1847 Tasting Notes
Finally I have tried this as well (I did once or twice before; but haven’t written a note).
Well, a pleasant, blueberry (eh, bilberry) flavoured drink. Non offensive hibiscus, pleasant tartness, bilberry flavour good and genuine. Refreshing orange zest is noticeable in the aftertaste.
Refreshing and enjoyable; definitely can imagine drinking it iced ;)
Preparation
A sipdown! (M: 12 Y: 32)
Gongfu, 6g / 125 ml, 90°C water, 5 seconds rinse, almost looseleaf.
I have preheated the gaiwan and ry leaves aroma were woody, but somehow uncommon; maybe tropcial woods… it was very appealing for shou; definitely no muddy, funky notes as they sometimes have.
After a rinse, I detected right away a wonderful aroma of sweet cinnamon, other spices, chocolate and little of red fruits that I have noticed in western steeping.
Steeps have started with 10 seconds and 10 seconds increments in whole session. Turns dark very quickly, giving deep dark mahagony colour. Impressions of scents are following: cinnamon, cardamom and other spices. Flavour is a bit more harsh, quite woody with chocolate covered red fruits; medium thickness, long mouthfeel and creamy aftertaste.
This steeping method gives consistent steeps and it has been a lovely shu puerh with an otes I would not expect from it. Moreover, it calms my stomach, after another gall bladder attack this night.
Preparation
I saw that Klasek Tea had some teas from Bhutan in offer; so I took sample packages of them. But then I saw they have some new Nepalese teas; white one (Kalapani White Lotus) and some great looking Gold Jeevan, so I took 50g pouches of those too. They weren’t too expensive (unlike Bhutan teas); so I considered that a good deal.
They have added this one as a free sample — thank you! I was actually checking it out, but decided that I don’t need another 50 g of black tea.
Okay, to this tea. Firstly, the leaves are a bit worse quality, maybe a bit broken, not so dark, as other Nepali teas I had from them before. However the dry leaves are nice in aroma, like 2nd flush Darjeeling but less herbaceous as Darjeeling sometimes is.
When brewed, western style, according to vendor instruction 1g/100 ml; so 3g/300 ml in my case and steeped 2-3 minutes (I did 2.5 – 2.75 min) I got a lovely gold coloured liquid in my glass mug, with aroma of baked bread with honey and also some other sweetness, which could be sugarcane as they suggest. The liquid itself has flavours of above + very smooth texture with long mouthfeel, absolutely no bitterness and a little astringency saying “I am a black tea”, but not in any offensive way. In aftertaste are dried fruits, apricots maybe, or peaches; I am never sure about those, which is which, and citrus zest notes, somehow reminding me orange.
Preparation
A sipdown! (M: 11 Y: 31) Prompt: A tea that makes you feel extra cozy It was already removed from my virtual cupboard, but it still counts.
I know this tea relaxes me well, and because I feel a more tense than usual today; I decided to brew it this evening as I want to feel better than I do now.
Sometimes you are waiting for something for long time. And when it finally comes, it is overwhelming. That’s me today…
Fabiana, thank you for all Solaris teas!
A sipdown! (M: 10 Y: 30) Prompt: Your cheapest tea — Well actually I am not sure if it is a cheapest tea as it comes from Switzerland; and it was actually a gift, so I haven’t paid anything, but coop is cheap brand for sure.
I have to agree with my previous me, “Pretty basic, a bit harsh, black tea”
Somehow, today it was quite malty and bready as well. Instead of cardboard.
Definitely very simple, but fine enough to no-fuss tea.
Preparation
Two sipdowns today:
A sipdown! (M: 8, Y: 28) Margaret’s Hope FTGFOP 1 1 HS FF 2022 by Lochan tea; from Leafhopper Thank you for this lovely tea with typical FF Darjeeling notes!
A sipdown! (M: 9 Y: 29) Gui Fei Oolong by Curious Tea — lovely bugbitten oolong with quite long mouthfeel. Also it was worth many steeps and especially those with refreshing aftertaste were great and interesting.
A sipdown! (M: 7, Y: 27), prompt: February 13 – Mardi Gras! Drink colorful tea or tea from your most colorful tin!
Not a tin, but a box, cardboard box. Even not original one anymore. I put all the Basilur tea bags to the one box.
But the tea… orange is a bit artificial, so does Passion Fruit; it tastes a bit like Tang powdered drinks or something similar. But actually it was quite good and tasty, and again, very refreshing… another tea to be intended cold I assume.
Preparation
A sipdown! (M: 6, Y: 26)
An office sipdown and I see that I never wrote a note for this tea, so I was trying to be a bit more attentive to the last tea bag than usual.
Altough it’s named ginger spices, it’s not much accurate. For me it was rather a fennel tea with lemon verbena and lemongrass flavour. The flavour was actually reminding me rather hay. When drunk, I get some of the ginger like a fiery breeze; and spices were muddled and again it was the anise and fennel — something that can be called spices I think; however not what I have been expecting.
Preparation
A sipdown! (M: 5, Y: 25) Prompt: A tea ordered online — I am not doing sipdowns so well this month.
Anyway, It seems this tea must be drunk really fast after it’s production as today it was again very weak in the bergamot. However, the base was fine, but that’s not what I am looking for in Earl Grey in the first place.
I assume that this blend is intended to be cold-steeped or iced as it has got lovely lemonade flavour with lots of lemon and lime; tropical fruits background and no hibiscus tartness. Possibly they have used white hibiscus, which doesn’t turn the liquor deep red and isn’t that tart as well.
