Various Artists

Okay, what kind of sushi restaurant not only doesn’t have genmaicha but also has no idea what you’re talking about when you describe it?

Oh well, the straight green worked well with the food, which was quite delicious.

I had restaurant iced tea with dinner tonight, which means very sweet, lemony tea mix type iced tea. I always find this kind of iced tea both refreshing and too sugary. I can’t make up my mind.

I do always like going down to the US and ordering iced tea that’s actually cold tea, which you just don’t get here in Canada.

Tonight we went to Segovia for our anniversary dinner and as always it was amazing. I’ve travelled a lot, and I feel very privileged to have one of the best restaurants I’ve ever eaten at right in my back yard. They do traditional and innovative tapas, and we tried four main dishes and then four desserts.

With dessert I had Darjeeling 2nd Flush Organic “Selimbong” black tea. I’m fairly certain this is from Cornelia bean, but not 100% sure.

This was really nice. I don’t have a lot of experiences with Darjeelings, but it’s an area I definitely want to explore more. I steeped this for maybe two minutes.
The liquor was bright orange and clear. There’s a fruity top note that I couldn’t quite identify and I wonder if it’s the characteristic muscatel flavour? A hint of smoke on the finish, a touch of bitterness that complimented the cup nicely.

The body was quite light and smooth, quit similar to a lot of greens.

Very tasty. I think I will need to pick some of this up.

Mmm, had a mango fusion black tea today at Kawaii Crepe, with a pumpkin pie crepe. So delicious. They blend the iced tea with either syrup or juice, so you get a really intense fruit flavour with a distinct tea flavour as well. Very refreshing.

Went to the farmers market this morning and drank a cup of genmaicha chai from the GreenBean coffee stand. It was a great choice for just walking around with a take out cup with the leaves in it. The chai spices complimented the light, toasted flavours of the genmaicha perfectly. I definitely need to get this tea or one like it for my cupboard.

St. Coombs from Figments Tea Shoppe- I got this one from the local shop because it was on sale. There is a nice malt scent. The flavour is dark, with a little malt and sweetness. Might have brewed it a little too long though. It’s a good rainy day tea.

Cookies sent me this mini tuocha, but I’m not sure where it hails from.

Rose Ripe Pu’erh-

Scent- Earth, Floral
Flavour- Rose, Sweet

I brewed for about 30 seconds after a couple rinses. The rose flavour comes out nicely, it’s sweet and on the mild side. There is some Earthiness still, but it is mostly floral.

Early this week I went to the local tea room while I was waiting for the used book store to look through books I was wanting to sell (for more tea, of course.)

So I went to this place called Hidden Peak Tea Room. I really like the atmosphere there. Nice teaware, art, and some pretty background music. They were out of the Keemun tea I wanted to try, so I got a Yunnan Gold instead.

Hidden Peak Tea- Yunnan Gold

scent- malty, sweet, hints of citrus
flavour- malt, honey, smooth (there were some mild notes of yams as it cooled)

It was a nice place to visit, and I got some gaiwan brewing practice.

One of my grandmothers, my dad’s mom, passed away last week. Last night we had a visitation and this morning was the funeral.

Today I drank several teas; YS Assamica gold needle black, YS Fou Shou Wuyi oolong, and YS Shan Hou sheng.

I will miss my grandma greatly, and funerals are of course no fun (I would like a very casual/non-traditional funeral when I pass) but it was great to see the many family members and family friends that I normally only see at Christmas or not at all.

We had a gathering after the funeral at my dad’s house and enjoyed some of my grandma’s favorite foods and drinks; Cuban sandwiches, wine, Millano cookies, and brandy Alexanders. It was a great time reminiscing and reconnecting.

I brewed some dian hong and shared it with a few people, all of whom enjoyed it. One said “It’s kind of like Earl Grey… but better!”

It was all quite nice until everyone had left but my uncle, cousin, and grandpa (who lives with my uncle in Texas). My dad and uncle went to see my grandparents nearby house which is for sale. When the came back the were screaming at each other with wide variety of expletives. My dad and uncle have had a rocky relationship for a long time, and both were slightly drunk, but things broke down to a shouting match and my dad told my uncle never to set foot in his house again.

It was gut wrenching and really hard to watch after my grandma’s funeral. Me and my younger cousin could do nothing but stand by and watch. My dad was crying and grandpa tried to console him. All in all a beautiful day ruined.

I turned to wine until I found myself a bit tipsy and then went for some strong young sheng. I think I’ll cook dinner tonight and try to console my dad.

