865 Tasting Notes
UGH!!! After our 1st cantata performance yesterday I needed some green ginger tea to sooth my throat before the next one and luckily the the Starbucks location I frequent is on the way to the 2nd performance and the only one in the area that carries it. Well… til now. After my order was repeated back to me, I was informed it’s been discontinued. Instead of just driving off, I ordered this instead and was really disappointed. Quite bitter. I’m tempted to call and complain about both issues.
Preparation
After 2 glasses of wine I decided I needed something nurishing so I made this chai style. 1TB leaf steeped in 8oz water for 6min then added 8oz water. Yummm! Very chocolatey and sinful. Suprisingly less bite than Mayan Chocolate Chai although it is still there. Definitely something to try if you like MCC or even if you’re looking for something w/ less of a bite.
Preparation
Ummm… wow… holy crap! If anyone wants to talk at 2am, just gimme call- I’ll be awake!
I love matcha! I also strive to prepare my teas using athentic steeping parameters and teaware. I haven’t really done that w/ matcha though. And, I admit- it’s a money thing. Most of the time I only use one chashaku of matcha and use less or more water (3 or 8oz) depending on if I want it “thick” or “thin”… Well, I’m determined to at least try to transition to more authentic Usucha and Koicha.
I decided to start w/ Usucha (thin tea) prepared with approximately 1.75 grams (amounting to 1.5 heaping chashaku scoop, or about half a teaspoon i.e. level teaspoon) of matcha and approximately 75 ml (2.5 oz). This must be really light matcha cuz it ended up being a crap load of matcha… like 4 or 5 scoops. I can’t quite remember.
The result was a thick, slightly foamy, very dark liquid that is more bitter than most times I enjoy matcha but was the bitterness was balanced perfectly by the sweetness, vegetal notes, and astringency. Now, the question is- will I sleep tonite?
Preparation
I know what you mean about the staying awake part! I have been overdoing it on the black teas a bit and have found myself staring at the bedroom ceiling and thinking about teas and which ones I’m going to order next! I’ve gotta restrain from drinking black teas so late in the afternoon. Otherwise I’ll be giving you a call!:)
I’m actually ok (I have ADHD that’s getting worse as I get older, but it does not seem to be caffeine induced or even affected), but just looking at how much matcha I put in my chawan made me go ooohhh boyyy I can get really shakey and spaced out so I was kinda worried I’d have a heart attack.
A HEART ATTACK omg!
YAY! MY FIRST SAMOVAR ORDER IS HERE!!! It took forever to get here though! The tracking said it was out for delivery at 7:48am, but didn’t get here til 1:30pm. My UPS guy is normally here ~11.
After forcefully pulling myself away from my (first) yixing pot, I made this. Someone (takgoti?) said that steeping instructions come on the packaging, but I was deeply disappointed that it did not. Also, it’s in a silver bag that is not resealable… bummer… 2 disappointments already and I haven’t even opened it. I went online to contact them, but the only contact info they give there is email and I wanted to drink this now so I looked them up in the yellow pages and called. Meg, the woman I spoke to, said I should steep it using the steeping parameters: 1tsp/160 degrees/1-3min… argh… generalized steeping parameters. Another disappointment. Oh well, this is not “3 strikes and you’re out” so I use the other suggestion I got, from Networld and steeped it like a premium Gyokuro (2g/140 degrees/2.5 min.
Mmmm… The yellowish green may look like a lot of ordinary green teas, but it definitely smells like matcha as the raw leaf does. The aroma is very grassy and vegetal w/ just a bit of bitterness. My brain just doesn’t know what to think of tencha yet. On one hand, it tastes a lot like matcha, but the mouth feel is so much thinner… Definitely a tea for those that love matcha as well as those that don’t like the texture of matcha. I can’t wait to nail the steeping parameters for this!
Preparation
Sounds like your having an all around good day. New yixing pot and teas :)
Congrats on your first yixing teapot! Mine hasn’t arrived yet :( but if that other oolong glass teapot is any indication, should be a dear little thing! Can’t wait to try the tencha from Samovar! Things to look forward to!
The yixing smells like black pepper… yes I’m a tea dork and smelled my yixing…
And why not? Tea is all about the senses!!! Are you going to season your little yixing pot (maybe you already did)? You know, 15 minutes on the rolling boil w/ water, 15 minutes boiled with the tea of choice (oolong?), and the naming of the teapot ceremony, too!
I know what seasoning it is. This one will be for raw pu erh. No, I haven’t done it yet- but I’d be really upset if it smelled like pepper after I seasoned it. I don’t believe in naming objects though.
Ok. I named my yixing (21 oz) mugs. The one for Oolong, I named Serenity because I want to be serene when I drink from it, the one for Pu-erh Tuo Cha I named Tranquility because I want to be tranquil when I drink tea from it, and the one for Lapsang Souchong I named Harmony because I want to be harmonious with all when I drink from it. Silly, maybe, but something to strive for, too.
It’s not silly to strive for those things at all- I just don’t see the need to name things after desirable character traits. Harmony from Lapsang Souchong… hmmm…
I want to devote this mug http://www.stashtea.com/products/Yixing+Beehive+Tea+Mug.aspx?category=TEAPOTSCUPSMORE to 52teas Mayan Chocolate Chai… do you season your mugs as well?
