Featured & New Tasting Notes

Astonishingly honey-dark color after 7 minutes steeping, with a light, slightly spicy scent that does remind me of peonies. Sweet, and slightly salty taste, with almost no bitterness even after the long steep. Second steep is bolder and darker, with more of a honey taste.

I’m pretty picky about flavored teas, but this one is pretty good. The base tea isn’t terribly interesting (probably a Ceylon tea, which I’m never fond of), but such is the reality of many flavored teas. I drink this straight, no milk or sugar, and enjoy it for the sweet almond cookie flavor (which is light, but rather tasty).

GM Sampler | Tea 1 of 31

Sampler Picture 1 | http://bit.ly/9xGx6q
Sampler Picture 2 | http://bit.ly/dBJHvN
Vanilla Jasmine | http://bit.ly/dtaOd0
L’Entire Set [Which Shall Be Updated Accordingly] | http://bit.ly/bDtnNn

AND SO IT BEGINNETH.

Or, rather, it beganneth about a long while ago. I’m going to be writing the first leg of this from notes since I was a bad logger. [This makes me think of lumberjacks. Which makes me think of Monty Python. Suspenders and a bra! I should mention that I’m cresting on a bit of a caffeine high at the moment.]

The tea smelled distinctly, unmistakably, of jasmine and vanilla. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how it was going to taste, but I didn’t buy this sampler so I could smell the tea and dump the cup.

So, I drank. And, it would have been more surprising if I hadn’t read the other tasting notes, the jasmine was hiding in the wings on the taste. I mainly got vanilla, which is not how I would have thought this all would have gone down, but it’s not to say it wasn’t pleasant.

The vanilla taste was rich and a bit creamy. It reminded me of these lollipops my family gets sometimes when we’re near a See’s [which used to be a mainly west coast deal but I think has spread across the country with some success] that are vanilla flavored. [For the record, vanilla and butterscotch lollipops = good. Chocolate = meh.] I like those lollipops, so it probably goes without saying that I enjoyed the vanilla aspect of this tea, but I’m going to say it anyway. I liked the vanilla.

The jasmine came gliding out right as the tea was exiting my mouth to whisper its presence, leaving a very light, floral aftertaste to the vanilla. The entire thing was kind of strange, but there was something about the way that the vanilla and the jasmine played off one another that made it work.

A small note: while it was still hot, I didn’t find this tea very good. It stifled the jasmine and drowned out the sweetness in the vanilla, so I’ll gently advise to wait until it tips towards lukewarm.

Overall, I’d call this a win, but I think I’ll wait to see whether I want to order more until I’m done with the sampler.

This is the second brew:

It had lost much of its flavor, and has much less of the strong Assam taste (malt and honey and good, clean earth), but it is still better than most of the teas I have tried. I brewed it long, and could have brewed it longer, but since it is so expensive I wanted to get the most bang for my buck. All in all, still a great tea, even on the second brew. When I grow up and have lots of $$, I will get this tea on the regular.

I’m getting a nutty smell from the dry leaf. No hint of banana, but I’m okay with that. Brewing, it smells like a peeled banana dropped in the dirt next to a bonfire roasting nuts. Which could be pretty much what they were going for. Once I’ve drained my handy dandy ingenuiTEA the leaves smell a little… candied maybe? And maybe a little synthetic? I don’t know but it’s kind of odd. Not hideous or anything. Just weird.

The tea smells more of roasted nuts but there’s still some dirt-covered banana in there, too. And…. it kinda tastes like that too. Nutty and then a bit of banana-in-dirt (without the grit). It’s weird but I don’t hate it. But it’s weird. Maybe it will be better sweetened… I forgot to bring raw sugar from home so I’m such using plain ole white sugar but I’ll deal. I put a whole packet in so yeah, pretty sweet now. Pretty much now all I’m getting is roasted (almost to the point of burnt but not quite) nuts and then sugar. There’s a weird banana-peel flavor on the tail end if I slurp. I’m not going to slurp anymore.

Okay, so yeah, it tastes like what it says it should. Walnuts and bananas. But it’s just not right for me. It’s not horrible and I finished my cup but yeah, that’s pretty much the only positive I have to say for it. TeaGermanname and I just don’t get along.

3g/8oz

(PS to the Overlords: Yay on the confirmation window! It saved me from making a user error! You guys rock!)

