Liquid Proust Teas

Sipdown (341)

I’ve tried this a couple times now and have been somewhat meh about it. I guess that’s why I haven’t written a note yet. Unfortunately I thought it would be nice to use the last of the leaf for a chocolate milk latte and it’s just not working. The tea is just too brisk combined with a lot of nuttiness that is making this taste like wood. The chocolate milk tries to undercut that but its efforts are fruitless. I think this tea is just not for me.

GCTTB (round 6) entry

Loved this take on a classic! I think I steeped it too weak, but I’ll try it again stronger soon. I definitely found the citrus came through nicely. The spices (bergamot) are citrusy too, there could be other spices also, but I was eating a pecan tart and couldn’t tell what came from each. What I like most about it is the flower petal addition. They make this blend sooo pretty, and that makes me want to buy a bunch to keep in my clear glass container.

Drank this yesterday while at rhinke’s dad’s holiday gathering. Figured it would be a good idea to take something we could easily prepare western style and I was right. Brewed up a nice, deep red that was super smooth and thick in texture, with a sweet, rich taste with notes of cocoa, subtle caramel and a comforting creaminess. The flavors opened up more over a couple of subsequent steeps, which I always appreciate being able to get when gong the western route as I tend to for blends.

Definitely an enjoyable drink, and it was the perfect choice for navigating chilly kitchen conversations with new people during this time of year.

Andrew, this makes a great cocktail, or good infuser tea with alcohol. If that’s a way to describe what I did. Anyway.

I decided to see how this would blend with an alcoholic beverage. I steeped some of this tea with the New Zealand Starborough Sauvignon Blanc and it turned out beautifully. It took about two days to fully develop, but I got a gush of florals and blueberry that played into the natural crispness of the wine. It might have been better with a sweeter wine or some honey, but it was great with the semi-dry one.

In conclusion: this is a great tea to blend with other ingredients and to make cocktails.

Hot brew! And…the smell was little bit off putting because it reminded me of a blueberry flavored Flintstone Vitamin, but the taste was actually pretty nice. It did not defer too much from the cold brew with the exception of the blueberry being a little bit sweeter. Some florals were there, but they were more white tea florals than oolong florals. I don’t know if other people would get the florals, however. I tasted some thicker oolong texture, but that was it from that tea for me. More like drinking dew than anything else. I do miss the Peach Dong Ding a little bit, though.

Man this makes one beautiful cold brew. I love how all the leaves play together. And man, are the oolong leaves HUGE.

I need to try this hot eventually, but this tea worked out nicely for a cold brew. I mostly get blueberry and delicate florals. Or a fresh green leaf that had blueberry cotton candy pass by it’s dew. This was nice with a hint of sugar or honey, but whether I wanted to add sweetener depended on my mood. Cold brews depend on my mood period. Let’s see if I make good on the making the tea hot goal.

And now, to plow through the rest of my copious amounts of tea.

I tried looking this up and the website suggested “Winter Tongue”. So if sticking your tongue out and putting it on a lamp pole in the cold were a tea, this would be it?

No. Winter Tongue is not this tea. This tea is liquid cinnamon Altoids. I like them very much. Mint teas are hit or miss for me. The mint’s got to taste fresh. Otherwise, the tea needs a few other ingredients to offset the dryness. This mint tea was not that dry because Andrew used peppermint, but its natural dryness blended nicely with the cinnamon and the occasionally roasted qualities of the Da Hong Pao. I did not taste the oolong so much the first time, but I tasted the mineral rock oolong in the far background when I’ve used more leaf. Emphasis on the profile being in the FAR background.

I think this tea would have wide appeal. One of the teachers I work with really enjoyed it and he is more of a coffee drinker, though he has his own tea cabinet in a Star Wars and Harry Potter themed class room (#my teacher goals). If you have had cinnamon Altoids, or just Altoids, then you know what this tea tastes like and weather to buy it.

I was craving me some vanilla char. The first steep is light enough for a desert on an empty stomach.

I am finally getting to this tea never mind I’ve drank it for the past month. There is a long relationship I’ve had with roasted Tie Guan Yin.

