teaway

This is one of my first Pu-erh tried at the begining of this year.
I forgot that it was in my cupboard yet, so after passing some months and after trying other new Pu-erh teas, I came back to drink it.

These are loose leaf form, single leaf or group of two (including bud), brown colour with light and dark tones, shaped flat. It smeels earthy and delicate wood.

The liquor is red brown, clear, with light body but astringent, after it starts to be a bit creamy.

I’ve rinsed it for 15’’ and the aromas surprised me: earthy but also smoky, malty, robust, intense.
Also in the mouth I taste smoky, earthy, woody notes, not so much intense, and bitter; the aftertaste of mild smoky and bitterness is long.
By the delicate notes in the mouth and the bitterness for me it’s difficult enjoying these tea.

Not too bad, not too good…

Steeping time: 15’’, 20’’, 30’’, 45’’, 1’, 1’20’’, 1’40’’, 2’10’’..

This is one from the six samples of spring 2016 taiwanese oolongs received as present by someone. :) <3

The dry leaves are rolled, with the stem visible, and they smell fresh and vegetal.

I washed them for 15 seconds at boiling temperature, the leaves just half opened.
The next steeping was for 1 minute and the leaves were finally full opened, showing entire stem with 3-4 apical leaves. The leaves are intact and they have a beautiful dark green colour.

The body liquor is soft and creamy, it’s clear and it has a vibrant light yellow colour.
It has a light and vivacious flavor with floral (flowers with strong smell), weeds and, secondly, vegetal, herbal, and marine notes. These notes remains as aftertaste in the mouth for long time.
I think that the second steep is the peak, from the third it starts to die, but I continued to steeping it also for 12 minutes. Yes, at the end it’s flat, but it’s a very pleasure to taste floral and vegetal notes, delicate by then.

My first (superficial) thought when I tasted it for the first time was: “that seems an hybrid between Sencha and Pouchong!”.
Sorry, lol.

Steeping time: 1’;1’15’’; 1’30’’; 2’; 3’; 5’; 8’; 12’.

In this period i’m experimenting with cold brewing tea. This morning I’m tasting Iced Keemun tea after 9 hours of infusion in the fridge; I putted around 3-4 teaspoon of this Qi Men Hong Keemun superior in 1000 ml of water. I’m surprised that this tastes good! The infusion is deep orange, more clear than the hot brew, which is very dark. I can instanty smell the tipical flavour of a keemun, while I’m drinking the tea taste is more delicate, but I can clearly notice the tipical lightly smoked but sweet flavour, a little acidulous. After drinking the taste persists in the mouth for long time. Successfull experiment…for me. -

Any suggestions for better cold brewing are appreciated. ^^"""

something in the middle of
dan cong and red chinese tea
very fruity for a red chinese tea and very strong for a dan cong.
but i love this mix
i come back at home from a the first bbq of the season …. and i had eat and drunk too much.
wen i was at home i think that i really need something strong ( i mean strong in flavour and caffeine) and i brewed this sample of tasting kit dan cong.
i brewed in my little gaiwan about 4 grams of it ( in the stepping instruction say 25 grams per litre)

1 step delicious sweet fruity and a little malty the liquor is a nice red ruby
i steeped for 20 second.

2 step for 30 second the same

adding a 10 second to every step i had 9 step of this tea and this tea don’t lose any flavour

now it os one of my favorite and i want to place an order of this
if you love black chinese tea and dan cong this is the tea you don’t wanna miss give it a try!

one of my favorites first flush ,i’m not a fan, i recently discored that second flush for me is better.
btw the dry leaf have a strong smell of mint and a little of green an flavoour.
the tea liquor is light yellow and the tea is butery nutty and when cold down the floreal note comes up!

tea is great
in the first infusion you can fell the roasty flavour typical of wu yi oloong but the aftertaste is floreal peachy sweet …weird and nice!
in the second and third infusion the roasty go down and you fell more the sweet
now i’m at the 5 infusion and still good.

I like this Assam
Perfect for Breakfeast
strong, spicy, complex.
whit a generous rate of golden buds.

i found this sample in a tasting kit called “classic assam”
and this is my favourite.