Steepster

This is from the Feburary 2014 Steepster Select Box.

This is my first Keemun so I have no idea what I should be tasting. I have had one other tea that I would describe as “smokey” and it hit you in the first part of the sip, almost like breathing in smoke. This was more of a smokey flavor as it settled in your tongue. I would describe this as smokey/woody flavor. I really enjoyed this.

2nd sample from the steepster select box. Never had a Keemun before, so I lack the knowledge of what I should be looking for.

Didn’t really care for this one all too much. I found that towards the end, it was getting rather bitter, and the smokey wood taste was starting to get to me. I’ m not a big fan of smokey tea (Lapsang Souchong…blecchhhhkkk). Not sure if it was just this Keemun that was smokey, but if they are all like that, I’m definitely gonna have to pass

This tea smelt wonderfully toasty, and looked like hay in my cup while brewing. Only a light toasting remains in the very smooth cup of tea with walnut and salty undertones. One of my favorites from Select so far!

Another Steepster select sipdown, this is light, fragrant, & spring-like.

The final selection from this month’s Steepster Select box.
I used to drink a lot of jasmine pearl teas, & I find them adorable, & generally tasty. I don’t drink them often now, as I have to be in the mood for such a thing. So today we’re just sitting around in our PJs, watching back to back episodes of various shows we’ve gotten behind on (while we were watching every single episode of Supernatural except the current season), & drinking tea. I’ve been perusing tea sites & almost talked myself into buying another yixing, but I just closed the page…sigh…

This is a pleasant afternoon tea, lightly vegetal, gently mineral, & judiciously jasmine.
Here’s a youtube video showing somebody making jasmine pearls, for those who might be interested…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpikEvEZd5A

Another sipdown, & a pleasant reminder of how much I used to love Houjicha, & still do.

The first thing I noticed about this tea is the appearance: it reminds me of Oatstraw, all chopped up & fluffy. The aroma is awesome, at least to me. It’s roasty, toasty, inviting.

When I got my first steepster select box, I scoffed at the brew bags they include. I’ve used some of them for brewing the occasional rooibos, & I have to admit I haven’t had any pieces of rooibos stuck to my tonsils lately, so I guess those bags have a place in this world.
So I’m actually using one of the bags this time. I have no idea why, I just decided to.

And I am really enjoying this tea. I used to drink a lot of Houjicha, years ago. I’d say it was a big part of my transition from green to oolong & black teas. I love the roastiness. I’m a big fan of roasted walnuts, & it tastes a lot like them. There is a light charcoal bitterness, but it is off-set by a sweet caramel. This would make a great genmaicha.

This does smell sweet and sugared- when raw. More of a cotton candy lightness than, say, a sweet bread pudding. However, once steeped (gaiwan style, but following the package directions for time and temperature) a roasted grain note that screams hojicha takes over the smell. This is sad – I would have preferred the candied sugar scent to remain.

Sigh. The first steep is ALL toasted bread. Incidentally, I am eating freshly baked bread with it and the two mirror each other well. It is also REALLY strong, because I’ve never quite figured out how many cups each envelope in the Select box is meant to serve. I’m going with each envelope being for 2 servings, since whenever I use just one on one cup its come out too strong. So that could be why I’m being walloped over here with the toasted grain notes. At the same time, though, its not like there’s any bitterness or astringence, so…I don’t know! I like a lot about the steepster box but that’s a huge frustration for me.

The second steep – done for 2 minutes in boiling water, is surprisingly much lighter than the initial one. That punch of roasted wheat has gone away so now I smell and taste a much milder, more honeyed tea. I much prefer this, actually, so I’ll give it another go to see where the tea evolves from here.

Third steep, 3 minutes – the spent leaves smell like toast again, but the liquor smells very spun sugar sweet. Unfortunately the taste doesn’t measure up – there is definite astringence now and not much else flavorwise.

So I wasn’t really impressed with this one. It could have been user error, but I know I’ve had Da Hong Pao before and the fact that I’ve not had it since could be that it just isn’t the tea varietal for me. Eh. Put me in the camp of people that consider this ‘just ok’.

I absolutely adored this sample and was pleasantly reminded of how enjoyable jasmine can be when done right. This is one of the cleanest-tasting, pleasantly vegetal and floral green teas I’ve ever had. I’m normally not partial to a tea that’s so delicate, but this is a winner and I hope to buy a ton for my roommate and me once it becomes available for purchase on here. Great job this month, Steepster Select!

After the success of the Obukucha (SO bummed that that is only sold around the new year) I decided to order Japanese for lunch and make the other green tea in the Steepster box as a companion to it.

Dragonwells are easily my favorite Chinese green, if only because I find them very similar to senchas, albeit a touch more…nutty? Earthy? Something like that. There’s less of a salty ocean tang here – just vegetal green. Not necessarily grass, more of a spinach undertone. The liquor is a pretty light green, almost colorless, despite my longish steep time. Still, it does hint at broth – just not the seaweed senchas tend to evoke.

