Featured & New Tasting Notes

I decided I had time for one more cup of tea before I have to spend all afternoon working in the hood and I am super glad I threw this in my bag to bring to work with me. Nina’s Paris is batting 1000 with me so far! This tea is just delightful. I like it even better than the Nina’s Japon. The raspberry and the red currant are fantastic together and then caramel and vanilla mellow out the tartness. I’m glad I split my sample in two and risked underleafing it because I definitely want to have this again soon. Thanks for sharing your Nina’s with me, Ost!

Yesterday, I’ve started a “purge”. Meaning, I am throwing tea in the trash. There, I’ve said it.

I know, I know, why trhow it, why not send it to someone who might want to have it?

Well see, there are rules to qualify for the purge…

1) must be a tea that’s been in the cupboard for over two years

2) the tea was given a fair chance. Meaning, it has been steeped at different temperatures, iced, cold brewed, even mixed with some other tea to tone it down. All have failed.

3) the fear of ever drinking it again must still be very present. I gag when I think of it.

4) I’ve asked someone to try it, and was later accused of homicidal intent.

5)I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

6) if I’d send it in a swap, I’d be reported to Steepster for tea malpractice and therefore, would be forced to close my account. Goodbye Fairy :-(

I tried really hard to give Sour Sap some love. Before I gave it a final farewell, I cold steeped it to comply with the list of rules. It failed…miserably.

Sour sap…there are no possible description for it. Sour bile maybe? That’s the closest to a “note” I can get.

Sorry, it just wasn’t meant to be…

R.I.P. Sour Sap. 06/19/2014

Do I like this tea? No, not really. I think maybe I did at one time, but now it just tastes medicinal to me. I’m only drinking it because I just got home from playing a kickass gig, & I’m wired, naturally high as a kite on music, good vibes, adrenaline, etc. So I’m drinking 2 bags of this in my usual cup, with a double dose of Valerian tincture added, in hopes that I will come back down to the planet’s surface & be able to sleep soon.

Tomorrow will be known as ‘The Day She Planted Sweet Potatoes’.
Silly me, I ordered 24 sweet potato plants, 4 each of 6 different varieties from http://www.tatorman.com/
Vardeman, Red Japanese, Nancy Hall, Beauregard, Carolina Ruby, & Bunch Porto Ricans.
I always grow alot of sweet potatoes, & we eat them all fall, winter, & spring, but the local stores still don’t have plants, & they only ever have one variety anyway.
Of course, it’s insane that I bought so many, LOL, but they arrived today, & they are adorable, & I’m very excited! Tomorrow the entire day will be dedicated to getting them in the ground!! I wanted to get some of the purple japanese ones, but you have to buy 12 plants, & that would be 36 plants total! Maybe next year…
Hopefully this year I’ll remember to save one of each kind for starting next year’s crop.
I also almost ordered more garlic for the fall from another company. I currently have 5 varieties, but you can never have too much garlic, & there are some really interesting heirlooms, including a few amazing sounding Italian ones, & I also want a few shallots to add to my shallot collection. The company I order those from doesn’t take paypal though, so that order will have to wait until I actually have some money in my bank account.
That & my Laoshan Black order (not like I need any, I just want a bag of the new crop for comparison sake).
Sipdown…I have no idea what my total is though…
Wish me luck falling asleep…
Just checked my sipdown total. I’m at 373!
(Not counting any new teas that have arrived since June 1st…I’ll add them on July 1st)

Oh Soba Cha!

So enticing I want to eat chunks of my mug, that how good it smells while I drink it.

Buckwheat pancakes, roasted grains, toasty cereals, it’s such a treat!

Ok, I pretty much NEVER add anything to my tea, not that there’s anything wrong with that, just not my preference.

But, this, THIS, with almond milk is like having a liquid bowl of your favourite cereals. Why don’t I make a giant pot of this instead of a cup?

My 4oz tin won’t last very long, I can tell you that!

I can’t ever thank my friend Dexter enough for introducing me to this wonderful tea from H&S :-)

Because John Harney made tea….I saw an acquaintance buying it at Barnes and Noble. Because I saw her buying it, I got her more for Christmas and we became good friends and I bought an extra tin for me. Because I had GOOD tea, my new neighbor Sandy shared a cup and then introduced me to even more varieties of loose leaf and high quality teas of every type and kind and we began to explore puerh, white, yellow, and more! Because I became obsessed with tea, I invited more and more people over, and made new friends, and new tea addicts.

