1758 Tasting Notes

80

Bought more of this recently, forgot that I had it somewhere. This time it got the full gongfu treatment, using my new Anta Pottery Clay Boiler. Initially, there was a bittersweet taste from the ripe puerh and a certain amount of fermentation flavor. The sticky rice flavor, however, does to a certain degree cover up the fermentation taste. The sticky rice flavor had a sweet taste to it but is hard to describe. It’s kind of an earthy taste, but not the earthy of the ripe puerh. If I remember correctly, this mini tuocha uses real sticky rice, not the herb that mimics that taste. Overall I liked this tea. It is nice to drink but not spectacular.

I brewed this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with two mini tuocha or about 9.5g leaf with boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.

Flavors: Dark Bittersweet, Earth, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 9 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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80
drank Random Steepings by Various Artists
1758 tasting notes

Decaf and Herbal TTB. Drinking etaM from Liquid Proust Teas. Although this is considered an Herbal it has Mate in which has caffeine. I could use a jolt about now. This teat is kind of grassy for lack of a better word. There is a little sweetness from the rock candy. I’m not really tasting the green rooibos.

I steeped this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 4 min.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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85
drank Moonlight Snooze by Simpson & Vail
1758 tasting notes

This is absolutely the most horrid tasting tea I have ever drank. Even when you follow the brewing instructions it’s pretty bad. The rating I have given this is purely on it’s effect. I added 6 tsp of leaf and 4 tsp of valerian root to a glass kettle/teapot and boiled it for 10 minutes. The valerian is not really extracted by just steeping the tea. I have gotten good results from this before and hope it helps me get back to sleep when my prescription medicine has failed me. This tea by itself doesn’t really help me sleep, the addition of extra valerian root should.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 6 tsp 24 OZ / 709 ML
Rasseru

If you cant sleep, try eating the capsules instead, I find them stronger

tea123

Have you considered the blue light from your mobile could prevent some of the sleep? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-why-is-blue-light-before-bedtime-bad-for-sleep/

AllanK

@Rasseru, I did buy the capsules as well. I have even tried melatonin, but it doesn’t work for me.

AllanK

@tea123 There is definitely too much blue light from my cable modem but it can’t really be turned off.

OMGsrsly

Put some tape over the light. :) Or tape some red cellophane over it (you can probably find it at a dollar store) if you often need to check the lights.

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drank Flower Garden by ESP Emporium
1758 tasting notes

Decaf and Herbal TTB. Not entirely sure what I’m tasting here. Picked this one out of the TTB because I was fairly certain about it’s ingredients. The first ingredient is sour apple pieces and I think that is the main note of this tea. It is a fairly pleasant sour. Don’t really get much off of the other ingredients.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 7 minutes.

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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88

Drank this tea today and I drank a lot of it. I used it to do a sis by side comparison of my electric kettle, and my Anta Pottery Clay Boiler. The goal was to see if I could tell a difference in the tea itself. The verdict is out. Without a doubt the clay boiler produced a smoother and even slightly sweeter cup of tea. I did six steeps with each kettle, so it was not just one or two steeps. I ended up doing eight steeps with the clay boiler. As to the tea itself. This is a very nice ripe. While it had a fair amount of fermentation flavor that flavor was not too potent and certainly was not fishy. I found some notes of chocolate in there and a fruity taste in latter steeps. This tea is quite the bargain price for what quality of tea you are getting in my opinion. I steeped the tea in two identical gaiwans each with exactly 8.2g of leaf so there was no one tea that got more or less leaf. This test was about as scientific as I could muster.

I steeped 8.2g leaf each in two identical 100ml gaiwans with boiling water. I can’t be sure that the holding temperature of the clay boiler was not a little cooler than the electric kettle. I gave each tea a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped each for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, and 20 sec. I kept going with the clay boiler for two more steeps at 25 sec, and 30 sec.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBNuP67TDRyLyRFKsW8nFM_HkHHjsOfkYCAnxQ0/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea

Flavors: Chocolate, Earth, Fruity, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 8 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
JC

Nice notes, I’ve been wondering about this one. I have the Old reliable from the tea club but I haven’t tried it yet.

AllanK

I’ve tried the Old reliable too and I liked this one better.

paxl13

@allank: me too.. but the Shroom is more menghai’ey where the Old reliable fell more like a HuangPian blends honestly. They are at very distinct oppsite

AllanK

@paxl13 I did not know the origin of the two teas.

