911 Tasting Notes
I don’t really know the differences between the types of sencha. I know of them and I’ve had ones from the different types. But I can’t look at a tea and go “Oh, because of the leaf shape and color and size in addition to the color and clarity of the liquid, I can tell this sencha is…” Yeah. Can’t do that. Pretty much all I know is that deeper steamed senchas have smaller pieces and thus clog my filter more easily and that I typically like those senchas because they are sweeter.
I do know that this is my least favorite of the three Lupicia teas I have in my pantry. However this is the one that I’ve managed to go through first. How did that happen?
There’s a tarter taste on the front end of this and the body isn’t as thick, sweet and fuzzy as I tend to like in senchas. Also, there is a tiny bit of astringency towards the end of this but not so much that it feels bitter or drying. But it’s there. And I’m kind of a wuss when it comes to things like that.
But it still smells so rich and buttery when I toss the leaves into a preheated pot and that makes me very happy. So very happy. Seriously worth it just for that.
I think I’m going to have to do some exploring of the different types of senchas this upcoming year, learn more about ID’ing sencha types. Can I make that a new year’s resolution?
Preparation
This tea just doesn’t get a lot of attention from me. Mostly because it is my emergency backup tea that I keep at work. It’s good enough to have when I need tea but not good enough that I crave it enough when I’m at home. This is also a tea that, for me, benefits from a longer steep time. It keeps the note (of what I think would be the pine) smooth and not as tart tasting (though if I let it cool too much, there can get to be a little mouth-pucker taste going on). I think this would qualify as a medium bodied tea, though probably edging a bit towards thin. A bit earthy but more tree than dirt tasting earthy (and I think I’d go for more dirt because I think that’s a bit of what I taste with cocoa-tasting teas… maybe). Anyway, a good enough tea to have when I need something, but there are happier Keemuns out there for me.
Preparation
This tea makes me happy but is bold enough that it’s a good morning tea (and does well with a little sugar and milk, making it a good take-to-work tea (though I spilled a little too much milk in today, but it dealt with it well)). These things combine in just the right way to make this a good tea on days that I’m both tired and grumpy and unhappy. It offers me the advice, in a not-unkind manner, to suck it up and soldier through the morning because no matter how bad it gets, at some point the morning does turn to afternoon (which can also be bad, but is inherently better than morning).
About five years ago, my cousin was in the hospital for an extended stay. He wasn’t around his immediate family (parents, siblings) so he was adopted into our family (well, more so than he already was being, you know, blood related) so we visited him regularly. During one of those visits, I made him cookies. Let me rephrase. I attempted to make him cookies. I was fairly new to cooking so still had a lot to learn (well, and still do though at least I’m much better than I used to be). I followed the directions I had for chocolate chip cookies, not realizing that the directions were for plain flour and I had self-rising. So yes, I used my self-rising flour (which already had salt, baking powder, etc) and added to it more salt, baking powder, etc. The ‘cookies’ that were created were more like unsweetened brownies (double the needed salt, you know) – tall, fluffy, bready, non-chocolate brownies. Well, there was a hint of chocolate since there were chocolate chips in there. I was so embarrassed but they were edible so I took them to my cousin anyway because thinking that even if he did throw them out (which I did tell him he had permission to do), at least hopefully he’d feel some warm fuzzies knowing that I cared enough to try to make him something. Turns out he really liked them. Asked me to make them again, in fact, double the salt and everything.
