CrowKettle

Mini sipdown! Working through these samples slowly.

This is my second time trying an oolong specifically labelled as a Tieguanyin! I’m actually drinking this, gongfu style, right beside the sample from Zen Tea that Cavocorax sent me. I still have a hard time describing oolong but there are some noticeable differences.

This one’s a little more vegetal, nutty, and all-around hearty in nature; definitely not as intoxicatingly floral, although that element is still there, or as vanilla-sweet. This oolong is very mellow and smooth and a lot more subtle in its flavours than the first one. It became very vegetal near the tenth steep, and started off buttery and creamy.

Now I can appreciate the base that makes up Earl of Anxi.

As much as I like this straight I have to admit it’s even better with milk.

The variations of tea in this blend means it tends to come out tasting slightly different each turn. While predominantly malty, pointy, and consisting of a good brisk finish, when I get more golden tips in my strainer I notice the finish inclines to an awesome, yet very subtle, clove-like spice.

A lot of the black teas I’m learning to love lately are quite expensive and “fancy” but this one’s nice and casual; I don’t feel I need to get all dressed up for it or ration it out!

Thank you Cavocorax for sending me this! I’ve never had an oolong specifically labelled as a Tieguanyin. I’ve wanted to try this since learning about Avalokiteśvara in my Asian religions class and reading the back story on the tea name.

Before this I thought I knew what a floral oolong was. Then I tried these little balls of joy…and the oolong ball soared out of the park! floral tea with a home run! Yeah… Breathtaking.

Truly though, I was shocked by this oolong’s floral body. My roommate said this reminded her of a jasmine tea from Teaopia (interesting). I can’t believe it isn’t flavoured either. It just goes to show I’m still a newbie with tea and there’s still a lot out there to try.

The sweet vanilla notes and milky richness make for a heady experience that would prevent me from drinking this regularly. I can think of a few occasions where I would want to pretend I’m in a gigantic garden filled with heavy bodied flowers, however. Like right now. This is the perfect tea to take my mind off personal bloopers and failings.

A Feast For Crows and Once Upon a Time, on the other hand, are NOT particularly cheery, and are lacking the overzealous flowers I crave for. I clearly need to find more euphoric forms of escapism! (Rumpelstiltskin is entertaining to watch, Cersei is not)

Aroma:
Dry Leaves- waffle cones, spices, and something fruity
Wet Leaves- musky roasted waffle fruit with burnt wood (very potent)

This tea has notes characteristic of a greener oolong in that it’s notably milky, but also possesses that savory roasted quality found in darker oolong. The unfurled wet leaves represent that dichotomy- long browny green strands.

To start, it has a honeyed body and a sweet tangy finish that very much embodies sharp red grapefruit. The aftertaste is citric and sweet- smooth and sharp.

I think I’m on my sixth or seventh steep in my gongfu pot and the tea has become noticeably honey rich, spiced near the end, and woody in a roasted way. I’m glad for this change in profile; even though I love grapefruit I can only handle so much of it. Interesting transition to say the least!

I’m still getting used to darker roasted oolongs. This is a good one for me as it definitely never allows for boredom, and contains notes from my favourite citrus fruit (sometimes I can’t believe these teas aren’t flavoured).

Also, sipdown!

Sample sipdown from ToiToi!

The smell of the blend and liquor took me by surprise; it’s a very intrusive sweet citrus perfume mixed with the berry-like qualities of rooibos. It reminds me both of Raspberry Nectar from David’s tea and SunnyD. Very sticky sweet.

The taste is a mixture of fruity floral qualities and ever present citrus. It has a smooth citrus sweet finish: top notch lemons, oranges, and even some grapefruit? The rooibos is distinguishable but I don’t feel it’s overly medicinal. Some sour puckering. I love the taste more than the smell; I’m enjoying it more than both Raspberry Nectar and SunnyD, thankfully.

Even though I stir up my tea and tisanes, I find when I drink rooibos it first tastes watery but after a few sips that wateriness becomes pleasantly creamy and thick. I don’t know why that happens but I always start to enjoy my rooibos after I’m mid-cup in. This blend is no exception.

