12 Days of Chris-Tea-Mas - Day 3: Australia Sencha - What-Cha

Australia Sencha - What-Cha
Type: Green (unflavored)
Appearance (dry): Large/long, rolled green tea leaves with some light green and brown stems (?)
Recommended Brewing Parameters: 75°C, 1-2 tsps, 30-45 secs
Rating: B+ | 89/100
# of Brews: 5

Tasting Notes:
Woo, an unusual sencha! For this tea, I'll be back to the originally planned brewing parameters: 5 grams of tea, estimated water temperature, in a gaiwan. Today's album is After the Lights Failed by Curious Quail; I've seen these guys a few times live and each time has been pretty great, since a lot of the gigs they have are more personal due to less people showing up and smaller venues.

Anyway, since this is a sencha, I'll be using short brews, starting at 10 seconds and adding 5 seconds each brew. The first few brews were a very bright green, with an aroma similar to stewed or corned beef, dried seaweed, and string beans. Drinking it, I noticed that it was a bit tart (it was actually one of the most sour green teas I've had, and I felt it all on the back of my tongue which was interesting), with flavors similar to grass and citrus. In fact, the sour taste lingered in my mouth long after drinking, with some fruity (maybe blueberry?) notes appearing. Over brews, the color became much brighter and yellow, and the corn flavor that was described on the packaging began to come out. The tart, citrus flavor gave way to the corn and something I can only describe as rice, but I could still notice it in the back of my throat. It also became much sweeter and grassier, but retained a smooth texture throughout (it did make my mouth feel dry by the time I did finish brewing, however). I eventually stopped at 5 brews, since I ran out of water and have work to do, but the tea was still going strong. Overall, a very interesting sencha that I'll be sure to drink of more.

Misc. Notes:

So, apologies for the bad formatting. Like I've said before, this was a very last minute thing and I haven't had the time to fix everything to a more reader-friendly look (I will eventually go back and fix the formatting, but for now, I'm going to leave it until I'm done with tests). Anyway, today I'm just going to be finishing up homework so I can spend most of the day tomorrow studying for tests, doing mock trial stuff, and hanging out with the girlfriend.

But, also, I've been trying to figure out my schedule for next year; I'm planning on taking Science Research, AP Chem, AP Calc, AP Lit, Competition Civics, AP Gov/Macro, and Video Production. The issue is that I only have 6 periods and I have to take an art (Video Production- except apparently the teacher that will be taking over sucks), English (AP Lit), and a social studies class (AP Gov/Macro). I have to choose to drop Science Research, AP Chem, AP Calc, or Comp Civics, but I want to take all of those classes- Science research because I plan to have a career in that and I am especially interested in the subject, AP Chem because of, again, science and I haven't taken chemistry yet, AP Calc because a lot of sciences use calculus, and Comp Civics because I enjoy the subject. And I can't just take A period because I'm going to go crazy with stress and lack of sleep if I do take that. I just don't know.

12 Days of Chris-Tea-Mas - Day 2: Nepal First Flush Clonal Delight - What-Cha

Nepal First Flush Clonal Delight - What-Cha
Type: Black (unflavored)
Appearance (dry): Small, curled, dark reddish-brown leaves
Recommended Brewing Parameters: 95°C, 1-2 tsps, 2-3 min.
Rating: C+* | 79/100
# of Brews: 5

Tasting Notes:
This tea is actually one of the few that I didn't pick up at Black Friday. I think I bought this during Summer when What-Cha was selling them for 1p, and I'm now finally getting to drinking it. Personally, one of the reasons why I haven't gotten to this one is because I don't really drink black tea gongfu style (I usually only drink stuff like English Breakfast or flavored black teas western style). Anyway, since this is a Western black tea, I will be breaking my brewing parameters once again; this will be brewed with the tasting set, with 5 grams and +5 seconds each brew from 10 seconds. No specific album today while drinking, but I suggest the album Sky Parade [GST-05] by Galaxy Swim Team (another solid chip album).

