Long backlog and sipdown. I’ve mostly been pre-occupied with reading, school-work, parent contact, and binging youtube videos and Netflix to maintain a sense of humor…and of course drinking mugs of tea.
I’ve relied more on longer steeper times and western more than I have gong fu, mostly relying on larger amounts of water for my mugs. I’ve been bad and purchased more sachets, but I still plow through my good loose leaf western. I’ve also used an uncomfortable amount of sachet teas lately for the BWB blends I love (Cardamom French Toast….), but I still turn to the amounts I have from Wang, Whispering Pines, and What-Cha pre-epidemic.
Though I have splurged on Whispering Pines, Tea Spot, and Lupicia (crossing figures it gets to MI alright and the MOMO SUPERGRADE and RIPE MANGO are good- I really wanted Queen’s muscat, but the expiration date for the tea was in July of this year).
Finally getting to this tea from Wang, there is a lot going on with it. It tops as a must try sample in my opinion despite being more expensive, and it honestly competed with the Da Yu Ling from the company.
I was not quite sure what to expect for this one since it is a Tieguanyin varietal grown in Taiwan. I used to love Tie Guan Yin’s, but the orchid-pepper notes have bugged me lately, and switched to Taiwanese teas a while back. Trying this one out, the Cui Feng notes are more prominent than the Tie Guan Yins. It’s very green and has the orchid/green been notes that you get in a Tie Guan Yin, but it’s loaded with the alpine forest notes, some woodiness, but heavy amount of lilac and hyacinth among a thick body and mouthfeel. It is also sweet, and orchid becomes more prominent.
I’ve mostly done western for this one since it does take some time to develop for what I’ve gotten. I could see it working with a lot of leaf gong fu, but it’s very durable western. I’ve gotten six cups minimum, using brewing increments based on minutes. The minimum I’ve done is a minute, but I usually do 1 minute 45 to two minutes in the first two brews either in my 10 oz kyusu or french press.
I’m not sure how else to describe it. It’s a THICC Tie Guanyin-Gaoshan Baby.
I’ve always wanted to try a Taiwanese green Tie Guan Yin. I might have to check this company out once things settle down. I wonder how much it costs to ship to Canada… That’s always the deal breaker.