Samovar

matcha-sencha-toasted rice

Had this with some spicy ramen and pork belly bao at Ramen Gaijin. The tea was great with the meal but was so grassy I don’t think my stomach could handle it without food.

Great Rooibos Earl Grey! Begamont note is very fragrant, but not overpowering. Great for drinking after dinner or in the evenings.

2023 An Ode to Tea – V

I will post some notes, since some of you have been thinking the dashboard is stuck!  This is odd, as I don’t actually have this tea in my steepster cupboard, so I’m not sure how I thought to drink it for the letter ‘V’.  hmm.  It also looks like I never wrote a note for it?  I can’t find a double tea in the database for this one…  Not many teas for ‘V’ in the category of low hanging fruit, close to a sipdown.  So this one has a ton of coconut and it’s old, so it will have to do.  It’s an odd blend!  I bet it was really delicious back in the day.  I don’t have that memory anymore… and sadly, neither did Steepster keep that memory for me.  It reminds me most of Maya’s Coconut Rush, if it was less dessert and more authentically coconut.  Plus, add some cocoa shells. Otherwise, it has that puerh/ green yerba mate base that Maya’s Coconut Rush had. But it definitely isn’t the same blend.

eta: nope, my non steepster tea records show that I previously rated this and it was called Samovar Tea Lounge – Velvet Cacao Pu-erh — which means a tea has definitely been deleted from Steepster, along with my tasting note. huh

This is a tea that has stuck in my brain. I received a sample of it years ago, and when I tried it I was enchanted. But it was only a sample, so I went through it quickly. I didn’t write a tea note about it here (silly me), and I didn’t order some right away (silly, silly me), and then I forgot the name of the tea. Even more years (yes, years) later I was drinking another mint tea, but all I could think about was this one. It was so frustrating because I couldn’t remember the name of the tea or the place where it was sold. After some quick google searches turned up nothing I came back to Steepster because I knew it was listed here. It still took some searching, but I found it and immediately placed an order with Samovar. Crisis averted. Thank you, Steepster! I’ve learned my lesson and going forward will write tea notes – even if it’s a very short one – on teas I like.

Ok, the tea. This is a green tea blended with peppermint and spices. It’s not a Moroccan mint, but it’s also not a green chai. It’s something in between, and I really like it. Each sip is a little different. There’s a good bit of heat between the ginger and pepper, but it’s not overwhelming. The clove and cardamom add to the balance and give a nod to all the chai teas out there. The peppermint is a dominant flavor throughout, but it never overtakes the spices completely. It’s delicious, warming, soothing goodness.

I used 1 tablespoon of tea for 12 oz. of water, and I did add some simple syrup. The instructions from Samovar say to use boiling water, but I used water around 185 degrees because of the green tea. I was happy with the results, but I might follow their directions once just to see what the differences might be. I’m not one to usually resteep my leaves, but I did for this one and got three lovely steeps.

Can’t say enough good things about this one. I’m glad I found it again!

This is not a traditional Earl Grey, but it is quite good.
The color is a deep dark amber, and smells of bergamot and good tobacco leaves.

The flavor is deep and rich. It starts strong with notes of chocolate, smoke, and tobacco. There’s no flowery taste, which I like. It’s a pretty darn good tea. Is it the best Earl Grey in the world, as boasted by the company? I wouldn’t go that far, but it is good.

At first, I thought that this was going to be a transformational pu erh experience. But it fell somewhat short.

The cake smelled a tad fishy and a lot leathery, and broke apart quite easily. I put a fair amount of leaf in the gaiwan given that I think I’ve been underleafing pu erhs to an extent.

Boiling. Rinse. Steeped at 10/10/20/30/40/60/120/240/300/360

The aroma of this is fantastic. It smells like molasses and brown sugar, without any fishiness at all, and it has that malty quality that I get from a lot of Samovar black teas that contain Yunnan. It steeped very dark and opaque until the last couple of steeps when it became a bit lighter and more the color of bourbon.

But. The promise of that aroma didn’t come through in the flavor. I kept waiting for the sweetness, the sugary note, but I never got it. It was more woodsy, and a little like coffee as the steeps progressed. And it was smooth, and had nothing ordinary or objectionable about it — I just wished it followed through on how it had smelled.

