coffee and more coffee for a while

I expect it will be a while before I get back to posting regularly.  Our son Phineas came along April 29th, about a month early, and my wife and I finally got home from the hospital today.

It turns out that newborn children are actually part of a government experiment in sleep deprivation, so I imagine I'll be living on loads of coffee, without much time for tea drinking or writing, but I'll be back to posting regularly in a few months.

In the meantime, catch up on Scotch and beer.  Cheers!

Margaret's Hope Darjeeling

With three down and two to go in my Culinary Tea's Darjeeling sampler, I'm a bit concerned I've already reached the point of diminishing returns.  Margaret's Hope is clearly a high quality, excellent tea, but I honestly struggled to find that much of a difference in flavors between this and the Castleton Darjeeling.  Don't get me wrong, this is a fine, super high quality tea, and I'm glad that I'm finally developing a better taste and appreciation for Darjeelings in general.  It's just that while the Soom was distinct and quite different, these last two have been a bit similar.  I have two more to try, the Mim and the Tukdai, so perhaps there will be more variation to be found in the last two samples.

So, then Margaret's Hope Darjeeling is a second flush, FTGFOP tea.  Second flushes typically have more developed flavors, and FTGFOP is fine tippy golden flowery orange pekoe, full leaves composed mostly of the higher quality tips.  Bearing in mind my difficulties with the Castleton, I brewed the Margaret's Hope like an Oolong, at water just under a boil for about three minutes, and met with success.  The tea brewed up a pale brown, with a delicate, clean nose.  The flavors were distinct, as with all the Darjeeling I've tried so far,  and the profile is nicely balanced.  Floral notes predominate, without much of the "Muscat" wine-like note that Darjeeling is most famous for, and also none of the natural crisp smokiness of the Soom.

Margaret's hope is really a high quality cup of tea, but not the most exciting cup I've had, even within the constraints of the Darjeeling area.  It's mellow and clean, with mild astringency and natural dryness.  On the whole, though, I think I'd reach for a quality green or white before this one.  Score:  83 (B-)

Maple Cream tea

Perhaps I should call this post "Maple Tea revisited."  Maple Cream tea is pretty much a loose tea version of last month's review subject, maple tea.  I really enjoyed the maple tea, and figured, a loose version with cream added would be even better.  Surprisingly, the cream didn't add much to the tea.  True, it is loose tea, and so brews up a higher quality cup, with less astringency, but flavorwise, I have to say, it's pretty much the same.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great cup of tea, it's just that in every other case, the addition of cream flavoring makes for an absolutely amazing cup of tea with the addition of sweetness and a velvety texture.  Score:  85 (B)

That may well go on record as my shortest review ever, so I'll throw out the notion of my latest brainstorm.  I've been slowly gathering interest in blending my own teas, and it has occurred to me that all of the basic flavor elements in Talisker, a truly excellent single malt from the Isle of Skye, are notes of particular teas.  We have smoke via Lapsang Souchong, malt and oak via Assam and Keemun, and pepper with Yunnan (aka Dian Hong).  Given my less than amazing success at replicating Irish Breakfast, a fairly basic blend, it may not quite be the amazing cup I hope for, but it should prove an interesting project.  Updates to come.

Irish Breakfast Green

Irish Breakfast green tea is a blend of three green teas from Culinary Teas.  The intent was to create a blended green tea with a strong body and bold flavors, reminiscent of Irish Breakfast tea.  The tea went on special right around St. Patrick's Day, appropriately enough, and I was intrigued by the idea, enough so to give it a shot.  The tea itself is made from three distinct greens:  A Kenyan green, a Hoji-cha Japanese green, and a Gunpowder green.  Each tea brings something to the table; the Kenyan (who knew Kenya produced green tea?) brings a nice solid body, the Hoji-cha a toasty flavor, necessary if we're to emulate true Irish Breakfast, and the Gunpowder a crisp texture and a hint of natural smokiness.

As with all green tea, brewing requires a hair more caution than black...I use briskly steaming (not boiling!) water, and brew for no more than 2 or 3 minutes.  Hotter water or longer brew times run the risk of scorched, bitter tea...I suspect this blend is a bit hardier than some, but still, it pays to be careful.  The tea brews up a nice dark green color, a bit darker than I've come to expect from greens, and has a nice body and a full flavor.  As with all greens and whites, no additions are necessary...milk or sweetener would mask the delicate flavors, and defeat the purpose of drinking high quality tea like this in the first place.

There's definitely a complex and balanced profile.  The Gunpowder brings some nice crispness and the suggestion of smoke to the table, and the Hoji-cha definitely lends a roasty, faintly nutty note that doesn't exactly taste like Irish Breakfast, but is at least reminiscent of it...perhaps in the way rooibos reminds one of true Camella Sinensis tea, but doesn't quite taste like the real thing.  The toasty note remains through the finish, which is mildly astringent and refreshingly clean, as I tend to find with quality greens.  There's none of the hints of fruit or flowers as in some un-oxidized teas, but then, such notes would be out of place here anyway.  So, does it remind me of Irish Breakfast tea?  Sort of...it's perhaps more suggestive of Irish Breakfast than a straight up green version of the stuff.

All in all, not my favorite, but a well executed combination of three teas.  While with black teas I sometimes do favor carefully constructed blends, with greens and whites, I prefer unblended, stand-alone teas, though I really like the concept of Irish Breakfast green, and applaud the effort in creating it.  I would love to try more blends along these lines in the future, but I think I'm even more curious to taste each of these teas on their own.  Score:  80 (B-)

Castleton Darjeeling Second Flush FTGFOP -or - What's with all those letters?

