mtchyg Send Message

I brewed this western style this morning in my new teapot and cups from Epcot China. The cups are kind of that bubbled shape where the middle sticks out wide and then tapers closer together towards the lip. This makes for a better trap to capture the scent of the tea, I am finding. And this tea is perfect for that.

If you can recall being at a spring or fall baseball game, there are usually a vendor or two who are selling those freshly roasted candied nuts that smell like the clouds of heaven. This tea captures much of that scent. It is delightful. The taste is a little less sweet but it does still carry sweetness along with the slight malt of a black tea. There is a nuttiness and a slight tang on the back of the tongue as well. A really enjoyable pot of tea this morning.

I believe this was a sample from Lion.

This was one of the better light roasted/green oolongs I’ve had in a while. I’m not getting much ginger or anything specific but it is fairly smooth and creamy.

That’s about all I have for this one. I’m tired. Haha.

I bought this tea cake from Andrew (Liquid Proust) for a very fair price. That being said, I can now see why it was a cheaper cake. I used 8 grams in a 100ml gaiwan and after about 5 or 6 steeps came to the conclusion that this is just a weaker black tea. I couldn’t quite coax much of a malty black tea flavor out of it. It had a little bit of a tannic after taste but it wasn’t bitter. It just kind of tasted like a generic, weak, black tea.

Now, I am not a quitter and I know for a fact that teas can change. I am willing to experiment with this one some more but as of now… Eh. Not much promise.

I pulled this tea out today hoping for a calming experience. I lit some incense from Japan, donned my silk Chinese robe, turned on some instrumental music and brewed up some of this tea.

I gave it a 10 second rinse. First steep I went for 30 seconds. The brew was very light in color and flavor with only hints appearing. The second steep went 30 seconds as well. Same story. I was starting to wonder if this was just a very light shou.

On the third steep I was able to back off the time to 20 seconds. Then the dark, rich, smoothness of the tea came out. Little, if any, fermentation flavor. For some reason, my palate is off today and isn’t picking out any distinct flavors. Everything seems to be melding into one delicious and creamy shou. That is fine by me.

At any rate, you can tell this is a high quality tea. I am glad I bought a sample of this to try. Now I know I want to buy this tea.

Golden honey in color, roasty and nutty in flavor. This continues to be a great oolong.

My stomach is currently in a good place so I decided to try a sheng from the Beginners Puerh TTB last night.

This tea definitely has some humid storage notes going on. It actually reminded me a lot of a ripe in the scent of the wet leaves. The flavor itself is kind of like an in between point between a ripe and a raw. There wasn’t the stone fruit flavor I am used to with a sheng. A slight bitterness but not too much. Humid basement like notes were present. Also, very drying. I was trying to read out loud to my wife while we drank this but damn, I had to keep drinking to keep my throat from drying out. Vicious cycle.

Despite all of this, it was very drinkable and a decent tea. Nothing to write home about but not one that I felt the need to stop drinking.

I purchased a sample size of this to try it along with a brick of the 2008 Imperial Bulang, a 220ml gaiwan, and a Basset Hound tea pet.

The dry leaves have a very clean scent. Almost non-existent. After a ten second rinse, the leaves have an earthy fermentation scent often associated with a ripe. There is definitely a wood scent as well.

First steep, the color is a lighter brown. Cinnamon caramel brown, perhaps. The taste is very light. You get just a hint of that woody flavor that relates to the scent of the wet leaves. Smooth too. Slides right down the throat.

Further along, the color deepens a bit. The flavor intensifies as well. I am a man who works with wood often. I cut and chop wood. I burn wood. I walk among the woods. This is very much a woody puerh. Think about walking in the woods and finding a tree that has been downed for a bit. Use a hatchet to split it open along the grain. Lean your nose in to that freshly cut wood. That is what I’m getting here.

Clean, earthy wood. I think that sums this up nicely. I don’t get much that says sweet but it is very smooth.

Thanks to SuperStarling! for this sample

This tea smells AMAZING. Both the dry and wet leaves. Like, warm apple pie/cider amazing.

Unfortunately, the taste didn’t translate as well to the tongue. I wish it would have. When I drank it though, there was a stark difference and disappointment. It was a bit flat and watery. The more I drank it, the more some of the cinnamon apple flavor came out but nothing near that smell.

I am a strong flavor person. Mustard, hot sauce, ginger, horseradish. These are all things that appeal to me. I think that if a tea is flavored and doesn’t have a massively strong flavor to go with the scent, my tongue doesn’t pick up on it as well as other peoples tongues might. I’m not even a smoker but perhaps my taste buds are just… dulled?

EDIT: I served this at our book club last night and most everyone agreed. Andrew nailed this tea in regards to capturing the feel of the book. Bravo, Andrew.

