98
drank Hawaii-Grown Black by Samovar
119 tasting notes

Le Sob

I didn’t have as much left of this as I thought :‘( In fact, I only had about 1 teaspoon left, and I brew with 12 oz, so I made sure to use EXACTLY boiling water and I steeped for 5 minutes instead of the recommended 2-4 so I could be sure to get as much flavor as possible out of this. On the plus side, I’m all caught up with the backlogs I wanted to do! So that’s good. I don’t know what you guys do, but I have my separate tea cupboard and then whatever tea I want to drink and review, I put it out on top of my counter (separated by variety) and then when I drink something, I either review it or if I don’t have time to review it at the time, I set it aside and that’s my backlog pile (for those who were interested).

Alright, SO. Now that I’ve successfully rambled on, onto this tea. There was a brief period where a lot of people were raving about the Hawaii-Grown Oolong tea from Samovar, and I sadly don’t have that one. But, I’m in a straight-black mood today and I went looking for a Ceylon to drink (which sadly, I don’t have :( I’m going to order from Upton soon and they have a bunch I’ve been wanting to dry!), when I saw this one and wanted to try it! I think the concept is really interesting plus it sounds yummy, so I brewed it up.

This one smells really good. Like sweet with an almost caramel-y note in it. Maybe a bit of rye? I’m not so good at describing scents…. Something to work on! Oh. My. Goodness. This one is so good! I can’t even! This is so deliciously sweet and mild. Someone described this as sugared and grilled fruits and that’s so true! It’s a nice, dark fruit taste. I also get a kind of creamy note on the finish. There’s a little astringency, but it’s not unbearable.

Oh yes, this one is super tasty! This one is going on the shopping list (which is waaaaaay too long)!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
Daniel Scott

You don’t drink tea until you’re ready to review it, is that what you mean? Because I do that. If I only have one cup’s worth left, I refuse to drink it unless I’m either sitting in front of Steepster, or I’ve given up on something to say about it.

I don’t know, there are some teas that I just can’t say anything about beyond, “tastes like tea?” Yeah, I need to work on that too.

Ian

I try not to drink new teas if I KNOW I don’t have time to review them, although it doesn’t always work out (in fact, most of the time it doesn’t). If it’s a tea that I’ve had before and reviewed before, I’ll drink it no matter what.

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Comments

Daniel Scott

You don’t drink tea until you’re ready to review it, is that what you mean? Because I do that. If I only have one cup’s worth left, I refuse to drink it unless I’m either sitting in front of Steepster, or I’ve given up on something to say about it.

I don’t know, there are some teas that I just can’t say anything about beyond, “tastes like tea?” Yeah, I need to work on that too.

Ian

I try not to drink new teas if I KNOW I don’t have time to review them, although it doesn’t always work out (in fact, most of the time it doesn’t). If it’s a tea that I’ve had before and reviewed before, I’ll drink it no matter what.

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Profile

Bio

Hello!

I’m Ian and I’m a 15 year old student who lives in Vermont. I started (heavily) drinking tea in Late 2010 and have been obsessed ever since!

I tend to drink more black and herbal teas, though I do enjoy oolong, green, and white, and I’m exploring other facets of the tea world (I’m still trying with pu-erh!)

I tend to lean towards sweeter and fruity flavors in my teas, and I’m not a big fan of smoky flavored teas, or anything that’s VERY bold.

I also enjoy a cup of coffee every once and a while, though it does mess with my stomach sometimes so I don’t drink it as often as I drink tea.

In addition to tea drinking, I’m also really interested in:
Classical music (I’ve been playing clarinet for 5 years now and it’s my favorite thing to do), independent arts/music, education on environmental sustainability, reading, Fair Trade and safe-trade practices, Cognitive science, art history, and a lot more.

I’m open to swaps, but I don’t have a very wide collection. Regardless, if I review a tea and you would like a sample, feel free to message me and we can work something out! If you would like to just try something without a swap, feel free to ask too! I know that I personally don’t have a lot of teas to swap and if you’re in the same position as me just feel free to ask for a sample and I’ll send you some, no strings attached!

I run a blog on TeaTrade which you can find here: http://serendipitea.teatra.de/. The goal of my blog is to better connect tea with the arts and go beyond just the taste aspect of tea. Enjoy!

Location

Vermont

Website

http://serendipitea.teatra.de/

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