Featured & New Tasting Notes

Queued post, written April 27th 2014

I received this one from Courtney and I thought it rang a bell. I know I’ve had some of Teavivre’s Yunnans before, but I couldn’t remember if it was this one. I had a look through the database, and found I was both right and wrong. I had had one before, but it was not this one.

This has an aroma of lots of grain and a good deal of cocoa. The grainy note is very close to freshly baked rye bread, actually. One baked with sourdough, I think. (How detailed is that!)

It’s got quite a sweet flavour with a smidge of chocolate-y cocoa to it. For me, cocoa and chocolate are not the same flavours at all. There is a significant difference to it sometimes. It has to do with how it feels in the mouth as well. For this particular tea, though, it seems to fall right between the two and I can’t decide if I think it’s more one or the other.

It’s thankfully free of that hay-ness that plagues Yunnan blacks for me and instead has a good deal of malty grain to it. On the aftertaste I’m getting that note that some people think is like black pepper and I don’t really think it is, but I can see why they say so.

I thought initially that I would compare this to the Teavivre Yunnan I had before, but my experience of this one was so different from the other that comparing them serves no purpose.

Oh my this is super tasty!!!
Sample is courtesy of Jalam Teas and Jeff Fuchs – thank you!
I gave this one a five second rinse and I think it was a good idea. Washed away some dust. Not that there was much.
The TEA! There are fresh mineral notes, stone fruit, molasses and honey, with something bakey hiding in the aftertaste. And something that reminds me of wood. Did you ever get a mouth full of wood chips while horsing around as a kid? That is precisely what it reminds me of, but without the dust, and in a most positive way. Only the first steep so far, and I’m quite looking forward to the next one!
I love the consistency. Rich, like a typical fermented Puerh, but still refreshing.

EDIT: Oh my goodness. Rating bump!! Second steep, I accidentally left it brewing for maybe five min. I forgot to set the timer!
Anyhow, I figured it’d be ok, being that puerh is difficult to oversteep… and I was right! This is amazing. Creamy, sort of like a jin jun mei, and oh so smooth, with a slight burn afterwards, almost as if its been spiked with whiskey. The flavour reminds me of super smooth coffee when its hot, and then the cedar chip, and other standard puerh notes emerge.

Dry leaf – all golden colored fuzzy large buds with malt scent.
Method – Western style at 190F for 3 minutes.
Wet Leaf – very large buds, all uniform, very nice, smell like caramelized sweet potato with brown sugar.
Liquor – deep amber jewel with caramel scent.
Flavor – lots of sweet potato. Caramelized sweet potato with a bit of malt in the aftertaste.

6/14/14
Brought these pure buds down to 175F Western Style today for 3 minutes. Liquor was a more golden yellow color with prominent malt scent.
The flavor was more refined and there was not a dominance of sweet potato. I think a lower temp for these pure buds treats them with respect. This has a lovely flavor and I think I could have even steeped it longer with such a low temp. This temp brings malt, sweetness, honey, and a subtle sweet potato note.
___________________________________________________________________________
6/30/14
Brewed Western style at 175F with 1 tsp per 8 oz water. Brewed two cups at a time in a classic oval teapot and steeped for 4 minutes this time.
The liquor is very golden colored and smells like sweet malt. The flavor is sweet malt as well. Next time I’m gonna try 185F. This one is very good but I want to find that sweet spot with brewing it this way.
____________________________________________________________________________
7/11/14
Brewed this one Gong Fu style today at 185F in a 5 oz ceramic pot.
-immediate rinse
-6"-4"-6"-8" Delicious!! I found the sweet spot,,it is 185F. Liquor is golden & clear.
Flavor is sweet, malt, and not as much sweet potato,,,which I like.
___________________________________________________________________________
7/30/14
Brewed a cup Western style today,,,,190F for 3 minutes. Delicious honey, malt, and sweet potatoes!! It’s best brewed Gong Fu at 185F but I was in a hurry today :)
___________________________________________________________________________
8/20/14
Western style at 185F for 3 minutes. Heaven!!!!!

A huge thanks and thunderous round of applause for Cavocorax for sending me a package of teas to try out! Such an exciting thing to find in my mailbox today, especially since I hadn’t had my morning tea yet.

