348 Tasting Notes

100

A vendor friend past on to me some of the Sakuma Bros. Sun Dried White for 2012. Holy heck, it’s like night and day from the 2011 batch! Their isn’t much of a creaminess there, as their was with the year prior. Instead, it’s fruit – particularly tart strawberry leaf, pears, and a dash of lemon. Not sure what happened to their plants in the last year, but wow…just…wow.

I’m sorry I don’t have any better superlatives.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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92

I’m a sucker for Darjeeling oolongs. Heck, I’m even a sucker for the one and only Assam oolong I’ve tried. Nilgiri oolongs…um…they mean well. This one out of Bihar is hard to pinpoint. So we’ll start with the obvious.

Do I like it? Oh, hell yes. Character-wise, it has the nuances of a Nilgiri OP (Tiger Hill-ish), but a lot of the fruity bend of a Formosa. There’s also a smoky aspect on the end, but it’s very minor. One thing of note, though, this tasting note was from trying it Western-style. It held up well in a “wrongfu” prep, but not quite as well. Go big and boiled with this one.

It also almost became the subject of a tea fiction story (along with one other Doke tea, a Taiwanese sencha, and two Nepalese whites), the “DVD commentary”-ish blog on that trainwreck can be found here: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2012/10/03/blending-tea-and-fiction/

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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88

I received this one from the lovely The Purrfect Cup…and of course it had to be a Sherlock inspired blend. Wouldn’t except anything less from her. (If you haven’t, you should seriously check out her tea talk with the venerable Mr. Holmes on her blog. Awesome.)

Anywho…

This was already on the plus side for containing bits of Lapsang in the blend. Whiffing the dry batch was like smelling a good tobacco. Keemun contributed a necessary woodiness, too. On taste, oddly enough, the Lapsang hung back, allowing the Keemun to take point with a sweet and malty punch. The pinesmoked mouthfeel was kept pretty reserved. As blends go, sometime aspects of it were uneven, but still pleasant to sip. A very good afternoon tea.

Even though I had it in the late morning.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
IllBeMother221B

Awww thank you for the kind words about that post. I’m working on another one along those lines soon. Glad you enjoyed it.

Geoffrey Norman

Good! I was hoping to see more of those.

IllBeMother221B

Yup in the works. As you know those kinds of posts are not the easiest to just crank out.

Geoffrey Norman

Don’t I know it, dear. Don’t I know it. By the way, I made mention of your fictional works in my new blog that just went up…now.

IllBeMother221B

I did see that. I was hoping to turn up as a cat in one of them with a penchant for puerh!

Geoffrey Norman

Sorry ’bout that. :-/

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91

Do you know what I like? Naps. I took one today, and it was glorious. But do you know what I hate? Recovering from a nap. For such a thing today, I went for a second pot o’ tea…but I didn’t want something black and migraine-inducing.

So I went for this little lovely – a step between green and white. It was peppery, light, melon-like, and a smidge on the floral side. Truthfully, I forgot I even had it, but it sure did the trick.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec
LiberTEAS

Naps rock. Waking up from the nap… not so much. It’s kind of like that for me when I wake up too. Asleep mode = awesomeness. Awake mode = not so much.

Geoffrey Norman

And the longer the nap, the worse the wake-up.

Paul Götzl

3min??? Don’t u guys brew gong fu style?.

Geoffrey Norman

@Paul – You don’t gongfu yellow tea. Might as well be drinking lukewarm water.

Paul Götzl

Just not true.. you can trink any tea gong fu style

http://chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/tea-ammc/84/

He really knows what he is doing! I mean why not?

Geoffrey Norman

@Paul – With the exception of most oolongs and puerhs, gongfu is entirely optional and subjective. I never found it to work with yellow tea – save for two.

