Saturday Sample Sipdown! Who's in?

Tomorrow for sure! Today was only like 2 teas and some time at the spa so tomorrow :)

I’ll be cranking a bunch out this weekend

correction…I will be part of the sipdown if I can Find my earplugs…;(

…should I ask?

neighbors…loud enough the floors, walls, sometimes lightfixtures shake

fun….

Oh yah…makes studies a blast…

YAY!

I’m hoping to get down to 180 teas in my cupboard by the end of today…though i think that might be a little ambitious

hahaha yeah…that’s what i thought when i first joined steepster. Then suddenly i was over 200 teas. My goal is to get down to 150 by the time black friday rolls around so that i can feel justified in placing a few orders then :) (not that i’m not continuously ordering between now and then…but i’m not allowed to take advantage of the sales if i don’t make my goal)

is 53 Teas Frank’s evil cousins business?

LOL typo from Azzrian (also FYI the new profile pic totally keeps messing with my head, though i love it. was used to the old one!)

lol

So far I’ve had Harney’s Matcha thin grade (omg amazing), Davids’s Tieguanyin (at best decent for a TQY)

I have yet to try Harney’s matcha specifically, but it will be on my first order with them outside of samplers I do. I’m starting with the 2 teabags I got in my Den’s sampler.

the den’s green tea for novices sampler? their genmaicha extra green is very good. i haven’t had any unflavored matcha to compare it to but don’t think i’ll be ordering flavored matcha ever again.

Regarding flavored matcha I’ve only had The Republic of Tea flavored matcha…and after a lifetime of plain matcha, it was disappointing, but I do like the one that is genmaicha flavored as a change of pace. There are a few flavored matcha I want to try for culinary adventures, but wary of simply drinking them.

I will likely be passing on the genmaicha extra green from my Den’s pack, I tried it from a swap and could not stand it. It was one of my worst experiences with Matcha iri.

Wish I could join you today! My tea stash longs to be riffled through :)

Fortunately we’re all allowed to like different things. I loved it. But now I expect genmaicha to taste that strongly and am readjusting. That was my first experience with genmaicha and matcha.
I saw your review on that flavored matcha.. was interesting but Ive had Red Leaf Tea’s Caramel and Pumpkin Pie matcha. Both are good but after trying unflavored I think I’ll stick with unflavored. I did recently learn I wasn’t whisking it nearly enough which improved it dramatically – but not enough. I wasted a good bit of perfectly good matcha too. :\ Oh well. A LOT of the people on this site love the red tea leaf flavoreds but I’m undecided if that is because they got it largely from promotions or due to actual tastes and preferences.

I totally hear you on loving unflavored. Tealet genmaicha (not matcha iri though, just genmai) is the strongest genmai I have had in my life…I’ve been drinking some grade of gen mai and (plain) matcha or another for over 20 years!

I was suspect when I ran across a matcha cheesecake…but loved it, and that is what I am considering trying the flavored matchas for mostly, rather then drinking. It took me months to even consider trying any flavored matcha at all! it is a forgin concept to me.
I’m having a hard time adjusting to any sweeter teas in general though too, and feel I may have missed out on them starting with the traditional unflavored tea.

I just got 1lb unflavored matcha from red leaf, and it is drinkable, but not sure I would restock. I will be trying their plain matcha sampler set for sure.

I was talking about cheesecake earlier today. Now i REALLY want some. Matcha cheesecake sounds amazing.
I don’t think I can fit tealet genmai into my budget at 15$ for 30g. They must use super premium organic bancha with it. Do you have a more affordable gen mai suggestion?
Being from Atlanta I started out on iced cheap sweet tea (think Lipton orange pekoe with mounds of sugar), then to unsweet tea, then flavored black tea bags, then loose leaf. I’m just starting to explore most green teas and oolongs and all of the rest. I have little taste for pu`erh but will admit I’m trying to like it. It seems like a good scotch to me – certainly not something appreciates on first taste.
You bought one POUND of it without trying a smaller size first? I made that mistake with a chai before and paid dearly for it. I hated it. Fortunately someone came to the rescue and I swapped it out for bunches of samples.

*the only reason I bought a lb of it untested was that a) I happily drink outdated cooking grade plain matcha b)I had not tried the sampler set that red leaf offered shortly after, (that resulted in my being even more gunshy about anything else from them…I never met a plain matcha I would not at least finish, even if I would not restock till them)

and c) I know people to split it with.

luprica Matcha Kirara Rice is a really good matcha iri.
I also love Hime genmai, but it is not really up to the set standards here on steepster…It is a cheap daily tea quality, but has the balanced flavor I prefer in my genmai. I don’t have many others right now that I can mention by brand name. I was raised around decent grade “cheap stuff” genmai,secha, bancha, and oolongs(not including my dad and grandmother’s blacks). (Hime is about 5 bucks for 10oz)

so far most of the pu`erh I love and can tolerate is some Numi flavored types.

