Camellia Sinensis

Gongfu!

This session was from yesterday. I’m working on finishing off my sample of last year’s production in anticipation for a restock of the one from this year. It’s a beautifully silky, fresh and aromatic oolong – even with a year of age on it. With even parts buttery coconut notes, fresh cream, and aromatic floral notes of lilac and jasmine this oolong was a beautiful Spring treat!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc0PxF1u5lZ/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_8yyyIRKA8&ab_channel=mindchatter

Gongfu!

Couldn’t resist picking up CS’s new “Taiwan Tea” Spring production sampler – this was the first of three teas in the sampler. I also used this tea to break in another new piece of teaware – a teacup from White2Tea. I’ve been fascinated by disasterware since highschool (even before I got into tea), and later calamityware, which is similar aesthetically but with less dark themes/content – so it’s incredibly satisfying to have found a beautiful piece that seems to match that style so well while striking a balance of the two artistic tones.

The Bao Zhong is also deliciously fresh and fragrant w/ silky notes of butter lettuce, coconut fat, sugar snap peas, & fresh cut flowers like orchid, geranium, and peony!! Awesome from first steep all the way until the last seventh steep. Overall a gorgeous and relaxing session that was deeply enjoyed!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQOz8XJAKLp/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TepVrqMgg&abchannel=PetGrotesque-TopicPetGrotesque-Topic

This review is for the Pinglin Bao Zhong from Camellia Sinensis’ 2019 Spring Taiwan sampler set…

Like the Si Ji CHun from this set, I drank this one Grandpa style as well. I also drank it immediately after trying the Si Ju Chun, so I was doing a lot of direct comparison in my head. This is a style of oolong that I am kind of iffy on; usually it’s pretty nice but sometimes it’s a little bit too green for my liking. I think I actually have a tin of this in my stash right now too, just from a different year’s harvest – it’s taken me a long time to get through…

I found this enjoyable yesterday, but less so than the Si Ji Chun. It was greener, and a little bit sharper in that green quality – the sort of “lawn clipping sour grass” effect, hitting at the side of my mouth. However, it was also sweet and floral with that kind of “ambrosia”/nectar note, and a lot of floral elements like gardenias and elderflower. I think the reason I like the Si Ji Chun better is that it’s creamier to me, and more buttery (though this is a little buttery). I’m glad my coworker brought this in though; having tried this style of oolong from CS before (and still owning it), it was nice to have a fresher revisit of it. I still enjoy the older harvest that I have currently, when I’m in the mood for a greener oolong, but it certainly hits in a different way now that it’s lost freshness…

So, I simply cannot stop peeing.

That’s almost definitely an overshare; but I just worked it out/did the math and combining all the tea I drank today (and only the tea) I had just over five liters of tea in about a ten hour time span – however at least half of that was in the last three hours…

Anyway; this was the first thing I had today. I admit that it’s been what feels like a long time since I last had it (and it probably HAS been a really long time), but it felt like visiting a really good friend. Very, very familiar profile of floral notes, greener elements, and super subtle fruity undertones. I really felt like, more than anything, this taste like that last tiny little bit of watermelon fresh right before you hit the white “rind” of the melon. A little bit of fruity sweetness, but also a lot of “green” taste and a bit of a mild sourness. I mean, watermelon rind DEFINITELY (at least in my opinion) has a distinct taste. Apart from that, there was the sweetness of garden/snap pears and a lot of florals like gardenia, orchid, and even jasmine.

I admit I consider this more of a “Spring time” flavour profile – but I enjoyed the delicate natural of the taste as an early morning flavour before transitioning into something with more body and “oomph”.

I think I need to try some Bao Zhongs from other companies, ‘cause I don’t know whether or not my tastes in general have changed or if it’s just that I’ve fallen out of love with this one in particular – I just feel like the more I drink it the less I actually like it.

This cup was just filled with strong, robust notes of gardenias, garden peas, creamed spinach, and butter – at one point I know I loved it, but this mug? I just hated that combination of flavours. It was so dissatisfying and only felt like a chore drinking it.

So, I don’t know. I am lowering my rating from the mid 80s spot it was in though; I just feel like I can’t in good conscience leave it where it was when I had such a miserable time drinking this one…

So, funny story…

I generally bring little premeasured bags of tea with me to work to drink there, and the other night I had a few left over still on my way out at the end of the night; this one and W2T’s Little Red. I decided to make a cup of Little Red on the way out, and I just dumped the tea in a sachet, poured the water in a cup along with some milk and away I went.

It wasn’t until I started sipping on the steeping tea that I realized something was really weird. Why did the Little Red taste so incredibly buttery and floral? I could MAYBE see a touch of buttery sort of creaminess coming through because of the milk but not to the extent I was experiencing. It was really weird. Of course, I was on the bus at this point so I couldn’t exactly pop the lid off and inspect the tea leaf up close so I just sort of adjusted my expectations for the cup and kept drinking.

