921 Tasting Notes
It is a sad day today, my nice shiny new camera took a bit of a tumble and now I have a serious problem. See, my room is rather dark, so I use flash and a diffuser for my photos, and now my flash is not working. Something broke in the fall and it will not register that the flash is a thing that exists, and there is an unnerving rattle. I am still within the warranty time, so tomorrow I will be finding out if it covers it…if not, well, I am not entirely sure what I am going to do. Adjusting the ISO and such does not get it to the level of crispness I like, so far the only thing that works at all is holding my phone’s flashlight above the camera, but that is not an optimal solution. Fingers crossed about the warranty!
Tis the season where I have to scare off the sniffles, whenever someone around me so much as sneezes, I pretty much jump to the other side of the room like a terrified cartoon cat, and I am only exaggerating a little bit. So seeing the ingredients in Wellness by Joy’s Teaspoon, I had to have some of it: apple pieces, carrot flakes, blackberry leaves, eucalyptus leaves, beetroot pieces, hibiscus flowers, lemongrass, flavoring, freeze-dried tangerine pieces, orange slices. I adore blends with eucalyptus, it makes my lungs happy, and it is so refreshing. And I know, usually I shy away from hibiscus teas, but lately I find I don’t mind it as long as it is a very light amount…you know, making the tea pink instead of livid crimson. The aroma of the tea is immensely citrus, strong notes of grapefruit, lemon, oranges, and tangerine. It is tangy and bright, with undertones of eucalyptus and a touch of sweet fruitiness from the apples. It smells like summer!
Into my steeping apparatus the tea goes, it is such a colorful blend, and immensely aromatic…and the aroma of citrus and eucalyptus is filling my entire tea area. I think that this could be a great steam treatment next time my asthma gets fussy. The aroma of the herbal and fruit bits once liberated from the liquid is pleasantly citrus, lots of orange and grapefruit with underlying honey sweet and a touch of apples. The liquid has a tartness to it, the hibiscus has shown itself at last, though it is only a touch, and it goes really well with the tangy, almost sour grapefruit, the sweet oranges, and the underlying crispness of the eucalyptus.
In full disclosure of things and stuff, I drank this sweetened with a Chambre de Sucre Diamond Sugar Stick, because I have learned that I only really like hibiscus teas if they are sweetened or chilled, though I did sip it before I sweetened it and you know, the hibiscus does not overwhelm at all, it adds just a hint of tart and slightly metallic (hibiscus always registers as metallic for me, not sure why) notes, so the sugar was not really necessary since the tea is already delicately fruity sweet. But you know, sometimes it is the difference between eating an apple and wanting baked apples, that extra sweetness is just soothing, so I still went with the sugar. The primary note in this tea is the citrus fruit salad, a triple threat of grapefruit, lemon, and tangerine, this blends wonderfully with the crisp cooling eucalyptus. I can see why this tea is named Wellness, I just felt refreshed and clean after drinking it, it is a cheerful blend, that come summertime I think I shall try cold brewed.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/joys-teaspoon-wellness-tea-review.html
Instead of my usual ‘here is what I have been up to today’ intro, I am going to dive straight into the tea, with a bit of history and botany! I am finally looking at some Yaupon, but before I do I want to talk about what it actually is. Ilex vomitoria, a member of the Holly family that also has Yerba Mate and Guayusa, however this version is fancy because it is the only native source of caffeine in the states. Grown in the South, this beautiful shrub shows up quite frequently growing wild and as ornamentation, in fact living in Georgia we used to grow the stuff. Sadly I was a youngin’ and was unaware of its use as a tea, though I can certainly say the smell of it is immensely familiar. Now before I go much farther, let’s take a look at that name, vomitoria…usually when a plant has something along that line in its name it means you will become best friends with your toilet (looking at you Russula emetica) but in this case, it was a misunderstanding. Used as one of the ingredients in Asi (or Black Drink) a ritual drink by the men of several Native American tribes that causes a lot of vomiting, it was assumed that the Yaupon was the cause of this, but clearly that is not the case.
