Georgian Tea 1847

A sipdown! (M: 5 Y: 37), prompt: Your current favorite daily drinker

Eeek, I never wrote a tasting note for this one while I had a lots of it? And now it is a sipdown. I would change in the prompt a single word. Current → all time.

Anyway lots was said about this tea by others and I have to agree with them all. And I am so sadI am not able to contact the Georgian owners of this shop; they are not responding for my Whatsapp messages (okay, I tried it just twice maybe?) and their website isn’t working. Since then I found other source for Georgian teas and also with very tasty teas, moreover based in the EU, so getting those teas is definitely easier.

Anyway, this bready and potato-y (sweet one) tea is just perfect to drink. I tried it weak-handed, but also heavy-handed, but never turned out bitter, astringent or unpleasable. Thick and yet so mouthcoating.

Long mouthfeel with boom of flavours, though it is almost 2 years since harvested. Those two steeps were also a bit more earthy, but I assume because much more broken leaf.

Lovely, so lovely and I assume even a bit better than Guria Likhauri. But that’s because I have such a soft spot for Georgian teas. That one is also Georgian, but this is just a tiny bit better. Maybe it’s the visual with golden buds.

2024 sipdown no. 31

This one is a nice cup to drink without really thinking about it, which I essentially what I’ve done to my entire package. These is a definite hay flavour here, reminiscent of many white teas, but with the most subtle savoury aspect to it. A lovely warm cup to enjoy.

Coldbrewed this and it was quite tasty! Really mild and refreshing.

I’m not sure what I was expecting with this one (hasn’t read prior reviews), but it seemed stuck halfway between Keemun and English Breakfast without quite accomplishing either; neither fish nor fowl, but not unpleasant, either.

Stunning herbal tea. gmathis’s bunny fluff is apt. In hand it smells like hay, walnuts and milk chocolate. A dry, fluffy scent.

Absolutely unfiltered first impression: dimethyltryptamine, Payless Shoe Source, mothball, dung. I’m finding it so difficult to shake the associations that I struggle to come up with other words.

Sweet-dry hay and earthy walnuts? Something vegetal? White grape-ish? Old flowers? Mineral. Cooling – I didn’t expect that looking at the dry bunny fluff.

I would love to run this herbal tea through GC-MS.

Ok, this is CrowKettle! I’m having insane difficulties trying to access my old account (or customize this new one) – so here I am for the for seeable future (hurrah…).

Black teas often remind me of either beer-malt or muscatel wine. Some, like this tea, are strikingly a bit of both – exuding the fermented sugars of starchy grains and the dripping with rich purple hues of stonefruits and grapes. There are also smooth, earthy notes of cocoa/dark chocolate, dusky rose, and a touch of pepper & spice to finish – all which give the tea an extra dimension of mild bitterness.

It’s a lovely profile that I’m grateful I had the chance to try- Thanks, again Martin Bednář, for organizing this group order!

Steep Count: 2

Picked this up in Courtney’s stash sale. I’ve been wanting to try Georgian teas for a while now, but for various reasons kept missing my chances, so I’m really glad this one worked out. Thankfully, I did not get the wet dog scent that others did. To the extent that I’m getting anything scent-wise, it’s more like a mild Chinese black tea. Flavor-wise, I primarily taste sweet citrus with an extra bit of tartness at the end of the sip. I agree with derk that the mouthfeel is really pleasantly pectic. If you handed me a tisane named “lemon hibiscus jam” and it tasted like this, I’d be like “yup, yup, I can see it.”

A sipdown! (M: 15, Y: 15)

And this is again a very sad sipdown. This tea is lovely, very forgiving steeping paramters and yet so wonderful. I had roughly 6 grams left, so decided to use all the leaf for my western steeping.

I got so wonderful cup of tea, full of caramelised sugars from the leaves, hints of roasted and chocolate notes, some smooth and toasted notes; even 5 minutes steep did not brought any harsh and rough notes.

