Popular Tasting Notes
Whaaat – no notes on this one? But I KNOW I wrote notes on this one!
Oh well – I still have quite a bit of this one left, but I have a feeling it’s lost its potency. Oops!
Still nice, but it is very light in flavour.
It’s like drinking the woods- so refreshing! I wrote a little blog post about it quite a while back :) Such a cool tea!
First, I’d like to thank Eco-Cha for giving me the opportunity to be one of the 10 lucky people to get a free yixing clay pot on their recent giveaway. I got my order today with such a lovely little pot! Came in a nice box, all wrapped in a pretty asian style red towel.
I am already brewing one of their tea in it tonight.
I did not know what to expect from this award winning Dong Ding. If anything, award winning won’t necessarily make me like a tea.
I do a quick rinse. This is heavily roasted so I’m expecting some big char notes, and this is pretty much what I get on steep one. Nothing special, just very roasted.
Then…vavavoom! Whoa, fruit! I get a mango mouthful. Yes I know, it’s not really supposed to be there, but that’s what I get! And it’s not subtle, I get that even from the wet leaf.
But that’s not it, this tea is kind sweet and savoury. It’s paired with creamy butternut squash…and roasted root vegetables.
Wow, it is so fragrant, every time I open the pot, I get tropical mango wafts.
As expected, it produced many steeps, but of course, I never count when I get caught up in the moment.
This tea was expensive, but totally worth the bucks.
My first Eco-Cha experience, and I am quite impressed. Quality in every possible way, with an impeccable presentation.
Thank you!
Pics of the order and session:
Flavors: Butternut Squash, Mango, Roasted
That pot is precious
Isn’t it? I’m very pleased!
Sounds lovely. And where did you get that gorgeous little blue cup, dearest?
Ebay darling. Inexpensive, but it looks like a $50 cup!
I love it!
Yeah I love that cup way much
You want the link? It’s still available
There, there
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/301120126594?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Thank you for the morn porn.
My pleasure marzi.
Teaware porn in the AM!
Yeah, that makes me a teaware porn star…
I am so jealous for the teapot ! :)
;-)
Wow I will look for mango in my next cup :-). I think the tea is soooo worth the money. Enjoy your baby teapot!
Lovely!
Mmmmmm mango
LOL TTF, you are totally a teaware porn star. Sarsonator too ;)
this makes me wish that I drank oolong…..
I used mine this morning. :)
Yay for a free yixing, & it’s adorable, as they always are! I also love the cup :)
I’ve been drinking this one almost exclusively for the last week and a half due to a life-long digestion issue that has become more and more intense and disturbing.
Because of this…I have changed to a HIGH Raw and near vegan diet. Roughly 90% of my food intake has been raw for the last week. I’m thinking this is my new norm. I have laid of the tea for a bit and have just done minty tisanes. BUT…I will be getting back into REAL tea SOON.
As for this one it’s Peppermint and nothing else. I have been drinking this to sooth my stomach and intestines, etc. It seems to be doing the trick. It’s minty and soothing yet cooling and comforting.
I hate to hear your stomaches bothering you that much. It ain’t right not seeing your notes pop up every 20 minutes or so- being nominated Most Teas Drank in a Day and all. Get better dang it!
stomache’s-oops. Unless you have more than one.
I still did it STOMACH’S
I bet you’ve done all the elimination diets like the nightshade family, dairy, etc right? As soon as I took out nightshade…better, then there were a couple more and no more stomach aches/intestinal upsets! I had suffered for years!!!
Oh, the rooibos, honeybush, licorice tea’s upset my intestines in a aweful way!
Feel better soon! We all miss your notes!
Thanks everyone!
TeaEqualsBliss laying off tea? Oh Lord, the Mayans were right! Wellness thoughts already headed your way.
I hope you feel better soon.
When you come back to regular tea if you have any ripe puerh I would recommend to start with that. Traditional Chinese medicine views it as a digestion tea and I can tell you from experience that ripe puerh is much easier on the stomach than any other type of tea that I’ve had.
When I start getting sick, I always make a gallon of strong peppermint ginger tea, add some honey and refrigerate it, drink the whole thing over the next 24 hours, and repeat as necessary. Herbal healing is awesome!
I have long contended that straight, strong peppermint tea is more effective than any over-the-counter stomach remedy, and goes a loooong way during cold and flu season, too.
^ truth!
Thanks guys! I’m back :)
YAY! :D
This is my 100th tasting note! I’ve been drinking plenty of tea, but I haven’t made a formal note on them because I was saving #100 for something meaningful to me. The very first what I call “real” (not grocery store tea bags) teas that I fell passionately in love with were Mandala teas. Garret was my first tea-pusher. I realize “tea-pusher” sounds a bit questionable and unromantic for the ever so charming and graceful Garret. But I mean it in the most affectionate way possible. Good tea is like the very best kind of addictive drug and dealing with Garret is an addicting experience: beautiful tea made possible by a soulful, ethical company. I will be a lifelong Mandala customer.
I’ve mentioned drinking my Dark Beauty cocktail many times and have had a few requests to add it to the database, so violà! (that was for you TeaFairy).
You won’t find “Dark Beauty” when you go visit Garret at the Mandala site because it’s a concoction of two of my very favorite teas – two great tastes that taste great together if you will. Dark Beauty is a blend of Special Dark Loose Ripe Pu’er and the sweet, mildly chocolate Black Beauty.
Both of the teas are spectacular on their own. I have Special Dark either alone or in this mixture pretty much every morning of my life. Special Dark is very different from most ripe pu’er – there is no leather that I detect, just a deep smooth bass note of heavy chocolate goodness. Black Beauty isn’t a bug bitten tea, but it has those very sweet lychee-honey notes that good bug bitten tea has.
Here’s how I make it: I take a 16 ounce cup or teapot, I put a scant tablespoon of Special Dark in whichever infuser basket I’m using. At this point, once you’ve boiled your water, you can give the SD a quick rinse if you wish. I usually don’t bother because it doesn’t seem necessary to me for this tea – sorry tea careful tea-crafters, sorry about that. I steep the SD in 16 ounces of 212 water for 3 minutes. Then I add a big pinch of the Black Beauty, give it a stir and steep for another 3 minutes.
UPDATED to add the new, lazy, awesome method. I’ve been losing patience with what I call The Dark Beauty Two-Step, so it’s time to make it simple. Now, I’m putting both teas in at the same time (and skewing the ratio slightly more to the Black Beauty side), pouring in the water and steeping it all at the same time for 4 minutes. Works a treat and less fuss If you’re a DB fan, try it this way and let me know what you think.
Yes, that is a LONG time to steep. No, it never gets bitter or astringent. It yields the deepest, darkest cup of sweet comforting awesome you can imagine. Earthy and chocolate with an undertone of caramel lurking back there, especially noticeable as it cools a little and a lilt of the floral-lychee bit from the Black Beauty at the top.
When I’m feeling particularly indulgent, I go Terri-style with this and add a little maple syrup and on occasion, a little bit of milk or almond milk. I have insomnia and lots of stress. This is the tea equivalent to me of the heavy, snuggly quilt my great-grandmother made that I cocooned myself in as a child. This is my pure comfort tea. When I drink this, I hear pretty much everything these guys ever sang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nedEEL37Lvw
I’ve never had anything from Mandala, but this tea sounds like it would be quite the experience. Congrats on your 100th note!
Happy 100 :)
:) thanks y’all. Christina – Mandala is all the awesome. I especially love their pu’ers
woohoo! grats on 100 notes!
That blend sounds amazing!
Making this tonight. I specifically bought Black Beauty so I could try this!!!!!
<3
You’re super! I just adore you AND your lovely tasting notes! Have a wonderful day, HoneyBelle!!!!
Stupid steepster… That said You’re super!!!
And it had a heart. Steepster hates hearts!!!
<3
Awwwww thanks for the <3 Sars. I adore you right back and I think you will love Dark Beauty.
Congrats on 100!!!
Dark Beauty recipe is going to go on our site soon, if that’s alright with you, Mz Priss! Naturally, I’ll credit you as the contributor. We are changing up the site over the next few months and I think this will go on the blog that I just started there and also in a recipes section. Great stuff, the Dark Beauty!!
I’m making mine now!!!! Wooo hoo!!!! 30 secs left!
And the verdict, Ms Sarsonator?
Reminds me of my Nana. But probably not why someone might think. LOL. I just posted my review. Yay!
@Garret – of course it’s alright with me – I’m glad you like it. It’s my happy place, as Sars would say: Of Happiness.
Yep. That’s exactly what I would say! I think you really did a great job with this one, HoneyBelle!
Thanks hon. I’m enjoying my Jabber, thinking about what to put on a tortilla for dinner
Beans and hummus?
Veggies and hummus?
Veggies and SPICY hummus?
I have both of those things. Good idea, and maybe a cup of Black Beauty w/o SD since my Jabber is allll gone
I need to try the Black Beauty on it’s own. Maybe I will do that for tomorrow’s AM tea. I got excited and went right for your blend. :)
I love BB. It tastes bug bitten like an OB, but it’s not. It’s yummy
Oh, what a lovely review! You make everyone want to try this beauty cocktail…and guess what? I just got my black beauty in the mail, so tonight is the night!
Haha! And thanks for “violà” much appreciated :-)
Congrats on your 100th tasting note! Creating your own “Special” Mandala cocktail is an awesome way to celebrate #100! MzPriss, your truly an original!
Thanks looseTman – I hope you enjoy it if you try it :)
I love the new Lazy DB!!! Great idea ;-)
Lazy DB FTW!!! I am on my 2nd steep at 6 min. Still good!
MzPriss, You’ll have to add a just-brewed image to complete the database description of your original chocolaty cocktail!
Whew, we are finally starting to dig ourselves out of all the backorders that have been piling up over the last month. We are down just to problem orders and should have everything out by Monday. I really just hate when we are behind, it adds this level of gnawing stress. I’m so relieved that it is almost over. Next week we are focusing on taxes and inventory but the following week I can’t wait for because that is when we start preparing and adding new teas to the website. We have about 20 new teas to be added over the next few months. The first one up will be Hello Sweetie since that has been getting a lot of requests to be put online. We have so many new flavor ideas. There are a number of new teas that are far along in the testing stage as well as some remakes of teas. Here is a sneak peak of a few flavors: Pecan Toffee, Mangoes & White Chocolate, Plum Brandy Cheesecake (to replace Plum Pudding), Exotic Chai, and Lemon French Macaron (custom blend contest winner). We have many other flavors too but those are top secret at the moment. We will be removing some other teas from the website as well. Recently, I’ve been thinking about removing Pumpkin Milkshake since that doesn’t seem to be receiving the best reviews.
It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Assams. We taste as many Assams as possible before deciding on a number of different Assams that have different flavor profiles. This is a second flush Assam and the reason that I fell in love with this one is the strong raw cacao notes. Mmmmmm. If you like dark, almost bitter chocolate, then this Assam is for you! It also has some oaky notes and the standard malty Assam notes. This tea is so chocolaty, that we must come up with a chocolate tea for it.
Flavors: Chocolate
Yes please!
