Bird Pick Tea & Herb

I got a package from Liberteas today! And it is full of tea goodness! I really shouldn’t be making more tea right now, but you know what happens when you get new tea….taste ALL the things!

I love Premium Silky Green by Bird Pick, so I was especially eager to try this one. I made it in my little handmade gaiwan that I bought at Tin Roof Teas. It isn’t an “easy gaiwan” officially but I think it is the same thing. It is sooooo much easier to use than my first gaiwan that burned my hands all the time. It is just decorating a shelf now!

Wowzer, these leaves swelled immensely! The first steep was golden and while it had a hint of the baked flavor it was really more fruity than anything. It is definitely smooth and not astringent. Second steep – still golden, maybe a tad lighter but I decreased the time since the leaves are fully expanded now. Really fruity and mild!

Thank you, Liberteas! I will keep steeping but I have to cook supper now!

Tune: Traffic/The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, cuz I thought we were going to drink Lapsang but made oolong at the last minute! Traffic is black tea music to me!

I am not having a good day. Somehow despite all of it, I was only 3 minutes late to class but I’m weird and being any bit late bothers me. Now I’m considering going out later and getting a growler of a lychee ale beer. Seriously. Lychee. Beer. I should maybe not apply my tastes in tea to my tastes in beer but…you know what… I’m drinking this one to decide if I should go get it or not (it’s $14.99 for 64oz which is actually a steal given this beer’s cost in a bottle). Here’s a description of it, beyond the yeast, it sounds like it would be tea! http://www.totalwine.com/eng/product/new-belgium-lips-of-faith-tart-lychee/118855226 This also reminds me, a couple weeks ago I was at a local brewery and the smell of hops is SO much like Darjeeling. We’re waiting to get in and the smell was so strong. My boyfriend says “mmmm hops” and I’m just like “….Darjeeling….need Darjeeling.”

I’m surprised I even remembered I have this tea. I haven’t had it in forever, given I have never logged it on Steepster, and I know for a fact I have definitely not made any since moving. But it’s been hidden away in a jar in a drawer so it still smells wonderful.

From the smell alone, I can say I definitely like lychee. I’ve never had them on their own, just as flavors…this, frozen yogurt, maybe a few other things. A bit floral, a bit tart, a bit sweet.

I wish I wasn’t out of cream because I definitely like the flavor of lychee with a creamy background to it. The base tea is just rather boring compared to the flavor. It’s just there and I kind of wish it brought more. The lychee flavoring is good though. Like I said, haven’t had a real one (going to change that next time I go to one of the big Asian supermarkets now I think) but there’s nothing artificial about the flavor. Given last night’s teas, I can definitely tell, haha.

Now that I’m drinking it and my memory has been jogged a bit, I remember drinking this a lot as an iced tea. It’s not bad but I think the flavor is a lot better hot. I may give it another shot though with maybe like a tablespoon of leaf to 8 oz of water, because I’d really like to use this one up now.

After I get that growler.

This was my first ever genmaicha, and I appreciate Bird Pick sending this sample in with my order. That said, I must admit that the aroma of the steeped tea was not appealing to me. It smelled like someone had spilled food on a burner and then cooked something without wiping the burner off first. The taste was essentially the same to me. To all the genmaicha lovers out there, I apologize. Perhaps I shall acquire a taste for it, if anyone can ever make me try it again. Meanwhile, I will switch back to Sunday morning tea that we enjoy! This is probably great genmaicha, and it just isn’t my bag!

4tsp for 3 cups water. Long rolled leaves with a strong lavender scent.

okay okay okay
i’ve been drinking lots of swap samples but i’m much too busy to make proper notes about each at the moment (hopefully i’ll get to it this weekend), BUT i just needed to take a moment because i MUST say that this tea smells awe-sum! and i think i got lucky and brewed it perfect! lots of sweet vanilla and green in the nose, just a nice polite green tea with a tiniest hint of vanilla mellowing it out in the mouth.
thank you Shelley_Lorraine this cup definitely brightened my day a little.
onto the second steep!

