Mercuryhime

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!

I’ve officially had a terrible day. I decided it was time to break into some comforting tea that does not require thinking. I just need something tasty and uplifting.

This tea is doing very well. It’s definitely puer, but mildly so. The strawberry is of the creamy frosting-like variety. The chocolate is sweet and delicious. Comforting indeed. It reminds me of those Japanese candies that are kind of cone shaped chocolates, half pink (strawberry) and half milk chocolate.

This might actually make a good latte, though I wouldn’t consider making puer into a latte under normal circumstances, today’s apparently a day for rule breaking.

I’ll report back on the latte.

EDIT: Almond milk added. Tastes okay, but better plain. Tasty stuff.

So I’m looking at my notes from the last time I wrote about this tea. Apparently I wasn’t all that impressed with it. Well, things have changed because now I find it deliciously comforting. It’s toasty grains and somehow savory. It’s like the crunchy browned rice at the bottom of the pot. These days, my family uses rice cookers, so no more crunchy browned rice for me, but man, that stuff was tasty. This tea tastes like that. I’m going to miss this tea. That was the last of my bag. :(

I’m working from home this week (Thanks Sandy!) so I’m able to drink down my tea faster. I’m missing my tea at work though.

Throat feeling crappy. :(

Not bad, not all that good. I picked up a bit of this since I was a fan of lychee and the sample size was sooooo cheap. It would have been a crime not to try it! The lychee smell and flavor isn’t much like the fresh fruit. Seems more like lychee syrup. The black base is pretty good quality. I think I oversteeped and it was not astringent at all. Not the bestest taste but okay. I’ll enjoy the rest of my sample. :)

Green rooibos! The best rooibos! I think it is especially suited to fruity blends. This particular rooibos, I couldn’t pass up while I was picking up black tea samples for research purposes. :) I’ve read some great reviews for this and who doesn’t like fruit and cream?

This tea smells pretty fantastic. It’s definitely like real pear. I really love pears when they are soft but not mealy and juicy and sweet. It’s so hard to find a pear in that perfect state! Why is it so hard? Well this tea smells like that luscious juicy pear with a hint of vanilla creaminess. Nicely done! The taste is pretty light, but perhaps I used a bit more liquid than I should have. It is very well flavored too. Not artificial or apple-y like some other pear teas. It’s got a bit of odd tartness, but this not bad at all. It’s not as creamy as I had hoped. I think it would benefit from a thicker mouthfeel. Not sure how that might be accomplished though.

Over all, a very enjoyable tea. :)

This dry tea smells fantastic. Rose and dark chocolate. From the smell, I was hoping for a cheaper version of my favorite Loashan Black. Not surprisingly, this tea is not on the same level. Not to say that this tea is not delicious, because it is. The flavor is exactly strong enough for a sweet floral rosiness that neither wimps out nor overwhelms. The tea does not taste as chocolatey as it smells, but it is still super yummy. It tasted a bit weak so I let it steep a bit longer than I normally would. I also don’t like to use boiling water so my cooler temp might have something to do with it. This tea does not get bitter or astringent. That is a sign of great quality.

I don’t have much to say about the base tea. It seems to be one of these black teas where I can’t really describe the flavors. Tastes like black tea. Leafy in an autumnal way, very smooth. :) Awesome tea. I can see myself getting more of this, but I still have to get through a bunch of black samples before I decide on which ones I want to stock up on. It can’t too much better than this though!

This is a very artificial berry flavor. I love the green/red rooibos mix. red rooibos can be a strong, sometimes overpowering base to to work with. Green is easier to get along with, less woodsy. It lets fruity flavors show through better. Unfortunately, this fruity flavor is not ideal. Tastes like medicine or cough drops or something.

I think my husband would like it.

Finally getting this sample! Thanks Teavivre!

First impression of the dry leaf is that it smells a lot like DT’s milk oolong. Make you wonder if theirs is flavored. It’s like condensed milk. Yummy!

First steep is more like cream cheese frosting than milk. There is a lot of vegetal flavor coming through. Smooth and sweet.

Second steep is less milky and more vegetal. Maybe like creamed veggies. :)

The leaves expand like crazy, of course. Good old dependable green oolong. :) I think I might like the unflavored version more but this is something I’ll enjoy to the last drop anyways.

I had picked up 2 oz of this tea during their promo of buy a certain amount and get 2oz (50g) or any tea free! I did a bit of research beforehand and decided on getting this, the most expensive tea they had at the time, for my free tea. The girl working there actually tried to sell me on the Ti Kuan Yin instead, which is significantly cheaper. But to be honest, after smelling both of them, I still liked the way this one smelled more. It smelled full of creamy smooth vegetal goodness. Since I do have a ton of other oolongs, it has taken me a long time to get to trying this.