So, what is with all those letters?  FTGFOP means Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, which is a lot of words to describe high grade tea.  Orthodox tea grading is based on a standard size of Orange Pekoe, which is a small leaf size, rather than a flavor or variant of tea.  In my limited experience, orthodox tea grading is a cumulative system, in that the more descriptors we add, the better the quality of the leaf.  (I may be over simplifying this a bit.)  There are other systems of grading tea, but the old fashioned Orange Pekoe based system is still in use for a lot of high quality teas.

So, FTGFOP Castleton is pretty high grade stuff, and additionally, it comes from a highly regarded estate.  So, it was a bit of a letdown when my first cup was a complete bust.  I brewed the tea at a full boil, like I did with the Soom Darjeeling, and the tea was completely scorched:  burnt, smoky, and flat.  I did some research, and found that brewing Darjeeling is even trickier than I originally thought:  tea from different estates is processed differently, and therefore needs to steep at different temperatures.  So, I gave the Castelton a second go, brewing at a much lower temperature, but it turned out to be too low, and the tea came out weak and bland.

Success came when I treated the Castleton as an Oolong, and brewed the tea with water at just under a boil.  Finally the Castleton was delicate and nuanced, with a nice interplay of flavors: a hint of dry smokiness, mild natural sweetness and a hint of fruit.  The texture is delicate and astringent, and the finish is excellent, leaving a slightly sweet and extremely clean mouthfeel.  This is a very nice tea, but I'm not sure it's quite the cream of the crop, so to speak, that it's reputation claims.  I like it, but I don't quite taste anything that sets it that far above what I've found of Darjeeling thus far.  Then again, perhaps my palate just isn't nuanced enough.  Score:  88 (B+)

a Review, in which we Discuss Baroness Grey Tea, and thereby conclude Earl Grey week

Blends such as Baroness Grey are almost as old as Earl Grey itself.  Lady Grey is a proprietary blend made by Twinings, an old school English tea company, featuring lemon and orange peel in addition to the usual bergamot.  Baroness Grey (note the strikingly similar, yet non-trademark-infringing name) is modeled rather closely after Lady Grey, featuring lemon and Seville orange peel, as well as oil of bergamot.

Even the name of Baroness Grey tea is girly.  It brings to mind ladies sitting in a garden in England, sipping citrusy tea from wee tiny little tea cups with flowers.  Well, we don't roll that way.  I drank this tea from my manly coffee cup, stained with motor oil and sawdust., while discussing cutting down trees and working construction.  Ok, not really; my mug is actually covered with mathematical equations, and I think I actually discussed baby clothes whilst drinking from it.  But I stand by my initial assessment, Baroness Grey is a somewhat frilly tea.  It's standard Earl Grey (a China black and/or Ceylon blend, scented with bergamot) with the addition of lemon and Seville orange peel.  (Seville orange, aka bitter orange, is a variant of the regular orange that is far less sweet, utilized mostly for it's flavorful peel...think quality marmalade.)  The flavor components are similar to the Russian Earl Grey, yet I find I far prefer the bolder, more complex profile of the Russian variant.  Whereas with the Russian Earl Grey, the flavors blend together and complement one another, in the Baroness Grey, the citrus flavors support the bergamot, rather than mingle in the forefront.

Perhaps the least attractive feature of Earl Grey variants is the tendency of bergamot oil to leave a cloying aftertaste.  In the better variants (Cream Earl Grey, Russian Earl Grey, Smoky Earl Grey) there are other notes in the profile that balance out the sticky, somewhat cloying aspect of bergamot.  Here, the citrus takes second fiddle to the bergamot, supporting rather than balancing, and the taste kind of sticks around for a while.  It's not unpleasant, but it's not my favorite.  Score:  78 (B-)

Earl Grey week continues with: What the heck is Rooibos?

Rooibos, sometimes found under the name "red tea," is not tea at all, but rather a wild plant found in Africa.  As with most herbal teas, it is completely caffeine free, a plus for those of us that suffer from insomnia.  Rooibos brews up almost the exact same color as tea, and tastes...similar, I guess, to actual tea.  With herbal teas, I find it's best not to think of them as teas, but as something all their own, so that I'm not disappointed when they don't actually taste like tea.  Rooibos on its own terms is actually quite good; it has a really pleasant natural sweetness, especially when paired with honeybush, a similar plant that grows in South Africa as well that has a natural honey taste.  Rooibos has become more common across the world in recent years, and can now be found in "green" unoxidized varieties as well, though I've yet to try one.

So, Earl Grey rooibos, then, is "red" oxidized rooibos, with the addition of cornflower petals, and mild bergamot.  Although I've already had enough bergamot this week to last me the next year or so, the use here is restrained and mild, which I must say, I appreciate.  The Earl Grey-ness, so to speak, blends really well with the natural sweetness and roast fruit flavor of the rooibos.  Earl Grey rooibos is a middleweight in body, comparable to regular Earl Grey, and unlike true tea, there is really no astringency here.  The finish is quite long, but mostly honey sweetness from the tea, and just a hint of the bergamot and cornflower.

I've tried three different varieties of rooibos (Earl Grey, Bourbon Vanilla, and Chai), and the Earl Grey is my favorite so far.  I really enjoy the blend of bergamot with the naturally sweet tea, and I also like that I can drink it right before bedtime.  In fact, there are claims that rooibos can actually help with sleep problems, but I'd probably file those under unsubstantiated.  Health claims aside, it's easily the best herbal tea I've tried yet, and something I'll likely keep on hand from now on.  Score:  85 (B)