Since I have two different Yaupons to review, I will save the history lesson (which is all sorts of awesome) for the next one, but now that you know what the plant is, that means it is time to taste the Lost Pines Yaupon Tea Dark Roast Yaupon Tea! The aroma of the finely chopped up leaves is something else, it blends cooked spinach, hemp, toast, holly leaves, olive leaves, boxwood leaves, bark, green beans…it is a complex pile of notes! It blends green leafy almost herbaceous tones with sweet roasted ones. I know this smell, recognized it immediately, but it was odd to smell it roasted, odd and comforting.
Brewing time! The aroma of the wet leaves (which float on the top of my brewing apparatus, which amuses me) is a blend of toasted sweetness and herbaceous green. Notes of cooked spinach and hemp blend with artichoke and holly leaves. It has a sharp quality, green and slightly resinous. The liquid sans leaves is a blend of toasted grains, dry fluffy loam, wet hay, and a touch of spinach…and lots of hemp. Fresh hemp twine with that distinct sharpness and earthiness.
I found the taste of this brew incredibly hard to describe, it has an acrid bitterness that is not necessarily unpleasant (like eating an unripe persimmon, THAT is unpleasant) it is very sharp without being mouth drying…after thinking and sipping, I realized I was actually tasting caffeine, I know this because when I was in school I just took caffeine supplements, and that taste lingered in my memory. After that initial acrid sharpness (that also reminds me of chewing on European holly leaves, I was a weird kid that needed to taste everything, this is also why I became obsessed with plant based toxicology) it fades to sweetness, blending herbaceous green notes, honey, cooked spinach, and distinct toasted barley. Yaupon is one of the more strange tasting herbal brews I have sipped, I can see how this was a ceremonial drink at one point…it has an unusual taste blended with a kick to the face of caffeine, I imagine drinking a ton of this in a ceremonial environment being quite the fascinating experience.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/lost-pines-yaupon-tea-dark-roast-yaupon.html
I have returned from my little hiatus! My birthday was all sorts of awesome, good company, good food, mind-boggling awesome presents, and of course good tea. I still feel a little overwhelmed, basking in the afterglow of a wonderful couple of days, but it is time to return to a semblance of normalcy. On non-birthday news, it is frigid! A very chilly day, meaning it is time to break out the toast hand warmers, delightfully plushie kawaii toasts with heating elements in them, they were a Christmas gift from my sister from another mother, and I always get excited for the cold because it means I can wear incredibly cute toasts on my hands.
Today I am going to do something a little different, I have reviewed a lot of Eco-Cha’s teas, but I always present them Gongfu style, but that is not the only way I drink it. In fact, bowl style (or Grandpa steeping, both names technically work) is fast becoming my favorite way to drink Jin Xuan, and so with that, why not take a look at the Spring 2015 Jin Xuan brewed up bowl style, time to show off how versatile these leaves can be. Also it shows off how huge they can get when really soaked and given lots of room to move around. Before I can drench the leaves in water, I need to give them a good sniffing, and what a joy that is because these leaves are very pleasantly aromatic. Notes if sweet custard, freshly baked pastry (kinda reminds me of a croissant because it is also very buttery) and a delicate touch of toasted sesame seeds. There is also a delicate undertone of fresh growth and woodiness with a distant hint of wildflowers.
Now that I have finally pulled my nose out of the leaves, it is time to steep! For Jin Xuan grandpa style I tend to use 190° water, it can take hotter but it tends to be more savory than sweet that way, and tends to finish quicker. The aroma that comes out of my bowl as I want the leaves dance around is quite yummy, buttery and sweet with rich notes of pastry and sesame seeds, and of course the familiar Jin Xuan custard and spicy lily notes that I adore so much. My first draining of the bowl starts light and sweet, with a creamy mouth. The taste is a blend of buttery pasty and sweet custard, similar to sesame seed custard with a gentle floral and green finish.
