The first cup of the day was some casablanca twist. Mint just works wonders when I need to be fully functioning. Right now, I decided to play with the sencha tea bag that was in my Den's sample kit. The pyramid tea bag is fun, and the tea tasted pretty decent. I will be on the second steep of that shortly.
Teachat stays open most of the time, if I am browsing on line. After surfing all sorts of forums, the attitudes here make it a welcome place to browse instead of places populated by less mature individuals.
Feb 13th, '08, 18:30
Posts: 2299
Joined: Oct 23rd, '06, 19:46
Location: Seattle Area
Contact:
tenuki
just arrived, so gotta try it - 2008 AliShan winter petals from HouDe.
boiling water (fiji) - rinse (rinse water was very weak, so decided on 45 second start brew time) - 45 secs - interesting, still a bit weak, I think this is a minute first brew tea, we'll see how it goes. 45 seconds got the leaves fully unfurled and I got the amount of leaf right, so maybe shorter brew at lower temp, hmn, puzzling tea. I'm gonna try this next time at 208 degrees and 2 minutes.
still good, but ok good, not amazing good.
[edit] Ok, second brew (1:00) the flavor opened up. This tea has a strong mouth feel and slippery aftertaste for a alishan, I like it. Flavor is a bit bland, but the fragrance is just like I like it - 'understated and complex'.
[edit #2] 4th brew and i'm done with it for now. This goes onto my shelf for a week, then try it again at lower temp/longer brew.
boiling water (fiji) - rinse (rinse water was very weak, so decided on 45 second start brew time) - 45 secs - interesting, still a bit weak, I think this is a minute first brew tea, we'll see how it goes. 45 seconds got the leaves fully unfurled and I got the amount of leaf right, so maybe shorter brew at lower temp, hmn, puzzling tea. I'm gonna try this next time at 208 degrees and 2 minutes.
still good, but ok good, not amazing good.[edit] Ok, second brew (1:00) the flavor opened up. This tea has a strong mouth feel and slippery aftertaste for a alishan, I like it. Flavor is a bit bland, but the fragrance is just like I like it - 'understated and complex'.
[edit #2] 4th brew and i'm done with it for now. This goes onto my shelf for a week, then try it again at lower temp/longer brew.
Last edited by tenuki on Feb 14th, '08, 02:29, edited 3 times in total.
Feb 13th, '08, 18:39
Posts: 2299
Joined: Oct 23rd, '06, 19:46
Location: Seattle Area
Contact:
tenuki
Feb 13th, '08, 18:51
Posts: 2299
Joined: Oct 23rd, '06, 19:46
Location: Seattle Area
Contact:
tenuki
I love grapefruit and have been eyeing that, how is it? I generally don't go for the blends, but occasionally try them out for variety.scarrell wrote:I just had some grapefruit oolong.
Do something different, something different will happen. ( Gong Fu Garden )
Well since I only recently started buying loose-leaf teas I've only ordered from Adagio and I've ordered pretty much all blends. Now that I've read more and drank more tea, I'd like to start trying more classic non-flavored teas. I definitely enjoy the grapefruit oolong but it is my first oolong tea so I can't compare it to others. Blacks are generally too dark/heavy for me so this is a nice mix between greens and blacks.
The grapefruit oolong is uncommonly delicious. The grapefruit flavor really sings true, and even complements the oolong base. I'm very happy with my sample.tenuki wrote:I love grapefruit and have been eyeing that, how is it? I generally don't go for the blends, but occasionally try them out for variety.scarrell wrote:I just had some grapefruit oolong.
Feb 13th, '08, 21:23
Posts: 1559
Joined: Jan 28th, '07, 02:24
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Contact:
Space Samurai
Messed up teaday for me. After class I had some goo guri, then I tried that tangerine pu-erh. Well, most of the tangerine puerh was crushed, with lots of dust, the inside of the peel had white on it, and it tasted like crap. I've still got 4 more so it will get a few more chances to impress, and a number of years too. 
Then I tried the 07 purple leaf pu-erh and found it very interesting. Mellow, and on the uncomplex side, but enjoyable. In fact, since it was fairly cheap, I'm going to buy a few more and use it as one of my "drink through the ages" teas. The leaf is different, so it won't give a good understanding of sheng aging in general, but will be fun nonetheless.
What sucked, is towards the end of the session, I was holding the gaiwan full of purple leaf under the Zojirushi to fill it up... Well, some water splashed onto my hand and I instinctively dropped the gaiwan. An explosion of boiling water and puerh leaf shot around the room and coated everything.
Luckily, I was spared to drink another day.
Then I tried the 07 purple leaf pu-erh and found it very interesting. Mellow, and on the uncomplex side, but enjoyable. In fact, since it was fairly cheap, I'm going to buy a few more and use it as one of my "drink through the ages" teas. The leaf is different, so it won't give a good understanding of sheng aging in general, but will be fun nonetheless.
What sucked, is towards the end of the session, I was holding the gaiwan full of purple leaf under the Zojirushi to fill it up... Well, some water splashed onto my hand and I instinctively dropped the gaiwan. An explosion of boiling water and puerh leaf shot around the room and coated everything.
Luckily, I was spared to drink another day.
Feb 14th, '08, 00:20
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Gainesville, Florida
Re: yeap
Nothing like a good Darjeeling to take the edge off. I used to live in Valpo for a year or two back in the 70's.ash37 wrote:but i had some Darjeeling Puttabong FTGFOP1 First Flush and some Darjeeling Makaibari FTGFOP1S Organic and they were both very nice