Tealux

Sipdown!

My throat felt like living death this morning, and even if I’m not a huge fan of peppermint, drinking it while nursing a cold just feels like the right thing to do.

I’ve probably got a few sipdowns of genmaicha in my future once I take care of this.

Aarrrrgh!

This weekend is the annual conference for the Editors’ Association of Canada. And this year, the conference has returned to my hometown. I haven’t been in 2 years, and I’ve so been looking forward to seeing people I know, sharing stories, and – most importantly – not having to shell out a fortune on hotels and meals to attend. The opening reception is tonight.

So what happens when I wake up this morning? Oh, tell us, Christina, I hear you say.

Well, I’ll tell you.

I WAKE UP WITH A COLD THIS MORNING, THAT’S WHAT.

Fuck. Goddamnit. At this point it’s only a sore throat, but it’s difficult to talk and I’m definitely feeling a change in sinus pressure. Of course I have to get sick right before the most important networking opportunity of the year. Of course I do.

Anyways, that’s why I’m drinking this. I have to admit that I’m not a fan of this blend, as it’s too heavy on the peppermint. But mint is what you need when you’re sick, and since I’m sick, I might as well finish up a blend that I’ll have a little trouble tasting.

Blech. Woe is me.

This extremely aromatic tea came in the mail today from Ubacat. Yay!

Oddly enough, I only have one other gunpowder green in my cupboard, and it’s also mixed with mint (Golden Moon’s vanilla mint black/green tea). So I guess gunpowder green and mint are the official Moroccan Mint combination?

Anyways, this tea is very very minty, and from what I can tell, it’s peppermint rather than spearmint. I didn’t taste much of the green tea base here, so I think I might want to lower the temperature a bit and see how it fares at 80C. I bet this would also be good with some honey or sweetener added.

I have put off testing Tealux Vintage Earl Grey, despite my great love of flowers—lavender and rose are featured here—because the dried tea is strongly redolent of … drum roll ..

men’s cologne!

That would be the lavender combined with the bergamot and, above all, the rosemary in this highly aromatic blend. There is tons of both lavender and rosemary here, as can be readily seen by the proportion of seeds and needles to tea. The liquor is orange-amber and the flavor is strongly herbal. I was not at all sure whether I should adulterate this variation of The Earl with cream—as I nearly always do—because I wasn’t sure whether cream and rosemary and lavender would work. But then I remembered the quiche I’ve seasoned with Herbes de Provence, and I realized that this should work, too.

It turned out that I needed to add cream because the unadulterated tea was simply too close to a men’s cologne for comfort. This may be a case where I need to throw in some good old CTC Assam to amp up the tea facet of the blend… I like the idea of this blend, but I find the rosemary and lavender a bit heavy handed.

For the record, the flavors I detect most here are not chicken soup or any of the other available bizarre choices, but lavender and rosemary!!!!!

Love Genmaicha. The earthy, grassy, and rice flavors. The way its good hot and slightly chilled. Honestly I find that the true flavor comes out as it cools down. That is the case especially with this tea.

Thanks to cavocorax for sending this to my wife along with lots of other goodies today, it was such a nice surprise for a Monday! This is the second chocolate monkey I’ve come across so I was excited to compare the two! This version definitely has a better chocolate taste than the other I’ve tried, perhaps because the peppercorns are less pronounced. It’s a very smooth tea, great for a nice quiet evening at home after a long day. Very tasty tea, I could definitely see myself ordering some from tealux in the future!

First, do you have the same problem as me tonight ? I cannot see the majority of the tea pictures here on Steepster and some of the steepsterites avatars…it drives me crazy

Thank you Scheherazade for this milk oolong.
It’s a light milky, and the creamy note is delicate. The main notes are clearly vegetal here. It has the mellowness of the oolongs.
I need to say this is not my favourite among Milky Oolong, not bad at all but just kind of meh vs my Theodor darling MO, the other Tealux and Mandala’s one.
Nice to have been given the chance to taste it.

Tasting note number 300 …gosh I can’t believe that !

Dexter3657 was so kind to have sent me some wonderful surprise samples of teas that I like as well as teas that were on my wishlist. Thanks so much!

This Fujian black is AMAZING!. The smell of the dry leaf is very thick and malty, almost as if there was a bread-y quality to it. The brewed tea smells very similar to the dry tea but with the addition of scents of wild honey. The brewed tea tastes like any Fujian black should. It is thick, with a thick malt. Some notes of wild honey. It is bold but I am getting no astringency. It is very smooth. I think Fujian blacks are my favorite. This one does not disappoint.

As a sidenote for anyone that was following my ridiculous tasting notes/stories yesterday, my company came down, got ridiculous drunk and threw up all over the bathroom, and spilled Burger King poutine all over my couch. Is now sleeping so I have to be dreadfully quiet because I am scared to wake “the hangover”. Yesterday I angrily proclaimed that I was not going to be the one that was cleaning the bathroom, and all I got was giggles in return. So much for my recluse weekend. Next time, turn off phone, close windows and blinds, lock doors, don’t respond to any attempts of contact, and hope no one calls the police because they are scared something happened to me.

Sipdown…had this tonight, and um, I’m not really in love with it. There is nothing really wrong with it, but it just doesn’t wow me. It is kind of a deeper tasting white, but mild at the same time. There is a sort of citrus dryness, I think with this. I would have to say that as far as pu ergs go, I prefer sheng pu erh over this, though I like black best.

I think this came via OMGsrsly with my mega birthday samples swap last summer.