Note: my oolong is greener and more balled up than the picture depicted on the website.

Disclosure: The fluoride treatment I always end up with at the dentist’s is orange creamsicle, the near identical flavour of this tea. It’s throwing me off a tad. I am clearly biased here so I will try to do a quick summary breakdown of the basic characteristics.

The leaves smell of the orange rinds found along with the oolong balls. The aroma of the liquor is buttery, milky oolong notes with a backdrop of candied orange. The broth feels oily and rich. The main notes are buttery, vegetal oolong followed by tangy orange peel which mellows out for the fruity and creamy sweet finish. Floral, buttery qualities make up the aftertaste texture, while citrus sourness linger on the back of the tongue.

When I had my first cup of this I was ready to drop this tea for reminding me of fluoride but today I can respect the solid floral green oolong and the milky orange. I’m actually enjoying this cup; it isn’t coming off as artificial and chemical-like as I first experienced. It’s very much the candy creamsicle tea, however.

Aroma of dry leaves: sweet and creamy chocolate
Wet leaves: tangy cocoa, leather, coffee

Taste: very malty and woody; beer-like. Tangy/pointy orange peel, more beer, soft cocoa, hint of cream
Aftertaste: orange peel, cloves

Additional flavours in later steeps: cloves Version 2.0, pepper finish… so much pepper. This isn’t chai? Burnt wood

Awesomeness level: pretty awesome.

Can CrowKettle handle the manly power of this tea? Nope

Objective level of this note: going down with each additional word

Prevailing thought while sipping: where did the chocolate go??

Another sipdown! This tea made me late for class the other day because I refused to go out the door until I had finished all of this scalding wonder.

This tea possesses the most delightful juicy sweetness, and I want to drink it every day. I will definitely be picking up a huge stock of this in spite of the crazy costs and the increase in shipping. When I started exploring teas I never thought a unflavoured black would be on my top favourite teas list of all time, yet here I am.

Sipdown! This tastes way better when I’m more generous with the amount I put in the glass gongfu pot.

The first steep is extremely nutty, like raw almonds, with a bit of sweet grassiness. I ruined the second steep by forgetting about it for a minute, and the third one tastes like a creamy bright salve in comparison.

Fourth steep is unbelievably sweet- aftertaste of banana cream. I never achieved this the first go around (where it tasted more like sparkling apple juice and pastry). Prevailing nuttiness on the sides of the tongue and back.

Fifth steep has a finish of vanilla cream. It’s pretty tasty and I’ll bump up my arbitrary rating by a few. There is a pleasent tickling puckering astringency, but nothing bitter here.

eighth steep and up, is seeing a return to a refreshing zippy leafiness. It’s almost like it has come full circle!

Side Note: My silver sample packet of this was open and exposed to the elements for slightly over two weeks, if that has any bearing.

Out of the handful of pumpkin teas I’ve tried this one tastes the most like pumpkin pie. It carries a mushy creaminess, a slightly pungent finish, that makes me think of pumpkin or black tea, and even the sensation of sweet rich whip cream. Are you sure this is vegan?

I don’t get creme brulee as much but it has already succeeded where many other teas have clunked out- creating a convincing pumpkin dessert, both in texture and in taste, without going overboard artificial, and still managing to be tea. Thank you BoxerMama for the sample, and Stacy for all the amazing teas!

Edit: This holds up decently to additional steeping, although the cinnamon is more dominant, and my empty cup has the amazing aroma of nutmeg, cinnamon, and creamy pumpkin.

Backlog: ToiToi generously sent this to me, along with some amazing samples and candies, after the Christmas swap. I’m so grateful I got to try this!

To quickly sum it up, it tastes like a floral cream of earl grey. There are strands of rose notes and something that reminds me of lavender; the same floral minty flavour that I recognize from other lavender teas is present here but it may just be the combination of bergamot and other flowers. The dry leaves don’t smell of lavender at all; only sweet floral notes and bergamot. That citrus flavour is very present but not freakishly harsh. I think all the ingredients are balanced, and come together nicely.

