Mercuryhime

Don’t have much time to write notes lately. :( just coming here to say that this tea is awesome! I picked some up along with the gifts I was buying. :)

This tea was a sample from Teavivre that I have taken forever to get around to. :( I did make this tea once with a scoop of spearmint, but I didn’t feel it would be fair to rate this without trying it first on it’s own. Firstly, it did mix very well with the mint. Sweet and refreshing with a vegetal and malty background.

The tea on it’s own tastes very good as well. I love the shiny little pellets of dry leaf. It reminds me a bit of how green oolong looks, only oolongs aren’t usually so shiny. The brewed liquor is a bit darker than other green teas I’m used to. Darker than some oolongs even. The taste is sweet and slightly toasty. To be honest, it’s not a very memorable flavor. The quality is, as always, top notch. This is exactly what a gunpowder tea should be, but not the tea itself is not extraordinary or unique. I do love that it is smooth and without a hint of astringency. I think I will probably continue to add mint to this tea.

On an unrelated note, holiday cookies are making me fat. It doesn’t help that it’s so cold I don’t feel like going out to run lately. argh.

I got some awesome lip balms in today from momo! I had the hardest time choosing which ones to keep. I need to give three as gifts but I want them all! aaargh. You can buy some here!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlackBearLaboratory
I think they would make great holiday gifts. :)

So this tea! I’ve read nothing but praise for this, and today, I am totally understanding why. The dry leaf smells sweet like cookies. The tea tastes like dark cocoa and rock sugar. mmmm… The color is a bit lighter than expected, but the flavor is full on nonetheless. I can also taste some toasted grains. Maybe like the dark crust of some excellent multigrain bread. I’m adding this to the list of black teas to buy again!

Drinking this straight after a cold third steep of Verdant’s Mi Lan Xiang Honey Phoenix.

I’m noticing that this tastes much softer. The flavors blend and meld into each other. The autumnal taste is more like leaf litter while the other is more like the crisp air of a forest. Yet, in both the honeyed note is clear. Clear but so different. Fascinating.

Today’s been an oolong-y day. Had three different teas, all dark oolongs. I suppose it’s just what I’m in the mood for. I hope it helps my tummy because I feel kinda crappy there. Must sleep soon. Tired. blargh. Long day.

At first I was like, “This thin wiry spinach smelling stuff is supposed to taste like mi dan dancong?” But then the hot water hit the leaves and I was a believer! Smells fantastic!

Steep one: Heavy woody spice. Cinnamon? no…nutmeg? hmm, yeah, more like nutmeg. There’s honey and lychee of course. Autumn forest with a distant fireplace going. …and because I just gave my dogs a treat, I smell faux bacon. yuck.

Just from this first steep, I would say that I prefer Canton Tea’s Mi Lan Dancong. Theirs is less heavy and has more fruity lychee flavor. Not that this isn’t excellent and complex, because it is. It might be even more complex, but I find I like the more joyful flavor of Canton’s version. This one is a bit…moody. Like a ponderous man who’s lost all hope in life. But so complex and dark and mysterious. It’s tastes like cloudy.

Steep 2: Mmm… more honey and lychee in this now. Raisins, a little. yummy. I’m going to cold brew steep 3 overnight. :) It’s gonna be high 60’s tomorrow so a cold drink would probably be quite welcome. :)

Happy Monday!

Hmm… has the enchantment of black tea love come to an end or have I just been having a series of less than awesome blacks lately? This one tastes a little…not interesting. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t capture my attention in any way. I get a little floral perfume and taste of malt… Some fragrant sweetness. Vaguely stone fruity. My tastebuds are not all that interested.

So far, the black teas I like and plan to get more of are:
Laoshan black – Verdant
Zhu Rong Yunnan black – Verdant
Yun nan Dian Hong Black- Golden Tip – Teavivre
Rose Congou – Upton

Looks like I like Yunnan black teas. The Laoshan black is still my favorite. hmm… I’ll still have try the other Keemuns from Teavivre. I also have some other congou tea from Upton to try. I wonder where congou tea is grown? Is it also Keemun as wikipedia seems to suggest?

Ever try to enjoy a bit of pumpkin custard while your dog cries and looks longingly and pitifully at your food? I felt like the hugest jerk in the world not sharing my my dessert with him. So then I let each pup get a lick. Those darn cute faces get me every time. My dogs own me.

