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Sipdown

While rummaging through my tea samples from swaps, I found this hidden gem at the bottom of the stash. I threw the remaining leaf (10g) into a 200 ml gaiwan, and made a go of it.

Flavor: I started this late in the evening/early morning before bed. The first notes were cinnamon, earth, & wet rocks. Today, as I kept brewing at longer times, I noticed more of the cinnamon/earth notes throughout. Definitely a smooth, easy tea. I’d recommend it, but it seems that it has all sold out.

I’ll definitely miss this sample, but I’m happy to have tried it while I could. :)

This came in as a sample from The TeaGuy. I’m skeptical about Earl Grey teas because they can be really great or not so much. I will say that it smelled wonderful, so there was hope that it’d stay that way with the flavor.

It was smooth, creamy, sweet, citrus-y, and had a touch of vanilla (?). I’d say that it reminded me of a creamier Blood Orange Rooibos that he had given me, but with a nice black tea base instead of the rooibos.

Backlog

I forgot to take tea to work on Monday, so I had to make due with what was in the break room. I found that someone had been adding new teas (other than Lipton) to the tea basket in the break room. I figured that this would be better than that…..WRONG. It was unnaturally sweet & tart. I threw the cup out & had eventually gone to the gas station down from my job for a cuppa coffee (which ultimately was better than the tea).

Another tea added to the “favorite black teas” list. The tea had a slight yellow/golden hue to it. The mouthful was surprisingly thick. The flavor had a nice malt, cocoa-wheat, and slightly astringent body. Definitely a tea that could become a daily drinker once I get some samples out of the way!

This has made it to the top of my “favorite black teas” list. I noted that the color of the tea was very dark golden/yellow, but the mouthfeel was “thin/light.” The aroma of the leaf reminded me of wheat and a bit of cocoa. As far as the flavor, this was a smooth, rich, & wheat-y tea; with a very subtle note of cocoa.

2006 Tai He from Wisteria (from the Liquid Proust Aged Pu-erh Group Buy)

I hadn’t really noted too much about the tea other than that it was enjoyable. Didn’t taste as old as you’d think. There were no notes of bitterness until I unintentionally forgot to pour out after steep # 8 and left it sitting for roughly 3-4 minutes before realizing I had poured water into the gaiwan (it was a very late session that lasted approximately until 2:30 A.M.).

I wrote 8/10 for the rating.

Dry leaf reminded me of raisins which were presumably covered in dust. As the leaf gets the water, there is an added note of “spiced raisins,” but that seems to be the only thing I had written about the aroma of the leaf.

I noted that the tea was very stale, drying, bitter, and had a very subtle note of raisin. This tea might’ve been quite nice in 2001, but it has definitely lost all of the potential of those once quality, tasty flavors. I had to stop a few times during the session to drink a glass of water due to the high astringency throughout the session.

I also noted that “Old tea doesn’t mean good tea—unless it’s puerh; which has potential” :P

A heavily roasted tea that had sat around for a long while to become palatable and not “too heavy” with that charcoal flavor, I assume. I’m sure at one point, I’d turn away from a tea that is this dark, but it’s not too shabby now. A bit drying in the mouth, but not bad with the flavor. I suppose the closest thing I could describe this as is the burnt fat you find in an overcooked burger with a touch of the sweetness found in a honey oat burger bun.

Backlog

I’m surprised that I’ve yet to review this tea (I’ve been slacking a lot lately). However, starting now, I’m going to try to make time for reviews. I could start with my backlogs (there are plenty written down that have yet to see the light of day via Steepster), so that’ll give me a good amount of notes jotted down here, for your viewing pleasure!

Anyway, I started out not liking this tea. It was too boring and very light. So light, that I wasn’t sure what I was tasting at first. I had given up on drinking any more due to time and lacking the interest before work.

After work and a few hours of sitting, the leaf had changed for the better. It jumped out with a slight smokiness and a gentle sweet floral/“grassy” (I didn’t want to say “leaf” while it is a leaf after all) note throughout. It’s not too shabby if you push it with temp/steeping time to extract more of the flavors.

Backlog/Sipdown

I had this one on Sunday night after coming home from a mini tea trip. I wanted something to drink before my friend had gone home, so we pulled this sample out to finish. We mainly talk about the teas we have and rarely spend too much time writing notes. I find that working something out verbally with another is much easier than writing. We do take brief notes on the tea (I’ll take a lot more when I’m alone), but there’re times when neither of us want to write, so we just enjoy the tea with a vinyl, board games with my wife, or outdoors on a hike. Either way, it is better to share tea with little to no notes, rather than alone with an abundance of notes, I suppose.

Notes: I noted that the tea took a little bit to “open up.” After the third steep, there were hints of “fruit in the aftertaste,” but we were unsure what fruit we were tasting. Finally, we concluded at steep # 7 that throughout the session, the tea became smoky, but less of Lapsang and more of burning cigarette in the distance; while tasting a pear almost immediately on the tongue (which faded just as quickly).

I thought that this was a nice tea and I am grateful to have tried it. Thank you again eastkyteaguy!