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#adventageddon Day Twenty – 4/6
Another straight green offering that I just was not into. I did this one first today, and to be honest I think that was a stroke of brilliance because I was so tired and groggy that I don’t remember a thing about it other than it really strongly having that seaweed note I don’t like. I just powered through the mug, and moved on to the next advent tea.
#adventageddon Day Eighteen – 1/6
Oh boy…
So, it was an absolutely INSANELY busy day at work today with tons and tons of back to back meetings. I really struggled to get my advent teas in during the day, and I held off on this one because I was really hoping for a long enough respite in between meetings to brew it Gongfu. That didn’t happen.
It was also our office Christmas party tonight – I actually just got home from it, and I am totally a little bit drunk. We left for the party straight from work/the office so this is the first chance all evening I’ve had to drink this tea. It sucks because I feel like I’m almost wasting the sample by having it at eleven at night when I’m drunk but I committed to having all the advent teas in one day and it will absolutely bug me if I don’t drink this tea knowing that I had the time to do so…
So what does it taste like!? Well, it tastes really good – but after a night of drinking and basically just eating fancy hummus and donuts I think anything would likely taste good. So I don’t know how much of that is the tea talking and how much is the alcohol. I can taste that it’s mildly roasted though, the toasty note is really pleasant. The restaurant we were at tonight was SO LOUD and my ears will NOT stop ringing – but this is definitely relaxing me, and I feel a bit more mellowed out.
Overall? Nice tea! Not the way I’d prefer to be drinking it though…
#adventageddon Day Seventeen – 1/6
Worst advent tea of the day – but not becuase it’s a bad tea, just more because it’s a very forward green tea profile and that’s not my thing. Thankfully a coworker really liked it so I was able to pass off most of the cup. Very weirdly, the dry leaf aroma REALLY strongly smelled like freshly mowed grass in a summer heatwave and really sweet, waxy white chocolate.
Steeped it didn’t taste like white chocolate at all though – very nutty and sweet but ultimately still really grassy and unpleasant to me. Green tea fans, however, I think would probably be into this.
#adventageddon Day Sixteen – 6/6
Gongfu!
I’ve been waiting to try this tea since first receiving this advent – I accidently saw it while I was setting up the advent (it’s one of those cute ones that’s hung on a string with clothes pins) and then immediately forgot which day it was, but damn if I didn’t get hooked on the idea of a Nepalese Oriental Beauty! I definitely don’t think I’ve tried one before…
This was fascinating – and delicious! I have to say that the most striking element of this tea for me was a thick, sweet and jammy strawberry/raspberry note that was particularly present in the early two or three infusions. Like a particularly dense and freshly made fruit preserve! Aside from that there was a light astringency and bitterness, notes of orange blossom and thick creamed honey, and a little toasty bread note. So, basically, it’s like having a delicious slice of fresh bread topped with jams and honeys galore!
Also interesting is that I really didn’t taste much of the notes that teabento describes the tea having – but I loved it all the same!
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyY7Yvx2PYA
#adventageddon Day Fifteen – 3/6
Gongfu – and what a wonderful session it was!
I love rose scented oolongs so much, I was thrilled to see one included in this advent. There have been a couple rose teas in my advent assortment this year, but nothing this overt (or high quality). It wasn’t overly complicated, but the rose was deeply aromatic and present – heady and penetrating/entrancing. The liquor was thick and smooth, and coated the whole palate. I felt wrapped up in this session of rose oolong – as if someone had draped the most snuggly blanket around me and given me a peck on the forward super tenderly…
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B6GhH64gqKR/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkLjqFpBh84
(So, I recently discovered FKA Twigs and I am obsessed! So haunting, and so beautiful…)
#adventageddon Day Thirteen – 1/6
We’re past the halfway mark, baby!! That is so exhilarating, but also horrifying because it means about half the month has already and it’s just insane to think about time passing so quickly. Also, now that we’re past day twelve it means adding in the 52Teas “12 Days of Christmas” teas to the mix – so six teas a day.
