Featured & New Tasting Notes

I took this tea to work today – thought I would drink a cup or two and toss the rest back in the box. That didn’t happen. This is fabulous and I drank it all day. It’s big and bold. I didn’t get any chocolate, but it was malty and caramel ? toffee? dunno – something sweet.
I really like this. I don’t think it’s really complex, but it’s interesting enough to drink all day. It’s a great tea that take abuse well – that’s a must for me at work. All in all I was really happy with this one.

SSTTB

The is from the July Reserve TOMC, & it is a sipdown.
I’ve been sipping on this one for awhile, probably about an hour or so. It has good energy to it, but I’m probably about done with it. How to describe it? Kind of woody, kind of sweet, kind of bland. I think the last time I drank this, the steeped leaf ended up in a jar of water in the frig, to become an refreshing Ent’s-draught, & I think this one is headed in the same direction.
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I’ve had this kettle for almost exactly a year. I love it! The only complaint is that it doesn’t have any indicator sound to let you know it has arrived at your specified temperature. I love that it will hold it there for up to an hour though! I also really like that only metal touches the water, no plastic. Also the gooseneck makes it prettier than most electric kettles :)

Regulars know I love Earl Grey. My usual mug has a Ceylon base to offer some bite to my lemony delight. I also love a good Earl Green when I can get it. I despise wimpy bergamot teas IF they call themselves Earl Grey (H&S I mean you) I also get offended if you change anything and still call it Earl Grey.

This one. This one smells so gloriously of bergamot when dry. Beautiful, beautiful bergamot. Once steeped it has some rooibos scent. It does say Rooibos in the name, so I am cool with it.

The taste is so Earl Grey that for a moment I forget it is not my usual cup. I taste no rooibos until the aftertaste. Even then it is covered in glorious bergamot. It is strong and sweet. To those who adore it, this is not overpowering, fake, or soapy tasting.

Earl Grey friends this one I could drink on a regular evening basis. So Good! If I weren’t afraid of upsetting the ratings police, this would get a very high score. Oh, what the heck, get over it.

Edit forgot to say thanks to CelebriTEA for sharing this one.

Went to bed around midnight. Woke up at 3am.

Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is : fix yourself a cup of tea. But at this time of the night, I have no patience to choose so I ask the Steepster Tea Randomizer

http://www.jaydeee.net/pickatea.php

Ironically, it chose Morning Sun for me, ain’t that amusing?

Anyways, I’m glad it did, cause I love it.

This tea feels thick and dusty in the mouth. There’s also a weird peppery sharpness to it, very strange and so different in a good way. But it’s also sweet, earthy and roasty. Very complex.

It will keep me company until sunrise :-)

Thank you Dexter3657 for this sample.

It is weird. I’m eating a cookie with it and I’m not getting much tea flavour. A bit of bitterness, a bit of weird mentholishness that must be from the sarsaparilla root, I smell but can’t taste a general fruitiness.

So. Weird and interesting. Not something I’ll pick up in the future (Unless it’s amazing cold brewed. I should try cold brewing this!), but really neat to try!

Edit: I missed it! This was post 1234! AHHH!!!

This tea is NOM.

I had some for breakfast. Well after I drank something else. What was that other thing…..OMG. I have no idea. I’m losing my mind.

Maybe it was a resteep of something leftover from last night?

Or maybe this was my first cup of the day?

I woke up
Fed baby
Played with baby
Made an omelet
Drank this tea

I feel like I had something else after I fed the baby but before the omelet.

Oh well. It’s gone.

THIS tea, this tea is NOM.

Chocolatey and delicious.

This is a sample which came to me from Terri HarpLady – thank you
Gongfu style
4g 150ml gaiwan 205F
rinse 1/3/3/5/5/10/15/15/15/20sec etc
I like this tea a lot. it starts like pale and floral. Later steeps introduce Lychee, grape, nuts and some floral in the background. its sweet and malty but delicate. even kinda Darjeeling type with some slight citrus. im not done, lots of life left in this tea. some steeps i combined in one cup, but tried them first. very nice and light. i think its easy to drink in Summer, its not heavy with honey and malt ( could be too much in hot weather).
Thank you so much Terri for letting me enjoy this wonderful tea. Sadly, Verdant doesn’t have in stock but i can totally see myself buying it

Here I am again. I’m sorry I haven’t updated, but I also haven’t been drinking much in the way of tea, although that’s a lie because I have been drinking iced tea. No excuses.

