The answer is a HUGE and FOCUSED session spanning five Shous, over 12 hours and the answer was pretty easy!
Big Blessing 2008 for the win! Again! I did this same comparison six years ago and Big Blessing was my favorite then too!
There is a strong camphor element in Big Blessing that the others I tried just do not have.
I had rather hoped I might fall in love with one of the less expensive ones, but it was not meant to be. There are still a lot of Shous I would love to try from Hidden Peak Teahouse but for now I’m going to avail myself of their sale and order some Big Blessing today. Check it out for yourself at hiddenpeakteahouse.com and also here are some notes from their website. I’m just thrilled. They still have it as I think I ordered this tea a long time ago.
Someday I hope to live a block away from this teahouse as I am a native Californian, but I’ve never been to the actual brick and mortar before. I left Los Angeles for Louisville Kentucky five years ago and this teahouse and their wonderful website are one of the tenuous holds I still have on my love for California that keeps me sane.
The Big Blessing has complexity in its nature due to the distinctly unique raw materials in the blend. We have found, through gung fu manipulation, that you can exalt different elements as you wish - once you get familiar with it.
WET LEAF:
rust colored, highly dense pressed leaf showing heavy fermentation • visible blend of broken, coarse leaf and young tip shoots
BROTH:
ripe, dense, thick • unctuous liquor with some suspended substance • taste is generous and full-bodied • fruity, woody, mineral-rich with date flavor • butterscotch with ginsing bud character
ENERGY:
this tea is benevolent, descending in you like a Himalayan sunset • electric and alive, while passive and contemplative.
( its all that AND a box of camphor crackers!)
Trust me! I am Buddha Mom Tea, baby!