Paul Götzl

Of course.. always optional.. I mean, the taste is all that counts and that you are happy, the way you bre it! :)

But I guess GFC is suitable for every tea.. but ok.. maybe if the quality is to poor, it is different.. I just drink one right now (see the link) and had now the 6th infusion, steeped for max. 10 secs.. first 2 just 5-7… and it is very sweet and the taste is there…

Greetz
Paul

http://chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/tea-ammc/84/

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97

I went for a pint of this today with a bowl of cereal (in almond milk) and…more chocolate cake. The stuff looks like but packs quite a wallop still in the caffeine department. It’s a gold-tipped Yunnan hong cha to the core.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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97

On this, my day of birth, I bid a fond farewell to the last of my Canton Tea Bai Lin Gong Fu. It’s last vestiges lasted two exquisitely sweet and malty pints, and put added vigor into my morning step. This newly-turned 36-year-old bids this exquisite black tea…adieu. SALUTE!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
IllBeMother221B

Happy Birthday…again.

Ysaurella

Joyeux anniversaire !

Geoffrey Norman

@*The Purrfect Cup* Two in one day, how auspicious! :-) Thank you.

@Ysaurella – Merci beaucoup!

IllBeMother221B

Well, why not?

Azzrian

Happy BDAY!!!!

Geoffrey Norman

@The Purrfect Cup – I don’t have a good answer to that.

@Azzrian – Thank you, dear. :-)

Geoffrey Norman

Thank you, Charles!

Joshua Smith

Happy birthday! (Lifts cup of Dragonwell as a toast)

Geoffrey Norman

Mmmmm…it’s been so long since I’ve had Dragonwell.

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100

Aged. Yunnan. Gold.

If there were three more rapturous words in the English dictionary…I can’t think of them right now. It’s no secret that Yunnan Golds are probably my favorite types of black teas. What I hadn’t had, though, was an aged version. When I ordered this last week at a Chinese Garden tearoom, I was expecting a pu-erh version, but – nay – the host informed me that it was a normal hong cha, simply aged.

And it was everything it was supposed to be – honey, peppery, slightly malty, sweet, and – most importantly – winy. Dare I say, I was even tea-drunk after scores of steeps of the stuff.

The full story can be found here: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2012/09/28/tea-flutes-and-yellow-hatted-hoffmans/

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93

Doomur Dullong (or Dullung?)…the name sounds Klingon. And, you know what? This tastes like something Klingons would drink. I mean that in the best possible way. It’s manly, malty, and bitterly rawhide-like on the aftertaste. You can steep the hell out of it, and it can last a good Round #2. Fitting for a tea that I found in Wyoming of all places.

My full account of that adventure can be found here: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2012/09/20/tea-wiles-in-the-wilds-of-wyoming/

gmathis

Neat post! Suddenly I’m feeling a strong need to travel west…

Geoffrey Norman

Thanks! I didn’t know I had the need until I was there. :)

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97

I did not expect to run into this tea on a chance outing to a tea lounge – killing time. I came back the next day to fetch it, and promptly brewed it up that night. My gaaaaaaaaah! What a splendid white tea! It had some of the strengths imparted by regular Kenyan purple tea, but in its raw form it was more akin to Ceylon whites in character. That and it lasted a whopping six infusions non gongfu style. So glad my tea karma is this good.

A full write-up on how I came across this tea can be found here: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2012/09/10/solomons-purple-white-seal-of-approval/

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec
LiberTEAS

I haven’t been to the Tea Zone for a couple of years now… I need to return! I’ve been so caught up in my love for Townshend’s and Tea Chai Te and even Steven Smith that I’ve forgotten about this place. :(

Geoffrey Norman

I usually overlook it because of how trendy it’s become. (I mean, it is a tea liquor bar.) However, since my last visit, they’ve REALLY stepped up their game. Heck, their Darjeeling listing alone is worth a perusal.

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83

I did a whole pot of this tea this morning. It’s a mid-bodied yet burly low-altitude Ceylon – meaning a “flowers-with-chest-hair” feel. I can’t say I paid attention to the brewing specifics, but it held up rather nicely to my abuse and neglect. More-than-passable morning cup.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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Bio

I moonlight as a procrastinating writer and daylight as a trader of jack. I appreciate good tea, good beer, and food that is bad for me. Someday I’ll write the great American novel. And it’ll probably have something to do with tea or beer…or both. In the meantime, I subsist.

Tea Blog: http://www.steepstories.com

TeaCuplets: http://lazyliteratus.tumblr.com/

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Oregon

Website

http://www.lazyliteratus.com

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