tperez Send Message

Very small leaves for a Yunnan black, covered in golden fur. Almost looks like a Jin Jun Mei or other tippy Fujian black. Tastes of sweet potato and wood with a marshmallow-y sweetness and thickness, almost buttery. Sweet potato casserole tea? This would have been a perfect tea to share on Thanksgiving! This is smooth and mild tea, but can get a little sour if overbrewed.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I completely overdid it on the tea orders over Black Friday Weekend… I ordered from:

-Teavivre: Hong Song Zhen black(haven’t tried before) and Tanyang Gongfu black(super yummy), four little ru yao cups, and some samples. Everything I bought was 20% off, I had a ten dollar off coupon from the “lucky draw” and ten dollars worth of rewards points. Got over $50 worth for under $20 including free shipping.

-Mountain Tea Co.: 10.5 oz of their Amber oolong at 10% off. Most of their teas are decent but the Amber oolong is a killer roasted oolong for the price. Stocked up as a daily drinker. $40 dollars shipped, but it will last me a long time.

-Yunnan Sourcing: This is where I went overboard. I had told myself no more YS orders this year. However, I ended up ordering two aged sheng cakes that I had sampled and liked, three (cheapish) ripe cakes, three blacks at 100g each, three tian jian hei cha 50g each, and eleven 25g puerh samples (mostly 2016 autumn and 2017 spring sheng). Over two kilos of tea!

Opening the bag I get a roasty and sugary aroma. Reminds me a bit of kettle corn at the state fair. (In a good way) Brews a medium light orange, a bit lighter than the Rou Gui.

Very rich and thick in the mouth. Notes of rock sugar, caramel, minerals, roast, and flowers with a slight “green” quality. The floral note isn’t airy like jasmine, it’s more thick and heavy like bulb flowers; tulip or hyacinth. Besides sugar and caramel, the sweetness reminds me of a really good, really fresh, really sweet raw onion. That may sound like a turn off, but I mean it in the best way possible. This is a very nice tea, but not as much to my personal tastes as the Rou Gui.

I was very excited to find this aged bai mudan cake for such a low price. Opening the wraper, the tea is crumbly and dusty and smells of a damp basement.

Brews a medium orange. Taste is medicinal and musty with a very thin mouthfeel. None of the thickness and sweet dried fruit flavors that I’ve gotten in other aged white teas. To be honest it’s not very enjoyable and a total letdown.

I will store away the cake and hope that the musty character fades over the coming months. I hope it does, since otherwise there’s no way I could finish this whole cake.

Nice whole dark leaves with a fruity aroma. Brews a light orange. Prominent fruit flavor like ripe melons, cinnamon spicyness, and notes of baked bread, mineral water, and dry wood. Dark chocolate bitterness, low astringency. Puts up with quite a few infusions, considerably more than I am used to for a Wuyi oolong.

This stuff is top notch! Smooth, complex, infusable, and most importantly tasty. This is the best Wuyi oolong I’ve had, can’t wait to try the others that I got from Wuyi Origin.

I’m not the biggest fan of floral oolongs, but this one is quite nice! Comes in a nice 8g “pillow” cake shape, leaves are a mix of green and brown. Brews a dark gold color. Very strong floral aroma. Flavor is honey, flowers, and raw green bean. Lasts a good number of infusions.

Small wiry black leaves with a strong chocolaty aroma. Brews a light orange. The chocolaty taste doesn’t carry over into the taste, it’s more molasses, persimmon, and sweet potato with hints of cinnamon and licorice. Nice tangyness.

It seems there is a lot of variation in Lapsang Souchong teas, and I’m enjoying all of them!

Big burly leaves with a typical “sheng-y” smell. Brews a golden yellow. Low-moderate bitterness and astringency. Tastes of minerals, citrus, melon, and green wood. Nothing mind blowing, but a pretty good and reasonably priced young sheng!

Got this in Dazzle Deer’s 11.11 sampler deal. It’s a pretty good, pretty standard Wuyi oolong. Fruity, roasty, mineral, slight cannabis note. Doesn’t last many steeps.

Pretty darn sure I’ve logged this tea before, but Steepster isn’t showing it. This is a nice clean lower fermentation shou with a strong mineral note. Slight brown sugar sweetness and a fruity flavor.; banana? Moderately thick brothy body. Unlike most shou I get a bit of "qi"feels.

I saw an AWESOME concert last Saturday that had me up all night, and I’m still recovering from it. I had work yesterday and today, so caffeine is my best friend right now.

One of my grandmothers, my dad’s mom, passed away last week. Last night we had a visitation and this morning was the funeral.

Today I drank several teas; YS Assamica gold needle black, YS Fou Shou Wuyi oolong, and YS Shan Hou sheng.

I will miss my grandma greatly, and funerals are of course no fun (I would like a very casual/non-traditional funeral when I pass) but it was great to see the many family members and family friends that I normally only see at Christmas or not at all.

We had a gathering after the funeral at my dad’s house and enjoyed some of my grandma’s favorite foods and drinks; Cuban sandwiches, wine, Millano cookies, and brandy Alexanders. It was a great time reminiscing and reconnecting.

I brewed some dian hong and shared it with a few people, all of whom enjoyed it. One said “It’s kind of like Earl Grey… but better!”

It was all quite nice until everyone had left but my uncle, cousin, and grandpa (who lives with my uncle in Texas). My dad and uncle went to see my grandparents nearby house which is for sale. When the came back the were screaming at each other with wide variety of expletives. My dad and uncle have had a rocky relationship for a long time, and both were slightly drunk, but things broke down to a shouting match and my dad told my uncle never to set foot in his house again.

It was gut wrenching and really hard to watch after my grandma’s funeral. Me and my younger cousin could do nothing but stand by and watch. My dad was crying and grandpa tried to console him. All in all a beautiful day ruined.

I turned to wine until I found myself a bit tipsy and then went for some strong young sheng. I think I’ll cook dinner tonight and try to console my dad.