Hand Picked Autumn Tieguanyin (2011)

I am working on drinking the supply down! It is therefore not okay to have to add to it just because I must have forgotten to add it in the first place. Anyway…

Once upon a time I had a sample of Verdant’s TGY, which, as I am wont to do, I brewed western style and was subsequently fairly underwhelmed by. I mean, it was good, don’t get me wrong. I even gave it 86 points, which you must concede is pretty high. It just wasn’t interesting.

“No, no, no,” said Spoonvonstrup. “You should short steep it.”

Well now. I didn’t have any of my sample left to do that, so Spoonvonstrup offered to share a sample with. I was a little torn. Part of me was sceptic that it would make such a large difference and that, these days, possibly greener oolongs were just not for me, but a larger part of me thought that it absolutely could and should not be true that something which had made people swoon in bliss all over Steepster should come across as so uninteresting to me. I was missing out and that’s not cricket. So I said, yes please.

Turns out Spoonvonstrup had already been planning a large number of other things to share with me as well, as has already be written about, but I count this one as the being the primary purpose of the exchange.

Well. I say ‘exchange’, but my attempt at a return package was returned to sender. I must have written the address wrong.

Anyway, I received a generous sample of this TGY on the clear understanding that I would short steep it.

So I am doing that very thing now, and this right here is the first round. I believe it’s a different harvest than the one I had initially, but I’m not expecting that to matter so very much in this experiment.

There is a slightly floral aroma to it, with a strong note of something that I can only describe as ‘some kind of tart fruit’. It doesn’t smell like apple or citrus or pineapple, so I’m not sure what exactly it is. It just smells kind of fruity and yellow-ish green.

The flavour is stronger oolong-y than I expected. I think that I was expecting something more soft and vegetal like a green tea, possibly because of the short steep, but this is definitely tasting like an oolong. It has that smidge of earthyness to it. Again the floral note is very low key and there is ‘something fruity’ going on.

Even the aftertaste keeps tingling and tickling on my tongue for a long time.

Now that I have a learned to recognise a chalky sort of flavour, I’m detecting that too. Well, it’s not so much that I’m suddenly detecting it where I didn’t before; it’s more that I’ve learned to put words on what it is, and therefore I am noticing it being there. I learned that in some green tea I had the other days. Emperor’s Mist and Clouds, I think it was called. That one had it pretty bad, but this one is not so much. I wonder if it’s actually my water that does it. I had a brief thought of buying some bottled water and trying a comparison, but as Denmark on the whole prides itself on having a high quality tap water, clean and drawn straight from the underground, paying through my nose for bottled water when it’s not strictly necessary strikes me as rather a waste of money. If I’m out somewhere and I get thirsty I have no problems buying some, but then it’s usually slightly carbonated and with some sort of flavouring added. Bottled still water… Sorry, I can’t make myself do that. Not even for tea. So either I’ll have to look into some sort of filtering system or wait until there’s something wrong with the pipes and I’m forced to use bottled water.

Anyway, that was a tangent. The point is there was a slightly mineral note, but nothing very significant.

The colour has gone all vivid yellow on the second round, and that ‘something fruity’ note is definitely citrus-y now. Lemon-y or lime-y. Not the fruit itself, though, but more zest-y.

The flavour is more mellow this time. While this also has a touch of citrus, this is more fruit than zest. I find actual lemon juice to be a sort of softer flavour than zest. Juice is broad and spreads out, where zest is pointy and stabby.

The flavour is definitely not zesty and there’s still only a little of it. Most of it is still that oolong-y earthyness with a little floralness to it, but not too much.

Really these first two steeps have been very similar indeed.

Round three strikes me as quite floral on the nose, but still with a good deal of citrus. That citrus-y note just seems to be getting stronger and stronger here, as if it’s something that have to be coaxed out of the leaves.

The flavour, however, remains the same as before, if perhaps a tad paler.

And I think I will stop the post here, although I don’t think I’m quite finished playing with these leaves. There is so much flavour still to go on, and as it appears to be so very consistent, I suspect I’m in for a rather long haul. It’s going to be a very long post indeed if I continue writing.

