Red Golden Spiral 'Hong Jin Luo'

Today was a day of Dinosaurs, though hilariously not in Ark. I want dinosaur tea pets, specifically a few sea creatures (technically they are mostly reptiles, but shh) and many theropods, my most adored creatures. Problem is, they are either really big and not tea table sized (though it will fit just fine on my desk) or they are grossly old fashioned (few things offend me as much as a vertical Rex) and I will just spend my time glaring daggers at them for being wrong. Mostly my quest was not successful, I found some small friends, but they were a synapsid (hello Dimetrodon) and a pair of sea reptiles, though finding an Elasmosaurus was awesome. Ben found a Palaeoscincus he liked so that kinda counts, but no epic dinos for me…yet. Next up will be to paint my new small friends so they are more fun, because a solid gray derpy Elasmosaurus is just sad.

Today is a double feature from Quantitea, looking at the two red teas from their ‘Starter Set’ flight I got a chance to experience recently. I brewed them using their glass mug and basket that came as part of the flight, giving my gaiwan a bit of a rest and retracing my roots to my early tea drinking days. The first one I am looking at is Hong Jin Luo or Red Golden Spiral, a Dianhong (so a hong cha from Yunnan) with some of the prettiest little leaves, seriously I adore the fuzzy little gold spirals. The aroma of the leaves is malty and sweet, with strong notes of molasses and sweet potatoes with cocoa and roasted peanuts. It is a classic smelling Dianhong, both rich and sweet.

After my steeping and the uncurling of the leaves, the aroma takes on a richer malty and nutty quality, really bringing out the peanut notes that I favor in this style tea. They always remind me of my beloved boiled peanuts but without the copious amounts of brine usually associated with that snack. The liquid is a wonderfully sweet blend of molasses and starchy yams with a honey undertone.

With big mug in tow, I slurped it up while playing Ark, that is my favorite part of this system, I love gongfu, it is my favorite way of enjoying tea, but not always do my hobbies blend perfectly and a mug is required. I was able to get a couple steeps from the leaves, so points for longevity there, the first steeping was rich and sweet, strong woody and molasses notes at the front, middle notes of chocolate and yams, and a nutty finish of peanuts and malt. The second steep focused more heavily on the starchy yam notes and malt, with a brown sugar note that vaguely reminded me of my favorite way to eat sweet potatoes. I had extra of this tea so later gongfu’d it and it is safe to say it is equally delicious that way as well!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/04/quantitiea-hong-jin-luo-and-golden.html