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Extremely Backlogged

I had this way, way, way back a few weeks (or months) ago. It was on the bottom pile of my empties, but I remembered to leave a small slip with notes in the sample bag!

Notes: Asparagus, collards, nutty, butter green beans, & umami.

I had this during work last Friday, so I made minimal notes during the session.

“Has a lightly aged, earthy, and mineral flavor. The cup isn’t producing much flavor/texture, and the tea completely faded after the 6th infusion. Not very strong and didn’t last long.”

Sipdown/Backlog

I quite liked this one. What sold this for me was the addition of spinach; I thought that it was an odd addition to a blend, but it drove me to grab some. I think the time spent sitting in the bag/sipdown pile for the past year (or longer?), helped bring the lemongrass and orange forward! I was a bit surprised to not find white chocolate in the blend, but I noted that flavor a few times on my scrap paper.

Backlog

The tea took a while to open up and produce any flavor (3 infusions). Around the 4th and 5th steeps, the tea began to gain texture/flavor—very lightly—yet there was more than prior infusions. I noted that this tea might have been a better loose leaf tea, for the flavor jumps through between 6 & 7, but is completely gone after the 8th infusion. I longed steeped the 9th with near-boiling water, but the flavor was no more.

I acquired this sample months ago, but I needed a shot of caffeine shortly after getting out of bed today. I feel as if I’ve yet made the adjustment to the hour setback. Honestly, it doesn’t help that we dropped back the hour, but it begins to feel like 8pm at 5pm lately. The light completely washes away around 4:30-5pm.

Anyway, this was a good tea as much as I remember it being when I drank it. I didn’t make a note, but wanted to log it regardless.

Sipdown/Backlog

This is what I imagine Sunny D tasting like if it were meant to be a higher quality citrus drink. I powered through this tea, and for one last hurrah, made it iced. I shared a bit with my wife, and she thought I gave her “better quality Tang.” I reassured her that that it was an herbal tea and was by far higher quality than either Tang or Sunny D. Plus, there was no sweetener necessary to make this cup pop!

Sipdown/Backlog

Aroma: Woody, fruity (plums)

Flavor: Plums! A little bit of roasted cashews sunflower seeds. It was much sweeter than expected. 70/100.

Backlog/Sipdown

There was more age to this tea than I had expected. While it was aged 10 years, there was more camphor & dankness (I need a better way of describing teas rather than using the term “dank,” because there are levels of dank. There’s “basement dank,” “earthy dank,” “mildew dank,” etc. I think the term dank, in this case, was noted regarding the age. Maybe it was wet stored, I’m not sure; if so, that might be the dank note that I meant) than expected. The only notes I made regarding the tea was, “Head high. Very nice liftoff during the session. Unfortunately short-lived at 6 infusions with each session. I wanted to sip more, but the power of the flavor lasted up to 6 steeps.”

Sipdown

Ceylon teas are the perfect tea for the end of the day. Yeah, it’s nearing 23:00, but that won’t stop me from drinking a simple light tea. Assam is by far something I stay away from after 17:00; this will not stop me from going to sleep. It may, at best, give me weird dreams, as all teas do.

This isn’t the most flavorful tea I’ve had, yet it’s nice. Soft floral and very, very lightly malty—to the point I can hardly notice it—which makes for the perfect cup to conclude the day.

I’ve been on the shou train for a few days now. I finished off TWO samples from The Steeping Room, where I had purchased 3 samples, after which drinking them too quickly, I decided to go for a cake. White2Tea didn’t have any on their site, so it was nice to see that it could be found elsewhere.

This is one of those cakes that wouldn’t, and likely won’t, last long in my possession. During the winter months, I’m typically obsessively sipping on shou, Lapsang, roasted oolongs, and aged sheng. However, the obsession has been more shou heavy thus far, and this one is easily one of the best shou puerh teas I’ve sampled. The tea soup is thick (motor oil thick), oily, cocoa heavy, earthy, and molasses sweet. I’m sure I’ll be back in a few weeks, or months, with the final thoughts.