Batrachoid Send Message

Morning, friendly shopkeeper! Yes, another refill of tuocha…
Discontinued?
But-but-this is my mother’s favorite tea. How am I going to tell her?
Where am I going to hide when she finds out we only have half a jar?!

This is one of my favorite silver needles to date. It takes a long time to make as at least ten minutes are needed to admire the the thin, clean leaves, the closest to real needles I’ve ever seen. They have no hair and tinkle like crystal in glass or ball bearings in their tin. It can only be summarized as futuristic. The dry smell has a promising fruity aroma that reminds me of plums.
It steeps up a remarkable compromise of savory the first steep with the sweeter fruity taste emerging a bit more on the second steep. It can go with everything and loves a good nonfiction book. I’m glad I can get ths one in bulk now.

This is a great balence of smoke and classic Chinese red tea. Both amicably sit in the cup trading small talk while one does their everyday business. I’ve been breezing through this laid back lapsang which is fine since it’s so cheap. The steeping smell is intoxicating; it make me want to try it for cooking…

I must admit I picked this one up for the tin as much as the theraputic benefits. This is the softest lemon verbena I’ve purchased and the leaves are much less crushed than from bulk sales or online orders. It adds a visual layer to brewing an herbal restorative. Very nice.

This is a surprising yin zhen I’ve been looking foard to trying. Steeping it smells amazingly floral, even across the room! I expected it to be too sweet from the aroma but it’s quite bright and citrusy. And extremely smooth. Perfect for post matcha rehydration. Thanks to Tealicious for the sample!

Post matcha baicha: aborted. Rose chocolate matching cup of citrusy comfort: acquired. Perfect morning off acomplished.

And as a bonus I get to admire the rose sticker on my tin. =) Thanks again JacqulineM!

I found an interesting chocolate bar that scremed “matcha match!” the second I saw it: Rightously Raw’s Maqui Rose Truffle bar. Especially since it’s made with raspberry powder, rosehip powder, Himalayan pink salt, rose powder…Tons of tart red, basically, like Madegascan chocolate. Shiki is the natural match ( given what’s on hand).

Whoo! The chocolate was almost too tart, like a rosehip truffle. Though trying this matcha as koicha out of curiousity made it mellow with the grain and grassness.!
Maeda-en now has “Universal/usucha” and “Ceremony” grades but at a slight price difference which made me think there isn’t much of a difference. Since this came out as wheat sweet and fairly smooth, I think it’s safe to say the universal suffices.

Especially since it now has an amazing raw truffle bar to harmonize with. =)

Thanks to Tealicious for the sample! This was a very nice nutty dragonwell. This is nice change from the raw nut note of most dragonwells; the flavors in this one are surprisingly toasted walnut and cashew. A little like Ti Kwan Yin, almost. The entire sample bag held up to three six ounce steeps, though I don’t think I got the steeping times quite right. Fortunately, this dragonwell is forgiving.

I have to laugh that I found out a friend on Steepster just got her sample of this while i was making it. Tea in tandem it seems! This is the first time I’m trying three steeps of Rabbit tea mixed into my big blue bai mu dan cup. It’s still amazing and creates a sort of sunflower caramel taste. I think I like them seperate, though.