Here’s the story. When I started my Steepster quest, I was an ex black coffee drinker trying to give up my old habit. Dark roasted oolongs were often recommended to such a drinker, and thanks to Andrew, I got into the world of oolong. He was nice enough to teach me with a series of samples. A few of those samples were aged and roasted Tie Guan Yins, which had the oddest taste I’ve had in a tea. I can dig some roast and some vanilla in the natural profiles of my tea, but this particular variety tastes and smells like mahogany paint stain. Ever since, there was only one dark Tie Guan Yin that I really enjoyed was one from Whispering Pines. Andrew and I both liked it, and while he was far more experienced and became even more experienced with aged teas, I was still left wanting. I continued to drink coffee anyway.

So while he is concocting his experimental blends, he decided to use some of his vanilla flavoring skills (insert white joke here) to revive something out of this old Tie Guan Yin. The antique table taste is still there with its charred texture, but sweetened by the vanilla. The vanilla might be just enough to convince a tea nooby, but a newbie who drinks black coffee. A more experienced or intermediate tea drinker who loves roast and vanilla are the best targets in my opinion. The wood and char taste might dissuade a few.

Summary: If you are one of those old souls who loves the smell of leather books, mahogany, and the taste of a warm, roasted drink in the morning, this is your tea.

Latte Sipdown (335)!

Finished this one off at work as a latte; with extra foam and a vanilla agave drizzle on top!

This one actually works better for me as a latte than a lot of other, normal EG blends do. The main reason, I think, is just ‘cause the bergamot in here is fairly mellow in the first place so it’s more of a creamy, soft smooth flavour with a mild overarching bergamot flavour than an intense bergamot heavy profile that I’d get from something like, say, DT’s classic Earl Grey or even the Cream of Earl Grey…

I mean, I like bergamot – but I don’t want to drown in it.

This one is also nice though because of the fruity element. To be honest, it’s never really tasted distinctly like pomegranate to me and even as a latte I still didn’t get any real distinct fruit notes/flavours but there’s something to this one that just conveys fruit. I’d say it’s sort of just very light/mild generic red fruit notes, if I had to describe it. A coworker did try this latte, and she thought it was kind of like a SUPER light and creamy strawberry flavour though, for what it’s worth.

Anyway! Point is, as far as EG based lattes go this was pretty mild mannered but still really good/smooth! It was a nice way to finish up this tea. I don’t think I’ll really miss having this one in my cupboard though; I’m not a HUGE EG person anyway, and of LP’s creations that used bergamot I still vastly adore the Peach Formosa oolong so if I’m going to feel sad about running out of any LP creation then that’s the one I’d be mourning…

Oversteeped this one while I was closing up the store the other night – I was pretty distracted by the paperwork I was filling out, and closing up the registers. My bad!

I added in some milk and the smallest pinch of cane sugar to smooth it over though, and it worked out pretty good. Strong bergamot notes for sure, with fruitier jammy undertones. It also had a weird floral thing going on? Sort of lavender-ish, which was very weird to me because there’s no reason this one should taste like lavender. Oh well.

Midday cuppa, drank alongside a tasty treat that I’ll write about at a later date when I have the photos for it uploaded…

Hint, it involved tea infused chocolate.

Anyway; this cuppa was pretty good but I definitely didn’t let it brew quite long enough because it was noticeably weak/watery tasting. Consequently, the fruity notes of the blend/pomegranate weren’t overly present. The bergamot was still fairly strong though, for an understeeped cuppa.

Steeped this one up the other day at work;

We all agreed that it definitely tasted more like a fruity pomegranate/berry tea than an early grey. Like, light fruity pomegranate with more of a very light bergamot undertone. Very smooth, and still a great early morning option. I actually really like that it’s less weighted towards the bergamot though!

I don’t know if the pomegranate comes through to me as a clear and defined flavour, but as I’m enjoying a hot mug of this while just resting/recuperating I can say that it does come off as a little more fruity than your average EG; it’s just in a little bit more of a generic way than I’d expected it to be. Very smooth drinking though; I think the balance of bergamot to the actual base is done really tastefully.

Just based on first impressions, I like LP’s other bergamot blend (the Peach Formosa) a lot better though…

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3g9US1aNN4

I heard great things about this one, but pu’erh in general is not my thing and I think I’m still too much of a novice to get into this. The flavor was okay, but I really didn’t like the smell (which was strong, whether it was dry leaf, wet leaf, or the brew itself). I didn’t get rum from this either. Mainly I tasted the earthy/spicy notes I’ve found in most pu’erhs. Slightly disappointed because I adored Liquid Proust’s Nostalgia, but again, I think this is just not my genre of tea.

