121 Tasting Notes

Half of the sample that remains. This one is yummy. Fragrant. Juicy. Sadly sold out, but CLT provides many options.

Preparation
8 g

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I had more of this and it was all right while I was drinking it but I woke up feeling sick and dehydrated. Maybe it is stronger than my system bargained for. Tread lightly with old tea if you haven’t been drinking much tea lately. Whew.

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Covid19 has been a wild ride. 2020 has been..

So randomly this morning I pulled this out. My last 4g.

It’s nice. 17yr tea a of some kind. Very good. I think it has already conquered me and not much eloquence for the description will be forthcoming.

Flavors: Bark, Camphor, Nutty

Preparation
4 g 1 OZ / 15 ML

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I like this much better these days. I have probably just improved in terms of brewing through the years. I leaf this harder than others and give it a very good rinse to avoid feeling too much of the bamboo. I know the name has “bamboo” in it, but I wasn’t expecting so much, uh, bamboo-yness.

It’s strange that I seem to prefer younger raw pu’s, but older ripe pu’s. Guess it works out better financially in most cases so yay?

My brewing method has also changed considerably in terms of ritual and artifacts.

0. The bottom double-walled cup of the 150ml brewer shattered months ago (the company wanted to be paid like 80-85% of the cost of a brand new brewer to replace the cup so I said F that) and I switched to a 75ml budget gaiwan that also worked beautifully.
1. But recently, the lid of my daily workhorse 75ml gaiwan shattered, so until I replace that or figure out some other solution, I am using an even smaller porcelain houhin (<55-60ml total capacity).
2. This gets super hot, so I use a large clean bandana as a tea towel, mostly for hand protection as I pour.
3. Every shou or other funky tea gets sieved through this before drinking: https://ebay.to/35mb01h
4. To help me measure water when needed there is a 100mL Pyrex (also serves as a handy little tiny pitcher)
5. This then gets poured into a thick walled Korean ceramic teacup that weighs ~91g (I love this weight) and holds ~60ml.
6. There is a separate discard bowl that holds quite a bit, more than enough for at least two different tea sessions.
7. I used to filter tap water (which didn’t work for a number of reasons," then got water delivered for about 2 years but encountered many problems with the service); now I boil bottled water in a 30oz adagio electric kettle, store the water in a 44oz Zojirushi, and this works great. I know fancy places will have Bonavitas, but I’ve used them before and don’t enjoy the user experience nearly as much as the Adagio+Zojirushi combination.
8. For sessions that benefit from more capacity, I use some 120-150ml capacity items, mainly from Lin’s Ceramics.

I actually have a number of small cast iron teapots from the now defunct Teavana that could be used to store the off-boil water, and they’re more aesthetically pleasing, so we break them out for guests, but those things are surprisingly high maintenance, even the ones coated with enamel on the inside (they’ll rust if you aren’t meticulous), so 95% of the time I am pouring straight from my Zoji. Them’s just facts.

Preparation
5 g 2 OZ / 55 ML

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처음 맛을 보았을 때는 그냥 밍밍했는데 이번에는 달큰하고 고소하다. 꿀보리건빵 향이라고나 할까? 보리차를 진하게 내려서 꿀을 타도 비슷할 것이다. 차의 세계는 참으로 신비하고 흥미롭기 짝이 없는 것 같다.

Maybe all of my tea samples needed to rest? This wasn’t great the first time I tried it but is remarkably pleasant with strong barley (or other grain) and honey notes this morning.

Flavors: Honey, Roasted Barley

Preparation
4 g 2 OZ / 55 ML

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drank 2018 Arbor Red by white2tea
121 tasting notes

Fascinating. Resting did the trick. I would have sworn it is a completely different tea. It now tastes kind of like honey w/ the backbone you would expect from a fine single malt but more delicate. Very interesting. I now see why it became so well regarded. My guess is that this one is more sensitive to travel than most teas so if you tasted it before resting as I did, do give it another chance. I also did a thorough deep clean of my teaware earlier today. Maybe that also contributed to making sure the strengths of Arbor Red shone through this time. A stately energy swirls around playfully in your mouth somehow long after you swallow.

This was a generous 3g in

Preparation
3 g 2 OZ / 55 ML

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8 grams.
Dry leaf: dusty dried stone fruits
Soup: cloudy straw
Wet nose: smoke and jam and mustiness even after 2 rinses
Taste: bland and smoky and sweet and fruity and old but not mature all at once.

I would not seek out this tea unless I was a fan of clove cigarettes and those sandwich cookies with a thin layer of jam in the middle

song pairing: gradur – rari

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The first half of this session is beautiful scent and energywise but it descends into a lightly smoky yet somehow rather harsh latter half. Have not paid enough attention to pinpoint whether the gentle but persistent harshness is in the belly or the mouth or throat or all of the above. I can try to remember to do that for my final sesskon. The raw sensation isn’t a dealbreaker but makes this less of an impulse buy despite it being at that sub-$100-for-200g sweet spot. Not sure if others are buying this to age but every time I drink this I get major munchies. So I like this a lot but would want the newer materials in it to mellow out further before subjecting my poor tummy to a whole cake of it.

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This one’s heavy on the chocolate. Heavy, heavy deep dark chocolate. I had to go out and abandoned a 50ml cup on the table for hours. Took a tiny sip out of curiosity before discarding. It tasted so much like chocolate milk I ended up drinking it all mostly out of shock. It’s delicious if this is what you’re in the mood for. I don’t crave this flavor from tea often enough to stockpile relatively young LCT of this sort. But I could see myself virtuously choosing this over a slice of chocolate cake. It feels far too indulgent to have on a daily basis at any hour. If it was a beer it’d be a thick chocolate stout.

Flavors: Dark Chocolate

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This website is so bugggggy! I signed in on my phone but it has locked me out on desktop for trying too many times. :(

The taster included the nifei so unless that was forged I am inclined to believe it is real. At 88$ for a full sized cake on some sites this is an economic solution if it works for you. As I was freeing the piece of paper, most of the chunk fell into my gaiwan so all 8 grams are in. I normally start with 4grams, but come, join me on my adventure.

The first few sips are ho hum and make me think I am getting the house tea at a relatively fancy dimsum place. 3 steeps later it is hitting me at the back and base of the skull. Must be the double dose effect.

This tea is 13yo and has zero off-putting storage funk after only one good rinse. That is impressive.

The taste is… I am a stuffy middle aged professional man who never raises his voice. The energy is briefly… Actually, my dear, I am the unassuming head of an international secret society… and, not to worry, I shall tell you all about it, but first let us have some tea. But the fun conspiratorial energy dissipates all too quickly. Feels like hype without the delivery.

I liked the overall experience despite the less than delicious taste, but am not convinced I want a whole cake. It kind of feels like not your favorite uncle, the uncle you would politely hang out with once in a while when you run into him at mandatory family functions, but you wouldn’t go out of your way to do it.

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I’ll not adore every popular tea. Nor shall I always prepare it skillfully enough to do it justice and understand it before the sample is gone. Also, my search is for teas that are delicious now. I don’t know yet what will age well.

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