What Black Are You Drinking

Oxidized tea
Ethan Kurland
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Tue Dec 11, 2018 9:30 pm

_Soggy_ wrote:
Tue Dec 11, 2018 2:31 pm
Chilling with Adaigo's "thai chai". It ain't bad, but it could use some tweaking imo. I was in the area of an Adaigo the other week and decided why not pick up some chai(also it was like 20f out and I needed something to warm me up). I'm a purist generally, but Masala Chai is really one of the few(only?) blends i find ok and I have a soft spot for. Classic blend that is quite tasty and It reminds me a lot of when I was a kid during the winter at home. Appropriate for the holidays. Cheers.
when I am home in Boston in the winter, I drink hot Thai Chai with sweetened condensed milk a few times. Sometimes the thick, overly sweet drink is soothing when coming in out of cold weather. Sometimes it tastes awful even when I am cold; then, I just toss it. (Not from Adagio and cheap enough to toss.) Cheers
John_B
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Fri Dec 14, 2018 1:23 am

I was paging through and asked a question so I'll add a bit more to one of these threads too. I just reviewed a Nepal golden needle tea that was nice.

Those give up a bit in terms of complexity and structure (feel due to limited astringency) but the flavor range is nice: honey, bees' wax, mild sweet malt, and mineral.

I just tried a jasmine black tea today that was unique, but posting about a blend in the black section might get this deleted. It seemed to sun-dried black tea (very mild in flavor, but interesting for what it had) along with actual jasmine flowers, versus just having that taste transferred to them through layering with flowers then removing them, one other variation I've tried in the past.
Rui
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Fri Dec 21, 2018 1:15 am

2018 Sugar Rush from White2Tea. Yummy!
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debunix
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Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:50 pm

I'm posting about a tea I was drinking a little earlier today, when I was on a telephone call at work, and had to take notes on that call instead of this tea: Wakoucha, black tea from my subscription to Obubu Tea Farm near Kyoto. The label speaks truly: "Very delicate black tea with light earthy flavor and dark chocolate undertones." I am looking forward to my next session which will be with some dark chocolate on the side. It was a little fruity as well as earthy, and most importantly, what looked like a small quantity of leaf was actually an amount that halfway filled my littlest Petr Novak pot after the leaves swelled up--and that amount of leaf produced a lovely liquor infused 3-4 times without any bitterness. So fine! Tomorrow I'll try it again, recording brewing parameters, and hope I can recreate this very pleasant session.
Ethan Kurland
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Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:07 pm

debunix wrote:
Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:50 pm
I am looking forward to my next session which will be with some dark chocolate on the side.
You often mention having dark chocolate during tea sessions. Sometimes I eat a very small amount right after finishing drinking tea. About once a month, I seem to "need" that chocolate at the end of a session.
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debunix
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Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:15 pm

I love chocolate even more than I love tea, and sometimes it really 'clicks' with a tea.

I keep a small ceramic jar by my tea tray at home, and another on my desk at work for chocolate. I break up the dark chocolate bars into tiny pieces, and nibble bits of chocolate while drinking tea and typing on the computer. This celadon jar is from Inge Nielsen:

Image

Image

Today's chocolate at work is Dick Taylor 78% Tien Giang from Vietnam. It was very fine with the Obubu Wakoucha, Jiri-mountain Hwang Cha by Jeong Jae Yeun from Morning Crane, and Phoenix Village light roast Shui Xian oolong from Yunnan Sourcing. And of course it's lovely by itself.
Last edited by debunix on Sat Dec 29, 2018 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Psyck
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Fri Dec 28, 2018 3:31 am

70ish% dark chocolates are my favorites that I have regularly and while I haven't paired them with teas I can see them being a nice accompaniment to chocolate flavoured blacks.
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debunix
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Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:10 pm

A happy package from Klasek Tea today, with a Petr Novak cup and shibirodashi, and a small packet of Nepal Arya Tara Wonder Tea, second flush 2018.

Really lovely floral, herbaceous and citrusy tea....and of course, it goes well with dark chocolate!
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Psyck
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Sat Dec 29, 2018 5:16 am

The few Nepal blacks I've had were similar in taste profile to Darjeeling. I suppose the teas from that part of the Himalayas share common cultivars, terroir, and processing.
swordofmytriumph
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Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:06 am

Drinking Yuchi Wild Mountain black tea from Taiwan tea crafts. This is my favorite black tea I’ve had. This is my first time posting tasting notes, so bear with me. :)

To me the first infusion has a somewhat creamy/smooth mouth feel, it tastes like baked bread (French bread crusts? But a bit more malty) and the jammy taste of fruit leather (cherry maybe? Something a tiny bit tart), and just a tiny bit of astringency. A pleasant dichotomy of savory and sweet. In following infusions the fruit leather flavor becomes a bit stronger and the astringency increases a bit. This tea goes a really long time, all the times I’ve had it I’ve actually had to quit before the tea did. :lol: Towards the end it keeps getting a bit more tart. A really complex, dynamic tea.
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debunix
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Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:03 am

Fine note that makes the tea sound very appealing.
swordofmytriumph
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Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:21 am

Thanks! :) if you decide to drink it let me know how on point I am, I’m new to this whole tasting thing. Up until recently, I’ve been a more, if I like it, it’s good and if I don’t.... I’m learning to put more thought into my tea. It makes it so much more enjoyable, doesn’t it?
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debunix
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Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:55 pm

swordofmytriumph wrote:
Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:21 am
I’m learning to put more thought into my tea. It makes it so much more enjoyable, doesn’t it?
Yes!
swordofmytriumph wrote:
Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:21 am
if you decide to drink
I just neatened up my tea trunk and tea shelf, and I cannot order any more tea for a good long time. My trunk runneth over!
swordofmytriumph
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Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:13 pm

debunix wrote:
Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:55 pm
My trunk runneth over!
:lol: :lol:
Yeah, I’m trying SO HARD not to buy more.
Lemir
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Mon Jan 07, 2019 3:28 pm

swordofmytriumph wrote:
Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:06 am
To me the first infusion has a somewhat creamy/smooth mouth feel, it tastes like baked bread (French bread crusts? But a bit more malty) and the jammy taste of fruit leather (cherry maybe? Something a tiny bit tart), and just a tiny bit of astringency. A pleasant dichotomy of savory and sweet. In following infusions the fruit leather flavor becomes a bit stronger and the astringency increases a bit. This tea goes a really long time, all the times I’ve had it I’ve actually had to quit before the tea did. :lol: Towards the end it keeps getting a bit more tart. A really complex, dynamic tea.
I remember having that tea last year in their black tea sampler, so I've poked around for my notes :) Don't remember it being too creamy. I've definitely found sweetness both in aroma and taste, almost honey-like, but with more clean/rocky note, so rock sugar? Tartness got classified as cherry, it's a note I've found in most taiwanese blacks I had from TTC. From what recall it was most prominent in Red Jade cultivar. Definitely something that took some time for me to like, although this wild tea was the best one from the sampler.
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