So, from the first brew, this tea was already very earthy and smoky. The brew was a dark gold/amber color, with a smell similar to soy sauce. Along with the earthy and smoky notes, the tea was just very bitter (leading me to lower the brew time significantly) and tasted very similar to wood. I could also pick up some nutty notes, such as hazelnut, which combined with a sort of vegetal (asparagus? or just soupy) flavor to create a slightly sour taste. The later brews brought out the fruity, muscatel notes which were pleasing, but I eventually stopped at the fifth brew. This was due to a variety of factors- mainly the brew style and the time of day (I'm multitasking right now, since I have a bit of homework).

*Despite the flaws that I found with this tea, I think that it is actually a pretty good tea. The only reason it tasted overwhelmingly bitter was almost all my fault, since I think I used too much tea, not enough water, and long brewing times (in relation to the ratio). If you brew it according to the parameters on the container, I think it would taste great as a breakfast tea, with milk and sweeteners.

Misc. Notes:

Well, today was pretty eventful. Had class, went to work (asked the first of many teachers to write a letter of recommendation for a summer internship, and she said yes!), bought chocolate chips at the grocery store, went to piano class, baked cookies, and then did this review. I tried making some chocolate krinkles (a recipe from one of my aunts) without the cocoa powder, instead substituting it with chocolate chips. Instead of getting the intended result, I ended up with a dry, airy hybrid between a cake and cookie. Lesson learned, though. Anyway, there's day 2! Personally, I rushed a bit through this review because of all of the stuff I stated before, and wasn't really paying attention to the tea. When I tried the tea before, though, I thought it wasn't half bad- it was certainly worth the 1p I spent on it (thanks What-Cha!). 

12 Days of Christ-Tea-Mas - Day 1: Wenshan Baochong - Tea Ave

Wenshan Baochong - Tea Ave
Type: Unroasted Oolong
Appearance (dry): Dark green, rolled leaves with a large spread in sizes
Recommended Brewing Parameters: 95°C water, 10g(?) of tea, steep up to 30 sec
Rating: B | 83/100
# of Brews: 8

Tasting Notes:
Well, Day 1 and I already violated the brewing parameters I set for myself; I was given a sampler of this tea when I bought some Rose Oolong and a gaiwan, and it turns out that it only has 3 grams of tea. Anyway, it was a free sampler, so who cares. Today's album is he's not with us anymore by casio dad; pretty good chip-rock album, and it's free.

So, from the first brew, there was a very strong, sweet floral aroma- mainly, jasmine and roses- and the liquid was a surprising bright yellow-green. The flavor was similar to a tieguanyin, but not as roasted or astringent; rather it was smooth, brothy, and floral, like its smell. I could definitely taste the jasmine that was in the aroma. However, as time went on, it began to lose the floral notes and became more soup-like (in terms of viscosity and flavor); by the 4th brew, I could notice flavors such as cabbage, herbs (I'm guessing sage?), and a faint sweetness. However, by the 6th, the tea had begun to lose its flavor, but had gained sort of a Chinese-origin matcha (in terms of sweetness and floral notes). I stopped at brew #8, but it looks like it could go for a few more. Overall, a good tea, but it's a bit average for my preferences, mainly because it didn't really have any qualities that popped out to me.

Misc. Notes:
So, for these reviews, I'm going to go back to my original format in which I'll put the basic info (appearance, recommended brew parameters, a rating, number of brews, etc.) and a short section about flavor and how I brewed it. On another note, nice day today. Super strong winds and rain since I woke up to the time I'm writing this review. I'm mostly just going to do homework today, bake some stuff for friends, and head to UC Berkeley to finish up the sleep study (just an interview; I have another one at 6 months, and another at a year, and I'll be completely done!). See you guys tomorrow.

Welcome to the 12 Days of Chris-tea-mas!

