Steepster

not a very strong tea, I didn’t detect any of the fragrances that were listed.

A very fine Oolong from Taiwan with a lightly sweet and floral aroma—without being cloying or overpowering. Multiple steeps yield consistently good cups of yellow/light green liquor. After 3 steeps, the flavor gets noticeable notes of osmanthus flowers and melon. Very pleased with this tea, which is somewhat reminiscent of the Taiwan High Mountain Oolong of TeaVivre.

(1st steep: 4 min) This tea is sweeter than I was expecting. You do get a slight warming from the ginger. I imagine this would be a great tea during the winter when your sinuses are acting up. You get more citrus zest in the tea than citrus fruit flavors. My first guess would be orange. A good amount of spice from the ginger with a little bit of pepper. I am hoping the ginger spice is present in the second steeping.
(2nd steep: 4 min) This tea is a good deal less intense in the second brewing. If you are thinking of a second steeping, I would recommend increasing the time by a minute to a total of 5 minutes. There is still some spiciness from the ginger, but it is more mellow. More of the sweetness from the citrus comes through in this steeping. I feel comfortable in saying that it is orange zest flavor. However, it was better in the first steeping.

Cautionary note if you are using a plastic steeping vessel it will get dyed yellow from the turmeric. I recommend using stainless steel for this tea.

A decent green tea. I detected notes of banana, similar to a hefeweissen beer, nuts, and artichoke. This tea was much sweeter than I had anticipated, and while not overwhelmingly sweet, it made the tea slightly less pleasant. A well rounded flavor profile, and a good afternoon relaxing tea. There’s nothing too outstanding to make me go out of my way to seek this tea out.

(1st steep: 1 min) This tea is pleasant. There is less floral notes than I was expecting, but they are present. There is a slight mineral flavor and some slight butter in the finish and mouthfeel. There is a slight sweet fruit at the end that I can’t quite place. All in all a nice enjoyable post-lunch tea.
(2nd steep: 1 min 30 sec) One thing that I enjoy about oolong teas, besides that they taste amazing, is that they change while not changing over multiple steepings. This tea is the same. I notice a much deeper fruit flavor. I want to say it is plum or cherry. The floral and mineral components are still present and balance out the fruit. There is a refreshing quality to this tea that is hard to describe in any greater detail.
(3rd steep: 2 min) This steeping the flavors have shifted again with the butter being the first one experienced. Floral and mineral are both present with the sweet fruit finishing out the tea. This is a tea I can see myself coming back to again and again.

not a strong Chai, cinnamon smell

Smooth, mellow…a good semi-spicy cup. for when you just want a quick & easy cup without the milk & honey, as it’s not as strong as most.

This chai is a little weaker for the first half of the cup, but then becomes stronger towards the end. Normally I am a fan of this sort of heterogeneity, but the initial taste is fairly weak, and even near the bottom of the cup, it is still weaker than most other chais. I would recommend using more than the recommended amount/per unit water. The recommended steeping directions create a less than satisfying tea experience. The tea itself is fine, no bitterness, and hints of citrus and orange mixed with faint spices would be a pleasant combination if presented in proper amounts. Milk isn’t necessary, and it may actually harm the flavor of this chai by covering up many of the already subtle flavors.

Warm, just a tad bit spicy, and very refreshing, I really enjoyed this tisane. It has a very smooth mouthfeel and a mellow disposition, accented nicely by a slight bite of ginger. Very good…I’d actually like to keep this on hand, and I don’t normally drink herbals.

Dry leaf smells surprisingly creamy and lemony. It is very pretty with little pieces of dried orange turmeric, green tiny lemongrass pieces, and dried ginger.

OK,,, I make a homemade tisane with fresh turmeric, lemon, and honey so I was wondering how this would taste using dried turmeric. I do like it, the turmeric is not as prominent- tasting when it is dried.
This tisane is really naturally sweet,,,I had to look at the ingredients to see if there was a drop of stevia added but it is just a very good blend (good bc I don’t like stevia lol).
This has sweet flavors of lemon, almost a creamy edge (this must be the oils on my palate), and just a touch of a ginger taste. The turmeric really just lends its color to the liquor.
I do like the taste of fresh turmeric but it is a stronger and acquired taste,,,so this herbal would be a great introduction for someone wanting to try the health benefits of turmeric. Plus I like having a back up bc sometimes my store is out of fresh turmeric and fresh turmeric can mold if you don’t use it quickly.

From the Steepster Select Box, August 2014

Yum. I’m on my third resteep with flavors still holding on. I appreciate how the full green leaves unfold as they are steeped, connecting me more with what I’m about to consume.