So why am I sharing this seemingly unrelated story? Because this tea is those cookies. Almost exactly. When I popped the lid open of my tumbler, I was hit with a soft chocolate smell. Not quite rich/earthy enough to be cocoa, but definitely in the same family. And sipping it? Lovely. Not sweet at all (not salty or tart either), but bake-y and bread-y and pretty much tasting like an unsweetened cookie. Sure, technically an unsweetened cookie would usually be called a cracker, but this is too bake-y and rich-bodied to be a cracker. So I got to thinking – if this wasn’t a cracker, what else would a non-sweetened cookie be? Maybe something like my lemon ginger snaps, but no, it doesn’t have the fruity or the warm ginger tastes. Plus, it tasted fluffier – more bread-y. And then it hit me – it tasted just like those mistake cookies. Fluffy/thick, bread-y, bake-y, a tiny poof of faint chocolate every so often but not enough to counter the lack of sweetness or the bread-y. Not salty or bitter or tart. Just… not sweet.
It’s almost enough to get me to make more mistake cookies.
Preparation
But if you do make them again, you’ll have to call them something else, because then they’ll be ‘on purpose cookies’ instead of ‘mistake cookies’.
I have plans to pick up “Bakewise” by Shirley Corriher – if only to dive a lot deeper into why different components of baking do what they do. I’m always fascinated about the mechanics of things. :)
Ha! Okay, everyone’s comments made me laugh so I had to explain why I was laughing to my coworker. Oops!
I’m fairly new to cooking to so I’m sort of stumbling my way through the basics. The orange chocolate chip cookies I made a few days ago turned out good, but we don’t talk about my lemon chicken. ⌐_⌐
XD
Oooh, I made this orange fish thing a while back…. yeah, not cool. Cooking truly is an art! And orange chocolate chip cookies sound awesome.
I love that story. I love little moments like those. This also reminds me that I need to get my cookie baking on. Tomorrow, I think I shall dedicate the day to cookies and tea.
The husband left absurdly early today, necessitating separate tea brewing for the two of us. Usually I made a big pot of one tea and split it but today I went ahead and made two different types of tea so that I could experiment a little without the potential of torturing the husband (and so that my tea wouldn’t be room temperature by the time I left the house).
The experiment that I wanted to try was using one of my ‘teacup teas’ and see how they did as ‘travel tumbler’ teas. To me, teas that I enjoy in a teacup – which allows me to smell the tea as I drink it – tend to fall a little short when put in a travel tumbler with a lid. Keemuns are especially unhappy for me in something that prevents smelling the tea while I sip – changes the entire taste. So most of the time for my tumbler, I have to go for flavored teas (which, frankly, I am getting a little tired of) or a breakfast blend, English-style. English-style because the addition of milk and sugar makes the experience more forgiving if the tea gets too bitter sitting in my tumbler for my 40+ minute drive to work.
So today I wanted to try a smoother black tea ‘teacup tea’ that would hopefully not require sugar or milk and still be a pleasant drinking experience. So I grabbed this and crossed my fingers.
It still had that Assam-turning-into-Yunnan-as-it-cools front flavor and it still had a nice, bright Darjeeling end taste. So that’s good. There was no bitterness, even at the end of my 12oz, though the closer I got to the bottom of the tumbler, the more it moved from a Darjeeling ‘bright’ to a Darjeeling ‘tart’. The tea and I never entered Tartness-Land, but we got close enough to see the border guards in the distance. If I had done a 5 minute brew, I imagine we would have gotten our passport stamped if not seen some of the local sites.
So overall, the basics of what made this tea interesting were still there. Starchy front taste when hot, smoothing out as it cooled just a bit and turning earthy. And then, if I took a big swallow, the earthy would throw out some strong cocoa notes. And always finishing with the bright, citrus-or-muscadine end that always screams ‘DARJEELING!’ to me. But even though all the pieces were there, it just wasn’t as… happy as it was out of a cup where I could smell the lovely scents as I drank. Not a huge difference but if this was the first time I had had this tea, I would have given it a lower rating (probably somewhere in the low or mid 70s). But as it is, I’ll leave the rating where it is and just consider this tea a teacup tea that can be put in a tumbler if needed.
Preparation
I always find it super-interesting how smell and taste are linked, and how one enhances the experience of the other. Lovelovelove that you did this, though!
