Cofftea

2 bags (from the TTB), 6oz almost boiling milk, 6oz water, 1TB creme brulee creamer.

HOLY FLIPPIN ANISE! I’ve never had teabags that have smelled so much like anise. Nasty. When steeped the tea and spices aren’t holding up to the milk for some reason this time either… weird.

Maple Sugar Chai! 1/2 tsp each this and Adagio’s Masala Chai and 1TB creme brulee creamer. Unfortunately not very chai like, but oh so sugary sweet!:)

Puerh Sample set 1: Tea #2

The leaf is lighter, less dense than I anticipated with an ever so slightly fecal aroma, but not as dark as shu.

3g/3oz just below boiling water, 15 sec rinse and 20 sec 1st steep.

The rinse is light yellow in liquor and light and sweet in aroma. The flavor is that of the liquor w/ no peppery notes that are typical of Yunnan teas- a personal yay for me. :)

Made a gallon of this chilled for our weekend service trip in Milwaukee. Unfortunately I was the only one that tried it, but it is AHH…MAZING!!! I think the BEST cold tea I’ve EVER had- a bit better than hot and also a bit better than Adagio’s white cucumber- although I love the white tea base.

Decided to try Usucha with this. I’m not sure what 1/2 a chashaku scoop of match is (it calls for 1 1/2), so I went w/ the weight they list (even though it’s much more than 1 1/2 chashaku scoops) and added the ~75ml water (I had closer to 70ml). The result was an extremely thick bowla that foamed slightly with less sweetness and more bitterness and green-ness. Thank God it was smooth in texture and mouth feel and not chalky, but the bitterness was to the point of almost being too much for me. I’m hoping the extra caffeine will kick my headachey/spacey feeling.

Holy dust! I cut a bag of this open and combined it w/ Mayan Chocolate Chai (already steeped once). I’ve NEVER seen such fine baggage contents… there was something in there that looked like very tiny purple-ish grey gravel. The cocoa nibs? Anyway steeped it for 7 min in 3oz water then added 5oz Smart Balance Fat free milk. Of course, the cayenne clogged the filter on my tea pot cover so I ended up w/ a lot in my cuppa. The result was a VERY (almost too) hot but also VERY chocolatey cuppa. Yum!

Ugh… my last serving… well, actually 1/2 serving since I normally drink this 12oz at a time. I’m glad I didn’t run out of this any earlier as I just bought a half gallon of smart balance milk and I only drink it in chai and espresso lattes/mistos.

Mayan Chocoalte Chip Creme Brulee Chai Smart Balance Misto:
1tsp Mayan Chocolate Chai (not the heaping teaspoon I’m used to…)
3oz just below boiling water
3oz Fat Free Smart Balance Milk
1TB Creme Brulee coffee creamer

Whoa… um yeah… ok… this is gonna be hot. Not only did the last tsp contain a lot of cayenne, I was having problems w/ the top to my glass tea pot- the tea wasn’t pouring so I had to lift it up letting a lot of the cayenne in my cuppa.

Yep. Definitely hot. But the chocolate and tea base definitely stand up to the oh so rich, creamy, thick decadence of the Smart Balance milk. YUM!

… sigh… well… that’s it… it’s gone… I’m REALLY hoping manteas has a sale on this for Cinco de Mayo! PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE Frank?!

Again, blended w/ their Mandarin Matcha. This time 1 scoop of each in 6oz water. Thicker, more fruity (both components), more vegetal… more of everything that makes these 2 teas AMAZING!

Pu Erh Sampler 1 (Sheng): Tea #1

Aaaahhh… I have sheng again! I just couldn’t resist when Gingko graciously offered to throw in a free pu erh knife w/ a pu erh purchase and decided to get this because it allowed me to try 4 different shengs at (what I think to be) a very inexpensive cost. I also got my order extremely fast. Just 1 1/2 hrs after I placed my order on Fri. it was shipped and I recieved my order on Monday! By far the fastest service I’ve gotten- especially considering the distance (MA to WI).

