Camellia Sinensis

ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge – “A tea with more than 5 ingredients”

When I saw this prompt, I immediately started thinking about which tea from my cupboard would possibly have the most ingredients. I didn’t actually go through and check them all, because I’m too lazy for that. But I settled on this tisane, which has 9 ingredients (and which I hadn’t yet tried).

Now I love woodsy teas, so of course this evergreen concoction is right up my alley. This has two types of fir, as well as spruce AND juniper. Plus Labrador tea, which apparently also has a piney flavor. I was a bit afraid it would be like licking a pine tree, but actually it’s quite lovely.

The main flavor is definitely those resinous evergreen notes, and I do taste a variety of them – some more sappy, others leaning a bit toward sage, but also with some fresh and sweet nuances. And then that sweet blueberry comes in and really smooths the edges of the whole thing, while also adding a subtle syrupy base note.

Lovely, and a perfect companion for contemplation when winter comes around.

An excellent daily drinking Matcha. This tea is processed well and has a sweet vegetal flavor like fresh snap peas, slightly bitter lettuce, and sweet with a mineral note that keeps it interesting. One of my favorite value for price paid matcha teas.

One of my favorite Silver Needle White Tea! I brew it western style, because it provides at least 3 heavy duty infusions. The first steeping is rather floral at 195F for 5 minutes, with some fruity interplay and some vegetal notes. Delicious. Subsequent infusions are much the same with a nuttiness taking the forefront with a fruitiness. I aged mine out for a year, and it aged quite gracefully.

The body sensation is wonderful. Extremely relaxing, and though talking about health benefits is a faux pas, it relieves my inflammation to an extent.

Sipdown! (19 | 174)

This one was a bit odd. The description sort of emphasizes the chocolate and berries part, and lists “a touch of mint”. However, to me this has quite a strong menthol note to it, and I don’t really even notice much of the fruit or the chocolate.

I think maybe it’s the combination of peppermint/spearmint and the cardamom that’s giving me menthol? And maybe the coriander as well? It all comes out tasting a bit medicinal to me, and then the black pepper leaves a tingling sensation on my tongue. Really it tastes more like a chai with mint added than anything resembling “gourmet notes”.

Not what I expected, but was interesting to try…

2023 sipdown no. 66

I forgot to add this to my cupboard, so sadly no satisfaction from watching my cupboard number drop. I don’t really order green tea (though always happy to try it in swaps), but this one was so intriguing being the only tea production in Bhutan, and from an all-women cooperative!

There’s a definite seaweed-esque smell once steeped. However, this fades away in the taste, which has a vegetal flavour, with very subtle hints of sweetness and an edge of bitterness (that may have some from the water temperature, because in previous cups it hasn’t been as prominent).

The second steep is also tasty, with perhaps an edge more bitterness, but also more sweetness at the end of the sip.

2023 sipdown no. 64

This tea is really beautiful to look at — rolled leaves with a unique shine and purple-blue in colour. The maltiness of this tea is heavenly. It’s somehow light-medium bodied with an incredible natural honey sweetness that cuts through the malt. I would re-order another 50g of this one.

Been using this tea a blend-making tea, just realized that I haven’t tried this on it’s own! I’ve made myself some smoked early grey, smoky vanilla black, and am plotting making a chai with this tea as well. I’m a huge smoky fan, so it’s very satisfying to have an everyday LS to mix with other teas.

On it’s own it’s fine. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it is a good base tea. The chopped leaves have longevity while steeping, and the BBQ smokiness is complimented by a lingering sweetness. It’s a great, blendable tea!

In my last Camellia Sinensis order, I got a mystery teabag as part of a contest, and if you identified what it was, you could win $500 worth of tea. Unfortunately, I only looked at the teabag after the contest was over, so here we are. At least I know what it is! I steeped 3 g of leaf in a 355 ml mug using 185F water for 3:30, 4:30, 6, and 10 minutes.

The dry aroma is of kale, spinach, hazelnuts, and sunflower seeds. The first steep has notes of spinach, kale, lettuce, green beans, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, earth, and umami. I can sort of see how the vendor says it is herbaceous. The finish is a little drying, but it’s not particularly bitter, though more bitterness comes out as it cools. The next couple steeps accentuate the beans and hazelnuts, with an earthy, herbaceous, vegetal background. The final long steep is vegetal and grassy.

I certainly feel like I’m getting my veggies with this one, and though this isn’t a bad thing, I can’t see myself drinking it regularly. Still, I’m glad to have tried a tea that I normally would have ignored, especially because it was pretty good!

Sipdown! Man, this sipdown didn’t take long once I unearthed this tea. The last couple cups of this was a bit more intense on account of the crumbs left at the bottom of the bag, but the malty chocolatly whoppers flavor was still deliciously present throughout.

I think I may be down to my last Chinese black tea…. Whatever shall i do???