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99

This is as much a review of the clay boiler I got from Taiwan Sourcing as it is this tea. This was already a really good ripe, one of my absolute favorites. So improving it was setting a high bar. But I have to say, and while this isn’t scientific, the tea just tastes better with water from my Anta Pottery Clay Boiler. The tea itself is sweet with little bitterness, and notes of chocolate and fruity notes in latter steeps. I have to admit I’m not getting much qi off of this tea but then again I usually don’t get qi from ripe tea. I think that this clay boiler was a good investment, even though it was expensive. It was about $100 cheaper than it’s main competition, the Purion Kettle. The Anta Pottery kettle is the same concept as the Purion. Having never used a Purion I couldn’t say the difference. Overall, this tea tastes smoother than with my electric kettle. I definitely notice a difference.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 9.6g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBLa1jZTDd2Kr8oucQsIOCgxHbYzTYiulGi1o80/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea

Flavors: Chocolate, Earth, Fruity, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 9 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
kevdog19

I just got my own clay boiler from Taiwan Sourcing as well! It is AWESOME… Hope you like it too.

AllanK

So far it is great. I see it getting a lot of use.

curlygc

I did not know I needed a clay boiler until now…

kevdog19

Hahaha. Glad to have helped spur the wallet buster purchase

AllanK

Curlygc, it works really well. The description on the Taiwan Sourcing website is pretty much accurate.

TeaExplorer

I just got one of these from TS as well. Have not yet done a side-by-side.

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78
drank Pitta-Dosha by The Tao of Tea
1758 tasting notes

Decaf and Herbal Tea TTB. This is an interesting tea. It is billed as an Ayurvedic blend. This as I understand it is a Hindu concept of herbal tea, but I could be wrong. There is a strong note from the hibiscus in this. To a lesser degree I think I taste the chamomile. I’m not really getting the peppermint. I ended up adding sugar to this simply because I like sugar in a lot of tea but you could certainly drink this straight. It’s not particularly bitter. There was only enough of this in the box for one large pot of tea so I used the whole sample, just over three teaspoons. I have never bought from The Tao of Tea but would consider this if I ever put in an order. I don’t even know if they are a Canadian or US company, or even Chinese for that matter.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Glass Teavana Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 7 minutes.

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
cookies

Tao of Tea is based out of Portland I believe. They have some really tasty blacks.

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80

I finally had the chance to give this tea a proper gongfu treatment. It was dark and rich throughout most of the eight steeps I gave the tea. There was a lot of fermentation flavor but that flavor was not unpleasant in general. There was another note to this tea that I am not sure how to describe. Kind of a rich and creamy note but I’m not sure what best describes it. The note is not 100% pleasant and certainly not tremendously pleasant. It’s kind of neutral in a way. I simply am not sure if I like the note. When I brewed this western style about a week ago this note didn’t emerge. Overall I like this tea. If one judges quality level based on how many times you can resteep the tea, it was quite dark in the eighth infusion. If I wasn’t at my caffeine limit I could have gotten somewhere between four and eight more steeps out of it to estimate. In general Streetshop88 has sold me some good tea and I think this passes the test. It is not truly spectacular but was pretty tasty.

I brewed two mini tuo cha or about 10.5g of leaf in an 120ml gaiwan with boiling water. I was short on time so didn’t give this one a rest. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.

Flavors: Earth, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 10 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
tea123

I think I know what you mean.

tea123

I think I know what you mean.

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Decaf and Herbal Tea TTB. This is quite good. It’s very mild tasting as chrysanthemum goes. I have had stronger but I like this tea. It has a certain sweetness to it an an earthiness to it that is different from the earthiness of ripe puerh, hard to describe. I had to guess as to the amount of leaf to use. I used about 4.5g leaf for a 16oz teapot. It came out quite tasty.

I brewed 4.5g leaf in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for 7 min with boiling water.

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec 4 g 16 OZ / 473 ML

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85
drank 2015 Pretty Girls by white2tea
1758 tasting notes

This is excellent puerh tea with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. It is not for those with an extreme aversion to fermentation. That being said the fermentation was not as unpleasant as some ripes. It was sweet with little bitterness. It was thick and rich in the early infusions, and there were some chocolate notes too. It developed a nice sweetness in later steeps. I only gave this eight steeps when it would certainly go a lot more but I am at my caffeine limit for the day.

I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 10.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 seconds rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. Overall this was excellent tea that needs another year or two to age in order to be a truly great tea.

Flavors: Chocolate, Earth, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 10 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
tea123

I’ve ordered this and it’s on its way.

curlygc

I love this one. Going to get a cake.

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Profile

Bio

I am Allan. I live and work in Long Island, New York. I have been amassing a tea collection for nearly two years and have spent way too much money. I now try to buy mostly Puerh as I like it most and it lasts nearly forever. Black tea has a habit of going bad. If anyone is interested in tea swaps I am open to ideas and have quite a cupboard.

Location

Bay Shore, NY

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