Mercuryhime

I cold brewed this. It’s kinda stale tasting so maybe there’s nothing actually wrong with the tea when it’s fresh. My version, however, was lacking in flavor. The banana was minimal and I didn’t taste the pineapple at all. Slightly tart. It was okay to drink iced on a hot day, but I wouldn’t go to this for the flavor. A whole teapot full was consumed without fuss. Not rating cause of possibly old tea.

In any case, I’m always grateful for the chance to try something new! Thanks TeaEqualsBliss!

Mmm…banana. I don’t usually like banana flavored things unless the flavor comes directly from bananas. It usually ends up tasting too fake. This tea however seems to do it right. Lovely fruity banana with a somehow tangy fruity coconut. Very tasty. I also enjoy this green rooibos base. Light and green and refreshing. This is a great cold tea.

Cold brewed overnight in a mug of water. Convenient and tasty. Thank you, TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some!

This is a bit too weak but it is likely my fault for using too much water. It’s a nice fruity and floral green with a sencha tasting base. grassy and green with a slightly drying mouthfeel. It’s enjoyable but not too interesting. I think I may not be in the mood for greens lately.

Husband liked it quite well. :)

Thanks to Azzrian for another tasty sample!

This one is very good. It’s sweet creamy coconut milk. Like a coconut sorbet in a green oolong. It reminds of Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong. I’d love to do a comparison but I don’t have any of the other one at the moment. :(

Mmmm….heavenly scent. yum.

Lovely guava flavor with an unobtrusive white base. I taste the ginger a bit but the strawberry not really at all. It might have to do with the cold brewing.
Guava is one of those fruits that I’ve seen and smelled at the market but never eaten fresh. I have no idea what to do with one. The flavor of this tea is a lot like the smell of the fresh fruit though so I would say the flavoring is quite natural.

Thank you Azzrian. This is very tasty.

This is a very pretty tea! I got some of this from Azzrian. Thanks so much! I think I got some for Kittenna as well, but this particular cup was brewed from Azzrian’s sample. :) I cold brewed this for about 4 hours. The flavor is light and fresh. The cantaloupe more like a cross between cucumber and cantaloupe, which is fine. I think cucumber and cantaloupe would make an awesome smoothie. There’s also this rich creamy flavor. Like some sort of dessert-y vanilla cream sauce. It’s wonderful with the fresh cantaloupe flavor! Very tasty tea. I can see why the folks here on Steepster are so in love with this. :)

Also, I can’t help but mentally compare this with 52teas’ Cantaloupe Bai Mu Dan. I think Frank’s version lacks that creamy element and his melon is more robustly flavored. His white base is also a bit chocolatey, which I think is heavenly, since chocolate and fruit are a match made in heaven.

I think I might just like 52teas’ version a little bit more. This version, however, is much more available so I guess they are both evenly awesome in the end. :)

Thank you Kittenna for sending this sample! I do have a special place in my heart for chai. It’s one of my first tea loves.
This particular chai is pretty mild. I usually prefer my chai to be strong on the spice since I pretty much always dilute it with milk and sugar. That’s just how chai was meant to be had! Though the spicing is light, the flavors are all there. cinnamon, cardamom, cloves. yum! The black base is smooth and mellow. Very tasty indeed.

Thank you to Kittenna for sending me a sample of this. It’s a rather refreshing cold brew. The sencha is metallic and grassy. Perhaps a bit too much since it seems to overpower the fruit flavors. It is smooth and buttery, however.

I can tell that it’s a fruit flavor, but I can’t distinguish what kind of fruit. It’s so faint. Well, anyhow, the green base is nice and the vague fruitiness is pleasant. A nice refreshing brew overall.

Thank you Amy Oh, for this fantastic sample!
I’m not really a fan of soda, partly because it’s too sweet and partly because the bubbles hurt my stomach. But I am a fan of ginger and white tea. And this blend is neither sweet or bubbly so how can we go wrong, right? Right. This tea is super tasty!

This has a bit of a medicinal flavor to it, but that’s because dried ginger tends to taste that way to me. Fortunately, this blend has enough other stuff going on that I barely notice it. The white tea is mild yet refreshing. It provides a good base for the bergamot and light ginger flavor. I’m also detecting something creamy or vanilla-y. It’s not really a replica of ginger ale, but it is good! Call it a White Ginger Grey if you want. It’s tasty and that’s all that matters.

It should perhaps be noted that I cold brewed this for at least 24 hours. Maybe longer. I had 3 other cold brews going on and this one was neglected for a while. It probably would have been fine with even a shorter cold brew. But not that I’ve tasted it, the pot is going to go fast!

If you have some of this tea, cold brew it. I mean it. Do it now and thank me later. The lychee and the honey. Oh my. So deliciously delicious. The autumnal leafy flavor is present but the lychee really stands out when cold brewed. The first time I tasted this, it seemed to me like a cold weather tea, but now with the lychee so prominent, I guess it’s an all weather tea! I guess it really reminds me of summer on the verge of turning into autumn.

