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It’s probably fairly obvious, but the name of this one translates to ‘nostalgia blend’. It’s flavoured with elderflower and contains a flower called ‘catfoot’ which I’ve never heard of before (but which sounds adorable). I’m not sure what this is supposed to make me nostalgic for, but there you are. Perhaps whoever thought of using elderflower here grew on Granny’s home made elderflower cordial or something.

I’ll be honest here. It stinks. It reeks to high heaven of star anise, despite not containing any. And it’s not a sort of ‘ooh, that sort of reminds me of something’ sort of smell. It’s more like star anise pods jammed up your nostrils sort of smell. It absolutely pongs. Especially when one is not at all very keen on star anise.

So I was worried.

As it turns out, though, elderflowers and star anise are very similar flavours. I can absolutely tell it’s flavoured with elderflower. But that same note feels like it can go both ways. A light a summer-y elderflower or a heavy, sticky star anise. This sounds really weird but it seems to very much depend on the attitude with which it’s approached.

I haven’t the faintest how this catfoot (my fingers keep wanting to write cat food here) is supposed to taste. I suppose it’s possible that this stuff is anise-y in flavour and that this is actually what’s at play, but because it really feels like I’m looking at two sides of the same coin here, I’m going to blame the elderflower.

I really wish something lemon-y had been added to this. Some lemon grass or some lemon flavouring. I feel like this would have elevated the elderflower-y aspect and freshened it up, while curbing the anise-y tendencies. I’ll have to try it with a bit of lemon juice, I think.

I don’t think I would buy this again, but who knows? Sometimes the strangest things can grow on you given the chance.

This one means ‘multi fruit’ which possibly isn’t difficult to guess, really. It has blackberry and either raspberry or strawberry. Description says one thing and ingredients the other, so… shrug

You know multi fruit juice? Like basically orange juice with a lot of other fruits in it. This is a bit like that. It’s very fruity tasting, very juicy tasting. It’s fairly sweet, so while it’s not like actually drinking candy, it does remind me strongly of multi fruit juice. And that’s it really. It’s not a tea that inspires big thoughts and paragraphs of purple prose. It’s just serviceable.

So is it raspberry or strawberry? Well, mostly it’s just generally juicy and generic berry-y, but the after taste has a tang to it that makes me lean towards raspberry.

Either way, it’s perfectly enjoyable. Nothing that will knock your socks off, but perfectly drinkable berry tea.

(Also, total proof that it is possible to have a very berry flavoured tea without the dreaded hibiscus. )

I have a bit of a soft spot for a nutty tea. Particularly hazelnut which seems to be unreasonably difficult to find. And I mean just hazelnut, not hazelnut and whatever. Just hazelnut. Maybe it’s because it’s not very easy to come by that makes me want it. Though I never seem to want it badly enough these days to really go and search outside of what these days counts as my usual haunts. So I get an almond tea or a walnut tea or even a hazelnut and whatever tea and make do. Should I come across a straight up hazelnut one I would definitely try it. And let’s be fair here, I would probably also be a little disappointed, but then at least I’d have got it out of my system.

So this one is a walnut tea. Shop says to expect a base tea a bit on the strong side and that is just what I want. Unlike the Easter tea that was supposed to taste like eggnog and (kinda thankfully) didn’t, this one actually tastes like nuts. It’s very clearly walnutty with that slightly woodlike flavour that they have, but there’s also a smidge of sweetness involved. In the ingredients they also list almond, which I think is just the bits of almonds in the blend itself. I’m told these sorts of bits of nuts or fruits or whatever generally doesn’t actually impart all that much flavour on their own, so I hesitate to blame them for the bit of sweet, but it would sort of fit well with the sweetness of almonds.

In short, this is a bit strong and clearly walnutty without being overpoweringly flavoured (I tend to favour a somewhat subtle yet detectable flavouring), and I might well purchase this one again.

