Review: Oriental Beauty - Unknown

Type: Oolong
Producer: Unknown
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 6g, 90°C, gongfu style
Appearance: Very loosely rolled leaves, brown, orange and white, connected to thin twigs
Rating: A | 93/100
# of Brews: 5

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
For the Taiwan set of reviews, I think this may be the last one; I have a few other random tea bags and powdered/instant teas, but I'll most likely make those standalone posts. Anyway, like most other teas I've reviewed in this round, I've tried this beforehand but I've only gotten around to writing about it now.

So, the producer is actually on the packaging in English for this tea, but the font is so ridiculously small that I can't read it. There are also English instructions, but they're also very basic and describe how to brew in gongfu style, so I don't have much to work off of. To make up for it, I'll just be doing what I've usually been doing: six grams, flash brews, and boiling water.

Since this is an oriental beauty, it's very fragrant; the leaves are fruity, like a honeyed citrus with apples. The liquid is similar in color to beer (a golden yellow color) and smelled the same as the wet leaf. Compared to other oriental beautys I've tried– Ten Ren's and Tea Ave's– my first response is that this tea is much sweeter. It has some earthy undertones, but the main flavor is lemon; if I had to compare it to anything, I'd say it's like diluted lemon juice. However, rather than ending on a sour note, it becomes sweeter like honey or a dark caramel. There is no astringency, and it's a very smooth drink.

Funny thing is that while I was writing this review, my grandma was peeling an orange next to me and I thought that the orange scent was coming from the tea. They're actually very similar, but an orange is just a little bit sweeter in scent. Overall, this is one of the better oriental beauties I've tried; I'd like to compare it to Tea Ave's again, but I'd need to put in another order and right now my gut says this one is better.


Other Notes

Today's album is Chillhop Essentials - Summer 2017. I found it through The Cancel, one of my favorite bands for chill, jazz hiphop beats, and it's not a bad album at all. Chillhop always makes for some good rainy day or late night work music.

Well, first week of work is done. I still don't feel like I enjoy office work particularly much, but the District Attorney's office is very relaxed and the work isn't too hard. I have some other small things to do outside of that, like an online summer class for incoming Cal freshmen, a speech about human trafficking for the program I'm interning with, reading some books (Slapstick by Vonnegut right now), and improving my handwriting. I'm also still working at the ice cream shop, which I have a shift for today. Oh, and I've been driving so I'm on track to get my license before I head off to college.

After a lot of thinking, I need to work on my confidence in college. I can get somewhat nervous around people I don't know too well sometimes. My fix for that is to get out of the house more often and hang out with people, so I can just get more comfortable socializing and conversing. I guess I'm not as bad as I think I am, but it's still a bit scary going to a new place.

Review: Bao Chung Oolong - Unknown

Type: Oolong
Producer: Unknown
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 90°C, fill 2/3rds of brewing vessel with leaf, gongfu style (recommended)
Appearance: Mix of dark and light green rolled leaves of a large size
Rating: A | 94/100
# of Brews: 5

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
I actually forgot I had this tea; I thought I only had one left to review, and when I was looking through my bag of Taiwan teas, I found this one. It's in a nice, large gift box and has a decent amount of English information on it including brewing instructions and nutritional facts. For one, this tea already wins in presentation.

After googling a bit about this tea, it's supposed to be very fragrant– and this one is no exception. Once the tea was washed, my pot had a very strong, sweet floral scent just emanating from it.
Since the leaves were loosely rolled (6 grams took up a large amount of space in my teapot), I did very fast brews, essentially just pouring the water in and pouring the tea off. The liquid came out a clear, bright yellow-gold color with a scent similar to the leaves, but with a little more caramel scent instead of floral. For the taste, it's just how it smells, with sweet notes of jasmine, honey, and very light fruit, probably cantaloupe. I also tasted a little bit of tomato, but this is more of a greener, sweet tea. It's generally smooth, with a clean aftertaste, but I can see it getting astringent if you brew at high temperatures for a long time.

I ended around maybe the fifth brew, but the tea was still going strong; the color became more golden and the flavor was similar to when I started. This is actually one of the better teas in the Taiwan set I've had– so far, the high mountain green and this one are those I've liked the most– and I can't believe I forgot about this one. Overall, it's enjoyable, following the taste of most Taiwan high mountain teas, but just a little less grassy.


