1113 Tasting Notes
After drinking this multiple times, I think I am finally able to make the remarks I’ve tried to but couldn’t in the past.
First, I got suckered into buying this because it has the leaf pressed on top. The aesthetics of that kind of pulled me in as well as the 500g size. I was looking for a cake to buy and send to many people on Instagram and decided on this. Now, to be honest, King Tea window shopping is fun but making a purchase is rough. They have THOUSANDS of puerh items so I had no idea what to do. I ended up choosing Mengku because I have yet to come across someone who reviews a lot of their products so I decided to try my luck on finding something amazing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/9J8gIPRYDL/
My findings are as follows: The tea has been stored well, but the characteristics that the liquid brews is not my type of sheng. This raw material brews medium smokiness to it. This is also a medium soupiness; I actually prefer my sheng to be light rather than thick. The taste for me, with these two qualities, ended up being semi dry and as the sessions went on it became more dry at the back of my mouth. I’m unable to say this is bad or recommend it. Since the smokiness and soup type sheng are not my thing, it’s hard to know when one of the ones I come across might be something considered ‘high quality’. Thankfully, I have figured out my preference so I know which samples to accept from people rather than take all the tea as I did before
p.s. I think 20+ people have a part of my cake somewhere :)
Yesterday I went to a kombucha class :)
While a lot of it taste like vinegar, there are a lot of possibilities. My favorite was a yerba mate oolong blend kombucha. I was given a starter kit so I look forward to creating my own stuff, unsure where it will take me… but it should be fun :)
http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/5/b/0/highres_445794704.jpeg
WOW
Last night was ridiculous. I wish what had happened didn’t, but now that it has I will never purchase Misty Peak tea or include it in an any group buy. Nick will soon find out that his coowner/brother/marketingdirector is really screwing over the company; some of the people he offended are people with connections in the tea world too…
Anyways, this morning I am drinking some matcha from Yunomi and using the coconut milk matcha from yesterday as the cooling agent. I am going to end up throwing this coconut milk matcha away… the taste is so strong that it is going through the tencha taste of 3 scoops of matcha I whisked. That’s pretty crazy!
What’s going on with Misty Peak tea? I’ve bought from them before and liked the puerh.
The coowner took hours out of his day yesterday to comment on Oolongowl, Grill, Cheri, Brian… just, a lot of people, saying that W2T ripped off MP. This isn’t the first time, before it was calling out Crimson Lotus Tea.
Most of the comments have been deleted though…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BASKi97gyUc/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAXfL0ICSmI/
https://www.instagram.com/p/1NNhMiIz2Q/
Going around saying that W2T, YS, and CLT are disrespectful for having sheng made into a ball is just a bit too much for me. To visit my friends Instagram pages and leaves these comments as Phil, who coowns MP, is disrespectful to me. In these circumstances, I am unable to be like Oolongowl who is much wiser than I am; being that she deleted and block Phil who also seems to have others come in as well.
It’s just sad.
It’s really hard to believe that this person things no-one put tea in ball shape before MP. Even if they did, MP has a pretty shady history which they’ve deleted and covered up on here a couple times, but that’s pretty far-fetched.
Also, pretty much anyone can edit wikipedia, it’s hardly a credible source. I wonder who wrote the original wikipedia saying Misty Peaks make it in the first place..
I wonder if he’s the same person as MonkeyKing who was on here making Steepster just horrible for weeks. His comments about the orb are ridiculous!
MonkeyKing had a tasting note saying that Crimson Lotus stole something from Yunnan Sourcing…and another tasting note giving Misty Peaks 100%. So it seems quite possible.
Wow, talk about being an unprofessional and juvenile business owner. smh. I had a feeling MonkeyKing was connected to Misty Peaks, but I also found it shocking that a business owner would stoop quite that low.
He put an ugly comment on my Instagram as well. I deleted the comment and blocked him. Unfriended MP on Facebook too. Will never purchase from them again. And with all the quality puerh there is out there, it’s not a huge loss (for me). He obviously aced the class “How to drive away customers and alienate people” in marketing school.
oh thats sad.
I try to be objective but can someone show me the link the Monkey King posted about YS stealing from them. I would hope it isn’t that obvious but if so I will personally never give them any recommendation on here for how they divided this community with all the insults and remarks.