Thanks to Dustin for this sample

*The dry leaf smells equally grassy and of vanilla
*The brewed cup has a stronger vanilla aroma, but still picking up on the green tea base.
The vanilla is much more subtle and natural than in other vanilla flavored teas I’ve tried. It doesn’t smell so strong of alcohol/vanilla extract like some others.
The flavor is more on the green tea side, while the vanilla plays subtly in the back ground. I like it quite a bit, but don’t know if I like it enough to purchase more. I tend to prefer unflavored greens in my permanent stock.

This is really a good tea, but the obvious seasoning powder in it kinda creeped me out.

It doesn’t necessarily smell mega caramel until you add hot water to it. And the caramel goes so well with the roasted flavours in the houjicha.

But yeah. The powder lining the bag I have it in. Kinda gross.

Eggnog latte.

Finally, a tea win tonight.

YAY!

Thanks for the tea, Amariel!

The first cup I made tonight had something in the steeping basket and I was so worried it was toasted barley (I can’t have it because gluten). I think it was just an orange peel that had rehydrated and looked weird.

So I made another cup.

And I made sure to scrape some of the flavouring that was stuck to the bag I have the tea in. You know, those little white crystals that some teas leave everywhere? Yeah, those. Pretty sure they’re not sugar.

The caramel is still pretty light compared to what I remember, but it’s so delicious. Roasty toasty flavours that I appreciate, with a hint of caramel and a bit of dried hay.

I do still really like this tea.

Thanks again!

Sip down! Sample from Heather at the Victoria tea meet.

I really like this one, and if it was available, I’d consider picking some up – either bags like what I received, or loose.

The toasty tea with the caramel is really lovely. And as a bonus, it’s lower in caffeine, so I won’t make myself vibrate with caffeine today. :)

Received this one from Heather at the tea meetup over the weekend.

Since I have some time to kill before leaving to do more math today, I thought I’d try this one in a mug rather than relegate it to the travel mug.

The smell of the tea in the bag is intensely caramel. A lot more buttery and salty than the Red Leaf matcha caramel. Steeped, I think I used too hot of water. I smell and taste some caramel, and creaminess definitely comes through as I swallow. But the houjicha tastes more green than I was expecting, and that greenness isn’t really doing it for me with the caramel-creaminess.

As it cools, more of the toasty houjicha flavour is coming through, as is the caramel. However, there is still that greenness lingering in the back. I should try more houjicha teas. :)

I will sit here and slowly sip the rest of this mug, and I’m glad I have another tea bag to test out. Next time I’ll pay more attention to the water temperature.

I received this from Heather at the swap meet today. It smells like baked rice crispy squares with chocolate caramel drizzling. The flavour leans more heavily towards the strong roasted profile of the houjicha, with the sweet syrupy quality of the caramel appearing near the finish. It gives an overall impressing of oozing syrup from dry crisps.

This is the kind of tea I want near the end of a late night dinner and I think it was a good way to end the evening. Casual, firm, and sweet. Time to curl up and read some Terry Pratchett.

Second day Edit: the roasted sweet flavour gives off a coffee-like impression.

Eh. This tea smelled nice dry, but I’m not getting much flavor at all. A little bit of green, a little bit of vanilla and absolutely no wow. Adding sugar just made it sweeter and did nothing to bring out any flavor. Pity.

This is a sassy tea that teases you with its tartness then mellows into something sweet. I can’t wait to try this as an iced tea – or even a mixer base.

Dry, this tea definitely smells like rich honeydew. It is a smell that carries over when brewed, but it exchanges some of the richness for juiciness. The honeydew flavor is strong when the tea is hot, but mellows out letting the sencha come through as it cools with the honeydew hanging on for the aftertaste as if I just had a bite of melon. I love sugar in my tea and adding it did perk up the flavors a little, but somehow didn’t do much to make the tea better.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this tea overall. It is well done and the flavors are good, but it’s not knocking me off my feet. Maybe in time…

I was looking for a particular tea today, one I think I left at someone else’s house, when I caught a whiff of this and needed a cup. It’s strange that I likely have a couple hundred teas to choose from, but I’m focused on one that I noticed was missing and not there when I wanted it. I’m glad this tea was there to distract me.

