Tea Trekker

I finally made my way over to Tea Trekker! (which involved falling waist deep into a snow bank)
I mean, how likely is it that there is an expert tea store in your town?? They go to China to buy all the teas!
I spoke with Bob about the teas I like (Da Hong Pao, Shui Xian, Tie Kwan Yin, Taiwan oolongs, but not Bai Hao, black, or white teas so much). I really have been wanting to get into green teas, so Bob recommended me this as a good transition from oolong to green.
I really like this tea – it is strong like an oolong but you can really taste the differences. This is great, and it tastes so fresh! It’s slightly bitter/astringent, but I actually kind of like it – it’s something that will probably grow on me (unlike astringent oolongs!!)

So I finally got myself some new teas, and this is the first batch. It’s kind of funny, because now I realize two things about this. One, I have long been making my tea with about 25 extra milliliters per cup, and two I completely misbrewed this cup. Still it was a wonderful happy accident. I brewed this tea at ten seconds for my first and current cup, having read the instructions for a different tea. YET! This tea came alive in what should have only been the “rinse” steeping. Full body already, very pale yellow/brown color to the liquor, and a taste that reminds me of the smell of fallen leaves in autumn. No, seriously, it has that wet earthy kind of flavor. Granted this is a misbrew, technically, it is really delicious. As I’m tasting it even now there is something almost sorrel-like at the back of the tongue. I can’t wait to drink more of this today.

When i purchased this I requested that full front assault experience. Yeah, this is a tea to be careful with. It’s a great Darjeeling flavor, but it turns quickly. If made over strong, or let to get cool, this tea will pack a serious right hook into your jaw with that bitter (or is it astringent?) flavor. Also, this is a whizz-bang tea – that is to say the buzz is fast-acting and lasts long, but also has a bit of a crash not unlike office-coffee.

Sugar and honey (esp mesquite in my opinion) add a sweetness that only takes off the edge a little. A little milk is nice too.

Rich, fruity, everything you want in an Assam. Well, everything I want in an Assam. Nice rich reddish brown liquor, takes milk and sugar nicely. Might even suggest cream, but that’s only because it’s finally a reasonable temperature outside (44 degrees F).

Still trying this different ways. Today 3 tsp for 18 oz, steeped for 4 min. It has a deep amber color, and smooth taste. I added a little wildflower honey, and the taste is….mmmmm

First tea of 2011 was the last of this tea. It’s pretty empty these days. I was wrong. I found some more.

The tea had a strong, clean and fresh aroma both dry and rinsed. Floral, but not overly heavy on the lilac-character. It opened relatively slowly with repeated quick steeps and released a nice, if painstakingly subtle flavor and texture. At a year old, the bouquet of floral qualities had already faded a good bit, but the tea had matured, married, and become refined and ethereal. Extremely delicate, subtle and never overly strong in any particular flavor element. I’m not sure my mind had been quieted enough to fully appreciate this tea, so I look forward to revisiting it in a more conscious state.

Most remarkable were this tea’s clarity and texture. The soup spilled out of the gaiwan and into the gongdaobei as an electrically crystal clear liquid, vibrant and beaming, which made for a visually impressive session. In terms of texture, the tea had a strong cooling quality, with a crisp drying sensation and an overall lifting of the palate. Very enjoyable. Despite these qualities, the tea did little for me in terms of qi or energy. Finally, and it’s not obvious in any of the photos I posted, this tea was impressively stemmy, with lengths reaching about three inches on many leaves.

Blog post: http://tea.theskua.com/?p=36

There aren’t nearly as many varities of white tea as there are of, say, green and oolong, so any time a new variety of white tea from a new region pops up, I’m ready to try it out. Tea Trekker’s Shangri-La White Silvertips from Nepal caught my eye after noting it’s description: “reminiscent of a light-bodied black tea.” Sold!

This tea is, in every way, a middle ground between the two most well-known Chinese whites, Silver Needle and Bai Mu Dan. Silver Needle is bud-only, Bai Mu Dan is two leaves and one bud, Shangri-La White Silvertips is one leaf and one bud. The color of the liquor falls in between, as does the intensity of the flavor.

The tea has light fruity notes, but also a hint of depth one might find in a light black tea (as the description aptly mentions). It’s a well-rounded tea that I dare say I enjoy more than Bai Mu Dan. A solid cup from a region not known for their white teas.

I made this tea as an iced tea today, and it is awesome. I made it a little stronger that normal, let it steep for four minutes, and then put it in a thermos (like device) that was full of ice. Very very delicious!

