Popular Tasting Notes
This came in the mail today! My first order from 52teas, but not my first experience with them. I’ve been pleased with them so far, so let’s keep the good teas coming!
This smells very strongly of raspberry. I’m not particularly fond of raspberries, but I certainly don’t dislike them. However, I love cheesecake and things with cream cheese, so I had to try this. I can also smell the honeybush base underneath all that raspberry.
It actually tastes like a danish! I can taste raspberries the most, but the aftertaste is sweet like cream cheese and frosting. Wow! I’m drinking this unsweetened and without milk. It doesn’t need sweetener, but I think a splash of milk would benefit this.
The only thing that is disappointing is that I wish there was more of a cream cheese taste. It’s barely there, even in the after taste.
Yum, the aftertaste really makes me happy. Today has been a good tea day!
I bought this in 2018 to compare it with the fresh spring Mi Lan Xiang. I wish I’d added it to the database then, as it’s been taken off the Camellia Sinensis website. Since I don’t have a catalogue description, I can’t say whether this is an aged version of their regular Mi Lan Xiang or a different iteration of this Dan Cong. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of roast, char, honey, wood, and faint guava. The first steep has well-integrated notes of honey, roast, barley, orchid, guava, wood, and roasted nuts. The second steep adds lychee and hops. Far from being only in the aftertaste, these flavours present themselves up front as well. They continue in the next couple steeps, and I also get a hint of orange. The char and roast become more prominent in steep five, but not to the point that they obscure the honey, guava, lychee, and orchid. Wood and incense appear in steep seven, and the roast gets stronger, though it’s still not overpowering. The persistence of the signature honey orchid flavours is amazing. The session ends predictably with honey, roast, and minerals.
If this is indeed an older version of the same tea, which seems likely given that some flavours are found in both, it represents a marked improvement. The roast level is about the same, but rather than hiding around the edges, the honey, fruit, and floral notes are front and centre. If I hadn’t read the labels, I’d have pegged this as the newer Dan Cong. I’m glad I had the chance to compare these two teas, and will keep an eye out for older Dan Congs in the future.
Flavors: Char, Floral, Grain, Guava, Honey, Hops, Lychee, Mineral, Orange, Orchid, Roast Nuts, Roasted, Roasted Barley, Wood
Preparation
Just posting here because it’s the most recent post in my dashboard – but is anyone else having issues posting notes now/their dashboard stuck? Both VariaTEA and I tried writing notes today and the note appears to “post” but then the tasting note isn’t visible on the dash/our personal tea logs/or the specific tea page… Definitely not what usually happens when posting a tasting note glitches…
Yep, this is also my most recent tasting note showing on the dashboard.
tea-sipper, do you mind trying to post a tasting note to see if you have the same issue?
I posted a tasting note about an hour ago and it doesn’t appear on the dashboard, only my tealog
When I click on YOUR tealog, the last one I see is Banofee
…Welp, I tried posting about the issue on the discussion board and the same thing happened – comment appear to “post” but then it neither appeared in the thread and the discussion thread also didn’t get bumped back up to the first one on the board…
So it’s quite possible that comments are the only thing posting right now?
Also not seeing e-mail notifications for any comments on tasting notes that I liked.
@tea-sipper – I wrote Banoffee yesterday before whatever is happening started happening; the last one I attempted to write was for Keemun Congfu…
This seems too consistent across multiple users to be one of the weird glitches the only affects a few people, and inconsistently. I wonder if it’s the result of Adagio attempting to fix something??
Fingers crossed it’s a short lived issue & we get back to normal quickly.
Well, I wrote a message to the Steepster FB page but I don’t know if it’s being monitored anymore and, if so, by who…
Everybody’s notes are showing up in /recent. The last to show up on my dashboard is this one, posted 15 hours ago. In /discuss, the last thread to show as being active was 16 hours ago.
I guess it’s good they’re not totally lost? That’s weird though – in seven years I don’t think I’ve ever seen this happen, especially with the discussion board too. The dashboard, years back when Jason was still actively supporting the site, used to “freeze” occasionally but IIRC the recent section always froze with it & it never affected the DB at the same time…
I just posted a reply to a thread in /discuss. It posted but did not update to the first page, nor did it show in the Recent Activity tab on my dashboard. The last update in my Recent Activity tab was 16 hours ago, and in my Notices tab 2o hours ago. It looks like there was a big bot thread bump 20 hours ago, and it seems the offender was deleted. I wonder if all of the issues are related to that massive bump.
Hm, now my post to the thread is missing.
And now user reviews in /recent are missing.
I think some of us should have grabbed Michael @ Adagio’s e-mail before this happened. haha
derk My posts to the discussion board, responding to Arby appeared to be posted but they are nowhere to be seen. The last tea reviews I see under ‘recent’ are 7 hours old. I thought the board was oddly slow today…
Just popping in here to say I’m having the same issues with my tasting notes from last night. Also, this is the most recent post on my dashboard (from 17 hours ago). White Antlers – I did see your post to Arby a few minutes ago, but now it has disappeared.
I’m having the same issues. This is the most recent post on my dashboard, I wrote a review that hasn’t shown up in my tealog, and my reply to a discussion thread posts but doesn’t show up. Seems like Steepster is definitely broken.
Shae Weird. Just weird.
I posted a note this morning. It was a little dodgy then seemed to go through. It is on my tealog but never made it here.
Ashmanra, after you mentioned it, I saw the note in your tealog but not on my dashboard. I hope they can sort out these issues.
ashmanra If it’s the note for Huang Jin Gui, it’s up. I see it. Posted 6 hours ago.
LuckyMe’s tasting note for a baozhong oolong is now the last tasting note on /recent. Everything else posted after that has disappeared. I checked on my phone which has never been logged into Steepster, and while logged in on my laptop.
Same on my Kindle and lap top. That last tasting note was 17 hours ago. Odd, though…when I click on ashmanra’s name, I see her last tasting note from 7 hours ago.
Yep, Huang Jin Gui was posted this morning! That is the last one I have done, but it doesn’t show up anywhere but my tealog.
I just successfully posted another review, only to have it not show up on my tealog or dashboard. Weirdly, the submitted review said I had 208 notes, which would be accurate if the two reviews I posted today showed up (my tealog says I have 206 notes). Hopefully this means they’re in the database and will appear eventually.
Mine is stuck too. 15 hours behind.
Same problem here. My posts and tasting notes since the past 24 hours have stopped showing. Frustrating…
a day ago… last tasting note :/
Damn, I was really hoping to wake up this morning to a functional site…
Same here. This is frustrating!
Same. I’m hoping Michael, or whoever else might be running the site, looks at it this week. Michael said in one of the discussion threads that we should see upgrades next month. I’m really hoping that doesn’t mean that they aren’t planning on working on Steepster until August.
Yup – I’m not sure who to email about the issue. I already reached out on FB, but my message hasn’t been read yet (and I don’t know if anyone monitors the FB account anymore). I guess one option COULD be Jason? He could potentially redirect to Adagio/Michael – but I’m feeling conflicted on whether that’s an appropriate ask since he’s no longer the site owner. Isn’t that a big like asking your old manager who has since resigned to call the current manager to complain about an issue with your schedule? It’s not his problem anymore…
I submitted an e-ticket using the “contact us” button at the bottom of the discussions page. If the site has legally changed hands that should go to the new admin. Other than that, I don’t know what to do.
Personally, I wouldn’t reach out to Jason. Not his site, not his problem.
I tried to find a phone number or email address for Adagio’s head office, but with no luck. Maybe try to message them on social media?
I’ve been in the middle of the “updating the database” project, and those pages are also stuck. That is, after I edit a page, it says the tea page is updated, but shows the old tea page, without the updates. If I click “Edit” again, however, the page I’m given to edit has all the edits I just made… they just aren’t showing on the public website anywhere.
Here, I did my librarian thing and this is Michael’s contact info, for anyone who wants it:
Media contact:
Michael Cramer
e-mail: [email protected]
Marketing Manager
(973) 253-7400 ext.111
Thank you always for your librarian skills, Mastress Alita. :D
Librarians are awesome. :) Both of my sisters are librarians, and I jokingly call them Google1 and Google2.
Mastress Alita, this is great! Has anyone contacted Michael, and is there an update?
Can’t believe we’re still frozen – this might be the longest freeze ever in Steepster history…
What’s curious is that nothing in this thread about the freeze can be seen on the front page where this tea note is featured.
Never mind, Leafhopper isn’t one of the featured people anymore. :/
Ooh, I’m glad I made it to the front page of Steepster, if only temporarily. :) Has anyone gotten a response from Michael?
I haven’t received a reply yet. Also, it was a tea note from three days ago, not this one. :) I should be slower to speak.
Thank you Mastress Alita.
Veronica, whichever note it was, I’m still happy! Too bad there hasn’t been a response. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.
Leafhopper, absolutely! Your tasting notes are awesome, and you’ve been on the front page a few times that I’ve seen. I just don’t want to spread false information. There’s enough problems here without me adding to them.
I totally understand. Let’s hope we wake up to a working Steepster tomorrow morning.
…nope :/
Can anyone else suddenly access their inbox? I’m not sure if the messages are actually going through, though. I wish Adagio would provide a service update on when the site will be working again.
No, I cannot access mine. It took me 10 minutes to log in this morning. I kept getting the 503 error.
not updating either
It’s not only US and Canada thing :/
Anyone hear anything?
I’m not the most tech-savvy person on the planet, but wouldn’t a company typically make changes in a test environment before pushing those changes to production so that there is minimal impact to the site? We do this at work and I asked my husband, who works in Technology, and he is baffled that this would even be happening. Assuming this freeze is due to Adagio’s updates, of course.
“Traveler’s log, Day 4. Still trapped in Mi Lan Xiang 2010. Still no word from the new Overlords who had repeatedly said, ‘Trust us, everything will be fine!’ Leafhopper wasn’t expecting such a rush, and the tea is running low. We’ve been abandoned to rot away in this lone tea review, the last of its kind before The Great Steepster Freeze of 2020 began. I fear soon we will grow restless and desperate enough to resort to eating each other…”
Mastress Alita, lol
LOL! Yes, we are stranded and getting restless.
Whether this is a bug they can’t fix or part of their efforts to update the server, Adagio’s failure to give us any information is very frustrating.
haha. I think something like this happened before about a year ago where things were stuck? Though not to this extent. But I remember things being stranded in the last posted tasting note. This might be something that Jason had to fix behind the scenes a lot that the new owners didn’t know about…
Yes, Steepster did periodically freeze for a few hours or even a day or so, but never for this long.
I keep checking in… Aww.
On a positive note, this tasting note now shows up in the list of the most popular notes on Steepster…
LOL! Yes, people seem to have a lot to say about this tea. :D
Plenty of brand new spam in the Discussion section.
I don’t see any spam, and the last discussion post is four days ago. Who’d have thought I’d actually want to see more recent spam posts?
Weird, Leafhopper. I logged in earlier today and there was half a page of new spam there. Some of it was just a few hours old.
here’s one from today:
What Are The Benefits Of Using Buzz B Gone?
buzzbsuper in General Tea Discussion about 4 hours ago
0 about 4 hours ago
White Antlers, now I’m getting some spam from three days ago, but nothing more recent. Steepster sure is acting weird.
It sure is, Leafhopper. I think a lot of us are seeing different things, but what we want to be seeing (and doing) still isn’t working. : P
White Antlers, I’m humbled. Thank you! I will fulfill your request.
Derk, I just looked at your tealog and saw an entry with no notes that was posted ten hours ago. I’m heartened that our reviews might still be in the database, though who knows at this point? It may be worthwhile contacting Jason if Adagio doesn’t know how to fix this bug.
Also, checking my own tealog doesn’t magically bring up the three reviews I posted since this debacle began.
Just thought I’d let you all in on some potentially happy news. Yes, at first glance everything is well behind on my end, but after some finagling, I can get some of the newer things to show up. This to me says that our posts are being saved in the database.
For instance, if I go to my Tealog, the newest item that shows up is 4 days old, but if I change the sort order to Most popular, then change it back to New, my newer tasting notes all suddenly show up :)
derk The pleasure is mine! Enjoy. : )
MandyJS, this works! I can get my last three reviews to show up. I’m glad my tasting notes are being saved.
@MandyJS – Genius! Worked for me too. I also tried this on the Discussion Board and it seems to work there as well – it gave me the chance to flag all the spam from the last four days (though w/ the weird cacheing issue it’s still showing up even after I marked it). Some of the edits I’ve made in discussions, like the Samurai TTB thread, still aren’t displaying – but it’s a start!
(And of course, once again, it’s the users finding work arounds for the glitches…)
So I just got a message back from the Steepster FB Account:
“Hi, thank you so much for letting us know. Things may be a little spotty while we begin making the transition of Steepster over to Adagio. I’ll pass this along to our team and hopefully we can get things working properly again soon”.
Anyone else get any response back?
…day six.
Yep, this is the longest time Steepster has been down since I started using the site.
All of the comments are finally showing up on the tea tasting note page (it wasn’t before for me), although the likes and comments still don’t show up on your profile.
I was wondering why there was only one note in the last days of the dashboard. I had the same issues trying to upload a note, today, 7/31/2020 2:27 PM Eastern time. So essentially, Adagio is absorbing this site and they now own it?
Adagio definitely owns it, though it’s questionable how well they’re absorbing it!
Mmmmm. Lovely. And here I was having great luck trying Wang Family Teas roasted teas and green oolongs, Whispering Pines with Lorien, and a new Georgia/Estonia company called Renegade Tea. The Renegade ones are all on the lighter end and are more grandpa style teas, but they do have some quirks.
Can I also get more background about the Adagio absorption? (I know they used to have their own site for tea notes too).
I can still post reviews and it looks like they’re being added to the database, though no one can see them. (If a tree falls in the forest without anyone hearing it, does it make a sound?) I just got six teas from Tillerman (plus a customs charge, yay!) that I’m eager to write about.
For more info about Adagio, you can look at the discussion thread called “The Future of Steepster.”
I just saw what looked like Daylon’s latest review from 2 hours ago, but maybe times and updates are still fubar…
It was mine, and I did write it 2 hours ago.
Daylon, I had to click on your profile to see the review, but it did show up. Still nothing on my dashboard since this Mi Lan Xiang review.
My Dashboard and the Discussion Boards, edits to tea entries in the database, etc. still aren’t showing up “in real time” (everything there is still showing stuff from 6 days ago, or how it appeared six days ago). Yes, there are “workarounds” to see more current postings (like going to someone’s individual tea log, switching the Discussion Board from “Recent Replies” to “Date Posted”, which really just brings up the hordes of new spam, etc.) I can still post tea reviews, but they only show up on my Tasting Notes page, not in the Dashboard. At this point I almost wonder if I should just close down Steepster and check back in a month to see if anything has finally changed. It’s getting ridiculous…
I commented on Daylon’s most recent review. The comment appeared to post but when I went back, it was gone.
Mastress Alita you might have a good idea to check back here in a month. I’ve only stuck around because I sent out some tea care packages to folks and wanted to be sure they arrived safely. I never post reviews even though I drink lots of tea every day. Maybe waiting a month and coming back will bring wonderful, happy surprises. Or so we can dream and hope…
Has anyone other than me gotten a reply back to the message they sent out?
I have a few more replies that I’ve gotten since the one I posted above – I’m not sure if I’m talking w/ Michael or someone else, but this has been through the Steepster FB account:
I asked if the delay spam accounts I’ve flagged being cleared was related to the cache errors/glitch and this was the response…
Unfortunately, the transition of the website is ongoing and proceeding less smoothly than we had expected. The damage to the original code is more pervasive than we had anticipated, but we remain optimistic about the site’s future. Please bear with us as we go through the difficult migration.
After that I asked if they could provide a rough estimate of the timeline for the remainder of the migration based on the current challenges they’ve come across and pace of the migration thus far. This was the response:
It’s really hard to say. Like I said, the issues are deeply rooted and we want to take the time to get it right. But we are working on it and hoping to get it up and running ASAP.
So it looks like what we’re all experiencing is directly related to the migration of Steepster over to Adagio. While I think some advance warning that the migration had started and could (though clearly it did) cause issues would have been VERY appreciated, Adagio is definitely aware of the problems we’re experiencing and is actively working on fixing them. No ETA on how long it will take, but it sounds like this will definitely be temporary.
Possibly related, and possibly not, for a brief moment I saw a new thread on the discussion board today called “Tea 123” and while my first impression was that it might be spam or a user trying to figure out why nothing was recent, what I actually think it might be is Adagio trying to test/trial updates relating to the migration.
The account is an old one from about ten years ago that has primarily only reviewed Adagio teas, and the only recent tasting note was an Adagio blend with the comment “Lorem Ipsum”. I don’t recognize the username at all but the hyperlink for their user profile is https://steepster.com/adagio – and whatever you first signed up your account as is the default address, so def seems like this was Adagio’s OG account from like a decade ago…
So they’re clearly trying – I’ll give ’em that.
Maybe you’re the only one who contacted them, Roswell? I didn’t want to send a rush of e-mails if others were… so thank you for doing that Roswell. Just as long as they are trying to fix the problems, I’m okay with it. I’m still drinking tea…
I didn’t contact them either. I’m glad Adagio is aware of the issues and is trying to fix them.
Discussion page has some info updated.
It’s good to see the update, though it would be nice to have an ETA.
Is there an update from Adagio on the discussion board? I’m not seeing it.
Neither do I Shae :(
you have to first find the ‘future of steepster’ thread, then go to the fourth page, where you will be able to see there is a fifth page and that’s where Michael has written a small message.
No 5th page for me on ‘Future of Steepster.’
The last post I see on this topic is Leafhopper’s inquiry about the site working on the IE platform, and that was 10 days ago.
The fifth page only shows up for me when I’m ON the fourth page.
This is what Michael wrote there:
The past two weeks had been very frustrating as our intention was to dedicate time and effort to address the many deficiencies you’d identified for us to fix. Unfortunately, this work can’t begin until we receive access to the Steepster server, which has yet to occur. We will continue to work with Steepter’s founders on finding a solution that will permit us to begin at last the task of making this website easier for all to use. Please accept my sincere apology for the unforeseen delay and your frustrations. I share them as well.
There’s going to be so much backlogging once the site is up and running again. :)
Thanks, Angrboda.
I can’t even add new tea, add or remove from my database either. Still can never respond or write in forum :P or update my profile for over a year… However, how nice to see all of you writing on this thread hehe. Thank you for all your updates!
Thank you for posting Michael’s comment here for us, Angrboda.
Steepster has been frozen for ten days now. Let’s hope Adagio gives us another update on their progress.
Well, we know a tasting note can have over 100 comments now. I’m at least grateful that I can access old tasting notes for reference while Steepster is being worked on (and the site isn’t completely missing for ten days and counting.)
Could it be? Are we fixed?? I’m getting email notifications and new notes in my feed!!
Same here, and my dashboard has updated! Amazing!
THANK YOU Steepster overlords!
Same Shae! I started to get email notifications and I knew something is happening. And now I checked, and all notes are there!
Thank you everybody involved!
Mastress Alita: that traveller’s log, lol.
Yep, that traveller’s log was great!
This morning, I’m having a kid’s breakfast. I’m hungry cause instead of eating dinner last night, I got drunk…Tea drunk that is. With giggles and all the fun that comes with it.
So I’m making “oeuf dans le trou”. (Egg in a hole???) Don’t know if other people have that dish in the world, but I’m guessing yes cause I found this pic:
https://jillcastle.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_5046.jpg
That’s exactly how I do mine, with a thick whole grain slice of bread and a big omega-3 egg.
When we were kids, It was a fiesta when my mom cooked them…
I dip the little bred circle from the hole in my egg yolk. So much yum, so much fun!
And what best tea to pair with it than by beloved Ailaoshan Black?
The sweet salted caramel notes chase away the eggy aftertaste in my mount, it’s almost like having eggs with maple syrup.
Then on it’s own it’s like having a little dessert. Malt with dark chocolate, sweet dried fruits…
I’ve written it all in previous notes.
This tea hugs me in the morning, and I can only hug back :-)
Yes eggs in a hole! I had so much fun with the tea and giggles last night and there was some dinner skipping here as well. I was HUNGRY and I had avocado toast with a few pecan halves and some pu-er concoction and steeping a cup of this awesome tea right now.
Nommmmy!
My mom always made egg in a hole for us as kids, to this day no one makes them quite the same! I try to avoid wheat these days but once in awhile I just can’t resist an ‘egg in the hole’ as a treat. My favorite part was always eating the little square of bread fried up in butter beside the egg in a hole!
Enjoy! More tea after Church!
@whatshesaid – I saw a recipe the other day for an egg in the hole without bread! They used a rings of bell pepper and cooked the egg inside – let me see if I can find it and I will link you. Not the same of course but it sounded good to me
I’m very jealous of your breakfast :-). I only have enough leaf for one more cup of this one so I must hoard it until I place a WP order!
Now that’s what I’m craving for breakfast and there are neither eggs nor bread in the house. (I should go grocery shopping.)
We always called it egg in a basket. I loved it, my kids loved it. I miss it, & yes, there are many gluten free variations that are fun, but of course, never the same…sigh…it’s that little circle of toast!
I agree Terri, It’s all about the little tiny circle (or in my case, usually a square) of toast from the “hole”!
MzPriss, I think I’ve had that before, tasty but definitely no buttery bread replacement :)
I always served it with extra pan toasted triangles too :)
Haha! I’ m overwhelmed with you answers you guys, thought it was local dish or something, this is great! And yes, the little tiny grilled circle IS the best :-)
MzPriss, avocado toast is like a guilty pleasure…without the guilt! I also love toast and coconut butter with crunchy chia seeds on top. Weird but so good! And that pu’erh concoction of yours well…for some strange reason, I can clearly envision what you are having ;-)
Inspired by this post, I made a savory almond flour pancake, topped it with sauteed greens & eggs, & made 3 cute little circle pancakes to represent the circle toast. :)
Aww, terri this sounds so great and yummy! How cute, little mini round pancake :-)
@TeaFairy – for some strange reason I bet you can even taste it :)
@Terri – that sounds awesome
At my sweet little co-op market, they have the best thing now!! I just freshly ground my own CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUTTER!!! Chunks of almonds and chocky chips so so good!
Hehehe, as a matter of fact… I can!!!
Oh, I make my own peanut and almond butter. Never thought of adding chocolate to the almonds. Oh, that would turn like a some kind of crunchy Nutella, without the excessive load of sugar!!! Will try it this week for sure, thanks!
It is kind of like that with a higher nut to chocolate ratio. Very very good!
MzPriss, then this will be dessert today, drizzled with honey on ripe bananas!
OH! I have a banana! I’m going to warm it up a little so it will drizzle and do the same
Ok, let me know how it tastes like, I’ll have mine later…Lol, My review threads always end up talking about eating, I’m such a foodie!!
I am too. I’m cooking right now – just made some cauliflower rice sald (not rice – just cauliflower buzzed in the cusisinart) and stir frying veggies for some lentil curry
salad not said
Hey, we do seem to have similar culinary tastes! Love the versatility of cauliflower so much, I make some sick fake mash potatoes with nutritional yeast…I’ve served that to people who actually like it more now than real mashed potatoes!!
I make those too. And have you made the pizza crust with it yet?
Noooo! Ok, will you pm me recipe when you have a chance? Pleeeeazzzze?
I totally will. I’ll go find it now and send it to you PM
OK – the banana deal: I used my cast iron skillet and wee bit of butter and sliced my banana length-wise and did a little stove-top grill of the banana until caramelized and brown in spots. Warmed the chocky-almond butter for 15 seconds and then drizzled over the banana. Yes – you want it.
I like to freeze my bananas and then put them in the blender.
Caramelized bananas with chocolate syrup are the most simple and decadent dessert on the planet. Just sayin’. <3
I have allergies to some foods so I collect recipes on Pinterest. Anyone else? Bet Terri does!
*Lariel – easy banana ice cream!
@ Bonnie – I bet Terri does too. I don’t Pinterest – I just bookmark everything. Although I lost a lot of things when the harddrive on my macbook fried a little while back
@Brenden – I’m way picky about chocolate syrup though. I haven’t found one I love that doesn’t have some kind of crap in it. Do you know of one?