Fortunately, they are not interested in my tea so I don’t have to feel bad while I enjoy a cup. :) I had a terribly stressful day at work today. Called someone early in the morning to get some info. She directed me to someone else. That person directed me to yet another person. And so on. Until about 4pm when the last person I get directed to directs me back to the person I had called in the first place. It’s such a classic failed bureaucracy situation it’s almost funny. Now I’ve been directed to yet another two people whom I will call tomorrow morning. Someone save me.

Anyway, despite the fact that I know white tea can get me pretty wired sometimes, I really needed something that tastes soothing and delicious. Jasmine tea is perfect for that. And Verdant is guaranteed quality.

First whiff of the dry tea was heavenly. I absolutely love the smell of jasmine. The scent has me practically salivating. It also reminds me of peach. I can just feel the sticky sweet juices from of perfect summer peach. yum. The liquor is a very pale grayish brown. Not the most attractive color, but it’s all about the taste! and the taste here is fantastic! Juicy and floral and exactly what I need. There is a pleasant drying effect here as well.

Did I mention how I love the dry leaves? They are like little fuzzy twigs. Awesome!

There is a funny taste here, but I suspect it’s my kettle because my mom has a kettle that gives a similar taste to her water. Gotta boil some water in a pot and see what happens. Will withhold rating until then.

I think my wrist may never heal because I refuse to allow my injury to restrict my activities. Just today I had to heave one of those 5 gallon jugs of water into the water cooler so that I could get hot water for my tea. I guess I could have asked someone to help but I have this weird thing about being independent. Anyway, it was a bit painful. Not smart. But tea!

There are tons of teas with this name and they seem to look the same too. I’d wager it’s all from the same source. That’s good in a way since widely available teas would need to be competitively priced. I’m all for not spending all my monies. It’s not a bad tea, but I find the rooibos taste to be prominent and it’s not as smooth as it could be. Vanilla is bordering on artificial, but that might be the funky rooibos. I wonder if my non-caffeine only colleague would like this… I have a lot since it was cheap and came at a minimum of 4 ounces.

Edit: I just noticed that there is supposed to be cinnamon in this…. What? I don’t taste it at all! And what’s with the random almond flakes? Can’t taste almond either. This just excludes people with allergies for no good reason. Blah

So I was sipping a cup of tea this morning and somehow managed to drop my iPhone straight into my cup, speaker end first. For now, it has been turned off and placed on top of the heater to dry. Hopefully, it will still work okay. It does smell pretty tasty right now, at least.

Anyway, this tea! I’m a sucker for any tea that naturally has honey notes. Usually, they come in the form of oolong. A black tea with honey notes sounded super interesting. And I’m just delving into the world of black teas too! I do taste sweet apricot honey notes in this tea, but it is not as prominent as I had hoped. It’s also a bit chocolatey, but not very much. Overall, it has all the qualities that I enjoy in tea, but in small amounts. I suppose one might say that it is well balanced and subtly tasty. There is no astringency nor bitterness. It’s a very good tea, but not outstanding. I’d drink it again without hesitation. :D

I FOUND IT!!! Excitement! I thought I had lost this tea and was contemplating getting a new one. Luckily, I thought to look into my tin of hot chocolate. I had forgotten that I had decided to re-purpose the tin for this tea, thinking that the remaining chocolate aroma could only enhance this puer. So happy! I made a big fuss about it to my husband so I decided to share a celebratory cup with him. :D It’s also perfect for post holiday binging. The puer soothes the stuffed tummy and the desserty flavor helps you eat less actual dessert. Good stuff! It tastes better luke warm than hot.

yaaay!

I can’t find my chocolate strawberry puer. Cry. Where is it? :(

Im drinking this instead. I was really struck by just how pretty this tea is. Cute mini flowers and pink sugar crystals. It’s like made for little princesses. :)

I’m still in anguish over my missing tea though! Where is iiiit?

Thanks to Nuvola for this sample! It’s quite tasty! I prefer my oolongs greener and less roasted, but still good! It’s a comfy tea to help your relax at work. I also detected a bit of fruitiness. Like jam and toast. :) It’s like relaxing out in the autumn woods with a comforting hot cup of tea. It provided a nice gentle boost of energy as well, and resteeped very nicely! Good stuff!

I wish I had some of this tea right now because I am exhausted! Baking pies and making creme anglais and washing puppies…ah! Too much after a full day of work! I still have to make chocolate syrup and ginger syrup, but I’ll have to do that in the morning. I can’t do anymore. Still waiting for a pie to finish baking. :( Then off to sleep. sleeeeeep. Then more cooking. It will be worth it! My whole apartment smells fantastic, by the way. :)

No notes yet.