I think it was Mr. Wizard that taught me smell and taste were linked – something about eating an apple upside down against a refrigerator… I don’t know. But it’s still really weird for me to think that I’m not always tasting what I think I’m tasting but rather smelling it while I’m tasting. I need some sort of non-spill lid that let’s lots of smell through. Then I can have my teacup teas on my way to work and the whole world would be a happier place! :)
haha yeah I agree the smell totally enhances the flavor! :) This is EXACTLY the reason why I leave the tumbler top off for 3/4 of my drinking of it!
I feel kind of… off today. Pretty sure my body is building up to a migraine. So I’m being careful today and hoping I can get it to detrigger (if that’s even a word). I ate something earlier and eating just made me feel worse, so I’m hoping that a nice, gentle tea will make me feel better. Or not worse. At the very least, hopefully I’ll feel mentally better about feeling physically bad, right?
This tea strikes me as a very friendly tea. Sweet and flavorful, but gentle. It’s sort of an “I know you really want sencha but can’t deal with the potency right now, so here’s a little of that sweet grass flavor but not enough to overwhelm you.” Isn’t that nice of it?
ETA: Two cups of this and I’m feeling a little caffeinated but otherwise better than I have all day. On my third cup now it is starting to feel a little weak (but it is still nicely sweet, just not as strong and some salty taste is starting to come in) so I think this will be my last one of this. On the other hand, my cat really seems to be enjoying this steep.
Preparation
Careful. I used to have chronic migraines when I was a kid (they ended when I had facial reconstruction surgery, funny enough! Long story), and the bestest thing on earth for them was Advil Migraine.
It’ll make you feel weird (it’s caffeinated. caffeine is excellent for migraines as it helps the brain absorb painkillers), but that’s the only stuff that would help me when locked in the throes of migraine hell.
@Mitch: I haven’t tried Advil Migraine but I do by Excedrin Migraine in the large bottles. It doesn’t work all the time but it does pretty good and keeps me from having to turn to the prescription stuff I have – which always works but I hate how I feel with it – full body headrush for hours. Yuck! Glad you are migraine-free now!
@ Cynthia: Thanks! I ended up having all the symptoms of a migraine gearing up and then I had all the hungover post-migraine feeling but it seems like this tea has helped me miss the actual pain part of the program so yay! :)
Stupid Firefox crashed and I lost my review. UGH! Take two…
It seems like whenever teaplz and Ricky don’t like a GM tea (or rather don’t love one), I suddenly need to try it. It’s like I want to torture myself with tea. It didn’t work last time with the Lapsang Souchong but I’m thinking it might work this time.
The leaves? Are not happy looking. They are dark olive and brown and dry looking and there seems to be a lot of twiggyness going on. I’m betting on a strike out here. The tea smells… dusty. And I’m not even talking about the dry leaves. I’m talking about the liquid. You know, the wet stuff. And when wet stuff smells dusty? That’s not cool.
Okay, it’s not as bad as I feared. I mean, I was expecting the little red icky face, but this isn’t bad. First off, it’s pretty sweet. Not quite a honey sweet but almost like it’s been sweetened with sugar. Even to the point of an almost sugary aftertaste. As it cools a little bit some tartness is coming in on aftertaste. I’m starting to make a little face after I swallow but it’s nothing horrid. But… that’s it. That’s all I get out of this tea.
So yeah, not nasty but not great. Sort of a generic green tea flavor that really isn’t anything other than wet and a bit sweet. I think this would be a good ‘starter’ tea for someone that just wants to drink tea as some sort of medicinal supplement. It’s not offensive and just a bit boring. But for me it’s not really a good representation of what’s available in the world of green teas.
So not quite torture via tea, but not something I’ll ever want to have again. I might do a second steep just because I pretty much always give greens a second steep. But if I do, no guarantee that I’ll drink the whole cup.
