790 Tasting Notes
Tried for the first time at work today. Sweet and something the description doesn’t even hint at – meaty, savory, smoke. Not ashpit or campfire smoke though. Like really, really well smoked meat. This would make a fantastic marinade I think. It’s a chewy tea that is very smooth and easy to drink. I was initially leery of the dry leaf scent as it was pretty smoky. I was dreading it being like lapsang souchong. But it turned out to be a really, really good tea.
Preparation
Didn’t really get the fruit out of this. It was deep and rich with some smoke overtones but not unpleasant. Woodsy and strong but not bitter or drying. It seems like a pretty standard China black, presented in a different format.
It was included as a free gift with my last purchase. Not sure I’d replace it, but maybe. Main reason I wouldn’t is that the amount of tea in one of the pillows is so much, you pretty much have to commit to the same tea all day long. :)
This was my travel mug that went with me to work way too early this morning. I don’t often take a travel tea with me since it isn’t ever cool enough to drink before I get to work anyway. If I got up more than 15 minutes before leaving the house, it would be a different story, I know. :)
But this worked well to start my day. Still fantastically good. Smooth and malty and hard not to gulp.
I just don’t think pu is for me… Everyone is raving about this tea and what I smell and taste is menthol, mold and wet sofa. :( I did just off boiling, 5 grams, 150 ml water, rinse, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 40 seconds, 1 minute. I will say that it wasn’t bitter at all and had a lovely color. But tastewise, I’m trying but I just don’t get it I’m afraid.
Not sure I could tell you this is a Dian Hong, but it’s a pretty decent, strong black tea. No bitterness even though one little tuo cha was far too large for the pot I had it in. :) Got several pots full out of it and could have done more. Might be an interesting way to travel with tea for full sized pots to share. :) I wouldn’t go out of the way to replace them but if I order more of the lovely narcissus oolong pillows, I’d throw these in there.
This has a pleasant apricot color. The scent of the liquor is mineral and rock though. The taste is like a white tea, but not a great white tea. It’s kind of drying and I mainly get rock and some mild grassiness. Subsequent steeps didn’t really reveal any new flavor notes. S’okay but nothing I need again. Glad to have tried it, thanks to James for sending a share of the Sheng Olympics my way. :)
I normally don’t do the seasonal blends and tea that is supposed to be chocolate I especially don’t do. I went to pick up something from one of the tea festival vendors and she had this as her featured seasonal blend. I was offered a cup of something and it seemed polite to go with the feature. :)
As far as chocolate teas go, this isn’t bad. It’s still primarily scratch-n-sniff chocolate – mildly sweet cocoa with a papery taste. I don’t notice rose at all. The tea base is fine and I will finish the to-go cup of it, but I wouldn’t stock this for my cupboard. Maybe I should have taken my vendor up on her offer of a sweetened latte form. :) Curious as to whether or not the rose might have been noticeable in that form.
Again, probably something that I am just not oolong familiar enough to comment on the tea. It smells great though I didn’t smell much bergamot. It seems to be a fairly light oolong with a light peach. Nice enough for a cup. Thanks to mtchyg
This is definitely spa. Tons of lavender. The taste of vanilla seems to mellow the large amount of lavender. Almost like an herbal made with lavender as I couldn’t pick out the tea, but that may very well be due solely to my lack of oolong palate. :) It was a pleasant cup. Thanks for the swap, mtchyg
