MegWesley

Backlog #7: I am liking this more the more times I drink it. I can see how it can be an everyday cup of tea that goes well with meals. The flavor isn’t heavy enough to interfere with any food flavors, but it is enough to make it pleasant. The green tea also dries out my mouth just a little bit between bites so that my palate doesn’t get overwhelmed by flavors. This would go fantastic with sushi!

Backlog #6: You didn’t think I would stay away from some type of Yunnan that long now that I have this, did you? This one is a little less chocolately than the Golden Imperial Lotus from Teavana, but I don’t have to steep it as long to get a full cup out of it. I still only steep it only two times or else it just gets too weak for my taste.

I really want to know how this would taste in a latte, but I love it too much plain to drink it with milk. Maybe one day I will try it before I get other Yunnans.

Backlog #5: My TARDIS mug came in on the same day I got hit with a huge Earl Grey craving! I love this mug. It is so geeky and I just adore it! It is bigger than I expected it to be. It takes 1 1/2 fills from my french press to get it all of the way full. And the fact that it comes with a lid to keep your tea warm is just amazing. Everybody should have a mug with a lid.

TARDIS Mug from ThinkGeek: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/e5c5/

Backlog #4: I made some of this tea after ranting about how it tasted like butter the last time I made it. I got the water a little bit too hot because I couldn’t hear my kettle, but it was still pretty good. My friend Emily liked it too. I am introducing her to tea.

Backlog #3: I needed something sweet and rosy to get me through the day. I am almost out of this tea and I am so glad I tried it. I love rose and I need to get more tea with roses in it. Or just get a bunch of rose to blend with other teas when I want an extra rose kick.

Backlog #2: I was having a really bad day and close to tears for the entire day when my friend made me this cup of tea and brought it to our class we have together. So sweet of her!

I have had the Samurai Chai mate before and I didn’t think it was that bad, so I was a little hesitant to try it. The smell won me over. It smelled so good and warmed me right up. Then the taste was fantastic! It had just enough spice from the two chais to make me happy and enough kick from the mate to make my mind happy and relaxed. If I don’t get anything else from Teavana, I need to get these two teas to be my comfort blend.

Thank you Jordanne.

So, I just got done with exam week and I have some backlogging to do from my past few weeks that I have been absent. My computer charger died the first week I was gone. Then I just didn’t drink that much tea until after exam week. But I am back and very happy to brew some lovely teas.

Backlog #1: Jasmine “Dragon Pearls”. I brought this one out when playing Skyrim and it is only the second Jasmine tea I have ever had. It smells fantastic and it is so much fun to watch the pearls float around in my french press. The tea itself isn’t as sweet as I thought it would be and it didn’t taste like much. It was a pretty standard green tea to me, but my roommate who also tried it said it was the most fantastic Jasmine tea she has ever had. Maybe I just need to try more Jasmine teas before thinking of this one as “generic”. I will happily drink up the rest of my sample.

I have been looking forward to this yunnan ever since my tea samples came to me. The leaves were long and slender. They wouldn’t play nicely with my flat bamboo tea spoon, so I just filled the bottom of my press with leaves. The brew is nice and dark brown. It looks like a solid black tea and I could probably fool some of my friends into thinking this was coffee. It is that dark at just three minutes.

The second steep (4 mins) is just as delicious as the first (3 mins). Bold and roasty. The second steep has a slight undertone of chocolate that I love with this tea. I keep timing my teas wrong. This is a good tea to wake up with in the morning. It is slightly heavy tasting for the afternoon, but I adore it anyway. Maybe the promise of this in the morning will actually get me out of bed earlier so I can make it.

Later… third steep at 4 and a half minutes. The flavor isn’t as strong, but it is still tasty. I think I only like doing two steepings for yunnan blacks because I like them stronger.

This is my first milk oolong and I am excited. I brewed this at a hotter temperature. I didn’t let it come to a full rolling boil, but I did let it boil.

The first steep has a really, really light color. Almost clear with a hint of green. I’m a little worried because this is how the other oolong looked yesterday. Maybe I didn’t get the water hot enough? It is still a first steep. Maybe I didn’t let the leaves “rinse” enough by that little 5-15 second swish I gave the leaves. I won’t know until I dive in and taste it. I smell a very light scent. The taste is very interesting. It isn’t tasting like much-but then I’m not sure what unflavored tea is supposed to taste like since I normally drink flavored tea. But the mouth feel is amazing. I feel like I am drinking warm milk even if it isn’t that strong yet. I’m going to finish this cup and then steep it again. Until I come back, I’ll watch my friends play Skyrim while enjoying this cup.

10:49 PM: I managed to get three more steeps out of the leaves. But I noticed that the cooler the water got, the less flavor and the less milky it got. I have a feeling I didn’t get the water hot enough for even the first cup. I just read Azziran’s note to me about brewing oolongs like a black tea more than a green tea. I will have to try this with even hotter water in order to even start to experience more of the milk oolong’s flavor. I have a feeling this might become one of my favorite type of teas once I learn how to brew it right.

So, the last steeps I had of this I actually shared. My friends said it was ok, but I had the fifth steep and it still tasted similar to the second steep. I think the leaves were exhausted by the fifth steep or that the brewing method I was using didn’t use the tea to my full advantage. This is why I have more samples, I’ll figure out how to brew it yet.

I decided to make a cup of tea today and this oolong won over my other oolong that I got from the fantastic people at Teavivre. I brewed the water and took it off the heat as soon as I heard the slightest noise come from the kettle, exactly as if I was going to be brewing my green tea.