Original name, yes, I know, but this was kind of a last minute thing.

Anyway, as I stated before, I'll be reviewing 12 different teas- essentially the teas I bought during Black Friday- in the days leading up to Christmas. There will be 1 review a day, starting tomorrow, and hopefully I'll finish on Christmas Eve.

As for brewing parameters, I'll be using:
-5 grams of tea
I finally got a balance/scale, so I can control that now! I still need to get a thermometer though.
-Varied temperature; depends on the tea
I'll be using boiling water from the tap, waiting for it to cool down to the recommended temperature on the packaging (I'll just be guessing the temperature, for the most part). I'll write down the actual specifics/recommendations for brewing on each review, though.
-A porcelain gaiwan
The new one from Tea Ave I bought; honestly, though, I just really want to use it. I'd use the competition tasting set, but I think I'll need a thermometer (or just use boiling water only) if I truly want to make everything equal. But, since I want to try enjoying and learning the tea, I'll be using a gaiwan.
-Varied brew time; depending on the tea, I'll most likely start from 10-15 seconds and working my way up
Since I'll be tasting a variety of teas in this (puerh, oolongs, greens, and blacks!), I can't really use the same brew times. I will include the exact times I used in the reviews, however.

And finally, here's the lineup:
Day 1. Tea Ave's Wenshan Baochong oolong
2. What-Cha's Nepal First Flush Clonal Delight black
3. What-Cha's Australia Sencha green
4. What-Cha's Nepal First Flush oolong
5. What-Cha's Four Seasons oolong
6. Tea Ave's Jasmine oolong
7. What-Cha's Vietnam 'Dragon Cloud' green
8. What-Cha's China Fujian Jasmin 'Phoenix Eye' green
9. What-Cha's India Nilgiri 'Hari Ghatta' oolong
10. Crimson Lotus Tea's 2015 Spring 'Gu Ming Xiang Bing' Yiwu-Bulang Blend sheng puerh
11. What-Cha's Ceylon Moragalla oolong
12. What-Cha's Azores Pekoe black

I promise I'll try to make this work, but I apologize if I miss a review. I have school this upcoming week, and some tests, so studying or extracurriculars may eat into tea time. Thanks for reading, though!

What's Going On? (Life Update - Part 2) 12/12/15

Well, here's an update for the past 2-3 months! There's a ton of stuff that happened, but I'll try to remember the important stuff. Apologies for the lack of updates and the length of this post.

As for school/schoolwork, it's been going pretty well. I can handle my course load decently, because of I've gotten better at time management (thanks sleep study!) and I've been pulling pretty good grades. In fact, as of right now, I have As in every class except AP US History, in which I have a B+ (I bombed an essay, and have been trying to recover since). The main thing I think I need to practice on is my writing, especially just essays under pressure (that reminds me; I got a 2050 on the SAT, which is OK but I'd prefer getting something closer to my high score of 2200). Anyway, since Winter break is this coming week- it starts the 18th/19th- I can finally relax because I finished all of the work for my hard classes last week and I only have tests for my easy ones.

Extracurriculars, on the other hand, have been quite a doozy lately. The fact that I'm actually doing stuff (compared to last year around this time), combined with the fact that I am kind of freaking out over what I should do because colleges are a thing (a very, very big thing at my school to add), has been quite a dilemma. Essentially, I have 3 main things I do: piano, tutoring (I got a job!), and Mock Trial. Piano, like usual, is Mondays; I've just been practicing recital pieces for Spring.  As for tutoring, I go to my old middle school and for an hour after school help kids in the library do homework. It pays relatively well ($10/hr), but I only work 2 hours a week so overall my paycheck isn't amazing, but it's something. Most of the time kids are in there doing homework on their own because their parents are working or something, and I usually end up tutoring Chinese kids in English, Math, or History (most of the people there are in English Learner's classes). Finally, for Mock Trial, I think it's been going pretty well. As a journalist, I haven't been really doing much (I'm actually procrastinating on an article I should write), but overall, the team is great. We went against another team for the first time today in San Francisco and that was pretty fun (except for something that happened at the end; I'll expand on it below). One of their defense attorneys was pretty cute, too.

