1113 Tasting Notes
So happy I brew this way I do; because I dislike black teas I steep them at 190 for 2/3 of the time that they should.
This brews a light gold cup that has a nice cocoa taste to it that is actually attached to the black tea taste which is actually wonderful as I brewed it mildly.
I am rather excited to compare these to other black dragon pearls. I think the only way this type of tea can have a higher score is if there was a buttery or honey taste somehow that mixes with the cocoa, though I still like it the way it is now.
Mellow, yet not mellow… this is an interesting green tea that I mistook for a Darjeeling because of how it looks. I brewed it at 180 which might have burnt it some, but it tasted quite nice. The leaf came to life when the water took its time and I was able to see that it was indeed a green tea. Over the next few sessions I will find out if it deserves a better scoring, but for what it is… just a nice clean green tea that looks unique.
Last night in Tokyo and I’m sipping away at a black tea of all things, but there is a reason.
All of my tea is packed up so I just have tea bags from the school office left- I saw a picture of blueberries and thought that was my best bet. While the black tea is undesired by me, the blueberry addition is quite pleasant and I will say that for a bag of cut up black tea this is decent. If I ever see this in a store I will purchase it just to try brewing it cold to avoid some of that more bold flavor that it has and try to pull out the sweetness in a mild way.
Interestingly enough this kukicha had a subtle sweetness to it that was detectable upon every sip. This was a free sample that was given to me so I had no idea what it was by looking at the package but once I opened it I knew. Pretty nice brewed liquid. The teabag version was a bit chopped compared to what the loose leaf would be but I don’t think it changed the taste at all. Enjoyable, but doesn’t have the taste that a sencha or gyokuro tea would capture in regards to the freshness of Japanese teas.
I decided to buy a sampler of Karel Capek teas because I won’t come across them. This was the first one I drank because I wanted something fruity. I must say that it was much better than I had thought it would taste. The apple taste is quite evident but the black tea base wasn’t the best of quality so it was a bit rough on the bitter side. I ended up drinking the whole cup so that says something right?
This was the free sample cup that was brewed for customers when I went into their store. As someone who isn’t a fan of black tea I wanted to just turn it down but it’s somewhat rude to do that in Japan so I drank it. The first thing I noticed was the red liquid which was inviting. overall this wasn’t bad and the strawberry taste was not overpowered by the bitterness that black tea has. I wouldn’t buy this tea, but I did enjoy the cup I drank.
backlog:
I brewed this for a friend and I by putting 8g into a french press to make a strong chai. I’m unsure how to rate this because I didn’t find it to be good but she insisted that it was great.
Knowing that I have to superior tongue it doesn’t matter :P
The sweet orange mate in ESPs chai collections wins the prize after trying all four (I’m not sure why they included a orange mate in a chai collection though…)
Went out for sushi for the first time in Tokyo last night… I am not a fan of sushi.
Anyways, what I found to be very interesting is the little container of matcha at every table. So you take the tiny scooper and put bit of matcha in cup and fill it with hot water where napkins would be in the US. I was surprised to find out that it was a genmaicha matcha because it was rather green. The rice taste with the vegetable taste of matcha was appealing since I was eating (not just sushi either) but I couldn’t imagine drinking this just as a drink though.
Fun times :) http://postimg.org/image/nslsi36w7 (shadows and lighting make it look darker than it is)