If anything… I will miss that forgiving steeping parameters. You can use any water temperature, I did 90°C — 3 minutes and 95°C — more than 5, but less than 10 minutes and both steeps were equally good. Also, it is low in caffeine, so definitely good for evening drinking too.

No, I am not crying. My eyes are just sweating.

At last, I tried this tea as well. No idea what to expect, but reading those happy notes makes me happy and I have been expecting a lovely tea.
I tried it using western steeping method, using 3 grams of the leves.

They are smelling amazing by themselves, smelling, as mentioned, like a chocolately black tea. But also roasty, as houjichas are. Gently though.

Flavour is amazing, very comforting and smooth, with only little hints of char, which could be avoided by shorter steeping time or rinsing it during gong fu. It’s very toasty, but s well there are sweet caramel notes, certainly I get the roasted barley tea notes, but still I notice the green tea which is made it from. I don’t understnad the last note at all, as I never experienced that before in houjichas I had (okay, two aren’t a perfect example), but still.

I will be very sad once I finish this down. I think I fell in love with Georgian teas afterall. Maybe next year there will be time to visit Georgia itself?

This little beauty carried the lightest whisper of umami on the nose… fresh cucumber and steamed zucchini. The first few infusions were fresh-cut grassy, with the mild bitterness of cucumber skin. Looking for floral or fruit in these inital steeps turned up nothing, but the plucky vegetal notes are light and refreshing.

And then whoa, suddenly a drop of floral. Something white… what is that?

Then a dandelion kind of flavor, the greens and yellow petals together. I think this was the 6th or 7th steep… totally unexpected that it began spreading out like this. I expected it to gas out much earlier. There was even later a taste like raw wheat kernels, or uncooked steel-cut oats.

Lasted forever, I didn’t count steeps. Blissful little session to lose one’s self in. Thank you, derk.

We had one of those spring days that was warm and chilly all at once…perfect for yard work, especially when the riding mower is in the hospital on life support waiting for a new carburetor and you’ve got to use your own horsepower. Husband trimmed around our 100-plus-year-old maple; that’s a half mile in itself; it’s an Ent just waiting to break loose and trudge down the block.

I tackled the tilty, tippy, ditchy part of the yard with the push mower, and was walking about as slow as an aforementioned Ent by the time I finished. This light little cuppa, courtesy of derk, was perfect for putting up the aching feet and surveying the acreage.

While steeping, it looked a little like cooked spinach and mulch from the push mower, but the coloring and flavor palate was much lighter. Definitely some sweet hay in there. Ashmanra mentioned a little mineral in there—I got that, too.

Not one to wake up with; not one to wind down with; just one to savor when you have a few delicious minutes to put your brain on autopilot.

Backlog.

Looks and smells like a typical English breakfast tea. Malty with a pine/eucalyptus aroma. Steeped a scant 1g grandpa style in a 215ml glass.

My initial impression wasn’t so great. Tasted marginally better than a bag of Lipton. Brisk and malty with a dark mahogany color. I think this type of tea is meant to be had with milk so I may have brewed it wrong to begin with. Since I can’t stomach black tea with milk, I decided to follow derk’s suggestion and added a few strands of Spanish saffron.

This turned out to be a brilliant idea as the tea immediately softened. I couldn’t taste the saffron but it added a bit a sweetness and a warm floral layer.

Yay, it finally feels like spring!

Brewed in a glass gaiwan with lid off and modest with the leaf. Light and clean, silky brisk-sweet. Transparent blue-green taste like buffalo grass in spring water, hint of earth. Gently sweet finish with vibrant mineral-salty lingering tingle like the Wild White Tea.

Brewed western in a mason jar with longer infusion, the green sweetness of buffalo grass become more concentrated. Does it remind me of tarragon? I think I also get a short ripe apricot aftertaste. Can get bitter in a grassy way.

