New Tasting Notes

Gongfu!

I’m still thinking about that wonderful herbaceous aftertaste from my Monday black tea session, so today I’m steeping up this chrysanthemum pu’erh! This shou is peppered with lots of snow chrysanthemum buds, which is one of my favourite herbs to blend or scent teas with. The intense, almost pungent floral notes are unique and, in my opinion, very underappreciated. From steep one, I get wonderful notes of fresh dill and a more medicinal citrus note like chenpi (aged orange peel) that marry excellently with the thick and earthy notes of the ripe pu’erh. The liquor is so thick that it almost feels like fountain pen ink, but with a brilliant burgundy red undertone. Craving satisfied.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFLtowXShwQ/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhd6XblkQFc&ab_channel=Neeve-Topic

Gongfu!

The aged version of this tea, Goddess Roast, has become a favourite of mine, so I wanted to give it a taste even though I don’t typically gravitate towards greener TGY like this one. This was really incredible, though. Maybe one of the more fresh tasting and aromatic tieguanyin that I’ve had the pleasure of tasting, and the leaves were so incredibly bright green! Medium bodied with a very buttery feeling and soft liquor and a profile that felt like an explosion of flowers blooming in my mouth. Magnolia, jasmine, peony, lilac, violet, and even gardenia – all laced with a light sugarcane sweetness. It also seemed to brew for forever. I’m definitely so glad I decided to give itba try because that was such a good first impression!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFJPY0gSGIr/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTsyAcEgisU&ab_channel=BetterNoiseMusic

A sipdown! (M: 6 Y: 6) prompt: Your newest tea

Definitely one of the newest, as it was in the advent. There is another tea I drank for the prompt A leftover advent tea.

I decided to use second half in my gaiwan and steep rather long, as the amout of the leaf was too small. So, on average the steeps could be around a minute long, but it seems it doesn’t ruin the tea.

It was very mellow breakfast tea with hints of florals, as mentioned when preparing western in December; with scents of orchids and lilacs. That was complemented with smooth, almost creamy, mouthfeel, which lasts long.

While I am not definitely convicted to buy more of this, it is a perfect and easydrinking oolong that doesn’t have any off notes that could, for instance, beginners, discourage to try other ones.

From a work friend who raved over it. I was pleasantly surprised not to have to squunch up my face from a lot of tartness. Read through some prior reviews as I was sipping it … some of you will remember K S, whose general pronouncement was “kool-aid.” Yeah, cranberry kool-aid about sums it up. In a nice way.

Didn’t care for this. Slightly bitter and really medicinal tasting, not the vibrant floral flavor I was expecting.

Sipdown

When I opened the pouch this final time, the aroma was pure escalloped apples. Have you ever had the ones from Stouffer’s? That is exactly what this smelled like.

Steeped, the apple is lighter and the buttery coffeecake smell is stronger. I am not noticing the briskness I got the first time after the meal so I may have overleafed that time.

This is a very nice tea and good for relaxed sipping as the melting snow drips from the roof and trees and sounds like rain as I read on the sofa. That kind of tea…

I wanted to love this one, but the flavor was so muted and indistinct at first. Luckily I kept trying! When I used two teabags for a relatively small mug, things drastically improved. Now I finally taste that molasses-heavy cookie I wanted! I’d say the spices could still be a little stronger, but now I like it. My partner thought it was extremely good, and the friend I bought a tin for enjoyed it as well. It really does taste like a gingerbread cookie! I may have to get this one again sometime!

