Scatterbrain

My very first tea maker besides a basic bamboo strainer. From what I can see, this is virtually the same design as Adagio’s IngenuiTea maker and numerous other nearly identical products from other companies. I must say the design is very cool and works well. It’s very easy to brew, just put the leaves inside along with your hot water and when you’re ready to pour, simply place the device on top of your cup. I love the simplicity. I haven’t noticed any “notes of plastic” in my tea when using this, the tea still maintains it’s pure and natural flavor. The only problem is that it sometimes leaks a little bit which can be annoying. But overall, I’m happy with it.

This time around I intentionally oversteeped it by three minutes just to see if it was possible for it to attain bitterness. The things I do when I should be starting my schoolwork… Well, there was still almost no detectable astringency, just a fleeting trace. Still very smooth. This time around, it’s very roasty and reminiscent of fresh-baked bread with a hint of sweetness, and a taste that doesn’t “taste” like caramel per se, but invokes thoughts of caramel. I love this stuff.

I’m not sure what vendor they got this tea from, but I bought it from a little tea and spice shop called Spices ‘n Such in a farmer’s market in Pennsylvania. I was surprised by this one. I really expected it to be disappointing as they didn’t seem to have the greatest selection of teas in this particular shop, but I was pleasantly surprised. The leaves, rather than being fragmented, were actually long and flat. The flavor was much different than the previous (and only other) dragonwell that I tried which was from Serendipitea. It was slightly toasty and nutty, a little bit buttery, and had a pleasant vegetal flavor. THIS is what I was expecting when I was let down by the mediocrity of Serendipitea’s dragonwell. I enjoyed this.

Bought at a tea shop in Malford, Pennsylvania for $1.50 per ounce. This one wasn’t bad, but it left a little bit to be desired. The gunpowder green tea itself was very good, it had that nice mellow smokiness I love in a gunpowder. Where this tea fell short was in the peppermint. The mint leaves were very fine, mostly brown particles and were pretty bland as far as scent and flavor goes. There was a little bit of a mellow mint flavor present but it wasn’t as crisp as I had hoped. Not the greatest gunpowder mint, but for the price it was satisfactory. Definitely a casual everyday cup.

I’m bored, I had a box of this laying around, and I’ve been drinking sencha all day so I thought it was time for a change. This is one of the few bagged teas I actually enjoy, although there isn’t much actual TEA flavor at all (but what do you expect)? It doesn’t really taste all that much like eggnog, to me it actually tastes a lot like butter rum. I like to think of this as a “junk food” kind of tea. This isn’t something I lean on when I want a quality cup of tea, it’s something I go for when I’m really craving something sweet…and it gets the job done. With a little cream and sugar, it can really ward away a candy/dessert craving and its odd flavor is strangely comforting.

Super smooth and toasty. There’s not much to remark about when it comes to this tea (or genmaicha in general), it’s just one of life’s simple pleasures. The green tea is a little bit more pronounced in this than Ito En’s gemaimatcha, which I like. This is a mug of comfort on a cold winter’s night. Out of the few gemaichas I’ve had so far, this one is my favorite.

Not sure what to think of this tea. Part of me kind of enjoys it, but for the most part it’s just not working for me. I got this as a sample sachet with my last order from Harney and I must say that the dry leaf smelled GREAT. But when I tasted it, it was just a bit too perfumey and the flavoring seemed to overpower the tea. Somehow it reminded me of a very subtle, white tea version of earl grey. It wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t purchase it.

I was under the impression that this company made quality tea (the ridiculous amounts of money you pay for a fancy looking tin of tea bags certainly says so). Still, I went into this knowing that I wasn’t going to get something amazing out of a teabag, but I expected it to be better than a grocery store teabag. It wasn’t. It tasted EXACTLY like these pomegranate green tea bags that Salada (a cheap grocery store brand) makes. ZERO green tea taste whatsover. All that this tastes like is hibiscus and a very artificial and medicinal pomegranate flavoring. I’m glad I got this as a free sample. All I can say is that these people are very good at marketing low quality teas with aesthetically pleasing packaging, attractive names, and promises of antioxidants. Slap the word “antioxidants” on a bag of lawn clippings and rich housewives everywhere will buy it by the kilo…

I’ve heard Ito En being called the “Lipton of Japanese tea”, meaning that the quality is very low. But I saw some of this at a store, liked the aroma coming from the leaves, and decided to sample it. It was much better than I expected. It was more lightly flavored than senchas I am accustomed to, but was still very satisfying. Less buttery than other senchas I’ve had, but a little bit more sweet and vegetal. It was very good.

It was good, but nothing special and a little disappointing. I feel like my batch might have been a little bit stale as it was pretty bland. To me, it tasted a lot like the Tazo Awake teabags, which certainly wasn’t what I was hoping for. On to the next one.

Being fairly new to the world of loose teas, there have been a lot of firsts for me lately. This marks my first white tea, and it seems like it was a great place to start. There’s something about the little down-covered buds that I find beautiful, and I loved the sweet hay smell coming from the dry leaves. But once the leaves were actually steeped, the aroma was AMAZING. Fantastically fruity and sweet, and slightly floral. It smelled very promising. I wasn’t let down. Subtle straw-like and sweet fruity flavors greeted me, and were very soothing. I drank this when I was sick, and it made me feel a whole lot better. Very relaxing and enjoyable. This isn’t something I would regularly buy, it’s a bit too indulgent and it’s only something I’m in the mood for every so often. But when I am in the mood for it, it really hits the spot. Good stuff.

