Mercuryhime

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.

I like to keep a pot or pitcher of tea in the fridge in hot weather season. It hasn’t really bee all that hot, which means the iced teas aren’t as refreshing as intended but they are still tasty.

I’ve learned to make my peace with hibiscus. It just needs to be iced. This particular tea intrigued me because of the cinnamon. Another reviewer mentioned that it tasted like Christmas and I completely agree! There’s actually a popular German Christmas tea that tastes a lot like this. I can drink this straight once diluted, but husband preferred it full strength with a dollop of honey. I love that it tastes like fruit punch and cinnamon. Quite a good fruit tea.

As others have said, this is definitely an oolong. Perhaps they meant to call it a green oolong tea. I don’t know. But whatever it’s supposed to be called, this is good stuff. After seeing all those rave reviews on this tea, I just had to buy myself a pouch.

The first thing you smell upon opening the pouch is a lovely minerally condensed milk. The leaves are dark green and crumpled into messy little balls, as is the case with most green oolongs I’ve had. The liquor is a lightly colored and totally delicious. It’s creamy and milky and smooth and green and good. There’s a slight melon-y fruitiness as well.

After the first steep, the leaves get huge but are clearly capable of another infusion. Smells like it’s about to get vegetal! I’ll report back on how that goes. :)

Steep 2: Yes, this is definitely a bit vegetal now, but not much. The flavor here also reminds me of papaya. Still sweet and creamy but not so milky as the first steep.

This is a lovely tea, whether it be a green or an oolong.

Knowing that my mom is a fan of ginseng and fun new teas, I brought this sample packet home to share with my family. So we made a cup then got distracted by doggies. I think this cup steeped about 10 minutes. So it’s a bit strong, but not bitter or astringent at all! good stuff! My mom and dad were sipping it and going, “I don’t taste any ginseng.” I couldn’t really taste the ginseng either. Then the cup cooled and I tasted it. The ginseng is a slight cooling bitterness in the back of your throat. Very pleasant.

The oolong itself is a very roasty grainy type. It’s not really my thing, to be honest. But I think the quality is really good despite my personal preferences. :) any tea that doesn’t get bitter and astringent when you get distracted is good in my book.

Okay, my third attempt at this tea. Cold brewed it for a good 1.5 days and it is great cold brewed. The spiciness becomes minimal. It feels a bit more like fizziness than spiciness. The mango is there and the funky green tea is barely noticeable. Refreshing and interesting. Might make a good base for lemonade!

Finally getting to another sample from Fong Mong! This is really good! I didn’t really expect such a toasty flavor. The smell and tast is like oats but also green like my favorite green oolongs. Usually the roasty ones are darker but this one is definitely green. I really like this unusual combo!

I don’t have time to get into details here, but I’m really enjoying this! While the toastyness is novel and fun, I think I still prefer the unroasty green oolongs. I guess I wouldn’t buy this one, but it’s still really tasty.

Edit: second steep. Roasted veggies!

Oh my. oh my oh my. I am somewhat speechless. This is … wow. I feel like I’m drinking the soul of lilacs, young grass, ripe juicy peach and plum. It is the bounty of Mother Earth coming to life even as the last patches of snow are melting away. The taste lingering on your tongue is exquisite. I don’t know if I want to keep drinking this tea or just savor that peachy flavor in my mouth. There’s also something like apple.

I’ve been drinking Tieguanyin all my life, but this is different from any other I’ve had. Is is fair to put this tea in the same category? I suppose this is the freshest tieguanyin I’ve ever had. Picked this very season! I wonder what the leaves tastes like fresh off the plant?

The leaves are much greener than other tieguanyin as well. The smell of the tea was so vegetal at first I was a bit put off. But the flavor of the tea really takes a few sips to unfold. Then you slowly realize what a treasure you have in your cup.

Lovely.

This is a really smooth. It just slips down your throat like liquid silk. The flavor is autumnal and reminiscent of leaf littered forest floor. In between sips, I can taste something fruity lingering in my mouth. It’s peachy or somewhat berry like. I don’t really taste the honey that the official description talks about. I’ve had other Bai Hao where the honey flavor is really strong. Here, it is hard to taste. Still, this tea tastes very good. It’s not entirely my style though.

Excuse my rambling and somewhat disorganized review. I’m very tired. :)

Had this again today. Liking it a lot less. The green tea base tastes totally off. I did make it stronger because I wanted a stronger mango flavor. I guess the flavors in this tea aren’t well balanced. sad.

Finished the last of this today. So tasty and comforting. I maybe really have to consider buying this. I just looked at Rishi’s website and the price really is quite reasonable! But I mustn’t buy anything until I drink down these teas!

