3 Gems Tea

Nice interesting oolong! Wet leaves smell strongly of woodsmoke but I’m not picking it up that much in the liquid. There’s an interesting almost spicy aftertaste, like the flavor of chili powder without the heat, if that makes sense. More on the savory side and less sweet than some yancha.

Gongfu Sipdown (2129)!

Sipped down the last preportioned sample of this tea over the weekend. It was a very light and fresh feeling tea session with soft notes of dew covered roses, linden honey, and very subtle sweet undertones of green melon defining the peak of the session. I do tend to gravitate towards oolongs darker in taste and heavier in body than this one but it made for such a peaceful and almost nurturing feeling brew that it’s the kind of tea I could almost see being built into an oolong rotation just for those emotional elements, despite not having a taste I feel as strongly pulled towards. Just to be clear though, I’m not saying the taste was anything other than delightful. That greener melon note in particular was a beautiful highlight to the complexity of these leaves. Nothing wrong at all with a soft touch!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CpIpDDxujp5/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGfgq_y2h2o

Gonfu!

There’s something special about sipping on good tea at golden hour!! This is the last of the six oolongs in this sampler that I needed to try – now I have a serving of each left. I was surprised just how sweet this was! The body was a little bit lighter and more gentle than expected, but the honey notes were certainly not lacking in intensity. It was refreshing and beautiful, and also worked wonderfully with the other floral overtones and notes of ripe green melon that I picked up! I’m excited to now go through the second sample of each of the teas to see which of my first impressions will hold true or if any new and exciting flavours will come out with the next round of tasting!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChdDr1euRKE/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKKQtkjUp_Y

Gongfu Sipdown (2166)!

It’s been drizzly all day today, which actually kind of feels like the perfect weather for this dancong; almost like a literal interpretation of the phrase water off a duck’s back. The tea is straightforward with almost equal parts grilled plum, sweetgrass, and a mineral nuttiness. The liquor was slick and starchy with a pleasantly plucky kind of astringency in the front of the mouth. Duck Shit has never been a favourite type of oolong for me, but I did really enjoy this session for its fruitier elements and fantastic mouthfeel!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrJtF94uH_U/

Third pick is really serving “water off a shiboridashi’s back”.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_phO0MYRIc

Gongfu!

Started my morning with this oolong a couple days ago. Duck Shit is one of those kinds of tea that I feel like everyone wants to love because it’s got a fun and quirky name or that people looking to get more into oolong/straight teas often try first because of the name. Personally, I sort of feel like it’s a littttllleeee bit overrated and it’s not a kind of oolong that I gravitate to a lot.

In complete honestly, this was probably my least favourite tea from 3 Gems Tea that I’ve tried yet. That said, it wasn’t an unpleasant tea! It just didn’t jump out to me in the others have, and that’s okay. What I did like the most about it was that it had a nice gentle note of toasted hazelnuts that was pretty consistent across the couple infusions I got in. It reminded me of the hazelnut note I’ve gotten in some of my favourite yellow teas. The thing that kept me from getting more on board though was probably the strong grassy character. It really tasted like freshly mowed grass in a way that I just didn’t enjoy a ton and I also find strong grassy flavours a little off putting with a mouthfeel that leans oilier and slick.

All of that said, I could tell it was definitely a nice quality oolong and I think that it would probably appeal to a lot of people who aren’t me – especially if you love those greener leaning and less floral oolongs!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgP-NpROgXL/ (The second pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Jgdww18TM

Gongfu Sipdown (2185)!

Sipping down the last of this with some soft boiled quails eggs topped with just a pinch of black pepper and hot sauce!! This yancha is so roasty and robust with deep, dark mineral notes of petrified wood, charred chestnuts, cinnamon, stewed plums, oak and just a bit of aromatic vanilla sweetness on the tail end of the sip. The borderline burned notes of chestnut, in particular, stand out with the early steeps – just so heavy and pleasantly bitter. The quail eggs, in contrast, are gamey and unctuous. The thick, golden yolks take the edge off the astringency that crops up as I push for longer and longer steep times, but also don’t drown out the flavour of the tea itself!! As the leaves get closer to being spent and start tasting more plum-y and floral with less of the “back of the chest” roast I did have to pull back on the hot sauce as the pairing was becoming more competitive than complementary. However, all in all this was a great Sunday brunch session!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Crq7iKBIYu2/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_leRVDIZ9E

Gongfu!