And this is one of the first loose leaf H&S teas I bought, the very first being Royal English Breakfast in sachets. Smokey and chocolate-y, good plain but takes milk and sugar well, which is how I first started drinking tea until their Golden Monkey enticed me to drink my tea sans additions.

Thank you, Mr. Harney, for being excited about tea. Thank you for your part in enriching my life. Thank you for the stories your family shared about you handing out wrapped sachets everywhere you went, making friends, showing kindness. May you rest in peace.

I found out late last night about the recent passing of John Harney. I have enjoyed teas from Harney and Sons for years and years (Hot Cinnamon Sunset was one of the first teas I fell in love with!), and I thought I would make my morning tea another H&S favorite as my way of saying thank you to Mr. Harney.

Golden Monkey is a jewel of a tea. The leaves are beautiful. Black and gold, kind of small, and tightly twisted. Once steeped the tea is malty with a honey like sweetness and notes of caramel and cocoa. I wouldn’t describe it as a thick tea, but it does coat the mouth with a light sweetness that’s very nice. The interplay of flavors here is so enjoyable. This is one of the teas I could drink all day and enjoy every sip.

Thanks again, Mr. Harney.

In mid summer, while I worked in the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve tracking Black Bears, we would reach a point where half the bears would dissapear from their home ranges as they left in search of food. That population is basically dependant on the success of the blueberry crop for survival. Once they started to leave their home ranges we would spend part of the day tracking/searching for our wandering bears, and part of the day sampling blueberry plots among other duties. After which we had tons of berries to freeze, eat and turn into many baked goods. At the study site we had two species of blueberries; Vaccinium angustafolium, which had smaller tarter berries and smooth leaved shorter plants, and V. Myrtilloides which had furry leaved taller plants and big sweet berries that tasted a little like blueberry bubble gum. This tea reminds me of the latter, with a rich sweet syrupy scent and flavour that reminds me a little of a blueberry pancake breakfast drank with a hearty rich tea.

This tea does a really nice job of balancing the flavours between the base tea and the flavouring. The scent and the taste are of those large bubble gun tinged blueberries I picked in the field up near Chapleau, with a nice sweet slightly syrupy notes, all over a malty and slightly biscuit noted base that has a slightly tart fruit reference. The sweetness of the flavouring is tempered by both the tannins in the tea and the blackberry leaf. The base tea is only slightly astringent, but has enough texture and tannins to give it a nice density in the mouth. Despite the flavouring and scent being quite distinct they do not overpower the base and the tea does not require sweetners for the flavouring to pop. Well done Tea Brewery At the moment this is my favourite blueberry tea in my cupboard.

I picked this one up at the Palais des Thes store. I didn’t even realize at the time that it was not their tea but another company. No matter – this smelled soooo good.

It was very tasty hot, but even better cold. Blueberry with mild coconut hot but as it cools off a buttery note sneaks in. I think this is one to be careful with as it could be bitter if not handled with attention. But I will enjoy this tin, I think. Trying a cold steep of the used leaves tonight.

Oh, and here’s a picture of how bad I was on my trip…http://s1165.photobucket.com/user/dagony/media/Tea%20collection/IMG_3464_zpsed958e8c.jpg.html?filters[user]=131747557&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0
(oh, and I should note that the tiny adorable little pot there is not my doing…someone sneaky and exceedingly generous gave that to me while I was there…:)

I usually don’t cold steep spent leaves unless I drink oolong or pu’erh, they have so much to give, I often stop my sessions and just cold brew the rest.

Yesterday, this one was weak for me at the third cup. I would normally just dispose of it. But I thought that maybe the vanilla bean in it could still gift me with some goodness, so I tried.

It filled a 24oz jar for 20 hours in the fridge. I thought this is way too much water for such a little bit of tea, it will probably taste like noting…WRONG!

OMG!!! It’s hot here today and this is soooo refreshing!

It tastes like vanilla sugar, so deliciously yummy.

I conclude that this tea might be expensive but out of 1/2 tablespoon, I got three hot 8oz cups and a 24oz jar of iced tea!

