Rishi Tea

Have you ever had Pu-erh Palace… With gingerbread cookies?

No?

If I were you… I WOULD ADD IT TO MY TO-DO LIST.

’Tis the season! :)

As my sample size shrinks, the more I feel this tea will be missed. I’ve finally nailed the temp and steeping time, and it’s oh so good. I’m sure that I will eventually order some more, but I’m hoping 2010 will be the year of trying “new” teas. I foresee lots of samples!

Yep, I’ve got this one down pat. Yummy Yunnan goodness. It’s a nice breakfast blend and hits the spot with a little milk and sugar. Still not enough to change the rating though.

I finally got the right mix on this one. I think it has a 5 minute max steep time. Anything over 5 minutes (at least on the 1st steep) will yield some crazy bitterness. Taken with milk and a teensy bit of sugar, this ended up being a really nice cup of tea. I wasn’t blown away like I thought I would be, considering this is a 2009 award winning tea. But, it’s good.

I’ll tell ya what DID make this tea better. Dunking in a tea cake cookie. Since my husband’s knee surgery, he has taken up baking to avoid extreme boredom while he is off work. I highly support his baking hobby…both because the holiday goodies are made AND given out…and as it turns out, he is a VERY good at it! Yay for hidden talents.

Off to make another cup…and grab another tea cake.

I just. don’t. know.

It’s STOUT! As dark as black coffee and a little bitter. My 1st cup was super bitter, but then again, I left it to steep for WAY too long. I’m drinking the 2nd steep now, and it has calmed down quite a bit. I’m still unsure about this one. I need to tinker around with it. I’d like to add some milk to it, but my milk at the office is all gross-ified and I refuse to use powder creamer. Ick!

In the wise words of Tim Gunn, I will “Make it work”.

Woah. This tea is one of the more interesting ones I’ve had in a while! COURTESY OF AUGGY, who is amazing, if you didn’t know this already. Seriously amazing. Tea goddess. Not lying.

So I had a rough night last night, and as a result, I probably only got three hours of sleep. Can you say, “BRAAAIINNS?” Yeah, nearly comatose. I needed a pick-me-up. And since Auggy’s Citron Oolong was just sitting here, looking sad and neglected, I figured I’d steep some up. Cause that’s what we do at Steepster. We steep tea. Then think we’re important enough to log our thoughts. I don’t know where I’m going with this.

Anyway, I measured out the required 1 tbsp (and my eyes bugged out at how HUGE the tablespoon looked this morning – read: I AM NOT AWAKE) and dumped it into my IngenuiTEA. The leaves are little crackled-up balls, like someone made tea spitballs and then threw them into the mix. And there are lots of flowers. Lots. They’re very cute and delicate. The tea, overall, is very pretty dry. The smell was really citrus-y but light. Not like Lysol or a cleaning agent. I can’t really describe it.

Anyway, the tea did its little dance, and boy did the oolong do its dance. The leaves wasted no time unfurling and wriggling and becoming their gorgeous, russet-and-green selves.

The tea ate a lot of water. Because when I poured, my cup wasn’t as full as it usually is. But no worries! This might be one tea that actually smells better WET than dry! Mmmmm. It smells like the iced lemon cookies (those soft, squishy ones) that I sometimes have. Bake-y and buttery in a delicate lemon way.

The buttery really comes across in the smell of the infusion itself. The smell is mostly pure lemon, with this intense butter note. Hesitantly, I took a sip.

Okay, I can completely see the Fruity Pebbles comparison! Because now that I’ve read everyone’s comments, yeah, Fruity Pebbles, in sort of an awesome way. But I definitely taste delicious lemon notes, with a floral undertone. There’s a bit of orange in there too, but it’s hiding and it only really comes out if you concentrate on it with every sip. As for the oolong part… I’m not sure if I really taste it. Then again, I have little-to-no experience with oolongs, but I’m not tasting anything that rings soundly of teaness. Other people have mentioned that the oolong doesn’t really come through completely in this tea, and I’d have to agree.

I’m almost not minding that, though, because the tea is waking me up with its clean freshness and assertiveness. For all the citrus, it really is gentle, mild, and coaxing. Nowhere near the aggressiveness of something like bergamot. It’s not even really that sour or tart. No puckering here! Nor is it astringent, which is surprising, because sometimes citrus completely dries my mouth out. I’d have to say that this tea is female.

This is really, really interesting. I don’t think it’d be a daily drinker for me, but it’s fun, fresh, and eye-opening. I’m more awake and wired now than I ever was before, and I did it while drinking an awesome tea from Auggy (who is 3 for 3 with tea sent to me [that rhymed, lawl])!

Well, I only steeped 2 minutes this time, as directed. I’m adding a couple rating points, but I’m still not happy with the flavor. Maybe this is supposed to taste bitter. My mouth feels so dry after each sip that I want to chug a glass of water now.

Can’t really decipher the taste because I steeped it 2 minutes too long. Just bitter. Sigh. It was fun to watch the little pellets unfurl. The leaves smelled grassy when dry and are now a nice woody scent.

