865 Tasting Notes
I’m home alone a lot and silence creeps me out so I have the tv on just for noise. There isn’t much on in the afternoon so I normally have Full House reruns on. Today the “yummy in the tummy” episode was on so I wanted to have something that was yummy in MY tummy. Now all of my teas qualify as that, but I wanted something special. Chais and most of my dessert teas are out cuz of my over doing it this morning, but I thought this’d be perfect. The green tea and the mint balance perfectly w/ the chocolate making it not too sweet, almost a sweet/savory balance.
Preparation
I have a major sweet/chai tooth both plain and w/ milk (chai), but after drinking chocolate and a dirty chai misto, my stomach is begging for something lighter. It just can’t handle those teas all day. I can’t believe I’m making pu erh as a palate cleanser and stomach settler!
I have 7oz of this left, so I decided to make a 2oz cup.
2oz water just under boiling water/2g leaf. Rinsed for 15 sec. then 20 sec 1st steep. A 2oz cup is hard because it’s hard to heat such a small amount of water. I don’t think I got the water quite hot enough because the liquor is extremely light. Lighter than most white teas even. Still very good though. Very light and sweet taste. Carolyn suggested increasing the steeping time for additional infusions, which I did last time, but since she suggested keeping it the same for cooked pu erhs I’ll try that this time and see what happens.:)
Preparation
infusions 2-5 w/ lunch- Dill chicken, corn, and chickpea spread w/True North Almond Crisps, all 20 sec. Since the only thing not vegetable in the chickpea spread is a little bit of mayo (1 serving in the entire recipe) and mustard, can I just call it a vegetable?;)
Infusion 6, 20 sec again. Light and sweet, w/ just a hint of earthiness.
Infusion 7, 20 sec.
Infusion 8, 20 sec. I’m surprised it still hasn’t changed.
Seven ounce!?!? That’s a lot of pu-erh =P
LOL thanks for catching that Ricky lol. I mean grams oops..;)
Infusion 9, you’ll think I’m nuts. Chilled and added to a glass of white wine. Both are clean, crisp, and sweet so it’s actually VERY good.
Dirty Chai Misto
3rd infusion, 8g/4oz water/9min, then added 2oz espresso and 6oz milk and reheated.
Surprisingly coffee and milk are the dominant flavors. The cayenne is there, but light and unfortunately the chocolate, other spices, and black tea are all but gone:(
Preparation
Made mandarin matcha drinking chocolate for breakfast:) 1/3 c milk, 3TB drinking chocolate mix, 1 scoop matcha.
The matcha is light, but evident, and you can tell there’s something else in it- but I’m not sure you can tell it’s orange.
Preparation
I have looked at the mandarin matcha but was really, really hesitant about the thought of orange and matcha. I love matcha but I also love the natural bitter flavour. I was worried the orange undertone would be too strong. Do you reckon it is still all right as plain, proper matcha, or is it more for mixing and desserty fun? I see you give it a high rating, so I am curious what you think.
I LOVE IT! I drink it plain often. I also flavor it in more non dessert ways like adding herbals like rose, peppermint, and ginger. Check out my other tasting notes:) There aren’t many left, get yours quick. I promise you will not regret it.
Made a chai latte right before I sat down to watch Biggest Loser. Chai lattes are hard for me amount wise… because I consider a serving of a chai latte to be 12oz because it requires a full serving of milk, and that’s a lot for me to drink at once. So anyway…
1 Mayan Chocolate Chai Latte:
2 heaping tsp chai (8g)
1/2 cup purified water, just below boiling
1 cup milk (almond milk would be amazing w/ this)
Preheated the milk for 30 sec (didn’t want to scorch it) during the last 30 sec. of the chai’s steeping, decanted the tea into the milk, then heated to the desired temp.
The heat definitely stands up to the milk, and so does the tea base. The chocolate; however, doesn’t as much. It tastes like it was made w/ a very weak chocolate milk. But it is there. The chocolate issue can easily be remedied by adding unsweetened cocoa powder or 100% dark chocolate shavings melted into the mixture. It’s even less of an issue for me because this is not a problem when I only prepare it w/ water. If it would, it would be really hard to remedy because adding cocoa powder or melted chocolate to regular tea would just screw up the texture.
This would be wonderfull in desserts like fondue, pudding, and ice cream. Just remember to let the milk cool after steeping the tea in it.
Preparation
I’m probably gonna hate my bladder tonite since it’s already 10, but I wanted to get at least one more steep out of this in case it molds by morning. 8g of tea in a teapot is quite dense. 6 min, 12oz water, 1TB each white chocolate and caramel coffee creamers. The only thing I’d change about this tea is that there’d also be caramel in it. Then it could be called Tortuga Chai (Tortuga is spanish for turtle which would refect the both thechocolate and caramel combo as well as the chocolate and cayenne combo). All flavors are still very strong and the chocolate comes thru at least as if not stronger this time. I can tell it’s not from the creamer because white chocolate is very different.
I have 1020 teas on my shopping list… I think I have a problem… LOL.=D Picking up where I left off last nite. 3rd infusion, 5min. Orangey-pinky liquor and very sweet taste
Preparation
4th infusion 6min. MUCH lighter liquor- a light canary yellow. And lighter (not weaker) taste. This is the yellow tea I know.
I took all of the teas off my shopping list because I was going crazy with wanting too many things! I know where you are coming from!
I can’t even start that obsession!
Yes, I’m having this again:) I had musk melon for lunch so I thought I’d try adding some matcha. 1 scoop over 1/2 cup melon (in my matcha bowl of course) and stir. Unfortunately I didn’t think and most of the matcha runs off because of the high water content of the melon (this was a REALLY juicy melon). Oh well. The flavor of the matcha isn’t terribly strong, just enough to make you say “Hmmm… something’s different…”. Also the orange is all but lost. Then why did I use this? 2 reasons- the incredibly fine texture and the fact that I have much more of this than my unflavored matcha. The part I REALLY love is the melon juice in the bottom. A lot of the matcha collected there and that’s where you can really taste the melon marry w/ the matcha. Yum! Hey Fred, can we have a musk melon matcha please?:)
Musk melon matcha does sound good. I would be tempted to try that as well.
I don’t like practically anything labeled midori or melon flavored because it’s always honeydew. I hate honeydew. Musk and watermelons are the only ones I like.
…I don’t think I even know what a musk melon is. :O
It’s a very sweet melon w/ a peachy flesh and light beige rind.
Made this because dinner (Dill Chicken) is soon (I’ll probably have it w/ my next cuppa) so I wanted to make what I’ll have w/ it. Wasn’t sure what to pair Dill Chicken w/…
I’ve been thinking though the issue of chocolate and tea for years without doing much about it. Though I’ve made chocolate chai’s before with black teas, I was given some fine chocolate with green tea (as a bar) and I liked the combo.
The problem is mixing greens and milk.
But I’m thinking of making a tea with cocoa, lavender and gunpowder. What do you think?
What do you mean the problem is mixing greens and milk? That wouldn’t be my cuppa because I don’t like lavender, although I love chocolate and rose.
I’ve mixed green tea and milk before. Down in the tummy it goes =]
shudders lol just not my cuppa. I can’t even add milk to kashmiri chai.