Also, don’t you hate when you’re eating your apple with a bit of peanut butter only to find that your apple is eaten but the peanut butter keeps finding its way into your mouth? Mmmm, peanut butter….

heeey! This is pretty good! This is another David’s Tea that I was convinced I didn’t need to try. Then came all those gushing reviews. Ack! The first day I went to pick up a sample of this, it was completely sold out. Apparently, it was sold out within three days. Three days! How does NYC already have such a huge DT following? There must be a ton of Canadian expats or something. But anyway, they finally restocked and I snagged a 1 oz sample size.

I just used all of it to make one potful with 4.5 cups of water. Clearly, one would need quite a bit of dry tea to keep up a Tropicalia habit. I plan to chill this pot and drink it tomorrow. :) Even though the weather has cooled down enough now that it’s possible to drink hot teas, I feel that this one would benefit from a chilling. I am sampling a bit of it hot now, just to see how it is.

I must admit, the brewed tea looks disturbingly like soup. It’s a rich yellow-y orange and there’s a nice layer of oil floating on top. I’m sure it’s from the coconut, so I’m not worried, but man, this looks like soup! I expect to stir it up a bit and find onion pieces in there. Speaking of which, I ate some of the tea after brewing. the little pineapple bits were the best! :)

This tea is surprisingly sweet all by itself. I suspect it’s all the dried fruit pieces. I can definitely taste the apple and the pineapple with a yummy coconut richness in the background. This also reminds me a bit of amaretto. Just a bit, but enough to convince me that a splash of amaretto would be amazing. maybe with a bit of sugar and cream. The tea person that sold me this said he liked it with Bacardi. I’m sure that would be great too. :)

My only complaint? You need too much tea to make your drink. I probably won’t be getting more of this.

I’ll rate this once I’ve had it chilled. For now, it’s time to make dinner!

At first, I wasn’t too keen on trying this one, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to taste it. I actually love the Mexican treatment of mangoes with a bit of salt, lime juice and hot sauce. It’s sweet and tangy and hot and very refreshing! Hopefully, this tea will capture that deliciousness.

Brewed, it smells mostly like mango. I’m not sure what kind of green it is, but the savory aroma makes me thing Chinese. I could be wrong. The peppers might be messing with me. The taste of this is only lightly mango. I’m actually a bit disappointed in how light the mango flavor is. As you swallow, the spiciness burns a bit going down. Very nice! I happen to be a fan of spicy food. (One of my favorite snacks is toast with avocado and a healthy drizzle of sriracha) I would say that the spicy level here is just right for a tea. Hotter and you’d lose the mango. THis is a good balance. But again, this is coming form a spicy lover. I can imagine some people finding this too spicy. On the other hand, my spicy loving friend would probably enjoy this. :)

Overall, quite a nice tea. It’s different from any other tea I’ve tried but it’s very enjoyable. Next time, I think I’ll use more leaf to see if I can make the mango pop a little more. Maybe I’ll even try a bit of lime juice and sugar to make this taste more like that yummy Mexican mango thing!

Okay! I’m starting with my Fong Mong samples today! I picked this one out as a variety I haven’t tried before. The little leaf nuggets are smaller than the green oolongs I’ve had before. And they smell so floral and good! Like sun dried grass and lilacs. Mostly lilacs. I think.

I see that the instructions say to steep for 6 minutes. Eep. That’s a long time isn’t it? Maybe it’s for western steeping. I’m doing my usual gong fu style so I think I’ll do it my own way for now.

First steep: mmm… lightly floral. There’s a bit of something like cooked summer squash. There’s a light fresh sweetness with a clean finish. This might be a winner as a cold brewed tea. This tea definitely tastes like summer harvest vegetables to me.

Second Steep: More floral and lightly vegetal. It’s delicate and sweet. Vaguely fruity. I can’t place that fruitiness. Maybe a subtropical fruit of some sort. This tea is really impressive so far. The smell and flavor makes me think of a garden of fragrant blooms and fresh summer squash.

Third & fourth Steep: I combined these two. It’s getting a bit more vegetal now, but the floral character is still very strong! This tea is well named! It’s still very light and refreshing. Hmm..I think I’m detecting something like apple skin. It doesn’t leave any lingering dryness or creaminess or thickness on the tongue like other teas do. It is, however, smooth and comforting going down. Very very good.

Steep five: I spilled some tea on my pants. Now I smell awesome. :) The veggie and floral flavors seem to reach an equilibrium in this infusion. Still tastes light, fresh and lovely. I’m beginning to tire of this tea though. Ah, my fickle tastebuds.
The leaves have also opened up quite a bit now. They smell fantastic! Like the best smelling blossoms ever grown. And this is why I will always love green oolongs.

I’m going to save these leaves for later. Judging from their appearance, I can probably get one more steep from them, at least.