Hey guys! It’s been a few years, hasn’t it? I received a spam messages the other day from somebody who apparently wanted my permission to do guest blogs on this site about cannabis oil. I mean… thanks for asking, but… not my permission to give and also um, no. I would be greatly surprised if a number of you lot didn’t get the same message as well. Anyway, it reminded me of this place and I figured I’d stick my nose in and have a look at an old haunt. I must admit it rather saddened me to see the site so overrun with spam. :(

Then today, I received a parcel with five new teas, all of them new to us. In the olden days of my Steepstery heyday, I had so much tea I was drowning in the stuff. It got to the point where I couldn’t drink a cup of tea without feeling slightly guilty about not writing a post if I hadn’t had it before. This was when I realised Steepster wasn’t fun anymore and I stepped away. This also drastically decreased the amount of money spent on tea and I felt better for it (although now I just spend it on crafting supplies). A bit later, I came back here saying that I was down to owning what I then thought was a bare minimum of choices. Today, I would say that was still a wild amount. Right now we have what easily fits on one shelf in a small kitchen cupboard. Three to five flavoured afternoon teas. One breakfast tea, which these days I even have with milk because being married to an Englishman will do that sort of thing to you. That’s it. And this? This is where we’re going to stay. This is much better for me. This I can handle. I can choose a tea without a half hour’s deliberation first and we actually drink this. Even stuff that turns out was just a bit meh still gets used up. I don’t even have a fancy-pants variable temperature kettle any more. I do not miss those old days of a 100+ collection at all. But I do sometimes miss the people a bit.

So here I am, posting about this one today because I just got it and it coincides with having been inspired to peek in. Am I going to be a regular poster again? To be honest, probably not. But perhaps an occasional one, promising nothing.

For that matter, I don’t even really know if there are anybody still about who remembers me at all.

Well, that was a bit of a preamble. This tea translates to Easter tea and according to the vendor it’s supposed to taste like egg nog. I’ll be honest, I have no idea what that tastes like, nor do I particularly want to. I understand it’s traditional in America for Christmas, but I’ve seen recipes. It sounds vile. Keep it. Which is why it’s weird that I would even consider getting this one. No, I can’t explain it either. Momentary lapse of reason or something.

To my relief, it doesn’t taste like eggs. Or anything boozy. I seem to have made it a wee bit on the strong side which gives it a certain astringency, but mostly it just tastes fairly middle of the road. I wouldn’t have guessed that there had been flavouring added to this if I didn’t know. I can mostly just detect a medium strength black tea and that particular soft, smooth, sort of thickening mouthfeel from the flower petals.
This is nothing special, but it won’t be difficult to drink.

(Numerical rating system…? No, I think not. Somehow that doesn’t really appeal to me today.)

ETA: Weirdly, if you go to the tea page for this one, this post doesn’t appear to exist. I am contemplating deleting this and re-posting just because this bothers me…

Forgive me, Steepsterites, but I must vent and I know you lot will understand.

My father doesn’t like tea. At all. He feels about tea the same way I feel about beer, i.e. NOPE! Blech! Spitty! My mother enjoys the occasional cup of tea, though, but wants it to be as convenient as possible, so preferably bagged stuff. Recently she has been very fond of Lady Grey from Twinings.

So my father writes me an email saying could I help him find something like that, only maybe a better quality than the Twinings bags and such and such is the budget. Sure, I do some research. Twinings, imo, isn’t actually the worst bag out there, but even so the next step up is loose. And if we’re going for loose, we might as well go that little bit further. So I trawl through AC Perchs’ website and finds a couple that sound to me like they might be similar and I trawl through Carstensens (another large Danish shop, but I have never used them much for no other reason than sort of forgetting they’re there) and find things that are similar.

And I put all these findings in a very long email, which has links to both websites, price per 100 g of each and price of shipping. Plus information that these are loose, not available as bagged, and he should make sure to also get a box of those filter bags to go with or a brew basket or similar for her cup. Also point out that if he wants the tea tinned, he must buy a tin separately. All of which is available for purchase at both websites.

The reply I get doesn’t actually say ‘tl;dr’, but it might as well have. It then becomes further obvious that he didn’t read it all when he says it must be bagged, because otherwise she’ll just never get around to drinking it because it’s too much of a hassle. Clearly he didn’t get to the bit with the filter bags or the brew basket which can just be whacked in the dishwasher afterwards. Then the initial question once again, now posed in a mansplain-y way as though I was five, but with the added strong hint that he would like me to order it for him. Oh, and if necessary could add such and such to the budget.

