What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)

[KatieLoeb]

Earl Grey Imperial #2 with Violets. With a bit of lavender honey. Soothing, fragrant and delicious.

[andiesenji]

I'm up early this morning as I am scheduled for a mammogram fairly early. To ease my way into the day I've brewed a pot of Keemun Rhapsody from Adagio, one of the "superior mao feng" grade teas.

As noted by Adagio, it has a hint of chocolate with a faint smoky presence that makes it a perfect tea for autumn. It doesn't have the malty flavor of my favorite Assams or the deeper winey notes of a Yunnan but is just perfect for an eye-opening morning cuppa!

A 12 oz mug with a tablespoon of milk and scant teaspoon of my Splenda/sugar blend produces a perfect cup of comfort.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Starting with gyokuro today, plus apple tart with pineapple sage. A sweet start for the week.

[LuckyGirl]

Ending the day with a Houjicha from Dan at yuuki-cha.com. I'm still working on a 100 g bag he sent me free with the quirky lidless kyusu. Nice low-caffeine tea and I only have a few nights worth left.

Does this tea drink really smokey? The description of it on another website described it as "mesquite" tasting.

[LuckyGirl]

I'm on my 5th or 6th infusion of the pouchong I started yesterday.

Trying to decide what's next...

[Richard Kilgore]

Ending the day with a Houjicha from Dan at yuuki-cha.com. I'm still working on a 100 g bag he sent me free with the quirky lidless kyusu. Nice low-caffeine tea and I only have a few nights worth left.

Does this tea drink really smokey? The description of it on another website described it as "mesquite" tasting.

Houjicha is a roasted green tea so it is going to be roasty-smoky, but there is variation among hojichas (yuuki-cha alone has 4 organic Houjichas) and it also depends on how you brew it.

Various Houjichas come up in the discussion on the Japanese Green Tea topic.

Also here's more info in this Tea Tasting & Discussion on another Houjicha from The Cultured Cup.

Edited November 9, 2009 by Richard Kilgore
cleaning up after the keyboard gremlins.... (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning I had the Nilgiri Glendale Estate Handmade from Tea Source. This is the one featured in one of the previous Tea Tasting & Discussions. A great tea.

Now drinking a Da Hong Pao (Great Red Robe) from The Cultured Cup. I have had this wonderful, but expensive, tea for a few years and have been parceling it out slowly. It has always been one of my favorite Oolongs. And today I am brewing it in a new-to-me Yixing made in the 1970s, and this is the best this fine tea has ever brewed. Amazing what a diffence a clay can make. I'll post more about this in both the Yixing topic and the Oolong topic once I have played with the pot a bit.

[baroness]

Tea Source's Assam Sree Sibari Estate - so smooth and yet fortifying for a light gray November morning.

[velveeta]

My teadrinking strategy for the day is to drink outside the bag. I'll be dusting off all my collected teas.

Starting with an oolong purchased at a Pike St Market tea shop. An earthy almost chocolatey aroma. Satisfying and quiet flavor, but thin in the body, I might have made it too weak. I'll try it stronger next cup.

Then it's on to the Ginseng Oolong. It looks a little bit like clots of dirt or manure....but I'll try it. I looked it up online to be sure it's supposed to look like that. It's from Vitaltleaf.com in San Francisco.

[andiesenji]

This morning awakened early - a residual effect from the early alarm yesterday morning - and not being able to return to sleep, got up and brewed a pot of Mango Ceylon from Republic of Tea.

I like all of their teas and this is one of my favorites.

It is very aromatic and is sweet enough on its own that I don't need to add a sweetener, just a little milk, or in this case, half & half because I emptied the milk jug last night and didn't want to go into the very cold pantry to get a fresh carton from the big fridge.

The overnight low was 36° F. and there is no heat in the pantry. Brrrrrrr.

[velveeta]

I just explored the Ginseng Oolong for the first time. The ginseng was very elusive to me. I added some honey to the last half of the cup. It seemed to overwhelm the other flavors and in particular the nice aroma.

Next brewing will be drank all plain without the honey.

[Richard Kilgore]

Ceylon Lumbini Estate from Tea Source this morning. In a little while I'll also try brewing the Great Red Robe wet leaf leftover from yesterday.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I have a ginseng oolong from Vitaltleaf.com called 'blue people' with rolled balls of tea that look a bit blue, I presume from the ginseng powder. I find it a nice oolong, mild, sweet, but not one that I crave the way I do the tie Guan Yin or the Big Red Robe.

Today starting with the Alishan High Mountain Oolong from norbutea, subject of a recent tasting, a very bright green and floral oolong. I was craving Big Red Robe Wuyi today, but am out of it here at the office. Sigh.

