Various Artists

brewed up my experiment today so see where it’s at. Mostly, not enough vanilla, but at least you can tell that the vanilla has softened the smokiness out. there’s a little sweetness there too. Will have to give it some more thought.

another one from cavocorax golden monkey king from curious tea. This one is’t bad but i expected it to be a little smoother and a little more malty. Not a bad cup of tea for the day but also sad because it’s not a sipdown since it was never in my cupboard! lol

Enjoying Meng Hai County Puerh 2006 from Shang tea, courtesy of Nicole this one has been interesting this morning – notes of grape coming through in some of the initial steeps. Going to continue to enjoy this one today and possibly tomorrow :) Enjoying this so far nicole! thanks!

so busy! aaaaaah! teas from the past little while:
laoshan black
cacao
zheng shan xiao zhong
tisane de l’abbaye
yu lu yan cha
black orchid
sans complexe
marabout
pure bud
…and a bunch of others heh

So busy lately. Really haven’t had a chance to sit and relax since we got back between work, wedding planning and my other half trying to kill himself while riding – that was a fun hospital trip. What have i been drinking?

Red Queen Cupcake
Laoshan Black + Cacao
Yu Lu Yan Cha Black
Salted Caramel butter oolong
zheng shan xiao zhong smoked wuyi black
pure bud
Spring Keemun
Mousse au Chocolat
Gao Shan High Mountain Black
Rocket Fuel

busy weekend is busy. Friday night out with friends, home at 2am. Up early saturday to spend the entire day walking in the sun, running errands with my other half…to get up early sunday to drop tea and lego off with a friend and then drive to buffalo to pick up a bike fork and a friend lol Not a lot of tea drinking but lots of getting things done!

In no particular order, accompanying this adventure was:
Cherry Snowcone – David’s tea
Laoshan Black – Verdant
Cacao – Herbal Infusions
Ming Hong – yezi tea
Grasshopper Cheesecake – Butiki
Yuchi Wild Mountain – Taiwan tea crafts

Final Count: 97 wheee!

I’ve had people over all weekend. My bridesmaids got tired of my avoiding wedding planning so they have descended on me and are keeping me hostage until i make decisions and spend time with them shopping for things lol…..

so over the past couple of days i’ve had:
-yuchi wild mountain black lot 336
-ming hong
-caramel de buerre sale
-zhen shan xiao spring 2013
-douceur chocolate
-gifting ripe puer

to name a few… back in a more regular capacity once i’ve been release from capitvity!

I’m lazy this morning so to recap on yesterday’s other teas…
-bailin gong fu (the last of the sample from kimquat thank you again!
-watermelon lime slushie – not quite a sipdown unless TERRI tells me she wants to try this one
-after dark – sipdown…100g in 5? months…not too shabby. latte style and so good.
-Laoshan black infused with vanilla + cacao – OMG so freakin’ good yesterday. ie. perfect.

Final Count: 97

HGTTB

I’m too lazy to enter this in to the cupboard but i tried out Gloria Jean’s Cherry Vanilla. Sadly, while there was a cherry note there, there wasn’t enough vanilla for me haha. Still a decent cup but nothing i need to go out of my way to find again :)

yay for closing my tabs. ugh. Long story short, i can’t find this one in the database but i suspect what MissB has sent us to try is this: http://www.nutritionsportshop.fr/produits-sportifs/1679-l-eveil-du-bouddha-maca-vanille-iswari-5602353906036.html

“L’eveil du Bouddha” it’s a cacao-like tea beverage that isn’t half bad. Inthe grand sceme of things, i think i prefer straight cacao but it was a tasty treat tonight for sure. Thanks MissB!

it’s been a crzy few days…i’ve had:

-LB + cacao
-qing pin from yezi
-laoshan village chai
-zhu rong
-nina’s japon
-key lime
-zheng shan xiao zhong from yezi
lapsang souchong from tao…and a few thers i can’t think of

Final Count: 153 but I have samples that i need to add today

I’ve been a little busy and a little sick over the past few days. Received my mandala order yesterday so i’m back up to 157 teas with 2 orders inbound, a travelling tea box, 3 swaps and a box from terri lol. So until all that gets here, I can’t plan my attack for getting down to 50 by the end of the year. But i keep on sampling and sipping so life is good. Over the past few days i’ve had:

-laoshan black + cacao – verdant
-red queen cupcake – butiki
-zhu rong – verdant
-choco shou – camelia sinesis
-keemun – little red cup
- elderberry herbal – verdat
zheng shan xiao zhong of wu yi – yunnan sourcing

and today..today i try a few more samples while i organise my mandala incoming haha

Final Count: 157

So while my cupbaord is currently sitting around 85 ish, it’s not technically accurate anymore because i have a number of random teas in my house from MissB who is sending things my way so that I can share with the group of us who are out east (and those in the middle too!). I’m trying to take some time during the week to try out the teas that she sent us so that i can get around to bundling the remainder up for the rest of the folks. If there isn’t enough to share (ie sample bags of a single tea where we all get different ones,) i’m not bothering to add them to steepster since they’re one shot deals.

