LuckyGirl

That is very interesting. I would have thought that the minerality of a tea like that would have made the iron/minerality of the sausage too much. Cool that it worked so well together.

I am enjoying the second infusion of Norbu's Imperial Dian Hong - Spring 08 Black Tea. I am loving the velvet mouth feel and sweet, malty taste of this tea.

I think that I still have a small amount of two of these three teas from my last Norbu order. I am really looking forward to everyone's tasting notes on these teas.

You're right and it's only fair to follow the brewing suggestions for a tasting. I didn't realize I was that much hotter than the suggestion. I thought I was only a few degrees higher but I would have to go back and look.

LuckyGirl, I just noticed that on your second brewing you also brewed very thinly - 10 g to 11 ounces (about 330 ml), rather than the 8 - 10 g to 150 ml yuuki-cha.com recommends. That's less than half the leaf. It would be interesting to see what you think if you have the opportunity to brew a matcha genmaicha again sometime. My guess is that your second brewing was so weak that the sencha leaf and matcha powder were not able to come through very much at all. I guess I figured that the updated suggestion of going with 8g vs. 10g and then steeping longer would get me a good cup. I guess I got most of what the tea had to give from that larger first cup.

I think you are on the right trail. A minerality as a component of the taste perhaps. Hmm, I guess what I'm tasting could be a mineral component. It is different then the mineraliness I've gotten from other teas but I suppose I could stretch my idea of mineraliness to include this taste that I can't quite put my finger on. I've gotten this taste from three specific Wu Yi teas. When I have a chance I will look through my stash to see which in particular they were.

I wish you good travels, Richard.

I was out to dinner tonight and had no good option for tea after the not so great dinner. I brewed myself a cup of chrysanthemum tea when I got home and am enjoying it now. It has been a month or so since I've had a cup of chrysanthemum tea and I almost forgot how much I enjoy it and what a good digestive it is.

So, I just read the description of Wuyi "Rosk" teas here- http://www.jkteashop.com/oolong-tea-wuyi-rock-oolong-tea-c-59_62_93.html I wonder if the taste I described as slightly chemical is the "rock" taste.

The past week I have greatly enjoyed drinking Norbu's Imperial Dian Hong - Spring 08 Black Tea. Of all the teas I've had in the past several months I would say this is one of my favorites. It is full bodied and rich, sweet, creamy and balanced with malty, roasted, toasted notes. It has no sour/tart or bitter notes. The roundness and creaminess of this tea put me in mind of a good yeasty, creamy Champagne. I am eager to try other Yunnan teas of this style and will also be sure to order more of this one.

I am currently enjoying a cup of Norbu's Ban Tian Yao, Wu Yi Oolong. This is a neat tea to me in that it's the first time I really get the sweet/tart element that I have read in some tea descriptions. The first thing that hit me upon my first sip was the tea's spiciness and it was very enjoyable. Greg from Norbu described this tea as having a sasparilla note and since reading that I have found that taste in several Wu Yi teas that I've had in the past few weeks. There is something about this tea and another Wu Yi that I had recently that is odd. I get a *slight* chemical-like taste from the tea especially after the first cup. Chemical is actually not exactly the right word but I don't know what other word to use. It is almost like a stale note. I'm obviously having a hard time describing it but I've noticed it each time I've had this tea and the Shui Jin Gui, Wu Yi Oolang, also from Norbu. It is not enough to keep me from drinking the tea but it's a back note that's definitely there.

I forgot I had that tea until I just saw your post. I don't think I've even tried it yet. I will make a point of trying it in the next day or two.

This evening I brewed 10g tea to about a 11 oz of 180 degree water. The toasted rice still overwhelms the tea for me. What I do get from the tea is a green squash thing. Think zucchini and raw spaghetti squash. Those elements are fine but what I do not like, which I noticed today but not when I tried this tea last week, is the slight fishiness I get on the end. I just read baroness' descriptor "seaweed" and that is very accurate. The tea has a light sweetness to it. I really wanted to see what the green tea itself was like on its own so I grabbed some tweezers and plucked out all of the grains of rice...no I didn't, just kidding. I can't say that I enjoy the rice/tea thing but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't drink a tea like this again on occasion. I didn't have a strong dislike of it. I did not care for the fishiness but even that wasn't offensive. Thank you Dan at yuuki-cha dot com for supplying us with this tea to taste. I look forward to trying more of your tea.

Red teas from China may turn out to be not-your-cup-of-tea, but which ones have you tried, LuckyGirl? Ahhh, after reading your post I only just realized that Chinese red teas are not the same bird as African red teas. It is the African red tea rooibos that I've had and not liked, at all. Just tried one again the other night and re-enforced my dislike of this tea.

I am on my second cup of a Seven Sons Pu Ehr from Ten Ren. It is a sample that WC sent me. I am enjoying it quite a bit. It's deep and rich with a mellow pu-funk.