The more the leaves unfurl the stronger the tea gets, several bowls later a really unique thing I have only experienced with grandpa style Jin Xuan happens, it gets salty. Not salty as in, someone trolled me and poured salt on my tea, salty in the way that I just licked a rock and it has that mineral salt taste. It is earthy and blends wonderfully with the now quite strong green notes and buttery thickness. This is very distinct, I have had plenty of oolongs give me a mineral slate note, but only bowl style Jin Xuan gives me that saltiness and I absolutely love it, even if the first time I encountered it really surprised me. I got many refills of the tea, it is a tea that is perfect for those days where I want the oolong but either I am lounging in bed, out and about using my travel steeper, or busy painting/writing and don’t want to split my focus between what I am doing and gongfu cha. This is a tea you can spend the whole day with, easily.
For blog and sexy leaf photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/eco-cha-jin-xuan-oolong-tea-spring-2015.html
I got the best news from my phone today, clearly the weather gods have heard my cries, because guess what is happening on Friday? Yes, snow! It will only be an inch and technically it is a day after my birthday, but whatever, until I move far to the north (or in the mountains) this might be as close as I get to a blizzard on my birthday! If all goes well it will be late at night so I can get my gallivanting done early in the day and then just enjoy the snowy night.
Today’s tea is a bit of an opposite to the weather, here we are on the cusp of winter, and I am talking about one of the iconic spring teas! Yunomi’s Takeo Tea Farm: Limited Organic Shincha (Isecha), #3 “Ume” it is a Shincha, or the earliest harvest, is probably some of the most coveted Sencha, it is immensely fresh and a bit of a pain to get stateside, I am usually lucky to get a sample of it a year, and this is my 2015 Shincha. I got my sample right at the same time that Yunomi switched website, and my only complaint about the new site is the lack of interesting information, it used to be each of the teas would have a lot of details about them, now only some do…and this particular one is sparse on details. The aroma of the leaves is, well, it is also a bit sparse, very faint notes of kelp and spinach with a touch of fresh lettuce, but really this is a faint, faint, Shincha.
Into my tiny kyusu the leaves go for a nice steeping, one day I will have the shiboridashi I ordered, but slow shipping is slow. I love these tiny leaves, but they are a pain to clean out of the screen, so I look forward to a shiboridashi. The aroma of the leaves is still really mild, notes of spinach and kelp with a gentle grassiness at the finish. The liquid has almost no aroma at all, I was beginning to worry my nose had failed me, but after sniffing some familiar things I was sad to admit that this tea just smells like faint grass water.
I admit to some apprehension, see taste is mostly smell, the olfactory system is so intertwined with the sense of taste (the gustatory system) that usually if it is lacking, the food is lacking. One of the reasons I loathe having a stuffy nose, I tend to panic if I can’t smell or taste properly, not sure if that is an offshoot of my sensory disorder or a normal reaction, clearly I need to take a poll! Ok, enough waffling, this tea did not live up to my past experiences with Shincha…and I find myself wondering if I accidentally ordered the 2014 harvest, but since I remember getting the 2015 and my package did not have the harvest date on it I can’t be sure. The taste is like buttery spinach water and a gentle nutty finish, and that is it. I tried for a second steep just to see if a higher temperature would help, but nope, this tea was just not on its game. This is the first time I have been disappointed by a tea from Yunomi, but I didn’t want the rest of my sample to go to waste, I gave it to a friend who absolutely loved it…proving once again, that taste is subjective and there is a tea for everyone out there somewhere.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/yunomi-takeo-tea-farm-limited-organic.html
You know what is the best part of cooler weather? It isn’t the sweaters and fuzzy blankets, it isn’t the pristine snow and blustery rainy days, and it is not the warm mugs of tea used for heating my hands…no, the best part is definitely how clingy Espeon is. Unlike Tao, she has short hair and is perpetually cold…just like me! So we spend as much time snuggling and using each other as warming devices, she keeps my lap warm during the day and snuggles up with me at night. When it is warm she turns into an aloof long cat, but when it is cold, she is tiny and cuddly…and gets very upset with me when I have to get up. Clearly I need one of those cat slings so I can walk around without disturbing her.
