114 Tasting Notes
Found some shou pu tuocha in the tea cupboard at work. Was feeling a little squirrelly and bored, so I decided to poor man gongfu it in my CS porcelain tumbler. I actually found the box of these tuos a couple months ago, but decided to let sleeping pu lie. I know it couldn’t be good news when it comes to mystery label puerh in an (American) office, but I love a little mystery.
Oh. Oh no. Turned out to be an immediate dirty, fishy mess. Even with a hearty double rinse. What did I expect?
Couldn’t even wait four days before cracking open at least one of my teas from my latest Yunomi order… Oops!
Thought I’d start with this matcha in my morning latte. Weighed out 10 precious grams for my 12oz/355ml tumbler to take to work. Whisked with water and topped it off with steamed oatmilk. Opening the package, I felt a little nervous, as I couldn’t smell any of the apple, just a gentle whisper of grassy green matcha. But as soon as water hit the powder, bam! The scent of sweet apples whooshed up from the cup straight into my nostrils. The apple scent is like a fresh pink lady or gala apple pressed into refreshing farmstead cider, or like these Japanese apple candies I got at a store once that had different flavors for different varietals.
Made for a wonderful morning wake up. with only 30g of this in my possession, this won’t be in my cupboard for long.
Flavors: Apple, Apple Candy, Cider
Preparation
I love Japanese apple flavor because it’s not green apple for once! :P
Yess!!! And not apple cinnamon yuck
Ha ha I like apple cinnamon too, but it’s certainly not the same!
Too many cursed cups of Autumnal apple teas from my early tea days have ruined that flavor profile for me (╥﹏╥)
Drank this for the monthly sipdown challenge: April 5th, National Caramel Day!
Ended my day with this tea, as it’s the closest thing I have to a caramel flavored tea. The roasty notes really sing when they meet the sweet caramel body of this brew. I got three different new hojichas to try with my latest Yunomi purchase, so they have some big shoes to fill when I finish this tea. If they aren’t up to snuff, I will absolutely re-order this one. Price of postage be damned!
Flavors: Caramel
I saw your thank you on the sipdown challenge thread but didn’t want to mess up your layout by responding there! I am glad you are enjoying these! It was fin coming ip with them and I have at least one year’s worth still to go, so maybe it can keep going next year, too. At this rate, I will NOT be meeting my goal…ha ha!
Thank YOU for making these fun prompts! I always look forward to the next month’s set of prompts towards the end of the current month. It really has helped me think critically about my tea stash and given me things to think of when choosing what to drink next. That thread is one of the things holding Steepster together! Keep it up!!
mmm this is a good houjicha indeed!
Testing this tea out to see if it has held up since my last note about it! I remember really loving this tea, and it opening my eyes in regards to the beauty of Nepalese teas. In terms of April’s monthly sipdown challenge, I suppose I could count this as my oldest white tea if I’m going by purchase date, but I think I have an aged white tea that is much older, at least chronologically.
Dry leaf still had an enticingly sweet aroma, but a lil subdued. This caused me to be a little disappointed in anticipation of a weak brew, but nay! the tea was as golden delicious as I remember. The warm summer hay is still there, notes of malt and honey too. The melon has developed into something deeper, but just as lush… papaya perhaps? The flavor notes have not budged an inch in terms of strength. I’m so relieved! I enjoyed each subsequent steep.
Once this one is gone, I’ll have to be on the hunt for another white tea from Nepal. What a treat!
Flavors: Hay, Honey, Malty, Papaya
It’s my final Sipdowwwnnn! Bless this teeny leaf tea for keeping me wired at work <3
RIP Joseph Wesley Black tea!
To cleanse myself of the sad gyo I had a few days ago, and to prepare for a new stack of Yunomi teas I just got in, I decided to finally open this tea and give it a whirl.
I have had this tea for so damn long haha… I think this may be the oldest tea I have that is still unopened! From what I can guess on the package, I got this in 2015. The material of the packet is very thick and as light-tight as you can get, so I have hope that this tea will be delicious despite it’s age. This will be an experiment in freshness for sure.
Upon opening up the packaging, it became abundantly clear that this tea was correctly preserved. My mouth instantly started watering at the bright, grassy bok choy smell of the dry leaf. I can tell that I’m in for a creamy, vegetal delight. It’s been so long since I smelled a green tea this fresh and nutty.
The dry leaf was downright intoxicating, and I quickly served some up in my all purpose kyusu at work. The bright grassiness gave way to a sweet vegetal flavor, almost like a swiss chard. The creaminess was present as well, adding to the silky-smooth thick mouthfeel. Accidentally left the second infusion for a minute too long, but thankfully it didn’t turn out to be an undrinkable mess. It was little more astringency that I think would be present had I not oversteeped it, however, it was still a good, mouthwatering time. As soon as the leaves were spent, I loaded up my teapot for more! Trying my best to drink this down at least halfway before opening a new tea. We’ll see how that goes heheheheh
Flavors: Bok Choy, Creamy, Freshly Cut Grass, Salad Greens, Vegetal, Zucchini
Sipdown! Had this lil sample for so long. Too long. This tea is yet another lesson learned in not saving teas forever, particularly Japanese greens. I gave it a respectful final brew in my teeny tiny kyusu, but unfortunately it had lost most of it’s oomph. At least I enjoyed whatever lingering grassy sweetness that was left. Other than the that, the brew was thin and un-exciting. oh well. Drinking this just made me more pumped for the new greens I ordered from Yunomi :)
Last night I chose chaos and drank this tea with my partner’s turmeric-ginger teabag that I plopped into my gaiwan to be tossed. Thought the combo would be fun, and instead of tossing my leaves and my partner’s teabag, I steeped them up one more time just to see how the flavors play together. The result? Not that good XD
Most of the life in the jasmine pearls had been steeped away However… I may explore this once again, but with fresh pearls, so that the flavors are still present. Sort of reminded me of when Verdant tea began making all those funky botanical blend collabs with Intelligent Nutrients. I remember trying them all, but cannot remember if I liked them hehehe. Love fucking around and finding out!Drank this tea for Ashmanra’s Oldest Black Tea prompt!
Oh yeah, this is my oldest black tea for sure. I think CS has changed packaging at least twice since I bought this tea :) I tend to finish black teas faster than any other tea kind, maybe because I find them more versatile and less finicky. That and when I share tea with people, I know a nice black tea will be a crowd favorite.
Even as old as it is, the flavor is as smooth and bold as ever. The cute lil swirls of golden fuzzy leaves give the tea a great malty kick. There’s an earthy sweet potato note that makes it go down very easily. No wonder I hoarded this one for so long, if this was one of my first forays into tippy chinese hongcha, I wouldn’t want to say goodbye to it either. Too bad, I know it’s not going to last long in my office stash hehe
Flavors: Caramel, Dates, Honey, Malty, Sweet Potatoes