Actually, I’m just hear to say that this tea is terrible iced. It tastes like strawberry yogurt milky water, and I never want to be made to feel I’m drinking watery yogurt. It’s ok though, because this used up my entire sample, so onwards and upwards, I guess. I’m going to be tossing what’s left in the pticher (which is pretty much all of it actually), but ’aint nobody got time for bad tea, I say.

carry on, folks. Let this week end.

I have to admit that I have difficulty western brewing Oolong’s ( I only have one that I brew that way on any regular basis). There is something about the complexity of tastes, the spice and the warmth it produces in my body that compels me to play with the tea and deconstruct its flavours. I’ve had this sample for a while but have only recently had the time and the health to fully appreciate it.

This is a lovely tea it has a wonderful mix of dark honey, fruit, a variety of floral tones, cured pine, roasted charcoal note, corn, and a variety of savoury vegetable notes. I absolutely enjoyed it and could easily see myself purchasing some in the future. Thank you very much to Temple Road for sharing this tea with me.

I must be impressed with the quality of the packaging of temple road tea as even this sample was packed with a dessication packet to control the moisture levels of the tea.

The dry tea is composed of tightly wound nuggets that are dark spruce and olive green heading towards a dark charcoal colour. The leaves smell of a mix of sweet fruit, charcoal roasted notes and a faint woodiness but are overall very fruity.

I steeped the tea 11 times after a rinse (45,30,35, 40,50,55,60,70,80,90, and 120s)

45s. Liquor pretty buttercup gold colour
Scent complex fruit smell, papaya,melon,warm peach, honey, carnation like spice tones, hint of roast and woodiness, cream.
Taste. Delicious, warm papaya and peaches, honey, vanilla orchid with carnation, cream. Spicy,warm fruit with a slight spicy floral tone.

30s stronger honey tones,fruit still get aparrent, sweet spicy floral, roster woody tone.
Taste spicy floral, fruity tones at the for front as well as something more deeper, tart and berry like, strong honey tones, hint of roasted, charred,bitter greens. Creamy buttery, mouth feel,a bit of woodiness.

35s. Brew is a deeper saffron like colour. Scent buttery, spicy soft floral, with fruit not as intense as before, honey, hint of sweet buttery lettuce like greens.
Taste hint of spinach,spice a faint echo of cloves on top of floral spice vanilla cream, touch of honey, sweet cooked greens, aftertaste of warm peaches. A balance between, savoury, sweet, and spicy, a little perfumy.

40s. cream over stewed peaches and papaya, vanilla, and floral spice.
Floral spice better balanced with other flavours so it is nit so perfumy, sweet buttery green tones slightly more apparent, a touch of spinach. Spicy feel at the front of the mouth.

50s. Scent corn, fruit, vanilla, butter, fainter spice,tones, dried , cured,pine.
Taste savoury vegetable cooked with cloves van butter cooked peaches in vanilla cream, hint of corn. spice in the aftertaste.

55s .scent Orchid and lily, buttetred creams, vanilla sugar, cooked peaches, a touch of citrus, spice.
Taste cooked peaches, vanilla sugar, spicy floral mixed with 5 spice powder, cream, savoury spinach and sweet greens.

60s. Citrus and peaches, vanilla, cream, faint vegetal note.

Corn,warm peaches and cream, vanilla orchid and nutmeg, faint cured pine note.

70s citrus, cream warm peach, sweet cooked greens

80s. Sweet tone with hint of dark honey, cream,peach, corn.
Hint of woody tone and echo of spice.

90s corn, cooked greens, cream,hint of fruit.
Same as above

120s dark honey and spice with a hint of greens

A beautiful tea to help me soothe my tummy. And I’m drinking this tea to break in the new mug that I got!!
http://dftba.com/product/1de/QualiTea-Mug

I got that, my Augustus Waters shirt, and a This Star Won’t Go Out bracelet :) Ahh okay yes, busy busy day so I’m going to leave this note here! I’ll write a better one next time I have this tea :)

Thick, honey, malty, smooth, cocoa-ey, molasses-y… good for 2.5 steeps of long length. I seriously regret not buying a larger amount.

This. Is. Freakin. Good. Tea.

oh god….life saving tea today. it was an indescribable delicious tasty cocoa-y mess of goodness…that kept me from killing anyone.

note to anyone who is a people manager out there….if you have an employee who is doing 5 people’s jobs and kicking ass at 4 of them, do NOT tell them that a conversation needs to happen about that 5th job because it’s not being carried as well as the other 4 jobs…ESPECIALLY when that person is also doing 15-20 hrs of overtime a week to keep things going. grrrrr

Having this hot, and it’s a much needed reminder of how delicious this one can be after a string a mediocre cold brews. Much like many of the teas I’ve had today this is succulent and juicy and is really getting my mouth watering! I’m so happy I decided to make this afternoon one dedicated to white blends.

