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“Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | January 2023 | A tea for joyful solitude and meditation I love this prompt so much! I haven’t wanted to rush it, though, and was waiting till the moment felt right....” Read full tasting note
“Day 26 – last and final – of Kelmishka’s advent calendar! I appreciate that this calendar started and ended on a Taiwanese oolong, one of my favorite tea styles. Including a Day 26 was also a very...” Read full tasting note
The Four Seasons tea comes from Nantou County, Taiwan. Mainly, Mingjian. Some farmers/producers pick their tea by hand, however, the bulk of Four Seasons is machine harvested.
Our Four Seasons oolong is grown at an elevation that is below 1,000 meters, so it would be considered low mountain tea. I personally think that shows in the flavor. I find high mountain teas have more of a lighter, delicate, and floral flavor/body. I also find that the opposite is true for our Four Seasons tea. It has a rich mineral sweetness and heavier floral body. The flavor is pretty bold.
Origin: Mingjian, Nantou County, Taiwan Harvest: April, 2021
Cultivar: Four Seasons
What we taste: Cane sugar, slightly smokey, saline minerality
Recommended brewing:
4g of tea; 130ml of water
90 degrees celcius
1.5 minute first infusion
Company description not available.
Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | January 2023 | A tea for joyful solitude and meditation
I love this prompt so much! I haven’t wanted to rush it, though, and was waiting till the moment felt right. Today is a cold yet sunny Sunday afternoon during a three-day weekend, and I’m currently home alone with the animals. I was feeling very mellow and decided to make a pot of something similarly mellow and relaxed. This oolong called my name!
I enjoyed it alongside a mini snack plate of mostly sweet treats: a Sumo orange (SO bougie but so good!), pistachios, dark chocolate-covered figs (!), and a few squares of a dark chocolate bar with puffed black rice and quinoa. I also pulled out my copy of “Comfortable with Uncertainty,” which a colleague very thoughtfully gifted me when I was diagnosed with cancer. I read a few passages and then digested them while drinking tea and nibbling goodies. Such a lovely way to spend free time before my second semester of grad school kicks off this week. :)
Oh, right, the tea itself! It’s very light and softly floral, with notes of jasmine and a bit of minerality. A good choice for quiet contemplation!
2023 sipdown count: 9/75
Flavors: Floral, Jasmine, Mineral, Soft
Day 26 – last and final – of Kelmishka’s advent calendar! I appreciate that this calendar started and ended on a Taiwanese oolong, one of my favorite tea styles. Including a Day 26 was also a very nice touch, as I’m finding this a great tea to unwind with post-holiday chaos. I brewed this up gong fu style. It’s nicely floral, creamy, and smooth.
There is a gyokuro from Day 7 that I need to circle back to sooner rather than later while it’s still fresh – I kept saving it for a special day when I could give it proper attention, but I can only have a few cups of caffeine per day and somehow the stars never aligned for a day when that could be my caffeine for the day and I could give it the focus it deserves. So this is not quite the last of this calendar.
Thank you Kelmishka for a lovely first advent calendar swap experience! I got to try a bunch of new-to-me teas that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and discovered a few new faves along the way, notably 52teas which I hadn’t revisited properly in a long time. Perennial Tea Room’s Orange Grapefruit was also a particular delight, from a company I had never heard of before! And it was really helpful to be able to compare a few different ginger teas, as we’re coincidentally revisiting the question of which one should be our household sick tea.
Sounds like a lovely quiet time!
Home alone time can be so special! I am glad you got to enjoy such loveliness today! I am saving that prompt for a very special time, too. Hopefully soon!
Thanks for the excellent prompt! :)
My pleasure!