Steven Smith Teamaker

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I’ve been rather curious about Steven Smith’s teas. I have browsed his website many times and there are definitely several things I would like to try. I was excited to see that my local The Fresh Market has a sampler box of his teas, but it’s different from the one listed online and it’s missing a couple of the teas that was really interested in trying. So poo! This was actually one of the teas I was curious about. Luckily for me, there was a single individually-wrapped sachet in the box! Sorry guys, I had to try it. :P

I really really like this tea! It’s a lovely mix of the soft hay-like flavor of bai mudan and the lightly floral honey tones of chamomile. I have no idea what osmanthus tastes like, but I definitely get an extra floral element in here. I’m finding this extremely delicious with a little bit of honey! I would definitely buy this as a nice calming evening option.

Sipdown! (134 QQ)

I wasn’t planning on writing a note for this, but wow this came out so fruity today! It’s all about the raisins and dried apricot in both aroma and taste. It literally smells like apricot preserves! I’m not sure what I did different, but damn is this good… The fruit isn’t quite as extreme in the taste as the smell, but the stonefruit is extremely present compared to other Yunnan or black teas in general. I am amazed! I would absolutely order this one if it’s going to be like this every time! :O

The only difference in the preparation is that since I brewed it in a glass Pyrex cup, the leaves had a bit more room to unfold. But I can’t imagine that making such a difference considering they usually have plenty of room in my brew basket! So weird!

I wish I could share this cup of tea with everyone here! Lol.

I’m kind of a grumpface today… Our new roommate (and my boyfriend’s friend and coworker) has only been here a week, and he already bought tickets for some girl to come visit him. For a week. And they’re not even dating, and she’s 19 to boot (no offense meant to the younger people on here, but I generally do not like or get along with teenagers)… Seriously? And since he and my boyfriend generally work from about 8 to 5 during the week, I will most likely have the pleasure of entertaining this person all day long. Seriously? I am at a loss as to why this is going down… But you know, clearly my opinion doesn’t matter as long as he asks my boyfriend about it, who is never going to say no. So yes, grumpface.

So, on to the tea then. The leaves are what I would call “medium-sized” and twisty. They’re mostly dark with little spots of gold. They smell mildly malty with honey sweetness, yum. I did a 3 minute brew just out of habit.

The aroma is quite dark. Very malty, with a syrupy deep raisin note and something somewhere between honey and molasses. Wow, the flavor here is deep. I definitely agree with Terri about this being a manly tea. That dark raisin aroma carries over into taste, but it’s not sweet at all. Needless to say, this is quite malty. There’s tobacco and soft leather, maybe a touch of earthiness. There’s also an interesting almost bitterness that I feel is inherent to the tea (meaning not a result of incorrect brewing). It melds nicely with the leather and tobacco notes.

Nicole mentioned maybe a bit of smoke in here, and although I wouldn’t call it smoke, I can see what she’s talking about. It’s definitely dark and intense, and the earthy quality could definitely be described as almost smoky.

I quite enjoyed this tea. It’s amazing to see (or rather taste) the wide range of flavors and experiences that can come out of one region (Yunnan). The golden, fuzzy Yunnan teas are light with pastry and honey-sweetness, while the darker varieties can be very assertive and rich, with deep and developed savory flavors. Amazing! I’m so glad I’m getting the chance to try all of the different kinds, especially since most of them were from swaps! Thanks everyone, and Nicole in particular, who provided this sample, along with many others! :)

This tea definitely has a floral element. Floral and leather. Pleasant but not my favorite. Nonetheless, I am grateful for the opportunity to try it so thank you Sil!! (165)

Cup from last night. Made it latte style with tiny bit of maple syrup. While it was good I probably had craved something else. If only I knew…

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is craft fairs. I love getting things that were made by the people who sold them to me, and they’re such cool stuff!
So I drank a quick cup of this and ran off to a craft fair first thing this morning.
It was, almost to my surprise, the last cup of this! I’m all through. I’ve enjoyed this, it was strong and powerful, and helped me out on many an early morning. But I don’t think I’ll be bringing this back into my cupboard.
Sipdown!

Cup I drank this morning, while moving at screaming high speeds. It was one of those mornings when I couldn’t decide on anything, which is always a bit annoying.
This is really strong and bold. Its not my usual cup of tea (ha), but I like it none the less!

This is one of those teas that is useful to have in the cupboard, for the mornings when you just need to drink tea, not to pay too much attention to it. Kandy is strong, but quiet enough to stand in the background of my mind, while I’m too busy bumping into things in the morning.

