teabento

#adventageddon Day Eight – 5/5

Last one today – I’ve had this before and liked it before, decided to brew it Gongfu to milk out some of the notes that I think are so lovely in it. Short session; as I mentioned earlier in the week the smaller sample size has often meant brewing it a larger than I’d prefer vessel for longer steeps rather than a small vessel for more steeps.

Love, love, love the honey notes in this tea! It’s more than just honey but that’s the flavour note that’s present immediately after the rinse and all throughout the session. Sticky, sweet and creamy honey notes; with aspects that make me think of heavier buckwheat honey but also a creamed honey. Is creamed buckwheat honey a thing!? If not then it 100% should be! Aside from that there’s a nice mix of floral notes going on as well as a MILD spice note and some woody undertones. Kind of lilac, kind of not? It’s got that spice thing which makes me think of nibbling on lilacs – they have a spicy floral vibe. They don’t really smell spicy to me though, so if it accurate to say it tastes like the taste of lilacs over the heady, aromatic fragrance? I think so. Also a little bit of red fruit to some of the sips, but not consistent throughout.

Very soft astringency, mostly a thick viscous liquor though.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1sp1g9-9aw

Cold Brew Sipdown (633)!

Finished this one off earlier in the week, and let me tell you that cold brewing it was a good decision! It was so smooth and really flavourful with the most beautiful flavour notes and a thick mouthfeel. Predominant flavour was honey, but also some floral top notes, overarching a little bit into the body of the sip – somewhat “honeysuckle” like. Also just the faintest little bit of toasted nuts in the immediate top of the sip; very quickly subsiding. Undertones were fruity; sort of like a gentle red currant or pomegranate note. Mild, but definitely there.

Blissful.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEa4iblWt-s&list=WL&index=2

First tea of 2018!

Every year I try to pick something meaningful for my first tea of the year – in the past I’ve done champagne flavoured blends or teas that were a new area of exploration for me that I hoped to further learn about in the coming year. This year, I selected this one in honour of it being the year of the dog!

I decided to do this one as a tea tasting like what I did when I was taking my Sommelier courses, so I pulled out my cupping set and got everything set up to brew this up under cupping parameters. It was really delicious, and the aroma coming from the set as everything steeped was pretty drool inducing: sweet, sticky honey notes and autumn leaves, malt, and fruit! Yum!

This was really interesting flavour wise; very, very sweet and smooth overall with the strongest note in the cup definitely being honey. I also got a mix of other sweet notes like baked bread, malt, red fruit undertones, and cane sugar. The body was a little more vegetal though with main flavours like autumn leaves and zucchini. There was also just a touch of cinnamon in the undertones and finish. It was a wide range of flavours all in all but for me, at least, it worked really well and created a very smooth and pleasant cup to sip on. I’m happy this was my choice for first tea of the new year; it was delicious!

This the last of the black teas from teabento that I needed to try. I saved this one for last because it was the reason for the teabento order. There were lots of good reviews for it showing up on my feed.
And again I think it’s just ok – nothing bad, nothing great, just black tea.

I’ve written several “just ok” tasting notes about the teabento blacks I got. I want to clarify my position on these teas as a whole. I don’t want to bash teabento as a company. I can appreciate that these are good quality teas. Someone from the company goes out into the world and tastes a bunch of teas and makes decisions on what to buy and what teas are going to be offered by that company. What I think is happening is that my tastes and that buyers tastes are not the same. We don’t agree on what certain styles of tea should taste like. I don’t want anyone to think that these are bad teas – they just aren’t to my taste. There are other companies out there that sell teas that are more to my taste……

Insane cold today and has been for the last few days and will be for the next several days. Life is just difficult when it’s so cold that it hurts to breathe. I know it’s been really cold across central Canada, so it’s not just us. Be safe out there everyone, this is dangerous cold.

Sipdown (349)

Broke in my new gaiwan, teacup and tea tray this evening with a gong fu steeping session. It was not nearly as good as the one I had in Montreal where Roswell Strange was in control and knew what she was doing.