Drank this tea for Ashmanra’s Oldest Black Tea prompt!

Oh yeah, this is my oldest black tea for sure. I think CS has changed packaging at least twice since I bought this tea :) I tend to finish black teas faster than any other tea kind, maybe because I find them more versatile and less finicky. That and when I share tea with people, I know a nice black tea will be a crowd favorite.

Even as old as it is, the flavor is as smooth and bold as ever. The cute lil swirls of golden fuzzy leaves give the tea a great malty kick. There’s an earthy sweet potato note that makes it go down very easily. No wonder I hoarded this one for so long, if this was one of my first forays into tippy chinese hongcha, I wouldn’t want to say goodbye to it either. Too bad, I know it’s not going to last long in my office stash hehe

Meh. This is perhaps my oldest green tea, if memory serves me correctly. I’m sure that if this was fresh, the flavor profile would be so much more lush. but this tea may well be damn near 9 years old XD

The leaves are still gorgeous, if not a little grey. I still see the beautiful fuzzy bunny tails and the craft of these flat leaves, but the flavor leaves much to be desired. It’s not bitter in any sense, but very faintly vegetal. If la croix did tea……

Note to self: If you get a spring green tea, you best drink it within the year!!! Aging isn’t for every tea. Not even this one. Boo.

Brewed usually at boiling, 400ml water, for 3 minutes at a time in my steeper basket. I’d Gong Fu’d it in my Gaiwain, however I feel like it really shines with heavy handed brewing. The first infusion is Milky and Woody undergrowth, the second infusion is Milky sweetness with Wet wood, and the third is basically a ligther milkyness with wet wood.

Absolutely no bitterness, and quite economically priced. How can I say no?

I only had a few grams of this from a sample but made the best of it.

Wood, minerals, and a slightly fruity black tea. Good balance through the body so it is not overpowering to the senses. It reminds me of a Shui Xian I had but with a smoother profile. (That could be a result of the shape of the leaves, my Shui Xian was a bit crushed.)

Pretty good, mild but flavorful through the whole cup. I’ve had better but I would gladly drink this as it is not harsh and pleases the palate.

This Tea REALLY opened my eyes as to the potential of Oolongs. I didn’t know how to eyeball the weight, so I simply put the entire sample pack of about 10 to 13 grams in my 350ml Kyusu, with about 200ml of water. I opted for non linear brewing times, starting with a 25s first steep, and dropping down to 10 to 15 seconds on the second, adding more time as needed.

Each infusion is very consistent, and the notes you get from it are very dependant on Temperature. As you get closer to the 205F mark, All of the lovely milky notes come through, together with a vegetable, almost Umami undertone. The Milky taste and silky smooth mouth feel really pleasantly surprised me, as it was the first time I’d gotten that note from a tea. Quenching and Mouth Watering.

I added time to what ended up being 2 hours worth of infusions on each steeping, and the leaves just kept giving and giving. The tasting notes transformed a bit throughout. It started Milky, vegetal, with a hint of a fruit I couldn’t identify, and held those notes while the floral and fruity nature expanded in later infusions. Absolutely mouth watering. The liquor was a luminescent, glowing green. After 2 hours of about 1.7 liters worth of infusions, I’d decided to give it a 2 minute steeping at 210F. That last steeping held up, leaning heavily into the vegetal and floral, while keeping those Milky and Umami notes.

When it was all said and done, those tiny pellets expanded into small to medium sized leaves that completely STUFFED my Gaiwan when they expanded. While the amount of leaf was indulgently large, I didn’t regret it for a second. I was left with a calm, warming, lucid body sensation, and a milky sweet aftertaste.

This was an excellent baptism into Oolong. I’d ordered several others, which I cannot wait to try! I want to take a moment to recognize this Vendor, as well. With hundreds of teas to choose from at any given time at good prices, I regard them as the Top vendor in all of North America, let alone Canada. They are true tea experts that know what those of a discerning taste want in their cup.

I very highly recommend this Oolong if the tasting notes are in your lane. It is very consistent in its milky/vegetal notes, with pleasant floral/fruity nuances that pop up through many, many infusions. Now that I’ve totaled the sample pack, I am going to order a big haul!

I prefer to brew this one Western Style in my tea basket, when I want a mug of something good and invigorating to sip on. Usually 3 to 4 grams of leaf per 400ml, 4 minutes each steep.

This Black Tea is complex, yet not finicky. On the first infusion at 200f, I was pleasantly surprised. It is silky smooth, with very little astringency. Dark Chocolate married with a Woodiness, nuttiness, and a slight malt. It goes down very easy, because it’s absolutely delicious. Absolutely devoid of any bitterness, despite the heavy handed nature of Western style brewing.

