2020 Prosbloom Mini

Working my way through some old samples I never got around to drinking. This one had some interesting aromas after the wash, I was getting warm brown bread, the kind you bake with raisins and molasses. Brewed up a nice dark brown just short of black. The flavors in the aroma don’t really bear out in the cup, most of what I’m getting steep after steep is just, well basic shou flavor is the only way I can describe it. Just a clean basic shou with moderate body. It’s perfectly fine, but there’s nothing really interesting going on here.

Way darker and earthier than the other one from this morning. There’s a little bit of cocoa, like super dark chocolate. Strong taste. It gets better as it gets lighter in color. Sweeter and smoother.
I don’t like it that much. Too dark for me.

Still working my way through the big White2Tea ripe minis Halloween pack. I think I only have Grandpa’s and Lumber Balls after this.

The wrapper smells like fruit (is it weird to sniff the wrapper?). Dry tea also smells fruity but not as much as the wrapper. After a quick rinse the wet leaf smells sweet like caramel and dried fruit (black raisins, maybe?). I started with the little baby gaiwan because it was clean and within reach but but it was too much tea for such a small brewing vessel. And I wasn’t really tasting any of the caramel-y fruity stuff I was smelling. So after three or so steeps I scooped all the leaves into a mug and went grandpa style until it lost its flavor. Not fussing with short steeps gave me time to leisurely sip and browse teaware. I realized I don’t have a larger “real” gaiwan and should probably do something about that. I have plenty of pots and easy gaiwan/quick-pot type things but no big regular gaiwans. The tea is smoother and more pleasant grandpa style than brewed with a too-small gaiwan but I still couldn’t taste the interesting things I could smell. It’s not a bad tea but disappointing that it smells better than it tastes. Maybe stuffing it down to the bottom of the tea box and forgetting about it for a while will improve it. It’s still drinkable as is and White2Tea’s description of it being an uncomplicated daily drinker seems pretty accurate. Maybe it was those first few concentrated steeps and drinking them on an empty stomach but the “tea derp” is pretty strong with this one. I feel like I need a nap.

Grandpa Style!

Super smooth with an incredibly dark, thick and oily liquor. Very comforting!! I actually ended up stretching this one out over a couple evenings – it was very reliable to go back to at my leisure. Thank you tiffanydrinkstea for this sample, and all of the others that you so kindly gifted! I hope your Montreal trip has been good so far!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cia_p6_PreI/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJmEZKmw4gE