A nice tea, but less flavorful than other chais I’ve tried. It is possible that I used too little tea for the amount of water I used.

I was excited to try this chai from the first burst of cardamom and cloves when I opened the package. It is a little thin when brewed according to the instructions. Admittedly, I drink chai with milk and honey, but the spice is a little disappointing compared to what I learned to mix when I had an Indian roommate at one point. It might improve with a longer steep and a little more generous amount of tea than the directions give.

My Steepster Select box came yesterday at the perfect time. I was feelin a little bit ill and this one perked me right up.
This is better than any regular old lemon ginger I have tried… I definitely taste more of an orange flavor, and the turmeric is nice. I’m definitely ordering this if it is available.

My select box came today! I was immediately intrigued by the description, so I’m trying this one first!

Steeped according to package instructions, the aromas are pretty straight-forward. The ginger and the turmeric pretty much dominate the nose, which is a really strange combination. The citrus is there, but it’s definitely the middle child.

On the tongue, it’s a good marriage of flavor. The lemongrass comes out to say hello, while the citrus fades into the background, barely noticeable. It finishes slightly sweetly, owing to the licorice root. I was expecting something really powerful (maybe even overpowering), but the aromas are much stronger than the liquor itself.

It’d be pretty good iced, too.

From the August ’14 select box.

Had this one after lunch and weighed these leaves to get exactly 4 grams.
Dry leaves smell amazing,,,butter cookie and vanilla orchid. I like the forest green color, but some of my twisted strips were crushed a bit so I missed those pretty long strips.
Liquor is a light spring green color and still with the butter cookie and vanilla orchid scent which is cool that the butter cookie stayed—I am looking forward to tasting this.
Flavor is yumm,, very creamy, butter cookie and mostly floral on the nose, not the taste. Very enjoyable Pouchong/Baozhong!
As it cools, it gets a bit more green and floral but it mostly tastes like creamy butter cookie.
Good!

From the Steepster Select Box, August 2014

A very mild, light tea with very little astringent presence. A bracing tea, with a very dry character and only the slightest thought of sweetness in the finish. Very pleasant aroma similar to honey roasted nuts, which led to a bit of disappointment for me when I did not find those same notes echoed in the flavor profile. A prefect tea for a lazy summer day when you don’t want to think about complex flavors and nuanced tastes. 6.5/10, would not seek out again.

Love the scents of the spices in this blend for chai. Smells like vanilla too even though I don’t think it is included in the mix. You can definitely smell the cloves and touch of cardamom.
The liquor brings out an orange zest flavor but that must be from the Assam. Now I see the ginger pieces in the wet leaf but they are not very prominent in the flavor. I tasted this plain before adding milk and it definitely has an orange peel with spices flavor. Then added milk and yumm yumm. The clove notes do come thru, clove is very strong so I usually add one whole clove only if I make homemade chai.
I really like this blend for chai. I like to control the sugar content of chai because if you get it at a coffee shop where they have it pre-made,,,,the sugar is off the charts and I think it is too sweet at those places.
This blend is perfectly balanced and needs no sugar in my opinion. Just milk.
Delicious! (Clove really gets into your palate though,, so it will mess with any other things you might be tasting so chai only this morning,, it is!!!!!!)

From the Steepster Select Box, August 2014

Backlog:

A really lovely first flush Darjeeling. Very low astringency, like what you might experience from a dry wine, only perhaps less harsh.

Nice fruity tones: apricot and peach and muscat grape. Nice to find muscatel in a first flush!

With most Darjeeling teas, I tend to discover woodsy or earthy type notes along with the fruit notes, but this one seems to be all about the fruit. Sweet and fruity – very nice.

Origin: Zhejiang, China
Leaf Appearance: Very small brownish green, twisted leaves with scents of mineral
Method: Western 1 cup size pot with same size infuser, 180F for 2 minutes
Liquor: Light spring green with scents of mineral, raw artichoke
Flavor: This tea is just as described by the Steepster Select card and website. The astringency is not to be feared (as I had when I read this). It really just has notes of artichoke which has some naturally bitter notes but nothing overwhelming. I like young leaf green teas like this, they are sweet and have a tiny touch of balancing bitter. You can see how delicate and tiny the leaves are when they open up after steeping.
There are some raw almond(with the skin) notes to me, not as much baked chestnut. I purposefully ate a raw almond to compare. The tea doesn’t quite get as sweet as chestnut but I can see that note as well in this tea.
Overall, a pretty good everyday green tea for afternoon drinking.

From the Steepster Select Box, August 2014