I decided to use a teabento tea because they have timing instructions and unlike Roswell, I can’t just sense when things are good to go. I am past the hand burn-y stage of my learning but not quite at the timing stage. I think the new gaiwan also gives a bit more to grab on to protect from the burning as well.

The recommended amount of tea was 4 grams for 200 ml. I wasn’t sure but thought my gaiwan was 100 ml. I used the last of the leaf of this anyways which was about 4.69 grams so I used double the recommended amount but Roswell suggests 7 grams for 100 ml so a little more than half what she recommends. So basically followed no direction there and just hoped for the best.

Timing wise, I followed the directions on the package…until I ran out of directions and then I just sorta poured the water and let it sit. I started with a 30 second steep and then proudly poured everything everywhere like Roswell did and was carefree because I had the tea tray and didnt need to worry about pouring water all over my butcher’s block. Also the gaiwan and cup are perfectly sized for each other which is nice.

1st steep: 1 minute – this steep was a little tannic and floral (drying) but not offensive. Mostly it has a lot of plum-like flavor but is not at all sweet. It also smells much fruitier than it tastes.

2nd steep: 30 seconds – this steep mellowed out a bit but still had some plum flavor with an added touch of malt. The tannins calmed a bit and it was a bit more floral.

3rd steep: 90 seconds – this steep is more malty which is combining with tannins. I want more plum and berries.

4th steep: 3 minutes – this steep had a lot more plum and some malt. No more floral. No more tannins.

Subsequent steeps (4 additional): there was no longer any specific guidance from teabento so I sorta just poured and let it steep for a while, several minutes at a time. The plum came out more and was sweeter. A little splash of honey came out more with the more steeps/longer steeps with the exception of the last steep where everything but the tannins brewed out.

In other news, I still managed to pour some tea on myself. I picked up the teacup thinking it was empty but it had a little bit in the bottom and that ended up on my pajama pants. Oops.

Today this smells extra cocoa-y and has a lot of malt and raisin bread deliciousness. Yum :)

I had this with breakfast and honestly the tea was gone in two gulps. I don’t remember details but I know I enjoyed it so there’s that.

Brought this to work in my glass travel mug and turns out glass isn’t the best of insulators so I am sipping on a fairly cool tea. As it is, it is fairly jammy and a lot of malt while also having a chocolate vibe and notes of baked bread. I think I quite like those though it should be interesting to see how it is hot.

Drinking another one from my teabento order tonight. his is ok – some bitter chocolate, some bread – tastes like a laoshan black should. But it’s still just ok, it tastes as it should but it’s still a little flat or not as bold as it should be or something. There are better laoshan blacks out there.

My boss gave me a cute little cup with infuser as a Christmas gift. I like it but the holes in the infuser let some of the smaller leaves through.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdMN3NghfQ5/?taken-by=dex3657

Sipdown (272)

Good bye Curly Lion! You served me well.

This is almost 3 years old so this good bye is due but with most of the teabento teas leaving my cupboard, another order may be in my future.

This is a good one. Chocolate notes and malt. This particular cup is a touch astringent but that’s not usually the case.

Had this with breakfast and it’s less bready and malt and more wood and leather.

Had this with breakfast. Don’t remember much about it other than it was good and I drank it all pretty quickly.

This is definitely the better of the two teas I am having this morning. It is malty and bready and just the tiniest bit earthy at times while also having a note of cocoa at others. I am enjoying this one.

I’ve been laughing at the “extreme weather” warnings on Pokemon Go all week. It’s been cold here but nothing unusual or “extreme”. TODAY those warnings are true. It is dangerous cold out there. I took a 7 minute walk to spin a poke stop and that was more than enough time outside. Earlier today it was -32C + wind something like -42 windchill. The wind has gone down a but but it’s still in the -38C range. Yeah cold.

So I’ve spent most of the day watching Netflix and doing a whole lot of nothing.