Anyway, as for other extracurricular things, I'm currently trying to figure that out. Instead of a lot of the people I know at my school, I want to do activities that pertain to things I'm interested in (science, mainly biotech and statistics, and tea!). But, since this is the Bay Area, and I'm from a wealthy area, getting work like internships is very competitive. I'm currently trying to apply for some lab internships at Stanford/UCSF, but they're due in February and I have to get letters of recommendation, my transcript, things like that. In the same vein, I've been working on my science fair project for this year: using slime mold to measure the efficiency of public transport and roadways and design a better version. So far, I've only done most of the application paperwork and tested it out with BART, and I've had decent results (turns out BART is pretty efficient as it is; the main thing the slime mold changed was the connection of the Dublin/Pleasanton line to Bay Fair. Instead it connected to South Hayward, and also connected SFO to OAK, which would be interesting). Oh, and finally, the sleep study has been working well. Barring the past few days, since I've had a lot of stuff happening, I've been sleeping at around 10:30 PM and waking up at 7 AM, with no naps. It's been working surprisingly well, which I'm happy with.

So, how about friends and relationships? The friend group of last year has partly dissolved, but it's alright; we're all friends for the most part, but just have busy schedules. There's been quite a bit of drama which I'd rather not go into, but mainly it revolves around dating, relationships, and people interpreting things the wrong way and getting offended. One thing I've been pretty happy with though is I've made a few more friends (gasp- seniors!) because of mutual classes and my old friend group is wanting to hang out together over break. Anyway, remember how I dated that one girl, who broke up with me, and then went to Homecoming with someone else (I'd rather not remember homecoming, but oh well)? Well, funny story. The guy she went to Homecoming with, she ended up dating, which turned out horribly, and well, now we're back together. I guess it's not really socially acceptable for her to do that, but it's OK. One thing though is that most of the time (it really depends on the time, place, or how I feel), I don't like doing public displays of affection since I feel kind of uncomfortable with it, but my girlfriend enjoys them and wants to do them often. I don't know why I don't like them, but I think it might be the attention that you draw with them (and also the fact that some of our friends are super nosy or touchy? about it, considering all of the relationship drama that has happened lately). Also, this is a bit unrelated, but I've been practicing my creative writing & writing skills with her on a Google doc, which is fun. But, anyway, that's that.

On that note, here's what I've been doing lately that's unrelated to the above. I'm alright in terms of health, but I'm in the process of changing my diet due to issues with my digestion. I've also been cycling a lot more with my Dad because that's his hobby now, but since it's been quite cold in the mornings (even for California) and I've had projects and stuff, I haven't biked that often as I'd like. Oh, and our mountain bike got stolen at the BART today during the Mock Trial scrimmage- someone cut the cable lock and took it- which kind of sucks, but oh well; it was an old bike, we haven't been using it, and hopefully the person that stole it is going to use it or needs the money for something meaningful (not drugs). I'm going to start saving up the money I'm getting from tutoring so I can surprise my dad with a new mountain bike, hopefully for Christmas. Other than that, I've just been listening to a lot of music: I got some more records (the new Protomen single), went to an amazing concert (Curious Quail, the Y Axes, Dangermaker, Please Do Not Fight/Zen Zenith, Picture Atlantic), and have been downloading/buying new stuff. My girlfriend and I are also planning to try and start a tea-based charity and are currently in the process of figuring out paperwork and organization and everything. From what I envision, it'll mostly just be us setting up booths at town events, brewing tea gongfu style for people for free, possibly selling other tea drinks like milk tea, and asking for tips. All proceeds will go to some charity- maybe one in China, because tea- and since I have a ton of tea already, and am somewhat middle class, I'll be fine with losing money on this; after all, I'll be happy just because I'll be making tea for people and helping people out with the funds. I'll give updates on that, but it might just turn into a small thing where I put up a table at street fairs (after applying for one) as an unofficial group/organization and give whatever money we make to charity.

