Jim Marks Send Message

I really enjoyed this tea. I am sad to see it go. Through it I developed a new appreciation of Chinese green teas which I had been ignoring in favor of Japanese shaded teas. But alas, every order eventually runs dry.

I’m going to have this tea this morning because I am groggy and shaded greens are always a nice kick in the teeth both taste wise and in terms of stimulants.

I had this yesterday. This is the same as the tea I bought from “Omni Teas” before learning that Omni just re-sells Rishi.

So my thoughts and notes for this tea are already listed on that one.

Using up the last of this, today.

I don’t know why I love drinking something that tastes like the demolition site of pre-war construction, but I do. I love it.

I’m cheating a bit, because I drank this about a week ago, not today, but I realized I never logged it (my brother was still visiting and I was trying not to be a laptop cave troll).

This is, hands down, my favorite tea in the world. I used to drink this tea every single day of my life. The only reason I don’t now is vague concerns about health risks from particulate matter arising from soft wood smoke.

If you like smokey teas, but find many lapsang are too bacon or too house fire, try Black Dragon. A solid, smokey flavor, but still tastes like TEA.

My brother left a bag of this here at the house last week while visiting. He somehow ended up with it, and didn’t like it much, I guess.

This produces an amazingly black cup of tea. I actually broke down, broke my rule of thumb, and put some dairy in this just because it is so strong and has so much bite.

If you like really classic, strong black tea, this is the way to go.

While he was visiting, I boiled some of it in milk with chai spices and it makes AMAZING chai.

I have had the Phuguri Estate second flush from TeaG many times while living in Chicago.

It is an eye opener to get to try a second tea from the same garden, as a different flush, to get a real sense of how flushes are truly different.

This tea is much more green than I remember the second flush. It has a fair bit of vegetal bite at the finish in the mouth. But not in a bad way. I just recall the second flush being a lot less volatile and golden.

First flush is not always a short cut to “the best” in spite of what some traditions may insist upon.

First and foremost, this name makes me giggle. Enough said.

The dry leaf is incredibly small. It looks like a broken, tippy tea.

The scent from the dry leaf is that very typical deep, earthy, loamy, mushroom smell.

The scent from the wet leaf is, as with some others I’ve reviewed, like an unpainted wooden cabin or shed, very dusty, that has absorbed a lot of heat energy from the sun. There is a smell that goes with this and you either know it, or you don’t.

The scent from the cup is more like the dry leaf than the wet. Always fascinating when that happens.

The flavor of the liqueur oddly subtle, given the above. Porcini mushroom and wet stone with a surprisingly swift finish. Almost nothing lingers here except the aroma.

This is not nearly as fascinating as the two pu-erh I got from CS, but then, it wasn’t nearly as dear, either. This is priced to be a daily drinker if you’re into pu-erh the way I am.

I’m really not sleeping well, at all; I’m not at all clear on why, either. It isn’t that I cannot get comfortable or that the room is too warm or too cool. I just keep waking up at such short intervals that I get no real rest. So I need tea. Lots of it. And a sense of something cozy.

These Paklum Tips are the biggest, fuzziest, softest white tea I’ve ever seen.

The cup brews up a cheery, bright yellow which fades to golden brown.

The flavor is not as complex as some of the flat leaf white teas, but probably also not as fragile. Soft, fuzzy and mildly earthy, like the leaves themselves, this tea is like a gentle hug from a girl you used to have a crush on, years ago, and these days you’re just happy to see each other happy.

I can’t help but wonder if there is a problem with consistency from batch to batch with this tea, because the other tasting note speaks of broken, short tips. My leaves here are so soft they couldn’t break and they are quite long. Not a “silver needle” at all, just a bag full of fuzzy buds.