Port

Another lovely, amazing, generous sample from Dexter in my quest to try more WP teas before i make my first purchase. I know this wasn’t the tea for dexter, so i wasn’t sure what to expect. Especially since i also know that my dear teafairy enjoys this one.

After brewing this one, and trying a few steepings, i’ve come to the conclusion that i don’t know how i feel about this one. On the one handle i enjoy the complexity and the “different” feel of this tea…on the other – it’s fairly expensive a tea, and not likely something that i could afford to drink often, so is it worth it? I have other teas that i ADORE that are less expensive and bring me great joy. I enjoyed the cedar notes in this, and i really do love the base than brendan uses. I think though, that i’d be better off to splurge on another tea for the price. that being said, i did enjoy this tea and i can see why others have fallen in love with it. It’s just not high enough on my list to warrant purchasing :) At least not often heh. Thanks again Dexter!!

I have two samples of this in my house – the lovely TheTeaFairy was kind enough to send me some, and then Brendan included this as a sample with my order. Thank you very much to both of you.

This is wasted on me. Sorry guys, can’t do it – I can not get past the pine/eucalyptus/cedar, whatever that tree taste is. I’m not getting any saffron, very little vanilla – it’s just lost behind the tree taste.

Maybe I’m too much of a city girl to appreciate this…..

This sample is courtesy of MzPriss. Thank you!

I can’t believe you shared this one with me:) This is such a special tea. I will be honest, I was really scared to try it for fear of the price point and the hype. I finally caved today. This is all it is cracked up to be. This tea brings me back to all of my favorite back packing trips, staring at stars around the fire in places that make you feel so small. I can’t really explain the flavor. There is a lot going on here. Black base, sweet, vanilla, cold figure tips and chilled nose. Opps, I am letting my memories slip into my taste buds. This is really good and it has brought a smile to my face this evening! Thank you MzPriss for this special treat.

I love everything evergreen in my tea, and this one fully delivers. I’d previously pegged down White Wolf, from Bellocq, as my quintessential, super-expensive, cedar-vanilla tea but this one is really good too.

Port has a nice balance of flavours: cedar, smooth vanilla bean, and accents of salt and of something “nippy” that is distinctly eucalyptus. It’s a nice level of eucalyptus, and not at all like the time that I put a little too much eucalyptus oil on my hot hand towel and inhaled deeply- when hot, that stuff burns with righteous intensity. I probably won a Darwinian award somewhere in that story.

This is a “darker” tea than my other cedar-vanilla option, which has a white tea base. However, it also isn’t as cold, and so set in the dead of winter, as my other one. I can drink this at the lake camp in the midst of a broiling summer too, or on a foggy autumnal day.

I haven’t had a lot of exposure to saffron and I’m going to have to carefully budget it out, but I love this tea and I want it to be a part of my life! Also, the dry blend reminds me ever so slightly of marzipan. It also resteeps well, although the cedar is more pronounced in the second steep.

This one comes from the ever so lovely CrowKettle along with a few other WP teas and a few other odds and ends. This one caught my interest when she said recently that it tasted like marzipan, or somewhat dessert-like. Then today when she gave it to me, she also mentioned the cedar and eucalyptus notes. Colour me intrigued and confused.

So I went to look at steeping parameters, and it said to use 1 tablespoon for 8 oz, and I was like, huh? Thinking it was a typo and that it was 1 teaspoon, I opted to try the smaller amount. I’m not sure if it is in fact a typo, but that is how I made it.

The liquor is much paler than I was expecting. Which maybe is under leafing? I don’t know. I went into drinking this one with the hopes I got a more dessert-y feel, and I did, though I can kind of pick up that slightly minty-ishness of the eucalyptus. It is sold of like a coolish feeling going down, but not like peppermint or spearmint or anything really strong. I can kind of pick out the sweeter vanilla note, but not sure on the saffron or really what that should taste like.

I did use sugar for both of my steeps which makes it less woodsy to me. I’m not the hugest fan of woodsy, to be honest, and that part of the description is what threw me off on wanting to try this, until it was compared to marzipan. I can’t quite say it is like marzipan, but I can get a sort of dessert note, probably from the vanilla and saffron. Marzipan is a bit more almondy.

I’d have to say this feels like a masculine tea, playing a bit of dress up, and trying on a little bit of a feminine feel. I have to say I am a little confused and mystified about this one. I have enough for another serving, and I can probably get one more steep out of this. I might look at cold steeping the last bit, or a steeping from the last bit, as was suggested.

I can’t say whether I would recommend the to anyone because it is such a peculiar yet specific note that the person really has to like more woodsy notes in their tea. But that’s just not my thing. For what it is, I like it more than I thought I would based on the description alone. Thanks again to CrowKettle for sharing this with me, and pushing me out of my comfort zone.

I was just gonna sit with this tea , enjoy it and be happy.

But it has put a spell on me and I feel compelled to write another review.

Ever since I’ve been using my Vanilla Dream yixing pot, this tea keeps getting better and better. Having this gives me the same warming feeling a good quality sheng does. Yes, it’s as rewarding. Any sceptical tea purists in the house? Well let me tell you how much you are missing on if you’re a non believer. This tea is a “whoa” inducer, goes straight to your senses.

This blend is innovative and completely unique. It almost creates a new flavour that doesn’t exist, making it almost impossible to describe. Sweet, savoury, salty, spicy, but not quite umami. The vanilla bean renders a rich and heavy mouthfeel. To make things even more complex, a fresh eucalyptus finish emerges at the end of the sip…mix that with the minerals of the clay pot, and you get a taste that lingers in the mouth forever, just like any good oolong or sheng pu’erh would. Complexity at its best…

Although I don’t drink much heavy liquor, I would compare Port to a fine aged whisky…something you can’t put a price on cause every time you drink it, you feel lucky you got the chance to experience such a gem.

I am drinking this little lovely while watching the super moon! I love the creamy vanilla scent of this tea. It also tastes a little spicy today. Weird!

I added a little maple syrup, even though I also like this plain. Saturday night yums!!!!

Edit: Now I added kirschwasser! I love tea!!!! Yay!!!

I’m drinking my fifth steeping of this today, after forgetting the leaves for a day or two… It’s not as fantastic as the first few, but still good. I’m sad today and I have zero energy right now, so I hope tea will help…