I would like to hear more about it.

I've already decided that in addition to continuing my odyssey through the world of Oolongs I am also going to focus on Darjeelings, Assams, Nilgiris and Yunnans. I think that given my penchant for the roasted oolongs this is the next logical step. I have somewhat burned myself out on pu ehrs. I am drinking one right now and have a drawer full but I need to take a break from them. I'm looking forward to experimenting most of the categories you mentioned. The only tea I've really been turned off by thus far are red teas and it is entirely possible that I just haven't had ones that suit me. Then again it is entirely possible that they just aren't my cup of tea.

I don't think I can narrow it down to a single tea or even a few. Since 2009 is the year I started drinking tea it has all been a discovery. My tea teasting in the past month has been very unorganized and haphazard and I have not made tasting notes. I regret that. I really need to maintain tasting notes to help myself learn and to remember what my favorites and not so favorites are. A few highlights were: the first Alishan I had and realizing that tea could be steeped many, many times (I think I steeped that tea something like 10 times) and experiencing a tea where the flavor bloomed in my mouth after swallowing the sip.

I am headed to the kitchen to steep my second cup of Norbu's Shui Jin Gui - Wu Yi Spring 09 Oolong. I really enjoyed Rishi's Silver Needle a few nights ago. I enjoyed it so much that I am eager to try more white teas. The Rishi Silver Needel gave me a cup of tea with far more body and depth than I knew was possible from a white tea (I don't know much about white tea to begin with).

Rishi's Golden Yunan Black from a sampler I ordered from them. I'm drinking it with a scant teaspoon of honey and milk. I have found that I want milk in black teas though I am thinking that I can forgo the honey.

I just brewed my first cup of this tea. I didn't follow the guidelines for this first brewing rather I went with my usual/general method. I used 6g of tea to 12oz of just under the boil water (about 190F). The color of the brewed tea is a beautiful chartreuse. My fist cup, which was steeped for about a minute 30 seconds, is a full bodied cup of tea. My first reaction to this cup is that this is not my style of tea. As much as I enjoy toasty oolongs I am not enjoying the toasted rice in this tea. The rice is overpowering the green tea. I only taste toasted rice and do not taste the tea. All I can think about is the rice I grind and toast in a dry skillet when I make larb. I like the toasted rice in larb in tea, not so much. I did not get any bitterness from the first cup. My second cup was steeped for about two minutes 30 seconds. I had intended to only go for 2 minutes but the tea looked week at that point so I let it go a little longer. This cup of tea is thin and weak. It doesn't have any of the roundness in my mouth that the first cup had. I still cannot taste past the rice to get to the tea. I am at the end of the second cup which has cooled quite a bit and I am now getting a *slight* bitterness at the back end of each sip which I imagine is from steeping it for as long as I did. One could suggest that it was from the water temp being higher than was recommended but since the temp was the same for the first cup I am thinking it has more to do with the length of time I let it go. I will try the tea again within the next few days following the brewing suggestions from up-thread.

I had a most enjoyable few cups of tea the other day from Norbu's "Iron Goddess of Mercy" or "Tie Guan Yin". The Norbu website reports this tea as a heat dried, non-roasted tea from Spring of '09. I found this tea to be both floral and fruity but not in the perfumey floral way that turns me off of some of the green oolongs. Even though it is not a roasted tea it gave me a light toastiness along with the fruit and floral notes that I greatly enjoyed. Nice full side of medium body and mouth-feel. Slight oily mouth-feel, not in a bad way rather in a rich, enjoyable way. Flavors like plum/prune mixed with tropical flowers. Semi-sweet. Slightly tannic finish. Lingers nicely. I brewed it 6g to 12 oz water just under the boil. First two steeps at 3 minutes and third steep at 4.

Too funny. After posting below I realized that the Tie Guan Yin you were drinking yesterday is the same Goddess of Mercy that I enjoyed the other day. Plate O' Shrimp, again.

My first cup of the New Year is the Organic Matcha Iri Genmaicha from Yuuki-cha that we are tasting. I will post my thoughts in the tasting thread. The other day I had a very enjoyable Iron Goddess of Mercy from Norbu that I will report on under the oolong thread.

So, this thread begs the question if you had such a lengthy list of foods that you needed to stay away from for allergy, sensitivity or other reasons, would you expect to be accommodated? I wouldn't dream of sending such a list to a chef and expecting him or her to cook a restaurant meal for me. If I had that many restrictions I would not dine out. First of all, I would be embarrassed to ask some one to accommodate me and my cajillion issues and secondly I would not want to take the chance of being exposed to something that could cause a reaction. Most of us have some requests, sometimes, when we dine out. I loathe salads swimming in dressing so I usually ask for the salad to be lightly dressed or for the dressing on the side. There are things that I prefer not to eat so I don't order them or stay away from places that cook with them. A laundry list like that? I don't get it.