74 Tasting Notes
Normally one of my favorites, but tonight was a little different.
I take the blame for this one, it was my own steeping that ruined it. But I learned something: while this tea can handle longer brew times, it shouldn’t be steeped indefinitely.
I got home from hanging out with my sister and her friend, and decided to brew myself the last of my Dragon Bone, (mostly because it opened up a tin for an awaiting tea).
Turns out I forgot about it, and left it on my desk.
So, a five hour nap later…
The liquor is REALLY dark…like, black, almost. The taste is unpleasant – harsh, with a sour finish. I only took a few sips before pouring it out. It made me feel gross.
So, lesson of the day:
Don’t hot-brew a tea, even one that is almost entirely stems, for five or six hours. Seriously.
As with many products that are more obscure against the American mainstream for tea, I jump into a description of this with an ignorance to the culture and taste. Though I lack any means of comparison, I will give Lupicia the benefit of the doubt – they’re more reputable than Teavana, and the company IS based in Japan, after all, and this is a Japanese tea. So, judging this tea blindly…
A nice bulk tea, for casual absent-minded sipping. I don’t bother brewing it in my tetsubin, I just throw a few leaves in a cup, and add the water. The leaves are broad, so the these and the stems make a good filter from the smaller broken leaves that sink to the bottom. Good for sitting around and watching TV, using the computer, reading, etc.
While the leaves are fragile, the flavor isn’t so delicate. Unlike most greens, this tea isn’t finicky in the least. Water temp and steep time are of minimal importance, which is why there’s really no problem with leaving the leaves in the cup.
It’s a bold flavor, with a bit of a two-dimensional character. You’re not going to get elegance in a cup with this one, but it’s not very expensive. While it’s a rather flat flavor, and you can forget a resteep, it’s a nice taste.
In my opinion, this would be a good tea to keep around for someone who just wants to substitute unhealthy beverages, and needs something easy to brew or wants something a bit weaker than black tea in the morning. It might go good with meals, but I haven’t tried so I wouldn’t be able to say. All in all, it’s a nice, smooth drink to have on hand while I’m on my laptop, especially when I don’t want to get the sugary-discomfort of soda.
If you’re buying this tea from Lupicia, or probably any other tea store that sells by weight, expect a large package – these leaves are much less dense than most. On that note, if you want to keep it fresh, make sure you have a large tin or two. Seriously. It’s a VERY large volume for the weight.
On that note, I just finished out my tin, so now I have a space for one of the nice teas I picked up before I came to college :). Maybe next time I get this (which wouldn’t be before I go home for thanksgiving) I’ll look into the history and customs for this tea.
To sum it up, Kyobancha is nothing special, but it has its place in the world of tea.
One of the three teas I picked up in the Wing Hop Fung shop in LA’s China town. This tea, a Formosan Oolong, was going for $68 a pound, and I got a few ounces. I’d say it was a very fair price.
Though I’m not certain, I’m assuming this was grown at a higher elevation, judging by the taste. There’s truly not much that separates this tea from most of the finer Taiwanese mountain Oolongs I’ve had. In that sense, it has its pros and cons.
This isn’t going to be the everyday Dong Ding you’ll find in most retail tea shops. There’s definitely the nuance and delicacy of a finer tea, and it should be enjoyed as such. This is a tea to make in a gaiwan or small teapot, and to be served at least somewhat ceremoniously – even if that means you just have a small brewing vessel and a bowl, make sure you’re in the right mood and atmosphere to appreciate the flavor and more meditative qualities to the tea.
On the flip side, this tea doesn’t quite stand out to me. While very enjoyable, it has yet to leave an impression on me – perhaps after a few more tries, it’ll stick. As for now, I have fonder memories of finer, high-elevation Ali-Shan Oolongs. Perhaps it’s just my spoiled tongue that overlooks this tea.
As for the details: Smooth, with very slightly creamy taste in there. There are a notable number of stems, nearly all the leaves are attached to them, but it doesn’t add too much boldness to the flavor. Very capable of multiple-steeping, though I didn’t brew it enough to find the flavor’s threshold.
The water color is a light, bright green – one of Oolong liquor’s gorgeous shades. Like many Taiwanese teas, very fragrant – I took a few moments taking in the scents from my gaiwan’s lid, afterward. The spent leaves where a bit chewy, and some were a bit bitter where others were rather mild. Again, I’m not sure how safe or healthy it is to eat the leaves.
Overall, a good tea. Within a very large selection of great teas, I wouldn’t consider it a leaf for special occasions, but it’s definitely a type of “bulk” tea to have on hand for daily or time-to-time serious tea sessions.
I purchased this in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, at a shopping center called Wing Hop Fung. It was $80 a pound, and I got a few ounces. Though I was a bit off-put by the flavor of the sample in the store, as it had been sitting out for who knows how long, I decided to buy it anyway – This was my first chance to buy Yellow tea.
Very glad I made the decision to buy it. I brewed it fresh in a tea set from the same store (wonderful, complete glass set for an amazingly low price,) and I was very pleased. Though I can’t truly compare this to any other teas of the genre, I can tell there was definite quality to this tea.
There were definitely tastes of both Green and White tea. It had that distinct, natural taste of White tea – the one you need to get used to, and that puts most people of White tea from the start – as well as what I’d relate to the buttery finish of Lung Jing Green. Mild, and not a hint of bitterness. For the moment, I prefer Yellow tea to White.
A side note – Out of curiosity (and slight hunger) I decided to try eating the leaves afterward. I’ve tried this with other teas, but this is by far the most pleasant leaf I’ve tried. It’s Silver Needle, so the leaves are very soft and tender, though a bit tasteless; but on the same note, not bitter. I’m chewing through the leaves as I write this…
Hope that’s not toxic at all.
Holy Crap!
Truly something enticing. Really had that unique and characteristic Darjeeling smell and taste, but with the nuance and beauty of Oolong. I was expecting a mediocre, amateur Oolong, but this really added a new facet to my favorite type of tea.
I’m impressed – astonished even.
Let’s hope the plantations of Darjeeling starting hitting the docks with first-flush Oolongs in the near future.
A taste similar to Teavana’s Six Summits – that may be a distorted memory, because I haven’t had Six Summits in a very long time, and I had the Monkey Picked two or three months ago.
Not as good as I expected, honestly. Nothing near it.
Perhaps better quality than most oolongs in the Teavana selection, but that’s not a great feat.
Compared to the truly great oolongs I’ve tried (competition grade TKY, Black Dragon Pearl, Competition grade Alishan, several high-peak Taiwanese oolongs), Teavana’s Monkey Picked can’t hold a match. It just doesn’t have that much body; the taste dies too quickly. It didn’t quite produce the nuance I was looking for.
I’ve found more satisfying teas with less hype at Lupicia, as well as a few other more obscure tea shops.
I didn’t bother finishing the two ounces I bought.
As far as Moroccan Mint teas go, this is definitely not the best. Maybe it’s because because the mint and leaves have been mixed in together for a period of time, or just because Teavana tends to have low-quality, but it tasted a bit stale to me when I did a comparison to Moroccan Mint I blended myself with tea from other sources.
Your best bet is getting it somewhere else, or, at the very least, buying the two ingredients separately, whether from Teavana or elsewhere. An advantage to the latter option is that you have more control over the green to mint ratio.
