114 Tasting Notes
This batch of iced tea is made with the apricot steepster select, mixed with some qilan from teavana, and the last of my Wild Picked Yunnan Black. Cold steeping in the fridge overnight. I can’t wait to try it tomorrow!
Preparation
2/23/14 Afternoon tea. 5g/12oz/212F/4min 2 steeps. A very enjoyable dark oolong. I wanted a good strong tea for the afternoon, and this fit the bill perfectly. Strong roasty honey/coconut aromas in a lovely deep gold tea. It reminds me strongly of the roasted chestnuts I would buy from street vendors the winter I lived in Chicago. The second steep finished with a light astringency that was really nice.
Preparation
2/23/14 Vertical tasting, thanks to the awesome guys at Eco-Cha!
I had the rare opportunity to compare the 2012 and 2013 summer crops of this directly. It was a fascinating tasting. The two teas are clearly the same tea, and yet distinctly different – like me dressed for a dinner date vs me dressed for backpacking. Okay… so I’d probably have the boots on either way… but still, different.
The standard – 3g/100 ml gaiwan/200F — starting at 10 seconds, adding 10 seconds each steep. This tea easily supported 4 steeps. It also showed brilliantly brewed western style, with 3g/12oz/200F/1min and a second steep of 3 min.
Overall – Red Jade #18 is an interesting tea. It has a rich savory vegetal umami to it unlike any other black tea I’ve had. It reminds me of sun dried tomato paste. The aroma carries cinnamon and mint.
2012 — A very twisty matte dry leaf. Deep intricate aromas and tastes. This year was Red Jade in the spice market; lots of cinnamon, clove, cardamon, and such a rich umami that my husband said it reminded him of steak.
2013 – Straight dry leaf, darker then 2012. This tea was lighter bodied and less intricate, but the flavors and aromas were darker and more earthy. The savory umami was more direct, almost smoky. A clear light toasted cinnamon note.
My husband loves this tea deeply, and wants to drink it every day. I enjoy it, but it wouldn’t be the tea I picked off a menu to drink.
2/23/14 Morning gongfu. 3g/100ml gaiwan. This tea did not show well for me this morning – I’m going to revisit the steeping suggestions on the website before I try it again. There were all kinds of subtle fascinating aromas in the wet leaf that just didn’t make it into the cup at all this morning.
2/20/14 Another Steepster Select tea. Brewed as per the packet instructions,
1 packet/12oz/212F/3.5min. A nice black tea. Very dark in the cup, with an aroma of brown sugar and wine/grape. Pleasantly astringent without being bitter. I’ll probably add milk to future cups, as suggested.
Preparation
2/20/14 Steepster Select tea, prepared as per the packet instructions,
1 packet/10/212F/4min.
A very enjoyable tea, but again, one that I haven’t enough experience with to describe well. The first steep ran a touch bitter, so I brewed the second with 12oz water, and that smoothed it out nicely.
I like getting to try teas out of my normal range!
Preparation
2/18/14 Afternoon tea with my husband. 1 packet/12oz/212F/2.5min From my Select box! Pretty pretty brew. I enjoyed it very much, though I can’t describe it well since it’s the first darjeeling I’ve drunk in ages and ages. I brewed it as per the instructions on the packet, and it made a nice potful for dH and I to share before he left for work.
2/17/14 Tea failure. I didn’t notice that we’d bought different water than usual until I took a sip of this tea and tasted nothing but flat dishwater. I’m disappointed especially because the leaf smells fantastic, and I am yearning to taste the tea properly but I can’t get for the right water until tomorrow morning. Commence wailing and gnashing of teeth.
