Steepster

REALLY AMAZING nice light flavor

Very strong, but a lot of flavor compared to other oolong teas I’ve had. Not a bad choice at all!

I didn’t hate this tea, but it was not my favorite. It was very sweet and a bit tart for me.

This tea is amazing! The perfect amount of fruitiness without being too sweet! This is the perfect tea for breakfast.

The best iced tea I’ve ever had! The mint was perfectly refreshing. This is a great summer tea!

Steeps to a wonderful light green. (I transferred mine to a clear glass just to enjoy the color more.) The taste is layered from the initial greens (think salad/spinach) and seaweed to a lingering subtle sweet fruit-like melon quality. Pleasant and interesting.

I was surprised once again by the apricot aroma of this tea. It made for a perfect summer afternoon cold-brew. Subtle flavors.

I like oolongs, but I am not sure this one was a good choice for an iced steepster box.

Not a herbal tea person, but this was okay iced. I prefer stronger tasting iced teas though.

This was excellent iced with lemon as described. I did prefer to make it at little stronger than what was called for to prevent flavor loss when icing.

I like mint, but am not a big fan of Chinese green teas. It was good iced though.

MAJOR backlogging today, if you hadn’t noticed. :p
ANYHOW, i never can quite decide if i like formosa oolongs or not. this one was one with a lot more going on than some i’ve had (cough pilgrim’s rest tea shoppe cough), not so cardboardy and one-dimensional. it’s usually the depth and layering of flavors i love so much in teas, but they helped not one bit with this one. not that it was bad. just. not great. feh. i’ll give it a C.

ew. i should have known, with the hibiscus right there in the title, that i would not favor this tisane. i prefer when tea crafters add the beetroot base, rather than hibiscus.

that said, i have yet to try it out on my son, or my dad, both of whom love this sort of thing. because of that, and my built-in bias against hibiscus, i shall refrain from rating until at least one of them tries it.

ok, i tried. i don’t usually like mint tea all that much (i mean, it isn’t AWFUL), but i thought the steepster select can’t be so bad, can it?

yes. it can. if you don’t care for mint teas, you can skip this one, sadly. i’m not going to give this an awful rating, as it wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t for me. i could at least tell it was probably a really great mint for those who love mint!

oh, this is GOOD! it doesn’t taste like the bergamot is somehow an artificial flavoring, which makes me happy. deep dark delightful tea underneath, holding up the floating lemony bergamot. just love this stuff. i’d love to try icing it as well, but alas, i used up my sample.

this was quite a nice genmai-cha with matcha! one of the more delicately flavored version i’ve tried – sometimes they’re a little heavy on the matcha, a little light on the genmai, if you know what i mean. nice cuppa, duplicated later in the day and just as good!

This is one of my go to mint teas. I brew it exclusively for iced tea. The cooling sensation of the mint plus the ice makes for a very refreshing drink.

I did not like this tea. I’m not sure it should be called tea. It tasted like fruit punch, which makes sense because it’s mostly a bunch or berries. I would not recommend this unless you are looking to make a fruit punch by steeping berries.

I am a big fan of berry flavored teas. The fruitier the better for me. This is a great tea and tastes great iced or hot. Made a big batch of iced tea over the weekend and it was very refreshing.

Backlog:

I’m not a huge fan of overly smoky teas, and really, Lapsang Souchong is SMOKY. I can’t think of one that is smokier. I know that a lot of people out there dig that sort of thing, I just don’t. There was a time when I couldn’t stand it at all, I couldn’t even have Lapsang Souchong in my house because the smell was just so obtrusive and horrendous.

I have since come to learn the best ways for me to brew a Lapsang Souchong so that I can enjoy this tea. Not just be able to consume it without complaint … but actually enjoy it. I find that the key is to first “rinse” or reawaken the leaves for a 15 second brew, and then toss the brewed liquid and then start steeping. Steep for not longer than 3 minutes. And this usually produces a brew that is smoky, yes … but I’m no longer feeling like I’m drinking out of an ashtray. I even find myself enjoying the notes of smoke and the delicious caramel-y notes underneath that strong smoky presence.

And this one has a really lovely caramel-y note and I love how the caramel and the smoke meld together. It’s quite magical. Hearty and well-rounded. Not quite as hearty as I was expecting given the description of the tea, beyond that smoky note it’s not as robust as an Assam. It’s got a lighter body than my typical first cuppa for the day.

But the lighter body allows me to explore the layers of flavor. Notes of plum (like charred fruit!) and perhaps some nectarine. Notes of pine, woodsy and smoky.

Nice.