106 Tasting Notes
Back on the 3min steep time, and I think this may actually be better than the 4 minutes.
Although the black tea itself is pretty disguised, the ingredient that apparently leaves a film on my tongue is gone as well.
My philosophy for this tea is basically: considering how the shop advertised the different bases of this tea as basically interchangeable, I don’t think I’m actually SUPPOSED to be tasting the black tea and all its subtleties
Preparation
just wanted to get on here and say that I got to have tea with Ailin, the wonderful owner of an Asian import store in my town (that I go to at least once a week)
We drank two different black teas and a tea-filled orange as well
It was wonderful to chat with her, and she taught me how to use the gaiwan I bought from her a couple of months back!
she also made me feel more like I DONT have to be hyper scientific with gongfu, which made today’s session (a rolled oolong I got from her) a lot more flexible as well — no more timers! no more precision scales! I’ll save that for western brews :D
I’ve been going to her shop for months, it feels great that we’re more than client-shopkeeper <3
How neat! I remember theteahouseghost on youtube said that the tea will tell what temperature and time it wants if you pay attention. So now I warm the gaiwan and put the keaves in and smell the steam after a moment or two. The sharpness or mellowness of that scent helps me decide how I want to do my first steep.
Isn’t tea exploration delightful?