921 Tasting Notes

drank White Tea by Gramercy Tea
921 tasting notes

I am super nervous, tomorrow Ben has an interview for a job he really wants (no spoilers unless he gets it, then I will reveal the mystery) and I think I am more nervous about it than he is! He will probably come home from the interview to find me pacing around, and this is not the first time it has happened! Each time he has had an interview I have been more nervous than him, it is like I get it all and he gets to be chill for the interview, which is a balance I am ok with!

So, to distract myself I am doing my usual writing about tea and drinking it, continuing my week of Gramercy Tea. Looking at their White Tea, specifically a Baihao Yinzhen or Silver Needle. Usually I am used to silver needles being all needles and no leaves, but it is a little more needle heavy than a Baimudan, so this is a bit of an in-between of the two. The aroma of the fluffy leaves is mellow, blending notes of pollen, hay, cucumber, melon, lettuce, and paper. Classic white tea notes, leaning more on the crisp side than sweet side.

I got into a bit of a fight with this tea, it did not want to behave for me! One of my favorite ways to enjoy tea is bowl steeping (or grandpa style, many names for the same concept) so I tossed the leaves into a bowl, topped with hot water and expected to have myself a nice session relaxing with a bowl. Nope, not happening. The first few sips are good, mellow and a bit sweet pollen and hay with a crisp cucumber and melon quality, though later in the sipping it got bitter and pretty unpalatable, so I gave up on that idea and went to gongfu.

First time I tried steeping it at my classic white tea temperature, 195° F, I find a lot of white teas can handle the heat as long as the initial few steeps are short. Anyway it is a lot of white that can handle the heat, not all though, once in a white I run into one that balks at heat and turns bitter and super dry. Sadly this one not a white tea that liked the heat…not that I can blame it, I also don’t like the heat. So I tried with a lower temperature, 175° F and ended up with an incredibly mellow and bland session.

Ok, I thought to myself, I have enough of the sample left for one more session, how can I make this tea work for me? I reached a happy medium, steeping at 185°F with a 30-60-90 time, rather than flash steep at super hot or long steep at lower. I finally got this tea to show me what it had to offer, sweet honey notes and crisp cucumber with a lingering sage and melon. There is not a whole lot going on (I might be spoiled on Kenyan Silver Needle and the Aged Whites I have been drinking lately) but it is a decent tea, other than the finicky brewing. Honestly I have not had the much difficulty with brewing a tea in a while! Even though this tea is pretty mellow and not hugely nuanced, I would say it is a good introductory white, and a good one to drink while you are gaming and not necessarily paying attention to the tea.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/gramercy-tea-white-tea-tea-review.html

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I…am a monster. I have my three desks set up as a sort of cubicle, giving me access to my computer, Xboxone, tea desk, and painting station all at once (since I am always doing a million things at once.) Well I was sitting at the computer and rolled my chair straight back to get some tea…and heard a noise. I was unaware that Espeon was sleeping on the floor behind my chair, so I just smooshed my chair right into her. She is fine…glaring at me…but fine, and I feel like a jerk, sorry Espeon.

Feeling guilt for inconveniencing the cat aside, it is time to move to day two of the Gramercy Tea week with Mengding Ganlu Green Tea, a delicate, fluffy, green from Sichuan and a fairly recent discovery for me(recent as in the first time I had this type of tea was only about a year ago.) I’ve developed a real love for teas from Sichuan, and this tea has become a favorite. The aroma of this tea is vegetal, blending sauteed bok choy, artichokes, bamboo leaves, cut grass, and a touch of fresh broccoli. Alongside the veggie notes is a nutty starch quality blending cooked rice, sesame seeds, and the most distinct aroma of water chestnuts I have ever run into short of smelling a water chestnut!

Brewing the fuzzy leaves bring out even stronger vegetal notes, really ramps up the savory quality with notes of Lima beans, sesame seeds, water chestnut, bok choy, and edamame…it kinda smells like stir fry and the umami quality is making me hungry. The liquid is a bit of a contrast, with sweeter notes of snap peas, Lima beans, water chestnut and fresh bok choy rather than cooked.