Other Notes
Today's album is the Committed to the Crime EP by Chaos Chaos. Like most other people recently, I found them through their song Do You Feel It? which was in Rick and Morty a while back. They're pretty good; I recommend it.

Anyway, it's been an interesting past two days. Yesterday, I figured out my schedule for next year– history of Asian Americans through musicals seminar, chemistry, math, English, and political science– and went to the girl from the other team's grad party. I guess it wasn't a great day; it's kind of hard to socialize with people when everyone else knows each other, and I don't think I'm the best at meeting people. After staying there, giving her a gift, talking with a mutual friend, and eating, I walked a couple miles home for two hours. Thinking about it, I'm a "nice guy" in relationships and it isn't that great; it leads to some awkward situations. So, when college starts, the plan is to try to be more confident and assertive to try and make friends (and for relationships, too).

Today, I started work at the District Attorney's office. It mainly was just a lot of filing, refiling, and mundane/monotonous work, so it wasn't that interesting. It's a nice experience since it's my first office job, but from my first day, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Personally, I prefer actually getting out and moving about. I'll give it a week. Also, I'm getting better at driving, so that's fun, but right now with work, time management is what I need to work on. I'm currently watching the NBA finals right now, so I'll get back to you all after another review.

Review: Taiwan Black Tea - Unknown

Type: Black
Producer: Unknown
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 90°C, 6g, gongfu style
Appearance: Mix of dark and light brown curled/rolled leaves of medium size
Rating: B | 83/100
# of Brews: 4

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Short review today because I'm busy and not really feeling going in depth on this one. This is one of the teas that is almost completely in Chinese except for the name (which is pretty vague on its own). Because of that, I don't really have much information to go off of and I'll just assume that it's a standard black tea.

Interestingly, the dry leaf is relatively pungent– with a smoky, malty smell. When brewed, the leaf became a bit more sour smelling, but kept the smoky notes. For some reason, I keep thinking this is fermented (smells slightly like it'd be). The liquid was a nice clear, bright orange-amber color with very quick brew times; since the leaves were loosely rolled, there was no need to brew for more than five or ten seconds. As for the taste, it's similar to the Azores Pekoe Black. It's very malty (like it smells), somewhat earthy, and ends on a sour note. It's a bit astringent, but doesn't really have an aftertaste. All in all, it's not a bad tea, but it's not great– it's average. I'd be interested in trying it with milk, just for the hell of it.


Other Notes
As I said above, busy day today. I'm taking my permit test (again), getting my suit dry cleaned for work (starting work at the Fremont DA's office on Monday!), getting some gifts for peoples' grad parties, and maybe hanging out with friends. The goal is to get my license by July, so we'll see how that goes. I also start an online class for incoming Berkeley freshmen next week, which I'm unsure if it'll be a waste of time or not, but it's two free units so I'm not really complaining.

I feel like I shouldn't work this much this summer because it's the first time I really don't have that many responsibilities, but I don't know. I wish I could travel like it a lot of my friends are doing. My ex told me a while ago that I'm probably going to be one of those people who end up constantly working their ass off and never have a social life, which kind of sucks. I'm going to try and fix that this summer and in college; it's hard since I never really had the same high school experience as a lot of my friends. Oh well.

Also, remember that girl from the other comp civics team? We were going to hang out next week, but she ended up bailing on me last night. It's been kind of on par for how our relationship has been; she says she just wants to be friends (which I'm fine with), but always just seems kind of cold to me in my opinion. I'm going to her grad party this Sunday; I don't know how that's going to go. I should really move on, but it's easier said than done. So it goes.

Review: Oriental Beauty - Unknown

Type: Oolong
Producer: Unknown
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 6g, 90°C water, gongfu style
Appearance: Medium to large black/white/orange-reddish curled leaves
Rating: A | 93/100
# of Brews: 4

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Tea two of the Taiwan set! Like I stated before, I can't read Chinese, so the producer and recommended brewing parameters are unknown. Since these leaves are very loose in the teapot, they fill a lot of space– and so, the first few brews are going to be very short (essentially just pour the water in and pour off).

Even with the short brews, this tea is extremely aromatic, both the leaf and liquid. From the pot, it's sweet and fruity, with a slight soy smell. The liquid itself is a light, caramel color, which got darker as brews went on. This oriental beauty is similar to the one by Tea Ave, but I think I prefer this one a bit more; the flavor is very citrusy (lemon) and honeyed, with a smooth texture and little to no aftertaste. It's a bit sweeter than the Tea Ave Oriental Beauty, which I think is a lot more expensive than this. They're both of comparable quality, and I think this one wins. Overall, I still really like oriental beauty, and this one helps solidify that idea.