After measuring the leaves into my filter and setting the kettle to boil, I promptly knocked over a glass and had it shatter into a gajillion pieces. By the time the mess of cleaned up, the water was boiled and cooling so it might have a bit cooler than ideal, but I just went ahead and poured the water over the leaves anyway.

1st steep:
Lightly flavored and lightly colored. It’s smooth with a brothy slightly creamy mouthfeel that I often get from green Taiwanese oolongs. It’s a bit vegetal and the after taste is a bit umami. I can’t say much else for it. Not too much going on here in terms of flavor right now.

Steep 2:
I’m always amazed at how much green oolongs expand. This brew is a bit darker in color. Smells a bit floral and vegetal. Nice. Hmmm…not getting much out of this tea either. Just a nice smooth green Taiwanese oolong here. High mountain? Sure, but nothing really all that special. Good quality but not unique. Am I using too much water? The wet leaves smell like cooked bok choi, but the tea itself…hmm… just not that interesting. I’m gonna stick the leaves back in and see what happens after another minute.

Ok, so I let the tea go for another minute. It’s bordering on bitter now so that was not the best idea. :) I’m getting that bok choi smell I get from the leaves before, but now it’s in my tea. I like.

Ultimately, this tea seems mediocre to me. An ok green Taiwanese High Mountain oolong with all the typical characteristics. Flavor is a bit too light even for me, and I tend to like my tea lighter than most people. I’ve got tons of this tea left so if anyone wants this, let me know! It’s not bad, but I have lots of other oolongs that I like better.

I know David’s is trying to get into more straight teas at the moment. Some of them sound quite yummy and unique. I wonder if they’d let me trade this in for some of the new better sounding ones. hehe

I found some black tea in my numerous unsampled sample pouches from Verdant! I have high hopes for the company that turned me on to black tea!

First, the fuzzy little curls of dried leaf were beautiful and cute at the same time. The smell made me swoon. So chocolatey! I never really believed it when people would say a tea was chocolatey, but now I am a believer!

My first impression of this brew is a chocolatey dark roasted oolong. There are sweet honeyed notes along with the roasty autumnal flavor I usually get from dark oolongs. Then there’s a subtle taste of dark chocolate. The end of the sip is a bit bitter. It’s not ideal but it’s also not bad. In between sips, as you let the lingering flavors play over your tongue, you get a sense of wood chips, like for a campfire. And there’s the slightly hint of astringency. I’m thinking I probably should have used cooler water, though I think the website recommended boiling. Maybe less time.

In any case, this tea is delicious! It’s a cross between a dark roasted oolong and my new love, Loashan Black. Tasty!

As it cools, I’m getting more of an oolong taste than a black tea taste. Love that lingering dark chocolate flavor. :)

Steep 2! Used cooler water and then forgot about it for about 10 minutes. doh! But the resulting tea is magnificent! Lots of dark chocolate notes and something fruity like blueberry jam. No astringency this time. :)

I finally got around to sampling this from Teavivre. Sorry it took me so ling. :( this tea is just lovely to look at. It’s cute and furry. I almost felt like I was drowning little fuzzy animals in hot water as I brewed my cup. :( fortunately its just dried leaves I’m drowning! Delicious dried leaves!

The tea is light yellow smells softly floral and tender green grass. Like a perfect spring day. It’s good to remind oneself such days exist on miserable rainy cold days like this one. I’m also getting some summer squash. Second steep went a bit too long but there’s no bitterness. This tea is truly lovely. If teas belonged to a season, this would go with spring. Drinking this tea now is like having a perfect summer tomato in the middle of winter. This tea is out of its rightful time. To get the proper feel of fall, I’ll have to drink some darker oolongs later. :)

As it turns out, night time is not a good time for drinking this tea. I had a craving for something full of umami and and hint of smoke. Shoulda stuck with my Tencha Houjicha from Den’s. That’s a tasty tea that’s low on caffeine!

This tea is tasty too! Clearly I wouldn’t have pumped myself full of caffeine at 9PM if it wasn’t. :) It’s a total mystery to me how this tea can taste like concentrated umami and other teas can taste like fruit or chocolate. Tea is magical! There is something really familiar about the flavor in this one. It’s like a food that I can’t put my finger on. What is it??? It smells like the inside of a Chinese dry foods store. Where they sell dried squids, dried scallops, dried mushrooms, dried herbs and roots and nut and berries. Dried everything you can imagine! It smells like that store. Any body have experience with such stores know what I’m talking about? Next time you pass by a store in China town with open bins of mysterious dried things for sale, walk in and take a good sniff. Then try this tea and tell me if I’m crazy.

