THEODOR

I don’t recall what dragon fruit tastes like, but I remember liking it. Goji berry on the other hand I have a distinct impression of being really gross. Somehow the two of these combined taste very cola like! I have had several cups of this since acquiring it this summer, but I’ve been doing my default black tea parameters which haven’t resulted in an optimal cup. Today I was careful to follow the instructions on the bag and I feel like that gave a much better flavor. The start of the sip is a little confusing to me, like the flavors need time to sort themselves out, but partway through the sip I get that cola flavor that lasts into the finish. I’m not able to pick out the black tea behind the flavors, it kind of just blends right in there. I didn’t expect cola to be a flavor I’d enjoy in tea, but I’m liking this. Cola tastes pretty good when it’s not drowning in sugar!

I have had this tea for at least ten months. I don’t know quite what to say. It is….weird.

I LOVE most The O Dor teas, with some of the blends being right at the top of my list, but this one baffles me. I don’t hate it. I wish the tin was empty and I will be relieved when it is. It just tastes weird to me.

In spite of the ingredient list, it does not taste fruity to me. I don’t even know what it does taste like to me. Besides weird.

I tried it hot again a few days ago to see if maybe the first pot I made had been a fluke. Nope, still weird. So I decided to ice it and add sugar and while I WILL drink it just to be not wasteful, I groan when I open the fridge and see it. My husband says it is odd but he doesn’t mind it and is fine with drinking it iced until it is gone.

Yes, life is short and it would probably be better to just throw it away, but we really are not wasteful and try to use, mend, repair, redo, recycle….you get the idea. And as I said, it isn’t vile, it is just super weird tasting to me. I think I have enough leaf for about two gallons. That should use it all up within a week or two. We will see.

This was a sample I was given with my purchase. I really liked it the first time I had it, but didn’t make any notes. It is a really interesting blend. I can taste the mate, which adds a bit of an ashy taste, which blends well with the chocolate, which blends well with the light chili kick. The flavors merge together well! The licorice is very subtle adding a touch of sweetness, lingering a little in the finish. It’s hearty, yet light and slightly spicy. I’m not usually into mates, but I’d think about ordering some of this!

Finally dipped into this hefty sample from Kawaii433!

I had to put it in a jar because it was trying to impose its aroma onto other swap teas in plastic baggies. I have a hard time believing this jin xuan oolong is unscented but I’ma roll with it.

So yeah, a thick pillow of love to rest your head upon. Dry leaf was coconut-cream-topped mango? and vanilla custard. Wet leaf was coconut cream, popcorn and buttered egg noodles.

Taste was lighter than expected given all that creamy thickness. Still comforting nonetheless. The aroma brought some of that coconut cream on the sip with butter and sweetgrass followed by crispy rice midmouth and walnut/wood in the back. Light buttery finish. I’d get random tastes of paper, too. That’s okay.

Is it sweet? I don’t know.
Is it creamy? I can’t say.
Is it particularly grassy or nutty or what? I can’t conclude.
Does it make me happy? Why, yes <3

Song pairing: Elvis Presley — Can’t Help Falling in Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJTaP6anOU

I’m surprised I only ever wrote one tasting note for this. My first note doesn’t reflect on how fond I grew of this tea. It has such a good mix of smoke and depth with citrusy notes. I had a tragic sipdown with it today. There was a good amount of dust in this oversized last serving and I decided to dump it all in making a strong and overpowering bitter cup. This tea doesn’t take well to over leafing which is exactly what I did. I’m going to be hopeful and say that I’ll be in Paris again someday and when I do I’d like to restock this. You know… when I get through a few more of the currently 32 Theodor teas I have and can justify tea shopping there again.

It took several sips to get used to how strong this is. I’d like to try steeping it for 3m instead of 4 next time. There is first a strong bright citrus bite that lingers through the whole sip. At the end the smoke that had been laying low comes out in the finish. Adding cream mutes the citrus and it’s strength. It blends the citrus with the smoke throughout the sip and finish. I like this tea, but I’m not sure if I prefer it straight or with cream. It is similar to another Russian type tea that I like and I think I prefer the other, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy this bag too.

