Single Origin Teas

All kinds of dire rain-sleet-snow warnings; we will likely be buried by some kind of nasty precipitation by tomorrow, so in theory, I need to select my last decent cuppa before the power starts dipping. However, time o’the evening dictates decaf, so this’ll be it. It is a decent unflavored decaf that you can coax some stoutness out of with a longer steep. A little milk/sugar can also convince you you’re drinking the real thing. My two ounce package is disappearing at a rapid rate.

Last cup for now…the last 1/4 teaspoon of leaves go in the Junkyard Tea Jar. I’ll just sing the same song, another verse (to the tune of Jingle Bells):

Tasty tea, try and see
Decaf with some spunk;
Good for evenings, better than
Most cheapie decaf junk!

Triply good because I am enjoying it at HOME out of my own mug instead out of hotel styrofoam.

Black tea buddies, this one is a good evening substitute. The scent is a little spicy and clovey.

Appreciating this one again. Takes milk OK (there are sugar cookies fresh out of the oven; milk just had to be part of the equation), but I think it is at its best unaltered.

The premium, gold-standard, best-ever unflavored decaf black tea has not yet made its way over my threshhold, but this is a giant step toward it! My thanks to Single Origin Teas for a sample of a really nice Ceylon that hasn’t completely lost its mojo in the decaffeinating process.

Got sidetracked and didn’t time it real carefully—I think about four minutes. What you get instead of brown water is a pleasant, almost fruity flavor that makes me think a little of cloves and molasses and dark cherry wood.

Well worth the try if you’re looking for something decaf that still has some personality left in it.

Slightly belated b-day tea time. This did just come today.

Think I used too many pearls, I’m not used to that type of tea yet. Anyway, this smells so good. The flavour is kinda sweet, and floral. Not sure if I’ve anything ginseng before, but this is really good.

An Ode to Tea challenge – J

Time to finish this one and way past its prime, which would have been within months of its harvesting, in my opinion! Not a bad flavor now, but not spectacular.   I would definitely buy this again.
2021 Sipdowns: 55

additional notes: I’m also making a concerted effort to drink some of my oldest teas. Putting them in a focus/sipdown box and everything. The old tea for today was Single Origin’s Jun Chiyabari which I know ages VERY quickly so by this point just tastes like a really great second flush with nothing special about it. It was once so unique. But I don’t want to do a ton of notes about aged teas. It’s all my fault. So I will mostly be silently drinking old teas… notes will be about the new teas.

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #5
I’m sad to inform all future participants of this teabox, that the Jun Chiyabari is sadly already past it’s prime… too much traveling, I suppose. I just wanted to try a little bit to see if it was still the same flavor I remember when Single Origin mailed samples to me, and luckily was the first tea I sampled as soon as the package arrived. The flavor is still muted here, just only but not as much as the sample they sent me when I tried it again months later. This tea is the most sensitive to age that I’ve ever tried. It is the most amazing tea in the world, but it needs to me enjoyed FRESH. It’s like that flower that only blooms one day a year or something. So so sad. I really suggest everyone try a little bit of this tea as fresh as possible. The second cup at boiling was too bitter to drink. I don’t recommend boiling this one!
Steep #1 // 15 min after boiling // 2-3 min
Steep #2 // half mug // just boiled // 3 min

Additional notes: Well, today has been a tea day of trying teas I thought needed working with.. their previous sippings needing fine tuning. THIS one was PERFECT the first time I had it six months ago, it would win my ‘best Not-Darjeeling yet tasting like a Darjeeling’ award. I had it a month or so ago and the flavor was completely different. Not bad, just faded, plainer tasting, lost the magic. I’m not sure if I just brewed the perfect cup the first time OR the non-airtight packaging ruined this tea (that Single Origin sends their teas in), or this one just ages very very fast (I’ve had this one only a little over six months). So here goes: I wanted to try slightly above and below parameters from the first tasting notes, since the last time trying to follow those tasting notes didn’t work out:

Steep #1 // 16 min after boiling // 2 min
Flavor is definitely not like the first time. It’s so muted! Disappointing. It pretty much tastes just like a month ago.