Is there any tea that doesn’t cold brew well? So far everything I’ve tried has been a success. Maybe I’ll give pu-erh a whirl. :D

This has been a very depressing day. I started this tea cold brewing when I left the house today. I didn’t realize it was an oolong. For some reason I thought this was a green. Well the leaves expanded way more than expected for that reason and my cup is pretty strong on flavor. Dilute it was cold water and it tastes just about perfect. It’s a very soothing cup of chilled tea for a tough day. The vanilla is comfortingly creamy and sweet and the lemon keeps it fresh.

This reminds me quite s bit of David’s Tea’s Vanilla Oolong. I’d be curious to try them side by side to compare.

Thank you, Azzrian for sharing this delicious blend with me.

Mmmm, yum, grape! thanks for the sample Krystaleyn! I’ve been wanting to try some Butiki oolongs for a while. This one tastes just like grape bubble gum. I love grape bubble gum! I love this light oolong base lending its fresh greenness to a candy-like grape flavor that would otherwise be cloying.

This is really tasty! I cold brewed it over night, of course. It’s almost 100 here today! Green oolongs take really well to cold brewing. So do green teas. and white. not sure about dark oolongs. I think I’ll try it out on my mi lan dan cong. :)

Tomorrow’s gonna be another hot day so I’m sticking a few more teas into the fridge. I love my refrigerator. Do we ever really stop to think about how awesome it is? You can take away my electric lights, my clothes dryer, my microwave, even the computer… but not my refrigerator.

Another sample from Krystaleyn! Yummy! I’m really kicking butt in trying a bunch of new teas today! go me!

This particular tea is delicious! I cold brewed this cause who can drink hot tea in weather like this?! (Says the girl who just had hot soup for dinner) I’m really liking the balance of spices here! A lot of times, chais use too much of one thing or another, but this one is just perfect! The cardamom and the cinnamon and the yummy white base that is almost milky.

And, the slightly fruitiness of the peach. It’s only lightly peachy. I think if I didn’t know it was flavored, I would have thought that the peachiness was an inherent quality in the tea. Though I don’t usually get peach notes from a white tea. Very very tasty.

Despite cold brewing, I’m getting quite a caffeine kick from this. I can only imagine how I’d feel if I had hot brewed this. White teas are definitely morning teas.

Okay, I’m finally getting to some of my new matchas! I really have too much tea. I don’t even know what I have anymore. Samples everywhere!

anyways, this tea. In my last order, I got some matchas that I thought would be good for making smoothies. I also happen to love mangoes. The Champagne mango is the queen of all mangoes, but alas, she knows her worth. It is every so pricy to feed my mango habit. There’s nothing like a sweet creamy mango. yumm. Even my dogs love it. They sit at my feet and give me puppy dog eyes until I give them a nibble. So cute. so anyway, this mango matcha (http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/mango-matcha.html) seemed like the perfect thing for me!

The appearance of this tea is a slightly brownish green powder. As usual, there’s a little specks of white stuff in there that I’m guessing is the flavoring agent. It’s a bit clumpy but I’ve definitely seen worse.

For preparation, I added a bit of cold water to make a paste, then hot water to make the tea!

Well, sad to say, I’m a little disappointed. The smell reminds me of plastic. Like sweet peach and plastic. The taste is similar to the smell, except I’m also getting the grassy mineral flavor of the matcha. This is just so artificial and not like mango at all! I’ve loved all the other matchas from this company so I have no idea what happened here, but this flavor is not for me. At least, not as a hot tea. I think I’ll chill this and see if it gets better cold.

Later:
Okay, cold, this is a lot better. Still not good though. It tastes oddly floral and perfumey. I can still taste the matcha base, and that is as good as always but please find another mango flavoring. :( I can’t finish this. I’m sorry.

Thanks to Azzrian for sending me a sample of this! I can see from her review how precious this tea is to her. :)

I think I used too little leaf in this brew, but despite that I’m finding it pretty tasty. The white tea is the most prominent flavor. It’s hay and sun dried grass. Smooth and slightly toasty. The berry flavor is just an enhancement. A very tasty enhancement.

It’s like sitting on the summer meadow with a bowl of mixed berries. What a romantic flavor.

I think I’ll try cold brewing this next. :)

Got some of this from krystaleyn. Thanks for the sample! just enough of this to make s large cup cold brewed. I can taste the tarty hibiscus and the berry. I also taste the rooibos, which doesn’t bother me too much but it seems s bit out of place. And the after taste here seems a bit artificial.

Okay. Added a touch of sugar. Definitely helps the berry pop and makes it quite juicy. Not bad but not my favorite.

My package from Krystaleyn came today. Yaaaay. This is the first tea I’m trying from that bunch and I am super happy about it! Even though this was way over steeped as I dealt with a cooking emergency, it did not develop that odd sour wood flavor some rooibos tend to. I get a lovely sweet mango flavor with a bit of spice. I don’t really taste anything that might indicate creaminess or yogurt though.

