Well, I was going to plow through the black tea sampler first, but I decided that I wanted to try something else instead. (I did actually drink a cup of yunnan jig this morning, but I just…drank it. It deserved better than that, but I had places to be! I’ll get to a tasting note later.)
This one looked really interesting in the tin. Dark, rich emerald green crumples of leaf that were a lot more solid and weighty than they seemed like they would be, once I picked one out. The smell of the dry leaves was, to me, very ‘cut grass’. Not freshly cut grass, but several-day-old cut grass, that was maybe out long enough to dry in the sun.
The actual brew…
Someone is going to think I sound crazy here, I’m sure, but to me…it smells like cooked potatoes. Baked potato maybe. I assume this is the nuttiness that everyone described, and I can see that too, but my first thought was definitely ‘baked potato’. And a side of cut grass. Given the color of the leaves, I was surprised that the tea itself didn’t brew to a darker color…it’s a very light yellow with a faintly spring-green edge. I didn’t have my eye on it while it was steeping, and was surprised when I came back to find it had unfurled into what looked like half of a plant in my glass infuser. Neat!
The taste is NOT potato, though that should surprise no one. It’s an interesting green, and it leaves a definite aftertaste of itself…strongly, but not unpleasantly. It feels very…full-bodied…and that impression has been increasing as I work my way toward the bottom of my first cup. I’m really enjoying it.
Now my uncertainty when it comes to rating teas is showing. What IS a perfect 100 for me? Does it even exist? This probably deserves a better rating than I’m giving it, but for now I’ll be conservative. There are still too many teas out there for me to try to be safely over-generous.
Preparation
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The explosion of leaves that comes from a tightly furled oolong is probably one of my favorite tea experiences. It’s still a wonder to me that such big leaves can come from such a teeny little thing. Kind of like those foam capsules you put into water that spring forth into animal sponges or something equally useless [yet entertaining]. Except more delicious.
Funny, because to me when you say baked potato + cut grass that combination translates in my head as being potentially nutty tasting. And not that you’re asking for your entire log to be commented upon, but I tend to be overly generous with my ratings. It makes me very thankful that our Overlords have made it rather easy to go back and change everything without much trouble. The perfect 100? I think that when/if you chance upon it, like many things in life, you’ll just know.
I remember those foam capsules! This is admittedly cooler, what with resulting in a cup of tea, but not by much. It’s hard to edge out ‘pack of dinosaurs in pill form’, but it does manage. Narrowly.
Also? I love the long comments. Not just because I’m constantly learning, but because people always seem to have some little irrelevant but equally-interesting detail. It makes the tea even more memorable. Tasting notes are cool. People-notes are equally cool. I’m sure there’s some over-the-top reference to make here about tea being a social phenomenon and steepster providing us with the modern social equivalent of a virtual teahouse, or something, but I think instead I’ll just say:
Foam dinosaurs in pills.
Epic.
The explosion of leaves that comes from a tightly furled oolong is probably one of my favorite tea experiences. It’s still a wonder to me that such big leaves can come from such a teeny little thing. Kind of like those foam capsules you put into water that spring forth into animal sponges or something equally useless [yet entertaining]. Except more delicious.
Funny, because to me when you say baked potato + cut grass that combination translates in my head as being potentially nutty tasting. And not that you’re asking for your entire log to be commented upon, but I tend to be overly generous with my ratings. It makes me very thankful that our Overlords have made it rather easy to go back and change everything without much trouble. The perfect 100? I think that when/if you chance upon it, like many things in life, you’ll just know.
I remember those foam capsules! This is admittedly cooler, what with resulting in a cup of tea, but not by much. It’s hard to edge out ‘pack of dinosaurs in pill form’, but it does manage. Narrowly.
Also? I love the long comments. Not just because I’m constantly learning, but because people always seem to have some little irrelevant but equally-interesting detail. It makes the tea even more memorable. Tasting notes are cool. People-notes are equally cool. I’m sure there’s some over-the-top reference to make here about tea being a social phenomenon and steepster providing us with the modern social equivalent of a virtual teahouse, or something, but I think instead I’ll just say:
Foam dinosaurs in pills.
Epic.