I’d say not a bad yielding ratio :-)

I’d like to start out by thanking Angel & Teavivre for this wonderful sample. This is the most amazing looking green tea, absolutely beautiful. It looks like fronds of some exotic sea veggie, with iridescent shades of green that I can’t even begin to describe. Dried & pressed into long bud sets, averagine 2 to 2.5 inches long! It’s so beautiful that I took pics & posted them on my FB, for those who might like to see.
https://www.facebook.com/terri.langerak
The dry aroma is rich, thick, & buttery. I rehydrated single frond, just so I could watch it unfurl alone, & take photos of it. I gave the entire 5 G sample 1 minute at 180F in my test tube steeper, & the resulting liquor was a pale apricot color, with a sweet, thick, & buttery green taste, delicate & refined.
2min: still rich & buttery, with a yellow taste, bring to mind yellow flowers. As I continue with this cup I also taste saffron & pumpkin seeds.
3min: a little tangy-er, fruity like apricot, but also savory like buttered asparagus. Slightly astringent, slightly bitter.
4min: sweet melon/pumpkin taste.

Good morning Steepster!
This is such a delicious Ceylon, normally I’m not a fan of Ceylons, I can find them too bitter and wine-y. This has such a delicious flavor profile of cherry and a bit of menthol. It’s also “hefty” and has great body which is not something I normally associate with a Ceylon.

SOT says: One of the classics, this is what an Uva Ceylon can and should taste like!

I agree, it puts most of the other Ceylons I’ve had to shame. Evidently I’ve been drinking crap Ceylons but this is one I will gladly restock once it runs out. I’m also excited to be getting a couple of other things from them (hopefully this week).

There’s one other Ceylon that I liked equally as much and that was the Sam Bodhi by Palais de Thes. I just haven’t bothered restocking it that one because there weren’t too many other things from Palais de Thes that really “wowed” me & you have to spend $75 to get free shipping.

I’m still sick, although I am feeling like I’m a bit on the mend. I hope I survive the day, as I have writing class tonight that goes until 9 pm.

I need some “cosmic” sheng to cheer me up!

Took my bird to the vet this afternoon. She has a tumor on her tummy :( Anyway, it is growing, and there is nothing they can do for her. Luckily for now she is maintaining her weight (which means she is feeling well enough to eat properly.) She’s getting to be an older birdie, so I am trying to take solace in the fact that up until this point she has had a very pleasant life, and trying to wrap my head around the fact that sometime in the not too distant future I will have to deal with her slow (hopefully not painful) death and all I can do is comfort her as best as I can!

Sorry to be a downer…ANYWAY, I got new birthday present TeaUrchin sheng samples! YAY! So far everything I’ve tried from TeaUrchin has been top notch. This one is pleasant. I think there is something extra special about Autumn harvests, as much as I have raved about a few first flush green teas in the past, heh. My vocabulary for describing sheng flavors is still in its infancy, but this one is rich and somewhat herbal/floral tasting. It has a nice balanced pleasant bitterness/astringency. When I inhale as I am sipping I feel the camphor-like vapors seem to permeate my entire being. Good sheng. Sheng good.

Port in the afternoon? Hey, why not!

I’m an advocate of drinking my best teas at very ordinary times. Why wait for a special occasions? Just make the ordinary extraordinary!

This is fine tea, I mean REALLY fine.

Brenden suggested I use one of those little Chinese Gongfu stainless super fine stainers for his vanilla tea. I’m all out of Golden Orchid (new batch on its way, yay!!!), but I thought I’d give it a try with Port.

I already see a difference by looking at the tea through my doubled walled mug. Last time I had it, I used a regular strainer and the infusion was a little blurry. It’s crystal clear now. The difference is subtle, but I can see how the taste seems different, “cleaner”. Hard to explain and fully grasp cause I drank Port only once before.

There aren’t many of them, but I see little hairs of red saffron in the blend here and there, and they do render a Spanish savoury flair to the cup and a beautiful bright amber copper liquor.

First thing to notice is the delectable and creamy vanilla, its feels organic and a little earthy. Paired with the exquisite and sweet black base, and the “cederness” of the roasted cedar leaves, this tea turns into a sophisticated caramel infusion, with floral and fresh evergreens notes.

Yes, it’s very expensive, but it delivers and I think everyone should experience it at least once. (The problem is I am now hooked and I know I will reorder when I’m out!!)

Just a superb creation.