As I’ve been wanting to try some A&D teas and she was kind enough to send some samples along, I thought this would be good for breakfast.

So I have no idea what sort of teas this is comprised of, but a smokey note is mentioned.
I did get a tiny whiff of something when I smelled the leaves, but nothing scary.

So I brewed this up at 100 degrees for 4 min, and let it cool, then had a sip (you’re welcome for the play by play – during this time I also had a piece of leftover bacon out of the fridge)

….not sure what to expect, but I ended up enjoying this!

It’s definitely slightly smokey, but in a good way! I especially notice the flavours in my cup after I had a few mouthfuls of breakfast then went back to it. Definitely a hint of astringency at the end, but nothing off putting.

I don’t think I need to own this one, which is good because it’s not cheap and it’s a massive tin!

But thank you to Cavo for letting me try this :)

I’m drinking my next to last serving of this tea.
It is still just as wonderful, & a part of me wants to continue with the hoarding, but little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza is drawing to a close, & there are still so many teas in my cupboard that have been there for awhile, & although I want to savor the final cup of each of them, the final cup of this one, which I’ll most likely drink later this week, will be especially bittersweet, because it is irreplaceable.

Sipdown (162/168)!

So much tasty hazelnut!

I think this tea triumphed as the best one I’ve had today (although, I really didn’t do a ton of tea drinking today) so it’s a perfect one to end the day on. I paired it with a couple coconut macaroons which I bought today on my “outing” to Postal Jail and now I’m just winding down for the night while I paint my nails and watching Whose Line outtakes. It’s a simple nirvana.

I added milk to this cup and I think that just revved up the hazelnut and took it to a whole ‘nother creamy, dreamy vanilla playing field. And, I just have to note how happy I was that there _wasn’t_ any chocolate notes in this cup: I like the “Nutella” pairing a fair bit – but hazelnuts can more than stand on their own too.

Goodbye; thanks to whoever passed this along to me and to Sil for passing it on to them! I’ll remember it fondly!

My recent purchase from Zen Tea. Actually this tea is the main reason I placed an order . i really like this tea. I made it gongfu style.
1TBSP 150ml gaiwan 205F
rinse/10/15/20/30/45sec etc
this tea is wonderful malty,chocolaty some grains. Like brownie if you add some sugar. No sugar for me, i prefer to drink it without additives. if you a fan of Laoshan Black by Verdant tea i think you would like this tea as well.

Sipdown #2 for today. 5 may be pushing it believe it or not. lol This was again from courney and i have to say i really like this one. it’s not one that i could drink every day given it’s a green tea, but when in the mood for a fruity strawberry tea, this one would hit the spot!

Beautiful Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are chilling on my lawn this morning. They’ve been here for a couple of days now. They sit under the pine tree or go for a swim in the pond.

Mr. Mallard’s iridescent and lustrous green plumage is just stunning to look at, it never gets old. Of course, just like most bird species, Mrs Mallard’s feathering is a lot more subdued. (Totally unfair!!)

I got out of bed super early and already knew I was going to drink Special Dark. (I read Cavocorax’s note last night and got inspired!)

Chocolate in the morning? Yes please! This is rich decadent liquid gooey chocolate, with burnt caramel sprinkles on top, yum. It’s also creamy with vanilla notes, that makes it round and silky in the mouth.

This has none of the heavy earthiness often found in shou. It’s a very “friendly” pu’erh, smooth and accessible to everyone, but complex enough to please the more experienced tea drinkers.

The more you steep it, the more condensed the flavour gets. Just superb.

Happy Sunday everybody :-)

An Agatha Christea mystery in two sentences:

First there was a cold-steeped pitcher of this…

…and then there wasn’t.

This morning, courtesy of Terri HarpLady, I’m pleased to review Tiger Assam by Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea, Western style: 8 oz / 1 tsp (2.3g) / 212*F / 4 min. without sweeteners, milk, or cream.

