Edited post on the 22nd of August 2014 for the new tea blog
Here I was, about to tea cup my teas (tea cupping is the act of tasting the tea, much like people do "wine tasting") when I looked at the labels... Darjeeling, Assam & Ceylon Lumbini Estate FBOP... Spot the 2 mistakes!
Darjeeling & Assam. Those have no description as to where they are from, what flush, what estate! How am I suppose to write in my tea log if I can't categorize them?
I sent an email, but I think I forgot to mention I want the flush for all of them... :S
Ah well, if the info I get is to satisfactory, I'll just reply asking for more precision...
I continued with the only clearly identified one. Although no flush too... I don't know if all are available from different flushes (when they were plucked, much like "first pass", "second pass", etc.). Maybe I should also inquire next time...
So, as I was writing, I went with the Ceylon Lumbini Estate FBOP. It smells so good like figs and raisins when dry, but the infusion doesn't taste like it... I found it disappointly brassy (metallic taste), but just a bit.. Bitter at first, and it tasted like what it tastes to chew on a green leaf you just plucked (you know, like pretty much any tree leaf would taste). Maybe a bit astringent. I had to find the raisin taste in the back of my mouth and even then, I got help from a review of a specialist. I managed to agree with him on that, but maybe my water wasn't so good, I don't know. It's not the best water quality, in fact, it's full of calcium! Next time I'll have better water!
I still don't understand certain terms like:
Course: An undesirable harsh, bitter taste. (I think they mean "coarse") as opposed to just Bitter: An unpleasant bitter taste.
Brisk: A vivacious, slightly astringent taste as opposed to flat or soft tasting liquor, there is also Astringency: The lively, pungent sensation on your tongue that gives tea its refreshing quality. This is not to be confused with bitterness.!" So how do I make a difference? What is a vivacious taste??
Dry: A slightly bakey or scorched taste. Bakey is like a bread taste, but I'm not sure how I will know it's that taste if I encounter it...
Fine: Tea of exceptional taste and quality. Isn't it personal? I mean the exceptional taste part.
Flavoury: Tea that has a pronounced, satisfying flavour. Pronounced flavour is more generally found in high grown teas such as Darjeeling, Nilgiri, Kerala, and Ceylon. Once again, sound like personal taste...
Full: Tea possessing colour, strength and body as opposed to being empty or thin. There I think they are talking mainly about the liquid's looks. What is thin? having strength, colour? All tea have colour except maybe a white tea... I don't know yet, but since their liquor is very pale, they could look barely coloured...
Hard: Tea that has penetrating and desirable strength, particularly used for Assam tea. Please... Desirable? Again very objective, huh?
Hungry: When the characteristics generally associated with the tea variety or region of origin are not present. Even if I could tell where it's from, how do I use that term? My tea is very hungry? It sucked the saliva out of me when I tried to drink it? It drank me instead! Hungry Hungry Ceylon...
Malty: A desirable malted barley taste often found in Assam tea. That's it. I'll give beer a second chance! :P
Woody: Tea that has a sawdust-like character. Character? I know what woodies taste like, but I'm pretty sure they differ from tea by a great deal! ;)
All in time I guess. Once I'm back home, I have this great book from the Camellia Sinensis with a chart about tastes and they put them in easier to identify categories like Earthy, Fruity, Flowery, Woody, etc. I'M pretty sure woody tastes like bark or something!
Oh yeah, and I got this only-add-water raspberry white chocolate scone mix... It looks good, but it contains no egg (then again, I can't remember if I use eggs in mine...) and all you have to do is add water? It may be some sort of bio earth friend mix, those "only-add-water, it's easy as pie" mixes are usually pretty horrible... I'm thinking premixed cake Betty Crocker or the likes.
The best scones I had where at the Camellia Sinensis, but either they don't have them anymore or I'm just coming on the wrong days, because they stopped having them when I'm there! They were made with ginger and maybe some citrus, I'm not sure. So anyway, I'm going somehwere with this, follow me!
I found this great recipe online! Amazing Teaism Ginger scones. Click heeeere!
They are not very sweet, so make sure you don't forget to add the sugar on top before baking them! :9
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