BOOM BOOM! I’m gonna shoot you right down. Right off your feet. Take you home with me. PUT YOU IN MY HOUSE! Haw Haw Haw. Sorry. I can’t stop John Lee Hooker-ing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSnQ0bdHW0s) over this tea. Boy howdee this is good. There are many teas out there that I like a lot. But I have a pantheon of tea. Mandala’s Special Dark, my necessary shu pu-er, Verdant’s Golden Fleece – the best golden tip black, Whispering Pines Golden Orchid, my favorite black blend, and now – this. It is a genuine pleasure just to stick your nose in the bag and inhale (a quality it shares with Golden Fleece). Deep, rich luscious chocolate. Dark, creamy chocolate.

More on my blog:

http://mizzprissy.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/zhu-rong-yunnan-black-verdant-tea/

This is an interesting tea I haven’t been drinking too much of lately. It has such a light base and it was really meant to be more of an afternoon/evening tea according to the company. I’ve been trying to drink my black teas in the morning and drink lighter things after noon. I find it is good with additions or without, it doesn’t really NEED them. Might be good with a squeeze of lemon also since it has a bit of a citrus-y note. I should really try this one iced to see if I like it that way.

Still feeling under the weather but need to find the energy today to do my homework for writing class – wish me luck!

I need some Mandala love tonight!

This natural milk oolong is phenomenal…pure candy.

First, the dry smell is all pop corn and coconut milk. It doesn’t render that heavy dairy fragrance scented milk oolong often have, this is all natural goodness.

The first three steeps (gongfu style) are cotton candy and piña colada like, creamy and slightly fruity. The richness and sweetness really dominate.

Later, it morphs into a more floral green oolong, presenting lilac and orchid notes.

A fresh minty camphor taste is also present, slowly developing. It has lost some of its sweetness, which is a good thing, cause as you persevere into many short steeps, heavy and sweet would be just too much.

The taste lingers and lingers…

It’s making me really happy :-)

When I’m all done, I will put the spent leaves in a mason jar and cold steep in the fridge for 12 hours. Yep, this tea has a lot to give!

Tea of the morning here. My boyfriend was not that impressed when I told him this was the tea that got thrown into the Boston Harbor. :P He isn’t that picky about tea and went to Starbucks to get a coffee… ha

This is definitely a strong tea with some mild smoky notes, though not like a full blown lapsang. I enjoy this, though it isn’t an everyday tea for me. I actually need to do some tea shopping because I am need of a basic yunnan and a basic assam.

Thanks to the Steepster buddies who sent me some samples recently. I am coming down with a cold and have been coughing since yesterday so this isn’t the best time to try something new. I hope to try them soon, however!

Thank god there are no such thing as tea overdose cause I’d be so dead by now.

This tea is ambitious, it has climbed the “corporate ladder” of tea like a bullet in my collection and went straight to the top.

I have a well established tea routine, there’s only a few that have really “made it”. they’ve been sitting on my shelve, very confident for many years now, knowing they have had no real competition. And then this newbie came along and has made them all nervous. All of a sudden, they wonder if they are good enough…

I will have to reassure them and let them know they are…eventually.

But right now, it’s all about this one.

I look at the other tins, but I can’t help it, Ailaoshan is like “pick me, oh pick me” and I just know I will.

Sweet and salty caramel, cocoa, fruity-floral notes, dried figs, there are so many layers of complex components in this tea.

It might be a newcomer, but I already know it’s not a one hit wonder, it’s well on its way to becoming a classic!

Bumping the rating to 100!

Queued post, written May 7th 2014

I’m cold to the bone and quite tired which probably doesn’t help with the whole body temperature thing either. But it’s May, dammit, and I refuse to turn the radiator further up. I was up late because I was watching the first semi-final for the Eurovision Song Contest. Denmark is hosting this year (and there’s somewhat of a scandal behind the scenes because the whole thing has turned out to be a LOT more expensive than various people holding the purse strings had initially been told, so suddenly there was a slew of extra bills. I expect that’s why Denmark has such a rubbish song this year. They want to be certain they don’t have to pay for it again next year) Also, regarding the countries that qualified for the final on Saturday… WTF, Europe??? O.O And can someone please explain to me, using small words and diagrams, why exactly Armenia’s ultra-boring song is the bookmakers’ favourite?

KS had this tea yesterday and it made me think I should have a sample of it too. The name rung a bell, so I had a rummage through the box of untried things and lo and behold! Courtney had shared a sample with me. How lucky am I?! I need a bit of luck after all the wrong songs qualified and only half of the good songs did.

