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ok…I’m embarrassed to admit that while I spent all of yesterday afternoon drinking this tea, I didn’t write anything down and seem to have amnesia about it.
I do remember that it was enjoyable, a little bitter at the beginning but not in a bad way, and gradually sweeter, and it had a nice tanginess. Also a little shroomy brothiness at some point.
I know…that’s pretty generic…sorry…

I had eye surgery a few days ago, so now I’m sitting around wearing sunglasses, basically doing nothing, except sipping tea & listening to podcasts, while I wait for the swelling to go down. In order to read, I have the words on the screen expanded to a ridiculous size, but other than reading a few tea reviews, I’m mostly sitting around with my eyes closed.

So, I swear I wrote a review about this tea a few years ago, but it is nowhere to be found, so I guess not. This tea was a $1 sample that Life in Teacup was selling a few years ago, and of course, with a pic of Che on the wrapper, who could resist, right? I didn’t buy a whole cake, just the sample, but somewhere I’m sure someone has that wrapper framed and mounted. Just because it’s cool looking :)

7g + yixing X 10/20/30/40/…

I’m steeping in pairs, as I often do, so one round is actually 2 steeps, but sipped separately.
The first round is mildly sweet, with a creamy sensation, and faint undertones of molasses, toasted barley, and well composted pine needles. Nothing fancy, but pleasant enough.
Round two adds a little bolder coffee-like depth, and a thicker resinous quality.
Round three less sweet, more savory, kind of like a chewy barely sweetened (black strap molasses) whole grain bread.
Next round same, with a slightly grassy aftertaste…make that sweet grass…
The next 2 steeps are 90 seconds, and 2 minutes. Nothing new, still drinkable, but fading.
I might go a few more rounds @ 3,4,and 5 min, but I need to take a break for lunch because too much tea on an empty stomach = not so good for me.
However, all in all, this is a pleasant little shu. Nothing complex or particularly nuanced, but there aren’t any off flavors too it, & @ 15G for $1, I’m not complaining.

Mild and woody, with a satisfying bitter note at the beginning & a rising caramel undertone in later steeps, this tea is very smooth and seems to go on and on. I’ve been sipping infusions for most of the day, and it’s been a pleasant companion.

My Sheng session of the day, this one is almost like drinking green tea!
I’ve mostly been working on a music project today, sipping tea throughout, so I haven’t really taken any notes, but I’ll try to say something…
Very clean, green and fresh tasting…
A fruity cup with the sweet aroma, tang, and essence of apricot, newly mown hay, and some variety of spring harvested green tea…one of the fresher ones, not a toasted one. I haven’t been drinking much in the way of green teas lately, so I’m not gonna try to name a variety or anything like that…

This tea has beautiful big leaves that hydrate up nicely and the flavors continue onward for many cups. It was nice all the way. The green tea taste was most prominent in the first round, hay in the later rounds, a slightly bitter round, and then it got a little sweeter, although this is one of those teas that smells sweeter than it is. Nice tongue tingle.

This tea has a nice energy, but not over the top. I feel uplifted, but not into the clouds.
That’s all I’ve got.

OK, so I don’t really have much to say about this one, even though I’ve been sipping it all afternoon. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. I just that I’m not feeling particularly poetic today, and I can’t think of much to say.
It has a pleasant tanginess & a kind of fresh taste, which I like. And it’s very ‘clean’ tasting, no musty shroomness or anything.
The leaf is beautiful, and hydrates up very quickly, with a fresh light green color.
It’s not overly sweet, although it smells like it should be sweetish, but that sweetness never did materialize.
The flavor profile stayed the same throughout: Green apricot, creme of wheat cereal, and fresh hay
Also not really a huge dose of chaqi on this one, just a very mild buzz. Very mild.
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OK, so I’ve popped back in and edited this 3 times, LOL
One more comment, which is the taste of olive leaf in the later steepings, and some bitterness that is satisfying, but not over the top.

It’s raining here in St. Louis. It’s been raining all day. That makes it a perfect day for tea, right? Not to say that every day isn’t a perfect day for tea, because really, I drink tea all day every day. But something about a damp rainy day that is somewhat cool, like today, puts me in the mood for making a pot of soup & long tea sipping sessions. And so, I continue on my quest to sample all of the Life in Teacup samples that have been loitering in my shelves, waiting for their opportunities to shine.
My formula = 7G + 120ml yixing
I kept it real short at first, like maybe 5 – 7 seconds?
quick rinse
The first steep – interesting milky kind of feeling, nice and smooth, even reminded me of the taste of milk somehow
2. tangy green plum, hinting at sweet, but not really.
3. More green plum, but also a bitter note on the back of the tongue, which will hopefully pass, because there is bitter, and then there is Bitter, and its the later of the two.

