What-Cha

This is a queued tasting note.

Eight steep Gong Fu session in the experimental Houjicha yixing pot! It’s hard to say whether or not this pot is coming along super nicely as it’s not used too frequently, but the session was solid regardless.

I got a lot of flack during this session; my boyfriend was over while I was brewing the tea and he kept making fun of the size of the pot and the fact I was feeding the leftover bit of tea in the pitcher to my tea pet. It makes me sad that he doesn’t get it; but at least he respects it, and that’s what counts I suppose.

The tea was lovely; this houjicha has the perfect roast in my opinion. It’s toasty, and has a really nice nutty profile with a sweetness to the finish but you can still faintly taste the grassier, marine tones of the green tea in the background – especially in later infusions. Tea pleb boyfriend can’t differentiate any of this: to him it just smells “like tea”. I have a hard time thinking back to when I too shared this over simplification. It’s been so long. I guess it’s kind of like coffee to me, now. I can’t pick out ‘flavour notes’ or nuances of coffee: to me it’s just coffee.

Non tea related, Kyle and I started watching Narcos that same night – pretty interesting, though I’m not getting into it as quickly as he is. Lazy Netflix couch cuddles are the best; and he does this thing where he caresses my arm as we’re cuddling, and it’s the sweetest thing. I don’t know why, but it’s so comforting. I just feel totally safe to be vulnerable with him and honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve felt that way around anyone…

So, last night I began the process of seasoning a yixing pot with Houjicha!

Like all my pots so far, I’m going to be seasoning this one through pure usage. In particular, this one is a bit of an experiment of sorts: I know that typically brewing green/white tea in a yixing pot is sort of both looked down upon and not recommended as is brewing non-Chinese teas in a yixing pot. As far as the latter goes, I’m definitely not all that concerned. But in regard to the former; the decision to dedicate this pot to Houjicha was not one taken lightly. I considered a lot of things: but ultimately my conclusion was that the concern about brewing temperature needing to be lower for green/white tea doesn’t apply because I prefer my Hojicha steeped with boiling water anyway and that the idea that the ‘flavour profile’ of green/white tea being too light bodied is negated because Houjicha has a much more unique and exceptional flavour anyway because of how it’s processed. It much more comparable, in my mind, so a roasted/more heavily oxidized oolong than anything else so why shouldn’t the flavour profile work? Ultimately; this is going to be an experiment of sorts on my end though; one I’m excited about.

As for the session; it was pretty nice! I had around seven or eight infusions while watching The 70s show with my siblings. I have to say, the flavour sucking with a newly seasoned yixing has been most noticeable in the case of this tea: it tasted like it would have brewed Western style throughout most infusions but when you consider I actually used something like 8g of tea for the one pot that’s a lot of lost flavour. Not much flavour evolution throughout each cup though other than the fact later infusions lost a bit of astringency that was fairly potent in the first few cups.

One other observation about this yixing (sorry; this note doesn’t focus too much on the tea overall) is that the spout jams up a bit more than the other two I’ve begun seasoning. Maybe that’s ‘cause the Houjicha leaves are smaller in size, but maybe it’s also because this particular pot is my smallest one so far. I’m not totally sure; but it resulted in one severely over steeped infusion because I hadn’t grabbed anything to clear the spout with and I had to run and go do that. I’ll keep that in mind in the future though.

Made with a splash a milk, this tasted very delicious!

The mouthfeel was creamy and incredibly thick; I almost felt like it could have been whipped up into cream for early Sunday morning pancake toppings. It tasted really indulgent with confectionery type notes such as chocolate, caramel, and mocha. It was also, obviously, very roasty which only complimented the pacifying feeling of drinking a cup of hot milky tea.

Perfect before bed or to ease into your day with.

Recently I placed a What-Cha order for myself, and one of the things I was looking for was a Houjicha to stock up since it’s one of my favourite kinds of green tea and while I currently have a Genmaicha stocked that I really like there’s a hole in my cupboard where a good Houjicha should be. This one comes from Australia, and personally I’ve never tried an Australian grown tea before though I was aware that they were produced. Australia is one of those regions that isn’t typically thought of as a tea growing region among people who aren’t more learned tea drinkers the same way people don’t realize tea is grown in places like Kenya or Hawaii and I’m very excited to get my first taste of an Australian tea, especially considering how affordable this blend was. It was an easy thing to gamble on.

