tea thread time! stats
Yunnan congou from upton tea company, 4.5 g leaves in ~500 g water (i have a tea scale but not a kitchen scale currently, which says a lot about my priorities lol so this is converting from imperial cups) poured at just under boiling into a preheated pot. 4 min steeping time, no rinse
tea thread time! sight & smell during steeping
This is a rolled tea — by 4 min its mostly unfurled but you can still see some traces of shaping in the basket
rolled teas tend to be pricier but they help keep the leaves intact & can also lend themselves towards better / more interesting resteepings
strongest note on the dried leaves for me is dried fruit? more like the note one would call “raisiny” in sherry than raisins themselves. Younger sister (who was half asleep eating cereal) described it as “like black tea” and “warm and bright”
Steeped leaves loose the sweet smell from the raisins but keep the fruit, which combined with the much more prominent tannin smells ends up something closer to red wine
tea thread time! 1st steep
this is a very light color for a black tea! We’re very firmly in ‘amber’ here rather than red
nothing terribly surprising in the taste in comparison to how the steeped leaves had smelled — red wine still felt appropriate as a main flavor note.
We spent a bit of time discussing where the sweetness in the leaves had gone during steeping, since an oolong I’d just finished had very clear notes of honey (esp in the finish) when I steeped it but not when younger sister did. Speculated that it could be worth experimenting with steeping temp, which was the main difference between sister and my’s technique.
mouthfeel is…normal? idk not something i have a ton of opinions about
tea thread time! 2nd steep
5 min, had to re-preheat the pot because I filled it with cold water to measure volume between steepings one & two
color is lighter but not dramatically so — it makes the photo from the initial steeping look a bit more reddish by comparison but clearly in the same family
much milder flavor but still good (i would not expect to get a 3rd steeping out of this). I drank both both black but younger sister but milk in her first after we got thru the initial tasting discussion and didn’t feel the need for her second. Traces of floral sweetness in the aftertaste here, which surprised me bc I hadn’t gotten any in the initial cup
tea thread time! official listing’s tasting notes, for comparison
«This unique black tea offering, “Zi Juan,” meaning “purple beauty,” originates from a purple bud varietal that was developed at the Menghai Research Station in Yunnan province. The purple-brown leaves have been loosely rolled and produce a dark amber liquor with a pronounced stone fruit aroma. The cup is smooth and sweet with a jammy/juicy character that hints of red wine. A suggestion of almond/nutty nuances leads to a clean finish.
STEEPING SUGGESTIONS
Leaf Quantity: 2.25 g/6oz cup
Steep Time: 4-5 min
Water Temperature: 212 degrees (boiling)»
Sweetness: no/not prominent enough to be worth putting as the primary note
Smooth: yeah sure
Amber color: definitely
Jammy/juicy with hints of red wine: clearly the same note i was picking out, though i would not have thought to use either of these words
almond/nutty: ok one of those weird quirks of taste is that almond, stone fruit, and cherry blossom are all very close cousins in terms of taste despite having very different effects. i’d be willing to give the floral note i mentioned in the second steep to ‘apricot’
