Dinahsaur

Just want to start this off with thanks to Fusion Tea Room for this sample!

I’ve been away from Steepster for a little while, and it’s because life has been busy! I’m still posting regularly on my blog and have a special treat for readers today (or early tomorrow, depending on some things), but I’ve also been out and about, enjoying my life a lot.

In any case, while I’ve tried Mate a couple of times and it’s alright each time, I always planned to taste the samples from Fusion Tea Room, but I wasn’t writing about Mate just yet, so I kept putting it off. Well, recently at work, our Media Team has been working on a recruiting video and one of the people interviewed talked about how he doesn’t drink coffee, but only Mate (“which has every nutrient your body could need,” according to him). After hearing that line repeated indefinitely as the Media guys edited the video, I got a hankering to try some more of the Mate I’ve got hanging out in the cupboard.

So here goes!

The smell of the dry Mate reminded me of the beginnings of a pumpkin pie, which I think is generally the point. Once brewed, the aroma is pretty powerful and actually caught me off guard at first. It almost is more coffee-like than anything else in the smell, but with the spices that were detected earlier for certain.

The liquor as-is was definitely reminiscent of coffee to me, just without the bitterness. It is hard for me to describe. So I added some sugar (as Mate instructions always seem to include “add sugar and milk to taste”) and it definitely sweetened and was a little nicer. But I remembered how much more I enjoyed the last Mate I drank once I added milk, so I did so here as well.

Once the drink was completed (in my opinion), the creaminess could lend itself to the task of ensuring the right mouth feel/texture to the drink so it really was just like pumpkin pie.

So far, with flavored Mate, I find that I like them best once sugar and milk have been added. We’ll see if this continues to hold true as I explore further!

Enjoyed this tea this morning in my yixing-lined travel tea tumbler. I’ve kept it pretty exclusive to use with oolong teas, but this is the first real hearty oolong it’s seen. To begin, I really just love the flavor of tea when it has that yixing addition in general. And this yixing has seen some nice ginseng oolongs, so that was slightly added to the mix, mostly with an after-taste mouth feel.

As ever, this tea is delicious and I’m eager to taste it again in future!

I received a sample of this in my most recent shipment from Teavivre (Thanks, Angel!). I’m excited to try it out since I love a good pu-erh and I really enjoy chrysanthemum herbal infusions.

I was a little concerned at first since there was precisely one chrysanthemum in the tuo. Then I realized that it’s been in that little wrapped up tuo for quite a long time, so I really haven’t got anything to worry about, now have I?

I’m in the office, so I used my “Perfect Tea Maker” or whatever it’s called from Teavana (a very nice gift from my friend, TheDizzyPixie). The infusion is nice and dark and beautiful to me. It has the earthiness of any pu-erh, but a nice sweetness to the aroma that speaks to the chrysanthemum.

The tea itself is a surprisingly mellow, nice pu-erh with a pleasant, lightly sweet after-taste.

I’m very happy with this and imagine I shall be ordering more in future!

First of all…. getting any of the tea from this past the bamboo leaf wrap in this small case, especially with the intention of putting it all back together since my brother told me this is a young tea, so I want to store it for aging…. DIFFICULT. I made a huge mess just getting at the tea enough to scrape some away.

In any case! The dry leaf had a surprisingly sweet smell to me. It had a minor undertone of caramel that I was not expecting. Don’t be fooled, though… the tea itself does not have this kind of flavor.

The liquor was not quite an amber, not quite a green color, but with a hint of both. It smelled faintly sweet, but not in a way I could pinpoint. After taking my first sip, it was like I was punched in the mouth with the ocean. That first infusion was seriously briny. It reminded me of the time when I was with my brother in China and I ate a sea horse. He asked me what it tasted like and all I could think to say was, “The ocean!” Well, that’s how I felt with this tea. The ocean.

After making my way through the first infusion, I made it to the second. The liquor was a more clear amber color now and it was much mellower. Still vaguely oceany, but not the way that first infusion was.

With the third infusion, I smelled the liquor and it had this nice sweetness to it. With my first sip, I immediately said (out loud to all of the no one with me), “Ah yes… now I’m starting to like this.” By no means has it lost the ocean aspect, but it’s reined the flavor in so it’s just a vegetal, sort of sea weedy flavor, but it’s balanced by a nice, malty note that mellows the whole thing out.

I am definitely looking forward to when this tea has aged more so I can give it another whirl. I’m thinking… once a year? :D

This was the final Red Robe oolong I tasted in my side-by-side(-by-side) comparison this morning.

