Steven Smith Teamaker

Found a sample sachet of this, and since I’ve seen some Steven Smith reviews floating around lately I decided to give it a try.

First off, a little background info.

Earl Grey is my first tea love. It’s my go to if I need to drink a bag in public (like at a work conference or something, for example), and I don’t think I’ve met an EG I haven’t enjoyed. Not that I LOVE them all or anything, but they are easy to please me.

Anyhow, all that to say – this might be the very best non cream Earl Grey I’ve ever had.
The base is so delicious, it’s rich and smooth and silky and flavorful. The bergamot is perfect.

I added milk like I always do with EG and it was the very thing that I wanted to drink at that exact moment in time.

I do indeed foresee a Steven Smith order in my future, I’d love to be able to try some more sometime before I order! The Bungalow and Assam intrigue me especially.

They’ve been added to my future shopping list!

Very sorry to learn of Steven Smith’s passing. I had no idea that he was the mastermind behind both Stash and Tazo! He contributed a lot to the world of tea. RIP.

Had this cup in his honor today in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Yes, I brought it with me…)

No 72 White Petal is my very first tea from Steven Smith Teamaker. I picked up a box at Whole Foods this afternoon out of curiosity. The liquor is light gold and the flavor only barely floral. A very subtle blend. I’ve been noticing of late that white teas sometimes remind me of the second infusions of green teas…

I do not really taste either the osmanthus or chamomile as distinct. Instead, there is a more general and very light floral facet to this tea.

Sipdown!

I am finishing this off today. It’s enjoyable, especially as a cold brew. Still this probably won’t be a repurchase for me, I think I’d prefer a plain/straight Moroccan Mint tea.

Tea of the afternoon…

I have a lot of this and thought I’d try cold brewing it yesterday so I’m drinking the results today. :)

When cold brewed, this became very vegetal and slightly pungent, the spearmint and lemon myrtle are barely noticeable over the green tea. I wonder if I added too much leaf to the cold brew? Anyway this is one tea I definitely prefer hot.

Happy Earth Day Steepster…

I made some of this earlier today thinking it would be my tea to try iced today. It is good iced but I think I prefer it hot with sugar. I taste more lemon and mint than green tea this afternoon. It might be better to cold brew this one because ice dilutes the flavor a lot.

Speaking of Earth Day I should get my butt up off my chair and go outside for some exercise. I have been feeling so unmotivated today so far and just plain tired. I think allergy season is officially here from the way I’ve been sniffling this morning.

How odd, I could have sworn I reviewed this at some point but I guess not… ?

I’ve had this for a while and I find it really refreshing, an interesting twist on the traditional moroccan mint tea due to the addition of lemon myrtle. It’s a minty, lemony green tea! I absolutely recommend adding rock sugar to this, or sugar of some kind. This is excellent hot, but I think it would make an amazing iced tea as well. I really loved the Mao Feng Shui when I tried it plain as well. I wish S.S. would have another free shipping promotion soon :)

Thanks so much to Tea Brat for sending this as a swap. It has been on my wishlist of things to try. The aroma is slightly malty and seems brisk. The liquor is reddish. First sip – this was not what I was expecting. It is more to the mellow than the brisk side. There is a slight malt and somewhat toasty note with a winey, almost grapey flavor wafting around. It is not as astringent as I expected, which is a plus for me. Overall, this is a nice tea, but I don’t think it is something I would need to have on hand. I’m really glad I got to try it. Thanks again Tea Brat.

Thanks to boychik for the sample! Brewed it western style. First steep was with water just off the boil for 3 minutes. I prefer my teas plain without milk or sweetener. This steep was bitter but not entirely unpleasant, with some sweetness and fruitiness (as best as my palate can make out) as the cup cooled. I tried the next two steeps at 195F (3:30 and 5:00 minutes) and enjoyed them more since the bitterness was gone and the sweet/fruit aspect was more pronounced. Next time I will try 195F for the first steep to see if it reduces or eliminates the bitterness there as well. Overall a very nice Assam, more complex than the one in my cupboard from Upton.

Very nice bergamot flavour. It is distinct, but unlike some of the bergamots I’ve tasted, this one doesn’t smell like some cheap but concentrated cologne. It smells sweet and fresh and mellow. And it tastes likewise.

This tea did not have as much bergamot as I would like. I know many don’t like bergamot but I have become totally addicted to it. I would choose Double Bergamot and a few others that go heavy on the bergamot. All in all, a nice tea but nothing for a bergamot lover to get excited about even though it is named Lord Bergamot.

Another tea from the BBBBox Grab bag, provided by Tasty Brew.
This darjeeling blend started out with a pleasant toasty & fruity taste, & at first I was like, “maybe I do like Darjeelings more than I thought…”, but as it cooled it took on an astringency & tartness that reminded me of why they aren’t really my favorites. Still, not bad, & very drinkable, provided it isn’t allowed to cool down.

Was prepared not to love this, thought it might end up a little too brightly Ceylon-forward a la Red-Tailed Hawk for me to consider drinking regularly. But the balance of smooth deep Assam and bright coppery Ceylon is really good here, makes a splendid first-thing-with-food tea, flavorful and bold but smooth, just bright enough to wake you up and cut the greasy starch in your pancakes, and interesting thanks mostly to the depth in the sweet Keemun and malty Assam but not so complex or busy that you’d feel bad drinking it while still waking up. A+++ would drink again! Reminds me vaguely of The Black Lotus (less complex though), with Ceylon instead of Darjeeling playing the part of the bright sparkly note.

As always with SST blacks, I cut the steep time way down, only 3 minutes compared to their without-fail recommended (hair-raising!) 5. Funny, they’re one of the only tea companies whose directions I always automatically disregard with no reservations or regrets.

Ohmygoodness I forgot to review this!! Had it awhile back but I was on a conference call… and then had to dash out the door. Sorry TeaBrat, and after you were nice enough to send me a sample!
Anyhow, I am very particular about my chai and this one did not quite fit into my ideal. I remember trying to figure out why, and I think it was just a mix of spices that don’t appeal to me as much as others. There was a sweet note in there as well, that I found odd. Ginger perhaps?
Milk and a dash of sugar certainly helped of course. Overall, a pleasant cup!

TTB #21

Another tea sample swiped from the Traveling Box! It came in a nice, individually wrapped pyramid bag.

It’s a holy HOLY asparagus in my mouth… No, no, no. Stop that.

It’s a pretty decent vegetal-tasting green. Now, that’s better.

I do like it. It’s definite, categorical flavor. It’s taking names without necessarily kicking ass. Not sure if I would go out of my way to buy it but I would be extremely happy if anyone served it to me.

Thanks for the sample TeaBrat!
I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea quite like this before. Hot, it was so dynamic and complex, and yummy! I coulda sworn there was yerba mate in there but nope it’s myrtle masquerading as mate. Ha!
Anyhow, now that it’s cooled I can really taste the lemon. Interesting. I still prefer it hot though.