2291 Tasting Notes
Oh, black and oolong? What?
Anyways, this is from MissB who sent it to Sil who gave it to Kittenna to mail to me. Haha.
I was a little concerned about the smell of the chocolate flavour, but it was good! Chocolate and raspberry for sure. I added a bit of milk, and kind of absentmindedly downed the whole mug before I realized what had happened. You see, I’m researching camper vans on the internets.
Yup. I don’t necessarily want to be mobile all the time, but I’d love a way to safely (because a lone woman tenting can be kinda sketchy) travel and camp so I can go to awesome hiking destinations. And I’ve gotten a little carried away, but that’s fine. If I can ever afford the vehicle, I’ll go visit my dad and he can help me. :D
So I really, surprisingly, enjoyed this tea. Thanks so much for sharing, MissB!
Preparation
Let it be known that pale yellow oolongs do not look appetizing when you add milk.
And why would I be adding milk to this?
Well, duh. Coconut latte. The milk dulls the delightful florally creaminess of the oolong a bit, but the coconut is just SO GOOD.
Just maybe don’t brew it in a clear glass.
Preparation
Sample from Kittenna! Thank you. :)
There are no steeping instructions here on Steepster, so I did just over 1 minute at 185F for this first steep. The leaves are not fully open yet, so I expect it’ll last 2-3 more steepings.
It’s supposed to smell really cinnamony, but it doesn’t. It smells toasted, which isn’t really my favourite for an oolong. Sipping, it’s actually really sweet. Wow. I wasn’t expecting that. Goes great with my cookie. :)
Preparation
Sorry :( I stopped writing instructions on baggies when I stopped using them myself (a long time ago). The package did have instructions, though I can’t recall what right now.
Oh, it’s fine! I did a bunch of steeps and then saved the leaves for the next day, but I accidentally threw them out. :( I really liked how this tasted so sweet when it smelled a bit toasty.
Mmmmmmmmalty.
So delicious. A bit of bitterness, but I did steep for about 3:30 instead of my usual 3:00. I added milk, and it was sweet malty goodness.
And now I’m baking snickerdoodles http://www.budgetbytes.com/2015/01/snickerdoodles-two/ and need to decide what to have with my cookie(s).
Preparation
I’m coming over for cookies.
Haha! TOO LATE. :D The recipe only makes two…
What a fantastic idea for a treat! I actually made sugar cookie dough, divided it into lumps enough to make 6 cookies, and froze it. The resulting cookies aren’t bad, but not as good as if I’d baked them right away. this is an even better idea!
I’ve made cookie dough and frozen it before, but then it’s almost too easy to bake cookies. This requires the perfect amount of work to make it really feel like a treat for me. :)
i totally made these this morning…for breakfast.
I just made more. I may have started a COOKIE PROBLEM, OM NOM NOM.
LOL! Maybe tomorrow afternoon I’ll give that recipe a whirl.
mine didn’t flatten out…ever. lol
Mine didn’t flatten this time either! When I make them I do pat them out into a disc rather than leaving them as a ball… but this time they just GREW.
Last bit of a sample from Roswell Strange.
It’s really good, although I’m having some issues as I made pizza and burned the roof of my mouth REALLY badly. So tea isn’t quite my friend right now.
This is sweet and light and deliciously juicy. Thank you for sharing!
Preparation
I want this tea as a perfume too please. Ohhh, it smells so good! Juicy and delicious.
A giant mug for this morning, and the leaves are going into a travel mug, so I can top it up with cool water all day. Grandpa-style cold brew! Woo!
Tea is amazing. Delicate, juicy, floral. Yum. I’m so glad I got more of this.
Preparation
I never got much flavour from this one, though what I did get was good. I should have picked up more anyways. :P
Oh, this tea as a perfume would be divine!! :D
Grandpa-style cold brew! Hahaha I like that.
This sounds so delicious. How much tea do you use when you brew Grandpa-style?
This time I just tossed in all the leaves I used hot. No sense in wasting them.
I cold brewed this. Yes, that’s right. Cold. Brewed.
And you know? It’s actually pretty good! It’s SUUUUUPER basily. Then I get pear. Then the spices.