Yes I do!!! Just melt 80% dark chocolate yourself, the best!!!!
You don’t have to add anything to it to make it stay syrupy? Doesn’t it harden on the food – or LOL do you just eat it up before that happens?
Was about to say the same thing, Fairy-awesome-one!
I have a tiny skillet that I use for melting chocolate :) haha
Haha! Chocolate awesomeness!! No I add NOTHING!!! Unless you serve it on something frozen, it’s ok. And as you mentioned, i just eat it too fast for it to have time to cool down ;-)
Well it just so happens that I have some 80% chocolate :D
Well well, how bout that? Sounds like we are having the same dessert tonight ;-)
Oh and Brenden, I too own a tiny weeny little skillet for my chocolate. I don’t put anything else in it cause I don’t want ANY taste transfer. It’s so darn cute:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/14536236312/in/photostream/
it IS cute!
i had microwaved hot dogs for breakfast
Hahaha! It’s all good apt, we are health freaks, we’re the scary ones ;-)
(I also did have my days of microwave mornings once upon a time, but I was more of a pizza gal!)
^hahaha, winner! :D
Tea Fairy, let me just make a suggestion… http://www.wayfair.com/Frieling-Profiserie-Butter-Warmer-A33256-L777-K~FLG1195.html?refid=GX42755230140-FLG1195_9754074&device=c&ptid=48134555460&PiID%5B%5D=9754074&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=FLG1195_9754074&gclid=CjgKEAjw8r6dBRDZprbmndPi90sSJAB2U6dRIUwL2qtvMWMlmiFaDj8cL-f8_2oRcrJsqjq-Wq6gA_D_BwE
I REALLY want this :)
Ooh ya, me like the petite size :-) that would be perrrrfect!
But then again, I’m a pots and pans fanatic…If I had a gigantic kitchen, I’d probably own every kitchen gadgets and appliances on the market!
A chocolate skillet? How does that work?
:-) I need to get it…Since I’ve condensed my kitchen I realized I’m sort of missing some vital items. I’ve got two cast iron pans, a stainless steel crockpot, and a tiny skillet. I’m a huge fan of Frieling, too, which helps me trust that it’ll be a good investment :)
I’m sorry to tell y’all what I am eating right now
TheTeaFairy your chocolate skillet is adorable!
@WP: Yep, that’s the kind of pan you’ll have for a long time:-) better pay a little more once than keep buying every two years…
@Lariel, it’s not really a chocolate pan, it’s just very tiny and I like to melt my chocolate in it cause I can do just a little bit at a time :-)
@MzPriss: Well Bon Appétit then ma’am!!
fig & mascarpone gelato from this italian guy’s shop where he hand makes it
@TeaFairy – if it would get there from here I would totally send you some so we could share :)
I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that but now I have to hate you….
;-)
This post just keeps getting better & better :)
I want fried bananas, drizzled lightly with maple & maybe some coconut milk on top,& toasted coconut flakes.Yeah…I want that.
For dinner I’m having brats (nitrate & other BS free), a cultured dill from last summer, homegrown asparagus & cukes, & sweet potato french fries fries.
Tomorrow I’m planning to make a batch of cauliflower tabouli. I haven’t had tabouli for a long time & cauliflower makes a pretty good sub for bulgur too. I have all the other ingredients in my garden: parsley, mint, cukes, sungold cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic.
Foodie? Damn right!
Yeah you might have to. A friend just brought it over
Ok, now I can’t hate you no more ;-) I’m going to your house, bye cats, bye dog…
it’s amazing
You can bring them. Although my dogs don’t understand cats
Oh man Terri that dinner sounds awesome.
My dog thinks all cats are puppies, and so he acts like a daddy dog and goes to snuggle them and keep them warm, but they just smack him in the face and he gets confused…lol
It’s ok…the intention counts, I’ll always remember you offered to share with me:-) enjoy for the both of us!!
Terri, if I was living near you, I’d find an excuse every day to drop by around dinner time, and just pretend I need something. And then you would say, «hey fairy, I was just about to have the most fabulous dinner and dessert, would you like to join? » ;-)
I wish to have that tabouli please ma’am
You know you’d get great tea @ Terri’s too
I love cats and dogs stories, your dog sounds adorable!! …brenden this is how “friendly” things are here :-)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/12530016644/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/12529529795/in/photostream/
I am overcome by the cuteness
That dog is GORGEOUS!
That’s Dexter, pretending he doesn’t want to make a snack out of Happy…
They’re snuggled!
I love those pics! I used to have a great dane (Ellie Mae), & when my cat Opal had a litter of 5 kittens, they were HER kittens. She mothered them all the time, they were her babies.
If my kids ever move out, I seriously want to do the bed & breakfast thing, so you can all come visit me :)
:) This is Prana, WPTC’s mascot ;) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150971448518765.527973.567508764&type=1&l=d62fd5cf66
Awww for the dog, yay for the B&B. can I reserve now????
Prana is just gorgious. Sigh. i want another dog…there’s nothing like puppy love :-)
TF, it might still be a year or 2, but of course! :)
Dexter and Happy are totally adorbs too! :)
Terri, i can wait, i’ll be totally worth it ;-)
Thanks Brenden, they are my babies :-)
You guys have spiked your tea, I’m positive. Have you seen Brendens kombucha (or kumbaya whatever)…It’s fermenting into hippie wine (b4 you were born). (Sorry Brenden, it looks like fruity sangria with soggy granola on top. Most of them do not just yours). Need a party somewhere. A cruise! (Keep saying that)
Haha! bonnie I did look at breden’s kombucha, my aunt use to make her own, that’s how I know it…he almost convinced me to try and make my own, lol!
A party with you bonnie? Anytime, let’s have one now, you know how much I’ve missed you :-)
What is this cukes of which you speak? And also, you guys are making me want to garden.
Lol, we do sound like weirdos don’t we? Lariel, kombucha is fermented tea. It looks gross and slimy but it tastes pretty good and has a lot of health virtues. Brenden had a link on how to make your own on WP website but I can’t find it anymore…
I know what kombucha is, I’ve had it a few times. I was wondering what ‘cukes’ are slang for. That’s not really a word we use in California.
Oh sorry, I didn’t notice “cukes” and this thread is wayyy tooo long for me to trace it now!
Ah, cucumbers!
www.whisperingpinestea.com/kombucha and yes it’s hippy wine ;)
Not to mention, you can make kombucha wine with champagne yeast ;)
Cukes = cucumbers
I grow a lot of them, then I put them into a salt brine for 2 – 4 weeks to make old fashion dill pickles wth lots of garlic & dill.
Ok, bookmarked this time! I can now imagine all kinds of drinks and cocktails with champagne Kumbucha ;-)
Here’s a link
http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sour-pickles-2/
And of course there will be some on the table when I go visit St-Louis and stop at Terri’s B&B!!
hell yeah! We’re still eating them from last summer, & I’ve started making the new ones, so there will always be more! Along with home made cultured (and very much alive!) sauerkraut, kimchi, dilly beans, & whatever else I add to my bubbling laboratory :)
Mmm I bookmarked that one. Sounds yummy :)
Cukes sounds like an odd word, though I’ve only liked cucumbers if they’re in tahini sauce.
Mmmmm, tahini sauce! Picturing all the ingredients…yup, I could make some of that too!
Lol, this thread as a life of its own now ;-O
I meant “has” silly typo
Just one more reason to love Steepster, and tea, cuz otherwise none of us would have met in the virtual world :)
Exactly! Can I come to your B&B when TF does?? There won’t be much sleeping but there will be lots of middle of the night tea…
…and giggles :-)
Extreme giggles!
You know what they say…if you visualize it enough, you will make it happen :-) see? the giggle part already happened :-)
Well I do keep a travel bag packed…
Lol, I don’t travel much…but I guess it doesn’t hurt to be ready ;-)
YES!
I think once my kids all move out, we should have a mini tea convention/slumber party (with no actual sleeping) at my house, to celebrate the grand opening of my bed & breakfast/Tea House.
So Terri, you know in New Orelans they all the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs? I think we should name your B&B The Singing Harp Social Aid and Pleasure Club when we move in visit :)
Aww, love the name! (And I saw what you did MzPriss) I totally vote for moving i !! In exchange, I’ll change the beds and do laundry for free. Oh, and I can cook for your guests awesome dishes with foods from your magic garden!!
LOL, I can certainly use the help!
BTW, I think this may be the longest tea posting comments thingy ever! :)
This is my 400th Review on Steepster!!!
First I want to thank Verdant for this sample that came with my last order. I saved it for this 400th review. (You like the red?!)
This tea is from the Fugian County of Anxi.
From the moment I snipped open the foil packet of tea, I knew I was going to be taken along on a fragrant journey. The tea leaves had a strong floral aroma that reminded me of having pancakes with berries and powdered sugar in a garden filled with flowers.
I chose a tasting bowl and cup set so that I could do small infusions. (My goal was to do the whole 18 rounds of Steepings!)
All through the rounds the color of the liquor changed very little. It was a pale yellow-green and faded slightly towards steep 16.
The fragrance of the leaves were very floral with a slight vegital tone in the beginning which began to reverse as the steepings continued. There was always a good floral scent.
So, how did this tea taste?
I’ve been sitting for hours thinking about this tea and the 16 steepings that I poured (all of which I will gladly repeat again).
I want to write about the flavor but the experience was more than a straight up flavor review with a list of steepings.
As I began the first few tastings, (which were the most floral) I was distracted, as is the case most times, by the newness of the tea. I ask myself, “What is this flavor here, is it juicy, creamy or astringent?”
It takes a few rounds before my brain and my mouth catch up to each other and I begin to hear the tea speaking. At that point, I have to step out of the way. The mind chatter has to calm down.
When I became quiet inside, I was able to enjoy the tea more, and remembered a time sitting on the beach in Half Moon Bay just listening to the waves crash on the beach. I always stopped to buy flowers from the growers along Highway 1. That area is known for flowers running all over the hills next to the Pacific Ocean. Star and Asian Lilies, Tulips and Mums. I bought flowers from that area at the Farmers Market every Friday by my job in Foster City.
This tea reminded me of those fragrant oceanside flowers rolled out like a carpet in the warm sunshine but cooled by the mist from the sea.
The same area was a growers haven for green beans and Asian vegetables. So, there it was. The flowers and sweet vegetables swirled together harmoniously like the flavor of the tea.
One more thing I must mention.
There was the most delightful creaminess, which I thought at first was butter because it was so thick. Then I changed my mind and said it was thick fresh cream. (I smacked my lips!)
The feeling isn’t the one you have after eating an ice cream, but the one you have after the first bite of a cooked pudding when it coats your mouth.
The tasting notes on the Verdant website are much more detailed than mine. Worth reading. Mine are simpler today.
I’m feeling a wee bit nostalgic. Eight months have gone by and I’ve made so many friends on Steepster. If you are like me, the little personal messages and encouragements that go on in the comments and behind the reviews are what floats this boat. This is all about tea and more isn’t it!
THANK YOU
Way to go Bonnie!!! :) Keep the great review and stories coming!
Happy 400!
Yay for 400!
Happy 400th review! :D
I am impressed! Red and 400 notes! Teach us how – you can’t leave us hangin’ like this!
Congrats Bonnie! Here’s to plenty more!
That is the most interesting tasting note I’ve ever read! Wow! I ordered this tea earlier this week, so I’m super excited now :)
Yay! And yes I agree I’m slowly getting to know the people I follow and I love the little notes and comments that have started. I love reading your reviews!
Congrrrrats!
{color:red} Great!
Oops! LOL! I did something wrong!
Maybe it doesn’t work on iPad?
Congrats!!!
http://redcloth.org/hobix.com/textile/
link to all the directions for all the doo dad’s
The link isn’t working for me and now I’m determined! lol
400! Congrats
THANKS!
let’s try
YAY!
congrats Bonnie!!! love the red ;)
YAY!
Congrats on 400!
% then {color:red} then whatever word(’s) you want then % again (you have to have those { things and write out the words color:red or whatever color you want.
Is there olive ?
YAY!
Congratulations !!!
Congrats Bonnie! Even though I’m new to the hood I too gain something from the comments and PM’s. It’s great feeling connected to all these wonderful people eh.
Congrats! I think peoples’ stories are just as (if not more) interesting than the teas themselves. Here’s to another 400 :)
Happy 400!!!
great way to celebrate 400 reviews
%{color:fuschia}neato!!%{color:fuschia}
%{color:purple}neato!!%{color:purple}
neato!!
ugh why can’t I get it… lol
take out the last {color:purple} part
this is kind of fun!
yay!!!! way to go!!!
Oh Bonnie, happy 400th!! Thank you for entertaining us, but mostly, thank you for sharing your life experience with stories such as this one….
P.S: what’s going on here?? people are getting sooo crafty!! Having just learned how to insert bold characters, adding colors is quite overwhelming for me, even with instructions!! I won’t even try, sorry guys… as I’m also using an iPad, I look at Ashmanra’s comment and it it doesn’t seem to be such a successful experiment :-)
Bonnie… I tried that, and end up with a neato that wasn’t coloured lol
% then {color:red} then a word then %
congrats on 400!
Hope this works!
wahooo!!!
bonnie we all love you and your reviews you just keep up the post because i think you are able to describe much better than any of us and you truly give us an honest evaluation of any tea you try! we are all in your debt for your tasting notes and sharing your life experiences with us! i am sure this will receive a bunch of likes,but it is all due to you and your honesty and your love of tea and all of us that you associate and follow on this site. god bless ya girl!!!!
Put a ring on my finger mrmopar…oops yer taken already ;(
You’re a sweetheart Thanks! (Matches your car)
I Tim we can get to 400 comments lol. May there be 400 more notes at least from you Bonnie :)
Ugh Tim = think. Stupid auto correct
Congrats {color:red]Bonnie on the 400!
I always look forward to reading your reviews and getting swept away into a memory with you!
oops Thanks
I enjoy your posts! Keep writing
Congrats.
Congrats on 400! I love reading your reviews. :)
Great review, Bonnie! % {color:blue}Congrats on 400}!!
dang… I forgot the last %
%{color:blue} Congrats on 400!} %
oops…now I added an extra }
% {color:blue} Congrats on 400 %
Congrats on 400!
Yeah!
You rock!
You are so funny Terri!
I wish I had the fairy powers (and the money), to travel all around and drop a sample of this marvel of tea in each of your mailboxes, Steepster friends…
For real…
Sweet goodness coming from what seems to be a Vanilla Tee Tree.
It’s just blissful in my newly seasoned VANILLA DREAMS yixing clay pot.
Upping the rating, it’s just perfection!
(See previous note for more details)
We should start a Kickstarter for that purpose.
I really like the name of that tea haha. It feels all ancient and mystical.
Haha! That would be an awesome Kickstarter Marzi, you always have the best ideas!!
TeaterTotter, funny you say that…it does feel ancient and mystical when you drink it also :-)
I love vanilla flavored teas with a fiery passion. I’ll have to try this one out eventually. Also, you can fund anything on kickstarter these days, just look up the potato salad guy.
Then you will not regret trying this TeaterTotter. But please note that this is blended, not flavoured. REAL hand cut vanilla beans :-)
I personally don’t like vanilla flavoured teas much… this is something completely superior and different!!
?? I thought you had Fairy Power? Stuff magically appears in my mailbox….
Some powers…. :-)
When are you trying this one Dex? Did I mention I overleaf it to get even more goodness?
You’ve inspired me to make this one tonight!!!!
I don’t have a tin available for it…. :((
Sars, aren’t you supposed to play “pupu destroyer” tonight?
(dex, me think we both need more black tins…)
I am not allowed to buy more tins….. :((
( I think I’m lifting the tin restriction rule. This tea is tin worthy. I’d be very surprised if you don’t repurchase it. But you must TRY it in order to know that!!!)
I played pupu destroyer this AM, pookie. There’s a note on your Taiwanese Wild Mtn Black review. :)
I need time to recover before the pick comes out again!!!!
Aaaah! I was on the go this morning, I missed some comments, will go read about it :-)
I’m not really a black tea lover but that sounds so good!
:)
Teatertotter, although this one has vanilla beans in it, the vanilla flavor is not as strong in this tea as it is in the Golden Orchid, which is very vanilla!
I picked out a pot to be my vanilla dreams teapot!!!! So exciting!!!!
Yay! Sars that’s great! I’m planning to try PORT in mine today…should be epic!
Oh, and Which one did you choose?
I’m seasoning my vanilla pot right now
Well MzP suggested the lotus gaiwan, but I really want to use that for one of my pu’erhs, and I was reading that banko clay gives teas a sweeter, smoother finish over time, and that sounds perfect for vanilla, so I picked this one:
That is cute!
It’s hard to see in that pic, but the knob on top is a cute little flower. :)
It’s precious!
Oh, that is lovely. And I love Tealux, just wish they had tinier yixing pots.
Thanks! I never ordered from them before, but they seem to have some great stuff! Hopefully my little teapot gets here soon! Vanillaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Let me know when you order. I have tried almost every tea (unflavoured) they have, I can give you great recommendations. Their oolongs are fantastic.
Oh pookie pie! You know I have no self-control! I ordered that days ago. :)
I got a bunch of tins because I need some so badly! I didn’t get tea this time because I’m living in pu’erh city over here….
I need (* hides LTF’s eyes *) more tins
Tinzzzzzzz. Give us all the tinzzzzzzz!!!!!!
Hurry up Missy. I need more tins also. Y’all know what it means.
We do know. How did I use up that many already?? And someone got more than me and you need more???? Laughs. We need an intervention. And I need some organization. I got a decent grip on it, but alas – out of control again.
I went to Harney for tins this time since I wanted some soba and they will stack and they are $1.75 for a 4 oz BLACK tin. I may spend some of today figuring out where all this tea is going to live permanently
Oh that’s a great price, LHBQotTFRotCT. Now that I am getting my collection of pots curated and housed (my shelf is on the way), I need to figure out a plan for ALL THIS TEA. I have some preliminary ideas, but I’m still working out the details.
Not sure if I showed you guys the shelf I picked out. If not, here it is. I think it will be great for little gaiwans and houhins and teapots :)
http://www.amazon.com/Intersecting-Squares-Decorative-White-Shelf/dp/B00GOFZ7B2
Oh that shelf is way cute.
It seemed perfect because it has so many little “cubbies”. I can fit 8 different teawares, and I think I could even go up to 11 if needed. I just have to make sure it’s hung VERY securely.
A stud-finder is your friend
I don’t have studs :(
Don’t tell my BF I said that :p
I live in an older house, so it has lath and plaster walls. I like them because they aren’t “perfect” and they have some visual interest, but I also hate them because it is such a PITA to hang heavier things.
OMG how will you DO that with those walls?
There are special support thingies you can buy. That’s the technical name: “support thingies”
You drill small holes and insert them. They expand inside the wall and keep your nails or screws from just falling out. It’s going to be a project, but I think it’ll be worth it :)
And I guess I should say that I DO have studs, but they are spaced much further apart, which is why it’s so hard to do this stuff.
toggle bolts
Well fine, if you want to get all specific about it. You are correct :p
Sars, I love that teapot & the shelf! I am now fantasizing about buying the swan yixing…OMG, it’s adorable!!
I also live in an OLD house, with lathe & plaster walls. When I was painting one of the bedrooms on the 2nd floor I accidentally bumped the wall inside the closet, & pretty much watched all the plaster disintegrate before my eyes. What followed was a crash course in ‘this old house’ style fly by set of your pants wall repair.
Even worse was when we had to run new wiring for a ceiling light…we finally cut some holes in the ceiling, which I later went back & patched with my now amazing speckling skills. LOL
Thanks, Terri!
Hahaha. You know exactly what I am dealing with then. I love my old house, but on the other hand, certain things are a pain. I will find a way to make the shelf work, but it will probably involve cursing, alcohol, unintentional holes, and yelling. :p
Haha! This is amusing..also an old house owner here! We disagree at times, but I love most of its imperfections. Also, I like the way it cracks and makes funny noises sometimes, as if there were ghosts in here :-o
Maybe there are :)
There are :)
Hehe…I’d love me some ghosts friends :-)
I dont think I would mind a friendly ghost.
My house is old-ish but not the kind of old y’all are talking about – mine is from the 1940s and it has its own problems – like zero insulation :(
No ghosts though my house also makes creaky noises
Mz were the $1.75 tins online?
I have a ghost, but my house isn’t old (built 2004). I also had a ghost in my previous apartment, I think its the same one. takes all the cheese and candy foods, sometimes leaves pennies. . Im really not kidding that I think I have a ghost that follows me! at least it doesn’t take my tea. Because then I would be prompted to call in the professionals. (^o^)
Takes the cheese and candy? We would be fighting. It is obviously a very old ghost if it only compensates you with pennies.
@ Marizpan – yes. I had to google empty harney tins to find them – the website didn’t make it easy
No ghost of mine will ever touch the cheese. Ever. There would be an epic battle…and I promise the fairy would win.
I would help you fight that battle. Cheese is serious business
I wonder if that’s why I don’t have a ghost… No cheese!!!!!! Maybe my house had a ghost but the poor thing ran away!!!
Ok, I made several Mandala’s orders in the last few weeks. It just seemed that every time, I had forgotten something or I just needed more of something else.
The last order was triggered by looseTman. He reminded me of something I had said in a previous review about this tea.
I had written that this was a very masculine tea, a “Stetson and Chaps” kind of guy.
That made me realized I had completely forgotten about it cause I had only a sample at the time.
I don’t know about you ladies, but I just can’t resist stetsons and chaps. So I placed another order for it and now well it’s here!
This tea is solid. It’s a hugger. I just want to cuddle with it.
Oh, the smell of leather bindings and old books, so lovely! Earthy and musty, very sweet with zero astringency. Just a tad of menthol at the end of the sip.
It’s spectacular! This is possibly my favourite loose shou pu’erh ever.
(dare I say it, it might have surpassed special dark just by a tad)
LooseTman, thank you for reading my previous review, the fact that you reminded me of it made me order this and now I’m in tea heaven because of you :-)
I love this too. A lot;)
Stop, you make me want all the teas!
Boychik, I so love it!! And I can’t wait to try phatty cake, got one of this babies as well.
Mandy, that’s only because I keep drinking all the best teas!!!
Cowboys! Oh wait. tea.
And I love this tea. But not more than Special Dark. The Phatty Cake is awesome. And I also have to do yet another Mandala order. I can’t even make that one your fault. It’s Sarsonator’s fault.
This review made me smile :)
I’m having this right now. Leather and prunes my perfect combo
Hee Haw!!!
Yummy!
And Cowboys.
Lol.
But I need some help. (No not with the Cowboys – I got that) but I want to mae sure I don’t miss something and have to oder again after this because really. I can’t. I already need to have my credit cards taken away.
I just looked at my shopping cart over at Mandala and I felt very afraid. LOL. But what the hell? You only live once and pu’erhs are meant to be aged, so it’s not like they’ll go bad, right? RIGHT? :p
Haha! so you also got this one? Oh, I’m glad you did…can’t wait to find out what you think of it :-) Hee Haw!!!
I didn’t place the order yet, but I added some of this.
Can you tell me the difference between this and the phatty cake? Because it says the phatty cake is pressed from this. So do they taste much different? Should I get the loose or the cake?
Thanks, dearest!!!
I haven’t tried the cake yet, it’s one of my new pu’erh!!! I got it only because I like the loose one so much I figured I must get the cake, lol. let’s ask honeybelle, i think she has the cake.
You know I should try them side by side – never done that. Mostly I think of the loose as easier
Would y’all like for me to set up the side by side test RIGHT NOW and tell you?
I guess I’ll just have to get both and compare them. In the name of science, of course.
Oh well. Then yes. YOU do the science. I’ll wait :p
Starting on it. I will put pics on flickr
This is so fun! I love little comparison tests!!!
Oh, totally missed the experiment! How’s it going? Oh, now I understand the other thread’s comment !! I’m a little slowww today…
OK – after a side by side comparison, I believe I can say with some confidence that it would be up to your personal preference. I used 6 grams of each – did two rinses and 4 steeps of each. It would take a FAR more refined palate than mine to really tell an appreciable difference. And what else did we learn?