The wet leaves had a nice spiciness to them, but with a touch of sweetness. The sweetness sort of had that characteristic of something that wasn’t initially sweet being broken down to create the sweetness (like how when you eat a saltine cracker and chew it a while, your saliva breaks it down into sugars and it becomes sweet in your mouth.) I’m not sure how else to describe it, unfortunately.

The first infusion had a very light scent, but the aroma I could pick up was clearly spicy and peppery. The flavor of the tea was nice and strong with a somewhat peppery flavor on the outside.

The second infusion elicited a more directly spicy aroma, but the tea itself was much milder compared to the first infusion. It was lovely and roasty, like a roast pumpkin that was lightly spiced.

Totally a fan of this tea!

This was the second Red Robe I had in my side-by-side(-by-side) tasting of Red Robe oolongs.

After the first infusion, I smelled the damp leaves and they had very little scent, but what I could detect was lightly spicy, as I’m used to associating with Red Robes. The first infusion itself had a pretty light flavor. It was smoother than most first infusions I enjoy, but had a very slight astringency toward the end of the cup and a lightly peppery flavor that danced on the tongue.

As with most second infusions, the tea had mellowed somewhat and had a nice roasty flavor. It was interesting because that light peppery, spicy flavor from the first infusion was magnified as an after-taste at this point and I loved it. That flavor is one of my favorite things about a Red Robe. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else comment on the spiciness of a Red Robe before, but I taste it to some degree in every Red Robe I try, so it must be there! ;)

Definitely a tea I’m glad to have a nice stock of on hand!

I enjoyed this quite a lot! I actually just did my first side-by-side(-by-side) tasting of the same tea from different vendors with some Red Robes I have in my cupboard. So I’m going to try and keep this review to this tea alone, as I’ll be writing a post this weekend comparing them more directly.

In any case, I really love a Red Robe oolong. It’s a fun tea that packs a wallop and has some seriously awesome flavor every time.

Of all the Red Robes I’ve had, this one from Verdant Tea is probably the most mild. This is not a negative thing, however. It’s just a thing. The wet leaves after the first infusion were mild and nutty in scent.

The liquor had a smooth aroma and there was something familiar about the flavor that I still can’t quite manage to place. As if it tasted of something I’ve eaten before and really enjoyed, but I’ve only actually eaten it once or twice. But it has a lovely flavor that I enjoyed very much.

The second infusion was mellower and added a touch of sweetness. Interesting enough, even though the water was still quite hot, it left a coolness in my mouth. Like a mild version of the feeling you get when drinking a mint infusion. But it didn’t taste minty, just mimicked that sensation.

I’m glad I got this tea and will be happy to finish off what I have in time!

I have had a really gnarly cold for the past week or so, preventing me from consuming tea in the way I normally would. In fact, especially toward the beginning of being sick, drinking tea would aggravate the rawness of my throat if I didn’t use an absurd amount of honey (to the point where I might as well be drinking just hot water with honey and no tea at all). So I have been out of the loop in the meantime!

For the past couple of days, I’ve been able to drink a little tea and (mostly) taste it, but it wasn’t until this morning that, upon making a cup of tea, I could also smell it properly. So exciting!

This Tamayokucha is like a breath of fresh air to me right now. It’s a great tea to start with when being able to drink tea once again. It’s mild (overall) and has a nice flavor. While it’s never going to be one of my favorite teas, just now it’s making a very nice impression on me, immediately following over a week with practically no tea at all.

Still a far cry superior to other bagged teas, this is one I would likely bring along with me on expeditions where carrying loose leaf is just not a good idea!

This is another of the generous samples sent along to me by Two Leaves and a Bud recently. Early on, I can say that I enjoy the fact that this has such a mild jasmine aroma. That’s because this isn’t a scented green, but a green with some jasmine petals in with it.

I brewed the tea related to the specifications on the package and I think it was too long. It said 5 minutes steeping (I did closer to 3 1/2 minutes) and I think it was still too long. There’s a weird after-taste that I’m not particularly fond of. Other than that, the tea itself is pretty light. I like that there is very little jasmine flavor… almost nonexistent, yet enough to be able to tell it’s there if you’re looking for it, I guess.

I’m not explaining this very well, am I?

In any case, I think if brewed a little shorter, this would taste better to me, but overall, it’s just sort of “meh” to me.

I can’t stop drinking this tea of a busy morning. I’ve started noticing that each morning that I’m in a rush and need to get a quick tea fix, this is the first thing I grab! I’m almost out, so I really need to order a box sometime soon.

I really cannot express enough how impressed I am with this. By no means is it the most superb breakfast tea I’ve had, but it’s very good and I’m always surprised at how tasty it is coming in a bag and all.