The name Ganlu translates to sweet dew, and you know, it is a pretty apt name, the sweet and green taste is reminiscent of morning dew on plants. The first steep is thick in the mouth, with a slight tickle from all those fuzzy trichomes, It starts with a mildly savory quality of Lima beans and cooked Brussels sprouts. It them moves to notes of edamame and artichoke, with a sweet finish of snap peas and water chestnut. The aftertaste is also snap peas and lingers for a short time with a sweet vegetal quality.

Onward to the next steep, the leaves are really unfurling at this point! The aroma is quite green with notes of lima beans, snap peas, and asparagus with a tiny water chestnut finish. Second steep is super vegetal, strong notes of asparagus, Brussels sprouts, bean sprouts, artichoke, and edamame. It is very savory and has a subtle sweet finish of snap peas that linger, though not overly long.

The third steep is starting to show its age, the aroma is mostly sweet snap peas and water chestnut with a dew like quality. The previous steep was all about the savory vegetal quality, this steep brings the gentle sweetness, notes of water chestnut, fresh spring water, and snap peas dance around in my mouth, with a slight sugar cane sweetness at the finish. There is only a light aftertaste, like the fleeting morning dew disappearing with the afternoon’s sun.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/gramercy-tea-mengding-ganlu-green-tea.html

MrQuackers

How much tea did you use? How long was it steeped for? This tea was sent to you for review.

KiwiDelight

Awww, poor Epseon!

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Oh Accuweather, you did not prepare me for how lovely today would be! I thought the cool weather was supposed to meander in later in the week, but nope, started today! Mostly overcast and cool enough to have the windows open, though had I known I would have gotten out of bed earlier and headed to the zoo! Since this week is supposed to be mostly nice, one of these days is going to be a zoo day, and I am very excited for it.

Today is the start of a theme week, one of many upcoming theme weeks me thinks! This first one will be five days of Gramercy Tea, starting with their Yellow Chrysanthemum. I was desperate for some chrysanthemum too, perfect timing. I had recently ordered some off Amazon, the white variety, though when they arrived they were brownish gray and horridly stale. These arriving were a bit of a life saver, because I love chrysanthemum and get very cranky when I am out. Opening the bag was amazing, seriously fresh smelling chrysanthemums here! Notes of pollen, honey, straw, and flowers…obviously chrysanthemums…but also straw flowers, aster (same family techincally) and a bit of starchy sweetness. These are some of the sweetest smelling chrysanthemums I have sniffed, they look like little bits of sunlight, so overall a pleasant first impression.

You know what is fun, gongfu brewing flowers! I decided to use my serpentinite gaiwan to really show off the flower’s striking color. The aroma of the brewed flowers is super fresh, it smells like a bouquet of freshly picked mums, blending pollen, honey, dandelions, straw flowers, aster, and a touch of peppery goodness at the finish. The aroma of the first steep is wonderfully sweet, with notes of honey and pollen, dandelions, and a gentle sharp peppery note at the finish.

Ah, there is that wonderful cooling action I associate with Chrysanthemum. It is thick in the mouth, almost syrupy, and feels cool in the throat and stomach. It has become a go-to drink when my throat is scratchy, especially if it is from being so hot. The taste is sweet, with notes of fresh dandelion flowers, pollen, and a lingering wildflower honey. As the flowery brew cools a bit, the classic (at least to me) crisp peppery note shows up, but is pretty quickly drowned out by honey.

There is no real change from steep to steep, it pains me to say that it is not as nuanced as a tea, but not everything needs to tell an epic story throughout a session, sometimes change is not needed since it reached perfection from the start, and I feel a lot of flowers are like that, and that is fine by me. Lack of change aside, this pile of flowers just keeps going and going, til the end I just transferred my flowers to a bowl and grandpa steeped it, and finally at the end I just ate a few of the flowers because I am a rebel. Having had all the different colors of chrysanthemum used for tea, yellow is my favorite and this session just reaffirmed it.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/gramercy-tea-yellow-chrysanthemum-tea.html

Evol Ving Ness

I had been dispatched by my Chinese Traditional Medicine practitioner to buy and drink chrysanthemum tea daily and I adore it. I was surprised at how fresh and frisky it was. I won’t do without it now.

Can you recommend any other cooling (floral) teas?