I am a badass gongfuy mistress – I can pour two gaiwans at the same time with equal success yo.
I have now dumped them all in one mug which I am enjoying now.
What else did we learn? Don’t use your lacy white gaiwan for shou. It’s little bottom got stained – but fear not! I have magic miracle soak http://shopmandalatea.com/smart-soak-tea-stain-dissolver.html from Garret.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125488674@N02/14460115030/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125488674@N02/14646779865/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125488674@N02/14644590824/
Nice!! I know that miracle soak is awesome, but I always forget to get some!
It is lifesaving to me – especially for my white things. I drink a LOT of Special Dark
Added miracle soak to the cart! I’ve actually been meaning to so that for awhile
So I realize the loose tea is more convenient, but I’m really digging the cakes, so I think I’m getting the phatty. I really aappreciate the comparison.
I thank you. Science thanks you.
Oh and also, the tea tray is gorgeous!
You are welcome. Science is welcome. You will thank yourself for the miracle soak
We also learned I need a &^^#$%# pu-pick
Ah yes. I have one of those in the cart, too!!!! I figured if I’m buying all these cakes, better get the tool to go with ’em.
You will have the perfect haul Sars, so excited for you!!
Please someone remind me to do that and LTF – will you please help me remember what all I need to get?
Oh I’m glad you like my tray. Guess what??? You might tsake a little gander at Garret’s trays while you’re over there….it’s really reasonable too and I LOVE it
What is it you need??
I need to find what we talked about this morning. I have Autumn Song, but I think I need Temple Stairs? And something else. And a pu-pick
Don’t forget the heart of the old tree!
YES! That! See?? See why I need help? And Cowboys?
Good thing that sars came to the rescue, I had no idea that was the one you were looking for…(we all need cowboys)
Yes, yes we do. That was one of the ones. So I need those two and a pick, cause I’ve been using all kinds of weird things like knives and screwdrivers
I think you’ll really love the HOTOT.
Lol. HOTOT.
Oh and yes, cowboys, pls.
OK I’m off to get a mug warmer back soon.
Haha! HOTOT Cowboyzzzzz
(i will be calling my old tree cake hot cowboy from now on)
The hot cowboy tea cake. Love it!
Never seen live cowboy but firefighters. Omg they are so hot in Brooklyn haha
(Ok now, boychik, you are bringing this topic to a whole new level…let’s try to keep Steepster PG13…)
I want to go hoomeeee
Haha! Firefighters will have that effect on you I guess ;-)
Yep, I can’t sleep here. Too quite. I need police, ambulance, fire truck siren , helicopters. I go to bed at 2am then by 5-5:15 I’m up because birds chirping
Oh man, I need to feel I’m safe haha
I used to live next door to a fire station
You are so lucky MzPriss! I remember we had blackout some years ago. Ppl used candles and then our neighbors had tiny fire across the street. I think it was just smoke. Anyway 3 fire trucks came to our block at 6am. Everybody wearing practically nothing (hot summer night) got on a block to stare at those gorgeous men. It was like a show. Free show.
They used to work out outside. Yeah it was nice
Awww, you got some cutsie tea pets! Look at all that pretty stuff! That lacey taiwan is like what you’d get if a white porcelain taiwan & a bad mitten shuttlecock had babies ;)
Thank you Terri :) LOL that is EXACTLY what that gaiwan looks like. It was the first gaiwan I ever bought and I still love it, I like pretties
My tea is now so far out of control I don’t even know what I have anymore. I HAVE Temple Stairs. SMH. So now maybe I just need some Hot Cowboy and a pu-pick
Garret – when you read this, sorry we’ve turned your beautifully named Heart of the Old Trees into Hot Cowboy. Sorry about that. Sorry.
It might be slightly more accurate to say that I would like to be sorry HOTOT is now Hot Cowboy
(I’m gonna drink me some hot cowboy this very minute…sorry too Garett for the brutality of this…but Hot Cowboy Sheng makes me such a happy fairy)
I’m working on the last steeps of my Wild Mountain Green from yesterday – just got my assistant all shenged-up as well so she can keep up :)
A happy Fairy is a good thing Garret
TheTeaFairy,
You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re in “Heaven” and thoroughly enjoying your “Stetson and Chaps” so much! However, I’m now confused. How can you rate Loose and Luscious Lincang – 2007, a shou you “forgot”, higher than your beloved Special Dark of which you’ve waxed poetically about numerous times on Steepster? It doesn’t even contain the most Special tea flavor: Chocolate!
Haha!!! LooseTman, I guess I’m all confused cause Mr. Garret Awesomeness makes too many excellent teas and they seem to compete with one another!!!
Can you have too much of a good thing? And this is all your fault, I totally blame you for this….I had forgotten about this tea…thank god you did remind me ;-)
No, you can’t you have too much of a good thing! It’s not my fault. The Devil made me do it! :-)
Did SD just increase from 93 to 96? Thus, making it 1 point higher than your “Stetson and Chaps”.
Yes, forgot to tell you…in all seriousness, SD in a yixing clay pot is very close to perfection, and will probably reach 100 on my next session…
Wow! This sounds very intriguing. I’ll have to check out your most recent SD tasting notes & comments.
Got it! YAY! Happy dance!
So I bought mine on ebay from a seller who seems to have the inside link on how to get these and resell them cheap!
Mine was 180ish I don’t remember exactly how much but it was under 190 including shipping!
It got here in TWO days! I know this is not an ebay seller review LOL but I was FLOORED to have it here on my counter SO FAST!
WOO HOOO
So now – thus far here are my thoughts:
PRO: SUPER easy to work. I figured I would have to have my husband show me at least a few times how to run it but I understood it right away and even setting the custom brew is idiot proof!
CON: You have to brew at least 2 cups of tea at a time. Thats okay when I only want one small cup I can use my regular kettle.
PRO: HUGE brew basket! Allows the leaves to really unfold but then again I have only brewed two cups at a time. I suppose if you made a whole pot and added the right amount of leaves they could get a little smushed in there – I will let you know when I do this.
PRO: Its not as big as I thought it would be over all – far smaller than my obnoxious Keurig coffee maker! So it does not take too much space on my counter! Yay! I don’t have enough space as it is!
PRO: IT looks PRETTY! I like shiny things – its shiny! LOL
PRO: Sturdy!
PRO: Keeps tea warm!
PRO: DOES in fact have a sound when tea is ready! I could not live without that feature!
MOre to come but those are my initial thoughts!
Ooooohh!!!!! Sounds like so much fun! I’m excited for you! Congrats!
This sounnds like a really cool device, making tea as easy as coffee!
:) thank you! Christy!
Tigress – yeah it is SO easy and helps if you tend to space off your steep or get busy with work while waiting on a steep! :)
It does sound wonderful. You and LiberTEAS will have to compare notes (I think she has one, or one like it).
I am interested in hearing more (I occasionally tell me friends about these, and they always seem intrigued).
I love the phrase, Happy dance!
Yah!
I am so excited for you and I am so glad to hear that it is as wonderful as I had hoped…Someday I shall get one:)
I smiled when you said you like shiny things…I like shiny things too;)
Congrats, Azzrian!
Very cool – although I’m a bit jealous… ;) Could you send me the seller’s info? I’d like to acquire one of these this summer myself!
One thing that I learned pretty quickly with using my breville is that because it does keep the tea warm while it steeps (warmer than with other steeping methods, at least for me, unless I were to warm the pot AND use a cozy while it steeps, which is something I wouldn’t normally do. Warm the pot, yes, cozy while steeping, no), I lower the steep time by 30 seconds. If I would normally steep a tea for 3 minutes, it is now steeped in my breville for 2 1/2 minutes. The longer steep time results in more bitterness with this because of the warmer temperature in the brewing vessel.
You’re going to love this, I think. Now that I’ve had mine for a year or so, I don’t know how I lived without it.
Thanks for the tip Liber!
Keen I will PM you the info! :)
Thank you Hesper!! LOL yes shiny things distract me which is fine :)
Simplici – LOL thanks! I will make more notes as I experience more. Seems like Libra would be the guru on this! I am just really happy it is so easy to use :)
Yay! Glad you got it and it works awesomely. :D
Thank you Missy!!
Neat! I am glad it made you dance!
LOL well okay more of a wobble but hey I got up and MOVED some haha
Soooo jealous of you!!!!! :) That’s awesome that you got one! The cost and the one con you listed are keeping me at an arm’s length from getting it. Look forward to your future tasting notes using your new toy! :)
If you have the funds – even if it means holding off on some tea for a little bit (providing you really have enough tea already) GO FOR IT! I mean if you would have to cut back on tea to the point of not having anything to brew it in then it would not make sense but if you can get this DO IT! I just did another little happy dance just now preparing my next tea for the day! I even said to hubby and daughter smiling so big “Its soooo neat I just push the buttons and it does what I say” ROFL silly I know but hey where else can one get that kind of service haha!
And yea its pretty and shiny and has lights on it! :)
OKay here is a CON: The beeper could be louder! Especially so I could use it as an alarm in the morning when my brew was done steeping! Yeah it could be louder but its good as long as you are not too far away.
You enabler! LOL! Don’t this I can justify it until I’ve been at a job for a couple months. :) Hopefully it’ll happen soon though. I’ll just live vicariously through you until then! :D
Yay! Welcome to the family :)
LOL okay Will but when your ready let me know and I’ll PM you the link to this person’s ebay!
Thanks Rachel!!! :)
I have been tempted by this as well, but it’s rare that I want so much of one tea at once. :)
Yes that is one of my cons as well. Usually I do one cup and resteep so in the cases where that is all I want its kind of a bummer that you have to do TWO cups because then it is two MORE cups in the resteep at least!
Or you waste the leaves OR like me you take the leaves out for a next day or later in the day brew. OR go ahead and steep it and put it in the fridge.
Regardless a one cup ability WOULD be nice!
Chill one cup for trying a tea iced?
Just think at the end of the day you could have a whole pitcher of iced tea ;)
Indeed! :)
Miss Sandy has one if I remember right and she loves it as well. I’ll have to start collecting cans! :D
We should have a breville fund where we donate change here and there – a sign up list for those “in need” and go in order as funds collected :)
Lucky woman! YAY! :)
Thank you Lynne!
That’s a pretty awesome idea.
CON: Basket is a LITTLE hard to clean out but only because I don’t dump and rinse – I compost so its hard to get ALL of it out so I end up actually rinsing a fair amount out whereas with a regular steep basket I can get it all out to compost. Anyway small detail but Im posting everything I think of.
Pro: Warmer button – keeps tea warm for 30 minutes.
CON: No alarm, beep, or noise to indicate that the warm time is up! I would love if it alerted me so I could push the button again!
PRO: Forgot to mention – there is a secondary straining device (is that the right way to say it? Anyway….) at the pour spout. I like this as the basket:
CON: The basket is nice, no problem with stray tea particles for MOST teas a little dicey with SOME herbals, rooibos, etc but only minimal.
So the extra straining thing helps. And one can always use a strainer over the cup like a finnum.
That hold feature sounds nice. My Zojirushi only has 3 presets and when a tea calls for brewing at a different temp like 185 or 160 you kind of need to drink as many cups as fast as you can before it drops too much.
Yeah exactly it is such a great feature! I just need to get used to remembering to go push the button again when I need more time.
@Azzrian: You know the strainer that we received with our first Steepster Select box? I use that daily to strain the tea as I pour it from the Breville teapot to my cup. One might think that it’s overdoing it a bit, but with the very small bits (especially in teas like chai) it does catch potential additional floaters. I’m not fond of floaters in my tea, so it’s really an easy thing to do to eliminate any potential floating bits.
I wish we had a LIKE button here lol good post LiberTEAS!
I have been eyeing this machine for a while…I would love to buy one in the near future. Could you please email me the name of this ebay seller? Thanks in advance…
Will do!
How did you get it sooo cheap?! I want one but I don’t really want to spend $250+
PM me and I will send you the link to the person I got mine from – she lists them now and then. :)
Okay, I’m coming to this thread months after it was posted. How do you like the Breville now? I’ve been looking at it and looking on eBay since you said you got a good price there. What did you consider a good price since they range widely? I’d really like to know and if you don’t mind sharing the seller?
Blessings,
Maitri
This is the seller http://myworld.ebay.com/foryou247 – they don’t have any items listed right now but you can see in their feedback they sell the Breville One Touch fairly often. I would message them and ask if they have any sitting around. I love mine! Now since I got my Zojiroushi I don’t use the Breville AS often but I still use it and love it when I do.
I use my breville when I want to make several cups of the same tea – like when wanting a pot to sit down with a book or movie. Otherwise I use my Zojurushi for sampling for reviews and one cuppers through out the day.
I paid 182.50 plus 13.44 Shipping on mine back then. Maybe they are priced even lower now – not sure.
What’s this Zojiroushi? I haven’t heard of it before…
Here are reviews on it http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/28510-zojirushi-champagne-gold-3-liter-water-boiler-and-warmer
I will PM this to you as well in case you are bad at looking at the updates like I am :)
Say there have you compared teas the old fashion way vs the breville tea maker xB TM800 xl ?
We would to see you compare a light green ..say a Japanese green using the tea maker vs the old fashion way hot water & pot .
I Have one of these tea makers and we always notice a “chemical taste” to our tea ,, particularly the more delicate varieties ie green , white and most good oolongs.
We also tried chlorinated water from the tap as well as filtered water ,,, filtered water appeared to make some difference , but we could still easily taste the " chemical"In further observation there is a large silicon gasket separating the glass carafe section to the metallic base of this tea maker. As a result of the silicon contact with the hot water & tea we suspect that’s where the funny taste originates from ??
has anyone else found this to be true ?
I find that preparing greens the old fashioned was is far better than in the breville. Everything else – with exception of puerh of course is fine.
I prefer my greens gong fu style as opposed to the breville unless they are just some standard flavored green – then the breville is okay. Honestly though I would not prepare ANY of my PRIZED teas in the breville as I reserve those for sitting down and throughly enjoying and gong fu, for me, is part of that enjoyment. That is not to say you can’t make a quality tea in the breville but for the most part I agree with your statement.
Then again if you are stumbling around in the morning just needing that stand by black, or whatever tea like I often am then the breville is much better.
:)
Azzrian- I have been looking for one of these at a decent price for so long. Is there anyway you could pm me the info? :) Great review btw!
Here it is but I will PM it to you as well http://myworld.ebay.com/foryou247
I can sometimes spend an HOUR making my tea before I go to work. I usually make a big ol’ thermos full (48+oz), so with that said, do you think this tea maker would really cut down on my tea making time? I mean I have to admit, I am not standing by the microwave waiting for my water to boil the entire time ( I multitask), but it still is a pain in the butt waiting for water to cool down to the proper temperature, etcetera. As for finding it on eBay, thank you for the great idea. I was pretty much decided upon getting it at Teavana.
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I bought my Breville last October, and I. LOVE. IT. I love it. If mine ever breaks, I will have to fork over for a new one, because I can never go back. Have you found a de-scaling agent you like? I’m finally getting around to de-scaling mine (almost a year later), but any guidance any of you have on de-scalers would be very welcome!
Bought mine at a BB&B with those 20% off coupons. The reason being I don’t believe eBay is included in the authorized retailers required for warranty service noted in the manual.
Sipdown! Bringing me down to 137….not that it’s going to help much since holy crap I bought 21 teas while here….guess no buying in May unless I can have a really productive Sunday. Heh. I know there are a we few sipdown teas waiting for me at home, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough.
This tea will be on me reorder list for sure. It is a delicious, delicious black tea that has made. My Vancouver mornings even more wonderful…. It has a strength to it while not being overly in my face….and the flavours out of thinks one make me sit up and take note with every sip. I never expect it to be nearly as yummy as it is every time I take a sip lol.
Doesn’t May start in a week?
You are still ahead of me in sipdowns :(
Really?? Variatea…but I have a billion to add to my cupboard!
Lariel – yes may starts next week, but If I can’t achieve my goal, then I’m not allowed to buy more tea until I hit the next months goal….at least until July rolls around – I’m trying to get down to 100 pretty seriously :) so I make up rules as I go to keep me honest.
137 is practically 100!
I’ve gotten used to using your tea count as a benchmark for what counts as “too much tea”, but right now my count is far far higher… d’oh! Clearly I need a new benchmark :)
Honestly, do mediocre Butiki teas exist?
No. No they do not :)
Right. Well I’ve emailed away my first order because I just can’t take these glowing reviews any longer.
Yay! I’ll be very surprised if you’re disappointed.
Memily – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed
Marzipan – I’ve jumped from 134 to 226 in a day hahaha
Kaylee – I’ll be back up after July, just trying to get my cupboard to a 6 month is my oldest tea level before I let is climb back again.
(just sitting in the corner, with my cup of tea, smirking)
;)
Terri…just think of what I can add to your box now that I’ve got new teas you haven’t tried! Lol
Holy moly, Sil! How did you jump almost 100 teas in a day?!
Hahahah. I love these sipdown wars. Don’t worry Sil – I’ve only got 14 samples for you; that box is only half full!
Also, I’m with Kaylee. I’ve been using Sil as my benchmark too and now I am 40 teas too high. Apparently. :|
Sil, you are evil. I love you, but you are my sipdown nemesis. I’m going to form an alliance with Cavo, Kaylee, Memily, Marzipan, Varietea, Tea Fairy, & everyone else on steepster to bury you alive in tea, my dear sister! Just you wait! It will happen when you least expect it…mwahahahahahahah!!!
Cavo & Kaylee, if Sil is your benchmark for too much tea, I should probably be your benchmark for Way to much Tea!!.
:D
Hahah too funny. I have purposely avoided counting my teas because in my head I think “I’m not so bad”, and seeing someone else’s high numbers makes me feel even better about myself. I suspect though,that my count would be higher than I’d care to admit…and my husband must never find out. Counting everything just makes it all real….
Kaylee – I received a bunch of swaps and a purchase all basically in a day lol Terri and I tend to send each other boxes with anywhere from 30-60 teas in he them when we send teas lol
Terri – hahah don’t you dare
Whatshesaid – I really only count my teas because I like playing little games with myself in terms of numbers and volume. The only thing I really care about is does it feel like I have too much tea. If it feels like a chore to be drinking things because I have “too much” then I have to stop….turns out that " too many teas" number for me is about 325. Lol under 150 I don’t feel like I have enough teas….so eventually I think I’ll end up back around 200 ish which gives me room to swap, make impulse purchases without getting near my oh my god aaaah too many teas! Mark
But how can y ever drink all those 200??!! Too funny.
I haven’t done the math for a few weeks, but I have a feeling my cupboard is back above 350, thanks to boxes various friends have sent, plus a few orders I’ve placed.
Interesting conversation – you guys are fun. I’m actually using Sil as my inspiration to get my cupboard down to something reasonable. 350 is too many. 100 isn’t enough. Not sure where I will end up, but if Sil can reduce while people keep sending her lots – then so can I. I just need to focus.
I have this fantasy that the perfect number of teas is 120 – 150. I want to drink a cup of everything in my collection once a month, & I think with a number like that, I could pull it off. However, this wouldn’t count my puerh collection…or maybe it would?
I’m currently at 183 and it feels like way, way too much. I love having such a varied collection, but it’s getting really out of control. Terri – I think you may be right that the perfect number is 120-150. Probably closer to 120 for me. And even that would be an embarrassing number to admit outside of the Steepsterverse.
It also depends on quantity. There is a big difference between 50 – 50g packages and 50 3 tsp swap samples. I sometimes feel overwhelmed by volume rather than number of. I think 150-175 would work for me if 50-75 of those were small samples and the other 100 were more quantity. Dunno – just thinking out loud, but I’m going to be happier if I can get down to 200 ish…
You guys are making me want to count….you all included small one cup or so samples also?
whatshesaid – I cannot speak for anyone else – but I have EVERYTHING I have in the house in my Steepster cupboard. So yes, small samples count – that’s what I was just saying – the number of has to be balanced with quantities of…
Dexter3657 – Fair point about quantity. My teas average an oz. I’ve noticed that when non-tea people gift me loose tea, they tend to get unnecessarily large quantities which I’m then stuck with for what feels like forever. Plus there’s that pound of guayusa I bought to help me get through grad school that I still have half of…
whatshesaid – I don’t keep my Steepster cupboard as up-to-date as I should, but I maintain a list. It includes every tea in my home and office regardless of quantity. That also helps me keep track of who sent me which teas and whether a given tea is in the office or at home.
ONE OF US, ONE OF US. I also bowed to adding every skerrick of tea in my house to steepster… it makes sipdowns more fun ;)
That’s not so bad then, having 2 cups worth of something is way worse than 2 oz of something
Haha I meant the other way around obviously
I’m drunk
I’m not really
no judgment
It’s sort of like, have you ever written something on your todo list just so you could cross it off? I think having the samples in the cupboard ends up like that, I feel like I am getting somewhere because I actually get to remove one.
I like to write tasting notes at least once on every tea I try. If I didn’t put samples in my cupboard, I wouldn’t write tasting notes on them, then I would have no record of what I’ve tried and what I haven’t – I don’t have the fancy spread sheets like some people do. If I go to remove a tea from my cupboard and it says it hasn’t been logged, then I log it. But that’s just how I organize my tea journey.
I’m With dexter and I have a fancy spreadsheet lol mostly just in case steepster takes a dive. Oh to be able to export thoiugh….
I don’t know if I’d call my spread sheet fancy, but I update it once a month, print it out, & then check teas off as I drink them.
I like this spreadsheet idea…. I wonder if I can get an app for my iPad and work on it slowly a bit at a time as the baby permits
It WOULD be satisfying to cross stuff off!
iPad = google docs….at least that’s what I would do if you’re looking to be able to create/maintain here and there….there may be an app but google docs will work if you don’t find something better
I have pages on my iPad (& iPhone & my laptop & desktop…I’m totally Macified), but I’m sure google docs would be better, especially if you want to be able to share it with people.
We are a Mac family also so I will look into both of those suggestions!
pages is a good one as well – i always forget about it since i haven’t been using a mac as long :)
One thing I like about pages is you can save it as a word doc, a PDF, or whatever.
If you are thinking of doing the spreadsheet, the sooner you start, the better! (You don’t want to do it when you have 200 teas to log. ;P)
Some things you might want to track – when you bought it, your steepster rating, how much you have left, if you’d re-order it or not, and who you got it from if it was a swap. Some of those I added later on and I had to go through and do a completely inventory again. But, it’s fun?
I mentioned to my husband that there aren’t any apps out there that are tea logs (or coffee, for that matter). At least, not that I could find. He is a software developer, so maybe…
Thanks for the tips!!
Today I have been thinking about which teas I want to axe. We have a number of new flavors I would like to test out. Whether they will work out, I’m not sure but I do have a large number of ideas that I would like to start on. Three of my favorite ideas are an Irish Cream Cheesecake, Espresso Stout Beer Tea and Champagne with Rose Cream. I think those will be hard to pull off but I can’t wait to try. The top contenders to be axed are the Raspberry Truffle, Strawberry Oolong, and the Mint Oolong. Also, I’ve just been thinking about trying out a Pumpkin Milkshake tea and seeing how it compares to our current Pumpkin Crème Brulee.
On to the tea at hand. I love love love me some Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black and this harvest is fantastic! Leafhoppers are magical creatures! I truly believe this tea needs to be tried in a gongfu session to be really appreciated as that is how I’m getting the most flavor out of it. I have been doing about 7 steeps with this tea with my gaiwan. Here’s a pic of the wet leaves in my cute little red 50ml gaiwan: http://instagram.com/p/dQPsaGFfKn/. From this session, I’m getting heavier honey notes that linger and evolve into powdered sugar notes. Additionally, there are some bready notes with cinnamon and sweet potato. Occasional plum notes peak through the maltiness. This tea is weighty and produces a lovely complex cup of tea. I just absolutely love it! :)
I LOVE the new tea ideas!
Thanks Stephanie! :)
all of those can be safely axed without any issue from me haha. Love the new teas…looking forward to trying to sample you sent me tonight :) this one is on deck for tomorrow! i can’t wait!
I’m drinking some of this tea now! :) So tasty! I’d love to see a pumpkin milkshake tea and maybe just a regular cheesecake one, too! I think they’d be amazing as a rooibos blends, but you always come up with the best blends!
