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Coldbrewed for twelve hours and sweetened. AMAZING. The blueberry flavor comes out even more, it’s vibrant and sweet and maybe a little bit tart (in a pleasant way). Contrary to what I expected, the creaminess was more subdued but it was delicious nonetheless. Coldbrewing intensifies the blueberry flavor and makes this an incredibly refreshing iced tea. And now I try strawberry zabaglione iced!

This one’s growing on me, I’m learning to like it for what it is. I expected it to be a complex yunnan but the truth is it’s a solid and bold breakfast tea, and that’s a good thing too. It manages to be bold and invigorating without being too brisk or bitter. It’s strong yet smooth and quite the eye opener, and its bready heartiness is quite comforting. Rating is going up, because this is actually quite a good breakfast tea.

Edit: This is Kwinter in case you were wondering. I just felt like changing things up. My new name is a reference to my favorite band.

Oh my. This one exceeded my expectations. I had the neopolitan ice cream SBT and enjoyed that but this one is even better. I mostly get lime and orange and there’s a definite creaminess to it, this is incredibly refreshing. I’ll definitely be buying more of this. As a side note, I’m finding that I’m getting better results with these SBT teas when I take the leaves out of the bag and cold brew like normal.

Right now, for my next experiment, I’ve got a jug of Blueberry Zabaglione cold-brewing in the fridge and I’m sure that’s gonna be great as well.

Edit: I just noticed it’s spelled “sherbet”. My whole life I thought it was “sherbert”… Haha

Five steeps in and I’m floating. Feeling the sheng energy within me. I love this stuff. So smooth and sweet, aromatic and smokey and a little fruity. Thick mouthfeel, swish it around in my mouth and then it goes down smooth and warm. Wonderful.

Edit: I just came down from my cloud after stabbing myself with the pu’er pick while breaking off more of the tuo cha, it hurt like hell but it’s nothing a bandage won’t fix. I guess this is what happens when you’re a newbie in dealing with breaking pressed pu’er.

Wow, I can’t believe 52teas has had a blend out this long without it being reviewed! I’ve been debating on buying this one for a while, it sounded intriguing but I was hesitant given the fact that you only get an ounce for $8.99, but I finally decided to go for it.

The white tea base is very nice and a little sweet, and the flavoring manages not to overpower the tea base. All the flavors are balanced quite well. I don’t really taste either bergamot or blackcurrant as separate flavors, they kind of morph together to form a whole new experience. It’s all very subtle and it works well, good stuff.

Mmm, blueberries and cream. It’s as simple as that and I’m loving it. Not quite as creamy as Strawberry Zabaglione but the blueberry flavor is great. This would be awesome iced.

An old friend. This stuff gets better and better each time I drink it. The bergamot is strong and I’m learning to love that. I feel like bergamot is another addiction for me within the world of tea. When I want it, I WANT IT BAD. That’s why I ran out and grabbed this right after my Earl Grey Cheesecake was gone, and now I’ve got some Earl Black on the way as well. :)

Very disappointed with this one. I’m not getting any of the flavors described in Rishi’s description or people’s tasting notes. I don’t taste any caramel, any chocolate, any raisin or really anything beyond a simple “black tea taste”. It just tastes like your run of the mill breakfast blend to me. Simple, flat, boring. I hate to be such a critic but it really bothers me when I feel like I’ve completely wasted my money on a tea. It doesn’t even taste like a Yunnan tea to me, it just tastes like a flat assam. Oh well…

The scent of the dry leaf is comforting and inviting, hay and dried grass not unlike many white teas. The smell of the leaf while brewing is even more promising, the hay is still there along with a nutty and buttery scent, and I didn’t know it was possible but I’m actually smelling sweetness, and a little bit of a floral scent like faint and fleeting traces of jasmine.

I should also mention that the leaves of this tea are gorgeous. The taste is more complex than expected, first and foremost it’s nutty, but there is also quite a floral taste and a sweetness reminding me of a green oolong, and it finishes with a mild buttery-smooth flavor.

This is a very nice, soothing cup.

Backlog… I bought Mandala’s mini-tuocha sampler and this, along with the 2005 Pu Wen Ripe Coin Pu’er is the absolute best of the bunch in my opinion. They’re all tasty, but these ones just seem to be way ahead of the rest in terms of quality and taste.

