T-Guru

Gongfu!

I grabbed a couple of these from the festival and, though it was mostly to have something convenient for travel purposes, I couldn’t resist brewing one up today in the crisp, cool Autumn morning. It’s very, very much starting to become shou season! I paired this with some wagashi I also bought at the festival and brewed it super concentrated. Even brewed so thickly, there’s a pleasant syrupy floral sweetness to this bold and earthy shou and it makes sense because visually this tuocha was just jam packed with beautiful petals.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjS2p7-uyre/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70rbNjpIxs

Sipdown (1868)!

Drinking koicha like it’s espresso this morning with this matcha that was kindly gifted to me by the Montreal Tea Festival!! This is definitely one heck of an mean green umami (and caffeine) bomb, though I really appreciate how incredibly velvety and smooth the mouthfeel is. Honestly, one of the creamiest matchas I’ve had in recent memory!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci-Rw11OmBo/ It was such a bright green!

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7k75Ye07ro

Gongfu Sipdown (1859)!

Thanks to the Montreal Tea Festival for gifting me this sample a little while back!

The dry leaf aroma was intensely buttery and smelled as if you were walking into the cinema and being blasted with movie theater popcorn. The taste, however is much more smooth and gentle by comparison. It’s still plenty buttery but the popcorn taste is more like stovetop popcorn with a slight toasty nuttiness to it that movie theater popcorn lacks. It’s also very creamy, with hints of coconut to the undertones. I’ve been drinking a lot of darker teas this past week, so this oolong session is a big change of pace this afternoon – but definitely a very welcome one!

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

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On1WHxo43Fg

Gongfu!

This shou kicked my ass earlier this week! Super intense session filled with deeply petrichor rich with wet decaying wood and forest undergrowth flavours filling out the body of this robust pu’erh. The liquor is thick and oily w/ heavy undertones of clove, cassia oil, and sandalwood and a camphorous finish that hits you in the gut – all in an incredibly way. This is basically all my favourite things in a ripe pu’erh!! Something like seven steeps total, so not the most longevity – but it makes the most out of each steep.

Thanks Red Phoenix for sharing!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGN8dFvgDe_/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze-HcLf5Zhg&ab_channel=Nan%C3%A9-Topic