The Tao of Tea

Okay…I have decided I am going to do an infusion test today…
1st infusion…2 mins
Lighter Brown in color
The aroma isn’t as wormy/fishy as most pu-erhs and I am very happy about that!

Taste is VERY Velvety and smooth and lighter tasting with slightly earthy yet honey and cocoa type flavors mixed in too

1st infusion rating based on personal tastes 95 – I really liked the taste of this one on the first infusion.

Backlogging from Friday afternoon. Another thank you to the generous AmazonV for giving me this tea.

Every year mandarin and blood oranges come into season I’ve diligently saves every scrape of peel to dry for tea blending, along with other citrus. I suppose it occupies the time I’d spend mowing the lawn. And having iced blood orange tea in June is worth it.
Since I’ve been ordered at least two weeks of rest at home, I’ve had ample time to observe this squirrel-like hoarding. But twenty minutes of releasing the smell of blood oranges into the air with none left to eat morphs from distraction to torture quickly. Then the mailman came, leaving this on my door step.
Bless AmazonV.

Since I was sent this with the warning of “mint containation” a gave it a sniff. There’s a little mint lingering around the lazily drifting orange smell. It actual smells quite harmonious.

I was skeptical about the six minute steeping time but I don’t really drink darjeeling based teas. So I tested it at four. WAY too weak. Another three minutes did the trick.
The taste is the opposite of my usual sencha as well. The orange is simple, murky and relaxed. This is a nice change of pace.The unimpossing darjeeling is actually detectable; when I think about it any other green would probably fight with the mandarin esssence. A frog friendly darjeeling? Another Tao feat of magic.
I sipped this tea for an hour without tastebud overload nor boredom.The hint of mint that’s there sometimes keeps it interesting.
Yep, the is made to be nursed in a big mug with a bigger non-fiction book. This is exactly what I think I’ll reorder this with my next Tao order (my happy health store doesn’t sell this one. Curses!). And I’ll might “contaminate” my mug with mint on purpose. =) Thanks for the book brew!

Tastes like mixed nuts or nut party mix…gently roasted!

This is tasty!

http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/01/11/cooling-mint-tulsi-blend-from-tao-of-tea/
Extended Dance Mix Version of this Tea Review!

This sip starts off a little gentle and milder and gains momentum as the sip continues! It’s herbally at first but then grows into a wonderful mint…creamy but minty-fresh! I can taste the basil-likeness of the Tulsi and it’s quite good. It leaves a refreshing/fresh-breath aftertaste! This is a great Tulsi Tisane!

This is what I like to call – in my own personal lingo – pebble tea! :)

This is VERY strong, bold, DARK, and a little astringent. For once, I would say, I think this one would be better with additives, etc.

(As many of you know I drink everything plain)

I accidentally poured the water into my cups an extra time and it brought out a sweeter taste that I’ve only gotten from higher grade matchas before. So around 160 F? Hmm…It’ll have to wait until tomorrow. This was my second chawan. Three in one day would remove the economy of Liquid Jade to match the matcha to its name …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dsngKEtA-k
I need to focus and finish this drawing before we move next week. I’m getting too nit-picky for the level of detail I should allow myself at this stage. It’s very counterproductive.

I let the water get too cold this afternoon but it dissolved well enough to help me focus.

That talk about mouthfeel and zing made me thirsty and cleaning stole my energy. The remedy? A pre-lunch appetizer of two whole raw caco beans, a tablespoon of raw nibs, and a bowl of Liquid Jade to wash them down.
I took a sip with a clean, less sleep deprivation deadened palate first. I must bump the rating now that I can taste fresh half-steamed spinach over the ashy aftertaste. The cacao was eactly the chewy fix I needed and tasted phenominal with a slurp of matcha mingled in. The matcha didn’t exactly wash the cacao down so much as create a grassy, earthy coating on my gums but anything that extends a bowl of matcha for ten minutes is a plus. Between savoring matcha and chewing cacao, I think I found my new favorite long, meditative snack break. I almost skipped lunch it felt so filling.

It started snow a little while after the gas guy left. I had some things to do before I could sleep so I waited out the disappating cold with some matcha.
I understand it’s named Liquid Jade. It feels like warm molten jade going down, thick, frothy, and satisfying. It doesn’t taste bad but it has that ashy aftertaste of lower quality matcha that reminds one it’s use is as an economical usucha. Which is fine. I got my taste fix from Tao’s tuocha and the energy I needed.

Awesome while it lasted…and that wasn’t long…YUM…see my other note(s)

Thanks the tea gods for this gem! Ahhhhhh! YUM!

Dry – smells like a pale chai

Post infusion – it smells like a sugary black tea with hints of spice…maybe more cinnamon than the other spice types.

The taste is wonderfully surprising. If you are looking for heavy spices – this is on the light side but I’m totally diggin’ it! There is something naturally-sugary, too, that I can’t put my finger on but it’s yummy! It’s slightly chewy but not the chewy I am used to. This is VERY different and I really like it! VERY MUCH!

This has a faded fresh yet cocoa-powder aroma to it before infusing.

The leaves are WILD and fun! Almost a natural tye-dyed effect or natural/earthy colors! LOVE these leaves!

WOW! The smell of this completely changes as it infuses! A nice, unique scent. Buttery but very plum-like with a hint of nuttiness!

The leaves are swimming and dancing around in my cup…very active lil buggers!

The color of the liquor is very light brown with almost a greyness to it.

The taste is very pure. Seems to quench my thirst. There are both fruity and nutty hints present…maybe more plum notes than nut notes tho. This is a VERY Impressive Oolong! It’s creamy, too! And Buttery! yes! A lovely Buttery end sip on to the aftertaste! Ahhhhh! I like this a lot!

