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Sipdown no. 13 of April 2019 (no. 62 of 2019 total, no. 550 grand total). A sample.

Another single serving Bana pu erh sample. I rinsed with boiling water and let it sit for 15 minutes (actually more) and then steeped in the gaiwan at boiling for 5/5/7/7/10/10/20/30/40/60

It is similar to the Purple Tip of yesterday, in that it has a sort of a smoky/dusky aspect to the aroma and flavor. I didn’t find the mouthfeel as oily, and the color is a bit different — pale yellow with particulate matter in it for the first couple of infusions turning to a darker gold-apricot.

I kept going back and forth between the Purple Tip and this one as to which I like better. The do have similar aromas and flavors. Just when I’d convince myself that the Purple Tip was richer, though, I’d have a steep that made me think this one was — and just when thought that this one was a lot more smoky than the Purple Tip, a steep would reverse that impression.

It has a lot of the same character, at least to me. I consistently taste butter/white chocolate/cocoa in sheng. This one also had a coffee note in the third steep that I think came from the combination of smoke and cocoa.

But it also has a sort of a cool, menthol aspect to the aftertaste which I didn’t get with the Purple Tip. It leaves a very soft feel in the mouth.

I had this while trying to binge watch the original Dr. Who through a trial with Britbox. I’ve watched some Dr. Who from time to time, never religiously, though I watched all of Torchwood and quite liked it.

But now I’m going to say something certain to provoke strong reactions. I am not enjoying the original first season much at all.

First of all, I know it was 1963-64 but the production values are pretty awful. The acting is like strong amateur acting, not really professional. The writing is ponderous. It goes on and on and on about a very simple plot point and then some woman screams, and then it goes on and on again. Not much substance.

I’m also not liking the directing — the cave men speak perfect 20th century English! So do the other folks from other planets.

Indeed, I found the first series with the cavemen borderline unwatchable. The second, with the Daleks is sort of campy and has fun moments, but for the most part, also ponderous.

I feel kind of sad that I feel this way. I had such high hopes.

Maybe it will get better. I hope so.

Well dammit, I accidentally deleted my sipdown note for this. I had two note pages opened in two different browser windows, and I deleted a blank note. But that somehow deleted what I’d written? Who knows.

Anyway, it was a one-line note so I can recreate it pretty easily. :-)

Sipdown no. 10 of April 2019 (no. 59 of 2019 total, no. 547 grand total).

It made a very nice iced tea, too.

Sipdown no. 12 of April 2019 (no. 61 of 2019 total, no. 549 grand total). A sample teabag.

This is the sample teabag that killed my Zojirushi! It will no longer pump the water up into the cup. Arghhh!

But I still love the tea. I ordered quite a bit of it before Lupicia went goodbye, and it still deserves its high rating in my book.

Sipdown no. 11 of April 2019 (no. 60 of 2019 total, no. 548 grand total). A sample.

A while ago, I bought a packet of Bana pu erh samples. It turns out, these are the perfect size for a single tasting in my gaiwan.

I intended to taste and write about this one last weekend, but after rinsing and letting the leaves sit, I never got to it. So I let the leaves dry out, and then I tried again this weekend. I rinsed again and let set for more than 15 minutes.

Then: gaiwan, boiling, 5/5/7/7/10/10/20/30/40/60

The liquor started out almost opaque and gold, and with subsequent steeps became clear and amber. The mouthfeel had some interesting changes in the middle steeps. A couple of them were so smooth as to verge on oily.

The aroma and flavor didn’t change much from steep to steep. It’s a little smoky, a sort of dusky aspect. Also a bit more fruity than some others I’ve had, apple maybe? But the primary aroma and flavor was the buttery, white chocolate, cocoa flavor I’ve come to expect from shengs.

This one isn’t bitter, and isn’t sweet. But it has character.

This is one of the last black teas in my cupboard that I had rated 80, and after going through all the other ones, this is the one I think deserves a bump.

The flavor is naturally sweet and an almond that doesn’t taste like flavoring. It’s well-integrated into the base, as are most Mariage Freres flavored teas.

We’ll see how it compares to the higher rated black teas, but it doesn’t belong among the last few 80s.

Sipdown no. 9 of April 2019 (no. 58 of 2019 total, no. 546 grand total).

Chocolate mint teas have a hard row to hoe with me. I love the idea of Girl Scout thin mints in a cup, but that’s almost never what I get. Usually it is a problem of balance in the blend. Almost always too much mint. Every once in a while, not enough mint.

I gave this one relatively high marks because I thought the balance was better than most, though the chocolate could have been given a bit more of a boost. I stand by that original assessment.

It would be wonderful, one day, to find Girl Scout thin mints in a cup…

Sipdown no. 8 of April 2019 (no. 57 of 2019 total, no. 545 grand total).

I stand by my original note on this one — definitely a tasty and satisfying Ceylon with the typical “tea” taste (like Nestea only much, much better).

I thought about whether to uprate it and I’m on the fence. I think if I were tasting it today for the first time, I’d rate it about the same. So I’m sticking with the original rating.

This sample packet has two “nests” in it, each individually wrapped.

Unwrapped, the leaves are light colored — they almost look like white tea leaves — and rather long. They’re tightly compressed. I rinsed and planned to let sit for 15 minutes before trying this yesterday, but then I ended up not getting to it. So the leaves sat overnight. I rinsed again this morning.

Then: gaiwan, boiling, 5/5/7/7/10/10/20/30/40/60

The liquor is a sort of golden apricot color in the early steeps. The flavor is mild. Not sweet exactly, but not bitter either.

I get the same general aromas and flavors that I get from other shengs — butter, white chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toffee — but also with a bit of smoke on this one.

The flavors are all quite smooth, which makes them seem a bit muted. But to me, that is an ok trade-off.

I am slowly but surely getting through my pu erh samples. It’s starting to seem like a bit of a chore now, here at the end, to get initial notes done on all of them.

On the flipside, I’m very much enjoying the result of having made it through my entire cupboard with initial tasting notes. Mostly this means I get to drink the tea and just enjoy it, without feeling the need to think about it enough to record a note. Sipdown notes are so much easier, since I only note the difference between my initial tasting note and the sipdown, if any.

In any case, I don’t know whether it’s that I don’t have a sophisticated enough palate, or whether I am not tasting the right teas, but I am finding that the shengs I taste all sort of taste the same. They mostly vary in whether there’s a smoky note or not, and in degrees of intensity of flavor.

I was expecting a much bigger difference in aroma and flavor from steep to steep than I typically get.

Which doesn’t mean I don’t like them. It just means it seems like a lot of trouble to go through multiple steeps for not very much ROI.

Sipdown no. 7 of April 2019 (no. 56 of 2019 total, no. 544 grand total). A sample.

I got a second sample of this when I ordered some cute little glass cups to replace one that broke.

And now that I have some really unpleasant congestion going on, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to have this. This time around, I get a bit of everything, even the orange.

But my original description was pretty spot on. So I’m sticking with it.

Sipdown no. 6 of April 2019 (no. 55 of 2019 total, no. 543 grand total). A sample.

I was looking for the entry for another American Tea Room pu er that I’m planning to try a sample of today and saw that I’d rated this one below 80. Since I’m currently sipping down my lowest rated teas and this one is on the lower side, as well as, according to my prior note, not one I found very special, I thought I’d take the opportunity to add to my sipdown count and polish off the last of the sample.

I made it western style, and it’s actually kind of nice to have a big cup full that I don’t have to think too much about — just enjoy the warmth and the relative mildness on my congested sinuses. I don’t have any great epiphanies that I feel I need to add to my notes on this — the original note captures it pretty well.