Backlogged from yesterday.
I am normally crazy busy on Thursdays, but yesterday was even worse. I had an extra shift in the middle of it, and I was just flattened by the end of the day.
This was, alas, my only cup of tea. This tasty, brisk, and strong. A good get up and go kinda tea.

I knew Steepster was the best of people. Thank you for all your kind thoughts yesterday- we’re working on it. I can’t remember ever being this nervous before, but we’re gonna work on it.
Its my busiest day of the week. I’m running from dawn till dusk, and then some. Maybe high paced action will keep my mind sane.
As it it, I need a powerful tea.
Kandy is very strong, almost too strong, if left in the cup too long. But its briskness and power gets me out the door, so thats good!

This morning it was really hard to turn on my bedroom light. Ouch! Bring back my soft darkness! Alas!
So a strong brew was required to kick me into action this morning. Kandy!
I’m learning this bold brew. I need a lighter steep at the moment to really get along with it, but when I manage to brew it that way its strong, and dances skillfully on the edge of bitterness. Its even got a note of sweet honey in it, which is very tasty.
Onward!

This morning seems like a very long time ago now. And the day only just half over, with at least one more challenge ahead. Bleh.
So I needed quick and easy this morning, and grabbed this.
I tried a lighter steep today, and it actually came out nice! Theres a faint honey sweetness to this, when I brew it lightly, which I appreciate. I’m glad I gave it a go.

Oh cruel alarm! Dragging this poor body into wakefulness. I do not approve!
So much to do today, I’ll be moving quite briskly through the day.
A serious tea, is therefore required, to drink this.
Kandy is a strong black, but not an obnoxious black. Good and strong, but subtle and easy to drink as well. I approve.

After my sub par cup this morning, I wanted a proper cup. So I have cranked up the ac, made some toast with lemon curd, and poured this.
This tea is so smooth, with light and delicious layers to it. Not even a little bitter. And this pares so well with the bright aftertaste of lemon curd in my mouth from my toast. I recommend that combination!

My eyelids are practically glued shut. Argh. I hope this morning goes smoothly.
On to the tea! This is really good. Its smooth, and not at all bitter, with warm notes layered on top of each other.
I think that this will really come into its own when its the fall. But I’ll enjoy it until then.

I am being bolder and trying more “plain” blacks. I’m a lover of flavored tea, but I can see that there is great deliciousness hiding about in their unflavored sisters.
So I picked this up. Its bagged, which is not super ideal, but I’ve liked what I’ve had from Steven Smith before, and am willing to put my tastebuds in his hands.
This is pretty good! I’m delighted with how smooth it is, and, while its not exactly sweet, it is light and refreshing and quite good indeed. I’ll enjoy having this, on the days I feel more like a classic cup of tea.

Queued post, written May 18th 2014

Here is another one from my recent Auggy parcel. I’ve seen this one around before on Steepster, but it never really caught my interest enough to check it further. It just got lumped automatically into the ‘sounds nice but unavailable to me’ box and so I put it from my mind.

Now I get to have some anyway. I find the name of the blend attractive for reasons that I don’t even understand myself. If I were shopping somewhere and saw a black blend of that name, it would make me have a closer look.

This is one of those rare blends, where not only have they listed what goes in it, they’ve also done it in a more detailed way than usual. Many companies would just have put ‘Indian, Ceylon and China tea’. Some would go a little further and put ‘Assam, Ceylon and Keemun.’ This one actually specifies the two Ceylons used (Uva and Dimbula)! It made me go YAY! I wish more companies would take heed of this.

Now, Uva is a highgrown tea and Dimbula is as well. I don’t actually care much for the high-grown Ceylons although I find them easier to drink than a Darjeeling. As is my experience, though, a Darjeeling in a blend can become quite acceptable in a blend because it is tempered by the other ingredients, and this is the case with the high grown Ceylon in this blend as well. Assam and Keemun are both fairly strong teas for me. Some people classify Keemun as mild, but for me it’s not that mild. I think maybe I measure strength differently. Something with that much flavour in it feels strong to me. They both do an excellent job with keeping the Ceylon in line in this blend. It is primarily a Ceylon blend, though.

I’m actually getting very little of the characteristics of the Keemun and Assam. No grain-y notes, but a little bit of floralness which may or may not be part Keemun and part Ceylon. No cardboard-y notes from the Assam, but a great deal of body. It’s like the Assam and Keemun work to enhance the deeper notes of the Ceylons rather than add their own flavour to the mix. I find I quite like that. It makes the blend taste very balanced. It reminds me strongly of low-grown Ceylon actually.

