865 Tasting Notes
Does anyone remember the maple lattes and macchiatos at Starbucks? Unfortunately that was before I fell in love w/ them so I never had a chance to have one. I did; however, decide to create my own version using this instead of espresso.
1 heaping tsp tea leaves
2oz just under boiling water
4oz milk
1tsp maple syrup- I use sugar free (does anyone else here feel that 1/4c is an outrageous serving size? I only added 2.92 calories to my latte w/ the amount I used)
Steep the tea in the water for 6min and decant creating a conTEAtrate, decant, and add the milk and maple syrup. Stir and reheat to desired temp. This can be made even more similarly to the old SBUX version by swapping the water for espresso. (I’m thinking a shot of espresso is an ounce, if that’s true, use equal parts espresso and water to make 2oz). You could also steep this directly into the water (and espresso if you use it) and milk mixture, but I don’t like milk residue on my leaves.
I don’t usually add milk to anything but masala chai, but this is very good! The maple sugar, milk, and black tea are all clearly evident. The black tea plays a more minor supporting role, but it is definitely enough to let you know, “Hey, this isn’t just a steamer!”. This would be wonderful, w/ pancakes, waffles, or french toast. Too bad this has caffeine in it, because I think kids would LOVE it. You could use a 2nd infusion of the tea, but I’m not sure how much you’d have to increase the steeping time by to get the flavor of the 1st infusion.
Preparation
Have I mentioned this is perfect before? It is. My 1/2 bowl was especially good today, but I’m not sure why. When I 1st got this, I thought it was rather sweet but I’m starting to rethink that. Maybe my tastebuds are changing. It’s a perfect balance.
Preparation
Drank this at Bible Study so I dunno how hot the water was. The green tea was pretty good for a bagged, but the strawberry tasted like I sweetened it w/ strawberry simple syrup. NOT my cuppa.
Preparation
I hear you. I often feel bad about rating a tea when I am not the one in control of the steeping and brewing times. Same deal with the water quality. It’s hard to judge a tea when the water already tastes funny. It happens, I guess.
No, that’s not it. If it was, I wouldn’t have rated it. I don’t think the water could have changed it enough increase the rating a lot.
I really wanted to add this to the data base this the way I had it, in their Chicken Spice Rub… but I don’t want to get in trouble. Had tea crusted chicken tonite (make sure you put the spice in a spice mill before applying it). There was something very spicy, but as I don’t normally drink it, and when I do only drink it w/ whiskey added, I couldn’t tell if it was the tea, a spice that’s in the rub, or just because my mom put too much on (it was completely black on both sides of the breast). It was VERY good though. I give the rub a 100, but I’ll wait to rate it til I can rate it as the actual rub.
Did I read that right? You drink LS with whiskey?
Yep. Southern Comfort to be exact.
Wow, that’s certainly some creative tea blending! lol
That’s very interesting! I have never heard of someone mixing tea with alcohol. I couldn’t do that, I’m allergic.
Oh I do it all the time! Even if in responsible moderation, why not add good stuff to alcohol? My favorites are rum in chai and a mojito made w/ chilled green tea instead of lemon lime soda. Tea and white wine also good together suprisingly. There are also tea flavored liquors like green tea vodka and a chai creme liquor.
Ok wait… I shouldn’t say all the time. When I make myself a drink at home (which is rare) it almost always involves tea. As soon as I pressed “post comment” I realized that sounded very different than I intended lol.
As long as you’re not doing it all the time, why not? :-) For me, it would be such a waste of the tea, since I can only have a few sips of alcohol before I have to stop drinking. I know it’s more of a waste of alcohol, but since I know I can’t drink and I do it anyway, then I buy drinks knowing that I’m paying for a full drink to be thrown out.
But the LS, ooh, I could never throw that out!
Yeah, if you’re allergic I would not suggest doing it.
Oh, I still drink. I just can’t drink that much before I have an allergic reaction.
Good heavens, why would you ever make a mojito with lemon lime soda?
I was thinking the same thing because mojito is my favorite and I didn’t think there was lemon lime soda, but I’m no bartender, so I could be wrong.
Sorry, I guess it’s club soda. But I can see lemon lime since you put lemon in it. Some people do use lemon lime soda I think. Anyway it’s in place of the soda.
How is the chicken rub?? I had the BBQ and general rub and they are wonderful.
Amazing, I like the BBQ best though.