Tonight’s random tea bag is from Sonnentor – and is a “boring” old ginger and lemon. I picked this one as i am a fan of ginger, and lemon is delicious as well. My german is a little rusty but this one appears to have peppermint, hibiscus, lemon, lemon grass…and a few others i don’t wanna translate. brewed, it’s lemon and ginger, but there’s also something in here that reminds me of licorice root (that weird sweetness) but i’m not sure if it IS licorice. On the whole, not a bad tea bag…

oktoberfest + cacao + vanilla powder = delicious random steeping. Terri put the idea in my head a while back and i haven’t had a smokey tea until now to try it out with. soooo yummy!

mmmmm creamy tea for which i cannot remember the name of. FU BRICK – life in teacup. We picked this one out because of sars review of camelia sinesis’ version of this tea. Plus it’s more fun to drink pu with two!

I played the harp today toooo! yeppers… good times at terri’s place…plus we went to a tea shop, and i bought a raspberry chocolate donut at strange donuts. Great Day!

so the tea…it’s like creamy and stuff and totally awesome to drink with my fun-gal terri heh
booooo on having to go to the airport soon.

i drank some tea. I will drink more tea. selling a job…bids start at 10$/day lol

of all the puerhs i chose to drink today, it had to be the one not in my cupboard and not on steepster. heh the lovely boychik sent me a sample of “2010 Haiwan Ultimate Flavour” and i couldn’t tell you if it’s on here or not haha. On the upside, my puerh drinking today was a little interrupts (in a good way) by the lovely raritea coming over to visit before she leaves on a grand adventure across the pond, so my notes on this are a little sketchy.

On the whole i remember this one coming across as very earthy and quite “heavy.” even after multiple steeps it was still a very thick, full bodyied tea that left me feeling like i stuck a mouthful of earthy goodness in my mouth. not so uch dirt..but earth. that deep amazing earth you can sometimes get in the garden with great composting. a very enjoyable experience, even if i wasn’t so hot at taking notes lol thanks again boychik i will eventually get through all the amazing samples you sent! MUST. TAKE. TIME. FOR. SELF!

this is my placeholder note for the other sample that stacy sent us that i tried. It’s a taiwan tea and not up or around yet that i can find. I have to say, i was a fan! it had some malty notes, while still giving me that general "taiwan’ tea sort of feeling. For sure one that i’ll need to order more of to place with once i place my next order in uh…July? :)

I feel guilty. I have zero time to post real tasting notes…so i’m pulling a “Terri” since i haven’t been here in 2 days…that’s a lot. back to work from vacation working 5 ppl’s jobs = OH MY GOD CRAZY BUSY.

So i bought tea today. as a treat. to ME. even though that will blow my tea goals out of the water because OH MY GOD…i deserve it. so neener neener tea cupboard. HA!

Let’s recap for the past two days…

Nina’s Japon
PTA – Butiki (thank you sh…keychange!)
Zheng Shan Xian Zhong – yezi tea
Premium Sun Moon lake – TTC
Laoshan Black
Puerh Gourmand – Damman Freres

Which brings me to today…which i won’t have time to log everything for but i’ll get a few in because NEW TEAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So my cupboard…back up to 163, though i’ve managed at least a couple sipdowns tonight. Here’s hoping i can get to 150 this weekend at the least. I suppose i MIGHT be able to hit my sipdown goal but only if i don’t go crazy in vancouver AND i get through at least 15 this weekend. otherwise, not going to happen lol. 4 more teas on their way that will show up on monday AND i’m working on a couple swaps at the moment. I just can’t help myself.

This tea is one that MissB didn’t add to steepster and since i’m only drinking a cup (sil sized) of it, i’m going to be lazy.

Rooibos Tangerine – The tea Place.

seriously? so. good. as in, smells AMAZING and tastes delicious! This would be one i could stock in my cupboard a bunch and not get bored of it…because it IS tangerine, not orange and the rooibos isn’t that woodsy weirdo taste i don’t like in a rooibos :) thanks missb! (84!)

Final count: 161

sooo i’m lazy and can’t seem to find a tea sent to me by VariaTEA (indirectly from Roswell Strange) soooo here it goes.

Joie de Vivre from Camelia S. I dind’t think i would like this one much given that it is a green and appeared to be floral in nature. Most people who have ever swapped with me know though, that i’ll try nearly anything…as evidenced by the alarming number of teas with bergamot in them that i’ve tried. BLECH. :) This one, was as i expected…a little too floral in nature for me in addition to the green base. I can handle small amounts of floral with black bases, but otherwise they generally make me cringe. However, as always…love trying new teas so thank you VariaTEA (and Roswell Strange)

pssst….i had a bit of tea today. but it was family time with extended family in town for a day and my parents up for the weekend. more to come tomorrow afternoon once everyone is gone. Miss you all and hope everyone is having a kick ass sort of weekend.

So some random comments because I’m drinking teas not in the database…I can’t believe it’s only 10:30…it serious feels like 4pm.

I’ve been sipping on a sheng from Verdant’s reserve rewards – Xuejiao Longlai 2010 Sheng. I have been enjoying the steeps of this one this morning, since i haven’t had much chance to do much else with tea. it’s…well i could see myself drinking this all day without getting tired of it, as i often do after drinking some puerhs all day. It’s light, but still has body to it. There’s a bit of a woodsy feel to it but not like an earthy woodsy. Yep. that’s as descriptive as i can be. I like this. Would buy it again if i had the chance, but i don’t so enjoy it i will!

guys…i drank a bit of tea. and stuff and at the same time it’s like 1/10th of what i usually drink and i just don’t want to write any sort of note and my teacups are being half drunk…

Soooo i’m still here, still drinking but quiet… i’m hoping it’s just the whole being back from vacation and i haven’t gotten back into my groove! ‘cause i need to! I’m still 32 teas away from my black friday goal. ugh.