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Backlog 3/67

This tea came in from either Cameron or Mandy and I’m not sure which. Sorry. I got both packages at the same time and I’m so confused about which were which now >_<

I can’t say terrible much about this tea. I jotted down notes while tasting last night because I was otherwise busy and I brewed up like 8 teas in a row. My notes for this one were: Flowers, tea (for aroma) and tea, bitter (for taste).
I didn’t get any floral note in the flavor. But the scent was definitely there.
I am not sure what this tea is meant to taste like, but to me it was just a vaguely bitter flavorless tea that was overall kinda flat. I didn’t get anything more than that out of it.

But as always, I enjoyed trying it. Thanks for sending it, Cameron or Mandy. XD

Backlog 2/67

Okay so I just got this from Cheri. The dry leaf smells interesting. A kinda spicy scent.

I mistook this for black tea at a glance and boiled water. I burned the leaf. It tasted terrible. I started over, glad there was a nice sized sample.

The second round, I kept the water where it should be for a green tea, steeped carefully and sweetened lightly. When I got a good inhale of the aroma I nearly gagged. It smelled so off to me. A strange, thick scent that wasn’t eggnoggy at all, tho I thought I might have been getting an eggy scent possibly. I can’t even describe it. I just didn’t like it.
When I took a sip, I was hoping for some similance of eggnog. I can’t say that existed here. It was a slightly spiced, vegetal green with an icky savory note that I guess was egg-like. I have no idea really, because I couldn’t make myself take more than a few sips. My sister tried it also and agreed, no eggnog was found here.

So I guess we’ll stick to Eggnog as a seasonal treat rather than a tea flavor. haha. :)
Anyway, thanks to Cheri for sending the sample! We were glad to try it. ^^

And I really want to make that doubly clear: I’m always happy to try new teas whether I end up liking them or not. I hope I don’t offend anyone with my reviews when they have sent me a tea. I still appreciate the send and I definitely enjoy the experiences even if my review is negative. ^^

Backlog 1/67

What clever name do we have here for “Try all the backlogged teas you have received samples of!”? I have received an immense amount of tea lately and as much lovely as that is, I need to start catching up. I counted earlier, and I have 67 teas that I currently “need to try”, whether I’ve never had them before or if I just need to try them a second time to give them another chance or what have you.
I probably have 20 or so more teas than that total in my cupboard… Including all the samples I know I like and want more of and the teas I have an actual long-term amount of.

That said, today I’m trying Vanilla Bean Cacao because it’s been sitting on my kitchen table with the others I received from Cameron B., Mandy and Cheri and my sister said it smells delicious and demanded we try it next. I added Stephen Hockman’s enormous pile of tea to the “need to try” today. My goodness, Stephen! Thank you for all the tea. Yours is on the way!

I can’t wait to try all these. Everything sounds delicious. I especially can’t wait to try the mystery tea with the Chinese letters. :D

SO! Vanilla Bean Cacao. Wow… no one has reviewed this before? Weird.
Okay. So it looks weird! IT looks like… flaked bark or crushed acorns or crushed dry leaves. Really weird looking tea. :D IT smells strange, good? Like Vanilla, chocolate and something else… a sweet woody scent I can’t name. Maybe I’m just inventing that because of how it looks. It’s a very SUPER sweet smell tho. Almost too sweet.

It was a herbal so I usually go about 8 minutes, but I went 6 because the tea had all settled to the bottom of my gravity steeper by then so I figured it was about right. I can say the smell once it gets wet is weird. SUPER weird. More Woody than before and maybe more …. I dunno, like raw cacao rather than chocolate. Maybe?

The first sip is sweet (I sweetened it with regular sugar) with a nice rich vanilla and chocolate flavor. It is a nice full flavor, very sweet all the way around. A bigger drink makes me feel that it would be better with a touch of milk.

I may go add milk to this.

Okay, added milk and had to add a bit more sugar to avoid the milk overpowering the flavor. Somehow, another tsp of sugar plus a bit of milk = now I can taste the flavors of this tea better than I could before. I don’t know. It just brought the flavors out.