I recently bought some coffee online from an Italian coffee co that only provides arabica coffee, and I saw that they were also selling a small selection of teas. Most of these teas were herbal but I also saw the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew line of 3 different loose teas in nice tins…and of course, I wanted to try out one of those!
Looking around on Ahmad Teas´web page, I read that with every purchase of a product of the line some money goes to the research facilities of Kew Gardens, which is a positive thing. I just love the Kew Gardens, I remember taking my parents there once when they visited me 30 years ago during my years in Yorkshire.
Back to the tea now…“Tea from high elevations give the tea its bright colour and greater flavour whilst the medium grown teas add a citrussy freshness.”, it says on https://www.ahmadtea.com/kew-beyond-the-leaf/
but I´m actually not that impressed : the colour is truly nice but I cannot find the citrussy touch to this OP (I would assume it is), and the loose tea is quite cut up as well. There are no steeping instructions indicated on the tin but the Italian coffee co added a label recommending a steeping time of 5 up to 8 minutes!!! I have limited the steeping time to 4´as this black tea do turns bitter when steeped longer. I guess I´ll take this tea as my breakfast tea for now (as it´s overall quite bold) and reuse the tin for teas which are finer.

I’ve got to remember to type out my notes somewhere else and then copy it when I’m ready to submit. More than a few times now I’ve lost everything because I clicked in the wrong area of the browser window and had the review closed on me. Serious, I really need to learn my lesson.

So, I came into this pretty blind. I made the order about 2 months ago now and the packet hadn’t yet been opened. So I had no memory of the description anymore.

I have a pretty low ratio of teas I like compared to teas I try. So I was a little surprised here. I actually like this.

The first thing I noticed is a fruity type vibe, though I couldn’t put a name to what kind of fruit. After a bit, I looked at the description again and yeah, I think apple might be fitting for that flavor. Its especially noticeable in the aftertaste where a lovely sweetness comes along with it. I don’t think I really get the spices thing though.

I also agree these is no to low astringency here steeped western style with full boiling water. Its not quite as smooth as it gets cold (hey, work has a lot of distractions), but still pretty good.

Second steep is also quite lovely. Still the apple and that sight sweetness in the aftertaste. Ugh, why didn’t I try this sooner?

Still going well by the 4th steep.

I don’t know yet if this is going to be a rebuy or not. If so, its not going to happen for a while. I ended up with way too much tea coming in between Back Friday and gifts from others. But I will consider it next time I make a restock order from The Steeping Room.

Origines Tea advent Calendar – Day 24
To end the Advent Calendar, Origines decided to propose the most (traditionally) Xmassy Xmas tea, and although the spices are very present, this isn´t just “another Xmas tea”. Like the other spicy tea blends of the advent calendar the blend is complex and has a balanced profile that might seem a bit weird but …it works! In this case, the orange water goes wonderfully with the ginger or with the nutmeg, for instance. Definitely a Xmas tea to be enjoyed out of season!

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 23
Origines really impressed me with their mastering of tea blending, and the rooibos blends particularly stand out. Also here they combine red and green rooibos, and further add fruit and fruity flavourings…these latter are natural, but at least in nose they seem quite artificial to me (especially with the dry blend). Fortunately in mouth the fruitiness is well supported by the rooibos backbone, making this another enjoyable cuppa.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar- Day 22
A very aromatical tea this is, almost like a perfume really, with mango and bergamot in harmony. It tastes as a fruity green tea with a long fruity finish. A shame that the citrus (bergamot) doesn´t come through as much as I´ld have liked it. Origines recommends this blend also as iced tea, and I think this can work maybe better.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 21
This is a black tea based blend, but the added nuts and salted caramel – although together they only make up 1/3 of the blend – manage to imitate a chocolatey drink in nose, and a – rather weak to be honest – nut infusion in mouth. Not at all to my liking (but that needed to happen to at least one of these advent teas ;-) ).

Tried a long time ago hot and did not like it but did not take notes. And then it sat untouched for a couple years because I did not like it and didn’t want to drink it again just for notes.

I finally gave in and though I would try to sip it down via cold brew .

Nope, no way, no how.

Into the trash it goes.

It appears my little sample of “tea you’d drink with a granny after taking her to the Walmart” has gone missing, along with the sturdy reusable bag it was probably in, whose last use was probably a few weeks ago.

So I’m having an imaginary cup of this classic orange spice black tea in a slow moment at work.

Bah!