Drinking a mix of samples from Gylx tea: Bang Dong and Ba Nuo. Going hard with 13g in my 120mL gaiwan. Bittersweet with notes of pine and apricot with a floral aroma. Hoping for some “cha qi” because I could definitely use it today…

Mystery pu! My grandma recently moved to an independent living facility and wanted to get rid of a lot of things from around her house. One was a tin labeled “Pu-li tea”.
http://imgur.com/SFpGwuM

She said she had had it for years, and bought it for the tin, though she can’t remember where she got it. Giving it a sniff it’s obviously some shou pu. So I brewed it up!

The taste is, as I expected, not particularly good. There’s a camphor note and maybe a bit of cocao, but mainly just the smell/taste of decaying wood. I’ve had far worse shou, but that said this isn’t very good. Maybe I’ll brew it up again next time I get some greasy take out.

Today I felt like having something a little different, so I mixed together three different Yunnan blacks.

-2013 Hong Yun Yiwu Mountain Wild Arbor black tea cake from Yunnan Sourcing: A very fruity, floral, almost sheng-like hong cha
-Some cheap dian hong from an AliExpress seller: A very earthy, malty black with a honey sweetness
-And bit of Adagios Yunnan Gold, which is a very silky and smooth tippy Yunnan

Three different extremes of Yunnan black tea that balance each other quite well :)

Brewed in my black tea yixing, which has started to take on a really gorgeous patina

Today I’m having something black and delicious and Fuijan-esqe. Though i’m embarrassed to say I don’t know what it is. It was in a plastic baggy, probably the last of a sample from Teavivre or Yezi or something I got in a swap.

Very sweet and thick with a slight salty note. Yammy and chocoalty and has a good buttery pastry-like quality. Needless to say I’m enjoying it

This purely a personal note, so feel free to skip it

I had a mental meltdown today. So were really tight on money, and my financial aid is messed up, and I just found out that the tax forms that I need to fix it can’t be retrived electronically, and instead have to be shipped to my mom. So since I can’t even accept the loans I need to pay for the rest of my tuition until that’s straightened out, I can’t afford my classes.

Then, the cable and internet was out all day, and 75% of my classes are online, and classes started this week, but I couldn’t even look to see if I had any assignments.

Then, my car battery died, and I lost it. I waited until my boyfriend left for work, and then I broke down. Unless I’m alone watching a sappy scene in a show/movie, or reading a sad part of a book, I don’t really cry.

I called my dad, because he’s the one who fixes my car when it breaks usually. Since my boyfriend has work all night and works both jobs tomorrow, he came out to help me get the battery out and take it to get charged. Gets to my place, turns out that when I replaced my battery last time, I didn’t didn’t tighten the connectors all the way. He tightens it properly, the car starts no problem.

At this time it’s dinner time, and he suggests we go to this Thai place right next door that I’ve been dying to go too since I moved here. Over dinner, he tells me he’ll give me the money I need for tuition, so I don’t have to quit school.

And I got a Thai iced tea, which I’ve never had, and it was sweet and creamy, and vanilla and delicious.

And then when I got home, my internet was back on. So after such a hard day, I feel much better knowing that a lot of my problems have been handled. (:

Entering this here as they don’t have it listed yet on their website. This is the GFOP loose leaf single estate Assam from Chota Tingrai tea estate by Mana Organics.

Holy cats but this is some malty awesomeness. The leaves are nothing special to look at but they are amazing to smell and taste. Wow is all I am capable of at the moment. 5 grams for 12 ounces of water at 205F for 3 minutes. No bitterness, not even a hint. However, as the liquor cools, a dryness sets in. Still not bitter, but not quenching. Need to try it iced next. But hot – I need to have this around all the time for sure.

Not rating as this is on Random but I’d be giving it 100 if it were on the actual tea listing.

I sat down this morning and did a side by side comparative tasting of some Ai Lao. I tasted 2014 Spring Ai Lao, 2014 Autumn Ai Lao and 2015 Spring Ai Lao from Yunnan Sourcing and 2016 Ai Lao from Whispering Pines. I should note right off that I am entirely uncertain the teas are the same teas and can be compared as such. These were all recently purchased from the suppliers so did not suffer from ill storage in my care. :)

Physically, the leaves all look similar. Long, branchy and twiggy looking.

Dry leaf scent in warmed gaiwan:
2014 S – hay and molasses cookies
2014 A – hay, wine and molasses but not cookies
2015 S – hay and smoke
2016 WP – grapes, fruit, cookies and sweetness

First steep at 200F, 1 minute (I tasted at 30 seconds and was underwhelmed so let them go a bit longer):
2014 S – Really pretty bland with no standout notes for me. A very light tea, though not unpleasant.
2014 A – Kind of ashy like wood ashy with some sour notes like lightly fermented fruit.
2015 S – Moderately smokey but the smoke overwhelms the fruity notes
2016 WP – Deeply sweet and malty, nectar like with a pronounced fruit note

The YS teas felt very thin, the WP tea was thicker.

