Sunday TeaDay 10/26/08 Flavor profile preference?

[Chip]

Yeah, tough question. I am not a smokey fan at all, so I can eliminate that right away. My core flavors are grassy and vegetal of greens, but, but, a good oolong offers such a pleasant floral, or fruity aspect that really is sooo nice. I will have to think a bit.

Had a nice session of Kabuse from the Expo with Sweetie to start the TeaDay. Not sure what is next.

[Maitre_Tea]

Given that I think that I have only had experience with 'grassy,' so far, that's what I picked.

I'm sure I've had some teas with those other attributes, but I never consciously called them that, so at this point, I don't know whether they're really a draw for me a not.

Does anybody have recommendations (like the mention of the Long Jing being nutty and vegative) for teas with these attributes? I think it'd be a good way to calibrate my brain with my tongue ("oh, that's what they mean by vegative") -- I mean, I know what it means in the technical sense, but I'd like to have proof in the practical sense.

Dragonwell with my oatmeal and raisins.

Generally speaking, here are some "guidelines," at least from my own experience. Some teas will defy these categorizations. Take it with a grain of salt:
1. High Mountain Oolongs are vegative (at least the dry leaves are). It's because of the amino proteins that accumulate in the leaves
2. High roasted oolongs can often be fruity. They can also have some chocolate flavors in there.
3. Lightly roasted oolongs, like TKY, can be floral
4. Green teas can be grassy, but also nutty...Bilouchun and Huangshan Maofeng are also nutty green teas
5. Some roasted teas can be smoky, as can some black teas. Of course, Lapsang Souchang is smoked, so it's pretty smoky.

I personally like fruitiness in a tea, but I wish I could choose smoky as well. Enjoying a nice Dan Cong in my cup, with an aroma that reminds me of melon...

[gingkoseto]

ooo I like that glass. Looks like the the middle part is hollow so the liquid is floating inside the glass.

It is as it appears. Bodum Pavina, 9 oz. Very popular on the forum, insulates great, not too pricey, and all-around winner.

Great cups! (And great picture!) On my wish list now.
Bodum should use your picture as their logo picture

[gingkoseto]

Hard to choose. But I chose floral, when it's not too much.

Like all the others but not as much for smokey.

Long Jing in my cup now.

[edkrueger]

I'll do my list too. These are the teas I think exhibit each of the flavors. I'm adding some I think chip missed.

Floral:
Sheng
TKY

Fruity:
High Mountain light roasted+
TKY traditional dark roast
Bohea

Grassy:
Kukicha

Smoky:
Lapsang Soucohng

Toasty:
Houjicha
Low heat roasted Oolongs

Vegetal:
Gyokuro
Light Roast High Mountain Oolong

Marine:
Gyokuro
Harbor Tea

Sencha is hard to classify. Its like putting every fried green tea together.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Definitely a tough poll today. The grassy flavor in Japanese greens won out in the end, pulling a slight lead over the fruity oolongs.

Today I am drinking Birthday Tea in another attempt to work on finishing off my sample tin collection.

[Selaphiel]

I miss the "marine" option, so I selected grassy. Combination of grassy, vegetal and marine would best describe my preference. I enjoy them all, all tastes should be explored. Smokey I leave to scotch

Gyokuro Kame-Giru-shi, second bag soon empty now

[kymidwife]

My answer is "fruity"... well, at least for today. I can't promise what my answer will be tomorrow or next week.

Fruity and floral were close in ranking for me, as I enjoy both very much. Vegetal was only a millimeter behind those two, because I love the vegetal character of my greenish oolongs and darjeelings. Grassy and smoky are not unpleasant to me, but not sought-after or craved.

The perfect balance of fruity, floral,and vegetal is the perfect tea for me... and greenish FF Darjeelings are fitting the bill on a daily basis.

In my cup now...nothing, I drank it all. I've had some hot FF Darjeeling and also some iced already... eating a bit of halloween candy now, and thinking I need something green. There's still some maeda-en 2008 shincha in there somewhere... hmmm...

Sarah

[edkrueger]

I miss the "marine" option, so I selected grassy. Combination of grassy, vegetal and marine would best describe my preference. I enjoy them all, all tastes should be explored. Smokey I leave to scotch

Gyokuro Kame-Giru-shi, second bag soon empty now

You can get smoky and marine together with some young Talisker.

[olivierco]

Hibiki-an SP sencha right now.

[geeber1]

I voted 'fruity' because the teas I really like seem to have a bit of citrus-y flavor. Some teas have a slight vegetal aroma when they are steeping, but taste on the citrusy side, like this Nilgiri Glendale Handmade that I'm enjoying right now.

[Victoria]

Generally speaking, here are some "guidelines," at least from my own experience. Some teas will defy these categorizations. Take it with a grain of salt:
1. High Mountain Oolongs are vegative (at least the dry leaves are). It's because of the amino proteins that accumulate in the leaves
2. High roasted oolongs can often be fruity. They can also have some chocolate flavors in there.
3. Lightly roasted oolongs, like TKY, can be floral
4. Green teas can be grassy, but also nutty...Bilouchun and Huangshan Maofeng are also nutty green teas
5. Some roasted teas can be smoky, as can some black teas. Of course, Lapsang Souchang is smoked, so it's pretty smoky.

I personally like fruitiness in a tea, but I wish I could choose smoky as well. Enjoying a nice Dan Cong in my cup, with an aroma that reminds me of melon...

Wow, that is pretty much exactly how I would outline it. Except I like the floral green oolongs. Which then one would assume I like the typical "Floral" oolongs but that is not true. It is a floralness from a greener oolong I enjoy - not floral oolongs - it gets complicated.

I like my oolongs to also be vegetal, but vegetal in oolong, is a whole different thing than a vegetal green.

[Salsero]

Combination of grassy, vegetal and marine would best describe my preference.

This sounds like the basic recipe for all Japanese green teas, just vary the proportions and you could make all the different Japanese greens that ever existed! Maybe for gyokuro you would have to add umami and some mouthfeel descriptors.

I am enjoying everyone's efforts to match characteristics with specific teas. I like to think of each tea type as representing a sliding scale:

• Sencha: ------ (grassy vs vegetal) +/- marine
  Gao Shan: --- vegetal vs floral
  Yan Cha: ----- fruity vs smokey

Not so sure about other teas.

[Victoria]

Guess I forgot to mention today's morning tea:
-Stash Millenium Blend Black-

This blend has something for everyone! Black, Darjeeling, green, oolong and white.

Not a bad morning tea, but I prefer a nice Darjeeling or Yunnan Gold.

[murrius]

I voted vegetal as I am a fan of the greens but I also like grassy. A close third is floral from the oolongs. I'm appreciating the complex flavours of Dong Ding and Alishan.

So far Long Jing. I think I will make a bowl of matcha soon and finish the day off later with some alishan.