A really great tea. It is not an overpowering Pu-erh, instead it has a delicate earthy quality. It reminds me of the smell of the Pacific Northwest Rainforests—sort of a mix of wood, moss, and rain. The aroma is earthy with a slight fishy hint. The taste, however, is purely earthy (a definate plus in my book since I am not a huge fan of fishy tea). Perhaps the best part of the tea is that is absolutely lacks any bitterness that so often destroys Pu-erh. About the negative aspect is that the small cake separates into very fine pieces that went through my infuser.

Also, I like the fact that it is organic, which removes that nagging doubt in the back of my mind if my drink is laced my chemicals.

Some confusion this morning as I put together my little bags of tea for work: I picked TeaNoir’s Backwoods up as one of my morning blacks, then thought about it for a second and decided to take another tea instead. Then I remember pulling this tea out and thinking “well, I’ll take a TeaNoir oolong for the afternoon instead.”

I must’ve still been thinking Backwoods because that’s what my bag was labeled. And I pulled it out of my desk drawer all excited for maple syrupy goodness. Alas, it was not to be. I took one sip and realized my mistake.

Ultraviolet is a pretty decent tea. My main complaint with it is that it’s nearly identical in flavor to one of my favorites, Mighty Leaf’s Orchid Oolong, except that OO has coconut added, while this does not. The coconut gives OO that wonderful little edge. So this tea fails in that respect.

What can I say to describe this tea? The leaves are beautiful, like lightly toasted, spun gold. The liquor is a deep, rich red. I am a bit sock, and can’t describe the smell too well, though I recall the dry leaves smelling malty and earthy.
I normally take my Indian black teas with milk and sugar, and although this tea is no exception, I needed less sugar. It is naturally light and sweet, and almost airy for an Assam (somehow it is both airy and earthy…). This tea is a real treat, and I am happy to have had the chance to taste it. Thanks Harney and Sons!
I would say that this is a tea that even novices could appreciate, but that only experienced tea lovers could really understand. Maybe don’t go buy a ¼ pound, but I’d recommend that everyone try at least a sample pack of it.

Let’s just get this out of the way: Auggy is a goddess.

No, seriously. Because I think I’ve finally gotten what all the hullabaloo has been about Japanese greens.

I’m perpetually amazed at how different various permutations of tea can be. Not only through the white – black scale, but from different companies and different preparations. It’s almost frightening. I thought I pretty much knew what gyokuro was about from the Harney & Sons version I had a few weeks ago.

I thought wrong. Completely wrong.

Gyokuro is one of those teas that’s beautiful to look at. I don’t think that photos do it justice. The leaves are silky and a deep blue-green, most thinner than a toothpick. Really gorgeous stuff. The smell coming off them is a sweet, very grassy note, with just a hint of butter.

So I waited… and waited… and waited for the damned water to cool down enough to begin steeping this one. I believe I started the pour at 50 secs, just because I really wanted to make sure that this one didn’t oversteep. It’s that delicate. I also steeped with the lid off, to give the gyokuro some room to breathe. I don’t want to scorch the leaves in ANY way.

I knew immediately while the tea was pouring that this was going to be something special. The smell… oh my gahd. Very grass, but also very, very buttery. Mmmmm. The wet leaves smelled much the same. It’s like a freshly cut grass smell, mixed with melted butter. It smells delicious.

And the taste? Joygasm. Seriously.

I’ve been having a lot of trouble with greens, I think mainly because in general, I tend to dislike green things. I really don’t like vegetables. I hate salads. Beyond artichokes and asparagus, and maybe the occasional piece of broccoli… yeah, they’re not my thing. But this tea… it’s lighter than Harney’s gyokuro, but just as intense and interesting. It’s pretty grassy, but that grassiness is tempered by butter. Rich butter. It’s silky-smooth and delicious and satisfying and REFRESHING. You can taste the award-winningness of this one.

There’s just this general sweetness to the entire cup as well. There’s really no astringency. Towards the end of some sips I sometimes get this almost tart feeling that develops just into a green sweetness. It’s almost similar to the sweetness you find in sugar snap peas (another green thing that I love).

I think Auggy just converted me with one cup of tea. I can’t wait to see what the second steep tastes like, although I probably won’t drink the entire thing, since gyokuro’s caffeine levels are off the charts. But DELICIOUS and NOM. Wow. Taste the quality!

The Second Steep (5 secs, 140 degrees) was pretty tasty, but a bit thinner than the first. The taste was a bit more grassy and a bit less buttery. Hrm. I’ll try to get a third steep out of this, but I doubt I’m going to finish the cup at all. It’ll be just for tasting purposes! NOM, though!