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Oh yay! According to the Accuweather the heat is supposed to be easing up, no more mid to high 90s, low 90s and high 80s with some storms starting tomorrow. Still hotter than I would like, but it is so much more tolerable! I just hope my peeps on the east coast get a break soon, my poor mom is melting. I hope it is cool enough to go back to the zoo soon, I have a $5 coupon for taking a survey and I want a new trinket for my tea desk, specifically a new tea pet.

Today I am looking at Yunomi’s Onocha: Yamaguchi Shincha Green Tea, a 2015 Shincha from the Yamaguchi Prefecture. I goofed a bit, when I was ordering some samples of Shincha I accidentally got some of last years, so I was expecting it to be faded…but a good way to break in my new glorious Shiboridashi. Well, the aroma surprised me, the leaves smelled immensely fresh and crisp! Notes of edamame, fresh cut hat, sesame seeds, and fresh sea air. It balances sweetness from the nutty notes and savory really quite deliciously, I spent the entire time my kettle was heating up with my nose in the leaves.

Into my new shibo the leaves go, and yes that beauty will get its own blog post soon, The aroma of the steeped leaves green! Very green, strong notes of kelp, edamame, spinach, and freshly cut grass waft up with a crisp hay and a light broccoli note as well. If this tea smells so intense being a year old, I can only imagine the intensity of it fresh. The liquid is subtle, gentle notes of hay and cut grass blend with equally delicate notes of edamame and sea air. It smells crisp and refreshing, like a breeze off the coast on a hot day.

The first steep is wonderfully light while being full of flavor. It starts with a note of sweet snap peas and edamame, then moves to freshly cut grass and sweetgrass, with a touch of hay. The finish brings the umami with gentle kelp and sea air, with a subtle starchy rice aftertaste. This tea hit the spot on a hot day, it was so refreshing.

Ah, the second steep is a beautiful shade of rich green, with a sharp grassy, savory spinach, and subtly sweet snap pea note. It starts brisk and grassy, with an accompanying note of hay and spinach. It then gets a slight astringent quality in the middle reminiscent of Brussels sprouts and alfalfa sprouts, this fades pretty quickly to edamame and sesame seed with a kelp finish. It has the right amount of bite and the right amount of sweet making for a very balanced cup.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/yunomi-onocha-yamaguchi-shincha-green.html

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So, it is probably not a secret, what with my occasional rambling on Instagram and my constant painting of various undead things…I want to be a necromancer. When I was a kid I brought the class hamster back to life, so clearly I have the talent for it, and just think of all the use you can get out of well trained (and clean) zombies? They can carry things, do the cleaning you don’t want to do, there are so many uses, plus it is like recycling and who doesn’t want to help the environment? Of course what kind of tea would a necromancer want to drink?

The obvious answer is Puerh, specifically one that has some age on it, doubly so for a traditional Hong Kong stored one. So that brings me nicely to today’s tea, Grand Tea’s Raw Pu-erh Cake-Simao 1999. The reason I say this is the tea that necromancers drink is two-fold, first this kind of tea has some sweet microbial action going on thanks to being in a wetter climate, a lot of ‘wet’ stored pu can have a bit of fuzzy mold (I didn’t see any on my sample) and it certainly speeds up the fermentation. Blame Magic The Gathering and my penchant for loving the Golgari (hello green black mushroom zombies) but that is where my head goes. The other reason is the smell, the aroma of this tea is like deep earth, wet cave, a bit of swamp, wet books, wet decomposing wood, leaf mould, and mushrooms. It smells like the kind of place a necromancer would hang out, I love the smell, though I admit my brain did this whole ‘wait, you are going to consume this’ moment, which was a bit funny.

Gaiwan time, I am using my baby Sheng gaiwan since I am always leery of a new Sheng Pu hurting my guts, though supposedly the older and wetter the easier it is, so maybe the tiny gaiwan was unnecessary. After a rinse and first steep, the leaves have opened a bit. The aroma us potent stuff! Strong notes of beets, leather, wet earth, old wet wood…and a bit of swamp and medicinal roots. Specifically a bit like Valerian root or one of those nasty TCM blends I drink when I have a nasty cold, it is pleasantly pungent. The liquid is sweetly medicinal, pungent roots mixed with a touch of the herb sweet annie, there are also old books, wet cypress, and a bit of wet leaves.