The good news for today is that I’m already through all six teas! That means tonight I get to drink what I want to drink! Hooray for that! I’m even having a calm enough work afternoon that I can get through a couple of the tasting notes.
This Dong Ding was a life saver today – by pure coincidence every other tea from the day’s calendars ended up being spiced in some way so having a straight tea within spice notes was a breath of fresh air! I saved it for my last tea, as a sort of celebratory cuppa, and am sipping on it right now. I wanted to Gongfu it but there’s not enough leaf in the day’s sample for the size of gaiwan that I have at work – so Western cuppa it was!
This is so creamy and smooth, and maybe that’s because it’s following five spiced teas but I’m really finding myself enamored with the buttery floral elements and sweet toasty nutty notes that are emerging from this cup. It’s probably the most perfect thing that I could have made to wrap up the week because, man, it’s been a stressful one and everything about today’s cup just screams “cozy” to me!
#adventageddon Day Twelve – 5/5
Last for the day – drinking it now. Barely managed to sneak this one in for the day, mostly because it’s another green tea and I put it off for the whole afternoon and evening. It looked pretty darn green for a tea that’s supposed to, by definition, be made of stems…
God Damn.
I don’t at all think this is a bad quality tea, but wow is is not my thing! It’s really vegetal and oceanic – hard notes of asparagus and seaweed. Really lingering on the palate, and just icky and gross. Again, not icky and gross ‘cause it’s a bad tea but just because I do not enjoy those flavour notes. The only redeeming thing here is that the mouthfeel is very soft and buttery.
Shuddering through this cup though – I wont waste it, but big nope to any future cups of it.
#adventageddon Day 11 – 5/5
Unfortunately my sense of taste is a little bit dulled today, but I still really enjoyed the elements of today’s adventageddon selection that I could taste!! This was a simply visually stunning 2nd Flush black tea from Nepal, with some woodier elements of honey, a touch of wild flowers, and peach jam. I wish I hadn’t been as stuffed up and could have experienced these notes more sharply/vibrantly, so this is a tea I’ll be keeping in mind post advent season to reorder/sample. The ritual of #gongfu is so meditative and calming though, even when sick.
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B58y_rngbqc/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCmwHpfVy6g
#adventageddon Day 10 – 1/5
This is technically the last tea from today’s line up that I had – but I’m currently drinking it so I figured I’d start today’s notes here while it’s fresh in my head. It’s not a bad Genmaicha at all, but it’s certainly much more forward with the green tea in it the blend. That makes sense; the amount of toasted rice in the leaf mix was sparse and the green tea itself was VERY fine. So less toasted rice and more surface area for the green tea? Yeah, it’s gonna have more marine punch.
Flash steeped this one to capitalize on my toasty rice notes and minimize the green tea – boiling water, one minute steep time sharp. I still remember Stacy, from Butiki, teaching me that trick like six years ago and I still use it all the time.
It’s good, nice, comforting, and toasty – but just not the ratio of toastiness I’d prefer. However I think it’s an excellent quality Genmaicha even if I’m a touch meh about the taste for personal taste preferences.
Hmm. I thought green tea would get bitter at a minute boiled. I’ll have to try it sometime.
It’s basically a short enough steep time with hot enough water that the brown rice comes out strongly/quickly and the green tea doesn’t have enough time to get bitter enough to outweigh the roastiness of the brown rice.
#adventageddon Day Six – 5/5
Last one of the day – I mean to brew it Gongfu but honestly time just really got away from me today at work and I never had the chance to so now I’m just finishing the sample as a Western mug. It smells great; very sweet and honeyed with a starchy element…
Taste wise this is pretty awesome; it’s medium bodied and very smooth without ANY detectable astringency or bitterness at all. The first taste is 100% a thick, creamy honey note. However, there are layers to this tea for sure. In addition to that immediate honey, I’m getting malt, baked bread, a touch of raisin, starchy sweet potato or yams, some cinnamon, and a little bit of caramelized sugar.