Today it is time to look at Eco-Cha’s Dong Ding Oolong Tea (Fall 2015), aka, possibly my favorite Oolong ever. I have looked at several harvests of this tea, and plan on looking at many more in the future, because I have an addiction to Dong Ding Oolong. Partially because it is my go-to feel good tea, it is very much so like the consumable, liquid, version of that soft snugly kitty in your lap, it is the perfect combination of comforting and delicious. The first thing I notice when I pop open that exciting seal (other than the woosh of air, so much fun) is the aroma, wafting from the leaves. It is a delicious blend of toasted sesame and grains, honey, and a delightful nuttiness. It is both sweet and harvest like, evocative of autumn and yummy, especially if you are a huge fan of honey sesame candies like I am.
Into the gaiwan the leaves go for their happy soaking, it is always fun watching the leaves unfurl and the tiny bubbles popping out of the leaves as they do. The aroma of the soggy leaves is sweet and toasty, notes of cashews, toasted wheat and barley, gentle notes of squash, a touch of roasted sesame seeds at the finish. The liquid is sweet buttery heavy grain toast, sesame seeds, honey, and delicious gentle smoky pine resin. Grains meet winter forest with a side of fireplace, see this tea really is pure undiluted comfort!
The first steep is gentle and smooth, and delightfully warming. It starts with creamy and sweet buttery notes, and moves quite quickly to toast, it is like warm honey butter on toast. There is a gentle spice note like nutmeg, and a lingering sesame seed note. The sweetness stays in the aftertaste for quite some time.
Second steeping time, the aroma of this steep is strong with roasted grains and honey, cashew and a touch of squash and pine resin. The taste has the buttery, honeyed toast notes of the previous steep, but it cranks things up adding notes of toasted grains, with a gentle pine resin and char note. On the way out of the sip, aka the finish, the note of maple roasted acorn squash blends with a touch of walnuts for maximum yum.
Third steeping and woo, that aroma is getting intense, strong notes of roasted grains and nuts, with gentle notes of smoke and pine resin…with a definite finish of squash…mmm squash. The taste is nutty and roasted, strong grain notes (especially wheat and barley) with lingering notes of gently burnt toast and sweet honey. At the finish there is acorn squash and a pine smoke finish, and a sweetness that sticks around. Many steeps were had, and they were filled with roasty goodness.
Photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/eco-cha-dong-ding-oolong-tea-fall-2015.html
My cat is the same way when it gets cold! Tonight he finally sat on me for over an hour, I had to kick him off so I could have dinner, my legs are so nice and warm now :) it’s a real treat when he sits on me, he usually is so independent! :D
Being off of my medicine is an interesting experience, and really having me re-evaluate things about my life. Like how in the name of all things holy did I tolerate the terrible-ness that is the mattress? I know Fibromyalgia (coupled with Aspbergers) makes things more extreme (it is so 90s) especially pain, but wow, that mattress is so uncomfortable. Even though yeah, I am in a lot of pain and I am having to take it easier than I did previously, I am glad to be off the stuff. Since being freed from my medicinal servitude I have only had one splitting headache, instead of the many splitting headaches a day, and the best thing is I have a lot more mental clarity. I consider this a win…though I really need a new mattress.
Today’s tea is from A Quarter To Tea, specifically their Mexican Hot Chocolate blend, because I am a hardcore chocoholic, though alas, I am slowly outgrowing my ability to just gorge on huge piles of chocolate…slowly…I can still eat a whole bag in one sitting, just not two bags, tis the price of growing old. To help ease the transition I seek out chocolaty teas, this one being a blend of Organic Quinlan Oolong Tea, Ceylon Black Tea, Cinnamon, Star Anise, Freeze-dried Marshmallows, Dried Red Chile Flakes, Natural Flavorings. I admit, I have had several spicy chocolate teas, but this is the only one that uses Star Anise, and I have a serious Star Anise addiction, so yummy! The aroma of the dry tea is super sweet, definitely can smell the sugary joy of the marshmallows and chocolate. There is also a good bit of spice, a blend of cinnamon and anise and this distinct chili pepper bite that grows into a nice nose burner. My sinuses are pleased by the tingly warmth.
