ChaCeremony

I am having a painting dilemma, I have a pile of miniatures on my desk, I have plenty of paint and decent brushes, I have the mood to paint…what I do not have is the ability or inspiration. It is strange, I pick up a model, even on I have started, and I just can’t think of anything creative to do with it, and when I do paint it just looks kinda cruddy. Clearly what I need is to just play Minecraft, and hopefully Ben will have the Xbox put back together this evening, yay! Sadly I had to give up on playing it on my computer, it is just too crappy, but one day I might have access to a decent computer and can play! Even though it is behind the PC and has a limited map, I still enjoy it on the 360.

Today it is time for some Yancha! So do the happy Yancha dance! Da Hong Pao from Cha Ceremony is the tea for today, good ol’ Big Red Robe, possibly the most well known of the Wuyi Rock Oolongs, named because the Emperor really liked this stuff and dressed the original bushes in fancy red robes. Or the tea saved his mom and as a thank you he en-robe-ified the bushes, or maybe it was his wife. Regardless of which legend you choose, this tea is legendary, the original bushes still grow on the mountains, but the tea that we mere mortals drink are cuttings grown on the mountain gardens. The aroma of this Da Hong Pao is pretty robust, blending sweet and woody notes in a potent combination. First off is a strong note of fruity tobacco, cherry and cherry wood with molasses and strong char bring up the middle. Towards there end is the aroma of chocolate and char, giving it an almost burnt chocolate aroma, like if you are making smores and some melted chocolate falls on the fire.

Into the Yancha pot the twisty leaves go! The aroma of the now soaked leaves has a strong char presence, lots of different levels of char, from burnt wood to a touch of smoke, burnt chocolate and grilled fruit, and a finish of pipe tobacco. The liquid is rather sweet, with notes of brown sugar, cocoa, tobacco, and a slight fruity finish. A contrast with the intensity of the leaves, the liquid is more mellow.

The first steeping is intense! Holy crap that is one intense Da Hong Pao, I can see how it cured some ancient royal if the original was anything like this. It starts with tobacco with a slightly fruity edge to it and a nice note of charred wood, this moves to woodiness and cocoa, with a fantastic finish of sassafras. This might be the most intense first steep of a DHP ever.

Onward to the second steep! The aroma of this one’s liquid is a blend of intense char and cocoa, with a nice woody undertone and finish of cherry. This steep’s taste, I notice, is not as sweet as the first, which is funny since the first was not overwhelmingly sweet to begin with. It is intensely woody and filled with the notes of both burnt wood and char, as the initial char fades there is tobacco and cocoa (think dark chocolate over the sweet stuff) and a nice wet slate finish. The aftertaste is where the only sweetness is, molasses lingers for a while.

Time now for the final steep, the aroma is a bit sweet, with a gentle stewed stone fruit note blended with tobacco and char. The taste of this steep can be very easily summed up as the first steep again but much diminished. The char taste has faded in intensity, but the slight molasses sweetness is more prominent, again with a finish of sassafras. Really like that sassafras note, it makes it unique!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/06/cha-ceremony-da-hong-pao-tea-review.html

I feel overwhelmingly accomplished! My painting desk has of late been a real disaster area, miniatures and paints littered its surface in a complete pile of chaos, so I stopped that. My desk is no organized and almost all my trinkets packed away. I figure if I have to pack, might as well keep the essentials organized while doing so! Truly, one of the great things in life is an organized desk.

Today’s tea is Cha Ceremony’s Shui Xian, yes it is Yancha time! I was sent three samples of their tea and was torn as to which one to review first, I decided to go with the Shui Xian because it was a classic favorite of mine. The name Shui Xian (or Shui Hsien) translates to Water Spirit or Water Narcissus, there is some debate as to it being a reference to a water flower or an actual water spirit, I find this immensely intriguing, because language is a fascinating thing. According to the website, this Yancha (or Rock Tea) is a more lightly roasted Yancha, so good news for you who love the less char heavy Wuyi Oolongs. The aroma is something else, I let out a maniacal giggle while sniffing it because I LOVE the smell of Shui Xian!! There are notes of wet slate, sweet almost creamy molasses and caramel, fruity tobacco, a slight dry leaf pile, and a finish of char and wood smoke. This is, in my humble opinion, a perfect Shui Xian, balancing the aroma of sweet and fruity, woody and char, and mineral notes perfectly.

I brewed this the way I usually brew my Yancha, in my Yixing pot, using a lot of leaves and a short steeps using water just off the boil. It makes for an intense experience, but it is how I like my Yancha. The aroma of the now soggy leaves is intense, strong notes of char and smoke with an accompaniment of mineral and tobacco, with a lingering sweet molasses and slightly fruity finish. The liquid is a heady dance of char, tobacco, and mineral with a sweet cherry finish. I love, absolutely love those notes. It might be why Shui Xian is my go-to Yancha.

And speaking of it being my go-to Yancha, I do love the other ones, but they are like treats, Shui Xian I could drink all the time, in my mind it will always be the comfort food of the Rock Teas. The first thing that really struck me about this tea is how heavenly thick the mouthfeel is, definitely a tea that fits the term soup very well. It starts out with a strong mineral note, like spring water on wet slate, or limestone, because licking rocks is awesome. This moves to sweet molasses and cherry, this then transitions to tobacco and char. The aftertaste is dried cherry and it lingers for a while, eventually changing to delicate floral much later, the aftertaste seems to last for an eternity.

Second steeping time! The aroma blends mineral and cherry notes with delicate char and tobacco, very sweet this time around. The taste reflects the aroma, with a similar very thick mouthfeel that fades to a slight sharpness at the finish. The taste is creamier and sweeter, there are still notes of char and mineral, but that is mostly at the finish. Notes of cherry and molasses dance with delicate cocoa and even a hint of hyacinth at the midtaste.

Third and final steeping, Yancha, at least when it is brewed the way I do it, tends to die by the third or fourth steep, and I once read that is the mark of a good Yancha, really intense earlier steeps and not a tea that lasts. The aroma of this steep is very mineral and delicately sweet cherry, with a slight finish of char. The taste is delightfully mellow, a mildly creamy mouthfeel with notes of cherry and almost entirely mineral notes from start to finish with the cherry dancing around. I greatly enjoyed this tea, it got me pleasantly tea drunk (kinda after the first steep, it is intense) and is a super top notch example of how wonderful Shui Xian can be.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/cha-ceremony-shui-xian-tea-review.html

Marcus of ChaCeremony also sent me this to try! Thanks, Marcus!

I did a side-by-side comparison using one other well-known tea vendor’s Shui Xian. I used about 3g of leaf for each, and steeped them 60s/60s/90s.

The ChaCeremony leaf was darker in color, the other vendor’s was more grey. The size of leaf was similar. The color of the rinse water was shockingly different, with ChaCeremony’s tea coming in a lot darker. The color of the liquor was still dramatically different in the first infusion, but became more similar in the second infusion.

The ChaCeremony tea has a nice roasty bite to it, it’s smooth and sweet, and it has a nice complexity. Some teas with good complexity make it feel like multiple flavors are bopping around in your mouth…this tea does that! By comparison, the other vendor’s tea fell flat. Looking at the leaf afterwards, it appears that the other vendor’s tea is not as roasted as the ChaCeremony tea. I guess I know what I prefer! :)

Marcus of ChaCeremony sent me this to try! Thanks, Marcus!

I’m still exploring yancha, and haven’t had many, so I decided to use the steeping parameters from Nannuoshan since I remember liking that DHP a lot.

I did two side-by-side comparisons, using two other well-known tea vendors’ DHP. I used about 3g of leaf for each, and steeped them 60s/60s/90s. I noticed a difference in the leaf right away. The ChaCeremony leaf was very dark in color, with long unbroken leaves. The other two DHP were lighter in color, one was actually grayish, and one of them had smaller, more broken leaves including a random stem.

After the rinse, the leaves from ChaCeremony smelled roasty and fruity. The other two DHPs smelled like burnt toast!

The color of the liquor was orange for all, but the ChaCeremony liquor was more rich in color.

ChaCeremony’s tea tastes more roasty than the other two DHPs, sweet, and fruity. Yum! The other DHPs did not have any distinct fruit notes. I love the complexity of the ChaCeremony tea. It’s really delicious, smooth, and satisfying. On the wishlist it goes!!