Had an early morning session with this tea yesterday. Because of the name of this oolong I did expect a more overtly smoky tea session than what I got, but regardless I thought it was a really lovely tea! Rougui is one of my favourite kinds of yancha and this one had the perfect medium roast with the trademark notes of cinnamon along with sweeter top notes of anise and stonefruit with floral midtones and a woodier oak-y kind of finish!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfZ3uaFuo1W/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnr68ipUOG0

Gongfu Sipdown (2058)!

Welp, still sick. I’ve had this cold now since the 22nd, and I feel like it’s gone through the motions of getting better then getting worse multiple times now.

The soft and silky mouthfeel of this oolong with delicate notes of coconut milk, double churned butter, and aromatic Springtime florals is soothing to my soul. Being sick for the entirety of this holiday break has been very rough both physically and mentally – but this morning I felt like I was coming out of the worst of it, so I chose to switch up my tea routine and opt for something more fragile in taste than what I’ve been drinking this past week. I think it was a good call; not only can I taste the full deliciousness of this tea session but there’s a peacefulness to it that I think I really, really needed…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm14on2upfB/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojDahcLUedk

Gongfu!

Midway through a tea session of Bamboo Peak Milk Oolong, and really enjoying the silky mouthfeel and rich buttery and creamy notes of this tea! I’m still making my way through this oolong tea sampler but I think this is my favourite so far. The first few steeps had such a soft but thick moutheel, and the taste was this perfect marriage of fresh churned butter and delicately toasted coconut. Over time that buttery quality has mellowed some, but it’s allowed room for more floral notes to gradually build from the undertones into this really fresh and aromatic crescendo of Spring and Summer flavours!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce6zMinuK34/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfB2fSV5gmk

Gongfu Sipdown (1915)!

This was a nice send off for this sample. It was a very plum note heavy session with darker woody and mineral elements and a slight char note to the finish. The mouthfeel has some astringency, but it’s pleasant and the entire session is practically devoid or bitterness. Later steeps get a bit more floral, with a pronounced orchid note eventually coming to the forefront alongside the stonefruit. What I like most about this tea is how diverse the spread of flavours is, but how they all have such an opulent feeling to connect them!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjxvkjKueA7/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMUZiR8tPeo

Gongfu!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CeyvL6qum2I/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM

Gongfu Sipdown (2322)!

Though there’s a slight mineral note akin to wet stones, most of this session is subtle, subdued stonefruit notes. A lot like the dried apricots that my grandmother used to keep on hand as a “healthy snack” when we visited in the summer. Those little pucks of preserved apricot were so tough to chew that they could keep us busy for at least ten minutes gnawing through them, and, in hindsight, maybe that was the point!? Between the three of us kids, I’m sure we were A LOT of unbridled energy to handle for those multi week stretches of time. Comparatively, this tea is much more pleasant and effortless than fighting through what was probably several years old dried fruits, but it’s still steeped in a very welcome feeling of nostalgia…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuxWmcrOuZT/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1BV103mbAY

Gongfu!

Enjoyed this session in a gorgeous new gaiwan from by French artist Manon Clouzeau! The gaiwan is just so perfectly made and the sage green glaze over the dark raw clay may just be my new obsession for the next little while! The tea was also quite lovely! Faintest little bit of astringency but an overall very fragrant oolong with a mix of floral notes of lilac and white peach, with a greener snap to the earlier infusions that made with think of the smell of fresh cut grass after a good rainfall!

Sometimes tea mail just times out perfectly!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CemKZMtuahU/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5IGOewbVpU&ab_channel=RICHES