I’m quite pleased with this one.

This smells pretty much like Earl Grey to me, which is totally fine, but it meant I got out the almond milk to splash in it before even brewing. Without, bergamot tastes super soapy to me.

Anyway, with a bit of almond milk, this was fantastic. I could taste the tea, bergamot, AND almond from my milk (something I really enjoy, and why I buy almond milk in the first place). Win.

this was in the BBB grab bag and since i try not to let things get back to TB, i pulled it out, figuring that if nothing else it could be shared by the numerous tea folks here. I figured i really ought to try it sooner than later so i could knock it off my list if i decided i didn’t really like it. As expected, this one’s not for me. there’s a floral note in this one that just doesn’t sit with me, and as it cooled it took on a taste that i really didn’t care for. In to the swap box it goes for others to try!

I had this tea yesterday and it seemed a little bit uninspiring , so I decided to try it again brewed at a higher temperature. Darjeeling’s often seem to have different characters depending how you brew them. This one was no exception, although it did not go through as extreme a transformation as some I have had. I prefer this one brewed at boiling.

After 3 min @92 °C, I had a tea smelling of bright muscatel notes, cocoa, grainy malt and honey with a maple coloured broth.

The first note was a muscatel note that was quickly overtaken by grainy malt with a hint of honeyed cocoa and an underlying bitterness. It seemed a little more rrobust, substantial and warming than some Darjeeling’s I’ve had. Brewed this way this is not really a morning or afternoon tea for me I can picture having it when I want something soothing on a crisp night.

Brewed with boiling water for 3 minutes, the sharp fruity notes of muscatel were much stronger, the tea tasted lighter and a little bit sweeter with a touch of sharpness and a milder but slightly more bitter maltiness underneath. There is a bit of a slightly spicy and bitter floral note underneath the muscatel. At this temperature there is a more interesting blend of fruity muscatel, grainy and slightly buttery grain notes, honey and malt. It’s more of an afternoon tea now, and certainly more refreshing.

This tea doesn’t resteep exceptionally well.

Thanks Sil for the chance to try this one!

why hello there tea that i see a certain someone hasn’t tried yet….looks like it’s one more cup of you before you go visit that person mwahahahaha. Still enjoying this one, though not nearly as much as the first time i had it. still though, happy to enjoy a nice straight cup of black today. this afternoon. it’s almost stop work time!

Final count: 208

Success!

Well, sort of.

I stuck this in my mug to brew for a couple minutes (at about 85 degrees) and totally got distracted and forgot about it for at least 30-45 minutes because I wasn’t able to set my oven timer because I was cooking chicken.

So I came back to bitter town – buuuuuttttt – I poured half out in another mug, replaced what was missing with fresh water and it was great!

Last time I didn’t know I was supposed to treat a Darjeeling like a green, so this time I was prepared temperature wise. I almost totally effed it up by oversteeping but my trick saved it.

It was nutty and toasty in a way that is different from Laoshan Black (for example).

I couldn’t tell you in what way, I’m not really there.

But done right, I’d totally buy this!

Thanks Sil!!

Raising my rating up from 67.

Thanks to Sil for sending a sample of this my way!
After discovering Steven Smith’s amazing Lord Bergamot, I knew I’d want to try some of their other teas, including Bungalow.

Made it this morning for breakfast…it’s good, but a bit too astringent for my tastes. That’s not a quality I enjoy in a tea.

I steeped it for only 3 min at 96 degrees to play it safe, but it was still quite bitter.
The resteep was a little better but still left quite the aftertaste. I think I do prefer something smoother and less toothache inducing (is that a normal thing? Bitter teas make my teeth hurt…)

Glad I got to try it rather than blindly buying it one day! Thanks Sil :)

Oh man this is good! Thanks for the sample TeaBrat!
It isn’t your typical Darjeeling at all. No its much richer than that.
I was pleasantly surprised to actually taste all the things listed in the description. Usually I get one or two, but not all of them, or atleast not strongly enough that I could ID them on my own. But this! Well this is just bursting with layers of nut, fruit, butter, and toast. Kinda reminds me of one of those chocolate bars with the fruit and nuts in it, only without the cocoa. But not like a trailmix bar, because its milder and creamier than that.
This is definitely one I would reorder one day.