I do think this was worth the gamble. While it’s not as straightforwardly roasty as I tend to prefer from a good Houjicha there are some very, very nice subtle nuanced flavour notes that more than makes up the different. For starters, there’s an interesting nutty notes that seems to make itself known in each part of the sip in a different way. With that first initial taste it’s light lightly toasted nuts, and then in the body it weaves in and out between the other flavours. In the aftertaste, you’re tasting the shadow of the nut flavour which once was.

There’s also some really nice sweeter notes like caramel and cocoa which gently stretch out across the surface of your tongue, creating this really nice, smooth body flavour. The finish is lightly smokey, and leaves you wanting to go back in for another sip so you can experience the flavour dynamics all over again. Overall it’s a very warming and welcoming cuppa.

I definitely think I’ll clear my purchase of this easily, and will probably go back for more after that. More than that, this only gets me even more excited to try more of what Australia has to offer!

What an interesting tea this is. I have to say I’m never disappointed with the products I select from What-Cha! Even when they aren’t teas I would select for another purchase they are always such high quality and always worth a try.
This is one of those teas which I wouldn’t consider for a large purchase, but that I’m very glad I had a chance to try. It has a very unique flavor. Smooth and mellow, a bit fruity and a little bit of liquor. No astringency at all. A bit light for my personal taste but I did enjoy my cup.

This one is so yummy! I don’t gravitate toward Darjeelings, and to be honest I don’t even remember why I picked up a sample in the first place (on sale probably), but as soon as I had my first cup I was already plotting my next What-Cha order and soon after came away with a full 50g, as well as a few more Darjeeling samples. I think what I’m finding is that I greatly prefer the 2nd flush Darjeelings.
This one is just lovely. Medium bodied with that spicy note I find in a lot of Darjeelings, a lovely malty flavor and some sweet dried fruits. Fantastic. Glad I tried it.

Fish and I just made the best Chicken Soup! We decided to combine our different styles of soup and specialties, he sauteed the chicken and onion garlic blend, and cooked the beans, I was in charge of the root veggies (the store was out of ruttabagas, and sadly we ran out of carrots) the broth, spice blend, and the surprise. I call it a surprise because at the last minute I wanted dumplings (not dumplings really, but dumplin’s) but have never made them gluten free, so I winged it and they turned out awesome! Not to toot my own horn, but I seem to be really getting the hang of baking gluten free and adapting recipes, there is a lot of trial and error, but the ratio of edible to utterly gross baking creations is mostly edible. Man, this soup is good, I am on my third bowl!

It is Wednesday (I think, my sleep schedule has gotten weird, I ended up staying up 24 hours again and sleeping for a couple hours…hmmm) which means it is a What-Cha day! Making my way through my notebook and the adventure of trying to taste all their teas brings us to Yunnan Silver Needle White Tea. Good old Dian Yin Zhen, like Fujian silver needles, but with a distinctly Yunnan quality and smokiness. The aroma is not really sweet, it is a savory tea with notes of smoke, tomato leaves, lettuce, sauteed bok choy, and a touch of fresh tomato as well. At the finish there is a tiny touch of smoked peaches that adds a hint of sweetness, but only a hint.

I decided to do a psuedo-western bowl steeping kinda thing for this tea, brewing it in my green gaiwan for a long time (7 minutes if you are curious) because I kinda love the way silver needle really shows off with longer steeps. The aroma of the leaves is very savory, bok choy and tomato, smoke and mineral, cedar and a touch of peach at the finish. The liquid is lightly smoked peach (think a grilled peach) with a touch of tomato leaves and lettuce and a tiny finish of distant floral.

The tea is very smooth and smoky, it starts out with sauteed bok choy and hay with a touch of tomato leaf. This moves on to delicate cedar notes that start off mild and build to a sharp cooling sensation that feels like it goes all the way to the tips of my fingers, gotta love that distinct Yunnan cooling sensation. The finish is mild peach and honey sweetness that mixes with the cooling cedar for a very refreshing end.

