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Spring 2020 harvest.

I was on a relaxing, zen-like theanine high all Sunday long thanks to this tea. Most of the time I solo brew small amounts of Taiwanese oolong in my 50ml mini shibo. However, the family wanted to join the post-breakfast gongfu session so I broke out my much loved but neglected TTC purple clay pear shaped teapot and doubled my usual leaf quantity. After a few sips though, they wandered off leaving me to drink the rest and I went to town with it.

This was a delicious Ali Shan. Buttery and sumptuously floral with a thick mouthfeel that thoroughly coats the mouth leaving behind a lingering nectar sweetness. I was a little hesitant about brewing with boiling water as Mountain Stream Teas suggested but this brought out a more rounded body and taste without any bitterness – a testament to its quality. And of course it gives a very nice L-theanine buzz! The only knock on this tea is the longevity. It lasted a mere 5 steeps before fading.

I steeped this in my purple clay pot which holds the ghosts of oolongs past. I wonder how much that helped enhance the tea. Will have to brew this in porcelain next time to see how it tastes on its own.

Yum, this was a fun, tropical fruit tea. There are these little green rock candy stars sprinkled throughout that add a wonderful sweetness to the tea. Lush, juicy aromas of mango and passion fruit. The tea is malty with a beautiful red color and bright tropical notes of pina colada and mango. Re-steeping produces a cup that’s less fruity but honeyed with soft floral notes of jasmine flowers.

My first tea of 2021 and the second Obubu tea from Cameron’s sample stash.

The smell of this tea is amazing. An intense aroma of fresh seaweed and tender steamed veggies greeted me upon opening the pouch. Like the other Obubu tea I tried, the leaves are pristine. Long, handsome dark green needles reminiscent of a Chinese green. Wet leaf smells like steamed spinach.

The first infusion tasted sweet and grassy, like a summer meadow. Gentle umami and supple mouthfeel. Second steep is brothy with a nice umami finish. Third steep produced vegetal and umami notes rounded out by an ever so slight but enjoyable astringency. An all around great quality, satisfying asamushi Sencha and a good start to the new year.

Instagram Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJg0u92AKSr/

This is the first of a huge assortment of Obubu Tea Farms samplers I received from Cameron B. Many Japanese tea shops are either 100g or nothing so it’s nice to be able to find samples for a change and try a bunch of teas.

Despite being a Japanese tea, this tea has more in common with Chinese green tea both in appearance and flavor. The first thing that I noticed was the whole, unbroken leaves – a departure from the mix of dust and particles that most sencha resembles – and similar to pine needle shaped Chinese tea. Ironically, this is the first Japanese tea aside from Kamairicha that I managed to brew successfully in my shiboridashi without clogging.

The dark green leaves have a mellow seaweed aroma that changes to toasted nori when heated. The first steep produced a pale yellowish-green liquor that smelled like lightly cooked Asian vegetables. The taste of the tea is like a gentle ocean breeze. Soft vegetal tones, smooth body, and silken texture. Obubu mentions chamomile notes which I picked up as well. The second infusion was similar with a whisper of sheng like earthiness. This tea lacks the grassiness and umami that you typically find in sencha. I feel like this one really allows you to taste the terroir the tea was grown on.

Spring 2020 harvest.

This tea reminds me of why I need to drink black tea more often. Lots of luscious chocolatey goodness here. Rich dark chocolate aroma and flavor with a light malty sweetness. Most of the chocolate fades upon resteep yet still retains a nice honeyed flavor. Quite similar to Verdant’s standard Laoshan Black but with a little more depth.

These days buying Taiwanese Oolongs, especially the green variety, feels like a crapshoot. The flavor and quality vary tremendously from season to season and between vendors. Some are highly perishable and turn up stale on arrival. However the one tea that manages to maintain consistency and seldom disappoints is Dong Ding. And this particular Dong Ding was no exception despite the number of duds from my Green Terrace Teas order.

This one tastes like a yummy apple pie in your teacup. It’s characterized by warm notes of baked apple pie and roasted stone fruit, brown butter nuttiness, and an underlying brown sugar sweetness. Very sweet and smooth throughout. The roast on this is gentle and serves to highlight the fruitiness without any heavy char or dark flavors. It tastes even better cold brewed. Super refreshing and the fruitiness really intensifies.

This one reminded me of a purple grape bubblegum I used to chew as a kid. I was expecting a more natural grape flavor but the artificial grape smell and taste was pretty strong here. I brewed this one grandpa style using water off the boil and topping off with cooler water later. The grape bubble gum flavoring was up front and center. Sweet with a floral hint from the Baozhong base. As it cools, the flavoring softens a bit turning into a kyoho grape sweetness that contrasts nicely against the light vegetal backdrop. A hint of perfume mingled with grape juice as the tea further settles.

Once my cup was 1/3 full, I topped off with the barely hot water left in the kettle (too lazy to re-heat the water). This lightened the tea considerably and I finally tasted a bit of the promised muscat grape flavor.

Cold brew was enjoyable and tasted similar to the hot brewed tea, but more one-dimensional.

I absolutely love all things grapefruit and of course green tea, but had doubts about how the two would go together. That and too many bad citrus flavored teas in the past gave me some trepidation. However, Lupicia has once again done a marvelous job with this blend and I enjoyed it more than any other citrus tea I’ve had before.

The tea has a delicious citrusy smell out of the bag. A powerful yet very pure and natural grapefruit aroma accented by orange and Meyer lemon. I chose to cold brew it at first as the idea of hot grapefruit wasn’t terribly appealing. It starts off herbaceous with lemon verbena and basil notes before settling into a mellow grapefruit flavor followed by a bright burst of meyer lemon peel in the aftertaste. The grapefruit flavor isn’t puckery or juicy like the flesh of the fruit but more like grapefruit rind. This one is like a way better version of the Tazo Mint Green tea I used to drink back in the dark ages.

I’ve brewed this a couple of times now and noticed towards the end of my cup, the flavoring starts tasting like lavender which I’m not crazy about. I finally hot steeped it recently and was quite pleased with the taste. Light but pleasant grapefruit flavor and there’s less of the lavender I was getting with the cold brew.

Four Seasons spring oolongs usually don’t offer the same experience as their pricer high mountain siblings. That said, they can still enjoyable and occassionally even surprise you as long as you don’t set your expectations too high. This one was fairly decent when prepared gongfu but was overall unremarkable.

Out of the bag, it had a sweet, sumptuous aroma of lychee and flowers. Butter and pastry like aromas wafted out after dropping the leaves into a warmed teapot. Wet leaf brought out enticing aromas of apricot jam, peonies, and orange blossom. The amazing smell however didn’t manifest itself in the tea. The tea is light bodied with a bright fruity flavor, syrupy sweetness, and floral undertones – mostly orange blossom. Doesn’t have the fullness or depth of better gaoshans but that is to be expected. I got several solid steeps out of it before it faded out.

It was less impressive when steeped using other methods. There’s hardly any flavor after cold brewing for nearly 24 hours. Doesn’t hold up well to grandpa style either.