72

I had to take a few days off due to illness, but I’m back again and ready to post some more reviews. This last week has been so frustrating. I interviewed for a new job, but I ended up not getting it. Has anyone ever had one of those interviews where you can tell the interviewer has already made up their mind and isn’t taking you seriously? This was definitely one of those interviews for me. The interviewer did not even bother to show up on time for the interview. It was that bad. Then the brakes blew out on my car. Then I ended up once again dealing with sinusitis when the cold weather broke. It’s been a struggle. This was the tea that kept me company through most of the week. Like my week, I found it to be difficult and frustrating. Unlike my week, however, it was not necessarily bad overall.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 7 seconds. This infusion was followed by 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas reminiscent of char, dark wood, cream, and stone fruit. After the rinse, I found aromas of wild mushroom, cooked spinach, and some sort of roasted vegetable. The first proper infusion brought out hints of burnt sugar on the nose. On the palate, the liquor expressed elusive notes of burnt sugar, cream, wild strawberry, peach, and pomelo backed by hints of dark wood and char with a ghostly floral quality on the finish. So, the first infusion was not all that much like the nose. Subsequent infusions brought out impressions of rose, honey roasted peanut, roasted almond, orange zest, sweet cherry, earth, minerals, and slightly stronger impressions of wild mushroom and dark wood that belatedly managed to show up in the mouth as well. The char notes started to recede into the background while the nose started to take on some citrusy qualities. I also started to note emerging impressions of roasted green beans, watercress, cooked spinach, and collard greens. Interestingly enough, the finish on each of these infusions started off with hints of char, burnt sugar, earth, and vegetables before a blast of floral notes took over, dominating the aftertaste. To me, it was like a blend of rose, chrysanthemum, and dandelion. There was also something of a cooling presence in the nose, mouth, and throat after the swallow. The later infusions were mostly dominated by notes of minerals, dark wood, earth, and a stronger char note up front, though fleeting underpinnings of wild mushroom, cooked spinach, honey roasted peanut, and roasted green beans were still just barely detectable before cream, burnt sugar, and those odd cooling sensations once again took over on the finish.

There was a lot going on with this tea, but it was all so hard to pin down throughout the session. Just to be sure I wasn’t making this harder than it needed to be, I brewed this tea Western and tried a slightly different gongfu preparation and got very similar results. Overall, this just struck me as being an odd and rather difficult tea. It was also a little rough around the edges; the aromas and flavors it displayed clashed in a few places, setting up some odd, awkward contrasts. Again, it was not bad, but it also was not great. I’m glad I took the opportunity to try it, and perhaps others will get more satisfaction from it than I did, but this did not offer everything I tend to look for in a Wuyi oolong.

Flavors: Almond, Char, Cherry, Citrus, Cream, Dandelion, Dark Wood, Earth, Floral, Green Beans, Mineral, Mushrooms, Orange Zest, Peach, Peanut, Rose, Spinach, Strawberry, Sugar, Vegetal

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML
LuckyMe

When it rains it pours. Sorry to hear about your bad week, job interviews are nerve wracking enough without dealing with an interviewer who’s going to waste your time. If that’s any sign of the company culture, you’re probably better off somewhere else. Hope things get better

eastkyteaguy

LuckyMe, to give you a better idea of just how bad this interview was, allow me to lay it all out here. The job interview was in the middle of the week in a city two hours from where I currently live, so I had to take a day off work to drive there and interview. My interview was supposed to be at 2:00 PM, I showed up at the office and was signed in by 1:10 PM. I knew was way early, but I didn’t have time to go and grab an actual lunch before we began, so I just went in, signed in, and told the receptionist I was aware I was there early and there was no need to rush things. I was promptly told that both of my interviewers had left for lunch 10 minutes prior to my arrival and they should be back within the hour. Now, I’m very old school and I have always been brought up with the idea that 5 minutes is early, on time is late, and late by any stretch is unacceptable. Both of my interviewers came barreling through the door at 2:01 PM with food still in their hands, introduced themselves in a hurry, and told me to wait while they got themselves together. That ticked me off. Why weren’t they on time? If they had to be late, why didn’t they have things prepared in advance? To me, that just said, “We have no respect for the time, effort, and expense it took for you to submit an application, submit additional materials, get yourself together, and drive two hours out of your way to get here.” I then had to wait for them to (presumably) finish their food and get materials together for another 9 minutes. My interview that was supposed to start at 2:00 PM started at 2:10 PM. When I was actually called back for the interview, there was no chitchat, there were no preliminary questions about my educational background, previous work experiences, or my professional skill set, just a brief introduction to the company followed by a rote series of questions with no feedback or any other interaction in between. Several times I tried to expand on something and was cut off very curtly. When the interview ended, I was finally given the opportunity to ask questions and I was so flustered that I only got two questions in, forgot my third question, and before I could recover, I was literally shown the door. It was awful. Everything about it just screamed, “We’ve already made up our minds. This was just a formality. Thanks for allowing us to waste your time.”

