The Jabberwocky

Yummy maltomeal goodness! I may have to start making this my go-to breakfast tea. I love it black prepared as the package instructs, but I may have to put some honey and milk in there to transport me back to those childhood breakfasts.
I think it was teafairy who said this was total pudding mouth…. And I get it now!

Oh yes.

My tiny, tiny WPT order came in today. This is just what I needed!

I couldn’t tell you what camphor or eucalyptus tastes like, but I can tell you that it’s similar to aloe. Or at least, the way aloe smells. It smells like a pale green plant. Not minty, but it awakens similar taste buds. It’s like a breath of fresh air. A cool mountain breeze, carrying the scent of evergreen trees. I still don’t know what eucalyptus tastes like but I bet it’s delicious. ;) This was the first note I found in this tea. Following closely behind is the deep, rich flavor of dark chocolate. It’s SOOO dark and so robust! Just the way I like it! It intensifies as I keep sipping, and covers my mouth with a dark malty sweetness. Mmmm, cocoa. There is the suggestion of stone fruits in the background. (I recognize this from Ailaoshan Black.) Red fruits. Plums, raisins, maybe cherries. Each sip finishes with honey and thick caramel. It has a pudding-like texture. It coats your whole mouth and leaves you wanting moooore! After, when I exhale, I taste aloe/eucalyptus/freshness. It’s a very “clean” sensation (which is why I likened it to mint).

The second steep is more smooth and mellow. The flavors have melded together a little more and the aloe/eucalyptus has receded. It still has a freshness to it, but it’s not as pervasive. There’s a woodsiness/earthiness to this steep as well. Notes of cocoa still present, and strong. They contribute to the dark forest flavors very well. If I try very hard I can discern a grainy, bready flavor behind everything. It’s not like fresh buttered bread. It’s dry. Fresh, but dry. Maybe toasted wheat bread or bread crust. And omg, pudding mouth. There’s a very creamy, caramelly, custard-like finish! Ahhhh, this is great. I’m so glad I got this before it sold out.

Dang it Brenden. Adding yet another to my cupboard staples.

sigh

feels like everyone has been drinking this lately…thought I’d join in finally. xD
I am happy I finally decided to drink it again now. Rough day. But this makes me feel a bit happier. It is comforting to have tea on the bad days (:
And it’s just as good as I remembered. Taste cherries and cocoa. And actually some malt that I don’t quite remember last time.
Lovely tea. Even on that bad days (:

Jabberwocky …

Any references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass make me happy. Partly, the reason is I’ve learned some of my English in their company. Crazy, right? The riddles and the unintelligible language just had me fascinated. I had both the French and English versions and used to read both at the same time to understand. Well at least try to understand. This quote was tailor made for me:

“Speak in French when you can’t think of the English for a thing – turn your toes out when you walk – And remember who you are!”

How could I not fall in love with this magical world?

I find also that magic in the tea blends concocted by our Tea Whiz Of The Woods (aka Brenden of Whispering Pines) or better yet, tea hobbit Brendenol PinePeaker as MzPriss affectionately calls him.

I think his teas have put a spell on me, cause every time I am sent a new sample to evaluate, I keep thinking, how could it be better than the previous one? I mean, I can’t go higher than 100 on that rating scale anyways!

HoneyBelle (aka MzPriss) and I did our tastings simultaneously, like we always do.

First thing to notice is it has in its base two of my favourite black teas: Fujian Black and beloved Ailaoshan Black. At the first sip, I went, whoa!!! This is good.

But what’s that fresh menthol taste that feels like a light winter breeze?

I am told it comes from a high-mountain wild picked purple leaf tea. Same as in my “Gold” tea PORT!

The taste opens with subtle floral notes and quickly transforms into a honeyed creme caramel mouthfeel, I call that feeling “pudding mouth”. It’s thick and coats the entire mouth.

This tea is so smooth and sweet, it will take any steeping abuse. (I tested it!) There also a certain saltiness to be found, a bit like honey crackers if you’ve ever had one.

The smell is out of this world, fresh baked crusty bread.

But what really gets me to the core, is that complex morphing eucalyptus ending. It provides such a warming feeling…a great tea that opens your mind the way a good Sheng does.

Hard to explain how special this is…

If Alice was drinking this Jabberwocky, she’d say the same thing she said after reading the poem:

«Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don’t exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that’s clear, at any rate.»

Well this tea fills my own head with beautiful things….Then who killed what you may ask?

This Jabberwocky… yes, this tea nearly killed me: that’s clear, at a hundred rate :-)

Somewhere out in the Wild Piney Woods dwells a Tea Hobbit, Brendenol PinePeaker. He spends his days in his wild piney woods collecting pine needles to roast, picking mushrooms and dreaming up dreamy teas.

One recent morning, he chortled to himself as he mixed:

“O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

I was chortling the same thing as I sipped this tea. The very first thing you notice as you sip is the sweetness. The honey-nectary sweetness rolls around with the warm bready bottom while a wee bit of minty freshness breezes through at the end. The sweet fruity-floral to me is very slightly reminiscent of that bug-bitten/Oriental Beauty sort of flavor. My beloved malt makes an appearance to keep everything reassuringly grounded.

The Lovely Tea Fairy (LTF) and I were given this tea to preview. As is usual for our first try, we followed the steeping instructions Brenden provided to the letter: ½ tablespoon of tea to 8 ounces of 205 degree water , steeped for 3 minutes – no more, no less. LTF and I are both what I call “heapers and steepers” in that we generally use more tea than called for and we frequently steep for a longer bit of time. We agreed Brenden’s parameters for this were perfect. On the first sip, the following conversation ensued:

LTF: “Oh crap, not another one.”
MzP: “yep.”

I don’t know how The Tea Whiz of the Woods keeps dreaming up these amazing teas that demand a permanent place in my cupboard. But he does. When he says he is a Tea Mixologist, he speaks the truth.

I know the base of Jabberwocky is Fujian Black and I know some of the high mountain wild picked purple leaf tea that is in Port is in there as well. This is not a big chocolate fudge bomb – there might be a very light waft of chocolate here and there, but you don’t immediately think chocolate. This is a medium bodied tea that will serve multiple purposes for me – a sweet comfort after a hard work day, a sprightly little wake up or a nice afternoon treat. This could easily be a daily drinker.

As I write this, I’m sipping on my last little bit, but I know I have more on the way (maybe even today or tomorrow) so I’m not sad, but I am savoring every mouthful, rolling it around my tongue and inhaling the malty-sweet updraft and enjoying that fresh little breeze at the end. It makes me hear this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFvXvfUF-Co&feature=kp

And because I think everyone should read The Jabberwocky as often as possible:
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html

This tea? ‘Tis brillig.