES! That’s the one
I could be wrong in that they are Japanese characters-it’s hard to tell since it’s using calligraphy. Now how to use a translater app on my phone…And yes, derk. The are black, twisted, and pretty shiny. Some have small gold tips, but very few. And man, does it smell like pan fried rock sugar.
If anyone can get a good, CLEAR picture of the characters, I may be able to translate.
How do you post pictures on here? I’ve tried copying an pasting mine, but it would not let me. I’ll forward you a message with it.
Crap. It won’t let me do that either. I’ll just have to add a note with it’s picture.
Post a link to where the picture is uploaded?
https://steepster.com/teas/random-steepings/94661-pan-fried-sugar-black-no-idea-what-this-black-tea-is
file:///C:/Users/dthomas1/Desktop/20201206_145650.jpg
Hmm… I do manga scanlation in my free time, but admittedly am used to dealing with type-printed text over hand-written/stylized which makes it harder for me to pick out some of the kanji. Will try to call in some phone-a-friends and see if any of them can fill in the ones I’m still blank on.
So the calligraphy is Japanese then? Thank you for taking all this time and effort for a simple translation. Let me know if you need me to take another picture.
(Although I know Kanji is Japanese use of Chinese based characters, too)
That’s the tea, Daylon. Martin Bednar might have the original packet in his possession unless I had sent it to somebody else.
I wonder if that came from Bitterleaf…
It’s Chinese. Japanese imported a good deal of Chinese characters into their language (as well as having their own characters as a phonetic system). I have my ways of dealing with them when I’m transcribing manga… but then, I’m usually dealing with typesetting, and not hand-scrawled calligraphy which is a whole different beast, ha!
Well, the consensus seems to be that the large text is 純手工制作 … but from what I can see that doesn’t appear to be the tea’s actual name, but “handmade” or “handcrafted.” And the smaller text is just a bit too small in the picture to try to make out.
Thank you. Is it bitterleaf’s sugar glider, maybe?
Daylon I believe so.
I looked at the package. The description is close, but it’s more decorated. It does taste like a Bitterleaf tea, though. I do have the Ya-Shi I’ve been saving from you. I’ve held back on the fruity Dancong oolongs lately. I’m not sure what it is, but they tend to slam me with a different punch of energy. I used to crave the sweetness, and I still like sweeter teas, but the ripeness of it all….intense.
I think our tastes, and not just in tea, change with the seasons and where we are at particular times in life.