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Sipdown that I never reviewed. The best oolong I had from Upton, though I won’t order from them again. This was nice grandpa style at work, but the fact I took it to work in the first place means I wasn’t much impressed. Still — drinkable and I did have a brief pleasure-pause moment with this one.

On the warm leaf: chocolate covered cherries, raspberry jam, Andes mints… seriously, the milk chocolate is unmistakable. Wow.

Wet dog coming off the pour again — this must be par for the course with Ruby 18? Wintergreen here, too (where the Floating Leaves R18 had it everywhere except the nose). Herbaceous.

First pour tastes of baker’s cocoa, tannin, leather, tobacco. I can’t locate any fruit, mint, or sweetness.

After the first pour, wintergreen is now fully apparent in the wet leaves… medicinal and herbal like a Ricola cough drop, menthol cigarettes… immediately after the next pour there was a distinct celery seed and water chestnut aroma (which changed again before the next fill… smells in the pot are all over the place, haha).

Second pour, wet dog is still heavy on the nose, with ripe fruit and more wintergreen. The taste is more cooling, and I’m able to pick out some wintergreen where I wasn’t in the first pour. Quite drying throughout my whole mouth, with crunchy tannins and cherry. Cocoa seemed to have mostly dissipated, until I took the last sip and found chocolate covered peanuts at the bottom of the cup.

Back to the leaves: chocolate covered cherry and wintergreen now that they’ve cooled a bit. The leaves might be the most interesting part of this tea.

Several more steeps. Some indistinct florality. Biggest pulls are mint, milk chocolate, cherry, tobacco — and it all completely works together. The tannins are what give me pause, which I know is common with Ruby 18s. (derk, I’m shocked you didn’t get any going grandpa style! Maybe I should have followed your lead.) If I had more leaves, I might try this at a lower temperature? Even still: Song recommends 5g in 150ml at 205 degrees for a full minute, and I’m only at 3.5g/150ml at 195 degrees for about 10-15 seconds! I think my tongue might turn to leather if I cranked that hard.

A delightful journey, and probably the most interesting Ruby I’ve had so far. There is so much to uncover here. Thank you so much for the absolute treat, derk!

I opened this box of adventures-to-come from derk and about went catatonic with indecision. I finally snapped out of it and — having just tried Mountain Stream’s Wintergreen White Ruby — decided I’d start by pulling a couple of gifted 18s and splashing around in some ruby puddles this afternoon.

The steaming leaves already have me off and running to understand wintergreen… they smell like those pink chalky candies and Euthymol toothpaste. I’ve always been quite drawn to this flavor, so I’m stoked. Also a bit medicinal/herbal. Celery became the prominent scent after several steeps.

For the nerds: wintergreen is an essential oil from the Gualtheria procumbens plant; the specific compound that creates the smell is methyl salicylate. Wintergreen is not a true mint. The sassafras descriptors in others’ notes make sense, as wintergreen is the oil most often used in root beer these days (sassafras itself got outlawed, so we replaced it). Anyway.

Pours a reddish caramel, and the liquor first and foremost smells like wet dog — persistent through all steeps. Also red fruit, and a spearminty scent that isn’t quite wintergreen.

Middling weight in the mouth — not light or full. Cooling taste and big ol’ wintergreen, dried red raspberry, lightly tannic and crisp. Sweet, but a light fruity sweetness that doesn’t read caramel/molasses/honey to me… distinctly herbal, which is probably the wintergreen but feels like it could lean toward fresh fennel… a touch of toastiness toward the final steeps.

I stopped around eight steeps — the last two sat quite a long time and, though the character was still pleasant and the mouthfeel good, the tannins started vying for too much attention. I cut ‘em off. I’m really enjoying the Ruby 18 cultivar (aka Sun Moon Lake!). Thank you, derk <3

Okay, this is officially the first GABA I truly enjoy. Somehow the processing has managed not to suck all the life out of the leaves. Lovely biscuit, faint nut, and dusty cinnamon flavor that is super comforting and easy. Brewed western at work today and apparently got a completely different flavor profile than last time? I am fighting the urge to rate this higher due to it overcoming being a GABA in the first place.

Western, at work, with a cinnamon roll indulgence for the holiday. Fit the bill well enough, though the base is crisper and thinner than I’d like/expected. I was hoping for something a little creamier to underpin the smoke and vanilla, I suppose.

Casual go after a nap. This day has been lazy — fire-sitting, fuzzy conversation, leftovers. Recharging and welcome.

I learned Huang Pian is the larger, older leaves further down the pu’erh-pick that sometimes don’t look uniform enough after processing, get pulled by the farmer, and generally don’t go to market. “Yellow leaves,” farmer’s choice. Often not aged, so this is a treat.

Stone basement, old cedar paneling, tobacco. Scent memory like I’m about to spend way too much money on antique Pyrex bowls. Cooling menthol, with easy astringency in later steeps. Pours pinkish-tan to transparent caramel. Belly gurgles.

Hm.