1tsp/6oz water. Served: room temp, cooled naturally (made a head of time), clean
Served w/: Tortilla Crusted Fish Lean Cuisine
I know this is a Chinese flavored sencha, but since I do not know the steeping parameters for Chinese flavored senchas (can anyone inform me?) and Adagio’s steeping times for greens and whites can not be trusted, I’m treating it as a Japanese and have been rewarded. I drank this at room temp because I needed something to balance the hot temperature of my meal as well as the spicyness from my meal. The spicyness is also why I paired it w/ a ginseng tea.
The rice, which is mixed w/ sour cream, cheese, and roasted red and pablano peppers is absolutely amazing. I was surprised to see this dish featured on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” on the foodnetwork last nite. Unfortunately, I was multi-tasking and paid attention just in time to see how it was made (which is how I know it’s the same thing), but missed what it’s called. I’d love to find a recipe for it, but I’d need to know what it’s called. Can anyone tell me? Also, is there a tea you’d suggest that I could steep in the water before making the rice to add wonderful health benefits to this wonderful tasting dish?
Preparation
Yay! It isn’t fubared! lol:)
This tea actually seems to look more like a Bancha, but in fact is a Chinese green. Steeping it with a slightly lower temperature and for maybe just a minute longer might give it a bit more flavor!
We’ve experimented a few times with flavoring senchas but its been very difficult. The fine leaves steep very fast and don’t hold on to oils and extracts very well, preventing much of the potential flavor from actually appearing in the brew. Also Sencha’s natural grassy nature makes it a difficult counterpart in the blending process, so we tend to flavor our Japanese greens using a milder Japanese summer tea: Bancha.
If you are curious about a Japanese Sencha blend, I’d check out the Angiogenisis tea, rumored to be the healthiest tea out there ( I personally disagree). It’s a blend of a basic grade Japanese Sencha with Dragon Pearl Jasmine.
As for what tea to steep in the water for cooking your rice, my go to answer would definitely be Genmaicha, since it has popped and roasted rice in it! It could add a nice toasty flavor to your rice. However, now that you bring it up, another option could possibly be Matcha (what I find to be one of the healthier teas, next to an Ichiban Sencha). Matcha is a powdered green tea that would dissolve easily into the water, but unfortunately it might get bitter at the higher temperatures it takes to cook rice. The flavor it would add though would be like having a sushi roll without the nori!
This recipe sounds easy and good!
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/green-tea-rice-10000000610502/index.html
Thanks for your imput. Unfortunately I can not stand Gen Mai Cha. I am; however, very much in love w/ matcha- I have it daily. Your idea wouldn’t work though as matcha does not dissolve in water, it merely disperses, which is why it separates from the water resulting in a “chunky” or “gritty” (for finer grades) texture if you drink it too slowly. The matcha powder is heavier than the water so it slowly sinks over time. The only way this would work would be to mix it in after cooking. When I said I wanted to flavor the water by steeping tea in it, that is what I ment. Matcha does not steep (which implies decantation). I want to flavor the water w/ tea by steeping them in water, not incorporating the entire leaf into the rice. Although I do love adding matcha to foods:) just not this.
I like the idea (for a separate recipe, not adding it to the recipe I mentioned), but simmering bancha or sencha for 20 min?? Can you say seriously over steeped?
Ok.. I’m logging this here even though I question if it’s right or not. Ricky and Carolyn will like this one cuz we’ve had convos about pineapple greens. Mom and my aunt had to go to the mall for work so I went w/ to get out of the house. I’m not the type that likes to do things alone, but I went anyway. Stopped at Cold Stone Creamery (yes in Jan. in winter lol- I wish I could turn my cravings off in the winter!) and of course was freezing after I was done eating so I went right next door to Gloria Jean’s. I originally went for coffee because I know they have K cups and while I will have prebagged tea if I must, I will probably never touch a K cup for tea or coffee. But I walked in and saw a container of bagged tea on the counter so I decided to go for it. They have H&S! This is one brand I haven’t had before. I was actually surprised at their selection. They had 3 herbals and a few blacks… but for someone who doesn’t drink either willingly, I only had 2 choices. Japanese sencha or this. Or at least it must have been this. I could swear It just said pineapple green… but I can’t find it here or on their website. Am I losing it? Anyway… My experience w/ the tea I had, whether this or another name…
Ok.. I’m logging this here even though I question if it’s right or not. Ricky and Carolyn will like this one cuz we’ve had convos about pineapple greens. Mom and my aunt had to go to the mall for work so I went w/ to get out of the house. I’m not the type that likes to do things alone, but I went anyway. Stopped at Cold Stone Creamery (yes in Jan. in winter lol- I wish I could turn my cravings off in the winter!) and of course was freezing after I was done eating so I went right next door to Gloria Jean’s. I originally went for coffee because I know they have K cups and while I will have prebagged tea if I must, I will probably never touch a K cup for tea or coffee. But I walked in and saw a container of bagged tea on the counter so I decided to go for it. They have H&S! This is one brand I haven’t had before. I was actually surprised at their selection. They had 3 herbals and a few blacks… but for someone who doesn’t drink either willingly, I only had 2 choices. Japanese sencha or this. Or at least it must have been this. I could swear It just said pineapple green… but I can’t find it here or on their website. Am I losing it? Anyway… My experience w/ the tea I had, whether this or another name…Parameters: 3 bags of an unknown weight in 20oz water of an unknown temp steeped ~3min (I kept track of it on my cell phone).
