Featured & New Tasting Notes

My first cold brewed iced tea!

The tea itself came out a delicate peach color – it looked very precious in my glass. The taste was a very muted version of the hot with the tang hanging around in the background while the subtle fruits played around up front. I found it pleasant, but my mom loved it (she described it as “refreshing”) and wants me to buy more. The description mentions adding it to lemonade – and I could really imagine that being a tasty option. I have a ways to go in exploring iced teas, so I really am unsure if I’ll get a larger amount of this for myself as a fruity iced tea option. NE

Mate scares me. I’ve had a total of two sips of it in my life. Not a fan. But this is Samovar and they kind of make me like wacky things. So I will give it a shot.

It smells like dusty hay but without the sweetness of my grandparents’ old barn. There’s a little sweetness in there but it isn’t hay sweetness, it’s the anise. Which honestly made me think of peppermint on my first sniff, but I figured it out on my second. When the hot water hits the not-leaves, there is a whoosh that smells of dirt and sweet almost-mint . It makes me think of the smell pu-erh would give off if you set it on fire (but without quite so much lapsang souchong burning).

The liquid is… not so appetizing. Murky and kind of brackish-looking green. I am attempting to stare the tea down (instead of drinking it) but darn it, it hasn’t blinked yet. Totoro has nerves of steel. Okay, must buck up and drink.

Huh. It’s really not bad. Tastes very herbal and has a sweetness that reminds me of chamomile but the anise give it a little tingle/sting down my throat. There is hay and sweet and dry and tingly and a fresh, sweet, herbal-y aftertaste with a hint of anise feeling. It’s the love child resulting from a secret pu-erh and herbal tisane affair.

This is so different from my norm, I’m not sure what I think about this yet. Which could be good since I had to do that with Ryokucha and I’m fairly addicted to that now. I don’t think I will develop an addiction for this yerba mate, but then I wouldn’t have imagined it with Ryokucha either, so I suppose only time will tell. That and the crack Samovar adds.

Okay, I’ve decided to forgo the 4th infusion of my oolong and am having this as my last tea of the night (well, maybe not..) I haven’t had this in awhile, but I used to like it pretty well. Yup, it is still pretty decent. Certainly not the best caffeine free option I have ever had, or that I have in my cupboard for that matter, but I wanted a bagged tea because I’m not committing to a resteep at this moment. I added a bit of honey which I can’t remember doing before and it is quite good. Nice way to finish off a day filled with yummy awesome teas.

After trying to pick a tea randomly, and only getting greens and blacks. I just decided to go for a white tea from the golden moon sampler.

This tea has been tempting me for a while, but I’ve held off since the description says it is “enchanting with a touch of honey,” which i dont have any of right now!

The smell is lovely and melon-y, and the color is so delicious looking as well. Can’t wait, here goes! Wow, so subtle, yet so delicious. This is a flavored tea done right. It’s making me feel foolish for drinking Teavana’s “flavored whites” for so long. The melon is making such a sweet tea, and the taste of the white tea still lingers. But this cup is oh so subtle and utterly fantastic.

Really, this tea is absolutely amazing, I think i’m going to finish it so fast, and I wish I had more than a sample size. This is going on my shopping list, immediately!

I got distracted from this tea (I know, I know) and forgot all about it until an hour after it was brewed.

I don’t find it anywhere near as good cold. You can taste hints of caramel and fleeting bits of pear, but overall the rooibos comes out more – which does not endear it to me.

I’ll need to make more tomorrow night to remind me of why I like it. (Oh dear, I have to drink more good tea. Boo hoo! :) )

Prepared in a huge glass gaiwan so I could see the leaves swirl. So pretty. At first I was getting blah washwater brews because I was so afraid of scorching the leaves that I used lower temperatures. But using water near 190F actually tastes a lot better. Yum.
Leaving the ‘root’, I was able to get two more infusions.

Must try it chilled some time. I’m quite happy with this. Of course, I can’t compare it to the more expensive Nonpareil grade, but to my untrained palate this mid-level Superfine tastes pretty good. (and quite a lot better than my sampler from Adagio. Good thing I didn’t give up on Dragonwell so soon.)

Almost to the end of this sample, which makes me sad because it is super tasty.
The weather today has been extremely ick, but I am still in the mood for something fruity. Solution: Fruity chai!

Although I am still in love with this and am going to be ordering a big thing of it at some point, I am no longer filled with the same urgency as when I first started drinking it. In fact, I am going to bring down it’s rating a bit, just because I’ve had so many super tasty teas lately. But I still love you Spiced Apple Chai! Don’t be sad! You just do not amaze me with your tastiness or amazing blendosity like coconut pouchong and caramelized pear do! I still drink you in the space of about 2 minutes!

