Dao Tea 2009 Kim Shin Ho Sejak

This was receieved as a sample as part of a wonderful tea tasting opportunity hosted by Matt over at Mattcha's Blog. I had been very curious to Try Dao Tea's offerings as they seem to offer the largest selection of Korean teas sold by a Western vendor outside of Hankook (really stretching the definition of Western vendor, but they have an Office/warehouse/distribution center in California). I must say that this tea was a surprise, as I was not sure how well a Green tea could store for over a year, and I must say if this was the 2009 Version I eagerly await the 2010 version which I believe was included in the generous number of samples.

The Dry leaf appearance is small twisted leaves with a good amount of what I believe to be buds, with its aroma fresh and pine like with hints of grass and unidentifiable flowers.

Quick rinse with boiling water (don't even bother to fill the pot up all the way just cover the leaves) and immediately pour off. The rinse had wonderful aromas of Pine, corn and an unidentifiable berry (goose berry, red current,...).

The infusions in general have a rather light but incredibly pleasant aroma which just teases the senses. The first infusions taste was rather potent, though in no way over powering or overbearing, though I had a really hard time identifying the taste, I might have to go with a bean like taste (now that Matt has me looking for it in teas, I am noticing it more and more and more). But possibly slight hints of a chocolate and hazelnuts?

The second infusion was significantly lighter on the taste profile, and reminded me of nice fresh leafy vegetables. In the third infusion somehow I was getting a citrus profile.

This tea had a powerful Mellowing/ Depressing Qi that struck me after the 3rd infusion, and in general was incredibly cooling and refreshing. I went for 8 infusions with this tea before I had to give up, it probably could have went a bit more, but after 8 infusions I had a stomach about to burst with tea.

Admire the teaware,

sniff the venerable leaf,

drink up its goodness.

--Adam Yusko

Yuuki-cha OkuYutaka

So classes start today, and I hope now that I develop a routine. As I am writing this Thursday before I think the fact that I am moved in with no real routine, has been somewhat detrimental to my tea drinking habits. It does not really make much sense but it seems with so much time available to me to have tea, I find myself always putting it off for later. So my tea drinking habits have been pushed further and further into the evening.

The dry leaf has an amazingly pine like aroma, which when infused somehow comes across as incredibly cereal like. Alright I have been known to give some wacky tasting notes in the past, but somehow the aroma of this tea reminds me of the aroma of Lucky Charms. But basically breaking it down, its a sweet aroma with a nice grainy cereal undertone.

The taste is remarkably clean and only slightly vegetal.

1997 Menghai Shui Lan Yin 7542 Chi Tsi Beeng

So I ordered a sample of this from Hou de, simply because I am always willing to try and educate myself on Aged Puerh. Its quite stormy here today which is nice as its been awhile without rain.

I've been drinking so many green teas lately, I forgot how beautiful a nice steaming cup of a darkish colored tea could look. And this is quite clear with a nice reddish hue to it. Smelling the cup full of tea really brings me back into what amazing aged puerh can be like, even though this is only about 13 years old its got the nice minty camphor aroma, with a lot of hints of lighter fruits mostly berries.

The taste though is remarkably clean, its got everything I'm looking for but not too much of anything. And surprisingly as aged puerh runs a real risk of producing a cup that is so incredibly earthy that to me it can be off putting.

Brewing it a little stronger and certain flavors do rise to the front, mostly the slightly minty and earthy camphor, but for the most part the taste comes across as incredibly clean.

I must say that I do not typically order from Hou de, but while their prices are high they typically offer some incredibly solid tea. Though I really do not know why as shipping from Texas to here is rather inexpensive compared to from Asia.

Outdoor Tea

This post is for the Association of Tea Bloggers September Blog Carnival, hosted by Brett at Black Dragon Tea Bar. The focus of Septembers post is, about Tea Outside I guess a sort of reminiscent of the summer past, and a reminder that there will hopefully be a few good days this fall to have tea outside.

I love to have tea outside whenever I can. While we were really supposed to write about a memorable experience drinking tea outside, I am already a bit tapped out on that as I wrote an article for Tching about how Scenery can make the Cup which is about a truly horrible cup of tea that is one of my most memorable and remembered quite fondly, simply because I was enjoying it on a Patio in Venice, Italy.

So I decided to reflect a little bit about enjoying tea outside, and my dream outdoor tea experience.

This picture taken while I was enjoying tea outside, and something about the natural sounds and feel of the breeze of being outside is so much more enjoyable.

Though I have aspirations to hopefully in my life undertake what I consider the "ultimate" outdoor tea experience, it involves hiking with teaware up a mountain to a fresh mountain spring, and enjoying tea right there on the mountain side, hopefully off the beaten path, so it is just me and my company enjoying a truly unique experience.