Ok.. I’m logging this here even though I question if it’s right or not. Ricky and Carolyn will like this one cuz we’ve had convos about pineapple greens. Mom and my aunt had to go to the mall for work so I went w/ to get out of the house. I’m not the type that likes to do things alone, but I went anyway. Stopped at Cold Stone Creamery (yes in Jan. in winter lol- I wish I could turn my cravings off in the winter!) and of course was freezing after I was done eating so I went right next door to Gloria Jean’s. I originally went for coffee because I know they have K cups and while I will have prebagged tea if I must, I will probably never touch a K cup for tea or coffee. But I walked in and saw a container of bagged tea on the counter so I decided to go for it. They have H&S! This is one brand I haven’t had before. I was actually surprised at their selection. They had 3 herbals and a few blacks… but for someone who doesn’t drink either willingly, I only had 2 choices. Japanese sencha or this. Or at least it must have been this. I could swear It just said pineapple green… but I can’t find it here or on their website. Am I losing it? Anyway… My experience w/ the tea I had, whether this or another name…Parameters: 3 bags of an unknown weight in 20oz water of an unknown temp steeped ~3min (I kept track of it on my cell phone).Smells good. Like a typical light green tea. Fruity, but not sweet. Liquor is also a light, slightly yellowish, green.
Ok.. I’m logging this here even though I question if it’s right or not. Ricky and Carolyn will like this one cuz we’ve had convos about pineapple greens. Mom and my aunt had to go to the mall for work so I went w/ to get out of the house. I’m not the type that likes to do things alone, but I went anyway. Stopped at Cold Stone Creamery (yes in Jan. in winter lol- I wish I could turn my cravings off in the winter!) and of course was freezing after I was done eating so I went right next door to Gloria Jean’s. I originally went for coffee because I know they have K cups and while I will have prebagged tea if I must, I will probably never touch a K cup for tea or coffee. But I walked in and saw a container of bagged tea on the counter so I decided to go for it. They have H&S! This is one brand I haven’t had before. I was actually surprised at their selection. They had 3 herbals and a few blacks… but for someone who doesn’t drink either willingly, I only had 2 choices. Japanese sencha or this. Or at least it must have been this. I could swear It just said pineapple green… but I can’t find it here or on their website. Am I losing it? Anyway… My experience w/ the tea I had, whether this or another name…Parameters: 3 bags of an unknown weight in 20oz water of an unknown temp steeped ~3min (I kept track of it on my cell phone).Smells good. Like a typical light green tea. Fruity, but not sweet. Liquor is also a light, slightly yellowish, green.Tastes like it smells. I can definitely taste the pineapple. It’s like fresh pineapple, not canned. There’s a difference? Yes. If it was orange I could say it was like orange zest instead of orange juice. While sweet, it’s also ever so slightly crisp and bitter. I get to the last couple inches and I am suddenly very queasy. I have to breathe very slowly just to prevent myself from throwing up. I’m definitely not letting that dock the rating though. I’m contributing it soley to the fact that I’d just had a HUGE scoop of ice cream (chocolate covered strawberry w/ raspberries mixed in), the fact that 20oz is a lot and I probably drank it too fast, and the fact that I resteap so much I’m sure my body just isn’t used to the caffeine, L-theannine, and tannin content of 3 1st infusions at once. I save the last bit and when I finish it off a half hr later it’s cold- and still very wonderful. And made even more awesome by coming home to be reminded the SSI for today is a H&S item! I’d completely forgotten.
Preparation
What the heck is wrong w/ my tasting note? I got to edit it and it’s not screwed up…
Why that’s one mighty long repeating note =D
Ohh, I might need to add this one to my shopping list for the next time I make a Harney order.
Now THIS qualifies for an “utterly annoying tasting note”! But what’s most annoying is it’s NOT my fault! I swear!
How did you manage to do that? It’s the kind of thing that I would do!
