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Roswell Strange drank 2010 Black Gold by Crimson Lotus Tea

16802 tasting notes

Gong Fu Sipdown (597)!

I sent the last of this to someone in a swap, so this was a sort of sipdown. My last session of it, anyway – unless I repurchase, which is certainly tempting but I recall this also being quite an expensive shou so we’ll see…

Very pleasant session though; I think this is an exceptionally smooth shou with a lot of very interesting tasting notes present. I started the session off taking physical notes about the tea, but my steep two I found myself lost in the flavour of the tea and just completely and utterly relaxed/at all (something shou does to me quite often) and I put down the pen/paper and just let myself be more sucked in to the tea. Those are the best sessions; where you’re just engrossed in the moment and nothing else.

I play music when I drink Gong Fu as well, always. Something about the combination of tea and music, especially when it’s music that compliments the tea, seems to make both the music and tea feel richer to me. Cage The Elephant recently dropped a new album so that’s what I was listening to – but this song in particular really captured my attention during the session:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM1S9S-Q2sU

I guess because I know some of the real life history of the song, and because I was very moved by the tea something happened and, during my third listen in a row of this song, I found myself tearing up until I finally just released and just started to softly cry while I was steeping my tea. We were like eight or nine steeps deep at this point, and I just couldn’t take it emotionally. I should stress that nothing is really happening in my life right now to put any sort of emotional stress of any kind on me; I have NO personal reasons to have a breakdown like that. It was just a powerful emotional moment for me.

Tea and music… Damn.

Photos (of the tea & not my breakdown): https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwo5gtVnt5G/

Also, the tea was thick and smooth with surprisingly sweet and dense flavour notes: petrichor/wet wood (my favourite shou flavours!), vanilla bean, blackstrap molasses, walnut skins (still have that nutty sweetness but also pleasantly astringent), minerals, and date paste. Mmm!

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5 comments

Togo
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I like your tea and music pairings :)
I also always listen to music when doing gong fu sessions, be it on my own or for our tea tasting parties.

derk
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I don’t purposefully start a gongfu session with music; rather, I find myself easily picking songs that amplify the feeling I get from a tea. Mood enhancement instead of setting the stage. Music and tea are a natural pairing and my favorite along with conversation and tea! Most activities go well with tea except showers. In that case, I need a shower beer.