Scatterbrain

I finally did it, I placed my first order with Verdant. I spent a lot of time debating whether or not to do it, but the curiosity has been killing me and I knew that I HAD to do it. I got an ounce of the spring harvest Laoshan green, an ounce of the cornfields shu tuo cha, and an ounce of the golden fleece black tea (which is the one I’m REALLY excited to try). For that three ounces of tea, I spent $40.00. I’m having a really hard time wrapping my head around that number, I feel a bit ashamed to be honest. But if I would have never tried their tea, I would’ve always been left wondering. Sometimes you just have to live.

But anyway, I’ve spent enough time rambling completely off-topic, I just had to get that out there because I’m PUMPED. Now to the tea at hand. This stuff never disappoints me. This is possibly the most comforting tea I’ve had to date. It’s a very light-bodied tea but the flavor is there and it’s right on point. I can summarize this tea in four simple words: Malty, roasty, chocolatey, sweet. In other words, COMFORT. So for now I’ll sit here and sip on this cup of heaven while thoughts of the wondrous teas to come drift through my mind. And then I’ll spend the next week VERY impatiently awaiting my Verdant order…

I’m still new to unflavored black tea and I have to say that there’s a lot more too it than I expected. I wasn’t aware that so many different flavors and layers of complexity could be present in black teas. I guess the reason for that is just the fact that whenever I thought of black tea, some kind of bagged English breakfast was always what popped into my mind. And because of my expectations, when I first opened my sample bag of Teavivre’s bailin gongfu black I was blown away. I actually felt a rush of adrenaline from the excitement in knowing that I was in for a treat and a surprise. I was shocked. Upon opening this sample bag provided for me in my second round of Teavivre samples, I experienced a flashback to that moment of awakening. The leaves are beautiful. Part rich cocoa color, but mostly a rustic gold composing the beautiful twists of leaf. The golden color of the leaves is much like the amber glow pouring in through my windows just before sunset this evening. Before I got into loose-leaf tea, I NEVER would have thought that “black” tea could look this way, and to be honest I still don’t understand what causes this to happen, but it sure is cool. Now on to the taste. All of what I taste in this tea has been said before. Mostly cocoa, a little malty, with little hints of sweet potato and honey intermingled. Also, there is a definite genuine sweetness to it when I allow it to sit in my mouth for a bit and let it touch different parts of my tongue (as strange as that may sound). It is delicious, and it’s a perfect end to a not-so-good day.

My computer still isn’t working so I’m once again confined to my phone, which means this review’s gonna be short and sweet. This stuff is GREAT. Smooth, rich and earthy with chocolate and leather tones. My fixations in the world of tea change, and now pu-erh is the subject of my intrigue. The taste of pu-erh is quickly growing on me and I’m making it a goal to try more because it’s a fascinating type of tea. This is a satisfying cup.

The other day I bought a few different loose teas from unidentified brands in bulk at Wegman’s, and this is one of the teas that I know to be Ito En. The citrus smell is there in the dry leaf but is very light, it’s more of a subtle hay like smell with hints of citrus. Upon tasting, this tea is different than what I am used to in a sencha in that it doesn’t really have that vegetal flavor, it’s just a pure buttery flavor with light citrus undertones and it makes for a very tasty cup.

Favorite pu-erh I’ve had so far, this is downright delicious. I’ll add more description later, I won’t have my computer for another week and I don’t quite feel like writing tea reviews on my phone. :) But in the mean time, you should try some! Hope all are doing well.

I was browsing Barnes and Noble today and was excited to see that they had a few Harney and Sons teas for sale in sachet form, and I decided to try this one. I was expecting it to be a darker oolong but it turned out to be a tie guan yin, but I was still just as excited. It’s pretty good, nothing remarkable but solid. The oolong is lightly floral (much less so than Teavivre’s tie guan yin) and there’s the slightest touch of juicy tartness that goes well with the floral aspect. Not sure if it’s gonna go on my list to re-purchase, but it’s good.