A couple of my advent teas for the day need to be cold steeped, so I found myself tealess and I randomly craving this tea. Sometimes I get a tea craving based on the memory of a flavor I’ve had in tea, but can’t latch onto it enough to figure out which tea I was recalling. It’s kind of frustrating. My normal preference is towards dessert type teas, so it’s a little unusual that I long for something more savory. Maybe it’s because I’ve been overdoing it with holiday treats? This makes me think of a walk I took on a trip last year around this time. We went to New Mexico and went on a hike through the snow among the junipers. I picked some berries (which are featured in this tea) and the whole car was filled with the scent. There were also some pines (also in this tea) and I was trying to forage for pine nuts… unsuccessfully. Ended up buying some pine nuts from a vendor and discovered how big a pain it is to crack those things for the tiniest bit of nutty reward. Makes more sense why the prices are so high for shelled pine nuts. That walk was freezing and half our party had to abort the walk because a tiny roommate was exhausted and needed a nap in the car. I’m glad I can experience scent memories of the cold with a warming cup in my hand in the comfort of my heated home.

What a strange tea! I bought this because I was intrigued by the juniper berries and pine. It smelled very bright and sharp. Brewed, it definitely has a pine flavor at the front of the sip, which morphs into juniper with some floral notes in there. It is a very crisp but smooth taste. It’s so strange and I like that! I’m surprised at how well balanced it is, that is isn’t overpowering and how well the flavors work together. It is very woody and savory, unlike any other tea I have.

Finishing up my second cup of this today. Took a few sips of the first cup and didn’t like it until I added creamer. Once that modification was made, it was pretty delicious, creamy and smooth! It reminds me of those malty chocolate nutty teas like Lupicia’s Cookies. I can pick up on the pistachios when I think about it. Overall it’s lovely and I’m enjoying it.

I have a few mystery tea bags that Theodor sent with one of my orders. I had to open three before I found one I wanted to drink and this oolong was it! My cup has cooled and it brings out more of the mineral notes in the sip than when hot. The finish has this creamy white rice taste. It has an almost caramel like taste. It’s such a lovely tea and my description is not doing it justice. A friend of mine said he found an oolong from a company that he swears is the same tea. They were out of stock the last time he checked and I can’t remember what the company was. I’ll have to ask him again and compare the two side by side.

Went into TheOdor in Paris to buy all the tea. I’m not an oolong fan, but this one smelled wonderful enough that I thought I’d buy some for hubby, who does like oolongs. The scent was like milky caramel! It smells so good that it was one of 8 teas they choose to make matching scented candles with. I kind of wish I had gotten a candle as well, but I couldn’t justify the weight in my luggage. The guy working there was telling me that this tea was a happy mistake. A person who was processing the tea did something wrong in a batch that went out before they decided it was ruined. The tea was sampled anyway at it’s destination and the discovery of how amazing it tastes was made. I wish every tea had an interesting backstory!

This tea tastes smooth and milky with a little caramel in the finish. It doesn’t have that cardboard taste that I find many oolongs have, which is what turns me off of oolongs. I haven’t figured out the perfect steeping parameters yet, but I think I like it oversteeped a bit since it gives a richer flavor.

Du Loup will forever be a luxurious tea to me. Even smelling it before the brew reminds you of dessert thanks to the essence of chocolate and hazelnuts. Delicious with steamed milk, but like all Theodor teas, absolutely brilliant on its own.

Backlog from December 30th sitting on the front porch with my bro for any remaining sunlight for the short day. We listened to a Mythunderstood Podcast about Janus and Ragnarok: Derk, you nailed the rice and paper thing and it’s very heavy in the kettle corn popcorn flavor for me.

I am still not decided on this one. I still lean towards the Mandala, and this one is personally more vegetal, vanilla, spinachy and bordering cakey than I like. Not getting caramel personally, but I do get caramel stickiness. I am also not convinced its Jin Xuan in the body since it’s got more florals like a fan styled Chinese oolong, or even a Tie Guan Yin…but who knows, I’m probably wrong. I’ve gotten through more of it and gifted a friend a decent amount as I work through.

I personally don’t see why this one is rated so highly, but enjoy it . I’m still indebted to Kawaii.

This is backlog, and I’m still not quite sure what I think about it. I decided to do a cold steep instead of a full blown cold brew, and it was fantastic. I used too many leaves, but because cold water slows down the diffusion, upping the leaves for the most flavor was the way to go. I got custard, gardenia, buttermilk, water chestnut, and of course, vanilla. But when I’ve brewed it hot, there’s something off about the flavoring. It’s like a heady floral vegetal mix that can be a little cakey. It’s hard to describe. I’ll experiment more and see what some people’s recommendations are. I think this one is good, but I personally prefer Mandala’s so far.

