IdentiTEA

So, I have had this particular canister of tea in my stash for over a year… and it is still going strong (thanks to the air tight canister it is in).

It is a bold tea, just under an Irish breakfast blend I would say. It has notes of caramel and almonds with a bit of a smokey aroma/flavor, as well.

I have been drinking this hearty brew in the morning as a pick-me-up. Good stuff.

It has a mellow flavor for being a black tea… light color… intoxicating aroma, fruity and woody, that comes from both the bag of tea and the cup. So good.

An absolutely horrible name for a tea… but it tastes great!

I say horrible name because it gives the assumption that oolongs are used for weight loss. Simply put, there is no proof of this. End of discussion.

However, the tea itself tastes quite smooth. There is just enough orange flavor and it isn’t overpowering. My 2oz. sample is almost gone. The leaves are large and open up a lot, so make sure to give them a lot of room

I have been taking this to work with me for the last week and a half. It’s a great “wake the heck up and be productive” tea.

As far as taste, it is smokier and more astringent than a Ceylon tea, but it is not too bold. It’s fine with nothing added to it. I’m sure it could stand up to milk, but why bother?

I have had this tea a few times now and I still can’t figure it out. The tea has a flavor, but tastes nothing like mandarin or any type of citrus and only slightly like white tea. What’s more, I can’t really discribe the flavor beyond what it isn’t.

It’s weird, but it’s drinkable on the days in which I can tolerate flavored teas and tea bags.

The dry leaves smell a lot like Dragon Well. The color of the tea is an extremely light yellow.

Wow! I know you are not supposed to base the taste of the tea on it’s color… but because it was so light, I thought it was going to be rather mellow… it was not. It has an intense fresh, grassy taste with a nutty and buttery background. Even with the astringency, the tea was a pleasure to drink.

Basically, it reminded me a lot of Dragon Well… only ten times smoother and fresher.

The steeped tea was fun to pour out of the teapot. When I started to pour the tea into the pitcher it was a light yellowish orange color, then all of a sudden a blood red color comes out of the spout of the teapot. This gave the tea a dark red hue. The aroma of the tea is a mix of vanilla and mint with a licorice aroma in the background.

Wow, what an interesting combination of flavors and sensations. At first I taste the sweet vanilla, and then I feel the coolness of the mint. I few seconds later I feel the heat from the cinnamon in the back of my throat.

The tea isn’t has heavy or bold as I thought it would be. Steeping pu erh for five minutes scared me because I know how bold they can be. However, this one tastes more like an herbal tea. The only thing I’m getting from the pu erh is some astringency. It isn’t bitter at all. In fact, the sweetness from the vanilla and the coolness from the mint make it rather refreshing.

The taste is… unlike other green teas. It tastes nutty and buttery. It also has a sweet, honey-like flavor to it. There isn’t much of a grassy or vegetal taste to this green tea. The boldness of this tea matches that of oolong tea – roasted notes that linger for quite some time.

This should not be an intro tea to those trying greens for the first time as it is rather bold and astringent. The tea isn’t bitter, but the intensity of the roasted flavor can be a surprise. Although, if you want to drink green tea and you don’t particularly like the grassy taste, this would be a good one to try as it has darker qualities similar to oolong and black tea.

With that said, this is a great tea for those who are tired of the same old stuff. This Houjicha is a rather complex tea and it surprises me every time I take another sip. I have to remind myself that this is a green tea even though the taste is unlike anything else.

Christmas in July? Nope, just going through my boyfriend’s tea stash.

I gave him this tea last holiday. In fact, I gave away several of these tins to people as stocking stuffers.

I didn’t save any of this particular tea for myself, so when I saw it in his cabinet I made me a cup. It was meh. It’s a hearty black tea full of chestnut flavor. The tea definitely delivered what it said it would, it just seemed to be missing something. I wonder how this tea blended with cranberries would taste. I know this is weird for me to say, but I think this tea would taste better with milk/cream.

So so sooo good!