Andrew (LiquidProust) had offered to make a custom blend for my tea book club to coincide with the book House of Leaves. I basically told him that I need/want something that is dark, full of depth, and a bit confusing. After some messaging back and forth, he came up with this concoction: a Lui An tea from the 1990s, a ripe puerh from 2006, a 2016 Dianhong black tea, a 2015 Bang Dong, Black tea, a 2014 Shui Xian Wuyi roasted oolong, and Mugwort.

Whew! The blend itself looks fascinating. Despite there being a lot of dark leaves mixed together, it certainly looks like there is a lot going on if you know what you are looking at/for.

I decided to give this two quick 3 second rinses. The smell off of the wet leaves had me a bit worried. It smelled… old and bitter. The old part was okay as I enjoy the sort of old pages of a book smell. It was the bitter that concerned me. Not like an astringent bitter… more like a medicinal green bitter. Maybe that is the Mugwort? Either way, I was concerned.

After the two rinses, I steeped for 15 seconds. The liquor itself doesn’t have much, if any, of the bitter smell. It brewed up a golden amber color not unlike a thick, locally produced honey. The flavor here is very smooth. It does have a tinge of that green, raw plant flavor on the back end put it is not overpowering. I, again, suspect that to be the Mugwort. Maybe Andrew can weigh in here and give his thoughts. The rest of the flavors, as I said, are very smooth. I would say it is a perfect combination of a puerh and black tea flavor. Kind of like drinking an antique book.

After this first steep, I am impressed. This is a tea that, on the surface, could be intimidating if just judging by the ingredients. But the flavor on this first steep lends itself to being very drinkable and approachable even if it is a bit complex and layered (which is what I had requested!)

Second steep (20 seconds) and holy shit. That bitter type of smell that I couldn’t place? I’ve found it. It smells like that earthiness that you associate with a fresh plucked and cut beet. Like a light bulb going off, it hit me. That is exactly the smell of the wet leaves. And that taste still translates into the after taste a bit. The color of the liquor is slightly darker, a cinnamon brown color. Yeah… this is still good. It has such a smoothness to it. I would say that, if you can get over the slight earthy beetness on the aftertaste, this is much more approachable for newbies than just a regular ripe puerh. It isn’t as muddy or heavy. It is a bit lighter, cleaner, and smooth.

Andrew… you could totally blend this and market it as something like “Dream Leaves” or “House of Dreams” or “Leaves of Dreams.” I don’t know… spit balling here. But, really, this is good. And, dare I say it, I’m feeling a bit of a tingly head buzz just two steeps in?? Maybe I’m inhaling too much of the incense I have burning but I am getting something going on.

3rd steep, 25 seconds. Beet-ness is still with us in the wet leaves. Let me just say here that somehow, for some reason, the song “House of the Rising Sun” is a damn near perfect song to go along with this tea. It came on Pandora and it just fits. The color remains the same here. The flavor is mostly similar but a little more beet flavor on the end. But not bad at all. And seriously, I feel ridiculously giggly. I don’t remember a tea doing this to me. I almost feel high… not that I know what that feels like or anything… But this tea is definitely having an affect on me.

4th steep, 30 seconds. Color holds. Cinnamon brown. Interestingly enough, that beet like flavor is slowly becoming the more dominating flavor. This makes me question if it is the mugwort at all. Having never had Liu An tea, perhaps the flavor is coming from that tea instead of the mugwort. I’m starting to assume this simply because I would expect the flavors the the fermented teas to outlast that of the mugwort. Perhaps I am wrong. Again, someone with more knowledge on these two leaves can lend some clarity.

5th steep, 45 seconds. During this steep, I smelled the water and leaves and I finally got a hint of a whiff of a classic ripe puerh smell. Also, because researching things tends to be a love of mine, I went on a search to see if I could find a taste description of Liu An tea. My search returned a lot of descriptions using words like medicinal and earthy. That would seem to fit in with my earthy beet description. So, maybe that solves it! The earthy beetness could very well be the Liu An. Yeah… still digging this tea and the impact it is having.

6th steep, 1 min. So, I decided to switch up my music selection from random to a more relaxing nature/spa sounds. Annnnddd now I just want to lie down and pass out. My brain and my body are trying to tell me, “It’s fine. Just lie down and close your eyes for a second.” Which, I would, but I have to pick my son up from school in about 45 minutes so… that won’t work. In the meantime, I’m in a consistent sweet spot with this tea. Color and flavors have hit a constant at this point. I am happy.

7th steep, 1 min 30 seconds. Andrew, dude, what have you done to me!? Haha this is some light headed, get lost in the clouds, stuff here. I’d give you a hug right now if I could. Seriously, I have never had a tea make me feel like this stuff here. I wish I could say that I am over exaggerating but… my head is tingly and soft, my body is super relaxed. I had a banana and oatmeal square for breakfast so I don’t think I can blame it on that haha. Oh, right. The tea is still good as well. It is getting slightly thinner on the after taste but it is still drinkable.

I would love to keep this up but the time has come to go and get my son. But yeah… Home. Run. Thanks Andrew.

Session picture: https://www.instagram.com/p/BLv3kr2BixY/