Bitterleaf Teas: Plum Beauty, Silver Grade (Spring 2017)
TEA LOGISTICS:
Vendor: Bitterleaf Teas*
Price: $0.45USD/gram
Compression: Medium
Material: Mengsong
Season: Spring 2017
Link to Tea: Here
SESSION INFORMATION:
Brewing Vessel: 100ml Shino-glazed Shibo from PotterybyIngeNielsen
Drinking Vessel: 80ml Silver Teacup from Crimson Lotus Tea**
Leaf/Water Ratio: 1g/15ml
Water Temperature: 212 Fahrenheit / 100 Celsius
Steeping Method: 1 flash rinse; 15 second steeps until dead
REVIEW:
Rinsed Aroma
Sweet as cotton candy, light and floral, but with a thick backbone of strong honey.***
Flavor Notes
This tea begins very light with a subtle profile that is soft and sweet. The star of the show, up front, is predominately floral. It reminds me of that time I waded ass-naked into an endless sea of daffodils, only to be arrested by a crooked park ranger (who may or may not have been a member of the Hell's Angels), and now I cannot live within a 5,000ft radius of a school, park, or generally any place designated for children. As the tea opens, it thickens considerably and a tiny bit of smokiness emerges. Bitterness and astringency surface if you
Color
Mouthfeel/Texture
A drying sweetness returns again and again.
Intoxication
It's not a full-blown Donkey Punch, but it definitely kicks.
Pros
This tea stays flavorful and interesting for an impressively long time. I enjoy that it really takes time to develop; it doesn't just hit you over the head with bitterness or astringency, it takes some work to achieve it.
Cons
The compression may be a little tighter than previous Bitterleaf pressings, but I'm not 100% sure on that considering my sample was the beeng hole, which is always tightly compressed no matter how loose it's pressed. The tight compression caused a lot of user-error when trying to pry off whole leaves.
Bottom Line
If you're a fan of Mengsong, there's nothing to dislike here. It's much better than your run-of-the-mill budget drinker; as far as complexity goes, it has a hidden door or two. I'm not a huge fan of Mengsong's profile in general, but this tea was still very agreeable and I enjoyed the session. Typically, I find Mengsong to have this lingering...grassy? greenish? flavor that I can't really describe, but I found that this tea has more to offer and pushes beyond that profile. Mengsong lovers rejoice.
____________________
*This tea was included in a vertical sample set that I received from Bitterleaf sometime last year, however, this review is not commissioned. In fact, I should be paying them because of how delayed this review was. I mean, how am I ever going to score free tea again with this shoddy track record? That was the entire purpose of this blog. Write dick jokes, get free tea. The formula was simple. It was simple as syrup. Then I had to go and get all existential. It was all about me me me me me. Guess what? From now on, all that "stay true to yourself" hoopla goes straight out the window. I'm going to give the people what they want. I mean it. After 24 years on this planet, I've finally realized that happy people (i.e. people who get free tea) must perform. They must be generous and compassionate lovers. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. It's time to get circumsized.
**Yeah, yeah. Silver might affect the true taste of the tea. I get it. But do you know what else might affect the taste of the tea? Being a total douchebag about it.
***Strong honey. Them bees was feeling it. Hard. They were all like "Queen, your Majesty, is this honey strong enough yet?" And Queen Bee--who is notorious for being an absolute savage about the strength of her honey--gave her crew that dead-eyed look like she was about to straight up kill some fools, and then she was all like: "You tell me. Is it?"
