Wildcrafted Dian Hong

I am the lucky who got the rest of derk’s pouch from White Antlers. Thank you both again!

Certainly I got cocoa from dry leaves. Raisins! Peanuts in chocolate? Amazing smell. I can smell it all day!

Decided to brew as on label. The rest, which was 3.5 gram I just steeped for 3 minutes in 212°F water, though in 10 oz (300 ml). I will do second with 5 minutes for sure, maybe third with 8 minutes as suggested here in description.

The brewed tea smells very chocolately and I love that somehow today. Sip brought me mouthcoating experinece. With flavours: sweet potato, leather, baked bread, peanuts and cocoa and bit malty.

Now I am sad I haven’t tried this tea gong-fu. Is it a big mistake?

The mouthfeel is bit grainy, though I don’t mind it at all. It is part of the experience.

2nd steep
The aroma is pretty much same as first; though it’s more to baked bread. Honey notes.

It’s equally great as first. Even in taste it’s more bready, not so mouthcoating. But still great. It’s so great I am drinking and almost gulping the tea while still very, very hot.

I would like more! To play with it gong-fu, or grandpa, or even more western steeps.

Another one from White Antlers. This one’s fresh-e-fresh. I saved 3 grams from the pouch to make a western cup. I wonder to whom I forwarded the rest.

When I travel (oh COVID, when will you depart), my packings are minimal. When I house-sit, the amenities here are never sparse (I could get by as I would on vacation by bringing only a toothbrush, medication and a few days worth of clothes), yet I brought 6 bags with me. Today is the final day of house-sitting for my work father. The place is a mess even though I’ve occupied only the bedroom, bathroom and barely the kitchen. In this whirlwind moment of cleaning and gathering my belongings, I steeped up what little I saved of this tea and of course forgot about it for 10 minutes.

Luckily, my folly didn’t ruin the tea, which means it’s a solid tea. The dry leaves smell strongly of roasted peanut and cocoa. Steeped up, it has a full, smooth body with a heavy malty-sweet overtone and complex undertones of leather, peanut, cocoa, baked bread, stonefruit, caramel, banana, tannins and flowers. Lingering malty-stonefruit-peanut aftertaste. It lacks a little kick to adequately grab my attention (perhaps the long steep time muted some quirks) but it’s a satisfying brew regardless.

This tea was super interesting! Smelled very strongly of stone fruits out of the pouch, but I didn’t get a hint of that in the flavor. The initial flavor is very charcoal-forward, but became much more chocolatey as it cooled.

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 14

I was excited to see a Whispering Pines tea in the advent calendar today and I was not disappointed! This is exactly the type of black tea I love: smooth and slightly sweet with notes of malt and sweet potato. It also re-steeps beautifully!

This long-leafed tea has a very comforting aroma and taste of malt, sweet potato and baked bread: Thanksgiving in a cup. It’s not astoundingly complex but is very reliable in bringing relaxation and a happy smile. At least, it does it for me. And this tea is also priced quite below other offerings by Whispering Pines, which helps.

Given all that, this is a good choice for a daily drinker at work or on any busy day when there is a need for a short mindless relaxation break.

*Edit: I actually like this tea a bit more as it cools down. Could make a good black iced tea. Slight rating boost. from mid 60’s to 70.

Received this from Brenden as a sample. It is a rainy spring day here in Michigan. I had boiled some water in my electric kettle in order to make a jello brain (using a mold) for my book club tonight. We read The Hunger by Alma Katsu which is a supernatural retelling of the Donner Party so I’m making the jello brain and also providing beef jerky (heh). I’m excited to see what others bring. Anyway, I had some water on the boil at the ready so I thought, “Why not pour the rest over some tea?”

After steeping, the leaves had a smokey/char type of scent. It reminded me of a campground in the early morning. Now, that is not to say this tea tastes smokey. It doesn’t. The taste for me is… lacking a little bit. It is a perfectly acceptable tea but lacks something special. It has kind of a basic… I’m leaning towards malt but I don’t really want to say that because I associate malt with a sweeter note (right or wrong as that may be) and this doesn’t really give off sweet as a first impression for me. I also don’t want to say cardboard because while the flavor lacks and might be a bit flat it’s also not completely bland. It is somewhere between those two notes.

Either way, I’m not huge on cream and sweeteners in my teas but this one might take to it fairly well. It is a straight forward, semi-bold tea that lacks any defining character. Safe and dependable might be the way to describe it. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

After having a very mellow, Wizard of Oz Poppy field, type of tea (China Fujian Anxi ‘Tie Guan Yin’ Oolong Tea by What-Cha which I enjoyed very much). I really needed a pickup. Decided to try another Whispering Pines black tea. It did the trick… I’m awake again.

O_O

The dry leaves smelled like dark chocolate, had an absolute yummy aroma. I had a salty dinner and sweet after salty is always good, and vice versa. The wet leaves had sweet potatoes, stronger chocolate, and caramel aroma. Heavenly. The taste although good did not have the intensity of the aroma of the wet leaves. It was good but something was missing from a top tier Dian Hong (for me). Where’s that thick malt that I love so much? Is that what is missing? Well no… It’s there. Not strong, but it’s there. In fact, as I progressed through the infusions, the malt came out more and more. Nice. Check. The next infusions I got more cocoa notes, nice chocolate notes are here. Nice notes of cream, chocolate, spices… Peppercorns, spiciness, a touch of floral (I really suck at guessing what type of flower btw), some more sweet potatoes, some minerals, caramel, honey, a splash of citrus. Pretty tasty.

It’s medium-bodied, smooth, has a nice slick, oily mouthfeel and a nice finish. I think I would’ve loved some baked bread notes as I felt there needed to be something more to get this to the 90 range… But, all in all, it is still a good cup of tea, a daily sipper, reasonably priced and a clean tea (wildcrafted). I’ll have to try their parameters next time.

6g, 212°F, 110ml, rinse, 8 steeps: 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s, 120s

ah, yes. I love dian hongs and this is chocolate-y-sweet-potato-caramel-y-malty loveliness.

Complex with the chocolate absolutely coming through. Delicious.

I think I had this one on Monday? I remember I drank it Western style during a meeting, so my memory on it is just a little bit fuzzy – however it was very delicious and I remember taking that first sip and kind of being like “Whoa, that is very robust”. Woody/spicy and thick leather and malt notes – but one of the other flavour descriptions that’s popping into my head right now as I think about it is roasted peanuts dipped in dark chocolate. Mmm!