*or maybe a caramel cheesecake!
Love the new ideas—especially the Irish Cream Cheesecake one!
Ooo… I have a recipe for an Irish Cream Cheesecake that I lurve. Could be a great tea flavor. :)
oooh! Champagne sounds lovely!
Sil-I know you won’t mind many of the oolongs being axed. Haha. Would love to know what you think of the sample. That is only round 1, so it is a bit of a work in progress.
QueenOfTarts-Glad you are enjoying the wild mountain tea! I’m excited about trying out a pumpkin milkshake. I’ve made a vegan one from a random recipe in the past and loved it plus I’m always trying to think of new ideas for flavors that don’t already exist. There will definitely be a new rooibos, since we really need to add more rooibos & honeybush options. Caramel cheesecake sounds awesome but I think for another caramel flavor I might go with one of the ones that terri or sil recommended (i forgot which one of you recommended it) a caramel coffee flavor.
keychange-Thanks, I hope they end up working out! :)
Nicole-I didn’t know they really existed, how awesome.
Fuzzy_Peachkin-Thanks :)
Well, when it gets cold out, I have been known to ship cheesecake…just in case you needed a point of comparison, you know. Strictly for research… :)
Nicole-That’s a really awesome offer. Unfortunately, with the whole me being vegan thing, that wouldn’t work out. Though, how odd is this, I did find a vegan irish cream cheesecake recipe. Very weird. I would be happy to send you a sample of the tea, strictly for authenticating purposes. :)
I really need to do this in my gaiwan. You are convincing me! :)
love love love the ideas! i cannot wait!
aaaand another addition to the upcoming order. stacy, we’re going to have review things before you send me an invoice. sheesh.
Nicole…I’ll take Stacy’s cheesecake!
Stacy – sent you an email with a few notes…not bad for a first start :) and I enjoyed raspberry truffle…just not one of my favourites from you :) as in, make room for new!
ifjuly-Yes yes yes! The gaiwan really does make a big difference with this tea. :)
BrewTEAlly Sweet-Awesome! :)
JustJames-Mwahahaha :D
Sil-Hahaha. Excellent, I will check it out. Exactly. There is only room for the best of the best and unique teas. I’m happy to listen to any suggestions for which teas to axe.
Not a fan of anything coffee-flavoured for dietary reasons, but those other two sound delish.
I know you’re creating something with rooibos but I I hope it’s not these! I want to be able to try the new tea’s too.
okay, i love the idea…. but the yuletide/christmas pudding is just so finicky. that would be my vote. i got frustrated and sent it to scribbles who couldn’t make it work either.
and i must agree with Jillian because i am allergic to coffee. (besides, tea is far superior!)
Irish Cream Cheesecake sounds divine!
Irish cheesecake and pumpkin milkshake sound amazing! And I would LOVE some new honeybush!!!! Yay! I really enjoy the strawberry oolong, but I am sure you will create something equally as magical!
Coffee is fine because of the stout…Beer..yum!
Buttery pecan pie, French vanilla apple pie with golden raisins (nice holiday flavors, I have recipes for the pies but wonder about tea recipes). Your cheesecake sounds good no honeybush I hope!
I GET MY ORDER TOMORROW! Yays for me! Plus I’m getting more samples in the swap. I’ll be all Butiki’d up, and can finally have the rest of the Cantaloupe and Cream I’ve been hoarding til I got more. :)
Jilian-Glad to hear the other 2 sound good.
Bonnie-There will definitely be a lot of new ones that aren’t rooibos or honeybush. The pumpkin milkshake I was thinking about trying with our Zhen Qu. I have a few cofee-ish teas in mind. Mmmmm french vanilla apple pie sounds fantastic. I’m undecided about which base to use for the Irish Cream Cheescake though puerh is a possibility.
Heather-Yay! I hope you enjoy your new teas! :)
Just James-It is a bit finicky, particularly with the water temperature. I was actually thinking about turning that one into just a creamy plum.
Tea Sipper-thanks! :)
tigress_al-I’m on the fence about the Strawberry Oolong. I love it but we have 2 other strawberry teas and they sell more and just strawberry is a little plain. I’m not sure about that one yet.
If I’m going to be honest, I have Strawberry Oolong and Raspberry Truffle and I don’t reach for them very often so if they were axed I wouldn’t throw my fist in the air and cry “WHY WHY??!”. I can’t wait to get my order that shipped today! Yay! And I am SOOOOO looking forward to those new teas they sound AMAZING! I think I would have to get them all! Because I need more Butiki Tea…hahaha!
I won’t miss any of those teas. I’m sure I’ll have to sample all the new ones, although flavored teas aren’t my forte, so keep carrying all the awesome unflavored ones that I love, that’s all I’m asking!!! :)
Although, I have to say, when it comes to flavored teas, blends, etc, you are the awesome-est, Ms Stacy! You’re the Queen!
these new teas are really appealing. I am wondering if one day I’ll see a Pain Perdu-Framboise tea, this should be wonderful (I need to begin thinking to a customer blend :) )
I’m all for a European theme for Ysaurella and other friends across the sea…maybe ‘The Grand Tour’ as the British used to say in the old days. Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, Vienna and so on. You already have the Irish started, Espresso reminds me of Rome.
(I think I’m going off my rocker here!) Just laugh at me, I’m OK with it.
Ali Bee-Thanks for the feedback! Feedback is always appreciated. I hope the new ones come out good. crosses fingers
Terri HarpLady-No worries, there will be new plain teas as well and I certainly won’t be getting rid of any of the top sellers. We are also revamping most of the straight tea blends. The current Irish Breakfast was the first one done. The English Breakfast tea needs an update and I’m working on a Butiki Breakfast Blend and an Indian Breakfast. Thanks :)
Ysaurella-Thanks. So, I am not quite sure what Pain Perdu-Framboise is. I tried googling it but all of the recipes were in French. It does look amazingly delicious though.
Bonnie-That is not a bad idea at all! We are currently working on a tea that was inspired by Philippino flavors. Its about time really, since the name of our company is a Tagalog word. Also, part of company focus is teas from around the world so that really works with our vision. :)
i have a custom tea on the way… final stages. coconut cream pie— WITH a detectable crust. can’t wait. early september. (along with a mammoth order of other stuff thus me blowing through my other supply!
@Ysaurella… une the comme saveur de pain perdu at framboise? i’ll faudra que je met un feu rouge sur mon commande a butiki jusqu’a cette melange existe! (SVP pardonnez les erreurs grammaticales… ca fait longtemps!)
@stacy… ‘pain perdu a la framboise ’ translates to ‘lost bread with raspberry’ which is french toast! i always sortof liked the old french name more. a raspberry french toast would be awesome…
btw any idea when the flavouring is coming in yet?
OMG coconut cream pie tea by Stacy? That will be the BOMB JustJames!
lol, i agree… and the custom build part is fun… watching stacy’s process is rather enlightening. i think you buy 8 oz with a custom, i’ll have enough to share =0)
JustJames-Thanks for the translation! Sounds yummy, though the french name sounds sexier. No idea when the flavoring is coming in, I will call them tomorrow to check in. I know the summer is generally the worst time to order. You will be the first to know. I will be working on your tea along with the new teas (since I’m waiting on those flavorings too). I will be sure to send some samples of my work in progress with your custom blend sample.
Stephanie-I’m very excited to work on that custom blend, JustJames chose 2 amazing base teas to test it on. :)
agreed, ‘pain perdu’ is far more romantic than ‘french toast’…. bread sacrificed to the overwhelming taste sensations of milk vanilla and spice…. it is perdu…. and then you pile syrup on it and it’s even more perdu-ed, lol.
The best dessert I ever had was in Messina, Italy…a small pastry shop with handmade waffle cones filled with hazelnut gelato, dipped in THICK bittersweet chocolate. No dessert has ever been as well-made! It was pretty good sized, not dainty… prefect though. The whole shop was filled with marzapan cakes and handmade candies wrapped in beautiful papers. Extraordinary!
JustJames-Mmmmm, sounds awesome!
Bonnie-That sounds fantastic! Wow! Mmmmmm.
Let’s go! Research!
Holeeeee smokes this thread is long lol
So much going on… :)
Dear Spammer. You have been banned. Bye!!
As I’m having a sleepless night, might as well drink something spectacular.
Using my newly green oolong seasoned yixing pot.
This tea…oh my, this tea.
It’s beautiful. Long twisted strands of jade tentacles. From the most luxuriant tea plantations, one of the greenest oolong there is.
The ultimate refinement. A gleaming Rolls Royce.
Creamy and buttery mouthfeel, French pastries with lingering lilacs in bloom. The taste creates an imprint in my mouth that stays forever. Angel breath…
Needless to say, this is a staple. Been restocking on this for a good two years now, I don’t plan on stopping.
This gets the Fairy stamp of approval!
Well good morning, early bird!
This sounds really lovely. TeaLux sent me a sample of something. Now I really hope it’s this!!!!
So now I need to try Tealux too?
Well apparently. :p
I got their Dragon Pearls along with my houhin. I really hope this is my sample, but I’m not ready to get out of bed to go look….
Oh guess what… When I do make it out of bed, I’ll be making some cocoa Amore in my new vanilla pot!!!! Eeeeeeee!!!!!
Well good morning to you too lovely ladies…this tea is really something. Missy Prissy, we talked about this one a little while ago, it’s in your box…I’ve been sending so many Tealux teas, I ran out of most of them, but some are just stunning. But now with WP and Mandala madness, I don’t think I will restock them all. If ever you girls want to place an order, let me know first, I have tried almost all of them, lol. I can give you good recommendations. Their assam #8 is stunning, and so is Da Yu Ling oolong…
Awww, sars, vaniila pot is going to knock your socks off!!
This one is not my sample. The sample is Feury Doux Champagne. Tried that one?
Does that translate to “Fairy Dew?”
I’m in bed ignoring my dogs and drinking Fujian Black. Sars you will LOVE CA in the vanilla pot. I’m going to do my purple pot for oolong this evening.
It’s actually Fleury Doux Chanpagne, but I like your translation better
I think my translation is best! Fairy Dew Champagne!
I had to get up b/c my kitty overlord wanted breakfast. But now I’m back in bed.
My dogs want to get in the bed which usually I let them, but yesterday morning they made me spill my tea and I had to change my sheets and get them in the wash before it stained and it was a LOT of trouble for a Monday morning. So they are looking at me with the BSEs cause I won’t let them up right now.
Haha! You crack me up you two…Fairy Dew? So cute, I want that!!!
Fleury Doux means soft floral…and it’s not even on their website, so it must be something new…sounds really good though.
Oh no! Not bed change again???
And BSEs??? No human can resist canine BSEs…
Mine get in bed whether I let them or not. Me, Brian, 3 dogs, and Chairman Meow. It’s only a queen sized bed!!!!
It’s a white tea, TTF. I’ll try and report back!!!!
Yes, wicked doggies. Good thing they are adorable. I know, I feel like I;’m giving into the BSEs
3 dogs???? Awesome!
Happy 4 legged family you have there sars :-)
Try saying that when they have you sardined into your own bed, and you can’t turn over, AND the little monsters have stolen all the covers!!!!!
And the Chairman sits on my head and meows for breakfast!!!!
Haha! Love that you have a chaiman to control the madness…
Oh mine lay on the covers really HARD so you can’t pull the covers out from under them and cover yourself up. They make themselves HEAVIER somehow
The chairman incites the madness!
And yeah, that’s what I mean! They lay on the covers and weigh them down then you are left with none!!!
But then they snuggles up all around me and I melt into a pile of puppy-love
EXACTLY!! I have only one dog (and cats) but he makes himself so heavy (well he is over 100 pounds) that I can’t move a god damn thing from underneath him. Oh, and he snores…not doggy snore…big fat beer belly lumberjack snore!
One of mine snores hard
LOL!!!! Abby snores, too. Neither of the other dogs do, though.
nother cup of tea. I think it might be CA time
I.cannot.wait.to.get.CA.over.here. In the mean time, I’m getting some snaily. Have I told you gals that WP and Mandala are making almost all my other teas taste bland? It’s a curse.
Yes. Brewing mine now… Join me.
I have mine. Holy shit it’s good in the vanilla pot LTF!!!! I want yours to get there!
I’m taking my new wee tray to work today and I’m gonna do some WMG. Work sheng!
Enjoy some CA for me ladies…Snaily Yums isn’t a bad replacement though…and I just smelled my little VD pot and it’s full of Port smell and that made me happy.
MMMMMM nose tea is sometimes almost as good as mouth tea
LTF – when I’m done with this cup of GO – I’m going to RE-STEEP! Vanilla Dreams in a yixing is turning us into re-steepers
Haha! Nose tea :-)
And yes…re-steeping is a must in the little pot. I had Port gongfu yesterday and it rendered so many steeps I was amazed!
Oh I should try gongfuing my Port
Nose tea is totally a thing. It doesn;t even have to be brewed – sticking your nose in the bag of GO or Golden Fleece or CA is nose tea!
So true!!
OK lovlies – I need to get in the shower and get to work. I will check in with y’all later.
Have a great day missy :-)
And my work day begins… I’d rather drink tea with you two all day!
Me too Sars. I’m out the door. Toodles!
<3
My friend Dexter inspired me to drink Special Dark last night. We both had unseasoned yixing pots and have both recently decided to take care of them (well at least some of them!)
I’ve spent quite a few months without a yixing clay pot…(I was left with no pots after a series of unfortunate events).
I was using the gaiwan and my cute little glass gongfu pot. T’was ok, but I think I had forgotten how much more rewarding this is.
I replaced all my pots slowly, but would never take the time to season them for some reason.
Last week, after the last two pots came in, I seasoned the smallest one with Special Dark. I chose this shou cause it’s so rich and flavourful.
And I’m drinking it tonight. And it’s good.
This tea is all chocolate and raisins, yes, dark slightly bitter cocoa and plump soaked raisins. It feels a little powdery in the mouth. I get a nice mineral flow from the clay, it makes the tea smooth and creamy.
Clay pots just add another dimension to the experience…they create a ritual, and somehow, you start caring for them more than any other teaware you own.
Maybe because they are the only ones that give back?
The pot might be new, but it’s already being generous with me…and I am so grateful I have it.
Special Dark is always special, but there was something extraordinary about it steeped in the new clay. The mineral of the clay is just amazing with this one. So happy that WE are enjoying our pots and finally giving them the love and care that they deserve. :))
I just keep drooling over additional fixings, & thinking, “if I had this one, I’d use it for (such & such tea)…” :)
I love them
Yup, going to have to make some Special Dark in a yixing pot, tomorrow.
You’re so right Dex, it’s really “Special”!!!
Terri, OMG, I do the same!! I am in such a yixing mood right now, it is dangerous.
Spencer, yes…JUST DO IT :-)
Hmm, so, now balancing the wisdom of taking a yixing to the office…which would mean a bamboo tea tray, too…
Yixing pots are very addictive . Glad you enjoy the experience;)
You can never have too many Yixing pots. Honest! :)
I seasoned my wee-est yixing with Wild Monk yesterday using the Tea Hobbit method – put it in the bowl of tea and put the bowl on a mug warmer for 3 hours. I may have a new yixing or two coming. I’m going to do a Special Dark pot, and a VANILLA DREAMS pot and one for shous that aren’t Special Dark. But right now, I’ve just woken up and am on my way to the kitchen to kickstart my day with my Dark Beauty cocktail and hope that today is better than yesterday
I hope so too…today WILL be a better day :-)
I did my VANILLA DREAMS pot last night!! 7 gr. of GO devoted to it, HOBBIT way, cause it worked so well with Special Dark. Will have my first shot this morning, yum!
I would love to see some pics of these yixings! Is there a discussion topic for that? Maybe I should start one.
Oh there are many sars “show us your teaware” or something like that….but you could totally start a new one!
I’ll see if I can find one that’s yixing specific to resurrect. If not, I’ll start one. I am so excited! I’m currently searching for one to house my special dark. And I think I’ve figured out which tea is going in which gaiwan.
Choosing the teas that match is the toughest part, congrats!! Show me the special dark one when you find it. Will it be a pot this time, or another gaiwan?
I will take pictures of my four pots later and post them :-)
Don’t you worry, sweetie pie. I plan to show you all of them, along with the teas I want for each one, to get your opinion. And I’m going to hope HoneyBelle gives her input, too! :p
I think I am going to stick with gaiwans, assuming I can find enough unique ones. I just like ’em.
Yes, pics pls. I would love to see them.
Well, TeaFairy, looks as though I will get my wish for Special Dark in a yixing today – working from home, due to a rough cough.
Sars, can’t wait to see them all, will be happy to give you my humble opinion :-)
Yay for the tea, boo for the rough cough Spencer :-(
Let me know how you enjoy your SD session :-)
Hope the cough passes soon, Spencer. Regarding a tray for the office, I really like this one http://shopmandalatea.com/tea-wares/tea-trays/bamboo-island-tea-tray.html, it’s nicely compact. Currently out of stock, but I think Garret gets more of them in now & again.
I’d really like a yixing for my really wonderful smokey teas…I’ve been eyeballing one for awhile, but I’ll need more play pal money to get it.
I’d also like one just for Dian Hongs…and for Jin Jun Mei’s…and…and…and…
I need a tea tray for work. I have a gaiwan there and I just dump into a coffee mug, but a tray for work would be awesome. I need to quit reading stuff.
Thanks to Garret’s recent sale, I’ve begun the journey into the mystery that is Special Dark. Have all you SD lovers discovered your own optimum brewing parameters for this very popular shou? I’ve seen a variety of brewing times from 30 seconds to 7 minutes. Dare I ask … Is there a consensus on brewing SD?
i like short steeps. but i like short steeps for every tea because i want to see how flavors change. couple times i made it long steeped like 5min but then cut it with some milk and maple syrup. it was delicious. i still prefer short steeps;)
And I prefer the longer steeps! :D
How long a steep do you prefer?
Me? About 5 minutes. SUPER rich and cocoa-y.
TheTeaFairy also recommends 5 min.
MzPriss from her tasting note appears to enjoy 7 min.
This is on my list for when (if) I make a Mandala order.
boychik, How much pure maple syrup do you use with what quantity of SD that’s been steeped for 5 min.? Thanks!
very little, i start with 1/2 tsp, then try to see if i need more. maybe up to 1tsp. usually i dont sweeten my tea.
im thinking now that if you brew 1tsp 8 oz 5 min its probably will be the same as 5-7g 100ml 30 sec
How about for TheTeaFairy’s: 12 oz. / 5 g / 212 / 5 min. Western brewing recommendation?
Sticking my nose in – I like 2tsp/12oz 95c 8 min – I do do a quick rinse first then just let it steep….
Well, I ordered the puer sampler. I blame (or thank) you guys. ;)
Dexter, I’ll have to try that. Less leaf, usually reduces the flavor & body. Does the 8 min make up for the reduced quantity of leaf? Does 95c reduce the bitter chocolate flavor? So far, most of the comments I’ve read about SD aren’t suggesting a rinse, which is commonly suggested for some teas. What do you find is the benefit of rinsing of SD? Thanks!
i always rinse any puerh including SD! quick rinse,few secs
I do too! SD is already a little “dusty”, I find it helps removing some of that.
OK, I’ll definitely rinse.
This is how I like it. I hardly ever use boiling water on pu’erh (or black for that matter) – I prefer slightly lower water temp. Garret is a believer in rinsing leaves before steeping, something about the rinse opens up the leaves and prepares them to be steeped. There was a huge conversation about it on here about a year ago (I will never find it now), but every time I drink Mandala tea I think about that, so I rinse. I don’t have anything scientific for you. Those parameters are how I make Special Dark and I LOVE it. 8 mins isn’t written in stone – the longer this steeps the darker and richer it gets.
Thanks Dexter I’ll have to try your formula. I ask because I’m trying to optimize the rich creamy dark chocolate flavor without increasing the bitter chocolate aspect.
Brewing parameters
As a primarily black tea drinker I’m used to seeing either of the following:
- tsp (g) / oz. / temp. / min.
- tsp (g) / oz. / temp. / rinse / min.
Being new to pu’erh I don’t automatically think to rinse if it’s not stated in the brewing parameters / directions.
i think i put in parameters that i rinse. i even put pause. i like to pause couple min after rinsing
rinse/pause/5/10/15 etc :)
Some people believe that you should rinse all tea – white, green, oolong, black, pu’erh. The instructor of the tea class I took in the spring rinsed everything.
I only rinse pu’erh and all Mandala teas. When I rinse, I don’t fill the vessel full of water, I just cover the leaves, give it a swish and dump it off – approx 5 sec. I also preheat my mug, gaiwan, pot – whatever I’m using.
I think we all just have “habits”. Some one told us to do that, so we do even if we don’t really understand why….
I personally don’t find Special Dark as being bitter chocolate, so I’m not sure my recommendations are going to help you. I think you will just have to play with it to find your preference. :))
Dexter, boychik, & TheTeaFairy, Thanks for reminding me about the importance of rinsing. To my surprise, it’s not listed on the SD package brewing instructions. However, Garret does recommend a 10-15 sec. rise on the instructions that were included with his recent Ripe Pu’er Sampler. Rinsing helped a great deal!
Dexter, I tried your suggestion: 2tsp / 12oz / 95c / rinse / 8 min. Both my wife and I found it to be too light for us. So far, 1 Tbsp. / 10oz / 212 / rinse / 5 min. appears to provide a good balance for us. I may fine tune this further. Time will tell.
Thanks everyone!
My S.D. farewell: https://steepster.com/looseTman/posts/399892
Auggy already commented on how to drive Jackee Muntz into Caramel City, so I’m going to take this opportunity to get a little goofy on y’all. [Like I really need an excuse.] I can’t take credit for this idea. While I’m sure it’s been done elsewhere, I’m sapping inspiration from both an episode of Hey Ash Whatcha Playin’ and a rather brilliant Yelp review a friend of mine wrote. If any of you have never stumbled across text-based games, you might not get this. So here’s something ridiculous that may or may not help: http://bit.ly/DgJqE [Homestar Runner, Dungeonman 3].
Me: Jackee, what the hell? Why don’t you taste like caramel anymore?
Jackee: I do not understand “caramel.”
Me: Cut it out. What I am doing wrong?
Jackee: What’s a “wrong”?
Me: …What?
Jackee: You are holding a glass MUG. Inside of it sit eight ounces of dark copper liquid. Steam rises from the top, swirling into nothingness. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Me: …
SIP TEA.
Jackee: You take a sip of the TEA and burn your TONGUE. Cursing like a sailor whose ship has chanced upon a Kraken, you bang your HEAD against the COUNTER in frustration at your stupidity. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Me: HEY!
Jackee: What’s a “HEY”?
Me: Grumble. LET TEA COOL.
Jackee: You sit aimlessly, watching your TEA while you wait for it to drop an appropriate amount in TEMPERATURE. Occasionally, you blow on it, though you are unsure of its effectiveness on the actual cooling process. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Me: SIP TEA.
Jackee: You take a sip of TEA. The mouthfeel is thin, but not quite watery. The TEA is flavorful – strong, with notes of smoke and pine and a light sweetness. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Me: POUR TEA OUT.
Jackee: Well, that was wasteful of you. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Me: It’s not my fault you don’t taste good to me anymore! It’s your fault you don’t taste like caramel!
Jackee: I do not understand that command.
Me: Sigh. READ STEEPSTER.
Jackee: You log into your Steepster account. New reviews have been posted. Please click here: http://steepster.com/aug3zimm/posts/23176. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Just to walk you through my thought process at this point, now I’m really thinking. When I had Jackee the first few times, I was drinking out of a different mug and I didn’t know that my utiliTEA was messing me up temperature wise. Even when it turned, I don’t want to say bad, but “not as good” on me, I didn’t know about my utiliTEA’s little issue for the majority of my experimentation. I’d get a cup of caramel maybe one time out of five, but the parameters wouldn’t match up so I was starting to think it was all in my head.
By the time I figured out the temperature problem, I barely had any Jackee Muntz left, so I tried a few cups on the stovetop and they rendered much of the same. I also tried it in a travel mug, and the smell thing didn’t seem to fix it either. I did discover that steep time didn’t appear to have too much of an effect, though, so long as I kept it somewhere around 3:30 to 4:30, it was pretty consistent.
