Mercuryhime

I’m trying to create a new tea for the Spinach Chive, but it keeps bringing me to that “kettle was left on” page. Argh!

Anyways, I got this as a sample from the NYC Coffee and Tea Festival. I was really intrigued and hopeful about this since I do love soup and the idea of having soup whenever I want sounds pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I don’t much like this. There’s a reason why I rarely cook with dried herbs. They don’t taste good to me. The concoction here actually does taste like a soup made from bouillon cubes, but it also has that bitter medicinal quality dried herbs have.

Anyway, I definitely taste the chive. The spinach is a milder flavor. I think I would be pretty interesting to use in cooking, maybe. But I wouldn’t drink it straight. Maybe good as a base for a potato soup?

Went for this after my last attempt at creating a tasty cup of Laoshan Black. sigh. You should have seen my face at the first sip. I was completely taken aback by the syrupy sweetness. The honey. It was just a bit of a shock to go from one flavor profile to another. It’s also toasty roasty like a roasted dark oolong. Minerally as well. I can also detect that dark cocoa nibs. As I continued to sip, the novelty of the honey notes wore off and was peeking out a bit behind the heavy roasted flavor and the malty chocolate notes.

Not sure that this tea is to my taste as it’s a bit more roasted than I prefer and the honey note isn’t strong enough to make up for it. Might be good as a cold brew.

Aaargh! I can’t do this! This…just isn’t tasty. Barely at all! I tried everything! Various temps and times. Gong fu and western. Water filtered and not filtered. This batch just doesn’t taste good to me. I see from the description on the website that this is from the autumn 2012 harvest. So, note to self: don’t get autumn harvest of Laoshan Black ever again. It’s just too heart breaking.

So is there a summer harvest? Or do they just do spring? I need to know which harvest produced that nectar of the gods I had the first time I sampled it. As for the autumn harvest version, if you want it, let me know. It’s maybe 1.5 oz at this point. I can’t deal with this batch anymore. I’m also removing my rating because it’s too confusing for me to rate. It’s good sometimes but not always…what? See? Too confusing.

Sadness.

Buttery fresh green oolong. Sweet tropical pineapple. A hint of creamy rich coconut.

Mmm… Green oolong, my true love.

Brothy mouthfeel. Refreshingly cleansing feeling on the tongue. Eminently slurpable. There should be more flavored green oolongs. Especially from Lupicia. Utterly fantastic ripe luscious pineapple flavor. Love. And it’s not trying to mask the tea base. The quality comes through and supports the fruitiness, keeping if from being too sweet. I would certainly enjoy this without the pineapple, but it wouldn’t fulfill my desire for a light fruity tea.

:)

It was not long ago when I discovered a love for black tea. But the more black teas I try, the more I realize that I only really like the quality unflavored Chinese ones. I’m not sure why this is. But ah well. It has been fun. My flavored black tea experimentation will likely slow to a few select blacks. I may occasionally crave a milky black tea, but for those instances, I’m happy to stick with EGs or chai. I’m still keen on exploring the world of quality unflavored blacks though. :)

As for this tea, it is pleasant enough. Caramel and vanilla are evident from the beginning. The fruity qualities don’t really show until the cup has cooled. Nice enough with a smooth base. I wish I loved it as much as other Steepsters seem to. :)

Thank you, AlphaKitty, for the sample!

Hm. Not a highly rated tea, but I did not find this as offensive as some others did. I actually quite enjoyed it with a heavy dose of milk. :) I had brewed it strong to have a nice milky tea with my breakfast scone. Perfect combo. Tea base was quite nice. Better than the other EGs I’ve sampled from Upton this far. The bergamot was pretty intense. I find myself wondering once again what a real fruit smells like.
Overall, the best of a mediocre bunch. Still have hopes for the Sacher Blend.

Thanks AlphaKitty for a sample of this! Definitely nutty sweet and pretty tasty. However, I am reminded of why, for a long time, I thought I did not like black teas. Love the flavor. Not sure I like the combo of black tea with this flavor. Not sure I’d like the black tea base at all unflavored. I guess I’m more sensitive to black tea quality? In any case, love the caramel flavor and hint of rose. Nicely done.

So yesterday, I walked into work and my boss tells me “You’re working from home tomorrow.” And I was all stupid and said, “Huh? Wha? Why? Who said so?” I hope his respect for me didn’t just disappear after that senseless string of questions. Turns out the Friday before Easter tends to be real quiet since a lot of people take off to be with family and stuff. Neat! So here I am this morning, sipping my second cup of tea before work even starts because I still wake up at 7am, even though I don’t have my 1.5 hr commute today. :(

But this tea is really tasty so it’s okay to be awake! Last night I had taken a trip to DT since my bro in law is in town from Germany and his wife is addicted to two blends from David and needed refills. So of course I had to get some samples to try. And they were doing this promo where you get a free cup to go if you buy at least 2oz of tea! But I had to go to dinner straight after tea shopping so they put the bagged teas into a pouch for me to drink later. How nice is that!

So anyway, I had a cup last night before bed. It was tasty. Green and fresh, but also syrupy sweet in the way only rose can be. Smells and tastes just like my dad’s roses actually. Love it. The green base got a bit astringent but not so much that I didn’t enjoy it. Plus, I saved my leaves and cold brewed it overnight. I’m drinking that result now and it is divine. I’ve had rose congou black teas before, but I think I really prefer the green base. Tastes fresh and summery.

The end. :)

Lemongrass and coconut is a classic combination so how could things go wrong. And the spicy hint of ginger. yum! This tea is quite tasty. I tried a few sips from my bro in law’s cup last night. Then I saved his bag and cold brewed it over night. Just had the cup this morning. even tastier! Great iced tea. :) It reminds me a bit of Exotica, but instead of tasting like thai food, this tastes like a refreshing lemony coconut tea. Much better. :)

Wasn’t paying much attention as I had a guest over, but this was quite pleasant. Definitely like apple cider. Yum! With a bit of spice. I’d definitely stock up on this if I needed more tea. Hah!

Edit: just realized this is note 400! :O What a short uninteresting note for this milestone. :(

I dunno you guys… This current batch of Laoshan black is not as tasty as the sample I had just before they sold out. It’s nowhere near as chocolatey and tastes way roastier. Is this a spring picked version? Maybe I only like the autumn or summer picked batches? It tastes more like plain tea than awesome tea. This tea as it is would not have converted me over to black. This is my third attempted since getting this pouch a few weeks ago, so I’m pretty sure it’s not just my brew style. :(

So after finding a bunch of things kleptoed from my work’s supply cabinet, I decided it was time for a nice comforting drink. And what’s more relaxing than sweet cinnamony oatmeal cookie? And this tea tastes amazingly like cookies. Buttery with brown sugar and slightly caramelized edges. Mmm cookie… I don’t taste much raisin but I’m fine with that. This is the most convincing cookie tea I’ve ever had. Love it!

Thanks so much for sharing Alphakitty!

Not bad for a rooibos earl. Strong on the bergamot. Very fresh and lemony. I really want to smell a real bergamot one day so I have a better feel for what realistic bergamot is like. Anyway, rooibos behaves in here. Good hot cup before bed. :)

Had this a few nights ago. I had ordered a sample since I really need more non-caf teas in my life and this one sounded pretty tasty.
The taste was weird at first. Tasted like dirty water. But then it cooled and it tasted a lot like Forever Nuts but with rooibos. And less apple. So mostly walnutty. Pretty meh. And the texture was all oily and filmy. Not a fan.

Got a bit of this at my meet up swap with Alphakitty and it is yummy! Most convincing marshmallow confection taste to date! Sure, all those teas with marshmallow root taste like marshmallow too, but this one actually tastes fluffy and sticky too. Amazed! And the sweet caramel. Mmm. Tasty! Would be a nice latte but I just had mine plain today. :) also enjoying this base as it doesn’t compete with the flavors. Ideally, the base works with the flavors but this is fine as it is. I think a nice chocolaty yunnan would be amazing with the flavors in this tea.

EDIT: forgot to mention how pretty the dry tea is! Glittery gold balls, blue and white Stars of David, puffy marshmallow balls. So cute! Is this tea kosher? Just curious.

Sad sip down. :( this was a delicious companion that I kept at work to brighten up cloudy stressful days like this one.

Also, yesterday snow. Today rain. Yuck. I hope Easter will be more springy.

Brewing this for the first time yesterday was a bit of a disaster. It tasted so weird! Sour and harsh and somehow underleafed all at once. I gave up after two steepings. Today, I decided to change things up a bit and see if it made a difference. I used the remaining half of the packet, but only half the amount of water as yesterday. I also used unfiltered water from my tap since I had used filtered last time. Result? Much better! So does this mean some teas taste better with unfiltered tap water? Or is my brita messed up? Water tastes fine… meh. Oh well. Now I know! And I can review this tea!

First, the dry leaves smell like a delicious chocolate truffle. mmmmm….

The first steep is luscious and dark chocolatey. Also mineraly, like hot rocks. Tasty!

Second steep tastes more like burning rocks and dry fall leaves. This is good. There is a sweet aftertaste. And something undefinably fruity. Still have that dark chocolate quality.

Going for a third steep! This is a nice mellow one with a lovely sweetness. I can definitely taste its oolongy origins here. Reminds me of forest soil, like many dark oolongs do.

This is a very tasty experiment indeed! I’m glad I got an ounce of this to play with. :) Next time, it’s going into the gaiwan.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! Have a green day!

Help! Too much black tea today! I wanted to drink and write about Anxi Fo Shou from Verdant. But it tasted weird and sour. I think either the water is off or my tastebuds are off. Then I opened up my bag of Laoshan Black thinking I’d get one good cup of black, but had the same weirdness going on as for the Fo Shou. I had two steepings of each. Now I’m cold brewing them cause if I have more caffeine now, I think I might explode. But there’s so much flavor left in those leaves! I’m freaking out! I think it’s a good day to try that banana caffeine cure I read about. But first, this tasting note.

So I didn’t actually have this Earl Grey Creme Vanilla today, thankfully. I had opened this packet for the first time at work a couple days ago. It’s been crazy stressful and busy so I haven’t had time to write a note before now. But anyway, this tea smells amazing. So sweet and delicious. Like an orange creamsicle. It was always my favorite from the ice cream vending machine when I was a kid. Of course, I managed to spill half my sample onto the floor when I ripped open the packet, so I got to smell that deliciousness all day long as my rolling chair kept going back and forth on those leaves. Eventually, I figured out I could pick up the leaf bits with the lint roller I had in a cabinet, but then I could still smell it from my trash can.

Anyway! I can’t concentrate when I’m over caffeinated like this! So the tea! Tasted pretty good, but left an odd aftertaste that I associate with artificial flavors. Upton doesn’t always use natural flavoring, but I don’t make a big fuss about it since the majority of my diet is pretty natural, I figure a bit from the occasional tea can’t be too bad. But when it tastes funny like this…well, that’s when I wish they had gone for natural flavoring.

Overall, not bad, but I’ll be looking for a better EG Creme. The one from SpecialTeas was quite tasty. Alas…

Now for that supposed banana cure!

EDIT Okay, so, skeptical as always when hearing a vague scientific claim, I googled the banana/caffeine thing. Turns out the “science” behind the banana cure is pretty shady. Ah well, at least my banana blueberry smoothie was delicious.

Cold brewed this cause I feel spring in my bones if not in the air. You can tell it’s spring because the birds have moved back into my walls. There are these little holes under the eaves and they nest in there. I can here them chirping and scratching around in the wall area to the left of my desk. So yeah. Birds have migrated back. It’s spring! Time for delicious cold brewed tea!

And I have to say, this tea makes one mighty fine cold brew! So much honey sweetness! I might order tons of this just to cold brew all summer! That is…if I didn’t already have about a gajillion tons of tea in my cabinet. ah well! Too much tea is better than not enough!

Also, sip down!

Upon opening the package to examine the leaves, I noticed this round tan color thing. Looked like a small chickpea. Since I didn’t know what it was, I bit it. Mmmm…chewy caramel. I ate the whole thing. :D How much would it have added, really? hehe

This tea smells decadent. But the fresh greenness of the base makes it light. It’s just a sweet little something, not a full blown dessert. Very nice. Often caramel flavored teas are so heavy and rich. This is rich but not heavy. I’m so glad I got to try this! Thanks AlphaKitty!

That said, it does have, what I’ve come to recognize as, a Chinese sencha base. Probably my least favorite tea. Yet, it’s a common tea to use in green blends, probably due to affordability. But this blend was made with such skill that I could overlook the base. :) Tasty! I’d be happy to finish the rest of my sample.

I got some of this in my meet up/ swap with AlphaKitty yesterday! What a fun time!

This is a tea I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. It sounds so delicious! I can smell a hint of caramel. Toasty flavor. Lightly fruity. Very light. Hmm…not really tasting like honey and preserves. Whatever flavors there are, they are very subdued. In fact, I can barely taste it. I think Harney’s black tea blends may be formulated so that I can’t taste the flavors. I could never detect much in Florence either.

Soo…back to Marco Polo. My wallet weeps.

Description suggests that the bergamot is light on this tea but I found it plenty strong enough. Couldn’t taste much difference between this one and the Ceylon base. Actually the Ceylon might have a brighter flavor. I wonder what kind of Chinese tea is being used here. It was just a bit astringent. Added a bit of cream but that just completely muddled the flavors. Might be good iced for summer.

Don’t get me wrong. This is a good tea, but not as good as I was hoping for.

Maybe I’m not as big a fan of earl grey as I think I am. :(

Had this tea at a very impressive restaurant. Husband surprised me with a last minute reservation to Dirt Candy for my birthday yesterday. I’ve been wanting to eat there since foreeever! It was everything I dreamed and more. Their dessert menu featured a couple of teas from Le Palaise des Thes, proving that a stunning meal out doesn’t have to be followed by Lipton or stale coffee.

The tea came in a small insulated press pot. Elegant and convenient. I peeked into the pot and saw that this was loose leaf. Amazing. I felt that the ratio of leaf to water was a bit off, but overall, quite tasty! Sweet honey notes. Roasty. More like a dark oolong than black tea. Malty. Perfect end to a perfect meal.

Then we went next door to play with the kitties at the no kill shelter. Husband would normally stop me from doing this as I’m allergic to the cute little things, but it was my birthday! So I’m allowed to get all itchy from cat fur if I want to. :D at some point, I got a bit too wheezy so I dropped a donation and left. Made me happy. :)

Meh. I love the spice strong in my chai. This was okay but lacked pizzazz. Need some spicy burn from ginger and sweet heat from cinnamon! And floral vaguely citrusy cardamom. Where is all of that awesomeness? Bland for a chai but good enough for a caffeine free evening drink.