Norbu Tea

Another four steeps of this. I used longer steeps this time, so the cinnamon taste is more pronounced, but still not overpowering, and the tea has taken on a creamy texture. The gentle vegetal aspect of this tea has also cleared up, and I can define it as garden pea like. I’m already halfway through my stash and am contemplating another purchase. A tea well worth your time and money if you haven’t tried it yet.

The sweet gentility of this tea is quite endearing, but what really makes me reach out for it is the subtle cinnamon aftertaste that it leaves in the mouth after every sip. Very soothing and warming – just what I need when I’m down with a cold.

Yay! First reviewer of this lovely tea. It is currently on sale at Norbu Tea (my favourite online tea supplier, so far), and is worth buying. Very. Go buy some now and then come back and read this review.
The tea, lovely little green and yellow balls of it, has a sweet, green smell when raw – like flower stems. I brewed exactly as Norbu recommended, and the resulting tea is a very very pale amber with a gentle sweet greenish smell.
I have to admit that I don’t like green teas very much, so I was a little worried that I wouldn’t like this tea, but I had nothing to worry about. This tea starts out bittersweet, with some spinachy greeness to it, but sweetness immediately takes over, and reveals fantastic and long lingering tastes of cinnamon, grain and brown sugar. It is a very refreshing and interesting tea, a perfect tea to close a busy day with.

Drinking this gongfu style while doing some reading for my thesis. This is a strong and earthy tea, good for dozens and dozens of brewings by the look of it. It mellows down and grows sweeter with every brewing, but I still probably wouldn’t recommend it for people just starting out into the world of pu’erh. The leaves, both dry and after brewing, are on the long side, with no sourness or much astringency to them. I was very tired when I came home from work today and brewing several rounds of this made me sit up and take notice! This won’t be an everyday tea for me, but I can see myself drinking it at times like these. A perfect study tea for me!

Tea of the afternoon here, I’m finishing off this sample I got from Norbu Tea a while ago. It isn’t the sweetest white tea I’ve ever had, it borders more of nutty/sesame flavors. It’s a beautiful day here and a great day for white tea! This stuff is nice but I won’t go out of my way to get any more.

Meditation for the day: detachment is knowing that other people’s criticisms are really about them.

I’m drinking the 2012 version of it this morning, but I do have a slight stomachache, so I’m going to hold off on rating this for a while. I was in the mood for something gentle.

1st steep: The wet leaves after steeping smell floral and almost buttery to me. The lea liquor is slightly vegetal but also has a fruity note of apricots and a bit of almond, perhaps. This was at 3 minutes or so at 205F. Overall very pleasant, but I can’t say I’ve met too many white teas I am not fond of (unless flavored/scented), they are a reliable favorite for me.

2nd steep: slightly less time and lower water temp. I still feel like this is nutty with a vegetal flavor. Definitely less sweet than some other white teas like bai mu dan, but still quite enjoyable.

A hectic and somewhat fruitless day ended on a high note with 6 brewings of this tea. I’m very new to the world of pu’erh, but I love how this tea changes with every brewing, and I particularly like it from the third brewing on.

Great great great! I made 7 rounds (gongfu style) of tea from just a few grams of this tea, each one fantastic. The first few were strong, earthy, rich, slightly smokey. The tea mellowed down from the third round, and a certain sweetness emerged. There were a few more rounds in this tea, but I ran out of hot water and was too lazy to boil some more. Worth every penny.

I wasn’t able to post yesterday, due to the site glitch. So expect a flurry of posts today!
I’m running low on this oh so beloved tea, and as I won’t be able to restock it, I’m treating a bit like a precious spice that I rarely sprinkle into my life, rather than a daily staple.
I cold brewed it today, using lots and lots of ice, as today was sweltering hot, and sipped it while packing for my annual London skirmish. Delicious.

I tried posting a review to steepster last night, but it just wouldn’t work. I kept getting the “Oops” message. Apparently there was some sort of outage in the servers.
There were two more barrages on Tel Aviv yesterday, even though talks of a ceasefire are still in the air. I was sorry that we didn’t accept the Kerry deal, but as the talks haven’t stopped, I’m still hopeful that there will be a ceasefire.
In tea land, I treated myself to two cups of this wonderful, fruity tea. I found Norbu tea through Teaviews, and the review of this tea was what got me to place my first order with them. Wild black Taiwanese tea? It sounded so interesting and wonderful that I had to try it myself. It is still one of my top 5 teas, years later. So glad that I hoarded it, and I will be really sad to see it go.
Keep calm and drink tea.