This is a green tea that didn’t have that punch-you-in-the-face grassy taste… it tasted more like buttered toast. It still had a nice, crisp, fresh taste though. It was oh so smooth; no bitterness or astringency.

Full review with pictures here – http://mysteepedidentitea.blogspot.com/2010/07/rishi-teas-dragon-well-review.html

I honestly don’t understand all the hype behind Earl Grey tea. I dislike the taste of bergamot that is used in the Earl Grey recipe. It tastes more like licking a rusty pipe than it does an orange. That is why I have been on the hunt to find a really good orange flavored black tea.

While vacationing in Tennessee last week, I came across the Black Bear Tea Company in the Mountain Mall in Gatlinburg. As soon as I spotted the Black Orange tea, I picked it up… no hesitation.

I am home from vacation and finally get to see if I made a good purchase. Indeed, I did! The taste is quite mellow for a black tea. The orange is obviously the key note but it is not overwhelming – I can still taste the black tea. The brew is sweet and tangy, not bitter, but a little astringent. I bet this would be incredible iced!

The only bad thing is… I can’t find this blend on their website. :(

I had a weird craving for grapefruit this afternoon. I didn’t have any of the actual fruit at home so I made a cup of this tea.

After drinking it, I wish I would have just made an extra trip to buy the real thing. The tea was meh… it needed more grapefruit flavor as it seemed a tad bland. Normally I am against flavoring tea altogether, but in this case I thought “pick a side – either taste like a particular flavoring or don’t.”

The first thing I noticed was the incredibly green color of the liquor. I think it is just a shade lighter than Den’s “Extra Green” stuff.

The aroma of the tea is nutty with a steamed vegetable scent in background.

The taste is grassy and nutty. The aftertaste is that of steamed vegetables. It’s a little astringent, not bitter. I am really digging the nutty taste in this one; it fits so well with the vegetal flavor. It is somewhere between a light and medium bodied tea.

I like it. Too bad I only have a sample of it. :(

Made this iced – hot brewed, cooled to room temperature, then added ice.

It is brisk and refreshing. A nice full bodied tea that has a touch of smokiness and just enough sweetness.

So, I was sitting at my boyfriend’s house last night, waiting for him to return from his summer bowling league…

It was about 7pm and I was bored channel surfing through one crappy television show after another… so I decided to dig into his tea stash. I found an assorted Tazo box and searched it for some decaf tea because it was late – I don’t normally have tea after 6pm because I seem to be sensitive to caffeine.

I plucked Lotus from the box and made a cup. Bad decision. It was bad, but drinkable. Both the aroma and taste were strictly lotus… it was like chewing on a flower. It was astringent, but I wouldn’t stay it was bitter. Not exactly sweet… just… floral… only floral.

I drank the whole cup, but I will never make this again.

I wasn’t too excited about this year’s Shincha season because I ordered Shincha from O-Cha last year and I wasn’t that impressed.

I tried Den’s this time because they have never failed me before… and they still haven’t.

The taste is delicate, super sweet, and smooth. Hardly any astringency – only when I get to the bottom of the cup does the dryness start to build. No bitterness… just the silky smooth grassy flavor. Hands down, one of the sweetest green teas I have had to this point.

See previous note for this tea

I didn’t mention this in the last note and wanted to add that this matcha is very smooth, among all of its other great qualities.

My first matcha ever was Teavana’s matcha… which is absolutely disgusting – unless you like drinking bland flavored water with the texture of sand. That experience almost turned me off to matcha completely until an awesome tea friend of mine opened my eyes to the realization that all of Teavana is the epitome of evil.

I have had a couple of different matcha’s since that tragedy, but none as smooth as this. There is no grainy texture to this matcha, even after getting pretty darn close to the bottom of the bowl. It feels like drinking tea and not like chewing on sandy seawater.

No notes yet.

Delicious! With each sip I get a touch of sweetness on the tip of my tongue, then a few seconds later I can feel the slight tingling of bitterness on the back of my tongue and throat. The overall flavor is amazing – grassy, vegetal, frickin’ awesome. It is more mellow than I thought it would be… but maybe I screwed up the ratio of matcha to water. After I finished the bowl, my mouth is a little dry, though.