On the Second infusion, I dialed up the temperature to 205f, and used about 300ml water, and let it steep for close to 5 minutes. While the liquor was a touch lighter, it was a delicacy on my taste buds. Milk chocolate now, still married with the Woodiness, but the Nuttiness really shone through and is persistent in the aftertaste, even 10 minutes afterward.

This is a great tea to wake up to and to brew western style when I’m feeling too lazy for Gong Fu, as it is incredibly forgiving and hard to overbrew. It also gives me an great caffeinated zip to put some pep in my step.

I highly recommend this if you want a Black Tea without much bite, that is very savory and sweet both in aromatics, and taste.

Gongfu!

I was craving something a little bit more green and bean-y today, so I pulled out this tea for an early afternoon tea session. In addition to really prominent soybean notes, this Bhutanese green tea is warm and very buttery with a very gentle toasty nuttiness to it. As the session progressed, the finish began to take on more sweetness – like a cross between sweet corn and peach skins. It’s not my usual cup of tea, but every now and then it’s nice to switch things up!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1aDRGBuZht/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTT89txRUeI

Gongfu!

Drank this session in the warm glow of the rising sun!! Even though green tea isn’t usually my jam, I wanted to try this one because of it’s more unique terroir! My initial thoughts were pleasant surprise at both how buttery and bean-y the medium bodied liquor was. Definitely on the softer side, and the delicate vegetal notes had a quality that almost gave the illusion of them “melting” on the palate. Alongside those notes were flavours of Timothy hay and straw that I would usually expect to taste in white tea. It was a curious session, in an almost exciting sort of way. I’m rather unfamiliar with teas from Bhutan in general, and I would love to explore further – something tells me other tea types, like black tea, from this region could be strongly up my alley!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnP0BeBOrGO/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=325NwgCMdMg

Sipdown! (56 | 403)

Okay, so this was obviously a must-try in my recent Camellia Sinensis order. Any tea with evergreen elements, I’m here for it. And this is hojicha, which sounds even better.

To be honest, the first couple of cups of this left me wanting a bit more of the cypress. I could taste it, especially at the tail end of the sip, but the hojicha was overpowering it a little bit. This last cup seems much more evergreen-forward, maybe there was extra cypress hiding at the bottom of the bag? Either way, I can taste more of those refreshing piney notes, and also a lovely resinous sap-like flavor that I don’t think I’ve tasted before in a tea. Not sure if that’s down to the cypress compared to more common evergreen ingredients like fir, cedar, and juniper. Actually it’s reminding me a bit of cardamom, which feels like an odd thing to say. Regardless, it’s lovely. The hojicha adds a lovely sweet, roasty-toasty, woody, autumn leafy foundation that really brings home that feeling of sipping tea in an evergreen forest.

What a perfect winter tea! I’ll definitely have to order more of this at some point.

Sipdown! (47 | 394)

So I finally made a Camellia Sinensis order recently. Even though I’ve been trying not to buy much tea, I got a notification that their wintergreen was back in stock so I jumped on it immediately. I mostly chose their Quebec herbal tisanes, but a few flavored tea samples also hitched a ride.

The apricot here is on point. It tastes so natural, with a juicy sweet-tart flavor. Maybe closer to a dried apricot than a fresh one in terms of intensity? However, there’s something about the oolong that I’m just not loving. Mostly it tastes like a fairly standard green oolong – lightly grassy/leafy with a smooth minerality and hints of stonefruit and flowers. However, there’s some other note here that almost reminds me of spirulina, or maybe moringa? It’s like a little punch of vegetal-mineral flavor that throws the whole thing off.

Lovely apricot aftertaste though. Probably not one I would reorder, but I did enjoy sipping through my small sample size.

Borderline decent tea that just falls short. I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my recent CS order. Beautiful leaves with a nice but slightly weak aroma and decently vibrant liquor. The flavour is decent but could use more potency, and the texture is average to decent. Character is average, not a lot of steep variability. Finish & aftertaste is decent as well, nice malty note lingering at the tail end. Cha-qi is unnoticeable, and steep longevity is relatively decent, topping out at steep 8-9.

Very nice green! I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my CS order, and it’s one of the better greens I’ve had. Beautiful beautiful leaves with a great buddy look, paired with an absolutely rich aroma both in the dry leaf, which displayed notes of nuttiness, and the wet leaf which displayed potent notes of vegetalness. Liquor is decently vibrant and thick, flavour is decent to pretty good with a nice delicate balance of floral vegetal and bittersweet. Texture is decent, nicely smooth and juicy but could do a bit of work in potency, character is average to decent with some steep variability but pretty unidimensional. Finish & aftertaste is pretty good, nice elderflower bitter-floral lingering aftertaste with a slight astringency to boot. Cha-qi is almost non-existent and steep longevity is decent, lasting up to steep 8 or potentially more.

Overall, a good green which would be a 80-85+ tea if it had a better cha qi and better character.