I’ve been experimenting with this tea a lot today, with a lot of my focus on it’s psychoactive effects and I have found it to be very useful. I’ve found that the stimulation it produces is indeed different than that of what coffee produces. The effect I receive from this is less panicky and heart-pounding and more intellectually stimulating. Alertness and focus seem to be increased, as well as memory retention and productivity. And the best part about it is that despite the mental stimulation, there is also quite a profound calming and mood-enhancing effect that complements it. Normally school DRAGS on for me for what feels like forever, and I am a bit lazy and almost always low on motivation. But today I was focused, productive, and had a positive outlook on my situation. I am still being affected by this beverage as I sit here during a late night reading session. The book I am currently reading is easily one of the most dense and difficult to read books I have ever taken on and I am breezing through it compared to my normal slow and steady pace (the book is “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace in case you’re wondering, up next is some Aldous Huxley and John Muir). In summary, I am finding this tea to be both a tasty treat and a useful tool for a few different purposes. I now feel that I understand “the night watchman”.

I’ve gotta be honest, I was mostly interested in guayusa as a substitute for coffee, purely for stimulation. But this blend also happens to be very tasty. It is minty of course, but with a smooth earthiness to it. To me, it tasted a lot like a catnip or skullcap tea (both of which I love). As for the stimulation, I’m a little let down. I brewed up a very potent cup (three and a half tablespoons of leaf for 12 ounces of water) and I’m just not feeling much. To be fair though, I have a pretty high caffeine tolerance. Anyhow, this is very tasty, and I got a pound for around $13 through subscribe and save on Amazon so I’m happy. Soon I’ll have to try straight guayusa and see how I like that.

I thought this was a very tasty and smooth earl grey. In my experience, you must be careful in brewing it and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. I attempted to brew it like a standard black tea using boiling water but this produced a bitter tea. I tried again with a temperature of approximately 190-200 degrees Fahrenheit and it was DELICIOUS. It was a more mellow earl grey than what I am used to but it was very unique and delicious. Man, earl greys have really grown on me… I’m really enjoying my samples from Fusion and I’m thinking I’m gonna have to place an order in the future.

This is delicious, but you have to like tart flavors. The main flavors are essentially sweet and tart cranberry, pomegranate, and hibiscus flavors with subtle warming spices in the background. It’s very juicy and mouth watering, I’m a big fan of this stuff.

First of all, I’m going to start off by getting a little personal. For about three and a half years now, I’ve been battling severe addiction and depression. But for the past few weeks, I’ve been clean and I started taking medication and it’s made A WORLD of difference. I share this with you for two reasons: 1. To feel as good as I do right now compared to how I was THRILLS me, and I feel like I have to share it with the world. And 2, one of the things I’ve noticed in feeling better is that my senses are so much more clear now. I taste and smell things I couldn’t detect before. Everything tastes/smells so much more vibrant now, and that is how this whole rant relates to this tea. I knew it was good before, but now it’s a whole new experience. Still floral, sweet, and refreshing-but now I’m truly EXPERIENCING it. I hope my streak continues.

I have to say that I like this quite a bit more than others on here seem to. It has an earthy, somewhat smokey/musty flavor that reminds me a lot of pu-erh and I think that those flavors are complemented quite well by the caramel flavor. I was expecting to need to add milk and sugar but I found that it was mellow enough and had enough sweetness on its own. I didn’t like this as much as the mocha mint mate, but it was still very good.

It feels like I’ve been enjoying loose-tea for forever, but there are times when I am reminded just how new I really am to the world of tea. Since December I’ve tried my first white tea, my first oolong tea, my first rooibos, my first pu-erh, and now it’s time for my first mate. Yes, this one is flavored, but it left me feeling very curious to try more mate blends because it was DELICIOUS. There are so many different layers of warm toastiness in this and that toastiness blends PERFECTLY with the slight chocolate flavors. Then you get the crisp, fresh mint flavor to liven up the dark roasted tones. I love the scent coming from the dry leaf, and the flavor of this tea is just as great. I love it. Thank you, Fusion Tea Room for these generous samples.

I got my samples from Fusion Tea Room today (very large samples by the way), and I decided to try this one first. The dominant flavors for me are definitely the apple and cinnamon, and there is a little bit of a pseudo-minty flavor in the background. If I really focus on it, I can taste a little bit of the pear flavor as well. Overall, I thought this was very good. It reminded me a lot of hot apple cider with a little less sweetness. I enjoyed this.