I have high expectations for Samovar teas in general, which may be why I felt a little disappointed. It’s very good, but I was hoping it would be out of this world.

It’s pretty white out there. And the snow continues to drift down.

Friday is paella day at a churrasqueira not all that far away. Still, it’s about 45 minutes or so there and back trudging through slush and ice and snow, but the paella is outrageously good—stuffed with chicken and sausage and shrimp, large and small, and squid and octopus and mussels and fake crab. So trudge, trudge, trudge, and trudge in my big coat and big snow boots to cart back this heavy prize with a hefty side of fresh lemon.

I took some of this with me to mitigate the trudging.

Still I made it there and back and the sips along the way helped prod my imagination closer to the Caribbean. And lunch was delicious.

Sipdown no. 34 of 2017 (no. 315 total). A sample. And the last of the first round Samovar samples. They don’t carry this anymore — just the base, not the rose.

What a luxury to be able to taste a tea on a weekday at home! What a luxury to be able to write a note in a quiet house (everyone is napping — no. 1 and no. 2 have been having sleepovers with friends since they’re off of school and they are bushed, and the BF is also out like a light).

I picked this one because I’ve been eyeing it for way too long, and also because today in the mail I got a package from Samovar with five herbals in it. Yay! So I’m in a Samovar frame of mind.

Despite its age, this had a lovely rose smell to the dry leaf with pretty pink rose buds strewn throughout. The tea, too, smells pleasantly of rose. It’s a medium yellow with an orange tinge and clear.

The tea is a pure and lovely delivery vehicle for the rose, which is making me extremely happy right now. Buoyant, really. I’m a little freaked out by how much this has done for my spirits. Or maybe it’s the prospect of a small break from work. The tea provides an earthy base for the rose, which is just lovely.

Dammit, I wish they still had this. It would be a must buy.

Sipdown no. 23 of 2017 (no. 304 total). A sample.

An old sample, one they no longer offer. Made worse by my having apparently prepared it for steeping and then not gotten around to it — leaving the tea in the Finum basket exposed to who knows what.

And yet, I didn’t have the heart to ditch it.

It smells like a combination of flowers and fresh water and it’s a nice, clear, golden color.

I am sure it would have knocked my socks off had I sipped it when it was young (though white tea supposedly ages pretty well) and hadn’t mistreated it. Even after said mistreating, it is a pleasant, dewy, sweet tasting blend with a really interesting sugary finish. Almost like a little pop of granulated sugar in a couple of places in the mouth — entirely unpredictable and infrequent. It happened twice during this cup.

I am almost through all of my aged Samovar samples. I think there’s only one left.

This tea is dark in color and is a good mixture of sweet, spicy, and mint. All the while having a honey-like after taste

Sipdown no. 60 of the year 2016 (no. 271 total). A sample. Only two Samovar samples left after this one. Both white teas.

I don’t know whether its the preparation or that it’s Samovar, but I am getting more flavor from this than I usually do from white teas. I definitely get the honeysuckle note, which is predominant in the taste and the smell. There’s also a rather intense high, sweet, nectary note that is most noticeable in the aroma. It reminds me of spun sugar.

The tea has a clear, amber liquor, and the flavor is actually pretty complex. The word tiers used in the description is a good one. It has a depth to it that I can’t say I’ve found in other white teas. While I mostly get a sweet nectar flavor, there’s also a fruitiness and a tawny undercurrent as though someone took an eyedropper and dropped a few drops of yunnan into this.

If I were to get a straight white tea again, this would be a major contender for that spot. I’ll likely not be in the market for quite a while, but fortunately this seems to still be on Samovar’s site at least for now.

Sipdown no. 53 of 2016 (no. 264 total). A sample.

Wow.

Having just sipped down a different jasmine silver needle that didn’t do much for me, I have to say this is pretty amazing.

I wonder whether it is the steeping instructions that make a difference. I steeped this in 8 oz of water. I intended to steep it for 4:30. I got to that by subtracting the minimum of 2 minutes from the maximum of 7, dividing by 2, and adding that number to the 2 minute minimum.

