3294 Tasting Notes
I’m getting ready to start on my 3rd cup of black tea this morning!
First, I want to say that the dry leaves are wild & crazy looking, & I like that! Dense, almost black with a green undercast & occasional peek-a-boos of mahogany (that seems to be my word of the day), hint of malty aroma. I struggled with measuring it out, as they are unruly, crazy little snakes, unwilling to conform (kind of like me). In the end, I just put some hefty pinches in my cup (probably way more than the recommended 2 tsp)
Brewed, it is what I’m looking for this morning. A deep brown red, bold mildly malty flavor, & with the addition of a little soymilk & stevia, I’m off to bubble bath land.
Breakfast is over, and I’m relaxing in my sun room, sipping this bold tea, still trying to wake up. The color is a dark honey, the aroma toasty, the flavor is not as malty as I’d hoped, but robust & smooth at the same time. A few granules of stevia for the last sips lift the flavors, & I close my eyes: Collin Farrell winks at me & says, “Ay lass, pass me a sip.”
I’m having a slow morning. Last week I couldn’t sleep, this week I’m having trouble waking up. I hate allergies!
So, Stacy sent me this sample with my order, & I meant to enjoy it much sooner! It sounds so delicious! It is my first cup today, my breakfast tea.
Before brewing: Visually, it reminds me of Arame, a sea veg I used to eat a lot of. Almost black, thin twisted strands, with an underlying greenish tinge & accents of Mahogany. I don’t smell a lot, but it’s allergy season, & although my sinuses aren’t clogged (it goes straight to my lungs), they are still dulled a little. I turn on the kettle…
As I pour the water & breath in the steam, a begin to experience that essence of apricot that everyone has raved about. The beautiful amber color in my cup says, “Drink me”, and I do. My breakfast gets pushed off to the side…
This is a very gentle, mildly sweet tea, with a lovely mouth feel. No need for sweetener here. I had actually planned to add a pinch of stevia to the last couple of sips, to see what came forward, but, alas, it’s too late, I finished the cup! Very tasty, thank you Stacy!
This is my last cuppa the day. I wanted something sweet, soothing, yummy, & here it is! I LOVE love LOVE Ginger, & I also love coconut, & in this tea I get a little of both, & some almond. I always expect more of a Chai taste (& as they’ll tell you at Teavana, it’s also great mixed with Chai). Of course, if I really wanted Chai, I could have brewed some of this. This has some Rooibos, which I usually don’t care for much, but in this tea, I’ll make an exception. I use 1 T (sometimes more)per cup of hot water, leaving a little room at the top for some almond or coconut milk, & some stevia. I wanted a treat, & it is!
After teaching on & off throughout the day, & revisiting my Gaiwan for additional oolong steepings, I needed something different, preferably sweet, & without caffeine. Digging through the cupboard, I came across the Twinings Fresh & Fruity sampler box. There’s not much left in the box, but I figured I’d give this one a try.
It is tart & mildly sweet, more cranberry than rasp, & with the addition of a little stevia, juicy! Really, it’s like warm Koolaid. Now I want something else…
I have a Gaiwan!!
Last Friday morning I was obsessing over photos of Gaiwans on various sites, & I entered “Gaiwan StL” into the search engine, just for the heck of it. St. Louis is a pretty progressive city, so maybe?
That led me to http://www.fragrantcup.com/, a local importer of teas & teaware that I had never heard of. I had to go out & run various errands anyway, so I called him (Eric) up & asked if I could stop by to pick up a gaiwan from his shop. Turns out, he works out of his house, just doing mail order (although he can be hired to serve tea for events). We had a great conversation, & he ended up inviting me to stop by. When I got there, he served me tea, showing me how to use the gaiwan. We had several steepings of an aged & pressed Red Robe, followed by a puerh, & we visited for about an hour. I bought a 4oz gaiwan & an oz of a tea that just came in, 2012 Oriental Beauty (that’s the one with the bug bites, which I wanted to try), & he sent me home with several samples (which will be reviewed at some future time). A very nice guy, & a fun impromptu afternoon!
