Kyoto Grape Oolong - Naivetea

Today, we have a beautiful grape oolong from Naivetea! First of all, the packaging for the teas I got from Naivetea is amazingly beautiful.

I decided to brew this in my glass teapot to get a nice view of the leaves unfurling...

 

Enough pictures though! Naivetea continues to amaze me with their infused oolongs. Each one is magical and perfectly flavored, avoiding the "fake" taste that some other teas have. This grape flavor tastes like I'm eating fresh concord grapes with the subtle flavor of a green oolong.

This is definitely a great tea to have!

Steeping instructions:

1tbsp/8oz/195 degrees/50 seconds

Until the next cup.

Menghai 7262 Shou Puerh

Today, I'm having the Menghai 7262 Shou! This is actually my first shou (cue the gasps!) and I'm looking forward to discovering the complexities of it. I received this as a generous sample from a fellow teafolk, so I didn't have to worry about butchering another toucha.

 

On to the steeping! I used 9 grams in a 100ml gaiwan. This produced a very dark brew and smelled of mushrooms and smokiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, this is my cute little gaiwan - I'm a huge fan of dragons, so I got a dragon-themed gaiwan set!

 

Anyway, the shou has a very smoky flavor that evolves into a mushroom flavor for the first few steeps. The subsequent steeps (after the 15 second steep mark) develop a light sweetness as a nice balance to the smoky flavor of the shou. Overall, this is a terrific shou that I would love to have again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steeping Instructions:

9 grams, 100ml, 200 degrees, 5 seconds (first steep)

 

Until the next cup.