The first steep is surprisingly sweet, like wet wood, sweet annie, wet leather, wet leaves, and swamp. The real standout thing from the first steep is its incredibly thick mouth and long lingering aftertaste. For the real party you need to go to the next couple of steeps where it ramps up in intensity. Strong bitter medicinal roots, beets, and wet wood with a sweetness that shows up at the finish and lingers for a bit.

Steeps in the middle are something else, I feel like I am going spelunking! It tastes like cave, and roots, and fermented soy beans. It starts to have a tiny bit of a savory quality and a thick almost oily mouthfeel. I feel as though every inch of my mouth has become a cave and this is some sort of transcendent communication with bio-luminescent fungi. It tastes old and wet, it is pretty fun!

The final steeps (and that is many steeps later) it takes a while for the medicinal bitterness to fade back to sweetness, and even the sweetness reminds me a bit of medicinal herbs and the sweetness of wet leather. There is a savory quality of mushrooms and fermented soy beans, along with wet leaves and old books. I can see this being an acquired taste, it is very earthy and wet, conveniently I love the taste of caves and deep soil, wet wood and swamp…I spent a large chunk of my younger days playing in a swamp and playing in the dirt, so this tea evokes a lot of nostalgia for me.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/grand-tea-raw-pu-erh-cake-simao-1999.html

MrQuackers

Thanks for the review. I saw this tea mentioned, and when I looked it up on the sellers site there was no info. I said to myself: who would spend $37 USD on 50 grams of this stuff. Now I know :)

Daylon R Thomas

I always thought of Pu-Erh as mummified tea, which is not entirely inaccurate given China’s history with burial and processing the tea itself lol.

TeaNecromancer

Welcome! I got it for review so I am still not a person who would spend that kind of money on it :P but I am ridiculously frugal and could see myself doing that for a special tea if I was more financially well-off.

Oooh mummy tea! I can totally see that too…maybe I can mix the two, be a necromancer who only works with mummies ;)

MrQuackers

I can see why a Necromancer would turn to puehr tea after dealing with stinky, rotting dead bodies all day long. Ah the musty smell of old books mixed with wet rotting swamp plants. Would you brew it in a human skull though? Hmmmm.

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This heat is too much!! I need a vacation to the arctic so I can re-solidify. I loathe the heat and I have made that abundantly clear in the past, but what really gets me is when it is long stretches of it, so even at night it is still grossly warm. Now granted, I know I am a weenie of the highest caliber when it comes to dealing with heat (I have a condition) but on days like this I find myself wondering how people pre-AC dealt with it. I admire their strength immensely.

Since it is unpleasantly warm, that means it is time for more cold steeping adventures! Looking at Nelson’s Tea Glass Slipper Herbal Tea, a Rooibos, Vanilla, Almond, Cherry blend…it sounds kinda like pie. The aroma of the rooibos is pretty great, blending strong almond and vanilla with a gentle woodiness and a very faint hint of cherries. I am glad that the cherry is not overly strong, sometimes when it is too strong it can smell/taste of cough syrup, so a faint dried cherry note is welcome.

After a night of cold steeping, the aroma is rich and sweet! Almond really is the show stopper here, with an accompaniment of woody sweet rooibos and vanilla, and a touch of cherry. I find I have to be in the right mood for rooibos, definitely not a drink whenever thing, but with the few exceptions most herbals are like that for me. Conveniently I was in the right mood, and if I wasn’t before, the aroma would have convinced me since I have a weakness for almonds.

I have, in my many years of tea consumption, heard the complaint that rooibos is too woody and too dry…and well, it is very woody, but I like that…the dryness can be a problem. I have found that cold steeping is a good way to make the dryness go away, so for anyone who wants to drink it but dislikes that aspect, there is an option for you. The taste is great, strong almond and vanilla with a mellow woodiness from the rooibos, it is also quite sweet, as rooibos is. One of the things I love about rooibos is how naturally honey sweet it is, and this one is no exception. Sadly I did not really encounter any cherry notes, though in all honestly I was totally ok with that, I wanted the almond to be the dominant note and it was!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/nelsons-tea-glass-slipper-herbal-tea.html

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drank Jasmine Jade by Teabox
921 tasting notes

So, recently a patch came out for Ark on the xbone, and I just downloaded it today and played for a bit. The last patch was supposed to fix the pretty obnoxious and game breaking crash glitch and it didn’t fix the problem at all, so I was pretty disheartened. Luckily for me the glitch was fixed, so I was able to play for a bit…granted there are still other problems, but none of them make the game unplayable so I am fine with that!

