Camellia Sinensis

I pulled this one out the other day as well – need to get cracking on those teas that are close to sipdown range :) PLus i like the balance of depth of this tea combined with the chocolate. It’s a really nice treat for days when i want something sweeter/flavoured for a tea.

yep. I enjoy this one. I had it again today, in the travel mug and the puerh/chocolate is a really nice combo.

i picked this one up in my first CS order because i wanted to try at least ONE flavoured from them that was on the bolder side, since steepster friends have let me try their lighter flavoured teas. This was actually much tastier than expected. Something about the way the puerh balances and plays with the chocolate, really just works for me. I’d be inclined to try steeping this one in milk as well some time to see how it fares. Just a deliciously darker chocolate sort of treat! YUM!

Uhh.

Uhhhhh…

Dirt tea.

(Actually dirt plus dark chocolate plus some more dirt and maybe a few cedar shavings thrown into the smoothie just for kicks.)

Anyone interested in trying? I’m sending some off to Dexter, but there’s a good 1/3 cup remaining in my 50g.

Even gongfu this is not for me.

Today I cannot. I tried it the gongfu method recommended on the website (2tsp, 100ml, 15, 30, 15, 15) and I can’t.

It tastes like sour dirt to me today.

I’ll need to try again yet another day…

This is another one of those chocolatey teas that tastes like dirt to me. Dirt tea. Made better with some coconut milk creamer, but it’s still pretty much dirt tea. I expected it to be rather different from the description, so that sucks. And now I have 50g of it. Sigh.

Edit: Oh, there’s some spice as it cools. But still, dirt + spice. (I’m drinking it. I’m going to give this one a good try out. Gong fu style later as well.)

I got this because the description said it was an “accessible, easy to prepare tea.” Sounds good to me. It’s super light and fluffy; a loose tea, not a brick.

8g in 100ml
Dry: Woodsy, spicy.
Rinse: Yep, smells like a shou. I let it rest about 5 minutes just because.
Rinse 2: 5 seconds (I’m doing this with a basket in my tea cup because it’s easy.) Smells like a shou. Earthy, foresty. Honestly, so far I can’t tell that it’s different from other shou puerhs I’ve had. IDK. Oh hey, that does taste different. I can’t tell that it smells really different right now though. Might just be my nose.
5s: This is quite dark, but very clear. It’s somewhat resinous smelling. Mushrooms, forest, etc. It reminds me of the puerh I have that I really like (1990 Kunming), only both really strong yet mellow at the same time.
10s: A little more spice. It’s not clovey, but the feeling in my mouth is reminding me of cloves.
15s: Quite a bit darker, maybe a little sweeter?
15s: Not as tingly.

And I have been catted, so I can’t lean forward to get more water without tossing him off my lap. :)

It’s certainly accessible. No raunchy flavours, even though it is quite dark and strong. Super mellow. Actually, as I’ve drunk this and edited my writing… I’d almost call this boring. Have I already been exposed to too many puerh teas? Was I expecting too much?

So happy and excited to have a great aged oolong back in my cupboard. This is fantastic.
I’m not writing about it tonight – just basking in it’s greatness.
http://instagram.com/p/xx2SwwuE6G/?modal=true

Last Camellia Sinensis sample! Thanks again to Roswell Strange for sending these my way. This one… I’m hesitant to try. It has a lot of coconut shreds in it, and I can already smell the soapiness even through the bag. Oh well, I will try it anyway! This tea is a mixture of small black tea leaves, coconut shreds, and some kind of dehydrated fruit chunks that I’m going to assume are pineapple. Dry scent is pretty much just coconut and soap.

The steeped tea also has a coconut/soap aroma. Honestly, the taste isn’t terrible, but there is a noticeable soap flavor that makes this hard for me to drink. Other than that, it’s a nice, creamy, mildly flavored coconut black tea with some pineapple in it. I’d imagine this one is quite tasty without the older coconut in it. Withholding rating.

Another Camellia Sinensis flavored tea from Roswell Strange! I think I have one more left after this. Now, I’m not a rose lover, but I figured I’d give this one the benefit of the doubt and try it anyway. It appears to be discontinued, as I couldn’t find it anywhere on Camellia Sinensis’s website. The black tea leaves are small, and there are white rose petals mixed in among them. Dry scent is tartly fruity and strong on the rose.