I’m really not sure it’s fair to compare these as exemplars of the same region/varietal/style as they are soooo different. Surely harvest alone can’t make that much difference?

My personal verdict is that the WP version I would and will suck down like mad and mourn when it is no longer available.

The YS-es I will keep some of the Autumn 2014 and pass them all along to someone else I know who would like to do this and has a much better developed and nuanced palate than I. :)

Oh, and while I did these in gaiwans, I didn’t attempt to gong fu steep them. The use of gaiwan was simply for convenience when doing 4 side by sides.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEReXQkrqgi/

Did a Jin Jun Mei tasteoff today, though I discovered afterwards that I had left out Verdant’s JJM. Ah, well. It’s a start.

Did 2 grams of tea to 50 ml of water at just below boiling. I did not use filtered water since I think that whether or not I keep tea on hand should depend largely on whether or not I like it with tap water. Steeped each for 15 seconds, tasted, let tea continue steeping another 60 seconds while tasting and tasted again. These notes are based on an overall impression, not separated out by 1st and 2nd steeps.

1. What-Cha China Fujian Wuyi ‘Jin Jun Mei’:
scent of dry leaf – meat and smoke
taste of liquor – smokiest of the 4 teas, savory meat, very drying to the mouth
leaf appearance – medium leaf size, some gold leaves, mostly black

2. YSG International (AliExpress) 2014 Top Wuyi Black Tea Jin Jun Mei:
scent of dry leaf – savory smoke and wet leather
taste of liquor – light ash and smoke, a little bit of sweet, more of sour, leaves mouth dry
leaf appearance – medium leaf size, some gold leaves, mainly black, not nearly as gold as the product picture on the site.

3. Shanshuijian (AliExpress) Jinjunmei Paulownia:
scent of dry leaf – hardest smoke & ash scent of the 4 teas, charred wood
taste of liquor – smoke, ash, bitterness, drying in mouth
leaf appearance – largest leaves, no golden leaves, all pretty uniform black
*note that this tasting varies from my earlier note on this because that was with filtered water at work. This should be a work tea since at home I am not very fond of it.

4. MinRiver Tea Jin Jun Mei:
scent of dry leaf – not much smoke and wet cat
taste of liquor – sour, sweet, fruity like date or fig
leaf appearance – smallest leaves, lightest liquor color

http://tinyurl.com/ocuhse8
http://tinyurl.com/zoth58w

Another to fit into random since I don’t think there probably needs to be an entry for an Ali Express seller that I can’t find in the database already. :)

This was the jin jun mei that I bought on 11/11 from Shanshuijian Tea Shop. I guess I wasn’t thinking about it when I bought. I figured I’d start my quest to find a replacement for Min River’s Jin Jun Mei and I was already ordering from this shop for a tea pet. This was acceptably priced during the sale. I did not register at all that I was ordering a pound of tea.

Good thing it’s pretty decent. :) I had 2 steepings at work today. Both Western style. Holy cats but this smells amazing in dry leaf. Malt, molasses, brown sugar and hay. First time was at boiling for 3 minutes. This is not the sweet spot for me. The smell of the dry leaf doesn’t translate well here. The taste was tobacco with some malt and mild smoke. It’s thick and savory with almost a saltiness to it.

Tried again in the afternoon for just off boiling for 2 minutes, about the same amount of leaf, 1.5 tsp or so. Super hot, it wasn’t impressive. I let it sit in the Libre for an hour or so, cooling down gradually. It was still hot when I tasted it again and paid attention but this time it was living up to the dry leaf scent. Honey, molasses, hay, malt… mmmm….

The true test is yet to come though. Have to try it here at home with my normal water and compare side by side with Min River. Even if it doesn’t replace that one, it’s plenty good. I still won’t use a whole pound of it in a year though. So if anyone wants any, holler and I’ll send you some, no cost.

Had a tea filled weekend but nothing new so I’m just going to log them here. :)

Harney & Sons – Golden Monkey, Nahorhabi Assam Full Leaf
Yunnan Sourcing – Yunnan Black Gold Spring 2014, Pure Bud Bi Luo Chun Yunnan Spring 2015
Mandala – Pure Buds
Teavivre – Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu (sipdown after making a pot to share on Saturday)
Golden Tips – Assam Gold
Chai Me – Chocolatey Chai
Verdant – Golden Fleece

They were all excellently nommy.

