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I’m on Rasseru’s blind #2

I do not remember the parameters well other than half the bag in my 6 ounce Xiang Fu pot. So assume that I’m gong fuing it with it some mastery.

I will keep the description short to what I noticed about the tea. For one, the smell. I loved the smell. It was a complex creamy, floral, and mildly nutty scent with pops of vanilla. Every brew was incredibly clear, with the first being indistinguishable from water until the first sip. The taste was very light with a present mouth feel. I mostly get florals with a bit of the literal flower grassy texture. Flavors were more on the creamy/citrusy side with a almond accent. I was surprised that this was more floral than nutty, but overall quite nice. Light Bamboo describes the tea overall.

I got five solid cups out and I could probably yield more bamboo water tasting tea. Cheers.

I was curious about this one. I was out of chamomiles, and was wanting to try something new. I knew that I’d pretty much be paying for the poorly thought out packaging of a glass jar. Great for future tea storage either way.

So I actually liked this. At first it tastes like soap, but the vanilla flavoring really hits you as you oversteep it. The chamomile and lavender are definitely present, but the rooibos is a mixed blessing because it is red. I wish there was green instead, but here are the pros and cons: the tea has a natural tart sweetness to it, but it is also kinda woodsy that really doesn’t go ideally with the lavender and the chamomile since those are already herby in themselves.

I do really like this tea as a night tea, and the ingredients are undoubtedly good, but the price is ludicrous. Only get this If you want a spa soap night tea and a jar.

I got home on a holiday after the first week of school, and I got Rasseru’s very thorough blind tasting packages, 1-8 in two sets: one set for me, and one for Andrew.

I’m not going to guess the variety so that I can just enjoy the tastes. With the exception of number 8. I have a feeling about that one.
So…

Tea Number 1

Steep 1

I used half the package, so something less than 3 g.

40 sec first steep at a lower temp of 175 F, and grapefruit and white grapes. Citrusy.

Steep 2 at 20 sec, more fruity goodness. Like grape juice almost. It still distinctly tastes like tea, but again, fruity an citrusy

More later…

Steep 3 at about 55 sec. More or less same thing and a little grassier/lemony. Overall, this is actually a sweet tea with a little tart after taste. Is that were you get the strawberry note from Rasseru? Clean tasting overall.

Steep 4-brewing…3 min.

Well, citrusy and more tea than anything else. I think that’s all I can get for now.

Final thoughts: I liked this one. The citrus clean taste was very nice. It’s not as complex as some other Yanchas or Dan Congs with not a super long brewing life, but it is enjoyable. I would not mind having a cup of this every now and then, but something I’d gladly drink.

I’ve been trying to brew teas in a Teavana glass tumbler lately, and I’ve found that certain varieties don’t do so well. Only one of my green oolongs was tasteable, while the rest have taste like overcooked spinach. My black teas have also been really dry, and my whites have been okay. I thought the problem was the water, but I’ve changed it out several times and cleaned the tumbler itself. I’m thinking that steeping in the glass is changing the flavor. Is this just me, or is there a science to this?

I did however find a few websites that recommend porcelain almost across the board, with glass being specific to the white teas. I might give one of my whites another go.

Mine is Spring 2016 and it is quite pleasant, but I enjoy a green dong ding no matter what.

I used a generous amount of leaves that someone could guess at 6 grams, and doing it gong fu. Steep one was at 45 sec which was a bit of a over brew, but not too bad. I got a brothy vegetal body with a nutty and somewhat lemon-custard like after taste. I could have mistaken it for a fancier green tea if I did not know what it was…though one could argue that for jade oolongs. Just a slight difference in fermentation and elaborate processing is all.

Second more floral and brothy, but that’s it. Needs a cool down.

To make things simple, or more complicated, I’m going to back log what I already thought about the tea. It was more savory than floral most times, but the florals were strong when they would pop up in gradual fluxes. The thicker green notes occasionally out-buttered the florals and hiding fruity qualities. I would recommend it to people who like Dragon Well or those looking for a good Dong Ding to try. My personal criticism was how easily the taste changed with temperature and brewing, easily changing from nutty to brothy with the softer notes in flux. The only other criticism was the price, but hey, I can be a cheapo sometimes.

From the LP Group buy, and one of the main reasons why I readily got some.

This was one of my favorite teas of the selection. It is very green, very crisp, and pretty refreshing. The taste was closer to something like a Baozhong to me personally since it did have some vague tropical profiles along with some hints of florals. Overall, the tea is light with a savory thick body. Sticky rice does come to mind in part. I’ll add more notes soon since I can’t remember more specifics at the moment. Know that I greatly enjoy it.

My friend Rich was going to do a food competition in conjunction with the Olympics at work, and he was going to whip up a recipe for a Kenyan cake which usually goes with tea or coffee. To make his project more geographically focused, my mom wondered if I could lend some of my personal amount of this tea. I hesitated since I usually drink it straight, but then I experimented with sugar, and it was a success. My mom loved it. Rich-who very rarely drinks tea-really liked it. Then I really liked it with sugar. The sweeter maple profile of the tea was incredibly noticeable with sugar. This good thing could not be more of a mixed blessing.

This tea is one of the most flexible ones I’ve had because of how easy it is to brew. I like it with a lot of leaves gong fu in short steeps, I like it western, and I like it Grandpa. Now, I like it with sugar. This is bad news for the health nut of a type 1 diabetic.

I’m having a harder time drinking the tea straight though it’s still solid. I can still drink other teas straight fine, but a more limited selection of them mentally. My cravings for ingredients like vanilla or something extra like cinnamon have gone through the roof. Then with my energy issues which is obviously attested to caffeine addiction and tolerance, I’ve been craving something more robust for my mornings. Now I have an obsessive craving for masalas-the tea that I have the least of right when I went over my budget. This really isn’t a big deal, but you know, habits and first world problems.

The good news is that I get to keep my stash since Rich’s work scrapped the food competition idea. Bad news is I need to hold off another massive buy from What-Cha for a while.

This tea was okay. It mostly tasted like a root beer flavored black tea. I expected something heavier, but I got a light cup. The tea did have a smoother quality that I usually associate with Dian Hongs, but the cup had a decent amount of dry tannin. I personally did not get a lot of flavor, but I did not think that was horrible. I just don’t think it compares to LP’s other teas.

I liked this tea for the morning. And as it smelled like a Jin Jun Mei, it tasted like a Jin Jun Mei too. Very dry with a slight sweetness, and very smokey and bready despite it being nicely light gong fu. Orange blossom kept popping up in my head when drinking it. Could just be me. I used a little less than two teaspoons beginning with 20 seconds at 180 F.

I personally enjoyed it, but I can imagine some people being turned off by it. It could just be solid black tea for some. I will try it western to see what I get different, but I like it just fine gong fu for now.

Andrew, you kicked butt with this next brew. I taste the same notes that I posted before, only the Vanilla is meg umphed. I actually prefer this now to French Toast Dianhong. The Shui Xian lead this time, but the dry woodsy and smoked quality balanced incredibly well the vanilla. I’m very glad I grabbed an ounce of this.

I’m officially topping this as one of my favorite vanilla teas.