Curious Tea

Sipdown! (12 | 380)

I got a sample pouch of this from the Tea Thoughts summer countdown box that I did last month, and decided to cold brew it (since that’s all I drink these days…).

It’s so lovely and refreshing, with a subtle creamy stonefruit note as well as fresh cucumber and honeydew melon. There’s also a sparkling minerality present, which is sort of a given for me with green oolongs. Perhaps some light starchy vegetal notes, like edamame or lima beans. I taste a definite floral character as well, though not enough to ruin it for me. It’s a lighter floral, like honeysuckle. Honestly, I would love to do some sort of workshop on floral notes to learn to distinguish them better…

Anyway, it’s lovely cold, and so refreshing for these hot summer days in Austin. Plus the name makes me smile!

This was the best think before I discovered zangcha. I could sense that sakura wasn’t there just to cover undertaste or add another layer. It actually processed microbiology inside of tea. I don’t normally go for Japanese teas, I find them too subtle. Even Oolongs. Then again, I didn’t get into realm of fermented valley. Are they similar to Korean ? In a sense. This is interesting video that highlights link to China.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-14HEpKzCc8

You would think there is a railway crossing between north Korea and soviet Russia. Were they not building tunnels/ bridges between Korea/ Japan ? Anyway,,this was unusual and sublime. Smoke, I wouldn’t even describe it as such. It is more like menthol. I mean, it is not a dry aspect. Now I am thinking what if I blend it with liubao brick.

I tweaked my parameters again, used a little less leaf (around 1.5tsps) and gave it a shorter steep, and it’s definitely an improvement. It’s a good breakfast tea, malty with some citrus notes, and smooth enough to take black even though it’s deep and rich. Bumping the rating from 60.

My cupboard count has gone up one because for some reason this wasn’t in it, even though I’ve had it for a while now and the other Curious Tea I got at the same time was in there. Weird. For the first couple of minutes while it’s steeping, this smells super strongly of marzipan, before the malt takes over and it becomes more savoury, almost bready. In the sip it’s sweet and sour, malty with some almond and stone fruit notes reminiscent of apricot, and a sweet floral finish. It’s a deep and robust tea, and I personally would use less leaf in future than the 2 tsps recommended as it is very mildly astringent and sits quite heavy on the stomach. I think it’s flavourful enough that it would still be quite bold with less leaf. It’s a nice one to sip on without too much thought while I’m working.

I did 6 steeps and 1 rinse.

After rinse

The smell of the leaves is amazing! One can smell creamy flowers, buttery notes and even the smell of fresh pastries is noticeable.

Steeping

1st steep: floral notes at the start followed by a subtle creamy aftertaste. The aftertaste was very subtle so this steep was mainly floral notes.

2nd steep: the floral notes at the start were a bit stronger. These floral notes were followed by light creamy floral notes in the middle and a stronger floral finish. It’s quite interesting that the creamy notes were only noticeable in the middle.

After this steep, I started to notice the increased astringency of this tea. When finishing a cup, I immediately got a dry mouth.

3rd steep: heavy floral notes at the start followed by very subtle creamy notes in the middle. These creamy notes were not as strong as they were during the 2ndsteep. The finish of this steep is floral all the way.

4th steep: it starts subtle so no heavy flavours at the start. Floral notes start to appear and gradually diminish again. It also has a light floral aftertaste. Interesting enough, this steep does not have any hints of creaminess or buttery flavours, unfortunately. The creaminess is what made me taste this tea in the first place.

5th steep: no heavy flavours at the start. Increasing floral notes leading to a floral aftertaste.

6th steep: this was the final steep as the tea leaves gave me everything they had. No heavy flavours at the start, very subtle floral notes without any aftertaste.

I’m quite happy with the results of my first tea tasting of 2019. This Qing Xin was a tea I’ve had for a while and I’m delighted I did a proper tasting of it. Personally, the first three steeps were the best because I really liked the creamy flavours. I’m not really into oolong teas but I really liked this one. That is why my final score of this tea is 9/10. If I run out of tea and want to buy some new oolongs, this one will definitely be the first one on my list. Or even if I am looking for a good tea to serve with a sweet dessert such as a freshly baked strawberry cream pie or just any pie with a lot of whipped cream.

For this tea tasting, I did 1 rinse and 6 steeps. After the second steep, I changed the amount of water because the tea was too bitter for me.

Before rinse

The leaves have a dark green colour and have a thin shape. If you look at these leaves, it looks like they have been waxed. The smell is a toasted and nutty aroma.

After rinse

The smell of the wet leaves is more or less the same as the dry leaves. It really smells delicious and tasty!

Steeping

1st steep: this steep is bitter right from the start. There are some subtle nutty flavours hidden beneath this overall bitterness. I generally don’t like bitter but this steep isn’t too bad. Even though it’s bitter, it’s still pleasant to drink.

2nd steep: subtle bitterness at the start and the nutty flavour becomes more noticeable. Mostly nuts in the middle, just like the aftertaste. There are also some light bitter notes in between.

3rd steep: WOW! What a difference! I felt the previous steep was a bit too bitter for this particular tea so I lowered the leaf to water ratio and this didn’t miss its effect! I went from around 120ml to 180ml with the same amount of leaves. Now I’m getting pleasant nutty flavours that are not too intense. These flavours, however, did not stay for long as I didn’t experience a real aftertaste. Started getting some umami.

4th steep: this steep is delicious! Toasted almond nuts from the start and this dies out slowly. During this steep, I’m getting more toasted notes than during the previous steeps. Some umami flavour as well.

5th steep: more or less the same as the previous steep, only less intense. Very light toasted almond nuts. In the middle, the taste is as intense as steep 4 but the aftertaste doesn’t stay as long. In general, this is a pleasant steep with umami notes.

