Samovar

This tea is best enjoyed slowly. There are some very subtle flavours at work. I like it because the mint is not too overpowering. The blend is a nice balance between the different tastes.

Spidown no. 176. A sample.

I’m still a huge Samovar fan, and I’m delighted to see that they appear to have weathered the transformation they were going through a while back where they basically didn’t have any tea available for purchase. Now I see there are some old favorites gracing their web pages again. I do wish some more of my favorites were there, particularly on the herbal side of things as I’m soon to be in the market for something like Berry Rooibos, which I really adored, or maybe Orange Ginger. Alas, those aren’t part of what’s around but there’s still the wonderful chai, breakfast blend, earl grey, four seasons, and others. Yay!

And nor is this one among the green teas in the current Samovar online store, but since my experience of yesterday with the Den’s Houjicha, I’m thinking it’s way past time to do this sample. This one does have going for it that it’s never been opened, so perhaps that will make a difference.

I didn’t want to wait for the water in my boiler to cool from oolong temp of 195F, but the Breville doesn’t like to be filled to less than 500 ml. I’m taking a chance and only filled it to about 250, then set the temp to 175 and steeped for 1.5 minutes (much longer than Den’s recommends, but half the time Samovar instructs on its sample packet).

The leaves didn’t have much smell when I opened the packet, but the tea smells roasty ricey and is a clear tan color. Alas, the lesson learned yesterday appears to have been reinforced today. I suspect this would have had much more flavor when fresh. Though the packet was closed, it wasn’t vacuum sealed. What I’m tasting is a very faint roasted rice flavor, a bit like pine nuts. Knowing Samovar, I expect this isn’t what I should have experienced.

I’m not going to rate this because it doesn’t seem fair. I saved a lot of Samovar samples on the “best for last” theory, and I’m sorry I did. Lesson learned.

Wow, what a chai! I didn’t even brew this properly, and it’s delicious. I can’t wait until I have the time (and patience) to actually use the stove-top and prepare this as intended. The spices really kick. Yum!

Another tea that I enjoyed and then put aside for future savoring. Quite good with understated floral and fruity notes. Darkly juicy (not at all bright), round and silky. Second/longer steep was more symphonic.

I normally review black teas, and I normally review them in the morning because there’s something about a good earl grey slapping one awake and dragging ones half-awake body feet first down the stairs into the kitchen that gets my writing going, also concussions.

So I’m a little out of my comfort zone reviewing a dark oolong like this, partially because I don’t believe my pallet is refined enough, and partially because the last oolong I tried was so Smokey It tasted like there was a brush fire in my mouth, in any case here goes…

The dry leaf is pretty in that lovely simple Chinese way leaves rolled tight and simply lovely scented, like tall grass and old earth.

On the wonderful steeping advice of Tabby (steepster.com/tabby) I did this one a little stronger than normal 1.5 tsps per 6 oz, 180 at 2:30 (And I used one tsps of sugar for the whole pot to not dilute the flavor), it brewed into a quite beautiful pale amber gold, only faintly aromatic to match the dry leaf.

The taste was both stronger and weaker than other oolongs I’ve tried, my past experience has seemed to fly to the extremes of the flavor spectrum for this type of tea and it was surprising and quite nice to find something balanced, as a “dark” oolong I read this is stronger or heavier than others, but with my penchant for the blackest of teas this seemed quite delicate to my palate, surprisingly calm and not grassy or Smokey at all, as it rolls down the throat your left with this just faintly smoky after taste that’s more than pleasant, a very balanced unobtrusive and delicious tea, something to be sipped and enjoyed while reading after work, or people watching in a café, it doesn’t dominate the moment or your attention but simply accents it, I think I’ll be checking out a lot of the other offerings from Samovar now.

Note for later: try this with a longer steep, see if it’ll bring out the flavors more.

Fantastic tea. Pu-erh blended with ginger. Not too bitter, but plenty of complexity. Will buy again.

Overall meh. Dry, my box came with lots of sticks in the stick to leaf ratio, and the flavor from the tea was fairly dull. It’s not bad, but not luring me back. My least favorite Samovar tea.

Bold and somewhat malty. Best with Milk. Be careful, it steeps quickly.

This is my first Pu-erh, so I’m not sure how much my rating reflects this tea in particular vs. how much is related to the entire range. Time will tell on that front, but I found this to be pleasant without being too much of a standout. I enjoy it when I have it, but don’t ever find myself craving it.

A good tea, but certainly an “out of sight, out of mind” kind of tea for me.

Despite Samovar’s tendency toward inconsistent brewing recommendations, this is one of the better Chai teas I’ve tried. These days, it’s what I reach for when I’m craving the Masala Chai flavor profile.

One of the my favorite blends right now. A complex series of flavors that seems to adjust between sips and with time. This one never tastes exactly the same, but is always wonderful.

Tea again

I had the pleasure today of going out to tea with some close coworkers, one of which is in high level management and has amazing advice. We decided to go to Samovar. The server was so surprised we were actually going to sit in for tea, because a few of us are known to drop in for a quick chai to go. Their chai is awesome! It was so relaxing to sit down today and enjoy the ambiance. We each ordered something different…a chai, an oolong, lapsang, and I ordered this tea. The manager with us ordered the lapsang with a little milk…interesting choice and I would say appropriate because she is quite bold, just like the tea. :)

On to this tea. They served it gaiwan-style, which is always nice, but I think they put in too much leaf because no matter how short I steeped the tea, it was always bitter. Ugh. I’ve had that problem before with an oolong of theirs served this way. If it hadn’t been bitter, I would have greatly enjoyed it. It has a very silky and thick mouthfeel and reminds me of buttery veggies. Honestly, it seemed closer to a green tea than a white tea. It was still pleasant to drink with friends but again, too much leaf.

I have no idea why rooibos would be paired with yerba mate. Rooibos: night. Yerba mate: morning. Unfortunately, this one definitely tastes like mint now that it was stored in the same pouch as some mint teas. There was only one teaspoon left anyway. The flavor wasn’t too bad, though the dry blend was mostly rooibos. I’m not sure if the mint was disguising the rooibos, but it wasn’t too overwhelmingly rooibos with the flavor. Not bad, but this is an odd one.
Steep #1 // 25 min after boiling // 2 min steep
Steep #2 // 20 min after boiling // 3-4 min steep

From a friend with whom I visited Samovar Tea Lounge. Not bad. Smooth AND spicy, which was blended well.

Drank a big, 16 ounce mug of this with some honey and milk, courtesy of a good friend. It was delicious and brought back good memories of visits to Samovar’s tea lounges.

Goodness. What a morning. The high up boss came in, unexpectedly, with the desire to redo the orginization of the office. We do need it, so I’ll be interested to see what she’s done when I go back in this evening.
I’m exsausted. I need tea.
The last of these little tea blossom bits. Its a light tea, not too dense or intensly flavored, but its tasty, even though its light.
Thanks to my sister, who gave this to me. Not bad!

I think this is what this is. I’m not sure. My sister gave me a pair of little rosettes, and I think that they are this.
I put one in my steeper basket and steeped for five minutes, and have been given a very pale, hay colored liquid which is nice, but very mild.
Hmm. Well, I’ve got one more of these little blooms, and I’ll give it a shot again!

I’m not a regular matcha drinker. That being made clear, I do enjoy this matcha because it is sweeter and more grassy than most matchas (at least that I’ve tried). It would be an asamushi instead of a fukamushi if it were sencha.