The Finest Brew

Well poop. I grabbed this this morning because I needed something reliable, and then I totally messed up brewing it for my travel mug and it ended up being not even worth drinking :( So that kind of sucked.

Mm chocolatey and boozey today. Not as rich chocolate as last night’s Imperial Golden Monkey, but still lots of chocolate.

Some day I will get a chance to have a proper cup of this tea. Today is not that day.

I made a cup of this to drink before a work meeting, and then managed to drink all of two sips before I had to run off. Two hours later, this cup is cold, but delicious.

Notes of malt, cocoa, and stewed fruits. This tea has a slight bitterness and ever so faint tartness that strongly evokes red wine and dark chocolate for me. There is a touch of astringency but it’s subtle. This is fairly rich.

One day I will try this hot and actually pay attention to it. But for now, I’m pleased to discover that it’s delicious cold

My morning cup. Malty and delicious, though a touch contaminated by the dragon fruit tisane that was previously steeped in that basket.

Tried resteeping last nights leaves, but there wasn’t enough flavour left in them for it to really seem worth while. Next time I think, more leaf and a shorter steep on my first go, if I want to do multiple steeps.

I got totally distracted drinking this, so all I really remember is that I liked it and that it was less malty than I was expecting from the smell.

I’ve been working on this one since I got the shipment yesterday afternoon, and it just keeps getting better. I’m somewhere around 10ish steeps in and the little ball has only just come completely apart. My little teapot is stuffed with huge leaves and buds. Lovely to look at.
I’ll have to give it a proper review when my arms stop feeling like they’re filled with helium. I didn’t even know it was possible to get this tea drunk.

Ugh. I am so tired.
Dad went in for dental surgery this morning, and I was so worried… needlessly, I am sure! but it seems to have exhausted me. I feel as if I could nap for days.
Alas I cannot, as we have our first tea guild meeting of the ‘year’ (we follow the school year, I suppose since summer doesn’t make for ideal weather in tea sipping!)

I’m not sure what I did right today but this turned out pretty ok. More depth of flavour than normal. I like it!

What an interesting tea! Sweet and a bit roasty with some clay notes underneath.
It reminds me of a Dragonwell in some ways, but more robust and less honeylike.
I must try it gaiwan style next.
The leaves are unique as well. Two of them at a time, twisted into a long spindly looking thing.

This tea had disappeared in the back of my tea cupboard. I had noticed it on my excel report so found it and pulled it out. Yes, this tea is still as good as when I first reviewed it. The only white tea I get chocolate notes from. It had me checking out The Finest Brew website just to see if this tea is still there. Sadly , no. And double sad, it looks like they had a sale and sold out of almost everthing. I didn’t even know about the sale. I signed up for their newletter so I can keep up to date for my favourite teas.

Enjoying some of this tea this afternoon. Got a load of garden clean up done but still loads more. I am feeling that happy tired and a great amount of satisfaction when looking at my front yard all cleaned up (back is still not done). I’ve left a review on this already but today this tea is kind of reminding me a bit of moonlight pu-erh I’ve been having lately. That’s because it’s a white tea but there’s a little bit in it that similar to a black tea. Of course enjoying those chocolate notes. I brewed it just a little longer to bring them out a bit more. Yum.

Backlog

I’ve had this tea twice but have held off leaving a review. That’s because I think it’s strange I get chocolate notes off of a white tea. Yet I do.

Dry, the leaves are a bit fuzzy with white green to light green colour. It brews up a honey yellow and has a good body for a white tea. I picked up hay, honey and of course the chocolate notes. I really quite like it but I’m curious if anyone else gets chocolate notes.

It seems I have the flu. I guess it’s appropriate for the goings on of my week huh.
Anyhow, I think I got the parameters on this all wrong. It was far too light! and full of hibiscus. Maybe I couldn’t taste everything? I don’t feel all that congested…. hmm.
I used my standard one and a quarter teaspoons for the mug I use, but then I saw on the website that it says to use 2g. I haven’t got a scale and the contents is rather varied so I really do need to experiment. Oh and I went with a three min steep, on the low end of their rec. I may go longer next time.
Also, the hibiscus added a rather pleasant tang while hot, but cold? ugh, might as well have been lemonade…

What an unusual green tea. The little leaves are rolled so tight in straight little sticks that look almost black when dry but turn green when infused. Those little leaves still did not unroll even after the first infusion and only barely on the 2nd!!!

I was really wondering what this tea would be like. As much as I love green teas, I’ve been becoming a little bored always with the similar profile of chestnut, smooth & sweet. First infusion was for 2 min , 185F, about 4 oz water, 2 g . It was pretty light. I’m not really good at describing notes or flavours but it seemed to taste a bit like hay with chestnut notes that sometimes would be light and other times strong. It was a bit astringent as well.

2nd brew : 3 min, 185F, 4 oz. This was a slightly stronger brew. Still hay like. Chestnut notes a bit more pronounced and definitely more astringent. At the bottom of the cup, a bit bitter.

I really don’t know how to rate this tea because I’m not sure how I feel about it right now. I don’t love it but did enjoy this tea. It’s so different! It was certainly fun to try it.