Oooo, Plum Brandy Cheesecake!
Great news! And I freaking need this Assam something fierce.
Ahhh, right up my alley this new assam… I would really like to see your take on a Cheery-Chocolate tea. I can never seem to find the right one, I’m always disapointed in them. If someone can do it, it’s you!
Lol, I meant “cherry” of course…that could be the name though, Cheery Chocolate Cherry ;-)
Sil-Indeed! :)
teaqueen-I love the flavoring for this tea, just trying to find it the perfect base tea. This will probably be a black tea.
Fjellrev-Glad to hear that this is great news! It’s soooo good and great for satisfying chocolate cravings.
TheTeaFairy-Glad to hear that. I’m not sure how I feel about tackling a cherry flavor. I’m scared it will end up tasting like cough syrup, which I have a strong aversion to, though I have been searching around for dried cherries. So maybe it is time.
A vegan white chocolate tea?!?! That’s so exciting!!!
Tea Pet-Indeed, it is a vegan white chocolate. We already tasted a bunch of white chocolate and have our favorite chips picked out.
The only problem with the Pumpkin Milkshake is that Doke Rolling Thunder does not make for a good base tea. I keep meaning to put this in a tasting note and never getting around to it, so I may as well make the case here. I’ve got both Pumpkin Milkshake and Pumpkin Milkshake 2.0 in my cabinet and they taste totally different. The 2.0 tastes a whole lot more like the Rolling Thunder version of Carrot Cake than the original version of Pumpkin Milkshake. Rolling Thunder is a great tea, but it just don’t hold flavor as well as other teas do. All of which is to say, pretty please don’t permanently pull Pumpkin Milkshake! It’s a great blend, especially for fall. It just needs a different base. Or, ideally, to go back to the original base.
Pecan Toffe … Sounds yummy!
I had been wondering which submission won the contest! There were some good suggestions for sure!
i’m super excited for the pecan toffee…
Oh yeah +1 for the pecan toffee!
LOL…just when I’ve made my 1st order with Butiki!
Woooohooo new teas soon!!!
I was checking the site today wondering where Butiki was! I can’t wait to see what blends you’ve come up with!
Mmmmmmm….yummy!
Kaylee-Have you tried our Pumpkin Creme Brulee? If so, do you think the Pumpkin Milkshake is different enough that warrants its own blend? The Castleton was a fantastic base for the Pumpkin Milkshake. Maybe we will just sell out of the Doke RT version and take off the Pumpkin Milkshake until the next Castleton harvest.
Suziqzer-Thanks! :)
Dustin-Absolutely, there were some fantastic submissions. We are considering on working on a few of the submissions.
Sil-Awesome! That was a tea we had made for Amoda and was my favorite of the blends we submitted, but the Nutmeg Cream ended up winning out.
Kaylee-Glad to see pecan toffee receiving a lot of love!
Lynxiebrat-Well, all of the teas will be taking time to come out slowly. :)
Stephanie-I’m so excited about the new teas!
Tea Sipper-Thanks! :)
Amariel-I think these new teas will be a great addition to our collection! :)
I have tried the Pumpkin Creme Brulee (thanks Stephanie!). It’s quite tasty, but I’m biased against it because it is a black tea and I can’t generally drink black tea without ending up in pain. I looked back at my tasting notes for Pumpkin Creme Brulee and apparently I thought that a Milkshake/Creme Brulee hybrid would be awesome. So I gather that I found them distinct but complementary. I’d be interested to know what others think! If I had to pick only one I’d go for the Milkshake, but again I’m biased. The answer might just lie in comparing sales of each tea within the time frame that the original Milkshake blend was available. I definitely support the idea of waiting to make more until the next Castleton harvest though. Much as I love it, the Milkshake is definitely more of a fall tea anyway.
So what type of base will the Pecan Toffee have?
I just slipped this into our sample section for those of you that want to try before buying. To buy it by the ounce, though, you’ll have to wait until the 1st! :)
http://whisperingpinestea.com/samples.html
Having a cup now since I love it so much. Always hits the spot with that salted caramel note :D
Enjoy!
You guys would add that after I already ordered a sample pack xD Well whenever I put in a real order anyway I plan on ordering that…but still xD
Same here, Ost. I’m now considering a second sample pack… Hm…
Haha, Ost, well it just now arrived! :) Are you order #139?
You could just trust me that it’s awesome and wait… ;)
YOU DO SAMPLES? places order right now
Yay! This was the tea I was waiting for to make a full blown order. I just ordered a sample pack to try a few others before ordering as well.
Yay! This was the tea I was waiting for to make a full blown order. I just ordered a sample pack to try a few others before ordering as well.
I was surprised at the number of people who didn’t know that you offer samples when I posted about receiving them in the mail. You need to add them to your front page or something!
Aww booo one of the ones I want to try is sold out. I wait :)
That’s a good idea, Cameron! I’ll have to figure something out. Maybe make one of my banner images about samples. :)
Sorry this wasn’t in when you placed your sample order today, TeaTiff! Hope you enjoy your samples though! :D
Which tea are you looking at, Stephanie? I can get you an ETA for most of my out of stock teas :)
I want to try one with pine needles in it! :D
Heh, am I order #139? I don’t remember. xD Probably? I ordered two sample packs. The free shipping got me on that one…I love free shipping. xD
Stephanie, from what I could tell they don’t offer everything as a sample. There were some that I wanted to try that were in-stock but just weren’t on the sample list. I was assuming they were teas that they have limited stock or sell out of fast.
Ahhh don’t we all :) Well, let me tell you…I harvest the pine once a month and the stock is very limited. So on July 1st, the moment the newsletter goes out, probably around 10-12 ounces of The Sleeping Bear will be available. Once it’s gone, you’ll have to wait until August harvest to get another chance :)
Ost, yes, we all love free shipping I think! It’s free after $50 on regular orders in the states, after $75 in Canada.
And yes, Cameron is right, we only offer 10 samples and they are all based on availability. Many of our teas, we just don’t have enough inventory to offer samples.
I’ll remember to look for it the first of the month then…thanks!
I can definitely understand that. Luckily for me, most of the ones I’m interested in are fairly inexpensive. :D
No worries, Stephanie! :)
Cameron, I’m glad you like our prices! :)
Brendan is like the Rene Redzepi of the tea world :)
That is a HUGE compliment, Marzipan, and I plan to continue striving for excellence and createavity :D
Yay, let’s get some more Ailaoshan Love :-)
Ack it auto corrected your name wrong :(
Ahh no worries :) I must spend less time on here or I’ll end up spilling the beans on new secret blends. I’m terrible at keeping secrets as long as I plan to. Lol
AAAAHHHH I didn’t know about the samples! I just ordered some :-)
:) Yay! I’ll have that sent out tomorrow :)
This just decided me on the first tea of the morning. I love this one!
Mmmm I might have to have this one this morning too!
Just finished mine. Managed to not lick the inside of the cup when it was empty. I had a cup of coffee :O first but I NEEDED tea. This particular tea.
:) I just had a weird moment when I thought about this tea, I could smell it. Need to make this right now!
NEED more! :)
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.
You can’t know until you try it…or someone else tries it first!
I agree about bad tea. My friend drinks everything and says she just can’t throw away bad stuff. Thank goodness we do not have that problem. Life is too short!
Oh god I know. I keep reading about people who choke down awful sip down after awful sip down and I’m like waaaaahhh why are you doing this to yourself?!?!?!
just thinking about what that had to taste like makes me a bit queasy!
I agree about bad tea. Why force yourself to drink something you don’t like? If it was a pizza with something on it that you discovered you didn’t like, you’d pick that off too instead of forcing yourself to eat it, wouldn’t you? I don’t understand what the difference is. Out with it, either to the bin or to someone else.
Yes I totally agree. And people may think it’s wasteful, but I also think needlessly assaulting my tastebuds is wasting tastebud wattage on bad choices. Bad idea!
The wasteful argument doesn’t really fly with me. It’s also wasteful to force something down you don’t enjoy rather than give it to someone else who might enjoy it. And whether you toss it or struggle through it, the leaf is equally gone.
(deleted for editing and reposted)
Euck… watery yogurt drink. I’m glad you tossed that pitcher out.
(and yes… let this week end!)
“tastebud wattage” Hahahahah!!! I love it!
hahaha! yes, let this week be gone gone gone! also, ang, great argument about the leaves being equally gone.
I was considering trying to cold brew the rest of my sample. Thanks to you, I’ll pass! Yogurt water…blech
mj1851, I honestly don’t know how anyone could enjoy this one, but I suppose you just never know. It absolutely tastes like strawberry yogurt water, though. Maybe it’s better hot? or maybe you’ll cold brew it and fall in love LOL.
I’m down with all of the above, especially the ‘no time for bad tea’ comment! That made me smile! With as much tea as most of us have in our cupboards, why let something undesirable take up residency? I think that’s really one of my favorite things about samples & tea trades, that we get to try something & ask, “Do I really need to buy this?”
Usually for me the answer is no, although occasionally I find something hoardworthy, LOL.
I feel the same way, Terri HarpLady. I have found a couple that I’ve gone out to buy, but mostly I just enjoy trying the things in the boxes and whatnot and just go from there. (Then again, I’m about to place a huge Butiki order as soon as I hear back from Stacy, and there have been a couple of others lately that I am enjoying and I want more of.)
It works better made hot and iced, IMO. But I’ve only had it in-store.
I agree OMG – I just make it hot and let it cool – put it in the fridge. I think you need the hot water to “melt” the yogurt bits.
I did make it hot and then added ice…ah well, can’t please ’em all, I guess.
Now I want to try it again to see if I get the yogurt-water taste! :)
Who needs chocolate cake when you can have some of this?
I’m not a dessert person, but I do love my chocolate!
To die for!!! This is all chocolate and crispy toasty rice.
I’ve been having cravings all day today. Now I am sated and satisfied…munching on dark chocolate and drinking this tea feels like I have everything I need tonight.
Sorry, I’ve got nothing else to describe here, that’s all I have!
I finally got to try this because TeaTiff sent me some. I asked Verdant if they were planning to make more when the Laoshan Black comes in and yes they are! So I’m happy.
Yummmm :)
MzPriss, too bad they keep,running out of Laoshan…it’s just too good!
Whatshesaid, Oh yah, yum factor very high here :-)
Whatshesaid, BTW weren’t you the one who told me about Lindt Madagascar dark chocolate? Well, guess what I’m eating now girl?
I can’t wait for it to come back, it is soooo yum!
MzPrizz I’m so glad you just mentioned that! I’ve been wondering if Verdant going to have any. I want to try it SO BAD
*was going to have any…forgot my verb, apparently
They’ve been out since I started looking for it. TeaFairy – I love LB! I’m waiting for some new.
Hmmmm – me thinks lots of us are waiting for this to get back in stock. LOL will need to be quick on the buy button and get some before it sells out. :))
I wish you could preorder the blends too…
Wait, wait, wait… a black tea with roasted rice?? I have only had it in green! This sounds so intriguing!
Sounds good!
I’m totally waiting for this…. It’s the only Verdant blend I’m really itching for right now… :P
vanilla.citrus.spice.
