Robert Godden Send Message

IT has become my habit to start my day with a green or white, or two, or five, and then move through into blacks during the day. That seems to be the opposite for most people, probably because of the wildly inaccurate belief that greens have less caffeine than whites.
So, the sun is coming up, I’m working on a press release and sipping some Jasmine.
The colour today is kind of mystical, I am peering into the tea bowl and trying to see the future.
The warm tones and perky bouquet of this tea are helping me to see that said future will contain much tea.

A retrospective, I had this last night!
Yesterday was a bizarre day – I didn’t eat apart from some diet jelly (that’s jello for some reason to you in the US of A, not jam).
I did have 13 cups of tea including the milky concoction I mention in an earlier post and “gasp” 4 bagged teas – two Taylors of Harrogate Lapsang Souchongs and two Pickwick’s Pure Peppermint – as I was at a function at an aussie country pub and didn’t take an infuser because I didn’t want to be beaten up.
So last night, just before retiring and completely stuffed, I enjoyed another of these fine Darjeelings.
I concocted it in Cyril, my glass teapot, to fully enjoy the colour. And I used some 100-year-old Czech gold-rimmed tea-cups. And finally, I added a smidgen of sugar to mine.
It was a near religious experience.
As they say in surfing, you shoulda been there.

I needed reinvigorating.
I brewed this.
and lo, I was reinvigorated !

I am still feeling quite crappy after a bad night, and 4 cups of Pai Mu Tan, so here goes:
teaspoon of Superior Vanilla with pods in an ibrik (turkish coffee pot)
Steep in a little water for 2 minutes
Add a dash of honey, a shake or two of dried ginger and two split green cardamom pods (hang the expense)
Added some low fat milk and on the stove to slowly heat up.
The taste is wonderful. I’ll comment later on whether it worked

Pure Morning Bliss. 2 infusions.
I was about to shoot more on Assam but have gone off on a tangent with this.
I suffered a massive gall bladder attack last night, and rose several hours late, some what aspirin and codeine addled.
The was my saviour.
The whiteness is not exactly sweet, but yet not savoury. Like it exists outside of the normal rules.
3rd infusion highly likely!

Just made this in Cyril (my glass teapot) and it’s obvious from the colour that my palate was not lying about the Yunnan I suggested last time. It’s a great base, and then there’s some interesting tannin flavours over the top. There’s a peachy aftertaste (in both senses, if you like) that I think is the combination of the slightly brackish tannins with the naughty brown sugar I threw in!
Second cup I think, with breakfast inspired by 52teas

I’ve taken to my first cuppa being white, but I decided to kick my system off with a 5:30 am Darjeeling on this occasion.
As a treat, I used “Cyril”, my glass teapot to better appreciate what was going on.
This tea colours fast for a Darjeeling. It is a naturally light tea to look at, so if you wait for it to darken in the pot, then it’s likely to be oversteeped. Bear i mind I mean dark for a darjeeling, i.e. still quite light as tea goes.
The muscatel tone is always there, with some gum leaf – I have a koala that visits a tree in my yard, so I’d best keep this stuff away from him – but I think I have got the steeping spot on for a nice fizzy warmth. It flows from your tongue to your brain, and is the perfect adjunct to watching the son come up, writing about tea, and not doing the work I’m supposed to be doing.
Cheers, Steepsterers!

Take two- no oversteeping this time.
WOW!
Muscatel, pear flavour in a real mixed bag, Looking at the leaves, they are a bewildering array of black, yellow, green. Smooth gum leaf finish. Tannins are also smooth and full. If I was in the habit of drinking that crushed, fermented, bottled grape juice stuff other people get so excited about, I’d compare this tea to a shiraz.
Now I have a dilemma. It’s a full breakfast for dinner (happens sometimes) So, do I follow it with an Assam, or have another of these? Can it stand up to bacon? I think “Yes!”

Lunch is a Turkey, lettuce and cranberry sandwich, so a nice green is most suitable!
Brewed up nicely, with plenty of flavour. Saved the infuser for another cup.
Very fresh today, still an amber colour and plenty of flavour after not a real long steep. Picking up a grape aftertaste today
Now for that sandwich…

First crack at this, I’d had quite a bit of green and wanted to work my way back….
I oversteeped it. I was busy.
Despite the slighly tarry backtaste due to the oversteeping, this was an excellent cup of tea. Slightly redder than many Darjeelings, but with a lively red grape taste. Slight eucalyptus aroma.
Really invigortaing. I am looking forward to making a btter job of this one later today.