I quite like the fact that as a chai it is not quite so spicy as other chais are because I am reasonably sure that is all that is allowing the apple flavor to get through. It’s just enough chai to give me the “comfort against the cold” feeling, but not enough chai to keep the tea from being quaffable. Not that quaffability is a quality that I desire in ALL my teas, but having a couple around is nice.

YUM! I had this with a little agave nectar and it was so good. I have a theory that honey overwhelms chocolate notes in teas, and was very curious to try this one a little sweetened but not with honey. Yep – it had more chocolate flavor with an alternative sweetener. Now I want to try all of my chocolatey tisanes with it!

Steep Information:
Amount: 1.5 heaping tsp
Additives: 1 teaspoon raw honey
Water: 185°
Tool: make your own paper teabag
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: cherry, fruit
Steeped Tea Smell: cherry, fruit, tea
Flavor: slightly bitter, vegetal, cherry
Body: Light
Aftertaste: vegetal, bitter
Liquor:

This tea is a mellow, light, fruity tea. the flavorings are slightly more than subtle. I enjoy this tea but always wish it had a little more punch to the flavor. On the other hand it smells divine.

I had this tea while visiting my mom, being a fan of subtle many of her teas are whites, greens, and subtle flavored.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/04/teavana-loose-leaf-white-tea-snow.html

This is a wonderful and light summer treat. First, when this tea is warm, it tastes exactly like melted lemon drops….Cooled, light and lemony. The lemon flavor is not from some icky artificial flavoring but from lemon grass and citrus (maybe lemon?) peels….

Golden Moon sample No. 11 of 31. Plucked from the basket at random.

I may have used too much water in steeping these leaves. I had about enough for .9 cups in the sample. I played a little with water levels over the course of several steeps.

The dry leaves are long, and silvery green. Snow seems an apt description; it’s like you’re seeing the green of the leaves through a light dusting of white. I didn’t notice any fuzziness to them but I was a little rushed as it was right before dinner so I didn’t get to do a relaxed examination of the leaves. For me it wasn’t an obvious snow, certainly nothing near Christmas tree flocking. Rather, it was all in gradations of color.

When I first started with this one, I thought this was going to be the story of the tea that wasn’t there. The dry leaves don’t have a strong nose. It took a while to get my olfactory muscle memory working enough to detect something describable. When I finally could smell something I could put into words, the words that came were “salty green.” Like the plants in a marsh leading into an ocean. The saltiness also had a sharpness. I know this will sound weird, but it reminded me of the smell of the brown powder in Lipton Onion Soup Mix.

The liquor was virtually clear. It was only a slight green tinge that kept this from being the invisible tea. Aroma-wise, also nothing very strong. Dew, maybe pollen. The borderline between green and floral.

The taste was similarly subtle but surprisingly complex. It took several steeps for me to get a handle on and appreciate the taste. I took it through four steeps. The complexity gradually started to show itself; at the end of four steeps, I wished I had more of this so I could follow where it led.

Here is what I tasted, in no particular order: a light film of butter, a grainy nuttiness (like the kind you find in “Grape Nuts”), a little whiff of salt, a sweet spicy/salty flavor that reminded me of sauteed leeks at times and at others of sauteed scallions. Then I read the notes here and saw macademia nuts. Yeah, I can see that too; it’s a sweet, mild, buttery, salty nuttiness that I associate with those.

After steeping, the leaves looked the color of overcooked asparagus or green beans, a faded olive green. The silver was gone, but they were still pretty.

So yeah, I want to give this another try. It’s surprisingly interesting and even a little challenging, and like good literature, I think there is a lot more there than I found on a first “read.”

Not too expensive ($48/lb), this tea is curled and delicate, leaves smell vegetal but not strong.

5 grams tea, 5 oz/150mL water 165 degrees, infused about 30 seconds, mixed the first two infusions together as I am drinking them. The liquor is pale golden, sweet, very delicate floral flavor, with a nice thick body, hints of sweet peas, no hint of astringency or bitterness. A 3rd and 4th infusion are losing body and sweetness, some astringency coming through.

The damp leaves smelled like asparagus after the 2nd infusion, but can’t distinguish much after the 4th.

Overall, this is a nice, mellow, sweet white tea, and not too pricey as white teas go—a relative bargain.