Part of me must have still thought I could get it back to caramel. I think that I was partially re-invigorated after the discovery of my utiliTEA temperature issue, so I re-ordered Series 2, but the first cup of the first tin was not successful either. After reading Auggy’s review, something clicked though. A lot of it had to do with the fact that she had actually found the caramel and that gave me hope [and also reassurance that I hadn’t completely lost it]. But also I was looking at the temperature [205°] and thinking about maybe it was the shape of her travel mug. But my mug hadn’t been shaped all that differently from the one I like to use now. Except…it had been a bit larger. So maybe the tea to water ratios were a bit different… No, I DON’T KNOW WHY I DIDN’T THINK ABOUT THAT BEFORE.
Me: CHANGE MUG.
Jackee: Which mug would you like to change to? To see your current mugs, type INV.
Me: INV.
Jackee: BODUM MUG, CAFÉ MUG, BIG TEAL MUG NOT SUITABLE FOR DRINKING TEA, BORING STARBUCKS MUG.
This is the mug I was originally drinking tea out of, by the way – http://bit.ly/4Am3Xb – the bottom top one. Oops.
Me: CAFÉ MUG.
Jackee: You switched your BODUM MUG for your CAFÉ MUG.
Me: MAKE MORE TEA.
Jackee: You turn on your KETTLE and wait for the water to heat, measuring out a heaping teaspoon of TEA before dropping it into your INFUSER. In a few minutes, the WATER is boiling. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Me: LET WATER COOL 195°F.
Jackee: You wait impatiently while the water cools to the appropriate temperature. You really should learn to be a little more tolerant.
Me: SCREW YOU.
Jackee: I do not understand “SCREW.”
Me: MEASURE WATER 11 OZ.
Jackee: You measure out 11 ounces of WATER into a MEASURING CUP.
Me: POUR WATER.
Jackee: POUR WATER where?
Me: Into the mug, you idiot.
Jackee: I do not understand “idiot.”
Me: POUR WATER INTO MUG.
Jackee: You pour the WATER into your MUG.
Me: STEEP 3:15.
Jackee: Doesn’t that seem a bit short?
Me: Now you’re helpful?
Jackee: I do not understand the question.
Me: STEEP 3:45.
Jackee: You let the TEA steep for 3 MINUTES and 45 SECONDS, watching a couple of stupid VIDEOS in the the meantime before removing the INFUSER.
Me: SIP TEA.
Jackee: You burn your TONGUE and your IQ drops another few points. You take out a FLYSWATTER and slap yourself across the face. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Me: LET TEA COOL.
Jackee: You sit aimlessly, watching your TEA while you wait for it to drop an appropriate amount in TEMPERATURE. Occasionally, you blow on it, though you are unsure of its effectiveness on the actual cooling process. Exits are to the NORTH, SOUTH, and WEST.
Me: SIP TEA.
Jackee: The TEA feels heavy in your mouth. A soft note of pine hits your TONGUE, but then gently fades away. You are greeted with the taste of burnt sugar.
Me: SIP TEA.
Jackee: The TEA feels heavy in your mouth. A soft note of pine hits your TONGUE, but then gently fades away. You are greeted with the taste of burnt sugar.
Me: SIP TEA.
Jackee: The TEA feels heavy in your mouth. A soft note of pine hits your TONGUE, but then gently fades away. You are greeted with the taste of burnt sugar.
Me: SIP TEA.
Jackee: The taste of burnt sugar slowly melts into the background and a salty note enters the flavors sliding around on your TONGUE. Anxious, you hold the TEA a bit longer in your mouth and are greeted with the overwhelming taste of caramel.
Me: OH SWEET POSEIDON, THANK YOU!!!
Jackee: What is a “Poseidon”?
Me: I hate you.
Jackee: I do not understand that command.
Me: …
INV TEA.
Jackee: A FATAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED. NUMBER OF TEAS HAS EXCEEDED CAPACITY. PROGRAM WILL TERMINATE.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I won Thursday.
Just a few more notes on the tea, because really that’s what all that mess up there was about, I did try steeping this at around 185 and didn’t quite get there in terms of the caramel, so I think that your temperature needs to be at least around 190°F, and could probably go up to 200°F but 205°F might be pushing it. [Auggy mentioned to me that her mug was cold and so it probably temperature dropped when it was in there somewhat significantly from the 205°F.] All this being said, all I can say definitively regarding the temperature is that it should be just below boiling if you hope to achieve this. It’s possible that we’re both just mad.
In regards to the tea:water ratio, I use one of these – http://bit.ly/5SpSvE – and when I measured it against a teaspoon last night it was like…1 1/4 tsp. Give or take a bit. I fill that up that spoon with just a teensy bit over, so somewhere thereabouts. The amount of water I put in the cup is somewhere between 11 and 12 oz, closer to 11.
All of this is assuming you a) have some Jackee Muntz on hand and b) want to try to replicate the caramel taste. I usually don’t get this specific in my logs, I know, but this has been bothering me for quite some time and I’m afraid that you’re seeing the aftermath of my GEEK OUT session here.
And thus endeth the really long tea log. I’m giving Jackee the ratings bump back to where he deserves to be, now that he has realized his potential for me again.
Squee!
Preparation
OMG LOVE THIS.
Seriously. I’m in love with interactive fiction and text adventures, and this is a totally WIN parody of that sort of stuff.
And yay for CARAMEL!
♥. Just… Srsly. ♥
You crack me up! :P
Nice review that was so funny. And yum caramel.
niiiice. i can’t say anymore. homestarrunner is a fave of mine anyway.
What @angrboda said. I’m going to go make some caramel Jackee Muntz right now.
@teaplz Hahaha, not gonna lie, they get kinda tedious for me. And usually there are too many players that have been doing it for yeeeeears and they just go FOOM FOOM FOOM everywhere and I’m just sitting there, all, “Nooooow, north is…”
@Everyone Aw thanks, Steepsterites! [Steeps? Denizens of Steepster?] I’m glad you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun writing it.
@Jack I’m curious to hear how it turns out. I made it again this morning just because I wanted to be SURE it wasn’t going anywhere, and it worked [PHEW!]. I think I’m gonna try to dial it up to 200°F next time; might make it a bit stronger.
Great post!
Oh takgoti, I meant more of interactive fiction/text adventure than a MUD. There aren’t any players except for yourself. You use an interpreter to play them on your desktop, and they’re usually free. Zork’s the most famous one. They’re sort of like interactive stories, and you emulated one exactly in your post. They’re often filled with puzzles and narrative elements. Their hey-day was in the 80s, although people are still making them today. www.ifcomp.org is the website for the annual competition. This is what Strongbad was parodying, not the MUDs (text-based RPGs where everyone runs around killing things).
@chrine Thank you!
@teaplz Sorry, that wasn’t clear. I was speaking generally of text-based games. The entire schema tends to bore me after a while. I’m too used to my graphics. My brain is lazy. The FOOM FOOM crazy player thing is just an added get-me-outta-here bonus for some text-based games. Though I guess that’s true for a lot of games. [Oh, WoW…]
Haha, amazing =D. It took me a while to catch on. I’m slow :(
My bodum cups have cracks in it! It’s so sad. I have a 12oz and two 8oz ones. Every time I wash them out, I hit them on the faucet.
Sorry for the stupidly long, long-winded explanation right there. I just geeked out cause I never get to talk about this stuff with ANYONE.
lol i used to play a MUD with my fiancee but he was a FOOM FOOM player where i was like “ok i go west right?”
@Ricky Eep, that blows.
@teaplz No worries.
@Kitch3ntools HAH, I know, right? I finish reading the description and I’ve finally decided which direction I want to go into and the computer’s like, “Uh…you’re dead.” I’m not much better at single player text adventures either – I die far too easily. I think that they are largely responsible for why I was terrified of dying at any given turn when MYST came out [even though I was told on several occasions that you couldn’t die – you COULD get trapped forever at one point though].
Myst was just terrifying in general! The eerie music, those talking books… the fact that you were ALONE all the time. And those puzzles were damned hard!
Haha that was somewhat entertaining =]
@teaplz Truth: I used to make one of my parents sit in the room with me when I played MYST. My dad was better because he’d actually try to help me when I played it. I also used to do the same thing with Prince of Persia when that first came out. In my defense, I was nine, but I’m still a wimp. I can’t play stuff like Bioshock or Dead Space when I’m alone. Or at night.
@TeaCast Thanks?
Someone needs to get this girl a copy of Inform7. (Maybe it’s a higher version than 7 now, actually, that’s just the last I was aware of/obtained, admittedly).
All that was missing in this review was a grue. Grues are compulsory.
The temptation to totally overshare in this comment section is overpowering. In my Other Blog Life, I cover/review video games. Obviously, steepster needs its own fem gaming clan, or something.
sophistre, there’s Gargoyle for Windows that’s an all-in-one interpreter. Pretty awesome. And I’d love to know your Other Blog Life! And I’ve been dying to post this somewhere, to someone that would understand, ANYONE… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE
takgoti, I can’t play ANY of those games, period. I end up screaming and throwing the controller. Everyone makes fun of me. I tried to play Silent Hill once. I had to run away from the TV, and beg someone else to turn it off within 20 minutes of starting. So we are comrades in wimp-ness!
@sophistre I had to look up what that was. Wow. [It looks like 7 is the highest version, too.] From what I skimmed it looked like a text adventure constructor program of sorts? I totally see myself becoming fascinated with the idea, losing myself halfway through, and then shoving it in the corner where half of my unfinished craft projects are.
Oh, also, I definitely typed out and deleted, “You are likely to be eaten by a grue,” about three times before deciding I might be exposing just a little too much geek on the internets. Clearly, I was wrong.
@teaplz WORD. I also refuse to watch scary movies. A couple of friends called me once and told me to come over and hang out. So I drove over there and they were watching a movie, and I asked them what it was and it was some creepy Japanese film so I definitely left. Hadn’t even gotten my shoes off. I can’t sleep when I see that stuff, and the fact that I even am thinking about it so much now is probably going to result in the need to put on something like Anchorman so I can actually go to bed. Yes, I’m that bad.
That video was a fine way to end a very sleepless late-night-early-AM. ^^
That’s precisely what it is. It’s very intuitive about how it handles object creation (which is really all the code for text-based games is, afaik). Fun, interesting. After I discovered it, I did precisely what you’ve described above. I think I have a copy lying around on a disk somewhere, but I never did anything with it.
And alas, we three diverge on the matter of survival horror games and horror films — I am a sucker for both, despite having hated scary stuff as a kid…I suppose ‘Alien’ was probably responsible for converting me. I play them and watch them now even though playing them alone is sometimes out of the question and sleeping afterwards is usually nearly impossible. I don’t know if this makes me a masochist or what. Maybe I’m addicted to the adrenaline rush!
@sophistre Haha, thanks! Also, so far as the horror thing goes, for me it’s mainly the creepy feeling like someone’s watching me feeling that gets me. That and the suspense thing. I totally psych myself out. The act of being scared if I’m not expecting it is something I can usually handle. It’s the expectation of being scared that is when I get freaked out. [I don’t think I actually realized this until I typed this all out.]
Funny, somewhat related story, a friend of mine used to hear the voice of Robert Stack from Unsolved Mysteries in her head whenever she’d go out to put the trash on the curb or something similar. “It was a normal Wednesday evening on this quiet street in Baltimore, Maryland. Jennifer Johnson was walking her trash out to the curb…”
@teaplz – I stopped writing them for ages, but as of recently I’m sort of trying to reassemble anything that wasn’t official onto a tumblr page, which is now listed in my profile, if you’re curious. ;) I’m lazy and update the video-game specific stuff rarely though, alas. I’m pretty behind.
@takgoti – I totally psych myself out. I am able to think of infinitely more frightening things once I’m jumpy than the movie or game can throw at me, for sure. I’m not ashamed to say that there are nights when the bathroom light stays on! Thinking about it, I wonder why I do this to myself…ahh, well. That’s pretty funny about your friend. I guess for me it’d probably be Bill Curtis!
Great post. I love the detail. I think you should do more of this. But man, that was long! :)
This’ making me feel bad that I haven’t logged onto any of my usual MUDs in a while. All of my characters have probably expired. Ahwell.
But I’m interested in the tea now. Hmmm. Very interesting read.
@Tyler Hahaha, thanks! [Though I don’t think I’ll be writing another review like that anytime soon.] And yes, I tend to be very long winded. Oops?
@AJ Sounds like me and my relationship with WoW. Though I think/hope that my characters haven’t expired. Anyway, you should check Andrews & Dunham out! I can’t make any guarantees as to how you’ll get along with them, but I like them quite a bit.
I poked through the website a few times! It just takes me forever to purchase items online. I am a very apprehensive online shopper, despite glowing reviews. Actually, it extends offline as well. It takes me a few days of staring to decide.
@tak: Not that I play WoW, or if I did that I would even acknowledge that sort of thing in a public forum, because I totally would not, but if that were true, I’m sure you could find me on Malorne.
LOL. Reading this, I felt like I had been sucked into the Lost Treasures of Infocom. Oh, and as for where north is: you need a pencil and some graph paper. You haven’t met tedious until you’ve mapped a text adventure. Its even more tedious than mapping a pre-auto map function CRPG. ;)
I <3 You! :-D
TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT TOOT
IT’S MY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON STEEPSTER!
TOOTING MY HORN (If you don’t toot your own horn, nobody else will!)
So, why did I choose Cream of Earl Grey by DAVIDsTEA? It was one of my very first loose leaf tea purchases, and I found some in the cabinet.
Time to say adios to this packet, but not without a last cup to remember my journey.
I had never been a life-long tea drinker. I thought that tea was all fuss and pinky fingers up in the air…not for me at all. I liked strong coffee. My coffee came from Community Coffee in Louisiana and a small roaster (Cornucopia) in San Francisco.
While in Vancouver, B.C. at the Metropolis with my granddaughter Schey (Sept. 2011), we stopped in at Teaopia. We had never seen a tea shop like that before so I bought some tea for my daughter and a little Pumpkin tea for me.
My daughter says I found Steepster and I say she found it (seems more likely), but whatever the case…I joined Jan.5,2012, adding my first tea’s to the cupboard. (A couple flavors of Celestial Seasonings and Good Earth bagged tea’s).
Like most of you, I was stunned that anyone followed me, but the encouragement and friendship was genuine and continued month after month.
I soon got the hang of Steepster, learning from more experienced tea drinkers. I picked up the popular brands…especially DAVIDsTEA,
52tea’s and Teavivre (what a great help Teavivre’s samples were to my tea education in the beginning!)
I ordered this Earl Grey, Chocolate Orange Puerh (my first puerh), Oh Canada, Black and White, Check Mate and a few other tea’s as first ventures into loose leaf tea and was hooked. It was cool getting tea from Canada too!
If you told me a year ago that I would be drinking unflavored tea…hahahahaha…or Pu-erh that I would break off a Brick or Beeng…hahahahhaha. I wouldn’t just laugh, I’d scratch my head and say, “Bing who?”
Then, “What’s a Gaiwan?”, “What’s Gongfu?”, “What’s Sheng and Shu?”
Really?!
I’ve been binge tea drinking this weekend! A celebration!
I went to Boulder with granddaughter Schey and began at the fancy, hand-painted Dushanbe Tea House.
Next we went to Ku Cha Tea House and had tea on lovely low tables served with care and attention. The ratio of tea to water was correct. There was a soothing waterfall, Asian art and lush plants creating a restful place for sipping tea. (I ran into Alex Alan for those of you who know him here on Steepster. He looks happy!).
Today, I went to Happy Luckys and brought a 1953 Pu-erh Brick (blend) to share, that the HL guys broke apart for me (a first for Preston), and a sample tasting of a Taiwan Green Tea Powder.
While choreographing the breaking of the brick (careful prying), I drank a delicious hot chocolate matcha with steamed milk!
When I returned home much later, still uncertain about what to review, I finally chose this Earl Grey. It seemed right to go back to the beginning.
This is a tea that I would probably not drink today. I don’t mean this to sound snobbish.
I don’t drink as many flavored tea’s as I used to and this is too stong to me now. It seems that with all the tea tasting the past year, my taste buds are much more sensitive and this is not a tea that is subtle in the least.
I have used this tea in other ways, to infuse flavor into lemon and vanilla pudding. It’s good used that way!
So many people have taken my hands and guided me along, answering questions, never putting me down when I haven’t known what I was talking about. I’ve been naive and childish many times.
Puerh people that I asked questions about what shu and sheng is, Darjeeling people that I had to ask what first flush and second flush meant have infinite patience.
I’ve just scratched the surface…but looking back, I’m amazed that at my older age, I’ve learned so much in a year.
What has happened to me was summed up by my Priest, Fr. Evan, after a visit when we were drinking tea. I had explained my tea journey after the devastation of illness and divorce.
“Bonnie, you’ve changed this past year. I can see that you’re much less afraid of people. You seem to have come alive and are interacting with people in a way that I didn’t see in you before. You are on the right path, so keep doing what you’re doing and write about tea.”
Being on Steepster this year with all of you has been what has brought me alive and I want to thank you.
All the followers, those who comment now and then, those who send the messages in the envelope up top, the swaps and gifts, the Vendors who email me asking how I’m doing.
I want to name names but I won’t. The list is long and all of you are so important to me.
Here are the pictures of my crazy weekend of binge tea drinking (so far)! http://flic.kr/p/dJ7cRu
Seems like you win the Steepster award for “most changed tea drinking habits in the least amount of time”!
Congrats :) I been here one year now too as of Jan 3 I love steepster
Oh, I’m so glad I’m having insomnia tonight! I get to toot your horn!
I think about the first time we met on Steepster, you were watching the Superbowl that night :-) If Steepster and all its wonderful people have changed you for the best, know that you have change me for the best. Reading you is much more than reading about tea, it’s reading about life. I went through some difficult times in 2012, and your wisdom, but also, your wit and playfulness really helped to pull trough.
You will always have a special place in my heart, please continue to educate and entertain here on Steepster :-)
Happy One Year Bonnie!!! Steepster would not be the same without you!! <3
Happy Anniversary!
Thanks you night owls!!! You all mean so much to me!!!
Happy Anniversary! I feel so blessed to be able to read about your informative and uplifting experiences. Steepster wouldn’t be the same without you, nor would my steeping abilities! Thank you for sharing your wisdom. :)
This was one of the first five tins I bought from David’s Tea!
As always, I love reading your posts. Your joy and zest for life have lifted me up on many difficult days. I have been on Steepster for almost 3 years and it definitely would not be the same without you. <3
Yay anniversary! I’m happy for you :)
Congrats Bonnie, to me you are definitely one of the best parts of Steepster. Your tea evolution sounds amazing, I’m so happy for you!
Bonnie, congratulations on your 1 year of Steepster! So glad to have you around.
Congrats Bonnie! Looks like I joined Steepster about 3 weeks after you, so you’ve been integral to my time on here as well! I look forward to the many awesome tasting notes and stories to come!
Congratulations!
Happy anniversary, Bonnie. :-)
TOOT IT !!!!!! we are all blessed to know you and we all look forward and enjoy your reviews. i have learned much from you and much of my knowledge would be decreased without your know how.best of all you are a friend to all of us and we treasure you!
Happy anniversary Bonnie! You are an amazing woman and an inspiration to me. Here’s to another year of great tea and new experiences.
WWWEEOOO!
Happy Anniversary, Bonnie! You are awesome:)
Happy Anniversary!! :D
happy anniversary Bonnie ! you’re really one one my favorite writers here on Steepster – so happy,as your are, to have found this fantastic community
Toot toot! Bonnie, has it really been only a year?! This place would not be Steepster without you. Congrats!! and cheers! bottoms up :)
I’m much newer than you on Steepster, and your posts always get my attention-I enjoy reading them. I can identify with your comments concerning your changing taste buds!
HUGS AND MORE HUGS AND LETS HAVE A PARTY!
Happy anniversary Bonnie, this place wouldn’t be the same without you! I love your tasting notes and stories…don’t stop writing!
I don’t have time for a long review here, where I wax poetic about the glories of this tea.
Let’s just jump to the chase & say that everything you’ve heard about this tea is spot on. The initial aroma reminds me of a really high quality vanilla pipe tobacco (although I don’t know for sure if I’ve ever actually smelled one), & then you start drinking it, & it’s awesomely wonderful, vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate sauce drizzled over the top, the kind that hardens into a shell. What I love about it most is that the black tea underneath isn’t some woosie generic, it’s bold & thick chinese blacks. And yeah, it resteeps like a dream, & I’m taking all those resteeps for once. And the sweet aftertaste lingers…sigh…
I’ve said enough!
Yay!! That’s EXACTLY what it is!!!
Welcome to the GO Cult :-)
There’s a tea cult? I’ve already exchanged some of my possessions for tea.
Mmmmmmm.
This one is so yum!!!!
I’m so sad that my Whispering Pines order didn’t come today. D:
I want to try mine but I can’t drink a black tea this late in the day.. tomorrow for sure!
You can make the chocolate sauce you describe by melting and combining coconut oil and chocolate chips (I do that from time to time)
Well…I kind of just decided that there was a GO Cult….cause ya know, it’s getting more and more followers. The Guru is Tea Whiz Of The Woods (Brenden). It’s VERY hard to resist all his charismatic teas…
Golden Orchid is the Kool-Aid of the Whispering Pines cult…
Tea Cults Are Us…just sayin’
Haha! Is wit a requirement to be a Steepster member? Cause I don’t know where else you can get as much for free!!!
And in this case cameron… DO DRINK THE KOOL-AID!!
Drink all the kool-aid! :D
The Illustrious Cult of the Golden Orchid
Guru: Tea Whiz of the Woods
Official Organizer & Cheerleader: TheTeaFairy
Meetings: Monthly, in the Steepster basement
Please bring a snack to share.
I’ll bring CHERRIES!!
I’ll bring mushrooms! ;)
I’ll bring tea flavoured bread.
Haha! And we can ask mj to bring her communal fridge!
Lol, Sarsonator, “The Illustrious Cult of the Golden Orchid” makes an awesome cult name!!!
I’ll make petit fours! With little pine trees on them!
I’ll bring almond flour scones! :)
I’ll sit in the back and drink all your tea! :p
And thanks, TTF! Glad you like the name!
LOL
I want to join the cult! But no more tea for me till black friday. I tried telling myself that buying samples didn’t count and I may cave there because the WP cult is ever so persuasive.
GO just sounds so decadent.
You’re not buying any tea until NOVEMBER?!?!?! Wow. I really envy your willpower.
There will be no black friday sale at WP. I am strongly against black friday. There will be a cyber monday sale though :)
I want to be the Court Jester for the cult. I’m trying to decide if I need to give in to my sudden GO craving or actualy sleep again tonight
I also dislike Black Friday. I refuse to leave my house. This year, though, maybe I will host an online Steepster Sipdown Fest!
HoneyBelle a.k.a MzPriss: You are now the official Cult Jester :p
Woo! I’m so like that HoneyBelle name as well I reeeeeeeeeely want some GO now
Hmmm…Sudden GO cravings are hard to resist….Court Jester, that’s exactly what we were missing :-)
(Oh, may I reserve my Fest tickets now Sarsonator?)
liking not like
You know – Steepster needs a chat
I am going to have to veto the idea of a Steepster Chat. If there was a Steepster Chat, I would never get anything done!!!! :p
I haven’t ever done one, but a friend of mine does some gaming chat and she loves it. But yeah, time sucker I bet
Well the tea buying may start on black friday but that doesn’t mean it’ll stop then…
It’s chat already ;)
Lol, boychik,I was just going to say that ;-)
I was also gonna say what boychik said. It’s kind of like a slow moving chat.
So we’re doing it? Cool.
I think people who go out shopping on Black Friday should get their heads examined. Pro Cyber Monday though.
I don’t go anywhere near any stores on Black Friday, but I definitely participate in the cyber monday tea sales!
This is going to sound super ignorant, but… What is Black Friday??
