Tuesday TeaDay 3/10/09 Your last new tea?

[Chip]

Welcome everyone to TeaDay. I hope you will stop by and share what is in your cup throughout the day.

Yesterday responders overwhelmingly indicated they would prefer visiting the origin of their favorite tea. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. What was your last specific BRAND NEW TEA that you had never tried before? When did you try it and some details about this particular tea please?

I am looking forward to sharing TeaDay and our collective new teas today. And please, bottoms up.

[Salsero]

Well, I am just finishing a session with the Yong De Factory's 2008 Mang Fei Mountain Wild Arbor puerh, a cake that has been sitting around in my pumidor since last August, but it wasn't till tonight that I finally cracked it open. It is very enjoyable, I am happy to report: Loose compression, good taste and texture in the mouth, nice aftertaste. This one was recommended by Edkrueger, who said at one point that Yong De was his favorite factory, and by Dizzwave, whose taste seems often to coincide with mine.

A recent food/tea discovery is eating these tasty Japanese crackers with sencha. They seem made to go together.

[Trioxin]

I've just tried a number of new teas

2008 Xiaguan XY "Yi Wu Big Green Tree" Pu-erh (ehh, gotta try again later when I'm in a more floral mood)

2008 Xiaguan FT "For Taiwan #6 Cake" Raw Pu-erh (nice smokey goodness)

2008 Menghai "Da Yi Hong" Premium Ripe Pu-erh (very tasty)


Currently drinking the Oriental Beauty Oolong from Floating Leaves. Love this one.

[cherylopal]

My latest newest is in my cup right now- Den's Extra Green sencha.

I threw it in with when ordering the sakura sencha. I wanted to taste matcha and thought this would be an easy way to see if I would be joining the matcha bandwagon soon. I like it although I think I may add a bit more leaf next time. I'm noticing that the taste is gone quickly when I sip- almost all the flavor is in the first second of drinking- a very watery finish. I may also steep longer- Den's rec was for 45 sec and I'm used to steeping for closer to 90. Does anyone have any tips for me?

[Drax]

Pu-erh, a 1993 Menghai 7542, which I already covered extensively here.

I'm having a Dan Cong this morning. Its mango-y fruitness easily cuts through any attempts of the allergy season to clamp my taste buds down...

[Beidao]

Oolong - a roasted Dong Ding.

Drinking Jasmine Pearls after finishing my last Yerba Mate. I bought 200 gram of it a year ago and it seemed to last forever. Now I want to try roasted Yerba!

Bought an aged oolong from Hou De yesterday and have an order coming from Funalliance (Keemun + samples). Now I only have to wait...

[hpulley]

You adventurous ones must think me boring but Japanese green tea is all I buy these days... and I tend to use one matcha (or one usucha and one koicha) at a time until it is finished as it doesn't last that long once opened. Same goes for sencha really, I generally have one or at most two open at once. So... it is pretty redundant for me to say I had Kotobuki and Kyu no Tsuyu again... but I enjoy every cup and don't find them boring at all.

[omegapd]

Upton's Gunpowder Green Mint. After the wife ran out of Adagio's Candy Cane, she wanted something else flavored with peppermint and this was all I could find. It's good, though. Strong peppermint oil flavor and the subtle sweetness in the green tea go well together.

[Jasmin]

Yesterday I received a big box full of samples from adagio. For the fist time I had a 'honeybush'. The apricot. I have to try it again to decide how I like it. I think it was a mistake to drink it right after the 'peach white'.
Right now drinking the honeybush mango. Pretty good so far.

[Trey Winston]

My last new one was Adagio's Keemun Concerto, which is good. I'm enjoying some right now, having finally gotten the hang of brewing it - it takes a lot of leaf.

[geeber1]

Upton's Gunpowder Green Mint. After the wife ran out of Adagio's Candy Cane, she wanted something else flavored with peppermint and this was all I could find. It's good, though. Strong peppermint oil flavor and the subtle sweetness in the green tea go well together.

Omega, I got some 'Three Brothers' from TeaSource recently and it's a good peppermint tea. The blend is Keemun, peppermint and rosehips. The peppermint flavor is subtle though, not strong. It was very tasty!

As far as new teas, I just tried Den's Tea Sakura Sencha last night.

Iced Nilgiri Glendale Handmade this morning.

[hooksie]

Last night I tried a Blueberry white from Adagio. Enjoyed the fruitiness but wasn't overpowering; overall I liked it.

I actually still have some teas on myself I still need to try out, mainly White Monkey. In about an hour (when the delivery trucks come through) I'll have a keemun rhapsody and fujian baroque sample to try out as well.

Adagio Aquarius in the cup this morning. Makes for a really good morning brew in my opinion.

[chad]

My last new tea was an estate Pekoe. I need to pick up more!

Margaret's Hope in the mug this morning.

[auggy]

I tried Fujian Baroque Saturday for the first time. It was quite nice, I liked it a lot. Smooth and nicely sweet. And DH even really enjoyed it, which is a miracle in itself since we tend to have opposing views as to what makes a good unflavored black tea.

Rushka tea for me this morning. It was a nice, mellow start to the day. I swear, the more tense I get about work, the more I need gentle tea flavors.

[gingkoseto]

My last new tea is what I randomly picked up from an Asian grocery in Boston. It's the Hong Kong style "monkey picked oolong", made in traditional way, leaves uncurled, dark roast. It's the kind of tea that older Hong Kong or Cantonese people drink. I tried it once. It's nothing great, and too dark for me, but I was just curious to find out what it was like. The commercially trademarked green roast "monkey pick" is made with modern Taiwanese oolong processing method, so I thought the old style "monkey pick" must be very different from it I am in the aftermath of a flu and tongue and nose don't really work well these days. So I may have to try this tea later.