My first student came at 10:00 this morning, & I know she loves tea, so while she was warming up, I brewed the Hand Picked Summer Tieguanyin from Verdant, to share with her. I quickly realized that it would take 3 steepings to fill our cups, so I did those back to back, pouring into a larger teacup (now I need a larger gaiwan & a pitcher) so that all the flavors would blend. Then I poured into 2 4oz cups to serve. She loved it, I love it! It’s so beautifully fragrant & flavorful, & although the earlier steepings (10 seconds each + or -, which now I think might be too long) were somewhat astringent, I continued steeping & drinking after she left. I have no idea what steeping I’m on now, but it is still a pale green & that creaminess that others have alluded to is starting to come through. I have enough left in my sample to try again another day, so next time I drink it I will pay more attention to each individual steeping & try to document the difference.
I will offer this advice, regarding the gaiwan: Don’t fill it too full!
I think your buying experience was worth the price of the Gaiwan. You were brave to try it out on a student and do multiple steepings on the spot. (get some little cups instead of mugs maybe).
yeah, after spilling a little tea & burning my fingers, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. The cups I have are basically the same size as the Gaiwan, 4 oz. I’m thinking I’ll maybe get a slightly larger Gaiwan later, for sharing tea with another… Otherwise, it’s perfect for me alone.
Vegans, don’t hate me! I used to be a vegan. It started when I was young & lasted until January 1012 (I’m 53, BTW), & I won’t give you the long version, but I was vegetarian/vegan & even into raw for a couple of fairly long stints. I didn’t change to a Paleo lifestyle (meat & veggies) easily, I fought it all the way. Over the years, I developed one food sensitivity after another: Dairy & sugar first, but then gluten, then all grains, then legumes…my guts hurt all the time, I had tendonitis, chronic fatigue, chronic lung problems, etc. I won’t bore you with the long list, but amazingly, within a few months all of those symptoms were gone! With the exception of some seasonal allergies.
I still experiment occasionally to see if I can get away with something, & I always regret it. So I eat locally raised meat & eggs & veggies, & some fruit. I won’t Harp on it, I won’t try to convert you, this is how I am. I loved being a vegan, & I love the way I feel now.
I started the morning with a bowl of soup (homemade chicken stock, ginger, bokchoi, a few slices of the strip steak Tony grilled for me last night, & a egg poached in the soup) & a cup of Matcha. My guts were hurting from my brown rice experiment Saturday night, & nothing soothes the gut like good broth & well cooked veggies. If I’d had some Kim Chi (I need to start a new batch of that, & some other cultured veggies),that would have been good too.
The only appropriate tea for this meal was Matcha, plain old green frothy Matcha! It was a perfect breakfast (for me), the Matcha was creamy & soothing, I feel better already! Now, I hear my 10am students coming in the door. Namaste!
I was a vegetarian for almost five years, but the doctor ordered me off the diet when I was pregnant because my body has a hard time converting iron, so I was nearly anemic, and had no protein stores in my body…
Me too on the legumes, potatoes and some veggies…get VERY sick!!! Weird!
I was a veggie for 7 years as well. I limit meat intake now but still stay away from factory farmed meats.
The longer I’m off grains & legumes, the worse I notice the systemic irritation they cause for me. I’ve also dropped 17 lbs since January. The hard part is, I really loved being a vegan: the food, the politics, all of it. I collect cookbooks (especially the ones with nice pics), & my shelves are like the who’s who of vegetarian & vegan cuisine. I should have a cookbook sale to clear those shelves (and to support my tea habit).
Anyway, I have respect for all dietary choices that others choose to make, in the same way that I have respect for all spiritual paths that others choose to take. There are as many paths as there are people walking… (gee, I need to save that for a song lyric, I think!)
Azz: That’s one of the things I LOVE about St. Louis! We have an awesome locavore scene! There are farmers markets, local markets, etc, & if I can’t find what I want there, well, there’s always ‘whole paycheck’!
So the Bridal Teas today went well. I set up a small pot of Butiki English Breakfast, some hot water & a few herbal tea bags just in case, some iced Ginger Peach (Republic of Tea), grapes, macaroons, & German Rock Sugar. I also let everyone know I had milk & almond milk available.
One bride drank a cup of the English Breakfast (commenting on how delicious it was), the mother of another bride drank iced tea. Everyone else drank water, they were not tea drinkers. Nobody ate the cookies or grapes either. After my Brides left, I finished off the pot of tea, a few grapes, & one of the cookies. I let my sons have the rest. It is a bold brew, a contrast to the sweetness of the cookie & grapes.
enjoy!