Preparation:
3g sheng rinsed in 3oz just below boiling water for 15sec, then discarded
1st steep 20 sec.

The aroma of the raw leaf (raw raw pu erh? lol) is complex and vegetal yet sweet. The rinse is darker than the only other pu erh I’ve had before.

The liquor of the 1st infusion is also darker than my 1st sheng experience. It is still not nearly as dark as a shu, but a lovely golden color.

The flavor is smooth and complex with notes of sweetness, nut, and pepper that makes Yunnan teas so distinguishable.

Decided to make this all to myself!

The aroma is quite strong, and a great balance of all 3 flavor components although the cucumber is the strongest. The liquor is a translucent greenish yellow typical of chinese senchas.

I’m not getting as much melon as I am in the 2nd infusion- more sweet. The cucumber and sencha base are solid though… like a cup of cucumber and spinach juice w/ a tinge of vinegar. Um… uh oh… Crap. As it cools it’s becoming quite bitter. :( Down goes the rating.

After days of gorgeous weather I’m freezing in the house w/ a sweatshirt on. This is just want I need to warm up. Thicker than last time- 1 large scoop and 3oz of water. Very strong vegetal aroma, less sweet tasting as well… more of that vegetal wonderfulness that is matcha!

After being so pleased with this last week, I decided to have it again. Oddly, I’m still getting those lemon notes.

Blends well w/ Strawberry Matcha.

Backlogging from yesterday- blended 1 scoop w/ 1 scoop of Mandarin Matcha and 16oz water. The 2 flavors mingle very well together… in some sips I got both flavors, but in others it was either more strawberry or more orange. YUM!

My matcha needs make me do questionable things… I’m in a new relationship which is long distance and that’s putting an even larger strain on my wallet. I’m so tight on money right now… I won’t even be purchasing my chai for a while. But… I needed my matcha so I did some research and found this- it’s only $15 (not including shipping)/100g. Now I know a lot of you must be thinking… that can’t be good. I even had my reservations (and even more so when I realized it wasn’t even in the data base), but I’m desperate.

The aroma of the bright green powder is quite strong. Of the matcha and matcha like products I’ve tried I think the aroma is closest to Den’s Tea’s powdered sencha.

2 large scoops in 16oz water as a appetiete suppressant waiting for dinner.

I need to mention that their directions were simply 1-2 teaspoons matcha and hot water (although the picture showed a chashaku- quite disappointing from a Japanese company.

Once the matcha and water kiss it reminds me of 52teas’ matchas. The color is darker and not a dingy olive, but the 2 instantly incorporate and the matcha begins to froth even before I whisk.

The flavor is very sweet- possibly the sweetest matcha I’ve had. It tastes green- not vegetal. It tastes like fresh cut grass would smell (sweet) and not like it might taste (bitter or astringent).

The mouth feel is thick, and rich, and creamy- also like 52teas… not like the watery experience I was fearing. All I could think of is when you wring out frozen spinach in a towel. I am SO glad my budget forced me to try this and would absolutely recommend this to a person on a tight budget. I could make a joke here, but I know Jason would get on my butt so I won’t lol.

??Edit: After doing a side by side color comparison in my chawan, I discovered that the mandarin is lightly brighter than the strawberry)

P.S. All their other matchas are named, but I wanted to make sure it was distinguished- that’s why I added the amount to the tea name in the database entry.

I made the 1st infusion for my mom so I can’t give a complete review of it, but I did want to write about my 2nd infusion. But 1st.

I think my bad shipping experiences might possibly be over after 2 packages that took over two weeks to get here and one got lost, my replacement matcha (and another package of this- I hadn’t yet recieved it so Frank wanted to make sure it didn’t get lost as well) only took 2 days and my original Cucumber Melon showed up today after “only” 9 days.

The 2nd infusion is still quite dark in color. A typical 3 min steeping color, green with gold and brownish tones. The flavor is quite surprisingly strong as well for a 2nd infusion. All 3 components are equally balanced.

