China Breakfast

Rich and sweet. Excellent with our without cream.

Hearty, dependable, invigorating. I drink it for breakfast and afternoon; milk, never sugar. Have been drinking it for many years now. It’s our house leaf. Always good w/ a piece of cake or scone.

I have been so busy this week that I sadly have not had much time to review new teas. I’m still working my way through larger amounts of some teas I have already reviewed, so finishing them has taken precedence for me. Even when I have had the time to try something new, I have unfortunately had to rush through it or have otherwise been forced to evaluate it under less than ideal circumstances. Such was the case with this tea.

After popping in to a local high school for a follow-up, I swung by a local cafe that carries Rishi products and ordered a mug to go along with a bowl of soup and half a sandwich. I then had to rush back to the office and time the infusion while in my car on the way back across town. Needless to say, this got steeped at least 1-2 minutes too long. The fact that I then ended up having to drink it in my office out of a cardboard to-go cup didn’t help matters either.

Ignoring the distinct cardboard aroma undoubtedly contributed by the cup, I was still able to detect distinct scents of toffee, molasses, chocolate, and wood. In the mouth, I again ignored the influence of the cardboard, choosing instead to focus on the mellow notes of toffee, chocolate, malt, cream, sweet potato, leather, toast, and molasses. I could tell that I steeped this a little too long because the finish was more tannic and astringent than it probably should have been, but it wasn’t unbearable. Also, I could tell that this tea was maybe a little on the older side. The aromas and flavors one would expect of a traditional Yunnan black/red tea were there, but were less vibrant than they arguably should have been. Again, it could have been worse.

At this point, I am not certain that I feel all that comfortable assigning a numerical score to this tea. The combination of the age of the tea, the overly long infusion, and the vessel from which I had to drink it all served to skew my perception of this tea. From what I was able to detect from it, I would expect this to come off as a woodier, maltier Yunnan black with decidedly heavy notes of molasses and sweet potato under ideal circumstances. I will be a little lenient here and give my first impression of this tea a 71/100. Should I ever get the opportunity to try this one again, however, I will expect a little more from it.

Having this tea for breakfast this morning! Seemed appropriate. Smooth and malty, with a bit of acidity and astringincy as the cup cools. Very nice. :)

Addendum: Second steeping (6min) was milder and sweeter, with a bit of minerality.

To start off my first full day in my new place, I picked out a comforting old favourite. This tea is incredibly reliable and tasty. Rich malt and sweet potato notes. It’s a pretty straightforward and middle of the road Dian hong, but I love it.

So yesterday was moving day, after a lot of angst and stress about getting things sorted, culled and packed. We hired movers, which is one of the best choices I have ever made, ever. They were done in three hours, a task which would have probably taken all day, or even stretched out over multiple days of stress, sore backs and strained interpersonal dynamics. Since the move was done by noon, we were able to get most of the house unpacked, which has been amazing.

We still have to get rid of a few things at the old place, clean it and hopefully sublet it before the end of the month. But, I am extremely pleased with how well the move and unpacking has gone.

My new place is pretty great. We have a massive kitchen with tonnes of cupboard & counter space, a dishwasher (YES!!), and everything is just really beautifully finished and high quality. We have a bit less storage space overall than at our last place, but we’ll figure it out, and the neighbour noise is going to take a bit of getting used to after living in a concrete, pretty sound proof building for a while. Over all though, I’m really happy with this place, and I hope to stay for a good long time. It’s nicer and cheaper than my old place, which is a winning combination.

And then this coming weekend, I’m off to Mexico for a week. I’m really looking forward to a week with my sweetie, away from the cold, with all the churros I can eat. And also looking forward to just having a chance to relax, because all this moving stuff has been hectic.

If you drink this tea bareback (that is, without sugar, without cream, without milk, just bare tea), then you’ll find a sweet tea with a floral aftertaste.

I used this tea when I experimented with making spiced tea (I had been reading “Chai, The Spice Tea of India” by Diama Roseti). Perhaps I was just too ham-fisted with the cinnamon, cloves, hot pepper, etc, because the flavor of spices dominated the flavor of this tea. In the hands of a professional chai chef, the flavor may have been more balanced.

In a nutshell, I don’t regret buying this tea, which is more than I can say for some tisanes brought from a well-known tea company, whose teapots tend to be much better than their herbal brews!)

A step above your average English Breakfast, but those of you who are used to the rich cardamom and cacao notes you get from many Yunnan black teas will be a bit disappointed, as I was.

Rishi teas are generally topnotch, but I wish there were more variety in terms of the retail boxes available at grocery stores (this was the only unscented black tea available).

This is a favorite morning tea for me…strong but not over-powering.

To be fair I have never been fond of strong teas in general, which I think is why I was not fond of this one.

I tend to over-steep, and this gets bitter on me… otherwise decent overall “black” flavor.