The dry aroma sort of reminded me of a lighter darjeeling type scent. Post infusion is a bit flatter in aroma but it has a nut-like smell to it as well.

The color is dark and bold.

The taste is well rounded and about medium strength for a black tea. It’s pretty smooth. Not astringent at all! What a soothing and simple yet tasty black tea! YUM!

Ah, I feel better. I guess tuocha is a good digestive aid for both heavy meals and stress induceded dry heaves.
The 175 worked for this steep. So 170 for the first three with a splash of lemon. Nice to have a tea worked out on the second try.
Summary:
While the rose is a sit down, super attentive session of bliss, this is definately more of a through the day everyday tea. I suppose this kind of morning is exactly what it is for. Gah. Exactly the kind of morning for which it is made. I need to administer tea until my grammar returns.

Okay. I’ve calmed down with half a bar of chocolate yogic breathing. Ahem.
I’m definately going into this with high hopes. Tao’s Rose black tuocha is a lot to live up to a mere week later.

The presteep smell is certainly not diappointing me; I almost tried to crawl into the jar at the store! It has that refreshing dried grass clippings background with a good pile of timothy hay to make it extra nostaglic and invigorating. Some peat moss too and what is definately the “pu-erh” smell. It’s becoming as comforting as timothy hay.

10 Second rinse with 170 F/75 C water. Just to be safe.
First steep: 2 min 45 sec with 5 oz 175 F/79 C water
Light yellow orange liquor. The teapot leaves smell wonderfully like well, green tea leaves. A blend of Chinese sencha and medium quality jasmine pearls. Now drum roll…
Sip
Huh. That’s good. Oh, re~ally good. Goooooood. Mmm. Not swoon or shriek good like, but nod and sigh good.
For starters: timothy hay. Surprise! This pure umami with smoked, grassy edges. Definately mushroom: sauteed portobella and shiitake. Too earthy for chantarelle. Maitake? I haven’t had some in so long. A tinge of lemon or maybe that’s the strong pucker. Odd given how thin this feels.

Steep two: 2 min 55 seconds with the same water
Okay open mind, recognition that this is a different sort of pu-erh, so who are you, Lu Tuocha-san?
Hmm, duller scents in the teapot…Tastes toned down from before with less mushroom and more straw and-hello!
Jasmine?! Wow. Oh wow. A whole soft floral carpet rolled itsef out. It harmonizes after a few sips into one. But it’s very astringant. Adding some lemon juice to the last couple sips fixes this and boost the jasmine an timothy notesMaybe 170 F water? Or are green pu-erhs as astringant as strong Assam? I don’t care, I am HOARDING this tea for this steep alone.

Third steep: 3 min 175 F water
A bit weaker but there’s still some notes of jasmine and hay but it’s not smoky, it’s all sunshine and yeah, astringancy. Definately lower the temp to 170 next time. The umami is going out and it feels thicker.

The fourth steep will have to wat because the gas guy just came! Yes!

It’s official; I live in hell. And see this little bird nest? This is my return ticket to sanity.
Back from my first tea shopping trip in nearly six months lo and behold the gas has been shut off! Apparently thespecial split December payment arangement was poorly coordinated so my and dozens of others all had their bills automatically payed two days late. Happy Holidays from the gremlins at customer service.
Fortunately we have emough space heaters to survive at 63 F in the living room/kitchen-until a fuse blew. I had to stay up to fix and prevent another. I had no problem keeping vigil-my stomach kindly did so by trying to rocket its non-existant contents whenever I breathed in.
So of course I burned the first tuocha with 190 water! Crazy laugh Isn’t that HILARIOUS?!
Only 5-8 more hours until the gasman gets around to us.

I decided to dust off my tin of this after reading LiberTeas latest review. But alas I still find this teas flavor to faint for my taste buds. It does have a slight hint of butter but my palate is not sophisticated enough to drink this. Once again this tin will go into the back of my Tea Bus.

Having one more cup of this tea (well several infusions of this tea) before I send the rest to TeaEqualsBliss.

I love this tea! It has such a beautiful, well-rounded flavor. Sweet but not too sweet. Buttery but not so much that I feel like I need to wipe my palate after I sip it. Creamy smooth, rich… fantastic!

An amazing green tea.

This is really good. Liquid Silk! So smooth and imparts a soft mouthfeel. But unlike some greens where I would describe this soft, smooth sensation as buttery – it doesn’t have that buttery taste. Not a bad thing … at all … just different. I like the buttery, but I really like this too.

Slightly vegetative, but more like a fresh vegetable. It isn’t grassy, nor does it remind me of steamed vegetables, it reminds me more of a crisp salad type of vegetative taste. It has a floral note in the background too. Orchid?

I like this very much…

ETA: As I continue to sip, a buttery flavor develops. It is still not nearly as “buttery” tasting as a Sencha, but it definitely has that buttery, silky smooth texture.

Yesterday, I tried this tea for the first time, and I was asked on that tasting note if there was any astringency to this tea, and to be honest, the amazing flavor of this tea had me so captivated that I didn’t even notice the astringency, if there was any! So, I decided that I should have another cup today and make it a special point to note any astringency.

The astringency here is light, but it is there. But what is different about this tea from other Assam teas is that the astringency doesn’t hit in the finish. I notice it right at the start of the sip. It is very slight, but then the flavors start to hit the palate and seem to wash over the astringency. The tail has just a hint of residual astringency, but again, this is so faint that it really doesn’t seem to have that dry effect that astringency usually has.

This really is the most different Assam that I’ve ever tasted. The creamy aspect is so amazingly good that I want to crawl into my teacup and bathe in it. I love this Assam. I have quite a few Assam teas in my cupboard, but if I could only have one … this one would be the one I’d choose.