82
drank Precious Eyebrow by Shanti Tea
2036 tasting notes

Continuing with the project to taste everything in my cupboard and write a note about it at least once so I don’t feel continually haunted by the pages of cupboard that remain noteless.

Which also dovetails with the project of making sure I have green tea (my take it to work tea) available for the transition from one tin to the next should it happen mid-week. I see a sipdown of my current tin on the horizon, so I’m applying the law of conservation in anticipation.

I am feeling pretty good about the stash culling project. I have basically completed project chai sipdown and project lapsang sipdown. I’m also pretty far along the road of project white tea sipdown. In fact, I might be pretty close there though I do have some samples and flavored versions I may not have tried yet.

Occasionally, I find another black tea I haven’t tried, so I’m trying to get to those as well. But I’m surely within striking distance of having tried and written a note about all the black teas I own.

Which leaves oolongs and pu-erhs. I’ve barely started with the oolongs. I have a ton of samples of both, in addition to what’s in my cupboard. So that is going to take a while.

Anyway, this tea.

It smells grassy in the tin with a slight smokiness. Not as smoky as gunpowder, though.

After steeping, it maintains that but also takes on a somewhat vegetal character. It’s a medium yellow green color.

The flavor is somewhere between a gunpowder and a dragonwell. It’s not a juicy, sweet, vegetal tea — it’s more of a grassy, toasty flavor. And I don’t get the plum aftertaste.

But it is easy to drink and I could see it being a perfect tea for work. Don’t know if I’ve had others of this type, so I’m rating it to benchmark against.

Flavors: Grass, Smoke, Vegetal

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML
Cameron B.

I’m starting a similar project, since I took a break from tea but still have all of my stash from before! So I’ve emptied my Steepster cupboard and am slowly adding teas back in as I drink them.

I’ll get through everything eventually… Maybe… ;)

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Cameron B.

I’m starting a similar project, since I took a break from tea but still have all of my stash from before! So I’ve emptied my Steepster cupboard and am slowly adding teas back in as I drink them.

I’ll get through everything eventually… Maybe… ;)

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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

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