It’s been ages since I’ve has a few moments for my beloved Steepster, and even longer since I’ve spent time with what is probably my favorite tea.
This is still a fruity, malty, interesting delight, and it is a perfect pick me up for this very rainy and rather cold night.

It’s been a long time since I have last brewed a cup of this tea, still one of my top 5, and vying for #1 only with Verdant’s Laoshan Black. It still smells of candied stone fruit, and tastes delightfully sweet, and fantastically invigorating. I have finished one pouch of this tea, and am halfway through another, and I’m eyeing my supply worriedly, since the wonderful Norbu Tea no longer stock it :(
I am in the midst of a flurry of university papers, so I had no time for a proper Gongfu session in over a month now (sob), but this tea still works wonderfully Western style.

Yes! This tea is wonderful when iced! All the fruity notes and the complexity survive to make a cup of iced tea the likes of which you can only get when brewing good quality tea at home. My dad, not a tea drinker at all, came in on Sunday to help me build a cabinet (for teapots, cups, gaiwans,etc if you are asking :) ), and he loved it. It doesn’t need any sweetening in my opinion, and adding mint, lemon and other “tea additives” will just take the edge off the wonderful depth of this tea. I’m so, so, sorry that Norbu no longer stocks it regularly (they are willing to special order it, but only in large amounts). Solidly one of my favourite teas.

Drinking Lao Cong Zi Ya and working on my thesis. I haven’t logged tea in a while, even though I have been drinking quite a bit, and I’ve got a ton of teas to review. Just too busy with my work and thesis to properly log the tea that I’m drinking. I am trying to find time to organize my tea cupboard, and list every tea that I have in a google spreadsheet and here.
This tea is lovely, fruity, a little malty, and the first 50g that I bought are almost gone.

Backlogging a cup of this in the morning, post-run. Great tea, seemingly endless capability for rebrewing

It’s turning out to be a Lao Cong Zi Ya day, which is always nice. Later on this evening I’ll have a sipdown of the Norbu Tea winter Alishan that I have.
Drinking this with fresh blueberry muffins that I made (recipe found here bit.ly/VYgj1E), while browsing for the next race to enrol to.
This tea works really well with the fruity, slightly tangy taste of the blueberries in this muffin.

One cup in the early morning, as a pre-run boost (with a banana), one cup as a post run treat – a lovely way to start the day.
Made a cup for my mom and dad. Both loved it – a very good tea that rebrews very very well.

Back from a run and on to working some more on my thesis. A perfect companion to both – Lao Cong Zi Ya. Still my #1 tea. I’m almost through the first 50g that I bought, but I’ve stocked up on plenty more of it – so all is well :)

Not feeling well, so I searched my cupboard for a comforting tea, and picked this tea. I love love love it. Almost at the end of my first 50gr.

Back logging from yesterday – five fantastic rounds of this tea. I used less leaves this time and the tea tasted even better – more complex fruit flavours emerged

Finally figured out the best setup for drinking this tea. My best yixing teapot (which is also my largest, and so the huge huge leaves have plenty of room to spread out in), a large thermos (to save my lazy self from having to go and heat up more water), and 20-40 second steeps (starting from 20 and progressing onwards). I made 9 (!) steeps out of about a tablespoon of leaves, and the leaves were still not running flat. Their lovely fruity flavour just makes my day every time, and so I rushed off today and bought out all of Norbu’s stock. :) Beautiful tea, and undoubtedly my favourite so far.

I love this tea more and more with every steep. It is very fruity and sweet and rich and smooth with a slight astringency that rounds it off. I’m drinking it after a long hard day, gongfu style (I’ve dedicated my best yixing teapot to it), and the taste just doesn’t seem to end. This is a tea that simply makes me happy.

Another 5 rounds of this fantastic tea, coupled with really good Chinese takeout. A great way to end a tough week

Finally got to brewing this tea gongfu style (got five brews out of it before it started going flat), and it just became my favourite tea. The leaves are extremely long, and smell wonderfully fruity – like a good fruit cake. The tea brews a bright amber, and the first infusion smelled strongly of fruit – almost like a watered down hibisucsy like fruit tea. I did not feel any citrus in the blend – more ripe sweet plums, and there is little if no bitterness to it and hardly any astringency. Fantastic!