The caramel smell is much stronger than the flavor, but the flavor is quite nice. The roastiness goes well with the caramel making a well rounded tea. No sugar in my cup today. I still get a lot of flavor on the aftertaste. I think I have about a serving left of this tea and I may cold brew it since I don’t think I have tried it that way yet. I can’t believe I got this tea two years ago according to my first tasting note! Time… she is a flying!

I’m remembering this tea having grown on me a bit since I first reviewed it and I was eager to try it again today as a latte, but I can’t taste a thing through this cold! I’m imagining it as creamy, carmaely and delicious. It is like trying to see in the dark. Sometimes I wonder if there was a sense I would prefer to loose over taste and smell, but I honestly can’t come up with an answer. It is one of those things you take for granted until it is gone… like indoor plumbing!

When I got a whiff of this tea dry in the store, I was greeted by a deep smell of caramel with something salty, almost like dried seaweed. When brewed, it took a few sips and a little sugar to taste much. It has a deep caramel flavor that is strangely subtle. It reminds me of the tea I’m used to getting in Japanese restaurants but with a touch of caramel. Not sure how to describe the base of the tea other than that comparison. The caramel hangs on and lingers after each sip. If I could get used to drinking tea with more subtle flavors, I’m sure I’d love this, but as it stands I’m still a fan of bold bossy flavors. I’ll give it some time to grow on me.

Having this one for the first time in a long time, and having it as a latte. It’s really good like this. I’m on the couch with a cold compress rotating back and forth from my right ankle to right knee, with my laptop, and listening to my friend’s radio show playing from Orlando, FL, and this just goes. I feel like I am comfy and cozy and relaxed and I have this sweet, nutty, rich beverage next to me.

For some reason, I always seem to forget I have this one, and yet, I always try to buy some when I’m in LA every February, since there is a Bird Pick near my friend’s house. And I’ll be there again in 3 weeks, so if I am by Bird Pick, I will be getting more, because it is a nice low caffeine option for the evening, and for a green tea, it had a nice hefty warmth.

Is this my favourite tea?No, but I also like to have some on hand if I can.

It was a weird sort of day today. It started out cold and overcast, then sunny and warm, then the wind kicked in and it got cloudy again. Work was refund city, so it seemed like every step we took forward, we got pushed back again. It was a struggle for sure. And I’m still feeling super emotional right now, and just mentally and physically tapped out.

So, I decided on this tonight, even though it is some caffeine, but not much, and I even had it with milk…it’s just a little bit of comfort in a cup right now! I dunno, it’s a weird taste, initially, but it really grows on you. If you love toasty teas with a bit of sweetness, this is for you.

Had a cup of this tonight. Decided to add a little genmai hojicha from my amoda box from January. Didn’t really make much of a difference, to be honest, in terms of flavour.

Still, I like this tea. It was the right tea for tonight. I’m glad I picked up the bag when I was in LA.

Had this as a tea latte, while at a Bird Pick shop yesterday. They made it with sweetened condensed milk, which was pretty good, but maybe a little much. I think I would try it with standard milk new time….though next time ended up being tonight, and I have a bare fridge post-vacation.

Nice to know I can drink this one without sugar, though I do think it would benefit from a teensy bit. I did have maple syrup on my waffles tonight, so I’m sticking with my unsweetened mug for now though.

Still roasty and lightly sweet as remembered, though a little strange tasting at first. I got about $5 worth, which isn’t a huge amount, but sufficient number of servings, considering this is a lightweight tea. It cost half as much as the bags I got last year, and i have more servings, getting it loose.

I’m gonna try cold steeping in the summer, I think, and maybe use the sweetened condensed milk again. I’ve got enough to experiment. I may even mix in some green rooibos…

The thing I like most about this tea is that it is low in caffeine, but has body, and works well hot (as well as sweetened and with milk). This means that I am fine at the thought of having this in the morning, in an attempt to take control on the caffeine level, even if it still feels like more of a n afternoon or evening tea.