Camellia Sinensis

Final cup of this one the other day. I’ve enjoyed this one, but not sure that i need to restock it. There are others that i prefer, though it might be worth ordering more in future once we’re in to the 2015/2016 harvests to see if that makes a difference :)

Another one from this morning. I don’t have a lot of tea drinking time today but i wanted to kick off the day with a couple cups as it’s HOT outside and i have a long day ahead of me with work and gaming. Here’s hoping i actually get some sleep in today as well. I overleafed this one a little today just to play with a little more and it worked out much better. the flavour is a lot richer and closer to what i want from this sort of tea.

…another day of gross humidity..another day of tea. not bad, but not knock your socks off :)

tasty cup of tea this early afternoon. It’s not quite as strong as i’d like it to be, but does remind me of versions of this one from other companies. it’s smooth ant not a bad cup of tea.

tasty cup from waaaaay earlier today. We did a 2 hours ride in the hot sun (yes we’re dumb) and then a short walk afterwards… it’s good because it let me burn off the several pieces of “strawberry cheesecake ice cream pie” that i made and ate today. This tea? it’s not too shabby. I prefer other versions of this tea over this one, but it won’t be a struggle to finish this one off.

i had this one today while my other half and i wandered about for a while. we tried out a london fog donut today as well…that was interesting and delicious!

this tea? I don’t remember much beyond being seriously satisfied that i’d pick this one to have today. I’ll have to have it again soon to get a better note. heh

This sample came courtesy of the GCTTB – I love the name, it makes me think of the Transsiberian Orchestra… aaaaand now I’ve got their music running through my head. ;)

The smell of the tea is very cinnamon-heavy though that lightens up a bit in the flavour. There’s also this nice, fudgey chocolate flavour that I’m really liking. It reminds me of a Mexican chocolate brownie recipe I tried once that had dark chocolate flavoured with spices. Given the opportunity I was definitely buy more of this tea.

These are some big and green leaves! The smooth, tightly rolled balls of leaf smell buttery green. Like buttered green beans with slivered almonds.
The fist couple steeps provide a slight gassiness and something creamy and similar to fresh coconut meat. The grassiness melts away after a couple more steeps, and it gives way to a mineralized buttery floral. I loved spending time with this tea! For being a mellow winter oolong, it had whispers of brighter and greener springy harvests.
Gah! This is yet another tea that has me dying for the spring 2015 harvests to grace my doorstep!

January 2015

So many rose petals in this tea, and a really lovely green-black tea blend. I steeped for 3 minutes and it is very smooth and light colored and the roses come through strong. A really nice earl grey flavor that brings out the green tea flavor.

I’m afraid I’ll drink this too quickly before I can get back to Canada. Oh well, guess I’ll have to take another trip ;)

This roses-and-earl-grey mix is similar to the Adagio fandom blend of Lady Hawkeye, though that one is stronger on the earl grey and less so on the roses. Guess I’ll have to drink them both!

woooooo! Another puerh from dexter I’m working from home today so i’m going to try and spend some time with a few of the raw puerhs that i have started to accumulate in my cupboard. I generally prefer ripe…so i need to focus on exploring more raw to figure out what i love.

First steep: holy mother this smells like when you pull carrots out of wet gardens. Sipping on this, i’m getting leather, mushroom notes…but there’s a sweetness hiding in the background. Really interesting…more to come.

…..
Later steeps, this never stops reminding me of the garden but i wouldn’t call the steeps overly earthy. there’s just something about drinking them that reminds me of that fresh from the garden memory. Really enjoyed this one today.

This was my last tea yesterday and while dexter was awesome enough to send me two of these little guys, I will be giving the other to Cavo since i think this might be one she’d really enjoy. I know i’m likely going to order this one next time i place a CS order because it was such an enjoyable drink last night. So much so that i forgot to even take notes hahaha. I didn’t get the warming sensation that the others did with this one but it did result in a much relaxed Sil last night. Thanks so much for sharing this one Dexter

Final Count: 123

Here’s a sample from my tea sister Sil, which actually came from Dexter, I think. I haven’t had very many teas from Camellia Sinensis, although I’ve perused their impressive website on more than one occasion. This is a lovely & delicious cup of roasted barley with a buttery caramel creamy mouth-feel that makes it especially appealing to me.

Got a sampler pack of this in a swap. The leaf looks exactly as the photo, dark roast but then some lightly roasted pieces mixed in.

Brews up a light yellow, more like a white tea. Honey flavor is dead on, intense and long sweet finish on the tongue and lips. Don’t brew this western style, it can turn bitter when oversteeped and lose all the delicacy. Instant warm feet, literally like pins of warmth throughout my feet, faster delivery than my feet could adjust to!

Not the sort of thing I would buy as I tend to prefer darker and more robust oolong if I’m going to the trouble to brew oolong. But it is a perfect accompaniment to cakes, fruits and cheeses, a superb tea for guests who don’t want to drink puerh that smells like gym socks.

