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Sipdown!

I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by milk oolongs so far, I find they don’t have the level of creaminess that I expect. I do enjoy the peach notes, but green oolongs in general tend to be quite floral, which can be okay but it’s not something I’d choose. Sarsonator put forth the suggestion that I try them western style but with a lower temperature and longer steep, so I figured I’d try that with this one.

The taste is nice but it just doesn’t say “milk” to me. I don’t have much experience with green oolongs so maybe I’m just not seeing the difference here. It does have good peach notes and the floral is at a minimum with this preparation, so that’s nice. It’s mildly vegetal and it reminds me of squash. The aftertaste is all peach and apricot. This tea is quite nice but I think the genre in general is just not for me.

Sipdown!

There was definitely a bit more than a teaspoon left, but I decided to use all of it because it didn’t look like enough for two cups. And it doesn’t seem to have come out super strong or anything weird, so I guess more was okay! I am definitely a fan of roasty notes in tea, and this is as roasty as they come. However, the flavor is definitely more “rough” than other similar teas like genmaicha, some blacks, roasted mate, etc. It reminds me of drinking dry autumn leaves. And while I do find it enjoyable, I tend to prefer the softer roasted flavors of the other roasty teas. So I don’t really feel the need to keep a houjicha around at the moment. Still good though, and thanks again for the sampler, Den’s!

Sipdown!

I half expected this to come out horribly bitter, since it was the bottom of the packet and there was quite a bit of dust. But it didn’t! It’s quite lovely, and the bergamot is subtle but I can still taste it (unlike Paris). However, after trying Nosy Bey, the peach and vanilla elements are just nowhere near as amazing. Although I do concede that this has a slightly different flavor profile, I wouldn’t feel the need to stock both of them. And Nosy Bey definitely wins! This is a lovely tea, but sometimes those Frenchies just can’t be beaten! ;)

I will, however, increase the rating to 85 (previously 83).

Edit: After finishing this, I realized it was mysteriously missing from my Steepster cupboard. And thus I was denied my moment of triumph! Poop!

So I’m trying to pare down my stash a little bit, so I’ve started to go back and finish some of the teas that I’ve already tried, even before I try new ones. Right now I have a ton of 1-2 cup samples and I figured it won’t take long to sip a lot of them down. Plus I was very curious if I still find this one amazing after trying a LOT of Yunnans (technically this tea is Fujian, but it tastes way more similar to Yunnan teas in my opinion). I also tried just a tad bit longer steep (2m30s instead of 2m).

And the verdict is: this tea is super fantastic and delicious! I will most definitely be picking some up during the black & oolong portion of TeaVivre’s 3rd anniversary sale in August. Bread notes have been very common among Yunnan teas I’ve tried, but this one has the most amazing creamy and smooth pastry note, especially during the second half of the sip and the aftertaste. It reminds me of white tea, and it’s so delicious! This may be my favorite straight black tea so far. I need to try the “wee snaily yums” again to compare. Cannot thank Nicole enough for sending me this one! THANKS NICOLE! ;) I’m glad that this wasn’t a sipdown, I have one more cup left!

SO GOOD! <3 BUMPING IT TO 95!

Another freebie from Shadowfall. I’m kind of trying to get through all the samples I have, tried and untried, and these little single serving ones make it really easy on me. :P This has a strong cinnamon scent, with some clove and orange in there somewhere. I expected it to be similar to the Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice that I have in my cupboard. I originally steeped it for 3 minutes, but then I put it back in for 2 more because it didn’t seem strong enough.

Even after the 5 minute steep it’s nowhere near as strong on the spices as I expected. I find this to be more similar to Kusmi’s Prince Vladimir. It definitely has that more subtle French-style flavoring, and I can taste the base tea. The cinnamon, clove, and orange is more of an accent flavor than I expected. Not bad, but I find the base tea to be unremarkable, just kind of a has a somewhat malty generic taste. It’s not at all unpleasant, but not something that I would drink plain. I also added sugar to bring out more of that orange and cinnamon taste. Not bad!

Shadowfall sent me a bag of this as a free sample with my purchases from her stash sale. I don’t drink many bagged teas, but the convenience is a welcome change. :P When I opened the packet, I was immediately hit by a lovely juicy scent. It’s definitely a combination of mango and peach, maybe with some tart apricot in there. Smells amazing! I steeped for 3 minutes, which was the maximum recommended by the package.

I’m actually finding this quite enjoyable. The flavor is certainly not true-to-life or anything, but it’s pleasant enough and the level of flavor is good. The base tea is fairly strong, and it’s a bit woody and malty. I did add some sugar to mine, so I can’t really comment on bitterness, but mine certainly doesn’t have any. A tad bit drying, but nothing terrible. Overall, I like this a lot given the convenience!