This is one of the teas that is provided in the break room at work. I usually stick with my own personal stash, but every now and then I feel like something different and will snag one of the tea bags that sounds interesting at the moment.

This morning, I remembered a conversation with a friend in the office about how much she has enjoyed the China Green Tips, so I thought this would be a good morning to give it a try.

I have to admit that I am a bit surprised at how decent this is. I wouldn’t call it a particularly high quality tea, but it doesn’t have some of those gross qualities that are so common of bagged teas, especially a green. It doesn’t have a lot of flavor, but more than I expected. It actually somehow reminds me of the Dragonwell from The Tea Spot more than anything else right now. Both just sort of seem good, but not something I’d go for if I’m in the mood for something more flavorful.

This is actually my first experiment with Mate. It’s totally new to me! I received a generous box of samples from the Fusion Tea Room (thanks again!) and decided that I’d give this one a try first, because caramel flavors are very comfortable for me.

I followed the brewing instructions carefully, because I didn’t really know what it is supposed to taste like. The smell of it is definitely caramel-y, but I think the smell of the actual mate is a little odd to me.

I’m first trying it plain, without any sugar or milk. I have to agree that the chicory is a bit strong, but it’s not entirely unpleasant to me. It just sort of adds a bite. I can see that preventing me from having too much of it at one time, however.

I went ahead and followed suit with LiberTEAS and added some milk, which definitely did mellow it out nicely. I then added some sugar (the packet did say to sweeten to taste, after all!). With these additions, it really is a fun, sweet, drink. Reminiscent of a caramel latte, as LiberTEAS described.

I don’t dislike it, that’s for sure. I’m just still new to this kind of flavor, so we’ll see how it goes for me!

Every time I taste this tea, it just makes me happy! A friend and I hadn’t really talked in a long time due to some extenuating circumstances in life (for example, me breaking up with my [now ex] boyfriend, who is one of her husband’s best friends and lives right next to her). In an effort to change things, even just a little, I asked her if we could do something and she ended up meeting me at my place for some tea.

We talked politely about what was going on in our lives over the past 4-5 months… she asked me a lot about tea, since my more focused passion arose in this time period. And we got to talking. I started showing her the tea options I had, asking what she would like me to make for us to drink while we talked. All of a sudden, it hit me… Pancake Breakfast! DUH!

I pulled it down and showed her and her eyes lit up. She immediately said, “DONE.” and we proceeded.

The flavor is just as it ever has been. Delicious, pancakey, buttery, and syrupy. The perfect tea to catch up with an old friend over. And it worked! After a while, we both were more comfortable and we really did connect again. So thanks, 52teas! ;)

A few weeks ago, I had a friend over for a tea party. Now, when I host a tea party like this, it usually means serving some of the Chinese teas I have gong fu style, since most of my friends have no experience with them. For this one fateful party, my friend brought along a lovely array of teas from her own personal stash for me to taste!

I was very excited to try them, as many of the teas were picked up in Mexico where she spends a month or two each year.

While this one was clearly not from Mexico, I was interested to try this tea in particular and, at long last… here I am!

I’m not a big fan of mango, so I wasn’t sure how I’d like this tea. The dry leaf and following the liquor were quite sweet in aroma. I was concerned that the tea itself would be too sweet for my sensibilities. However, my worries were unfounded and I discovered this to be a very mildly flavored tea.

It is sweet and tropical, but not in an overpowering way, which suits me very nicely. It almost has a coconut-y after-taste once the tea is more in the “warm” zone than hot. It’s definitely interesting. I’m not sure it’s really my style, but I’m enjoying it this morning!

I have tried this before and I guess I forgot to report on it! My first time tryng it, I enjoyed it quite a lot. The dry leaf is very clearly chocolatey, which I enjoyed. And the hearty, malty flavor of the tea itself was very pleasant. I remember thinking it would be fun to try with some milk and maybe sugar like I would other breakfast teas (despite the bit of pu-erh mixed in).

Well, I tried that today…. it was quite a failure! This is definitely superior when it is consumed as-is!

Just enjoyed more of the Assam this morning. Took it in a travel mug prepared with milk and sugar in advance. This was exactly the right way to wake myself up this morning! Delicious, malty, and creamy (though you have to admit, it had to be the milk that added the creaminess! ;) ).

In any case, much like my previous commentary on this, it’s just a very nice, delicious tea to start the day! Moving my rating up a wee bit to account for my increased regard for this one.

No notes yet.

This is everything you could want in a peppermint tisane. It’s crisp, minty, and full of natural flavor. It wasn’t stale or too mild at all. I got exactly what I was hoping for out of this option.

