Mercuryhime

Amaretto indeed! This tastes like almond extract! I should use the liquid to make pancakes or something. I feel it would be better in baked goods than on its own. It’s a bit thin, yet intense at the same time. This may be better with some added chocolate. But who am I kidding? Everything is better with chocolate. I like this ok, but I can also do without it. Perhaps blending it with some other tea would be good. :)

Thanks to fellow Steepsterite, Tamm, I have a hefty pouch of this tea in my drawer at work. It’s great for work since I can just sprinkle some leaves in a mug and fill it with hot water over and over through out the day. It is now 2PM and I’ve been drinking from this same sprinkle of leaves since 9AM. I’d say there’s at least 2 infusions left in these babies. Awesome!

The tea starts out very floral and roasty. This is definitely a more roasted version of Ti Guan Yin than I’m used to. While the 3rd infusion of oolongs are considered the best, I find that I enjoyed the first two more. By the 3rd infusion, the flavor is very vegetal. It tastes like thoroughly cooked bok choy with an undercurrent of floral flavors. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve filled my mug, but now I’m seeing the dried apricot flavors mentioned in the description, though it’s really more vegetal than fruity. This is a very enjoyable tea that I’m happy to keep by my side.

Of course, the downside to having such a giving tea is that you get kind of tired of the same tea all day. It takes longer to tire of an oolong since the flavors change and develop with each infusion, but I think these leaves are running out of ideas. :) Maybe it’s time for some peppermint!

I think I have to stay away from David’s fruit flavored teas. It’s an orange candy flavor. And there’s a funny artificial flavor that I couldn’t pinpoint until I read Uniquity’s review. It’s bubblegum. It’s orange candy and pink bubblegum. It is creamy and vanilla-y though. Overall, meh.
I do have to give them points for creativity, but it’s also important to make sure your flavors blend well.

I’m pretty happy with this! Though a lot of people say that you can steep rooibos indefinitely with no ill effects, I think that over steeping can definitely create a sour wood flavor. I think this was perfect at 5 and a half minutes. It’s earthy and just minty enough with some smooth desserty wanna be chocolate flavor. It’s the same fake chocolate taste in Super Chocolate that I didn’t like, but it works better in this tea. Perhaps the mint compensates for the lack at the same time that the rooibos keeps the mint in check. This tea is pretty well balanced.
I think that over time, I’ll probably get tired of this tea. I mean, I always get tired of flavored teas and run back to unflavored at some point. But for now, this is definitely tasty and soothing for the tummy.

This probably would have been awesome blended with the choco*late tea! Too bad I just finished that. Argh!

This is like a savory vegetable broth. It’s got a rich creamy mouthfeel. I would agree with others that it’s buttery, but it doesnt taste like dairy. It’s all In the texture. It’s also a bit kelpy and oceanic. It’s got a bit of sweetness but not to the level of the gyokuro I got from Den’s. It also lacks that freshness of spring and sunshine. This one taste more robust. Like autumn. Maybe I should have asked when this was plucked. Hmm.

This is pretty good but I wouldn’t buy it again. If I’m going to get a tea this pricy it had better be magnificent. This one is only pretty good. I’m glad I got this to go from the store.

Anyways, I got a bunch of new samples to try. Yaaaay!

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This is pretty good. I love chocolate, but usually it’s hard to enjoy in solid form. I think milk chocolate is often too sweet and creamy. Dark chocolate, while preferable, is often too strong to enjoy more than a bit of. It just seems that chocolate is often too intense. Fortunately, this tea allows you to control the strength and sweetness. How cool is that? Very cool.

Smells and tastes very chocolate-y. But the flavor is not too intense so I can drink to my heart’s content. It’s good without sweetener as well, which is how I prefer my drinks. If they are sweetened, I usually get tired of the sweetness at some point and switch to water to wash the sweetness out of my mouth. I know, I’m weird. I got really thirsty when I go to parties sometimes because few people think to stock water since most people are happy to drink juice or soda or other sweet stuff. I should just bring my own water. Is that rude?

Anyways! Tea! Yes, this is good. I have full control of the flavor! This tastes best hot. When it cools, it starts to taste a bit like wood. Is this because it’s made from cocoa husk? Hmm… I had considered trying this with milk, but it’s pretty good without addition, so I’m just gonna keep drinking it. :) I don’t really get much vanilla or rooibos in this, but it’s okay. Still tasty.

Thank you QueenofTarts!

