Sofia Vaz Send Message

tea in one hand, switch on the other, podcast on phone, life is good :)

starting to think i might be able to move up to a steep of two or three minutes!

Back on the 3min steep time, and I think this may actually be better than the 4 minutes.
Although the black tea itself is pretty disguised, the ingredient that apparently leaves a film on my tongue is gone as well.

My philosophy for this tea is basically: considering how the shop advertised the different bases of this tea as basically interchangeable, I don’t think I’m actually SUPPOSED to be tasting the black tea and all its subtleties

just wanted to get on here and say that I got to have tea with Ailin, the wonderful owner of an Asian import store in my town (that I go to at least once a week)
We drank two different black teas and a tea-filled orange as well
It was wonderful to chat with her, and she taught me how to use the gaiwan I bought from her a couple of months back!
she also made me feel more like I DONT have to be hyper scientific with gongfu, which made today’s session (a rolled oolong I got from her) a lot more flexible as well — no more timers! no more precision scales! I’ll save that for western brews :D
I’ve been going to her shop for months, it feels great that we’re more than client-shopkeeper <3

I let my tea cool down (forgot about it) and now the bergamot is definitely there!
I think it’s the first time I’m actually able to taste it, but such is life
now, this tea is much more enjoyable :D

found the sweet spot between funky and earthy! four minutes seem to be the right steeping time for me :)

First bit of a bday present, I’m not really a fan of rooibos, so this was the worst tea of the bundle, and had to go first. Can’t wait to have more (better!) tea :D
(FYI, I did finish the tin)

the five minutes make a huge difference!
It’s still heavy on the cinnamon, however, the black tea base is more noticeable, and there are other subtleties I lost in my first brew