Steep #2 // 5 min after boiling // 4 min
This cup isn’t much better than the last. The stone fruits I was noticing when this tea was new are completely gone. It tastes like one of those creamed corn flavored teas now. I’m pretty sure this has aged. I think it wins the “ages too fast” award. I’d LOVE to stock this in my cupboard at all times, but only if the flavor remained like the first magical cup. Maybe putting the tea in an airtight container would have helped? Single Origin sends it in a brown paper fold-over flap pouch with a clear window (at least they did with the samples six months ago). But I don’t think I’d want to stock something if I couldn’t even drink the sample quick enough. I’m very grateful the first cup I had was so nice though. One of my favorite cups of tea. Lesson learned: drink your favorite teas asap.

A big thank you to Single Origin Teas for these generous samples! I had no idea Single Origin Teas existed until they offered samples and their teas sound amazing. I went with this one first, since I was in the mood for a Darjeeling type flavor though this is NOT a Darjeeling – it is from Nepal. The dry leaf color is all over the place – greens, whites. After letting the water cool around ten minutes after boiling and a three to four minute steep, there was a very sweet and very fruity scent coming from the cup that I just knew would make this blend special. This has to be the sweetest and fruitiest type of Darjeeling flavor. The site description says maple and roses and there is certainly something sweet here, but I get STONE FRUIT. Plums, a hint of cherry. As it cools, I do notice the floral/rose notes. A very mouth filling flavor yet very delicate. Probably sweeter, fruitier, lighter than a typical Darjeeling and much more unique. I feel like this shouldn’t be classified as a black tea. This is absolutely amazing stuff. Like the Darjeeling I had earlier this month, these two blends have made me a fan of this kind of flavor if it is done right and this one is perfect. I’d stock this as my go-to “Darjeeling” flavor type, but I’m doing this tea a disservice because it isn’t technically Darjeeling. I think it’s better. It gets impossible when I want to drink my entire tea collection every day.
singleoriginteas.com

This was the first tea James let us try at our impromptu tasting session on Tuesday.

It’s a very nice green. Lightly fruity, with a bit of toasty leather to it. Greens are not my thing, really, so I’m not putting a numeric rating on this. My mother quite liked it though and she does like several different greens. :)

Served this today at a tea party. It was for the lady who won the Harvesters raffle tea party prize at the tea festival in June. All guests were strangers to me so I tried to pick teas that would showcase different flavors but not ones that kind of require being “into” tea to appreciate, if that makes any sense. I let the hostess choose the green tea and she picked Strawberry Green from Tealeaves. Otherwise, I took a Golden Monkey from Teavivre, decaf Vanilla Comoro from Harney, Anastasia from Kusmi and this one. They all were very well received, but I was especially pleased to overhear one of the ladies saying about this one “oh, my god, you can hold the cup up and inhale and it’s just amazing.”

And she’s right. This smells amazing. And the taste lives up to the scent. Malt with a little eucalyptus and citrus. Just wonderful.

My last cup of this will probably happen tomorrow. It’s been a long damn work week and I have needed tea!

I love, love, love the way this smells when steeping. Deeply fruity, sweet, malty… Man, this is a great tea! There will be an order placed soon to replace this one again. If I had time to spare this weekend on my ultra fast trip to Dallas I would beg a visit to the Single Origin office to pick some up. But I think we are going to be packed full of busy what with tea reservations & visiting new chocolate shops… :) So an order online soon!

I am changing my rating as well. I have discovered the sweet spot for me in steeping parameters and it is perfect!

Steeped up a cup of this for breakfast this morning. I wasn’t really paying a lot of attention and just wanted a cup of something so I didn’t quite wait for the water to boil. I’m guessing it was about 180-190 or so. I also only steeped for a couple of minutes – probably shy of a full 2 minutes.