I continued on through several more steepings, but quit counting. The bitterness became a little tingly as well, kind of like Hops, with a nice ‘green’ taste.
That milky quality came back, but more of a feel than a flavor.
It never did really get sweet. The plum idea went away and was replaced with more of a persimmon dryness.
That’s all I’ve got.
Enjoy the weekend, everybody!

I’m not sure if this is the right tea, as mine doesn’t have the word “Alkaid” on it. I know I got it as part of a sample set a year or 2 ago, and I’m finally drinking it.

So…I’ve been sipping this tea all afternoon & evening, per the usual Sheng parameters…and I don’t really have much to say about it, not because it isn’t good, but because in between sips I’ve had several students, a few hours of practicing for an orchestra concert this sunday, and some time spent in the garden, ‘obtaining a yield’, as we say in the permaculture world (aka harvesting veggies and stuff).

So what can I say about this tea…
it gives a good tea buzz, which interestingly seems to be centered on the left side of my brain, that’s a little different…
It’s a little rough on the tummy, so that I had to take a few breaks to ingest carbs, in the form of plantain chips, to avoid queasiness…
It’s a little on the bitter and astringent side for me, however it is very clean tasting, no mustiness at all.
Tastes like…hay, mainly. Kind of a strong grassy taste overall. Very herbaceous, although in the later steepings I got a hint of weird fruit loops kind of taste/aroma, LOL

I’m finally working my way through the various tea samples I got a year or 2 ago from Life in Teacup. I didn’t drink my daily quart of Nettles over the weekend, so this morning my allergies are back to full bloom, resulting in overall irritation and headache, and low motivation. I’ve been sipping nettles all morning, and starting to feel improvement, and so I’ll take a break from that herb and sip some shu for awhile.

Sometimes when drinking Shu I treat it like black tea, 4 Grams in a standard cup steeped for 3 minutes, followed by a resteep of 5min. For this tea I broke out the yixing and am going with a parameter 6G X 10sec/15/20/etc, or something like that. I’m still pretty fog-headed, so my counting might not be exactly accurate today. Anyway, each Round is 2 steeps, combined in a mug.

The initial aroma of the rinsed leaf reminded me of cream of wheat with a little honey in it, and the taste of the first round even reminded me of that, in a way, with a hint of a dark chocolate base note. It was actually very sweet! And very smooth as well. And very dark!

Round 2 is more of the same, but with a buttery taste to it, and I’m thinking of a bowl of Hominy with butter, and a side of whole wheat toast. This round is not as sweet as the first, and has what I like to think of as a Matte Finish (I don’t know how to explain what that means, but lets just say it’s smooth but not too shiny?). I can feel a sense of electricity starting to happen, as if my synapses are rebooting, and it feels good.

That’s all for now. I’ll keep sipping, and report back if I have anything to share.

I’ve been enjoying this one today, and am glad to finally be going through the Life in Teacup samples I got a year or 2 ago (has it really been that long?)
So…usual parameters…, yishi, short time, etc, combining 2 rounds at a time in one mug, so that I could carry it around with me and sip while I was teaching this morning.

This is a savory broth of wood and maybe a little smoke, with an underlying bitter base note that I found satisfying overall. It has a very clean mouthfeel & taste. This is one of those teas that is probably more about effect than taste, and very quickly there was an electric current flowing from my tongue to my brain, awakening all of my tastebuds and neuro-synapses up and down my spine, spreading to all my extremities and leaving me with a mixed sensation of heightened awareness and relaxed acceptance. Perfect for gardening, so I’m headed out the back door right now!

I’ll come back for more steeps this afternoon, as I’m sure there is a lot left to these leaves

This tea has been in my stash for awhile, so it’s time to sample it, finally.
I went through all the usual gongfu protocol…I’m not going to insult the collective intelligence and experience of this group to describe it in minute detail…
So this tea is smooth and sweet from the first sip, kind of with a creamy vanilla mouth, and essence of tangerine and sandalwood. It kind of reminded me of root beer, for some reason. There is a lingering sweet aftertaste of sandalwood and honeysuckle flowers, and by the 3 and 4 steeps it was rich with a thick quality and an almost cloying sweetness. Sadly, this was about the same time my soft palate started itching. I took a few sips of the next few steeps, but the itching only got worse spreading to my sinuses & eyes, and so the tea had to be retired early. Too bad, I was just starting to get a buzz on. And it’s a very tasty tea as well.
I regret not being able to carry it all the way through the rounds :(