1311 Tasting Notes
Dry Aroma: Herbal. A bit of black pepper without the sneezing.
Dry Appearance: Dark brown with a few hints of tan and an interesting leather brown look on 1/3 of them. Twisting, curling, and some a bit open. Mostly broken in medium-sized pieces.
Infusing leaves: ARTICHOKE! Cream.
Flavor: More artichoke. Kinda herbal. It has a bit of minerality but is different from other oolongs in that it takes a backseat.
Mouth feel: Silky and very filling, like a Chinese silk comforter. Btw… as amazing as they feel they don’t don’t make good bed comforter. They’re slippery. And any time you try to look cool by sliding across it will end up with you faceplanting into the wall or floor.
Liquor color: O_O that’s dark! Not as dark as some pu er or dark teas can be but darker than some black (red) teas.
Wet Leaf Aroma: Kinda… sour? Not quite as high as a goishicha but something in the aroma is slightly sour. But in a good way. There is also a bit of raisin.
After visiting Wazuka and seeing the Obubu Tea farm in action I am excited to give this one a try and also it makes me miss Wazuka. It’s a quaint little town that I highly suggest anyone to visit but more so to those who love tea. It is a deeply enriching experience. (Btw I helped fund a bus that now runs to Wazuka to make it a bit more convenient.)
This one says it will last till 2025, Dec 4th. Quite a while for matcha. If you can find expiration dates or ask when it was ground, do it.
The coloring on this one is nice. Bright green. Soft in texture. The aroma is full of umami and a slight hint of grass and veggies. Oh, and some cream.
The flavor is very rich. The mouth feel is filling and smooth. Slight silt but nothing annoying. If you are looking for a higher-grade matcha for lattes this would be a good one. It is fine to drink on its own but it doesn’t have some of the more nuanced notes that I look for.
Actually, I might come back and edit this in another session. As I sit here drinking this more other notes and starting to pop out. The umami is really making a show of its self.
At our most recent MN Tea Society gathering we had one of the representatives of Himalko Tea stop by. He was kind enough to leave me with a generous sample of this tea. This is a lovely tea.
Gong fu brewing
Dry Appearance: Tightly twisted, curling, dark brown and golden brown fuzzy leaves. Trichomes fill the air when you open the tin.
Dry aroma: Sweet wood. Muscatel.
Initial Aroma: Creamy. Milk.
Flavor: Freshly cut wood. Cream. Bits of sawdust.
Liquor color: Gorgeous light amber.
Wet Leaf Aroma: The Muscatel notes remain the same through sessions one, two, and three. It starts to dissipate a bit with four and five, which is impressive for black tea.
Mouth feel: Soft.
Ah, crap. I closed the tab. Well… round two of writing this note. Fight! Rewriting a note is about as exciting as cleaning a toilet. You just can’t capture your initial enthusiasm. But I will try.
This one needs to be consumed. It has been sitting with the rest of my dark teas and it’s been a few years and now I realize it’s not a dark tea at all. Opps.
How cool it is to put it in bamboo. While bamboo isn’t one of my favorite flavors this one packs an interesting punch. When I first unwrapped the tea and poured it into my gaiwan I found a nice, long black hair attached. It’s like it really wanted to be a tea bag but didn’t want the added plastic that comes with that.
The rinse water is the epitome of earthy aroma. Loam, woods, leaves, soil, bark. If it wasn’t 2 degrees I’d go sit on the deck and enjoy this how it is supposed to be enjoyed.
The aroma of the rinsed leaf is AMAZING! Golden, purple, and red raisins. Sweet yet with a hint of wood. This sweetness does not translate to the flavor surprisingly. It’s very deep and woody like a shou pu erh almost. A house made in the 1880s. Some drying chopped wood with moss probably decaying in a pile on the side. With an overall tone of bamboo.
After doing a tasting of their ceremonial blend with my parents I figured that the premium tea would also be good. Or at least decent enough for lattes. Unfortunately, it is not.
The first sign of a lesser grade of matcha is the dry powder appearance. This is a dull olive green. A lack of vibrancy. Next is the dry aroma. Smells somewhat vegetal. Old dried veggies. With a bit of wall plaster. We poured about 4 ounces into 3 separate cups on top of the 1/4 tsp of the matcha and then whisked with their electric whisker. I decided to have them to the electric over the bamboo due to my mom’s wrists.
I wish I could say the flavor was better than the rest but it isn’t. It starts off a bit woody then changes to somewhat metallic notes. I would not drink this on its own but I continued to do so for this cup to make sure I pulled out all of the tasting notes that I could. The mouthfeel was gritty. However, I feel like silty is a better descriptor. And what I am referencing is the lesser degree of granules but it is not so bad as some high-grit powdered teas. The aftertaste is not pleasant. Hours later I still feel like I’m grimacing from it. We added a splash of oat milk to one of the cups. Which made it a bit better but not enough to make me want to drink more…
The worst part of this was that my mom reacted slightly to it. Her throat and tongue started burning. No reaction like that for my dad and I but the feeling is different this one versus the other ceremonial matcha.
I contacted Kei-san to see if perhaps this was an off-batch or if this really was how his premium batches are. I honestly don’t think it was better than a culinary grade.
- His response is that most people enjoy the earthiness of this matcha. Sorry, Kei. I love your other products but this one is a no for me.
Question: What should be considered a true Earl Grey? Black tea as base with bergamot oil only harvested in Calabria? What then of the bergamot harvested in other areas? Or ones made with other bases like rooibos. A ponder.
Originally, I bought this for my mother-in-law. But after realizing she still has tea I bought her from last year I decided to keep it at my house. I know that sounds bad but I also don’t want it to be wasted…. I would love to see them drinking more tea and getting off those awful diet sodas.
Dry Leaf Appearance: Broken, uniform leaf. Dark brown.
Dry Leaf Aroma: Lovely bergamot. Filling my every nostril. It is a mix of camphor and citrus.
Flavor: I’m at a lil loss for words. It is good but not quite what I was expecting. Or maybe it is my palate. I just don’t tend to fancy citrus and tea. There is something metallic about it. Not terribly noticeable but enough in the aftertaste that I don’t think I would purchase this again. Granted I tend towards pure tea. I may not the best one to review a flavored tea. The base is woody and slightly sweet.