6th steep: this is the final steep as flavours are fading more and more. I only got some light almond nuts with some umami. The umami is barely noticeable.

Conclusion
In general, I can say I really like the first tea of Curious Tea’s January subscription box. The first two steeps could have been better but I’m happy I used more water for the third steep. Of the six steeps, number 4 is my favourite because of the flavours I experienced during that steep. If you like toasted and nutty flavours, this tea is something for you. I really like teas that have this flavour profile and in combination with the umami notes, this tea is pleasant to drink; both in texture and taste because of the roasting. The only thing you need to keep in mind is the leaf to water ratio. If I brew this tea again, this is the thing I will be paying attention to.

Just wanted to add that I posted a note for this tea here: https://steepster.com/teas/curious-tea/59260-curious-tea-classic-monthly-subscription-box

Just wanted to add for the individual tea that I posted notes for this tea here: https://steepster.com/teas/curious-tea/59260-curious-tea-classic-monthly-subscription-box

A subtle, well balanced Jasmine tea. I find that as the leaves do not unfurl as quickly from their rolled shape as most similar teas, such as Jasmine pearls that there is plenty of the Jasmine flavour left for subsequent re-steepings.

Full review here https://floatingworldofcha.com/2018/07/18/fen-yan-jasmine-phoenix-eyes/

I used a gaiwan and steeped the tea about 4 times. Steeping the tea mote than 10 sec resulted in a strong, full taste which was slightly bitter.

Brewed this tea both gongfu and western style. Both styles did not result in a nice tasting cup of tea. The tea was bitter, and quickly lost its taste.

first Dian Hong for me, sweet taste smooth, malty, sweet, cocoa which marries well, slight bitterness present but not disturbing, very minute astringency

Gongfucha 180 ml 5.50 Gr 25/35/45 seconds

fleuri, mielleux, cuit, tonifié

Miel d’acacia , miel de foret , caramel,

45s/60s/1m15/2min

Thé désaltérant

origine :Taiwan

gung fu cha 20s 20s 30s 45s

Cremeux moelleux fleurie (lys)

Origine: Chiayi, Taiwan
Élévation: Alishan, 1.200m
cultivar: Jin Xuan ‘Golden Daylily’ (金 萱) # 12 TRES
Moment de la récolte: avril 2017
Sourcing: De l’agriculteur par l’intermédiaire taïwanais de thé

Sororitea Sisters TTB

Since the upcoming week is a busy one for me, I am trying to power through the Sororitea Sisters TTB. That means I have had probably 15 cups of tea by now and that is a lot. So I think this will be my last for a few hours at least. Most of the ones I had, I have been reviewing for the blog but I don’t have much to say about this one other than it is okay. A touch malty. A touch astringent. Nothing that stands out as either good or bad. Ultimately, it is rather forgettable.

This was an interesting tea. Dragon well to me was something I tried first almost 10 years ago & I have always known it to be on the savoury side, while this one had a really good incense-like-aroma, I first thought it had been perfumed somehow I was so surprised at the different taste.

I think the balance between the slightly-nutty green flavour & this roasty-almost-(cinnamon? i’m adding this a day after the fact)-incense was well done. Its rich & good, asparagus, and while I wouldnt say its really zesty zesty, there is some in there (citrus zest?)

I havent got much experience with dragonwell, or green teas in general, but I liked this for its incensed aroma which permeated into the taste experience (i like teas that dont cheat me by smelling amazing but then not tasting good to back that up), or maybe it is just well balanced/good processing.

Thanks to Chelsea/Tastethetea for a lovely bag of goodies :)

62 is a very low rating for this tea, so I’m bumping it up. I must have been in a bad mood that day. This is a really nice, soothing tea for me. I love jasmine, and the blend of green and white teas makes for a lovely mellow, smooth backbone for it with very little astringency, which I appreciate. The jasmine is sweet and natural tasting, not overly floral or perfumey, and it doesn’t remotely overpower the natural notes of the base teas, I think possibly because it comes from jasmine flowers instead of flavouring. It blends really well with the grapey and hay-like notes I’m getting from the base, which doesn’t sound like it would, but it does! Overall though it’s not exactly the most ‘exciting’ blend of flavours, it’s a really good iteration of a classic combination, and it it doing the trick to relax me and make me happy, which is what tea is for, right?

Aw rats, apparently I never added this to my cupboard so that’s almost another 2oz of tea to get through! I bet I never added the Golden Monkey King either…

I chose this tea because I wanted to do a cold brew and none of the teas in my current rotation spoke to me for it. I used a 600ml filter water bottle which I’m now repurposing for cold brews only, 3tsp of leaf, and left it in the fridge for around 36 hours. This is potent. The jasmine flavour is very strong, but not chemically tasting, or at least not to me – I told my mam to try it (I took it with us while we went grocery shopping) and after taking a sip she squealed and said “that was a nasty trick to play!” so I don’t think she liked it very much! She seemed genuinely surprised when I told her I wasn’t playing a trick and really did just want her to try a tea that I liked. I guess if you’re not used to it the jasmine could come off as overpowering, but I think a lot of that is to do with my long brew time. The green and white tea base is mostly smooth but starting to get a little bit astringent, so I think that if I cold-brewed this again I would try it for 24 hours and maybe use slightly less leaf. The pearls are really tightly balled up so that even though I only used 3 tsps, by the end of the steep the leaf took up almost half of the water bottle. It was really beautiful to watch, though.

A light green tea with what seems to be an all-round toasted flavour. The base note is rich, followed by a great combination of sweet vegetal notes and a smooth zesty lime finish.

Fore more on Curious Tea: https://www.tastethetea.co.uk/2016/10/29/curioustea/