Preparation
It is a bit bland. Is it because it’s organic? That’s what I was wondering, cause my Rishi’s China breakfast is a bit bland too (Okay, it definitely has more flavor than this or a Twining’s English Breakfast). I mean it’s good, but it doesn’t live up to the whole Best 2008/2009 World Tea Expo breakfast tea. copies my comment for safety :D
I haven’t tried tons of organic stuff but I have heard they tend to be blander/lower quality than their equal costing non-organic counterparts. The exception (I think) is supposed to be some single estate teas but I can’t remember any of the estates so I might have dreamed that.
Agreed! But hey it’s organic! One word makes all the difference :D
I’ll be dreaming about Nepal tonight. I meant A&D’s Nepal.
I suppose they won’t get really get the quality of the organic teas up to their non-organic counterparts until there is a higher demand for organic.
BLAND! Yay, so we agree on this! Boring-ish. And very light, for a green. This one was pretty sweet, but it wasn’t a white sweet. It just wasn’t amazing, overall. Good, but not great. Like I said in my review, I don’t think this is one that’ll knock people’s socks off.
This stuff must have crack in it.
There is no other reason that I would wind up craving what is, basically, a genmaicha. I don’t really like genmaicha. But this? SO GOOD. All it takes is for someone to mention it and suddenly I’m thinking, “Mmm, that sounds good. I need to make some.” And then I’m turning the Zojirushi down and pulling this out.
While it brews I think, “It can’t possibly be as good as I remember. It’s a genmaicha. Sure, with matcha but that’s never improved the experience for me before.” By the time I’ve pretty much determined that this is really just a standard tea and no, I must have been nuts the previous times, my little timer goes off and it’s time to go have some tea.
So I take the first sip. “Popcorn-y. Yep, normal. But wait… Ooo, that end taste is sweet and delicious. Need more of that.” Second sip. “Mmm, that’s creamy. And what is that aftertaste? YUM.” Third sip. “Mmm, milky. Sweet and toasty and creamy. And sweet. Ooh, and milky. This is sooo good.” And suddenly I’m holding my saucer because the side table is too far away for my cup to go in between sips. If I didn’t look at this tea I would swear it had been made with milk, not water. It is that milky/creamy.
And now my cup is empty and I am revealing in the joy of the afterwarmth for a few before I go get a second steep ready.
See, crack. There is no other explanation.
Preparation
Trying this again…
<3 genmaicha. This is definitely not something you can keep drinking. I mean on a daily basis (at least for me). Samovar needs free shipping so I can just purchase a tin of this!
Aww, we’re exchanging holiday gifts?!?! Thanks teaplz! ;) I promise I’ll act surprised when I receive it in the mail.
Weeeeell…. There is free shipping for orders over $99. But it’d probably be take a lot of Ryokucha to get to that point.
Teaplz- you haven’t tempted me… til now. I’d never been on Samovar’s site before so I went looking. And found the matcha mill! must have.=P
I can’t believe my order won’t get to me before I’m gone south for the holidays. This will be sitting here at my building in Boston for 3 weeks. It is to weep.
Oh crap. The crack was supposed to go in the other package. The OTHER package! Stupid stupid stupid!
Oooh! You make this sound so amazing. Genmaicha is actually my favorite Japanese tea. I love it! And I’ve had it with matcha mixed in before but I don’t remember it being as good as you say this stuff is.
Gah!! The next payday I have… after I find a job, that is… at least half that check is probably going to Samovar. Such rampant irresponsibility! Although I can’t say that’s in conflict with my character. =\
I’m honestly not a big genmaicha fan, with or without matcha. But this? Love. Crave even. Crack. So good. And creamy. And now I want some but it is much too late.