I went for a second much longer steep, the aroma is much sweeter, less smoke and more peach. The taste can be summed up the same way, but with an extra boom of cedar and now camphor for a peachy resinous cooling tea with a slight smokiness to it. The finish is delicate honey and distant flowers. Yunnan silver needle is a unique tea, if you were expecting the more familiar taste profile of a Fujian silver needle, you will be a bit shocked, but pleasantly so, especially if you are a fan of Sheng Puerhs and Yabao.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-cha-yunnan-silver-needle-white-tea.html

I was pretty ill over the last 6 months. During this time I had this tea waiting to be reviewed but never got to it. Sorry What-Cha. So, I pull it out today, took pictures for the blog, but all the time I had decided this one was just for the love of tea. I just wanted to enjoy the look and the smell of the leaf. To watch the dance, and breath in the brewed aromas. To taste like it was my first cup. Lately I have forgotten how to just let the tea take me on a journey.

It is a good thing I went in with this attitude as this tea is no longer available and may never come back. Well poo. Not sure if I’ll go ahead with a blog post or not. Either way, I really enjoyed the trip.

The dry leaf is really dark for a green tea. It is lightly twisted and curled. It smells leafy and loamy with some tobacco notes, and an earthiness to it that made my mind briefly envision puerh.

I steeped in my clear glass teapot so I could watch the dance, and dance it did. Some leaf stubbornly clung to the surface while others white knuckled the bottom. It reminded me of school kids at a first dance – boys on one side and girls on the other. The brave leaf that did dance, swirled with abandon and glided about, occasionally tapping one of the clingers and dragging them to the dance floor. Thank you for the dance.

The wet leaf is large broken pieces that become green and revived. What really struck me as unexpected was the wet leaf scent. I can think of no other way of describing this. It is the aroma of a filtered cigarette. Not the nasty ash kind but the sweet and fragrant kind. I have never been a smoker, but there are certain brands that from a distance I enjoy the scent of in the open air – for a brief period. This is like the that.

The liquor is a beautiful mix of honey and orange in color. The taste is… oh yes this is green tea. It is sweet with a solid bite. Underneath is a subtle smoky note that is welcome. It is not like the wet leaf scent, and not like a camp fire. It is a roasted kind of smoky. This is also quite crisp. The aftertaste is sweet with a light fruitiness.

Glad I got to try this one.

Sipdown (118)!

This sipdown was actually a bit of a let down; I decided to try something difference I’d cold brew the last two nettles – though not the full 25 oz. I normally do because that’d be quite watered down. Instead I did about 14 oz. but sadly it still tasted very weak. Like, very filtered, slightly peachy spring water? It was a sad experience. I may very well revisit this tea though because I found both hot times I drank it were really quite wonderful!

In other news; I got trained in another area at work today! I’m now going to be doing the ordering for all of the chocolate bars/gum/batteries faced in my department which is a pretty much daily job. I definitely feel good about the fact I’ve been getting increasingly more responsibility at work and more recognition at work, though it does kind of suck my job ‘title’ hasn’t changed and none of these new responsibilities have come with an increase in pay…

Still, praise/acknowledgement feels nice.

This is a queued tasting note.

Earlier near the beginning of the month we had the monthly ‘engagement meeting’ at work which of course, as my departments rep, I had to attend. Despite the content discussed at the meetings themselves, they’re actually fairly low-key and I love getting to learn about the different departments and how they’re run, as well as just hanging out with all of the department reps each month. It’s a fun time. Genuinely.

Each month one of us brings food as well – generally something relating to our department. This month Jillian, one of the two dietitians, provided food: a lovely mango/cucumber and red onion salsa and chips made out of beans. “Dietitian approved”. While it’s no cheesecake (which is what I brought last time) it was delicious.

