Jenn-cha select Send Message

So, yesterday my Woot.com order came with my glass teapot and 39 flowering teas…I am stocked on flowering teas for the next year+ now I think. The real reason I ordered this was so I could get the full experience with the Dragon Balls from Doulton but I decided it couldn’t hurt to try it out first.

I decided on the green tea with jasmine and picked one pretty much at random. I only poured in enough water to fill the pot 2/3 of the way since I really didn’t feel like drinking 40oz of liquid all by myself. I must say, I’m not sure which was more fun, watching the flower unfold or watching my son watch the flower unfold! He was quite torn between watching the tea and helping Grampy cook breakfast.

About 5 minutes in I poured my first cup. The liquor was a pale yellow-peach with a light, pleasant jasmine flavor, comparable to Stash’s Monkey King Jasmine in strength.

At 18 minutes I poured another cup. This time the liquor was a bright peach-apricot color with a slightly stronger jasmine flavor.

The liquor kept getting darker the longer it steeped (up to a deep red-amber) but I couldn’t detect any bitterness up until the tea had steeped about 45 minutes. At which point the level of liquid was down enough that it just fit in one of my mugs.

This even tastes quite pleasant when it’s cold (I forgot about my mug sitting beside me on the shelf =o= )

Since I drank the Design a Tea Ice Wine tea yesterday I decided to give this a try today since the flavors of the other were fresh in my memory. The liquor was a lovely deep red. However, though it smelled very much like the Design a Tea version it wasn’t nearly as flavorful. It was slightly bitter, not as sweet and there was only the slightest hint of muscatel.

Had this again yesterday only I decided to put the last cup into the fridge so I could try it cold. It is indeed just as good iced as I had thought it would be although I think if I’m going to drink it that way I’ll add honey to sweeten instead of sugar.

Many thanks to Doulton for this sample! I was looking for something a bit different this morning and the smell of this package just appealed to me. It was very much like chocolate but with an indefinable something else.

1st Steep: 5 minutes, Water temperature around 190F
I love the deep red of the liquor. The taste is malty and chestnut (I’ve never had chestnuts before but that has to be what it is). I could almost swear there’s a hint of white chocolate in there as well.

2nd Steep: 5 1/2 minutes, water temperature around 190F
The liquor is a bright amber this time. It’s still malty and tastes of chestnut but has a lighter body and is a tad sweeter.

Definitely a good morning tea. Very glad I picked this one out this morning.

I really had meant to steep this for only 5 minutes. Hurrah for children. Anyway…this is a bit stronger than I usually have it since I used a mug rather than my tetsubin. The mug vs tetsubin also threw off my sugar ratio. Plus I usually blend this with either orange or jasmine tea, and/or add cloves cinnamon and nutmeg for a nice rose chai.

Sigh. Not the relaxing experience I was looking for. I guess I just prefer blending this one rather than drinking it plain.

After 36 hours of illness I am feeling well enough again to have my tea but I figured it would be better to err on the side of caution and stick to something a little gentler.

The color of the liquor reminds me of “green” twigs that have had the bark stripped off. That pale pale blond with just a hint of green. And the taste, mmmmm, just what I needed. Sweet, vegetal, a hint of nuttiness every now and then. Definitely what I needed this morning.

Many thanks to Doulton for sending a couple sachets of this along with the Dragon Balls! Since I don’t have a glass teapot yet (it’s on it’s way!) I decided to try this and hold off on the DB until I can have the full experience.

I love the bright, fiery amber of the liquor. It definitely matches the spicy smell of the dry leaf as well as that of the liquor itself. Like fireball candies. The taste isn’t as strong as the smell though unfortunately. It’s spicy, but sweet at the same time and not as full bodied as I’d expected from the smell. Perhaps if I’d used both bags with that 17oz pot…I’ll just have to use a mug for the other one and see how that goes.

My first thought upon opening the envelope with the samples was, “Darn, there’s only enough in here for a small cup, better make this count.” So I pulled out the 8oz cup I usually use for oolongs, slipped the leaves into a unbleached filter bag, and poured the boiling water over the bag (in the cup of course).

The liquor was a lovely deep cognac-amber and smelled like fresh bread spread with blueberry or black currant jam. I didn’t have the description in front of me so I had no idea what was in it other than black tea and bergamot. I definitely tasted the bergamot and something floral and a bit of fruit. I think I might have over-steeped because there was definitely an astringent finish to this. Unfortunately with only enough leaf in the sample for one cup there’s no way for me to tell short of ordering the tea.

I must say it was much better than my experience with regular Earl Grey.

I recently received an email from Kim at Old Wilmington Tea Co with some steeping suggestions for this tea and today we finally got a propane delivery so I could run the stove to boil water. Huzzah!

1st Infusion: 4 minutes, boiling water
Here goes the campfire again. I love the bright amber color of the liquor. The smokiness is accented by a strong astringency. It’s a great compliment to the lemon chicken I got from the local Chinese restaurant though!

2nd Infusion: 8 minutes, boiling water
This time the liquor is a bright golden-honey color. It’s still smokey but the bitterness has been replaced by a surprising sweetness. Wish I had some rice left from lunch to go with this.

I don’t think I could drink this very often but I’m kind of glad I gave it a try. It has definitely helped round out my tea experience…and taught me that I will never EVER try Lapsang Suchon!

Edit: oops, didn’t mean to hit the rating bar on this. Please ignore the rating, there’s no way to reset it unfortunately :(

Since I didn’t have this yesterday (due to the insistence of my son) I decided to have it today.

The liquor was a pale yellow-green and smelled like raspberry syrup. The taste was like like a raspberry candy. It reminded me very much of a cherry rose sencha…except with raspberry and jasmine and the green tea base wasn’t sencha.