142 Tasting Notes
Well, I’m stumped. This is a more delicate jasmine than the Jasmine Snow Dragon, and I can’t decide which I like better. This one shares the same warm sweetness, but the slight perfumey note of the snow dragon gives way to a light creaminess (vanilla?) here. This is definitely a better place for curious jasmine-haters to start and maybe finish too. I’ll just have to alternate between them until I find myself hoping one or the other is up next.
It turns out I’m simply not sensitive enough to discern the difference between tangerine blossoms and pao blossoms (whatever those are), and they both remind me of orange blossom perfume in the best possible way. I prefer the pao blossom, only because I prefer the white tea base (because I prefer white tea – that’s not a comment on the tea base here). If you ever liked the orangeyness of Constant Comment but find it overwhelming or harsh, this is a really lovely, delicate, deeply delicious citrus black.
After a disclaimer that I do love a strong jasmine, this is a winner for me. I’ve certainly found other stronger versions, but I like that I can still taste the tea here as well, and that this jasmine has a warm, sweet quality to balance the perfumey aspects. Will have to compare it with their Jasmine Silver Needle later today.
I guess Shang could tell by my jasmine-heavy order that I’m not afraid of a flower, so they sent this sample along. You know how they say scents are connected with memories? I had entirely forgotten about a vacation to Florida when I was very little where I wore orange blossom perfume. Even moving to Florida more than 30 years later was apparently not enough to remind me of that. But this tea did it. And it makes a much better tea than a perfume! There is also a savory deliciousness to it that I suspect is simply the quality white base tea. Today is Shang Tea day though, so I suspect that will become clear as I taste my way through the ridiculous white tea stash that arrived yesterday.
I usually like the straightforward briskness of houjicha, but this one goes too far toward fresh hay, even into some kind of parmesan-dusted mushroom, for my taste. While the flavors don’t directly taste much at all like pu-er, those forest-floor notes do bring it to mind.
Fascinating from the first steep. Though I admit I didn’t love those first couple of woody steeps, they were certainly interesting, and the love came later. Somewhere around steep 5, I started getting…was that a danish? The recommended steeping parameters were dead on in that I really started to want to pour off the tea pretty much as quickly as I could. This is a lot like that guy I immediately disliked when he walked into the bar but I later fell for his charms and married him. Hyacinth, butter, citrus, other things I can’t begin to name…they’re all here for the party. UPDATE: I just made a big ol’ western-style pot of this, and I’m am hugely surprised to like it even better this way! All the flavors are there at once to overwhelm and charm me. It was this brewing that put this tea back on my wish list for a restock.