He deleted his profile. Does that mean everything’s gone now?
There should be something somewhere. I would really lose faith in them over this whole mess. There was a lot of division I thought didn’t exist here because of that MK guy.
I couldn’t find him, but there’s not really a very good user-finder function on here, is there? Or am I missing it?
I will be looking around myself.
@mrmopar – Im a bit annoyed about how these last few weeks have been full of negativity on the forums. You can still get his profile cached.
Read the whispering pines review – is that what people are talking about? Idk.
I’m not sure if this is what would link anyone. The cache won’t let you go but so far into the MK. I am just like you Rasseru, there was great division that I didn’t know existed here.
I hope that this site goes back to normal soon… this bullshit is destructive. While I don’t want it to be there, as part of the tea community I feel some responsibility to respond because it is important to me. Right now it is just highly exhausting. Tea should be about enjoying a drink, not a means to money…
It will be ok. From what I can see the people who got divided on here were either trying to A – stick up for us, or B – really kind & non-confrontational wanting to not argue, both of which I like. Im hoping it will settle down again
+1 , I want normal again.
I have no problem with a business being a business, but businesses don’t generally operate like this.
Tonight I drove my 15 year old brother on his first date. Knowing that such a thing would be emotional for my mom as he is her youngest child, I decided to go pick up something nice at Whole Foods. After picking up a raspberry truffle cake I went to the drink section to see what I could find; tea related of course.
I ended up finding Rebel matcha coconut milk. I though it would be an interesting drink because the ingredients and color all matched up to being something I would purchase (not some weird fake matcha stuff). Unfortunately this stuff is very odd tasting. There’s a chalky texture to it which isn’t my thing. The cake however is wonderful :)
My best friend came over yesterday and I asked her to pick from my sample stash sent from companies. She pulled out something I haven’t drank for a reason… CEYLON. EWWWW.
Stuff taste so bitter to me. Personal preference for sure. This is the same with Assam. Still waiting to find one of each I like, but it’ll be rough because I have such a sweet tooth that some candy even taste bitter to me at times; this is not a good thing. I read somewhere that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, anyone know this so I don’t have to search the web to find out.
If you wanna hang out you gotta take her out…
Are you a bitter super taster maybe?
Interesting that you like sheng since it can be quite bitter too. Butiki had some very nice Assam teas, I bet you would have liked them.
I haven’t liked any of the Assams from Butiki I’ve tried so far, which is a shame because they sounded so delicious.
The sheng I drink isn’t bitter though. Sheng can be bitter, but I find the ones that are not. I’ve tried all the recommended Assam type teas and I have yet to enjoy one :/
Im trying to think of the teas that I had when I was in Sri Lanka – the one I remember most was a high quality low-grown one from Dimbula, but I’m not sure if it was the fact it was a SFTGFOP1 or that it was from Dimbula or low-grown which made it stand out as nice, but its the one I remember.
Perhaps you are a supertaster:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster
I’m pretty sure I am not since bitterness doesn’t always bother me, but anyway… The SFTGFOP1 I had from The Finest Brew is one of my favorite teas ever.
@liquidproust, i very rarely add sugar to my tea. :) same with milk. may i suggest something? try stevia if you want to add sugar. quite tasty and more healthy for you
Yes LP, is this your tongue? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster#/media/File:Blue_tongue.jpg
I received one of these as a gift from CLT (they are quite generous)
Brewed it up today after some 90’s HK from W2T. What a perfect transition that way. A dark soupy sheng for the morning to wonderfully light sheng that opens up as the session continues.
My experience with smaller compressed raw material is that they are always strong when opened up. Thankfully, this one kept it’s calm/light taste throughout the session. Though it was a bit stronger during the ending steeps, this continued to stay pure and to my liking. This makes me curious of the material prior to pressing. I’ve yet to have a non bitter maocha. Now that I’ve drank it, I feel a little upset because I don’t have another. Most of my sheng is wild or darker. The only two raw from CLT I’ve had were light and reminded me of the pureness that a Japanee tea gives off. Looking forward to the two Bai Ying cakes… they looked so beautiful before I broke them up.
