Garrett

It always seems that when I come back, that a layer of dust has covered my Steepster account…. and man, it’s been a minute since I’ve posted on here…. Lots of stuff has been going on lately, lots of crazy, hectic stuff… I still drink tea during my hectic schedule, but I don’t get much time to do so. Most of it is at work, with unfiltered water and using tea bags…. Quite sad actually… I still find time to drink the good stuff at home, but it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like…. But I’m off of work today for a change, trying to relax…. and as I sit here writing this, drinking this Blood-Orange Smoothie Tea, I can’t stop this sense of jitters that I have… No, it isn’t from this tea that I’m drinking, it’s caffeine free… These are more of a nervous type of jitters…. I just made the final few design contestants in Adagio’s tea shirt contest. I’m both excited and nervous about it at the same time. I’m not going to lie, one of the reasons I wanted to post about this tea I’m having is to ask you, my fellow Steepsterites, for help in this contest… If you could possible head over to the facebook album page for the contest and vote for my design, I would greatly appreciate it (it’s ok if you don’t like it and choose to go with another design I guess, thanks for taking the time to vote at least). If you do give me a vote, I greatly appreciate it… Maybe even ask friends and fellow tea lovers to do the same? ;) …

My design on there is #2. I went for a Wabi Sabi thought process and aesthetic with the design I chose. There is a rough feeling with the brush strokes of the cup design to mimic that of an uneven surface. It is simple, yet so in depth. The simplicity touches on the notion of Less is More. With Wabi Sabi, you learn to find the most simple object to be interesting, fascinating, and beautiful. It can change your perception of the world to the extent that the individual, uneven brush strokes makes it a more interesting object and gives it greater meditative value.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150814106620495.751070.368656650494

Once again, thanks very much if you vote for my design. I really appreciate it. :)

And now, on to actually rating this tea and talking about it more in depth! Brittany recently went to San Francisco to check out a grad school, and she happened to come across The Spice & Tea Exchange and stopped in to pick up some stuff for me. She got me some of this Blood-Orange Smoothie Tea, some Coconut Oolong Tea, some Green Tropical Tea, and some Green Tea Mints (Lychee flavored!)… This tea instantly reminds me of a dreamsicle when I smell the dry leaf. One thing about this tea that I wish they changed though was to put steeping instructions on the bag. They give a general steeping instructions card, but I didn’t realize that I had this card until after I had steeped my tea. I just went with a general steep for rooibos with this tea to play it on the safe side. This tea tastes quite good. It is naturally sweet, naturally tart. It has a strong orange taste to it, but that smell of dreamsicle that I get from the dry leaf, doesn’t translate very to the taste very well. If anything, there is a slight dreamsicle taste to it, much less than I wished it to have. Don’t get me wrong though, it is still a very good tea. I want to try it served latte style like the bag recommends, that might give it more of the dreamsicle taste that I am wanting. It is a great night time tea since it is caffeine free. I enjoy this tea so far, I just need to experiment a little more with it. I can’t wait to try the other Spice & Tea Exchange teas…

blows dust off of Steepster account

Hello Steepsterites!…. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on here to log and review teas…. I’ve been drinking a bunch of tea and have been on here lurking and reading everyone’s reviews, I just have been a bit too lazy and haven’t had time to write on any of the tea I’ve been drinking… I have been keeping busy with work and random things. Just recently during the end of summer/beginning of fall I took a trip to visit Brittany in Japan. After staying with her for a bit, we both went to Taiwan for a little while. While in Taiwan, we visited Pinglin, being there was a tea lover’s paradise pretty much, being able to go to where Pouchong is grown and produced was just awesome. While there, we visited the world’s largest tea museum, went to some tea fields, drank tons of tea, ate tea related foods, ate tea itself, and more! It was a blast…. I will have one of my upcoming reviews on one tea I purchased there and it will include tons of photos from our time in Pinglin.

Anyway…. About this sparkling tea….

