168 Tasting Notes
The lovely Assam teas offer delicious notes of both honey and malty flavors- some may compare this maltiness to that of a fine beer. The strong briskness of Assam teas results from the fast pace at which they are made; the Assam area in India generates an enormous quantity of tea in just 6 short weeks.
The Mangalam Assam is one of the best Assam teas. Its aromas are both sweet and toasty. Its body is full and boasts the signature Assam-briskness, with gentle notes of dark honey or light molasses. Sipping this tea is a wonderful way to begin any day.
Preparation
Dong Ding is a lovely example of a creamy, lemony oolong, slightly darker than it’s high-mountain brethren (Ali Shan) and slightly more restrained. It is one of Taiwan’s most famous and beloved oolongs and most likely its first.
Preparation
When teas are fired over three hundred degrees, the Maillard reaction occurs… and what that simply means is that there will be nutty and sweet undertones which will make your life that much better.
Preparation
Is this the same reaction that causes meats to brown?
That sounds more like it would turn it to ash – Wait, are we talking three hundred celcius or farenheit?
@fcmonroe- Generally speaking, yes it is!
@Jillian- We’re talking about Farenheit! That’d be a hot hot furnace otherwise.
LOL, I figured that was the case, otherwise you’d be steeping tea cinders. ;)
Golden Monkey is a tippy tea, which means that its leaves are a mixture of 75% dark brown leaves and about 25% golden tips and buds. Its aromas are light and sweet, with hints of apricot, nut, and a subtle touch of rose. The flavor of this delightful tea is that of cooked stone fruit, specifically baked apricots, and semisweet chocolate, with a nutty finish.
This is a fairly new Chinese export, which has attracted an almost “cult-like” following amongst tea drinkers. Unlike other Chinese teas, the name Golden Monkey literally has no meaning. However, the word “monkey” is meant to suggest high-quality.
Golden Monkey comes from the norther Fujian province in China and is processed similarly to Panyong Congou. The tea is harvested when the tips are as large as possible, without having developed into whole leaves. The tips are sweet, as the extra sugars are meant to help the bud grow into a full leaf. With more tips, the tea is sweeter but has less body.
Preparation
This rose-brown colored tea emits aromas of wood and warm honey. The mouth is much mellower; though somewhat astringent, the has rounded, gentle roasted flavors, with hints of peach and clover honey in the finish.
This medium-bodied middle-grown tea has a wonderfully easygoing nature. The Kenilworth tea estate is one of the oldest in Sri Lanka, established by a Scot in the nineteenth century. Halfway up Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, at an elevation of roughly two thousand feet, the temperatures are not as hot as low-grown tea areas, but the Kenilworth estate is still hotter and more humid than the high-grown areas in the Highland’s peaks.
Kenilworth teas peak in the spring, when the monsoons douse the other half of the island with rain. The monsoons draw their moisture out of the air around the garden, concentrating the flavors in the tea leaves. After harvesting, tea makers at Kenilworth give their leaves a medium wither, in contrast with the light withering of Assam and the hard withering of Darjeelings. To macerate the leaves, they use Orthodox rolling machines, but at a faster pace and for a longer period of time than any other Ceylon tea – two hours. In another unusual step, the rolled leaves are distributed onto trays that circulate for another two hours on a moving belt that snakes around the room. After oxidizing 100 percent, the leaves are dried in ovens at a hotter temperature than that for high-grown teas. The thorough rolling, oxidation, and intense firing help reinforce the mellow, baked flavors that make this one of the most famous teas in Sri Lanka.
Preparation
Gunpowder releases a definite aroma of burnt wood, definitely charred though lacking the piney smokiness of Lapsang Souchong. The medium bodied, light brown liquor carries through the notes of charred, grilled leeks.
For centuries, Gunpowder has served as the base for Arabian mint tea, sweetened with plenty of sugar. Its strong charred flavors taste wonderful with mint and citrus, but the tea is also delicious on its own.
Gunpowder is not a Qing Ming (spring tea); since it gets all its flavors from its processing methods, the tea does not require leaves with much inherent strength. It is made from tougher and less tender later-season leaves, foliage that has grown almost twice as long as leaves plucked in the earlier spring. The leaves are fixed and then fired for an extended period in a hot even until they become shiny and slightly burnt. The oven is designed like a Laundromat dryer, tumbling the leaves over and over in a hot metal cylinder.
Gunpowder is produced almost entirely for export. For many years one of the only green teas available in the United States, it has been produced for more than two hundred years near coastal trading ports like Ningbo and in its ancestral home of Zhejiang province The tea most likely gets its name from the shape of its leaves, so tightly rolled that they resemble the pellets soldiers once used as musket shot. With its balled form and heavy firing, Gunpowder is among the most stable teas for transport, ideal for export in the age before vacuum packaging and airplanes.
Today the tea is made in most provinces of China. Indeed, after the Qing Ming harvest, many tea farmers turn the rest of the year’s new leaves into Gunpowder. As a result there are many styles and many quality levels. The worst Gunpowder is bright yellow and acrid with smoky flavors; the best has charred but assuredly green, vegetal flavors.