Into my steeping apparatus the leaves and such go for the steeping, I watch as the marshmallows dissolve away into nothingness. The aroma of the wet leaves is sweet and spicy, notes of chocolate and marshmallows, with cinnamon and peppery warmth, it is a very warm smelling tea. The liquid is sweet and creamy, with notes of malt and a decent punch of cinnamon and pepper, a lingering finish of chocolate wafts from my cup.
Tasting time! I got a couple of good sips of this tea before I gave it to Ben to have a taste…and promptly lost the rest of my cup…he really liked this tea. The first thing I noticed was it has a nice bite to it, the perfect amount of heat…just enough to warm the cold cockles of my mouth but not enough to make me run screaming for a glass of milk. There is also a nice burst of chocolate, sweet spices and marshmallows, and a finish of malt. I liked (what I tasted) of this tea, but mostly loved how Ben just wandered off with it, he is an immensely picky tea drinker, so I am happy when he finds teas he likes. I will have to get more, so he can have the majority of it…and so I can have a whole cup!
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-quarter-to-tea-mexican-hot-chocolate.html
I have a confession, I am addicted to those plastic drawer oraganizer…things…I blame my side addiction to organization as the cause for this. It is a dream of mine, one day to have a room separate from my tea/art room that is just a room where every wall is nothing but those stacked up drawers. Perfectly labeled and everything is sorted and probably color coded. It makes me all warm and tingly thinking about it. I bring this up because yesterday on the side of the road Ben found one someone was getting rid of and he brought it home for me, meaning my tea collection is even more organized, this makes for a happy me!
Today we are looking at a fun blended tea from BlendBee, a fun company that has ready made blends and the ability to make your own blends…something I need to try because these are always so fun! Specifically the blend I am checking out is Minty Black, a blend of Chinese Black Tea, Carob Beans, Peppermint, Licorice Root, and Natural Flavoring. I admit I was drawn to this tea because of my fond memories of summer time minty black tea slurping, though as an adult I find I am more drawn to the hot version rather than the iced version, it makes my belly happy. The aroma is pretty intense, this is not a tea to stick your nose into and inhale deeply…unless you have a stuffy nose and want to just clear those sinuses, because wow, mint! So much cooling fresh mint, I feel like I fell face first into a mint plant..and yes I know exactly what that is like. Underneath the pile of mint is some mild malty notes, chocolate, and a touch of sweet licorice root at the finish.
The aroma of the now quite soggy leaves and other bits is a double blend of mint and cocoa, with sweet undertones of licorice and a touch of malty richness. There is so much mint, lots and lots of mint, though it is not as strong as the mint-splosion that is the dry leaf. The liquid is sweet and minty, cooling with notes of chocolate and mint, with sweet undertones, it smells like a Andes mint…and fun fact, every Christmas I would get a whole bag of those in my stocking as a kid…and they almost always were gone by the end of the day and I would not want them again until next Christmas!
Ooh! The tea is brisk! It combines a brisk black base tea with strong cooling mint, talk about a refreshing tea. After the initial mintiness, it moves to cocoa notes and then a nice burst of licorice sweetness that lingers for quite a while. This tea reminds me of drinking black tea while shoving Andes mints in my face, like imagine the sensation of having the chocolate melt in the tea in your mouth, and that is what this tea reminds me of. It is very refreshing while also being soothing, just the way I like my minty teas.
blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/blendbee-minty-black-tea-review.html
It is immensely windy today, with nice 50mph gusts and constant 30mph blusteriness. Any leaves left on the trees are going to totally be gone come morning, though I am feeling a great deal of disappointment with the weather. See all yesterday I kept getting notices on the book of faces and on my phone about how the weather today was supposed to be all sorts of hellish, with even the amusing ‘a tornado’ along with the storms, all we got was wind. And no, I don’t find tornadoes amusing (I FIND THEM EPIC!!!) but Accuweather has this hilarious way of wording future weather alerts, if there are severe storms, not chances for tornadoes, no, just severe storms, hail, and ‘a tornado’ and for some reason that cracks me up.