So I got rather irritated and waited until the next day to reply, in which I had to explain that using a filter bag was no different from making coffee (which is somehow not a hassle. Seriously, spoon leaves into bag or spoon coffee into filter and toss the lot after use, what’s the flipping difference?). Also explained that while sachets do exist, they are not something one can count on, and throwing more money at something will not make it magically exist. Refrained from pointing out that what he was actually asking was similar to wanting a high quality whisky but preferably pre-mixed with cola in the bottle. Husband’s analogy, that one. Also pointed out that I had done my research based on the criteria I had been given.

Reply was, ‘yes, yes, yes, yes, I surrender.’ And THEN the initial question again now posed as though I was three, complete with ‘I don’t know anything about it other than I don’t like it.’ Then he remembered that I had once brought some sachets up for her years ago and could we get some of that again. Oh, and still including the strong hint of the never actually asked question, ’can’t you just order it for me?’

I still refuse to take the bait, because I know he’s not actually that helpless, so I link him directly to the sachets that ACP sell, tell him which two it was that I had bought then, and a few others which are also black tea (my mum’s not really that adventurous, so didn’t want him to get her some green or white blend that she wouldn’t know what to do with). At the same time, I’m thinking that not only did he not bother with reading the initial reply, he also didn’t bother with the links, because if he had clicked on the ACP link, for example, he would have seen a very large bit of the menu that said ‘tea bags’ on it. Also hoping that the direct link will serve as a strong hint that he’s not so helpless he can’t do his own damn Christmas shopping.

The final email from him said he had written to Perchs (hallelujah!) and they had suggested a different blend as the closest thing they had to Lady Grey, so he’d ordered 100 g of that.

Loose.

headdesk

To be fair, he did also get two boxes of sachets, but still. After all this hassle he put me through because he didn’t want loose, he goes and buys her a #¤%#%# loose tea!

Give me strength…

Do you lot have to deal with these people as well, or is it just me? At least I avoided doing his shopping for him. For the record, I’d happily have ordered something for him if he had asked me to. I do not, however, volunteer just because he’s feeling whingy. I’ve got my own shopping to deal with, thanks.

Am putting all this under this particular tea, because I’m having a cup and it’s life-giving, and I need life-giving after all that.

( ETA Please be aware that I may choose to remove this post again later on. Right now it’s simply a need to share so I can get it out of my head.)

Back in the beginning of September I made a Verdant order. This was the first time in a while I ordered from them, because the shipping cost makes it rather a luxurious place to shop for me. But as I had filled out their customer survey earlier I was in possession of a coupon, plus I had allowed myself to do it in celebration of not losing my job. (Huge cuts, threat of redundancies. Luckily sacking anybody did not become necessary. Long and uninteresting story.) So, I ordered and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Turned out this parcel was to be followed by bad luck from start to finish to start to finish.

You see, my parcel was initially mis-delivered to a completely different country. This is what I think happened. I had ticked the box saying I didn’t mind recycled packing material, and I think the people at the post office accidentally went by an old address that hadn’t been properly blacked out. At least, that’s the only way I can imagine a parcel to Denmark winding up successfully delivered in the Czech Republic.

The tracking number destination did say the Czech Republic, but that didn’t bother me too much at the time, because I thougt that showed the next stop on the parcel’s journey and that there was some sort of postal hub there to go through. But then it said delivered successfully, which finally got me a bit suspicious.

So I wrote to Verdant that I thought either something had gone wrong with the shipping or I’d been told the wrong tracking number. And then I got an auto-reply saying someone would get back to me about the problem shortly.

So I waited.

For a week.

Then I posted a comment on their Facebook page asking if someone could please look at my question. That got me a reply within a few hours. I think I must have been somehow forgotten. Anyway, they repacked my order and refunded me the shipping cost. They also said they had added a little extra that they thought I would like by way of further compensation. I thought that was rather nice of them, expecting it to be an extra sample or something.