And speaking of food/beverages – each meeting we get free coffee made for us by the coffee bar but I don’t drink coffee! Not a drop – the last time I had an actual cup of coffee was (I’m pretty sure) my 20th birthday when my manager bought me one as a birthday present and I drank it so as to not be rude. So I decided to ‘one up’ the coffee drinkers and bring tea. I brought some of DAVIDsTEA’s Movie Night for anyone else who wanted some – there were a few takers. This is what I brought for myself – and I have to say I had a fun few minutes talking to people and explaining why it didn’t look like any tea they’d ever seen before.

I did enjoy two good infusions of this during the meeting; I could have made more but getting up multiple times to do so probably would have been at least a little frowned upon despite the ‘casual’ feel of these meetings. Even though everyone’s having fun there’s still lots of work to be done!

Sadly, I couldn’t devote my full attention to the tea as I was taking minutes in addition to just contributing – so there were moments I was sipping without noticing anything. At the end of the meeting I had that feeling of drinking really good tea but not recollecting anything about it. Thankfully, my tea obsessed self made time to write a few things in the margins of the meeting’s minutes. So, in order of what I wrote and word for word:

- Apricot notes
- Honey finish
- A nice ‘fog’/malt/cream to it
- Taste & mouthfeel
- Reminds me of a good white tea; White Rhino?
- (A drawing of ‘The Rhino’ from Spiderman)

Can’t believe I’m the first to review this one…

This is a very cool tea; and while I don’t know for sure that’s it’s unique to What-Cha I’ve personally never seen another oolong rolled like this. When I opened up my sealed package I was quite surprised too; the ‘nettles’/spears of tea are actually quite large and thick – maybe about the length of my pinky finger? And just slightly thicker across than the widest part of my finger. For my tasting, I used two of the nettles/spears since the suggested measurement was 1-2 pieces and I was using a mug just slightly bigger than 12 ounces.

The first infusion was very soft and delicate, like a very lightly oxidized oolong but with flavour notes traditionally found in white, oolong, and black teas – exactly like What-Cha describes in the tea description! The notes I observed throughout the cup were apricot, overripe peaches, hay, flowers, malt, and a dewy/rainwater like flavour. The emphasis was on the really supple stonefruit notes though. It also surprised me a little that the nettles stayed almost completely the same shape as they were before steeping – just slightly ‘swollen’ from steeping.

The second infusion was quite similar to the first – though the apricot, hay, and malt notes all got increasingly more prominent and I wasn’t tasting overripe peaches or the same ‘dew’ flavour anymore. The mouthfeel was initially soft, but it left a tingly feeling on my tongue like I’d eaten too much pineapple recently. All subsequent steeps followed the layout of this one up until the flavour started to really suffer. The nettles never really completely unwound, either.

This was a fascinating tea, and I really enjoyed it quite a bit! However, that said, the first infusion actually was my favourite. There was something really perfect about the taste of apricot and fresh rainwater. It’s hard to put it into words.

The uniqueness of this oolong (and some of the others I’ve recently tried) just makes it even harder for me to believe that people can completely rule out this tea type as one they’re interested in. Sorry VariaTEA I mean, you seriously can’t find a niche you’re interested in? Oolong tea is just so diverse!

Oh what a gloriously lazy day it is today, very cool and rainy, perfect for lounging in comfy clothes and reading. Or playing Minecraft. Or painting…one of these things I plan on doing this evening, possibly all three. So far my day has been filled with sleeping in (because with a day like this it is practically mandatory) and a combination of baking and cleaning the kitchen, hooray for productivity.

Today is the last of the What-Cha teas from my butterfly notebook, from here on out it is the Japanese block print notebook and the silver snake notebook…and whatever others I fill up in the future. Specifically the tea is Fujian Narcissus ‘Shui Xian’ Wuyi Rock Oolong Tea, one of my favorite of the Yancha or Rock Teas from Wuyi, the first one I ever tried is not surprisingly the one with the biggest place in my heart. The aroma of the curly leaves is a gentle char, with an accompaniment of richness! Strong notes of chocolate, cooked plums and cherries, cooked cream (not quite as sweet as creme brulee, but in that same vein) and a finish of loam. Over all of these notes is the char notes, it hangs over it like a foggy morning after a bonfire in autumn. Very comfy and nostalgic smelling.