I was expecting a green/black blend when I opened the packet but apparently it’s black leaves. The base is solid enough that this might go nicely with some milk. I find that this Sweet, floral, creamy, and pointy tea needs little addition, however. I don’t normally like Earl Grey bergamot teas but this one is decent.

Edit: After another day with this tea I’m pretty sure there’s no lavender. There are some very pleasant fruity floral notes that I can’t identify though. :)

I’ve never been one for breakfast teas. They make me nervous. Are they a tea-lover’s equivalent to the black hole that is a cup of morning coffee? Are they robust? Aggressive? Some hideous demonic fiend, come to rip me from my comfortable sleep-deprived stupor? I don’t want that. Not at all. Leave me alone, scary black tea.

I love to force myself out of my comfort zone… really, I do, but I don’t think I truly left it by ordering this tea. It’s surprisingly mellow and non-confrontational, which is very misleading, seeing as the sticker for this tea consists of some dude in a chariot, clutching both a spear and shield. I was expecting to get shredded and then dragged along behind! I usually steep it underneath the recommended 4-5 minute mark but I think I would still be safe if I hit that time. It would be the perfect milk companion then.

Orange Pekoe is new to me, as are “Indian teas”. A peppery finish, while less new, is still a novelty, although I don’t always pick that up with this blend. A cup of this tends to be pointy and a tad bready- like a morning orange and bun. It has a zippy fresh quality that is invigorating, yet manages not to shred my tongue up with astringent talons. It’s pleasant and bright.

The liquid’s aroma comes off as pleasantly musky sweet. It tasted and smelled rather fine with the butter chicken yesterday. It’s been a good month for black teas!

Cavocorax sent me a parcel about a week ago that included this amazing tea! Thank you- I’ve been eying this for some time now. My roommate can attest to the amount of squeeing that went on when I opened this up. Love the evasive coconut smell- it even took over my room for a few days. :)

I couldn’t help but hold this up to the Coconut Pouchong from Golden Moon Tea, which is one of my favourite teas. Despite my love for that pouchong, and unfortunately for Golden Moon, I can’t afford the $15 addition for shipping it literally a few hours across the boarder. until I manage to make my way down to Seattle and pick this up in person I’ll need a substitute- and I think I’ve found it in this oolong!

It’s straight up coconut and floral green oolong. This comes off as more roasted nutty, and dessert-like than the other pouchong; I read Kittena’s note about this tasting more “flavoured”, which I feel puts it nicely. It’s not exactly the same but It’s now a staple! It’s one of the few oolong teas I make potfuls of!

This was included in a Christmas swap from ToiToi!

Black vanilla tea always make me think of sunny spring afternoons. It may not be spring but it is a sunny afternoon here, and this is a very pleasant, straightforward vanilla black tea.

It differentiates from its fellow vanilla comrades slightly, however, in the cream component, also noted in this tea’s name. While sipping this I sometimes get the impression of icing cream and cake; it’s kind of sweet! The black base is mostly smooth and lightly jasmine infused, although there is a hint of robustness to it (at least for me) that I’m sure would come out if it was steeped for over five minutes.

This is a very pleasant dessert tea without being a chaotic overly artificial mess. It’s sweet and smooth enough to take without milk, although I am curious to try it with some. I wish I knew what kind of black base this has; I’m a newb when it comes to black tea and “luxury black” doesn’t cut it for me.

I don’t know if it’s the sun or this tea but I feel very happy right now. It’s bright out! Thanks again, ToiToi!

Backlog from last night! Feel Good ‘Tea’!

When I’m practicing good sleep hygiene this is the tisane I have before bed. I don’t know if it actually helps me fall asleep or if it is simply a necessary part of some sleeping ritual. I should drink this more often, although the fact that this is only available online makes me reluctant to use it up.

I don’t know if this is extremely “banana-y”; Its more chamomile, lavender, and coconut to me. I can’t distinguish the rooibos or lemongrass too well. Depending on what gets into the bag strainer it tastes more like some of those ingredients than others. I try not to use metal strainers with chamomile as it can make quite the mess. When I do get banana notes it is a hot caramelized dry kind of sweetness. It’s not perfect but has a comforting quality and contains some of my favourite ingredients.

Last night this tasted strongly of coconut and chamomile and I fell asleep quickly after finishing my cup. Magic! I wish this touch of the flu could be as easily solved. I just want to curl up, read Storm of Swords, and never leave the house. I could sleep all day, but I should go to my Ethnography class and watch those old videos on the Sami people until 9 o’clock. I should!

Hmm, I didn’t really get to sleep last night, for no good reason, but I need to stay awake for another nine hours. I chose to drink this tea, that BoxerMama included in the swap, to start off the day! I’m sure it will be one of many teas today; I feel like death. I reaaally need to stop drinking caffeinated things after 6:00PM..

… Like the huge pot of Peaches & Ginger I had around 11PM (also courtesy of BoxerMama). This tea actually has some notes that are similar to last night’s pot, notably the peach flavour!

I like this tea! It’s juicy and honeyed with the vaguest nip of astringency, which is very welcome right now! This has a pleasant creaminess too, to balance everything out. I’ll be picking some of this up in my next order.

I picked up some of this tonight as a to-go cup. I had this almost a year ago, when it first came out, but I never bothered to pick up more as it was just too expensive in relation to how much I enjoyed it. Every once in a while, in a cup, it’s ok, though. It’s also one of those “teas” that doesn’t consist of a lot of leaf, and I can relax on the “steeping time” with the baggy; optimal for David’s Tea to-go cups!

There’s a good dose of coconut in this but the flavour is clearly dictated by the mulberries, a very strange, extremely sweet “golden yellow-white” berry. The Liqour smells like syrupy coconut.

On the bus ride back to the rented place, I couldn’t help but think this would make a very tasty “light beer”. I don’t know why, it’s not particularly malty, more a nutty and fruity honey flavour but it has something I associate with light sweet beers.

I love eating the wet leaves of this tea most of all. The mulberries and coconut still have their sweetness (I guess I could have done a second steep) but I ate everything too fast. So good! I know, I’m a strange one. There were actually a few white tea leaves this time around, which is very surprising for this blend!

Short steeps of this “not-Dragonwell” in glass gongfu pot.

Coming from leftfield, the smell of the dry leaves and the taste of the first steep remind me of a McDonald’s Apple Pie- which is something I haven’t had in at least ten years. It’s tartly sweet, in a fruity way, and loaded with brown sugar, vanilla, and something “zippy fresh”. There are hot banana notes that come out more as I sip this first steep but the fruitiness tends to drift more into the realm of apple dessert for me. A bit of puckering mouth.

This is not as buttery or creamy as Mrs. Li’s, at least, not yet. Instead, it has more of a refreshingly green quality to it that is delightful in its own right. I haven’t been drinking any simple green teas, besides Genmaicha and Dragonwell, lately. I need to fix that!

This is very good although I don’t think I’d get it again.. not that it seems I will ever be able to get the same tea twice from Verdant. I hate how I’ve fallen in love with these smaller companies that will never be as consistent (maybe “constant” is a better word) as a David’s Tea or a Teavana sized company. I guess that’s part of the charm though. :)

This is my first Puerh that isn’t flavoured or a tuocha, and my first sheng.

I’m in-between refilling kettles to re-steep this right now, and the lingering taste is of a pungent fruity sweetness. It’s also woodsy. I’ve been slowly drinking this tea for the last hour. I enjoy it, although I haven’t built up a palate for puerh’s.

Ok, new cup ready to go! It reminded me of mushrooms in the first few steeps but it has now evolved into something quite citric and tart tasting. It actually reminds me of my intense yuzu tea with a heavy dose of citrus rinds. It’s pungent and drying, yet at the same time also vegetal and refreshing.