Yeah… So this is pretty much a rose tea. :P The flavor also has that powdery quality to it that I associate with rose. I don’t taste much fruit flavor, maybe a tiny hint? Mostly, it just tastes like some kind of powdery rose candy. Noop! :P

Sipdown! (50 | 397)

Another sample from my recent Camellia Sinensis order.

This is an interesting fruity tea. Apparently there’s no flavoring added (according to the ingredients), which is amazing to me as the fruit is very noticeable. I definitely get the pineapple, plus strawberry and cherry, and some lemon notes from the lemongrass. I don’t taste rhubarb, which is supposed to be one of the main flavors.

But overall it tastes quite… powdery? Candylike? Which is ironic considering it’s not even flavored. I agree with Arby that it tastes like Pez (wow, I haven’t had Pez in forever!). Strawberry and lemon Pez with some cherry in there. There’s also something that’s reminding me of elderflower, it has that same fluffy, effervescent quality to it. The lemon myrtle maybe? Not sure.

Anyway, it’s nice enough, but not something I would order since somehow it tastes quite artificial to me. Unrelated, I was taught “parapluie” as the word for umbrella, so I find it quite interesting to learn there’s another version! Maybe “ombrelle” is more like a parasol, since that would make sense for a paper umbrella. Google translates it as umbrella, but then the French description mentions a women’s parasol so who knows. :P

Another Camellia Sinensis tea sample from Roswell Strange! This is another of their flavored teas that I’ve been curious about for a while now. I’m also happy to get to try some higher quality flavored white teas, as crappy white teas can be some of the worst offenders. The dry leaf is sort of odd-looking, the white tea looks much browner than I’m used to, almost as if it’s been roasted. There are also some flower petals and pieces of dried fruit mixed in. Dry scent is tart and fruity.

I can smell pineapple the most in the steeped tea, with a bit of strawberry jam in the background. Huh, this is odd. For some reason, I’m finding that this has a distinct dill-like flavor. The white tea base also has a bit of mustiness to it which isn’t entirely pleasant. The fruit flavors come out more strongly at the end of the sip, especially the pineapple and the strawberry. Overall, it’s okay but a bit odd…

Wow, I had a huge influx of tea samples today! I received no fewer than four packages from various tea friends, and each had a generous selection of tea samples inside. So now my poor cupboard has swelled from 95 to 145 teas! Oof. Thank you, generous Steepster friends! This tea came from Roswell Strange, and it’s first up to be tried because I’ve been curious about it for quite some time. The white tea leaves are somewhat broken, but that’s pretty much to be expected when white tea gets mailed. There are beautiful yellow helichrysum flowers mixed in, along with some pieces of star anise. Dry scent is fairly strong on the licorice.

The steeped cup smells quite licorice-y as well, but I can smell the hay-like white tea underneath. Ooh, the taste is mostly licorice as well, but I actually like licorice (as opposed to licorice root). I can taste the pear a little bit, and it actually makes a nice accent and aftertaste. The white tea base is smooth and light, with a strong oat-like presence. Overall, this one is interesting. Perhaps a tiny bit less licorice would serve it well. :)

Another I removed from the Lewis & Clark teabox as there was one serving left. I tried to steep this tea like the other yellow tea I tried before, though the leaves look different. These kind of look like sencha leaves, wide and flat, but the color is a dustier muted light grey. There ended up being two teaspoons of leaves here which I used the last time for the yellow tea anyway. The dry leaves certainly have a nutty aroma!

Steep #1 // 20 min after boiling // 2 min steep
This one is much different from the other yellow tea that was entirely lemon (like a lemon dusted cake or something). This one is mostly like a mao feng type green tea, nutty creamed corn flavor but there are hints of the faintest lemon in the aftertaste. The tea does leave my mouth a little dry, but it’s an okay flavor. Maybe not as nice as a green tea and certainly not as nice as the other yellow tea I tried (maybe because it was so different).