Into the Yancha pot the tea goes for its awaited steeping, and well, it is almost too good for words! Sometimes Yancha just blows my mind and instead of perceiving aroma notes I just get explosions of color in my mind and melt into a state of bliss in my chair. I will try my best to give a description and not just a pile of maniacal giggles though! Notes of char, raw honey, cocoa, autumn leaves, and wet slate waft up out of my teapot, it is like a fuzzy warm robe for my nose (and this is not even a Da Hong Pao…that pun was painful, I am sorry y’all.) The liquid is creamy rich sweetness, raw honey and plums with chocolate and bonfire. Think both charcoal and burning leaf pile, it is lovely!

First steeping! Does this tea hold up to its powerful happy smell? You betcha! The mouthfeel is smooth and thick, bordering on soupy, the taste starts off with char and grilled plums and peaches, this moves on to a burst of dark chocolate and loam, the finish is wet slate and a touch of distant floral that lingers in the aftertaste.

Second steeping. Oh, I got lost in this tea, my notes are all sideways and there is no third steeping note, just the word yum. Real helpful me! The aroma is so rich and sweet, plums and chocolate, loam and fire, with a finish of honey and distant flowers. The mouthfeel is a little sharper with this steep, and the taste is delicious! Grilled plums and char, a touch of peaches and dried cherries as well, then moving to dark chocolate and pecans, with a finish of loam and slate. This tea had a lot of stuff going on, unlike most Shui Xian I have had, this one is lighter on the char and with more fruity and cocoa notes, I feel like I could taste the tea over the char! It is one of the best examples of Shui Xian I have had.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-cha-fujian-narcissus-shui-xian.html

Ah, today is a good day, Minecraft TU 25 is finally out, meaning we who play on the console finally inch closer to the PC version. Pros and cons, yay for finally having stained glass, I was immensely excited for the building potential presented with all the colorful glasses, especially when combining them with stained clay (my weakness.) Sadly the hinted at new biomes, all the flowers, and bunnies were not added with this update which is causing a massive wave of disappointment with the console players. Hopefully the next update will bring them out, I am craving the Ice Spike biome something fierce! I am wondering if they decided to do a small updated in time for Minecon, if so, I am ok with lots of small updates rather than months between big ones.

In grand traditional fashion, it is Wednesday, so time for a What-Cha tea! Flipping through my notebook I notice I am starting to run out of tea notes, le gasp! Clearly a shopping trip will be in my future, conveniently looking at the website I just noticed a ton of new teas, which is awesome. Today’s tea is Georgia Old Gentleman Black Tea, from the Nasakirali Village in Georgia, handmade by Iuri, who I am assuming is the old gentleman this tea is named for. The aroma of the lovely dark curling leaves is sweet, with notes of tobacco and cherry wood, a lovely fruity tobacco reminding me of my dad’s pipe tobacco. Add in a touch of smoke, delicate honey sweetness, and a tiny hint of cocoa and you have a very pleasant smelling tea. Honestly the aroma is nostalgic, like the smell of a pipe being smoked in a library, it gives me the warm fuzzies.

After giving the leaves a steeping, the now quite plump leaves have become malty and brisk, with notes of oak and cherry wood, raisins, and a tiny hint of citrus peel. It is very livening, and just a little bit sweet. The liquid is very rich, I was surprised, expecting a brisk aroma, but it is intensely rich with notes of pipe tobacco, cherry wood, a creamy sweetness with a finish of malt and raisins.

So, this cup has a lot going on, it is very rich, starting out with raisins and pipe tobacco with just a gentle hint of smoke, This transitions to a midtaste of citrus and malt, giving it a slight brisk and sour taste, this fades to a creamy sweet finish of cocoa. Amusingly the aftertaste was brisk with a slight dryness and a lingering taste of citrus. I found this tea enjoyable, it has a nostalgic feel and a complex blend of notes, plus the briskness was a perfect amount for me, not too intense, just enough to liven up the senses.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-cha-georgia-old-gentleman-black.html

Finally managed to get around tasting this magnificent tea, on a lazy, warm, late afternoon. Just the smell promised a treat, and a treat it was…
The taste was fruity but tender, with hay notes present during every infusion. Speaking of, with my Gong Fu powered Gaiwan I managed to get 10(!) whole infusions before losing that precious taste. Sweet!

