Silk Road

Went out for breakfast and had this with a delicious strawberry and pineapple waffle (shoutout to West Coast Waffles!)

The looseleaf was put into a tea bag, but it had some room in there. They served it in an adorable 200 mL teapot that looked like a miniature silver English-style pot. Steeped ~3 tsp in boiling water for 2.5-3 minutes, would try 2 minutes next time.

This is a strong breakfast assam, no fruity/floral notes, maybe a little bit of malt, but nothing really notable. Just a standard breakfast blend: bold, full bodied, oxidized, slightly tannic. It would be nice iced due to its potency, and it would take sweeteneer and fruit well.

Attempted to brew this again., and it was slightly better than previous cups. It is so light that I had to overleaf it (I only had 10g to start with) and use less water at a higher temperature. This tea is far overpriced and even if you can coax out the flavour, it is far too finicky to enjoy regularly. Plus, it doesn’t rebrew.

As for the light flavour, I did enjoy it. It reminds me a lot of Yunnan sourcing’s Moonlight white. Green peppers, spicy black pepper, petrichor.

Bought this with a giftcard (which is why I was willing to pay $20 for 10g of tea). I knew this was overpriced, but the sales person said it was a slightly toasty yellow, and that’s my current flavour craving.

I did not realise this is a very VERY light tea. I mean very light. You almost can’t taste anything, even with long steep times and lots of leaf (1.5 tsp is what I used).

Steeps 1 and 2: 100 mL of 80 * C water, 5 minutes each, 1.5 tsp leaf
Almost no flavour, clear liquid. Slight tea scent to the brew, but not a lot of flavour yet.

Steep 3: 100 mL of 80 * C water, 8 minutes
Light tea taste, no bitterness, slightly buttery and sweet with notes of grain

Steep 4: 100 mL of 80 * C water, 5 minutes
Light tea flavour, more buttery but less sweetness. A tiny bit of grain flavour. not toasted, but the smells of oats or dried corn kernels.

Overall: Overpriced and not a very good brew either. This isn’t a good tea for those who like strong teas.

Nice black base. Slightly malty, very smooth, some tannins but not bitter like many of silk road’s blends are.

Very gingery! I really like how spicy (gingery) this is, but wish it was stronger on the cardamom front.

Day 12 of the homemade advent calendar: today’s theme is Chinese herbals

I love this tea so much. Toasty, some minerals similar to a roasted oolong but no bitterness, just smooth toasty oolong flavour.