Beware the spicy salad! Holy smokes, dad! Your hot peppers are strong this year! whew! Now I wish I had a cup of iced tea instead of this tasty cup of hot tea. :( Luckily I had a cup of this before eating my dinner. I don’t think I could taste anything other than burning right now. :)

First of all, thank you Allison Tsui, for sharing this wonderful sample with me. It’s a tasty Oriental Beauty. The smell of the dry leaves had me expecting great things. It was roasty and fruity and yummy smelling. The dry leaf looks great too. I love the varied shapes and colors. Dark brown, rust red, fuzzy white. Lovely.

My first sip of this left an impression of wet cardboard with an underlying flavor of plum and honey. This sounds bad, but it’s really not. Upon further sipping, I’m also finding flavors of toasty autumn, like with many dark oolongs. A very tasty tea.

On a side note, I’ve been trying to drink my stash down so I have had no new notes of late. I also find myself constantly wanting a black tea. I need to order some because I seriously have none. Stash depleting time is seriously the worst time to discover a whole new love for a whole new tea. I need more tea parties.

Had a weekend with my friends this past weekend. Made many pots of tea in hopes of conversion. They are still addicted to coffee, and sadly non-reactive to my favorite oolong. They liked 52 Tea’s Neapolitan Honeybush though! I’m all out of that now. ah wells. They’ll never get me to drink coffee and beer so we are even. :)

I had taken the remainder of my sample to work since it’s where I need tea the most. I was craving it all weekend and couldn’t have any! And we had Monday off! Argh! But today nothing was going to stop me!

Mmmm…. pure chocolate decadence. Made three very satisfying western steeps. The second one went on a tad too long and turned into dark chocolate. So rich and lovely! I’m going to need to order a full 2oz of this, at least!

It’s rare that I give 100s, but this tea converted me to the “dark” side. :) And it’s magical!

I wouldn’t usually put this drink in as a tea log but it’s a hot drink using spices and fruit and useful in the cold season so I thought I’d share.

Today, I found myself sneezing more than usual and constantly trying to soothe a scratchy dry throat. No other symptoms have emerged thus far, but experience tells me that I may soon be facing a cold. In hopes of nipping this in the bud, I made this drink called “sujeonggwa” which is traditionally a Korean drink served cold, but it strikes me as a wonderful drink to have hot when feeling under the weather. It also tastes amazing if you like cinnamon and ginger. Here’s a link to the recipe I like to use:
http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sujeonggwa

Now, I realize dried persimmons are not easy to come by, especially not right now. They are easier to find in the middle of winter, but even then, you’ll have to visit an asian supermarket. Rest assured that even without the sweet date/yam flavor of dried persimmon, this drink is still mighty tasty. Maybe trying subbing in some other fruit. I imagine raisins, fresh peaches, or fresh apples would work! It also makes your whole apartment smell like cinnamon. Awesome.

I just had a mugful of this hot with some fruit bits. Sipping it from a spoon makes it feel more comforting somehow. It also makes the drink last a bit longer, allowing the soothing liquid to have more time going down my scratchy throat. Hot and slightly burny from the spice and ginger. I can almost imagine I’m burning some viruses as I sip. :)

If you’re not in need of a hot drink, try this iced, which is how it’s actually meant to to served. Float a few kernels of pine nuts on top and enjoy a lovely digestif after dinner. Ginger is great of settling the tummy after all.

Stay healthy in this coming cold season!

Okay, something crazy has happened to me. Ever since I had that extraordinary cup of Laoshan Black, I’ve been craving a cup of black tea every morning. It’s crazy! I’ve never been a huge fan of black teas! Especially not unflavored and unsweetened black teas. The world has gone insane! Insaaaane!

So because I’ve never had this fondness for black teas, I have no black teas in my collection. None! I wake up this morning with a craving for a black tea knowing that I probably have none. With I sigh, I rummage through my samples to find a puerh or dark oolong or something else that might be like black tea. Then I come upon this sample from Teavivre! I’ve sampled this tea before and couldn’t find anything special about it. At the time, it just tasted like black tea. Whatevs.

But today! Today was different! The leaves smell so sweet and pastry like! Like a biscuit! And the flavor! I definitely am finding that baked sweet potato everyone is talking about! Tasty! Sweet potatoes baked with a touch of honey and and dash of spice! What a lovely fall tea! Now I have a whole category of tea to be obsessed about! And I will need more tea to add to my stash! Halp!

Gotta move this rating up from 70. 70! What was I thinking?!

Edit: Might I just add this this tea is perfect with a holiday morning breakfast of amaretto matcha brownies. Yes, brownies can be for breakfast because I’m an adult now! Sorry Mom!

This is tasty tea. It’s very sophisticated compared to all the flavored things I’ve been drinking. :) I was a bit confused by how this is both an oolong and a black tea, but after my first few sips, I’ve concluded that this is merely what I would call a dark oolong, something more oxidized but still lighter than what I would think of as black tea.