I’m in the office and I smell something thats exactly like SpecialTeas’ Almond Cookie tea. Is there a tea lover on this floor? I’m surreptitiously peeking into other people’s cubes but I can’t find the source of the smell! And its another dept that shares our space so I don’t know them well enough to ask. Haha what a unique tea addict problem.

Anyways, I’m having this tea again with three pearls and cooler water. Much better! This leads me to conclude that most people prefer their teas a lot stronger than I do! I’ll keep that in mind in case any Steepterites ever show up to my place for tea. :)

So I heard lots of good things about this tea. Sadly, I don’t find it all that tasty. Did I brew this wrong? It was kind of sour. I do some of those chocolate flavors people are talking about but it’s also kind of bitter. I think I’ll use a lower temp next time. I find the boiling water never really works out for me unless it’s an herbal. I suppose I’m sensitive to the stuff the boiling water brings out of teas. And there’s a lot of caffeine in this. Holy cow.

I’ll try this again before I rate it.

As I was brewing this, husband walked by and said, “I was looking for some tea this morning and I noticed that you have way too much!” He doesn’t touch my stash usually. He has no real idea how much tea I have. There’s more hidden under my desk. muahaha

I’m craving fruit, but there is no fruit at home! So I broke into this melon oolong. Melons are so lackluster this time of year. Thank goodness we have tea to tide us over till summer.

This particular tea is like cantaloupe and honeydew. Smells so sweet! I definitely underleafed. Will fix for next time! The taste is very good. Melony and summery with a nice green oolong base. I still want real fruit though.

I have a feeling that this will be good cold. I’l make the second steep a cold brew. It’s time for bed anyhow.

Good night all!

Excitement! My gaiwan from Teavivre has arrived! I want to use it right now but several things are stopping me. It’s too late for caffeine, and my right wrist has been injured for the past month and is still healing. Sad.

This tea I’m drinking now arrived in my order from Lupicia. I felt like an easy tea this evening because my muscles are sore from exercising and the less I move the better. Haha. Yay tea bags!

I’m really enjoying this a lot more than expected. The smell of the dry tea made me nervous. It seemed so rummy! But after brewing all I can taste is caramel it actually reminds me of caramel Baileys Irish cream. Tasty! I wouldn’t mind keeping a bunch of this around!

So when I last reviewed this, I didn’t really like it all too much. Honestly, I still don’t see where the hazelnut is at. It’s only mildly chocolatey too. Non-flavored teas seem to taste more like chocolate than this one. In the end, it’s just a black tea that tastes a bit dessert-y.
Today, however, I finally finished off the last of my tin. I had bought it for my husband (then boyfriend) on our first Christmas. Back then, everyone I knew received tea as a gift at some point for some reason. Had I known my fella then the way I know him now, I’d have known that tea would be a waste of a gift. This guy feels neutral about tea at best. So our tin of Florence is actually almost as old as our relationship. Ah memories.

Anyway, he asked for some hot tea to help with his studies and it seemed like a good time to put this tea to rest before it started tasting too old (it’s already almost 6). I liked it okay, but it just doesn’t taste like chocolate and hazelnut. It never did. Husband made a sad face when I told him that was the last of his 1st Christmas gift from me. I said I could get more if he wanted, but he replied that we have more than enough tea as it is. haha.

Good bye Florence. Thanks for the memories. :)

Oh my, I thought I had logged this one! Well I was feeling kinda like I was in a tea funk. Everything I’ve been making lately hasn’t been tasting as good. My Rose Congou was a bit bitter and not rosy enough. My matcha latte was also bitter and I had to make myself finish it. Maybe it was the new soy milk I was trying out… So I thought I should get back to basics and go back to an old love. Green oolong, I’m sorry I abandoned you.

Lovely scent and beautiful pale yellow-green liquor. Floral first steep. Smooth brothy texture. Second steep, cooked bok choi. Creamed dark green veggies. Soothing. Just like summer. I do still love tea!

Now, for something as expensive as this tea, (about $11.80/oz), you’d hope this tea would blow your mind with fantasticness. And while I wouldn’t say my mind is blown, I would say that this is very tasty. Not tasty enough to pay full price though because I can find equally tasty Taiwan green oolongs for less.

I’m getting something like fresh apple skin now. This is why I love green oolongs. Some flavors you know to expect. Others just creep out and surprise you.

