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I woke up a bit early this morning to attend an 8:30 barrel tasting with our winemaker. We tasted the 2012s.

After drinking wine first thing in the morning, I felt I needed a big pot of a lighter tea to rehydrate me. I chose this one. I was in a rush to get back to work, and I thought my electric kettle was nearly boiling, so I poured the water. My thermometer said the water was only 160 degrees. Oops!

It has been more than a year since I purchased this, so it’s not as fresh as it could be, but it’s still pretty good. The liquor is a bit brownish in color, which usually is a good indicator that I won’t like it. It does have a strong pea aroma, sort of like those big mushy English peas that I don’t like, but sweeter. I can also smell artichokes and nuts. All things considered, this wasn’t a bad pot of tea.

I had this with dessert tonight at French Blue in St. Helena. I asked our server about the tea selection, and was surprised when the tea he described only as “black” turned out to be a Puerh. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Puerh tea on a restaurant menu before, but then again I don’t eat at fine restaurants often. Being vegan, there’s usually almost nothing I can order off the menu, and what the chef comes up with for me is usually something unexciting like sautéed vegetables. (I must mention, though, that tonight the chef at French Blue made me a delicious entree!)

This tea was very good. It wasn’t anything too spectacular or interesting, but it was solidly good and didn’t have any obvious flaws, and ripe Puerh can often be too “pond-y”. It was pretty rich and sweet and had caramel and cake-like notes. These were nicely balanced with the earthy qualities. I will definitely try another variety from this company next time I eat at French Blue, which will be a week from today!

(I guessed at the water temperature and the steep time.)

It usually rains for days on end during the winter in Napa Valley. Most people don’t even call it winter, they refer to it as “the rainy season”. But we haven’t had a good rain all season, and today it’s very warm. It must be in the 60s and it’s just past 11 AM. There are blue-belly lizards out sunning themselves on the rocks. There’s no need to turn on the heat and the windows are open in my house. People are talking about drought this summer and the possibility of budbreak occurring soon, which isn’t supposed to happen until March. I’m trying not to worry too much about all of this, and to just enjoy the sunshine.

Anyway, about the tea…I don’t know what the heck I did wrong with this tea last time I brewed it. I had given this a dismal rating, but this time I didn’t even have to finish brewing it and just by the aroma I could tell this was going to be lovely. This has just wonderful florals and a beautiful muscatel aroma. It’s nutty, but not too much so. It’s citrusy, but not harsh. I’d definitely buy this again, and I’m glad to have been able to try it a second time!

Today I’m taking a rare day off, and I’m hoping that this is the start of a new normal for me- actually taking my vacation days instead of hoarding them forever.

I almost decided to brew an entire pot of this morning, but then I did the conversion as to how much tea I would need (the entire 20g!) and decided just to brew a small mason jar full of this instead so that I might be able to share some of this. I couldn’t help thinking that the mason jar was such a humble vessel for such a fancy tea!

I am not a big fan of white teas, but when I first caught the aroma of this, I fell in love. It immediately reminded me of the Arya Pearl Darjeeling White from Canton Tea Co. It definitely has Darjeeling characteristics that I recognized (same floral notes), but where many black Darjeelings would strong undertones that are earthy, woody, and muscatel, this has a sweet, creamy, almost vanilla character which I love. The finish on this is wonderfully long and full of fresh florals.

I do the best I can at describing what I smell and taste, but I know my palate isn’t great. I hope to improve it soon, though with a palate training class with a local sommelier.

Here is another sample. I haven’t ever had tamarind soda. My only experience with tamarind is using tamarind paste to make pad Thai, and this definitely doesn’t have tanginess/sourness I expected…Maybe just a small amount in the aftertaste. This is very nice. I think I might like this with rich, spicy foods. Because I’m thinking of Thai food, massaman curry or tom kha sounds good. Maybe I’ll order more and try it!

I have started wanting to try more flavored teas, so when I placed my last Butiki order I requested some flavored samples, and this is one that Stacy sent me.

The dry leaf is beautiful. It is not too strongly flavored. It is creamy and sweet. The strongest flavor is pineapple, and I really only picked up on the cilantro as it cooled…Not much more to say about this one!

I’ve gotten a little bit spoiled by some other Wuyi oolongs I have tasted recently. And although this is still a very nice tea, it doesn’t “wow” me anymore. I still feel appreciation and gratitude for this tea, though!

This tea does have some sweet cinnamon spiciness, caramel, and subtle fruitiness. Pretty good for my first tea of the day!

EDIT: I liked this tea more and more as I steeped it further, so I’ve bumped up my rating.

First tea of the day and it’s almost 7 PM here. I brewed a big pot of this. Upon removing the brew basket from the teapot the ice wine aroma that Kittenna mentioned hit me immediately. It is like a very sweet white dessert wine or apple juice and honey. I wouldn’t describe the taste as juicy, though because the astringency is very low. This tea’s texture is incredibly creamy. This is a very nice tea, and a surprisingly good pairing for the green vegetable curry I am having for dinner!

I brewed a big pot of this in the morning, but I didn’t get to drink nearly enough of it before it got cold. Still enjoying it tonight, but it’s not as good as when it’s freshly brewed.

I got this as a sample with The Republic of Tea’s catalog. I usually don’t like rooibos teas, but this one was nice. Maybe I wrote off rooibos teas too soon? Anyway, I much, much prefer Verdant’s Chocolate Chamomile Curiosity Brew if I wanted a minty chocolate tea, but this one would due fine if I didn’t want the caffeine.