Recommended 9/10.

Gaiwan 100 ml, 3,33g for 5/10/15/20… sec @ 82°C

So, this was supposed to be posted yesterday, but I was super busy, swamped even, with deciding what I am doing with my life. No really, yours truly might be going on an epic adventure pretty soon! No spoilers yet, because I do not have all the details and such, but I can safely say I am excited and a little scared. Unless something goes drastically wrong (like my computer explodes again) it won’t affect the blog long term, there might be a week or so where I don’t update, but I will be sure to let everyone know ahead of time.

Since I missed my What-Cha Wednesday review, this will be a rare What-Cha Thursday! Today it is time to revisit the country of Malawi with Malawi Bvumbwe Handmade Treasure Black Tea, I was really blow away by their Antler and Peony White Teas, so I am super excited to dive into the Satemwa Estate’s Handmade Treasure Black Tea. For a while I was rather apprehensive about trying new black teas from Africa, a few nasty run-ins with some particularly dirty tasting Kenyan black teas unfairly soured me on the whole continent for a while. Really, quite narrow minded of me, but they were really gross. Anyway, onto more pleasant things, like these lovely twisted dark leaves! The aroma is pretty rich, blending notes of an oak brandy cask with roasted peanuts and yams, and a touch of loam and spice. Something about the way this tea smells reminds me of home, not any homes that I have lived in, but a feel of ‘home’ yes people, this tea smells like a concept to me.

After steeping the leaves (they get rather huge post steeping) and giving them a good sniffing, I am pleasantly surprised by the fruity notes that have now shown up. It has the oak wood and slight earthiness of the dry leaves, but now with a blend of cherries and orange zest with a hint of cocoa, oh yeah, and a spice finish. A little like allspice and a little like nutmeg, with a faint sweetness to go with it. The liquid has a lot more of the spice notes, definitely allspice with pepper, and a tiny hint of nutmeg. There are also strong notes of cocoa and cherry, with just a delicate hint of orange zest and distant flowers.

The tea has a definite briskness to it, and is quite bright, the texture is light and it really livens up the mouth, kinda like liquid sunshine for a morning wake up, without being really overbearing. I am really picky about how brisk and astringent I like my black teas, and not just because they tend to give me a belly ache, I find when they are really intense they are just too overbearing, much like some people find mint too much or flowery teas. I like my black teas (more traditional western style ones, not the delicate Chinese reds) to have just a little bite to them. The taste is both robust and sweet, blending creamy notes of cocoa (bordering between milk and dark) and peanut butter, with earthy notes of sweet potatoes and woody notes of oak. The finish is a delicate mix of cherries and orange zest with a citrus aftertaste that lingers. I feel this tea has the potential to be a really iconic morning tea, proving once again that the Satemwa Tea Estate has some mad skills.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/06/what-cha-malawi-bvumbwe-handmade.html

Got this as a 10g sample from What-Cha. This is the first pu’er I’ve ever tried that didn’t smell like tobacco and/or seaweed. It smells like wet grass. Just shy of 5g of tea, gongfu, 200 degrees, two short rinses. First steep 10 seconds. Deep amber liquor. Aroma is moving beyond wet grass into something else. Hay maybe. I taste grass, hay, kale, greens, and pepper. Well, at least I can now say I tried a pu’er that didn’t taste like cigars!

Coming back to this tea after not touching it for about nine months. I’ve learned a bit about brewing in that time, so I’m ready to go off script and brew this by not following the brewing advice at all. This actually worked out well, because this tea is lovely. I brewed gongfu this time, about 7g in a 100ml gaiwan, water at a full boil. The brew is sweet, with a wonderful taste and aroma of cocoa and dried fruit, figs or prunes (I don’t know, I’m terrible at identifying specific flavors sometimes) but the slightly malty finish is what gives this away as being a black and not a roasted oolong. I hate nearly all the black teas I drink, but this one is an exception.

