Nadeshiko

This is a very unique tea. Especially by Japanese standards. I had written a whole note on this one which I was going to post here but then I realized it was on Facebook which means I can’t access it. _ Meh. Though it is not listed on the Camellia Sinensis website this tea is made with Koji mold. The reason why this tea differs from pu erh is mainly that the Koji mold is introduced whereas with pu erh it is naturally formed when left to ferment. Two things I find weird on their website. First is the mention of khaki which is a lighter, creamy brown. This tea has a few leaves that are but otherwise, they’re mostly dark brown. I disagree with this description. Second is the fact that they don’t mention the koji molds. It is an important part of what makes this tea what it is.

Thank you for indulging me in my love for geeky tea talk. Now here’s the tasting note. Overall, I’m not finding much flavor and I’m wondering if I stored it next to something that it shouldn’t have been next to. I’ve had this tea from another company before and really enjoyed it so it’s possible that it’s not the producer. It’s also very evident in that the aroma of the wet and dry leaf is basically nil. There is a bit of charcoal and woody flavor in there but it’s not nearly as strong as I know it should be. I’m going to cold steep this and see what happens.

Edit: Steeped it cold for 3-4 hours. I hate to say this but it tastes like Lipton. Nothing special. I’m going to assume something happened to this batch and will not rate this.

Preparation: Tiny tea pot (aka longer steep with less water so sort of gongfu)- straight tea
Tasting Note: I would say of the most popular tea types (oolong, black, green, white and puehr, (sorry yellow you are so scarce in these parts)), straight black and pu’ehr are some of my smallest collections. This tea happens to satisfy both categories. I am really enjoying that sweet grainy and vanilla taste that reminds me of breakfast cereal. I know in the past I have gotten the slightest bit of smoke from this tea as well. I was using a different, smaller tea pot today so I may have oversteeped it a little bit. It still manages to be really good anyways.

Random thoughts: I heard about this tea on Geek Steep, so thank you Marieka/RoswellStrange for sharing it!
Today is going to be a little busy in the afternoon so I won’t get to check the new Witcher episode but I am really excited for it. I finished season 2 and ended up hunting down stickers for a journal layout when it came out. Maybe I can come up with a good planner layout this weekend…

Geek Steep S2E2 – Usagi Yojimbo

Look, I’m not gonna tell you why I picked this tea for the episode – you should listen to it and hear in the podcast why I chose it because, I promise, it was for a good reason! Instead I’ll leave you with the tasting notes that I wrote on instagram the afternoon I steeped it up and read through the first volume of the comic we covered this week!

After Marika raved about this tea in our “Top Teas of 2020” episode of Geek Steep I simply had to try it! With the exception of Lapsang – we don’t always have the same tastes, especially when it comes to #blacktea, so I wasn’t sure what to expect but I stacked steeps of this while reading and it honestly BLEW MY MIND!! This was honestly the best Japanese black tea I’ve ever had, easily – such interesting and engaging flavours of vanilla, burnt sugar, oak, blackstrap molasses, and smoke! I loved how complex and well balanced it was, and I see why Marika has been returning to it for years!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLjmJCvAGXK/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15aciktA-ho&ab_channel=Lim%C3%B3nLim%C3%B3n

Oxidated and fermented using spores, this is quite an unusual tea. From a strange taste it grew on me and I kept reordering it. To drink with moderation as too much of it can saturate you.