Sipdown (27/330)! I wanna reach 33 – 10% – by the end of the week.
This was a sample from VariaTEA. Thank you so much! I am so glad to have gotten the chance to try this tea and company. I only wish I could pick up more. ):

VariaTEA was kind enough to send me a two cup sample of this, even though it was one of her favourites! I’m glad she did, because I messed the first one up. I didn’t look at the instructions she’d written down, and assumed I should use boiling water since it was a black tea. I ended up with a bitter mess, and tried to cancel it out by adding milk. That just made the whole thing too bland, as I underleafed a bit too, and I was basically drinking warm, thin milk with a hint of roses. This cup, I paid attention and it paid off! I now have one very delicious cup of cherry and rose tea – a combination which I wouldn’t have put together, but it totally works. The dry leaf smells strongly of roses, and the cherry comes in after steeping. The scent of the liquid is sweet acerola cherries with a floral rose back note. I get rose notes primarily in the sip, rounded out wonderfully by the sweet juicy cherry which lingers. I added half a teaspoon of sugar as an experiment, and that really made the flavours pop! The cherry, especially, comes out more and is very juicy now. It’s a shame that this isn’t more readily available to me. It would definitely go on my reorder list if I could actually get my hands on some. It might have even become my go-to rose tea (I love rose tea). Sigh. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to think wistfully on what could have been.

Finished up my sample from OMGsrsly. I was digging through the sample drawer looking for a tippy black tea in the hopes that the caffeine might wake me up. Still pretty sleepy, but I don’t think that’s the tea’s fault. ;) 4g in the 4oz gaiwan. I tried a variety of temps from boiling down to 80C, and didn’t play close attention to time – mostly just went by colour. Maybe I should have been paying more attention, because I think I was having trouble finding the sweet spot – sometimes understeeped and a bit bland, sometimes oversteeped and too astringent. If I got it right, there was a balance of sweet and brisk (astringent) that was pleasant. There are definitely some cocoa notes in early steeps especially, but I didn’t find this tea to be overwhelmingly chocolately. When I focus I can pick up on some floral and fruity notes, as well as a somewhat woody character which is what the cocoa seems to fade into. Not bad, but I think if I wanted something with this sort of briskness I’d just drink an assam and be done with it. :)

Thanks to OMGsrsly for this sample. :) I actually did try it back when I first received it, but I was coming down with a cold and worried that everything was going to taste weird. I do remember thinking that I could taste cocoa and grain notes, as well as something else that I’m guessing is the “dirt” flavour OMGsrsly gets from this. I liked it! Mmmm, yummy dirt. ;)

So today I decided to brew it along side the Jin Pin Zhenghe Gongfu tea by Tao Tea Leaf. Western style, 2.5g in 10oz of near-boiling water for 3min. The leaves of these two teas are actually really different: the TTL one is mostly long, black, twisted leaves with just occasional golden tips; this one is small, curly leaves with lots of golden tips. :)

Today I’m getting mostly grain and malt, with a bit of sweetness and a bit of sourness or acidity. Not much cocoa or dirt today, lol. I think I might have underleafed it a bit though – usually I go for 3g in 10oz, not sure why I went with 2.5g today. By comparison, the TTL one has a richer flavour, more malt and more cocoa and less acidity. I don’t think I’ve figured out the optimal brewing parameters for this yet, but happily I still have more of this sample to experiment with! :)

This is niiiiiiice. It smells earthy and has an earthy taste, but in a nice way. I’m unwinding from a rough week of work, and this is really doing nice things to my coconut. Thumbs up!

Also, Camellia Sinensis was really generous with this order. They gave me several nice-sized samples to try, and the order got to PA from Canada extra fast. I’m always happy with their tea and service.

When sharing this with my girlfriend, our reactions to tea are always very different from each other. That being because she is a coffee drinker and doesn’t really consider herself a teaist by any means, however, she still keeps me company while sitting for gongfu of some good cha. This experience, is note worthy because our reactions are hilarious. Hers being more so.

Her: “Ugh, this tastes like an old wet leather boot.”
Me: “AH!! Oh my god! What?! Holy shit!! This tastes like GOD!”

Had a bit of this recentley from a sample. Oh, boy. Brewed this in my Gaiwan. This is what aged pu’erh is supposed to taste like. 20 years has been very kind to this tea. There is so much complexity. Heavy on the mineral, light on the bitter. I got through NEARLY 30 INFUSIONS on this. It lasted about 3 hours. The Chi has evolved into what feels like getting a Hadouken in the throat chakra, and then getting a nice warm cuddle. Hits you hard at first and then gives you the lovin. This may be one of the best teas I’ve ever had, Smoky, beachy, roasted nuts, pine. Viscous is nice, and leaves your tongue slightly numb and wanted a whole lot more.
Not too tippy, and doesn’t have that overwhelming fermented taste. This was a hell of an experience.

Got this as a sample with my order. green and unusual taste, it makes me want to try other Nilgiri teas. Loved it with milk and sugar.

Smooth and slightly sweet. This is a very earthy cup, with a little toasty quality to it. It’s like drinking dirt-y honey nut Cheerios. I drank this down too quick to make any careful notes :P I really loved spending time with this one! I still have some steeps to go too.

http://instagram.com/p/zAVgbnKHwH/

95C/~5g/gongfu style:
Rinse x2/Rest/5/10/15/15/20/25/30/35/40/45/50/1min/1:30/2:00…… still going!