After eight months of waiting for Yuuki Cha to sell more Japanese White, I kind of decided that I may not get to try any for a long time. White tea produced in Japan is not easy to acquire, but Tealyra has some exclusively. A must try for me. It’s almost a dollar a gram which is high for tea, but is still less than a special drink while out and about.
Upon looking at the leaf I was happy to just hold it. It’s incredibly fresh looking, as if nothing has been done to it. Now, the taste is rather hard to explain. Japanese green teas take on a grassy taste which this has none of. This tea is more of a leaf taste; imagine the taste between tree on a wood and branches on a bush… this tea is like the difference between the two, yet it is a variation of leaf taste. That’s kind of confusing for me to reread or think about. Honestly, it’s more of an experience in regards to the aroma and changing taste from steeps.
A wonderful experience for sure. I probably will end up paying $15 a year to try the new harvest if I see more Japanese white teas. Now I want some of the white sencha from Tealyra…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAVP8zjxYPZ/
Took 6 serving scoops of matcha and whisked the hell out of it. A little chalky, but I need to wake up!!!
Here’s to something new, maybe silly, but still enjoyable.
6 scoops?! i use a quarter of a teaspoon :D lmao
That much would make me feel a little sick in the morning… on an empty stomach anyway. I did have 3 scoops this morning though and I thought that was way-out-there craziness!
Yikes. Like a triple espresso
Whoa, that would make me very sick…
A little hesitant about trying this last night because my Dachi sampler from last year disjointed me. Since I’ve been drinking puer and yancha, green oolong have an upper hand on pleasing my taste buds because it is a missed flavor that I love; it’s just that I drink them outside of winter.
Upon brewing this I have a bit more to look forward to because the leaf isn’t as bad looking as last years samples. The taste came through quite clean, providing a way to relax while brewing the next cup. A little floral hint, with a mild texture to it.
I’ll look into trying some of Dachi’s 2016 teas to see if they find a special ones, but in the world of green oolong there is competition just like puer and I face the hard question on which to get… Beautiful Taiwan Tea is a must, What Cha is a must,Tealux’s exclusive is a must, J Tea is a must, Yunnan Sourcing is a must, how much tea is tooooo much???
I know, right? I’ve been so, so, so tempted to get a curated selection from J-Tea. But I’m on a budget and that would require full faith that the teas are truly amazing to me. I KNOW some of his teas are exactly that. But. Some. Are. So. Expensive. If I were to do that, those would be some of the only teas I had in a year. I’m still currently on a search for the perfect Dan Cong at the best price-one that is fruity, floral, smooth, creamy, and light with the types of wood notes I like. But I also want to try J-Tea eventually. So, I filled out the tea consultation and Josh recommended me the Yunnan Gold Tips, Drunken Dragon, and High Mountain Beauty. I had my eyes on the Drunken Dragon and the Green version of it, so yay! The Yunnan Gold Tips is probably yummy too. And the High Mountain is one of his favorites. At the same time, the selfish part of me wants some of the really green oolongs like the Spring Lily and the Cui Ran. Then the coupon is not working so I’m waiting for it to work before I buy anything. I also am trying to save up for the new oolongs you and Lauren are going to release.
Sorry about the long rant. Anyway. I feel your pain. But you also know that too well.
Get the Drunken oolong…
Also, I’ll PM you about their best product which is a subjective matter I don’t want to put out publicly because I must have 200 to 400 grams for the next group buy :)
:)
Last night I had a lot of thoughts going on so I picked out one of the few herbal teas I had; a sample of this.
Now, this isn’t something I’d buy if it blew my mind because I’m not an herbal drinker. This was probably one of the smoothest mint teas I’ve had, meaning it didn’t bite too hard while allowing time to enjoy the sensation and taste. Unsure how peppermint can vary in quality to allow a more settle brew than another, but hey… it worked out and I was happy to have this last night to help sleep (even though it didn’t help)
If you like please let me know how much would you like me to pay you for a 5 grams sample of this tea and send it to me when you post me the teas of the 2016 Sheng Olympics
I can send some out for a swap tomorrow if you’d like; or just free.
To save on transport costs please don’t. If it is possible please just include the sample with the Olympics lot as I am not in a rush. I am more than happy to pay for it and if you ever come to this side of the pond I am more than happy to give samples away from my stash.