Finally getting around to trying the teas that skysamurai kindly picked up during a visit to Fairhope!
I love seeing the little twiggy stems along with the leaves; it makes me smile. I followed the directions and steeped this cup for a whopping six minutes, yet it’s still pretty mild! I’m mostly getting wet metal in the scent and taste, followed by minerally fallen leaves. It’s quite light overall! Just a teensy bit drying toward the end, but overall very smooth. A pretty easy drinker and very fun to try. Thanks, skysamurai!
Flavors: Dry Leaves, Metallic, Mineral, Wet Rocks
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Someone else mentioned this recently—but all US grown teas tend to fall on the mild side. Any of you experts have a botanical reason for that?
It’s something about the terroir. The weather, soil, etc are all a bit different from Al to MI to SC but not nearly as different as the terrior you see in China which accounts for the many different taste profiles. But my guess would be something about our soil. Some would argue that it is also because of the ages of the bushes but I know of other tea farms in other countries who have younger leaves but (in my opinion) taste better than ours. There is def something about the soil though… PArt of me wants to try growing tea up here in MN and see what would happen but I have a feeling our negative temps would just destroy them T_T
As far my biology courses in highshool and all unrelated interest during my Uni times, I can confirm it is partially due to soil.
Another reason could be for example insects. Maybe because plants in the US are less infected by them, so the plants do not need to produce awful and bitter substances and thus it is milder voerall.
Last thing that I am thinking about it is that it could be different ratio of sunlight and different humidity — so again, different production of substances inside the plant.
Our part of the world is riddled with zinc mining chat—I don’t think that would improve growing conditions any…
Mmm, zinc!
Someone else mentioned this recently—but all US grown teas tend to fall on the mild side. Any of you experts have a botanical reason for that?
It’s something about the terroir. The weather, soil, etc are all a bit different from Al to MI to SC but not nearly as different as the terrior you see in China which accounts for the many different taste profiles. But my guess would be something about our soil. Some would argue that it is also because of the ages of the bushes but I know of other tea farms in other countries who have younger leaves but (in my opinion) taste better than ours. There is def something about the soil though… PArt of me wants to try growing tea up here in MN and see what would happen but I have a feeling our negative temps would just destroy them T_T
As far my biology courses in highshool and all unrelated interest during my Uni times, I can confirm it is partially due to soil.
Another reason could be for example insects. Maybe because plants in the US are less infected by them, so the plants do not need to produce awful and bitter substances and thus it is milder voerall.
Last thing that I am thinking about it is that it could be different ratio of sunlight and different humidity — so again, different production of substances inside the plant.
Our part of the world is riddled with zinc mining chat—I don’t think that would improve growing conditions any…
Mmm, zinc!