SerendipiTea

All right, Steepsterites. I tried this at a shorter steep time and it was still noticeably bitter, though not nearly as much as before and a weird part of me [my elbow, maybe] didn’t mind it. Maybe I need to drop the temperature down a bit, or wash the leaves before I let it sit. I don’t know, but what I will tell you is that the second steep of this was absolutely phenomenal. Grape-y in a lovely, lovely way. I can’t get into it much more because I need to study for a test I’ve got tomorrow, which allows me to segue somewhat clumsily into the next paragraph.

I’ve been drinking a lot of tea lately, but I’ve got finals coming up, and that means that I don’t have time to log things like I’d like to. It also means that I’m going to have to go dark on Steepster for a week or two because I need to throw myself into school right now. SO, I will see you guys on the other side of the semester. I fully look forward to my activity feed being so blown that there’s no way I’ll be able to catch up. ENJOY YOUR TEA!

So…I am really very much at odds with this tea. Not knowing a ton about darjeelings, I’m not sure how this measures up in terms of what you typically get from them, but I think that I could really like it. Here’s what’s got me scratching my head.

Steep one was VERY bitter. I followed what they said on their website, which said five minutes in boiling water, so maybe toning one of those aspects down could get rid of it, but at the same time, the bitterness…I don’t know. It kind of began to remind me of wine at one point, and that was likely because I could really taste the grape.

It took me a while to get used to what “grape” can mean when I got older. As a younger me, I used to devour white and red grapes brought home from the grocery store. We used to freeze them during the summer and suck on them. I sometimes ate grape-flavored candy, or have a grape-flavored soda, or, though this was far from appealing – grape-flavored medicine.

Now, grape means much more to me than that one-dimensional [well, two-dimensional if you count red vs. white] grape taste I knew then. I’ve had dolma, though that technically involves leaves, and I’ve grown to love wine, so this tea fits in with my newly acquired idea of what grapes can taste like. In fact, it kind of reminds me of the flavor profile that dolma can take on.

What this REALLY makes me think of is this spray that I got from Caudalie. It reminds me of it a LOT. It’s in the taste, it’s in the smell. And I don’t mind it, but it could be a turn-off point for some people.
http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml;jsessionid=VBQGKJ50ET4RICV0KQNQIGQ?id=P6025&shouldPaginate=true&categoryId=4171 – the spray is awesome, just as an aside. Super refreshing. Makes me face all tingly.

The thing that I found very intriguing about this is that it sweetens a lot in the aftertaste. You drink it, and I discovered that letting it sit for a little bit allowed it to settle so the aftertaste would be stronger, and it’s kind of intense but afterwards? Complex, and dare I say delicious? I was really digging it. It reminded me a lot of wine at that point.

In the second steep, the bitterness was almost gone. I stopped there because I got distracted or…maybe it was time for dinner or something. I’m not sure. But I ended it with cup two. I’m definitely going to make some time for this over the weekend so I can play around with it any more.

I’m glad that I soldiered through the bitterness to discover how enjoyable it ended up being because otherwise I would have surely sent Auggy a ‘BLECH BLECH BLECH BLECH BLEEEEEEEEEECH’ email for sending it to me. It makes me think of warheads – you sit there and suffer through the bitter sour taste, but that makes the sweetness at the end just that much better.

Changing some things around could completely get rid of it, but…I don’t know. The more that I think about it the more I kinda like it.

The length of time between when I got this sample from Auggy and when I actually finished it [today] should be indicative of how spectacularly horrible I am about finishing my samples. It makes it harder to finish them when they’re good, because then I know I’ll need to go through the process of piecing together an order and I can’t really think of anything else from Serendipitea that I really want. Anyone have any suggestions to toss my way?

On the last cup of this, I was stuck with that conundrum so many of us often find ourselves in – I didn’t have enough to make two cups, but I had too much for one. Either I could use some of my smaller mugs and spread it out or dump it all in, shorten the steep time, and hope for the best.

I opted for the latter, since I was feeling impatient. The tea was going to be accompanying me through a programming assignment and I needed a quantity that could last me for a while.

The decision made for the best 3 cups of Colonille I got out of the sample, hands down.

I wish I’d paid closer attention to the actual quantity when I dumped it in there, but I’d say it was maybe…1.75 tsp-ish? I set the timer for 2:30, but got distracted and pulled it out a bit late.

No astringency, to the relief of my palate, just smooth, smooth, smooth, warm, vanilla goodness, darkened by whisps of cacao and blanketing my tongue. This tea doesn’t hammer you with sweetness [though I imagine that it would hold up to additives well – I think that Auggy can confirm validity on that estimation] but the flavor profile evokes it quite nicely, if that makes sense. What you’re left with is a lovely, comforting, rather mature cup of flavor.

This isn’t a refreshing tea for me, it’s a calming tea, and I find it best prepared as the dusk approaches and things are beginning to wind down. Three cups in, the flavor did not diminish much, which might have been due to the large amount of leaf I used, and I would have kept going if I didn’t feel the need to switch to something lower in caffeine. [Though, I suppose most of the damage had already been done by that point, caffeine-wise.] With this last experience, I’m going to have to give it a ratings bump. And start thinking seriously about putting an order together.

I needed a break from brain work earlier today, so I decided to make some tea and beat up some people on Fat Princess. I got some chai cooking on the stove and brewed a cup of Colonille, sent to me by Auggy, to tide me over while I was waiting. And beating.

