Mercuryhime

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. :)

No notes yet.

Can I just reiterate how much I love this cold brewed? OMG. I can’t wait for summer when I can drink this everyday! Too bad it tastes so funky as a hot drink. :(

I got this unexpected bonus pouch of tea in my swap with DJBooth! Thanks!

I had a Tiramisu rooibos from California Tea House once and wasn’t too impressed by it. I didn’t expect to be impressed by this one either. The first thing I notice is this roasty coffee-ish taste. Then a strong woody rooibos. Then the oddly fruity amaretto and a hint of cocoa. Hmm… Someone needs to tell Teavana that a large part of tiramisu’s deliciousness is in the creamy marscapone. This tea needs to be creamy! Maybe a hint of vanilla could simulate creaminess here. Perhaps a pinch of vanilla honeybush. Too bad I’m long out of that particular tea. :(

Good evening cup. I think the husband might find this enjoyable as a latte.

What an interesting tea! I didn’t expect it to be brown when brewed because the unbrewed leaves were so green! I love the little bits of shaved white chocolate. I’m very tempted to just eat one. Matcha covered white chocolate…mmmmm… My wedding cake was white chocolate covered matcha. Is this wedding cake tea? If it tasted like almond, it would be, but it tastes like hazelnuts instead.
I love the toasty nutty flavor. The matcha is in the background, but it adds a smooth rich flavor to an otherwise, one dimensional flavor. The white chocolate gives it a sweetness. It’s very tasty even though I totally over steeped it.
Thanks DJBooth!

Is this review kinda discombobulated? I’m sleepy. :)

What a cute little tea nub! I was a bit apprehensive about the pu-erh, but it’s hard to be nervous about something so harmless looking. You see, I’ve never had pu-erh before, or so I thought. Yet, the flavor is very familiar to me. It tastes like a Chinese tea house. Perhaps I have had pu-erh unknowingly because it tastes like the tea I used to get in dim sum houses. When I was young, my grandparents used to delight in taking me and my sister for “yum cha,” on weekends. It’s the Chinese version of brunch. There’s tea and greasy foods that are horrible for you. (Egg tarts!) I never paid much attention to what sort of tea my elders ordered when we ate at those dim sum places. What a young fool I was. I used to dislike tea, but I think it’s just because tea is brewed so carelessly in dim sum restaurants. I always enjoyed it when jasmine or chrysanthemum was on the table though. Flowers are tasty. Usually, some unknown dark tea was served. That tea tastes like this tea. I guess it must have been pu-erh. So all this time, I’ve been nervous for nothing. I’ve been drinking pu-erh since I was little.

I hear it’s recommended to discard the first steep, but I decided to take a taste before dumping it. hmm…not bad. Seems a waste to toss it out. I do prefer the second steep though. It tastes like rich leafy earth. It also tastes like weekends with my grandparents and other family. It brings me to crowded noisy restaurants with grouchy ladies pushing hot carts of food around. And pink table cloths. There are so many memories in this flavor. It feels wrong to drink it alone in the privacy of my home. I feel like taking my grandparents out for dim sum. My, usually, mild and jovial grandpa will fight you like a tiger for the check.

If I don’t drink pu-erh ever again, it won’t be because I don’t like it, but because I don’t want my associations with the flavor of this tea to change.

Anyway, I think I’m too emotionally attached to this tea to rate it objectively or even think about it in terms of flavor too much. Over all though, I think it’s pretty good. :)

I am very disappointed. Very. I believed this to be the reincarnation of a Specialteas tea that I thought had disappeared forever. I was wrong. Teavana took the idea of this lost tea and made it something bad…then gave it a silly name. How could you do this to me, Teavana? I feel so betrayed.

The basic ingredients are the same as Specialteas’ Spicy Chocolate, but the proportions are way off. Waaaay off! And even before I compared the ingredients of the two teas, I can see where Teavana went wrong. too much chicory root and not enough cinnamon. I am unreasonably upset. Probably because I had such high hopes. Sigh. My cup smells like medicinal tea. That aside, it is lightly chocolatey and a bit spicy, but mostly, it’s chicory. I think I’ll prepare the tea differently next time and see if it’s better. I used the chai stovetop method this time, which worked on Spicy Chocolate, but not this.

Unfortunately, I bought two pounds of this at 75% off, thinking I had struck gold. Sooo, in light of my stellar reviews, anyone want to swap?

Edit: a lot of sugar and a splash of almond milk makes this palatable. I guess I can drink this…

Ok, so I went for the third steep after all. I needed something to wash down the cake I just ate for breakfast. :D

Steep 3: Actually much better. Steeped with cooler water. Less vegetal and more floral. Buttery is fading to plain milky creamy.

I awoke at around 5 and couldn’t get back to sleep. Tired. :( I got up around 7 and set about searching for a tea that would satisfy my craving for something sweet and creamy. This is the last of my milk oolong samples from Tea from Taiwan. It’s taken me forever to get through them, but I like variety.

Steep 1: Lightly flavored. Vegetal and buttery. I’m getting bok choy. It seems the oolongs from Tea from Taiwan are often like bok choy and cooked watercress. Which is ok, since these are some of my favorite vegetables.

Steep 2: Buttery vegetables are more upfront now. A hint of flowers of some sort. There’s a drying effect on my tongue.