Plum Rooster was next on my list of Teabento teas to try. The description of this one sounded really interesting. It is interesting – as in it’s unusual – but it’s another one that just doesn’t work for me. It’s way more fruit juice and not enough black tea. Fruity fruity fruity with a little honey.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdIprMrh2ZH/?taken-by=dex3657

work rant
So I went in to work for a few hours today to try and not fall too far behind with fiscal year end coming. Who the hell changes the room rate market codes right before a 4 day weekend and doesn’t tell accounting? Where am I suppose to code these? You need to tell me how you want them entered into the management companies system, if you want your month end/year end reports to be correct. So yeah, I was there on my own time, on Christmas Eve just making up reports. I’m going to get shit on because this isn’t right, and it’s going to be a lot of work to move it to where they want them. Furious…….

So I’m home now, lying on the couch with my blankie, with a snuggly cat, hugging a mug of this tea. Yes, I’ve moved onto a mug. I’m not sure if I’ve just been drinking mediocre tea or if this is really good. Either way it is making me happy tonight.
As I was pouring this off the leaves, it just wafted up chocolate. It’s not tasting as chocolate as it smells, but there is some there. Sweet, chocolate, caramel, malt, starch (bread rather than yam) and just plain yumminess. This is a happy tea…..
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdGbm-NhVb2/?taken-by=dex3657

Happy Panda is not making me happy. Unsmoked Lapsang is one of my favorite styles of black tea. I don’t like this one. It’s just flat. No chocolate, no malt, a tiny bit of fruit. This is just black tea, boring, uninteresting. My least favorite of the teabento blacks I’ve tried so far. That’s disappointing – I should love this one and I don’t…. sad panda….

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdECQSphJR3/?taken-by=dex3657

Red Panda is a beautiful tea. The leaves are large and twisted, the soup is really red

As beautiful as this is, it’s not to my taste. Definitely more like a Taiwan black than a Chinese black. Light, sweet, fruity. A little honey – a lot plum. Don’t oversteep it – brings out more tannin and some bitter.
If you are a fan of this style of tea, you’ll like this. I want something bolder.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdDq0zqhJQq/?taken-by=dex3657

(I need more glass teapots…..)

I was drinking Golden Monkey earlier tonight and have moved on to Golden Fox. These leaves are much more golden than the other. This one is a lot lighter – in color, in flavor, in mouthfeel. Way more fruity, way less malty – I’m not getting any chocolate at all.
This is a nice tea, I don’t mind drinking it at all, but Golden Monkey is way more to my taste.
Sil said she thought this one was juicy – I’m going to have to agree with that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdCHJbuhlYN/?taken-by=dex3657

I had a bit of a food misadventure tonight. I was trying to make a lazy/quick jambalaya. I’ve done this several times before, but I of course cook by instinct rather than recipe. I just toss in whatever I think should go in and hope for the best. Most times it works out. Tonight I didn’t add enough liquid before putting it in the oven, so the rice wasn’t cooked properly. At that point the only option is to mix it up, add more liquid and put it back in the oven. This breaks the awesome crust on the bottom and causes the rice to be unevenly cooked. Oh well, it’s ok but not quite what I was hoping for.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdB0tj9BYAj/?taken-by=dex3657

So while dinner was taking twice as long as it should have to cook… I drank several cups of this tea. I was a little disappointed that the leaf wasn’t more golden. There are some golden tips but I was expecting lots of gold. Doesn’t matter – this is a great tea. Lots of chocolate notes, some starch, some malt, a little fruit. It’s deep, dark, and awesome. I really like this one.

I don’t think I mention, or post many photos of my test tube steeper. I really like it and use it often. It’s great for doing a bunch of quick steeps. I normally do a bit of a modified gongfu. Steeps of 20 – 40 – 1 min – 1.5 min – something like that. I normally just watch the color and stop when it looks right. This being clear glass is awesome for that. It doesn’t burn your fingers and you don’t need a pitcher or strainer, so less cleanup.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdBrgqIBTII/?taken-by=dex3657

This was my friend’s favourite of the teas we tried. She really likes vegetal teas. I think this might have been my least favourite. I’m not much a sencha gal.

Main notes of spinach and grass, bay leaf, seaweed, toasted sweet grain.