It could just be that I was distracted because I was too busy burninating on little cartoon people, but I couldn’t taste the chocolate that this is supposed to have in it. What I did taste was the vanilla. I’m going to have to try this alongside the Rooibos Bourbon Vanilla Carolyn traded me, because although one is rooibos and one is black, they remind me very much of one another.

What I can say about this is that it’s warm, inviting, and for me is equivalent to a tea hug. It’s something I want to revisit when I’ve got some place comfortable to sit with a blanket and a book. And maybe a fire. And maybe replace the book with a PS3 controller. And maybe whilst sitting there I’m destroying some cartoon lives on Fat Princess.

I’M SORRY! I’ve got asploding on the brain.

Seriously, though, going to need to drink this again when I can give it the attention it deserves. What I got out of it, though, I enjoyed.

Rooibos+vanilla+bits of chocolate=one great tea. A mug of this makes a great dessert, or pair it with some some cookies for an extra special treat. I like to add a little milk, but this tea has a creamy taste all on its own. You can really taste the vanilla and cocoa, but they don’t overwhelm the flavor of the rooibos.

Ceylon just is not a favorite. This isn’t as good quality-wise as some that I’ve had but it’s okay. I probably like it more than the nicer one I had before since that one tasted of raspberries and I don’t like raspberries. This one is just kind of a general, not overly exciting Ceylon.

This one is a bit dry, but very tasty in my opinion. You can taste the natural sweetness in the steam rising up from the cup. The color is deep golden…very pretty. It smells faintly of green tea but tastes nothing of it. I’m digging the slightly nutty flavor. I could drink this one all the time. I bet it would be tasty iced too. Yea Darjeeling!

I’m glad Auggy sent me a full sample tin!

Holy monkeys. My first sip and the fruit just smacks me upside the head. Which is really mean first thing in the morning, especially when I’m in such a not-happy mood. I think if I were in a better mood, I might have enjoyed the overpowering fruit aspect of this (though maybe not), but as it is, I just wanted to dig through the liquid to find actual tea. I think there was some tea taste at the end but it could just be the result of my taste buds being beaten into submission.

I wasn’t sure what fruits exactly were included while I was drinking it and if pushed to guess, would have gone with peach (which is in it). Which is so incredibly NOT what I think of when I see a name like Lili’uokalani. Peach is not a tropic fruit.

The only flavored tea from SerendipiTea that has disappointing.

Steeped for about 3 min. Very nice coconut and vanilla flavors. Didn’t really taste a chocolate flavor, but very yummy.

Found this at a local farmers market, never heard of the company. Really good! Nice find on my part!

I drink this all year, often cold-brewed. Great taste survives multiple infusions.

Lovely non-caffeinated dessert tea.

Love this tea….but I thought it was a GoldenMoon tea? Are these the same things?

This is my go-to green tea. Perfect for the early morning tea, or an afternoon/evening drink.

A lovely Chai, which is a staple in my tea cabinet…. I’m having it plain now, but it is great with sugar and milk, and iced as well.

Trying this out with my new gaiwan. Flavor still doesn’t have the depth I was hoping for but it is concentrated enough that I can taste something very much pineapple-y.
Gotta add, as it cooled a bit, it became quite enjoyable. By far the best cup of this I’ve had.

Used more leaf to see if I could make this tea rise above mediocre. The flavor now has more depth. I still don’t taste pineapple notes, but there is a sweet, almost citrus-y flavor to it that layers on top of the normal green oolong flavor. Could still be improved but is nicely drinkable.

Love the size of the leaves and presentation of rice. Good and roasty. Second infusion just about as lovely as the first. Would be fantastic with some sushi…if only my local sushi joint served this tea and not the bagged stuff!!!

I’ve posted about this tea before, but it was at the beginning of my fascination with loose leaf. Sadly, a lot of teas that I loved at the beginning of my introduction to loose leaf have suffered as I delved more into the fancy-schmancy teas. Just as bagged tea used to be fine in my cup, so did almost any flavored tea. Now? It’s a different story.

Thankfully, this tea is one that holds up well. It’s a different drinking experience now compared to two years ago, though. When I first had this, I pretty much put sugar and milk in with any flavored black tea. Now that I no longer have to fill a travel mug and deal with a morning commute, though, it’s a rare day that I put in any additives. With sugar and milk, this was a creamy, sweet, dessert-like coconut concoction. Let me tell ya, it was pretty good.

But straight? Well, I think I might enjoy it more. The coconut flavor is more honest-to-goodness coconut instead of dessert coconut. There’s even a slightly musky under note that makes me think of fresh coconut. The tea taste isn’t overly strong – the coconut is definitely the star – but it’s not like it is hiding. Just like it acknowledges that the reason it exists is to give the coconut a place to shine. Mild with a little prickle of dryness (but not to the point of calling it astringency) the tea gives a good, faintly woodsy backdrop to the honest coconut flavor.

Coconut always makes me think tropical thoughts. Slightly different coconuts (sweet, musky, dry, toasted) all give me slightly different tropical thoughts. This one has evolved from toasted coconut on the road to Hana in Maui (when it is sweetened and creamed) to sitting on the mostly empty Kailua beach, feeling the silky sand under my hands and quietly watching a little puff of cloud go by in a bright blue sky.

I’m so bummed. This was my last bit of this tea in my stash and I had to pitch it because it was gritty/grainy that seeped thru my strainer thingie

Tremendously strong but just what I needed for a Monday Morning!

This is REALLY Strong today – but it’s still good!

Must have oversteeped today because it’s extremely dark and bold in taste but it’s still good if you like the bolder side of tea which I do