But I started doing something else and didn’t hear the timer go off. So I really can’t say how much time passed. Which is sad because that means I might not be able to recreate this. But why get exercised over that, since Samovar is no longer selling this. Sigh.

In any case, this is far more flavorful than any white tea I recall having, and it isn’t just because of the jasmine. Though that is a big part of it. There’s a piquant edge to the tea that makes me think of black tea but without the heft and depth. I taste hay, for sure, and something flowery and sweet. It’s almost like pollen, but since pollen isn’t a choice I’ve called it nectar. It’s sort of that pre-honey flavor/aroma that you get from some flowers.

The leaves were quite pretty. Silvery green. Made me think of snow on conifers. The liquor is a deep golden yellow, and some of the hairiness of the leaves sent little floaters into the tea.

I would SO drink this again. If only it was still around. Double sigh.

I don’t drink white teas often, so I don’t have much to compare this to. But it was very light and substantive at the same time. I had it at a Cafe Venetia and unfortunately they oversteeped it a bit, and my initial cup was a little too astringent, but the second steeping was just right.

Had this at a Cafe Venetia. It’s wonderfully strong rooibos, on the second steeping more of the sweet licorice flavors came out. I like the spiciness. Chewed on the ginger afterwards.

Sipdown no. 32 of 2016 (no. 243 total). A sample, and the last of the Samovar oolong samples. All I have left now of the Samovar samples are a few white teas.

It’s been at least a couple of weeks since I poured this out of the packet and into a filter, intending to steep it. I never got around to it, and though I had meticulously saved the sample packet with its steeping directions, my cleaning ladies seem to have thrown it out.

The one time I tried going gong fu with a Samovar oolong sample it didn’t work so well, so this time I decided to come to the page for this tea and look for directions. Seeing none, I read about how people had steeped it. Given what Lena said about boiling water, I decided to go that route. I also steeped for about 2 minutes, since I was going western and using a higher water to tea ratio.

I was pretty amazed at the result. First of all, that thing they say about coffee in the Samovarian poetry section is pretty right on. There’s a coffee-like aroma that sort of melds into something that is almost like butterscotch. There’s what I call the malty note as well, which so many Samovar teas have and which I love in some yunnans and some red wines as well, but which I didn’t expect in an oolong. The liquor is a rosy amber and very unique.

The flavor is remarkably complex. So many dark oolongs give off a sort of a single note of woodsy stonefruit. Not this one. It has layers that shift around on the tongue so just when you think you’ve tasted one thing, you’re tasting something else. I don’t taste peat moss, but I for sure taste a bittersweet chocolate note, and the roasted barley as well. The sweet note is still butterscotch to me and not raisin sugar, but delish nevertheless.

And they still have it!

I suspect to get the most out of this one you need to prepare as directed. I’d be afraid to do otherwise given my past experience with Samovar oolongs.

Sometimes jasmine teas make me feel a little ill – they can be obnoxiously florid. This was nice, though. It was definitely aromatic, and had a hint of honey taste.

Oh, Lordy. No one else has reviewed this…
This tea is so fragrant—I could smell it through both the sealed plastic bag and the wax-sealed paper bag. It’s got a citrus spice sort of smell.

I’ve never hated nor raved about rooibos. It’s simply late, I’d like some tea, and I’ve had plenty of caffeine today (five cups of coffee and two 20 oz sodas, my poor body). So, we’re going with this. :) I’ve wanted to try it anyway, but the mood for earl grey does not strike me often.

For a split second, I considered attempting to make a London Fog, but my tea brewing happens in my bedroom, and the milk lives in, well, the kitchen. So. Far. Away.

I broke out my newly acquired tea gear for this—a tea towel since I have a glass desk, bamboo tea scoop, and a new cha he. I’ve always disliked using either my fingers, a metal spoon, or the old “dump and pray” method when measuring my tea straight into the teapot or infuser. What if I put too much? It’s the recipe for a travesty, really.

Enough babbling, the tea should be cooled by now…
This has got to be the best earl grey I’ve ever tasted. Granted, it’s my first loose leaf one, and the first without the ambiguous “natural and other flavors” in the ingredients list. :P

Oh, my. I’m in love.

A London Fog needs to happen with this.

Sipdown no. 221. A sample.