So how can I describe it? Smooth is the first thing that comes to mind, very smooth. Also very sweet with a pretty intense chocolatey flavor. And, well, these things are huge. Double to TRIPLE the size of most of the other minis. These are very very good, and this sampler has done its job because I’ve found my new favorite mini-tuochas (though nothing will top Verdant’s Cornfields minis in my eyes).

Sipdown… This is becoming a favorite of mine and I’m really gonna miss it. The bergamot continues to mellow and taste more natural while the cheesecake creaminess pops out more and more and it’s really tasting better and better with each day that’s going by. This one is AMAZING iced (this is the first time I’ve ever iced an earl grey, I always thought it would be weird but NOW I UNDERSTAND. So crisp and refreshing, and in this case a little creamy.

So there goes my last tea from 52teas in my cupboard, but I don’t need to worry because I’ve got more on the way! Blueberry Zabaglione, Strawberry Zabaglione, Earl Black (which I believe I’m the first to review?), Cinnamon Roll Honeybush and a few SBT teas. I went a little crazy (by my standards anyway). Can’t wait!

I’ve been camping since friday morning and I just got back today, and it feels good to be home. I enjoy camping for the most part, but for some reason my family just loves the campground with the beaten down trailers and pink lawn flamingoes, and the tattered rebel flags wavin’ proud while old toothless men sit around drinking bud light and blasting country music. I’m not being judgemental, that’s just not my scene.

I had to listen to one too many conversations about how terrible a president Obama is, how he’s “a foreigner and a muslim and he should be assasinated” and things of that nature. All this has left me in a bad mood. One of the most resounding sentences that I heard come out of someone’s mouth was “Now I ain’t racist or nothin’, but I just don’t think that an african-american or a muslim should be running this country”. WOW. Sometimes I just have my mind blown by just how bigoted and mean and misled and racist some people can be. So yeah, I’m really glad to be home.

Anyway, on to the tea. I definitely am starting to see what Liberteas said about letting this tea sit for a little bit. I’m already starting to notice a creaminess coming out that was totally absent before, it’s not quite cheesecake but it’s good. Along with that, the bergamot is starting to mellow out and taste a little more natural. I better enjoy my stash while I can because my tea budget just went out the window after I bought my girlfriend a very expensive piece of jewelry for her 18th birthday. I’ll enjoy this stuff while I have it.

I’ve been eyeing this for a looong time now, I love Harry Potter and I also love root beer, it’s easily my favorite soda of all time (the real stuff that is, along with Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer). As other people have said, the smell of the dry leaf is incredible. I mean really, it shocked me with how amazing it smelled. Pure root beer.

But… I think the sheer greatness of the smell of the dry leaf set me up to be a little disappointed with the taste of the tea itself. But I can’t deny that it’s tasty, it just didn’t wow me like strawberry zabaglione (I’m still very limited in my experience with 52teas).

All in all, it’s tasty stuff and it’s worth having around if only to stick my nose in the pouch and repeatedly inhale its intoxicating aroma. :)

This is one of the samples I got today from TeaEqualsBliss, thanks so much to her. I LOVE cranberries and I’ve had good luck with Harney’s flavored teas so far so I was excited about this one. It’s very good. The black tea is smooth and the flavors are light, but they’re strong enough to let you know they’re there while remaining natural tasting. The cranberry is stronger than the orange, and there’s definitely some cranberry tartness (which is why I love cranberries so). Good stuff, now I gotta try Boston. Thanks, TeaEqualsBliss!

Since I need to cut back on the caffeine late at night, I thought I’d give this another try. This time I used double the amount of “leaf” and steeped for ten minutes and I actually kinda like it. The spice was comforting, and I actually tasted some of the chocolate. I guess rooibos is just sort of an acquired taste. Now I’m on the hunt for some tasty rooibos/honeybush blends for late night sippin’!

Sigh… Another sleepless night, this is the second time this week. I suppose it has something to do with my habit of drinking tea late at night, it’s just a hard thing for me to give up because I really enjoy doing that. Night time is my time of peace when I can truly be alone and savor my tea. Soo, I’m now on the hunt for some kind of decaf or herbal alternative. I’m just a little weary of decaf teas and I’ve never been all that fond of herbals for the most part. So hit me guys, what are some of your favorite decafs or herbals?

Anyways, the review. Hehe. Not much to say about this one, it’s alright I guess. Not great, ever so slightly above teabags in flavor. Easy to overbrew and it seems to have some acidity to it which I’ve never really experienced in tea before. But this is the first tea I’ve had from Ito En that let me down, I would still recommend their teas overall, especially their higher quality Japanese greens.