I haven’t tried this tea yet so I thought I should break it out today. The smell is nice. My first thought was “Cardboard? I didn’t think there was Assam in this?” But then I stuck my nose in the cup (instead of just smelling the wafting scent while pouring) and that changed my mind. The main scent is a slight smoky + earthy, stout Keemun but then there’s a bit of lighter, somewhat fruity Ceylon dancing around in there, too. Once it cooled just a tad, the smoky hint was gone and there was a solid tea smell left… I’m having trouble picking the scents of the tea out as well but it smells almost like… grape. There’s a little faint earth + wine scent and a little faint muscadine scent. Super-light, I really had to smell to find it, but it keeps it from being ‘default tea’ and makes it ‘good tea’.
And it tastes like good tea, too. No sugar, no milk, but it is probably stout enough to deal with a little of that because it does have a very nice body to it. (Insert wolf whistle here). There’s a taste that, if stronger, might develop into cocoa at the front end and a taste that, if stronger, might be a Darjeeling-esque citrus/muscadine sharpness at the end. And the aftertaste has a dry, starchy sweetness to it. As it cools, that Darjeeling-esque tartness increases just a hair but the dryness of the aftertaste decreases, too.
And now my cup is empty. Overall, a good standard tea. I feel kind of bad that I can’t say it’s great or bad, just good. But it’s not hard to get through, it’s not a special occasion tea. This is like the clothing equivalent of a pair of lounge pants. They don’t make you look a few inches taller and 10 pounds slimmer, but they look a whole lot better on than those sweatpants with the little elastic at the ankles and you know you’ll wear them at some point (if not pretty regularly). The same with this tea. It’s not quite a ‘need a cuddle on the couch’ tea or a ‘makes my mouth sparkle’ tea. It’s just good, solid tea.
I shared this tea with the husband and his response when asked his thoughts: “Kind of like a Darjeeling with the bitter notes at the end… the first part makes me almost think of a pu-erh”. Overall, though, he wasn’t a big fan (but then, he’s not a fan of Darjeelings or earthy teas). This was more up my alley than his.
Preparation
“Lounge pants tea” I totally know what you’re talking about, and that’s hilarious! Sometimes the good old ratty sweatpants are awesome as well. :)
What’s the blend made up of, Auggy? Ceylon, Keemun, and Darjeeling?
Keemun and Ceylon, actually. But they describe the Ceylon elsewhere on their menu as ‘having hints of citrus’ so I think that is where the Darjeeling taste is coming from.
For having so many roses in this, this is surprisingly minty, though not overwhelmingly so. It’s pretty, just like the leaves. Smells minty but soft.
Taste-wise, it’s soft and a little minty and a little floral. Not overly complex but things blend nicely and there’s a good fresh mint flavor left in my mouth after each sip. I definitely prefer this softer mint flavor than something that is so overwhelmingly mint. I enjoy the softness created by the jasmine and rose (though I can pick out the rose a little more but maybe that’s only because I can see the roses in the dry leaf). Sometimes I get tartness from things with mint in it – like an aftertaste of cooked greens. But this one doesn’t have that and I appreciate that.
Shared some with the husband – he’s been craving mint lately – and he gives it “a high 4, maybe even a 5” star rating (of 5) saying that it’s smooth with a minty, flowery smell and a nice, creamy mint taste.
Preparation
This has SO many flavors in one. Interesting! I’m kind of curious how sweet and mint go together. I guess I’ll have to try the Vanilla Mint in the GM box to find out!
Even though there are lots of things put into this, the florals all combine into one big ole taste that gives a softness that verges on creamy and the mint gives a nice “whuaa” feeling… and honestly, not tasting all that much tea-ness in it. I think it is there because the floral and mint aren’t that overpowering but I just don’t have enough experience with whites to pick it out. But yeah, lots of flavors!
Haha! I seriously spent at least three minutes trying to figure out how to spell that minty feeling I get in my mouth – like I’m emanating mint tinglies. That’s as close as I could get (and the hubby was looking at me like I was nuts, so I had to stop).
The dry leaf smells like meat that’s been soaked in soy sauce before smoking. Or like the meat has been smoked at too high of a temperature and almost burned but didn’t quite. Instead, it’s just really really dark. And salty. I only have the ROT’s to compare it to and this one smells more… carcinogenic.