Then there was some sort of holiday in China which meant outgoing post was delayed. Then the tracking number didn’t get updated at all for ten days.
Then finally something happened and the last thing registered on it was on the 4th of November. Don’t know what because it was all still in Chinese, but at least it had the correct country on it as destination, so I wasn’t too concerned this time.

I had just checked the tracking number earlier to day to find it still only saying something in Chinese, when the doorbell rang and there it was!

AT LAST! Only took two months. And the extra little something they thought I’d like. Not just an extra sample. Two pouches! This is one of them, the other is golden fleece, which I can’t remember if I’ve had before. I have apparently had this one before and was in fact wondering why I didn’t order it in the first place. I expect it was simply just to keep the cost at a reasonable level.

Note, please, that I’m not in any way blaming Verdant for all this or saying that it’s somehow their fault. It’s nobody’s fault, really. Accidents happen, and this particular parcel was simply more accident prone than most. Yeah, they could have been quicker getting back to me with my support request, but they got there with only one instance of nagging required, and again, if I’d been forgotten, accidents happen. It’s not a big deal once we get there in the end. Plus the refund of shipping fee AND the two extra pouches were generous compensation indeed. All in all my order was probably loss-making for them.

I have to admit, though, that I was feebly hoping whoever in the vicinity of Prague received the original parcel might realise the error and forward it to me. Didn’t happen. I don’t blame them for not doing it, and I genuinely hope they enjoyed the contents because it’s jolly good stuff. All is well that ends well. For me and for a random lucky Czech.

I can see that I’ve had this one before and enjoyed it, so I was quite pleased about Verdant having chosen this as part of my compensation. I wonder if they looked me up. Not sure they could have known I was me, but I like to pretend that they did.

It’s quite cocoa-y and wood-y in the aroma, but when you then sip it, it’s got a bit of orange as well, peel rather than flesh. Still quite wood-y and with a touch of astringency, though. The cocoa is mostly present on the aftertaste. We’re not talking chocolate here, mind. I mean cocoa as in the powder.

The orange peel is making me search for traces of Christmas-y spices. This strikes me as a fairly Christmas-y tasting sort of cup for some reason. I want to be able to find some cinnamon in here and some cloves, but I can’t. I just for some reason really want them to be there.

No. 21… I’ve always wondered about this with Kusmi. What are the other 20?

Anyway, I was in a different supermarket from my normal one yesterday. I’m home alone for a couple of days (again!) so I was looking for something easy and unhealthy for my dinner. It’s the same chain as my normal one, but bigger. I was looking for something else in the tea/coffee section, when I spotted the easily recognisable Kusmi tins. There was this one and the 4 Red Fruits and… I think one more, but can’t remember which. I thought, eh, why not? I only took this one because a) I’m not made of money, and b) 4 Red Fruits is a known quantity and c) we’ve already got Tea Palace’s Queen of Berries and so don’t need another soft fruits flavoured tea.

I’ve never had this one before, actually, because I’ve been a bit wary of it being Yunnan black. My relationship with the black teas of Yunnan is a bit fraught. Some of them are really really nice, but some of them also just tastes like drinking liquid hay with pepper in it. I’m not a fan of the latter, but it seems to be mostly the more golden ones that do this.

So I chanced it and am pleased to report, that while there are a bit of golden tips in it, it’s not golden golden. Bodes well.

The aroma has a bit of hay in it though, and something which I can only really describe as ‘horse’, but I don’t really mean that in a bad way. I mean, horses are quite whiffy, but if you are a horse-person, it’s a smell with all sorts of awesome associations to it. What I’m getting at is that the horse-y smell in here doesn’t so much pong of actual horse as it brings on lovely (non-horse-y) associations. I’m not explaining this very well, am I? I’m not even a horse-person myself, although my childhood/teenage self would have LOVED to be one. The closest I come is a friend I had in my teens who had a fat, lazy pony on which she gave me some very basic lessons in posture and how to (in theory, it being a very lazy pony) make it go.