I am down to my last few Samovar samples. After this there’s another oolong and then a few whites. I should have sipped these down long ago but I was hoarding them.

In any case, this is an interesting oolong. It has finer leaves than I’ve seen in the dry leaf of pretty much any other oolong I’ve had. They didn’t have a lot of fragrance dry (it’s an old sample, so that may be why) but the first steep resulted in a dark, toasty aroma with floral edges.

I steeped hot for the first steep, but in reading others’ notes, it appears that cooler is the way to go so I’m reducing the temp for the rest.

After the first infusion, the leaves have done something I’ve never seen in an oolong. They’ve become a glob of mush? They aren’t quite oatmeal, but close. And they’re sticking to the inside of the gaiwan lid.

Second infusion at 195F gives a fruity aroma, but the tea itself is still quite roasty, with a bitter end note. I get the darjeeling/muscatel comparison. I find that a lot in darker oolongs, and I’m finding it here.

Third infusion at 175 (since others have gone this low and I’m still trying to find the sweet spot that will make me rave like other Steepsterites). It is more floral at a lower temp, but I still haven’t hit the right combination. It remains bitter to my taste, and I’m now wondering whether I should have steeped it in accordance with the package directions instead of attempting to drink it gong fu style. I may be drinking a mixture that is too concentrated. In reading some others’ notes it appears some have had similar experiences where too much leaf for the right water volume results in bitterness and none of the pleasing notes others have found.

Sadly, this is no longer available from Samovar so I’ll never know what a different steeping method would have yielded.

Fourth infusion, I’m increasing the water volume to a full cup per the instructions on the sample packet and increasing the steep time to what is suggested. This takes care of the bitterness. It’s well and truly gone. I’m getting the beer note mentioned in the description, and much more floral than before. Not getting the cream/buttery notes but I do get gardenia in the aftertaste.

I put it through one more infusion using the directions on the packet. I wish I could go back and start over, and just use those directions as I think it would have made a difference. As, most likely, would have drinking this when it was much fresher.

As it is, I’m a bit disappointed but because I can’t tell whether it’s the tea’s fault or my fault, I’m not going to rate it.

Sipdown no. 204. A sample. I thought I had tried all the Samovar green tea samples, but when I did my number on the tea collection I found this. Now, unless something got trapped under the drawer, I am sure this is the last of the green samples. I do have a few white tea samples, a couple of oolongs, and a masala chai, but all the blacks, greens, herbals and pu-erhs have been sipped down.

And oh joy! This is a tea that Samovar still carries!

I so love jasmine teas, and pearls are particularly awesome. So I’m excited by the prospect of this on a rainy evening, though this was another sample I saved well past what I’m sure was its prime.

The pearls smell richly jasmine and greenly tea, and they barely unfurled during steeping (I will steep them again, for sure). The tea is lightly yellow and very clear. The fragrance is a divine mix of jasmine floral and gently vegetal, sweet green tea.

Why did I wait so long to try Samovar’s jasmine? For shame. It is nigh on perfect, in my view. There is nothing heavy handed about this. It’s perfectly balanced between floral and tea, and for a type of tea that can be a very pleasant johnny one note, it has an amazing depth. I can only imagine how it would have been when fresh. It might have been my first 100 score.

Now I must sip down all of my lesser jasmines so I can justify ordering this in the convenient economy size.

Sipdown no. 192. A sample.

I think this is the last Samovar green tea sample I have, and one I have certainly kept too long. Be that as it may, this is yum.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t drink even this much caffeine this late in the day but I just got back from no. 1’s school holiday band concert and we still have homework to check…

The leaves don’t look or smell all that different to me from many Chinese green teas I’ve had. The tea looks no different than others I’ve had, with a pale yellow liquor with a bit of particulate in it but otherwise clear. It smells sweetly vegetal.

And that’s how it tastes, too. It’s just a very nice cup of green tea without any bitterness, with a tiny bit of butteryness. Perhaps a little more grassy than some Chinese greens, but not as much as Japanese greens. I’m trying to place the vegetal flavor. It’s not sweet enough to be peas, and too sweet to be green beans. I’m thinking maybe snow peas is a good approximation.

In any case, very enjoyable all around, and unfortunately not available on the Samovar web site. Sigh.