So although I think I prefer this hot, cold brews of tulsi are good in my world. :)
(I did it this way because 1) lazy and 2) no more paper filters. My cold tea pitcher has an ultra fine filter so I don’t get floaties in the tea. So I suppose I could just use the filter in a mug, but… I didn’t.)
Preparation
Labelled: Anhua Hei Cha 2009 Aged Black. From Dexter. Thank you!
I have no idea what this is. So of course I decided to try it! It’s pressed like a cake, and although I left the largest pieces in the sample baggie for later, what ended up in my travel gaiwan are still decent sized pieces.
Rinse, sniff. Whoa. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. It’s soooo plummy. Sweet. A little smoky.
Steep 1: 5-ish seconds. This is really light. I smell a bit of fermentation/aging smell, but it’s mostly smoke and plums. The tea is less plummy than the leaves. Oh, that’s tasty. Plums and forest loam? Yeah, pretty much. A little sweet-ish as well.
Steep 2: 5-ish seconds. You know, I’m not sure I like this. There’s something other than plums and forest loam that is not super great. Cedar or something. After the sip. The part that lingers. The actual taste while it’s in my mouth is good, but…
Steep 3: 10-ish seconds. Forest loam and some sort of wood. And varnish. Actually, yeah. It’s kind of like linseed oil. The kind you use to finish wood, not the kind you put on your salad. That’s the part that lingers.
Dexter, what do you think of this tea? I can’t actually drink any more, it tastes like I’m in my dad’s workshop.
http://instagram.com/p/wU-g-2uE33/?modal=true
That’s what it is….
Ummm not varnish – I’ve drank this three times – twice with my tea guy – he swore cherry (you are saying plum) – I didn’t think it was fruity at all. I thought it was more oolong than black. Milder than a black, a little woody and a touch of the mineral that can be in some oolongs. It’s an aged black.
I have two versions of it. I only sent you one because I wasn’t sure if you would like it or not. I normally drink it more Western. 2g (ish) chunk 95C water – rinse then first steep 45sec- 1 min.
If you don’t like it don’t drink it, but wow linseed oil – interesting…
Haha. I’ll have to try it Western. Yeah, it was like wood and linseed oil, in my dad’s workshop. Maybe not varnish, but like finishing wood the old school way. IDK. Maybe my taste buds are broken? :D That might be the mineral, though. The taste itself is like plums and a bit woody, but then the lingering whatever. SO WEIRD. I’d agree it’s more like an oolong.
I had other plans tonight but I’m going to break a chunk off and steep it really short like you did and see if it’s like that for me…. (I thought I sent you about 9-10g of it – so for traditional gongfu you should (bad word – Dex don’t tell people how to drink tea) have used about half of what I sent you – I’m wondering if not enough leaf?
When he does this he does this he does 1g/50ml of water – then steeps first steep 30sec-1min depending on the tea…. if you are going to go really short more leaf would normally be used…
I’m not an expert – I’m just spewing what people are telling me…
Yeah, I used about half. :) I’ll try it your way for sure. Just maybe not tonight! Part of the “problem” might be that I don’t really like the toasty/aged/dark/whatever they are oolongs. I think I have 2, and they’re both sip-downable because I’ve given a lot of them away.
Ahhhhhh sorry when you said you left the big chunks it just sounded like you only used a small bit of it.
I knew dark oolongs weren’t your fav – but I though this was different enough that it was worth a shot. Oh well – you don’t have to drink it. Toss it or pass it…
But I’m CURIOUS. :)
Explore, Explore….
poke me tomorrow and get me to try it…or uh maybe friday.
I think I OD’d on black at work today – I didn’t get to this tonight, needed something lighter. Will try it soon though in really short steeps….
I might revisit this one tonight as well. Depends on how I’m feeling, though. Might end up going with a shou.
Not bad. Not my favourite, but not bad. The black currant flavour is nice, I’m not really sure about champagne – it’s a little grapey I guess?
I don’t think I’ll get this one again, and I just have one cup left.
haha this one was hard to part with….which was weird to me heh
It was good!
Well guys, I have the rest of the bag, and barring myself falling head over heels for it… there’s more to be had. I should really have re-deposited it with Sil so that bits could go into other packages she’s sending out.
lol