I had to come back just to talk about this tea.
I received a small sample in the tea of the month box and I got really excited. Those of you who know my review history know that Upton Tea’s “black dragon” is one of my “gotta have it on the shelf at all times” daily drinking teas. I rave about black dragon because it is a strong, powerful lapsang that doesn’t make you think of pork rinds or bacon or any other kind of meat product. It isn’t greasy or salty or sharp, or whatever it is that makes a lot of people think of cured meat when they smell it. But, at the end of the day, black dragon is still a very smokey tea.
But this… this tea is a whole other universe.
I opened the sample pack and thought … 4H fair. The smell of feed hay in a hot, close barn. Those pellets you can get from the candy vending machine to feed the animals at a petting zoo.
The wet leaf? Oh man.
The wet leaf is like drinking the zoo. Seriously.
Do you want to feel six years old, with a balloon on your wrist and the sounds of exotic birds in your ears, arguing about whether to go to the monkey house or the big cat exhibit? Drink this tea.
Do you want to remember what it felt like to hug a sheep that hadn’t been shorn in a long, long time? Drink this tea.
I don’t see this tea replacing anyone’s beloved lapsang or caravan tea. It’s too different. It doesn’t fill the same gap in the line-up, I don’t think.
But it is a marvelously transcendent, nuanced, delightful tea. You must try it. You absolutely must, no matter how much you think you don’t like smoked tea. Try this one.
I’m just glad I have a well seasoned lapsang yixing to do this tea justice with.
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Glad you’re here, Jim. Glad you shared about this tea too!
And, of course, I love your post.
Especially that last sentence. I was talking with somebody about yixing the other day, & when they asked if I had one for black teas I said no. I’m using a yixing sized porcelain little pot (at this time) for my blacks, because I felt that if I added another yixing to my collection for black teas, I’d have to add several, LOL, to honor the various flavor profiles.
When Verdant announced that they were offering the tea, I immediately got some, & drinking it, I knew that my first ‘black tea’ yixing would have to be for the select smokey teas in my collection. And then I’ll have to get one for the Dian Hongs…sigh…and then…
Petting zoo tea! Love the imagery!
Terri,
I have a yixing for the following teas:
shou pu erh
yunnan golden
laoshan black (this has a unique enough flavor it needs its own pot)
lapsang souchong
I also have a purion for Da Hong Pao. Purion is like yixing, in that it is an unglazed clay pot, but it is specifically for wuyi type oolongs and pu erh. I’d like to get a second one for sheng pu erh at some point.
Those are the teas I drink often enough to make having invested in five pots worth the money. I use all these pots at least once a week.
I use gaiwain for all the occasional teas (verdant samples, green, floral oolongs, whatever).
Verdant now offers some lovely gaiwain — I prefer the wide, flat ones to the typical ones you see in the US which are tall and narrow.
I get my yixing from the Canadian tea site http://camellia-sinensis.com
They have some top shelf artisan stuff, but also some great entry level priced stuff too.
I currently have 3 yixings:
Sheng
Shou
lovely roasty Wuyi Oolongs
Then the aforementioned yixing sized porcelain for blacks, until I start buying separate pots for a few of them :)
Then I have an assortment of Gaiwans for other oolongs, greens, etc, & I agree, I prefer the short wide ones as well.
I haven’t looked at Purions, but I really enjoy the yixings I have, & am always looking at others, so thanks for the link!
I’m almost afraid to look…hahaha
I’ve since added a yixing for black teas that aren’t laoshan black. Sure, they’re all distinct, but they aren’t so distinct that I feel like they can’t share a pot.
Amusingly, I don’t know that I could ever have just one pot for sheng because to me that’s really where the spectrum blows wide open and I’d worry that I’d be cross-tasting all the time, so I use a gaiwan for any sheng that come my way.
Ha! Since we had this conversation 2 years ago, I’ve added several more yixings to my collection, including a few for different black teas, and have even been thinking about the same think you said regarding shengs…how can one have just one pot for all raw teas, given that some are smokier, greener, fruitier, purple…etc
This is actually something I’ve been contemplating for awhile now…I need more money ;)
That’s why I just brew sheng in a gaiwan.
Glad you’re here, Jim. Glad you shared about this tea too!
And, of course, I love your post.
Especially that last sentence. I was talking with somebody about yixing the other day, & when they asked if I had one for black teas I said no. I’m using a yixing sized porcelain little pot (at this time) for my blacks, because I felt that if I added another yixing to my collection for black teas, I’d have to add several, LOL, to honor the various flavor profiles.
When Verdant announced that they were offering the tea, I immediately got some, & drinking it, I knew that my first ‘black tea’ yixing would have to be for the select smokey teas in my collection. And then I’ll have to get one for the Dian Hongs…sigh…and then…
Petting zoo tea! Love the imagery!
Terri,
I have a yixing for the following teas:
shou pu erh
yunnan golden
laoshan black (this has a unique enough flavor it needs its own pot)
lapsang souchong
I also have a purion for Da Hong Pao. Purion is like yixing, in that it is an unglazed clay pot, but it is specifically for wuyi type oolongs and pu erh. I’d like to get a second one for sheng pu erh at some point.
Those are the teas I drink often enough to make having invested in five pots worth the money. I use all these pots at least once a week.
I use gaiwain for all the occasional teas (verdant samples, green, floral oolongs, whatever).
Verdant now offers some lovely gaiwain — I prefer the wide, flat ones to the typical ones you see in the US which are tall and narrow.
I get my yixing from the Canadian tea site http://camellia-sinensis.com
They have some top shelf artisan stuff, but also some great entry level priced stuff too.
I currently have 3 yixings:
Sheng
Shou
lovely roasty Wuyi Oolongs
Then the aforementioned yixing sized porcelain for blacks, until I start buying separate pots for a few of them :)
Then I have an assortment of Gaiwans for other oolongs, greens, etc, & I agree, I prefer the short wide ones as well.
I haven’t looked at Purions, but I really enjoy the yixings I have, & am always looking at others, so thanks for the link!
I’m almost afraid to look…hahaha
I’ve since added a yixing for black teas that aren’t laoshan black. Sure, they’re all distinct, but they aren’t so distinct that I feel like they can’t share a pot.
Amusingly, I don’t know that I could ever have just one pot for sheng because to me that’s really where the spectrum blows wide open and I’d worry that I’d be cross-tasting all the time, so I use a gaiwan for any sheng that come my way.
Ha! Since we had this conversation 2 years ago, I’ve added several more yixings to my collection, including a few for different black teas, and have even been thinking about the same think you said regarding shengs…how can one have just one pot for all raw teas, given that some are smokier, greener, fruitier, purple…etc
This is actually something I’ve been contemplating for awhile now…I need more money ;)
That’s why I just brew sheng in a gaiwan.