Tea with the Black Dragon

Today was a lesson in being mindful on my journal of Cha Tao. I opted to make this particular sheng puerh so I could compare it to its 2017 counterpart that I enjoyed yesterday. However, I was definitely multi-tasking while getting to know this tea -- listening to a podcast, looking at my phone, writing, etc. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and I, certainly, wasn't being mindful of my main task at hand --- drinking this tea. I was holding my tea when I accidentally turned my hand over reaching for my phone...resulting in tea all over my notes; and fountain pen ink isn't too forgiving. I mopped up the spill along with most of the ink. I had to read the faint words and re-create them with a gel pen instead. OY! Afterwards, I took the hint; put on some quiet calm music, and set my mind to actually getting to know this tea! Lesson learned. The Way of Tea starts with being mindful and present in the here & now. Denong's Notes from their Web...

This morning, I wanted to have a tea session with a shou puerh. I feel like I'm finally making headway on developing a taste for puerh...at least ripe puerhs. So, I grabbed what I thought was Denong’s Ripe Puerh sample that I got from the San Francisco Tea Festival this year. I measured out the tea, made the first infusion, took a sip, and thought...wait, this can’t be a shou puerh. I might not have fully developed my puerh tasting chops, but I know enough to distinguish most shous from shengs. So I took another look at the sample box, and nope, it wasn’t a ripe puerh at all,  but it turns out it was the sheng sample...oopsie. Sometimes, the tea has to decide for you. Denong's Notes: The 2017 Mountain Oasis, is quickly becoming quite well known for its unique floral, fruit and menthol like characteristics it developed from the 2017 drought harvest. It had become a favorite of many Pu-erh tea drinker and will continued to be remembered for years to come. Tasti...

This tea is part of a large order I put in with Yunnan Sourcing back in September 2019 and received in November. Since it's the American Thanksgiving Holiday this week, I took this week off to get some personal work and tea tasting done! Tea: High Mountain Red Ai Lao Mountain Black Tea Spring 2019 Merchant: Yunnan Sourcing From their website: High mountain tea grow at 2000 meters on Ai Lao Shan in Zhenyuan area of Simao.  Picked and processed only from the first flush of spring this black tea is lightly oxidized and processed similiar to Taiwanese black tea or Wu Yi Rock tea.   There is a still a greenish tinge left to the leaves!  The brewed tea is rich and thick with hints of dried Longan fruit with a protracted mouth feeling! The tea is grown at almost 2000 meters making it one of the highest black teas we offer.  Mr. Guo was born and raised in central Taiwan and his father had a black tea factory there.  Mr Guo, traveled to Thailand and event...

This tea is part of a recent Yunnan Sourcing Order that I made in September, received in November, and I'm slowly doing an initial taste of the different teas that I ordered. For this session, I chose: Wu Yi Shan "Zi Hong Pao" Purple Da Hong Pao Oolong Tea (Spring 2019)  From their website: "Zi Hong Pao" is a purple varietal that's a naturally mutated offshoot from the classic "Da Hong Pao" varietal.  It's also called "Jiu Long Pao" (lit.  9 Dragon Robe) or Wu Yi varietal #303.  It's "medium-leaf" class of tea, not purely Assamica or Sinensis.  The leaves are thick and dense with a purple/red/green color when fresh. Zi Hong Pao is a very rare tea with only about 10 mu of land in total producing this tea.  The buds and leaf shoots are slow to grow and the harvest is the last of the spring harvests. Perhaps the most special aspect of "Zi Hong Pao" is the lovely delicious, thick and pungent tea that it...