I don’t know if my expectations towards Yunnans have been making many of these unenjoyable for me, but…I’m getting ahead of myself here. [Though you can probably guess where this is going.]
I braved the cold earlier today with a couple of friends [I mean, serious cold, like wind whipping you, don’t even want to know what the temperature was with wind chill, lung stabbing cold] to check Teaism’s Dupont Circle location out. They brew it for you behind the counter, so I can’t list any parameters, but we made our way upstairs with three teapots full of tea and sat down to catch up.
Teaism is a neat space. It’s got kind of a rustic feeling to it, and they have a ton of teaware on display, which was cool. It’s a little cramped, which is pretty much par for the course for a lot of DC spaces, but when you’re coming in from the holy crap cold it reads as cozy. My friends got their Jasmine Pearl and their Silver Needle, which I won’t log because I only tried a few sips of each [relatively unimpressive]. I drank nearly the entire teapot of this, though, so I feel that I can speak to it somewhat solidly.
Reading the website’s rather short description of this, it sounds about right. It brewed into a bright amber finish. It had a sweet finish to it. And…really, that was about it.
There wasn’t a lot of depth to this tea. It was dark. It tasted a little malty. It was smooth. The sweetness was a dark kind of sweetness. Kind of like brown sugar, or maybe like yams. And that was really about it. Oh, it began to dry my mouth out a bit towards the end of the pot. That’s really it.
Considering that it was $3.85 for the pot, it made me kind of angry. I’m not usually one to notice that kind of stuff, but having a small kind of concept of how much margin they’re making off of something they’re calling high grade made me feel a bit blah. [Luckily, this was quickly righted when we went somewhere else and stuffed ourselves with Thai food.] It’s not that it was bad. I’m making it sound awful, I know. It was pleasant enough. It just wasn’t…eh. My lack of ability to be able to finish this log off shall have to be indicative of how I feel about this tea. Eh.
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Oh poot. Seems to be the morning for kinda disappointing stuff. :( I think you’ve deserved something nice now.
That’s so wrong! And strange! Even the not so good Yunnan’s I’ve drank have at least had some depth and body of flavor.
MEH. Sorry it wasn’t up to standard. That’s fairly cheap for a pot, though… at least around here. From what I can tell, it’s $7-$10 in NYC. For the smallest size! Ick.
@Angrboda Oh, I intend greatly for today to be a good tea day. Already started it off with some Ryokucha, so things are looking up already.
@Micah I know! I’m lucky that I was with my friends, otherwise I probably would have been pissed. Good conversation can dull crappy experiences. It might have improved if they had let it sit a bit longer, but I don’t know how long they let it sit to begin with, so…eh.
@teaplz Hah, that’s about what it is at Samovar, too, but the ones I had there they gave me the leaf and my own hot water, and I was able to resteep it as many times as I wanted. Here, they steep it in the pot, remove the leaf, and once you’re out you’re out. Eh. I think that the price became a point of contention to me because I wasn’t happy with the tea.
Sorry to hear about this. I’ve been to Teaism and really liked it. I tried their Golden Monkey, which I think is great. I’ll just be careful not to try the Yunnan Gold!
I’ll have to try that one next time I’m there. Or maybe I should just get some loose and do it on my own. I have slight control issues.
Boo that’s obnoxious.
Now that I think about it, I’ve been to teaism (my family lives in Silver Spring, MD, so it’s close) but I can’t think of what I had. I think I need to head back over there soon, but it’s always SO CROWDED.
The control issues are understandable. I just realized the other day just how weak I drink black tea. If I use the recommendations for time, leaves, or temperature it’s almost always too bitter for me. Needing to control something is natural, there’s no need to rush to get a psychoanalysis or anything. ^__~
Seriously. I’m actually surprised we were able to get a seat [let alone three], because I’ve seen it at times where there have been lines out the door. I can only guess that it was SOOOO cold out that most people were smart and stayed indoors. And as for the control issues…yes, no need to psychoanalyze. I already know I have issues. Hah!
Oh poot. Seems to be the morning for kinda disappointing stuff. :( I think you’ve deserved something nice now.
That’s so wrong! And strange! Even the not so good Yunnan’s I’ve drank have at least had some depth and body of flavor.
MEH. Sorry it wasn’t up to standard. That’s fairly cheap for a pot, though… at least around here. From what I can tell, it’s $7-$10 in NYC. For the smallest size! Ick.
@Angrboda Oh, I intend greatly for today to be a good tea day. Already started it off with some Ryokucha, so things are looking up already.
@Micah I know! I’m lucky that I was with my friends, otherwise I probably would have been pissed. Good conversation can dull crappy experiences. It might have improved if they had let it sit a bit longer, but I don’t know how long they let it sit to begin with, so…eh.
@teaplz Hah, that’s about what it is at Samovar, too, but the ones I had there they gave me the leaf and my own hot water, and I was able to resteep it as many times as I wanted. Here, they steep it in the pot, remove the leaf, and once you’re out you’re out. Eh. I think that the price became a point of contention to me because I wasn’t happy with the tea.
Sorry to hear about this. I’ve been to Teaism and really liked it. I tried their Golden Monkey, which I think is great. I’ll just be careful not to try the Yunnan Gold!
I’ll have to try that one next time I’m there. Or maybe I should just get some loose and do it on my own. I have slight control issues.
Boo that’s obnoxious.
Now that I think about it, I’ve been to teaism (my family lives in Silver Spring, MD, so it’s close) but I can’t think of what I had. I think I need to head back over there soon, but it’s always SO CROWDED.
The control issues are understandable. I just realized the other day just how weak I drink black tea. If I use the recommendations for time, leaves, or temperature it’s almost always too bitter for me. Needing to control something is natural, there’s no need to rush to get a psychoanalysis or anything. ^__~
Seriously. I’m actually surprised we were able to get a seat [let alone three], because I’ve seen it at times where there have been lines out the door. I can only guess that it was SOOOO cold out that most people were smart and stayed indoors. And as for the control issues…yes, no need to psychoanalyze. I already know I have issues. Hah!