I was very excited to see that my Teavivre order came today, I’ve been out of loose tea and impatiently waiting for my order for what feels like forever. I couldn’t ask for a better tea right now, I feel like I’m drinking the essence of spring. It’s green, floral and minerally and manages to be very refreshing hot. This was just what I needed right now. I’ve had an extremely rough couple of months and right now this is making me feel much better. I was a little disappointed to find that there was only one sample included in my order and it was just white peony, but I’ll live.

Strangely, I’ve been craving bergamot a lot lately and I also wanted to try something new, so I picked up a box of this. It was much better than I thought it would be, very satisfying for a bagged tea. Unsweetened, it’s a more fun and mild take on plain old earl grey. The citrus and bergamot really complement each other well and neither flavor is too strong, and I like that I’m actually getting some tea flavor as well. And I definitely have to agree with Uniquity, when you add a little sweetener this definitely tastes a lot like froot loops cereal. This stuff was a pleasant surprise.

Tonight I brewed this milder than before and I’m now picking up on some sweetness that wasn’t there before. I’ll have to see how many re-steepings I can get out of it and see how the flavor changes.

Invader Zim was kind enough to send me the rest of his sample packet of this. Octavia’s teas are all VERY expensive so I was curious to see whether or not they are worth the price tag. Judging by this tea alone, I would say that that doesn’t seem to be the case. This was a pretty plain tea, I found it to be slightly smokey in the way that a mild gunpowder tea would be, and I have to agree with Zim on the tobacco flavor. There was also a bit of general earthiness. This one was just okay, but that’s not acceptable when a company’s teas are SICKENINGLY expensive. Go check out their website if you want to see what I’m talking about. But price tag aside, this tea still gave me my green tea fix for the moment and I’m grateful to Invader Zim for sending it to me, thanks again.

Still great. Light, very crisp, refreshing, fruity and sweet. It’s invigorating in it’s freshness. This is the perfect tea for getting into the spring mood. I don’t know why anyone buys plain red/green rooibos from anywhere other than Davidson’s. It’s organic, I got a full pound for around twelve dollars, and it’s delicious. Now I will sit and wait for the mail in hopes that my Fusion Tea Room samples come today…

The last of my samples provided by Tommy. This one goes down real smooth and doesn’t have much else to it other than earthiness, but I’m enjoying that earthiness a lot. I’m really enjoying pu-erh right now, I think I’ll actually buy some soon.

Tonight I steeped this for a shorter time than last time and I realized it’s not as bad as I thought, it is a tiny bit better than other grocery store blacks but still, not by much. It’s still boring and flat and leaves me wanting more. But the good news is that I got an early allowance tonight and placed an order with Teavivre for 3.5 ounces each of their bailin gongfu black and tie guan yin, I’m very excited. I wish Teavivre had an earl grey tea, for some reason I’m REALLY craving bergamot lately which is strange for me. I’m almost tempted to go buy a box of Twinings earl grey (that’s how much I’m craving bergamot). But that’s enough rambling for now…

I thought I was out of tea but then I remembered that I had a couple samples left from Tommy, this being one of them. Now having a little experience with ripe pu-erh, I was very curious about trying a raw pu-erh. This one was very simple, clean, and approachable. It was very mellow with little to no odor, and a pleasant flavor that is hard for me to describe. I guess I would say it was a little earthy (but in a light and pleasant way), with a slight alkaline flavor. It felt very organic and was different than any other tea I’ve experienced. Although I’m not quite convinced that a pu-erh is my “cup of tea”, I like this quite a bit, thanks Tommy.

Hmm, tried this without cream or sugar today and I’m gonna have to bump the rating down. The creaminess that I talked about with it before now tastes exactly like Crisco. I don’t know if you’ve ever tasted Crisco on it’s own, but it is very unpleasant…and it’s certainly not something I want to be drinking. And along with that, now that I drank it without additives I can taste just how lacking the black tea flavor is. Meh :/

I’ve never said this before, but it’s a sipdown. As in I’m completely out of loose tea, and to make things worse I won’t get my monthly allowance until the the first of next month. This is a sad night. But still, this simple tea’s toasty embrace is comforting at the moment (as it usually is). I haven’t been in the mood for it lately but it still delivers.