That said, I still am perfectly fine sipping it down and not restocking: I like Watermelon Xylophone a lot better and it seems kinda redundant keeping both Butiki melon blends around. I’d much rather give the tin space to another white Butiki blend like French Lemon Macaron, White Rhino or, apparently, Doke Silver Needle.

But yum; a much needed switch up from the way I’ve been preparing this lately. Seriously, the contrast is jarring.

I’m a little tired and I need to open a new box of contacts. How I know this? As I squinted at my profile just now, I read, ‘All pets are off’ and wondered what the hell whoever had written it meant by that.

Those poor smelly pets.

Anyway, this is today’s second batch of Thé du Hammam, but this time… iced! This has the same unfortunate reaction to being cold-steeped as Kränku’s delicious kiwi vanilla – it gets all foamy. My glass seriously looks like I’ve been drinking beer from it (and it’s not just the contacts this time).

Aside from that, it’s nice – clean and fresh, but without much of an aftertaste. I was hoping for a little bit more of that smooth, creamy vanilla LPdT do so well, but this is mostly vaguely Hammamy and nothing else.

In accordance with my ratings rule that greens, whites and oolongs must also be tasty and delicious iced, this might have warranted a five-point reduction, but I was going to give it another five points after enjoying it so much hot this morning, so I’ll just do nothing and congratulate myself on giving it such an insightful grade right from the start.

In other news, the right index fingertip pad is a really bad place for two mosquito bites.

Queued post, written April 27th 2014

I received this one from Courtney and I thought it rang a bell. I know I’ve had some of Teavivre’s Yunnans before, but I couldn’t remember if it was this one. I had a look through the database, and found I was both right and wrong. I had had one before, but it was not this one.

This has an aroma of lots of grain and a good deal of cocoa. The grainy note is very close to freshly baked rye bread, actually. One baked with sourdough, I think. (How detailed is that!)

It’s got quite a sweet flavour with a smidge of chocolate-y cocoa to it. For me, cocoa and chocolate are not the same flavours at all. There is a significant difference to it sometimes. It has to do with how it feels in the mouth as well. For this particular tea, though, it seems to fall right between the two and I can’t decide if I think it’s more one or the other.

It’s thankfully free of that hay-ness that plagues Yunnan blacks for me and instead has a good deal of malty grain to it. On the aftertaste I’m getting that note that some people think is like black pepper and I don’t really think it is, but I can see why they say so.

I thought initially that I would compare this to the Teavivre Yunnan I had before, but my experience of this one was so different from the other that comparing them serves no purpose.

Oh my this is super tasty!!!
Sample is courtesy of Jalam Teas and Jeff Fuchs – thank you!
I gave this one a five second rinse and I think it was a good idea. Washed away some dust. Not that there was much.
The TEA! There are fresh mineral notes, stone fruit, molasses and honey, with something bakey hiding in the aftertaste. And something that reminds me of wood. Did you ever get a mouth full of wood chips while horsing around as a kid? That is precisely what it reminds me of, but without the dust, and in a most positive way. Only the first steep so far, and I’m quite looking forward to the next one!
I love the consistency. Rich, like a typical fermented Puerh, but still refreshing.

EDIT: Oh my goodness. Rating bump!! Second steep, I accidentally left it brewing for maybe five min. I forgot to set the timer!
Anyhow, I figured it’d be ok, being that puerh is difficult to oversteep… and I was right! This is amazing. Creamy, sort of like a jin jun mei, and oh so smooth, with a slight burn afterwards, almost as if its been spiked with whiskey. The flavour reminds me of super smooth coffee when its hot, and then the cedar chip, and other standard puerh notes emerge.

Dry leaf – all golden colored fuzzy large buds with malt scent.
Method – Western style at 190F for 3 minutes.
Wet Leaf – very large buds, all uniform, very nice, smell like caramelized sweet potato with brown sugar.
Liquor – deep amber jewel with caramel scent.
Flavor – lots of sweet potato. Caramelized sweet potato with a bit of malt in the aftertaste.