Made the 1st infusion for my mom so I can’t review it yet.

MATCHA MATCHA MATCHA MATCHA MATCHA!!!

Ok… back to acting like a 24 year old…

My matcha finally came today. Now this is not the matcha I ordered the day it came out- this is my replacement. I still have no clue what happened to that 1st package… and it’s not so much my not getting it that bothers me… it’s the thought that no one will ever enjoy it and that makes me want to cry.

I didn’t try this the moment I got it in the house because just as I came in my boyfriend called. I hadn’t talked to him all day and some things (people) come before matcha.

The matcha looks like the Mandarin- a fine olive colored powder. When I finally opened the package I could smell the strawberry instantly. It smelled like strawberry bubble gum.

As soon as I get matcha, especially a flavored one, I always think more, not thicker, is better so I made this just the way I did the 1st time I tried Mandarin Matcha- 2 scoops of matcha w/ 16oz of water (the full capacity of my chawan).

Like the Mandarin, it instantly mixes with the water and froths even before I whisk it. Under the light colored foam is a dark, but not electric, green liquor.

Oh WOW! The strawberry is definitely there… and it tastes like I used strawberry jello water (jello before it solidifies) to make it. Now yes, I know I’ve always said “liquid jello” like it’s a bad thing when it comes to tea, but this ABSOLUTELY works. I think it’s because of the texture- like the Mandarin, it’s thick, and smooth, and creamy. But I also think it’s because there’s much more to the flavor profile. Unlike some fruit tisanes and even some decanted fruit flavored true tea (fruit flavored whites are especially notorious for this), there is ABSOLUTELY the rich, vegetal, sweet, slightly astringent flavor that matcha is famous for. Truly amazing.

And what’s even MORE amazing is… my mom actually tried it! While I was making it, I asked her to “just smell it” and I wouldn’t make her have any. Well she thought it smelt VERY GOOD… so i asked if she wanted some and she was like, “eh… I dunno… it’s green…” So I asked if she just wanted a spoonful… she was still unsure. Once I had it whisked I told her to “come humor me” and told her this was pay back for making me try really gross foods as a child (lol!) and I gave her a soup spoon full. I could tell by her facial expression that she was absolutely shocked that it wasn’t completely vile. Infact her exact words were “Wow, that’s actually pretty good”. I’ll never make her a bowla and I don’t think she’ll regularly try mine, but now I do have hope of her trying my Mandarin and even plain matcha. And an extra bonus- all that yummy matcha in my stomach was enough to cut my hunger so I only had 2 very small pieces of flat bread pizza for dinner.

Just a packaging suggestion Frank: Since this was only an ounce it looked like I was cheated based on the packaging used (I, of course, know I wasn’t) so you might want to have your packaging in direct proportion to the amount of tea to prevent doubt and skepticism from your customers.

Based on the fact that I purchased more pu erh (sheng) as well as my 1st pu erh knife today and Jenn-cha’s own pu erh tasting note I decided that it was time to just break down and try this.

Maestro Collection: Set 2, Tea #4

I completely disregarded the suggested steeping parameters and used the one in the Editors Note.

3 oz cup.

The raw leaf looks nothing like the sheng or shu I’ve seen before- it looks more like Yunnan Golden Curls than Pu Erh… and smells as such. The aroma is very light w/ an even lighter earthy note.

Wow… um… yeah… the rinse is a very light pinky orangy color. Maybe my water wasn’t hot enough? That likelyhood increases when I see my 1st infusion. The liquor is back to being exactly what I expected, a rather dark brown- although by far not the darkest I’ve seen, w/ a reddish hue.

The aroma of the tea is much like that of the raw leaf (which wet is now the color of the liquor), although a bit stronger- both in the smoothness and earthyness.

No surprises here. The flavor is very sweet and smooth with the faintest hint of earthyness. Definitely not what I’d expect from a shu- if this is indeed a shu.