I’m really feeling like it was a damn shame I didn’t brew this Gongfu! I just looked for it on Tea Bento’s website too because my thought was that I’d just add it to the list of teas I’ve been building from these advents that I’d actually order after the month is up, but it’s not even listed on their website…
Really though – yum!
#adventageddon Day Five – 3/5
No jot notes because I wrote a summary on instagram:
‘White Lynx’ is fragrant and sweet, with notes of honey, orange blossom, sweet grass, meyer lemon curd, cream, and just a hint of straw!
Also, a thing that I didn’t say is that the dry leaf appearance is fucking GORGEOUS!! Plus, this tasted delicious and is the kind of white tea I would definitely purchase for myself.
#adventageddon Day Four – 4/5
This was another advent tea today which was a little bit of a let down for me – and not in the way I’d expected. When I saw the tea I felt weird about it because I don’t jive with bergamot and I’ve never had a pleasant experience with bergamot mixed with oolong that I can recall. Since I anticipated that, I made the tea as a large teapot to be split between everyone working in the lab with me today.
The dry leaf smelled ok – but not at all like Earl Grey/Bergamot. It was weird, and if I couldn’t smell it on the leaf I was unsure what would come out in the steeped tea. Sure enough, after the pot had steeped we couldn’t taste any bergamot at all in the infusion – you would have never known that this was an “Earl Grey Oolong” from blind tasting. On one hand I felt a bit of a sense of relief, but on the other if you were purchasing this with the intent of receiving an Earl Grey Oolong then I think you’d be deeply disappointed.
The other part is that, aside from not tasting like EG, the oolong itself was a little light/flat tasting and pretty boring. Not nearly as nice as the one I had yesterday, for sure. Just softly/weakly floral and a bit green. Really meh.
#adventageddon Day Three – 3/5
Gongfu!
Took a stroll through the ‘Virgin Forest’ this morning; AKA had a tea session with this bizarrely named Shan Lin Xi. I’ve literally never seen a Shan Li Xi named this way; I don’t know if it’s a name Tea Bento came up with on their own of if it’s the “Westernized” version of this tea type’s name (like Golden Lily and Jin Xuan) and I just have never come across it before…
I thought this was a really nice, but atypical, take on this style of oolong tea – the nose of the leaf post rinse was really sweet and citrus heavy w/ hints of “lilac from a distance” and some mild cinnamon and baked “sweet bread” aromas that, altogether, created a kind of vibe that was like those sweet bready buns you get around Easter that sometimes have candied citrus or raisins. It really translated into the taste too; very sweet and fruity with lots of candied orange and Meyer lemon notes, more fragrant lilac with spicy cinnamon/mild clove undertones, and that same sweet bread note. Deeply enjoyable, though!
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5oU8lRAUT2/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP8D0d1AuPM
#adventageddon Day One – 3/5
Another #adventageddon tea; Lao Shan Badger from Tea Bento!! I did a lot of research on different tea advent calendars this year because I REALLY wanted to include a straight tea/traditional tea advent and I had all but given up on including one when I saw Tea Bento announce they were doing one!! I’ve ordered from them previously, though years back (still have some of the teas though) and in general I’m really enjoyed their tea selections; the quality is great and there’s an awesome balance of standard offerings and unique and fun things! I’m really glad I included it; I may not gongfu their tea every day but I’m really glad I have that option!
This was an incredibly delicious black tea – the dry leaf aroma is intense and fragrant; very rich and chocolate heavy with nutty undertones. The tea steeps up full bodied and sweet, with dense coating notes of milk chocolate, caramelized sugar, raisins, brandy, peanut brittle, malt, and wood!! Despite the sweetness, it’s well balanced and the finish leaves me salivating waiting for the next steep!!
Eight infusions total!
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5iidEWA2wE/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fTsWU6ME-4
Whaaaaaaaaat. Well fml. I did not see that they were doing one.would have gotten one for sure
I think they only posted about in on Instagram!? I completely stumbled upon it – but I’m happy I did!
