Erik Drews

SOS ComAlt

Tasting Lab week 4: Gravlox and Bagels, Tea Tasting

Gravlox prepared with salt, sugar, and black pepper on homemade bagels with cream cheese, white onions and tomato. Gravlox is an uncooked salt-cured salmon. It tasted a lot fishier than I was expecting. I kind of thought that the flavors would flesh more, but it kind of tasted like salt and sugar were paired with salmon.

The bagels were some of the best I have ever tasted. My expectation for bagels is that they will be very dense and chewy. These were a lot lighter in texture than I was expecting and also had a strong butter flavor that I have not previously experienced while eating a bagel.

Tea workshop: on wednesday of week 4 we tasted three different types of tea: Matcha, Pu-ere, and Oolong. The act of making tea from an outside perspective seems rather mundane, however there are subtle differences that affect the overall flavor of the different types of tea. Among these differences are temperature variations. For instance, the matcha was prepared with eater that was 175°F, whereas  the pu-ere was prepared with water that was 212°F, and the oolong was prepared with water that was 185°F.

The matcha is a fine powdered green tea. The tea solids alone have a grassy, hay-like aroma while the finished tea had a more grainy/rice like aroma. The initial flavor of this tea is very mellow and reminiscent of the steeped aroma. This initial flavor is followed by a slight bitterness that developes into a more intense bitterness that lingers well into the aftertaste. The texture of this tea is somewhat gritty due to the fact that the tea is powdered. The matcha is brewed at a lower temperature than the other teas to keep particular phenolic compounds from being infused into the tea.

The pu-ere is a tea that I have never tasted before. Although it is light brown in color, it is much darker than both the matcha and the oolong. The aroma of the tea is really mellow. The aroma has slightly toasty or roasted qualities that remind me of a sweet deciduous bark. Almost like licorice root. The flavor of this tea is slightly sweet yet earthy and woody with a slight astringent texture that builds toward the aftertaste. I wonder if some of these roasted woody notes were achieved by the 212°F water’s ability to infuse more phenolic compounds from the tea.

The oolong tea had more of a floral, leafy aroma and less of the grassy aroma that I expect from tea. The appearance of the tea from being dry to being hydrated reminds me of when green foliose lichens become hydrated and a dull, grayish green becomes bright and reflective. The tea itself has a much more yellow color than the other teas. This tea was by far the least bitter and had an extremely mellow almost jasmine like flavor, with a very smooth texture.