GCTTB DAY 7

Wow, this tea is amazing! I don’t know anything about dianhong, as I’ve never tried it before, but I must say that this flavoured version is absolutely delicious. I only used one ball this morning for a quick steep. It had barely begun to open up so once I get home I will try a couple more steeps to see how the flavours change. It smelled decadently sweet and creamy – some of the notes I got were vanilla, custard, butter, and whipped cream. To be honest, I’ve never had authentic french toast before (that I can remember), so I am unsure how well it holds up the the expected flavours, but on its own it’s extremely flavourful without being overly sweet. Smooth, creamy, and quite rich. I am pretty excited to see how this tea changes with more steeps.

This stuff is so good. It’s like drinking a dessert or having a sweet snack. Buttery with a truly sugary sweetness, just the right amount of roast, a warming, enveloping depth, and a distinct honey aroma. So glad I decided to stock up on a bit of this.

Also, I have had too much caffeine today.

I just have to add that I steeped these same leaves countless times over several days and was still getting flavor from them to the very end, and they never fully unfurled.

Got a lovely handwritten note from LP with tips on brewing this to AMAZING status. 6g/100ml 20s @ 95C.

AMAZING. This is so good. It smells very roasty, but steeps out such a light gold that is just instantly sweet and creamy.

Second steep comes out a bit deeper in color and is like the slightly darker bit of cornbread that rhinkle makes. Not quite burnt, but just more well-done enough for the honey to carmelize.

The longer I go on with this one, the more the roasted notes emerge. Smooth, creamy roast. This deliciousness has carried me through the afternoon.

Sipdown (218)!

Not a true sipdown because I still had a cup of this left, but I just had to share it with my coworker Sarah because she absolutely adores both white teas and teas with really delicate, supple fruit notes – and this is both. I hope she loves it!

As for my last cup of it, I chose to try it out iced with a touch of honey – meaning I’ve now had this cold brewed, iced and hot. Of the three preparation styles, there weren’t any I disliked but I do think this one produced the mildest flavour overall. It was just a very, very light bodied taste overall with really delicate notes of blueberry with fresh floral undertones. I think I would have liked to see a bit more of a headyness to the floral side of the tea, but the blueberry was really beautiful in how delicate it was and the combination of its own natural sweetness and the light additional sweetness of the honey was solid.

Also, the liquor colour was a brilliant and very clear lilac – and that just adds something really unique and special to the tea overall that’s hard to find elsewhere.

First tea of the morning.

I really like this tea/food/cooking thing I’ve had going on for a while – I don’t know, something about curating food and tea pairings or incorporating it into my cooking makes me feel really… at peace. It’s therapeutic, in a way.

So today’s breakfast was steel cut oatmeal with almond shavings and a side of cooked peach slices and pineapple cubes and then a big, hot mug of this tea. I know LP recommend cold brewing it, but I’m a rebel – and really I was craving hot tea this morning because when I woke up I was just freezing. I liked the pairing a lot though; something about a hearty breakfast and then such a mild, smooth tea worked for me even though in theory it shouldn’t because I didn’t match the “intensity” of the meal and drink like we’re trained to as sommeliers. I think that’s because the focus of the pairing was less so on the oatmeal itself, and more so on the cooked fruit side dish. The sweetness and tropical notes of the peach/pineapple combo was a nice tie in to the supple, natural blueberry notes. I think on their own the cooked fruit would have been too intense for just the oatmeal, but the natural, stripped down tasting blueberry grounded the robustness a little bit while also itself benefiting from the sweetness of the cooked fruit since it was a little milder/less impactful on its own.

The tea also had some nice floral notes which, although they didn’t tie in seamlessly with the meal, were pleasant on their own too.

It was a very nice way to kick start my day.

Tonight’s cold brew…

I wasn’t sure what I was going to think about this tea to be honest – and in fact I’m still a little undecided on it now that I’m drinking it. I enjoy the blueberry notes I’m getting a lot and appreciate that they’ve very natural and not overly sweet, but that said the flavour is a little delicate/fragile overall and I can’t help but wish for something a bit more bold. I’ll have to play around with steep times/leaf used, I think.

However – the best part of this brew is by far the aesthetics! The liquor colour is a gorgeous borderline periwinkle though, obviously from the blueberries. So pretty looking!

Holding off on rating for now…