Daniel Pollard Send Message

Backlog from yesterday. Nice copper colored liquor. Brewed in my gaiwan (4oz), 4g/4oz of boiling water. Quick rinse, then a short 3 second steep. Very chocolate-like aroma. Some dark malt and roast notes as well. Very smooth cocoa nib flavor. Mouth-coating, no astringency. Delicious.

This was a sample from David at Verdant Tea, tucked in with my last order. I brewed it at 4g/4oz water. Rinsed once with 212F water, then steeped at the same for 2 seconds. The liquor is a nice shade of brown with red hints. Semi-hazy. The aroma is all about the malt. Mainly wheat. It’s a very inviting aroma. The flavor is a bit more complex. Again, lots of malt. Hints of the maliard reaction coming across as caramel malt. Some brown sugar. The mouthfeel is full and silky smooth. No astringency. Some diacytel-like butter character throughout. With all this wonderful malt it reminds me of evaluating malted barley at work. I’ll have to order this!

Brewed western style. 4g of leaf rinsed once with 208F water then steeped in 8oz at 208F for 1 min. The aroma is… Interesting. A little off putting to me. Notes of marijuana and brass mixed with roasted nuts. Quite a thin mouthfeel with some astringency throughout. Very earthy flavor, roasted nuts, some black coffee. I’ll have to revisit this one later.

Brewed western-style. 5g in 8oz water at 205F. Hard to tell the color of the liquor since it’s in a slightly colored mug. The aroma is BIG. Jasmine, jasmine, and more jasmine. Did I mention jasmine? Extremely perfumed almost soap-like. Not overly appealing to me, but I knew what I was getting into when I ordered. Very smooth mouthfeel. Flavor wise I don’t get much of the Silver Needle, just lots of Jasmine. It’s very relaxing to just sit and sip.

3 grams/4 oz. Rinsed gaiwan and cup with just boiled water to preheat. First infusion steeped for 2 seconds. The liquor is a beautiful red copper. Lots of floral notes mixed with cocoa nibs and hints of spice in the aroma. Very rich mouthfeel. No astringency at all. Some clove and spice at first, quite earthy overall. A bit of cocoa on the the finish. Very enjoyable.

Update: Later infusions change considerably. The mouthfeel thins slightly , and the finish becomes more drying. The spice notes become the primary flavor, with hints of smoke.

Phenomenal. I preheated both the gaiwan and my cup with boiling water. Weighed out 4g of leaf for 4oz of boiling water. Quick rinse and decant. Steeped the first infusion for 2 seconds. The aroma is similar to malt extract, oxidized/honey smell. Caramel notes abound. The liquor is slightly hazy but a nice shade of brown with hints of red. Extremely smooth mouthfeel. Absolutely no astringency. Some spice in the flavor. Very well integrated. Lots of complex caramel. Delicious.

Sample from @VerdantTea. Rinsed once with 205F water. Infused for 2 seconds, decanted, infused again (for 4 seconds), and decanted into the same cup. The color of the liquor is pale yellow and perfectly clear. The aroma is slightly floral with some biscuity malt. Extremely pleasant. Similar notes in the flavor; slightly sweet biscuit, a hint of honey. Very drying on the finish. An enjoyable cup of tea.

On my fourth infusion. The sweet cream aroma has backed off significantly, leaving a nice pastry (almost shortbread) smell. The flavor reminds me of brown rice (but very subdued).