This is very tasty. It’s almost too sweet for my tastes. (I know I added more sugar, but it really needed it. Before that, the flavor VANISHED into the milk and I didn’t even add much milk.)

I like it. I don’t think I’d go seek it out specifically because it’s entirely too sweet when you get it to the point where the flavor appears, but I do think I’d drink it again if offered a cup. It’s nice. Just maybe not quite my cuppa tea.

I will be totally honest and say I can’t remember which person this one came from (apologies!) but whoever sent it, thank you for the experience! This is not a bad tea!

I ordered this to remake Morrocan mint.
I made this just now with fresh mint.
It does not taste like Morrocan mint.
I’m not even sure it tastes like anything. :c
I get a vegetal note, but not much smokiness and I guess my mint doesn’t give as much mint as the mint tea I’d had before because I don’t get really any mint at all.
By itself, I don’t think the gunpowder really impresses me that much. Maybe I did something wrong. I’m disappointed.

Weirdly, the Morrocan mint I’ve liked best so far… is Teavannas. That makes one tea by them I like. >_<

Swap from Cheri

Oh. Em. Gee.

I found it. Liquid paradise.

This is so good. ^^
I made this as a hot milk-latte and it was like… I can’t even say it was like hot chocolate because it was like hot BELGIUM chocolate.

I mean when a drink says it’s flavor is “Belgium chocolate” I don’t believe it. I read that as “chocolate”. Because typically that’s all it is.
But I’ve HAD real Belgium chocolate before and it IS different from normal chocolate.

THIS is BELGIUM CHOCOLATE. And it’s delicious.

I … must… have this tea in my cupboard.

I will. I will own this tea.

Oh my goddess it was so good. I mean… just… perfect.

Thanks for sending it Cheri! I really love this one. ^^

In other news, my order from Misty Peak teas came in! It’s sample sized bits of the Autumn and Spring Yiwu Pu Erh. :D
This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Pu Erh in cake form. I can’t wait to try it!
It smells so fresh and the leaves are beautiful.

I can’t wait to try more Pu erhs in general.
The last week has been really busy for me but I want to drink more tea! MORE TEA!
I seriously need to invest in a good electric kettle so making tea would be quicker.

Btw, why can’t we input .5 tsp? Silly. I put 1 tsp/16 oz because I can’t put .5tsp/8oz. I really did the latter. :)

Swap from my Opposites Taste Buds Swap Partner Mandy!

Oooohhh I knew it! You didn’t care for it so I love it. Of course. :) The Opposites taste buds swap is successful!

I’m so happy I found my taste buds opposite. The teas she sent me all seem so lovely. It’s hard to believe they are on someone’s “no” list. :)

I steeped this up at about 1.5 minutes because my original 3 minutes seemed like overkill. No instructions on the bag, so I treated it like my other pu erhs and I guess I was thinking more Adagio pu erh beacuse they suggest 3-5 minutes. Well 1.5 had this dark already so I went ahead and poured it off. It was DELICIOUS smelling in the pouch and in the cup. The color was a dark reddish brown.

I sweetened it and added milk. The package had that suggestion but not temp or times! :D

It’s delicious! Minty vanilla. Feels like a minty vanilla icecream in the mouth with hints of earthy pu erh flavor beneath. Very delicious. The mint is strong. The vanilla is very strong. The pu erh is a background note, but foundational and delightful.

Wellllp I will be drinking more of this for sure. ^^ Thanks for the swap Mandy!

Another from my trade with Cameron B

This smells SO AMAZING OMG OMG OMG. Everything in the package smelled like Jasmine. It was like I opened a perfume bottle instead of a tea pouch.
I couldn’t get over how amazing it smelled. This was my first time with pearls and they were so CUTE. I am a geek I know, but I just freaked out over how cute they were.