Bless my heart, I have Vanilla Citrus Spice on the way too
mzpriss – if you’ve never had it before…let it steep at least 5 mins. lol i usually do about 10mins haha
I agree with sil, the longer VCS steeps, the better!
@Sil – thanks! I haven’t ever had it before, and I generally like a longer steep anyway, so this is helpful :)
Oh Soba Cha!
So enticing I want to eat chunks of my mug, that how good it smells while I drink it.
Buckwheat pancakes, roasted grains, toasty cereals, it’s such a treat!
Ok, I pretty much NEVER add anything to my tea, not that there’s anything wrong with that, just not my preference.
But, this, THIS, with almond milk is like having a liquid bowl of your favourite cereals. Why don’t I make a giant pot of this instead of a cup?
My 4oz tin won’t last very long, I can tell you that!
I can’t ever thank my friend Dexter enough for introducing me to this wonderful tea from H&S :-)
This tea sounds fantastic! It’ll probably be a while until I order from Harney (I have a tea buying queue…) but I’ll definitely be grabbing some of this. :D
You are very welcome my friend. I totally agree with you – liquid bowl of cereal!!! A touch of sweet and a splash of milk and this just makes me HAPPY!!!
I need to try this one.
I feel the same way, MzPriss. Every time I see this reviewed I really want some.
OH MAN this sounds so magical.
That’s exactly what this is: a happy tea :-)
OK, any tea that inspires mug-biting has my attention!
It is totally mug-bite worthy gmahis!
Pro-tip: Keep an eye out for roasted buckwheat or “Kasha” at your healthfood store. It’s the same thing as this. I got 11 ounces from the bulk foods section for $2.50. :) They let you buy as little or much as you want :)
Thanks for the tip madametj, will look it up for sure :-)
its not the same. Groats of kasha are much larger. i have on hand both – kasha and tea. And buckwheat has a tendency to get spoiled without fridge.
http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t—1009/grain-storage-guide.asp
Tastes the same
Soba cha is roasted buckwheat as a tea. Kasha is roasted buckwheat as a cereal.
Interesting idea, I could just pick some up at bulk food store and stick it in the fridge, good suggestion! Probably tastes the same anyhow, maybe just a bit less flavorful if the bits are bigger
I’m not sure where you guys are buying this, but I’ve looked and asked at several health food stores and bulk stores – haven’t been able to find anything roasted. I did buy some straight buckwheat, gave it a quick roast in the oven – that didn’t work very well. Will keep looking for it…..
I am so sad that I forgot to add a sample of this to my H&S order…
Been a while since I have had some time to post. Summer work schedule has been a bit brutal lately and the heat. I think most know it is that time of year.
I remember this when I first got it. I bought it untasted and then grabbed another after it got here.
I got about 10 grams of this to brew tonight. I have been doing it for 3 days but I wanted a fresh from the cake portion to start with.
The wet leaf after the rinse has a bit of smoke in there with a sweet aroma. The tea on the first brew has some sweetness in the beginning and the BuLang comes in. This one come in on the middle of the tongue. A bit of the oily coating come in on the sip. There is some tingle on the tongue. It is coming across as bitter and punchy. Smacking the taste buds around. The color of the tea is coming through as a more golden color. I remember it being a bit lighter and greener in color when young. I don’t know if it is the pumidor aging or a combination of both. This is warming , salty and with a nice bitter punch to it. There are wisps of some smoke and sweetness but the BuLang is the potent factor here. It is a nice blend and seems to be punching above its ticket for me. I have brewed this all week and I am glad I had a break to post on it.
Flavors: Bitter, Salty, Smoke, Sweet
Preparation
After the success of the cold brewed lemon chiffon yesterday, I decided to cold brew lime chiffon. The result is I prefer lime chiffon hot and lemon chiffon cold. I am not sure why but that is my finding. Though this is still very flavorful and delicious, I find the lime shines a bit more when it is hot versus the lemon of lemon chiffon which sticks out in the cold brew.
In other news, I have been spending copious amounts of time on amazon and other sites for a week now looking for a shiny new kettle to replace the ghetto one I am using currently (and I mean ghetto – it doesn’t even have an on/off switch let alone a temperature gauge). I figure for the amount of tea I drink, it is worth it for me to spend some money on a kettle that will help me enjoy it all. Plus, I spend so much money on tea anyways, I might as well brew it properly. So I am wondering what your experience/opinions/thoughts are on different kettles? Which ones are you guys happy to have and which should I avoid?
Preparation
I love my Breville variable temp kettle to bits, but I got my mom one by Kitchen Aid that seems to work quite nicely and was much more reasonable in cost. The one we have at work, a Cuisine Art programmable, had such an irritating beep that one fellow disconnected the wire to it lol, also the controls were not as easy to use and kind of annoying. Oh and it leaks water now haha. There’s my humble variable temp kettle assessment :)
I think I was looking at the breville but it did not have a feature where you could set your own temperatures. I might be mistaken but I thought it was all preset. I will definitely be avoiding the cuisine art one.
I just got the Adagio kettle utiliTEA. So far I like it.
I have an Oster that I bought half price at Canadian Tire. It doesn’t have good review, but I’ve had no problems at all. I like that it’s not preset black, green etc. I can choose any temp I want in 5 degree increments. LOL what I don’t like is that it DOESN’T beep – when it reaches temp it just turns off. I forget, don’t notice and have to reheat water quite often. I would like the annoying beep.
It was a good price on sale, and I figured even if it did break or leak in a few months, I would have decided if I want to invest in a really good one. So far so good, I’m happy with it.
@Teabrat – What do you like about it? Do you have anything you dislike? Also Adagio has the VarieTEA kettle which I had to use a lot of willpower to resist given the name. In other news, I realized I misspelled my name but we will just go with it.
@Dexter – I think I am hoping to get a kettle that has a keep warm setting which I am guessing the Oster doesn’t have? I will definitely look into it though.
My Breville One Touch (http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BTM800XL-One-Touch-Tea-Maker/dp/B003LNOPSG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1390978336&sr=8-2&keywords=breville+tea) lets me set any temperature I want, as well as pre-sets, which makes it easy when there’s zero indication as to how to brew a tea. The only thing I can complain about is that it’s a bit tricky to clean, and I have to make at least 500mL of tea at a time. It is pricey though. I did just just a standard $50 kettle from London Drugs for a while prior until it burned out.
I have been so close to buying a one touch for months MissB. Alas, even with the amount I drink, I can’t bring myself to justify the price. My mother has offered a few times but it is just too pricey for me to feel comfortable with her buying it.
Plus I like to make multiple different teas at a time so that has also stopped my from going with a kettle that you brew the tea in.
My kettle does have keep warm….maintains set temp for up to 30 minutes. I don’t use it, but it has it.
Model Number BVSTKTVT01-033
Thanks Dexter!! I am definitely bookmarking this for later!
Mine is a T-Fal Thermovision, it has 160F, 175, 185, 195 and boil. 30 min keep warm for everything but boil (although you can set to 195, and boil, and it’ll boil then keep it at 195). I got it for $50 at Canadian Tire. It beeps. :) I don’t mind the beeping, it’s not as loud as my microwave.
I was looking at this one: http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-40996-Programmable-1-7-Liter/dp/B0083I7THI. It is the Hamilton Beach kettle if anyone has experience with that?
That has a lot of features for that price…I don’t have wake up hot water feature…. I don’t know anything about it, but for the price – it might be worth a try.
That’s what I thought. The only problem is when I go on Canadian sites the price goes up to about $70. I think I might give in though and just send it to my Dad in LA to send up here.
Regarding the utiliTEA, I like the fact that it’s stainless steel. It heats water up quickly but the one annoying thing is that there are no numbers on the temperature gauge, you have a setting for green tea and one for black but if you’re any good at math you can figure out what temps go in between that, lol. It has an auo shut off but doesn’t beep or anything when the water is done. Still for the price I think it’s decent.
I don’t have that particular HB kettle but I did get another for Christmas that has been working great for me (http://www.londondrugs.com/Hamilton-Beach-1.7L-Digital-Kettle—-Stainless-Steel—-41000/L7691330,default,pd.html?start=18&q=kettles%20%26%20tea%20makers) It doesn’t have the wakeup feature but other than that they sound pretty similar (and it’s available in Canada :))
The one thing I found when looking for “programmable” kettles is that you have to watch out for the ones that are programmed I had to return the original kettle I received because I could only use the 5 “programmed” temperatures :( The box even said programmable, but it lied…
Oh! I have the same kettle as Kirlika, and I love it! It heats up nicely, it doesn’t beep or buzz (which might be bad if you want to know w hen the water is ready, but good when you want steatlh tea in the middle of the night like I do), and it has a lot of variety for setting the temperature. I think it’s about 6 different settings for F and C each (it goes up by 10’s, and if you switch between F and C you should be able to find the temperature you want).
It keeps it warm for an hour too, unless you tell it not too.
I assume mine is the same (http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/hamilton-beach-hamilton-beach-pro-1-7l-kettle-41000-stainless-steel-41000/10261214.aspx?path=537c8ee81299072574239dbe620d6b35en02) this says it’s the pro, but it looks similar. I grabbed it for $45 when it was on sale in December.
The Breville is pricey, and I find I end up using it more to keep water hot (for an hour), to time my steepings (because I also do several cups at a time), and auto-set temperatures. When I do want to brew say two cups of tea though, it really is amazing, and hard for me to mess up a tea that way – a big plus for me! :$
I see some really great alternatives here though, I’d try those first if price is a concern. Just make sure wherever you do get it from, you can return it if need be.
Also, for the US shipping, there are companies just across the border that will accept packages on your behalf; all you’d need is an excursion with a friend one weekend to walk over the border and get them.
Luckily my dad lives in LA so I can ship to him and he ships it up to me. And though I can afford the Breville, I just keep thinking of how much tea I could buy if I get a cheaper kettle :P. I have seriously considered it many times though.
I have considered the Breville many times myself!
Good luck choosing! I think one thing I don’t like about the Breville is that you brew tea right in it – I don’t think I’d use that. What if I make Hot Cinnamon Spice? Will it corrupt the next few teas I make, no matter how hard I try to clean it out? Also, I don’t want to clean my kettle/teamaker. I guess I like things simple.
Not enough sleep last night. Must be the cat’s fault.
Running a little late this morning, about to leave, when that inner voice asks…
Do you have tea in your purse for work? Shrug, Dunno
Reach out and grab a random tin of black tea off the shelf and walk out the door.
An hour and a half later, letting a client vent about something that has nothing to do with us, I’m reaching into my purse for that tin of tea.
Some tea gets dumped into my infuser basket. Hang up with client.
Take basket to kitchen, add hot water, return to my desk. Answer 3 questions.
Crap forgot about my tea. Remove leaves. Take a sip….
AND THE WORLD STOPS
It’s like the stars aligned, the atmospheric pressure is perfect, the clouds part, and the sun shines through. I have the perfect cup of tea. Exactly what I’m in the mood for at the exact time that I need it the most.
I actually said out loud – What the hell am I drinking?