What a charming mug (look at the little feet on it!)! Yes, I did do that whole seasoning procedure — the puerh mug smells good (like puerh) and so does the lapsang souchong (smells very smoky!) but unfortunately, the oolong mug doesn’t smell like it yet (only drank from it three times so far – I guess needs more time).
Do you fill the mug up to the top w/ tea when you season it? That would be a LOT of chai so I’d probably use a cheaper version to season it. I don’t want to waste all that wonderful chai! :(
2nd infusion, 3min 20 sec. More green liquor. Not bitter at all, so sweet and yummy!
I added like 6 tablespoons of the intended tea (and 6 pellets of the puerh tuo cha when I was doing that mug) in the boiling pot but I used a smaller pot that had sufficient space (about 3 inch clearance around the mug and tea towel) which submerged the mug totally. I know, I felt a moment’s hesitation, too, using up all that tea! And now, after I drink from a particular mug, I do a last infusion in the mug, full to the brim and leave it in the mug for 30 minutes to an hour (depending on when I get to it again) before dumping.
@Lauren i name everything, my car, my computer, if i need to use it daily i want to call it something! not just ‘one of the multiple pots’
@AmazonV – I now have to try and remember the names – my memory being what it is (somewhat non-existent at times!). LOL : )
Oh yeah Tencha! I forgot about this. Mine comes in tomorrow =]]
Congrats! What else was in your order? That tea mug is just darling with the little round feet.
Chrine, I didn’t get a mug I got the yixing and the calendar.
For anyone interested, I talked to someone (via email) from Den’s Tea and while they do not sell it and he was not completely sure, he did also suggest steeping it similar to a Gyokuro so you could either steep it as a regular grade Gyokuro or a Premium Grade Gyokuro, as I did here. For info on where to start steeping Gyokuro, here’s Den’s suggestion: http://www.denstea.com/index.php?main_page=perfect_brewing. And then there’s also the room temp method…
All this advice would be so useful if my Samovar order including this Tencha would get here, pronto! Still waiting for my order, though, UGH!
My 1st Ti Kuan Yin! I’ve seen lots of amazing tasting notes about Samovar’s version(Monkey Picked Iron Goddess of Mercy), but I wasn’t sure how big the sample size is and I have a butt load of frequent cup points accumulated, so I figured I’d try this 1st. It is the 3rd most expensive sample they offer (outright cost, I’m not sure how it compares when comparing cost/gram), but this is the featured tea for March for their Roots Campaign so I thought now would be the perfect time to try it.
It’s definitely a green oolong and is beautifully rolled and twisted. 2.25g/6oz just below boiling water.
I could watch this unfurl forever… who says only blooming teas are pretty? The liquor is a very light yellow- lighter than I was expecting for the 5 min it steeped. The aroma is light, slightly vegetal, and… there’s a hint of something else… maybe lemony notes?
The flavor is very much like the aroma- light, slightly vegetal, subtle lemony notes, and just the slightest hint of astringency. Inspite of this astringency the mouth feel is still very much clean and smooth- it’s also thicker, almost broth like. I can see why people devote yixings to this one! Due to the subtle lemon notes I think this would be excellent yixing steeped then chilled for iced tea.
If you’re hesitant to drop $6 for a sample, I encourage you to try this WONDERFUL tea and support tea farmers!
That is too bad to hear… I’ve never been a big fan of the Tazo Green Tips. I prefer the “Zen” but even that comes out bitter if the water is too hot :-/
Easter musical season … EXHAUSTING! Our church did (and is doing again this year) a Passion Play or musical and it was like a week of Marine boot camp! I’ve lost my chops—-used to be a decent alto, now I waver somewhere between tenor and a hurt hound dog.
gmathis, I’m a 1st soprano and I think I left my voice some place in the ceiling of St. Mark’s Lutheran church. My voice is fine actually, I just feel spacey for some reason.
Hmm… I’ve steeped this at home using the full leaf bagged version and it wasn’t bitter. Maybe 3 minutes is too long for it, I think I did about a minute and a half.
what was your water temp during boiling?
Morgana and Networld, as I said in the post I had this @ Starbucks, not at home, so I have no idea what the temp was. Networld, because it was at SBUX, what I do know is it wasn’t boiling (I don’t think they use boiling water for even their blacks)… but if it was, it would have been 212 degrees F. I have little experience w/ Chinese greens so I’m not sure if some of them require boiling water like some Japanese greens or not… since I don’t, I would have erred on the side of caution and not used boiling water anyway. I wish I had known the weight of the bags before steeping.
Ahh- missed the SB part- yea I"m 90% sure the water was way too hot- Chinese greens are still only 175 I think…certainty not near boiling! Wouldn’t it be neat if a place like SB eventually offered loose leaf teas.
Networld- it was full leaf in sachet (I think if done correctly and enjoyed it would have reinfused extremely well) so that’s just as good. When the quality is this good I just think of the sachet as the steeping vessel:)
Interesting! I’m gonna have to go check em out now- thanks for the heads up!