@Nattie – Black Friday is an unfortunate USA custom where all the retailers have these giant sales (allegedly) the day after Thanksgiving. It has gotten earlier and earlier to where now it starts on Thanksgiving. People trample each other and have fights over cheap TVs. It is an ugly custom in the stores. Cyber Monday, while sort-of the same thing – is online and much more civilized and NOT on a holiday you should be spending with your people instead of being in line for 12 hours to fight over stuff you can usually get just as good a deal on later.
Ahh okay, thanks! We have a similar thing over here with the Boxing Day sales, but at least it doesn’t start until after Christmas! Cyber Monday sounds much better (:
MzPriss, you slay me: “Black Friday is an unfortunate USA custom”
Could not agree more!
Special thanks to Amanda for this one!
GUESS WHAT!?!?!?!?!
I passed my 5,000th Tasting Note!
This is actually my 5,002nd Tasting Note!
So…I think it’s time for me to give away some tea! If you would like to throw your name into the hat for a mystery box please leave a comment on this post! Tomorrow I will choose ONE person to start gathering teas for and in February I will mail a box out to the winner! It will be an assortment of teas, companies, sample sizes from my stash!
My thoughts on this tea…
It smells like a cross between crust, mushrooms, apples, and pepper, and popcorn.
It’s a yellowy color and the taste is very different from other apple whites I have tried.
The Pink Peppercorns threw me for a loop at first but I got used to them. The apple is toned down by the peppercorns but still present. I can tell there are spices at the begging and end of the sip…they are mellower.
This is ok. Ballsy mix of flavors here and I appreciate that! Not my fave but not bad either :) So glad I was able to try it!!!
Wow – you are leaps and bounds ahead of me!
Throwing my name into the hat :) I don’t know how you manage to rack up so many tasting notes — you are certainly dedicated!
Wow! That’s amazing! Way to go!
Throwing my name in the hat as well. Sounds like a very interesting tea.
Nice review this seems interesting. Congrats for getting up to this tastenote.
Congratulations on your persistance! It is one thing to love tea, but quite another to log that many! You rock!
oh oh oh pick me!
That is definitely amazing :D Throwing my name in too!
Hmm… a mystery box of tea? I would totally love that! Put me in the hat!
Also, congratulations on 5000! You must be the most well-hydrated of us all! :)
Congratulations! I wonder if I will ever hit that point? It will be a long time if I do!
Cool, congrats! Have you kept a list of how many unique teas you have tried?
Meeka – Not overall – but my log shows MOST of them! LOL – Wish I did tho!
Nice! for 5,000 you gotta go big or go home
Congratulations on your 5000th post. Hip hip hooray for you : )
Sal-OOOOT! for continuing to broaden my tea horizons. Who’da thunk there were 5,000 varieties out there? :)
5000? That is amazing. I love reading your thoughts on the different teas. A mystery box of tea sounds amazing. Especially in the doldrums of winter in February.
You cupboard is simply amazing. I count teas from 20 different companies from just the first three alphabetical pages! And what a diverse selection! I see many companies I have heard about, but mostly companies I have not. Do you have a Korean green tea? I know I have been wondering if the Korean greens are really different than the other standard Asian teas (I recently bought one Korean Tea from SanctuaryT, but it looks more a green tea/black tea blend than a pure green tea, so I question its validity, although it is good.) I see you have lots of Butiki and Culinary teas. We are really enjoying the Culinary teas, and I have heard good things about Bitiki’s teas. Congratulations on over 5000 notes!
Congratulations!! Thats a lot of tea :)
Wow congrats! On to 10,000, eh? :D
I’ll enter! And wow, that’s a lot of notes! I was pleased with myself when I reached 250, haha. I can’t even conceive of 5000!
I’m in, fingers crossed :)
P.S.
I’d like to see a pic of your tea stash, it must be humongous. :)
Just thinking about 5000 tasting notes makes me want to pee. Well, it could be the six cups I had today.
I think I got to 4 tasting notes and then dropped out! I love to talk about tea, drink tea, read about tea, but I feel like a babbeling idiot when I try to review tea! I always end up saying things like, “I hope that makes sense” haha
MadelineAlyce: I couldn’t help but look at your reviews after this comment of yours: ‘babbling idiot’ Ha! I could easily be named a babbling idiot (I definitely feel like it, at times). I like what you tell me in your reviews. Anyway, hopefully you write them more for you than for us (I write my reviews first and foremost for me). For instance, I used to journal; but I haven’t for a while, now, partially because writing out here, in a sense, meets my need to express what I am thinking/feeling inside (although the context of Steepster is in a much more confined subject arena than a journal is). Steepster BOTH spurs me on to write, AND to put my stuff out here to all of you wonderful tea aficionados/writers, which in turn helps me to feel heard, and, most importantly, to feel connected to others of a like mind. So, please, unless you don’t want to, keep posting reviews! : – )
holy cow that is super impressive!!!
I agree with kOmpir – Your collection must be HUGE!
throws his name into hat
Thats alot of tasting notes!
Happy tea time.
Congrats on this milestone! :)
Congrats what an amazing achievement. :)
Wow, amazing! Congrats!
That is quite the milestone! woohoo
Congrats :) it’s shows all the passion you put into this!
go TEB!! congrats on all your reviews, I hope to get there myself one day! :)
So many notes!
Congrats on passing 5,000! :)
Woohoo!!! Congrats!! You are the cornerstone of Steepster, seriously!!! Here’s to another 5000! :)
Wow, that’s a LOT of tea! Congrats :)
Congratulations on your 5000th!
5000 :O That’s a lot of different teas, congrats.
I may be too late for the hat throwing in thing, but congrats on the number of posts anyway! :) I agree with Stephanie that you are the “cornerstone of Steepster.” You’re also one of my favorite tea friends. :)
Awwwww – thanks girls :)
Congrats!
Super congrats! Exciting! : )
Congratulations! I’m glad that your resource of knowledge and reviews is here for me to view! :) I’m going to throw my lot in for this give away and I look forward to hear who the winner is! :)
Congratulations, I look forward to the day when I reach that milestone. I must say that in the short time I’ve been using steepster, your reviews have been among my favorites. It would be amazing if I was chosen as I have virtually no money to spend on tea (I’m 17 and currently have no job). So I hope that you will consider me for your giveaway, it’s a very generous thought. Either way, congratulations and best wishes. :)
Wowzers! That is a lot of tea….yummy! You must have developed quite a taste palette after trying so many different kinds and brands of tea. I am just getting into tyring different brands of tea. Congrats!!
Attempting to enter said hat.
Congrats on 5,000! That is a LOT. I’d love to enter for winning the tea! thanks for the chance
Holy Cow – may you always have a loo near by – that’s a lot of tea passing through your system.
I’ve been waiting for this tea to arrive, so curious about the use of Frankincense in tea. It is curious also that my new blog (soon) is called tea and incense and that the incense I use at home is the same type of resin incense used in the tea. FRANKINCENSE
When the tea arrived I wasted no time making a cup. The wet leaves were beyond amazing…with an aroma that transported me by scent association to ‘Places of Prayer’, ‘Honey Cake with Orange and Nutmeg’, ‘Ancient Holy Spaces’, ‘European Museums’, ‘Grandmothers Antiques’ and ‘Lightly Bergamot Scented Linen’.
I was stunned!
I took a sip of tea and the scent and flavor were one and the same.
What to do? The Oolong tea, orange, jasmine and goji berry were woven together so beautifully that the hint of saffron warmth and incense unfurled like an exquisite silk carpet full of intricate patterns.
Impusively, I called Verdant to leave a message of congratulations and David Duckler answered.
(I’m not going to pretend we’ve never talked before, we have. And I’ve chatted by e-mail with other Tea Company owners who make an effort to be friendly like Stacy, Garrett, Bo, Elise and many others.)
We talked about this tea, how he lets the tea (this Oolong) guide him as he pulls down one ingredient, then another in some mystical way until he has the final blend.
I kept telling him how beautiful the wet leaves were, the cream colored puffy jasmine with the dark green Oolong leaves set off by long rusty red goji berries.
Then the scent, perfectly peppery when cold…then almost nutmeg. I kept picking out pieces of jasmine to eat, then nodding my head down again to smell the aroma.
We spoke about my use of Frankincense and how older cultures used resin instead of chemical incense, how my brother uses a long censor with 12 bells on it to bless the people during Vespers on Saturday nights. With a flick of his wrist, out goes the censor using a technique that looks like he’d be super great with a YOYO.
(My brother is a Deacon)
In the cultures where this type of resin incense is used the smell goes into carpets, furniture, wood and fabrics usually creating an association with a ceremony, season of the year or holiday.
We went on to talk of other things, other tea’s and the trip to China in the near future. I kept coming back to this tea, however. I couldn’t help it.
I said, “David, I’ll probably review the Earl of Anxi tomorrow since I want to think about it to do it justice. It’s remarkable! Earl Grey lovers who love the strong taste are going to complain probably, but I think you were right to keep the bergamot very light! It’s in harmony with the other flavors!” He agreed that it was better this way, saying that the softer and lighter nuance doesn’t overpower the blend.
This was absolutely a mind-blowing and unique Verdant tea!
I LOVE THIS TEA
http://youtu.be/V3rRaL-Czxw
UPDATE
I had some more tea later in the day at my tea pub and by the 3rd steeping the Frankincense became more pronounced in a very fragrant, flavorful way which blended with the Oolong tea and Jasmine beautifully.
Can’t wait to try this one!
omg, I’ve been trying not to buy tea for a while and I just…might…have to. This and the Genmaicha…
Thanks for the review.
Bonnie – once you get your tea blog up, please let me know. I’d love to feature you as a CelebriTEA on my own blog! keenteathyme.blogspot.com
What a great review! and very much looking forward to your blog.
Also? I love Water Night. Have you heard the BYU recording?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pg0tuah-VA
Thanks KeenTeaThyme!
Spoon- I think Water Night is beautiful. Eric’s website also posts lots of other creative material from poetry to art which is inspiring. My granddaughter has written a couple choral pieces and loves his work. Thanks!
Bonnie I have some resin both Frankincense and Myrrh – I can dig it out and send you some! Unfortunately I had to use my blending room for an exercise room after my daughter’s surgery but now we are re-converting it into a bedroom.
Thanks Azzrian, I still have Frankincense and some others (I can get resin type at church from Mt. Athos) I found a site that discusses lots of incense types from all over the worlk and rates the quality in a way that sounds like how we describe tea. olfactoryrescueservice.wordpress.com
i think your blog will be cool! be sure you let me know about it.
Wow. This sounds amazing. And I love frankincense.
beautifully written! thank you for this vivd note that i would imagine is the next best thing to an actual tasting first hand :-)
Thank you! I’ve already ordered more because I gave all mine away!
Thanks, as always, Bonnie, for the wonderful review. I brewed a small pot of this today & shared it with my son Drew.
I ended up ordering 2oz of this tea with my latest order! Lol Bonnie, “My name is Jim, and I have a Tea problem!!” It’s actually funny for me to say that, as I did have a very bad drinking problem, and went to rehab and AA…4 years and 3 months without drinking! Although I’ve only started drinking tea profusely in the last 8-9 months, it’s become a “good addiction” for me! I just love how there is always something new to try, even different harvests of the same tea! I am interested in seeing how the autumn Laoshan Black is different from the harvest I have now…spring I think. Also I’m going to try the new harvest Zhu Rong! Also had to get some Mi Lan Dancong Black, and I’m finally trying the Yabao Silver Buds :) So I am going to be very busy this winter trying all of these teas! Next Sunday cant come soon enough! I’m ready for a little R&R :)
even tho Im kind of allergic to it, that scent always reminds me of mass too
I;ve just ordered some of this. It will take well over a week to get to me. Very excited.
This tea just came in the mail today.
LOL@KeenTeaThyme…
I thought my nick was so original… :-/ …lol
I am going to check your blog
Wow! This review takes me back! Somewhere on pinterest, I have a picture of a cake I made infused with a syrup from this tea last Christmas.
Tea and Mr. Gill
A few years ago, a very old man came to my office asking for help… his wife Yollanda of 62 years had just past away and he needed help to sort her financial affairs… I remember him standing in front of me, a tall and handsome 82 year old man, and all I could see was infinite sadness in his blue eyes, completely broken emotionally. At the time, financial advice was the only help he requested, but it quickly turned into much more than that…
I became his financial advisor… money was not a problem for him, he had been in his prime a successful business man. Unable to have children, him and his wife had nieces and nephews to pass their wealth to. There was one in particular he was very fond of, Mary, but she lived in the states and he would see her only once a year. Basically, he was a lonely man.
What’s the relation with tea you are asking? Well, Mr. Gill being lonely started to find reasons to schedule appointments every weeks. It didn’t take long for me to realize that what he was really seeking was someone to talk to about his dear wife…
She had been the love of his life, and it was obvious he had been struggling everyday since she was gone. One day, after our conversation, I realized I was getting quite fond of this old man and made an offer he could not refuse: Instead of finding reasons to come and see me at the office, why wouldn’t he just join me for lunch once a week?
And so we became friends and every thursday for almost three years, we would meet for lunch at a local restaurant. He once told me I was the highlight of his weeks! The thing is we had such a connexion that the gap of generation slowly disappeared. Our conversations were sometimes intellectual but sometimes, they were just fun and foolish! I never took him for less because of his age, and he never patronized me for being younger.
One day, he didn’t show up as planed. I got worried and called his house. He was sick with the flu and didn’t sound to good. I bought some soup and brought it over. It was the fist time I ever went to his place. I remember thinking that for a man of his age living alone, he was pretty neet!
After thanking me as if I was god’s given gift, he asked if I wanted some tea. I realized that we had never really discussed tea together!I had no clue what kind of tea he was keeping around, thinking tea bags most probably. He showed me where the tea set was. There was a lovely wooden cabinet on one corner of the kitchen I had noticed. On the shelves, there were the most exquisite china bone collectable tea cup sets. They were Royal Albert for most. He told me some of them dated from the time he got married!
He explained to me that being from England, his wife was an accomplished tea drinker and they used to share a good cup together on a daily basis. His wife’s favorite tea was black rose tea. She was having it shipped directly from England every couple of months. He still had a large supply of that tea and kindly offered me to try it. I don’t remember the brand’s name, but the tin was black with pretty rose buds painted on it. The tea inside still smelled quite fresh. He ask me to pick one of the tea cup on display, I chose the Royal Albert with the pretty pink flowers, him the Aynsley yellow set. And we drank our rose tea in our vintage bone china!
It was super tasty and rose tea quickly became among my favorite teas.
When I left his house, I remember telling him that his wife had exquisite tastes and how privileged I felt that he chose to honour her memory in my company by sharing her favorite tea with me.
Sadly, his flu turned into a complex pneumonia. I went to visit him twice at the hospital and the last conversation I had with him was about that lovely lunch we shared together having Yollanda’s beloved rose tea.
He died a couple of weeks after…
About a month later, I had a visitor at work. Mary! The favorite niece! She brought me a box…said her uncle insisted that I should be given what was inside. We talked a little, she thanked me for looking after her uncle. I mentioned to her how special Mr. Gill was to me and how much I would miss him and our lunch dates.
I brought the box home that night, still not knowing what was inside. Mr. Gill had once brought up the fact that he intended on leaving me some money when he would pass. I had to explain to him that it would be highly unethical for me to accept, but mostly, it would put a shadow on the true meaning of our relationship. He understood and never brought it up again.
So I have to admit I was curious about what was inside…
What I found brought tears to my eyes, but also a smile on my face… The vintage china! He remembered the cups we used that day and wanted me to have them! To this day, they have a special display in my house, and I use them on a regular basis. In his own way, Mr. Gill made sure I would never forget him and his dear love Yollanda!
You may have a look at them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laafeevertee/sets/72157631994242094/
Now this tea:
Sorry for such a long story, and such a short review, but I felt only that story could truly explain why I love rose tea so much!
It’s one of those tea you either love or hate. Yes it’s typically rosy and soapy! I happen to love that smell, it’s an exquisite feminine tea, with plenty of almost too perfect pretty rose buds.
When I drink it, I see lace and pearls dancing all around me!
It tastes exactly what it smells like, floral, sweet and elegant! The black base is from Sri Lanka, it’s very tasty with just a tad of bitterness.
I will not pretend it’s the most refine tea you’ll ever drink, that’s not why I like it so much. I like it cause it makes me happy, that’s all. It reminds me of happy times.
Thank you Mr. Gill…
Beautiful story, beautiful tea cups!
Okay now I am literally bawling. Thank you so much for sharing such a vivid and lovely person with us all. I think I just fell in love with him too. <3
What a lovely tasting note. Thanks so much for sharing the story, I really enjoyed reading it. Brought a smile to my face!
I have chills. That was a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing.
This is the most beautiful story! What a good friend you were to this sweet Mr. Gill! Thank you for sharing, my eyes are full of tears!
Wow, what a beautiful story, thank you for sharing it.
Sniff. Sniff. I wish I had known him! Maybe there are Mr. or Mrs. Gills out there for all of us.
Absolutely incredible and inspiring!
Sharing that story was a must for me and what better place than Steepster for that? I hope he’s smiling tonight from above… Thanks everyone, I didn’t know if my writing would portray him as grand as he really was…the fact that it made you smile, brought tears in your eyes, and made you fall in love with him reassures me, cause that’s exactly what he was about, you Steepster friends got that, thank you :-)
I copied and pasted this in an email to my daughter. This sounds like the perfect true Hallmark movie!
Such a beautiful and heartwarming story,thank you for sharing.
Bonnie, I never thought of it this way, but you’re right… we meet lots of people in a lifetime, but only a few will leave a mark. I knew him for only a couple of years, but he made me look at my life in a different way… real life has its own Hallmark moments!
Wow! What an amazing story!!! Sadly, I cannot tolerate anything with rose…it sets my head up for a terrible migraine, so I stay away.
Heather, this one SCREAMS roses, so don’t even come close to it!! luckily for you, there are so many other teas out there just for you :-)
Monsieur Gill était un homme remarquable et sa femme avait beaucoup de goût comme tu le dis, les tasses sont superbes. Ce sont des objets rares qui malheureusement se perdent de nos jours où on nous fait boire dans des gobelets en plastique…
Très belle expérience , merci encore de l’avoir partagée avec nous
when I turn too much sentimental I always write in French…(!)
Comme tu es mignonne Ysaurella :-) Merci! Ce que tu décris est vrai, d’ailleurs j’adore ton avatar pour cette raison, très vintage! Ok, we have to stop communicating in French here, people will think we’re being rude…or that we are using french cause we’ve been hiding the fact that we are spies! Yes, we are Steepster spies, trying to infiltrate the mysterious world of tea…
Especially for a “froggy” like me lost in the most famous typically English beverage world ;)
I knew you two were Spy’s! How Romantic! Are you both in the latest Bond movie?
Yes, I was close to this one once, and had to pull away very quickly.
Beautiful story! Thank you for sharing. It brought tears to my eyes and put a smile on my face.
Wow, what a touching story. Thanks for sharing! :)
Très belle histoire! Je crois que je vais faire mon tour au David’s Tea ce midi! :)
This is truly moving. Thank you so much for sharing.
thank you all, I had no idea this story would touch so many poeple…
Wow, what a sad and beautiful story
Today was a grey day with no rain…I much prefer rain.
I went in the woods to get bad vibes out of my system. I saw all kinds of beauty, and it filled my head with positive energy.
Never underestimate the power of nature.
I promised myself I would try some of my new high end dark oolong from Toa Tea Leaf.
Tonight, I chose this “almond” Phoenix Dancong. Another miracle of nature.
How does a tea get so naturally floral and nutty is beyond comprehension.
I would say this has pretty much the same profile as honey orchid oolong, except it is not as sweet, and more nutty. Roasted nuts, with an orchid opening and a light astringent finish.
This type of oolong has to be brewed with very short steeps, otherwise, it turns bitter.
The wet leaf smells like a luxuriant garden of lilac and orchids. That fragrance is just intoxicating.
Needless to say, I love it. Is it for every one? Maybe not. First, it is quite expensive and I’m not sure this flavour profile would suit you if you’ve never really experiment with oolongs. I would try with something more “friendly” like Tie Guan Yin first.
All in all, a very good tea that I’m enjoying a lot tonight.
Pic for those who are interested:
I got 5g sample of this to try. dont really like flowery oolongs but who knows. maybe I will. love the setup as usual ;)
Well, I can’t wait to see what you think! I feel I have a flower bomb in my mouth, wonder if it’s my tastebuds playing tricks on me! I was expecting a lot more toasted notes. The leaves are really beautiful.
Tomorrow, I’m trying their award winning Big Red Robe! Can’t wait.
whats the temp?195F?
Well I followed instructions at 212, but will go lower next time.
all his instructions @212. its not right.
did you buy 25g?
did you get Bei Dou Oolong? Amazing. pure pot, i swear(never tried in my life, but smell is unmistakable)
Of that one yes, cause I wasn’t sure. More of the others. 100g BRR, 50g Honey Orchid.
Did you try some of their other oolongs?
so far only Bei Dou Oolong and rice tuo
Lol, I did read your note, but no, didn’t get that one.
I got TTL and Jing Tea Shop(JTS) same day. I like JTS a lot.
if they are going to do similar sale by New Year i will get some more for sure. Quality teas
JTS? Don’t know that one….were they having a sale too?
http://www.jingteashop.com/
No sale, but not too expensive to try, ship only $5 and pretty fast. apt recommended me. Im impressed
sorry, ship is $5.9
Lol, NOT that I need MORE tea, but will bookmark them…just in case, ya know.
this sounds wonderful! since it’s on the greenish side, would you say it’s anything like a Pouchong?
Remember i told you i was secretly hoping to hate those teas. i really didnt want to brunch into new types. i like 25g option. you cannot really decided if its good or bad with 5g. what if you mess up(like i did today with Arbor Mist)
Pyarkaaloo, It’s hard to answer cause this is NOT supposed to taste green! I’d say it’s a lot bolder than pouchong. It’s missing the buttery taste and it’s astringent, and pouchong is clearly not. But to me, it does taste almost as floral as baozhong pouchong. Lol, don’t know if what I just said helps, but that’s the best I could come up with :-)
Yes boychik, that’s why I never order under 25g!! I want a second chance :-)
Lol, yes, who needs more tea addiction, right?
I feel like all flavored teas are dead for me.
Oh my, me too!!! But I still bought some from butiki…the ONLY one.
teafairy: you should definitely try JTS sometime in the future!
thanku, TeaFairy! what you said makes perfect sense to me :) i’m familiar with the various oolongs & their characteristics but you are by far the expert!
The Pouchong i had was indeed light, buttery, gently floral & had a wonderful rice pudding note. could have been the coconut flavoring!
I like Baozhong(Pouchong) for casual, western brews.
Apt, I’m sure JTS is in my future :-) (sooner than later, sigh…)
Pyarkaaloo, FYI, this is the best baozhong pouchong I have ever had and the only one I keep in permanent stash:
http://www.tealux.ca/wenshan_baozhong_reserve?search_string=Wenshan
LTF that picture is magical.
Aw man, this is floral? Sad face. XD
Thank you Marzi, I think tea is one of the best subject for photography…
Cameron, this was not supposed to be such a floral though….will have to try it afain, I was very surprised myself.
Now I’m thinking should I try this sample or try Bai mu dan JTS. Oh decisions!
Oh, please try this one!! Want to see if you get similar profil!!!
KK ;)
This. This was my first cup of tea as a married woman. No, it wasn’t actually, but it was the first cup of tea that I knew what was. The other was pre-brewed at the restaurant and didn’t come with any identification. It was nice though.
But this? This was had in our hotel suite while we had a bit of a break before moving on to the next restaurant.
I’m not going to go into a deep analysis of it, other than to say that it, and the last half of the cup especially, was pretty dire. The now Mr Ang, who has the regular teabag version everyday, also felt that this… stuff was sub-par.
The wedding in general, though, went swimmingly, and you can see a picture here https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/b5FCJK6KIyQ0doQ8zn5eCr_V8Y8A_9IgxTPLskMdTM0?feat=directlink
We had a good time at both the actual celebration with buffet lunch at the first restaurant and with the travelling guests in the second restaurant for dinner (where the owner presented us with a bonus present in the shape of a nice painting)
This is definitely not a brewing system that will catch on in our house.