OMG. This tastes amazing. First of all, the liquid is a lovely pale green. Beautiful. It makes a large mugful with only a teaspoon full of leaves. Very economical. And, most importantly, it tastes amazing!
At first sip, I was immediately struck with the fruity taste. At first, I couldn’t figure out what fruit. Melon? No… Second sip. Hmmm…PAPAYA! That’s right folks. This tastes like a succulent, juicy ripe papaya. I can almost imagine the lovely orange fruit melting in my mouth. Of course it also brings to mind the humid summers of New York and my long departed anole lizards. They loved papaya pulp. And watermelon juice. I always wondered why a lizard whose diet is supposed to be entirely insects would appreciate sweet fruit juice. But my dogs also love apples and raspberries, so who knows! Nature is crazy.

Anyway! There’s also, of course, the slight ocean-y savory flavor, characteristic of Japanese green teas. So delectable. So smooth and full and brothy. Perfect for my cold fingers and toes.

Thank you, Tamm! I love this!

So last night, I had this tea and loved it. The caffeine made my sleep uneasy, but who cares. This tea is awesome! I had a second steep before bed and I think I liked it even more than the first. But I could tell from the strength of flavor that these leaves could probably give up a third steep. Being too tired and full of liquids to make a third steep, I put the leaves in my large mug, poured water over it, and stuck it in the fridge.

I come home from work today and pull this tea out of the fridge and take a sip. I was nearly overcome with bliss. Best tea ever. So sweet and smooth and perfect! I never want to drink anything else ever again. But I have no more of this tea. I will die of dehydration! Okay, not really. But I really am afraid to drink something else now because it just can’t stand up to how awesome this tea is. You know how in class, someone gives this awesome presentation that the whole class LOVES and you’re up next. That’s how it is with this tea. Other teas can’t help but feel inferior.

I think I’m going to have to give this tea a 100. My first ever. Congratulations, Gyokuro Suimei. I’ve long considered oolongs my favorite, but somehow you still win. Don’t get all cocky and sloppy now…

Mmmm…wow…yum. This is so good.

It seemed like such a small amount of tea, but it delivers a strong flavor! And the color! So intense. This is rich and sweet with a smooth milky mouthfeel. My husband tried this and said, “it tastes like seawater.” He made a disgusted face as he said this, but I agree with him and I think it’s awesome. :D It does remind me of the ocean, though it’s not seaweed like some Japanese greens. It does have a savory quality and a flavor like late summer grass drying in the sun.
This is such a feel good tea. It’s totally refreshing and peace inducing. I know I shouldn’t be drinking this so late, but it’s too good to stop.

At some point today, I got kind of disgusted with all the flavored teas I had been drinking and I really started craving something refreshing and just plain tea. This was the best choice I ever made. Ok, I’m exaggerating, but this was a pretty darn good choice regardless.

Thank you so much for the sample silvermage2000! Now I know why everyone is always recommending Den’s Tea. :)

Hi just received this in a swap with silvermage2000. Thanks! It’s pretty good.

I do think that most of the “flavor” is in the scent though. There’s a bit of raspberry tartness and the taste and I can definitely detect something like a buttery pastry in the scent. I’m not sure about the cream cheese aspect. Perhaps a bit of sweetener will bring this one to life.
I’m usually pretty happy with 52teas’ honeybush blends, but this one isn’t as great as I had hoped. :( Not enough flavor, I think. I totally loved the Lemon Lime Cheesecake Honeybush though. I wish he’d make more of that one!

Holy Cow, you guys! I am an accidental genius! I had these bits of tea, not enough to make one potful, so I threw it together and it is amazing! Ok…maybe not amazing, but really good!

Coco Chai rooibos + Forever Nuts + Decaf English Breakfast = Yummy!

The first two are David’s teas and the last is a Metropolitan tea.

Now, one of my main complaints when I had Forever Nuts the first time, was that it wasn’t nutty enough and tasted too apple-y. In this crazy concoction though, the nuts really shine. It tastes mostly like walnuts, which is great with the mild spice from the chai. There’s some smooth coconut up front and the black tea is tying everything together.

So yums! I might have to make this on purpose one day. It’s like a lightly spiced nutty black tea that you can drink before bed!

I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to write about this here since I’m eating this tea and not drinking it but I think it’s fitting so I’m gonna go for it.

So earlier this week, I talked about turning this tea into food. Today, I made cookies. with this tea. More specifically, I made lemon ricotta cookies with this tea pulverized in my food processor. Among my ideas, I listed lemonade and cookies, and I sort of wanted to both but only had enough leaves for one. So I combined the idea. Vanilla-y lemons sounds really appealing to me. And while these cookies are awesome, the green tea flavor is overwhelmed by the lemon zest (home grown meyer lemons!) The vanilla flavor was present though, and tasted awesome!

