New Tasting Notes
Good with a little milk, and with or without a little sugar.
I recommend getting it from The African Hut: http://www.africanhut.com
Light in color but not in scent! Before and during the steeping process the scent is like nothing I have ever smelled before. There is so much going on here! It’s Chamomile but better…minty but with other influences jumping in…herbal but not medicine-smelling…even smells a little fruity or even like a vegetable garden at times. Pleasant to look at and smell. The taste is refreshing yet calming. I really enjoy this one…maybe even so much so that it’s my new fave nighttime or bedtime tea.
Yes…I can smell the peach but I can also smell a little bit of a floral undertone to it as well…or a blossom scent. Very light in color but usual for a white tea. A nice tasty white tea, indeed. I like it hot but think I would like it cold as well! Bring on SUMMER!
. My friend Vu, tea guru extraordinaire, hooked me up with a substancial supply of Tiwanese Formosa Fancy 1st Grade Ming Xiang Oolong.
Lately, I have been drinking my Oolongs in the eastern style: single measures in a clay Yingxing tea pot, less than boiling rinse and 1st infusion, boilng after, minute steeps, steep multiple times (3-10 times, depending on mood & leaf), 3-4 oz’s of water a serving, take all day to expirience, and contemplate the tea. This allows for a understanding of how the tea developes, and I find it ridiculously relaxing and calming.
When you invest in a traditional brewing vessles, you tend to go with the style of your favorite varietal or style. Yingxing tea pots and giwan style cups go best with multiple infusion/short infusion time/low volume teas – mostly oolongs, pur-eh and the like. You dedicate that vessle to the style, and never “clean” the inside of the vessle with the exception of a rinse of fresh hot water to pre heat – and allow them to build up this “funk” that actually enhance the flavor and aromatics of related varietals. My Yinxing is oolong, my good giawan is Pur-eh, and I have othre vessles that are general purpose. (A glass one that is mostly green teas, a ceramic/china for blacks, etc). If you only have one brewing vessle, try to rinse out the vessle more often with hot water, never soap, unless it is a glass pot. My point is go with what you have – until you feel you are ready for something else. No worries.
Anyway, the Ming Xiang is a rare 1st Quality (1FF for you geeks) that evolved in aroma flavor and taste over 6 infusions of 4oz 180-212f -1 minute each. The nose developed from flowery, light nose to a assertive oolong purfume, and then diminished. The color went from orange copper to red copper, and was bright and clear throughout. Good assertive flavor, flowery/spicy/exotic meaty flavor, with a brothy mouth feel and a thin, not unpleasant bitter after, to entice another sip. The best infusions were 3 & 4, and i could have maybe pushed a little further past 6. I look forward to getting to know this one better.
I have a hunch the Long Su I was having so much trouble figuring out may benefit from a strict application of the brewing style – so I hope to explore and update that in the coming days.
While I am a die hard Oolong guy, I must confess that in the depths of winter I look for very robust tastes, unlike the delicate oolong.
This mornings tea comes from the amazing folks at TeaGshwender – if you are here in Chicago, this is the best source for teas locally – and one of the best mail order sources as well. http://www.teamerchants.com is there link.
I brewed up in my Miracle (also available from TGsh) some of their Assam Mokalbari Garden 2nd Flush SFTGFOP1. 1.5 teaspoons per 8oz boiling water for 3 minutes. Burned Red/Orange in the cup, with an awesome malty nose. Complex taste – toffee, brown sugar, nuts, with a spicy after, and just enough astringency to make the next sip refreshing. Almost creamy mouthfeel.
I find myslef savoring and analyzing each sip. One of my freinds stated that after drinking this, there is no point in drinking other Assams, as they are just mere mortal knockoffs. I usually drink most blacks with a splash of milk to hold down the astringency – but this is one I can drink without, or with a touch of sugar, or practically any combo. Excellent, I highly recommend this one.
Earl Grey is the first tea I ever really fell in love with. I don’t drink it too too often, but it takes me back to such a specific time and place – a time when I realized how soothing and delicious tea could be. This is an excellent Earl Grey. The vanilla is creamy without being overpowering, and the bergamot is lively and fresh. This is great.
I will admit, while most consider Darjeeling the “champange” of teas, it has taken me a long time to appreciate them. Part of it was just my tastes lie elsewhere (Oolongs!!) and coninue to evolve, part of it may be the hype some darjs get never lives up.
So when I went tasting/shopping at Wittard of Chelsea a couple of weeks ago in London – I was suprised that I walked out with mostly darjs. This one is from the Tukdah estate, a 1st flush super grade, whole leaf masterwork. The loose teas itself looks more like a full green or an oolong, and has that sweet/vegetal smell of short fermented tea. 1st flush = 1st picking of the year, and these are the tenderest, most delicate buds and leaves – usually that need short fermenting, and moderate drying.
A bright yellow green in the cup, with a delicate perfumey/tangy nose common to darjeeling, but also a light grassy green hint. The taste is soft, tangy, brightness – floral in the warm spring morning way. After has just a hint of astringency, with a light mouth feel. This is why Darj heads wait for spring 1st flush – this is pure heaven in a cup, and begs your finest bone china, and cucumber sandwiches and a dear friend to drink it with.
4tsp tea (this is a very loose teas) in 16oz boiling water 4 mintues in my “good” teapot.
