Ubacat Send Message

2016 Sheng Olympics

I got 3 steeps into this tea today and hit my caffeine level. I can’t take much caffeine these days (another reason why I hardly have any black teas).

It was a really good sheng. I didn’t take any notes but each steep was honey sweet with woodsy notes. A bit of apricot too and a thick creamy mouth feel to it. Steeped at 90C , 10 sec or less each steep and no bitterness at all. I really enjoyed this one.

My tea from yesterday.

This tea is a masterpiece. Not quite as floral as some oolongs I’ve had but it’s the way the floral blends into the whole picture. There’s so much in the floral aroma and taste. My taste buds are not as sensitive as some so I couldn’t name all the floral notes but osmanthus was definitely there. There was a sweet osmanthus finish with each sip. The tea was smooth and oh so sweet and buttery. I reminded me of a Tie Guan Yin but not a cheap one —a very fine Tie Guan Yin.

Really an amazing tea. A must try tea.

One of my new Spring 2016 teas from Tealyra. I thought when I bought some spring teas I would probably buy from Yunnan Sourcing ; but I needed some herbal teas and couldn’t resist a few of the new spring teas!

This doesn’t have a pleasant smell from the bag. I can’t explain exactly what it smelled like dry but it’s not exactly a pleasant smell.

Brewed up, it’s entirely different. Sweet with hay and cucumber notes. A fruity floral aroma and a bit of apricot in the flavour too. Delicious!

I reviewed this year over a year ago but I still dug up an extra unopened sample a few days ago when going through my teas. Today I have finished off the last speck of this tea. Over a year old and it’s still outstanding. Floral with a creaminess to it.

Still…. I am glad to cross another one off my tea list even though I loved this one. Down to 160 teas. At one time I though around 120-130 was reasonable. Then it ballooned up to about 190 around Christmas. I want to try to keep all my teas under 100 (maybe even 80) but if I can get down to 130 I will be happy!

This is my tea from yesterday.

I really enjoyed this one. Found it very buttery with a bit of fruity taste. Could also pick up faint notes of vanilla. It was very smooth and silky on the tongue. Early steeps didn’t have any bitterness at all but steeps after No3 seemed to have a bit of bitterness creeping in. I wonder if that was because I put too much leaf in the gaiwan? I tend to like my teas on the lighter side and when it comes to sheng I always seem to get a little too much leaf for my liking.

Anyway, if this tea was still available , I would probably order a cake since it was that good.

Having this one this morning. I just brewed in my mug, 30 sec, 80C. It’s very nutty & buttery. I was expecting deep green taste and even though it’s there , the nutty/buttery flavour is what I noticed first. I also pick up vanilla. I wonder if the nutty/buttery flavour is coming from the jackseeds? Overall a pretty good tea. Seemed perfect brewing only for 30 sec.

2016 Sheng Olympics

Are Dexter and I the only ones to try this tea yet? It looks like it.

I picked this tea yesterday because it was a silver needle puerh. I love the white tea pureh cakes. I didn’t see the age of the tea right away… Then I smelled the dry and it smelled faintly of that darned cow dung again. I figured “oh well, it’s pretty faint this time. Give it a chance.”

I gave it 3 rinses just to be sure and did a quick infusion after that. What a surprise! It was like floral fruit. I know that really doesn’t make sense but I kept thinking floral even though I wasn’t getting a floral aroma. We think of floral as a scent and fruit as a taste. At least I do but this was just like floral fruit to me. Next couple of infusions were the same. I took a break from the tea drinking and went back to it later. Somehow it wasn’t quite the same after sitting even though I did a quick rinse.

This was a pretty amazing tea and if I didn’t have too much tea already, I would buy a cake.

I am enjoying this twisted green tea this morning. It is very delicate, vegetal , and light. Perfect for a spring morning. There’s a bit of green bean in there and a faint chestnut. As I take a sip it’s followed by a light sweetness too. I really like it but it’s not my favourite type of green tea. I prefer ones that have a bit more greenness, umami, deeper & sweeter chestnut. However, I would soon get bored with all my greens if they were all alike. This one is definitely different.

Dry this tea smells like cow manure. I gave it 2 quick rinses with water at 95C and then did a quick 3 sec infusion. Still smelled like cow manure. Threw it out and did another infusion. Still smelled like cow manure. Tasted it. Yep, tasted like cow manure. Next infusion it started to get smoother and lose the cow dung taste. Even a bit better next infusion but far from a tasty tea. I think this would have probably been good on infusion 10 or more but I threw it out before that. It did have a good cha qui . I am just not into the aged shengs too much. The energy feel is good from them but I prefer the taste of a younger sheng.

Had this one today. What stood out was the creaminess of it. I only had a few infusions but they were all good. No bitterness. Smooth and creamy with a bit of sweetness. Also a nice stone fruit taste with a bit of sourness. The sour note was not unpleasant at all. In fact quite nice, adding a new dimension to the tea.