Haha! I have no clue, when I go to my tealog and click the “edit” button it’s perfect and repeat free!
Hmmm, where to start, my friend?
Props for risking the appalling weather for a cup of tea. It’s probably the only sane reason to go out in the cold (It’s 29 degrees Celsius and quite beautiful here, by the way :) )
Myself, when given a choice between Japanese Sencha and anything else, I would also have chosen ‘anything else". Even though I’m allergic to pineapple.
I never generalise, except to say “I have never enjoyed any tea ever made in The Republic of Japan throughout it’s long and colourful history and I find it difficult to believe I ever would”. Could just be me, I suppose.
I think the icecream sounds great, but the combination may have caused your nausea. Also, having just worked out what 20oz is in metric, I have come to the conclusion that it’s a lot.
I find that whenever anyone uses a pineapple flavour, they often enhance it with coconut oils. I wonder if that is the case with this one?
Lastly, unlike certain others on the forum, I love it when people add backstory and context to their tasting notes. Very entertaining read.
Robert, ditto- where to start. Thank you for muddling thru this to not only read, but understand and comment! lol I have no clue what’s going on. What bad weather? It was 40 degrees F and sunny today. Wind chills can get 40 F. W/ the stash I have @ home, I definitely wouldn’t need to brave weather to get tea or even choose to go out in great weather lol. But I was there and needed something to warm myself, and decided not to go w/ coffee (which I also adore). Actually going w/ coffee probably would have made more sense because I can’t make a good specialty coffee beverage at home, but I can make wonderful loose leaf tea at home… and my choices would me MUCH more vast than I had today. I personally love Japanese greens. The only 2 that I’ve tried and not liked have been Gen mai cha and Houjicha. Infact Japanese greens are my favorite greens. I wish matcha had enough nutrition to sustain me! So it is just you. Kidding! I feel the same about non chai blacks as you do about Japanese greens. Just not my cuppa. But that’s ok, I’ll gladly drink your share of matcha. 20oz isn’t a lot in the scope of a day by far I can drink 3x that in a day… but in a few min, yes that is. I do not like coconut. I feel about coconut the same way you do about pineapple (although I’m not allergic). I chose this because I could have sworn it said “pineapple green”. If I had thought/known it said “tropical” I would have immediately gone w/ Japanese sencha… although I didn’t have my parameters sheet so I have no clue how that would have turned out. I just used the “all greens are created equal, steep them 3 mins” theory that I absolutely loath and destest. But God saw my need for emotional and physical comfort from this tea and rewarded me w/ a good cuppa. My tongue did not detect coconut and now that I read it may have been this, I am EXTREMELY thankful! :)
NOW what did I do to cause a cross out???
Wow, that’s neat what your tasting note did! I thought maybe you just were having an early groundhog’s day tasting! haha!
No, it’s actually really annoying… grrr…
I know it is. For me when things like that happen, then I tend to think that I’m doing something wrong, or missing something that I should be doing. But it’s probably just a glitch and not you. And because it’s just a glitch, there’s not much you can do about it anyway. So no worries. :-)
Yeah there is. Cuz I chronically worry about things I can’t control- and unfortunately worry about things I can change way less than I should lol.
Reading about your love of Japanese Greens, I have realised that we are completely different in absolutely every respect… except we both love tea. And that is what makes Steepster great!
Oh, and I’ve worked out how much tea I drink in a day, and it’s about 3 litres – that’s over 100 us oz, so it doesn’t seem too much. But I like to spread the love around – maybe have about 12 ounces of 8 different teas every day.
I think that’s in most people’s nature, the fear of the unknown and the uncontrollable. I used to do the same. But I finally learned to let it go to the wind, or some of my friends say to let it go to God. What is supposed to be will happen, and all I can do is go with it, roll with it, and hopefully learn something from it and move on to the next crisis. haha!
Japanese greens are my current compulsion, While I indent to keep my daily matcha habit, as far as decanted tea, I will probably eventually be fixated onto something else soon.
Yeah, I definitely need to trust the Only One Who Is ALL Knowing more. That’s exactly what faith is.
I know that it is annoying to lose control of things but that is how art is created. It’s a process of losing control and then regaining control to structure what you created in the non-controlled moments. I mention this because looked at with an open mind, there is a real beauty to the tasting note, almost an intentional visual stutter. Just tilt your mind sideways a bit and enjoy the view of it.
As to the tea, I will have to look into Gloria Jeans. I think we may have a mall store called that but I thought it was only coffee. You’re right, I would probably love a pineapple green tea.
BTW, to do a cross out with text, you can do that by placing an underscore before a phrase to be crossed through. Finish with another underscore. Like this.