This one was good but there’s just less going on than there was in the Obukucha. A solid green tea that I could see as being well suited for an every day cup, though.

Obukucha, you are so tasty. I could almost have you for lunch instead of miso, you remind me that much of a brothy salty seaweedy soup.

I am so sad that this is only sold around the new year. I placed an order with Obubu tea to try and get another sencha and a sample of their sakura so that I can sort of have some kind of salty beverage in my future, but I am still going to miss this cup.

It is my ideal green. From the flavor profiles it almost seems like I should be looking more for a gyokuro if I want something similar, so I suppose my next step will be to research that. In the meantime, does anyone have any idea who supplied this tea for the Select Box? I love them so much for it. If you have any recommendations for similar tasting teas I’ll take that too.

So so SO good, and now it’s all gone. I hope my sencha gets here fast..

I love a Japanese green.

Chinese greens always have kind of a soil/dirt undertone (not unpleasant, just part of their terroir, I guess) which makes them have a brown-green liquor. But Japanese greens – they have a translucent peridot liquor and they taste like the ocean. It makes sense – Chinese greens are not really grown by the sea, but Japan is an island so I imagine the salt in the air has no choice but to become a part of the tea plants themselves.

The smell of this dry! It was like… like spring. Like chlorophyll and freshly cut grass, but also seaweed and salt. Its leaves turned emerald after steeping and it was such a wonderful sight – I haven’t seen green in nature for what seems like forever so it gets high marks alone for making me forget about February for a bit.

The taste is savory – think salty spinach broth. It is gorgeous. And now I really really REALLY want udon. Even though its 10 in the morning.

I didn’t really get the tree notes – pine or eucalyptus – in the flavor but I certainly didn’t feel as though I was missing out. Yum. I am going to have to look into more of this for sure.

I usually like the straightforward briskness of houjicha, but this one goes too far toward fresh hay, even into some kind of parmesan-dusted mushroom, for my taste. While the flavors don’t directly taste much at all like pu-er, those forest-floor notes do bring it to mind.

It is rare for me to encounter a tea that is entirely new to me. Thanks to Steepster Select, I have a new tea that I will be drinking a lot.

I opened my package of Houjicha Ichiban and was struck by the golden straw color of the stems and leaves. I carefully poured it into my tea pot, preserving every drop, and gave it a good shake. Instantly I was transported back to my childhood summers, the flavor and smell of a dry stick of grass hay hanging out of my mouth. Chewing it, relishing in the sweet grassy notes. This is the sensation, the comfort that I always want Genmaicha to be, but am always disappointed.

I inhaled, inhaled again, and relaxed. Recalling hot summer days, sweat dripping down, lifting hay onto the bed of the truck. And suddenly I remembered how itchy and non-romantic all of that was. Oops.

I added the water, let it steep, and started to drool eagerly anticipating the flavor of this tea as my office filled with the nutty smell of summer grass. I poured, waiting and took a sip. The taste was the end of summer, the smell was the start of autumn. I opened the pot, the leaves and stems had greened in the water. Rich, warm, nutty, dry flavors washed around my mouth. Slightly sweet, toasted, with light bitter notes.

This is the tea for a country child now in the city when the man is feeling nostalgic. I will be drinking this a lot more often.

Smoky and deep yet smooth.

i had been saving my second packet of this for a special occasion. well, yesterday, my March steepster box arrived, so what better way to celebrate than with my last February tea!

I adore this tea. everything people don’t seem to like about it – smells like dirt, tastes too strong, etc., i LOVE IT! i surely wish they had a purchase link, i have no idea where this came from and i want more. ah well. faretheewell, favorite houjicha in the world!

ok, it might be on account of i JUST finished an extremely salty/umami second steeping of a fancy sencha, but this is SO YUMMY! i love a good toasty houjicha, and this one hits the spot. perfect late afternoon tea!

So funny how we all taste so differently. Where others found the jasmine overwhelming (in both good and bad ways), I find this a pleasantly delicate jasmine, and I certainly do taste a vegetal green underneath. This is actually one of the categories where I’m still looking for my go-to tea, and this one would be a candidate. I usually look for something more assertive, but this just blends and balances so sweetly that I may have to keep it around.

I prepared this in tea ware that I could view the beautiful show of the pearls opening up and dancing to the bottom. The scent of the tea is just lovely jasmine all the way. You definitely must be in the mood for a floral type tea bc this is a real fragrant bouquet!!! I also taste a smooth touch of sweetness which is Lychee bc Lychee fruit is also a very floral tasting fruit.

I went into this tea thinking I would taste it and then get another cup of my usual tea bc floral tasting tea is probably lower down on my favorites list,,, but I have ended up drinking lots of this and in the morning too! So this one gets a good rating bc if you are in the mood for a floral tea, this is a very nice one to try!!!

From the Steepster Select box, February 2014