Sunday, September 23, 2007

Dragon Tea House - Mystery "Red" and "Blue"

Somehow September has flown by, and I haven't had a chance to be actively blogging. To follow up on my last post, here are some brief notes on the other two mystery samples provided by Dragon Tea House care of The Half-Dipper.

"Red"

Rinse

1st infusion - 8 sec.

Infusion produces a very light yellow liquor. The smell is tobaccoey with a heavy sweetness. The taste is also of reminiscent of tobacco, similar to Russian Caravan tea I've tried. A little too bitter.

2nd infusion- 7 sec.


This infusion was shorter in an attempt to reduce the bitterness. It has a wonderful sweetness, combined with a sour-woody taste that makes me think of oak barrels. We had some in our back yard that were used as big flower pots, and whenever it would rain a sour wine smell would effuse from the wood.

3rd infusion- 20 sec.

Slightly greener liquor at the longer infusion time. The sweetness is still evident, with a nice wine and oak taste.

4th infusion- 25 sec.

It's still going strong, although this infusion is very dry in the mouth. I think this will be my last cup.

I have a very pleasant and energetic tea buzz. This tea was nice. I didn't know a young pu-erh could taste like black Russian Caravan, although this one had more sourness than any black tea.

"Blue"

This tea produces a yellow soup, which turns amber after a few seconds. At longer brewing times the soup is more green.

20 second infusion - All 5 flavors are apparent in this tea: sweet, bitter, sour, pungent, and salty. Usually there can be a few of this apparent in any one tea, but I have never tasted all five!

The tea doesn't have much stamina, petering out after just a couple infusions. The sweetness weans and the bite takes over. Some of the wet leaves of this tea have dark speckles, which can't be good, except in the case of some special teas.

Overall, a merely decent tea. I think next time I will try more tea and shorter brew times to better understand how this tea evolves.

2 comments:

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