I had to go to Whole Foods to get some Tofurky for next week. Last year around Thanksgiving I waited only a couple days before which was a bad idea, but I was lucky enough to get the last box of a Tofurky dinner, this year I made sure to give myself plenty of time, so they had a bunch in stock. Anyway, after grabbing my Tofurky along with some other things, I made my way to the registers, but something had caught my eye…. I thought the bottle/package design looked amazing…. And when I looked a bit closer I read “White Jasmine Sparkling Tea”…. I thought to myself “Sparkling tea!? That sounds pretty interesting, I wonder what it tastes like….” So the tea lover in me forced myself to buy it even though it was pretty expensive…. I told myself that I’d only buy it if I had it for Thanksgiving, but….. that didn’t happen… I caved….

Like a lot of people stated, it is kind of similar to white sparkling grape juice. That is pretty interesting considering that only silver needle jasmine tea, organic cane sugar, and water were used in the making of this. I guess something in the fermentation process causes this. When you first take a sip, you get the sparkling grape juice sense from it, but then the aftertaste hits you, and it has this subtle hint of jasmine with it. This tea isn’t overly-sweet but there is a slight sweetness to it. I love jasmine teas, so part of me wishes it was more prominent, but for what this is, I really enjoy the taste of it.

Like the label and description state, it pairs well with food and is the perfect accompaniment to any meal or celebration. This went great with the persimmon-cranberry fried squid that I made…

I would definitely purchase this again, but only for special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc… It is far too expensive to drink on a regular basis ($9 a bottle).

I would recommend this if you are looking for something new and exciting to try and don’t mind splurging a bit.

I was in the mood for something hot and sweet…. I don’t usually drink my tea with any form of sugar or sweetener, but tonight I was in the mood for it. I do LOVE chai being sweet, so I decided to go for some chai tonight. I ended up choosing the Minty Green Chai because it is the only chai in my current collection that I haven’t tried yet.

Using 2 tablespoons as suggested, saying this tea is good for multiple infusions would be a total understatement… i’m already on cup 4 and it’s still going strong….

I don’t typically like my chai to be really minty, but more spicy….. Initially, I thought the mint was a bit too much for me, but it’s really grown on me in these past few cups….. I think it might be because I have used a bit more milk in my following cups than I did with my first cup……

This definitely hit the spot…

Thanks to Meghann M for also sending me this tea.

There is definitely a nice lemon and berry scent to this before steeping. After steeping, the lemon and berry scents become a little less noticeable…

Steeping this tea produces a nice darkish red liquor on the first steep. The taste of the ceylon is quite strong, and the lemon and berry flavors become almost non-existent. The second steep produces a deep yellow liquor. The ceylon taste is much lighter, and it is a little bit easier to taste the lemon and berry. Third steep, not that great…. this tea maxes out at 2 steeps….

Not too bad

I’ve been busy with stuff lately and haven’t really had time to sit down and write a nice review after having a cup of tea.

I got this tea through a contest I won from SafaHimalaya (thanks!). There were two small packets of oolong (jade and night) along with my 55g of Himalayan Spring First Flush Black Tea. I was in the mood for an oolong and decided this one would do.

The smell of the loose leaf is just amazing. Has a slight floral smell to it, with a nice sweetness to it.

The liquor is a nice pale yellow color. First infusion in my oolong pot http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpudlowski/4608939561/ … The taste is very light. Almost reminds me of a green tea in a way. It has a very faint floral taste to it and seems quite naturally sweet. With each additional steeping, it seems to just keep getting sweeter and sweeter. I used my Samovar Oolong teapot, so it made many many nice small infusions. Dry leaf in my oolong pot http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpudlowski/4609546672/ … Macro of dry leaf in pot http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpudlowski/4608938915/ …. Size comparison of the pot to my hand http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpudlowski/4609547206/

Overall, this is a nice light oolong. I would definitely consider buying it when I run out of what I have currently.