[velveeta]

Second brewing of the Ginseng Oolong. I enjoyed it better than the first brewing. The nuggets are unfurling and leaving some traces in the tea. It almost seems to have better legs now.

The ginseng element is still escaping me.

[Yajna Patni]

Andisenji, you are a trooper. my pre mammogram beverage belongs on the spirits and cocktails thread.

[andiesenji]

Andisenji, you are a trooper. my pre mammogram beverage belongs on the spirits and cocktails thread.

Unfortunately I am allergic to raw alcohol, although I can use it if cooked long enough so I must stick to tea.

I brewed a pot of Adagio's Oriental Spice http://www.adagio.com/flavors/oriental_spice.html?SID=836eda82bad473c542cc62f8ad4787b0 which produces a very pleasant tea for evening sipping.

It is different from many spiced teas in that it does not include cloves, which tend to overwhelm some teas.

Drinking this with half & half and sweetened with honey crystals purchased from Prepared Pantry (33 oz only $9.69 - it's about 6 cups and I use it a lot in baking)

Fortunately for me, caffeine does not affect me in the least. I can drink copious amounts of tea and sleep with no problems.

[Wholemeal Crank]

The ginseng element is still escaping me.

I didn't notice much that I could define as ginseng, but I have no idea what ginseng tastes like. There is a nice sweetness that I was assuming is the coating, powdered ginseng plus whatever that they're using to mix with the base oolong tea. Don't know if the sweet is the ginseng or some sugar to cover up a less attractive ginseng flavor. Can anyone else here describe what ginseng should taste like?

And not sure if it was the brewing conditions (in a hurry, a bit chaotic) or the tea, but the Alishan Oolong today was an interesting contrast to the Diamond Tie Guan Yin I've been drinking so much of: a bit less sweet, and more of a deeper flavor that I'm having trouble characterizing--not earthy, not haylike or vegetal, more like umami + caramel, maybe? At any rate, although I am still craving the Big Red Robe roasted notes, it was interesting that this was a little closer to that than the Tie Guan Yin was.

[Richard Kilgore]

WmC, which Alishan Oolong is that, one of the 2009 Spring harvest teas, or the Autumn, or the 2008 mid-roasted?

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning I had the Nilgiri Glendale Estate Handmade from Tea Source. This is the one featured in one of the previous Tea Tasting & Discussions. A great tea.Now drinking a Da Hong Pao (Great Red Robe) from The Cultured Cup. I have had this wonderful, but expensive, tea for a few years and have been parceling it out slowly. It has always been one of my favorite Oolongs. And today I am brewing it in a new-to-me Yixing made in the 1970s, and this is the best this fine tea has ever brewed. Amazing what a diffence a clay can make. I'll post more about this in both the Yixing topic and the Oolong topic once I have played with the pot a bit.

Ceylon Lumbini Estate from Tea Source this morning. In a little while I'll also try brewing the Great Red Robe wet leaf leftover from yesterday.

I have continued to drink this wonderful Wuyi Da Hong Pao Oolong today. The older Yixing clay has even more of an effect than I thought it would. And the tea has legs - nine infusions (plus the initial 20 second rinse and another before brewing today) and it has a long way to go.

[Richard Kilgore]

Queen Victoria Darjeeling from TCC this morning, followed by a couple more infusions of the Da Hong Pao I started two days ago. And now I am enjoying an Organic Kumamoto Sencha Yabe Supreme from Yuuki-cha.com. A good day for tea!

So what teas are you all drinking today?

[LuckyGirl]

I spent yesterday with the 2009 Spring Norbu - Lao Mansa Sheng Pu-Erh Tea from the tasting. I used the leaves that I had started the previous day and they took me through the whole of yesterday. I lost track of the number of infusions, maybe 8 or 9, and was up to 6 minutes. I felt like it could have gone even further but I switched to chrysanthemum for the evening and didn't choose to keep the leaves over a second night.

Today I am drinking Ten Ren's, Scarlet Robe Oolong. It is a nice robust cup of tea.

[andiesenji]

I had coffee to start the day but just brewed a pot of Assam from Banaspaty tea estate, FTGFOP1 Organic tea.

I like it with milk and honey crystals - it has an assertive quality but is low in tannin.

From Upton Tea Imports.

[velveeta]

I am comparing black teas: Darjeeling and Ceylon

So far, Darjeeling is the winner.

[andiesenji]

I brewed a second pot of tea from the Banaspaty Assam wet leaves, brewing it at 195° F for 8 minutes (in my TeaMate) and this brew is even better than the first brewing.

It has an extremely long finish with absolutely no trace of bitterness.

Edited November 12, 2009 by andiesenji (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

Supreme Wuyi Big Red Robe from Wing Hop Fung, just right for the day, with that delicately sweet finish to the warm roastiness. Mmmm.