6/14/14
Brought these pure buds down to 175F Western Style today for 3 minutes. Liquor was a more golden yellow color with prominent malt scent.
The flavor was more refined and there was not a dominance of sweet potato. I think a lower temp for these pure buds treats them with respect. This has a lovely flavor and I think I could have even steeped it longer with such a low temp. This temp brings malt, sweetness, honey, and a subtle sweet potato note.
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6/30/14
Brewed Western style at 175F with 1 tsp per 8 oz water. Brewed two cups at a time in a classic oval teapot and steeped for 4 minutes this time.
The liquor is very golden colored and smells like sweet malt. The flavor is sweet malt as well. Next time I’m gonna try 185F. This one is very good but I want to find that sweet spot with brewing it this way.
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7/11/14
Brewed this one Gong Fu style today at 185F in a 5 oz ceramic pot.
-immediate rinse
-6"-4"-6"-8" Delicious!! I found the sweet spot,,it is 185F. Liquor is golden & clear.
Flavor is sweet, malt, and not as much sweet potato,,,which I like.
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7/30/14
Brewed a cup Western style today,,,,190F for 3 minutes. Delicious honey, malt, and sweet potatoes!! It’s best brewed Gong Fu at 185F but I was in a hurry today :)
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8/20/14
Western style at 185F for 3 minutes. Heaven!!!!!

A huge thanks and thunderous round of applause for Cavocorax for sending me a package of teas to try out! Such an exciting thing to find in my mailbox today, especially since I hadn’t had my morning tea yet.

As I’ve been wanting to try some A&D teas and she was kind enough to send some samples along, I thought this would be good for breakfast.

So I have no idea what sort of teas this is comprised of, but a smokey note is mentioned.
I did get a tiny whiff of something when I smelled the leaves, but nothing scary.

So I brewed this up at 100 degrees for 4 min, and let it cool, then had a sip (you’re welcome for the play by play – during this time I also had a piece of leftover bacon out of the fridge)

….not sure what to expect, but I ended up enjoying this!

It’s definitely slightly smokey, but in a good way! I especially notice the flavours in my cup after I had a few mouthfuls of breakfast then went back to it. Definitely a hint of astringency at the end, but nothing off putting.

I don’t think I need to own this one, which is good because it’s not cheap and it’s a massive tin!

But thank you to Cavo for letting me try this :)

I’m drinking my next to last serving of this tea.
It is still just as wonderful, & a part of me wants to continue with the hoarding, but little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza is drawing to a close, & there are still so many teas in my cupboard that have been there for awhile, & although I want to savor the final cup of each of them, the final cup of this one, which I’ll most likely drink later this week, will be especially bittersweet, because it is irreplaceable.

Sipdown (162/168)!

So much tasty hazelnut!

I think this tea triumphed as the best one I’ve had today (although, I really didn’t do a ton of tea drinking today) so it’s a perfect one to end the day on. I paired it with a couple coconut macaroons which I bought today on my “outing” to Postal Jail and now I’m just winding down for the night while I paint my nails and watching Whose Line outtakes. It’s a simple nirvana.

I added milk to this cup and I think that just revved up the hazelnut and took it to a whole ‘nother creamy, dreamy vanilla playing field. And, I just have to note how happy I was that there _wasn’t_ any chocolate notes in this cup: I like the “Nutella” pairing a fair bit – but hazelnuts can more than stand on their own too.

Goodbye; thanks to whoever passed this along to me and to Sil for passing it on to them! I’ll remember it fondly!

My recent purchase from Zen Tea. Actually this tea is the main reason I placed an order . i really like this tea. I made it gongfu style.
1TBSP 150ml gaiwan 205F
rinse/10/15/20/30/45sec etc
this tea is wonderful malty,chocolaty some grains. Like brownie if you add some sugar. No sugar for me, i prefer to drink it without additives. if you a fan of Laoshan Black by Verdant tea i think you would like this tea as well.

Sipdown #2 for today. 5 may be pushing it believe it or not. lol This was again from courney and i have to say i really like this one. it’s not one that i could drink every day given it’s a green tea, but when in the mood for a fruity strawberry tea, this one would hit the spot!

Beautiful Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are chilling on my lawn this morning. They’ve been here for a couple of days now. They sit under the pine tree or go for a swim in the pond.

Mr. Mallard’s iridescent and lustrous green plumage is just stunning to look at, it never gets old. Of course, just like most bird species, Mrs Mallard’s feathering is a lot more subdued. (Totally unfair!!)

I got out of bed super early and already knew I was going to drink Special Dark. (I read Cavocorax’s note last night and got inspired!)

Chocolate in the morning? Yes please! This is rich decadent liquid gooey chocolate, with burnt caramel sprinkles on top, yum. It’s also creamy with vanilla notes, that makes it round and silky in the mouth.

This has none of the heavy earthiness often found in shou. It’s a very “friendly” pu’erh, smooth and accessible to everyone, but complex enough to please the more experienced tea drinkers.

The more you steep it, the more condensed the flavour gets. Just superb.

Happy Sunday everybody :-)