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I’m going to do a couple backlogs of new stuff now too. Someone on the tea subreddit works at Lupicia and offered to send me some of this after I said I couldn’t believe sakura leaves were salty. I have really learned a lot about cherry blossom trees this year.

I should have probably looked around to see what a good water temp for a houjicha is but didn’t. I kind of probably went with something higher than I’d typically use for green tea, though doesn’t really matter, it tasted fine, but I think it could be improved.

The taste was interesting, mostly it tastes like houjicha, but then it’s just a bit salty, a little floral, and just faintly cherry. It’s definitely a unique mix of flavors.

I have enough for another couple cups to experiment with it. I’m just really excited I was able to try this without having to order it. Nobody else has written a note on it, so it was definitely unchartered waters for me.

Hello friends I am here, I could not last very long..of course the dashboard is busted right now. Things still suck A LOT but other than finding a job (hahahahahaha I thought this was going to be easier, I have lost count of applications, have only had one interview, and was turned down for it which I don’t mind because it was 6am-2pm or 2pm-10pm and no thanks..), I’ve done all I can for right now. I still have a lot more tea to let go of. I just still can’t bring myself to do it.

So because I get incredibly hot even with it being 77 in my apartment, I have become a creature of the cold brew. It’s been awhile since I cold brewed an oolong and I thought this one sounded like it’d be a good choice. And it is!

It reminds me a bit of the oolong base of the Lupicia Pineapple Oolong, but maybe much more subtle on the orchid notes, or at least easier to drink. It is overall pretty floral, but not like undrinkably so. It almost reminds me a bit of a white tea, there’s something like sweet hay to it. The sweetness also seems like some kind of light fruit. Pineapple’s in the description on here but it’s something a bit more subtle that I’m getting.

I’m not like a huge, huge fan of it, for some reason I’ve had a falling out with oolongs like this even though they used to be my favorite thing. I was hoping coldbrewing would bring the love back or something.

Just for future reference also since I used probably half this tea and might want to do this again: I steeped it for roughly 18 hours before first drinking, but left the tea in there for another couple of hours. It didn’t make much of a difference, but 18 was good. The other time I cold brewed an oolong I went a full day, but I think this was definitely full of flavor at 18.

Dear Steepster,
I messed up terribly. Especially with money. Because of tea, most likely. Okay, for sure. So I need to ignore you for a long, long time. Badly.

If we’ve started talking a swap, we’ll still complete it. I’ll still be here for the tea boxes, those I for sure can’t ignore or leave. I missed a credit card payment. Twice. I barely have money as is because I don’t work, and I also just messed up school and at this point I don’t even know if I can keep going, which is an even bigger problem for money.

I’m working on applying to stuff, it’s kind of hard when you have an ear infection.

update if you were interested in buying tea Anyway, all the tea I had to swap, I put it here to sell: I figure it makes more sense than an auction first (thanks for the idea CJ). http://twominutesforbaking.net/2013/05/21/tea-for-sale/ I’ll be home all day so I can keep an eye on it and I’ll go now to look through the rest of my stuff so it’s all posted there.

Also if you ever wanted to buy stuff from my etsy shop I’d really appreciate it right now.

So after feeling like a total miserable fool I thought I needed something sweet, something I’ve loved, yet I’ve ignored in the midst of all this tea. I can’t believe how long it’s been since this one has seen the outside of the cabinet.

In that time though I have come to dislike rooibos a bit. Ok, a lot. While it smells good in the bag, brewed up it has the rooibos scent of taste bud death. I think it’s lost that mapley goodness. Though I do have some maple granules I could add to bring it back. I don’t have much of this left so that will do.

So that’s about it, I’ll miss you, but I need to get off the path of self-destruction.

xoxo,
momo

I’m going through my teas trying to get rid of things I don’t want anymore, so check the US swap thread! In a couple days I may make a box to sell again because I really need to clear stuff out of my apartment and really cut down on how much I have.

For some reason I thought I never drank this, when in fact I did drink it hot. I decided to try it iced.

It brews up very pale, so I may have let it go a little longer than intended. The floral notes of the oolong are so STRONGLY orchid this way to the point it’s almost overwhelming. It hits really hard in the aftertaste.

The pineapple is very subtle, but it blends so beautifully into the floral notes of the oolong. I’m saving the wet leaves to cold brew and we’ll see how that goes.

As it mellows out in the glass, there’s more of a creaminess to it. While this is nice, especially if you like orchid filled oolongs, it just could use a little bit more pineapple. But seriously as a floral oolong this is awesome. This might be the first time I am having an oolong like this iced so I’m still a bit apprehensive but I think I’ll start to love it.

edit: I think I like it better when it’s more room temperature than iced. The flavors are more well rounded which is much more enjoyable than feeling like you’ve been hit in the mouth with an orchid. I’m still going to cold brew the leaves though. Maybe the steep took some of that oomph out of them.

I still have my package of this somewhere…well yesterday my intended cold steep was the rest of my 12 teas of Christmas packet but there was nowhere near enough for even a cup. So I left it for over a day hoping it might work out…and it did! I was worried it was going to taste terrible from sitting that long, and the only reason it did was because it was so light. I think this one is just light colored anyway? It’s been awhile.