Well that sucks.
darn I dont think they are still selling it. Or I cant find it on the website
This was sitting on the counter so I figured I’d have some, since I think I’ve only had it travel-mugged recently. It’s so delicious, less chocolatey than some versions but full of rich toastiness. Such a perfect tea for a cold day (not that today was all that cold, it was actually rather nice).
Sipping this one currently!
It’s nice to begin your day with a black tea, and in particular I’m liking how surprisingly toasty this is. The top notes are a mix of honeyed nuts and malt, before settling into more of the cocoa-y and raisin bread tasting body of the sip. It’s warm, full bodied, and still surprisingly complex for being pretttttyyyy old tea leaf.
Geek Steep S1E8 – Tomb Raider (2018)
Another week and another geek! This time, based on my suggestion/interest in this fandom, Marika and I explored one of the Tomb Raider movies for the first time. Both of us had really minimal knowledge of Tomb Raider, so it was nice watching a movie and breaking it down together on an equal playing field – just like we did with Pom Poko. So far, these “new fandom” weeks are shaping up to be my favourites!
I can’t tell you why, but when I was trying to pick a tea for the movie my gut just inexplicably was telling me that not only was a straight tea the right route to go but, specially, a straight black tea was the right direction! I did briefly consider both roasted oolong and shou pu’erh and a few different Chai blends, though…
I picked this, aside from that gut feeling, because of the name. It felt like it could easily be the treasure/artifact deep within a tomb that Lara Croft needed to recover – like a ‘Lara Croft and the quest for the Golden Monkey’ type of moment. You also have the tie in to monkeys and jungles, which felt like it could potentially be applicable to the environment we might find ourselves in during the movie. So, I was operating on assumptions/expectations of the goal of our protagonist and the setting.
I was sort of wrong about both, but it still ended up being a pretty good tea. I wont spoil my overall impression of the movie, but sipping on this!? Definitely a highlight. I wish I had done a different prep method though; I mug felt a bit wrong for this sort of adventuring type of movie – maybe a travel mug would have felt more fitting!?
Our Website: https://www.geeksteep.com/
Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geeksteep/
My Geek Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHNbD8mA1Tu/
Listen to us on Buzzsprout:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286036/podcast/website
DB topic:
https://steepster.com/discuss/42133-geek-steep-a-new-tea-and-fandom-podcast
If you want to get caught up on the Geek of The Week for next Thursday, the spoiler for our explored fandom is at the bottom of our latest DB post!
Flavors: Cocoa, Malt, Red Fruits, Winter Honey
#adventageddon Day Nine – 4/5
Another I’ve had before and, in fact, I think I already own some of this/have it in my stash still!? I made it Western today because I ran out of time to Gongfu it, but that’s how I’ve have preferred to drink it. It still came out really nicely Western style though! The dry leaf was very interesting smelling to me; really sweet and bright and almost like some kind of fruity salad dressing or sauce!? I say the salad dressing/sauce part because there was an umami quality to the smell…
I generally think of Golden Monkey as more of a mix of cocoa and malt notes, maybe with a red fruit type of undertone and some woody notes and though that’s not what I smelled when I opened the sample packet it’s more like what I’m getting from the taste. There’s still kind of a savory/umami undertone to whatever is happening here, but I get more of the malt and cocoa notes that I was expecting. Some starchy/bready elements also.
It was a nice tea today!
Steeped Gongfu yesterday, and actually a REALLY good and memorable session. I’ve had a few different Golden Monkey teas this year – it’s a tea type I like but don’t go out of my way to find. This was very stand out in terms of flavour though, and I think will end up being quite a memorable session.
Instagram summary:
Lovely, full bodied #blacktea w/ complex notes of leather, malt, dark cocoa. A slight smokey finish, and a very umami heavy miso high note at the peak of the session.
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B0YpbhbAIdM/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga3I5DTIA-E