I think next time I want to bake with a tea that’s not matcha, I’ll have to brew some tea real strong and see if that works better. But I’d probably taste the tea more without the lemon. But lemon is great too! And I get all the health benefits of consuming the whole leaf. Everyone wins!

Today has been an awesome teaful day!

Mmmm… I got a nice sized sample of this from MadelineAlyce and it’s so unique and tasty!
I totally oversteeped the first steep. I wasn’t paying attention. It was still good, but it had a strong herbal bitter flavor. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant once I diluted it. And it definitely tastes like rice. I don’t know if it tastes like sticky rice in particular, but definitely rice. Maybe a good quality jasmine rice. It reminds me of that smell of rice cooking at the stage before it absorbs all the water. MIght be a good drink when you’re craving carbs but don’t want to overload on them. There’s also something corn cob like. Very satisfying.

The second steep is a bit thinner but still ricey. Still a little bitter, but not as much. I like this a lot. I think my dad would enjoy it since he has a thing for bitter flavors. The after taste is so starchy! I keep feeling like I just swallowed a mouthful of rice. Amazing!

This strikes me as a cold weather tea, and if this weather trend continues, the time for cold weather teas will soon be behind us. :( Enjoy them now while you still can! I’m having some chai soon!

This is my first green pu-erh and I think I might like them more than the non-green sort. I need to do more pu-erh research. This category of tea is still a bit mysterious to me.

Hmm… so this is probably the least detailed entry I’ve ever created for a new tea on Steepster. I can’t find any info on this tea other than that the store or cafe or restaurant was in California. Maybe MadelineAlyce can help since she provided the lovely sample. :)

So anyways, I gave this tea a try last night but found it lacking in the citrus department. Maybe it’s called citrus mist because the flavor of the citrus is like a mist-insubstantial and impossible to grasp. (That was an awesome simile!) It was an okay green and somehow vaguely floral and fruity but it seemed I might be imagining it. admittedly, I was pretty tired since it was late and I’ve had a bad week of sleep. But I’m pretty sure I’m not a fan. This one doesn’t even have cooking potential. sad. Perhaps I’ll use it to blend with stronger teas.

I’m kind of a matcha noob, mostly because matcha is so expensive, but Red Leaf seems to have matcha at good prices. I’ve only had maybe two different matchas in my life so this Starter matcha is perfect for me. It’s kind of like how California Rolls are a perfect starter sushi. It’s pleasant and mild and hard to dislike. There’s better stuff out there, sure, but you want to get acquainted with what it is before you get too adventurous.
Anyway, even lacking the traditional matcha utensils, I think I still made a pretty good cup with a mug and a fork. I made it pretty thick at first, thinking I could water it down to suit my taste if necessary. It started out thick and foamy. Decadent! I took a sip of it in this thickened state and it was a bit too strong and bitter, so I added some water. The foam died down considerably. It’s got a nice creamy consistency even if it is thinner. There’s also a bit of chalkiness, but it’s not unpleasant. It’s a nice dark olive green. Very pretty. The taste is not too exciting, to be honest. It’s just green and mild. It’s got none of that sweetness or even oceanic flavor some matchas seem to have. It’s also a tad more bitter and the teeniest astringent than some other matchas I’ve had.
I suspect this would make a really good candidate for lattes since you don’t have to worry about hiding delicate nuances of flavor. It’s just a nice green creamy drink. This would probably also be good in a banana and almond milk smoothie. Or pancakes. nummy. In fact, this matcha reminds me a bit of Starbucks’ green tea lattes. Of course, their green tea lattes are only barely matcha tasting since they’re conserving the expensive powder, so having control over your own proportions is extremely awesome.
Overall, this is a pretty good matcha for the price. This is the lowest quality matcha they sell so I’m thinking it only gets better if you buy the other kinds. I can’t wait to try the royal matcha or vanilla matcha. While this particular matcha might be better used as a flavoring or a latte, I’ll bet the other ones are good for just drinking straight.
Also, wow, the caffeine kick is instant! I’m half done with my mug and I need to stop. Gonna heat up some milk and make a latte for the husband. :)

Later: The latte was well received!

You find this matcha here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/starter-matcha.html

Mmm… yummy! I’ve been wanting to try this tea since foreeeever and I finally got to thanks to MadelineAlyce!

The dry leaves smell so good. I can totally smell the rose petals. They remind me of the little baskets of dried roses petals my mom used to put in my room when I came home to visit. Roses grown by my dad! Alas, the rose bush is gone now, due to a barbeque fire last summer.
But anyway, it also smelled a bit like tart strawberries topped with cream. Mmm…strawberries and cream…with rose petals! This is summer. It is not summer without dad’s roses and a strawberry short cake. Not necessarily together. So hopefully, dad has a new rosebush for this year!