So I think I’m getting the hang of this batch of Darjeeling. Short steep time, allow the drink to cool slightly, then drink relatively quickly before the tea completely cools. Also I seem to be having more success in getting a better flavor and less astringency when I make a larger pot (at 600 ml of water and 6 rough teaspoons of tea in my large french press) I still prefer the second flush.

Okay, today i think I finally understand what I was being told about the “front of the mouth” flavor. It’s not so much the vast difference in the kind of taste, but the location of taste. Yes, that what the phrase should have indicated to me, but I can be daft. So this tea is not my favorite of the two. It is very picky with brewing time and temp. It also sees to need to be drunk with a small range of time after cooling in the cup for a bit.

So those might seem like detractors, but the tea is very very nice! The flavor is hard to describe due to my poor palate. That being said it reminds me of spring, in the same way that Japanese green teas remind me of hot summer. The flavor is crisp like a fresh ripe granny smith apple, tart too. It has nearly no lingering taste or texture, and the bright almost fluorescent green color of the leaf in the liquor is very attractive. I think in the future if I have to choose between several varieties of Darjeeling I might not choose this one, although it is wonderful. I got exactly what I wanted out of this one, and if you prefer front of the mouth flavor, I recommend it.

This is part of my first foray into loose Darjeelings. I’m not sure how to describe the tea, and I think before I give it a numerical rating I will have to drink it several times. There is a certain flavor, not unlike sorrel, that I really like. I will say that is has a naturally sweet aspect to it. I very much enjoyed it, and will continue to enjoy it this week. I have yet to give it a full “stress test”, and when I do I will write a fuller report.

I have yet to do a true test on this tea, but today I did at least give it some variation. I let it steep for three minutes, outside my tea-monger’s recommendation. I also let it cool a little before drinking it. Yeah this tea is wonderful. Again I still taste that sorrel taste, actually it reminds me of lamb’s tongue (also known as lamb’s ear). It kind of reminds me of rose petals, or rose perfume in taste.

This is part of my first foray into loose Darjeelings. I’m not sure how to describe the tea, and I think before I give it a numerical rating I will have to drink it several times. There is a certain flavor, not unlike sorrel, that I really like. The flavor of this tea seems to be more full, and perhaps this is the contrast between “front of the mouth” and, um, not front of the mouth that the tea monger mentioned. This tea’s flavor seemed more accessible somehow. At any rate I enjoyed it very well. I have yet to give it a full “stress test”, and when I do I will write a fuller report

It’s what’s in the cup.
Sugar really ruins the flavor.
Three steeps seems to be the useful limit.

[Backlogged]

I drank this last night at work. The first steep was fine, but the second steep was really good! I used significantly cooler water than the first steep, and once it had steeped for somewhere around 2.5 minutes I let it cool in the cup. I will definitely be making iced-tea using this tea in the near future.

Second steeping!
Mellow, full flavor. Much improved (from what was already very tasty).
I let this cool in the cup a little longer and I think that may be a part of the change.
There is a lot more of that “flavor of the sea” taste, much greener, but still the toasty “clean barn” is there. So glad I tried this!

This is a first for me, and I’m glad I tried it. The flavor reminds me of sembei (or O-sembei if you prefer). It is, well toasty, yes, but it has what I’m calling a “clean barn” taste. It has that taste that reminds me of the combined smells of dry haw, old wood, and worn leather. It definitely has that “flavor of the sea” that Japanese green teas have (in my opinion), and it’s a good thing. This is all after the first steep. I will steep at least twice more, and report on my findings. Or, I may have a stroke from all the tea I;ve been drinking. Either way.

Today I brewed a larger pot of this, for to share with my darling wife, and I let it steep a little longer than I had previously. As is generally the case I find larger pots of tea tend to have a deeper, fuller flavor and mouth feel, and such was the case. I got a hint of caramel or raisiny smell. The taste is still pretty much that really good “basic black” tea flavor that describes itself. A little milk, a little sugar, and we have tea power. Shall we go to the brain?

As it turns out, I did not misbrew this tea last time. This is what I might call a solid “tea” flavored tea. It really does have that aluminum kind of taste to it. The only thing that I can possibly relate it to is the way a (traditional) martini feels along the side of the mouth. It’s a good solid black tea, especially if you’re looking for what I;d asked for: A non-floral black tea.

The temperature and steeping time seems to be fairly forgiving, so in that sense it is a good standard to to keep around, especially if you just gotta have a cuppa righta nowa.