Today I am looking at Jasmine Jade Tea from Teabox, an Indian green tea blended with jasmine flowers and I believe scented as well, though I am unclear on that point. This is not a tea for the faint of heart, seriously, if you are not a massive fan of jasmine walk away now before you get sucked into a walled garden ruled by the heady flower. This is the tea where the jasmine is in control, from the moment you open the bag, jasmine is there with its vaguely hypnotic potency. Have I made it clear that this jasmine is super strong? It is not perfume-like and cloying, it smells like full on blooming jasmine with a hint of fresh grapes and a tiny bit of vegetal green.

I waffled about how to brew this tea for a few, on the one hand it is a tea from India and they (not always) tend to prefer western style steepings, but on the other hand I have had some great luck with greens gongfu style, so gaiwan time it is! I was expecting a small jasmine thing explosion to go off in my tea area, but it was pleasantly balanced with vegetal spinach and a touch of distant grapes. The liquid is light and sweet, with obvious notes of jasmine, but also notes of spinach and a touch of faint smoke, which was surprising.

The first steep was intense, it starts with scuppernong sweetness and honey and then explodes, I think a jasmine plant just bloomed in my mouth. It is really kinda fascinating, it manages to be intense and heady, but it does not overstay its welcome and also does not overwhelm. This is my biggest problem with a lot of jasmine teas, I want to taste the jasmine but not be smothered by it. This tea is like jasmine nectar and I might have transformed into a hummingbird for this steep.

Next steep is a bit different, the jasmine has bloomed and all that is left is its ghost, and a nice dose of green! It is fresh like spring green plants and vegetal like spinach and a touch of asparagus. There is a tiny bit of smoke and honey. It is sweet and the aftertaste holds the ghost of jasmine blossoms nicely. I admit to not being the biggest fan of jasmine, but this one works for me!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/teabox-jasmine-jade-tea-tea-review.html

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Well, it is one of those days where I do not have much of an intro. I caught a spider and put it outside, I made a giant rice-filled sack to act as a cooling pad, and a drank tea. All the cleaning and redoing of my room I did yesterday left me very sore and worn out, so for the most part today I have taken it easy and tried not to melt in the oppressive heat.

Today I am looking at an herbal blend from Steeped Tea, Curious Cumin, a mix of…well a lot of things: Fennel, anise, cinnamon bits, silver lime blossoms, cumin, turmeric, goji berries, lemongrass, rose blossom leaves, peppermint leaves, pistachios, pomegranate blossoms, cardamom, sunflower blossoms, cornflower blossoms, safflowers, natural flavors. I was…ha…curious to try this herbal blend because it has a few ingredients I am rather fond of, especially cumin, cardamon, turmeric, and pistachios. These things show up a lot in Indian food, which is probably well known to be a favorite cuisine of mine. Plus the description lists it as savory, and I do adore herbal blends with a heavy savory quality, so when asked if I wanted to try a few teas, this one seemed like a good choice. The aroma was a bit of a cacophony, surprisingly sweet and very spice heavy. Notes of nuttiness, fennel, citrus, and flowers give it a strong perfumed finish. Totally not what I expected, a little odd and intense though not necessarily unpleasant.

Steeping in my glass apparatus, the aroma is pretty intense, it has a real weight to it. Notes of cumin, fennel, pepper, turmeric, and lemons. Surprisingly little flower and surprisingly sweet for such earthy spice notes, but fennel is like that. The aroma of the liquid is peppery and spicy, earthy and herbal, with an undertone of lemongrass and flowers. The main note is fennel, with cumin being fairly light.

