Crimson Lotus Teas

Very nice dian hong! I got this tea from my recent CLT order, and it’s pretty decent. Beautiful leaves with a decent proportion of buds albeit a bit broken, with a decent aroma in the wet leaf and a extremely vibrant and rich liquor with a beautiful golden sheen around. Flavour is immense, beautiful malty notes paired with a wonderful smoky twang. Texture is smooth and decent as well. Character is average to decent, with some steep variability when it comes to the smoky notes, and the finish & aftertaste were very decent, beautiful malty and juicy finish at the tail end of each sip. Cha-qi is almost non-existent unfortunately and steep longevity is average, lasting up to steep 7-8.

Decent tea worthy of a confident recommendation from me.

Decent-ish tea. I got this tea as a free sample from my recent CLT order, and it just felt too simple and overtly bitter as well. Decent leaves with a rich aroma both in the dry and wet leaf. Liquor is a nice vibrant yellow. Flavour is decent-ish, not a very nuanced flavour but potent to say the least. Bitterness is highly present but not over-powering, but not much else other than faint notes of other flavours. Texture is decent, smooth, and character is lacking, very simple steep variability. Finish & aftertaste is good, nice juicy finish with a slight floral aftertaste. Cha-qi is almost unnoticeable and steep longevity is average, topping out at steep 10-11.

Gongfu!

I love how brisk and full-bodied this compressed Dian Hong is; though initially more on the malty side it gradually deepens and picks up notes of dark baker’s chocolate, a slight peppery note, and just a hint of lemon rind. Unrelated to tea, this past year I’ve taken a bit of a deep dive into the world of Artisan dark chocolate and as I was drinking this black tea earlier today I couldn’t help but feel the nuanced and sophisticated balance of flavours really reminded me of some of the different bars I’ve tried this yea – in particular the bittersweet cocoa and pepper notes that were so distinct in a dark chocolate I tasted from Ucayali, in Peru! Pulling that specific example from my flavour memory was a pretty cool and satisfying moment. I love when my love of taste tests collides with my love of tea.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0NSKUNuIDq/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WORusAw3iE

Sipping on this black tea, Western style, for the first time this afternoon and really loving it! It’s so warm and inviting with delicious body notes of carmelized sweet potato, malt, baked squash, and golden raisins with citrus undertones and just a hint of maple butter! Definitely a little different than I had expected but so incredibly clean and smooth! Will be really interesting to see how different brewing changes the taste.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWtr0RNL00g/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgNwv0Vwth0&ab_channel=Fryars-Topic

I decided to steep this blacktea grandpa style this afternoon so that I could sip on it off and on all throughout the day. It’s such a beautifully full bodied and robust tea with stand out notes of dark chocolate layered overtop a foundation of woodier and brandied fruit notes! So, so smooth with a really round profile when made this way!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfmbHpROvv0/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n7bpiFWI3U

Geek Steep S2E9 – Star Trek: Lower Decks

This is the tea that I chose to drink during our episode recording – grandpa style! I had recently received this Crimson Lotus order and I was chomping at the bit to dive into this tea cakes, so a space themed one was EXACTLY on the money for a Trek Episode!

I was not alone in that mindset because our Guest Geek Cody (from TheOolongDrunk) had the exact same idea and ended up brewing this tea as well from his recently received Crimson Lotus order – though he was steeping gongfu. It was sort of a Geek Steep first because we’ve never had an unplanned occurrence of people drinking the same teas before. The closest would be in Grave of The Fireflies because Marika and I had the same teas for both the watch and the recording, but we watched together and then chose the same tea to record immediately after. It also kind of happened with Wonder Woman but I had picked a tea for the watch of that movie and then Marika asked if she could choose the same tea for the recording. This was a TOTAL surprise and coincidence.

I gave a pretty good flavour description in the episode, and I’m sure I’ll give more in the future because I have a cake to sip through now. So, I’ll just finish this note by saying that in hind site this would have been the perfect tea to pick as a pairing for our season one Star Trek episode covering Deep Space Nine.

2019 Spring Lao Man’E gushu “Bitter” Sheng
Crimson Lotus Teas
8g, 212f, Simple Syrup water, 90 mL gaiwan

Will be interesting to see how water affects this tea… Last time I tried Simple Syrup on Bellwether and it reduced bitterness, which in that case, made BW feel a little less lively when brewing. I only ordered the single sessions of the bitter and sweet Lao Man Es from CLT, and based on my own taste preferences, will probably not opt to order more so we’ll see how this goes. As an aside, I hate 8g serving sizes because I’m forced to choose between using more leaf than I prefer, or having 1-2g leftovers that I have no idea when to use, so I usually have to go with the former.

Dry leaf: smells liked dried fruits, almost cherry-like, classic sheng profile. I’m never sure if my dry leaf notes are relevant anymore since storing all of my shengs together in Mylar probably doesn’t help.

Wet leaf: something surprisingly seaweed-y, tiny hint of vegetal smokiness

1x 5s rinse taste: I have a bad feeling about this session. Tastes like crushed pills of some sort, combined with how pencil shavings/graphite smells if it were a taste, plus something vegetal. A decent texture and sort of mint edged cooling that transitions into grapefruit-like acidity in aftertaste though.

5s: While mouthfeel is decent, the bitterness is quite unpleasant to me. This is my first Lao Man E I’ve tried, and I can handle (and sometimes welcome even) some bitterness, but this immediate crushed pill + pencil-like bitterness is not the kind I would choose to have. I suspect the water is playing some effect here to reduce the bitterness, so it’s not as bitter as it could be, both in its strength and how long it lingers.

10s: stronger bitterness, tinge of fruitiness the way the dry leaves smelled, then a quick fading vegetal mint-edged aftertaste with the bitterness present again in the aftertaste and lingering on the tongue before fading. Something about the bitterness in the aftertaste reminds me of high cacao % dark chocolate bitterness.

12s: the strongest bitter so far. That same weird combination of dark chocolate bitter and crushed pills with hint of mint on lingering bitter aftertaste.

3 days later: 12s: still that crushed pills sort of bitter, but rounded off with a soft mint like quality and something fruity, but not sweet. The fruity aspect could be from sitting out a few days, since I’ve noticed some teas will develop this when sitting out, prior to souring and going bad. Idk if mold, but I guess I haven’t died yet

15s: crisp sort of nondescript bitter, rounded off w/ that fruity sense, w/a touch of medicinal
Aftertaste fading quick.

255: strong fruity crushed pills bitterness again. Bitterness sits in throat for a bit.

Overall: probably some light cha qi. No other effects were noticeable/notable to me other than more jitters from caffeine than I expected. I had a full meal right beforehand, but the bitterness had a bit of a wonky feeling in my stomach. Nothing painful, just slight discomfort. This sample came as maocha, and I didn’t pay enough attention to dry leaves, but the wet leaves seem hairy enough that the steeps usually came out a golden honey hued yellow instead of a clearer yellow due to the furs.

So my notes stopped because several days later when I finally had time to continue brewing, I’m saddened to report that it went sour and I could no longer drink it. I also figured out why the one time I dumped old shou into the compost I caught a passionfruit smell a few days later, because it happened here too. I’m assuming it’s something to do with the process of going bad. Anyway, my $9 experience, gone just like that… I really would’ve liked to see where this went, but I doubt I’ll order more. It’s fascinating, but it’s not pleasant enough to where I’d ever reach for it purposefully.