New Tasting Notes

November Sipdown Prompt – drink your cheapest tea

We go through a quite a bit of this one and the decaf version. Ashman takes this one to work and we drink the decaf at night – sweet and iced. Not bad, but not great. Just serviceable and quenches thirst. I think I had the decaf today but I am too lazy to add it to the database.

Sipdown, surprisingly! This arrived only a few weeks ago but I blew through it. Partly that’s because I prioritized drinking it since it contains coconut. Mostly it’s because this is delicious. I kept meaning to try it as a latte but never got around to it. It doesn’t really need it though. This is just roasty, creamy, soft, sweet goodness. Vaguely reminiscent of macaroons. Yum.

Sad sipdown. Still one of the best peppermint teas I’ve had. That little bit of natural sweetness really makes it pop. I’m running low on peppermint in general. Should probably restock…

I still have a generous half-bag of Sweater Weather left from last season, and I’m glad, because it’s providing exactly the level of cozy I need right now. There’s not really much new anyone can do with chai (What has been is what will be,and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun; Ecclesiastes 1:9) … but Savoy has definitely given it a lovely minty twist that beats the cardamom into submission. Nice solid Assam base, too.

November Sipdown Prompt – your oldest black tea

After buying tons of this tea during the pandemic, I was shocked to see that our current tin is past the best by date. This was the first black tea that Ashman enjoyed without milk and sugar so we bought tons of it, and at the beginning of lockdown there were articles circulating that said black and puerh tea might have a small amount of efficacy against those types of viruses, preventing high viral load, so Ashman drank some each day.

He expanded his palate and now he drinks a lot of black teas plain, so I guess that is how this one started to get neglected. It is delicious, though not a breakfast favorite for me because I like the oomph of Keemun and such. It is definitely nice gong fu style, and a very good tea, and we will probably repurchase it one day when the cupboard gets lower. It is a nice afternoon or summer time breakfast tea, for sure.

This is pretty nice. For a sinensis black tea this is remarkably dark, strong and malty, and very likeable for a dianhong lover like me. Thick, fruity, caramelly.

This is my favorite tea. Having tried several others from mellow monk this one gives the best headbuzz of them all and long lasting for me on 1 cup. The “monks bliss” is accurate description I believe, it’s a relaxed yet alert feeling. I’ve tried: Kuma green, ASO black, Top Leaf etc. This one has both the best flavor and effects for me. can easily be brewed 2-3 x.

Now that’s more like it!

This was a sample I received with my Lupicia Christmas (mostly) and I was really excited to get it.

A while back I purchased Harney and Sons Salted Caramel tea blend with high hopes, but they were dashed. The aroma was fantastic but the base tea was weak and the caramel flavor was just meh. I added black tea to it to make it more drinkable.

This was just what I was hoping for. The tea base is plenty strong enough but doesn’t need additives to tame it. The caramel is rich and true in aroma AND taste. I would definitely purchase this so the sample worked. I will wait until my cupboard is a little more in control, though.

stomach needed a break from puer…

5.8g, 90 mL ZZZ

dry leaf: sharp in a cleaning solution way…

wet: seaweed, light smoke, woody

rinsed once. Tried to make it quick, but unfortunately only can do so much. I’m sure it would’ve been nice, but also did not feel comfortable drinking the rinse of something older than I am.

1st: thick, a bit smoky, vegetal. sour, bitter, some sweet finish reminding me of chinese bakery sweets. more vegetal than usual graham cracker tinged sweetness of roasted oolongs. Leaf still seemed a bit green in the pot, so wonder if it’s just bc wasn’t as heavily roasted.

2. straightforward woody medicinal

3 +4 : long steeps were pretty light, maybe some core plum

thermos’d the rest for two hours and that was an ok woody semi-plummy cup more in line with the usual aged oo profile. Is it good? I guess. I never feel like these are especially worth the money, since at $2.33/g this session was only a dollar cheaper than my favorite sandwich in Boston. I guess this is my version of starbucks and avocado toast to get flamed for

5.5g, 90 mL ZZZ

wet: fruity, smoke, tart, medicinal

1. smoke, plum, floral, berries, bitter underlying. salivating

2. a bit more green. Slight bitter, but sweet ending. A bit of tartness and aftertaste in throat

3. good texture, gripping. some bitterness and sour.

4. thinner, greenish bitter dull taste w floral edges

5. broadly smoky, some sweet in finish

6-8. leaf-y taste like usual.

I moved my sample to my 30c hotbox and that seems to have enhanced it a bit. I still don’t think this tea speaks to me in particular, but maybe I need to stop hate drinking it expecting it to radically change since it wasn’t cheap…

5.5g, 135 mL zini

wet: medicinal, sweet, nutty

1. sweet, creamy, slight underlying bitter medicinal

2. similar. core warmth

3. slight sour note. Can see why people describe it as plummy

4 + 5: similar

moved to thermos after, since 4 and 5 were long steeps but not extracting much. after a few hours had a nice cup: grainy rice (maybe red bean paste adjacent?) sweetness, plum finish. Filled again and left it overnight but the second cup wasn’t as good.

This is pretty good, and for much cheaper than aged oolongs, scratches the same itch. While the same price as the 90s Baolan, this gives more of a dessert tea vibe. The Baolan is more woody and darker. I like both for different reasons and would be happy to own more of either, assuming the Baolan is restocked.

While fairly gentle upfront, caffeine is definitely still there. I drank around 4 PM and finished the thermos around 9 PM and then couldn’t fall asleep until after 3 AM and didn’t feel too great the next day.

5.6g, 90 ml ZZZ

wet leaf: sweet, toasty, smoke, vegetal, sour

1st: ginger aroma? straw taste, soft bitter. Candy sweet fills the mouth after and sits in throat. Stilling, downing

2nd: ginger, sour, straw again. some warmth

3rd: more bland. mushroom finish.

4th: nice texture still. medicinal, mushroom-y, and floral finish

5: mushroom, some bitter in finish

6. medicinal

7. sweet water

mugged it after and it was still nice tea water.

I think some of the nice texture has to do with water as my Brita filter really needs changing but I’ve been lazy. For whatever reason, teas have a better texture now. Credit where it’s due however— this tea is very engaging, and I don’t say that lightly. Unfortunately, the price point about matches. Hou De posted this as a 400g cake, but I think it’s a 357g, since mine came in at 330g. At any rate, at around the same price/g (~$1.30) as the BYH 04 Yiwu, I much prefer this. Need to try the DTH 04 Yiwu again and see how it stacks up, since none of these are particularly cheap.