Basic Tea
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Sipdown! 294/365!
I guess I didn’t much like this when I first tried it? It was mediocre now, but I chalked that up to age (you got it, another 7+ year old specimen here). I mean, it wasn’t terrible, a bit metallic but behind that there was some decent flavour, but I didn’t resteep it, so there’s that. Anyhow, another tea that’s good to have finished off.
Tonight’s random tea sample courtesy of LiberTEAS :D
I selected this sample tonight by the laborious method of sticking my hand into the sample box and grabbing a pouch. I actually had to do this twice, because I told myself ‘no blacks’, and of course the first one I grabbed was some coconutty black of some sort. So here we are! A straight green sounded lovely for tonight.
No appreciable smells either dry or steeped.
Interesting – this is not what I was expecting. The tea is sweet and maybe a little nutty, but not at all vegetal. I guess I’ve become so accustomed to that flavour that it surprises me when it isn’t present. There’s a bit of green tea aftertaste, but it’s very subtle. I’m thinking I should have gone with a three minute infusion after all. For some reason I feel like I’m catching a bit of flavour that makes me think “stale”, but it may just be that I’m associating a certain flavour I’m tasting with something I tasted in another, older tea and attributed to staleness.
I’ll have to see how this one fares on a second infusion, but although it’s pleasant and nicely astringency-free, I don’t think it’s quite my sort of green tea – boiled veggie/seaweedy/grassy flavours seem to be more up my alley.
ETA: Second infusion, 175F/3min, is rather bleh. Some astringency, and similar flavours to the last cup. Still a nice aftertaste though.
Preparation
Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a generous portion of this tea!
This is a very lovely tea. When I first looked at the dry leaf, I thought I was looking at a well-fermented Oolong because the leaves are very twisted and reminded me a bit of a high quality Formosa Oolong.
The tea is interesting. It has notes of Yunnan but is much more even in flavor, like a Ceylon. It also has some malty tones to it like an Assam. It’s very flavorful and yet mellow. I like this very much.
Steep Information:
Amount: ~2 tsp
Water: hot spigot water
Tool: kati loose tea system (my Review here.)
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes (http://steep.it)
Served: Hot
Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet, honey
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet
Flavor: sweet, fuzzy – it gives a fuzzy mouth feel
Body: Light
Aftertaste: astringent
Liquor: translucent light brown
A gift from TeaEqualsBliss, thank you.
I found this tea to be too mellow, light and subtle for me. It is surprisingly sweet.
Pictures: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/12/basic-tea-loose-leaf-black-tea-organic.html
Preparation
WARNING! WARNING! You REALLY have to like Hibiscus to like this one! Unfortunately I do NOT. So…I don’t think my review will be very fair…so…WARNING WARNING – my review is PURELY based on that. This just isn’t my cuppa. It might be more tolerable ICED but I’m TRYING to choke it down hot right now.
It’s a Purple Reddish Color…pretty but OVERLY Tarty. Ug. It’s WAY WAY WAY Hibiscus. Like Fish-face Tarty…pucker, pucker…add lemon and orange and there you have it.
I really wish I liked Hibiscus since there are a LOT of herbals out there…but…I just can’t.
The first time (just now) my water wasn’t warm enough at all – appliance malfunction…eeeek! So…I am going to throw that attempt out completely!
These leaves are CRAZY huge yet somewhat slender!It infuses very dark. It smells like a few other Yunnan’s or mellower Assam’s I have had before…
It’s a very smooth and mellow Assam type taste. I’m thinking this would pair lovely with anything chocolate! WOW! Not sure why…but that is all I can think about now…lol…
This is pretty good. I guess I was thinking it was going to be a more bolder taste but I appreciate the smoothness and think it’s a nice black tea!
