I haven't written a post in a long LONG time, but I'm awake, it's late... I'm caffeinated. Eh. But actually I'm not as caffeinated as I was a few nights ago. I'm feeling extra rambling tonight.
Tonight was the first time I tried Sleeping Dragon, a green tea that Adagio describes as a soft gunpowder taste. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.
I can tell you that as of right now I don't consider myself experienced the in the world of fancy teas. Growing up we had certain types of tea always stocked in the cabinet, but my parents were fairly strict about it. My Mom drank tea, my Dad drank coffee. When you had tea though, you NEVER EVER put other things in it, if you wanted milk or sugar it was coffee. And you know the coffee that that gave us as kids was more like 80% milk, 20% instant coffee. Even 20% seems a little high. Did you forget I'm a rambler? Never expect my posts to be always to the point. Sorry about that. The original point of this paragraph is that I'm not a very experienced tea drinker. Not like my friends that drink tea like water. *I* can still get caffeinated off of tea.
Tea in our house was also made what I've recently learned to be called 'grandpa style'. Basically a bunch of tea leaves inside a large thermos and refilled with more hot water throughout the day. So the day starts out with fairly strong tea, and ends with a quite weak tea, depending on how many times you refilled the pot. (Admittedly I still brew like this alot, except not owning a large thermos, in a tea pot.) I'm a multi-infusion tea drinker. One use tea bags to be was a foreign concept when I first discovered that people actually and USUALLY throw out a tea bag after one infusion. Soo weird. You know that tea changes flavor with pretty much every infusion? Admittedly now in adulthood I can understand why most people toss the teabag after just one infusion, especially supermarket tea bags, most are only good for one infusion anyway. This paragraph served no purpose other then to tell you I like to infuse things multiple times.
Tonight was also the first time I got to play with my new tea pot. It's not quite a traditional tea pot. The IngenuiTEA pot. It's turning out pretty fun so far. I wonder how it'll hold up. My other two tea pots are made of ceramic and glass respectively. It's pretty neat to make just one mug of tea, which my other pots are too large for really. Mostly of the time it's easier to just brew in the cup. But oversteeping happens occasionally in all those cases but this new pot. The teas my family usually drinks, this is hardly ever a problem. The new teas I'm trying out, that can be a problem.
So I oversteeped Sleeping Dragon on my first infusion. Ooops?
I didn't set a timer, because hey, it's tea! Usually I'm a 'dip it and pull it out' tea bag person (usually at work), or a 'put it in and forget about it' type of person. The latter method almost always results in bitterness from oversteeping unless it's a later infusion, or one of those teas that work that way, like the Grandpa style teas.
First I rinsed the tea leaves (1 tsp) in cold water. Like I do with coffee. Apparently not everyone does this? I don't know. Then I rinsed the leaves in hot water. My dispenser is currently set for 195 degrees F. Then I put the leaves and hot water in the IngenuiTea pot and left it there. For how long? No idea, longer than the recommended three minutes certainly. Since I was actually looking forward to the notes in this tea, the astringency and bitterness that accompanied the first infusion was disappointing. I realize though this is my fault.
The second infusion went much much better. I set a timer on my phone and away it went. These notes are based on second infusion. I typically tend to like second infusions best anyway more in the multi-infusion teas. I haven't figured out quite why yet.
For me in general, usually the first infusion is too bold and the third infusion is just a hair weaker than the second, but enough to start to feel more like water than tea. Tea for me serves a purpose of taste and experience- it can be very enjoyable; water is just there- it's normal- I can expect it.
It's definitely a green tea, fresh and you can smell the brightness. The mouth feel was full and smooth, but still a little dry in the way that your mouth feels a little dry after awhile as certain teas will do. Dry as in the sense of you want to keep drinking, but not in the sense where you need water after a mouthful just to put the moisture back in your mouth. I can sense why others call it sweet, and it is sweet in the back of your throat type of feeling. Not the sharp sweetness of candy or soda, nor the soft sweetness of steamed cabbage. Overall it was quite a pleasant tea and I'm glad I got to enjoy it.
This tea I bought as a sample size with my Adagio Teas order, so I get to try it again, but I don't know yet if it's a tea that I'll buy a full size of. My experience with green teas is most with Asian supermarket teas, loose leaf or bagged. This tea didn't WOW me, it's not my favorite and doesn't even compete, but it IS good. I'm not sure I'll ever actually be in the mood for this type of tea. For me, this is an, OK, inoffensive tea that you can casually serve to guests, that you aren't close with but don't mind seeing. Not the good stuff you serve your parents and best friends, but probably just average. Maybe I'll like it more another day. A sample is enough for 3-5 tries, so I'll try it again. Maybe I'll like the first infusion better when I do it properly.
For now though, this tea was nice to have, but not memorable. Good thing I'm writing it all down then.
Good night.
