New Tasting Notes

I continue to sip along on this, now 33 year old, Sheng Pu-erh tea, which I bought ca. 2017. I broke apart the full cake 6-7 years ago, and kept it in its zipper bag for a few years, and with a 60% RH pack for the past 4 yr. Today brewed 5g in 10 oz boiling alpine spring water for 10s, after a 10s rinse with same. Noticed a faint assamic scent under the pungent wood and leaf pile aroma. Very smooth with no bitterness or astringency. Quite a nice experience! Again, many successive resteepings, all very similar. Raising my rating to 80.

Sipdown! (2 | 36)

Another one with that weird soapy thing going on, I assume the green tangerine here had some sort of essential oil component. Ah well.

Another Indian tea that tastes remarkably similar to hongcha! It’s the golden needle-ness of it all ha ha, it’s giving Yunnan vibes. It does have a bit of that sort of malty sweet potato note to it, though not as thick and rich as a Yunnan tea. Very honeyed and bready, with a stonefruity finish. No bitterness or astringency at all to my palate, which is very interesting for an Assam. I think if you told me this tea was from Yunnan, I would believe you!

February Sipdown Challenge Prompt – Groundhog Day – drink the same tea twice!

I chose something else last night, but this morning I remembered that this blend has lots of almond slices in it and I decided that we had better work on it before the nuts start to turn rancid. I haven’t seen many people complaining of that with this tea but just in case.

We had it for breakfast and lunch. I think Ashman likes this one more than the other chocolatey Simpson and Vail teas. I still haven’t had it as a latte. Maybe that should be next.

Chocolate, nuts, and maple make for a pretty decadent pot of tea. Will probably get it again next year.

Delicious. Roasty, very vegetal.

Still tasty. This cup had a more prominent creme brûlée note.

This was a cheap option from S&V, so I figured… why not try? $1.90 for an ounce! The flavor isn’t great, isn’t bad. It initially tastes like a bit of gasoline to me. Maybe oats/cereal… a little like cardboard. Then I read the description and forgot this was black tea but also oolong, and that makes sense for these flavors… if it’s like a formosa oolong. I forgot all about those, as they aren’t my favorite, so I don’t really drink them anymore. The second steep was a bit more charcoal, a little harsher, metallic. I don’t regret TRYING it. Now at least I know it’s just an okay tea. A sad update about S&V: I reached out to S&V and they don’t offer rewards points for reviews anymore…. only rewards points for purchases. boo.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

Tea swap from tea-sipper, thanks! Mostly puerh on the first steep as I kept it short. Second steep is the sweet spot with plenty of caramel and plenty of smooth puerh. Third steep is faint caramel as it cools. What a nice balance between earthy puerh and butterscotch/caramel flavor. I’d be tempted to purchase more if my cupboard wasn’t too big already!

Picked up this bag from a TTB! This tastes like pickles. The only ingredient is arnica, which I’m not familiar with. Cold, it’s refreshing, but slightly more pickley than I’d prefer.

A sipdown! (M: 1 Y: 17) prompt: February 2 – Groundhog Day – drink the same tea twice!

Well, as I finished a whole pot by myself; it passes this prompt I guess.

My impressions are very same as during advent season, very mellow jasmine tea with long mouthfeel. Just steeping time needs to be longer and hotter water doesn’t hurt it (used 90°C today) at all.

This one is surprisingly delightful, though I am not sure if available anymore?

The base was so smooth and herbaceous, with no trace of any bitterness; and combined with juicy and fruity raspberries; it was just perfect easy to drink cup.

I tried to search some white teas with raspberries, but sadly it seems like a quite rare combo; though I have found a few. Maybe one day I will try them out.

Mango in black tea is so hit and miss for me. Sometimes I love it, sometimes it leaves an aftertaste in my mouth. I feel like I got a batch heavier on the flavor than the tea. Not terribly bad, but not my favorite.