After brewing, I was a bit surprised at the color of the tea. So green and powdery on the bottom. Seemed like it was matcha-ed. And now that I read the description, I see that my suspicions were correct. Brewed tea smells amazing. Just a tad of vegetal flavor coming through to freshen up the strawberry flavor. And it’s all smoothed over with vanilla. Not as decadent as strawberry shortcake, but refreshing and a bit naughty, like a strawberry and coconut milk smoothie with a pinch of vanilla sugar.

I’m enjoying this quite a bit. I really need to get an order in to Lupicia cause everything I’ve ever tried from there has been super tasty.

I bought this because I was stuck at work with no decent tea and I was sort of desperate. It’s not convenient for me to prepare looseleaf at work and I have very few teabags at home. So I got this at a nearby Korean market.

The sachet is really pretty. Dark green tea leaves, pink rose petals, and little white bits of apple. Brewed, the tea does, indeed, smell and tasty apply. It’s reminds me of red delicious apples-floral and likable. The tea base is pretty good despite being cut up. I would say the base doesn’t match the flavor too well though. Tea is a bit vegetal and earthy for the delicate apple flavor. Lots of little leaf bits escape the sachet, which is fine by me. I love the look of the leaves even as they steep. You can see the colors in layers because of their density. Leaves on the bottom, petals in the middle, apple bits on top.

Overall, a nice tea. I get about 3 steeps out of each bag, though I use a smallish mug. I even get a little buzz from it. It costs a bit much, but I was lured in by a new flavor. Next time, I’ll stick with a classic genmaicha.

First! hehe So I got this nice little tea from QueenofTarts. Thanks!

I’m always looking for a nice caffeine free evening tea and I’ve had many positive experiences with honeybush, so this seemed like a winner when I saw it on her swap list. I’m pretty happy with this. There’s a subtle chocolate flavor. It tastes a bit roasty and a bit caramelly. I wouldn’t say it’s a replacement for dessert, but I haven’t tried it sweetened yet. Usually I only sweetened blacks and spice teas, though not always. I’m beginning to find the rooibos and honeybush take well to sweetener as well. Though my default is still unadulterated tea.
anyway! I’ll try it with a bit of sugar and milk when I get home and report back!

I’m rather fond of vanilla so I had high hopes for this tea. Vanilla is a good complement to almost any flavor. I even had vanilla tomato soup at a fancy French restaurant once and it was quite tasty.
I think that the flavor is well done here. I sort of wish it was a little stronger. It also reminds me a bit of 52teas’ famous Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha, only not toasty and with a lesser quality of leaf. The quality of leaf here is quite subpar. With a subtle flavor like vanilla, I’d think you would want a good quality leaf since it’s flavor would show through pretty clearly. The mouthfeel is nice though. A bit creamy and a bit bitter to balance the sweetness of the vanilla.

Overall, this is comforting and enjoyable, but I think I’ll use this to blend with other teas or for baking and cooking. Vanilla green mint tea? Vanilla green pancakes? Vanilla green lemonade? Vanilla green hot chocolate? Could I pulverize the tea in my food processor and use stir the powder into cookies? Looks like my weekend will be filled with experiments. :)

Many thanks to MadelineAlyce for the generous sample of this tea.

After reading the…um…opinionated reviews on this tea, and seeing that Tazo has, once again, added citric acid to the ingredients, I steeped this for only 45 seconds. It was 45 seconds too long. This tea is not worth drinking on its own. There’s probably a way to doctor it up so that it tastes palatable, but as it is…blegh.
I do enjoy the bright orange color. It makes me feel like a kid. Reminds me of those colored drinks in those little plastic things that look like barrels. 25 cents from the corner store! I think those things taste better than this. Though to be fair, my short steep probably didn’t allow any flavors to develop. The tartness would have been unbearable if I let it go any longer though.

I’m revisiting this tea for the first time since I had it in college. I didn’t much like it then, and I like it even less now. It smells as fruity and yummy as I remember, but it is far more sour. It goes beyond the usual tartness of hibiscus. For some reason, Tazo saw fit to add citric acid to the ingredient list. WHY??? The sour is now at a harsh chemical level. I can’t even taste anything else except for how sour it is.

Thanks to Uniquity for the generous sample of this tea. :) it was enjoyably fruity though a bit strong on the honeybush. I think red honeybush and rooibos really do better with more desserty or robust flavors. You need a green honeybush or rooibos for a fruity blend. Whatever raspberry there may have been is completely overwhelmed by base. I taste a bit a lemon grass a vague fruitiness, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you what fruit. Still, it’s not bad. I can drink it. And it allows me to appreciate well thought out blends all the more. :)

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