In conclusion, Spoonvonstrup was right. This really do need short steeping before it can shine for me. Although my socks have not been knocked into deep space with this one, it’s still oodles better than the uninteresting result of my very first go at it. I think maybe to do with how it’s much less floral this way. The rest of the flavour profile, curiously, is completely different too, it seems.

Sipdown!

I have enjoyed this a lot but all good things must come to an end… especially where green oolongs are concerned. I am picking up on the saffron notes a LOT this morning and I am cold brewing the remainder of this for tomorrow, which should be lovely.

First Review. I’ve been beating around the bush…waiting for just the right time to taste this tea. The reports being so glowing and all…I wanted time and a peaceful state of mind. Tea is for that moment when we stop and appreciate what has come from the Earth. For me, I offer thanksgiving to the Giver of Life. I have a new toy called a PIAO I Teapot which I bought from Amazon for $28 plus shipping. It is glass and has a pitcher and a top infuser that you put the tea in. You pour in water and after steeping push a rod and the tea is released to the bottom of the pitcher when a glass ball lifts up. No stainless basket or anything. So I used this method for this tea and it worked well. (Bought it mainly for Puerhs).
First steep 4 minutes…Beautiful large green leaves…the scent is like artichoke hearts when warm and fresh (not the canned kind). Beautiful light golden yellow liquor and a taste that is almost non-floral at all but there is a hint of orchid…a tease only. Where did the napoleon pastry come from? That custardy buttered layered crusty pastry? And then, a juicy rush that takes over your whole mouth and almost goes up your nose. The flavors linger. As the liquid cools the butteriness deepens and the flavors mellow like a sigh after the last crumb has been devoured on the dessert tray.
Second Pour: I’m afraid to drink anymore after the first deliciousness. The juicy mouthfeel is still there. I peeked at the reviews and saw something about Keiffer Lime…OH REALLY? I have Keiffer Lime in the cupboard, so I went and got the jar down and sniffed it…then sniffed and sip-slurped the tea. OK, there IS a subtle flavor of Keiffer Lime in the tea but you’d have to really know lime to know that it’s there. The Marshmallow comments I can understand more. Marshmallow is SUGAR and this does taste at times like a vanilla, custard sugar like a NAPOLEON pastry. Or like vanilla cake (in case you never have tasted a Napoleon). The comments on grass flavor in this tea I do not get. I went to smell the tea leaves and on the second steep there is no vegital scent but just a nice sweet plant leaf smell like lettuce but not like artichokes anymore. I bought 4 oz of this and I’m glad I did! I get to keep steeping all day!!! Hooray for me!!! Pastry tea!!!

Woohoo! So I’m not completely jaded on tea. I drank two cups of this this morning and I am enjoying it! My left eye keeps twitching and that is… worrisome, but I imagine that’s from the lack of sleep as I’m not actually doing anything that would be stressing me. I’m at work, and looking at how to spend my birthday monies! (New kindle, Tardis tea, and new clothes for work!) Tomorrow is my actual birthday but we saw my family last weekend and they gave me presents then instead of waiting – I’m not complaining!

So, anyway. This is a great cup. I’m happy I can actually enjoy it again.

Oh and Bryan Lee O’Malley is tweeting like crazy about Southland Tales today, which I was a sucker for and was really excited about only to go… huh, afterwards. It’s so oddball but THIS is what stood out for me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pmgKiAnYmbY Man, I never expected to like Justin Timberlake, but I do. I really do.

Gentle on the sweet grass, a bit buttery, and nicely floral. The real flavor that WOWed me with this one is the comparison to Rock Candy…WHA???? Oh yes! it’s true! It’s sugary-sweet just like one of my childhood faves Rock Candy! Woot! It makes for a juicy wonder that is or sure! The after taste is a bit like lime which is both surprising yet oh-co-pleasing! This is wonderful! Truly WONDERFUL! LOVE this! It’s one of my faves from Verdant so far…but then again…just about everything I have tried of theirs has been LOL :)

Fun experiment time, tonight. I’ve been dying for oolongs lately, and massively craving Verdant’s, but have had other teas I wanted to try, or not enough time, etc. etc… Anyhow, tonight I thought I’d finally compare the three tieguanyins I have received from Verdant – the 2011 Autumn, 2012 Spring (first harvest), and 2012 Spring (second harvest). I’m brewing them each up identically, using 1.5 tsp of leaf in 125mL water, with the leaves allowed to roam free in the cup before being strained out.