Tastewise, I was sort of expecting a bit more. It’s nice, but it strikes me as a bit thin in the middle notes. The initial notes are strong and the aftertaste is decent, but in the middle there? It’s like it’s not really trying. Like it puts some effort into the front end of the sip and thinks that’s sufficient. If I hold it on my tongue for a little bit, though, I can prolong the initial notes of pepper, a little bit of hay, slight astringency, and slightly burnt toast, but that’s not the same. I’m missing the smoothness and the malty thickness that I know from Keemun and from the Fujian blacks.

This really is an entirely different beast from those. But then again, if you look at the map of China, they’re not exactly grown next door to one another either, so differences are indeed to be expected.

So where does this fall on a scale from ‘peppery liquid hay’ to ‘nice and sweet dark nom’. Oooooh probably right in the middle. It’s taking on qualities of one, but not yet letting go of the those of the other. It’s nice and drinkable, but not really an epiphany in a cup.

I asked Husband what sort of hot drink he would like this morning (hoping he wouldn’t say coffee because he’s under the weather and I’d have to grind the beans myself.)

Anyway, he asked for tea.

I asked him if there was a specific one he would like.

He said, “one that mysteriously cures all illness.”

Hm. Tall order…

Eventually, I decided that this would translate to one of the teas in the Life-Giving category, of which Golden Monkeys are prominent members.

So that’s what I made him. Extra strength.

“Oh, did you forget it?” he asked.

The cheek! No, I did not, in fact, forget it. I added extra leaf. On purpose.

Now, if Husband had to pick a most favourite black, I would guess he’d say Golden Monkey. Even more so, mysteriously, than Tan Yang, which is just something I don’t get. Luckily my favourite and his favourite are so similar that they are pretty much interchangable for our purposes.

As it turns out, extra-strength brewing of this one makes it sort of thicker feeling. Bit like there’s some sort of cream in it that you can feel but not taste. At this point, Husband came in and distracted me by showing me a rainbow visible through the window. A really big one too, the whole arch. I tried to take a photo through the window but don’t know how it turned out. Haven’t looked yet.

Second steep is even more extra strength, but this time it wasn’t so much on purpose as it was putting less water in the pot than I thought. That ‘invisble cream’ feeling is still there. This time it’s also more malty and a bit caramelly. It actually tastes like a darkish but still golden caramel brown colour. My head is filled with that colour when I sip. At this strength there is also a smidge of a rough smoky quality to it, but I know that’s really only just because it’s brewed so strong.

I got this with my recent Yunnan Sourcing order and I have no clue why. I don’t really drink very much pu-erh, so why I would even look at it is a mystery. I can’t remember having done so, I can’t remember having put it in my basket and I can’t remember having ordered it. I can’t even remember why I would order it.

But it’s on my order confirmation, so I must have, mustn’t I?

And, you know, it’s not like I don’t like pu-erh. I like it just fine. It’s just, most of the time I’d rather have something else. I feel much the same way about green tea, actually.

But then for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been drinking it on my Wednesdays. And now I’m finding myself a little concerned about how much is in the pouch. Or rather, about how much isn’t in the pouch.

No, it’s not knock-your-socks-off-super-duper-fabulous. It’s merely… very drinkable. Which in a way is actually better, because when something is knock-your-socks-off-super-duper-fabulous a lot of people, and I think many of you will agree, will try to preserve it, fearing of running out and ultimately wind up not actually drinking it. With an eminently drinkable tea you get a really good tea which you actually allow yourself to have.

This one is running low on me, but it doesn’t make me stop making it for fear of running out. When it’s gone it’s gone and that’s all. If I’m not drinking something because I’m hoarding it or if I’m not drinking it because I haven’t got it really amounts to the same thing in the end.

So while I have it, I’m actually enjoying it. It’s mild and smooth and slightly earthy and slightly mushroom-y. I can’t even really describe it. It’s one of those ‘just tastes like tea shrug’ kind of teas. With qualifiers for the type, obviously

Will it make me drink more pu-erh? Doubtful. I see this pouch as a bit of a fad, really. It’ll pass, I expect. (It always does) Now, if you’ll excuse me, these designs don’t stitch themselves, you know.