I really like the mouthfeel on this one. Smooth and full. It has a luscious quality to it. The flavor here is pleasantly floral, but only a little. Just enough to make you intrigued. Only lightly roasted. Mellow.

I’m finishing up my third steep made western style. There’s a lovely natural sweetness here. It can probably go once more but I need something different now. :)

No notes yet.

I looooove amaretto! It’s the only alcohol I actually enjoy. Well, that and muscato and the occasional sweet Riesling. But amaretto! It’s the only hard liquor I enjoy! Um…and Bailey’s and Amarula… Okay, but amaretto is my favorite! There! Now I’m right. :) My husband also loves anything almond. Loves. I bought this for him but I plan to enjoy it too. :)

So after dinner, I had to rummage through my collection of jars to find something to put this matcha into. I know I’m not making any preserves in a while because those jars are all filled with matcha. It’s for a good cause. :D So I find a jar that’s way too big but it will have to do. I rip open the bag and the most intoxicating aroma just comes spilling out. Mmmmm heaven! Husband is watching the big debate so he’s totally engrossed. I wave the open under his nose and he literally does a double take. Hilarious! At this point, he’s only disappointed that we have to share just half a cup because we are totally out of milk. I kept having to tell him to wait while I whisked it up. So impatient. heh

Finally, I presented the cup to him and he practically drank the whole thing. I had to wrestle the mug from him to get a taste for myself. This matcha is amazing. There’s a slight grassy vegetal flavor from the matcha, but it’s really mostly amaretto without the alcohol burn and without all the sugar. Absolutely fabulous. If you like amaretto, you’ve got to try this:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/amaretto-matcha.html

For those of you who have tried amaretto and almond, how would you compare the two? I’m wondering if it’s worth investing in both flavors.

Tasty! The moment I opened up the bag, I smelled hazelnut praline, like the stuff inside fancy chocolates. I gotta admit, I’m pretty jealous of coffee drinkers only because hazelnut is such a common flavor in coffee and so sparse in tea. Why aren’t there more hazelnut teas? Such a delicious roasty indulgent flavor. Mmmm… This hazelnut smell in this matcha reminds me of the hazelnut flavor of coffee only without any coffee flavor. Sweet!

And I’m really digging this black matcha! It’s smooth and just strong enough to complement the hazelnut (I got distinctive level flavoring). I see so few reviews for black matcha. You guys have got to try this! If I had some chocolate syrup, it would already be in this cup! I’m already dreaming of how I can add this to brownies and chocolate cookies. I’m going to be a a star come Christmas with all these matcha flavors to play with. :D

This is seriously such a delicious dessert and it barely has any calories. I guess we’ll see how the caffeine in black matcha hits me. :) I wanted to work out today anyway. It’s been really difficult to work up the motivation to exercise lately. Depressing.

This lattes up like a dream. I hope my dad likes this as much as I do because I hope to share it with him. Is it terrible that I hope he won’t care for it so I can keep it? haha

Get some deliciousness right here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/hazelnut-matcha.html

Hmm, not really a fan of Chinese sencha. The flavoring is quite nice though. Blueberry and a bit of lemon. Feels a bit bubbly somehow. :) Hot tea on a cloudy chilly autumn morning. Could anything be more comforting?

Thanks for the sample TeaEqualsBliss!

Breakfast smoothie! 2 frozen bananas, almond coconut milk, two large spoonfuls of Trader Joe’s honey Greek yogurt, 2 teaspoons of this matcha. Blend.

SO delicious! It was literally like drinking a milkshake. The bavarian cream flavor really came out in the smoothie. SO sweet and a bit yolky and super creamy. Just like custard! And frozen custard is ice cream so that explains why my smoothie tasted like a milk shake. Mmm, yummy! I think the white matcha is growing on me. :)

Chocolate and rose? How is this possible? This tea exceeds expectations. I think I’ve got allergies or I’m getting a bit of a cold, so I hope I’m getting all the nuances here because this tea deserves it.

This tea somehow really reminds me of rose flavored truffles. Mmm… and vanilla! So smooth! I don’t even like black tea! I’ve clearly been drinking the wrong kinds! Wow. This is so desserty and malty! A dessert tea without dessert flavorings! Mmmm… I definitely smell honey in the liquor. Most black teas I’ve had just beg for a bit a cream but this tea…it would be sacrilege to add cream to this. Gotta savor it just the way it is! Not a hint of astringency! love this!

Added some buttered popcorn crumbs to this. That made it a bit salty and rich with buttery savory flavors. Nice! It’s like soup. :) the butter from the popcorn made my strainer greasy though. Hehe there was also oily stuff floating on the top, but one would expect that from buttered popcorn. Next time I’ll brew the tea and drop the popcorn in separately so I can eat them with my tea!