79
drank Gyokuro by Harney & Sons
2036 tasting notes

Oh woe is me.

The curse of having too much tea is that little gems like the last teaspoon or so of this sample get buried and when you find them, in this case, years later, they are a shadow of their former selves. (How could I have let this happen? I really must be more careful.)

Doubly cursed, I had the last teaspoon already in the Breville filter when I realized I couldn’t get the settings to go any lower than 160 and I wanted to steep this at 140. I’d rinsed the filter from the last tea I’d made and so the leaves had adhered to the filter. I couldn’t move them to another filter without losing half the sample. Sigh.

So I used the equivalent of chewing gum and coathangers or whatever that saying is. I heated the water in the Breville, let it cool, and stuck the filter into the water manually.

And why not go for the woe hat trick while I’m at it? I also think I used too much water for the amount of leaf I had left.

You may think all of this woe is leading up to a disastrous report. Happily, you’d be mistaken.

Yes, it’s a shadow of its former self judging by my previous note on this, but, somewhat unbelievably, it still has a pleasant, somewhat sweet, green mellow flavor. I’m glad I went ahead and steeped it rather than committing it to the compost heap.

caile

Yay, a happy ending!

__Morgana__

Indeed. :-)

Stephanie

hurray for non ruined gyokuro!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

caile

Yay, a happy ending!

__Morgana__

Indeed. :-)

Stephanie

hurray for non ruined gyokuro!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer