Mercuryhime

First sip had a taste that reminded me of strawberry seeds. No, not strawberries. Strawberry seeds. I think it’s the slightly astringent quality. As I continue to sip on this, I am tasting chapstick. I use to have this berry flavored chapstick. This tastes just like it. It actually does smell remarkably like strawberries and maple syrup, but the taste is chapstick. I think I’ll wait for this to cool a bit and try again. My experience with 52teas has been that the cooler tea tastes more like the intended flavor than the hot tea.

Ok, I tried it after it cooled down. Much better. It’s not longer like chapstick. It tastes more like what it’s supposed to. I think I’m even tasting a bit of butter. mmm! Tea is a bit astringent though. I’m beginning to see that 52teas varies a lot in tastiness. I really want pancakes now. I don’t even like pancakes.

Thank you for the sample CHAroma!

Very fruity and refreshing. I set my expectations pretty high for this one. It’s very lychee and sweet. The honey flavors are muted. All the sweetness is balanced by the toasty earthy flavors of the oolong.

I was also very amused by the dry leaves. Basically, they are delicate looking twigs which were almost too long to fit in my little pot.

The fragrance of the brewed leaves is just lovely. I can’t wait to share this with my sister. :)

I’ve been working on building my caffeine free collection. It’s still puny compared to everything else, but we are getting somewhere. Anywho, I got a sample of this to try before committing. It’s a nice dessert tea. Smells very sweet and somehow coffee-ish. It’s got something harsh. May be a simulation of alcohol? It tasted rich and toffee. The medicinal rooibos flavor is strong but I’m getting used to it.
An enjoyable cup after dinner. :)

Edit: I’m drinking what’s left from the pot this morning. Cold, it is much more like tiramisu. It’s much more enjoyable, creamy and sweet. I suspect that this is because the strong rooibos flavor has decreased now that the brew is cool.

Iced mixed with apple cider. Perfection.

An okay tea. I think my problem is expectation. I have ideas about how a tea is going to taste before I taste it. Sometimes, I am disappointed. This dry tea smelled strongly of strawberries. Like strawberry candy. Which is awesome. THen, as soon as the hot water hit the leaves, the smelled changed to something toasty and hay-ish. What happened to the strawberry candy? The strawberry flavor is light and a bit tart. I actually think it tastes a bit funky. The flavors of the tea and the strawberry don’t mix well, but it’s still ok. I think it would be better iced. Don’t expect it to taste as juicy and fruity as it smells and you’ll be ok.

Yummy. It’s a great dessert tea. Husband said, “It tastes like pudding!” It has a strong rooibos base with yummy caramel flavors. I added sugar and cream and it was decadent. The rooibos flavor needs masking, but if you enjoy plain rooibos, you might disagree with me. Overall, yummeh.

I had this lovely tea a couple days ago, but it’s been crazy and I’ve been drinking lots of tea I haven’t been able to log. Anyways, this is a nice one. I normally don’t drink fruit teas because they usually come with more hibiscus than fruit. blah. This one had a lovely rose color without the hibiscus. I loved the flavor. Very berry, currant and raisin. Slightly tart. You need a lot of dry tea to make a flavorful cup and you don’t get much in the bag. And it’s not re-steepable, so it’s not too economical but it’s tasty. I think it tastes way better cold because it’s still a bit tart. Very refreshing. I imagine it would be great mixed with lemonade.

I’ve been having a bad week. Okay, it’s not bad. It’s just stressful. There are guests and holiday accommodations and arguments and late nights. I’m so tired and stressed out right now. Today I have to spend most of my day preparing food for Thanksgiving. I won’t have time to do much cooking tomorrow. I really need some time with a good oolong. Everything can just take care of itself for a while. Time to break out another sample from Tea from Taiwan.

The smell is amazing. Buttery and bakey. Like fresh biscuits. The first cup is refreshing and comforting. So smooth and rich. I took a deep whiff of the wet leaves. Smells like buttered peas (yum!) and bok choy. This is perfect and exactly what I needed.

Second cup is very sweet and fruity. There’s peas at the end of the sip. Delicious. I love peas. and fruit. (Speaking of fruit, I need to go to the Japanese store and pick up more persimmons…)

I don’t have time for a third cup right now, but I’ll be back. This tea is so good. I’m perked up for now and I’ll need to de-stress with this tea later. :)

It’s just dried ginger bits. I love ginger. There isn’t anything in the world that wouldn’t taste good with some ginger in it. I dare any of you to name a food that wouldn’t be good with ginger.
Moving on… I love the smell of this. I usually make ginger tea by grating fresh ginger and pouring boiling water over it, but I recognize the convenience of a dried ginger. I’m glad I got this shipment before Thanksgiving because I was planning on making a stomach easing after dinner drink with ginger, mint and lemon grass. Or maybe minus the mint since some people don’t like mint (how can you not like mint?). But first, I want to try the ginger on its own.

I gotta say. I’m a little sad. I might have put in too much ginger, but the package doesn’t offer any suggestions. It’s nice and spicy which is great, but it’s also bitter and medicinal. I don’t think I can drink this without honey.

Okay, I just watered it down a bit and now it tastes better. I used too much ginger. I’ll know better for next time. This will probably be better in a blend. It’s super convenient for tummy problems, but I’ll stick to fresh ginger when I can.

The strength of the floral flavors is surprising. So much so that I only noticed the coconut as an after thought. However, as I kept drinking, I realized how pleasant and creamy the coconut is. It’s a smooth white base with some hay notes.

The smell of the coconut is fantastic. I was hoping for more coconut flavor, but I pretty much love coconut. I could put it in everything. The flowers are a bit much. They add a hint of medicine to the aftertaste.

Overall, a yummy good tea!

Very green and pleasantly floral. I love the smell in this one. Puppy sniffed my cup and wrinkled his nose though. It’s a very nIce to kuan yin that I would certainly recommend. However, I find it not very interesting. It’s good but not memorable. I’m probably jaded though. My mom only ever makes ti khan yin. Perhaps I’m too familiar with it to find it special. I’ve had many that are subpar to know that I’m drinking a good one right now.

I am soooo not a fan of chamomile. ugh. I was offered this tea at someone’s home and accepted out of politeness. Some people are really uncomfortable with the idea that you just want to drink water. People seem to think water is what you drink when you have no other choice. But honestly, water is often my first choice. But anyway, this was gross. I didn’t get a chance to see the ingredients, but I tasted mostly chamomile and a bit of mint. I didn’t really notice any citron flavors, which I had hoped would mask the chamomile. Why do I hate chamomile so much? :(

I’ve been looking for a nice herbal that’s relaxing and tasty enough that my husband won’t make a face when I try to share my tea with him. Since he loves lemon, I figured this would work. And it does! He enjoys it! Some guests of ours were pleasantly surprised as well. They had never heard of lemon grass.

It develops this smell that reminds me of green onion? or something that seems savory… But it’s not very noticeable. The second steep smells more strongly of it than the first, but they are both pleasant.

I can’t wait to mix this with some spearmint or peppermint. Nobody around here likes mint except for me. :( It was a hit when I mixed it with some decaf sencha though. :)

It smells amazing and tastes just like it smells. Very floral wirh a slight hint of bitterness at the end which I find common with jasmine. Very nice and relaxing. I left my tea loving friend with the rest of the sample. I know he’ll appreciate it. :)

Does anyone else want to bathe in jasmine tea? I think I’d smell so good afterwards.

First attempt at creating Paradise Oolong. I used David’s Tea’s Quangzhou Milk Oolong and Upton Tea Import’s Empress Guei Fei Oolong. It was a great idea that was badly executed.

You see, I had written earlier about how Empress Guei Fei was a bit of a disappointment since the flavors were unrefined and harsh. I figured that the smoothness of David’s Milk oolong would neutralize that, and the two would combine into something like honeyed fruit drenched in cream. Sounds decadent, doesn’t it? I thought so.

Well, things didn’t quite go as planned. I think the milk oolong is either stronger than I thought or I put in too much of it, because I mostly tasted milk oolong. The second steep had more honeyed notes and the dark oolong flavor rounding out each sip. Mostly, the flavors clashed and distracted. I couldn’t really tell what I was tasting, honestly. My taste buds are confused.

The worst part is, I got so excited about my idea that I went ahead and drank oolong at 9PM. I am so hyped on caffeine right now. I think the Guei Fei isn’t too caffeinated, but David’s Milk Oolong always had a kick to it. I’ll probably be up till dawn at this point and it wasn’t even all that tasty. :(

For next time: Get smoother oolongs to play with.

My quest for naturally honey flavored oolongs continue. The latest in my trials is this little number from Upton Tea. From what I’ve read, Guei-Fei oolong is supposedly gnawed upon by little bugs which allow for a honey like flavor to develop from the leaves. I think, that if done well, it could be amazing. But this particular one is only mediocre. the honey like flavors seem almost spoiled. Here are the tasting notes I jotted down as I drank:
over ripe fruit, astringent, banana peel, honey, soapy. Dark oolong.