Odd! I know this is supposed to be peach but it tastes kinda almondy to me. Like in an almond flavor kind of way. I get the texture and mouthfeel of matcha here from the added matcha powder. I can taste the flowers and the smoothness of the vanilla. Yes, there is peach here, but an odd almond like peach. Of course, peaches and almonds are in the same family so I can see why they might taste similar. Actually, the peach maybe tastes more like apricot? Hmmm… I need another cup to make sure. Yeah, the peach is not as strong as I would have liked. Still pretty tasty though. I think the Super Grade Momo Oolong is infinitely better, but this is a nice affordable green tea version. :) I also like that this green tea doesn’t taste like the typical Chinese sencha so many green blends are made of.

Also, I stayed later at the office than was wise today and left in a rush. As a result, I left behind one critical piece of equipment that would allow me to work at home should that be necessary tomorrow. I suck. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to work. And hopefully the heat and electricity will still be on.

First day back in work building. There is electricity but no heat. Brrrr! Drinking lots of hot tea to keep warm!

This particular tea tastes very different from my memory but it is quite old for green tea so that may be why. The taste is still good though. Reminds me a bit of dragon well actually.

I’m on my third steep. Still going strong!

Hope the heat is back tomorrow!

Only one other coworker is here today. The others are working from the NJ office. We spent some time talking about how cold it is and then I shared some silky green tea from Bird Pick. He agreed that it seems more like an oolong. :)

So I’ve got this dog named Mr. Snuggles. On cold days, he lives up to his name. He will literally sit there and cry to get into your lap if you’re sitting down. Often, I just end up carrying him as I go around the house. I know, I’m spoiling him big time. But he’s so freakin’ cute! He’s on my lap even as I type this. :)

Anyway, when I went into the tea stash to get this tea, I got all distracted by the other teas in there. Ever go in thinking you know exactly what you want, only to see all your other teas and be all, “ah! I want to drink all of these!” I had an indecisive moment, but I stuck with my original decision.

This tea looks really strange. They are uniform little strips of dark green crumbly material. Smells like tea even if it doesn’t look too much like it. My nose started feeling all cool and minty after giving a few good sniffs so I’m thinking the mint is probably powdered. :D The brew is dark muddy green. It’s reminds me a bit matcha, but not as refined. The mint is subtle. It’s a pleasant green tea, but I might add some mint to this the next time I brew it.

I examined the leaves some more after brewing. They seemed to have been powdered and then compressed. into little strips. So odd! I think this might make a good cold brew.

Thank you for this unique experience TeaEqualsBliss!

I’m not sure I remember who I got a sample of this from. DJBooth? Whoever you are, thanks for sharing!

Anyways, I was not in the mood for caffeine so I thought I’d go ahead and make this one. I was also hoping that this might be a tea that would take milk and sugar well because I was in the mood for something chai-like without actually being chai. Tasting this plain, I would say it would simply be over powered by any additions. The orange here tastes a bit stale, but I don’t know how old this is. The spice is weak and the black tea was not memorable. I was hoping for something that might be reminiscent of Christmas, but this isn’t really all that Christmas-y.

I think we will finish this tea easily since husband likes the fruity flavored teas. I think I might be able to drink this down with some honey. Normally, I only like honey in tea when I’m sick, but this tea could use some flavor modification.

Me: sips tea Hm.. interesting. Pups, you like this?
Snuggles: sniffs thoroughly and gives a curious lick when offered a drop. Goes back to sleep
Cali: Sniffs twice and turns away. Gives a polite lick
Husband: Sniffs and makes a horrified face. Tries to give mug back
Me: Come on! The pups are braver than you! Man up!
Husband: Sips …didn’t I hear you flush a minute ago?

And that’s how my family reacted to this tea. :)

EDIT: For those who are interested, I made a marinade with soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, grated garlic, dad’s homemade hot chili sauce, and a strong brew of this tea.
Marinated some cubes of pressed tofu and shrimp for 5 hours or so. They were so very tasty. Smokey, sweet, spicy, savory, and totally awesome. I served this over some rice with sauteed cabbage. Drank a cup of this tea with my meal. Perfection.

As husband was going in for his second helping I said to him, “You know that tea you thought was disgusting earlier?”
“Uh huh?”
“I made this food with that tea.”
He mimed throwing up, and then ate the rest of his dinner. What a silly goose. :D

On another note, I went to make a pot of green tea with the same strainer I had used to make this tea. I noticed it smelled strongly of smoke, so I soak it for a few minutes in boiling water. Out of curiosity, I sipped on the liquid the basket was steeping in and it definitely tasted like smoke. Yeah… this stuff sticks!