So I am brewing this tea in less than optimal conditions, at work, with hot water provided by my Keurig (192 degrees I think) and steeped grandpa for 3 minutes. The dry leaf smells of cocoa, which is quite pleasant. The liquor has a lovely amber color and the cocoa aroma is still there. After 3 minutes the flavor is weak, so I’m turning over my hourglass brewer for another 90 seconds. Much better. Very robust, sweet, smooth, chocolatey, and not a hint of bitterness. Lovely! Will have to try this gongfu style and see what the tea reveals.

2 tsp tea, 10 oz water, 200 degrees, 3 minutes. This is the first time I’ve ever tasted a darjeeling tea, and I am loving it. Sweet, not bitter, grapes (skins too), and red wine. Apparently it’s quite caffeinated, so I’ll be bouncing all over my house tonight and probably cursing myself as I lay in bed wide awake at midnight. I regret that I did this in the evening because I wonder what the second infusion will be like. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow as I think this tea will likely become part of my daily morning ritual for awhile.

Gongfu, 190, 4g tea, one rinse. 30 seconds. Dark brew, almost coffee-like. An aroma I cannot define. Oh wait, it’s honey I think. I do taste a little sweetness. I definitely taste the char. And the hint of cinnamon. Very robust. Peppery. I will have to try this grandpa style; it is probably quite strong that way. Second steep one minute. I can feel it in the back of my throat. I like this tea ok but it is something I have to be in the mood for.

a really pronounced cocoa taste leading into a bit of cinnamon, with a rich complexity, and a creamy texture. of course the tea had no astringency to speak of, along with a decent amount of sweetness. I hadn’t had much luck with rolled-ball style oolongs dark roasted oolongs as a favorite prior to this but I loved this tea.

Today’s introductory paragraph shall be played by the ‘Hello my baby, hello my darlin’ hello my ragtime gallll’ Frog (or is it a Toad) from classic cartoons of yore. Basically as soon as you start paying attention to it, poof it is still, relaxed, and croaking contentedly. Basically I lack anything interesting to say and do not feel like complaining about my meds. So here, frog dance time!

It is time for my weekly coverage of a new tea from What-Cha, specifically Darjeeling Autumn Flush 2014 Gopaldhara Red Thunder Gold Black Tea, in honor of the steaming bowl of Jaipur Karhi I have sitting next to me, the most superior of canned curries, for those lazy days. This is a unique Darjeeling, not only is it plucked late in the year (hello Autumn Flush) it is grown at a high elevation, meaning it gets frosted over which causes the tea to wilt, starting the oxidation process while the leaves are still attached to the tea plant. This tea is only produced in limited quantities, this particular batch is more tippy than most, giving it more of that fuzzy gold that I adore. The aroma of these thunderous leaves (also apropos since we are under a perpetual flood and thunderstorm warning as of late) is soooo intense, would have knocked me off my feet I was not already sitting down. Very strong notes of roasted peanuts and acorn squash, then the intensity mellows out and notes of raisins, spicebush, black walnut shells, and lastly a delicate hint of sandalwood at the finish. This is a super aromatic tea, so be prepared!

Into ye old steeping apparatus the leaves go, and by steeping apparatus I mean lidless yixing teapot I use for later flush Darjeeling tea. Because why not? The aroma of the dark leaves is so sweet, strong notes of raisins and roasted peanuts with a distinctly floral and woody sandalwood finish. The liquid is heady without being floral (apparently that is a thing, or at least I perceive it so) strong sweet notes of yams, raisins, roasted peanuts and a finish of acorn squash. Yum.

Oh MAN this tea is freaking delicious! It is intensely rich and heavy, with a creamy mouth feel and a tiny hint of drying at the finish. The taste starts out as a not too sweet blend of loam, roasted peanuts, and squash, this transitions to a more sweet taste profile of squash blossoms (not something I run into often) raisins, and lily flowers. The finish is a malty blend of raisins and sandalwood, giving it a lingering aromatic aftertaste. Me thinks I am going to need this tea as a staple in my tea stash!

For blog and photos:
http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/06/what-cha-darjeeling-autumn-flush-2014.html

My taste buds are spoiled when it comes to sencha and gyokuro… unfortunately this just isn’t that smooth and the astringent notes are very noticeable in this tea.