Master Han's Wild Picked Yunnan Black

I don’t have to do anything.
That’s not entirely true…there is a list of things I should do, but years ago someone said to me, “Don’t should on yourself”. LOL
I have one thing that I know I’ll do this afternoon: season 2 yixing pots & drink from them. Yes…I am confessing, Sil. In a moment of crazy compulsiveness I placed a Mandala order last Friday, that including 2 more yixing pots. I had been contemplating them for awhile, I love my other tiny teapots so much, & when I went to shopmandala.com to order the blooming black, I was like an alcoholic in a blackout. The next thing you know I was staring at my receipt, wondering WTF happened??? Oh well! Thus is life. I’m really not allowed to order any more tea or paraphenalia for awhile.

Before I get started on seasoning pots, I’m enjoying this tea! I like to pack my little blue lotus porcelain pot (same size as a yixing, but suitable for whatever I feel like steeping at the moment) about half full & do lots of short steeps with this tea. I’ve got a pretty good tea-buzz on right now!

I decided some time ago that my one luxury in life would be tea.
I don’t go out to the movies or restaurants (unless I have an occasion) and shopping for clothes is an old habit. (I have too much from when that seemed important.)

Tea is my #1 pleasure.
My contact with other human beings is primarily through discussing tea, reviewing tea online and drinking tea with family and tea shop buddies.

I want the best TEA that I can get. Sometimes it isn’t possible, and sometimes…I find a way.

When I read about Master Han’s and Anxi Fo Shou Black Tea’s I knew I had to have them, if even just an ounce. I ran to my computer as soon as they became available. Then, I waited….

This morning when I opened my curtains to look outside, there were glowing silvery ice crystal flakes, floating down without the will to be snow or stick to anything. This is intense TEA WEATHER! I’m ready with my newly arrived tea!

I have a spotted green/brown gaiwan that I chose to use for the tasting.

I followed the Verdant instructions for rinsing, proportion of leaf to water (I used a little less leaf because I’m a hyper-sensitive taster) and used the suggested steep times.

I’ve never looked at the tasting notes of other people first.
I like to make up my own mind and then check them against other people to see if there’s a match or not.
This time however, I sat with the notes from the website as though I was at a tasting with another person in a tearoom and we were going back and forth discussing the tea.

One of the first amazing but truly Brilliant flavor discoveries was Olive.
(I have to give it to whomever picked this out of the flavors because it’s so spot on.)
The fruitiness of olive oil…pungent and rich…wow! In a tea?!

I began to blither on in my head…picturing myself driving towards Elliot Road and the incline to my old home in Paradise.
The country road was lined with Olive Groves. Sheep and cows grazed between the rows of dusty green trees, the red and gold clay of the Sierra foothills under their feet and purple wildflowers lining the irrigation channel at the edge of the road.
There are tasting rooms for Olives in this part of California, tasting rooms for almonds (ah-mands is how it’s pronounced by the farmers (ah as in achoo)), and wine. Kiwi stands, peaches and apples. http://flic.kr/p/dL2zmW

The next pour, there was Brandy…in the scent of the liquor, which was beautiful clear amber, honey, golden and luscious. (I can’t even go into how the wet leaves smelled.)

The Brandy…scent.
I read that there is whisky and that was not in the scent, it was in the taste. Yes, in the fruity sweetness with a broad finish of the tea the whisky went deep… and lingered way down in the chest like liquor does. A rolling, welcome warmth. (I loved the sensation.)

There were notes about other tastes but I was not tasting them yet. I stopped somewhere else at the third steeping and found a thick syrupy quince membrillo taste, ruby red garnet yam right before they disolve into sugar. Something was changing like a mash.

If there’s anywhere the tea was taking me, it was to the beginning of Spring. Bursting forth…here I am with all my glory! Pushing up and out of a slumber and becoming many things.

From the forth steep forward, I tasted full Grape.
I not only worked at 2 wineries, but I come from a family (on my dad’s side) from Napa and Yountville. Wine people.
This tea doesn’t taste like a cloying too sweet grape, not like a dark grape or a darjeeling with a muscat flavor.

The flavor is something else. I’ve had wines from some areas that are semi sweet and golden, grown in hot climates that are ambrosia.
This is that Springtime golden grape taste, not buttery and not like a chardonney.

In Murphy’s, there’s a winery called Ironstone.
The first time I went to Ironstone, it was early Spring and the roads leading from the small town to the winery had been planted with Daffodils and they were in bloom. Winding country roads with flowers and cows in the fields…on and on. It was magical. http://flic.kr/p/dKW5wX
Ironstone makes a wine that reminds me of this tea, so does Castillo di Amarosa http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/ (worth a visit).

The meaty fresh coconut aftertaste isn’t sweet. It’s more on the savory nutty side of coconut.

Pinning down such a complex and vibrant tea isn’t easy. One amazing Ping of flavor brings to mind a time or place…then another Ping of flavor…and off I go again! This tea is full of Pings!