I figured I would try another of these Lupicia Japan teas since the last one didn’t really count ha ha…

This one is nice enough. It pretty much tastes the same as their Tochiotome Black to me, and has a similar CTC base as well. Nice sweet-tart strawberry flavor that reminds me of freeze-dried strawberries. The base is brisk but not overly tannic, and I think they probably intend for this to be prepared as a milk tea anyway. Ooh, that sounds good… Might have to make one later! XD

Sipdown! (1 | 35)

Was excited to try this one (passion fruit, lime, grapefruit black tea) but I could tell from the smell of the dry leaf that something was off. They have some teas where they use essential oils or something for citrus flavors (their Grapefruit Green and Kumquat come to mind) and they tend to have a much shorter shelf life, and in less than a year they get this weird soapy flavor to them, I’m assuming because the oil degrades or goes rancid in some way.

Anyway, this has that soapy flavor so I’m assuming maybe the grapefruit here is the same one in Grapefruit Green. So sadly, tossing the rest of this… :(

Looking back at my tasting notes for this in my advent… I didn’t think I had bought any. Surprise! I had bought a bag with my advent order and didn’t even realize it in the advent and holiday madness. Here I am sitting with another cup of it now after finally getting back around to the teas in that purchase! This time I’m trying some sugar, which I usually don’t take in my teas. It is making the cup taste much juicier. The flavor of the orange is rounded out more. It’s still heavy on the orange when warm. The rose and peach are in there, but blended well as support in the background. The whole thing has a light floral note to it on top of the orange. I’m really liking this tea and I’m so glad November me bought it!

This tastes surprisingly similar to a Fujian hongcha… It definitely has that dark wheat bread with caraway thing going on, and is much smoother than I would expect for an Indian black tea. Very chewy and satisfying, with a toasty grain note, and a touch of wood and hay. It’s a bit like a combination of something like a Bailin Gongfu with a late flush Darjeeling.

It’s a bit of a far cry from the notes it’s supposed to have ha ha, they describe it as chocolate orange and list a bunch of other sweet and fruity notes. I can see a touch of toasty, unsweetened cacao, but nothing about it tastes sweet to me at all. It’s more on the savory and malty side IMO. But I really enjoyed it, so I don’t suppose it matters ha ha!

February Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a spiced tea

My daughter gave me this and I chose it to be the tea for Ashman to have for breakfast and take to work this week, but I hadn’t tried it myself until today.

When I was measuring the leaves into the pot I saw a large whole clove and thought, “OH NO.” I am not a fan of clove except in teeny amounts. Same goes for ginger.

Surprise, surprise! This was delightful! The cinnamon is smooth and easy and the clove and ginger are at a perfect level for me, not too hot. This really tastes like the kind of gingerbread that I like. I drank it plain with lunch and wondered if I would feel differently about it once the sandwich was down the hatch and it was all tea and no food. But no! Even by itself the spices are just right.

If there is any change at all that I would want in this tea, it would be a wish for a slightly stronger base. But I am happy with it as it is, and it certainly isn’t anemic like the base of Harney’s Salted Caramel which was just a cruel blow for me, smelling so good and then tasting so weak.

This is one that would be nice to have around again next winter. I bet if I leaf it on the heavy side it would make a great latte, too.

I received this 2005 shou as a part of a storage comparison tea set from YS. It is a potent tea, both in aroma and flavor. I steeped 5g leaf in 8oz boiling alpine spring water for 10s (after a 10s rinse), repeating for 9 infusions, the final going 30s. Each infusion was dark brown in color, sweet, creamy, smooth and pleasant in taste, with an aroma of sawdust, leather, and leaf litter, with a hint of tea leaf. No fishiness or objectionable flavors, no bitterness or astringency. But certainly no notes of cherry in flavor or aroma, as reported by the vendor and by several other tasters, either. It was a good, basic ripe puer but without anything particularly notable, either good or bad. So I rate it at a solid 70. As of Jan 2025 it is still in stock and for sale as full cakes or smaller samples.