Steep #2 // 20 min a.b. // 2-3 min
This cup wasn’t as good. A little bitey. It’s odd when I find second steeps of white teas are amazing but second steeps of yellow teas (at least the two I’ve tried) haven’t been memorable. Of course, I could be steeping them incorrectly.

Oh wow, VariaTEA (and Roswell Strange)! Thanks so much for this sample.

It is GOOD. I really like it. I was concerned it would be too “pear” for me, but it’s not. And although I can taste licorice, it’s not too licoricey (and there’s no licorice root so it’s fine for me…). In fact, I’d say this tea is really fresh rather than sweet and cloying. This will definitely get resteeped.

I wasn’t sure about getting some, but I think I have to add it to my “maybe but probably not” potential order. (As in, I might order but probably won’t because I’m trying to stick to a budget.)

This green tea is very good and light with a lot of flavour of sweet grass with a bit of tannins and green vegetables. Steep it at low temperatures like 70 to 80 degrees Celsius. You can re-steep this tea three times in a tea strainer and the flavour is still good on the third steep.

This tea was hyped up by someone who I guessed was a young, hipster writer who knows very little about tea. They made the tea seem like a rarity that would be impossible to find and was a magical, esoteric treasure to behold. Thus… me being me… armed with solely the age of the tea, its type, and its aroma, I had to find the tea. And. I. Did. It tastes like an okay quality liu bao. I love liu bao, so that was not a problem at all. :p The artistic license that journalists take sometimes drives me a bit batty…

This Japanese green tea is very good.

Ok this tea is weird… I’m not sure the oolong/black tea blend is a winning mix… Plus the cinnamon is overpowing here. There are so many ingredients and it’s all I can taste… Not undrinkable but I was definitely expecting more, to me it taste like a weird cinammon broth. I’ll have to play with the steeping time and condiments to find a way to enjoy my 100g stash…
EDIT: i think this tea is meant to be drunk without milk. This way you can better appreciate the other ingredients, although the cinnamon is still too prominent for my taste. But straight, with a big spoonful of brown sugar I think this is how I like it best.

I had two pots of this tea this morning! I tried it a while ago and now I have ordered more and it’s still as perfect. This is an A+ assam: perfect maltiness and honey notes. I steep it for 10 min to make sure I drain all the flavours from it and it’s not even a tad bitter. Perfect with milk and brown sugar.

From the Lewis & Clark teabox! I love these types of oolong especially on these dreary winter days when I forgot to notice what the dry leaves looked like because it was too dark out to see them. I’ve had these types of oolongs a couple times before. This one seemed to be a little lighter in flavor than usual. But it’s such a nice flavor. Buttery, a little fruity like pineapple, a little floral. My favorite oolong flavors combined. All of the cups were very consistent in flavor but I probably should have used a half teaspoon more. Teasenz sent me a tea like this one that wasn’t available for sale yet that was VERY good. I’ll be keeping my eye out for it.
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // 15 min after boiling // 1 1/2 min steep
Steep #2 // 12 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #3 // 10 min after boiling // 3 min

This tea is so creamy I don’t even need to add anything to it. It’s an earl grey tea with a touch of vanilla yogurt.. delicious!

My Camellia Sinensis package arrived! With a sweet handwritten note and a gift sample of Black Indian tea! :) We are so spoiled in Montreal with Davids Teas everywhere and Camellia Sinensis… Camellia’s teas are slightly more expensive but they are also better quality, and I’m rarely disappointed. Their teas are the only ones I can drink without milk and sugar.

So all five teas I ordered were blind-buys (well, expect for creme of Earl Grey), that’s how much I trust them haha!
And… I’m not disappointed! This tea is such a treat! I tried it both straight and with milk and sugar and it’s equally delicious. It’s heavier with milk but it makes me feel like I’m drinking a hot chocolatea, or teacolate? I wonder if they put flavours in this, but if they don’t it REALLY tastes like chocolate! Also, I don’t really get the pu’erh, though I’m not exactly sure what pu’erh is supposed to taste like…

I can’t wait to get my Chocolate Rocket from Davids to compare. I hope it’s really chocolatey. So! Another Davids package to come (probably on Monday) and I shall be ready for winter (as if…)