Other Notes

Today's album is Her World Famous Great Recordings by Vera Lynn. I chose this because I was up until 1 AM last night fixing my record player (another tip? Don't buy an Audio Technica LP60– they're decent beginner turntables but they do not last long). Unlike most of the other albums, I own this one on vinyl; I picked it up used at Rasputin's and when I did, the cashier was very surprised since she is a very old singer and they've had the record in store since 2004. But, still, after I heard We'll Meet Again in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, I've really enjoyed her music.

So, I graduate this week on the 2nd. It still hasn't hit me that high school is finally over, and I don't know if I'll ever feel different once it actually is done. It sucks that it has to end after this year has been so successful and fun, but all things must come to an end. After ending middle school with a single B, I actually am graduating as a Principal's and President's scholar, with a 4.0 unweighted GPA and around a 4.24 weighted GPA– if it really matters to anyone. Also, I have an internship with the Alameda County District Attorney's office over the summer, so there's that.

For college, I've been thinking, and I guess my tentative plans going into Freshman year now are to take concurrent majors at Cal in Letters and Science as a media studies major and in Natural Resources as a environmental sciences major. My housing assignment is a double in Unit 3 (random roommate), so if you see me there, come say hi! I've thought about it for the past few weeks, and I guess I'm finally coming to terms with choosing Berkeley over LA. One thing that helped put my mind to ease was something that the girl from the other team said– in a group chat with her, I posted a paragraph from the recent travel ban case opinion (because it was pretty damn good), and her response was "I'm not even going to pretend I read that." I guess she didn't mean it in any bad way, but it made me realize that I prefer people who actually like to learn or put effort into intellectual (or at least somewhat academic) things. At Berkeley, I got the vibe that everyone there is very driven/motivated, which I like, compared to LA's laid back and somewhat more fun attitude.

As for this blog, the plan is to post some more of my writing, like my college essays. I'm probably going to write a letter or update on or after graduation, and I'll continue writing reviews (goal is to reach 200 total reviews) throughout summer. Once college starts, however, I'm going to end this blog with a final letter. I'll see if I can make a regular schedule through summer, but those are my goals and I'll try to follow through on them.

Tea Review: Mystery Tea (Genmaicha?) - Unknown

Tea Info
Type: Green
Producer: Unknown
Origin: Japan
Brewing Parameters: 5 g, ~80°C, 30s – Cupping
Appearance: Large, flat brown leaves with popped rice, stems, and I think roasted soybean shells
Rating: C- | 72/100
# of Brews: 3

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
I'm a bit sick today, so this is going to be a quick and probably not that in depth review. To be completely honest, though, I have no idea what this tea is. Because it has popped rice, I'm assuming it's genmaicha, but the leaves and presence of stems makes me question that. There were no labels on the container it came in, too; the only sticker on the container just stated in Japanese that it's a tea caddy made of ABS plastic.

The smell is interesting, to say the least. When the leaves are dry, it smells of soy sauce, but when they're wet, it smells like marijuana smoke. The liquid, on the other hand, was still smokey, but more indistinct and less like marijuana. The color of the tea was a dark amber color, and there was very little sediment even without using a strainer. It tasted how it smelled, with roasty and savory notes of smoke, nuts (cashews?), and wood. It was a bit sour, too, with complimented the smoke taste, which lingered in the mouth long after drinking. The texture was generally smooth, but dried the throat very slightly for a few seconds. Overall, I don't know how I feel about it; the taste is alright (it's unique, in a word), but I can't stand the smoky smell and strength.


Other Notes
No school today! Since I'm sick (sore throat, nasal drip, runny nose, the works), all I'll be doing is homework and catching up on stuff– mainly just homework, studying, applications, and the science fair. I kind of spent the whole weekend playing Total War Shogun 2, which I'm a bit obsessed with now. 

As for last week, it was pretty eventful. On Monday, I watched our competition civics team practice in a dress rehearsal (since I'm trying out for the team next year); Tuesday, I did work and a bunch of homework; Wednesday, I had my mock trial competition, and Thursday I submitted my work and studied. Friday I just chilled and I ended up getting sick on Saturday. I'll need to start getting my shit together since the internship applications are due in less than two weeks (I'm applying to three), and the science fair is a month. Wish me luck.