I brewed this up at 175 degrees and 2 minutes and it smelled amazing the whole time. I poured a softly greenish tea in my cup (had to use one of the glass mugs for this one so I could see its color) and sweetened it a little after a testing sip. The sip was tasty but I like my tea sweet.. so sugar went in, but just a teaspoon. I sipped again and my mouth was happy. Green tea, tasty and delicious… No astringency or bitters. WOW! First time I’ve ever had a green tea I didn’t at least hate in some direction.

Well the flavor was nice and I sipped it warm for a while. The only issue I had was when it cooled all the way, I couldn’t finish it. Why? Because my brain was saying “This is perfume. Why are you drinking perfume? Stop drinking perfume, you’re going to be ill. This is PERFUME DAMNIT NOT TEA!” and I couldn’t win the argument. Only a few tablespoons made it to that stage tho. When it cools it really does smell just like Jasmine perfume and to make this worse, I actually wear a Jasmine Perfume most days >_< So I’m quite familiar with that scent and my brain was really sure I was drinking perfume haha. :)

I kept expecting a bad taste to appear because I kept thinking of drinking perfume.

It was not tho. It was always sweet and delicious and the Jasmine flavor was so floral and so VIVID. I couldn’t believe how bright the flavor was.

I like this. I may well need to seek some of this out. Thank you so much for sending this Cameron! I really enjoyed it ^^

Got this in a swap from Cameron B

I am so disappointed in this tea. :c It had my hopes up. It made me excited. But it just didn’t … have much of a taste.
The smell… omg the smell was amazing. PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE IN THIS BAG!
but when I brewed it, it didn’t come through. The flavor was there, but it was SO VAGUE that I couldn’t really make much of it. :c

I realized this tea has just made me want to make a real pineapple upside down cake. I guess that’s how I’ll get that flavor because it’s not in this cup. :c

Such a shame… I would totally have bought some of this if it’d help up to my expectations.

Drank yesterday. Site was being weird.

This tea smells amazing. Opening the bag, I’m overwhelmed by the scent of rich chocolate and hints of orange. The Pu Erh is overpowered by the aromas of the flavorings. As usual, I’m not sure what the blue cornflowers are doing in there. Do these things smell or taste like anything? I’ve never known them to.

As I brew the cup, the liquid is dark, rich, reddish brown. It’s a lovely color and like most Pu Erh I’ve tried, it gets much darker as I let it set longer. I brewed this according to the package directions this time, so 5 minutes with boiling water.

I put a bit of sugar in my cup and sipped the very warm tea. It’s so vivid! The taste of chocolate and orange assault my mouth with a sweetness lacking any bitter flavor. The Pu Erh is a subtle companion to the stronger flavorings used, but still present and tasty.
I add a bit more sugar to wake up the chocolate flavor and it is a total win. Sweet, this tea is a treat. I almost feel I should be having it for desert. In the future, I may have to do just that.

I would say if you like chocolate and orange together, you’ll love this tea, hands down. It’s the strongest flavor I’ve had with a Pu Erh so far and it’s delightful.

I saved it for resteeping this morning and its potency is every bit as strong as the night before. I brewed it for 2 minutes and it was already dark so I went ahead and poured it in my cup. The flavor is as strong and bold and awake as it was last night. I am impressed with how potent it was with such a short resteeping time. If anything, the flavor is bolder.
I wonder how many cups I could make of this, but at the same time I wonder how many I want. It’s not that the tea isn’t good— it’s delightful— it’s that I am not sure I want this much desert!

I would say it’d be a delightful tea to share with someone so you can brew it, then let them resteep it, and ping pong it back and forth haha. :) Unless you could enjoy this much desert in a row. I bet it’d resteep 1-2 more times really well.

Had a nice cuppa this morning. Very nice. More flavor than the sample I had before. I think because it had more parts that the sample only had a bit or two of.

Anyway, I’m loving this. Absolutely loving. :) A little simple syrup and it’s magic.

Resteeped even sweeter. Tho I gave my second cup to my sister after a taste because she’d just woken up and looked like she needed a cuppa.

I just got my Adagio order. I can’t wait to try Lansang Souchong. It smells so incredible.