Zerama Tea

An extremely dynamic tea with a lot of character – some of it brash, some of it charming, like a precocious youth.

The highlight is the dry leaf aroma of cereal milk, Special K Red Berries cereal, strawberry milk, freeze dried raspberries, and Grape Nuts. Malty, fruity, creamy, strong and delicious.

The wet leaf is more floral and spicy: lilies, clover, fresh alfalfa, lily pad, big yellow sunflowers with thick green stalks. The liquor is deep brick red-brown and luminous, with aroma of strawberries, cereal, and milk.

The taste is surprisingly vegetal and floral at first, with less fruit and sweetness than expected. Cooked spinach, bran flakes, yellow sunflowers in a field, lilies, steamed broccoli, Corn Flakes with milk, vanilla pod, lily pad, and mild tobacco. The flavor really mellows out by the 3rd steep and loses its vegetal edge, becoming all malty cereal notes with black pepper: Corn Flakes in whole milk with cracked black pepper, yellow sunflowers, and Grape Nuts. After that rollercoaster of flavors and aromas, we landed somewhere calm and comforting.

This tea has personality, that’s for sure, and its enthusiasm is charming, if not always smooth. In retrospect, I enjoyed the journey.

A tropical-fruit laden jasmine green tea. The fragrance is of juicy green pear, mangosteen, pineapple gummies, flowering pear tree, lychee, honeycrisp apple, and tangy green grapes.

Tastes of watermelon and grape Jolly Ranchers, Nerds candies, white flower pollen, watermelon rind, magnolia tree, summer wind, and then finishes with buttery green tea notes like bok choy. Medium-intensity, fruity, and not soapy at all, as some jasmine teas can be.

Today hit 80 degrees in Los Angeles (about 27 degrees C) and the evening was perfectly cool and fragrant with orange blossoms. The hummingbirds seem delighted by the improving weather, chirping their happy hellos to one another, and maybe, I hope, to me as well. A quiet seat outside, enjoying the delicious silence after a beastly workday. The gift of a sunset. A perfect moment for this tea.

Quality tea from a Colombian producer that definitely cares about their leaves, but quite a light flavor. Very creamy texture. Delicate floral, green, nutty, and buttery flavor. Light violets, dry roasted edamame, and salty Ritz crackers. All nice notes, and a luxurious silky texture. The long steeps tasted like a raw puer: notes of apricot, apple, and persimmon, but also quite light.

Savory, vegetal, salty, and buttery. Nice flavor but lacks sweetness and nuttiness we want in a Long Jing. Cooked asparagus, buttery mashed peas, club crackers, cinnamon powder. Some lightly sweet floral notes come out in later steeps. Cherryblossom. Light lingering cinnamon cracker. But lacking sweetness.

Gongfu Sipdown (2656)!

This warm, toasty tea was even better the second time around; in addition to a gentle roast and nuttiness this tea had a fantastic combination of cinnamon, raisin, freshly baked bread, and cooked milk notes that folded together into a delicious pastry-like profile. Like a cinnamon raisin brioche, or hot cross buns like get served around Easter. A little bit grassy and green once the leaves really open up, but I find the focus is much more on those nutty elements and the baked quality. It was a very snuggly sorta session.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DARPUCXyk3u/?img_index=2

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YNcDd8f4I4

Adventageddon Day 12 – Tea 4/4

Gongfu!

Bit of a bittersweet session today as this is the final tea in the Tea Thoughts countdown and I’ve really enjoyed exploring all the different teas curated by Nazanin. That said, I’m very excited to star the 52Teas countdown tomorrow!

This company is entirely new to me, so that was a fun way to close things out. I found this tea a bit on the roastier and more mineral side, but not a heavy roast. More in the middle, with a round and golden toasty nuttiness. Notes of different grains, but also hazelnut and macadamia nuts. Quite smooth, with a very gentle grassy hebaceousness. Like a hint of basil or krishna tulsi – in particular because the later has an element to it that I find ever so slightly spicy and clove like. Can’t emphasize enough that’s a delicate element of this tea overall though. We’re not hitting up spice town while brewing this one.

My morning session was a smidge rushed today though, so I look forward to finishing this sample in the future when i can spend a little more time with it.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0xPAg6ulwP/?igshid=YzZhZTZiNWI3Nw==

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2nTgrFUgDE

12th and final day of the Tea Thoughts Winter Countdown box. This is a tea that I’d probably drink a few more times before posting a note if I weren’t trying to keep up with advent tasting notes. I brewed it up Western style because that’s what the package suggests and because I had a lot going on today, but the flavors would probably be better served by gong fu brewing. I get a clear mineral note up front, and then I can tell there’s more going on but I can’t quite figure out what. And almost a bit of smokiness along with the lingering mineral aftertaste. This is a tightly rolled ball oolong and there’s a good bit of it in this sample size, so I have enough to play around with it later and hopefully get a better sense of it.
Easily my favorite tea from this box was the honey GABA cakes – hopefully Nazanin stocks them so I can get more. I wish there had been an herbal or two; usually there are. But yeah I’ve been getting her seasonal themed boxes for years, I’m not going to stop.

As a tea adventurer, I love discovering tea that is unknown to most. This tea is a gold mine for adventurers and info nerds. Before I dive down the rabbit hole of this tea, let me tell you that this is unlike any tea you’ve had before. Yes, it is a dark tea. And yes it does have notes that are reminiscent of a dark tea with musty and earthy tones but it also has intense woody and minimal varnish notes, barely any astringency, and some unique very dark chocolate aftertaste flavors. I also get a slight sensation of a homemade waffle cone as it slides down my throat.

So rabbit hole. Here we go. This tea actually comes from a company called Osada Tea. It is unique in that they are the only company that makes the tea because they are the ones that created it. “Japanese tea made with a patented manufacturing method called the microbial control fermentation method, incorporating sake production techniques to tea.” Fascinating!

This was a perfect moment to take out my blue lotus Kyusu from Zerama. If you want to properly brew a Japanese green you need to get one of these. I steeped 3 grams for one minute. The dry leaf is a nice glossy dark green with flecks of light green. Fine like flattened pine needles. The wet aroma is buttery, clean, and crisp. Very pliable to the touch. Smooshing is very easy. Dry aroma grassy. The liquor color is light amber with slight green hues. Slightly like glacier water which settles to reveal clarity. Ah, wonderful flavor. Grassy. Creamy. Sweetgrass. Nutty. Very fine sesame undertone. Mouthfeel smooth. A bit astringent.