Ugh. I found an aspect of summer that I hate. The sun wakes me up waaay too flippin early when I don’t need to be up way to flippin early- and I am not a morning person. Funny though, this is the 1st year I remember this happening.

I have a sore throat today so I decided to ignore their “don’t steep over a min” warning and steep it for 3min. The result it a merky, watery pea soup like cuppa. Pretty darn good. It is just a touch bitter, but it was before. I like that- it keeps teas from getting overly sweet. It says this is made from Japanese loose tea… but based on their suggested I can’t figure out which one. I’ll email them and find out then next time I can steep it according to proper steeping parameters for the base tea.

Talking to Chrine about an 8oz bowla made me want one! 1 scoop, smooth and frothy. And remember what I said about it separating? A friend called just as I was making it so it did separate requiring me to rewhisk. Quite ironic:)

I wanted chai so I decided to prolong the life of my Mayan Chocolate Chai and drink this.

1tsp in 6oz (instead of the suggested 8) near (instead of full) boiling water.

I’m not surprised this chai is quite opaque, and unfortunately I’m not surprised at the light color (it is orange though, which surprises me)… I had 5 peanut butter chips in my serving and while it makes sure the peanut butter flavor is there- that doesn’t leave much space for tea or chai.

It smells like… pumpkin pie. Yeah I know weird. Especially since the raw leaf smells like peanut butter.

When I take a sip it tastes like peanut butter… I have to admit when I was trying to wrap my idea of a peanut butter chai, the only thing I could imagine was when peanut butter gives me indigestion and it burns coming up. And it vaguely reminds me of that, but it is definitely a peanut butter chai. I’m just not a fan of solo peanut butter though, it needs chocolate. Wait… crap… I spoke too soon. The 1st taste was great… but after that it just tastes like watery pumpkin pie (yes, pumpkin again)…

Frank, I can see potential w/ this. While I know it wouldn’t be as visually appealing, I suggest chopping the peanut butter chips to make it easier for the peanut butter, chai spices, and black tea base to be more evenly distributed.

I got a surprise w/ LiberTEAS’ vinegar black- 2 bags of this! Now, as I said, I would normally not choose to steep this at home but after being deprived of it last time I attempted to order it and being very blessed by LiberTEAS’ generosity I decided to steep it right away. It went perfectly w/ my Tortilla Crusted Fish Lean Cuisine.

1 bag (2.25g- talk about a perfect proportion/6oz water nuked for 2 min.)

Ya know when you’re a little kid and you love a particular food… til you find out what’s in it? Well, this is one of those times. Drinking it at Starbucks never gave me the chance to look at the wrapper til now. It has lemon in it… and a hint of pear??? It’s still a very good tea w/ ginger and green tea being the strongest flavors… but now I’m tasting the lemon. :( I don’t taste the pear, but that’s fine cuz I didn’t want a pear tea… and I have no clue where the pear would come from anyway…

Ok, ok… so I finally did it… I sweetened my chai. But only because it’s traditionally sweetened. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any traditional sweetener so I used stevia. 1 packet in a 16oz cuppa. This is only the 2nd time I’ve had sweetened chai (that wasn’t made from a mix). I had it (sweetened w/ honey) at Panera once. It wasn’t too bad. Yep. It’s a sweetened chai. The sweetener does nothing to change or inhance the flavor in anyway. It’s just… well. Sweeter. I prefer my chai (especially of the Mayan Chocolate variety) rich and decadent. This was more sweet and spicy… but at least the spicyness remained- actually I think it’s more so because the chocolate no longer has the savory notes to balance out the spice. I’m not completely ruling out sweetening chai, but I think I need a flavored sweetener like brown (or even raw) sugar, caramel or butterscotch ice cream topping, or ROT’s chai honey. But that’s not surprising since one of the reasons I drink tea is I have absoflippinlutely no motivation to drink plain water. Why drink something that has no flavor even if it’s calorie free?