Leaf: Thin twisted chocolate-brown, with some gold 1 cm or < in length.
Fragrance: Mild
Liquor: Clear, amber
Aroma: Malty and sweet
Flavor: Malty with a mild sweetness

4-min: A very smooth, bold, rich, mildly sweet, malty Assam. After drinking ½ a cup of this bold Assam on an empty stomach (I know better!) I had the sense that I should eat something right away. A slice each of Wegman’s Marathon Bread and Ancient Grain Bread with Cranberries toasted with Smart Balance Heart Wise Light margarine helped. I then enjoyed two slices of Vermont Bread Co. organic soft multi-grain bread with margarine and Crofter’s Raspberry Organic spread. There was zero bitterness and a very mild sense of astringency. A rather invigorating morning cup

Re-Steep:
4-min: Smooth but not yet full-bodied, so I let it steep longer.
5-min: Light-bodied
6-min: Moderate body
7-min: Moderate body
8-min: Smooth, moderate-bodied.

Impression: A very smooth, bold, rich, and invigorating morning cup to enjoy with your breakfast. Well done!

Thanks to Terri HarpLady for sending us this gracious sample.

Method:
RO water re-mineralized with an Aptera filter http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/39532-puregen-aptera-alkamag-water-filter
http://steepster.com/teaware/teavana/39311-perfect-tea-spoon
http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/37731-my-weigh-durascale-d2-660-digital-scale
Brewed western-style conveniently in a tea mug with a brew basket http://steepster.com/teaware/royal-albert/45581-old-country-roses-afternoontea-mugs
http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/29177-finum-brewing-basket.
http://steepster.com/teaware/teavana/39312-perfect-preset-tea-timer

admittedly i probably should have brewed this gong fu style but i just don’t have the patience today to do so. So i opted for stacy’s other recommendation for a longer steep.

Let me tell you, courtney should stay away from this one. lol while the other stacy tea i had was fruity, this came out of the bag and i was like WOOD! SMOKE! WOOD! forest? lol It has a VERY strong smell but to me, it’s the sort of smell that evokes memories of being up in the mountains, cross country skiing and coming back to the lodge….or camping in the fall. i love it! I also want more. I prefer this one to stacy’s 2009 Banchang that i also tried, though i did enjoy that one. This just screams winter, maple, relaxing in the sun as the day grows longer to me.

This is not an overly in your face tea though. It’s very smooth and mild in it’s deliciousness. I’m not sure i’d call the after taste sweet, but there is no bitterness here or jarring notes to interrupt the flow of this one. i think stephanie’s tastnig note really captures the essence of this tea and i’m looking forward to buying more and having a few gong fu sessions with it…but western brewed? so doable and really a great start to my day. thank you for finding this one Stacy!

Yesterday was a heavy drinking session with my brother in laws which has left me misty headed today. Luckily they have all gone to London for the night to watch the Championship play-off finals (football/soccer) so it means I can recover in my own time and just relax in peace and quiet for the day. It’s 1:34pm and I have only just got myself a pot of tea, until now I just couldn’t stomach any. In desperation for something vanilla or cream I found this tea from my Black Friday hoard and grabbed the pouch as if it was made of gold. Orange & cream may not be the nicest tea ever but when you want something light, sweet and creamy it tastes pretty darn good.

I only made one evening tea tonight upon returning home from work; mostly because I took the time to have a night shower (I usually shower before work in the morning, not at night) – but I made it count!

I feel like I’ve shared this with lots of people but not really enjoyed it myself as much as I should have. I very much like it though; it’s a simple but INCREDIBLY smooth, malty black with the faintest hints of cocoa that just add to its subtle depth. Tonight I had it with milk and it was just splendidly divine.

Sadly next cup is a sipdown – and I don’t have a clue how I would go about getting more of this. Boosting my rating, because a “76” seems rather low…

Also just gonna plop this link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCpsusTta4w

Trust me, you want to watch it!

EDIT: OMG! The flavours list is updated! When the fuck did that happen!? I went to type in Malt and “Marshmallow” popped up and I just thought “Was the always there!?”. But there are so many new options! Ah! I’m totally freaking out right now! I just want to go drink more teas so I can use more of the thingers! So. Damn. Giddy.

This is THE chocolate mint tea. Seriously, if you want chocolate mint, nothing quite compares. It is minty but not in a harsh way with creamy milk chocolate and fluffy marshmallow leaf to lighten everything up. Truly amazing!