Co-workers look at you weird when you say things like that…. don’t care, I spent a few minutes basking in the moment, then went back to work.
This is easily in my top 5 favorite black teas. Amazing.
Haha darn cats! Mine ruined my sleep last night too lol..but this sounds like an amazing cup of tea. Love those star-aligning moments with tea haha, especially at work, because no one understands how tea can make you soo happy.
Priceless!
Blame it on a cat! I know why you couldn’t sleep. Spreadsheet! That’s why I refuse to make one.
I LOVE my new spread sheet!!! I’ll never look up a tea in my Steepster cupboard again. Looking for a fruit tisane to cold steep – it’ll show you just them. Looking for something to sip down – not problem. I can find anything in seconds. Really wish I had done this a year ago, then I would have that much more history (favorites, things to rebuy, what I thought of…) of all the teas I’ve tried. This was the best investment of my time.
The cat gets blamed for everything that goes wrong in my house…. ;))
I see. You are like my hubby. Whatever happens I’m responsible one. Kids got sick, bad grades, bad groceries, etc.
poor kitty
Lol. Love this review : -) you deserve your best teas all the time. And yay for awesome spreadsheet!
LOVE this note. Now I need to get some
What a great way to express how you felt while drinking this tea. I see that you are in Canada also. Where do you order your teas? Do you pay high shipping fees. Waiting to hear from you, I’m in Ottawa and used to work in Portage-la-Prairie for 4 yrs.
Hi Helene – I order tea from all over the world. Online shopping makes it possible to get almost anything from almost anywhere. There are tons of amazing tea vendors out there. Shipping can be very expensive or it can be free, depends on where you order from and how much you order.
What types of teas are you interested in? China blacks? Japanese green? Taiwan oolongs? Fun flavors? If you let me know what you are interested in, I might be able to recommend a vendor for you or point you to a forum thread on the subject. :))
I finally updates my cupboard. At the moment I have teas from TeaVivre. I received one box of tea samples from Tea Sparrow. Was expensive and I did not order another one. Then I order a box of tea samples from Amoda and did not renew. I find these monthly boxes get expensive. I like white, green, my family likes flavour teas. I am starting to drink black. Not a big fan because I love coffee. Do you know of any monthly box companies in Canada that are worth buying? Maybe you like the price of Amoda or Tea Sparrow. I think it’s expensive but I might be wrong. I will receive samples from TeaVivre soon. I like the quality of their teas. I want to explore more companies that does not charge us to much for shipping in Canada. Waiting to hear from you. Thanks in advance.
I think all subscription boxes are expensive, and then you end up with tea that isn’t your style. I would much prefer to order samples and try tea on my own – but that’s just me.
Teavivre is awesome, glad you found them. I would also check out Tealux:
http://www.tealux.ca/
Really nice straight teas – nice quality, reasonably priced, flat shipping $7.50 under 60.00 or free over 60.00. I find their flavored tea hit or miss, but the straight ones are really good.
Capital Tea Ltd.
http://www.capitaltea.com/shop/home.php?cat=6
Free shipping over 49.00 and they sell all their teas in 20g sample sizes. Great way to try a bunch for a little cost.
Camellia Sinensis:
http://camellia-sinensis.com/en/tea-store
Their tea is more expensive – more high end, but amazing. Free shipping over 50.00
Those three are Canadian Companies, that I really like.
I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE – favorite source of pu’erh – but nice oolong and teaware. Mandala:
https://shopmandalatea.com/
Shipping is 9.00 flat to Canada – they are out of Minnesota – my favorite tea store.
That should get you started – if you would like more info, please follow me and shoot me a PM.
Dexter: I will have a look at the different sites and will probably place an order soon. This whole tea experience is addictive. I prefer to pay a bit more for more high end tea. At the moment I have the budget because I saved. I am following you. If I have more questions I will send you a PM. Thanks for the help and great info. I think my saved money might dissolved soon in a cup of tea :)
The best advice I can give you is SMALL Samples – try lots of different teas, by swapping or buying samples. As you explores your tastes will change, you’ll find tea you like better, don’t buy large quantities until you know for sure what you LOVE and what you don’t. :))
I’ll echo Dexter here. Small samples! Or you’ll end up with 250+ teas way faster than you think possible, kinda like we have. :)
When you say buy small samples you mean the smaller pack of a tea. Per example a White Tea on Mandala is $8 for 1 ounce. Is that what you call a sample? If so that it not cheap if I want to try a lot of samples.
White tea is expensive and Mandala is high end. Tealux has 1oz/25g white teas from $4.50. The only straight white at Davids is 14.50/50g – smallest amount you can buy online….
Usually is anywhete from 10-25g as the smallest size. Sometimes you can get < 10. Some companies sell these as intro packets is Mandalas is listed under sale items and right now it is only for shou but it is $9 Canadian including shipping for Canadians https://shopmandalatea.com/sale-items/ripe-puerh-sampler-pack.html, Verdant has a 5 for 5 deal that is 11 for us. Sometimes you have to search for sizes ie at Capital tea Ltd. The default size is 100g but when you click on this a menu comes up with available sizes. Prices from under 2 and up for the sample depending on the company and the tea.
I guess I have expensive taste because I like White Tea. At least I know now how to order tea online. Now I’ll have to chose a company and start from there.
Helene Tao Tea leaf had 5g samples some under 2$ for white tea.
http://www.taotealeaf.com/white/
I might order some, great price on white teas. Hopefully they are good.
I’ve only had some of his blacks but they so far have been really good!
5g will not last long :)
Woke up with a cup of Zhu Rong and now I’m a few cups into this and it’s really helping wake me up nicely.
This is a nice, creamy, sweet and slightly smoky sheng. There are hints of spice and aromatic wood along with a slight mustiness and fruitness. My favorite part about it is the creamy texture and sweet aftertaste. This is very nice. I’m feeling ready to tackle my interview now.
Update: I GOT THE JOB!
What interview?!
Just got back. I was applying for a job at a local thrift store. I’m a little cynical right now though, they interviewed like four other people and they were all fully grown, outgoing and friendly adults and I was very nervous. : /
None of them can write a tea review though. Next interview take some tea and a copy of your reviews heh!
Good luck :D
Do not let this discourage you!
My first job there was 3 other people who were ‘full grown’ and very qualified, however that was not what they were looking for…they were looking for someone who was trainable and I was that:)
YAH!!! Congrats!!!! ( wink, wink…I told you so;)
WOW! Congrat’s! Hope you have a thermos!
Hehe thanks Hesper.
congrats!! maybe you can convert them to tea drinkers ;P
Thanks everyone. :)
YAY congrats!!!
Hooray!
Thanks guys. I didn’t know it was possible for people to not get the job because they’re TOO qualified, but it worked out for me! :)
Congratulations!
Congrats!
Yay for you!
All the Best!!
Congratulations!
How am I the first one to log this creation?! Cool, my first ever 52Teas purchase and I get to break it in on Steepster!! :P
Now the tea. First of let me begin by saying that I just got home from treating my bestie to a facial/mani package. $50 for both of us! it was her b-day a few months ago and we’re just getting around to using the coupon now. What a relaxing way to close the summer :)
So I am in a rather chill mood. Esp since this is a long weekend. sighs
Anyhow, after opening the package I smelled vanilla, not so much marshmallow. Given that I’m not a ‘nilla girl… this worried me a little. But I like mint! so was buoyed by the hope that it’d be balanced out. Which… thankfully, it is!
First half of the sip is mallow/malty with a hint of vanilla and a tiny hint of mint (hehe that rhymes). Very nice. The middle is where I get a deep green tea flavour, and the end is where the mint comes out along with a touch of astringency. That part may be due to my oversteeping by about 30 seconds, and using water that was a hair too hot. I find that blends containing Sencha brew better (for me) when I steep at a slightly higher temp so I went with that, being my default.
My cup is a touch heavy so next time I’ll go lighter for sure. and I am curious how this one fares iced as well.
This doesn’t really taste like Sencha to me, but then I am not familiar with Cloud Mist. From what I’ve read it is fruit and nut like which I can sorta see but can’t really separate out from the other flavours.
Either way, I am quite enjoying this cuppa. So glad I played my first 52Teas purchase card with Graveyard Mist!
Rating: 87 for now, but that may change as I play with the parameters!
Oohs this is the first 52teas blend I really want to try. Sounds good!
It’s pretty good! not my go to tea though, more of an occasional indulgence. Esp since I now have three mint green teas in my cupboard LOL
I sense a swap in our future, CupofTree :P
Wow this makes me want to order it! Indigobloom I am amazed you held out all this time on a 52Teas order! Glad you liked this one! :)
this sounds interesting!
Azzrian: I wanted to exhaust the local possibilities first! and I got enough through swaps that I didn’t really feel the need to order at that point. but… when I saw this one for some reason I felt compelled to buy. Like my fingers were autotyping my credit info in haha
Amy Oh: no question bout that! not sure yet how much I like it, but I know I do!
Very dark, must try this!
Haha Indigo that happens to me a lot! We don’t have any local places around these parts so online ordering for me it is. I think it would be better if we did have some local places though. I would probably spend less!
Melissa, it’s very tasty I recommend it!
Azzrian, LOL good to know I’m not alone in that haha. You would think so right?! but… I’m not so sure these days. My cupboard is ever expanding and I’ve only made a few orders online
we should swap…want to try this but not enough to want to purchase it haha
Oh yay future swap definitely!
swaps abound. Yay! :P
Not gonna lie. I’m feeling pretty special right now. It was an amazing day. Weather peaked out around 78. Unheard of and record breaking for Portland in March. After so much rain and gray weather it’s so much fun to see all the people suddenly emerge from hibernation and fill the streets and parks with nothing but laughter and smiles.
After an impromptu bbq at a friends and a few of my other favorite beverage, I got home to find my Butiki order had arrived already. The primary purpose (other than trying some more amazing teas) was for me to sample a few teas that may serve as the base for a custom hops tea that stacy is making for me. But the only tea I had my eye on tonight was the Caramel Vanilla Assam tea. Despite the late hour and my rule about no black tea after 5ish, I couldn’t resist.
This is brand new blend that she wrote about on FB and I asked her to include it in my order. And man am I glad I did. Cause seriously, I love when you have insanely high expectations for something, and not only does it meet your expectations, but blows it out.
This is no ordinary caramel flavored tea. In fact, it doesn’t even taste like caramel flavor. It tastes like if you were to plant a tea plant in a butter caramel and then water it with only vanilla and see what grew. Its as though caramel is actually a part of the tea. I couldn’t separate out the tea flavor from the caramel flavor. Like how the chocolate flavor is just part of LB, not added, but just a part of it. That’s how the caramel flavor is in this tea. It’s not an in your face flavor, but not subtle either.
In case you can’t tell yet, I friggin love this tea. Totally straight. No sugar/honey or cream. It reminds me so much of those individually wrapped in wax paper vanilla butter caramels you can get when you’re checking out in fancy grocery stores.
This is hands down my favorite caramel tea. Thanks for letting me try this Stacy! Please don’t ever stop making it!!!!
Update I had this again this morning and added some sugar per Stacy’s suggestion. The caramel flavor is even more pronounced. I think I prefer it straight though. Either way it’s super good.
