Sansia Black

I whipped this one up this morning, then nearly forgot about it as I cleaned the house. However, it had cooled to just the right temperature by the time I remembered.

This one is tasty, but I don’t think I need it permanently. With each sip, I just want TWMB instead. I’m getting a great bready taste, but not enough of the honey-like sweetness I love.

Oh, nom, nom, nom….

Stacy, you have ALL the best Taiwanese black teas, what’s up with that????

Oh, little leafhoppers, how I love you. You little bugs, you…. Thanks for making my tea taste so sweet and scrumptious!

This is all malt and honey.

It makes my tastebuds want to party. Some fruit, but not in a PTA kind of way.

It’s creamy and yeasty like sourdough bread.

It’s a little salty and mineral, but maybe that’s coming from my tetsubin pot. I’ve been using it a lot for lately, it’s devoted to black teas only but I’m thinking of using it only for my butiki’s Taiwanese black teas, they taste fabulous in it :-)

I’m so happy I got a decent quantity of this wonderful tea.

Cause I want MORE!!!

Pic of the session:

http://instagram.com/p/sBece-Qh9X/

it was here, and now it’s gone. :) I really enjoyed this one from Stacy and it’ll likely be one to order again in rotation with some of her other offerings. This is more of a fall sort of tea for me though a good morning one at that! :)

Final Count: 98

I’m allowed to drink hot tea again! Yay! Hello to my beloved black teas!

Stacy sent me a sample of this one, and I was really intrigued. I had it as my morning cup, so I think my taste buds weren’t quite awake. I did enjoy the first cup, but the resteep was tons better! There was this nice silky, caramel, honey flavor in the second steep that I think was being overpowered by the maltiness of the first steep. I would definitely give this one another try!

I drank a lot of tea yesterday, while I spent the day putting down the last coat of noxious primer & the first coat of porch paint, but they were all teas I have reviewed before, so I’m ok not posting about them.
This is my first cup of the day, my 2801 review, & I just took the last sip. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but am having trouble coming up with anything to say…
I don’t really feel like it is similar to PTA, it’s a bit more masculine, if that makes sense. The aroma is fruity, the flavors I tasted were malty, fruity, with an almost candied fruit kind of taste on the edges, chestnut, & an interesting almost coffee-like bittersweet chocolate too.
Keep in mind 2 things:
- I used this strainer a couple days ago for red queen cupcake, & although I soaked & rinsed it thoroughly, there still may be some flavor contamination (although it’s damn good contamination), &
- I spent the last 2 days breathing paint & primer fumes, & although the paints I’ve used are low VOC, the unavoidable primer I had to use is not, & it’s awful. I’m pretty sure I have lung, sinus, brain, liver, & kidney damage now.

How anybody ever develops a glue sniffing habit is far beyond me to understand.

Finally drank my sample of this today- it is not as sugary sweet as Stacy’s other Taiwanese blacks, though it is plenty sweet! I feel this one has an even more sophisticated complexity about it, too. It feel fancy and delicious :)

Another sample from Stephanie – thanks! The name always makes me think of Game of Thrones, and I can’t seem to shake that.

I liked this, It wasn’t quite as “leafhoppery” as another one I had in the past. It was called Xi Ming or Mi Xing or something like. I can’t remember and can’t find it. That one was a bit more honeyed, but I still enjoyed this and got three steeps out of it. I rarely steep blacks more than twice.

Had this earlier today but at the time I didn’t know what it was called, however, I did know it was amazing! http://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/250960

Today has been a weird day. Last night I got home really late. I decided I wanted to unwind and watch a little tv before I went to bed but instead I ended up falling asleep very quickly on the couch. I was so exhausted that I woke up around 8am still on the couch with the tv on. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve done that. I felt very disoriented when I woke up and I’m still not feeling quite so normal. This week has been a trip. At least once a year I go raw for a few weeks. I started eating raw food on Monday. Unfortunately, the first day of being raw is horrible. I was so unproductive because I had a bad headache, was very mentally fuzzy, felt pretty weak, and was hungry all the time. By Tuesday I was feeling a little better but still about half productive. Wednesday, I finally felt better and was able to catch up with work. Now I’m feeling pretty good. In a couple of days I will have that raw food energy. Each time I go raw, it gets easier and I have fewer bad days before the good days start. The first time I went raw, I was miserable and extremely hungry for the first week and it wasn’t until the end of the second week that the energy kicked in. Every day I allow one cheat by having one cup of tea. This tea was my cheat today.

I’m sure this tea is even more amazing since it’s the only warm thing I consume. I love this! Honey and caramel are the main notes. It is very sweet and a little malty. I can also taste vanilla, floral, bread, peppercorn, and plum notes. There is also just a touch of chocolate. It is so very delicious! This tea, our Red Queen Cupcake (strawberry, chocolate, espresso, vanilla) tea, and Taste of India (strong breakfast blend that incorporates Assam, Darjaeeling, and Nilgiri teas) will be up on our website by tomorrow.

This is an interesting tea. While it does have some similarities in flavor to the Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black it also has some of its own uniqueness. It comes from Sansia, Taiwan. That region produces predominantly green tea, so this is a bit unique. Also, a local varietal is used Ching-xin Ganzai. The leaves of this tea are also insect bitten, so it does have that honey sweetness. Such a delicious tea!