Sniff. Sniff. I wasn’t even there, yet I cried at your wedding! Lovely photo, beautiful bride, I love how happy the groom looks, as well he should! Many blessed years together, Ang and Mr. Ang!
Congratulations!!!!
Congrats!
Awwww… look at you two! Congratulations, you look like a very cute couple :)
Congratulations!!!
Aww, congrats! What a lovely couple you make!
Congratulations Ang!
Congratulations! You looked lovely!
Beautiful
Congrats to the lovely couple! Great picture!
Congratulations!
Love both of your smiles and your dress is gorgeous! Glad you two are off having fun and getting that much needed time away. Congrats :)
Congratulations! You look gorgeous and I’m glad you had a wonderful day.
Congratulations! Thank you so much for sharing the pic because I know how much you value your privacy. Blessings on your new life together!
Congratulations! I wish you and your husband the best of luck!
Thanks for sharing the picture. Be happy!
Congratulations! Much happiness to you both.
Congrats!! You look stunning! Love the dress!!! Also, you guys make a great couple! I wish happiness to you two forever! :)
Congrats!!! I LOVE your dress! All the best to the both of you. :)
Congrats! Absolutely all the best, you both look so happy – and can I say that you are 100% gorgeous, thank you so much for sharing!!! <3
Ooooh—you two look wonderful, and you look like you’re having a good time too! Congratulations (and my condolences on the k-cup tea)!
Congratulations! Best of luck to you two. :D
You look stunning! I love the dress. Congratulations you two! =) Beautiful couple!
Congratulations! Nice dress, and tuxedo! I hope you guys have a wonderful marriage together!
I missed your wedding! What a great photo — thanks for linking to it.
Yay!! I’m so happy for you both!! Great pic, great dress, great hair, great beau! (Even great car in the background). ;) Live long and prosper!!
Thank you everybody! :D
How did I miss this…oh wait that was about the same time my son was born. Congratulations six months belated. Many years of happiness and many cups of tea shared between you both.
Hey, you guys? Guys? Guys! Guess what?
I’m opening my very last pouch of my FAVOURITE 52teas flavour for a very special reason… I got a seasonal position at LUSH!
eeee~!
Caramel & cashews and delicious creamy chocolate bliss – I couldn’t be happier today!
Congratulations!
Yay!!!!
Congratulations!! Are you in Shopping Centre or Micmac? Either way, that is the best smelling and freshest sounding job! : )
Congratulations! that’s great news :)
Congratulations!!
Thanks friends :D
I’m in the shopping centre! I applied to both, but I’m grateful for this one since I live in Clayton Park b^_^ woohoo!
Congrats!
Yay! Congrats!
Woo, congratulations! Love Lush.
Yay for you!!! I love LUSH. Their Fresh Farmacy soap is the only thing my daughter can use to wash her face (highly sensitive skin). Hope the Christmas craziness isn’t too much! :)
Yay!
Thanks again everyone! :D
Yeah Christmas will be crazy haha – but so far it’s helping to memorize the products by relating them to tea. For example, I remember the scents of the Dragon’s Egg bath bomb because it’s like a citrus earl grey with lemon and bergamot oil. And Charity Pot has rose with helps with the skin, just like Glow from davidsTea! yeeah I don’t know if it’s helping or confusing me but hey – I’m trying!
Sounds like a good plan to me. =)
YAY! (My cat Woody says yay too — he’s walking all over the keyboard typing YAY to you ;)
SO EXCITED FOR YOU!! You get to sniff ALL the smellies! :D
Yay for the new gig! Congrats!!
Thank you! Yes I must smell them allll mwahah!
Aw Woody sure does know how to make a gal feel special ;)
How wonderful! Congratulations :)
I love LUSH! Awesome products. I’ll bet you get an awesome discount while you work there:)
that is so awesome!! congrats! and you get free bath products now to :P
Yay! Time to celebrate! Now you need a Ma Bar bubble bath with this tea to be in caramel heaven! :)
man, when I die, I better go to caramel heaven. I’ve been working all my life to get there! Until then, this tea and a caramel bath will do :D
CARAMEL BATH!!! Is that at lush? It sounds AMAAAAAZING!
It’s this one Ellyn, it’s good enough to eat!
http://www.lushusa.com/Ma-Bar/02151,en_US,pd.html
OH MY GOSh that looks like a DELIGHT! I may have to go to the lush in the mall this weekend!
Congratulations! I know you really wanted to work there. :)
It is soooo good! Follow it with some Soft Couer…mmmmm!
Congrats! :)
I just visited their website because of this post (also I just remembered to do so too)…I’m going to go broke shopping there! Congrats again!!
Mz HoneyBelle Priss and I were sent this sample for review. She received hers a while ago, but waited that I get mine here in Canada so we could have our tasting together last night. Ain’t she the sweetest thing? Must have been a torture for her to wait that long…
This tea is so darn sexy… parlarmi amore!!
With Elderwood, I was expecting Golden Orchid on steroids, but it turned out to be quite the opposite.
Well, Cocoa Amore is definitely my Golden Orchid on steroids. If GO had a lover, it would be this bad boy.
I’d say our Tea Whiz Of The Woods Brenden is building a trademark for himself with his Vanilla Dreams collection. This new vanilla he uses is insane. And must I insist on vanilla beans here as opposed to vanilla flavouring? HUGE distinction.
Ok…so you know how much I love dark chocolate.
And you know how much I love cherries.
A lot. I mean these are possibly my two favourite things to eat ever.
Combined together with this sophisticated exotic vanilla, they create the perfect storm of nominess. Imagine that for a second. A STORM of nominess.
Just to be clear, the cherries and the chocolate are notes, not flavouring, and this blend is a lot more satisfying than any flavoured tea out there.
The sweet black cherry and rich dark chocolate notes are rounded by the creamy and decadent vanilla, rendering a silky and velvety mouthfeel.
Also, there’s just a glimmer of spice in the background.
It’s so smooth, it never gets bitter or astringent.
Now…When I’m having a mug brew, I generally don’t re-steep. I know, I know, some of you will say, what a waste. This however, with its high end list of ingredients deserves a second infusion…and a third…and dare I say it…a fourth. Yes, excellent re-steeping value. It’s barely diluted. And I’m cold brewing the leaves just in case there’s something left in there for me.
I really don’t need a new favourite tea. No I don’t. But, but…I love my Vanilla Dreams Tea Family. There’s Papa Port, (tommy says Port is masculine) Mamma GO, lovechild Elderwood and new kid on the block Cocoa Amore. Hell yeah, I need them all!!!
Thanks again HoneyBelle (aka MzPriss) for waiting for me so we could drink together from a distance, and thanks Brenden for allowing me to try this scrumptious new blend.
I love this review!!! I love all these Vanilla Dreams teas as well. I really love this one a lot. And I will be waiting impatiently until I can have more.
Hehehe, yes, love it! How about Pappa Port, Momma GO…Elderwood is the son and Cocoa Amore is the daughter…and of course El Dorado is the dog :D
LOL I’m trying that El Dorado puppy today
Don’t worry, the spices don’t bite ;)
I’ve been looking forward to wee snaily chai
Hahah! Yes, one big happy family! Can’t wait to try the doggy as well….now will there be a kitty in that collection?
There might just be ;)
I am not at all surprised by that
This sounds amazing. I love your reviews.
(I loove kitties)
Cheri, thank you. This tea is amazing…I have just enough for another cup and I think it won’t be long before I have it!
Sounds wonderful!
I sooooo can’t wait to try this one, payday just don’t come soon enough tho, i may have to let Lance buy me some before i get paid hehehe :)
I’ve always thought of my teas as masculine or feminine i dunno why it just always made sense to me
I hope you can get your hands on that one soon enough Tommy!
Tea always has a gender to me, and sometimes, it is androgynous!
Sounds so good!
Terri, can’t find the post anymore, but I got my tea, I can totally do the Manistee moonrise tasting with you guys tonight!!
Tommy, do you own that tea? We’re paying the full moon a tribute tonight by having this tea all at the same time :-)
I was just going to ask about that – what time Terri?
Oh….whenever the moon is rising in each of our respective cities? LOL
OR….we can select an actual time…hmmm
Whatever you guys want to do
What time is it for you now Terri?
Terri are you Central Time?
I’ve got the Manistee moonrise too, Full Moon tribute sounds cool to me :)
Excellent
Anyone else reading this thread is welcome to join us tonight :-)
I’m in! :)
Hellz Yeah!! Who all is doing this tonight??
Cocoa Amore is now available for anyone interested! :)
Seriously?
:)
So I’m in Central time zone, with a moonrise of 8:30pm…
Tonight is also suppose to be a super moon, or something like that
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-supermoon-2014-high-tides-20140711-story.html
Of course, it’s a little over cast in st. louis, so I may not even be able to see the moon rise…sigh…
cocoa amore…well, I sold a few more CDs this week on iTunes/CDbaby…
Haha! Terri’s got some Playpal moonies!!!!
:) has Terri become a WPTealiever?
maybe… :)
Wow this is good!!!!
http://instagram.com/p/yGVOtIuE9Y/?modal=true
Edit: I need to write more than just it’s good. This is a perfect hybrid between a fuzzy golden bud Yunnan black tea (malty, sweet, chocolatey, sweet potato) and a really nice smooth ripe pu’erh (earthy and subterranean). There is nothing nasty in this tea. It’s flavorful without being in your face. I love it. Great way to step outside my comfort zone into the wonderful world of shou pu’erh.
Yay! I’m glad you like your new purchase!
ok since you like Allan suggestions and streetshop88, here is another one im getting from them. Allan sent me a sample. AMAZING.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-year-Supreme-Yunnan-MengHai-LangHe-7599-Puer-Puer-puerh-Tea-Ripe-Cake-/331373126445?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item4d2760a32d
Dexter…. I adore your tea photos.
boychik… is that a WHOLE cake for $7!!??
Ok… I see the cake is $25 (I’m sleepy…gah! lol)… That’s still a great price, though, right??
boychik – I’m frightened – I haven’t really been exploring pu’erh too much but I’m starting to get interested. There is just so much to learn and so many to try…. I got that order in 10 days – NEVER get stuff that quick from China. Well packaged – nice teapot – amazing tea – I need to write more about it than what I did. Based on this one order I have nothing but good things to say about this seller. I will be buying another of these cakes and I’ve marked that one you mentioned – I probably won’t buy a whole cake, but will get a sample of it. Thank you. :)
DeliriumsFrogs – thank you – my photos aren’t as good as a lot of them on Instagram, but it’s fun. :)) At 25.00/357g – that’s 0.07/g or 7.00/100 compared to what I’ve been paying for some of the black tea I’ve been buying recently it’s a steal….
yyz- I LOVE my new purchase – both this cake and the teapot – will try the black tea tomorrow. :))
get youself a sample . who knows, you may not like it. and i just found them on Ali. they confirmed that its the same shop. the selection is not the same but 7599 is $2 cheaper and they give a discount above $50
Dexter, im afraid to recommend you knowing that you and me, we have a lot of tea. but some you just need. i cannot let you miss out. some pu is just amazing.
You people are DANGEROUS.
OMGsrsly – and you wonder why I need to share tea….
boychik – is this the same cake? It’s worded exactly like StreetShop88 on ebay – is this the seller that you think is the same? http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-year-Supreme-MengHai-LangHe-7599-Pu-er-Puer-puerh-Tea-Ripe-Cake-Chinese-Black-Tea/32230862750.html
I wonder what this would be like – 600g is ALOT if it’s not good. :))
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/600g-2008-Year-Aged-Yunnan-Golden-Buds-Pu-er-puerh-Puer-pu-erh-Ripe-Tea-Iron/320482_32233446705.html
OHHH on ebay they have that tea in 150g cakes – added to watch list….
Oh, Dexter. I totally get why you need to share tea. :D (Ooo, more window shopping!!)
Yes, it’s the same seller. I asked and they confirmed. But you need a sample . What if you won’t like it
Love the pictures!
Dexter, I got a sample of the 7599 from Goshopstreet Tea and let me tell you, it is VERY chocolately! You will love it. And it’s cheap too! I can always send you a sample from my sample if you like.
oh god you guys are killing me….want. all.
More converts in the making……;p
haha @mrmopar.
@Sil. you know, sometimes i say nice, sometimes i say lovely. this time i say NEED and WANT immediately (referring to 7599;)
dexter…if you’re thinking about a 7599 cake, we could always split one…
I have lots of thoughts regarding these comments and I’m suddenly very confused at how I want to go about buying tea in the near future. Work is exploding busy – I work with idiots. The old Dex would just buy another of this cake, a 150g cake of the one I posted and 50g sample of the 7599 (and probably would have bought it last night). New budgets and thought patterns are confusing me….. need to ponder how to go about doing this….
i’m happy to split puerh anytime if it makes sense…
Dexter, Thank you so much for the 2014 Top Yunnan Yellow Dragon Golden Needle Pu’erh sample! What are the recommended brewing parameters?
Tman – I’m pretty easy going with steep parameters. You can’t really mess this one up, it’s good however you do it. I’m advising your favourite shou times. Personally, I like it in my modified gongfu. 3-4g 150ml 95C 30sec Something like that. I really really want to try it using my Special Dark parameters. Western steeped for 8 minutes, but haven’t gotten to it yet…
I also rinse. Just flash then let it sit a couple of minutes.
I have a large yixing pot that I adore SD in. About 5g 400ml 8 min then 10 min. :)
I’ve been using TheTeaFairy’s western parameters for SD:
5g / 10 oz. / 212 / 10 sec. rinse / 5 & 10 min. using a tempered tea mug and a Finum brewing basket.
I have a gaiwan but I don’t find it as convenient to use. I’m sure with greater use it will become more second nature.
I’ve also thought about an “easy gaiwan”. However, the lid on the one’s I’ve seen didn’t cover the spout opening. Thus, they probably don’t retain as much heat as a traditional gaiwan.
I don’t really use my traditional gaiwan either. Like you said not convenient. I have several easy gaiwans and I understand what you are saying about not holding heat, but when I’m flash or really short steeping I don’t think it makes a difference. Of all the ones I have this is by far my favorite. I use it all the time. :)
https://instagram.com/p/wZ-PX4uE2c/?taken-by=dex3657
“…when I’m flash or really short steeping I don’t think it makes a difference.” Good point!
That’s an appealing easy gaiwan! From your IG photo, the spout opening appears to be smaller than most I’ve seen. Are they still available?
I’m sure there are other sources, but this is where I bought mine.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/160ml-Ceramic-Grasping-Puer-Gaiwan-Fine-Bone-China-Peach-Painting-Teapot-Porcelain-Kungfu-Tea-Set-Novelty/809099456.html
Thanks for the link!
Oh, so pretty! (gaiwans)
And I JUST purchased this very tea yesterday after reading the discussion on chocolate pu’erh. I have such little self control.
I look forward to your impressions of 2014 TYYDGN.
Amusingly, it appears that Arison has somehow pulled it off to follow me twice. I’ve checked, they show up twice on my ‘followed by’ list, and I show up twice on their ‘follows’ list.
So far today has been quite rich. I got sung at first thing in the morning and served breakfast of eggs, toast, mushrooms and baked beans. I’ve received a Harry Potter film (DH pt 1) and the Tintin film on blu-ray and I’ve also got the latest Bruce Springsteen cd, which is very good. I wonder if this is all I’ll get because I’m getting a little concerned that the boyfriend is showing me up on the birthday gift giving scale. (And if he sees this, he’ll probably show up in my room saying “It’s not a competition, you know!”) I’ve also got a card from him, and from his parents and his sister. Those latter two are one with cakes and one with kitties. They know me well already, it would seem! :p
So it appeared to me that a Mystery Tea That I’ve Never Had Before was in order. This one came to me from Spoonvonstrup and I’ve been having a plock of a time working out which part of China it comes from. The company didn’t bother mentioning this in their info. All it said was that it was produced by the same people who also produced one of their other teas, so I had a look at that one. Still no clues about region. Hm. I shall have to suss it out for myself then!
The aroma is sweet, chocolate-y and grainy. Normally this automatically makes me think Fujian, but I think this is a trap. It’s not deep enough, particularly on the grain note, for me to be at all certain. Then there’s another thing, which is a tiny, vague note of straw and a wee bit of pepper. Those are Yunnan give-aways, but they’re not quite strong enough to me to be at all certain of Yunnan either. As I very much doubt it’s a mixture of the two, which would be rather bizarre in this particular context, it has to be one or the other.
Perhaps flavour will give us a clue. At first there’s a strong note of brown sugar in this. That molasses-like strength and depth, it’s very strong here. That note is not one I associate with either type. It’s very good, but it doesn’t really help me work this out.
Next I get that note of straw for a second before it turns into something kind of, but not quite, grainy as the cup cools. That’s a Yunnan-y trait. I’ve never come across that straw-y, hay-y note in anything else than Yunnan. A Fujian tea would have been much stronger on the grain note.
But then there’s there cocoa-y note, which I find to be more Fujian-y than anything else. I may have found that in Yunnan teas before, but it’s not one that stands out in my head as an association to that region.
I don’t know what to make of this. I’m beginning to suspect it’s actually out of an entirely third region. It’s time to go and look for some answers. I know black tea pearls are not that uncommon on Steepster, so I have a look at a few others of different brands. Without exception they are all mentioned as Yunnan teas.
I was close then. This is just not one that is very similar to other teas I’ve had from that province. Your average Yunnan black tea, I tend to find to be a mouthful of hay more often than not, and to drink it requires a very specific sort of mood. This one isn’t like that at all. Yes, it has the straw note in it, but it’s much more subdued, and that makes me like this a whole lot better than my usual impression of Yunnans. I especially enjoyed that brown sugar note. That was right up my alley, that was. I loves me some brown sugar!
Happy birthday!
May your day be full of lovely and enjoyable “get-to’s.” (As opposed to gotta-do’s.)
Sounds like a great start to the day! Happy Birthday!
Have a great birthday!
Many years to you!
Happy Birthday to you! :)
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, Angrboda!
Happy Birthday!! dang we need a page where we post birthdays so we can send sneak surprises!!
Happy birthday to you with best wishes for even better cuppas to come :)
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday! : )
Happy Birthday :)
Happy happy birthday! :D!
Happy happy birthday!!! let there be tea =D
Tillykke med fødselsdagen. :-)
Ahaha, I hadn’t even noticed that! My miraculous ability to break things on the internet, I suppose. Happy birthday. :)
Happy belated Birthday! Great sounding start to it too
Thanks everybody!
Roughage, OMG!!! :D
Seems I’m a day late, but happy birthday!
And I love posts like this! I will have to make notes about the tastes you associate with each region and see if I notice them in the future; I definitely haven’t had a Fujian tea yet.
Daniel, you haven’t had a Fujian yet?! ::clutches pearls:: Jeeves, get the young gentleman some Fujian immediately!
Why do I suddenly get the feeling that LadyLondonderry share at least some of my enthusiasm for this region? :p
Daniel, there are only really three regions, where I have specific ideas of what I expect from them, and that’s because I just have the most experience with them. I haven’t really been very good at exploring the rest of China properly, but have been hovering around the three most well known for black tea. Fujian, Yunnan and Keemun.
I tend to think of Fujians as sort of grainy and sort of fruity with a cocoa-y/chocolate-y note to it. And something else which I can’t actually describe much closer than ‘Fujian-ness’. I get mildly synesthetic reactions to flavours sometimes, so Fujian-ness is mostly a mix of seemingly random associations. Not so much a colour that I’ve noticed, but definitely a certain feeling of a depth and darkness and basically pleasure at the same time. It’s my favourite region.
Yunnan is my least favourite of the three, but I’ve had the most experience with golden yunnans, which I have to be in the mood for in order to drink. They have a strong note of hay and straw for me. Some think they tend to be pepper-y, others think they tend to be smoky in flavour. I started out in the smoky camp but have landed more or less in the middle of the scale now. Sometimes they’re one, sometimes they’re the other. I tend to prefer the smokier end.
Keemun is another favourite tea type for me, but I haven’t found the perfect one yet. These have a very grainy flavour profile, reminding me strongly of freshly baked proper Danish rye bread. The sort you know in North America? That’s not it. Danish rye bread is dark and strong and eaten in thin slices. It seems that people who didn’t grow up on it, often doesn’t seem to like it much. My boyfriend is definitely not a fan. Anyway, like with Yunnans, Keemuns can have two faces. Either they’re very floral tasting or, again, smoky. I’ve noticed that the higher grade of Keemun I seem to try, the more likely they are to be floral, and I really prefer the more smoky ones, so I tend to go for the cheaper end Keemuns when shopping.
Happy belated Birthday! Glad you had fun with this one. Garret at Mandala seems to have a real passion for Yunnan (especially shu pu’er!) so you’re probably right on the money as far as region goes.
Happy belated bday! I’m looking forward to having a palate developed enough to identify the region of a tea, but I think I’m a few years off yet :)
These are, indeed, a find from Yunnan! I just got back from tea travels in China and spent a majority of time in Yunnan seeing some tea gardens, mountains, sipping and buying tons of teas (including more of these pearls!) and finding more tea wares. Bought much mao cha from a few farmers and will have it pressed soon under our label. I really do love Yunnan black teas. My favorites, though I acquired some great black teas near Huangshan on this last trip, as well!
So, I think I’m officially a newbie Whovian. After only a few short weeks of watching Doctor Who while I work, I’m already on Season 5 (a few episodes in). I just can’t seem to get enough and I’m starting to fear that I’m running closer to being out of episodes to watch. Ack. There will definitely be a Doctor Who tea of some kind. Now it’s just a matter of brainstorming.
I’ve decided to set aside Thursday for adding a few new teas. Our Coconut Cream Pie and Grandpa’s Anytime Tea are back and completely ready to be added to our site again. Also, the Pumpkin Milkshake will finally go up. In addition to those, we have 2 new Indian teas that need to be processed. One is this white tea and the other is a green tea. We have a few tea jars that we need to add as well. We might even have some time to work on our next 3 flavored teas that are very close to being done.
I am really loving Indian white teas and have picked up 2 this year. This one was harvested in June and has lovely malty and hay notes but it is also very sweet. There are some almond notes and juicy pear notes as well as some floral notes. I love how this tea lingers and the buttery notes last quite long. This tea is so tasty and I think a good introduction into white teas. I will definitely be using this tea as a base tea.
Sounds like a white tea right up my alley! Can’t wait for all the new teas!
you have yet to name my tea! coconut cream pie, but not a la herbal!! our households turns around dr. who seasons. november 23rd (?) is when the next one comes out. and we’re getting a new dr. soon!
Oh, this tea sounds lovely. And I’m jealous that you get to watch shows while you work!
Yay! Doctor Who tea!
My local shop carries some Glenburn’s and this is one that’s a favorite of everyone. Really good! Rich even I’d say in a way you don’t expect a silver needle to be.
WANT! he he
Are you adding this plain tea to the site, Stacy?
tigress_al-It’s absolutely delicious! While I love the tea base I chose for our Champagne with Rose Cream, I think I might have to try it with this tea because it almost has a bubbliness to it.
JustJames-I try not to talk too much about custom blends too much but I am just super happy with how your tea is coming along. Mmmmm. Since the Palitao tea didn’t work with the bases I tried, I was thinking about testing it with one of the bases you chose because the coconut just worked so well with it. Oh boy, I better set a calender reminder!
keychange-Thanks! Well, I figure since I work so many hours that its ok to watch some shows in the background though I must admit that Doctor Who can be a little distracting. I’m sure my productivity has gone down a tiny bit.
Fuzzy_Peachkin-I’m excited about it! Oh the possibilities. Currently, I’m thinking maybe a sonic screwdriver or psychic paper reference. We will see. I love the Weeping Angels but unfortunately, I have seen that tea has already been done.
Bonnie-Oh yeah, definitely very different from most silver needles. We will be carrying another Indian silver needle as well and that one has some amazing cherry notes. Both are fantastic! I hate to say it but I think I prefer Indian white teas to Chinese white teas.
Amy oh-Glad to hear that! Yes, we should have this one up on Thursday. :)
Doctor Who tea!!! (take all my money!)
^Hahaha, well I am open to suggestions.