Later when I got home I went to unpack my work bag and I noticed the premeasured bag of Little Red still in it. Yup; 100% swapped the tea bags without realizing it and steeped this one up using the parameters I’d have used for Little Red. It explained SO MUCH of the weirdness though…

Welp, this is like my fifth time having this tea and I still can’t taste if I actually really like it or not. It’s just sort of… weird.

This cup was hot at work; and mostly it tasted like gardenias/peony to me but with some vegetal and buttery undertones. However, there was also a sort of fruity sweetness. It was REALLY fruit though, more like the lingering taste of where fruit was. If that doesn’t make sense that’s ok, but just go with me here: You know when you’re eating a slice of watermelon and you get past the fruit and are just left with the white part of the rind that isn’t really the flesh of the fruit but is still munchable? When you nibble on that bit of rind that’s still able to be consumed before it gets really hard/tough there’s still a little bit of watermelon sweetness…

But mostly it still tastes like rind. Anyway; this kind of tasted like that. Yeah I know – I’m using weird metaphors tonight. It’s just one of those nights though, so you guys just have to either go with me on it or ignore me completely. So now the question is, do I enjoy that flavour?

I. Don’t. Know.

Cold Brew.

- Buttery vegetal/grassy thing going on
- With lots of florals: peony/gardenia
- Garden snap peas; just slightly under ripe

It was 100% drinkable, but I didn’t love this cold brew. The mix of buttery vegetal elements and that much floral flavour was a little too cacophonous to be really good. One and not the other, sure. Just not super relaxing put together…

Late night cup.

Really, really floral and smooth with both heady and fresh floral notes. It was very smooth, but with this really abstract sort of quality that was almost… psychedelic in nature? Like, that’s a bullshit way to describe flavour, I know – but really something about the way those floral notes played off another was just kind of trippy.

Also, buttery. Very buttery.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOHEuhJf7nA&list=PL2kI801DjQIs

Drinking this one currently while curled up on the couch listening to a new band for the first time; I’m really enjoying how well the flavours of the tea are matching to the music – but based on who recommended the band to me and why they recommended it I kind of figured they would work together…

First Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_4kJalb2bc&index=4&list=WL

It’s weird splitting my attention between the song and the tea and I know that sounds odd given how often I do tea/song pairings but usually it’s with music I’ve heard before. That way, I can sink into the song and let it be a backdrop to enhance the tea and the moment. With new music, well, I want to soak that in as much if not more than the tea itself. I want to hear the lyrics, and the emotions of the singer…

The tea is toasty; really warming and light bodied on the whole but with elements that build/creep in on you and take on a little more of a medium bodied aspect. Apart from being toasty, there’s a sweetness that reminds me of cane sugar but also the sweetness of snap peas without the vegetal taste to accompany. Though there is some green to the taste; more grassy than vegetal, and lightly so.

The top notes are sweet, fleeting floral ones: lily, orchid and other fresh flowers. The body is also floral, but in a different way – it’s heady with magnolia and rose aspects. Things that linger and have a more impactful presence. This is my favourite part, and the part that I had described as “creeping” and more medium bodied. It definitely makes the cup.

Also, this is my favourite song from this new band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J2r9NDRnaA&index=4&list=WL

I think that maybe it’s just a BIT too upbeat to be a perfect match/pairing but I like the sentiment of the song with the flavours/feel of the tea and I do think some of the lyrics perfectly touch on that “creeping/building” quality that this tea seems to really push on you.

And I will follow you no matter where you go
I wanna be the comfort in your company

I’ve had a lot of blacks today, so I wanted to sneak in a lighter tea to today’s line up as well; I chose one of the new greener oolongs from my most recent Camellia Sinensis order.

This one is interesting; I didn’t have a lot of preconceived notions or expectations for it so it’s been fascinating from start to finish. It’s very light bodied and delicate overall and definitely a tea which requires attentiveness/focus whilst drinking it to appreciate it. I’m happy I could devote that time to it today.

The flavour is really clean and crisp with overarching vegetal notes throughout, though nothing all that distinct other than the general coolness/refreshing nature of it. Definitely not something “dense” as far as veggies go. In addition, there are some beautiful floral undertones here as well! They’re making me think of lilies and daisies; though I’m not particularly sure why the former because I don’t think I’ve ever had a “daisy” infused/flavoured tea before or really ‘daisy’ flavoured anything…

Other neat things I observed was some fruit based sweetness in the top of the sip which also lingers for a few seconds on the bed of my tongue after I’ve swallowed the sip. It reminds me of a really, really gentle/light and stripped down raspberry note. Not totally unlike the raspberry notes in DAVIDsTEA’s Mighty Aphrodite blend that I recently enjoyed iced, although this is even lighter than that and more fragile. Really natural, though.

I’m very pleased with my first tasting of this; I think it will make a lovely Spring time addition to my cupboard! Can’t wait to see how it holds up to Gong Fu as well.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYTfZRkh4XY&list=WL&index=2

Finally diving into this that I picked up in Montreal when I was there some time ago. Such a beautiful store to shop in. I should have written down which vintage this was. No idea. Spring 2016? Autumn 2016? Earlier?