And finally, I have some tea news. Starting tomorrow, I'll be doing the 12 Days of Chris-tea-mas, in which I'll be starting up reviews again: a different tea every day until Christmas Eve. I have been drinking quite a bit of tea lately, but haven't practiced my reviews, so this'll be fun. Anyway, I'll post the info and lineup and everything in an info post later.

Thanks for reading!

What's Going On? (Life? Update) 12/7/15

Oh, hey there! It's been a long time. This is going to be a short update since I am super busy this week, but I  just wanted to let you guys what's been happening since I got a ton of tea this Black Friday. I'll try to keep my personal stuff out of it this time because I have a lot to catch up on, so here are some reviews to expect (for real now, since winter break is coming up and I'll have quite a bit of extra time):

Teas:
Crimson Lotus Tea- Planet Jingmai, 2015 Spring "Gu Ming Xiang Bing" Yiwu-Bulang Blend
[So, I've begun my foray into Pu'erh with Planet Jingmai. After trying one ball- I've bought multiple- I actually enjoy sheng pu'erh quite a bit and I'll be sure to get more when I have the money]
Tea Ave- Rose Oolong, Wenshan Baochong Oolong, Oriental Beauty, Jasmine Oolong
[Just bought the Rose Oolong again since I enjoyed it quite a bit, not sure if I'll do another review on it]
What Cha- Azores Pekoe Black, Ceylon Moragalla Oolong, Nepal First Flush Oolong, Vietnam 'Ta Jin Xuan' Green, Australia Sencha Green, Taiwan 'Jin Xuan' Milk Oolong, Thailand Sticky Rice 'Khao Hom' Oolong, China Fujian Jasmine 'Phoenix Eye' Green, Thailand Four Seasons Oolong, Vietnam 'Dragon Cloud' Green, India Nilgiri 'Hari Ghatta' Oolong
[Now this is quite a bit of tea. What-Cha is one of my favorite vendors since their tea is super cheap and Alistair, the owner, is really nice. I got all of this during their Black Friday sale]

I also got a new gaiwan and scale, so there's that. Now I can't promise that I'll be able to review every single one- a lot of these teas are in small sample bags, and I like to focus on just drinking- but I'll try to do as many I can.

Anyway, expect those reviews coming up and a full update on how my life is soon- hint: it's going alright.

See you guys then, and sorry for not posting that often!

What's Going On? (Life Update) 10/4/15

Well, long time no post, huh? Today's the last day of a three day weekend and I have quite a bit of free time today, since I got all my work done on Friday. In fact, I've actually just spent the last few hours lazing around because I just have nothing to do- and by nothing, I mean I have some stuff that I could do, but I don't have the motivation to. Anyway, let's get to what's happened this last month, shall we? The first month of school was pretty eventful, and will make for a really, really long post.

First off, it seems that my schoolwork has been going pretty well. My final schedule turned out to be AP Language/Composition, AP US History, AP Statistics, Japanese 3, Honors Precalculus, and Biotechnology. The workload and tests haven't been as hard as I expected, and right now I'm pulling off all A's. Well, except for APUSH; I got a B on my first essay which brought my grade down, but oh well- it's the first essay anyway. My teacher for AP Lang/Comp is super cool, APUSH is a fun subject for me, AP Stat is something I find really interesting, Japanese is always a fun class in general, Honors Precalc is easy because of a new curriculum, and Biotech is what I plan to major in, so there's that