That sounds AMAZING!!
want!
I’m so glad you are enjoying it! I wasn’t sure how this would be received. I recommend trying it with just a tiny bit of sugar. Its really decadent that way.
I thought about adding some sugar, but just loved it as is. I’ll throw a few rocks in there tomorrow. Because I will be having this again tomorrow :-)
This is the sample I want in my order!
yum, sounds like a good blend to me :-)
Yay, glad you are enjoying it that much! I’d love to hear what you think about it with a little bit of sugar.
Terri-I’ve already written it on your invoice. It’s the same base as the orange chocolate so, I thought you might like to try it.
awesome! Yay!
NOOOOOOO why did you have to review this before I place my order. Now I want 2 oz. of this one too. Is it absurd to order 6 oz. total of PTA/PTA-based teas?!
great review, sure I’ll order some !
Yeah, Stacy, that sounds so good I think I want an oz also.
Better find something else to give me a sample of :)
Gah. I thought I was done ordering tea for awhile. I need to make myself write tasting notes on my desktop and just save them and stay off this site for awhile!!!
Stacy – when do you plan to offer it online? It’s still in the preliminary review stage, huh?
Tealizzy-The tea itself is completely done. It should be up on our website next week if I can get some time in to do a photo shoot, otherwise everything else is ready. It’s order-able now for anyone who doesn’t want to wait.
Thanks Stacy. I’ll wait until its up, to help me spread out my orders ;)
Tealizzy-Great :)
Oh my gooooodnessssss, I HAVE to have this! I have to have it! Premium Taiwanese Assam is my favorite tea, and you’ve made me so excited to try this flavored one out! :D
I want to at least wait for my upcoming Butiki order to arrive though first. I ordered a couple teas I haven’t tried, and it’s entirely possible I’ll want more, so I’ll have to hold off.
Is this tea a limited time thing, or is it something that’ll stick around? Not sure if I need to panic order this, or if I have time to wait for my current order to arrive. xD
Chizakura-This is something that is sticking around. We may be out of it for a week or two but after that it should be available in full stock. I’m really low on one ingredient that makes up this tea and its not expected arrive for 2-3 weeks. We ran through the first batch before it hit the website and I’m already half way through this batch. I might borrow some of the ingredient that was reserved for a custom blend to make a third batch but I’m not sure yet. You definitely don’t need to panic order this since it will be in full stock within a month.
Aw okay, thanks :) That’s what I was hoping for, but I was worried, as you could see. xD
Alright, I’ll be patient and wait for my current parcel to arrive then, thanks. :D
This stuff is bagged!
Bagged tea from TeaSpring. Now I’ve seen everything.
Each bag is wrapped in its own little colourful foil satchet, and I’ve seen that from TeaSpring before, but I never suspected there would actually be a bag inside. I thought it was just fairly costly stuff and therefore portion wrapped. I’ve seen that before from TeaSpring. I can’t remember exactly which tea it was, but it was a very special, blessed on an alter sort of ceremonial leaf for a specific sort of occasion. Which I’ve also forgotten what was. I can’t even remember what the type was, but I think it might have been oolong. Anyway, that’s not important for this one. It was just to say that I’ve seen TeaSpring sell portion satchets before.
This one is the last tea from my Explore China order from TeaSpring uh some time ago. This last tin somehow managed to hide among the parcels I received from other, generous Steepsterites and has gone untried.
This tea is from Zheijang, which is on the East coast of China, just north of Fujian. As far as I can tell, in spite of the name, it has little to do with the Long Jing we know as a green tea (Dragonwell). As I understand it, it is made from the same leaves also used to produce Dragonwell, but these have gone through a different preparation and taste nothing at all like Dragonwell.
It’s not really a black tea either. Not as such, because the process is not the same as for black tea. What it actually is is unknown because the producers are keeping it as a closely guarded secret, but it is apparently a reinvention of a method lost for 300 years. (How this is possible is rather beyond me. How can they know if they’re even close to getting it right? It’s not like they can do a direct comparison) It is apparently somewhat similar, but not the same as, the method used for producing pu-erh, so this tea therefore also has some of the same qualities as pu-erh, including the tendency to age well.
At first this smelled like steam-ironing cotton. No really. That smell you get when you release steam from the iron and get a cloud of it in your face. Steam and cloth. Probably especially if you use laundry soap without perfume in it like we do in this house. I swear I even heard that sound the iron makes, the blob and hiss, in my head.
After a moment, this goes away and is replaced by something that reminds me strongly of licorice root. This note first snuck into the ironing cotton note and then gradually took over, as though it was heavier than the steam and needed more time to actually rise from the cup.
There’s something else in the aroma too, something which I can’t really place. A bit like caramel, but not quite. A bit like fruit, but not quite. A bit like something creamy sweet, but not quite. A bit like marzipan, but not quite. I’m sure I know what this smell is, but for the life of me I can’t get any closer than this.
The flavour has a strong note of licorice root and ginseng. So much so that I had to go and check the details to see if there might have been additions made to the leaf. This does not appear to be the case. It is, in fact, not even mentioned anywhere in the company’s notes.
How odd! Me, I don’t understand how they could possibly miss it. And no, it absolutely can’t be contamination carried over from other teas I’ve had today. I don’t even own anything with licorice root or ginseng in it at the moment. (Except the vile Throat Tea, which totally doesn’t count as we only ever touch that one when ill)
I don’t think I’ve ever come across this note naturally occurring before. How interesting. It is definitely licorice root and ginseng, though. With each sip, I’m more certain. I even get a hint of that funny licorice root-y feeling on the soft palate when swallowing.
Underneath the licorice root-y and ginseng-y note there is something that does taste akin to the average pu-erh. It has the same sort of earthy taste, but it’s milder. It’s not as deep and dark, less broth-y. Pu-erh is for me a very strong tea, one that reminds me of caves and dirt and great big holes. This is sort of the same thing, only up in the sunlight.
I’m rambling, aren’t I? These associations that different flavours invoke are fun, but sometimes they rather get in the way of things. It’s easier when all I get is a colour.
So what I’m trying to say is, it’s kind of like a very mild (possibly slightly thin) average pu-erh, with natural notes of licorice root and ginseng.
I don’t much care for licorice root or ginseng in my tea, to be honest. I love licorice, proper Danish licorice which has nothing, nothing I tell you, to do with anise. Anise does not taste like licorice and supposedly licorice flavoured jelly beans are anise flavoured, actually. FYI. Come to Scandinavia and I’ll show you real licorice. And it doesn’t even have to be the salty sort or the salmiakki sort either (although you’re welcome to try those too if you’re feeling brave. Personally I think those two are the best sorts of licorice in the world).
I’m rambling again. What I’m trying to say here is that I otherwise really enjoy licorice flavoured things, but not in tea. For some reason I just don’t feel these days that licorice root and tea go all that well together. (A couple of years ago I was of a vastly different opinion) So these notes in this tea is rather a turn off for me, and will cost some points here.
Bonus points for being interesting though, because it really is! If you are a pu-erh enthusiast, then I would suggest that you try this one out, bags and all, because I think you would find it really interesting.
“…also has an obsession with finding the Perfect Vanilla Flavoured Black.” Ahh we’re almost twins!
I haven’t had any luck with it yet. I’ve had a few nearlies though. Mostly they fell on not being available for me to actually buy without the aid of a middleman. :)
I agree emphatically about anise and liquorice having nothing to do with tea. Will admit that likely there is a difference. But either, oh, it´s one of those things I am just culturally not into – with a couple exception, both strongly associated with the month of November, funnily enough.
“smelled like steam-ironing cotton” – such a great description I can almost smell it
I love your tasting notes! Silly question but is anise the same thing as licorice? I know I hate licorice in tea blends. I’ve also been to Denmark & Norway, and never had licorice. Now I feel like I missed out :(
Cteresa, is my mind playing tricks on me or have we discussed licorice before…?
Canadianadia, it was the strangest thing. It just immediately popped into my head, sound and everything.
Rachel, if ever you come back, let me know. We’ll meet up and I’ll make you a licorice buffet. :D
Anise and licorice are to completely different plants, but they have similar tastes. This is licorice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licorice and this is anise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anise. In the US things that are called ‘licorice sweets’ are apparently often fortified with a good helping of aniseed oil and contain very little true licorice, but this is not true where I live. We use aniseed for an entirely different sort of sweet here, one I don’t like. (My grandfather loved it though)
I think we did, I remember you expressing your regret you did not see your husband´s face the first time he ate salmiakki (poor guy). But can not remember regarding which tea that was. oh well.
And the links are pretty interesting. Anise and Fennel are the usual stuff around here, they literally grow wild – I can tolerate fennel. Anise not so much.
Agreed here, liquorice and salmiakki (you’ve been acquainted with it, and even wrote it precisely, points on that!) are best when served with tea instead of being in the cup. Never hit it off well with the teas that had liquorice in them. Ick. Have you tried any Finnish liquorice? We have one very good factory here, their liquorice is the best we produce, but I agree on the quality of Danish liquorice. They are gooood as well. Although I don’t count salmiakki as liquorice since it’s so salty, but then again it counts as a sweet…oh, the joys of contradictions.
Apart from Salmiakki, I’ve only seen Finnish licorice in the shape of the white tin with the licorice animals in it. When I was a child we could only get it across the border in Germany, so when we stopped in to shop before crossing back into Denmark after having been on holiday, I’d usually get some of that.
Generally I prefer it to be slightly hard and chewy so that it lasts a long time. Pingvin tends to produce the best consistency for me, although I would never turn my nose up at Haribo’s licorice either.
Mind you, I also occasionally get slightly addicted to this little pastils that I can get from health shops and similar which is 100% licorice and no added sugar. They taste completely different from the sweets. Somewhat bitter and quite strong. They were something of an acquired taste for me. I have a colleague who would eat them regularly and would generously offer. It was the sort of thing where I knew I wouldn’t much love it, but I couldn’t not take one either. Now I love them. :)
The animals are good as well, but if you ever come across with small plump liquorice tubes which have ‘Kouvolan lakritsi’ written on the label, give a go.
I have same preferences of consistency on salmiakki, chewy and pliant instead of soft and mushy, but with liquorice both are good. It’s almost comforting to munch something for a while before taking more, semi-meditating with sweets, hehe.
Addiction with bitter tastes is always highly recommended here, it’s actually very amusing how easy it is to suddenly get an insane craving for something that seemed too strong first. I have a similar feeling with hot pepper salmiakki, it took a while to get used to the almost violent bite they give. Now when they’re offered, it’s hard to say no to them.
I suspect the whole business with bitterness-tolerance here has something to do with the history of eating very bitter rye bread and smoked fish, not to mention all other fish dishes served here; tar and salted fish and meat carries a long way from regional history of our taste buds apparently…
I’m beginning to wonder if we should do a licorice swap, LOL!
