The Great Mississippi Tea Company

From Daylon R Thomas a while ago! Thank you! I’m surprised at the lightness of the flavor here, as I thought Daylon mainly wanted to pass a bunch of strong teas along. This one is incredibly light. To be fair, I did NOT follow instructions as the pouch says to use FOUR teaspoons for eight ounces of water. Yowza. I went with two heaping teaspoons. Both steeps tasted the same… not really distinct flavor notes that I could find… maybe honey sweet. So I suppose I will have to try using four teaspoons the next time.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Gongfu!

I had a chance to try this unique North American grown tea a few years back and I fell pretty in love with its distinct mustard-like top notes, so it was exciting to get to revisit it several years later to see how it tastes now after a few more years of refinement. I’m delighted to say that the first few infusions retained that unique sweet, honey-tinged note of mustard. As far as differences go, I found this production much more smooth and medium bodied overall, with really distinct undertones of edamame and green beans and a very round feeling nuttiness in the finish. It was a short session, as the tea leaves steeped put pretty quickly – but very pleasant, and less definitely less coarse overall compared to the earlier productions.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9KnGiSOTos/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwIW63NopHc

Advent Calendar from Kaylee: Day 12

What a neat tea company — I had no idea Mississippi produced tea! Unfortunately I was not able to coax much flavor out of the sample Kaylee provided, which is a bummer. I got some very light minerality, but almost nothing else. I’ll abstain from rating it because I feel like this must be user error on my part!

Here is another US tea that was featured in the library presentation. Prepared hot and plain.

This was my favorite of the sampled teas. It’s a lovely oolong. It has a lovely brewed aroma of honey and floral sweetness and some citrusy depth. Brewed, I get honey roasted nuts, sweet flowers, warm bread, and marmalade. There is also a hint of a vegetal undertone, a bit of a cross of garden peas and lemon juice. Very satisfying! The flavors appear to pop a bit more as the cup cools, and plan to try out at least one cold brew batch of this tea.

This tea is currently for sale on their website. They also teach a class every year about how to make yellow tea (and how to do it following FDA guidelines). It’s a fascinating science packed class that any tea nerd who loves and wants to understand yellow tea should take. I really enjoyed it and will be taking more of their classes.

Now onto the review:

Mississippi Sunshine- The Great Mississippi Tea Company
(yellow tea)

Dry tea:
Appearance: Visually interesting. It almost looks like brush from a forest floor. The leaves are not dried in an even method, but it looks like whole leaves.
Smell: Light fresh fruitiness, almost a mix of oatmilk and fresh nectarines. Very floral.

Wet tea:
Appearance: Deep army/olive and blackish green with an undertone of brown. Long twisted whole leaves.
Smell: Pungent, medjool dates, sweet, really interesting and complex. Hard to unpack. Wet dried roses.

HOT TEA: Chinese prep
Gaiwan: 5.20g 120ml

Infusion 1: 175°F 10s
Appearance: clear golden yellow
Smell: Sweet, fruity, medjool dates, hints of tamarind, light brown sugar like dried figs
Taste: Fresh figs, undergrowth, almost mossy, sweet, fruity, a little pungent, almost a dark earthy fruitiness. A bit complicated to unpack, but very interesting.

Infusion 2: 175°F 15s
Appearance: dark gold, clear
Smell: Nectarines, sweet, deeply fruity, dark stone fruits
Taste: lightly vegetal like fresh figs, light sharpness, vague fruitiness, almost tangy. Lighter and less complex.

Infusion 3: 175°F 20s
Appearance: dark gold, clear
Smell: Sweet, fruity, lightly tangy, tamarind
Taste: A little sharp, fresh figs, pungent, vaguely vegetal, almost mossy, not really fruity

Infusion 4: 175°F 25s
Appearance: dark gold, amber, clear
Smell: lightly fruity, sweet, indistinct dried fruit
Taste: Vegetal, vegetable water, vague fruitiness

HOT TEA: Western Prep
2.41g 120ml

Infusion 1: 175°F 3 min
Appearance: bright amber gold, clear
Smell: Pungent, sweet, medjool dates, almost earthy, fruity
Taste: Pungent, savory, lightly sweet, tangy, light animal notes, wet hay, light musk /muscatel
There’s a lot to unpack.

Infusion 2: 175°F 4 min
Appearance: amber gold, clear
Smell: Sweet, fruity, muscatel, medjool dates
Taste: Sweet, indistinct fruitiness, vague earthiness, light muscatel/ muskiness, not as complex, vague aftertaste

It heavily degraded in complexity on steep #2 with the western method.
It degrades heavily on infusion #3 for gongfu method.

ICED TEA
2x 1L infusions in an electric kettle w/ infuser basket using 6.15g
Infusion 1: 3 minutes 175°F 1L
Infusion 2: 4 minutes 175°F 1L
Pour both in a pitcher and stick it in the fridge until it is cold.

Appearance: bright amber golden yellow, clear
Smell: pungent, tropical fruits, bright fruity notes, hint of melon, hint of cut hay
Taste: Pungent, a little tangy, fruity, fresh figs, sweet but not overly sweet, almost savory, floral, wet dried rose buds

W/ breaded chicken and sauce:
The plain chicken and tea don’t really blend or clash.
The bbq sauce and the tea don’t really have an effect on each other. It’s a lot like drinking tastier water.

The sweet chili sauce is a GREAT match. The tea offers a refreshing palate cleanse. Its mild sweetness matches tones with the sauce enough to blend, but the difference in sweetness is enough to accent the sauce’s sugary nature. The tea is also hydrating and refreshing in a way that is more satisfying than water after the spiciness of the sauce.

Video of wet leaves:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CU8dEUghKvf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #53 overall / Tea #20 for February

Sunday 2/14 — I am not a black/rooibos/white fan (more of a oolong/green/herbal fan) but my boyfriend got a SCOBY for Christmas so we started making kombucha. This tea was brewed from January probably around Friday 1/15 but I never logged it until now. This was a sample bag(1/2 oz) from last fall (2020) Virtual Tea Festival.

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge