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Compagnie & Co Day 7

This sounds like an interesting one! I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea that included basil. I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of slightly candy-like strawberry and something herbaceous. The first steep has notes of strawberry, vanilla, and basil, in that order. The strawberry is a bit sweet, but the tea isn’t too cloying because of the basil. The basil gets sharper as the tea cools. The next steep gives me more strawberry and vanilla; the strawberry tastes kind of like those Campino candies, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The final steep is more basil forward, with a bit of grassiness that might be from the green tea, but there’s plenty of sweet strawberry and vanilla as well.

Even with the basil, this tea is on the sweeter side. However, strawberries are sweet and I don’t particularly mind. This was a nice tea to try, but I don’t need to run out and repurchase it.

I’ve had a couple Qilan oolongs from Wuyi, but this is my first one from Fujian. The vendor didn’t give clear gongfu instructions, so I steeped my 5 g sample in 120 ml of 195F water for 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 75, 90, 180, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of honey, grain, roast, and char. The first steep has notes of honey, grain, roast, wood, orchid, spice, and faint plum. The orchid is a little more noticeable in steep two. I get hints of orchid, plum, other stonefruit, grass, and clove in the next couple steeps, on top of the honey, grain, roast, and wood. I even detect a bit of a peachy/plummy aftertaste. In steeps five and six, the roast and char are slightly more noticeable, though still with layers of honey, orchids, and peach/plum. I get lovely, floral orchid, peach, and nectarine in the aftertaste and at the bottom of the cup. The next few steeps are more nutty and roasted, with fewer floral hints and some grass. The final steeps fade into honey, roast, wood, and minerals.

I enjoyed this tea more than I thought I would, thanks largely to the florals and surprising stonefruit notes. This tea remained pleasant throughout the session without developing excessive sourness or char. I’d say this was more enjoyable than the Wuyi Qilan oolongs I’ve had because the roast was more balanced.

Compagnie & Co Day 6

Steepster has been super slow these last couple days, to the point that I couldn’t post this note last evening. We’ll probably be dealing with this for the rest of the weekend at least.

Day 6 is another rooibos. I can’t say the inclusion of apple and hibiscus fills me with anticipation. I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of cinnamon, orange, and apple. The tag fell off the string of the teabag as I was putting it into the cup, so I had to fish it out with a spoon. The first steep leads with cinnamon, followed by orange, apple, some tartness from the hibiscus, lemon, and almond. The tea is quite sweet and a little cloying. The almond and orange are more pronounced as the tea cools. I’m not sure what verbena is supposed to taste like, though I think it’s lemony as well. The apple and tart hibiscus take over a bit more in steep two, though the cinnamon is still there. Most of the tartness disappears in the final steep, leaving this as an apple cinnamon tea with some almond.

This feels like a more sophisticated version of Constant Comment that has a bit too much going on. It’s also rather too sweet for me. I was wondering whether they included something like stevia, but the sweetness is probably attributable to the apple. Either way, this tea was pleasant but not a favourite.

I’ve had some good teas from Okayti; I hope this first flush Darjeeling will be another one. I steeped 3 g of leaf in 150 ml of 195F water for 2, 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of florals, herbs, wood, and faint muscatel. The first steep has notes of orange, muscatel, florals, herbs, and grass. This is quite a green first flush with a silky texture. The next steep adds more herbs, grass, orange blossom, and wood. In the third steep, the muscatel is more prominent, but I also get some slight astringency. The final steep is herbaceous, grassy, woody, and vegetal.

This is a pleasant first flush Darjeeling that’s on the greener side, despite having some fun fruity accents. I probably could have used 4 g, but didn’t want to have only 1 g left over.

This is another type of tea I haven’t had in a while. I steeped 5 g of leaf in 150 ml of boiling water for 1.5, 2.5, 3, 5, and 7 minutes, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of heady rose, followed by malt and cocoa from the Yunnan black tea. The first steep leads with lovely, fragrant rose, followed by malt, dark cocoa, wood, hay, and tannins from the Yunnan base. I have a feeling I should have started at one minute. Steep two is still delightfully rosy, with the rose somewhat obscuring the tannins in the black tea. I also get notes of cocoa, wood, hay, earth, and tannins. The three-minute third steep calmed the tannins down substantially while retaining the rose. In steeps four and five, the rose is still prominent but a bit fainter, with supporting notes of malt, wood, earth, and tannins from the base. The rose lasts into the final steeps, while the base fades.

I have a soft spot for rose, so I enjoyed this tea, but the base could have been smoother. I think Wang Family Tea had a rose-scented black tea at some point, and I’m sure I would enjoy that one even more.

Compagnie & Co Day 5

I’m even more behind on this calendar since I skipped a day yesterday. I spent several hours getting my hair cut and running errands, and by the time I got home, I didn’t want tea. It’s been a while since I’ve had a lemon and ginger tea, probably because I associate it with being sick. I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 4, 6, and 8 minutes.

The dry aroma is of lemon and freshly grated ginger. Both flavours are lovely in the first steep, with the lemon being sweet, tart, and not cleaning-product-like and the ginger being earthy and spicy. I can see how this tea could clear someone’s sinuses. The green tea is not in evidence. Steep two is quite consistent. In the last two steeps, the flavours are slightly diminished, but not by much. The ginger still tickles my palate and the lemon is a little more restrained. I really don’t taste the green tea.

This is a great take on a basic flavour profile. It’s a lot better than some of the other lemon and ginger teas I’ve had. I’m not sure if the green tea added anything, but it wasn’t noticeable. The ginger they used was especially potent. I’d drink this again, though I wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase it.

This is my first yellow tea from Thailand. Kudos to this vendor for finding cool and unusual teas to include in this calendar! The steeping instructions make me concerned that there will be a lot of astringency to mitigate. Following the vendor’s recommendations, I steeped 3 g of leaf in 150 ml of water using the following temperatures and times: 167F for 2 minutes, 175F for 1 minute, 195F for 2 minutes, and boiling water for 3 and 5 minutes.

The dry aroma is of banana, mango, and wood. The first steep has notes of wood and banana bread, followed by hints of mango, strawberry, and sharper berries. In the next steep, I get banana, mango, strawberry, and maybe grape aromas, while the flavour mainly consists of bread, wood, pine, and tannins. The tea has a herbaceous note as it cools. Steeps three and four offer notes of bread, malt, wood, grass, and herbs, with elusive hints of banana and strawberry and increasing astringency. The final steep is very faint, with notes of wood, minerals, and grass and no detectable fruit.

This yellow tea is very different from the Chinese yellow teas I’ve had, which all emphasize corn and beany notes. I enjoyed the fruity flavours, and I assume they would have been even stronger if I’d drank this tea closer to when it was picked. The thing that detracted from this tea the most for me was the barely-kept-in-check astringency and woodiness. Perhaps these qualities are due to this tea being from Assamica bushes. It was an interesting tea to try, but not one I’d repurchase.

I haven’t had a Sri Lankan tea in a while, let alone one from a semi-wild garden. The vendor recommended steeping 3-4 g of leaf in 100 ml of boiling water, so to use up the sample, I steeped 5 g of leaf in 150 ml of boiling water for 4, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma of these big leaves is of malt, honey, earth, and wood. Oof! This tea has a kick! The first thing I notice is briskness, followed by raisins, dates, malt, wood, honey, copper, earth, spices, and ugh, tannins upon tannins. This tea dries my mouth out like it’s its job. The second steep adds minerality, smoke, and yep, more tannins. I reluctantly undertook a third steep, which had notes of raisins, earth, grass, malt, wood, and tannins. This tea isn’t finished, but I think I’m finished with it.

I try to give every tea a fair chance, especially if it’s from a sustainable garden, but I didn’t enjoy this tea at all. The vendor usually gives great steeping recommendations, but using boiling water brought out all the flaws in this tea. I don’t know whether using less leaf at a lower temperature would have made an improvement. As it is, this tea was harsh, tannic, and metallic. Maybe people who like breakfast teas would have a better experience. I rarely throw out unspent leaves, but I don’t think I can handle any more of this.

Compagnie & Co Day 4

This is one of the teas that I saw on the gourmet store’s website that I hoped would be in the calendar. I like violet things and have high hopes for this tea. I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, 7, and 10 minutes.

The dry aroma is of heady lychee and violet. The first steep has beautifully realistic notes of lychee and violet, with a barely there black tea base. The lychee is more prominent, but the violet is clear and distinct as well. The next steep is equally good, with undertones of citrus and cream and not much of a contribution from the black tea. The third and fourth steeps are still very aromatic and flavourful with no off notes, though the final steep has traces of tannins.

If you like lychee and violet, which I do, this is a very, very good tea. I could see how some people could think of it as too perfumey, and the aftertaste does tend to linger, but wow, this is lovely. It’s going on my list of teas to consider repurchasing.

I’ve had Si Ji Chun oolongs from Taiwan ranging from spicy and floral to grassy and unappealing. It will be interesting to try a Four Seasons oolong from Northern Thailand. I steeped 5 g of leaf in 120 ml of 185F water for 30, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of peanut butter and florals. The first steep has notes of peanut brittle, grass, daffodils, orchids, and herbs. I get a hint of spice, maybe nutmeg. The next steep adds almonds, butter, coriander, and faint citrus. Steeps three and four are similar, with nuts, butter, coriander, nutmeg, herbs, spinach, and grass. The next couple steeps continue to be nutty, buttery, herbaceous, grassy, and slightly floral. In the final steeps, the tea continues to have appetizing aromas of almonds, peanuts, and butter, but is increasingly grassy, vegetal, herbaceous, and sharp.

This is a decent Si Ji Chun, especially in the earlier part of the session. However, it gets grassy and vegetal easily. The vendor’s recommended temperature of 175F for Western steeping probably reflects this. I enjoyed their Thai Sticky Rice Oolong more than their Four Seasons.