This is fantastic. Drinking it at work tonight and it’s making me happy. Nice bold Chinese black – what’s not to like. Steeping isn’t perfect at work, but I’m finding that I like this one with more leaf – 2 tsp/coffee mug – and about a 1 to 1.5 minute steep. It’s pretty much everything I expect from a good black tea. It’s sweet, subtle cocoa notes, a little fruit in the back. I like it. I normally like Tealux’s straight teas (hit or miss with the flavors) and this one is no exception. Yay for good tea at work!!!

I didn’t really enjoy this tea. Took it in my Timolino yesterday morning and threw it out . I just didn’t enjoy the ginger peppercorn spiciness. I have no idea what guava tastes like so couldn’t tell if it was there or not. I don’t like a lot of chai teas so I’m not surprised this one didn’t appeal to me. It seems the spicy flavour just overpowered the delicate white tea.

Another sample sipdown of one of those teas you have to be in the mood for. I like sassafras, but maybe not as a tea. ;) Just weird.

Sipdown on my sample, which has been sitting around forever because, honestly, this was a disappointment. Either I’m not a fan of sencha, or this one isn’t particularly good, because it was a pretty generic, scratchy green tea. As for the berry, I guess there was a hint of it. No fig at all, which was a bummer. Ah well, they can’t all be winners. Anyone have a favorite fig-flavored tea?

The oolong in this blend is too green for me. I would prefer an oolong that has been oxidized more.
The strawberry in this is really nice, but not enough of it. The floral in the green oolong shoves the strawberry into the background.

Grabbed a second cup of this before it’s all gone. Apparently my mum has taken a liking to it! I’m still amazed by how little this tastes of rosehip and hibiscus, and how clearly the lemon/strawberry flavouring comes through. It might well be sadly missed!

For a fruit tea heavy in hibiscus and rosehip, this is surprisingly good. They’re usually two things I’m not fond of, but they don’t come across ridiculously tart and sour. This actually takes a while to colour while brewing, instead of turning an instant dark red. I guess that’s a good sign!

To taste, it’s the lemon that comes out first. It’s not too sour, just a touch, and has a beautiful, fresh, bright, citrus flavour. The strawberry is sweet and juicy, and develops largely in the aftertaste once the lemon has faded. It leaves me with the lingering impression of pink lemonade.

This is pretty good as is, but I might try it with a little sugar or honey just to see what that does. I’m pleasantly surprised, though — I wasn’t expecting a lot, and it turns out this is one of the rare fruit teas I can get behind. A good spring/early summer choice!

I fled from my cold brewed Aniseed Balls to this mild, buttery, creamy wonderfullness. Sorry I doubted you, Quangzhou Milk Oolong. You’re great.

Another one I often neglect! I wasn’t over struck the first time I tried this, but it was deliciously buttery today. Perhaps I need to re-evaluate!

Another milk oolong, this time the same variety as the one I previously tried. Again, this one is unflavoured. it’s delicately milky, and has a creamy, vegetal note. It’s easy to believe it’s been steamed in milk water! The oolong is a major part of the taste, with the milkiness swirling around lightly. It’s slightly mineral, but on the whole rather light and delicate in flavour. It’s sweet and floral by turns. I have to say that, while I like this better than most oolongs, it didn’t knock my socks off. I think flavoured is the way to go for me with oolongs in general, although this one could be nice when a quiet, unassuming tea is called for.

In appearance, this is very similar to the Margaret’s Hope darjeeling I tried last night. Predominantly dark (black) leaves, with a very small number of silvery buds and green leaves. To taste, though, it couldn’t be more different. This one is a blend, and actually reminded me on first sip of a wuyi oolong. It has a deep, dark, earthy, mineral flavour with a heavy muscatel grape note, and is lightly astringent. It’s as unlike yesterday’s as it’s possible to be. The liquor is a pale peachy gold, but the flavour is strong and fabulous, completely contradicting it’s pale, light appearance.

This tea actually has characteristics I’d expect to find more in a second flush, but there you go. An interesting taste (and comparison!) experience.

I was in the mood for plain tea last night, so I had a cup from this sample pouch. I enjoyed it a little more than I did my last cup, maybe because I was just in the right place for it. I reduced the brew time a little, and was rewarded with a lightly grassy, pleasingly milky cup. Very enjoyable!

This is the second milk oolong I’ve tried, and my second positive experience with this kind of tea. It was actually milk oolong that made me reevaluate my opinion of oolongs more broadly, and what a good thing that’s turned out to be!

This one is unflavoured, and is far more subtle than the David’s Quangzhou I first tried. It’s milky, but not over sweet or artificial. The main flavour is a mildly vegetal, mildly mineral green oolong. It’s a very light flavour, with a pleasant silky creaminess. I wouldn’t say it was outstanding, but it’s pleasant enough in my limited experience. I won’t have trouble finishing the bag, although I was expecting more from the flavour than I ultimately got. One to revisit another time.

This is the second year of first flush darjeelings I’ll have tried. The dry leaf is quite dark overall — there are some silvery buds and green leaves, but not the high proportion some first flushes have. The scent is clearly fruity, though, with a strong muscatel note. It’s like summer in a cup!

I gave this 2.5 minutes in boiling water, which is slightly less than recommended. The resulting liquor is a peachy gold, with the same muscatel note found in the dry leaf. To taste, I can detect notes of stone fruit (peach, apricot) in the initial sip, followed by a floral flavour that’s almost perfumey. It’s rounded out with the development of the characteristic muscatel flavour, and is very slightly astringent.

On the whole, it’s subtle and juicy, and makes for a refreshing drink on a warm spring evening. Darjeelings are definitely something I’ll continue experimenting with — my enjoyment of them hasn’t waned yet!