So with all those aroma notes being so sweet I was expecting a mouth full of syrup, but no, it is fairly savory and earthy, bordering on medicinal. Strong notes of fennel and turmeric, with a middle of cumin and pepper, and a finish of lemongrass and a sweetness that just shows up and lingers. When the tea cools a bit it starts being sweeter in the middle and picks up more floral notes. I am not sure if I like this blend or not, there is definitely a lot going on, and the flavors do clash a little. It is not unpleasant but there is a lot of mouth noise and I found it hard to focus on just one note, also I was a little sad there was no real sign of pistachio in the taste, but since pistachios are one of my favorite things ever, me being sad is only expected. I say give this tea a try if you are a fan of really chaotic herbal blends/teas, or ones very heavy on spices and herbs.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/steeped-tea-curious-cumin-tea-review.html

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This week is going to be grossly hot, making me rather cross (other than my usual animosity) because I am finally feeling better and I wanted to go to the zoo! Since it is too warm to do outside things, and I had a ton of restless energy, I decided to redo part of the room…again. Including hosting an archaeological dig under my bed, which was exciting! Mostly under there was storage boxes, but Espeon is notorious for dragging random things under the bed (and under my desk, but that is easier to fix) so in the far corner was this pile of straws, ribbons, tassels, cat toys, and an empty chewed on bag of cat treats I am pretty sure I threw away. It was so sad the look on her face as I remove her stash, but I am putting the bed on the floor, so she will need a new stash spot soon!

Today I am taking a look at an herbal blend from Nelson’s Tea, Really Root Beer, a blend of Sassafras bark, sarsaparilla root, birch bark, burdock root, dandelion root, licorice root, fennel seed, anise star pods, ginger root, and flavoring. Oh yeah, we have a blend with the beloved Sassafras, one of my favorite herbs and flavor notes, this pleases me. It is kinda funny, as a kid I hated root beer, loved the smell of it but hated the taste, now as an adult it is one of the few sodas I don’t find gross (along with cream soda, birch beer, and occasional Dr Pepper) and is the soda I order when I go out to eat, because you know unless it is an Indian restaurant or Dim sum I am not subjecting myself to the tea most restaurants sell. I am getting off on a tangent, this herbal blend is the focus, and you know, if you were to blindfold me and hold this under my nose I would tell you ‘why are you asking me to sniff root beer and not tea?’ Seriously it smells just like root beer, fizz included, it is a little uncanny! I love it, but wow, that is a pile of root beer.

I decided to cold-steep this one, it could very easily be steeped hot, but in all honestly warm soda is probably my least favorite thing, so even a tea that tastes like soda I don’t want warm. After steeping for a whopping nine hours the aroma of the ingredients and the liquid is still pretty much identical to root beer, however it is not as sweet, which I like, as I frequently wish soda was a tad less sweet.

Tasting this tea was peculiar, it had notes of root beer for sure, with a subtle sweetness. However it was not an exact match, there were also earthy notes of burdock, sweet licorice, and gentle fennel. It is a more earthy and less sweet root beer and man, was it immensely refreshing! I am tempted to get more, cold-steep it in soda water, and then add a bit of sugar syrup and cream to make an Italian cream soda style concoction. This is the first soda themed brew I have had that actually evokes soda, the others I have tried have been nightmarish, this was tasty and different, I could certainly tell it was evoking root beer!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/nelsons-tea-really-root-beer-herbal-tea.html

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I am back from my wee hiatus, feeling better, though still with a bit of recovery left to go, but I am able to write at least a little so as far as the blog is concerned I am perfectly fine. The past weekend was Evo (and I apologize to my twitter followers, I was quite vociferous compared to usual) and what a fantastic one it was. For the first time Street Fighter finals were aired on ESPN, an awesome achievement! It has been fun watching tournaments change over the years, as esports and the FGC become more pro, though I do miss how the commentators have had to clean up a bit, meaning the FGC’s distinct lingo is sadly dying. Not that it stops Ben and myself from still using it to the confusion of those around us!

Today’s tea comes from Denong Tea, Elegant Tranquility, a 2015 spring Sheng Puerh from Lincang. I actually have not had a lot of experience with Lincang material as a Sheng (pretty decent amount for Hongcha) so sadly I won’t be able to say ‘oh yeah, this is classic Lincang’ instead it is a bit of an adventure into the only lightly known! I will say this, the combination of the name and the wrapper is so evocative, definitely one for the wrapper collectors out there. The aroma of the tea is very springy, fresh and light with notes of spinach, hay, sharp eucalyptus and a slight undertone of raw honey. It has a subtle woodiness as well, but it is fairly light.

