Saturday, February 28, 2015

Dark Pearl Oolong


This is such a good tea! It has a rather dark flavor, but is still fruity. It also is more astringent than a lot of oolongs, making almost a mix in flavor between a black and an oolong. I got this one time when I went to The London Tea Room, and asked them what their most interesting tea was. They told me that this one was probably their most interesting tea. I agree that it is very interesting. I have found that some of my favorite teas are the interesting, unique, and different ones. If you can imagine a black tea (I thought a Keemun without the smokyness) mixed with... say Iron Goddess of Mercy oolong and Tung Ting oolong, what you would get is something like Dark Pearl oolong. Dark Pearl is also almost lemony, it is not sour, it is just a little lemony. It also had that toasted barley/oat flavor that a lot of oolongs have! I would say this tea has a very juicy mouthfeel, but, if you let it get cold or cool (accidentally) before you get to drinking it, the mouthfeel is rather creamy. If you can call a tea rich, I would call this tea rich. It is also slightly savory, and sometimes when I drink it, I taste baked potatoes and leeks. At other times though, I taste bananas and peaches (I don't care for the taste of bananas though, sadly.) Yes, I think interesting is a good word to describe this tea!

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Lapsang Souchong and Butterflies


 

I think this is one of my...I can't really say favorite because I don't really have favorite teas.  I guess it could just be called one of the many teas I really like. I think that perhaps one of the reasons is because of it's smoky flavor, and it reminds me of the campfires we have in the summer to burn the bits of wood that somehow end up laying around our yard. It also reminds me of when I was two and a half or three years old, and lived in Guatemala. Some of the people there cooked over wood fires. 

I can just say that whatever the reason, I really like this tea. 

Tasting notes: smoky, very slightly astringent, slightly fruity, and a little nutty. 

I don't know why, but this tea for some reason is reminding me of butterflies on flowers. So, here are some non-tea photographs, I hope that is not too much of a problem! 









A just flower picture I decided to throw in