Miss Starfish Send Message

Scent is buttery, sweet, titch floral. Leaves are soft with lots of down, and tightly curled. The tea is smooth and brothy, with an oily texture which coats the mouth.

Smells very fresh, nutty, a little sweet and somewhat floral. When steeped the leaves become so green!

This is the best green tea I have had the pleasure of sampling thus far. It was lighter than other Mao Feng’s that I’ve had in the past, but it tasted so excellent and fresh! I found it quite chestnutty, with mineral notes and a little buttery.

Thoroughly enjoyed, definitely one that will be stocked in my cupboard. Many thanks to Angel and Teavivre for the sample!

I was disappointed with this one, as it sounded like it would be such a hit. It tasted slightly smokey, with a hint of peanut…and then a SUPER weak chocolate note. The base tea was oily, which helped the peanut note, but it was just “meh” overall.

Tried sweetening with sugar – ehn. Didn’t improve it.
Tried with milk – brought out the nut note a bit more.

I have a couple Harney teas in my cupboard that involve chocolate that I like, so was a bit mystified at this blend. Maybe my sample was old? Who knows.

The tightly coiled pellets give off a creamy, sweet milky oolong scent. There were sticks/extra dried stems present, seen previously in their Fruity Sijichun. I don’t care personally, but thought it was worth a mention.

The tea is light apple in color with a faintly sweet, smooth vegetal taste. It has a heavy mouthfeel for an Oolong. At 5 minutes it smells overcooked, but doesn’t taste it. Bonnie is SPOT ON with her White Asparagus note, that’s EXACTLY what this reminds me of. Subsequent steepings became sweeter and more floral. This seemed like excellent quality, but I’m not sure Alishan’s are for me.

A lovely light tea with a sweet scent. Liquor is quite dark for a white tea. The Earl Grey flavoring is well balanced with the Silver Needle. Thus far I’ve found that all of Harney’s white blends are beautifully balanced, so I was keen to try this.

I over-steeped (2.30 min) one of my cups so added a splash of milk, which was a nice addition. I also tried it with sugar, which was yum (but thats not difficult to achieve with sugar granted), but found that both milk and sugar tasted very odd.

I would definitely repurchase this as I can see myself drinking it in both the winter and summer (when I find that blacks are too hot & heavy). I’d also be curious to see what it’s liked iced.

A fresh light golden cup. Smells nutty and sweet. Tastes similar, with a hint of caramel. Has a “clean” quality to it (the very beginnings of astringency I’m sure) which is a pleasant change from the heavier Chinese blacks I’ve been having of late. I’m almost tempted to add in a couple drops of fresh squeezed lemon juice instead of trying milk or sugar… I wasn’t planning on splitting this cup, but curiosity has the better of me now.

with a couple drops of lemon juice; ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! WHY DID I THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA??? Quick, add honey! More tolerable…but nope. Worth experimenting I suppose.

with sugar; Enhances the caramel note substantially.

with milk; Yum. Winner.

with milk and sugar; Also yum.

I would be happy having this plain, or with milk (and sugar if I feel like something sweet). Glad to have tried it, onto the shopping list it goes.

Brr, It’s cold tonight. I’ve made a steady stream of tea throughout the day to keep myself and my partner warm instead of turning on the heater. That’s the only thing I’m looking forward to about the upcoming winter – I’m going to get through a lot of my tea.

Dry, this smells like a beautiful mixture of nutmeg and sweet Assam.

This was my first time making chai. I used a 2:1 ratio of milk to water, and added 5 tsp of brown sugar. Gently simmered for 4 minutes. Came out quite well. I was wary of the cardamom (not a huge fan), but it hardly spoke up. Due to the nutmeg, it reminded me a lot of Pumpkin Pie…and now I have a craving which won’t be satisfied until I visit North America again!! Nooo!! Damn you New Zealand and your lack of Pumpkin Pies! (but thank you for your delicious pumpkin soup, which I always miss when I’m in Canada).

I definitely want to explore more chai’s, and the looming cold weather is going to give me an excellent excuse for a tea order in a couple months. Either Bukiti or Verdant (new to both), haven’t decided.

Steeped for 6 minutes at 85 as suggested, but tastes a bit “overcooked”. Not astringent, or bitter, just overdone. Liquor is a light sunflower yellow. Has a strong oolong taste and smell, but also reminds me of a dragonwell – buttery, reminiscent of veggie broth and a titch earthy.

Definitely not what I was excepting at all. I don’t detect any floral or fruity notes. I was also surprised to see some twigs/sticks in the tea, which I haven’t encountered before – unsure if they’re supposed to be there or not, but would guess not.

In subsequent steepings I lowered the water temperature to 80, which I found much more favorable, but only got 3 steeps total out of the leaves.

This tea is a result of a nationwide contest for choosing New Zealand’s preferred Earl Grey. Last year Twining’s put out the chosen Breakfast, which was such a winner, so I was very keen to try this years pick.

I prefer this without milk or sugar, steeped for 3 minutes. Which is odd, since I hardly ever have earl greys without milk, but find it dulls the citrus notes too much.

Taste wise, it’s basically the classic Twining’s Earl Grey with sweet orange added. Which is nice, don’t get me wrong. I will have to revisit this one as I think my expectations were a bit unfair to this cup. =/

Woohoo, new Game of Thrones!

Dry, this smells of chocolate and caramel with a titch of coconut. The tea is full of chocolate and coconut pieces.

5 minutes – The rooibos is the dominant flavour, followed by coconut.

7 minutes – Coconut comes through more, with some hints of chocolate, all the while being backed by rooibos.

After being steeped for 10 minutes the chocolate comes through a lot more and the rooibos diminishes significantly.

Overall, quite nice with or without additions and being caffeine free is always a bonus for expanding late night options.