Duplicate of this review with photos at link below (my site, no ads, no flash)

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/SupremeSilverDragonWHF.html

Well I’m normally not much for flavored black teas, particularly those with caffeine in them (which I try to avoid), but this smelled so good in the sample K sent that I just had to make it this morning, when the weather is making me groggier than usual. It’s absolutely delicious in the bag- not the usual rank artificial amaretto. Brewed, this actually makes a really satisfying cup of tea without the bitterness that black tea can impart. It’s important not to oversteep it, but correctly brewed it has a soothing mildness and nutty sweetness that I really like. It’s great with a little milk- unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my case. I dig this one- for a black tea ;) Nice and relaxing, despite the caffeine.

A big thank you to the quiet life for this sample!!

First sniff of leaves – cloves!! Ahhh! Reminds me of being 14 years old and going to all ages punk shows full of clove cigarette smoke. To this day, all I have to do is smell cloves and I’m instantly full of Anger and Too Much Eyeliner!!! I can’t keep up, I can’t keep up, I can’t keep up! Out of step! With the wooooooorld!!!! (ooops, it’s not 1983! step AWAY from the Minor Threat record (yes I still have it. yes I still listen to it. Shut up!!)

I steeped it at two minutes because I planned to have it with no milk and just a touch of sugar. That was a good call – it’s definitely a “without milk” tea. I’m getting cloves and caramel in a smooth tea base. I’m not tasting any citrus or any of the other flavors that are said to be blended in, which is ok by me :) I’m enjoying Clove Nostalgia Land. But! I think it can take 3 minutes, and I will try that next time.

I decided to do a resteep for the heck of it, at 5 minutes. Not bad! Less tea. Clove-y! Just added another small pinch of sugar.

Final thoughts: Great tea for work where I sometimes want a black tea but don’t want to worry about having milk around. I want to look into some more Kusmi teas for exactly this purpose! Very very very enjoyable!

The name of this drives me wild! Mission Accomplished? Well, I must say when I got this yesterday afternoon in the mail – I couldn’t wait to get back to work and try it today! I can clearly see ALL described ingredients! I can’t stop sniffing this!!! It’s AWESOME…It’s like a Chocolate Peanut Butter type smell. I have been smelling it over and over again. The last time I opened the tin to sniff I sniffed so hard I almost snorted up some of the loose leaf mixture! HAHA! Seriously!

The first sip I really did notice the cardamom but I think that was the idea of the whole thing, right!? I mean, hence – the name!? Anyhow…I continued to sip and certainly picked up on both the Almond and the Cocoa. It’s pretty good. The cinnamon and cardamom pair together as they should and the pairing jumps up in front of the line but the Chocolate/Almond taste isn’t fair behind. The color of the tea liquid is a light-medium brown.

I still like their Chocolate Almond Allure better but this is good, too.

I’m giving it extra points for aroma…I LOVE IT…

Whee, 100 tasting notes. I sort of felt like I ought to have a really rarified tea for my 100th, but then I had one of those mornings where everything that happens seems custom-designed to frustrate and annoy. I couldn’t help but to reach for something sweet.

I’ve been awfully lazy about tasting notes lately. In point of fact, I have none for this tea, but my pouch of it is very nearly empty now, which saddens me. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I have.

There’s not too much that I can add here that other people haven’t already. The shavings of coconut are large; the vanilla is very subtle. The black tea holds up well to both. While it’s a decent tea without any additives, making it like a chai on the stovetop — sans sweeteners, but with a very generous spoonfull or two of sweetened condensed milk added along with regular milk — makes for a completely decadent treat.

I wouldn’t say that it’s a substitute for pie, of course…or even that it tastes exactly like coconut cream pie, when consumed hot…but the results are so delicious that this hardly matters, in my opinion. Thinking about it, I wonder if the viscosity and sweetness when served iced would make the difference?

Regardless…this was just the cup of tea that I needed for drowning a very cranky start to the day. It’s not an ‘every day’ tea for me…but it’s quite nice to have it on hand, and I think I can probably find a regular spot for it in my cabinet.

So my poor attempt at budgeting just flew out the window – 3 different tea companies just got orders from me in the past 12 hours. And a fourth is probably coming since their coupon is only good through April. I must take a vow to not purchase any tea or teaware in May. This is redonkulous.

Okay, onto the tea! And we have a frontrunner on the Black Tea I will most likely purchase from GM. Yup, I shall add this to my shopping list so that it can join the Nepalese Afternoon Tea. I can’t really tell you much about this tea except that it’s smooth, complex, and what I think an ideal black tea with oomph should taste like – especially on the 2nd infusion. That’s where the sweet kicks in – not so much while it’s hot, but as it cools it gets sweeter and sweeter. Naturally all I can think of is how amazing this would be as an iced tea. NE

Feeling adventurous again today – thought I’d try my DRAGON BALL that Doulton sent me. Thank you once again Doulton.