This was a sipdown! Today was tea party day (yes, that is still happening!) and this was our tea for the sweets part. Lunch was black bean soup and sweet cornbread muffins paired with Queen Catherine. I felt I needed a somewhat hardy black tea to go with a bold lunch. Since I have made notes on QC about fifty times, I will just review this one!

For afters, we had Oreo Thins in coconut flavor, lemon Oreos, and Bounty bars, which is like an Almond Joy minus the almonds for all the Americans who have never heard of it! There were also Reese’s Chips Ahoy cookies. There was a lot of coconut going on and this went really well with it.

I may have overleafed a little since I was using up the very last of the bag but I made up for it by adding a little extra hot water to the pot when I transferred it. (Sometimes I make the tea in one pot and move it to another, especially if I am combining steeps.)

This is a wonderfully aromatic tea and I am shocked that I am finishing it and there are no reviews posted from me on it. The black tea base really comes through nice and strong and doesn’t need milk or sugar but could deffo handle it. The flavorings don’t make the tea flavor but they are prominent, not wimpy. This is a little malty and also a little creamy. A good bit of almond and coconut flavor, and I feel like I taste hazelnut (Nutella style) as well.

Thanks so much for sharing some of this, Kawaii433! I appreciate it. I always love a good milk oolong. flavored or not. This one is divine. Buttery, thick, creamy on a fantastic oolong base. The butter hits the mouth first, then the flavors of the oolong base really lingers. The first two steeps were the same, the third lost a little of that creaminess which was a shame. More of the oolong peeked through that delicious flavor. I really liked how I steeped this one (though it might not need that extra 1/3 teaspoon anyway… I didn’t want to leave too much for the next steep session). It didn’t get to be too much, but it also wasn’t too weak tasting. I would like to try cooler water on the next steep session though. This is a very good milk oolong.
Steep #1 // 1 1/3 teaspoons for a full mug // 10 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 6 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 3 minutes after boiling // 2 min

Sipdown! 57/365

I assume this has a gunpowder base(?) as it looked like a green and was definitely smoky in flavour (some research tells me this is correct). I also picked up some mint (spearmint?) in the blend, but that was about it – the end result was that I didn’t much care for it, since I don’t like minty teas. Thanks for the share regardless, MissB!

ETA: After going through my backlogged pile of teas, I realized that this must have been the tea where I got a delicious creamy note in the aftertaste. Not enough to combat the mint, but it was enjoyable.

Bonus Tea Swap Sample Sipdown of the Day! (5)

Bonus round! This sample is the sole survivor from my swap with ashmanra. Poor dear, I guess I’ll just have to put him out of his misery…

This is described as a peach and vanilla black tea on THE O DOR’s website. Sounds delicious to me! I think Nosy Bey from Dammann is a similar profile?

To me, this is more of a fresh peach tea. Not that I’m complaining, I love peaches! But I’m not getting any vanilla or creaminess here. What I am getting is tart peach/nectarine with a slight candy note, and a smooth base tea with very little character. There is a little touch of bitterness and astringency.

So overall, I’m not impressed with it. Oh well, one fewer tea that I need to buy! And a good thing too, that THE O DOR shipping is bananas…

I’ve been under the weather the past few days. Fought it off for a while, but it hit me hard. Asthma that lingered is what got annoying. The mucus exacerbates it & had to go to visit the doctor (boo). The only doctor I ever liked was dad, and after he passed, I’ve been stuck with people who either don’t know or don’t care. Left me waiting in a room for 2 hrs (during a severe asthma attack). Hello? I’m dying in here. They finally realized I needed a steroid shot…

I never realized how lucky I was in that respect… To have a dad who took care of all your medical needs (he was also a surgeon so he took my tonsils out, for example.) and no lines to wait in. lol

So, I’ve been quiet here since the cold destroyed the little bit of ability I had to taste anything. lol It’s a good time though, I’m still waiting for my December package(s) from TeaVivre and YS, so I don’t really have anything new… But then, I found another sample from Theodor. hehe I guess they gave me 5 free samples!

With that knowledge, this has a Chinese green tea base with a strong melon flavor, and slight peach, pineapple, passion fruit, strawberry, green apple notes. ^^ It’s a very nice fruity green tea. I normally wouldn’t rate it due to my dislike of strong melon taste but it was more like an exotic slurry of fruits.

175 °F, 3 steeps: 2m, 3m, 4m

August Sipdown Prompt – tea from a family member

A sipdown! We had this last night with Earl Grey ice cream and tonight with strawberry and chocolate Milano cookies. There wasn’t enough for a whole pot so this was mixed half and half with Dammann Freres Fujishan Souchong, which is a pretty mild Lapsang, especially compared to the Dammann Crocodil.