Having the last of this sample from Azzrian today. I don’t know why, but I was craving a bolder tea this morning. Maybe it’s because I’ve been drinking so many herbals, fruity flavored things, oolongs and greens. I need something different! Plus I went out to dinner last night and it was a sort of pre-fixe that came with coffee/tea and dessert. The only tea they had was lipton. Sigh. I can’t believe I used to be ok with lipton. Then I moved up to Bigelow and Twinings. SO much better! and now, looseleaf!

This tea is great. First steep is a bit harsh. I added sugar. To be honest, the second steep is probably the best. It’s mellow and smooth and chestnutty. Perfect.

I really should be getting to the new teas and samples I have. I have too many! But I really wanted this tea today. It’s perfect. I might even start drinking black tea because of this! I know I’m already a fan of DT’s Butter Rum. I really don’t need to start liking another category of tea! Luckily, Pu-erh and I still aren’t BFFs. Green oolong will probably hold that title for life!

I feel suddenly compelled to get one of those two part necklaces that say “Best Friends” that fit together like puzzle pieces and give half to my green oolong collection.

…that’s it. I’m officially crazy.

I cold brewed a large pitcher of this a few days ago. The flavor is much sweeter and melon-y than hot brewed. It even gives that slightly prickly feeling in the back of the throat the real sweet ripe melons seem to! I have barely enough for a cup. I’m going to miss this when it’s gone. Slighty chocolatey and so fruity! It’s a wonderful tea hot or cold.

I stopped by David’s Tea today to pick up some stuff for a friend who lives overseas. I also used this opportunity as an excuse to pick up some samples of stuff I’ve been wanting to try. They finally got those teas I wanted back in stock! Yaaaay! And since Steepster has been acting better lately, you’ll likely be seeing my thoughts on those teas soon!

After chatting with my tea helper and sniffing teas, I got a bit thirsty. So I ordered this iced to go. It’s only ok. While the icy cold drink was very refreshing on a hot moist day, the flavor was only so so. The peach was too candy-like for my taste and the oolong was a bit too grassy and metallic. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t taste like high quality oolong either. And there’s supposed to be some almond in here? Hmm…didn’t really notice.

I don’t regret this tea. I’m happy i tried it, but I have better things waiting for me.

Also, if I lived or worked closer to David’s Tea, I’d be all over their iced tea promo! $1 iced teas all summer long if you bring in their own special travel cup. The cup is $9ish. Tempting…veeery tempting….

Edit: looking at my receipt, I suddenly realized that I got this iced tea for free! That’s so awesome! What’s the trigger for a free tea to go? Thank you so much, tea person!

I cold brewed this for approximately 24 hours. It tastes old, understandably. I think this was blended over a year ago. Also, I can no longer recall who sent this to me in a swap. I am so sorry! Whoever you are, thank you!

Aside from the aged leaf flavor, this is actually quite a tasty tisane. I think green rooibos is way better than red. I also think honeybush is way better than rooibos. So green honeybush? Way awesome! I think the base is a great accompaniment to the watermelon flavors. This isn’t the sweet red core of a watermelon, but the melon closer to the rind. Less sweet, but more refreshing. Either way, very watermelony. Exactly what I needed after tromping around town doing errands in hot humid weather.

I’m now considering Frank’s latest watermelon blend, but I think that one is a red honeybush. Hmm… It probably won’t be as refreshing. Naaah. I just got a sample size of David’s Tea’s Luscious Watermelon. Hopefully that one will be good enough to replace this tea. Frank certainly has the fresh watermelon flavoring down. I suspect David’s will be more candy-like, which I wouldn’t prefer, but we will see.

So it seems that the disgustingly humid New York summer has officially begun. For that reason, I currently have two different teas cold brewing in the fridge. I had a liter of Swampwater in the fridge two days ago. Most of it was consumed in one day. Now I’m looking for a more traditional flavor. Mmmm gyokuro to the rescue. So delicious. So unbelievably refreshing and quick to cold brew. It might be because the leaves are a bit cut up but this was ready for drinking in less than an hour of cold brewing. The leaves had turned a lovely bright green. Sniffing the wet leaves, you’d swear you’re holding a handful of fresh bruised leaves. So green and vibrant! And the color! Japanese tea makers know how to make tea beautiful!

And even though this was a cold brew steeped for under an hour, the flavor was all there! Green and sweet and and smooth. It’s a bit vegetal and slightly oceanic.

