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Surprise cold(ish) snap over night made me crave a roasty toasty tea for this morning.

We even had to turn the heat back on!

I had this yesterday.

Still yummy.

Can be steeped twice, but no more.

I keep forgetting it is winter. My younger brother’s first born joined the world late Tuesday and everyone’s been complaining about the weather getting them two and from the hospital and this and that and I keep thinking “but it was 80 and sunny yesterday” and then I remember that it is late February and they live 1500 miles away to the Northeast.

sip

Pu-erh fixes EVERYTHING.

Truth be told, right now, I’m drinking this Black Dragon cut about half and half with the Wang Celestial pu-erh.

This is really my favorite way to drink tea, this strong mix of smokey and earthy. Maybe that’s because it comes the closest to replacing the coffee I used to drink so much of, but no longer do.

I’m on my third steeping of these leaves and it is holding up well, which is one of the great things about Formosan oolongs.

I did 5 minutes on the second steep and 7 on the third.

Is the Twitter connect working for anyone ?

Boy howdy do I love Formosan oolongs.

Roasty, toasty, with no sharpness, bitterness, astringency or anything to slow you down. This is the stuff you gulp in a dim sum house and then leave the pot with the lid up on the edge of the table and make dagger eyes at people until they fill it again because you just can’t stop drinking it.

I have this pipe dream of creating the ultimate tea blend with some subtle balance of fermented pu-erh, lapsang, Formosan oolong and Yunnan golden.

Maybe someday.

Interesting.

This golden tips the balance. Less sweet, more astringent. Still that same soft, covers your whole mouth kind of flavor, big aroma that lingers long after you swallow, but not an actual sense of sugar. Many of the others actually almost convince me they’re treated with sweetener they’re so sweet. This one is just shy of that.

I’d almost talk about this in terms of a roasted oolong that has a big finish and some sweetness, rather than as a soft, sweet tea that has some bite, which would be my short description of the other golden teas I’ve had.

This appeals to my tastes, because I’m not big on sweet. If you like sweet, go with the Yunnan golds.

Initially, I was skeptical of these golden teas.

But they are rapidly becoming one of my favorites and this selection from Upton is right up the fairway (I’ve been playing a lot of disc golf) with that disarming combination of astringency and sweetness.

Second steeping:

Mostly I just want to see if the Twitter and FB thing will work. The twitter one doesn’t seem to be.

Well, I’ve done it again. I ordered something I thought was new to me, only to discover I already have tasting notes for it on Steepster which means I’ve had it before.

I need to start doing that in the other order.