Steepster

I’d recommend this for Darjeeling lovers. But tastewise it’s really more like a cross between a black and a green tea. It’s nicely balanced, with vegetal notes and a bit of sweetness. Low acidity. Nice, but not overly compelling. I brewed according to the Steepster Select brewing instructions.

Really delicious – as good as any Assam I’ve had. I followed the brewing instructions on the Steepster Select package. And I drank it with a bit of milk — Assam’s ability to stand up to milk is a reason I love it.

(1st steep: 2 min) So it may be because I brewed beer this weekend and the vanilla pound cake that was delivered by the office food fairies, but I pick up a solid malt aroma from this tea. It reminds me of grains after the sugars have been extracted so it is not sweet, but there is a decided grain note. The first flavor that I taste is clover honey. It is a strong flavor and continues to linger after the tea has been swallowed. As the tea cools, the honey flavor mellows a bit and allows the grain and malt come back. There is a very slight astringency at the end which dries the mouth slightly, but not enough to be unpleasant or remove the flavors of the tea.

(2nd steep: 2.5 min) The second steeping of this tea had a similar aroma to the first steeping. The bread and grain are still pretty forward in this tea. There is almost no honey present. However, it is still a pleasant tea to sip on in the afternoon. The flavors still linger after the tea has been swallowed.

I’m back from the acupuncturist and decided to try this as my late afternoon/early evening tea. I believe this is from the February Steepster Select box.

I have to admit I’m not the biggest fan of jasmine, but I do enjoy a good Jasmine pearl green tea every now and again. As far as jasmine teas go, this is very light and natural tasting and not terribly perfume-y. This has a light, sweet finish and a melon like flavor which is really reminiscent of a white tea. I don’t think this is the best jasmine pearl I’ve ever had but it’s enjoyable on this sunny afternoon. I think I’ll go in for a second steep.

p.s. this is also good with a bit of organic cane sugar

This tea from the February Steepster box is my first Houjicha. I find the first brew a little overwhelming in flavor, but the next steeps are great. I mostly taste the roasted grain and don’t find the cocoa flavor that others have mentioned. I like it for an afternoon tea with some shortbread cookies.

As this was my first experience with real lapsang souchong, I was excited to really try what Google tells me is sometimes referred to as the “scotch of tea,” especially because I am learning to enjoy scotch as well.

I have never had such an immediate and vocal reaction to opening a bag of tea. I tore open the pouch, caught a whiff of the dry leaf, and exclaimed “Whoa, this smells like bacon!” I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did sort of taste like bacon as well: smoky and rich, with a balancing tang and a breath of tannins. There was even some chew to the mouthfeel, and I found that my first cup left me with a feeling of rendered fat on the tongue. There was also an earthy quality to the brew, almost peaty but not enough to overpower the cup. I canfly understand why people may find the tea too strong, too smoky, too meaty for them, but I find it highly enjoyable. Excited to explore other lapsang varieties in the future. 9/10

Good afternoon Steepster.
It’s been a very busy weekend for me and my Sweetie, sometimes he is a dynamo of energy. We went to 3 festivals yesterday and today we went for a hike. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that my arm hurts when walking sometimes, I wonder if I will ever be back to normal with this stupid arm injury.

Anyway it seems like a nice relaxing afternoon for tea. This came in one of the Steepster select boxes, and I ended up tossing the first steep because I thought it seemed kind of soapy, like I didn’t rinse my teapot out enough. I decided to dump the first pot out and start all over again with the 2nd sample after rinsing the teapot very thoroughly.

After checking out the second sample, I still thought this tea looked slightly “foamy” after brewing which seems kind of odd. I’ve had several houijchas that I’ve really liked but this doesn’t seem to be one of them somehow. I definitely get the roasted cacao quality but it isn’t flavorful enough for me and the finish seems slightly bitter somehow. I don’t know why but I just wasn’t a big fan of this and don’t want to drink the cup that is now sitting in front of me. Sorry Steepster. :(

The dark, chopped, dry leaf smells good, like shortbread,,,maybe a touch of cocoa scent.
Liquor is a deep deep red-orange color with a delicious aroma of shortbread, raisin pie.
You can see in the wet leaves that they are all uniformly chopped and a fall brown color.
Flavor is rich, good, not as sweet as it smells. Has a touch of bitter,,,like a 1 on a scale of 1-10. So if you are a milk and sugar person, this is perfect.
I added some of my homemade almond milk and date sugar to this (sorry Brits lol) and it was yummy. Helped to wake me up this morning because my doggie likes to get up early :)

From the Steepster Select Box, May 2014

I don’t know why, but this tasted bitter to me. I followed the directions on the packet exactly, so maybe I need to try a lower temp or less time….or both. I didn’t like it, but I could tell there was potential.

Other people seem to really like this one, but I don’t really. It kind of tastes just…meh….to me.

Well, it was free in a free Steepster Select box, so I’m not going to complain too much. I tried it. This one just isn’t for me.

A delicate golden cup with faint but well-balanced flavors. There are some fresh green notes at the front, with a honey sweetness lingering just long enough to be distinguished. Some peach notes flesh out the body a bit, but even making sure I didn’t over-water, the flavors were still muted. Further steepings brought forth more malty sweetness for a more hearty brew. 6/10, would drink again but didn’t love it.

I was very excited to find a genmai-cha in my Select box this month, as they are my absolute favorite type of green tea. This tea is a perfect example as to why I enjoy them: the nutty roasted rice perfectly balances the fresh grassy notes for a well-rounded flavor. I especially enjoyed the malty sweetness that appeared as the tea cooled. A perfectly complex and interesting tea, perfectly refreshing for a warm day. 9/10

It’s alright… Nothing special to me but tasted like a black tea. Dry and a little bitter at times.

T&C TTB#12: Smells not of smoke. Taste is smoke and earth with a little dryness. Not bad but not really my thing due to the smoke. It’s a little more than I like. Nice to have tried it, though.

This tea smells like other roasted oolongs I’ve had before – seaweed, burnt wood, tree bark. I’m not crazy about roasted oolongs, but the tasting notes sounded promising for this one.

Sipping… this one is pretty bland for me. I hate to write this because I am finishing the cup, but it’s mostly a roasted, rather vegetal flavor that I’m tasting. It’s not so toasty that it has a smoky or burnt flavor, thankfully. The finish reminds me of salt water. The salt actually lingers on the tongue long after you’ve finished the sip. Curious. I wish that this were more eventful for me although I’m happy to have tried it.

Good morning Steepster.
I am having a rough day already as shoulder and arm pain kept me up again last night but that seems to be more of my normal routine than not. Also I drank some yellow tea around 5 pm and I should not be drinking caffeine at all that late. Just couldn’t resist!

This came in the March Steepster select box, I believe. It’s a nice medium bodied tea, malty and with no tannins or astringency. It’s nice enough but I wouldn’t say it’s bowled me over in terms of its flavor profile. This is pretty good plain but I also enjoyed it with some soymilk. Definitely a decent tea but not something I would really need to keep on hand.

Backlog:

This reminds me a lot of drinking the toasted rice part of Genmaicha. It’s got that yummy roasty-toasty flavor of the genmaicha toasted rice, but it has a tasty malty note to it too. Like Barley … the flavor reminds me of a freshly baked loaf of multi-grain bread.

Sweet with notes of honey and nut and caramel. It tastes very breakfast-y, like a piece of toasted multi-grain bread with a pat of melted butter and a drizzle of honey.