So Steep Three (1:10, 140 degrees) just sort of tasted like grassy umami water. Not that it was bad, but there’s no tea-ness to it. So I dumped the leaves out. I also played around with the wet leaves a bit, and they’re as soft as silk.

It’s FINALLY happened…

I finally got to try this tea. I’m so happy right now I could pee…
ok…well, maybe not pee, but I’m pretty darned happy!!!!

Special thanks to Gretchen for this – got it in the mail today! YAY!

I have had BAD experiences with smoky teas and ok experiences with smoky teas. I can honestly say this is the BEST experience with a smoky tea – to date – for me!

Well done!
Great, great Cup!

I. Love. This.

Almost out of the small sample I purchased so I need to restock this. Such a sweet treat and needs nothing added to it. I never tire of cinnamon (even though I can never spell it right on the 1st try) and love the way it pops in my mouth. Of course, I do happen to be the type of person who can eat atomic fireballs all day long. This reminds me of a subdued version of an atomic fireball but without the intense fire.

This was my first red tea, and after a moment of adjustment, I rather enjoy it. Normally I stick to greens, but my sister gave me a tin of Good Hope Vanilla to try it out. Also, I rarely go for flavored teas, being more of a ‘tea is tea’ person, however, I continue to enjoy this the more I drink. The vanilla flavor is excellent, there’s enough there to notice, but it’s not overwhelming. The creaminess of the tea was almost surprising at first, but again adds to the character and doesn’t ‘steal the show.’ I’m enjoying the color very much, a deep burnt sienna. I recommend it, and will most likely keep a tin on hand for an after-dinner drink (as it’s naturally caffeine-free).

I’m grumpy today for a variety of reason but fortunately I brought tea with me to work today so I’m having some now as a stress reliever. This is the last I have of this one, too, which is kind of sad. I maintain what I have said previously about being a sucker for breakfast blends.

Nutty and almost a little starch-y potato smelling, for some reason smelling this tea is making me crave sweet potatoes. The taste is hearty and thick and cardboard-y and I probably should have backed off the steep time 30 seconds because there is a little hint at the end of each sip of something that will probably turn into bitter if I let the tea cool too much. It’s probably good that I only had enough leaf for one cup because this is stout enough that it would give me the jitters if I had a ton of it (not that that is always a bad thing!)

I probably won’t end up buying this tea again… mostly because I love trying new breakfast teas and while I enjoy this one, I don’t enjoy it so much that I would pass up the opportunity to find a better one. I think ultimately I like ones that are a little heavier with the Assam and a little lighter with the Darjeeling-like brightness.

3g/8oz

After a two weeks hiatus from sheng, this tea proved to be a unique reintroduction. Leaves were well compressed, but flaked relatively easy, throwing off nice big curls. The sheen and mottled appearance of the cake was satisfying to the eye. The first two steeps gave an even clean soup, with very low astringency and a slick oily character. A breath of morning dawn cool mint camphor exhaled in the smack of the tea. The third and fourth steeps got a little funky, with palpable sourness (which I enjoyed) and some almost wheat-like, chewy bread notes. Light on the smoke, tobacco, and musk. Minerals and sandy soil. I like the eclectic blend of characters in this beeng, as they’re all pleasant, if a bit odd. Darker soup, with some oranger leaves present, but not so many as to give a hongcha character to the flavor.

Shoulda looked at my previous tasting note before brewing this. I set my timer for 3:30, thinking that was a short enough time, and it’s already bitter. It may be that I had a bit more leaf in the pot than before, as well.

Prepared in an Adagio IngenuiTEA teapot.

I enjoy how the smooth, earthy, almost cocoa-y Yunnan contrasts with the fresh, clean, slightly tart (but not really) lemon. It’s really delightful. I find it a very relaxing tea – smooth and silky enough to make me release some tension, but the lemongrass gives it a nice fresh taste that makes me feel calmly alert instead of ready to take a nap. I still maintain what I said in my previous tasting note that this tea is very much not a normal type flavor for me – I’m not one for putting lemon in my tea. But the flavors work together so wonderfully that it really is enjoyable to sip on. It brings me subtle joy.

3g/8oz

Just when I’m about to give up on flavored teas, Golden Moon saves me from the funk I was falling swiftly into.

