Tearunners

Sipdown

This was a gift from Nicole – many thanks!

We went to a Mexican restaurant for my brother-in-law’s birthday Friday night. The food is awesome but every time I go, the high salt and fat content in the food makes my hands swell up and leaves me with a bloated feeling and reflux. I decided not to indulge too much in the chips and salsa. I gave away my quesadilla that came with my meal. I felt great.

Ashman also tried to restrain himself on the chips and salsa but he had worked late, was famished, and the food took a long time coming since we had a crowd. Also, he doesn’t eat beef and changed his mind at the last second on what he was ordering and accidentally ended up with a beef burrito, which he ate but probably lacks the enzymes to digest well since he never eats beef.

This meant that on the way home he was groaning. I had him drink a glass of cold puerh from the fridge before bed but he still felt that bloat Saturday morning so I made a light breakfast of English muffins with jam and a huge pot of this puerh.

By lunchtime he pronounced himself cured but we have continued to make pots of this tea and drink it throughout the weekend, especially since we returned to heavier breakfast fare today of breakfast burritos made with my friend’s chickens fresh eggs, our homegrown cherry tomatoes, sautéed onions, and cheddar cheese.

They call for a four minute steep and I never let it go that long, although I do like really strong shu. This one is more earthy and definitely smooth and forgiving of absentminded steeping. It was darker in the cup than black tea but so easy to drink. It lacks the strong farm poo odors of many shu puerh teas. There is a sweet minerality to it, as well. I also keep the second and third steeps shorter than the first, going by color instead of time.

Overall, this is a super easy to drink pu, easy to steep like most shu, and lacks some of the stronger notes that put some people off, notes that I generally don’t mind. This would probably be a good intro to puerh tea for the apprehensive.

July Sipdown Prompt – your oldest green

Sipdown

I actually sipped down my out of date greens last year! But this tea came in a big box and two years past date already when I got it, so the reader needs to keep that in mind for this note.

The packet was sealed and sturdy so I figured it would be in pretty good shape even if a little faded.

The dry leaf smelled really good with those pure chocolate notes I sometimes get from greens or certain oolongs, like Da Hong Pao.

The first time I had the tea I thought maybe I underleafed because it didn’t have tons of flavor. It was good, but nothing to write home about. It went well with my meal, didn’t call any attention to itself, and was not at all harsh.

I decided to finish it off by making a big pot and err on the side of overleafing. There isn’t a lot of difference. It is good, but right now there is nothing about it that makes me want to get some more right away. I will happily sip on and enjoy this pot for the rest of the afternoon.it isn’t grassy, but rather has mid-tones that are a little mineral and maybe ever so mildly roasted in nature. I bet it was really awesome fresh, so I need to try this type again sometime.

Lots of dust, lots of tannins, lots of acid. Not impressed with most of these TR teas, sadly.

Is good. Laoshan and Lishan: yes, whatever you have made out of those leaves, give it to me. Laoshan greens, delicious like dinner. Laoshan black, delicious like dessert. Chocolate, roast, malt, caramel, brown bread.

I’m getting back to my bike commute this morning, after the winter rains finally shut it down with foot-deep puddles in February. Such a little disruption, but it threw me off for months.

Another morning dip into the Tea Runners cache. I’m hoping to hit a Lincang sheng later, so thought this could be a fun lead-in to the region.

Roast and sweet florals on the warming leaves, malt and light floral from the liquor. Some tannin. Flowers and bubblegum from the wet leaves. I enjoy this tea more as it cools — the flowers get a little stronger. This is no Lishan black — while omnipresent, the floral component is relatively understated.

An afternoon cuppa brewed Western style. It’s smooth and medium bodied with a more stonefruit forward profile – like a mellow mix of apricot and peaches with a subtle grassy and woody undertone. Even though it’s not a particularly sweet oolong, the liquor is still quite thick and syrupy and I love the richness it adds to the cup!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5UE1EKON-K/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62l9zK0iZmc

Gongfu!

This was a lazy Sunday morning session. I think it’s fitting that the sunlight streaming through the window was so intense that morning as I sipped on this oolong, as it’s tasting notes really channeled the nostalgia of summer break. The sweet and slightly sour smell of freshly morning grass, dandelion greens, and biting into a succulent peach. Smooth and syrupy liquor that almost seems out of place for such a green oolong, but the peach ties it all in together. We’re still a ways out from eating peaches on emerald green grass while the sun beams down on us, but it’s nice to be able to capture that feeling for just a moment!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp-lfVOOcmV/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GObJzDfBY-I

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge – a white tea

I had very little of this and I don’t remember how I felt about it the last time I drank it, but I must have done something wrong. I see astringent and bitter listed here by others, and that was just what I got. I also see jasmine and floral and candy mentioned. I did not get those.

I like white tea, and usually enjoy it a lot. I don’t know what went wrong with this one, but I am glad to see the back of it. Maybe someday I should try it again. It was quite old. That could be part of the problem.

Sipdown. Overall very meh and nothing i’d order again. drinkable but nothing special and a little astringent