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I’ve been avoiding this one but I’ve had too much good tea today and I want the canister this one’s been in for something else.
This tea is pretty flat but sufficently toasty. It’s very temperature sensitive; A hair over 180 F and it sours with a spiteful fury. I use it for cooking too. Genmaica chocolate is is something most people love, if only for the entertainment value. That is, when I can save enough from myself to give to someone. XD

Not drinking it again today; I managed to distract myself with some genmaicha/ morrocan mint blending. Just noting with grateful awe that the infuser basket still has scent of spearmint ’round it. Astounding.

Oh. My. Frogs. No. Grasshoppers. Great green gorgeous grasshoppers with minty orchids of Madagascan mirth. I think I just drank the secret of happiness.

This tea is perfect from start to finish. The dry leaf radiates the aroma of spearmint and what I’m guessing is honeybush underneath the fruity, complex vanilla bean, even through a plastic bag and sealed envelope. And-is that Tahitian vanilla?! A deep and awkwardly enthusiastic hug of thanks to Meghann M for swapping this with me.

I broke out my Scottish thistle china cup for this one. This grasshopper should feel right at home.
Habit is hard to break, so I steeped three sencha style infusions of four, four, and three ounces water for 8, 10, and fifteen minutes with a scant teaspoon of homemade Indonesian vanilla sugar in each and one chocolate covered cacao nib due to the small number of chips.

It didn’t need the sugar. It didn’t need ANYTHING.
Although the two kinds of vanilla (I’m assuming it’s Tahitian) could be part of why it came out so complex floral, fruity, and satisfying, like watching grasshoppers and spearmint bubblegum ice cream after a weekend of yard work. Or in this case, a warm, sweet cup of tea after hauling the garbage down the snow packed drive way, knowing it came from a new friend. Thanks again, by the way.

I have never spent so long smelling the bottom of my teacup in my life. I don’t know what I’m going to do when my small mint tin of this vanishes. Ooh and it’s tea time again. Where’s that strainer? I think it might still have a whiff left around it…

61? Why was my rating so low? Dyslexic moment, I suppose. Anyway, not much to add, Ricky basically said it and it’s been a while. I was rushed when I tried this and only got to steep it twice. It was a nice general black pu-erh taste and probably would’ve lasted quite a while. I recently had better but I’m still picking up a few when I finally order from CTG.

Backlogging from Friday afternoon. Another thank you to the generous AmazonV for giving me this tea.

Every year mandarin and blood oranges come into season I’ve diligently saves every scrape of peel to dry for tea blending, along with other citrus. I suppose it occupies the time I’d spend mowing the lawn. And having iced blood orange tea in June is worth it.
Since I’ve been ordered at least two weeks of rest at home, I’ve had ample time to observe this squirrel-like hoarding. But twenty minutes of releasing the smell of blood oranges into the air with none left to eat morphs from distraction to torture quickly. Then the mailman came, leaving this on my door step.
Bless AmazonV.

Since I was sent this with the warning of “mint containation” a gave it a sniff. There’s a little mint lingering around the lazily drifting orange smell. It actual smells quite harmonious.

I was skeptical about the six minute steeping time but I don’t really drink darjeeling based teas. So I tested it at four. WAY too weak. Another three minutes did the trick.
The taste is the opposite of my usual sencha as well. The orange is simple, murky and relaxed. This is a nice change of pace.The unimpossing darjeeling is actually detectable; when I think about it any other green would probably fight with the mandarin esssence. A frog friendly darjeeling? Another Tao feat of magic.
I sipped this tea for an hour without tastebud overload nor boredom.The hint of mint that’s there sometimes keeps it interesting.
Yep, the is made to be nursed in a big mug with a bigger non-fiction book. This is exactly what I think I’ll reorder this with my next Tao order (my happy health store doesn’t sell this one. Curses!). And I’ll might “contaminate” my mug with mint on purpose. =) Thanks for the book brew!

That talk about mouthfeel and zing made me thirsty and cleaning stole my energy. The remedy? A pre-lunch appetizer of two whole raw caco beans, a tablespoon of raw nibs, and a bowl of Liquid Jade to wash them down.
I took a sip with a clean, less sleep deprivation deadened palate first. I must bump the rating now that I can taste fresh half-steamed spinach over the ashy aftertaste. The cacao was eactly the chewy fix I needed and tasted phenominal with a slurp of matcha mingled in. The matcha didn’t exactly wash the cacao down so much as create a grassy, earthy coating on my gums but anything that extends a bowl of matcha for ten minutes is a plus. Between savoring matcha and chewing cacao, I think I found my new favorite long, meditative snack break. I almost skipped lunch it felt so filling.

It started snow a little while after the gas guy left. I had some things to do before I could sleep so I waited out the disappating cold with some matcha.
I understand it’s named Liquid Jade. It feels like warm molten jade going down, thick, frothy, and satisfying. It doesn’t taste bad but it has that ashy aftertaste of lower quality matcha that reminds one it’s use is as an economical usucha. Which is fine. I got my taste fix from Tao’s tuocha and the energy I needed.

Ah, I feel better. I guess tuocha is a good digestive aid for both heavy meals and stress induceded dry heaves.
The 175 worked for this steep. So 170 for the first three with a splash of lemon. Nice to have a tea worked out on the second try.
Summary:
While the rose is a sit down, super attentive session of bliss, this is definately more of a through the day everyday tea. I suppose this kind of morning is exactly what it is for. Gah. Exactly the kind of morning for which it is made. I need to administer tea until my grammar returns.

Okay. I’ve calmed down with half a bar of chocolate yogic breathing. Ahem.
I’m definately going into this with high hopes. Tao’s Rose black tuocha is a lot to live up to a mere week later.

The presteep smell is certainly not diappointing me; I almost tried to crawl into the jar at the store! It has that refreshing dried grass clippings background with a good pile of timothy hay to make it extra nostaglic and invigorating. Some peat moss too and what is definately the “pu-erh” smell. It’s becoming as comforting as timothy hay.

10 Second rinse with 170 F/75 C water. Just to be safe.
First steep: 2 min 45 sec with 5 oz 175 F/79 C water
Light yellow orange liquor. The teapot leaves smell wonderfully like well, green tea leaves. A blend of Chinese sencha and medium quality jasmine pearls. Now drum roll…
Sip
Huh. That’s good. Oh, re~ally good. Goooooood. Mmm. Not swoon or shriek good like, but nod and sigh good.
For starters: timothy hay. Surprise! This pure umami with smoked, grassy edges. Definately mushroom: sauteed portobella and shiitake. Too earthy for chantarelle. Maitake? I haven’t had some in so long. A tinge of lemon or maybe that’s the strong pucker. Odd given how thin this feels.

Steep two: 2 min 55 seconds with the same water
Okay open mind, recognition that this is a different sort of pu-erh, so who are you, Lu Tuocha-san?
Hmm, duller scents in the teapot…Tastes toned down from before with less mushroom and more straw and-hello!
Jasmine?! Wow. Oh wow. A whole soft floral carpet rolled itsef out. It harmonizes after a few sips into one. But it’s very astringant. Adding some lemon juice to the last couple sips fixes this and boost the jasmine an timothy notesMaybe 170 F water? Or are green pu-erhs as astringant as strong Assam? I don’t care, I am HOARDING this tea for this steep alone.

Third steep: 3 min 175 F water
A bit weaker but there’s still some notes of jasmine and hay but it’s not smoky, it’s all sunshine and yeah, astringancy. Definately lower the temp to 170 next time. The umami is going out and it feels thicker.

The fourth steep will have to wat because the gas guy just came! Yes!