Monday TeaDay 11/30/09 Come back tea of the year?

[Chip]

Happy TeaDay everyone. Welcome to another TeaDay. Please stop in and share what is in your cup throughout the day.

Yesterday we discussed recent teas that we would want to repurchase. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. After watching my all time fave team come back to win for the 5th consecutive week despite trailing going into the 4th quarter each game ...

I wondered if you had any "come back" teas, teas that were losers for you initially, and came back to become a tea you enjoy ... or even love?

Perhaps a come back tea of the year? Please share why or why not.

I am looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up.

[bsteele]

Oh yeah: Jasmine tea... I think I hated that junk at first-- but I crave it now. Mmmmm grandma perfume.

But seriously... it's some good stuff.

Downing some Adagio Golden Spring.

[Victoria]

Maybe - But it would be more generally as in Darjeelings. This year Darjeelings have been a big part of my TeaDay. I used to drink them occasionally but now I usually start every morning with them.

Started my TeaDay with Soom Estate Darjeeling.

Have a nice day everyone!

[olivierco]

I wondered if you had any "come back" teas, teas that were losers for you initially, and came back to become a tea you enjoy ... or even love?

No.

Karigane gyokuro this evening.

[gingkoseto]

Quite a few roasted oolongs didn't taste good to me at the beginning, and then became my favorites after they rested and had their initial "fire" faded. Traditionally it was the manufacturer or seller's responsibility to rest the tea and fade the "fire" before selling it, but obviously nowadays many teas are sold as soon as they are made. And the popular vacuum packs for oolong don't help with the resting at all.

[Seeker]

Interestingly, matcha is my biggest comeback tea!
Several years ago I had my first matcha, had it a few times, even bought some. But I just wasn't captured by it. In retrospect, I remember seeking it out and buying it because of its acclaimed health benefits; also what i first bought was out of a bin! (at a grocery co-op in SF). Suffice it to say the matcha wasn't very good.
Subsequently, earlier this year, I was introduced to it again at my favorite tea shop (Teance in Berkeley - really a top notch spot!) - and fell in love with it. It helped that the matcha was high quality. Oh and there was the CHAWAN... the chasen, the chashaku... I was captivated.
cheers.

[brad4419]

Oh yea, It was my first taste of pu erh and I didn't like it at all in the beginning. It was 2006 Guoyan Nannuo Pu-erh Tea Cake, which I absolutely love now. It really was an acquired taste because I just kept making it and drinking until one day I went to choose which to drink and thought "I want some Guoyan Nannuo".

ShanLinXi in my cup today

[Ebtoulson]

I voted maybe
There's really only 3 teas that I really don't enjoy and those are:
yunnan black teas, jasmine teas, and chamomile. I try them every now and again to see if my tastes have changed. So far I can drink some yunnan blacks and the occassional jasmine tea but I still don't enjoy them..and as for chamomile, I can't even drink it.

[leiche2]

I don't think so.

A nice roasty Monkey Picked TGY and Adagio's Wuyi Ensemble are keeping me warm and motivated on this busybusy day. Gotta get this paper done by tomorrow afternoon!

[Dreamer]

Yep, I did not enjoy the Ceylon Nuwara Eliya OP (#306 at specialteas) when I first got it. I didn't hate it, but it just didn't seem to have anything go give. I had not touched the package all summer.

In the meantime I discovered the Nilgiri Glendale (TeaSource) and the Neela (ToT) and loved them.

Recently I ran out of most all my blacks so I turned to this Ceylon. Wadda-ya-know...it had some of the same flavors that I love in those two Nilgiri's! I guess that I had "trained" my palate to find those flavors.

Gotta love this tea journey!

Dreamer

[Janine]

It's just possible that keemun fits this picture for me, or perhaps black teas (especially China blacks/hongcha). Once upon a time, it had to be puerh... and it had to be oolong ... and this oolong type and then that oolong type. Black teas were good, of course, just didn't get me too excited with anticipation.

But now, it's got to be the black teas that get me going, especially from China. I love keemun and there are days I go without tea in the morning only to be craving that special sweetness and flavor that hangs about with a really good rich keemun. Many days it will be a rich Yunnan Black, like today (Golden Yunnan, very tippy) Yum. Today's is from Ito En.

[Seeker]

Brad reminds me that my first taste of puerh was not a hit for me.
I thought, "who on earth would pay this kind of $ for the taste of dirt!? This tastes like someone went out to the coral, scooped up some dirt, and brewed it; geez!"
I was told it took time to learn to appreciate puerh, and by golly, that was correct. Now I love the stuff!
Pass the hot dirt water please!

[Chip]

Oh yea, It was my first taste of pu erh and I didn't like it at all in the beginning.

Over the years, I have certainly run into this numerous times with many types of tea actually. Perhaps the most dramatic was also a pu-erh, just a humble little 5 gram bunch of toucha I got when I first started drinking tea and would buy almost anything in sight.

So, first taste, bleh, fishy, earthy, to be honest, I lacked the adjectives to describe it since I was so new to tea. I put them aside and literally forgot about 'em for 7 years. I happened to be a newb to TC at the time and of course the pu heads talked it up pretty good here. I happened to stumble upon them right at that time, uncanny actually. Pretty dramatic how I actually liked it quite a bit ...7 years later.

Now 3 or so years later, I am not a pu head, but almost took the leap several times, all because some humble toucha-s I had packed away, refusing to throw tea away.

And no pu-erh in my cup today ... O-Cha's Yutaka Midori however is. SweeTea never misses YM, however Wulong and Pyrit passed. Hagi Seigan Sansai.

[Drax]

Mmmm, forgotten tea.

I can't think of any come-back teas, mostly because it's rare that I don't like a tea. There's only two really foul teas I can think of offhand that I had this year, and they were both flavored. . .

Yesterday and today, I've been enjoying a loose leaf sheng from the 1980s from Nada. A bit musty at first, but it's smoothing out rather nicely now.

[AdamMY]

wow I can't believe it took me this long to think of my comeback tea of the year. I spent all day thinking about it.

But its obviously sencha, mind you Previously I only had some samples and one tin of dens fuka midori. And I think Sencha takes a bit longer than chinese teas to get your "brewing" legs so to speak. So when I first tried those I was rather far from impressed, but I got it in me to place an order and I've been loving it.