Ambient brewed with 7g in 32oz gives a cloudy spring green liquor that’s pretty different in taste compared to a hot steep. Mild green taste and refreshing sweetness with hints of light vanilla; no brisk, earthy tannins or mineral saltiness to be found, nor any apricot.

Pleasure in simplicity.

A sipdown! (M: 1, Y: 1)
Sipdown prompt January 1 – Happy New Year – Drink a tea you’d love to have all year! Happy New Year!

Oh dear. I finished this lovely, yet simple tea? I am sad, you know? First of all, I am not able to contact (they don’t read my WhatsApp messages) nor check company website. Secondly, it is lovely tea and it was great in price/quality ratio. I paid 5 GEL = 1.86 USD for 25 grams of this tea. Cheap! Thirdly, I just hope they are doing well and if once I get to Georgia, I want to visit their teahouse, which seems it is still working.

Anyway, to the tea. Well, it is a bit past its prime, but truth to be said; my storage wasn’t so good. I have opened the plastic bag it was in, thinking I will finish it quickly, but I let all the air and humidity affect the tea for long time. I wanted to move it into some airtight container, but never did (sad face).

But notes of sweet malts and sweet potatoes are still present; just with shorter mouthfeel.

So, finally I found out the small bag of this and decided to try it; found out how it is; write a note; forget about this tea; find it again, give it a try again; and so on.

Anyway,I have prepared it as in description. 5 grams, 5 minutes steep, just boiled water, just my vessel is 300 ml instead of 250 ml as suggested.

I do very rarely such long steeps. But well, this is Georgian tea that never turned out bitter and very tannic to me, no matter if it is this brand, or Guria Likhauri. The latter I tried several times even grandpa.

Yes, it works. 5 steeps are still pleasant, and I have to agree with all notes written about this tea already.
Honey, spices, cocoa , sweet malt, sweet potatoes, little caramel. Such an easy drinking tea. A little toasty and I can imagine a buttered toast as a great food pairing. Maybe with some aged cheese.

Well, well, once I finish this one, it will be missed. For sure!

This tea was a gift from derk, who sent me lots of goodies to try!

This is so light, and reminds me of the envelope of milkweed fluff that I just gifted to my son! Light and soft and oh so airy. I know it said you can mix it with black tea if you wish, but I really wanted a caffeine free pot to share with Ashman so we had it plain.

I thought it was good, really better than I expected after seeing the recommendation to mix it with black tea. I thought they were suggesting that due to a lack of flavor or to cover an unpleasant one, but I found it sweet and an amiable cup or three before bed. It did remind me of chamomile, warm hay, and soft herbs.

Thank you, derk! :)

Oh, gmathis, your “bunny fluff and garden seeds” description of the dry tea is perfect. I just kind of want to snuggle it.

Walnut skins, green melon rind, wheat germ… there is a toastiness that makes me want to sit down to breakfast, but maybe that’s just because “quince” has always meant jam to me. Squash and green beans coming off the wet leaves.

For the second infusion, I added some of my precious: pure bud golden snails from What-Cha, as Georgian Tea recommends mixing this with black tea. Experiment’s on… I should have divided this sample into two, because my pot is now running out of room.

Mm, that’s lovely — the cocoa base of the snail, and that green-wheaty high note from the quince. If I needed my blood pressure lowered, I’d be happy to hear this was the answer.

Thank you, dear derk.

Derk kindly shared a little packet of this very Easter-appropriate tea: dry, it looks like bunny fluff and garden seeds. After a five-minute steep, it had a lovely wheat-chocolate scent and burnished gold color. The flavor, however, reminded me of a good Darjeeling or apple peels. A couple of you mentioned chamomile as a descriptor; I can see that, too.

Best of all, I was able to enjoy it outdoors: first day it was warm enough to sit out and feel sun on my bare toes watching a couple little woodpeckers dining on our maple tree.

Finishing off as a light-handed brew with longer steeps in a glass gaiwan, lid off.