Backlog!
What a pleasant cuppa tea. I quite enjoyed it.
Funny, lately I’ve come across a lot of 1st flush Darjeelings, so when I brewed this up, it slipped my mind that it wouldn’t have those crisp delicate notes. Took me by surprise, I tell ya.
After I got over the shock, I found it very tasty. Muscatel in nature, with a nice depth to it, and a very slight tangy edge. I’m looking forward to having it iced over the summer!!

This is my last cup…all out. The good news is that I’m waiting for the arrival of a new supply, yay!

I made this last cup a little stronger and this time I even get more sea salted caramel if that’s possible. Chocolate and dates/plums also very present.

It’s a very fruity cup, with toasty and nutty accents.

Hopefully, my order will arrive early next week so I can continue my journey with this fabulous gem of a tea!

Non tea related:

It’s girl’s night out tonight! 10 good friends of mine have organized a party for me. Some of them I haven’t seen in over a year due to some unfortunate circumstances.

Going for dinner to a nice Italian restaurant first, and after, heading to a lounge bar, hoping to catch up with each other’s lives…

(There’s only one tea drinker out of the bunch, maybe I’ll bring some Whispering Pines teas with me and try to make converts!)

It’s been a while since I’ve written any tasting notes, but i’ve been drinking a lot of tea. I’m going through this odd phase where I sort of drink tea automatically—haphazardly choosing a tea from my collection without giving it much thought, drinking it without really noticing it, and not really feeling inclined to write deep tasting notes with all my feelings and interpretations. But then I also think that one of the main reasons I update on steepster isn’t necessarily to explore all my feelings about a given tea, but mostly to feel connected to people who love what I love. And withdrawing from my various networks is never really a good indication for me, and so I’ll make more of an effort.

Random thoughts on this tea:
1. It’s wonderful iced; I haven’t even tried it hot.
2. I’m really into making my teas iced now, and I find I’m actually preferring them iced to hot now. I never thought I’d be saying that. Oh, and I really like the instant cold-brew method (that of steeping in a bit of hot water before topping up with ice) to letting it brew for hours on end, but that’s because I’m impatient.
3. This tea tastes like a conglomerate of tropical fruits, with perhaps the slightest hint of white tea at the end of the sip. I know this combination of fruit is meant to taste like nothing else, but you could probably tell me that this was a tropical papaya and guava punch and i’d believe you. That being said, I’m actually going to buy some more iced tea packs of this tomorrow because I still really, really like it.
4. I love that DT sells pre-packaged iced tea packs. People can carry on endlessly about how they can measure it out themselves, but if anything exists to support my laziness and reliance on all things convenient, I’m all over it. Besides, DT’s website says that iced tea calls for eight perfect spoonfuls of tea for each pitcher (and omg I got the blue and green pitcher and love it!), but each package seems to have far less in it than that but still yields a fairly strong and flavourful brew. So what gives? who knows. But yeah, packages are where it’s at.
Ok bye

Queued post, written April 20th 2014

Four red fruits! This is a flavour that I am quite partial to, but for some reason rarely buy. This is a sample that Courtney shared with me.

This one smells strongly like cherries. Unlike many of my co-Steepsterites, I was never as a child subjected to fruit-flavoured medicines. The only time I ever had any illness that required antibiotics as a child I was an infant and therefore don’t rightly remember. It was probably given intravenously then anyway. Other than that, the closest I come was some cough medicine that my father once bought. It was the sort where you put a tablet in a glas of water and it goes psssh-pssssh-psssssh and disolves. Supposedly it was supposed to taste like raspberry, but it was not like any raspberry I’d ever come across then or since. It didn’t really taste like anything other than medicine and it didn’t help the cough much either. Other cough medicines were usually strongly licorice flavoured because they contained licorice extract, but that hasn’t stopped me from eating licorice with great relish.

So for me, a strong note of cherry is not a turn-off and it’s difficult for me to imagine how it could be for anybody. I mean I can understand why it is. But I can’t imagine it.

I feel like I’m picking up some raspberry and strawberry in there as well, but it’s muted by the cherry. There’s a feeling of something a little tart as well, which fits with red currant. A 4RF where I can smell all four fruits! This bodes very well indeed.