Evol Ving Ness

Ugh. Sorry to hear about that less than pleasant experience. Here’s hoping that the next interview will be a far better fit for you.

mrmopar

People need to be prompt and honor set times on things like this.

Fjellrev

Oh no, I’m so sorry you’ve had such a rough week, but I really hope you’re feeling almost 100% better.

Those interviews can be so depressing. What a massive waste of your time and energy, and so incredibly disrespectful.

teepland

Yikes! I’m sorry to hear about the horrible interview! :( I’ve had some like that as well, where you recognize immediately that they are just doing a formality and already have someone picked out. It sucks. :( Hope the rest of the week goes better!

MadHatterTeaDrunk

Ugh, sorry to hear that. Hopefully everything will pick up shortly! :)

Indigobloom

That’s awful. Yuck!! If that happened to me, I’d wait a few months and post a review on glassdoor (waiting so that they couldn’t be sure who posted).
And hey, it isn’t only their pennance for wasting your time, you’d be saving others from engaging them as well… there is no excuse for disrespect like that! so not cool

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LuckyMe

When it rains it pours. Sorry to hear about your bad week, job interviews are nerve wracking enough without dealing with an interviewer who’s going to waste your time. If that’s any sign of the company culture, you’re probably better off somewhere else. Hope things get better

eastkyteaguy

LuckyMe, to give you a better idea of just how bad this interview was, allow me to lay it all out here. The job interview was in the middle of the week in a city two hours from where I currently live, so I had to take a day off work to drive there and interview. My interview was supposed to be at 2:00 PM, I showed up at the office and was signed in by 1:10 PM. I knew was way early, but I didn’t have time to go and grab an actual lunch before we began, so I just went in, signed in, and told the receptionist I was aware I was there early and there was no need to rush things. I was promptly told that both of my interviewers had left for lunch 10 minutes prior to my arrival and they should be back within the hour. Now, I’m very old school and I have always been brought up with the idea that 5 minutes is early, on time is late, and late by any stretch is unacceptable. Both of my interviewers came barreling through the door at 2:01 PM with food still in their hands, introduced themselves in a hurry, and told me to wait while they got themselves together. That ticked me off. Why weren’t they on time? If they had to be late, why didn’t they have things prepared in advance? To me, that just said, “We have no respect for the time, effort, and expense it took for you to submit an application, submit additional materials, get yourself together, and drive two hours out of your way to get here.” I then had to wait for them to (presumably) finish their food and get materials together for another 9 minutes. My interview that was supposed to start at 2:00 PM started at 2:10 PM. When I was actually called back for the interview, there was no chitchat, there were no preliminary questions about my educational background, previous work experiences, or my professional skill set, just a brief introduction to the company followed by a rote series of questions with no feedback or any other interaction in between. Several times I tried to expand on something and was cut off very curtly. When the interview ended, I was finally given the opportunity to ask questions and I was so flustered that I only got two questions in, forgot my third question, and before I could recover, I was literally shown the door. It was awful. Everything about it just screamed, “We’ve already made up our minds. This was just a formality. Thanks for allowing us to waste your time.”

Evol Ving Ness

Ugh. Sorry to hear about that less than pleasant experience. Here’s hoping that the next interview will be a far better fit for you.

mrmopar

People need to be prompt and honor set times on things like this.

Fjellrev

Oh no, I’m so sorry you’ve had such a rough week, but I really hope you’re feeling almost 100% better.

Those interviews can be so depressing. What a massive waste of your time and energy, and so incredibly disrespectful.

teepland

Yikes! I’m sorry to hear about the horrible interview! :( I’ve had some like that as well, where you recognize immediately that they are just doing a formality and already have someone picked out. It sucks. :( Hope the rest of the week goes better!

MadHatterTeaDrunk

Ugh, sorry to hear that. Hopefully everything will pick up shortly! :)

Indigobloom

That’s awful. Yuck!! If that happened to me, I’d wait a few months and post a review on glassdoor (waiting so that they couldn’t be sure who posted).
And hey, it isn’t only their pennance for wasting your time, you’d be saving others from engaging them as well… there is no excuse for disrespect like that! so not cool

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My grading criteria for tea is as follows:

90-100: Exceptional. I love this stuff. If I can get it, I will drink it pretty much every day.

80-89: Very good. I really like this stuff and wouldn’t mind keeping it around for regular consumption.

70-79: Good. I like this stuff, but may or may not reach for it regularly.

60-69: Solid. I rather like this stuff and think it’s a little bit better-than-average. I’ll drink it with no complaints, but am more likely to reach for something I find more enjoyable than revisit it with regularity.

50-59: Average. I find this stuff to be more or less okay, but it is highly doubtful that I will revisit it in the near future if at all.

40-49: A little below average. I don’t really care for this tea and likely won’t have it again.

39 and lower: Varying degrees of yucky.

Don’t be surprised if my average scores are a bit on the high side because I tend to know what I like and what I dislike and will steer clear of teas I am likely to find unappealing.

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