You might be right about the bitterness being a cultural thing. I wonder if Finnish rye bread is very different from Danish because I don’t tend to consider ours particularly bitter. Heavy and dense, and very grainy I think. I haven’t thought about it. Now I’ll have to give it a shot next time I have some. Husband doesn’t care for it, but he’ll eat it if it’s the only sort of bread available. I have hopes that he might come around though, because I work with a woman who comes from Brazil, and after some 19 years or so in DK, she’s almost addicted to the stuff. :)
Haha, well, rye can be trying for some. I have a German-Danish friend who commented on the bread that it indeed is very different compared to Danish types, something about maybe using more syrup in yours, we couldn’t put our finger on it. The type of the rye bread depends sometimes also solely from what region people come from: the breads between archipelago, western and eastern kitchens can differ a lot in some cases, due to the impact of Swedish (west) and Russian (east) cultural exchange. As well the soil.
Syrup is probably a good call. I tended to think of it as sort of malty sweet sometimes, but then I got in doubt when you said bitter. I don’t get it often these days, but once in a while I eat a small bag or two and then it takes a little while again before I’ll buy it. We almost always have leftovers that I take with me in my lunch box, so if I’m the only one eating the rye bread it sometimes gets forgotten.
Hmmmm, it’s an interesting case indeed. Maybe I actually should send you a ‘goody pack’ of liquorice, salmiakki and small samples of rye breads, haha. Swap of bitterness and malty sweetness! Albeit it might be a bit trying trip for the bread though…hm. They’re always the best when fresh from the oven. But then again they become nicely chewy after couple of days…aaah now I need to make a sandwich!
I can’t think of a way either. Might be best to leave the bread out. :)
Agreed. Just let me know when the craving hits and I’ll send some goods. :3
There have been a lot of Butiki Tea’s reviewed today.
Is there a Butiki full moon or something? Hey Stacy, what are you cooking up now?
I have to confess that tonight I watched the (awkward moment)
Finale of “So You Think You Can Dance!” Can I see a show of hands? Who else has watched the entire 9TH season with me? Fess up!
Right before the Finale began, I made a whole pot of Almond Indulgence and settled down with my tray of tea, a mug, cream and sweetening. I WAS READY!
I told Stacy that this tea reminds me of Apple Pie. I don’t know why since it’s an Almond tea but I think of Apple Pie when I taste it. In fact, this tea only needs a nudge of spice and it would make a great Chai. (Thinking about it and scheming I filed that thought under: Future Experiments with Tea.)
My favorite way to drink Almond Indulgence has been with cream and sweetened. I love it this way. I’d like it steeped in milk too. (Note to self…“Try milk steeping.”)
Feet up and mug in hand, I watched the results of the last show of the series. What creative choreography and gifted young dancers. They’ve inspired me. The Arts have always inspired me.
Does it matter that I can’t dance like those young, strong dancers.
No!
I dance with them in another way. I soar in my spirit with every lift, bending and spinning or rising up light as a leaf on the wind, my feet hardly touching the ground.
I fly!
The abandon that I still remember from earlier days, my younger years… playing a classical piece on the piano or putting my fingers on a canvas, creating thick, emotional strokes in the oil paint.
You never forget abandon. And you enjoy observing the joy of it in others your whole life.
What talent!
I love So you think you can dance! I totally missed this season, I don’t watch much TV. But I do love that show, & the amazing things those dancers can do!
Hmmm, what am I cooking up now? Well, I did just buy 5lbs of vegan mini marshmallows. Already ate 1/4 of a pound though. Doh!
I’ve only ever seen a handful of minutes of that show but what I saw was very cool. I’m not a big tv person.
I love SYTUCD!! No shame or awkwardness here lol . It is very inspiring, isn’t it? :) I love this: “you never forget abandon”. So very true!
My favorite season was the first one I watched. It was the season with Twitch. If I had time, I’d probably sit in front of Netflix & watch every season, one episode at a time. Little Terri would really like that, she LOVES wild abandon in all it’s forms. Our motto is “All of life is Art”, so we live for that kind of stuff!
Stacy, I suspect it was Little Stacy who ate all those marshmallows! LOL!
Indeed it was Little Stacy. She has been known to eat whole bags of marshmallows in a day.
You’ll have to watch this season, Twitch was on several times and was on last night. AND the two winners…ah…a guy and girl…yes…they now choose two. AMAZING! BALLET DANCERS! Yes! They had to learn to loosen up.
Bonnie, I bet they did! There have been so many awesome performances on that show, so many routines that made me cry like a baby, they were so emotional, so ‘real’. The only reason I don’t watch this show is because I’m oblivious, I need to be reminded when the next season starts, because I absolutely love watching these dancers push their limits & develop into even more amazing artist, week by week.
Stacy: “Free your inner child” I always say!
Don’t tell Stacy to free her inner Stacy Child Terri!!!! Every tea will have mini marshmallows in it!!!! Oh NO!
Stacy- mini marshmallows sounds very promising! Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Bonnie- I absolutely love SYTYCD!! I record every episode and watch them (without commercials). I am going to watch the finale this afternoon. I like watching how each dancer develops into someone they may not have known even existed.
Terri- that Little Terri is sure naughty sometimes isn’t she? lol
What would be wrong with putting mini marshmallows in everything? That sounds kind of awesome.
tigress_al-Thanks! Still in the idea stage.
It would be so fun to watch the whole season non-stop without commercials with you guys…and have tea’s…all out fav’s and marshmallows…ton’s…FUN!
That would be fun :)
<Little Terri jumping up & down for joy> Yay, Ms. Bonnie, lets do it right now!!!
Oh, oh, look! A new Mandala pu’erh!!
Ok, I’ve never had this one before. So I took my glass gongfu pot and decided that we were going to have our first date together.
Woah! This tea is not the shy type. It is bold an it’s taking charge.
Rich and creamy, with leather and barn notes.
I wish you could smell the wet leaves. They smell like a big pile of damp oak and maple leaves in the fall. It’s a scent of the forest and the outdoors, just can’t get enough of it.
It’s super flavourful, reminds me of Special Dark a lot but not as chocolaty and a little sweeter.
It gets richer and creamier as I steep it. I like the nuttiness in the background that develops, it’s a little hazel-nutty.
At the fourth steep, I forgot to poor…the water stayed in for almost 15 minutes. There’s a good 7g of tea in a tiny 5oz pot, but it didn’t get too strong or astringent.
I’m so happy I took advantage of the sale to hoard it!
There will be many other dates with this one, and I can’t wait :-)
It’s a yummy one allright, I live Special Dark and Noble Mark more but I love this one a lot.
Tea hoarder!
this is one of my favourites
It really is something special…I just haven’t come across a shou pu’erh from Mandala that I don’t like!
(I admit to tea hoarding, look at my cup-hoard!!!!)
LMAP @ cup-hoard. I just got the Old Nuggets for the firat time, I need to get those out and try them
Thanks for the Imperial Dark / Special Dark comparison.
“It gets richer and creamier as I steep it. I like the nuttiness in the background that develops, it’s a little hazel-nutty.” – Sounds intriguing!
I went to read my note – couldnt find. Oops, Steepster ate it. Again.
(Why did I not send you some of this? Bad Dex!!!)
I thought this was Special Dark’s little brother – but I still don’t understand the leather thing….
Did I get old nuggets? Can’t remember lol, we’ll see when “hoard-er” #3 comes in!!
LooseTman, there’s already a large sample in your box…lol, will have to send you that box one of these days…but I keep waiting for stuff to arrive. I should mail it early next week, will let you know :-)
Boychik, I know right? Where do they go, do they expire or something? Maybe there’s a steepster note cemetery somewhere that we are unaware of…
Dexter, Special Dark’s little brother is exactly that! And you did not HAVE to send me any, silly. (i will have 8oz of it, buzz me if YOU want any!!)
“… there’s already a large sample in your box…lol,”
TheTeaFairy, You’re too kind! :-D (No rush, whenever it’s convenient.)
“Oops, Steepster ate it. Again.”
boychik, It’s very time-inefficient when that happens and aggravating too! Life is too short! I now compose my notes in Word and then cut and paste them into Steepster.
looseTman, good idea. I remember I had that discussion with other Steepsterers what if ….I don’t want to mention, don’t want to jinx it. We need a back up. My hubby is database administrator. Programs crush all the time:(((
I purchased this tea at the same time I purchased the strawberry matcha, but I haven’t tried it until today – so many teas, not enough time (nor does my bladder possess the wherewithal to drink as much tea as I’d like to!)
So I made some of this to enjoy with lunch.
It’s got a really nice, strong flavor. The honeybush seems well suited for flavoring, and I prefer it over rooibos, I’m glad that 52 Teas seems to have embraced honeybush as well. I like how the natural sweetness of the honeybush works so cohesively with the pineapple and coconut flavor. And as much as I enjoyed it as it was hot, I am finding it even more enjoyable now that it has cooled significantly… this will be a great tea for the summer – iced!
YUM!
Preparation
I keep forgetting to make iced tea out of this one!! YUM okay adding it on my list of to do’s.
This and the Black Currant Bai Mu Dan are my top two favorite iced teas right now. Sooooo refreshing.
(nor does my bladder possess the wherewithal to drink as much tea as I’d like to!)… HAHA! Or my nervous system, or my stomach. I wish the rest of my body was as on board w/ this tea thing as my tongue- if it was, I’d live on matcha specifically.
I didn’t get the Black Currant Bai Mu Dan – but I did get the Spiced Pear that you released at the same time. I have been contemplating getting the Black Currant though. I haven’t even tried the Spiced Pear yet though! LOL I have so many teas that I haven’t tried yet!!!
This blend sounds amazing! And I’m definitely seeing more flavoured honeybush around now – I prefer it over rooibos too.
This is a great herbal blend and one that I need to try iced…LOL- I wish I had more time to drink tea and able to brew some fresh at work…
Ice Tea, woaps! Frank stop releasing new teas… I realized if I were to purchase each and every one of your teas that’d cost me $300-$400 a year… I’d go broke in no time. Sooo much to choose from!
LOL. You could always sign up for a subscription. The 52 week subscription is less than $1/day for a different tea every week.
By the way, I sort of doubled up on the honeybush blends, but just wait til you see what we’ve done for next week! O. M. G.
Ricky, if I drank Mayan Chocolate Chai as much as I wanted to (a 16oz serving per day), I’d spend about $360/year on chai alone- that’s not even factoring in my matcha and other tea habbits!
OK… Frank… I didn’t think I’d ever be asking you to do this… but could you PLEASE make another peanut butter blend? LOL That way I won’t be enticed to buy. I just placed an order with you (I found the neapolitan honeybush too interesting to pass up), and I can’t afford to place an order with you every week. Make something I’ll not feel the need to try. Like, how about a squid flavor or something?
I don’t know, LiberTEAS, that Tuna flavored one by 52Teas went over awfully well here in Steepsterville … LOL! You never know, raving reviews of squid flavor teas will have you buying some before you know it! HaHa
Lauren: Well, I did “buy” the tuna melt tea… but, I’m just not a squid kind of girl. Not so much.
You know what WOULD be good though… is a Cherry Garcia tea. Yum. Or… I also desperately want to try Zoomdweebie’s Grapefruit Green tea… but every time I visit the Zoomdweebie’s site I see that the tea is sold out…
but… don’t make those THIS next week. Or even the week after that. Make something I DON’T want to buy for the rest of this month. I can buy more teas in May. But, I’ve bought enough in April.
