2012-08-07 09:57![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
digitaldiscipline
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cassandrasimplx got me the Adagio "ingenuitea" loose leaf brew cup and an assortment of green teas to make use of it with for my birthday. I've just brewed my next-to last cup of the first packet I opened, "anji duet."
My response is going to be colored by my longstanding preference for slightly doctored hot water and leaf concoctions; my usual fare is bagged green tea, with or without various fruit infusions (blueberry, blackberry, pomegranate, acai, whatever) or those nylon pyramid black teas with different fruity things (blueberry, pomegranate, orange, hibiscus, vanilla, etc).
"Tea is a vehicle for honey" is my SOP, but I've been drinking this new stuff straight, though I admit to doing a somewhat poor job of following the brewing directions/suggestions on the packet (tea snobs, clutch your pearls tightly!) Because, let's face it, I get interrupted incessantly at the office, so hitting a consistent 60/90/120/180 seconds or whatever is recommended brew time is luck at best, and I have no real control over the temperature of the water that comes out of the coffeemaker... nor, at this point, do I actually give a fuck. I am a troglodyte and cretin who believes that tea can damn well steep until I get around to decanting it.
In any case, the anji duet was nice, if a tad astringent (see aforementioned brewing shortcomings on my part, prescribed for 120sec @ 180F). It's not overly floral or woody, but has a bit more of that going on than something like your average box o' bags of inexpensive black tea. The second brew from the same leaves is, to my palate, a bit milder and, while "sweet" isn't the word I'd use, certainly entirely palatable.
There are three other offerings in the Adagio sampler; next up is "gyokuro."
cassandrasimplx got me the Adagio "ingenuitea" loose leaf brew cup and an assortment of green teas to make use of it with for my birthday. I've just brewed my next-to last cup of the first packet I opened, "anji duet."My response is going to be colored by my longstanding preference for slightly doctored hot water and leaf concoctions; my usual fare is bagged green tea, with or without various fruit infusions (blueberry, blackberry, pomegranate, acai, whatever) or those nylon pyramid black teas with different fruity things (blueberry, pomegranate, orange, hibiscus, vanilla, etc).
"Tea is a vehicle for honey" is my SOP, but I've been drinking this new stuff straight, though I admit to doing a somewhat poor job of following the brewing directions/suggestions on the packet (tea snobs, clutch your pearls tightly!) Because, let's face it, I get interrupted incessantly at the office, so hitting a consistent 60/90/120/180 seconds or whatever is recommended brew time is luck at best, and I have no real control over the temperature of the water that comes out of the coffeemaker... nor, at this point, do I actually give a fuck. I am a troglodyte and cretin who believes that tea can damn well steep until I get around to decanting it.
In any case, the anji duet was nice, if a tad astringent (see aforementioned brewing shortcomings on my part, prescribed for 120sec @ 180F). It's not overly floral or woody, but has a bit more of that going on than something like your average box o' bags of inexpensive black tea. The second brew from the same leaves is, to my palate, a bit milder and, while "sweet" isn't the word I'd use, certainly entirely palatable.
There are three other offerings in the Adagio sampler; next up is "gyokuro."