I think the base is excellent and the mango is very realistic. Very nice. And I was just lamenting my lack of fruity caffeine free teas until the package arrived. :D

Shou pu-erh. It just always triggers something in my memory. It’s the taste of a dim sum restaurant. In my mind, pu-erh is a noisy crowded place filled with the scent of greasy foods and pungent sauces. It’s sitting at a table with my family and a small cup of some dark harsh liquid. Needless to say, the tea was pretty subpar. They servers simply fill a pot with leaves and boiling water. Then they set it at the table. The first few cups are always too light. the last few cups are always too dark. Then the pots are refilled with water and it’s a slightly better brew. But with the leaves they tend to use, it doesn’t get that much better. Until a certain age, my grandparents would just get me a can of soda. Then I learned I could just ask for jasmine or chrysanthemum tea and it was better. So the pu-erh of my youth was not really a good example of this illustrious tea. Yet every time I have a shou pu-erh, even a quality one like this offering from Teavivre, I always remember those dim sum places with my family. and that sub-par tea. The flavor is so familiar to me I don’t even notice what tasting unless I really think about it. All I get is memories.

If pressed, I’d say this tastes like autumn leaves. There’s a leather-y flavor and a smooth sweet finish. And that’s all I’ve got. :) I think shou pu-erh isn’t really my thing, but I think this is a good one. From the few sheng pu-erhs I’ve tried though, those might be worth exploring for me.

Thank you, Teavivre, for this generous sample!

Mmm, tasty tea! The moment I read the description for this, I thought it sounded a lot of David’s Tea’s Forever Nuts. and it is indeed very similar. This one tastes more natural though. And the apple seems more present. There’s definitely a lightly cinnamon-y cookie flavor. and it tastes like fresh toasty almonds! How is this done? Magic I tells you! Very tasty and nutty and good. My dog seems to like it too! Yaay.

Imagine a hot cup of this tea with a puppy napping on your lap. Heaven.

Oh yes, I happen to be home because I’m in between temp assignments at the moment. I think I just landed another one to start next week! At my previous assignment, some permanent people looked on me with pity, but I think of this as a vacation. I don’t have any debts or responsibilities at the moment so you gotta enjoy life while you can!

Until then, I’ll keep looking for that job which will allow me to bring my pups to work. :D

No notes yet.

Thanks to Amy Oh for a sample of this tea!

Yesterday, I had too much caffeine and I hadn’t had a run in a while so I had too much energy in my system. I thought it would be a good time to give some of this herb a try! Well, I wasn’t sure how much leaf to use to I ended up using waaay too much. Urgh.

This morning, I made it again with only 3/4 tsp of leaf for my mug. Perfect! Very herbal and cooling. And spicy! I wonder how this herb is fresh? I bet it’s awesome! Anyway, I’m a fan. :)

The temperature has dropped enough that hot tea is again a viable option. yaay! I’ve got a few teas waiting to be tried that I want to try hot before messing around with cold brewing or chilling. Give the tea some respect!

This tastes like…black tea. there’s a refreshing astringency. The texture is smooth with the barest tang of tannin. Good mellow cup. It is neither too assertive nor to weak. I have no idea how else to describe this. I can tell the quality is good and I’d serve it to company. Tastes leafy. Not the toasty autumn forest of dark oolongs, but something like that. Vaguely. It doesn’t seem strong enough to take milk too well.

I always feel like I’m missing something when I drink black teas. Few have the nuances that I love in whites and oolongs. Is it just me? I drank down the whole cup trying to figure it out. I can never discern anything special about any black tea. Perhaps I just don’t like it. I suppose I’ll keep trying anyhow. I think my next swap partner might get the rest of this pouch. :)

I think I’ll go have a cup of something caffeine free now.

I spent a good amount of time preparing various teas to chill or cold brew since its a hot weekend and we will be wanting to drink lots of cold drinks!

This particular tea I decided to brew hot and then ice. I read somewhere that fruit teas don’t cold brew well. I have my doubts about that but I only had enough to make one pitcher so I thought I’d go the safe route.

Dry, this tea smells like melony heaven. Very honeydew! Yum!

Hot, this tea just tastes mostly like hot apple. After chilling this tastes more like sweet melon but still pretty strongly of dried apple pieces. I don’t really like the taste of dried apple pieces. Other than that this tea is definitely very summery and melony. I don’t think I like this enough to get more but it is definitely tasty. Could be good as a liquid for aqua fresca.

Husband has already consumed more than half a pitcher. Good thing I made all those other teas cold brew style!

Intriguing tea. The white base here is of the stronger more robust variety, bordering on woody. I cold brewed mine. I can imagine that this one is sensitive to oversteeping with hot water. The base is also a bit like dark chocate which pairs nicely with the vanilla. It’s a very smooth and sweet vanilla. Very pleasant! Unfortunately, the grapefruit part of this tea is quite lacking. The flavor shows up only in the after taste and lingers in a bad way. Like cheap air freshener. But it’s faint so it’s not so bad.

Over all this is a pleasant tea to go with sweets. I probably won’t get more but I’ll enjoy it while I have it. Might try putting some citrus zest in at some point to highlight the grapefruit. I do think a vanilla citrus combo can be quite nice.