I wouldn’t order this again. It’s harsh and unrefined. The flavors are trying to club you over the head and drag you into a cave instead of wooing you with wine and poetry like a real gentleman.

It’s not horrible, but it’s not worth paying for when I know there are better ones out there. I’ll just finish up on my sample and move on. :)

Veeerry interesting… I just ordered some herbs from Upton because I need more stuff I can drink late at night and still get to sleep. This is the first one I opened, and it’s the first time I’m having lemon verbena on it’s own. I can see why it usually comes in a blend. On it’s own, there’s a light lemon flavor. Less lemony than the lemon balm in my garden. Mostly, it reminds me of cheap mint tea, but without the menthol. Is this how lemon verbena is supposed to taste? Hmm… Well, I also bought a couple packets of mint that I wanted to mix with this, so maybe that’ll be better. Oh! and lemon grass. :)

I don’t know where I’m going to put all this…

Well! I am just surprised! I think I’m actually enjoying this despite the fact that it’s a darker oolong. At first, it seemed like your typical toasty woodsy oxidized oolong. Yawn. I put the cup down and went about a few chores. I came back and took a sip. Then something amazing happened. I liked it. When I cooled down, there was a strong honey note behind the toasted grains and oxidized tea leaf. It’s a perfect fall tea. Very enjoyable. I think I’ll cold brew this and see what happens. :)

I’ll have to thank TeaEqualsBliss here for being the catalyst that caused me to unseal this bag. It had remained unopened for about a year patiently awaiting the day that I would take notice. Then TeaEqualsBliss asked for some of it in a swap and so the bag was unsealed. Then, well…since I had the bag open anyway, I thought I’d give it a try. And here we are today.

Edit: The honeyed notes disappeared after the first two steeps so I’m decreasing the rating a bit. It turns quite ordinary towards the end. Good for an everything tea. Except that I have so many samples of awesome tea that my everyday teas are usually high quality stuff.

I’ve had this three times already but I’ve put off writing about it. I was hoping that my opinion of it would improve. I never disliked it, but it never felt creamy and chocolatey enough to be called a grasshopper. I mean, grasshoppers are probably the only cocktails I like. There’s plenty of mint in this, and there’s a slight chocolate background, but that’s it. Underneath it all, there’s that honeybush flavor that I’ve grown to enjoy.

I still really like this. I mean, it’s minty and tasty, after all. But I wouldn’t call it a grasshopper.

Thanks for the sample, Batrachoid.

Very sweet. I did a double take on my first sip. Did someone sneak sugar into this? Very floral and creamy. I’m really happy I ordered these sample packs. All their oolongs are so sweet and smooth. I especially enjoy this one because of that hit of sweetness. Later steepings bring out more creaminess and balances out the floral flavors. Then the peachy kicks in. And later the more typical oolong flavor reminds you that you’re drinking tea and not some heavenly nectar of the gods.

I had the tiniest bit from my sample pack so I can actually enjoy this again later. :)

A pretty classic chai flavor. I don’t really taste the rooibos and honeybush much. They’re probably doing some background work. While it was okay, the flavor was pretty weak. I’d probably use two teabags next time.

Anyway, it fulfilled my craving for a caffeine-free chai before bed. :) I added a bit of almond milk and honey, but I think I like it better plain.

Mmm…japanese tea. So yums. As much as I enjoy Japanese green tea, I have only small sample sizes of them from swaps. I should fix this. :)

As for this tea, it’s slightly oceanic, which I greatly enjoy. It’s green and fresh and toasty. And the liquid is a nice yellowish green. Very enjoyable.

I made a mug of this for the fella cause his throat is bothering him. It is much improved with a huge dollop of honey. I wouldn’t have known this on my own since I usually don’t like honey in tea. Next time I drink this, I’ll have it with honey as well. :) Upping the rating.

The first time I had a good cup of Japanese green tea I was all, “Whoa! Do they put seaweed in this! Yum!” I’ve always loved seaweed. Those kids who made faces at me when I had my yummy seaweed snacks are probably eating sushi these days. hah!

So anyway. I love seaweedy Japanese greens. It’s the last of my sample from Batrachoid. sad. It’s tastes a lot more savory this time. Seaweed and hay. And most importantly, warm. I wish I could drink from my toes cause they are freeeezing! Now I want sushi.