2018 Mini Redheads

Sipdown! (8 | 282)

So I’ve had two of these minis in a little zipper bag for forever, and I figured it was time to sip them down. Generally I would steep a tea like this grandpa-style, but I haven’t been feeling that lately so I just used half of a coin for each 16-ounce western-style pot, and broke up the chunk a bit so it would have time to unfurl. Sacrilege probably, but oh well.

It’s definitely a daily drinker sort of tea for me. Very smooth with sweet woody notes and bits of malty bread and sweet potato. A touch of honeyed sweetness. The texture is silky and creamy, reminding me of creamed honey with a hint of wildflower nectar. I taste some sweet dried fruit at the end, somewhere between golden raisin and apricot, and leaning more stonefruit-esque as time goes on.

A nice tea, but I’m not sure I need to order it, as it doesn’t really stand out to me. Plus since I generally only steep western-style, compressed tea doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to buy.

I don’t have a ton of experience with good black/red teas yet. I used to only drink black tea with cream and, if I was feeling extravagant, a bit of maple sugar, so I only bought “grocery store fancy” black teas. The good stuff is so much different and I can’t imagine adding cream or sugar to it.

I got one mini Redhead, mostly because the minis are cute and the wrapper artwork was interesting. I decided to try it out because I wanted tea but I also really wanted to stuff my face with the ridiculous giant donut I’d picked up earlier in the day (bright blue glaze, rainbow sprinkles and cubes of confetti cake stuck on top! I ❤️ my local vegan donut shop, even if I do feel like a bit of a fraud going in because I’m only lacto-veg). I wanted something with stronger flavor that wouldn’t be overshadowed by the mountain of sugar I was about to eat. I ended up eating the donut while the water was heating so it wasn’t really that big of an issue. I’m glad it worked out that way because Redhead was more interesting than I was anticipating.

The brewed tea is a really pretty clear reddish color. Teas like this make me understand why Chinese black teas are sometimes called reds. Definitely more red than coffee-colored cheapo black teas I drown in cream. It smells lighter and fruitier than the black teas I’m used to. If I didn’t know better I might think it was a berry flavored tea. Berry is in the flavor too. Almost but not quite like a berry oatmeal. And there’s an odd thick feeling that coats my tongue. The only other tea I’ve had that feels this way in the mouth is the Imperial Gold Needle from Yunnan Sourcing. The flavor is pretty different but the mouthfeel is similar. This isn’t one I’d drink every day but I like it. I was disappointed when I saw the other mini cake in the little baggie with Redhead wasn’t another Redhead. I checked my order list. I guess I only ordered one, for some reason I thought I ordered two. The other mini was a freebie of If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Exciting that there’s another tea to try that I didn’t know I had but a tiny bit disappointing that I don’t have another Redhead for later. Not sure I’d get a big cake but I’ll probably try to squeeze a couple more minis in my next order.

The power of suggestion is real.

Received a 6.3g coin of this red tea with my last order, quite a while ago this year.

3.some grams western, 8oz, water off boiling, 3 steeps of 3, 8? and 20? min.

Great wakethefuckup tea. Hello. She’s a redhead with redfruits but a strawberry blonde with citrus but a dirty dishwater with malt. With flowers in her hair.

I’m unsure that I’ll get anymore detailed considering I’ll polish this off as tomorrow morning’s brew, which means I won’t have time to take notes.

Album pairing: Soul Coughing — Ruby Vroom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAEgvswvvo0&list=PLX1YtLvoOe0mFv4XGh-lvyGeDD59OPt5x

Sipdown (609)!

This was a freebie from a past W2T order – not something I’d have chosen for myself since I already have this tea in cake form. I’ve been drinking it Grandpa all afternoon, but to be honest I’m not paying it much attention at all – I’ve been quite busy with lab testing and it’s become more of a backdrop tea; something to sip away at in between tests. Sweet enough, and smooth enough – but not commanding of my attention.

In fact, I hardly recall much of anything about the last few hours worth of cups that I’ve slowly slurped back – but I imagine it’s not really all that different than the tea in cake form, and I have plenty of that left still…

So. I got my W2T order. I grabbed a couple of these in it, and decided to give it a shot.
Quickie review today, this tea is very nice. I may have underleafed as I didn’t use the whole cake (8g for one cup seemed a bit much) but the resulting tea is not too strong so… Anyway, because of that no strong flavors are jumping out at me. It’s nice and even and predictable, but still welcomed – like a nice shoulder rub from a trusted friend. I would totally get this again, but next time I will use the whole cake.

This one is from Sips by. I tweeted about it a day or two ago and a couple people said really nice things about it.

First of all, I love the art on the cake. It depicts a lovely woman in 1920’s fashion, with a cute bobbed hairstyle and one of those elegant cigarettes on a stick. Very Alphonse Mucha, but with fewer details.

The instructions on Sips by said that I needed half a cake for 8 ounces of water. That seemed like a lot to me, but I went with it. I crunched it up a bit and smelled it, thankful for no musty, iodine-like puerh notes. No, this just smells like the kind of dian hong black teas I crave.

Since I used so much of the cake, the tea comes out alarmingly dark. But it smells sweet, like fruit and malt. The flavor is so amazingly smooth. I’m getting notes of honeyed apricot. Faint oats or wheat. The honey note really lingers on the exhale. This tastes so much fresher than I expected. Even with the tea coming out this dark, it’s hardly bitter at all. This is a real treat. I will definitely be attempting a re-steep if the caffeine isn’t too much.

EDIT: The caffeine was a lot. I should have gone with a shorter steep time. Oh boy.
EDIT 2: Ok, I’m more than a little inexperienced with tea cakes. I see from other reviewers that I probably shouldn’t have broken the cake up. Oops. Now I know.

Sipdowns in 2019: 16

w2t production names and labels make so much sense sometimes. Pretty leaves. Wet leaf scent places you a few sunny days following an autumn rain. You’d develop an instant crush on this girl, and almost any girl really, if she strolled by you on campus during first quarter when the air smelled like so. Makes me wanna try more dian hong yunnan blacks.

Additional notes.
After my sample, last year, I had picked up 10 more little disks of this shortly after. I hadn’t got around to drinking more until yesterday. I am still working on sipdowns of the tea that I got too much of. >.<

This time instead of gongfu, I went for 10 ounces for 30 secs, 1m, 2m It has still had a thick taste, very fruity with berries, stone fruits, citrus, very malty flavor. Not so floral this time, and crisp citrus aftertaste. Notes of honey, a heavier molasses, and light spice notes. It was a pleasant afternoon tea. It is heavy on the energy (caffeine) but I love that. I got so much more work accomplished lol. So beware. I had energy all the way until 4 am. I don’t get jittery or anything with it, it just good energy to me.

I now know 10 people with COVID19. The latest is a beautiful family, Aaron’s cousin, who got is from her husband who had to work, they didn’t practice safe distancing at the work place, and now they have it and all their four little kids. Tragic times. So stay safe out there.