First infusion (208F/30s):
Light floral, buttery aroma. Green, floral taste. Very green aftertaste. Not too much oolong flavour, but it does leave a nice round, creamy taste in the mouth. I’m getting more oolong flavour from the spring harvests, but the differences are too subtle for me to pick up. Comparing it to the others, I think this is the least green and floral. It’s more subdued.

Second infusion (208F/30s):
Much like a lighter version of the first, in my opinion. More oolong flavour though, which was expected. Mmmmm. Caramel in the aftertaste, unlike the citrus of the spring harvests.

Overall: All three are delicious oolongs. My palate really isn’t developed enough to perceive differences though, at least the way I infused them (although I suspect that for my leaf:water ratio, a 30 second initial infusion was too long). Hoping I can go through another few infusions tomorrow, in which I will perhaps notice more differences!

Sipdown, 220. The rest of this is going off in a swap to another steepster. I also have to say, whaaa? not logged since December 2011?? That is crazy. I must have drank some in the intervenign time and not logged it.

I always thought I preferred autumn picking Tieguanyins, but looking back at my past tasting note and drinking this now, I am not so sure. I just had the last of my 2011 Spring Picking last week, and even as an older tea, to me that had more buttery notes, more floral notes, and more sweetness. This is still very nice, but I definitely do not find it as amazing as the spring picking. I was going to restock on the Autumn Tieguanyin that just came back into stock at Verdant, but now I am thinking maybe I will wait for the 2013 spring picking.

This is a continuation of my so called Tea Trials, LOL.

Now I’m sipping on steeps 6 & 7, and they are both lovely.
One of the things I love about both of these Tieguanyins (Summer & Autumn) is the way they look: Dry, they look very similar to one another, amazingly green nuggets with a heavenly smell of fields of flowers and sweet greens. Once I start steeping them, each nugget opens out into a full leaf. The transformation is amazing, they just keep getting bigger with each steeping, until they are overflowing from the Gaiwan!

The Autumn Tea’s color is a little greener, & after adding water its especially brilliant, and I swear, as it steeped, the leaves it took on an iridescent green that was otherworldly in color. The leaves of the Autumn tea are definitely greener and sturdier looking as well.

Both teas smelled like Heaven, with the Autumn having a slightly greener essence. Both had a floral taste & aroma, but the Autumn leans heavily (& heavenly) to the Orchid scent, which I confess, I love! I think the summer was a little more astringent.

I loved both! I admit, I preferred the Autumn slightly.

OK, to be fair, the first steep was very floral, but I’m up to 5 or 6 now and the flowers faded very quickly.

I am laughing because the leaves expended so much I can barely get the lid onto the gaiwan.

This really is amazing bunch of tea leaves. It will never be my favorite way of processing them, but that’s a matter of personal aesthetic.

Feels like I haven’t logged a tea in forever, I really haven’t been trying much new, being on a buying hiatus. But I have been drinking, drinking the seasons of Verdant’s non-roasted Tieguanyins and Laoshan Greens. Drinking them simply to drink them and for this reason: http://verdanttea.com/how-to-store-tea/ not for any special occasion, person, comparison or log, simply because they need to be enjoyed. And you know what? That is so much more fulfilling right now than trying to cram in three different kinds of tea to review.

I also probably won’t be posting as frequently here for awhile, our basement flooded last night/this morning, we’ve got guys taking care of it as I type this, nothing majorly damaged as far as I can tell, except the carpet which we wanted to replace anyway, so will probably spending some time outside the house as well as sorting things out to throw away, give away or donate. Gosh I started that note like six hours ago, before everyone descended upon the house, was much more relaxed then, guess I need to make another cup.