And on a side note, this is how I know I have a problem. http://tinyurl.com/hqz239q
This box is stuffed full of Yunnan Sourcing & Mandala Teas, all with very similar flavor profiles. And one Yunnan from Silk Road Teas. :) For size comparison, that silver thing in the lower left is my scale and the cup in the upper left is about 10 ounces. I feel proud of myself that I did not place an order with any of those 3 companies this weekend. :)

I was honored to have a very limited pu-erh shared with me on Monday. I was at Shang Tea and Shang shared a pu-erh with me from one of his friend’s farms. It is called Meng Hai County Pu-erh because of the county it comes from. It is a shu from 2006. Fermented 6 weeks. It was the only pu-erh served in the Olympics Tea House in 2008.

I liked it quite a bit in the store. I told Shang it was pretty much the first pu I’d had that I could honestly say I really did like. I came home with some.

Making it here at home and I could not duplicate the flavor. Not even close. It was much more like what I expect of pu – earthy and musty but not in a way I enjoy. I could drink it but it would never be my choice. So I emailed to find out how it was prepared at the shop that day. Found out that by that point in the day, the pot had been mixed with Golden Needle King! That would explain why I thought it was drinkable. I lumme some Shang Golden Needle.

I didn’t make an entry for this tea as they only have a very limited amount in the store and it is outrageously expensive. If you are in town and interested, stop by the shop and inquire. :) I’d be interested to hear what a real pu-head thinks of this.

This morning was an attempt to clear my conscience of tossing some samples. I put actual tasting notes for the samples that stood out but this is for the ones that didn’t.

Yunnan from In Pursuit of Tea. This one was through someone’s Steepster Select. It was okay but nothing outstanding.

Tie Guan Yin 2014 from Mandala. Probably an okay example, but this is more my mom’s thing. And I let it go maybe a bit too long as it got bitter. And to be fair, if age impacts this kind of tea, it is pretty old.

Golden Blend from Harney & Sons. This was also aged but I don’t get any GM notes, just sharp tea. No longer to my taste.

Health & Well Being Green from Tealeaves. This was one that Mom shared with me from one of our joint orders. Truly not my thing. It’s highly possible that since I don’t prepare greens often I’m just not preparing it correctly. I read something recently that good quality Chinese greens actually need higher temps than is commonly recommended in the West to bring out their flavors but that lower quality tea needs lower temps to compensate. I’m not sure how old this is – you can’t get loose leaf of this on the site any more but that’s what I had.

http://tinyurl.com/p8v4tjd

I don’t even know what to call this tea besides probably the best green tea I’ve ever had. Shang graciously shared this with me today when I stopped by the store. It was a green from a friend of his so he isn’t selling it unfortunately. There isn’t enough to sell! It is from a farm that has been abandoned and let grow wild for the past 15 years. So a Chinese Wild High Mountain Green, I guess it would be. :)

It is a high mountain green made from all buds. The tiny little needles standing upright on the bottom of the pot were simply gorgeous. The scent of the dry leaves was heavy and like inhaling a basket of freshly picked vegetables. Amazingly enough, this was prepared with boiling water. In previous experience of greens, if someone had made it with boiling water I’d have expected bitter and undrinkable tea. Not so with this one.

The steeped tea was like a thick broth, savory and sweet with heavy notes of artichoke and asparagus and just… green. If color has a taste, this is what green tastes like. I felt like I’d eaten a plate of things that were really, really good for me.

The 2nd steep was sweeter even still. The 3rd is getting a little bitter after sitting grandpa style in a takeout cup for over an hour but no where near being unpleasant. The flavors are a little fainter and the brothy notes not quite as strong but it’s still a superb green tea.

It’s a good thing there isn’t enough of this to sell. As rare as it is, it would be really expensive but I’d still have to have some. Maybe I could rent out my cats. :)

I am not sure at all what the name of this tea is but it is from L’Angelica Istituto Erboristico. The best I can tell from using Translate is that it is an Italian company involved in healthy solutions for living. :)

JanieTeo sent this in the Christmas card swap. Her note on the package said “lavender, damiana and wild rose.” It smells heavenly. The taste is sweet, floral and fruity. I would guess this is a tisane. It is one that I would love to keep on hand if I ran across it somewhere. Very good!

Well, the teas went over swimmingly at the work tea party! Honey Black by Green Terrace Teas was practically an empty pot – which rarely happens! Strawberry Green by Kusmi was much praised for being able to actually identify strawberry in the flavor. Hawaiian Paradise by Zen Zeu was remarked upon for the lovely deep pink color but thought it might benefit from being chilled. Least popular was Earl Grey Baroness by Annabelle’s – a random tea brought back to me by a friend.

Pictures: http://tinyurl.com/q8bnfv8