Want more tea, don’t need the caffeine, having something herbal. Herbals have such big chunks that it seems they can be less than consistent, especially when making smaller batches. Sometimes this one gives me a good citrus taste. Sometimes, I get more hibiscus. Always I get ginger though so that’s nice. But I think I prefer to make this is larger batches because then the tangerine bit is more noticeable, the hibiscus less. When the hibiscus is not strong, it adds a nice tartness that couples with the citrus to make a good tangerine taste. When the hibiscus is strong, it just makes my sinuses feel stuffy. Anyway, I made two big cups so I’m having a nice experience with this one tonight. Not overwhelmed by tart. Makes me want to up the rating. Which I’m not going to do because it will start to be somewhat yo-yo-like since I think the last time I had it I dropped the rating (small, hibiscus-laden batch).

By the way, finally got my tea pantry all straight again. It’s absurd. http://bit.ly/bnWuYU

Picked up some of this yesterday from the London Tea Room (99% sure that their non-tea room created blends are Rishi). I’m a sucker for anything orange or orange-related so I HAD to try this. I’ve had no tea today and so I need something but I feel like it’s about 9pm (even though it’s not) so the thought of having something caffeinated makes me sad. Conveniently, I have this!

OMG, I hope this tastes like it smells. It smells like a just peeled a tangerine (I should know – I’ve been working my way through a 3lb bag of them the past week and a half). Honestly though, it’s an herbal. I don’t EXPECT to like this.

The herbal juice is a dusky rose/brown – which is good because I always end up with the bright red herbals and those taste like cough syrup. There’s a touch of warmth that I think is the ginger in the smell but looks like this won’t be too overpowering. We are on the right track!

Hmm. Well, after taking sip I check out what Rishi says is in this. Yep, hibiscus. That’s pretty much the cough syrup taste I fear from herbals. This has a slight hint of it but it is right on the front end – it hits the tip of my tongue. So enough that I know it is there but not enough that it makes this icky. Mmm, though taking a larger sip I get more tangerine taste. The ginger is warming and cuddly but not like eating pickled ginger or anything. And as it cools I don’t know if I’m ignoring the hibiscus or it’s fading but I’m pretty much fully on board with tangerine ginger now.

For an herbal this is pretty darn good. I can’t say I’m totally in love with it but I do like it and think it is good. I’d probably even buy more. It does make me want to experiment a little with blending this with a mild black because I think if I could get this flavor into a real tea plus the added depth of actual tea taste, we might have a winner.

ETA: 2nd steep @ 5:30. The tangerine is pretty much gone, but so is the hibiscus. Now this has a lovely candied ginger taste.

I made a iced pitcher and I was a little nervous because I didn’t think I had enough tea leaves to coincide with the amount of water I had measured out (two thermos fulls), and I was probably right in thinking that. However, Ancient Emerald Lily comes off pretty nice when it’s cold and maybe a little weak. (But maybe my opinion is biased, I was dying of thirst when I drank it.)

I always expect this to be bitter, but it’s always so smooth.

Good for sitting at bus stops in the snow.

On the first steeping I didn’t detect any real flower-like taste. However, on the second steeping there is most definitely a flower note, probably because the more nutty/savory taste is much more muted.

I found this tea very interesting. There is a definite sort of pine nut taste initially but it finishes with a very smooth, pleasant, almost milky taste. As it cools, though, the savory/nut taste becomes a little stronger and the milky finish fades.

I really like Snow Buds. The flavor is very light, but there is a wonderful aroma. Great tea for a snowy, blustery day. Prepared using TasteTimer.

Oh my goodness I’m in love. As I lean in to take a sip, it smells strongly of tangy ginger. But on first gulp, all the other flavors just slightly pop out. A little peppery, some cardamomishness, then it finishes with a lingering sweet mint on the roof of my mouth. Such a nice spice rack journey from ginger, to chai, to mint. I will have to buy more of this immediately.

I’ve been holding these for two years, and I used a weird brewing process today (3 of these in a 32 oz teapot, three infusions) so this review might not generalize well. I rinsed these twice before brewing.

Musky and soil-like, with some coffee overtones and a hint of dark chocolate. The aftertaste is mild, with more dirt and a faint hint of caramel. Noticeably bitter, but at the same time it does have some of the pu-erh sweetness. As it sits and cools (or maybe as I get used to it,) the bitterness is subsiding and the sweetness is becoming more pronounced.

I’ve been experimenting with different brew settings for some time; today’s experiment was good but not the best. Similar settings once yielded a wonderful dark chocolate flavor — one the best pu-erh experiences I’ve had — but I haven’t been able to repeat it.

I haven’t developed the palate or vocabulary to describe green teas, so I’ll defer to others’ descriptions here. The leaves definitely smell like hay (in a nice nature way, not in a way that conjures up images of horses and petting zoos). I keep wondering if I’ve under steeped because the color is so light, almost like white tea, and the flavor is slightly stronger than water. But I steeped for the recommended 6 minutes and I think I even used more leaves than recommended. So…hmmm…I’m undecided on this. I think I like it, but its not anything I’m going to crave in the future.

This always leaves a taste in my mouth for the rest of the day. Like it’s coating my teeth or something.

This is my second steeping and the taste holds up very well. There is a very (very) surprising fruity aftertaste that seems to still be rolling around in my mouth.

I’ve heard some people describe pu-erh as tasting like a moldy basement, so I’ve been hesitant to try it. I’m somewhat happy with this pu-erh as it thankfully does not remind me of a basement. I suspect that this moldy taste is from brewing a little too long, I was instructed to steep for only a minute and a half. It does have a tangy/savory taste and I see where people can taste almond and mushroom notes, but I feel the flavor is a little more complicated than that. Supposedly pu-erh is similar to oolong in that it is intended for multiple brews, and is the best tea for weight-loss.