Thanks to Two Leaves and a Bud for sending along this sample!

Had this just this morning in my Yixing pot and it was delicious! Same flavors as previously, just this time with the small amount of additional earthiness from enjoying out of Yixing.

Backlogging from a couple days ago. Didn’t have time to take down notes then, so will be trying again with a chance to take notes soon. In the meantime, general impressions are that this is delicious, herbaceous, and had a lightly sweet after-taste.

Thank you so much to Ninavampi for sending along this sample!

I really said most I can in my first review of this tea, but I want to repeat one thing in particular.

This is still the most perfectly jasmine-scented tea I’ve tasted. I have come across so many that are just over-scented and over-flavored (in some cases), and it has historically put me off jasmine teas.

Thanks to TeaVivre for proving to me that jasmine teas can be done right to suit my own palate, which seems more sensitive to flavorings and scentings.

After reading my initial review (really more of a horror story) about my experience trying the Tamayokucha green tea from Two Leaves and a Bud, I received an email from the Marketing Coordinator of the company. She was sad to hear about my terrible experience and wanted to ensure that I had an opportunity to make the tea myself for its full true effect.

I just received the package today and was excited to see more than just a few samples of the Tamayokucha, but some of this Assam as well as the “Better Rest Blend” herbal tisane. As I have been quite in the mood for a black tea lately, I picked out one of the Assam samples and brewed it up.

The liquor is a lovely deep amber color and gives a nice malty, bitter aroma. I first tried the tea plain and found it surprisingly smooth. The bitterness in the aroma was mellowed quite a lot and left more of a sweet after-taste than I anticipated. I added some sugar and milk and this was transformed even further into a particularly delicious breakfast tea for me.

Despite the fact that it is a bagged tea, it actually rivals some of the loose breakfast blends I have. Well done, I say!

I received a sample of this tea with my order for the early release Zealong Black. So thank you to Jo for sending it along!

The dry leaf is large and full. It has a sweet malty flavor that I find very pleasant. The wet leaf is smoky and reminds me slightly of a Lapsang Souchong. So at this point, I’m perhaps a bit concerned. I detect a semblance of the same aroma with the liquor.

The liquor is a very light amber. It is much lighter than likely any other pu-erh I’ve indulged in. The first infusion definitely carries the smoky flavor I was smelling earlier. It is woody and reminds me most of a hardwood, I would say.

I can’t say I’m overfond of this first infusion. It leaves too much of a malty, smoky aftertaste for me. With more than a moment, there is something mellower that comes out, but I can’t quite identify it.

The second infusion smells more strongly of smoke, but the flavor in the tea is certainly more mild. The maltiness comes to the forefront and this has become a much smoother tea already. I would almost say mildly chocolatey undertones are present as well.

The third infusion has lost the maltiness, but not the smoke. It is sweeter and of a more crisp flavor now.

Overall, I suppose this isn’t my favorite tea with too persistent a smoky flavor. Yet I did enjoy trying it out and can think of a few friends who will enjoy trying this with me sometime as well.

I went ahead and picked up a sample of this tea along with a number of others from Tea Era when I saw that their samples are just $2 each. I’m an absolute sucker for a tea vendor that sells samples. I’m much more likely to purchase from you in the first place, and infinitely more again in the future.

I’m not normally one for flavored teas, but that was the bulk of their offering, so I decided to give a few of the more intriguing ones a whirl. I love pomegranate, so threw this in the lot!

I decided to prepare this tea gong-fu style. Now, if you read the steeping instructions, you’ll now know that I directly disregarded them. There’s a very good reason for that…. I felt like using my gaiwan. I KNOW! Best reason ever, right?

The dry leaf is perhaps a bit too tightly packed into the sample pouch and the leaves, which are already a bit smaller than I have come to expect, have broken a bit from the pouch. They have a sweet fragrance, though. I’m pretty sure it’s the vanilla and pomegranate. The wet leaves are especially fruity. You don’t really get any of the vanilla, but all the pomegranate. However, I keep saying “pomegranate”, but without reading the description I would not have pinpointed that. It’s almost more… citrusy than that.

In any case, I did at least brew this for longer than I would a typical white tea, closer in accordance with the instructions. Unfortunately, upon tasting, I feel like that was perhaps a mistake. The liquor is a nice amber color and has re-captured the mellowing vanilla. However, it’s a bit bitter and astringent from brewing overlong on my part. For now, I’ll leave it without a rating since I clearly was the cause of the poor flavor. I’ll get it better next time!

And I’ll even follow their posted instructions some day, too!