Type: Green
Producer: Red Blossom Tea Co.
Origin: Jiangsu, China*
Brewing Parameters: 2 g, brewing to taste
Appearance: Small, white to light-green curled leaves
Rating: A | 93/100
# of Brews: 5
Tasting Notes and Thoughts
What is this? It looks like I've finally gotten around to reviewing this tea, after talking about it for one or two years now! At this point, though, I think the flavor of the tea might be significantly different because of improper storage and also because of a very small amount of leaf. Regardless, let's see how this goes.
Because I only stored about 2 grams of this tea, I'm brewing in a tasting set/cup to balance the water to leaf ratio. My first brew was only thirty seconds; the liquid was very light colored, with a tint of pastel green. I'm not entirely sure on the aroma, but I can best describe it as sweet, somewhat like soy sauce, with meat and vegetables. For some reason, it smelled a bit like a puerh– metallic.
The flavor stayed relatively the same through the drinking session. It was very fruity, with a hint of sweetness that gave way to some bitterness by the end. Like many others have said, apricot is its dominant taste, followed by grassy notes. There's a smooth texture– it just felt like drinking water, unlike some other teas– that left little to no aftertaste in my mouth and on my breath. While the flavor didn't change much, there is one issue: it didn't last that many brews. After the first or second brews, it was very weak and got even weaker with each subsequent brew. I'm not sure if it's just because of the tea itself, or because I've had it for a very long time, but I'm willing to wager that it's the latter.
Overall, I'd forgotten how much I like this tea. It's not necessarily a complex tea, but it's very enjoyable and I can see it as a daily drink. Oh, and it works very well in cooking, too. It's a shame that it looks like Red Blossom Tea Co. isn't selling this tea anymore.
Other Notes
I hope you all have had a great 4th of July! I spent mine in Santa Barbara with the family, since we had to drop off my sister for summer classes at UCSB. Interestingly, on our drive back, we got to watch fireworks explode at eye-level as we went past the beach.
As for today, it's been a lazy day. I think the only things I've done were play video games with friends, cook some twice baked potatoes and baked avocados, and go to the library. I made my final summer reading list too: Mother Night, by Kurt Vonnegut; The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton; Breakfast at Tiffany's, by Truman Capote; Complete Stories, by Zora Neale Hurston; The Confessions of Nat Turner, by William Styron; and Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw. I've already read Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, so I'm already two down.
Regarding my summer work, I've actually got a decent amount done. For AP Gov/Macro, all I need to do is watch and report on the Republican and Democratic Conventions, for AP Chem, read 3 more chapters and do their related problems, and for Competition Civics, write journals on all of the readings, read Ratification by Pauline Maier, and read and make a lesson on Spirit of Laws by Montesquieu. My plan is to finish it all before my environmental sciences summer camp at CSU EB in two weeks, so I've been working my ass off. In fact, since July 1st, I've been doing reading for Comp Civics each day, practicing my handwriting, and doing AP Chem chapters, and have gotten the majority of the work– the easy stuff, that is– out of the way.
Finally, here's some good news! Ended up with 5s on my AP Stats, English Lang, and US History exams, so there's that.
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