This was almost a different cup of tea done with these parameters. Wonderfully silky and sweet with not a bit of bitterness or astringency. This is still one of my favorite Ceylons. I think I’ll continue steeping like this in the future!

So while I was in Texas visiting relatives and buying obscene amounts of chocolate, I had the opportunity to meet with James from Single Origin Teas. He talked about Amba estate and his experience working there. He is truly a wealth of tea knowledge and is very passionate about tea.

We were lucky enough to be able to taste this tea while there. Wow. This is a fantastic tea. We got to try it back to back with the Amba without tea flowers and yes, there is a difference. This is slightly sweeter and smoother. Plus, it’s pretty. :) I think there could be a tendency towards bitterness if oversteeped but just understeeping yielded a lovely cup.

James is good Tea People. Super nice, very gracious and happy to share his tea and his knowledge. I hope his plans and dreams get off the ground and succeed because there can never be too much quality tea!

Distressingly close to the bottom of the packet. Don’t have many new adjectives for this one (sweet, bright, peppery and perky used previously); but it has been consistently and reliably good, appears to be in the can’t-ruin-it category. Well worth checking out if you need something pleasant to go with your elevenses.

Brrr! It’s too soon to be this cold! Tazo is not amused.

A note from another Steepster calls this sweet and peppery. That’s it. Cinnamon stick would be a lovely addition…if there weren’t a laptop and lap cat making the walk to the kitchen somewhat inconvenient.

Fruity and cheerful up front; little muscle to back it up when you swallow. Still trying to pick a Single Origin Teas favorite and they are all so good I’m hard pressed to decide.

First, thanks to Single Origin Teas for the sample. They’re in Dallas. Texas tea. (Cue banjo…) (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) (Also tamping down the Princess Leia voice in my head saying, Help me, OP1!)

This is bright, brassy, perky, happy tea. Warmth in its overall personality. A little sweetness at the end of each sip. It’s understandable that the Single Origin description says this would welcome chai spices. Bet it would be pleasant iced, too.

Jury’s still out on the strength of the caffeine clout; first cup makes me lean toward a judgment call of “afternoon tea,” but it’ll be a pleasant afternoon if you spend it with a cheerful cup of this tea. You’ll like it. Trust me.

Thanks, Nicole Martin for this tea!

This starts off dark and vegetal, tasting very strongly of creamy green beans and earthy mushrooms. As it cools, it starts to taste fruitier and reminds me of putting apricots in red wine- still dark and earthy, but with a little bit of citric brightness peaking out.

This is currently my favorite tea. It is naturally sweet, it is not astringent, bitter or overly flowery. It has a light subtle sent. I prefer it hot, but it is also good iced. When iced the the sweetness is less in the forefront.

I must have just hit the sweet spot with this one. Steep was 3 minutes and the temp was around 195 F. The wet leaf takes on what I often call a beef stew aroma, others call it artichoke. I’ve never had artichoke so I’ll take their word for it. BUT on top of that wonderful green aroma this time I noticed an awesome floral note. I think Amanda called it orange flowers – yes exactly! When I sipped the hot cup my first reaction was beer but not really. Wine but not really. Good definitely. As it cools it becomes closer to the bi luo chun I had this morning but with a strong fruit/floral thing going on. Single Origin Teas says it reminds them of lychee. I have some lychee tea in my possession but have not tried it yet. To me it is almost mango or something. I did lightly sweeten this so maybe that is why all these new flavors are popping out. A truly cool tea that kept me interested the entire cup.

Since I had previously scored this I am going to boost the number a bit because this is very good. Even better than I remembered.

Posting this twice, once under each tea. I used, by volume, about equal portions of Teavivre Dehydrated Camellia with Single Origin Teas Idulgashinna Ceylon Green Organic. Camellia on its own reminds me of white peony. Idulgashinna is a unique green tea experience. I thought the two would compliment one another. I was right. The camellia really amplifies the leather notes of the Idulgashinna. At the same time the woodsy elements of the camellia shine as the cup cools. More experiments will definitely follow.