My husband, drawn in by the bright green liquid, eagerly took a sip and made a disgusted face. “Is this Japanese green tea? Why are they always so seaweedy?” haha I happen to love the oceanic aspect but he pretty much hates all Japanese greens. So while I think this tea is lovely, it’s not for those who aren’t fond of oceanic flavors. :)

Also, since the first glass was cold brewed so quickly, I used the same leaves for another glass of cold brewing. This second glass is lightly flavored and more of a yellow green but the taste is still refreshing and delicious. I get more of a minerally/vitaminy flavor now. I love this!

Next cold brew in my fridge: a pitcher of 52 Teas’ Cantaloupe White tea. Can’t wait to get to that one!

Oh my! This is good. The last yellow tea I had was medicre and I sort of wondered what the big deal was about. This tea though! Amazing! Thank you for sharing this precious tea with me Azzrian!

I think used too little leaf but it’s still wonderful! It has the fruity floral complexity of an oolong but the light freshness of a white. Love this! More leaves next time though!

Thank you DJ Booth! This is really tasty! Of course I added rock sugar and bailey’s to this for dessert and it was decadent! My husband was pining for ice cream but this seemed to quell his cravings. :)

The rooibos seems to be really good quality. It’s smooth and rich without that yucky sour wood flavor some rooiboses get. And the flavor! Yum! Well done! It was like a melted sticky caramel. I have to try it tonight without additions. I’ll be needing to get more somehow. Great dessert tea!

So i took a trip to Davids today to pick up a replacement lid for my perfect glass tea mug. I got the bamboo one intended for the noble mug though. I’d like to see the lid shatter on me now! Hah! The glass mug itself is so pretty though and the bamboo lid matches well enough. I had wanted to pick up some samples of Luscious Watermelon, Mango Diablo, and Tropicalia while I was there but they wre all sold out! Apparently they are super popular! They took my email and told me they’d let me know when more comes in so hopefully I’ll get to try some of those teas soon!

Not wanting to walk out of there without tea, I ask for a recommendation on a fruity iced tea to go. After sniffing a bunch of teas, I settled on this. It’s pretty good! I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it hot. And I definitely would never have wanted to try it from the description! Minty citrus? Weird… But actually, the mint is very subdued. I tasted citrus and apple and then a smooth cakey vanilla at the end of the sip. Tasty and refreshing.

I always thought of teas as a primarily hot drink, but I’m beginning to see that some are only good cold. I foresee an expansion of the tea cabinet now that I’ve overcome my tea prejudices. :)

Wow! I’ve said that I don’t much like darker oolongs, but clearly I’ve been drinking the wrong kinds! This tastes amazing! I love that this weather allows for me to enjoy my teas both cold and hot. Had a nice cold brewed lemon green tea in my thermos for a long walk in the park with my puppies. Frozen blueberries make an awesome substitute when you are lacking ice cubes!

And now, the evening has turned chilly and I’m turning to a hot beverage to relax me and warm me up for bedtime. I had originally planned on some Neapolitan Honeybush (yummy!) but I was also in the mood for something new. Time to break into some samples form Azzrian! I know it’s late for a caffeinated tea, but what the heck.

This tea is fantastic. I can’t believe the flavors here! It’s like roasted chestnut, sweet and creamy. It’s also very floral. I suppose it’s supposed to be orchid, but to be honest, I’ve never known an orchid flower to smell like anything. Am I smelling the wrong orchids?

What a wonderful comforting tea. I hate to add another tea to my must buy list, but this is definitely permanent collection worthy. So few teas have that honor since I’m all about variety.

I just had my husband try it out. I’m trying to train his tastebuds. :) He says it tastes like caramel and vanilla. He also says it reminds him of Japanese tea only not bad (He dislikes Japanese teas). Awesome. :)

Off to try my second infusion now!

Mmm.. still good!

I want to thank Butiki Teas for sending me this wonderful tea. I really didn’t expect such a generous amount. Thank you!

The dry tea is so cute. It’s whole dark leaves compressed into a thickish coin shape. I could tell from the smell and appearance that it’s a cooked puerh before even reading about it. The smell was woodsy and puerh-y. haha, I don’t know how to describe that particular odor. :)

The first brew is a bit light, which is to be expected, but I could tell it was going to get better. This tea is warm and smooth. I can detect leather and wood with a cocoa aftertaste. Hmm… I’m on the second steep now and it is so much better. More cocoa. I’m loving this aftertaste! I suppose one might even say this is a bit tobacco-y, which I’d only know because dad refuses to quit smoking. :(

As the cup cools, I’m tasting something bright like lemon. Refreshing!

I sometimes think puerh is the cabernet of tea. I hate cabernet. I really like this puerh. :) I’m rarely if ever in the mood for puerh, which is a shame since this one is so good. I can’t imagine wanting this tea too much as the weather gets warmer either. Then again, my desk at work is right under the air conditioning vent so maybe I’ll have good cause to drink this at work. :)

Listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra radio on Pandora. :)