Oh my good golly gosh! This tea is fantastic. It is a lot sweeter than I thought it would be. The grassy/vegetal flavor just glides across my tongue. Absolutely no bitterness, but just a hint of astringency.

The color of this tea is a beautiful bright green. It makes me impatient for spring to arrive…

I think I am going to cheat on my buddy, Sencha, and hangout more with Gyokuro today.

It took me about 5 minutes just to break apart the cake – it felt like I was chiseling away at a rock. The dry leaf aroma is almost a lack thereof. What I can find is a subtle, earthy, almost sweet aroma.

I gave it a quick rinse and the water instantly turned a reddish brown. Then, I steeped the leaves for 30 seconds. The liquor is the color of black coffee – a very deep brown.

The aroma of the tea is very earthy. Kind of smells like wet dirt. It reminds me of walking around a campsite after all of the fires have gone out.

The taste is very, very strong. The first tiny sip took my breath away. It is very bitter and has a strong smoky, earthy taste. The after taste stays in the back of my throat for quite some time… and I’m not extremely pleased by that. I still have two other tiny cups to drink (they only hold 20ml each), but I am looking at them in spite… no thanks.

Not sure why I am doing this, but I am going to try a second steep. I tried to steep it for 30 seconds, but I got nervous and pulled it at 20 seconds. The liquor is still as dark as the first steep. There is still the same aroma, except I can detect some slight floral notes. (wait, what?!)

This time the taste didn’t kick me in the butt as much as the first. It is a nice, sweet, earthy taste in the beginning, but I can feel the bitterness on the back of my tongue and throat.

I made it through the first cup, onto the second… and now the third. Ok, this is drinkable, but I still have to brace myself before each sip. Those who love Irish Breakfast tea or take their coffee black would adore this stuff. As for myself, it’s an exotic experience, but I couldn’t do this everyday.

Here are some informal pictures of my tasting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17428844@N07/sets/72157623321744964/

Green tea and Super Mario Bros, that’s what I say! Went over to a friend’s house after class and ended up playing the new multiplayer Super Mario Brothers game for the Nintendo Wii. Before we sat down to conquer Bowser and save the princess, I stole a couple of his Zen tea bags and made us each a cup.

For a bagged tea, Zen makes a decent cup… enough for me to keep coming back to it if I want a quick brew. I adore spearmint. I believe this flavor, along with a touch of lemon, save the mediocre green tea that is in this blend. I guess I really like this one because it is a flavored tea that is not all about the flavorings. The green tea is most definitely the base in which the spearmint and lemon complement it – I taste the slightly grassy green tea first, the lemon provides a bit of acidity, and the spearmint is left in the end.

Took this to class with me last night. I sat down in a seat while wearing my orange Chicago Bears (Matt Forte) jersey. I took a sip of tea right as the professor said “I see we have Tennessee orange today.” /swallow choke cough/

Rewinding a bit… while making this tea, I noticed that the package says “Black Tea” right under the title of “Wuyi Oolong.” Needless to say, that confused me. But, it does taste more like black tea than oolong. It had an average bit of dryness with a slightly smoky flavor. Not bitter at all. The color was an orangy-yellow.

Overall it was a decent cup… but I am still confused that the title is “Wuyi Oolong” and it tastes like black tea.

Took this with me to class tonight (the liquid not the leaves). I am not a huge fan of oolongs, but I do crave them every now and then. I really wanted some green tea, but I am out of the good stuff and wasn’t about to settle for gunpowder.

Anyways, this tea had the typical oolong taste which I have yet to figure out how to put into words. It was on the greener side of things with the gentle grassy and smooth vegetal flavors. It was not bitter or astringent at all. The liquor was mostly yellow with a slight green tint to it. Overall I was pleased… it gave me something to do while lazily taking notes about American History in the 1800s.