I put one sample packet into my french press and did about a 15 second rinse on the leaves. Then I steeped my first cup for two minutes. The liquid came out a very light tint of yellow. I wasn’t expecting it to be that light in color. It had a very light sweet scent. At first it didn’t taste like much, but it did have some sort of flavor.

The second steep was three minutes. The color was slightly darker and the taste was slightly stronger. Strong enough that I could taste fruit in the tea. What? Fruit in a non-fruity tea? This is amazing! Sweet and fruity. If I knew that, I would have saved this tea for the afternoon because it is really light. I’m not sure how I like it yet, but I have three samples left and I am more than willing to try it again.

I probably still have a good two steeps left in these leaves, but I’m going to save them for later. The leaves don’t have that much liquid left in them and I have the plunger down on my french press, so they should keep until the afternoon.

From what I read, this is similar how you treat an oolong when you make it in a gaiwan. But how else can you steep the tea? Is it possible to just throw it in a mug and steep it without it coming out really bitter? If it is then it would be a nice tea to drink throughout the day in classes.

In honor of today being the last day the Chinese Club is selling bubble tea to raise money for Relay for Life, I bought two. One to drink now and one to have for later. I have ice in them today and they are still super yummy! I think I might have to ask what type of black tea base they are using because it makes really good bubble tea.

My Teavivre samples came in! I am so excited. I managed to pick this one to try first because it is a different black than I have been having.

For having such a short steep time, the tea came out surprisingly dark. It has this nice toasty aroma to it that is making my mouth water. I am slightly sleep deprived right now and head deep in literature, so I might get a little flowery with my description later on. Or I might not, but I figured I would give warning just in case.

I think I might have gotten the water a little too hot for the first steep. It tasted earthy and black. A pleasant taste, but kinda flat. It could be because it is a new tea to me and I’m just not picking everything up right now.

The second steep was better. I brewed it a few seconds longer and I started to get a hint of caramel. The water was cooler at this point. I’m thankful that Teavivre sent such a large sample of this tea because now I can play with it and get my brewing method down for me.

I’m too full of tea right now to try for a third steep. I think the tea might be able to take it though. It is good, but I’m going to wait to rate it until I get a few more cups of it under my belt. I’m going to use a little bit cooler water next time. I wish I had a variable temperature water kettle, but I’ll stay with my stove top kettle for now.

Edit to Add: the last of my cup was cold by the time I drank it. Cold enough to make me think that this would be a really good lightly sweetened iced tea. Like a two serving bottle of tea with a teaspoon of honey dissolved in it kind of lightly sweetened. That would make an even better iced tea than our normal iced tea.

Mmmm, this is the best bubble tea batch that our Chinese Club girls have done all week. The bubbles taste carmelly and the tea is nice and strong. I am so glad I got a cup today.

I love this tea. I am going to have to make sure I have a stash of this type of tea on hand whenever I move out of my house. It is becoming my go-to evening tea, which is sad because I will only have one more rosette left after this one. But I will enjoy every drop. Only doing two steeps (because that is how I get the most flavor out of this bundle) at a longer steep time for each.

I do have to say that I love the second steep so much better than the first steep. The chocolate-like darkness is more pronounced. I have been having really bad chocolate cravings recently, so that may be why I have been thinking about this tea a lot.

I am going to have to buy my teacher more of the Lady if I keep drinking it with such an appetite.

Another day and another cup of bubble tea. The price is right and I found myself wanting another when I woke up this morning. So, I got another after lunch. It is less sweet this time and I find the boba really satisfying. I was also explaining it to a group of girls and I think I might have enabled at least four of them into trying it. If I see them tomorrow, I will have to ask if they did or not.

Elaina (my tea friend) also gave me some more of these when she gave me my new tea mug. This time they taste a little more peachy and they still smell wonderful. I am pretty sure it is the same company and I am glad that they are tasty. I think I might have accidentally brewed it longer than five minutes, but in this case I believe that may be a good thing. Nice for studying with.

I decided to put this in as a custom tea because it is the first time in a while that I have had any bubble tea. Wow, it is sweet! They sweetened it with honey and the honey taste is really thick. It is good, just sweeter than I expected.

No notes yet.

My friend gave me some more of these bundles as a gift along with a new tea mug. I’m steeping one now and I have a full kettle of water to get at least two steeps out of the bundle.

The first steep is exactly as I remember it. Dark and rich and flavorful. Just what I need to keep those chocolate cravings at bay because I am supposed to be being good this Easter holiday. It was an interesting experience to get the tea out of my press without squishing the rosette. The fully expanded rosette looks like a little Cthulhu on the bottom of my press.

The second steep is even deeper and richer. This is reminding me of how much I love Yunnan Blacks! So yummy.

I left the third steep sit in there for about eight-nine minutes. The flavor is a little less intense than the second steep, but still yummy. I love having teas that I can re-steep. One day, I will learn how to take my time with them throughout an entire afternoon. But for now, it makes a delicious snack-time tea.

I found some more rose petals in the bag. Now I am tasting the lovely sweetness of the rose against the black tea. I am going to have to get some more rose tea in the future.

I have been watching Star Trek TNG all day and haven’t had a cup of some sort of Earl yet. I’m surprised. But this is very nice in the evening.

I really did run out of rose petals in this bunch. I think I only have about 4-5 cups left. Less if I prepare the tea to drink in my white cat mug. At least it is a pretty good black tea. I just really miss the rose flavor. The roses made it sweeter.