The aroma of the leaves after a rinse and first steep is so green, sharp notes of eucalyptus and lemon leaves, cooked spinach, crushed hay, thyme, and a bit of greenwood and bamboo at the finish. The liquid smells light and a balance of green and sweet, with hay and honey balancing out spinach and bamboo with a hint of lemon leaves.

I was pleased with the initial thickness of this tea, from the first steep onwards it has a great mouthcoating thickness, and considering this tea has a really light start that is impressive. The first couple of steeps are green, with notes of spinach and hay, with a building lemon leaf and eucalyptus leaf finish, giving a great cooling effect. Around steep three it starts to pick up some kale like bitterness and a touch of dryness in the middle that quickly switches to lingering lilac nectar sweetness, that floral note was surprising and pleasant.

So here is where things get weird, around steep four the sweetness increases, as does the lemony aspect, now the tea vaguely reminds me of lemon cake! It went from being spring like in the beginning to summery in the middle, how fun! I really like how instead of being bitter the middle has a sour quality, it goes really well with the sugar cane like sweetness and the green fresh spinach and lemon leaves. Towards the end of the middle steeps, so steep six, it gets a fresh crisp bamboo note and the gentle eucalyptus note builds to an intense cooling. I had a bit of a sore throat while I was drinking this tea and the cooling was immensely soothing on it, so points there.

One of the biggest compliments I can give this tea, it is a young Sheng that doesn’t give me the dreaded gut-rot stomach ache. Even mild ones can start to cause discomfort towards the latter steeps, this one not so much, so I was able to outlast it. The finishing steeps are a combination of eucalyptus cooling and sugar cane sweetness, with a very long lasting sweet aftertaste. Definitely a tea where you want to go a bit between steeps to really appreciate how long the aftertaste lasts. The last couple of steeps also picked up a wet slate note at the middle, and the eucalyptus notes start to fade until gone, though the sweetness remains. The very last steep was the only one without a thick mouthfeel, it was light like water. This tea is light, though not at all dull or boring (as some teas touted as light can be) and I greatly enjoyed my session with it.

For blog and photos:http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/07/denong-tea-2015-early-spring-harvest.html

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Bio

I am a nerdy, obsessive, crafty, tea blogging, gaming nut. Yeah, that about sums me up! Ok, you want something more informative….

I am a Geek, hardcore fan-girl Geek. It shapes my life. I spend a large chunk of my life painting miniatures and contemplating my various army layouts. I hoard dice, get obsessed with games, and will talk about whatever fandom, game, etc that I am obsessed over until I am blue in the face. I am not just a gamer girl type Geek, I also fit in the collecting knowledge and spending way too much time reading and researching category of Geek.

But there is more to me than just being a giant nerd. I love tea, always have and have just gotten more and more obsessed as I get older. I love trying new teas and then writing lengthy descriptions about them on my blog, I love reading and researching the history and culture of tea, I love collecting tea pots and fancy tea tools.

When the weather allows it, I love to go mushroom hunting. I don’t eat them, instead I use them for photography and spore prints. I love nature and worked as a Naturalist in the Northwoods one summer, it might have been the best job ever.

I have Fibromyalgia, it sucks, but I feel people who are going to interact with me should know since I tend to vanish because of it so fair warning! I do tend to not vanish very long though. Also I have some ‘social disorders’ which basically translates to I am really awkward and bad at socializing, so forgive any lack of social graces.

I also have cats, love the ocean and all aquatic life, have teal hair, love cheese, and collect hats.

My favorite tea is definitely Oolong, but I also love Japanese greens and…ok I just love tea actually :P I am not a huge fan of lemony black teas or tart fruit teas. I also loathe hibiscus (usually)

This is my actual tea wishlist, you know that I actually update and keep track of…I tend to forget Steepster’s https://www.facebook.com/notes/amanda-wilson/tea-wishlishtshopping-list-perpetually-in-progress/10152336515414411 I use my steepster WL to keep track of teas I have had and really want more of :P

Location

Kansas City, MO

Website

http://ramblingbutterflythoug...

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