Confession: I am in the very small minority (perhaps the only person here on Steepster!) who does not like to see leaves unfurl, or display teas! I think they look like deep sea creatures/aliens being born and they scare me. I think it all stems from when my mother let me watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers on television (this was the 1970s) at a tender age and I didn’t sleep right for over a year.

SO – the dragon ball will be doing its thing in my very opaque tea pot :)

I do find the dry Dragon Ball very pretty, and I did parade it around my office showing everyone what I was about to drink!

Steep 1: I don’t know what it looks like, but I can say it TASTES utterly delicious! Smooth and so SWEET!!! Kind of buttery and kind of …tea and Pastry keeps coming to mind. No bitterness at all. I can’t get over how naturally sweet :) I didn’t put the ball into a tea filter bag because I thought it would be too constraining, and I don’t have a strainer at work, but the little bit of leaves that are in my cup are not bothersome at all and have not affected the taste.

Steep 2 (3min): A bit darker of a brew, but again not at all bitter. I don’t know – I think I taste tea with a buttery sweet pastry with a little cinnamon in it. A little floral on the tail end. It’s amazing!!!! I’m not sure what kind of oolong this is compared to Oriental Beauty, but it reminds me of a slightly spicy darker version of the Oriental Beauty I had at Radiance. That sweetness!!!

Steep 3 (4 min): Still phenomenal! Pretty much the same as the 2nd steep.

I’m going to keep on steepin’ on, (the whole office is ordering Chinese today and this will go great with my Wonton Soup and Black Bean Chicken!) and will edit this post in the afternoon :)

This tea is EXCEPTIONAL!!! I WANT MORE DRAGON BALLS!!!

(did I just say that!?!?!)

EDIT: SIX amazing, delicious infusions. This tea is wonderful to sip, and wonderful with food. I HAVE to order some soon. Doulton, how many dragon balls do you get when you get 1/4 lb? I can’t picture and want to make sure I order enough.

The fortune in my fortune cookie: An optimist is the human personification of spring.

I also received this as a sample from Herbal Infusions. The dry leaf smells very sweet and a lot like cheesecake. Once again, the amount contained in the sample was so close to being my normal amount of tea that I was able to use the normal amount of water. Once brewed, the smell is not as sweet and morphs into a cheesecake crust scent. It is very bakey and it tastes mainly of cheesecake crust with a hint of cherry cheesecake filling following. I think this is a very good dessert tea, I added a splash of milk and all the flavors held up nicely. I could see myself drinking this again, but I’m not sure if it falls into the “I have to get this” category. I will have to see if the second steep is good and that may change my mind.

If it’s vegetarian and doesn’t have bananas in it – I’ll try it!

Lately…the strange, the rare, and the down right ODD have been calling at me.

When I received this one from LiberTEAs I was more than stoked to try it.

I was ASS+U+ME-ing that this may taste like a Salt & Vinegar Potato Chip but it doesn’t. It smells of vinegar but doesn’t reeeeek of it. It infuses pretty quickly and fairly dark.

Once my infusion was finished you could barely smell the vinegar scent – it was more of a smokey or roasted aroma instead. This has a semi-sweet yet bold black tea taste.

Vinegar has many health benefits and people drink Apple Cider Vinegar concoctions so why not Vinegar Tea!?

I would still classify this as one of my morning and mid-morning teas. A great pick-me-up. This was a nice surprise, indeed!

I was very happy with this tea. This was the first Chai that I owned and made myself, and I find that about 1:3 ratio for Milk to Water with a spoon of Creamed Honey put straight into the pot makes this tea amazing.

Chinese green teas are very underrated in the tea world. I encourage all the Japanese Tea fans out there to try a Chinese green tea today.

This one is light and only slightly vegetal. A perfect complement to the Thai food I enjoyed for lunch.

After a long day, I decided to ice this tea for a treat. Mmm! What a good idea it was to ice this. I like the the jasmine isn’t as prevalent as in some other green/jasmine teas. The jasmine flavor and the vegetal green tea flavors coincide very nicely. I will continue to sip this down too fast for my own good :)

I really had meant to steep this for only 5 minutes. Hurrah for children. Anyway…this is a bit stronger than I usually have it since I used a mug rather than my tetsubin. The mug vs tetsubin also threw off my sugar ratio. Plus I usually blend this with either orange or jasmine tea, and/or add cloves cinnamon and nutmeg for a nice rose chai.

Sigh. Not the relaxing experience I was looking for. I guess I just prefer blending this one rather than drinking it plain.