Type: Green
Producer: Loyal Tea
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 80-85°C (recommended); brewing with 5 g and gongfu style
Appearance: Small, slightly pale, dark green, pan-fried, curled leaves
Rating: A | 94/100
# of Brews: 3
Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Recently, my parents went to Taiwan as a leg of their trip to Philippines, and I asked them to buy me as much tea as possible. They came back with six different teas and a number of assorted tea bags, so it looks like I'll be starting a new set of reviews! Note that I can't read Chinese, and these teas only really have English for the instructions, so the producers are unknown (and I'll be guessing the type of tea– most are oolongs, either some sort of green/unroasted or Oriental Beauty, with one black tea).
It's been a while since I've had a nice green tea– I've been drinking a lot of oolongs recently– and this was a nice change. This tea is extremely pungent; with the tea wash, a smell of seaweed, grass, and smoke lifted off of the pot and liquid. With short, <5 second brews (pouring the water in and pouring the tea off immediately), the tea came out a bright, yellowish-green color. Interestingly, the flavor is vaguely sweet, with a light bubble gum taste. It's followed by the sour, grassy taste characteristic of most greens– the main flavor– which is also a bit savory. I think the smoke smell comes out in the aftertaste, and the texture overall is very smooth. It doesn't dry out the throat or leave any noticeable texture in the mouth, either.
I stopped after around 3 brews, but only because I ran out of water and need to eat breakfast. It's surprisingly good, and I either expect to continue brewing this throughout the day and using the leaves to cook with (they're very high quality and don't taste half bad). Since it's a green, I'm unsure if it'll last maybe more than 5 brews total, but it was still going strong when I stopped. Overall, this tea is a pretty strong pan-fried green, judging from the curl of the leaves, and I'd recommend it– it reminds me strongly of the Kamairicha Gokase from Lupicia, which was another great green tea.
Other Notes
Today's album is DESIRE - R E M I X E S by Mark Redito. I'm sure I've made my interest in Mark Redito's music pretty clear by now, and all of these remixes are good takes on his stuff. Listen to it!
So, it's the final month of school– I graduate on June 2nd. I originally planned to end this blog when I graduated, but with the erratic uploading schedule and the backlog of teas I have to get through, I have decided that I'll now end this blog once summer vacation ends. Although I keep saying otherwise, don't expect regular posts. I do plan to clear the backlog, though.
As a quick update of what's happened since Bruin Life Weekend at UCLA, I've finally committed to a college! I'm going to UC Berkeley's College of Letters and Sciences as a Regent's Scholar. In the end, I chose Cal over UCLA because 1. it's close, and a lot more convenient than moving across state; 2. Regent's covers all financial need if I ever need it, and gives a ton of other benefits like priority registration (it doesn't really matter anymore that I didn't take that many AP exams); and 3. I prefer the grittier, urban environment of Berkeley over the upper-class, suburban feel of Westwood (I've been living in a suburb my entire life, and a city is a nice change). Although it doesn't seem like it'll be as fun or relaxing as UCLA, I think I'm ready for the challenge. I also plan to transfer into Cal's College of Natural Resources, and head down to LA to meet my BLW friends and watch the Cal-UCLA football game.
Competition Civics warrants its own full post, but here's a quick rundown of some notable things. I asked one of our teammates to ball (which happens next week!); we bused with the team from Maine and were pretty surprised at the amount of white people in the entire competition and how diverse our team technically was in relation; met a bunch of awesome people from Pennsylvania; ate a ton of soul food; and did decently first round (4th Amendment), pretty good the second (Earl Warren), and kicked ass in the Top 10 Round (1st Amendment). My unit fulfilled our goal of being in the Top 10– our team finished in 5th place, which is one spot better than the only other team our coach has brought to nationals– and we actually were the highest scoring Unit 5 in the final round. Because one of our judges was in a wheel chair, we actually got to testify in the seat where the Representatives sit in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In the end, a great competition and I hope we continue working with the program in the future.
Since then, I've had AP exams and met with friends (watched a pretty intense hockey game, cooked dinner for my unit, the girl from the other team and her unit). To be completely honest, I'm kind of terrified, but still excited for college, but that's for another time and post. Thanks for reading!