Another Nicole (and possibly boychik) tea! This looks quite similar to the Yi Mei Ren I had earlier today, but the leaves are thinner. Same jet black spindly texture though. Spider legs! Their dry scent is very mild, I think it’s probably because the tea has been in a clear resealable bag for a while, so most of the scent is gone. Smells lightly of honey, malt, and raisin. I brewed for 3 minutes.

The aroma is very chocolaty, which I was not expecting! There’s also quite a bit of malt along with honey, molasses, and raisin notes. As soon as I taste this, I notice that it has that fennel seed-like spice note, and quite a bit of it. It’s interesting because the other two teas I’ve had with a similar flavor are both Yunnan, while this is a Fujian tea. I wonder why that is… Anyway, the flavor is very malty and deep with molasses adding a background richness, but not sweetness. This tea is definitely quite savory. I don’t get as much cocoa as I would expect from the aroma, but it’s there a little bit. I would describe it as roasted cacao nibs.

Definitely an interesting and enjoyable tea. I find myself wanting to go eat some spices until I find out exactly what that herbaceous spice note is!

Also, no one else mentioned the spice in their notes… But I found it extremely obvious. Is that weird or what?

Another gong fu adventure today! I loved this tea when I tried it western style, and I figured oolongs are generally good candidates for gong fu brewing, right? I was in the mood for raisiny autumn loveliness. I used the same vessels as last time, two 10 ounce mugs, the first one with a lid for brewing, and the second for drinking out of. I used TeaVivre’s parameters for a similar tea, but altered the amount of tea based on TheTeaFairy’s suggestion of 1 gram of tea per 1 ounce water.

The method: 4g tea in 4oz water, 185 degrees F, 10s rinse/30/45/60/70/80/90/100s

Rinse (10s): very light flavor with pastry, honey, golden raisin. A promise of things to come! :D

Steep 1 (30s): light pastry with honey, hint of autumn leaves, raisin (not golden)

Steep 2 (45s): stronger pastry with toasted nuts and honeyed raisins, underlying roasty leaves

Steep 3 (60s): very raisiny with fig, honey becomes molasses, autumn leaves, roasted grain

Steep 4 (70s): very similar to steep 3

Steep 5 (80s): roasted grain changes back to pastry, golden raisin, honey (my favorite steep)

Steep 6 (90s): flavor becoming much lighter, pastry with lightly toasted almonds

Steep 7 (100s): too light, somewhat similar to rinse, reminds me of white tea with its hay notes

I had a lot of fun and I loved seeing the flavor of this change, and then change back to almost the same as the early steeps. Very interesting. And I enjoyed all the permutations in between! I really want to try more oxidized oolongs now, especially if they’re similar to this one.

One question, I noticed a few of the steeps had a little bit of underlying bitterness. Not enough to make them less enjoyable, but I just wondered why it was there. Any ideas or suggestions would be good! :D

This sample is from Nicole. I’m still working on your box, I promise! :P The leaves are very dark and spindly, a look that I associate with Taiwanese blacks. The leaves themselves are very large, and there are a lot of broken pieces too, which I can see being unavoidable with a tea this fragile. There are also some stems included. The dry scent is all honey and pastry with some dried fruits. I steeped for 2 minutes, but I think I could’ve gone for 3.

The brewed tea smells very dark and malty, with cocoa and sweet raisin notes. Very different from the dry leaf! The taste is not super heavy, most likely because of the shorter steep. It is definitely malty, and there’s a nice dark grain note that isn’t quite like bread. There’s something roasty and toasty about it. I definitely get a bit of bittersweet cocoa, and there’s a lovely rich molasses flavor combined with slightly sweet dark dried fruits (cherries, raisins). I definitely taste an herbaceous spice note, and it reminds me of fennel seed. I notice as this tea cools, I get less of the fruitiness and more of the spice.

A very lovely tea! It reminds me in some ways of Full Steam by Hugo, mostly because of that savory spice. I think next time I’ll try 3 minutes and see how it changes.

Another freebie sample from Shadowfall! I’ve never had tulsi before, but this sounded like a nice spice or citrus blend for the evening. Dry, it smells pretty spicy with some lemon in there. I steeped for 5 minutes.

I actually really like this tea! After taking a sip, I added about half a teaspoon of sugar. I like lemon better when it’s a little bit sweet, though not quite at lemon drop status. The lemon is definitely the main flavor in this tea. I’m not sure I detect anything that could be the tulsi, but I have no idea what it tastes like so it’s hard to say. I do get a little bit of the mint in there somewhere, and it gives a nice cooling sensation. The spice hides until the end of the sip and the aftertaste, where I get the kick of the pepper/cinnamon and the ginger makes my tongue tingle. Overall, this is a very likable tea, although I could’ve done without the ginger. :P