1356 Tasting Notes
The TTB arrived early this morning, yay! I hustled to open it up before leaving for work so I could pick out a tea to take to the office. This was the first one that looked like it would be a flexible option for the day. Of course, because I was then scrambling to do too many things at once before leaving, I overbrewed the travel mug of hot tea that I made. Which actually turned out fine! Still a solid floral jasmine green with no bitterness, astringency, or essential oil-like taste. I took some more pearls to the office to make a cold-brew second mug. Weirdly, that one turned out much less pleasant than the hot brew. I combined fresh pearls and cold water and let it sit for a few hours. Pretty standard method. But the result had a harsh, almost bitter edge that wasn’t there in the hot brew. Very unusual, normally I’d expect cold brewing to smooth out any harshness in a tea. So while this is a pretty solid jasmine, it’s not the best or my favorite.
Day 3 of the Tea Thoughts spring countdown box. I think I maybe made this wrong! I have the equipment but I haven’t made matcha at home in the traditional way in a very long time. My best guess is that my whisk is too big for the bowl I was using (or the bowl is too small for the whisk). Or I should have sifted the matcha before whisking. Or both. But the long and the short of it is that I never quite got a great suspension or much froth. It came out a mossy green color – I don’t know whether it’s supposed to be that color or the darkness of the bowl made it look darker. Flavor-wise, it mostly reminded me of a seaweed broth. Not the most marine tea I’ve ever had – more like that thick, chewy seaweed than the thin, crunchy kind.
Mostly my takeaway is that I need to practice making matcha more often. Possibly in a larger bowl or with a smaller whisk. But I’m really glad to have gotten a reason to find that out!
Day 2 of the Tea Thoughts spring countdown box. When I first saw this, I was worried it would be a pu’erh. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it’s a compressed white tea! I brewed this up gong fu style, getting about 5 total steeps out of it before I had to stop because of the time. I’ve been sitting here with a flavor wheel trying to find the right words to describe the flavor, but none of them fit. There’s definitely a delicate orange note that comes through clearly and makes it through multiple steeps. The base tea has that savory, full mouthfeel, almost brothy quality that some white teas have. Not salty brothy like a gyokuro, but brothy nonetheless. The orange gives it a nice lightness, cutting through the heaviness that this might otherwise have. If anyone knows what words I’m looking for here, let me know!
Day 1 of the Tea Thoughts spring countdown box. I’m excited about this one because there should be several new-to-me tea companies in here, including this one. The description says there should be sweet notes, but I’m just not getting that. This reminds me more of a vegetal longjing. Like green leafy vegetables, not as bitter as kale or arugula but in that general vicinity. Which is not to say that I don’t like this – I do! I’m just not getting the tasting notes that I’m “supposed” to.
Sipdown, alas. I sent this one off in style, as an oat milk latte in a big cozy mug. I’d happily pick up more in my next DavidsTea order. It hits that sweet treat sweet spot: not too sugary, can’t taste the stevia, syrupy strawberry candy flavor, with a powdered sugar overlay and a hint of pastry. Oat milk drowns out the pastry note a bit, so I’ve probably had it as a latte as often as I’ve had it straight, just depending on the flavor I was in the mood for. Maybe I’ll be able to get some more before next Hanukkah to keep in my holiday tea rotation.
I was out running errands and got so thirsty that I had to grab something before I could get home. This is very sweet, definitely more “bubbly lychee juice” than “oolong.” But I think if the base tea was in any way harsh or drying, that would still be noticeable. So I’m comfortable saying that the base tea supports the lychee-ness well.
Sipdown of an herbal tisane for ashmanra’s sipdown challenge. I got this from a TTB a while ago and was definitely hoarding it because I like it so much. Sweet, minty, creamy, excellent as a latte. Part of my effort to drink through anything with coconut in it before the coconut turns.
Sipdown! I like this one, but I won’t particularly miss it, you know? The raspberry and lychee flavors are very enjoyable – tart, sweet, and juicy. They don’t totally mesh with the base though, which is a bit too grassy and easily oversteeps into astringency. I found that it was good both hot and iced. Really, though, the key for me was adding a bit of brown sugar, which smoothed out the base and brought out the fruit flavors more.
Day 5 of the Inoki Bathhouse advent calendar. This might be my least favorite tea so far of this advent. I don’t know if it’s me or the tea, but I feel like this is just ok. I liked it best as an iced tea – somehow the general hay/vegetal flavor was more enjoyable cold. Maybe because it’s not a flavor profile I typically think of for iced tea, so it was a pleasant surprise. Hot, it’s just… a bit nutty, a bit hayish, and a bit green-vegetable. But not really enough of any of those things. And a stronger steep just made it drier rather than teasing out the flavors better.