Ashman doesn’t like smoky tea, declaring even unsmoked Queen Catherine too smoky for him, but he agreed to try it again and said he thinks he is getting used to it. He might even start craving it before long!

One good thing about Lapsang Souchong is that it is made from the larger, older leaves and thus has less caffeine, so sometimes I can get away with drinking it at night as long as I don’t have too much of it.

Saved the nice stacking tin and put the Dammann in it since it is the same type and its bag was starting to fall apart at the sides.

August Sipdown Prompt – Campfire Day: drink a smoky tea.

This is a bit lighter than the Dammann Freres tea of the same name. The base for this Theodor offering is from Taiwan and the smoke is not quite as strong and meaty, but I love both.

I had intended to have this earlier in the day but Ashman is home and doesn’t love smoky tea so I made an unsmoked Lapsang for breakfast. Then I was going to have it after breakfast but we ended up going out of town a little unexpectedly, first to The Woodwright’s School (where Roy Underhill HIMSELF gave me an unfinished candlebox that he made on his tv show long ago so that we can finish it and it even has a SECRET CHAMBER!!) and then we went to do a little kitty sitting out of town which also involved setting off Superanna’s burglar alarm.

I love lapsang with ice cream and I was determined to do this prompt on time so I had it after supper with some homemade vanilla ice cream. I dearly hope that the caffeine does not keep me up all night. I usually don’t have caffeine after 3 pm so we shall see.

The final sipdown prompt for me to fulfill for November – a smoky tea.

I almost went with my newer Dammann Freres Lapsang that Superanna gave me, but decided that the whole point of the challenge is to sipdown older tea. I forgot this was more delicate and used boiling water but it didn’t hurt it at all, and frankly I needed the hearty smoke this morning to face the day. Lots going on and I needed to haul some large heavy ferns from the front porch to the back to try to overwinter them, cut out a huge section of jasmine vine to make room for them in the sunniest area, neaten up the beds for soon-to-visit guests, finish the outdoor decorating, and teach in the afternoon. I didn’t even realize HOW MUCH I NEEDED a strengthening tea until it was almost to my lips and I inhaled the smokey aroma and felt the hit of resolve.

It did the trick. I might have it again tomorrow…

I invited someone over for lunch and tea today – not a hardcore tea drinker. I asked what she usually drinks and she said she usually has a green or black, no milk or sugar. I assumed it was grocery store bags. I showed her my tea shelves and we started opening tins and sniffing, and she got excited about this one. We steeped this to have with….the same soup I mentioned in my first review of this tea. That was totally by accident, because when I made the soup to serve for lunch today I had no idea what tea we would be having!

She absolutely loved it. We drank LOTS of it. It has such a nice base. The smoke is just right. I do not like Lapsang that tastes like smoke and hot water. I really REALLY want a good base under the smoke and I want to taste the tea. My favorite smoky teas are this one, the Dammann Freres tea by the same name, and Russian Caravan by Grace Tea. This went so well with our meal.

After the meal we had matcha, Wenshan Baozhong, and Pu’er, not in that order. Maybe I will get around to reviewing how those went.

I have had this tea for a while but it wasn’t on Steepster so I didn’t get around to reviewing it. I finally roused myself from my laziness and added it.

I think my daughter bought this for me because I have said that the tea of this same name by Dammann Freres was my all-time favorite Lapsang Souchong, at least of the smoked variety. (Teavivre’s unsmoked Lapsang Souchong Ancient Wild Tree holds my heart in the unsmoked department.)

How do the two compare? The DF version is darker and stronger, and excellent in its own way. This is a smoked Taiwanese tea as opposed to the more customary Chinese LS and it is a thing of beauty. These leaves would lend themselves very well to oolong.

We have had a lot of rain and clouds and I needed comfort food today. I had skipped breakfast but refused to eat anything but comfort food, so while I was convinced I was slowly starving, I put together a pot of soup (and oh my it was worth waiting for – really hit the spot) since soup is one of my favorite comforts. Diced tomatoes, cannelini beans, roasted carrots, onions, and garlic, peas, rosemary sprig, and lots of herbs and spices. After the soup I HAD to have tea, and on short, cloudy days of fall and winter LS calls to me.

This is a pretty foolproof tea. I have forgotten their parameters and made it at higher temps for longer steeps without a problem. The smoke is pronounced but not overpowering. The Taiwanese base is elegant. It is, in short, just what I was looking for today.