In Delta and Surrey, River Road is a bit of an industrial area; if you want to go to Richmond, Burnaby, or Vancouver you can drive across Alex Fraser Bridge which goes right over River Road. It’s an impressive bridge, especially when the sun sets and all the lights flicker on; then it’s like that bit on the Peter Pan ride in Disneyland. The only downside is the smell of sewage that sometimes drifts over from the treatment center on Annacis Island. When the wind is just right however, and the lumber and paper mills are running, that awful smell is replaced by something quite delightful- cedar so sharp and woodsy that clears out all the senses.

This tea has a little of that cedar quality, right down to the sweet and rough woody texture that lingers in the throat. I don’t think I would find myself drinking this all the time but it gets huge points for making me think of that and feel the need to write it down (sorry!). There’s some articles drifting around that say smell may be the biggest memory trigger? Neat!

I don’t know how many times I’ve steeped this, I must be near around ten, and new flavours are still coming out.

What does everyone here do when their tea tastes extremely tired? Do you suck it up and drink it all?

I’ve had this for over two years now and time has not been kind. It tastes like wilted sweet veggies..

When I pulled a sample of this in my package from BoxerMama I thought I had won the lottery or struck gold! The leaves look like golden yarn. They’re very charming and bright! I love how they transform when steeped.

I had this about four days ago in my travel mug but I’m afraid the plastic didn’t do this mellow tea any favours. I had this a few days before that but was eating Kimchi Jjigae, which also tampers with subtle flavours.

Luckily, for a sipdown, I steeped the meager amount of remaining leaves in my tiny glass pot. I got five steeps and each one was very chocolaty and mellow. Very pleasant and definitely something I would think of picking up, in small amounts, when I want a simple smooth “chocolate” cocoa tea with a touch of honeyed sweetness. No bitterness or astringency detected.

Why, hello honey soaked dark chocolate brownie. The finish upon first steep is drenched in caramel and honey, like someone infused a caramilk bar in my cup; I can’t believe this isn’t flavoured. The smell of the wet leaves, in particular, is very chocolaty, and possibly leathery. I’m detecting no bitterness or astringency, just sweet, mellow goodness. This is a rich, moist cup with a cinnamon note that comes out upon later steeps. The sweetness also becomes more pronounced.

I hit around fifteen steeps in my flowering pot (still on the window shopping stage for a gaiwan)! I’ve never been full on board the black tea train but this Autumn Harvest Black Laoshan has changed that.

I sent an extremely small amount, only a cups worth, to Cavocorax. If I had tried this tea before double bagging some I might have forgone giving ANY of my tiny sample away.. Will be picking up more soon enough, no doubt!

I love Dragonwell.

I dumped the dry leaves in my warmed flowering teapot and it smelled like a peanut butter, except more vegetal! Maybe I shouldn’t have done that but the smell was worth it. Wow!

Drinking the “rinse” and it is equally full of buttery nuttiness. I’ve never had a Dragonwell that is this full of flavour and smell. It’s almost overwhelming.

I get the green granny smith apples on the first steep; it’s sweet, juicy, crisp, and kind of tart, in a way. I can’t believe I taste that. The buttery nut notes linger in the back roof of my mouth, like mushed cashews or soybeans. My second steep is even smoother with that prevailing buttery, nutty sweetness. The unfolding flavours evolve into various items.

I think I’m going to end the note there and just focus on drinking as much of this as possible- this may be my new favourite Dragonwell! I purchased two “Dragonwells”, among other teas, from Verdant but this is the only one I bought in a larger quantity right off the bat. I’m glad I did!

On a side-note: I never felt the full effect that the water taste had on tea until I started short brewing and went from Vancouver to Victoria. Victoria water tastes of algae! It is not my favourite.

Yum! This one is very simple. Creamy coconut with a mellow soft base. The sweetness isn’t a forward kicker except around the finish, which is soft like whip cream. As I get closer to the bottom of my cup that coconut whip cream sensation magnifies…Parks and Rec/Leslie amount of whip cream! It’s very rich and I’m impressed that I didn’t have to add milk to get that!

This tea gets even better as it cools. I may need to pick up more in the summer. The only thing left to do is compare it to my Fantasy Island from David’s Tea and the coconut tea from NM Tea co that arrived at my parents place a few days after I left for school… bummer!