And now I wait for the rest of the Steepster world to get up because I have nothing better to do… :)

Early morning cuppa. Instead of the usual in-your-face bold cup of caffeine overload (coffee) that I would normally go for, I decided to brew up something gentle to ease me into the day. It’s a peaceful morning here in Pennsylvania, the birds are chirping and there’s a light fog as I sip this mellow goodness and stare into the woods behind my house. Life is good. Good morning Steepsterites!

Aroma of steeping tea: The aroma reminded me of camping in the great outdoors. It was very smokey with lots of woodsy smells reminding me of damp moss, citronella and sandalwood. At this point I’m very excited, this is exactly the type of thing I was looking for.

Taste: The smokiness is the dominant flavor, but there are a lot of other things going on. I get hints of tangy lemon, crisp mint and eucalyptus and a very pleasing bittersweet nature. This tea has a very thick and full mouthfeel, there is a lot of substance to it. Throughout the course of steepings the flavors have seemed to stay mostly the same, just becoming a little more muted with each steep…but that doesn’t mean the tea becomes boring. There is more going on in this tea than I can really even name. This is a truly exciting tea (not to mention the level of energy its giving me is unbelievable, don’t drink this one too late at night!).

All in all, I’m very much enjoying this one and I’m happy with my purchase. This one was a bargain.

I got my first order from Mandala today and I could barely contain the excitement. Inside my package were some very generous bonus goodies including a tea needle, thanks so much Garret.

First steep:
The aroma of the steeped tea produced the scents I am accustomed to in a typical silver needle, which are nectar and hay. There was also a bit of that “aged” smell along with it. As for the taste, all the flavors were subtle as I expected. The most dominant flavor to me is that of a crisp, sweet and slightly tart apple, with just the slightest bit of pu-erh earthiness. Some hints of spice are also present.

Second steep:
The apple flavor has turned more towards pear, and there are hints of sandalwood and a trace of camphor. Along with that, there is also some maltiness.

And I’m gonna leave it at that for now, I’l take it to further steepings some other time but for now I’m just too excited about trying my other new teas! This was a truly unique and delicious tea experience, I quite enjoyed it.

50% Ureshino Tama Ryokucha – 50% Uji Kabuse cold steeped for nine hours.

Drinking this iced and it’s incredibly refreshing. This method of brewing produced significantly more sweetness than the traditional brewing method. Through the cold brewing method, the liquid takes on a cloudy green color like that of matcha ice cream and the tea actually has some similarities to that taste wise as well. This stuff is lightly vegetal with little hints of cream, sweetness, and citrus. Great combination for iced tea.

Silky.
Smooth.
Vibrant.
Fresh.
Vegetal.
Invigorating.
Energizing.

Man, I sure do love me some Japanese green tea.

This one is growing on me quite a bit. I need to learn a little more patience in deciding whether or not I “like” a tea, because they almost always end up growing on me once I familiarize myself with the flavors. Smooth green tea flavor with the comforting scent of rice. This tea also has a very pleasant and unexplainable bittersweet nature to it, it starts out with a bitter and slightly astringent bite that turns into a sweet and tangy sensation. With further contemplation I’m realizing that this tea is more complex than I realized.

On another note, I’ve just made my first Mandala tea order and I’m very excited. I got a ripe pu-erh mini-tuocha variety pack, 125 gram Xiaguan FT Flame 2007 raw pu-erh and an ounce of their 2008 silver needle cake. :)

Everything about this tea is delicate; wonderful subtle flavors melded together in perfect harmony. The liquor is a very pale green and just the sight of it is calming. This stuff is very nutty, maybe a little more nutty than Teavivre’s “Premium grade” dragon well. It’s very silky and light and right after the liquid leaves your tongue as you swallow, you get a tingly, sparkling sweetness. Nutty, a little vegetal, sweet, calming and refreshing. A good dragonwell really centers you, and this one is exquisite.

Now on my third infusion of this late at night, just how I like it. Taking in its smooth, rich earthiness. I love it.

I doubt anyone’s up right now (at least in this time zone) but I’m just so excited about this that I had to share…

This is what I plan on getting as my first gaiwan
http://www.yishanteashop.com/Steeping_Tea/

I think it’s BEAUTIFUL, what do you guys think?