All brewed up, this tea doesn’t smell near as strong as ROT’s, but instead of sweet maple tones to the smell, I get… pickle. BBQ’ed pickle. There’s a tartness in is somewhat vinegar-y. The husband was actually intrigued enough by the smell to try this before I did and his response was “Not a fan, but good.” I asked him explain because that’s… confusing. He replied that it was a good smoky taste but was too much for him – there was nothing else to it, unlike with overly smoked brisket, at least there is brisket under there. (He pretty much felt the same way about ROT’s – he felt no need to drink Liquid Smoke).
It’s cooled a little so I’m ready to try it. The scent I inhale is sweeter than what I was smelling before. No sweet maple or anything but no vinegar/pickle either. Just like a sweeter BBQ sauce. The taste initially is a lot milder than ROT’s, but it seems to expand in my mouth. Faint smoky tea building until my mouth is filled with a smoky but smooth flavor. If I keep sipping, that taste builds but if I take a little longer between sips, it fades.
I can actually get a little tea undertone to this after I swallow. It doesn’t appear regularly but rather when it’s been a bit longer between my sips so the smoke flavor that has built up in my mouth has faded some. Also, I’m getting a sweet, somewhat meat-like aftertaste.
I’m actually really liking this. I mean, I don’t think I could drink it every day, but I do really like it. To the point that, depending on how the second (and maybe third?) steeps go, I would seriously consider adding this to a GM order when I make one. It’s mild when compared to the ROT but definitely not too mild. Just really smooth and not overpowering. Definitely distinctive but…. relaxing and pleasant. I hope I have enough left of this for a second cup because I want to do a tasting with my dad over Christmas of this one and ROT’s – because if anyone could appreciate a smoke tea, it would be him.
ETA: Second steep @ 6:00. Smooth, smoky, sweet and really yummy. Yeah, I’m going to have to order some of this.
Third steep @ 8:00. Smooth, very sweet and a tail of smoky. SO. FREAKIN. GOOD. <3
Preparation
Whee! I think I just couldn’t get over the fact that it tasted like bacon and smoke and all that weird stuff. I think I need to try it again. It’s definitely very juicy and savory, but it’s SO strange. I can taste that it’s quality, but it’s just… WEIRD.
This one is better than ROT’s for sure and having ROT’s previously let me not think about the “OMG! SMOKED MEAT TEA!” (which I totally did before) on this one and concentrate on the tea itself. I actually kind of love it. I really really hope the second steep is a good one.
See? Just as I get accustomed to seeing the other runners faceplant over this one hurdle — enough of them that I feel reasonably confident I will do the same thing, when I get there — someone goes soaring over it, and I’m left to wonder all over again.
Your 2nd and 3rd steeps sounded pretty awesome! Unfortunately, I tossed those leaves right after the first steep. I think my family might have done me bodily harm if they had to smell the tea for longer than it took to steep.
They were threatening to throw out the rest of my sample, and I had to squirrel it away!
@sophistre, I think I’ll have to agree with those that have said this type of tea is a love it or hate it tea. And I’d guess more people would hate lapsang souchong that love it, but I’m going to have to fall in the ‘love it’ category – at least for this one (wasn’t huge on ROT’s).
@teazplz, Hahah! Fortunately the husband was intrigued by the smoke smell and had already dealt with the must stronger smelling ROT one not too long before, so he wasn’t fussy about the scent at all. I plan on taking my remaining sample of this one and the bit of the ROT I have left to my parents for Christmas and do a little taste testing with my dad. We’ll see how many family members throw out threats during that event!
Unless it clearly tells me in the title or discription of the tea, I can’t tell between the different ones either.
Neither can I! Must learn to understand Japanese tea!
Somebody needs to teach a class on this. I would take it. You could come take it with me.