When Husband and I were in Norwich for our honeymoon, we had caramel flavoured hot chocolate (which didn’t taste very nice) and it smelled quite like this tea. Very cocoa-y and very caramel-y, but both notes are so strong that they keep trying to out-do each other. The whole thing becomes quite toffee-y. The cocoa note also has a tinge of wood-notes to it, which makes me think wood notes and cocoa notes are ‘related’. Same way that the same note in a Keemum can be floral or almost smoky.

The flavour has a wood note as well and it’s the first thing I notice. After that, the tea becomes quite sweet and sort of in between caramel and honey. KS told me, when I asked about whether he thought it was a strong tasting tea, that he thought it tasted like a sort of mix between Dian Hong and Fujian. I find that’s a very accurate description, actually. The honey-y notes from Dian Hong and the cocoa-y notes from Fujian.

I thought this tea was very enjoyable indeed. I would probably have enjoyed it even more, had I not been distracted by curious activity going on under the road bridge on the other side of our garden fence. A guy had parked there and proceeded to unpack a drum kit. He spent a good hour arranging drum kit and some mats around it and just generally going back and forth between his drumkit and the car. It was highly mysterious and I could see it all from my window. Turns out, I think it was some sort of activity the local school was doing, because a group of ten children showed up accompanied by another adult who took photos and sat there as audience while Drum-Guy drummed at them for maybe ten minutes or so. Then they spent some 20 minutes playing on the playground on the other side of the bridge and cleared off, after which Drum-Guy spent another hour packing everything back into his car. Two hours arranging, packing and unpacking for ten minutes drumming! I hope the children got something out of it. But anyway, all this unusual activity meant that the tea got somewhat cold before I could finish it.

No problem, though, because it tasted eminently resteepable and I also have enough leaf for one more go.

This is really full of toasty, roasty goodness. I think this is what I keep hoping that genmaicha will be – but never quite is.
I really like this – it’s more like a roasted oolong to me than a green tea, but whatever it is -it sure is tasty. It makes me happy….

sipdown! haha Since my riverteas are suspiciously missing from the box of tea they sent me, I might have a hope in heck of getting through the teas to make it to 200 by the end of the weekend…as long as i get some drink on this evening. I picked this one as i was in the mood for a good cup of chocolate deliciousness. Sad to see this one go, but at the same time, there are others i will restock before this one.

Just came back from a long hiking session with my dog Dexter. I let him chase all the squirrels he wanted cause they were mocking him. I’m not worried he’s ever going to catch them cause despite the fact that he’s super athletic, he remains a dog and can’t climb trees…even though he tries sometimes!

It was raining, and all the vegetation came to life with glossy bright shades of greens all around. I just love rain in the woods. Love the relaxing sound that each rain drops make when they land on the trees.

When we came back, I wanted to drink something reminiscent of all the smells we were still soaked with from the forest.

I thought Cedar Ridge would be appropriate since we have many large cedars in my forest.

This is a wellness blend. Really. With organic ingredients like cinnamon, elderberries, ginger, spearmint and roasted cedar leaves, it’s something I would want to drink if I was at the spa.

It’s relaxing and invigorating at the same time. The spearmint and cedar are upfront, and at the end of the sip, I get a spicy bite from the ginger and cinnamon.

It feels fresh, woody, earthy and “rainy”.

It’s everything I was hoping for.

The sun is out now, let’s try to dry ourselves a little!

Hi baby,

On most days it’s enough just knowing you’re out there – doing what you do, smelling like you smell, tasting like you taste. On most days.

But on some days, I miss you so much it’s unbearable. Sometimes I’m soothed reading old notes and remembering minutes spent together.

On occasion, though, not even dwelling on mnemonic minutiae is enough. Some days, the insight that you’re a finite resource plagues me. The knowledge that there will eventually be an end to you haunts me. Some days, I just have to taste you again.

This is one of those days.

Love,

Anna

In my timolino for work. I think only one more cup worth of this left? Pretty close to a sipdown anyway…

When I drank this I actually had to open up the timolino and double check to make sure I hadn’t added milk to it; for whatever reason this was insanely creamy and marshmallow-y. More so than any other time I think I’ve ever had it. Definitely a smooth, tasty cup.

I’m wondering if a large portion of the marshmallow/other tasty bits ended up sunk at the bottom of the bag? Definitely a possibility. I’m confidant I’ll enjoy finishing this one off. Don’t know if it’ll be a restock; but perhaps…