Currently on the first steep and don’t think I’ll manage beyond the second today. Caramel sweet and milky and a bit vegetal, but delicately so.

Thank goodness for tea. I find that there’s such heaviness in the air post-election next door. Fear and heaviness. Panic too, perhaps. And anger. And upheaval. My heart goes out to those living in it.

Gongfu Sipdown (1534)!

A session from this past weekend that I enjoyed over Zoom with my IG friends theoolongdrunk & teawithneldon!! This shou is so thick and oily with deep earthy notes that remind me of root vegetables and wet potting soil, mixed with an underlying dense sweetness that I think is best described as malty black sugar and buckwheat honey. Even from the first steep after the rinse, this shou is inky black and thick and it lasted for a multi hour conversation – just so rich and enjoyable. Thank you both for the impromptu session; I’ve been waiting for the right moment to finish off the last of this tea sample and over good conversation with two friends seemed like the perfect moment!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVvNs1TgM6X/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0mG-npF2Z4&ab_channel=gabedoesntcare

Another tea that I was drinking at work this week, Grandpa style. I didn’t enjoy this mug that much though – it was giving me “salted meat” notes on top of intense earthy element.I definitely over leafed the mug, and in the moment I was unwilling to brew this out to a point where it was weaker/more tolerable…

I drink a lot of Shou before bed because I find that they’re incredibly relaxing to me/help me fall asleep really easily. The downside of this is that, if they’re the last thing I’m drinking immediately before falling asleep, I’m not taking notes at all and then, because I fall asleep right away/they make me sort of drowsy, I forget everything about what they tasted like. Which is, of course, the case for what happened with this one.

Shou Pu’erh though – better than chamomile.

Evening cuppa!

I ordered a lot of Shou today, so I figure I better get my ass in gear and start drinking some of what I already have. I think I got this one like two years ago? Jeez. This made for a nice cup though; very sweet and earthy with notes of honey and red fruit among all the forest undergrowth. Quite delicious!

I was gonna drink this one Gong Fu the other night, but ended up having some Yabao instead notes from that session to come later. I had already pulled this one out of my stash though, and it seemed a shame to put it back without having tried it…

So I drank it Western which I felt like, at the very least, would give me a starting off point for what to expect when I do eventually Gong Fu it.

- Dry leaf smells wet/dank/musty/earthy (pleasantly so)
- Reminds me of old books? In a good way
- Smooth, sweet and earthy with lots of wet wood/decaying wood notes
- Petrichooorrrr!!!
- Finish is honey sweetness
- Resteeped; same notes

The leaf I received was very brittle and somewhat broken up, but a little cosmetic damage doesn’t mean too much to a tea. I warmed my gaiwan up as I took a sniff of the small black slivers. They gave off a nice aroma of dry maple with some char. These are pretty roasty, and I hope it was a successful firing. I scooped my leaf inside the gaiwan and gave them a swirl. The roast scent mixed in with some slight leather and dark fruit, The leaf portrays a common aged oolong profile with the dry raisiny tones. I washed the leaf once and prepared for brewing. The taste was smooth and lightly sweet. A calm brew with wooded tones and raisin with a base of mineral and spice. The drink is nice, but it is relatively plain. However, the odd sweet and spice mix does excite the palate somewhat. A harsh astringent tone hastily presents itself soon after the first couple steeps. I did not notice any qi from this drink.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFtjKHVTGSA/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

GCTTB tea 6/8 that I picked.

Always wanted to try This company- glad I got the chance! This tea is pretty good- most prominent taste is floral but there’s a slight vegatel taste at the end of the sip. Very smooth without bitterness. I am more partial to vegetal greens but I will have no prob using this one up.

the appearance of the rolled leaves suggest great care from the artisan

the dry tea smells fabulous!
wet leaves indicates green vegetables (spinach/swiss chard) which carries over to a robust brew. the smokyness gives body to a somewhat oily brew that leads to an acute mineral finish. ( 4-5min 85C)

intoxicating florals from the dried beads are much less present in the tea, still lovely fruity notes arises here and there.

Smelling the wet leaves suggest a strong malty/citrusy brew.
Brew is bright orange, smells like flowers, citrus and chocolate syrup!

I am tasting a nice mix of chocolate and lemon, it feels a bit like molasses or commercial chocolate syrup (in a very nice way). the mouthfeel is thin which is nice because i still get those flowers and the tartness makes it uplifting.

overall I’m really liking the balance of flavors and it seems to keep me in a very clear productive state.

One downside might be that it’s linearity/simplicity. But it really doesn’t bore me for casual sipping.

floral and sightly green pu er. Smelling the wet leaves/tea reveals fresh apricot aromas with some delicate sweetness. It’s a light yellow-green infusion with low bitterness, i get pineapple/starfruit and a slight chamomile feel.
ends with chalk/rock and faint bark notes. nice and mild

I went with 4min teapot infusion and felt like the overall liquor was shy , would recommend lots of leaves and gaiwan technique