Wild Laoshan Mulberry Leaf

Sipdown

I had this before heading to bed this morning. I wanted tea, but 12 A.M. seemed a bad time to drink any. However, I spotted the remaining few grams of this in my sipdown stash, so I figured it’d make for a great read & tea before drifting off.

Notes: Nutty & savory (salted nuts, potato chips, & umami). It’s a good alternative when one is craving a roasted oolong or puerh, but it’s too late to indulge on the mild caffeinated teas or an herbal like chamomile.

Whenever I see the word Mulberry I think of the Dr. Suess story, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street”. Perhaps the town is known for its Mulberry festivals. They take the leaves and dry them, releasing a wonderful slightly sweet scent into the air. It is reminiscent of other berries but the townsfolk this sweet smell can only belong to their mulberries. Of course, they juice the berries and make a wonderful variety of pies, ales, cookies, etc but the thing that really gets them excited is the tisane. (Oh my gosh don’t get me started with tisane, herbal tea, herbal infusion AHHH). The main flavor is roasty that dances with mulberry notes. The wet aroma is unique, somewhat sweet but also a mishmash of flavors. And a very smooth mouthfeel.

Another TTB tea. I drank this warm, and it was pretty pleasant. It was a mix of fruitiness and earthiness. It’s a pretty simple tea, but I enjoyed my cup of it, as well as the resteep. It almost reminded me of roasted onions, but in a good way. It was pleasantly savory.

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
June 2022 → A tea with oceanic notes

This was the only non-caffeinated tea in my stash that had anything even close to oceanic notes. Even then, it was seaweed (not ocean air or ocean breeze or anything like that) and I believe only one person mentioned it. Even so, I’ll be using it for today’s sipdown prompt.

I wasn’t sure if I would like this because I thought it might taste like a green tea, but it’s so complex and interesting and I’m really loving it! I like it equally both hot and cold. No additions necessary. In fact, I think adding honey might overwhelm the flavor. It does look like a green tea once steeped, but the flavors to me are more reminiscent of a black tea. I taste fruit and dark chocolate surprisingly enough! I’m really enjoying this and will almost certainly add some to my next Verdant order.

Many thanks to vallhallow for sending some of this incredible herbal for me to try!

Sipdown (797)!

Thank you Kittenna for the sample! I was a bit unimpressed by this tisane, though I didn’t find it unpleasant. Mulberry leaf has a very rich, nutty flavour typically – and I just thought this one came off as a little bit too delicate/flat to really capture the taste I’m accustomed to and know I love. It was still nutty though, still just a little bit vegetal. I’m happy I tried it; but I didn’t finish the mug feeling like it was anything exceptional.

2021 Sipdown 93/365!

Finished off a sample packet of this. It’s a satisfying caffeine-free tea alternative for when I’ve already had too much caffeine in a day. Definitely quite vegetal, and less nutty than I’d like, but still good.

Home – 10:30 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 0!

This is the last one! Of course, now I have new teas I’ve ordered since I started counting down, but at least all of the older ones are sorted through. Now I’ll have to go through all of the ones I don’t want to keep and weigh and price them so I can post a stash sale. Sounds like a weekend project… ;)

So this one smelled a bit milder in the packet than the Laoshan Gan Zao Ye. I steeped it the same way, as I would a green tea. The wet leaves are a really gorgeous rich jewel green color.

Wow, this is the bomb diggity. It’s so heavy on the roasted grain and oat flavors, almost like soba cha. But there’s a nice fresh grassy flavor here as well that reminds me a bit of matcha. Perhaps just a small hint of seaweed, but not in a fishy way – more in an oceanic fresh sort of way. And there’s a lovely natural sweetness throughout the sip.

This almost tastes like a matcha latte with some additional roasted grain notes. Yummy.

Oddly, there’s a slight note in the aftertaste that reminds me of Dijon mustard. I realize that sounds weird, but it’s actually not. And it’s a very slight hint.