LiberTeas you should hold my credit cards while i hold yours? keep ourselves away from frank for a little bit :)
AmazonV – that would be an excellent idea! LOL I must not buy any more teas this month… I must not buy any more teas this month!
^ I must not buy anymore tea until 2011. Frank, if you see an order from me, you should just tell me my credit card has been declined =]
Frank, the same goes for me except in cases of matcha and Mayan Chocolate Chai lol.
ROFL. Yeah, you just go ahead and place your orders. I’ll be sure to cancel them for you. evil laugh.
@LiberTEAS I’m afraid next week’s tea is going to be a must have for a lot of people, I think. It is so awesome. I’m kind of itchy just waiting to post it Monday.
I’ve been trying to think outside the box a little here lately with regards to our subscription plans. I’m thinking about offering a monthly plan where you get to pick two of the blends we create in a month. What would you guys think of something like that?
Frank – The monthly plan would be AWESOME! It’d be perfect for someone like me, who has limited funds and therefore doesn’t want to invest in a subscription that includes things that we may not even want. I think a lot of people would say the same thing. I’d certainly go for the monthly plan.
Frank, you could always post it at Midnite on Sunday morning- I consider Sunday the 1st day of the week anyway:) Yes, I definitely would be interested in the choose 2 version. I LOVE that you create such amazing and insane blends, but that also means not every one is for me and I don’t want to invest in a plan that may land me w/ several pouches of tea that just isn’t my cuppa.
Frank, I would absolutely be interested in the pick two of the blends… as opposed to the weekly subscription. Sometimes there are blends that I might not be so crazy about (for example: peanut butter blends, squid blends, or split pea soup blends), but there is generally at least 2 teas a month that do interest me.
LiberTEAS, HAHA! I actually busted out laughing when I read your “split pea soup blend” comment… that’s exactly the reason I can’t get mom to try matcha- she says it looks like split pea soup=D
i am to fussy with flavors to even do a 2xmonth plan, sorry frank
Hey! I want the squid blend! Can’t we do prepaid plan =]
Pu Erh is already considered fishy:)
psssh, skip the squid it’s mediocre – EEL i want eel tea
eww… eel? How about a venison tea? Now that… might be interesting. (Now contemplating Frank attempting to locate freeze dried venison). Or how about hasenpfeffer tea?
LiberTEAS, if you want venison tea drink their smoky bacon… it’s more “jerkyish” than bacony.
I’m still hesitant on the smoky bacon… I’ve had the maple, liked it… but not so sure about the smoky.
I got my free samples this week and why not start sampling tonight!
Using the full sample in a 6oz gaiwan.
Well…hello beautiful.
Talk about a full cup of yum.
This is everything I like about a high mountain oolong…and more.
The elements I’m really digging are usually the floral, spicy and minty aspects, and I get them all here. Nice florals that might be a little more perfumed then what I’m used to, but really, I can’t name the flowers cause it’s none of the ones I’m used to find in greener oolongs, which are orchids and lilacs.
The usual spiciness which translates into nutmeg for me is also there, and so is that fresh mouthfeel I get at the end of the sip.
What’s really different about this oolong is its fruitiness. It so full of fruits, it almost tastes tropical to me. The fact that it’s also creamy makes me think of Pina Colada. I also get grapes and apple notes.
There’s a certain bite to it also, a briskness. I wouldn’t say it’s bitter, but it’s a tad astringent. Nothing offensive though, makes the flavours pop even more.
I have many more steeps to come, and might finish it with a cold brew.
I am very impressed with this first sample.
Thank you so much Green Terrace Teas for this opportunity.
I know, at one point I really tasted pins colada. I normally get gardenia, in green Oolong’s. A scent I only know well, because we used to have a lovely mature bush at a house we had when I lived further south from here. The scent is spicy and intoxicating. I got lilac on this one ironically as it reminded me of this huge bush around the corner from me. I loved the fruit notes in this one.
It really is interesting, I like it a lot! I don’t even think I know what gardenias smell like, but I envy you for having had some near by :-)
I can’t find the thread, but I remember reading something about getting 20% off for reviewing their teas, do you know how it works, do I just send an email when my three reviews are done?
The instructions were on the card the sent. I think they want us to post our reviews on their site.
Ahhh! That’s it!!! Thanks, it must still be in the envelope, silly me :-)
I need to write about this one yet, but this was so nice! I couldn’t believe how smooth and strong the flavors were.
I just ordered my samples – I don’t know why I didn’t see it earlier.
Teatiff, I drink loads of green oolong and this one is truly different…can’t wait to read your review.
MzPriss, I will let you know when I see promo stuff from now on :-)
Have you guys requested your $6 gift card from Teavivre?
I did not know about Teavivre – I can always use some more Bailin GF. I will go check their site
Apparently I was not quick enough and the gift cards are all gone – oh well, they are doing other stuff later
Shout, so sorry you missed it :-(
HHHHMMMmmmmmmmm……
Did you miss it also DEX? If so, I haven’t been a good tea friend, so sorry :-(
No I got one – I got an email about it from them (I seem to be signed up to a gazillion newslwtters). I was just pondering a comment here.
Haha! Think I know which one…oops.
I got this one too! Can’t wait to try it. ^^
(I thought we weren’t ordering more tea….)
SIPDOWN! gasp
Alright…i have a bunch of backlogs to do but first i needed to pay attention to this tea. You see kittylovestea really wanted to try this, so i opened my bag up and realised i had enough to send her a small tasting (usually it would be more) and have a single last cup for myself.
Since the whole point of doing a mini swap with mercuryhime had been to try MY LB with the new LB i knew it was time to check this out.
1. New harvest? Smells funny. I understand now why some folks have recently been off put by the smell. It’s very earthy to me and honestly when it got wet it was sort of wet mud. My other half said it smelled like bread. My old delicious wonderful harvest? It smells like cocoa…delicious cocoa.
2. Western brew since quite frankly that’s my favourite way to brew LB. I must have sat and stared at my two cups, smelling the wet leaves, smelling the cups, looking at the liquor…just waiting…
3. First sips…oh man, it’s been a while since i’ve tasted you my old friend. The new harvest? It’s still chocolately and malty but there’s a bitterness in the back that makes it a little less smooth than my spring harvest. The old harvest is a little sweeter too, though it’s a dark malty chocolate so it’s not “sweet” exactly.
Final Verdict? While the taste of the two isn’t that far off – at least not enough that a black tea lover like myself would strongly object – the SMELL from the wet leaf is really quite off putting. It’s enough to make me hesitant about drinking it until the liquid is actually in my mouth. Will i repurchase this harvest? Maybe. But i’ll likely try and spend some time drinking down other teas in my cupboard first, and grabbing some of this IF the harvest gets low. IE. I don’t want to NOT be able to drink it, but that aroma is killing me.
Thanks again to Mercuryhime for letting me do a comparison. I understand now why people have been confused with the high ratings for this one. Makes me glad i’ve had 6oz of the old harvest to enjoy while it was here lol
Edit: Just have to put out there that this is one of the few teas i’ve ever re-ordered, and certainly the first tea i ever ordered 4oz of. After drinking through my 2 oz lol. So the tea is totally worth exploring when the different harvests come in.
David from Verdant is currently doing a Spring tea tour of China. I’m hoping he brings back a spring harvest of Laoshan black. I’m starting to forget why I loved this tea so much to begin with. :(
Also, I’m glad you agree that it tastes different than the old batch. I was afraid I was losing my mind. :)
You haven’t lost your mind. It’s changed but not like ZOMG it’s SOOO different, but enough that today i’d probably only rate it like an 80?
It’s true that it isn’t SO different. I can recognize the elements that I loved in the old batch, but it’s different enough that I actually can’t tolerate more than half a cup before I have to toss it. Might also be because my high expectations create extra disappointment. But anyway, I emailed Verdant about it and they told me to let them know next time I plan to order and they’ll let me know if the Spring batch is available. :) I just have to get enough of the spring batch to last all year.
let me know if you hear about the spring batch. i for sure want another 4 oz since that apparently lasts me 7months or so in between all the other teas i drink lol
The main difference I noticed was that the ‘bean’ flavor has be ome more prominent
I’m one of those who uses a little less leaf than Verdant recommends. I think that adjustments have to be made with each harvest because they’ll never be exactly the same. All the factors of earth and climate is what makes tea do exciting…much like wine and perhaps we’ve yet to taste the best Laoshan Black.
Bonnie – pretty sure i’m with you on that boat…verdant suggests a tablespoon if i recall. I pretty much treat this like most other teas with a 1-1.5 tsp per cup ratio.
So there is a difference, although a fairly small one taste-wise. Interesting. Well, all years can’t be equally good, I suppose.
I did 1 tbsp per 20 oz the other night, and my impression was still chocolate and dirt pies. Nice loamy dirt, but still dirt! I really want to try a different harvest…
For me, the worst thing about this current batch is the very roasted, almost burnt flavor. It overwhelms the natural chocolate flavor that I fell in love with. :( OMGsrsly, I’ll send you a bit of the spring batch when I get some, cause I’m sure I will. :) just remind me in case I forget.
I am fascinated by what you just said Mercuryhime. I bought some Laoshan Black for the first time a couple of weeks ago and was so excited to try it. I’m really not sure I like it, though, and it’s specifically because of the roasted, burnt quality you just mentioned. You can see what I said about that in my last tasting note.
Well I am glad to read all the comments here. I just got an oz of this because of the great reviews and although I enjoyed the tea I didn’t quite understand why everyone was describing chocolate as opposed to heavily roasted.
Yeah – I felt the need to do this comparison because I was seeing so many recent reviews of people saying less than stellar things. Not that i think everyone has to love this tea but some of the comments were confusing me as they didn’t jive with my experiences. So a plot was born by mercuryhime and i! bwahahahahaha Stay tuned for scenes from our next plot – spring harvest – is the chocolate back? :)
Tune in next season for the exciting continuation. ;)
Early Spring harvest is going to be the first oolong from Laoshan and Verdant bought it prior to picking. Laoshan Black would probably come after since the fields will produce the rest of the Spring tea’s we all love. We’ll see.
Oh, that would be awesome Mercuryhime. I’m giving the rest of my package to the guy who runs my local tea shop. He likes it, and I don’t want to waste the Autumn Harvest!
Good morning Steepster.
I’m am totally eating cherries in bed on this lovely Sunday morning, sipping on Aila…
Because they go so well together.
One crunchy cherry, one sip of Aila…oh my.
This is my go to morning tea now. I just know it’s going to be good every time no matter what.
Sweet cup of malt and sea salted caramel, with super fruity notes, mmmmm.
It’s far from being as strong as what I’m used to early in the morning, but it’s just such a charming tea, I can’t resist it.
(I know you guys must be tired of me, but please be patient…cherry season is almost over already… soon, I won’t be able to find decent fresh ones, and you’ll stop hearing about it…I promise).
I added cherries to my shopping list. Just sayin’ :p
And then there will be Cocoa Amore ;)
(Subliminal cherries!!!!)
