I’m kind of at that point where I’ve had so much tea, and logged none of it, and now getting back into the swing of things feels overwhelming. So, I’m just going to go ahead and log the tea that’s sitting in my gaiwan right now. That’s not so hard, right? Right.
Oh hey, I picked up a cheap variable temp kettle from Superstore while I was in Winnipeg 3 weeks ago. And then I managed to locate an extension cord that allows me to keep the kettle on my kitchen table and still plug it in. Then I gathered my gaiwan, cha hai, steeping basket (I use it as a filter), and a little tiny cup. Put them all next to the kettle. Set myself up with my laptop at the table as usual for when I’m working from home. Ta da! Everything I need to make tea is right there. So basically what I’m trying to say is that I’ve been making All The Tea in my gaiwan for the past week. :) And so far I haven’t managed to dump any tea onto my laptop, so I’m definitely calling that a win.
I think I probably tried this one western style before, and couldn’t make up my mind about it. I’ll probably be making it in the gaiwan in the future, because it was pretty great this way! It’s definitely sweet all the way through many steepings. There was a prominent roasted-grain note early on, that gradually faded. I get the cocoa note, but I don’t find this tea to be overwhelmingly chocolatey, it’s more of a malty-grainy-cocoa blend, like Ovaltine (which I haven’t had in a million years, so I could be just imagining the comparison). Several times I smelled the empty cup just after sipping and got a really strong cinnamon note, which was interesting, because I didn’t get it nearly as strongly in the flavour. There definitely was a baked goods, desserty feel to this tea throughout. Tasty!
Flavors: Cocoa, Cookie, Grain, Pastries, Sweet, Toasted