Did you know that Australia grows tea? I did, or it would make today’s tea rather confusing! What-Cha, being my go-to source for rare and hard to get teas is where I decided to go when I wanted to try some Australian grown tea, grown specifically in the style of Japanese teas, using Japanese tea cultivars and using the expertise of Japanese tea experts. Presenting Australia Houjicha Green Tea from Two River Farms in Victoria, a nicely roasted green tea, roasted teas make me happy…especially on blustery autumn days. The aroma, well, it is a roasted tea! Notes of gentle smoke and roasted walnuts, a touch of toasted kelp, and a finish of sesame seeds. It is one of the more smoky Houjicha have I have, and I am ok with that, me likes the smoky teas.
Into my single serve (aka small) kyusu the toasty little leaves go, and I am glad this kyusu has a small screen because tiny leaves are tiny. The aroma of the soggy leaves is savory and toasty, umami toasted kelp notes and strong nutty, smoky notes, much like toasted walnut shells. The liquid is toasty and smoky, with notes of toasted nuts, a bit of sesame seeds, loam, and a touch of roasted kelp giving the brew an umami edge to it.
Tasting time! Using one of my Japanese cups for somewhat thematically appropriate tea gear…alas I lack any Australian tea gear. The tea starts with notes of smoky slightly burnt toast, grainy and a touch bitter, much like a strong grain heavy bread. This moves to toasted nuts, lots of walnuts and pecans, with a bit of sesame seeds. The finish is a toasted kelp, somewhat seaweed savory note that lingers until it finally fades into sweetness. I admit, this is not my most favorite of Houjicha out there, I have had better…and much worse…but what I love is that it is from somewhere totally new and exciting, showing how vast the tea world is.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/what-cha-australia-houjicha-green-tea.html
Today is a day of primer and ooze, so much primer and so much ooze. With the official completion of the Christmas minis that are being mailed away (I still need to varnish them, but not on such a breezy day) I can take a break from painting presents to working on some of my personal side projects. Namely I primed alllllllllll of the ships and terrain and other sundries from Dreadfleet and applied copious amounts of Nurgle’s Rot to my Bathalian and Well of Chaos. In a perfect world I will have Dreadfleet painted by my birthday next week, but I doubt I will get anywhere close to finished…Dreadfleet has a lot of really detailed pieces and I am such a perfectionist.
Enough about my painting shenanigans, it is time for tea rambling, today I am looking at LiShan Oolong from Joy’s Teaspoon! Ah, Taiwanese Oolongs, one of my oldest tea loves, this tea hails from the Yi Ping Chun Tea Garden by master Zhi Xing Chen in Nantou, Taiwan, on…you guessed it, the mountain called Li Shan, a very famous tea mountain indeed. The aroma of the curled up green leaves is sweet and floral with nice notes of lilies, hyacinth, orange blossoms, and a touch of sesame seeds and a delicious undertone of custard. Mmmm custard!
Into my XiShi Teapot the leaves go, and the aroma is so sweet! Notes of custard and lilies, ricecakes and honeysuckles, sesame seeds and a gentle note of green at the undertone. The aroma of the liquid is sweet, that is a definite theme with this oolong, with notes of custard, orange blossom, lilies, and a gentle note of toasted sesame seeds.
The first steep is light in both taste and mouthfeel, a gentle start to a tea I always enjoy for its gentleness. It starts with gentle creamy custard and sesame seed notes and blooms (heh) into a heady blend of honeysuckles, lilies, and a touch of lilac. The finish is a gentle note of vegetation that adds a crispness to the end.
