Teaware and "just us " oolong

After such a long absence I am back with a new teaware find and a new tea which I actually found in town, miracles will never cease.  So here's a couple shots of the cups I bought which are made by a localish artist: Susan Davar,  a resedent of Onanole mb

And now the tea.  Its an oolong that I bought from the new bistro in town.

6.1g in dayi gaiwan 90c

1st: 1m
Dark almost like a black tea so higher oxidation kinda nutty dry finish.

2nd. 30s
Dark fruits and dryness verry dark for an oolong plesent but not complex

3rd. 1m

Less dark more floral. Still dry.

4th 2m.
Flavor has pretty much died down to something like a standard black tea.

Leaves 

 

Thoughts? A reasonably priced tea but nothing spectacular. Imo its about 10% too oxidised the aroma is nice though.

Gulden Draak

Gulden Draak   is a triple at 10.5%

Appearance:  off white head that stays for days and a mahogany body.

Smell: Malts with earthy hops peaking through. 

Taste: MALTY and kinda boozy. with really earthy hops in the finish. really fruity

mouthfeel: thick and medium carbonation. warm going down.

thoughts  a verry good  heavy boozy beer extremely complex and a definate pick up.  a beer lovers must try.  4.9/5 

Cheetah beer and curry

Wile In brandon I decided to try the highest rated restaurant in the city and here is the the waiters pick of best beer offered.  Cheetah 

Appearance  pale straw color nearly no head.
Aroma sweet citrus hops under honey caramel malt.
Taste crisp smooth and kinda sweet with a hint of green hops.
Mouthfeel light and kinda thin
Overal a plesent lager.

Food
I had the goan prawn curry and mom had the chili chicken  both were delicious with the goan being really delicate and the chicken being more robust and spicy. Best curry iv had in a really long time.
Prices were decent id recomend it the atmosphere was nice too.

Davids Tea - Tie kuan yin

Well slowly but surely i'v been working my way though the davids tea sampler pack i have and todays tea is:

Tie Kuan Yin  and you can buy it here and this is what they have to say about it: 

Many years ago, a poor farmer had a dream: the goddess of mercy, Kwan Yin, came to him and spoke of a great treasure in a nearby cave. When he went there, he found a single tea shoot. He planted it and it grew. So he gave cuttings to his neighbours, and they all prospered by creating a beautiful, flowery oolong. Our version is hand-produced on a small family garden near the Wuyi Mountains. (MK Kosher)

5g in dayi gaiwan @ 85c 

1st: 2m:  light, sweet, and lightly floral no real complexity to speak of. 

2nd: 1m: a light nuttiness has appeared with a slightly green note in the finish. 

3rd: 2m: Greener , Nutty-er with a slight dryness on the finish. 

4th: 2m: minerals are starting to show through time to crank up the time. 

Sadly thats all i'v got for this tea sofar since i'v been torn away from my session by unexpected  errands.

thoguhts sofar  is  its an ok tea but its not nearly as special as some that i have tried.









 

unibroue - La fin du monde

La Fin Du Monde   the end of the world,  an award winning Canadian Belgian triple ale. 9%abv and 750 ml
i personally have had this beer before  and as with pretty much every unibroue beer i'v been mildly allergic to it  so hopefully i'v built up a bit of an immunity to it.

pour: hazy yellow with a soapy white head that disappears quickly

Aroma: yeasty  and spicy aroma

Taste:  Spicy warm a bit of alcohol
 slightly sweet with a grainy aftertaste. really complex

Body: medium to thick  kinda oily

thoughts.  just as good as i remember  and about 40 min after started drinking the sneezing starts.  well have to drink more of this great beer to try and get an immunity built up 4.75/5

tree brewing cut throat pale ale.

tree brewing  cutthroat west coast ale.   brewed in kelowna bc canada 5% abv.
according to the can its 36ibu and uses perle, centenial, golding , cascade and columbus hops   and pale , light munich, honey, Vienna, and crystal malts  and has a medium body.

Appearance: clear copper with a pillowy off white head.

Smell: citrus earthy piney hops. over honey like malt.

Taste: bitter hoppyness, citrus  over a thin malt background.  vegital after note.

body:  kinda thin with light carbonation

thoughts:  its light body bu decent body makes it a decent session beer, it could use more malts  but at least it doesn't taste like licking pennies.  2/5  better than a macro lager but tree makes a much better beer for less.

Restaurant Tie Kuan Yin find and a story.

Hello again people.  I'm sure you all missed me, but tea reviews need tea to be reviewed, and i'v been running fairly short on unique teas to review.  Well fret not  on Friday I ended up at a restaurant in Yorkton Sk called "Touch of Asia"  a buffet style Asian cuisine restaurant. I wont comment on the food because that is not the focus here.  I do not usually order tea at restaurants because they usually will bring out some sort of tea dust in a sock (teabag).  And so i did not,  after eating I was going up to the counter and noticed that there was one of those "easy" gaiwans, sitting under a hot water dispenser.  I was imensly shocked.  So much so  that I actually commented on it. "oh you  use a gaiwan for tea here?" I said to the waitress,  she gave me a clueless expression and then pointed to the water dispenser. "This?" she replied.  I shook my head  and she then pointed to a  bamboo tea table.  I shook my head again.  She then picked up this small purple toy and asked if that was it.  By then i was pointing to the gaiwan and said "no this is a gaiwan"  she had a slightly surprised look on her face and said "you know the Chinese name for it  yes gaiwan."  She then took the lid off the Gaiwan and showed a full bowl of nice full leaf tea that looked like a Oolong.  I then replied with "Yea I'm kind of a tea guy."  She smiled and commented that she has gone to china to buy tea a few times and then digs around into the counter underneath the gaiwan and retrieves 3 packs of  tea  and hands me them. I look them over and noticed that there was no English on the package.  I looked back to her and asked "Tie Kuan Yin?"  she affirmed my suspicion slightly surprised i knew the name, even though it was a total guess on my part.  She then asked which teas I liked, I told her my favorite Oolong was Bao-Zhong, which she had no clue of, perhaps I butchered the pronunciation?  By that time i was making my friends impatient, and had to cut the conversation short. I thanked her for the tea and headed out, passing one of the packs to my friends mom. Whom I had recently introduced to the joys of quality loose tea.

quite the little story eh?  And now on to the tea.

Prep:  7.5g  in dayi gaiwan. @ 80c

1st Infusion: 2m  Light nutty floral flavor nothing really pops but a nice meld of flavors.

2nd Infusion 1m:  a vegital note has come into play with the nutty florals but is muted in comparison.

3rd Infusion 2m A smokey flavor has apeared and the vegital flavor has intensified slightly.

4th infusion 2m:  Flavor has mellowed out again smokeyness is gone but the rest remains.

5th Infusion 3m   Flavor is starting to drop off.

6th Infusion 5m  At 80c 6 infusions is all you'll get out of it. 7 if you really pushed it.

Leaves:  leaves were still slightly stiff.

Thoughts:   Not the most amazing TKY i'v had but for something served in a restaurant its mind blowing. next time i go there i may just order the tea.  
tea score 3/5   restaurant tea score 5/5