Den's Tea Houji-Kukicha Revisited

I first tried Den's Houji-Kukicha about a year ago and enjoyed it. Later I tried Hibiki's Houji Karigane but didn't care for it as much. Now I am giving Den's another try and I sill prefer it.

Its simplicity appeals to me. Add a heap of leave with some boiling water and lett it sit for a minute or two or three, whatever, and you have a cup of warm, roasted goodness. Nothing fancy but pleasurable.

If you are looking for a roasted kukicha, my advice is to go with Den's.

Adagio's Keemun Rhapsody

Spring is here, and with it soon comes the new harvests, particularly shincha--I am making my last bit of sencha stretch as long as I can. So in the mean time I continue to dig through my dwindling tea stash.

This is another one of the four new hong cha that Adagio released some months back.

The leaves smell...like keemun. The aroma reminds me of BBQ sauce. Kind of sweet, not smokey...hickory? I am pulling hickory out of my ass, as I have no idea what that smells like. Let's go with it.

The liquor is a clear, cola-brown. No hints of red.

The tea is pleasant enough. A some what mild keemun. Not bad, though I don't see myself ever yearning for a cup.

I am so off my game today.

Adagio's Golden Spring

Hello again. Did you miss me?

Golden Spring is one of the four new hong cha that Adagio added a few months back. They were all quite good, particularly for the price. I very much enjoyed the Yunnan Noir in particular, but I drank it all. A proper review on that one will have to wait till I get some more.

The Golden Spring has a typical aroma. The dry leaves smell of honey and grain, while notes of its Fujian heritage come out in the medium brown liquor with a subtle golden hue.

It has a smooth and mellow flavor with a lingering sweetness that develops as the tea cools. A fine example of hong cha at a good price.

I very much love this pot. It is by far my favorite. I have had it for years now I have yet to tire looking at it. Its so simple and eligant. While most end up deleted, when every I use it to review a tea, I spend half the time snapping pictures of it.

Can't Stop the Signal

For the foreseeable future, Another Tea Blog is still on hiatus, at least until I work out the issues with the photography. Yes I could still post reviews without my pictures, but it just doesn't feel the same.

I will not give up on this blog. It has been too much fun, and I honestly feel like it is just getting started. So thank you for your patience and continued support, but I promise this is not over.

In the meantime I will be working on wikiCHA. Some friends started it a while back and have been working on it, and it has the potential of really taking off, so be sure to check it out.

New Year, New Home, New Problems

Nothing much tea related to post today, but I did want to check in and let everyone know that posts will be resuming shortly as promised. Thank you for your continuing interest in my humble blog. During my two month hiatus, I expected my hits to take a nose dive, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I have settled in nicely to my new home, and I love it. Problem is I have been here for three weeks, and I am now sure that the sun never directly touches my apartment. This is nice for sleeping in and watching movies during the day, but is dramatically effecting my photography.

What light I do get is very blue. This is easily corrected with a little editing (pictured), but still doesn't leave me with sufficient light for good quality close up shots.

I am a lazy and spoiled photographer. I am used to simply waiting for the sun to come up, adjust my exposure, and go. Now I am going to have to get a lot more familiar with white balance, and light boxes or flashes or whatever else that the less luminous blessed folks have to use.