The flavour is very close to the aroma. Primarily cherry, with the other three under the surface, but still without masking the base completely. I can even pick up some grain-y notes from it under the flavouring.

This is very good and very well balanced. I like that the emphasis is on the cherry as opposed to the raspberry and strawberry, because usually in these blends the cherry is the flavour I have the most difficulties picking up. The red currant is not very easy to find, though, but I think that’s for the best. If it was stronger, the tea would have been very tart.

So this is a tasting note for my second steeping on WP’s Apple Cinnamon Oolong. I don’t typically bother to resteep things: more often than not I’d rather have something else and enjoy as many flavours as possible in a day. However, I do make exceptions often for oolongs and WP’s comment about this being especially good with subsequent steeps made me hold onto the leaf to give it another go…

I’m glad I did: this is much better the second time around! I’m wondering if that’s in part because I added on another minute to the steep time? However, all the flavours are much more front and center which was my biggest complaint yesterday so cheers for that! Most impressively is how strong the apple-y flavour has become! It’s almost cider like, but without that kind of tart “tang” to it.

Definitely an improvement and I’m so happy I resteeped (maybe I’ll do a third tomorrow?). I’ll be increasing my rating now…

Oh yum. Thank you Terri HarpLady!

This is super rich and fruity! Very complex. This is something I would totally drink again. Sweet stuff. There are notes that remind me of a Dancong oolong. I loves me some Dancong. It is like a cross between a Dancong and a Yunnan black! I love the lingering stone fruit taste it leaves in the back of my throat.

First, thank you Brenden for including this sample in my order, I appreciate it.

My inner girly girl is really pleased when she looks at this blend. So delicate and pretty.

If the Bear is sleeping on a comfy cloud made of these mellow pine needles and this fragrant aromatherapeutic jasmine green tea, I’m afraid it will never wake up!

Since I had only one shot at making this cup as delicious as it should be, I followed Brenden’s parameters to the letter and it turned out perfect!

What a nice flavourful combination this is. It’s not an in “your face” piney taste, but rather a very subtle essence, rounded by the beautiful jasmine green floral notes. It is sweet and very soothing.

I’m listening to some music for the Gods while sipping , Viktoria Mullova playing Bach’s sonata…perfect afternoon.

http://youtu.be/o31krGIe-Xs

(Oh, I really wish this hadn’t been out of stock when I placed my order…)

I still have sooooo much of this. I never loved it.

I enjoy it now more than before, but 4oz was way too much. And I have to drink it.

Not sure if I just don’t LOVE H&S’s chocolate flavour, or maybe that the hazelnut in this one isn’t striking me the way it should, I definitely don’t get “Nutella” when I drink this tea.

I think the hazelnut just has a bit of an odd taste to it or something. I will keep drinking it though, I have no choice!

Anyone want some Florence?
Haha

ETA Oh yeah – forgot to add that I’m officially starting a sipdown mission of my older teas. I was doing it unofficially but now it’s crackdown time on account of the massive load of new tea I’ve got coming to me in July.

ETAX2 this was my 300th tasting note. D’oh. :/

This tea is not in what I would have called my tea wheelhouse. I’m not a fan of black teas, really, unless they’re flavored. But I ordered a sample of this one just based on the inspiration from the website. (Seriously, read the whole description of this tea. I mean read it. Traverse City, Mackinac Island, bridges (although I have to point out that you can’t take the Mighty Mac to the island), yes, this tea is supposed to remind me of a trip Up North.

So I added this sample, because I’ve been wanting and needing a trip up north (we’ve got one scheduled for next month, but that’s sooooo far away!)

And wow, you nailed this one. It is sweet, almost like a cherry, not quite, but yes, and chocolaty, like good dark Mackinac Island Fudge. I love the malt in this one. Not too malty, but just enough.

This mug really makes me want Northern Michigan all that much more. If you’ve never been, I suggest you go sometime. It is peaceful and laid back in a way that I just can’t explain. And beautiful. I love Michigan. I love Up North.

I’m really enjoying this tea. Like I said, it’s not my normal tea, but it is nice. I would like to have this one occasionally, when I need an escape Up North.