Odd, I’m not really enjoying this. I don’t really want to go for steep 3 even though the leaves have plenty more to give. Perhaps my recent fascination with dancongs is ruining me for other oolongs. I also can’t really discern the difference between this and many of the other oolongs from this vendor. I do think a couple stood out as really tasty, but this is not one of them.

ah well, maybe I’m in a hot chocolate kind of mood. Or chai.

I’m doing such a bad job at reviewing my samples from Teavivre. I’m sorry! I just wanted to try them when I stopped craving flavored stuff. Well, today I had a very clear craving for unadulterated green tea, so here we are. I actually fantasized about japanese green tea on the train home, but I don’t have any on stock, so Chinese green it is! The two are very different, as I"m sure you all know.

This one has adorable little fuzzy leaves. They looked so soft and downy, I just wanted to pet them instead of drink them. It’s evident how young these little leaves are. Even after brewing, they remain itty bitty. Quite possibly the cutest tea I’ve ever had.

As with the other green teas, I’ve tried from Teavivre, this one is very umami. It’s less toasty and more grainy. The mouthfeel smooth and a bit creamy, despite the drying effect. This brewed up very light colored for me, but the flavor is perfect. Not too strong or too weak. This tea also has a caffeine kick to it. I have half a cup remaining and I’m wondering if I’ll get to sleep tonight. I should have known this would happen when I saw how little the leaves were, but I really craved a good green tea. ah well. It’s worth it. Sleep is for the weak!

Overall, yummy tea! I’ll just file this one away with the “morning only” teas. :)

The rooibos is strong in this one. Perhaps I oversteep my rooiboses. In any case, I found the apricot to be mild. The flavor seems artificial and chemical-y. Like lip balm. This is the second 52teas to taste like lip balm to me. Am I the only one? I barely taste the cinnamon. Overall, a bit disappointing. I think I’ll steep the remainder of my sample for less time and see if it’s better.

Now I’m in the mood for a good Japanese green.

Thanks for letting me try this Uniquity! That’s another 52teas flavor crossed off my list.

I was both hopeful and not hopeful about this one. I love chocolate, but nothing tastes quite right without real chocolate on it. It turns out that I was right to be wary. This tastes like chocolate flavoring with a hint of light cinnamon. It’s not bad. Actually a bit soothing, but I was hoping for more realistic chocolate taste from something called “Super Chocolate.”.

You know what’s great, though? Hold a piece of mint chocolate in your mouth and take a sip of this tea hot. Mmmmm.

Had this tea in a thermos to accompany me to work yesterday. It was pretty good. The taste was like craisins. I think the flavoring was neither too strong nor too light. And the rooibos wasn’t too woody or medicinal. I’d say this is a good rooibos base. Green rooibos is still my favorite for fruity flavors though.

Thanks to Lindsay for this yummy tea!

I finally got around to trying it this morning. When I drink new oolongs, I like to be in a quiet place where I can focus on the tea. This has not been possible for a long while. :( But today! No obligations until afternoon and husband out for a 12 mile run (in 16 F weather!). I have plenty of time to savor a new oolong.

I opened the pouch and it smelled like honeyed leaves and sweet fruity nectar. Yum. The directions called for near boiling water, which I usually don’t do for oolongs. But I went ahead and followed directions. It’s always good to see how the tea sellers think the tea should taste.

The first steep yielded a lovely cup. The taste was lightly honey and more heavily leaf. Like an autumn forest. It’s not as smooth and syrupy as I’m used to for Honey Fragrance oolongs, probably because of that stronger roasty quality.

The second steep was more to expectation. Syrupy sweet with a supporting autumny background. It’s still roasty. The flavor is not so complex as others I’ve tried. This is more straight forward, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but not so interesting. The Honey Phoenix from Canton Tea, for example, had more lychee fruit and ripe peaches going on, while this one is more just honey and autumn.

In the following steeps, the honey flavor decreases and the roasty autumn leaf aroma becomes stronger. Very pleasant and relaxing.

While this is not my favorite Honey fragrance dancong, it is still pretty good. I normally don’t like dark oolongs, but dancongs are an exception. I’ve been focused on the honey fragrance ones, but I want to branch out and try different fragrances. I’m especially interested in the almond variety.

This oolong also has a bit of a caffeine kick. I’d say medium buzz. One more infusion and I’ll stick with caffeine free stuff for the rest of the day. :) And while I’ve still got some quiet time, I think I’ll curl up under the covers with a book and a puppy or two.

I had this cold brewed and it tastes a hundred times better. None of that funny strong hay aroma and earthiness. It’s pure delicious strawberry with a refreshing white tea background. I’ll be seeing more of this as a cold drink for sure! It would probably blend well with my cantaloupe bai mu dan. I’m raising the rating a lot just for the cold brewed experience. :)

Wow, Uniquity, thanks for the sample! This is good. It’s nutty and spicy and desserty. It’s got a weird hint of sourness, but it may be because I literally steeped it for 45 mins while I had dinner. I think it could use a bit of vanilla to smooth out the flavors and make it feel even more dessert like. A bit of rock sugar makes it special.

There is that woodiness that often accompanies a rooibos, but I’m really getting used to it. I pretty take it for granted, which allows me to enjoy the flavors on top. I glad I tried this tonight instead of the chai I was considering. :)
It would make a good liquid for cake or pudding or something. Or a cocktail. I’m sleepy. Good night Steepster!