*I know enough about most of my tastes in tea I can shop with some confidance in bulk amounts.

I’m very happy to find a good “cheap stuff” daily quality gen mai. Thats really what I’m looking for with gen mai anyway. Are people here uptight with standards or something? I’m constantly looking for deals and tend to order based on some cost/average rating score card.
Numi puts out some good teas. I can’t believe i’m drinking a tea enough so i can enjoy it but that swap and have a good bit of pu`erh to go through anyway. Its growing on me.
Speaking of growing on me, apparently so is green tea. At first I thought it was gross (I didn’t like most of the Den’s samplers) and now I’m really liking the unflavored matcha so think i’ve developed a taste for it too. So much tea, so little time.
I thought I’d like all chai’s regardless of brand. I was quite new at ordering tea really. I didn’t expect anyone to put THAT much clove in chai. The stuff was loaded with it and pulling them out didn’t help at all.

By the way! tea right now is Harney’s Queen Catherine. I quite like it. I’m quite inexperienced with unflavored blacks of any grade other than cheap as dirt and this one wasn’t so expensive either. You? Anyone else?

I have been happpy to find that most, if not all the numi I found i love bagged can be found Loose leaf through their site…will be restocking in that soon I hope.

the standards here at steepster seem very uptight from what I am used to yes, but it is possible that it is easily read that way due to many of the companies listed here are almost Luxury type brands from the point of view of many non steepster folks I know who are into loose tea.

its nice to hear you are still exploring greens. So far Den’s has not been my favorite, but it has been across the spectrum now…from the extra green being the worst of that sort that I have tried, to others that I would gladly use or buy again personally.

I’ll be checking out Mellow Monk, O-cha.com, Maiko, yuuki cha as I need to restock my greens throughout the year.

I am also new to ordering tea…just not new to drinking tea regularly, and been drinking loose leaf my whole life.

Are you used to sourcing your tea from local shops? Where are you from?
Nice. Greens are my next thing to go through and fully explore. I ordered tons of samples of oolongs for the present. I have 3 $50 Harney gift certificates left that will be put to use and 1 will be solely greens. Where do you like greens from at decent prices? Apparently you, like me, don’t care to have to order the most expensive everything. How was the starter grade of red leaf compared to others in the ~20-30$/30g range? That stuff is super cheap and I’m thinking about ordering some now.
Oh. Drinking Blueberry Cream from Della Terra now. Its a rooibos and is quite good.

I’m based out of the northwest now, from southwest, but ethnically my family has a bit of a background in teas. Starter grade has been very doable for daily drinking, not as sweet as the higher grades though. I will be trying it for cooking soon. I’d be happy to send you some, PM me if interested.

right now I know what styles of greens, including quality I would likely prefer. Mellow Monk, Maiko, O-cha.com are 3 of the (several) sites that offer these types, and I have some other stores that list ethnic foods, I’ll try to find and send your way.
Ten Ren is very good, and inexpensive, though finding their loose leaf can be a bit harder to get.

I don’t have to order the most expensive, but I won’t settle for whatever I feel is lesser/less acceptable quality either, mostly subjective opinion there of course.

there is only one local tea shop in my county, though regionally, there are some great companies I want to check out further, such as smith tea maker.

growing up, my family would usually stock up on basics when visiting family out in CA

most sipdowns are teas folks have already tasted, no worries there!

ah thanks Kasumi! i still dont have a definition for a sipdown from google. much less for a “true sipdown” hahaha. noob.

I use this thread for motivating my to do fresh sampling, as I have become very hesitant to try new teas, and types in particular. Never heard the term sipdown till steepster.

Oh thought of you when my Rabbit Hole order came in today. the Organic Grey Rabbit seems up your ally!

wondering if it is too late in the day to try my Lavender Cream (a lavender milk oolong)from them today

sweet :) i will get to try that someday!

oooh, that sounds yummy! i liked the lavender Grey and the plum oolong i tasted yesterday :)

the Lavender Cream is what made me try for the order…all the other teas, I could find the type from other companies/easier to order…I am worried about the vanilla in it, but could not resist.

Same here. Sunday sipdown! Mine is to make more room in my tea stash for more samples. I have tons of samples to go through!

i kind of wish i had more samples to go through since most of my teas will take 20+ cups to sip them down now haha

Oh man! That’s how my cupboard used to be, but I got a little sample happy recently, so now I’ve got piles of them laying around.

i’ve got about 30 inbound samples….they’re just living at someone else’s house at the moment haha so i can pretend they’re not in my cupboard atm

Haha. Out of sight, out of mind!
Well, have fun sipping tea today!

I’m sipping down today as well! I wouldn’t say I’m sampling, so much as making room for new Davids on Wednesday by drinking a bunch of teas I only have one or 2 cups left of.

yay! for sipdowns!

I am trying to do some sipdowns today too. Have gotten through a few but I think I have hit the end for today.

Sunday sipdown begins!