OK, that used to work. Now apparently it does italics. Perhaps it is a hypen before and after? Like this
LOL definitely didn’t type the — so Idk how it got there.
Carolyn I love your point of view on the po-po-po-post! :-D
I checked carefully and there’s no mold so I decided to continue what I started last nite. 4th infusion, 50sec. Oh so sweet!:)
Preparation
A new matcha experiment: cold matcha
In such a rush that even heating water is out of the question or so warm that just the thought of holding a hot bowl, much less drinking something hot makes you feel faint? Try this!
3oz cold water and 1 scoop matcha.
The matcha doesn’t automatically disperse in the water like it does when hot, but does so completely w/ a little whisking. The color is not at all creamy like it is when hot.
Experimentation success… the flavors even seem to pop a little more. Just make sure you use VERY good quality purified water… I could see where that could screw this up in a hurry. I will say that the comfort factor is a little less than when prepared hot even though I drank this out of my bowl as usual. I’ll try it w/ unflavored and then again in the summer to compare.
Preparation
How’s that for uncomplicated and unputzy Ricky? LOL=D
=] I thought you could add more water to a scoop of matcha if you were cold brewing it.
You could. I chose to have mine thick though. If you want it thin, add 8oz.
It’s not really cold brewing. It’s dump, dump, whisk, and drink.
My 1st raw pu erh! Thanks to Carolyn:)
Parameters and Preparation:
>It came in a one cup serving (she gave me 2) and she said to make a 6oz cup, but since it weighs 5g I decided to make a 5oz cup.
>Rinsed it by pouring 5oz just shy of boiling water (Carolyn suggests boiling) over the leaves, letting it sit for 15sec, decanting, then dumping the water.
>1st infusion is 5oz just shy of boiling water steeped for 20 sec (Carolyn suggests boiling again).
Rinse water: I’m shocked at how light this is compared to the rinse water of my cooked pu erh experiences! Looks more like a white tea than the black I compared the cooked pu erh to.
1st infusion: Liquor is nearly identical to the rinse water. The aroma is earthy, but also light and sweet. Looks more like a white or green tea. There’s a lot going on in the flavor… the sweetness that showed up in later infusions of the cooked pu erh is present right away. It doesn’t taste anything like a black tea, more of a green. It’s light and sweet, yet a bit earthy… and even a little bit bitter. It reminds me of Kukicha.
Conclusions: Very different from cooked pu erhs, although I don’t like it any less or more. Just as complex as cooked pu erh even though it’s lighter. If cooked pu erh can be compared to a black tea, this can be compared to a white, green, or green oolong.
Preparation
2nd infusion, 30sec. I’m glad she told me to increase the steeping by 10sec or I wouldn’t have based on her suggestions for cooked pu erh. Since I have another cup’s worth, I think I’ll not increase the steeping time next time and compare the two. This infusion was nearly identical to the 1st except it isn’t bittersweet anymore, just sweet.
I’m so glad you like it. The bitterness is because it is a young puerh. Apparently as the puerhs age they lose their bitterness. I’ve noticed that the younger it is, the more likely it is to be bitter. The American Hao (2009) had a definite bitter bite. The Imperial Concubine has a fruitiness that is superior to the other raw puerhs I’ve tried (except the one I had in Chicago) so that is the one I chose to order a full beeng of.
Warning: Take this infusion’s tasting note w/ a grain of salt as I drank this w/ homemade tomato soup that had a lot of red pepper flake in it… 40sec. Liquor is a bit lighter, but the taste is not. Definitely white tea-ish sweet. Yummy!
I love that you’re getting adventurous with this. I’m still a little bit intimidated by these, but I am really loving watching someone else experience it for the first time, because of course the things that intimidate me simultaneously make me very curious!
I’m still shocked that I love adagio’s so well… not because they’re bad, but because they’re comparable to a black tea and other than chai I’m just not a black tea person. All 3 are excellent.
What a downright bizarre name for a tea!
Oh hey, a Tea Guys review! Intriguing.
Also, I had no idea that maple syrup could be rendered sugar-free. How the heck does that work?
My sweet tooth doesn’t get cranky with me often, but reading this made me want something very sweet…mmmm.
I’m guessing tree sap is sugar free then they add artificial sweeteners. If you don’t mind artificial sweeteners, this is a good way to go. I mean who can beat a tea latTEA w/ only ~3 calories above what’s in the 1/2 cup milk?:)
3rd infusion, 8min. I used the same cup I did for my latTEA and addition to the camel color I was expecting, there was a grayish tint to it… weird…