1737 Tasting Notes
“Shimmering viridescent jade”—indeed. This Kakegawa sencha from Tealux was quite broken up, so the brew ended up very cloudy with tons of particulate material in the bottom of the glass. As a result, the first infusion really had an astringent edge to it. A bit bitter, too. I had a similar experience with two leaves and a bud, so I’m expecting the second infusion to be smoother.
I have to say that the appearance—with little green dots floating about the “shimmering viridescence” cloud—is truly beautiful!
second infusion: lots of shimmering viridescence and flavor; still some green particles floating in the glass
third infusion: the dark green particles are gone; only light filaments remain; the taste is now smoother
Preparation
Why I went out today is a mystery. The weather was truly antarctic. On the way home I had to grab a hot drink at Starbucks, and I also needed caffeine, so I began with a grande Americano, long shots, extra hot. My refill? Naturally: Tazo Refresh.
Tazo Refresh walked me home, warming my hands, small sips of soothing mint-tarragon trickling down to my tummy, a lovely scent flowing through my nose. By the time I got home, the tea was all gone, and I wasn’t even cold!
Another delicious Japanese tea from Thé Santé, this Sencha Nagashima is a real treat. The liquor is almost fluorescent yellow-green (albeit pale), and the dried leaves are dark and evocative of roasted spinach. The pieces of the tea are quite long, and there are some stems along with the leaves.
The flavor of this beautiful sencha is very fine indeed—they describe it as “luxury green tea,” and I have to agree. At some point, I’ll have to do a steep-off between this sencha and the Gyokuros now gracing my cupboard.
Needless to say, I am very happy to have ordered a variety of different haute Japanese green teas from this company, which for some reason seems not to get much attention from Steepsterites, though it is Canadian and there appear to be quite a few Canadians around these parts!
second infusion: The same gorgeous hue of almost neon yellow-green; the same splendid sencha taste.
third infusion: more golden than green; still good
fourth infusion: this round seems more like average than supreme sencha, but it’s still perfectly potable!
Preparation
I finally tried the Harney & Sons Winter White Earl Grey today, having received a tin in one of their gift sets over the holidays. I had put off trying this one because I was too busy drinking black-tea based Earl Greys with light cream. I worried that I would not like this combination. Could I drink an Earl Grey without cream? White tea with cream just sounds like a disaster to me.
What I found today is that the first infusion was not very appealing. I followed the prescription on the tin, and I think that it was an oversteep. The range given was 3-8 minutes, and I opted for 5 minutes, with water cooled down a bit from having boiled. The liquor was peachy orange colored and the bergamot was completely overwhelming, to the point of almost being harsh.
Since this is a whole-leaf white tea (mutan) in a sachet, I did try a second infusion which was a vast improvement! Next time I’ll start with cooler water and a short steep and see whether I find the first infusion more appealing…
third infusion: yes, that’s right, one sachet three big 11 ounce cups! The second was the best, as the third started to seem a bit wan. Now I am pretty sure that I know how to tame this tea! Short steep; much cooler water. Let’s see: if I took about half of the bergamot out of the first steep, and added it to the third, it would be good. So I’ll try that.
Preparation
Wow, it recommends 90°C that seems really high for a white tea.
yyz: I did not use a thermometer, but waited a bit before infusing, so I don’t know exactly what the temperature was. The instructions on the tin say to use below boiling water, so that’s sort of vague, but you are right that generally I brew white at a much lower temp, and I’ll do that next time. The second infusion, in fact was with the same water after it had been cooling down, so the initial problem was probably a combination of both overheating and oversteeping!
I find that three or four minutes is all you need.
I have this, and find it is much improved with a shorter steep.
I doubled the dose of leaves in my infusion of Teavivre Huang Shan Mao Feng, and the result was much better. I still find a taste of green beans in this single source Mao Feng, and I do not like it as much as the Green Tips full-leaf blend from Tazo, which seems to have more body and oomph to it.
The taste of this Mao Feng is light and thirst quenching, and I’ll experiment with further infusions later today…
second infusion: this brew was quite delicious. better than the first!
third infusion: starting to lose its oomph…
Preparation
My final refill at Starbucks today had to be Tazo Refresh. It’s becoming less and less possible for me to leave the premises of one of these establishments without first imbibing a cup of this tea. Otherwise I somehow don’t feel complete.
No one can accuse me of being dehydrated.
I had a cup of the sachet version of Tazo China Green Tips today at Starbucks. It was very good. The sachet provides the perfect dose. The water they use for the brew is officially too hot, but so long as one does not oversteep, the resultant bright yellow brew is quite tasty and not at all bitter. I enjoyed this cup a lot, more than my recent brew of the loose leaf at home!
This is a Mao Feng blend, by the way…
I worked at Starbucks (I mean my work on my computer while sitting in the café) this afternoon, so once again I chose as a refill the sachet form of the Tazo Chai to follow up my Chocolate Chai Tea Latte.
The brewed chai was not quite as good today because I did not request honey and instead decided to try it with the raw turbinado sugar. It was not bad, but it was not as good as my last experience—yesterday! I’ll remember this next time. Honey will be first choice for sweetener in Tazo Chai from now on.
I had another one of these today: grande, soy milk, extra hot with whip. It tasted better in one of the big cream-colored mugs than in a paper cup. Still pretty much a meal replacement. There is definitely not enough caffeine in this concoction, but I do like the level of spices.
There is a big dose of pepper—very obviously—but lots of other stuff as well, including cardamom and ginger, two of my favorite spices. Chocolate Chai Tea Latte is pretty good, if evaluated as a dessert, which is what it really is.
Oh, sounds lovely to look at, indeed!