I really loved GM’s Jasmine, and found their vanilla to be pretty okay, so I was a bit excited to try this one. The dry leaves have an absolutely delicious smell. Someone mentioned cream soda, but I think it’s a bit better than that (since I’m not the greatest fan of cream soda). It’s juicy and floral and vanilla, very comforting and exciting. You can really smell both in the aroma, with the jasmine probably edging out the vanilla the teeniest bit. There’s also a lovely chocolate-type smell going on here.

I steeped this one up at boiling, but then as the leaves opened up, some looked a tad green, and I began to get worried that I had messed it up. Green and black blends are pretty tricky, temperature-wise. On the pour… the tea is a fairly dark color, a coppery-orange, and the smell coming off of it isn’t that strong. I’m getting more of a black tea smell, with whiffs of vanilla and jasmine.

The taste of this… I’m surprised how light it is! There’s sort of a mellow tea flavor, which I assume comes from the mixing of the black and green. It’s not the strongest, but it’s definitely adequate. At the front of the flavor, I’m definitely getting a bit more jasmine than vanilla, but then they tend to switch and mingle, until they’re just this one flavor that I can’t really describe. Other than vanilla jasmine!

Sometimes I’m actually getting a grape-like flavor, which is sort of strange. I don’t mean like a muscatel-wine flavor, like a Darjeeling, but sort of a grape soda flavor. It’s pretty pleasant, but sort of bizarre. I’m not getting any of the cocoa notes I smelled in the actual drink, which is fine by me.

Towards the bottom of the cup, the tea became a bit bitter on the initial sip, which wasn’t unpleasant, but is probably due to my temperature issues. I’m happy that it didn’t really negatively impact the tea until the very bottom, for sure.

Overall, another pleasant offering from Golden Moon! It didn’t knock my socks off (where did that expression even come from? Did someone’s socks actually get knocked off my something just that awesome?), but it was definitely an enjoyable cup, and on par with what I’ve come to expect with Golden Moon.

Finally managed to get to the post office this morning with the packages of tea that I owe to people. Would have done it Saturday, but we were snowed in.

I brewed this one a little stronger than normal and it’s good. Sweetened with a bit of splenda, though I think it would do better with honey (honey is too messy for the office).

It’s a good blend of cranberry, orange, and rooibos. I know someone said they tasted hibiscus in here, but I’m not getting it… I’ve also noticed that I’m not as sensitive to hibiscus as others seem to be, though, so that may be why. I like it a lot as a fruity tea with just a hint of tartness.

(this is the bagged version)

Since I don’t really have a teapot, I just pulled the pot of water off of the burner before it really boiled.

I love the smell of this tea. Fruity, with a hint of the green tea flavor :). Nice reddish hint in it too.

Still too hot to taste at this point, but I can wait :)

Just got my first taste, mmmmm, that is good. Fruity taste, hint of pear. I’ve been leaving the bag in based on recommendations from other people on this site, and last time I enjoyed it.

I really need to figure out a better balance between the amount of water and the amout of tea. I probably need between 1 and 1.5 bags if I am using bags, but I haven’t figured it out yet. This is a little watered down, still yummy though.

At first I didn’t really notice much in this tea…. until I let it cool down. Then I REALLY tasted this flavor to its fullest. Using the newly learned slurp technique (keep your mouth open and slurp the tea to get more O2 in), I noticed your typical lighter tea vegetal flavors, but with a sharp taste of movie popcorn butter without the popcorn. So basically it tasted incredibly sweet with movie butter popcorn in it. The good thing is that it wasn’t all syrupy like that movie butter crap is, and it’s much healthier ;). I’d go as far to say as this was a bit oily, but NOT in a bad way. Very strange for Pouchong, but hey whatever tastes good right?

We’re having a cold snap here on the East Coast. Tonight, I wanted something warm and spicy. I’m not getting any cocoa notes this evening! I used pure maple syrup instead of sugar for a bit of sweetness – could that be the reason why? Maybe honey would have been a better choice? I want my cocoa notes back!

This is an excellent tea by TheNecessiTeas. The combination of a solid green tea, whole blueberries, and herbs lend themselves to a great infusion. The initial flavor of the blueberries and the creaminess of the herbs (licorice root I believe) create a wonderful medley of flavors very similar to enjoying the familiar desert. This has a lovely delicate sweetness accented well by the creamy flavor. Excellent desert tea. Very satisfying. Only minor flaw is a mild undertone created by the roots and herbs needed to give the tea a creamy flavor, however, one acquires a taste for these midcup.