Today I picked up a tin of this and it marked my first time drinking a loose leaf oolong, and I quite enjoyed the experience. Very pleasant light toasty flavors, followed by delicate sweet and ever so slightly floral notes. I paired it with some spaghetti and garlic bread and it really made the meal. I’ll definitely be trying some more oolongs in the very near future, I really enjoyed this.

EDIT: Today I decided to experiment a little. I mixed two and a half teaspoons of this with a teaspoon of Ito En’s Megami Sencha and brewed for three minutes. The result was absolutely delicious, this experiment was a success.

This was my first time trying genmaicha tea, and I must say that I quite enjoyed it. At first, I was a little put off by it, it was just so unfamiliar and new to me and I thought it was a little strange at first. But I didn’t give up on it and as I kept sipping and familiarizing myself with the unique flavor, I grew to really enjoy it. I have no previous experience with any kind of genmaicha so I’m sure I’m not a good judge of what a “good” matcha iri genmaicha should be, and I’m sure there are much better choices out there than Wegmans, but I found it very comforting on this cold winter’s night.

Picked some of this up when I saw it at Wegman’s today. They don’t identify the brand on the label, but I’ve been told that most of the bulk green teas Wegman’s carries are from Ito En. Well, this is my first ever sakura sencha and it was extremely bland and disappointing. To me, it just tasted like what the third or fourth steeping of a normal sencha would taste like. Very bland and watery. I didn’t taste any of the sakura blossoms, and the tea itself had very little flavor to speak of. I’m glad I only bought about two dollars worth of this stuff, stay away.

Being a fan of the more common red rooibos and wanting to broaden my horizons, I picked up a pound of this stuff on Amazon for around twelve dollars. There was no way I could pass up such a good deal, especially on an organic product. Upon opening the product, it looked a bit different than I had imagined. It wasn’t entirely green, there were red and straw colored pieces throughout, and it was finer than I had imagined. I took a whiff of the freshly opened bag and immediately I was reminded of hay, but that wasn’t a bad thing. It was an earthy smell, but in a pleasant and comforting way with notes of sweetness. So without hesitation, I brewed it up. I used two heaping tablespoons for twelve ounces of water. The color of the infusion, to my surprise, was not green at all. It was a bold and striking amber, and something about it called me in. I took my first sip, and it didn’t take long for my mind to process the flavors it was encountering. It was light and crisp, mild and refreshing. The biggest element to the flavor was definitely that of a sort of sweet hay. Along with this, I tasted just a little bit of the red rooibos flavor I was accustomed to. The finish reminded me of grass and a mild, mellow green tea. All this may sound a bit strange, but boy was it good. I’m at the time of year where it’s starting to get really cold and the days are shorter, and this time of year always brings my moods down. But this beverage provided a great warmth and comfort, everything about it reminded me of summer in the countryside. I pictured the sun shining after a light rain, feeling its soothing warmth on my body, inhaling the newly purified air and the scent of fresh cut grass. This proved to be just what I needed. It was soothing, delicate, crisp, and refreshing. I imagine it would be great iced, and it will make a good substitute for those nights when I’m craving green tea but need to get to bed soon. I encourage any curious minds to pick some up and try it, especially if you need something that won’t stimulate you – but will lift your spirits right up.

Picked some of this up on Amazon because it had fairly good reviews, and it was a mere twenty dollars for eight ounces. For a dragonwell, that is a phenomenal price. Upon opening the bag, the leaves were a little bit discolored and quite varying in size and shape, which you won’t normally see in a good dragonwell. Upon tasting, it wasn’t bad but I was unimpressed. Just a very mellow and basic green tea flavor. There was nothing that caught my attention, nothing that stood out. If this were expensive, it would be receiving a bad rating. However, it is very cheap – and for everyday drinking purposes I think it is suitable. If you’re looking for an affordable everyday green, this makes a fine choice. Just don’t expect anything special.

The general consensus seems to be in favor of this tea, and I have to hop on the bandwagon. As others have said, the aroma of the dry leaves is intoxicating. According to Harney, this tea is flavored with bergamot, fruit flavors, and vanilla – and I must say the bergamot and vanilla take center stage in this brew. This is just a great tea, all the flavors are PERFECTLY balanced. The tea itself is smooth and full flavored and is neither too strong nor is it overpowered by the other flavors. At first the bergamot flavor hits you and then it’s rounded out by a smooth vanilla creaminess, which is finally followed by subtle, delicate fruit notes. This is a delicious and soothing flavored tea and is quite a bargain. Without a doubt, I suggest you pick some up. This is one of my new favorites.

This is the very first sencha I tried, and it remains one of my favorites to this day because it is a good quality sencha for the money. This is what got me hooked on the buttery, vegetal taste of a good Japanese green. In my opinion, this is the best sencha for everyday drinking. Recommended.