Muiriddin Send Message

Okay my morning tea did something to me this morning that I just don’t comprehend. I brewed my first cup as normal two mounded teaspoons around 12 ounces of water steeped for 3 minutes. Got my day started. The first cup tasted good as usual.

Then I brewed the second cup which goes with me on my commute (same tea leaves, second steep, same duration which usually creates a slightly weaker cup, that brings out some different tastes in the tea). On the highway something odd happened. I got my nose down in my cup and inhaled as usual and expected the nice aroma of Ceylon Black Tea that I expect (give me the sonata, that music that gets me started each morning!) and suddenly the nose screamed wet dog and poof… I didn’t finish my second cup and ended up making some earl grey to clear the whole thing from my brain when I got to work.

I am not bumping down my rating of Ceylon Sonata for this yet, if it continues I really have no explanation as to what happened. I brewed it with the same teaware, into the same cup and the same way I do every morning and the first steep tasted good.

I will try this again, but it may be a couple of days as I wait for the memory to clear.

Have any of you had something like this happen? Where a daily drinking tea suddenly has something happen which changes your perspective? Was this just a bad second steep? I’ll have to take a good look at everything back home when I get back this evening to see if there is some explanation.

So my tea shipment seems to be delayed, and therefore I ran out and got some more Silver Needle from a different source (does this mean I’m addicted?)

Based on what I could determine this appears to be a different tea than the Silver Needle Premium from Rishi, so I’ve added it to the list for Steepster.

Two mounded tablespoon’s and about 12 ounces of water steeped for 2 minutes. This one is slightly more colorful when steeped than Adagio’s Silver Needle, smell here is more hay than Adagio’s I believe.

Wow work got me interrupted there, where was I…

Ahh I am now on the second steeping of the Rishi Silver Needle. The second steeping smells more floral than the first but I did steep it 2:30 instead of just 2:00 of my first. The taste of this has a hint more flower to it than Adagio’s and seems slightly less complex. On first impressions I’m going to have to say I prefer the Adagio to the Rishi. However I really should try steeping them both so I can try them almost simultaneously.

With how well this came out on the second steeping I may have to try three and that is where Adagio’s Silver Needle seemed to “give out” in my mind. When I get my tea shipment I will brew two cups one of each and try them both to truly contrast them.

However since my first impression is that I prefer the adagio, I currently have given them the higher rating here. Another tea that goes in the “Needs further experimentation section” of my cabinet.

I haven’t written a tasting note for this because my first impression was not good and yet darjeeling is one of my father’s favorites…

So I tried it again today and my impression is better than my first try so here we go. The nose is typical black tea with some additional forest moss smell, kind of musty but in a clean fresh way. In addition it has a faint nutty maybe smokey smell that lets me know this is going to be different than my typical morning black (Ceylon Sonata).

Orange and rooibos, sounds like a great mix, however this isn’t as orange as you might think based on how it smells as you are putting it into whatever teaware you use to steep it. The smell is almost 100% orange, however once it has steeped and you get it in your cup, the rooibos comes out to play.

This was my after superbowl drink actually, basically something to calm me down after the big game. Having had it before I knew what to expect, a big orange nose until it falls into my cup, then it is almost all rooibos with a hint of orange overtone. Basically what you have is a woody rooibos symphony and just a hint of orange harmony, exactly backwards what you would think from smelling it before you brew it.

Which just so happens to be how I like it. So if you like rooibos drink this tea, if you are looking for a tea dominated by the orange go somewhere else this one is not for you.

Nose is rooibos wood with just a hint of orange after steeping. Taste is almost all rooibos with just a layered hint of fruit. Which fruit you ask? You aren’t asking you know which one! I prepared this with two teaspoon fulls of “leaf” and 2 cups of water, steeped it and put it in one of my favorite big mugs.

Hope you all have a good evening. Maybe my next tea shipment will come tomorrow… until then!

Wow this smells different than my typical black morning tea (Ceylon Sonata). This was the last sealed bag in my black sampler from Adagio. Maybe the name Dante scared me off since I didn’t want to end up in the inferno?

It steeped cloudy which startled me, has a very different nose from any other black tea I’ve tried. The smell reminds me of rain on clay if that makes sense with a hint of dust, smoke and dark spice added in, something my wife adds to the Indian curry for flavor, maybe black cardamom? The taste is fairly mild in comparison to the smell, tough to compare to anything since I’m not sure I’ve tasted something like this before.

The aftertaste is long and layered in that it starts with a black tea flavor and ends with a bit of astringency and bitterness almost 5 seconds after swallowing. All in all this one goes in the “needs further research” pile since my first impression isn’t bad, but it might need a different approach to steeping/preparation.

I used two heaping teaspoon fulls with just under 2 cups of water.

Red Rooibos is something that my wife hates, but for some reason I can’t get enough of. After having tried several different rooibos flavored teas I decided that I needed to simply try it by itself. When you start steeping this it gets red quick and only darkens the longer you steep it. Smells of fresh cut hardwood and wet tree bark are prevalent with the barest hint of cinnamon smoke? Some kind of spice that I have trouble putting my finger on. Maybe it is just my memory of the Rooibos Chai that I enjoy so much. Taste finishes with a pleasant woody wetness that for some reason always makes me think of my grandfathers wood working shop in his basement, additionally it has slight a bitterness that barely hits your tongue at the end. The taste starts with a bit of nut flavor and almost a hint of brown ale hoppiness? Tough to describe to be honest, but a great evening no caffeine beverage that I do need to order more of. This “leaf” is very forgiving if you go longer than 5 minutes when steeping. Although I can’t say I’ve tried more than 8 minutes myself.

I find it hardest to write about teas that I don’t like. How do I describe what tastes bad? This one is all about what I do not want in an oolong, Take the worst of black and green tea, mix it in a large kettle and toss it down the garbage disposal. What is funny is the straight Formosa from Adagio was quite good, whatever they did which caused them to add “bai hao” to it isn’t.

Tea, like life is a journey. The reason this site exists is if you don’t document your way, how can anyone learn from the experience? I’ve obviously gone off the deep end tonight. This note is for a tea I drank hours ago and want to make sure I don’t accidentally purchase again. So bear with me.

A very subtle tea, smells ever so slightly of a freshly cut farmers field. Taste is strangely creamy/buttery with a clean finish once swallowed. If you are looking for bold go somewhere else. If you want to experiment with something very subtle this tea can reward quite nicely. I find that I can vary the amount of tea on this one quite a bit and still like the results even with 4 heaping teaspoons added to my ingenuitea. Contrary to what others have said I have not been able to steep this more than twice. The third attempt at steeping seems to not work, maybe I shouldn’t be increasing the amount of time I steep past a certain amount? Only further testing will reveal!

This is a wonderful spicy aromatic drink. It takes everything I love about Chai, takes away the caffeine and adds the woodiness of Rooibos and blends it together very well. I have to try this with milk like a real chai tea!

Wow, I like Rooibos and Vanilla, who knew the combination could do this! I simply did not like this at all, too much vanilla and it brought the bad tastes that I didn’t even know existed out of the Rooibos.