Iron Goddess Dark Roast

I found this tea too light for my taste. I brewed the second cup I made extra long and still didn’t find it that enjoyable. I guess I should stick to the hardier tees that I seem to prefer.

Been a while since the last post. Hoping to get back in the rhythm this week.

A memory from Steepster Select’s first shipment, Iron Goddess Dark Roast sips harmlessly. But there’s a protective malice behind its stone-faced facade. Steam rises up. The water poured torments the tightly curled leaves. Bring your face close to the heat and divine steep. Little hands with tiny palms and grey fingers tear at your nose, seeking refuge and a home. Recoiling, grasp the mug with both of your cold, hardened hands. It’s searing – the emanating heat pierces your hands like tiny spears that soon withdraw. “Poor heat insulation!”, you decry.

The little fortress that is this Iron Goddess Dark Roast places divine emphasis on the procedure that is tea drinking. It reminds us why this little ritual is so important to our rote lives. A little respite that wakes us up: but truly awakens our eyes with those unconscious lids. Give Life Back to Music! Neglected by the world, Franz Schubert died at 31 with only a few close friends that were able to see his genius emerge and depart from that world. Romanticism is dead.

Schubert is not the only genius of our time to have died impoverished and neglected. Some crackpot Van Gogh of post-impressionism fame (not of the chocolate, cafe liquor variety) only sold 1 painting before he shot himself in 1890. Kafka wished for his ill popular work to be burned at his death. Jodorowsky’s Dune. I’m not sure who Emily Dickinson is so I’m going to skip that one.

What’s the point of immortality that is posthumous? Can art only achieve fame when it has laid down and died? With little, groping hands does living art rise up and try and wrest open our minds, yet we struggle, we instead almost unconsciously fight back with fists tender yet firm. After the work cools down, however, anyone can begin to consume the precious fluid that the Goddess had protected.

Iron Goddess Dark Roast is a thing of intrigue. Nutty to the scent yet sweet to the palette. Sometimes paradoxes are only truths that we have yet to comprehend.

As a caution, I wrote this while baking a sweet potato so I’m not sure how it will read in totality.

For some reason, I never tried this one from my Select box in… September? Whenever it was. I put it in my little oolong baggy and it’s been there ever since. Oopsies. Admittedly, the super heavy roast style of oolongs is not my favorite, but I do find them interesting and enjoyable every so often. These pellets are fairly large but irregular in shape, and the color is a familiar dark brown with some greenish hues. Dry scent is heavily roasty with some grassiness.

Hm, this one smells different from other heavy roast oolongs I’ve had. It’s slightly sweet with pear-like fruit notes along with the obligatory roastiness. Flavor-wise, there’s definitely a strong grassiness alongside the roasty, autumn leaf sort of taste. I can taste a hint of sweetness but I’m not really getting the pear from the aroma unfortunately. There’s definitely more sweetness in the aftertaste, but it’s more along the lines of honey rather than fruit. Tasty, but not my favorite.

I really liked this tea. I got it in my September Steepster box. It is a little stronger than your usual Oolong (which I really liked). It has a nutty taste, and some hints that remind me of molasses or caramel. This tea is actually very forgiving to oversteeping. I steeped it for about 10 minutes after getting side tracked in the kitchen. There is a slightly astringent edge, but it’s not at the forefront, and may have been brought on by my oversteeping as I don’t remember my first brew having that much astringent.

I really liked this. I wish it was available for purchase.

Tried the recommended steep time and temp. First notes are of a firm tea and notes of malt or the corn-like sweetness that accompanies some fine green teas. There is a nice up front grassy flavor and a clean and a light crisp tea flavor afterwards with light astringency. I’m missing some of the depth I find from longer steeped teas even though I lightly rinsed the tea to open it up. The leaves do smell largely of a nice roasted savory leaf which is quite pleasant.

I’m new with all teas except black teas, so this is really opening up my world. I enjoyed this tea, but I don’t have much with which to compare it. The nuttiness was a pleasant first note. The roasted quality came out later for me.

This wasn’t what I would have anticipated from a “dark roast”. Should it still be lighter than my normal black teas? The flavor was alright, but I was expecting something more robust.

Something so appealing about sitting down to a few steeps of a darkly roasted oolong on this cool first day of Fall. This tea seemed to find it’s way to me at just the right time, with the dry leaves luring me in with their dry, toasty aroma. I did shorter steeps in my guiwan, with more leaf per ounce, and have had an amazing time following a progression of flavors. First nutty with hints of dried fruit, then more creamy vanilla with nuts, and after many steeps a flavor of toast seemed to prevail.

A dry mouth feel follows the creaminess and the aroma stays strong. An interesting citrus tone sneaks in at times as well. A really beautiful example of its type.

So I’m horrible at describing scents and flavors of oolong, but I already love the smell of this one. I have to say, I love the taste of this tea. It’s got that beautiful grassyness that comes with oolong with a velvet feel across your tongue. At first sip, I immediately felt relaxed. This might become my new favorite tea.