If you can manage this limited addition tea, do so. The experience is worth it. So much so…I can’t wait to share this with someone!

When something is such a one-of-a-kind and has given so much to me. I can’t compare it with anything else and say, this is better than…what? It’s wild picked for goodness sake. It’s fantastic!

sipdown! another tasty tea for this morning. I suspect the afternoon will be busy so i want to make sure i get a bunch of liquid in me before that happens. That way i can always toss some water in front of myself if it’s busy as it’s a bit more no fuss than tea haha. I like this one, but it’s not a restock for me. Maybe an occasional purchase as a sample just to rotate it through my cupboard but it just doesn’t wow me like some of the other teas i have. Nothing wrong with it – it’s delicious and i enjoy every last drop that i have but it’s just not a staple :)

I have been craving this tea for the past few days, but didn’t feel like making it in a gaiwan today, so I tried 2 heaping tsps for 1 min in boiling water. The result was a very nice Yunnan flavored black, lighter than other black teas, but I still prefer it in a gaiwan. This way it is not as complex tasting, just more of a tasty yunnan with olive oil and grape flavors at the forefront, although reading my last note on this tea, it looks like I got the same flavors haha. Oh well, whatever it is, it’s still delicious, and satisfied my craving for it. This one I might have to re-order, since it’s back with lots in stock, although the new description looks a bit different than the old one. I will probably have another cup later today, I have lots of teas I want to try and/or drink down today. See previous notes!

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @95C., steeped 6 minutes 30 seconds.

Ooops — got distracted again.

But that’s okay, because this tea yielded a deep grape note and a floral note, almost of wild roses, I’d not gotten before. There even seemed to be an echo of bergamot. And some molasses. Wow.

i’m sure you tea pros probably wanna throttle me by now.
all i do is yammer on about fictional characters and whimsical moods and my cat’s pretty fur and i barely ever really talk about the tea. not like some of you can. AND THIS IS NO EXCEPTION. cuz i made the tea. i drank the tea. i liked the tea. but i’m really not getting much of the deep details from it. some people drink a tea and then they talk about it like it’s a 5 course meal in the rain by a fire! i feel a bit left out.
but i am a diligent student. and if i put in the time i’m sure it will pay off eventually. and if not that’s okay too. but incase it does pay off, i have more of this tea to drink! i’ll save it and try it again in a few months when i feel more susceptible and receptive.
until then, me and my tongue are gonna go pump some tea iron.

lovely dark, rich, hints of cocoa, a light smell of fruit though i don’t get it on the palate. very, very smooth.

as it cools very subtle fruit elements become more detectable and the liquor becomes creamier. no acidity, no stick from caffeine, no bitterness.

i brewed this strongly: 1.5 tablespoons for my 16 oz. for 2.5 minutes. no sugar (i’m trying very hard to go cold turkey), though a spot cream.

know what? i don’t miss the sugar. thank you ducklers. i appreciate you.

It was a crazy morning. My son had a birthday party to go to at one of those bouncy castle places. Needless to say, by the time we got back, I was ready to relax on the sofa, watch some march madness and drink a nice cup of tea. I had a little bit of cake at the party and as much as I love dessert teas, I don’t actually enjoy dessert all that much. So I wanted a smooth straight tea to help me recover from the sugar overload.

I bought a gaiwan a few days ago but was waiting to use it until I was over this cold. I think today’s the day! I looked up the tea on the verdant website to see its exact brewing instructions and then watched the video as well. Pretty cool that he does that. He said that the tea can get like 15 steeps. Crazy. I don’t think I’ll get that far because, well, it seems like a lot of work. And this is pretty much my only break of the day until bedtime.

So I boiled my water, rinsed the tea. Then steeped it for a few seconds. Poured it into my cup. I did that several times. I think I’m on 4 or something now. This is exactly what I needed. Yum. I can’t tell you any flavors I taste, just that it’s definitely got a whole mouth feel and is really smooth. So far it has gotten sweeter with every steep, which is pretty cool. I can see this being a nap time tradition on extra trying days.

Okay, the next game is starting. I love march madness. My husband gets a kick out of my strange combination of interests. Beer, sports, and tea. (I have many more, but those 3 are pretty dominant :-)

Tea #26 from HHTTB2

There is a lot going on in my cup. And it’s all good.

There’s the sweetness of molasses, light florals, the silky rich butteriness of olive oil, and mild cocoa notes and just a little yeasty/bready.

The finish is really clean, with very little aftertaste.

There is nothing here not to like. Yum.

Sipdown…used the last of the tea in the foil packet from OMGsrsly this morning…probably overleafed this one this morning, but then there wouldn’t have been enough for another cup, I don’t think, so there’d be a cup that was underleafed.

Maybe it’s me sick, or maybe it’s my preparation, but this one isn’t especially anything to me today. Maybe if I did it gongfu style, I’d appreciate it more, but I lack the equipment right now.