Very clean and light, almost sparkling. Soft and oily spring water body with pungent herbaceous and spicy meadow/hot hay notes, acorn. Nutty finish like flax seed with pine nuts and ginkgo nuts, subtle meadow honey that quickly transitions to cleansing mineral sweetness with lingering salty tingle feel.

This white tea works very well with my constitution. Fairly neutral and light, subtle. Great texture transition that quickly quenches thirst. I would definitely repurchase.

Yesterday I put some dispenser hot water into my glass thermos and let it cool. Put the steeping basket in full of leaves for several minutes and drank 3/4 of the way down. What a light tea! Barely any taste, sweet water but pleasant. Went back to dispenser to refill. Realized I never put the leaf in the steeper basket to begin with.

uh-guh-guh-guh-guh

So a redo today! And I don’t think I let the water cool at all, so it was pretty hot maybe 195F? Not much attention paid but holy moly is there a difference! It’s perfectly silky and oily-spring water?, with a gentle taste that ashmanra described as sun-warmed hay in her later steeping. I’d also say flax seed, which is a note I picked up on in another Georgian white tea Martin gifted me. Honeyed undertone. This is really good and I will come back with a more detailed note before this leaf is gone.

That was herbal? It fooled me! (Doesn’t take much.)

I enjoyed a couple of cups this weekend, courtesy of derk, thinking it was a mild black tea. It could pass for one. But my favorite element was the gentle whiff of blueberry—not artificially sweet, not so tart it makes your eyebrows sweat. About the same strength as the non-berry part of your blueberry muffin.

Ashman really loves white tea, so I especially wanted to have this one when he is home. Today was the day! Thank you, derk, for sending this my way!

We are so sad at the loss of one of our elderly dogwood trees, and Ashman is cutting it down today. It is quite old, and was half dead last year but we left it up. This year there is absolutely no growth or bud of any kind, and it is bare while the others are starting to bloom. It has provided beauty year round, and shade in our hot, humid summers. It bore a disc swing for the children many years ago, and gave us beautiful blooms each spring. The berries attracted flocks of robins in late fall and winter and we enjoyed watching them and hearing them chatter. During storms and high winds, its branches would sway and cast shadows on our bedroom window at night, and by day I would sit on the bed and watch the leaves tossed by the wind.

We have three dogwoods left, all about the same age. We have a new one ready to plant near where the dead one had grown, and it is time to start thinking about how we can get some planted so that they can start growing to replace these that will also see the end of their time. It is so sad when a tree dies. I have always said that the trees were the best part of our home. I will not live long enough to see the new ones attain the size of the one we are cutting today. But someone, someday will enjoy them.

Sad tale over

NOW THE TEA!

These are such new, tender leaves. The wet leaves in the steeping basket have an almost luminous bright green color with some tippy looking leaves that are soft and pale. A few slightly larger leaves have a bit of faun color on them and pretty little serrations on the soft leaves. I pull a few from the basket and smooth them out. Yes, two leaves and a bud, with a tiny bit of soft stem on some. Then another pair, one unfurled, one folded in half still.

When I filled our cups, I was really surprised by the color. Well, by the lack of color. My white peony and shou mei teas steep up to golden and even light brown, but this is so clear. First steep is mild and has light flavor of steamed snow peas, no butter. I think…minerals, too? Reminds me a little of a silver needle white.

Third steep is now approaching a golden color but still pretty light. Now I detect notes of sun warmed hay. I shouldn’t be drinking this much caffeine this late in the day but I don’t want to waste these leaves. I can nap tomorrow.

Ashman liked it a lot. He prefers mild teas and has always loved white tea, so this was a good one for today.

So I’ve been drinking this with saffron. But plain, it is brisk with a full body. Malty and woody; earthy but nothing like soil, more like tamarind! Hidden sweetness behind robust and rich tangy taste. Classic orange pekoe kind of flavor. I’ve enjoyed it. Second steep worthy for sure.