TeaGschwendner

I love it. Very light and soft with huge leaves. Best without sugar or milk I find.

Nice. In the morning I prefer quite strong teas – this is one of them. Very malty and ever so slightly sweet. Lovely with sugar (DH tells me).

I love it – especially in summer. Great as iced tea – but use filtered water as it will become cloudy otherwise. It still tastes great,though.

I get variable results with this tea when I steep it a full three minutes. Sometimes it comes out fragrant with a lot of citrus, other times it’s more woody bordering on bitter. I find that adding an extra teaspoon to my pot and reducing the steep time by a half or full minute really lets the floral notes dominate.

Still has a woody scent with lots of citrus, but it’s faded quite a bit from poor storage and and age. I’ll have to try to make my purchases more seasonal. Steeped 3 minutes in water just short of boiling.

Long, hard afternoons at work these days — climbing a new learning curve, but it will pay dividends later — require focus. This green-oolong blend is spoiling me. Too good for the office, but thank the tea gods for little treats.

Grabbed this tin on my way to work. It was 45 in Chicago this morning (June 2, ahem) and rainy. I needed to pamper myself at the office with a great cup of tea. An odd choice for the a.m., perhaps, but darn satisfying — the kick of green with a little oolong flirtation.

Udon noddles for lunch, spicy and starchy. Bring on the genmaicha! And I didn’t brew it too long, so it was finally evenly balanced, not too toasty, not too astringent. Goldilocks, just right. Take that, Tuesday!

Studying today (I’m taking a grant-writing class), and needed a pick-me-up midway through the readings. I bought this Genmaicha recently to use in a shrimp recipe, but I’d rather drink it. The sencha is decent quality, the toasted rice adds a starchy flavor — it went nicely with a few squares of chocolate.

A decent floral woody cup, almost like an oolong. Steeped 2 minutes in water just short of boiling. This is from last years first flush but holds up well.

Must be morning again.

A nice mildly malty flavor with a hint of citrus. Prepared six teaspoons to 32 oz. (6 oz cups) water brought to boiling and steeped 2 minutes. I keep it in a thermos to sip throughout the morning.

I love the balance of malt & fruitiness.

This pleasant green ceylon comes from an estate thay is better known for rich ceylon blacks. Remember all teas come from the same two varietals of tea bush – the season of picking, the drying time and method, amount of fermentaion, etc etc create the teas we know as balck, greed, red, oolong, la la la… This Silvali Hill is a high grown, slightly rolled green with a distict twist or curl to the leaf. Light yellow in the cup, with a delicate sweet nose. Soft in the mouth, it has the astringecy of a green, but not bitter taste. In fact, it has a sweet pleasant flavor – not herby or grassy like most greens. Holds its flavor well as it cools. 1st steep 2 min at 176F 2tsp tea per 8oz water in My Miric. 2nd and third very nice with minimal loss of flavor.

While I am a die hard Oolong guy, I must confess that in the depths of winter I look for very robust tastes, unlike the delicate oolong.
This mornings tea comes from the amazing folks at TeaGshwender – if you are here in Chicago, this is the best source for teas locally – and one of the best mail order sources as well. http://www.teamerchants.com is there link.
I brewed up in my Miracle (also available from TGsh) some of their Assam Mokalbari Garden 2nd Flush SFTGFOP1. 1.5 teaspoons per 8oz boiling water for 3 minutes. Burned Red/Orange in the cup, with an awesome malty nose. Complex taste – toffee, brown sugar, nuts, with a spicy after, and just enough astringency to make the next sip refreshing. Almost creamy mouthfeel.
I find myslef savoring and analyzing each sip. One of my freinds stated that after drinking this, there is no point in drinking other Assams, as they are just mere mortal knockoffs. I usually drink most blacks with a splash of milk to hold down the astringency – but this is one I can drink without, or with a touch of sugar, or practically any combo. Excellent, I highly recommend this one.

Tasty, even better with a hint of sweetness & milk.