Week 8 Year of tea
Day 50 I've been way too buzzy the last couple of days so a decaff was the way to go. This is a Decaffeinated Chinese Sencha. In the Japanese-style, these leaves are steamed before drying which keeps more of the goodness in. It makes a bright and tangy brew with very little astringency. Because of the High Pressure Extraction process used for decaffeination, there's no 'orrible aftertaste either. ?
I'm a very lucky girl. Today's #teaoftheday is a gift from the lovely Estelle Liu. It's a black tea from her home town of Ya'an in Sichuan, China. It's really long and twisted black leaves brewed at 100°c for 4 mins made a delightful dark amber cup which tasted like toasted apricots. With a slightly caramel finish, this is a really 'gentle' tea but with tons of character, I can see me getting through this bag in no time! Thanks Estelle!
Although it's technically tomorrow so therefore I drank it yesterday it's still #teaoftheday Number 52. It's a Chinese -
a Yunnan Special White Leaf. The leaves are really attractive downy curls which with water at 80°c and a steep of 2.5 minutes produce a pale golden cup with surprising strength. It's a really refined, delicate walnut taste with quite a hefty earthy finish.
Ok if you don't like aniseed you may as well stop reading here.#teaoftheday 53 is a Rooibos and Green Honeybush blend with fennel and aniseed. There's also chamomile in there but fortunately you can't taste it (ewww really not looking forward to the day I do chamomile) you do however get the properties of it - it really is an amazingly calming brew. The taste is obviously a bit of a marmite thing - personally I love aniseed and fennel and with a nicely 'cooked' Rooibos it's perfect. In short - a woody and fragrant cup of chill.
In the interests of full disclosure, other than a few notable exceptions, I'm not fond of flavoured black teas. This position may now have changed - I made Chocolate Tea Latte - and it was GREAT!
I also made an astonishing amount of mess in the process - but it really was GREAT. It tastes exactly as one would expect. I added honey and nutmeg to it, that probably wasn't necessary but I was clearly giddy with the excitement...so much so that I even got round to blogging it.
Day 55 Kenya Kaproret is an orthodox black tea. It has a rich and aromatic taste. To say it's full-bodied is an understatement - lots of layers. Typically malty like most Kenyans, with or without milk it's a strong and bright cuppa.
Day 56 Today's #teaoftheday was a gorgeous. Da Hong Pao Oolong from August Moon Tea. The leaves are beautifully aromatic - almost like pipe tobacco! Fabulous flavour from each infusion - rich and floral with hints of vanilla.
Day 57 and we have another old favourite: it's a Chinese Chun Mee Moon Palace. It's known as 'Precious Eyebrow' because that's what the furled leaves resemble (allegedly) It's quite a strong tea with a pronounced fruitiness and only a little astringency. It's always been a good seller but it's become even more popular recently as it's apparently being used for weightloss in some circles...