So anyway I still want to marry this tea.

When I go to my boyfriend’s, I bring along a reusable bag filled with teas that are small samples, or just a bit left, in hopes I can finish them off. That was precisely my plan to ice Teavana’s Precious White Peach again, but I did not have enough for a full 16oz. I have a very small amount of DavidsTea’s Kanpe with me, definitely not enough for even a cup, but I figure I’ll throw it in there too.

They actually don’t have any ingredients in common from the looks of it, but I figured why not give it a shot. I have more Kanpe but it’s still a sipdown combination of excellence.

I only had this peach tea by itself once and I had to delete the note so I can’t remember much of it. I do remember it was not hibiscus pink, which this turned thanks to Kanpe.

I might have let the temperature get too hot for the white tea? It’s very bitter. Which is weird, since you know, it’s not very much white tea in the first place. It starts off very strongly tasting like Kanpe, with the addition of peach before going bitter like that. The cinnamon is pretty strong too, I really was not expecting this to taste so heavily like Kanpe when I barely had enough for a cup of it hot, let alone iced.

I’ll probably finish the glass anyway but I’m glad that I have no more of that white tea. It really isn’t very good and it seems to be incredibly picky.

I cold steeped this for about 4 hours. I figured no matter what it looked like it was going to taste like hibiscus, and I want something cold now. It did smell like sangria when I poured it into the jar.

I added honey, since that’s the best thing there is to use at my boyfriend’s, wow, don’t even bother in a cold tea unless you like to stir for 5 minutes. I think there may have been some kind of contamination with this one? It tastes nutty. I honestly do not have that many teas that are nutty so I am confused.

If I slow down on a sip it’s actually the fruit flavors all turning into that…there is so much going on it has like a peanut taste to it. It starts off tart, then I get mango and pineapple, maybe a couple other things, and it fades into what seriously tastes like peanuts and then back into so tart it tastes metallic.

The honey at least brought out the fruit. The jar is still about 1/3 full and I think I am just going to dump it. This isn’t enjoyable and it does not taste like sangria at all. Thankfully I used all I had on this steep.

Thanks, Kittenna!

I wasn’t going to log this because these are tea bags and they are terrible but just a note out there to anyone who might buy these and think to have it as iced tea: don’t.

This is just bordering tolerable when hot, but iced, oh my god, it’s like peppermint mixed in with twigs. Mostly twigs, then peppermint.

I think it’s safe to assume I can taste things again in which case this is relegated to the pantry until the next cold comes along.

Tea down! I decided this had to be cold brewed, but when trying to put the lid back on, it wouldn’t stay down. Next thing I know, I’m giving it one more try held in my hand when pop! goes the bottom. Tea falls. I wonder what on earth just happened. Not to fear, most of the tea was saved, and Vintage TeaWorks is so awesome they are sending me a new tube. They changed them too, mine has a plastic lens bottom and they are now metal like the inside of the top. Yay! And they answered really quickly. I feel silly now that I remember it chipped my nail polish the first time. It’s actually one of my favorite tins to have on display even if it apparently doesn’t get along with me.

So…onto cold brewing. I guess it was in there for 15 hours? It’s very, very apricot scented. It does smell like Riesling but more exciting.

I was not too big of a fan of this when I first tried it, which I believe was hot. This cold brew is fantastic. It’s fruity and floral. I like how the honeysuckle has most definitely come out too, becoming stronger as it warms back up from the fridge.

Only problem is I am slightly finding the lemongrass to still be really strong, at least when I have a refilled, cold glass. It starts off really apricot flavored but gets into the strong lemongrass territory where it tastes like fruit loops.

Still tasty anyway!

Iced tea time again! Although my head’s still pretty messed up, I can kind of taste things again. I can’t tell that it’s somewhat hot outside. Feels so good to me because inside, I’m cold and it’s 74 in here…hahaha.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had this one though it feels like I went through at least 1 1/2 oz of it last year. This is definitely going to be my staple iced tea though. I have 3 pitchers and I’m ready to make iced tea out of them all summer long.

I’ve had my Takeya pitcher since last year and I realize it’s quite difficult to make sure all the tea actually infuses. When I took the infuser tube thing out, the tea up top was bone dry. Anyone have a preferred method for preventing that? I was thinking of just dunking it in the water I put in the pitcher before attaching it to the lid. I really wish I had one like the one DavidsTea is selling where the filter goes down much further into the pitcher :(

Anyway! This is like my ideal straight black iced tea blend. And it’s so cheap! Not even $6 for 125g. It does get a bit plain, I really should just try sweetening it a tad. But honestly I don’t know if I can taste things still, I kind of gave up and have only eaten bread today. Still tastes like Darjeeling and Ceylon to me though so that’s good.

Mostly it’s just thirst quenching, you know. Just refreshing. If the sound of cars didn’t make my head spin, I’d sit on the patio with the pitcher and enjoy being warm.