Next, I've surprised even myself with the amount of extracurriculars I'm doing and how well I'm handling it, too.
1. I'm currently a co-founder of a club (with the science fair guys, so ehhh)- the Science Alliance- which is nearing approval from administration. In it, we essentially help elementary and middle school kids do science fair projects and garner an interest in STEM.
2. I'm planning to start another science fair project on my own, and I'm actually really excited to do it because of the topic.
3. I got into the Mock Trial team as a journalist, which is one of my largest commitments for this year.
4. UC Berkeley's sleep study has also been working pretty well, since I started sleep coaching and have been going to bed at 11:00 PM lately; the goal is to be sleeping at 10.
5. I'm applying to be a tutor at my old middle school, which is going to be a paid gig too.
6. Aviation club! There's a pretty high chance I'm going to be joining the rocketry team since I've been going to the meetings, helping them plan a few things, and am friends with a few members.
7. I still am taking piano classes, and might start fencing again in the coming weeks.
Even though all of this looks like a ton of stuff, I'm really excited to do it and I'm actually pretty proud of myself for not having a complete breakdown over the amount of work. Actually, I don't even feel that it has been that much, which may or may not be worrying.

Also this past few weeks, I went to freq.fest.norcal 2015 and APE 2015. Freq.fest was amazing, since it was the first year that it ever happened here and a few of the bands I like played. Slime Girls was amazing (even better than at California Extreme 2 or 3 years ago, since I could actually hear them), and I found a few new bands that I really like including Curious Quail, Here Between You Me, Paladin Shield, and more. The best part was that since it was a pretty small concert- I think half of the people there were actually musicians performing- everyone was super hyped. At one point during Astroskeleton's set, everyone started moshing together and we all sang We are the Crystal Gems in a big group (did I mention- I started watching Steven Universe because of my sister lately). APE 2015 was actually yesterday, and was alright. I got a ton of comics that I think my sister will like, a couple of prints, and talked to and discovered artists that I like.

For relationships and friends and everything, I don't really know what to think. A few weeks ago, my girlfriend broke up with me and we got stuck in a "are we dating or just really good friends that mess around" phase. Then, she's now actually dating another guy in our friend group, and honestly, I'm just kind of done with all of that now. It's not that I'm jealous, but I'm just a bit hurt that I got blindsided by it and she just decided to text me (plus the fact that it's all over Facebook and all that stuff). Needless to say, I'm not going to Homecoming since it seems like every year something super shitty happens (freshman year- the girl I asked texted me the day of, saying that she's not going; sophomore- I messed up and abandoned the girl I asked, but we're still pretty good friends; I just feel bad about it). My plan this year is to just dress up, bike over to the next town over, and watch a movie at this theater that has couches and food and everything inside the viewing area. Also, my friends convinced me to smoke with them for the first time ever- and I did. And I'll never do it again. Not because it ended up bad or anything, but it was nothing special (also the fact that my ex texted me that she started dating someone else in the friend group on that very night). The whole time they were super out of it, but I just felt a bit sleepy. I guess now I can say I tried it, but like I said, that's it. Not worth it at all. Some other stuff happened too, but I honestly can't really remember it or it just pales in comparison to these two things.

For tea stuff, I've just been drinking a ton of Twinings tea bags, since I haven't really gotten any new tea (kinda broke because of the stuff above and I still have a lot of the tea from the Week of Jin Xuan left over). I did participate in Reddit's first tea exchange, and my person gave me a few different green and herbal teas, and some black teabags (which was when I started drinking a lot of black tea with milk and sugar). I also bought some matcha from another tea blogger, Oolong Owl, which comes in the mail tomorrow. Expect reviews on that and a few more things, but I don't have any set release dates for those- I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

A lot of stuff has happened in this last month, and it's been such a blur that I can't remember much of it. Most of the stuff that really stands out to me is in this post, but just know that a ton more happened and I just don't know what to make of it.

Anyway, to end on a slightly more happier note, here is a quote from one of the comics I got at APE (LP/Lavapunch 2). I think it'd be a good ending for this post, since it might be a while before I get another one up.
"Aren't you afraid?"
"Sure I am. But I don't make it my life."