Second steeping brings heady notes of hyacinths, lilies, and lilacs to my nose, with a finish of creamy sweet custard. The mouthfeel of this steep is thicker, much like that custard note that pops up from the first sip, it is rich and creamy, and super sweet. After the initial custardy goodness it moves on to flower nectar, blending notes of lilies, lilac, orange blossoms, and hyacinth. At the finish is the green, with notes of sweet peas and a touch of cooked turnips, it lingers on for quite a while.
Third steep, and you know what, that heady aroma is something else, notes of lilac and hyacinth, with a really great custard sweetness. The taste and mouth is rich and creamy, still holding strong with that custard sweetness, ever have Bird’s Custard? Because that is exactly the kind of custard it reminds me of. This moves on to flowers again, a bit of lilac and honeysuckle which pretty quickly moves to sweet peas and again that touch of cooked turnips. I went on for several more steeps and found this tea was a great accompaniment to painting.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/joys-teaspoon-lishan-oolong-tea-review.html
It is a wonderful feeling to test one’s aquarium water and find all the different things you are testing for are at a perfect level. Knowing that the little biome you have is stable and your fish are happy, it is a very rewarding feeling! But on a completely unrelated note (ok not completely unrelated since my fish are named after Planeswalkers) I am waffling on my deck construction again, I am debating going to Black/Green, still full of griefer goodness of course. See if I go Black/Green I can pull a bunch of Golgari cards from Ravnica, my favorite setting and my favorite guild. They are obsessed with mushrooms, that is so my thing.
So last week I got a massive box in the mail of samples (and an outright tin) from Hyson Tea, a company specializing in Ceylon teas. Not only did this box contain a mountain of teabags (which will take me forever to get through) it also included a bunch of company logo swag, so now I have a new massive mug and teaspoons, which is pretty cool, they also have the distinction of being the first company/person/entity to donate to my blog, supporting the fine art of blogging is awesome, and I used the donation to expand my tea book library, because expanding my education is very important.
Today I cracked into the tin of Exquisite Collection ‘Celestial Dimbula’ Black Tea, this tea is a blend of black teas from the Dimbula growing region in Sri Lanka, probably one of the most well known of Sri Lanka’s tea districts, and also one of the oldest tea growing regions, having been first planted in the 1870s. I am not sure of any specific sub-districts or gardens these leaves come from, so this should be taken as an example of the region as a whole. The fairly small, very dark, leaves which look like a mix of Broken Orange Pekoe and Orange Pekoe (this tea is OP, hehe) has a brisk and malty aroma, with notes of oak wood, a tiny touch of tobacco, a faint cardboard-papery note, and an undertone of molasses. The aroma is not overly strong, erring more on the sweet side towards the end of the sniffing.
The leaves have steeped and unfurled a goodly bit, and the tea is now a lovely coppery color. The wet leaves have the aroma of malt and brisk tannic oak wood, blending in notes of topsoil, tobacco, a touch of molasses, and a finish of gentle tobacco. It is brisk and smells like morning, or at least smells like morning tea, it is a familiar smell that I pretty much grew up with. The liquid smells a mix of malt and tannic oak wood, a touch of tobacco, and a metallic coppery note at the finish.
Tasting time! I took this tea straight, as I mostly do with my teas now, except Masala Chai and my oh so indulgent Ostfriesen Tea and occasional Matcha Lattes. The taste is brisk and tannic, strong notes of oak wood, tobacco, malt, and a bright, coppery finish. It has a slightly sweet molasses aftertaste that does not linger overly long. I will admit, this tea was not so much for me, I think…and I feel like a massive tea snob and a bit ashamed of myself for this…this is a tea for casual tea drinkers. Back when I was a little girl, drinking cups of black tea for breakfast with my dad (two sugars and milk, the classic British way) I would have really enjoyed this tea. But I have moved passed that in my personal enjoyment of tea, and there is nothing wrong with either my growth as a tea connoisseur or the tea itself, just different things for different people. To be honest that is one of my favorite things about tea, and one of the reasons I love writing about it…someone is bound to find something they will like!
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/hyson-tea-exquisite-collection.html
Poor camera. :(
I feel really bad for it…and for the gymnastics I am having to do to get lighting!