Haha! You know there will be Brenden…. :-) there will also be a nice print to look at all year around!!!
mmmm subliminal cherries….
Now I’m biting into some cherries myself
Me too. I’m about 2/3 of the way through my 9lb cherry purchase from last week :P
Still insanely jealous of your cherry drawer
Maybe you should get a poster of it….
Lol, still laughing at 9lb. I bought a total of 6 pounds this week…I guess I’m not the only cherry junkie around here :-o
I just realized something.
I can make one more round of COCOA AMORE! * Snoopy dance! *
Lol mine is long gone! I drank it during the night!!!
And suddenly, I envy you…
And you should. Because I have some. If I had teleportation powers – we would share it.
Aww, I know we would my darling :-)
We will have our very own piles of it soon though
i love cherries too! and this tea sounds amazing- what notes…wow!
Thank you mrmopar for this most silky Puerh!
Yesterday there was a long grey cloud parallel to the foothills by my house.
The cloud didn’t move.
When I walked from my car to the house I looked up at the texture and thickness of the huge monster and recognized it as a Lenticular cloud that you see at high altitude and was formed by moist air blowing over the Rocky Mountains. Constant light winds were keeping it in place, still and waiting.
I knew what was going to happen at sunset. I had seen from a greater distance a cloud monster like this one at Lake Tahoe. But this cloud was right over my head!
I went into the house, got my camera and checked how my buddies on Steepster were doing, when I noticed that my room was suddenly lit with golden light.
The cloud was illuminated by the setting sun which lit up my room!
I ran out the door with my keys and camera, took 3 shots over the complex and drove a block away to the entry of the Equine Center so that I could take my sky shots without buildings or cars.
I sat in the dirt and had the best time shooting a sky that was an ocean of gold, purple, pink and fire red. The color was so bright from ice crystals that the ground reflected a rose tint.
http://flic.kr/p/dkfUHv
http://flic.kr/p/dkfT6d
(I hope these pictures show up because I’ve been having trouble with flickr/yahoo.)
Sitting on the ground with the colors of Autumn thick and textured stretched across the sky, it was as if one enormous wing of an Angel was shielding me in an ethereal glow.
I can understand why the shephard David sat on a hillside writing songs of thanksgiving. I want to write Psalms after seeing or experiencing beauty.
The experience of last evening was so awe-inspiring, that I had no question about what kind of tea I wanted to drink this morning.
I picked Puerh.
Puerh always binds me to the appreciation of nature. I get all mushy sometimes about how much I love the rich and earthy thickness of it.
This Puerh I picked out of my to-be-reviewed stash at random.
I couldn’t find any information about it so the opinions are entirely my own.
My usual method is: A 30 second rinse followed by 3 steepings all at 30 seconds. The 4th steeping was increased to 3 minutes (pushing the envelope).
The wet leaves had a remarkable vanilla bean scent. I was surprised!
The liquor began as honey brown, deepening to rootbeer color with later infusions.
The first tasting was mild, lightly sweet and very light cedar. It was hard to tell that this was a Puerh for the lack of earthiness.
I expected the flavor to develop as the leaves opened though. The second steeping was the same as the first.
By the third steeping, I wondered what to do. Not a thing had changed from steeping 1,2,3.
I checked the leaves which HAD opened enough to produce some darkening as the steeping’s progressed.
Should I just drink this as I would a tea that wasn’t a Puerh? Add some sweetening?
I sweetening it a little and it was smooth and light but a bit boring to me.
I decided to increase the time to 3 minutes on the 4th steeping.
Now this was clearly a darker liquor, very smooth tasting, silky and mild. The only change from previous steeping’s was a little cedar bite on the tongue that quickly disappeared as the tea cooled.
This wasn’t a review of the earthy Shu Puerh’s I’m used to… quite the opposite. Don’t get me wrong though, this is a fine enough Puerh for people who DON’T like the earthy, stronger Puerh’s.
For anyone who is fearful and wants to try these exquisite tea’s this may be exactly the rare, golden beauty you’ve been looking for.
Those are breathtaking photos Bonnie! I love reading your reviews.
Very nice photos!
Colorado seems so beautiful ! I should have come here instead of NY the only time I came in the US.
Amazing! Thanks for sharing these.
that is a stunning photograph… flat-out gorgeous
WOW. That might be motivation enough to go to Colorado. Also, the word nubs is very funny.
i got 6 infusions from this one. i think thats a record for me. glad you enjoyed it. love and blessings your way! keep up the great tasting notes( i will work to make mine better).
rebecca the nubs are the clumps left over when they ferment the pu-erh that they cannot separate to press into the traditional beeng cha or round cake. they separate them out and press them into bricks. the bonus is it will contain these nubs from several different years so you are sure to get some well aged peices in there as well. it is a great way,like bonnie posted to try pu-erh. the off odor and taste of the newer shu is almost gone in these bricks.
No wonder it was so mild mrmopar. Really mellow!!!
bonnie let me know when you run low. a little of this stuff goes a long way and i have 2 cakes of it.
gorgeous pics Bonnie!! I love looking at clouds, they remind me of hope :)
I’m glad I live a block from open space so that if the sky changes or clouds form I don’t have to have buildings or cars getting in the way of taking a wide vista shot. Keeps me out of trouble.
those photos are lovely, Bonnie
Thanks chrine!
Another best seller of the Mariage Frères tea house.
No suspense for this one : it is one of my favourite even if I don’t drink it very often.
I know this tea since I am a child, my mother had it in a beautiful canister. Sometimes, I was just opening the tin to sniff the incredibly perfumed blend : it’s Christmas Spirit really …candied oranges, cinnamon, Vanilla, almonds and cloves and mandarin.
I can pick up all the ingredients on the dry leaf…and it makes me really sad….
Christmas is a period that always drove me very sad and there is probably the reason why I don’t have this tea very often.
But as a good masochist, I sometimes have it (it is all year long in my cupboard) and I really enjoy it.
The infusion is as perfumed as the dry blend was, no surprise.
Maybe the perfumes are more mixed than on the dry leaf, I am not distinguish them all as I can before steeping.
And here we are : Noël is never as strong as I am expecting each time, year after year. The blend reflects exactly what I am feeling for the period…
Mon cher thé Noël, tu es définitivement l’exact reflet de cet esprit de Noël et pour cela je t’aime autant que je te crains.
Preparation
Vous devriez ecrire en francais plus! J’aime bien voire vos messages dans votre premiere langue. :) This is a tea I’ll need to try one of these days for sure!
en plus ce serait plus facile :)
but it would be unfair for the non French speakers …
Haha that’s true. But there are days when I miss reading real people writing in French
ah, that’s what google translate is for….. :D
c’est ce que google translate pour muahhahahhahahaha!
Lol too funny fleur
:D just playin with ya :)
so Fleurdelily next time you’ll be Fleur de Muguet :)
and I recommand you this tea, lily flavored : http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/FR/ft+lily-muguet-the-vert-au-parfum-de-muguet+TA993.html
it is an amazing tea !
oh I LOVE that site, it’s seldom that teaware makes me gasp out loud but just LOOK at this ♥ http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/FR/fa+samovar-happy-tzar-corps-et-theiere-4-5-l-plus-1-l+A194150.html ♥ à mourir pour
yes I have the chance to admire this samovar in the tea shops in Paris…and others beautiful as this one too !
Each time I am in a Mariage shop near the teapot…I am afraid to break something …and regarding the prices it would be a shame
lily of the valley tea, how interesting. I’ve just tried kusmi violet tea, and was shocked that I like it. I’d be game to try lily of the vally, sure! :) and at the very least, I’d have a gorageous tin, wouldn’t I? wow. To see all those teawares sparkling in person—- sigh. that would be fantastic
alas, one tin of muguet to my address is $58.13
J’ai maintenant très hâte à Noël. Mes enfants sont encore jeunes, et c’est tellement beau de voir leur émerveillement lorsqu’ils voient le Père Noël. J’ai également très hâte aux thés à la canne de bonbon.
@fleurdelily
gosh ! the green one ?
they are just crazy at the Mariage’s Head office :D
@ Steven
oui quand les enfants croient encore au Père Noël c’est très mignon.
Les sucres d’orge c’est délicieux ! quels thés sont à cette saveur ?
Chez David’s Tea, probablement à partir de novembre.
awww Merci Steven (they don’t ship to France …hope they’ll do soon)
Nous pourrons s’en reparler le mois prochain. Si ça en vaut le coup, je pourrai vous en envoyer par la poste.
Je devais aller à Paris pour affaires à la fin du mois, mais ma femme va donner naissance à mon 3e enfant à ce moment. Je n’ai jamais été à Paris. Ce sera pour une prochaine fois.
un 3ème bébé vaut bien tous les Paris du monde :)
Merci pour la proposition, on en reparlera certainement.
Ah this one sounds amazing :) Loved your blog entry about it
Thanks for sharing the blog entry. I love your teapot!
Thank you! I should use it soon, it’s been neglected since I got a gaiwan. Don’t worry little pot, I’ll use you tomorrow :D
Huh, I’m positive that there were notes on this one before, too. From Indigobloom, for one.
Oops, you meant notes written by you XD
don’t make my hope goes high like that ! after seeing the review was hoping that this tea was back but no :( that what happen when i don’t buy big quantity of something i like right now and wait formlater
Silly Steepster, sometimes deleting our notes!
Hey Zoltar, you’re right – sorry to get your hopes up :(
It’s okay i’m sure they are gonna make another tea like that for the winter this time i’m gonna buy a lot of it :P
hey! what is the pot and bubble cup you are using in this blog entry?! i love it!!
Thanks! I got them both from DavidsTea, the teapot seems to no longer exist :( But the cups do!
http://www.davidstea.com/bubble-teacup-blue-en?&TF=&DEID=
thanks so much! they look so different in your pictures than they do on the website. i’m definitely gonna get a couple. …now i am on the hunt for a tiny 6oz teapot!
the teapot no longer exist but you can email them they will check if store near you got some left that what they did for me
thanks for the advice Zoltar, i just emailed them and i’ll let you know if i get any results.
okay, so, long story, but happy ending.
i placed two tea orders with DavidsTeas this month. (i know i have a problem.) (butit’scoldweathertimeandtheteawasjustallsowonderfulsoundingandihadn’tboughtanyinalongtimeanddamnitineededthattravelmug!)
one was placed real early in the month and when i got a shipping notice for the second late order i placed just a few days ago i decided to call DavidsTea and see what’s up. now a few days before that i had randomly emailed them to ask about the tiny glass gongfu teapot in your pictures as Zoltar recommended. ….drumroll…. now they are urgently shipping my tardy order to me and sending me the teapot free. next week is gonna be a teapocolypse!
yay for you ! :) the teapot is really great and hard to get good that you could get one and even more for free lol
Oh my gosh what AWESOME news! Best customer service ever :D
Ok, I need to find some of this.
I still have some ;)
It might not be fresh, but when I get around to swapping again, I will send some off! Even if it’s not “fresh” per se, it still tastes the same to me! Wintergreeny!
That would be fabulous. Somehow I only came across it today.