Dude…..Dr. Who is the best show ever made. It’s addictive…and I am WAITING for the newest season to come on Netflix (because my tiny town doesn’t offer BBCA)…..PLEASE tell me you are going to make a Dr Who TEA!! I’ll buy tons!! Just to say I have a mouth full of the doctor….(ewe! but it was an easy one….had to take it….you know what I mean).
Maybe I should speak more civilized….
Ahem… As an avid Dr Who fan myself, I would be most interested in hearing more about your interpretation of the series in TEA and partaking of an ounce or 10…..
And also….going to buy coconut cream because you were sold out when I made my last purchase…I was sad…
Ali Bee-Hahahaha. I’m dying laughing. I’m watching Doctor Who right now. Hmmm, I’m starting to think I might like Matt Smith more than David Tennant. Didn’t think that was going to happen.
Sorry that the Coconut Cream was sold out when you last purchased. We have a fresh amazing smelling batch ready now! :)
nope, i disagree. matt smith annoys me. loved david tennant, also christopher eccleston, but he was only there for one season! so sad.
JustJames-I liked Christopher Eccleston but he was a little too intense for the show. David Tennant was awesome, I just think I’m liking Matt Smith perhaps a little more because he is a bit quirkier. Now that I’ve seen a full season with Matt Smith, maybe I need to go back and see another episode with David Tennant for comparison.
David Tennant will always be my Doctor Love….. I cried on his last episode. I keep hoping they will have some cameo …maybe where he goes to the other dimension and sees Rose and her Doctor Double….. that would be pretty cool
I never thought I’d like Matt Smith over David Tennant, but then I started to crush on him pretty hard too. :P But, after a season with MS, I liked his quirkiness more.
I can’t wait for the 50th Anniversary episode though. I’ve got that saved in my phone!
Ali Bee-I was fearing David Tennant’s departure and had no idea how they would replace him but I think because I have been making my way through these seasons so fast that I didn’t have time to really be saddened since I was already on to the next season. That would be a great idea. It would be fun to see the 2 doctors play off each other.
Cavocorax-He just has that fun quirkiness about him. When is the 50th Anniversary episode?
It’s November 23rd!
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_50th_Anniversary)
Awesome! So the season premiere is also the 50th anniversary? Or is that a separate thing? I’m so jealous that it will be shown in 3D in the UK.
This is the first time that I’m actually up-to-date on my episodes, but from the sounds of it we get the Anniversary special (which might be a great time to release a Doctor Who tea!), then the Christmas special, and then they START filming Series 8. :(
So we might have to wait until August or September for the new stuff!
Oh wow, that is further than I thought. Hmmm, maybe I could release a tea a couple weeks before the 50th. I was already thinking I might go with “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey” as the name. I’m not 100% on that though.
Other potential tea names were:
It’s Bigger on the Inside
Bad Wolf
Sonic Screwdriver
Not so sure what I want to do with the Doctor Who tea but I know it has to be a black tea and it has to be fun. Guess I just need to watch more episodes. I’m nearing the end of the 6th season and am starting to panic a little bit about running out of Doctor Who episodes though I plan on going back and finding all of the older seasons.
ok make a series!! I love Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey and Bad Wolf….gotta name a black tea Bad Wolf….
Other thouhts:
The Master
The Tea Who Waited
Allonzy Alanzo
…..
I’ll be back with more…just gotta get the kids cleaned up and ready for dinner…right now I’m sneaking in a Steepster peek
sorr…Alonzo….
ugh!!! I broke a nail earlier today and now I can’t type…
THE SILENCE!! Ok I’m done for right now…really
Prisoner X
Spoilers…tho Spoilers and tea may sound like it’s a rancid tea….
I love a lot of those ideas! The Silence sounds amazing! Also, I think Gallifrey might be awesome. It would have to be the most perfect tea.
Oh yes…there would be a lot of pressure on a tea named Gallifrey…. but I would buy that tea!!!
YES! More cream cheese!
have you tried any teas that have a really strong cream cheese or cheesecake flavor?
Nope. Not one. :(
It’s the fat content that really makes the cheesecake and cream cheese as amazing as they are. You might consider adding some sweetened condensed milk to make it really creamy and rich.
I’d just prefer there be more cream cheese:)
You make this sound soo good! Thanks to you and Cofftea I think I may have to start trying more flavored teas.
@ Josh I agree Erin’s post had me looking for a sweet afternoon treat.
@Josh if you’re looking to try some flavored teas, stay away from Adagio’s flavored blacks. their flavored whites are really good (my favorite is their White Blueberry). everything i’ve had from 52teas has been good, plus they have free shipping!
Josh, as much as I respect Erin, her opinions, and her right to have her own tastes- I’d really suggest forming your own opinions of teas. I love trying teas that people say “Don’t try!”- a lot of the time I’m glad I did.
Second the whole stay away from Adagio’s flavored. I think it depends how strong you like your flavored teas. 52teas is a bit too light for me (light as in the flavors too weak). It definitely taste / smells like what it’s advertising, but I wish the flavor was a bit stronger. So you like Jasmine, so you can probably stand floral tea. Teavana perhaps? Or give Golden Moon’s sampler of 31 teas for $20 a try. They have a wide variety of flavored teas there.
Cofftea is right too. I mean you might end up liking Adagio’s flavored teas. They do have some decent ones.
Ricky, YES to the whole lighter thing (i.e. this one) w/ 52teas. And YES to the GM sampler which I’m still coveting. =D
Ahh, Cofftea and Ricky have made me see the error of my ways. Of course try everything; form your own opinions!
@52teas – I’ll try the sweetened milk idea. Thanks for the suggestion!
Josh, Adagio has some amazing jasmine teas.
No, no Erin. I’m totally with you. I tell people to stay away from Adaigo’s flavored black as well. The way I see it, there are some decent Adagio flavored teas, but you can get a lot better flavored teas for around the same price with another company.
Better is so flippin relevent though:) I personally don’t like flavored blacks (other than chai) so I haven’t tried a lot of them, but the ones I have tried have been good for me. So you can either take that as “She has no clue what she’s talking about” or “Wow! Even she likes this!”=D
Yes, in the end it really depends on the person =]
I second Ricky’s latest comment! And I agree with Cofftea on their jasmine.
Can I chime in with my two cents so late in the day? Josh, if you get a chance, try Harney’s flavored blacks – I recently re-discovered them and am loving them (Paris, Florence, etc).
Wow.. when I first saw this, I did a double-take. Cream Cheese Danish?! This sounds so interesting :)
Well, I think Erin is spot on with her description of Adagio’s flavored blacks, and it is completely acceptable and DESIRABLE that people on Steepster make recommendations about which teas to try (and conversely, which to avoid). Not sure why anyone would get in arms about that, especially on what is essentially a tea review site. There’s no reason why someone should have to freaking apologize for their comment about a tea they don’t like and wouldn’t recommend. Just my two cents.
@Erin Your description of this tea made me want raspberry cheesecake! Hmm…I wonder if the nearby grocery store has any…
@ Erin, Cofftea, Ricky, and Lauren
Thank you so much for the debate on flavored teas. When I think of drinking a flavored tea I really want it to pop, otherwise what would really be the point. I have been looking at 52 Teas website today for the first time and they have a few things that really stuck out to me. I also had a look at the Golden Moons Sampler but it doesn’t list what teas come with the extraordinary 31 flavor sampler. Is there a good variety of their flavored teas in that sampler? Also how many cups do you get from one of those samples?
I will most likely order some from both places just because I have never had tea from either one and just try them out for myself.
Josh, it doesn’t list what comes with it, because it’s their whole collection. They give you every single of the their teas they have to offer so browse their website or Steepster.
Isn’t that great though? All the teas from a company? =] Use coupon code Steepster to get free shipping.
Josh- Yeah 52teas’ blends are pretty amazing. EVERY one of their teas that they carry come w/ the sampler. That’s why everyone that has tried it loves it and everyone that hasn’t covets it!=D As for the size of the samples, they very- some as tiny as ~1.8g unfortunately. :(
They have plain teas and flavored ones. I think what’s great about the sampler is that it gives you a good variety / understanding of all their teas and the company. Each sampler gives you about one to two cups. Of course you can get multiple infusions from each one.
Honestly, where else can you get 31 teas for $20? That’s .65 cents a cup of tea. Free shipping too =]
Hey Josh! Golden Moons Sampler has all of them (31) – Coconut Pouchong, Vanilla Mint, French Breakfast, Nepalese Afternoon Tea, White Ginger Rose, White Tea, Imperial Formosa Oolong, Madagascar Vanilla, Lapsang Souchong, Sugar Caramel Oolong, White Licorice, Snow Sprout, Jasmine, Temple of Heaven Gunpowder, White Persian Melon, Sencha, Orchid Temple Oolong, Honey Pear, Jasmine Pearls, Kashmiri Chai, Tippy Earl Grey, Pu-erh Chai, Darjeeling, Moroccan Mint, Sinharaja, Organic Green Tea, Pu-erh, English Breakfast, Vanilla Jasmine, Irish Breakfast (Special Reserve), RoseTea. Also – just ONE serving. (just got mine this week!). I ordered from 52 Teas but haven’t received it yet :( good luck!
@Ricky, even cheaper if you resteep!=D
As for serving size, since there are mixed results. I just weighted two samplers I have laying around. So HMPH!
Pu-erh => 8.7g
Sugar Caramel Oolong => 9.8g
Anyways, a serving depends on the person. One serving to me is 12oz of water, two teaspoons of tea. I like my tea to be strong and bold. When I was talking about the samplers, I was saying you could make 1-2 6oz servings with them.
2.5g is generally a serving and that’s for 6oz of water. You can stretch that to 8oz of water if you want. I think most of us just wing it when it comes to loose leaves.
Well you guys have sold me on the Golden Moons sampler, that just seems like a deal that no one should pass up. Especially someone who is fairly new to the tea world and wants to know more and more. One to two cups per sample is perfect for me because I usually re-steep at least once and sometimes twice. I will have to take another gander at 52 Teas teas and see if anything there really grabs me.
For me the pu erh would make a ~8oz cup, but that’s a lot of leaf, so I’d get 4 2oz servings out of it. Except for pu erh and Japanese greens, a serving for me is 2.25g/6oz. Unlike Ricky, I don’t wing it. I’m very type A when it comes to my tea… which is strange cuz I’m not excessively type A in ANY other area of my life lol!
Haha, that’s why I wrote most because I knew you didn’t wing it, cofftea =]
Woaps, was it 2.25? I keep thinking it’s 2.5 for some reason. I guess it’s a rounder number.
Success! Josh will join the Golden Moon Sampler fun. Can’t wait to read those reviews.
Yeah, that pu-erh would make an 8oz cup. 1oz per g for pu-erh. Oh the complications of tea =P
Another GM sampler convert! YAY!
And that’d give you as many as 12 infusions per cup. That’d be just under 2 cents/infusion for me!=D
Ricky, yep it’s 2.25. An even 3g for an 8oz cup.
Yay! Keep the posts coming. This is going to be the most popular tea soon enough also the convert Josh to GM thread. Where’s teaplz now!?!?
How do you guys go about figuring out your g/oz ratio, or is it all just trial and error to your liking?
Erin is probably laughing at us because this did start out as a 52teas tealog!
I stick w/ the standard for teas that don’t have unique authentic steeping parameters (so far Japanese greens and pu erh are the only ones I know of that do). I’d suggest starting there for a reference point and then going up or down as need be.
Haha! Oh yeah Lauren! I forgot lol:)
Oh, that’s a general rule. I just do one heaping teaspoon for 8oz of water.
If you don’t know what to do, the rules are 2.25g (corrected by cofftea) for 6oz and pu-erh is a 1g to 1oz of water ratio.
@ Lauren
Yeah I thinking this should be a Discussion thread…
@ Cofftea
Cool, thanks.
Haha, what? I thought this was a Golden Moon tealog! So sorry Frank! We still love your teas, well some of them, drools pina colada
Shoot – sorry, I killed the buzz ….! mea culpa!
Nooooo! It’s so close from being the most popular tealog! Don’t let it die guys! Josh any further questions?
I noted your general-rule-of-thumb for my own edification, too! Thanks!
Well since this is a 52 Teas log, what would you guys recommend for some good 52 Teas to try? Some that aren’t too wild but just overall great teas.
Pina Colada (Flavored Honeybush)
Buttered Cinnamon Toast (Must get me some!) (Flavored Black)
Malted Chocomate (Flavored mate)
=] Well these are the ones I’d consider repurchasing.
I was thinking the Apple Pie a la Mode, Razzleberry Green, Pomegranate Honeybush (maybe,) Banana Peach Green, and the Banana Split sounds pretty crazy.
Josh, send me a PM, I’ll send you some 52teas.
Just ordered (7 days ago!) Cucumber Melon Green Tea, Pomegranate Green Tea, Pomegranate White Tea, Razzleberry Green Tea but have NOT gotten it yet.
Josh, back to the “how do you get your general rule?” statement… I know it doesn’t have anything to do w/ flavored teas (well only in small part), but here are great places to start for the different Japanese teas:
http://www.denstea.com/index.php?main_page=perfect_brewing
Really! Wow, best day ever.
Welcome to Steepster ;) We’re here to help =]
Dens is amazing.
Oh I have that website bookmarked from one of your other posts containing it :)
@ Lauren
Hopefully you get those soon, they sound pretty good. I should be getting my Four Seasons Oolong from Samovar on Saturday, I’m super excited.
@ Cofftea
Thanks for the link.
I forgot to mention that flavored pu erh is exempt from my 1g/1oz rule, I don’t rinse it either- I treat it as a black tea (at least the one I’ve tried so far) Oh I should mention that my “general rule” for measuring teas also does not apply to chais. For that I use one heaping teaspoon per 6oz. For my absolute favorite chia EVER which just happens to be 52teas’ Mayan Chocolate Chai, that’s 4g/6oz water or milk or a combo of both.
I ordered from Samovar, too – I wonder when I will get it? Love that teeny-tiny teapot!
oops chai, not chia:)
Can’t talk about Chai’s – am utter failure at chai’s so far.
The only chai I’ve made was a Masala Chai and I used 2 heaping teaspoons of the chai in 16oz water then while that was brewing I added 16oz of soy milk. It was mighty tasty. Although maybe next time I will use more chai…
I’d personally at least double it, anywhere from 4-5 1/2 tsp (I prefer 5 1/2 tsp)- especially if you’re adding milk.
Wow. I thought it was an error that this log had this many replies. Either that or I was in trouble for something and people were upset about it. :)
I shouldn’t say this, because all of our teas are great, but since the question was asked, I’ll tell you some of MY favorites of our blends. I do, however, have to preface the list by saying that while this may sound blasphemous, I am largely an iced tea drinker. I grew up in the deep south, and I drink iced tea year round. I’m now in Wichita, KS and we get our share of cold, but I’m still an iced tea drinker whether it’s 110-degrees out or -20-degrees. So, for some really spectacular ICED teas, I highly recommend:
Pina Colada Honeybush
Banana Peach Green Tea
Black Currant White Tea
Shamrock Blend
ANY of our Pomegranate blends (I know pomegranate is kind of ho hum and not as exciting as some of our other offerings, but I personally think our pomegranate blends are three times better than any of our competitors. We use REAL freeze dried pomegranate arils in each of them (and they are not cheap, but I think it really makes a big difference)).
Anyway, those are some of my favorites.
Yes, those Pomegranate teas are very tempting indeed. I’ve never had a Pomegranate tea before but I am a fan of the Pomegranate fruit so when I go to get some stuff from your site I will definitely be looking really closely at those blends! :)
okay WHOA! i went away to put on my PJs, take off my makeup, and brush my teeth and i come back and steepster says i have 42 new notices. and they were all for this tasting note! i nearly died laughing! I’m not even going to try to respond on all the topics that have been covered here, but I’ll respond to the latest topic – 52teas. I have only recently started getting into them with a lot of help from Ricky, but so far my favorite has been Malted ChocoMate.
Also, this was my 100th tasting note! Way to make it a huge deal!!! Hahahaha!
Frank, Thanks so much for the recommendations for iced and for me getting my 52Teas order in today! It’s just starting to warm up here in Texas and I was thinking about what teas I could start making Iced so this post came in a timely manner for me.
Josh, also check out www.zoomdweebies.com and www.manteas.com (co companies of 52teas).
ahaha, congrats on the 100th note. Glad we could assist in the huge deal! You missed out on quite a bit in those couple hours you were gone.
Back from packing tea! This is Steepster’s most popular tea log now. Success!
http://steepster.com/popular/all
Erin, you should totally chime back in:)
I wish there was a quick way to find that link like there used to be… :(
@Cofftea. Thanks for the links. I’m so embarrassed by zoomdweebies.com right now. We are working on a major overhaul of the site. Right now it is buggy and just not the site I would like for it to be, but soon….
And the manteas.com site almost requires a warning. It’s a bit colorful and edgy. It’s all done tongue in cheek and intended to be completely satirical, but I have had a few people tell me they were deeply offended by some of the content there. But yes, 52teas and ManTeas are both brands of Zoomdweebie’s, LLC
AWESOME! Hooray for the most popular note ever! And to think it all happened while I was getting ready for bed.
I’m aiming for 100 comments to honor your 100th post.
52teas, just consider this a multi-authored comment/suggestion form for your teas LOL=D
Hahaha that’d be really cool. But it’s kind of like cheating if we just keep posting about how this is getting really long [that’s what she said?]. I say we actually talk about tea here, to make it legit.
Absolutely- and since you missed out on 3hrs worth, that’s a lot of catching up to do=D Jason, the 2 manteas I’ve tried were smoky bacon and beer- both are amazing
One more thing, the [that’s what she said?] joke was absolutely amazing! I actually lol’ed when I read that. :)
Erin okay I’ll bite. I got in my first 52Teas order in today which consists of Malted chocomate and Buttered Raisin Bread. I can’t wait for morning so I can try them !
Josh – Thanks. I’ve been told I’m a master. [you know what to say here]
We’re working on t-shirts with the manteas.com logo. They are going to say, “Real men drink bacon tea” on the front and have our new ManTeas logo on the back. I’ve already got a few people clamoring for them.
Chelsea actually wants one in a ladies cut tee.
SoccerMom – I also got my first order today! It had the Raisin Toast (which I haven’t tried yet but I am so excited for) and the now infamous Raspberry Cream Cheese Danish. Although I’ve tried the Malted ChocoMate from Ricky and it’s one of my top favorites!
I’m gonna laugh my butt off if a 52teas/manteas/zoomdweebies tea is the SS item for tomorrow.
@52teas, How about a shirt that says “My man’s man enough to drink tea!”?
Yeah! If that ever happens I might not be able to resist!
@Cofftea – This kind of goes along with the thread about how men are now starting to drink more tea, but I never really thought of tea as being a girly drink. I know lots of guys from back home in Princeton that drink tea.
@Cofftea, no SS tomorrow. Jason is waiting on some pictures from me. We could totally do the “My man” thing too. Have you guys seen our new logo? It’s really ridiculous. I think it’s hysterical, tho again, some have been offended. It’s on the website: http://www.manteas.com
@cofftea, could you imagine if they made your saying on a pink tee shirt! hee hee
When are you restocking those matchas?
@52teas – HAHAHAHA! I just looked at your new logo! It’s brilliant! I can see how some people would be offended by it, but you can’t please everyone. I literally LOL-ed at that one!
@ Erin, I never really saw drinking tea as a girly thing either, but I do understand where it comes from. I mean little girls growing up were always having their tea parties with invisible tea…
@ 52teas, I think that manteas logo is brilliant! If you made a shirt with that logo on it I would definitely have to get one.
@52teas, you know how many times I’ve been on your site (daily) and I just now got your logo… facepalm…
SoccerMom, eh wouldn’t be too off the wall since it would be a woman wearing the shirt and not a man- well unless it was a man in a homosexual relationship.
@Ricky, some way too honest for my own good truth: I only have maybe a couple of pounds of matcha left right now, and I have an open invoice with my supplier I have to take care of before I can get some more. LOL. (I’m sick today guys, so forgive me if I’m stupid). Anyway, I was trying to decide whether to reblend the Mandarin Matcha (which would also require more freeze dried orange sections I don’t have) or create a new matcha blend. I’ve finally settled on the latter, and we got some freeze-dried strawberry powder. (Literally, it is powder). We are going to make a strawberry matcha next. I should have it on the site in the next week or so.
Ditto Ricky’s comment! Or better yet, new ones! Art of tea has a ginger matcha and there’s a Canadian company coming out w/ a bunch of flavored matchas as well.
Strawberry matcha? I am sold! Save one for me!
HOLY FRICKIN CRAP! Thank you for picking one I’d like! I wasn’t too thrilled about the idea of a banana matcha. How about an orange strawberry blend?
Strawberry Matcha?? Yes! :D
Maybe after we get the t-shirts in, I can get Jason to run them as a SS item. LOL
Strawberry matcha! I want some of that. The orange strawberry sounds like it may be a good blend as well.
You should help them make some Steepster swag while you are at it =]
You know what this whole epic tasting note thing has made me realize? Steepster should have a chat feature! PMing is great, but you can’t converse with more than one person easily.
Yay Erin for 100th!!!
Okay, so I just lost my little online poker tournament (non-cash) I was playing while keeping up with this, and now I am going to take my sick and weary behind to bed. Goodnight all.
Erin, that was suggested a long time ago and I totally ditto that!=D
I just finished packing a few tea packages so I’m out as well. Erin weren’t you getting ready for bed an hour ago? Haha =P
Goodnight Frank!
HOLY FRICKIN CRAP! Steepster Select item is perfect for my type A tea self! One of the few times I will be caving.
Good Night!
Ricky, ready for and ready to go to are 2 different things:)
@Ricky – Yep! Haha I’m all ready now, but now my mind is full of 52teas thoughts and cheesy TWSS jokes. Oh well.
@Cofftea – I would, but I don’t have an iPod or iPhone!
@ Cofftea – have you checked out the Teavana app? It was free on itunes/app store.
Haha, I would aside for the fact that my darn iPhone is too slow! I use this for my mac.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/calculate_convert/minutes.html
Comes in handy at work =]
Ah crap! I didn’t read the iPhone/iPod part… great… now I’m extremely pissed and depressed :-,<… This just may be worth buying an iPod for… It looks like the price is not a special so I don’t have do buy it in the next 24 hrs…
No mac but use google timer app on my laptop and have teavana timer on ipod.
I like Teavanas app, it just sits on my phone and it doesn’t do a thing =]
So we went from 52teas to Adagio to Golden Moon to 52teas to Teavana?
W/ mentions of pu erh (hello Bana Tea Co sampler!) and Den’s!=D
Ricky, I use that one too!
Yes, but it has pretty pictures! LOL
Ha, I was thinking of bringing Bana Tea’s pu-erh to work tomorrow and have my co-workers help me finish one off. That means I’ll have to jot down some notes so I can write a tea log later in the evening.
I have so much tea, yet also so little! I don’t know how this strange dynamic works.
If I stay here any longer I will end up sleeping at 4am, uhoh. Going to get ready for bed as well.
G’Night ALL!
Yeah, I’m going to leave now. Bye!
Night everyone, it was nice hearing all of your great recommendations for flavored tea.
Ricky’s such a party pooper! ;)
Well you said you were getting ready for, not going to bed… you are a little strange for talking in 3rd person though… hehe;)
What the crap happened here?!?! 130 comments…that’s awesome! That has to be some sort of record. Congrats, Erin!
Well we were trying to set a new Steepster World Record. Personally, I wanted to hit that 150 mark after we made it to the 100 ;)
Haha, I was getting tired Cofftea =P
Haha Jason- I actually laughed out loud when I read your comment.
@52teas, Frank PLEASE make sure you change your steeping suggestions on the packaging for your strawberry matcha (and changing the packaging to get rid of the clear would be great too), everyone knows you do not steep matcha for 3 min. That really bothered me to see that…
Awesome threads here guys, love all the comments about flavors to try of 52teas as I really want to place another order with them, but looks like I may be holding out for the strawberry flavored matcha drool! That sounds so fantastic! Great job Erin for the largest comment section ever and happy 100th tasting note!
And the post lives! I hope Frank makes an extra large batch of that matcha!=D
wow is this happening again? haha
Tonight we are trying to hit 200?
Erin, Congrats on your 100th tasting note!