So, before I get into this tea, I’ll walk you through my day and how this tea comes into play…

Today was pretty amazing…. Spent the day golfing and drinking…. So I’m a little tired from walking through the golf course and whacking balls, plus drinking alcohol just dehydrates you more…. So throughout the day I’m slowly losing more energy bit by bit…..

This was followed up by the Blues’ final home game of the season. Keith Tkachuk’s final game…. And what a game it was…. such an unforgettable night….. The Ducks are a pretty decent team, and have been somewhat evenly matched against the Blues….. I could tell it was gonna be a good night…. Huge hits all night…. Crombeen beat the snot out of Brown… This got the energy flowing… Then two of the rookies the Blues picked up this season… Eller and Junland… Eller’s 2nd goal of the season, assisted by Junland (he got two tonight) was reviewed for a possible high sticking… called the goal good… Energy just keeps building and building… Brewer gets a goal, I dislike him as a player, but whatever, it’s a goal, I’ll take it…. Energy is slowly building…. Ducks got a goal, my energy level is put in check for now… Ducks get another goal, now it’s 3-2… My energy slowly starts to fade… Blues come back, Andy Mac to Tkachuk to Colaiacovo, GOAL!… Walt gets an assist in his last game!… Energy comes rushing back to me… But then stays at bay because not much is happening with the game…. Then McClement gets a goal, I’m so hyped up at this point because we are leading 4-3… Not even 20 seconds later, Perron to Tkachuk to Andy Mac, GOAL!… Oh my GOD I’m going crazy! Big Walt has 2 assists! What a final night for him!… Then my boy Backes gets goal 6 to put the nail in the coffin of the Ducks! (6-3)… Oh man, energy is RUSHING through my veins… In the final minute of the game everyone stood up and just started chanting…. KEITH TKA-CHUK! KEITH TKA-CHUK! KEITH TKA-CHUK! KEITH TKA-CHUK! The buzzer goes off, the crowd goes WILD… Tkachuk picks up the puck from his final shift in his final hockey game…. I’m so full of energy at this point….. Everyone keeps standing and just applauds Big Walt for a few minutes as he takes a final lap around the ring with his kids….. He gave a few words and there was a tribute video to him and his amazing hockey career…. I’m floating on cloud nine at this point….. Thanks for all the memories Walt…

So, after my not-so-short babblings I’ll get to where the tea comes in…. So I get home from the hockey game and realize I’ve gone all day without tea! And I need to quit drinking because I have a meeting at work at 7am and I can’t be hungover… So I wanted to end the night with some nice tea…. But it’s about 11…. I’ve already got all of this faux energy from the hockey game… so I didn’t want to stay up due to the tea… But I didn’t want a chamomile tea that would put me to sleep… I just wanted to be able to enjoy a tea and ride out this natural high that I was on… So I decided to give this a go since I just got my first Rishi order in a few days ago….

This tea smells amazing in leaf form…. The blueberry is definitely noticeable… The brew is a deep almost maroon color… Man… did this tea hit the spot…. Naturally sweet from the berries, and caffeine free rooibos… Typically when I have had berry teas in the past, they have been somewhat tart… but not this tea… not tart at all for being fruity…. Definitely soothing, but not like a chamomile or other nighttime teas that will leave you snoozing…. This is just a nice relaxing tea without all the caffeine and stuff… What a great way to end my awesome day…. with an awesome tea…. I’m glad I chose this as the first Rishi tea to drink…… I’d highly recommend it…

(P.S. has a second steep to it, but not nearly as flavorful and colorful… but still good)

(P.P.S. Sorry for the extremely long blurb for this tea)

(P.P.P.S. I think I’m just doing this now to see if I can get on anyone’s nerves by taking up their entire dashboard page….)

(P.P.P.P.S. Ok, I’m done now… Time for bed, g’night)

Hmm… Still searching for the caramel…. I think last time I made this I used way too much leaf, over-steeped it, and at a temp that was too high. This time I used only about 1 – 1.5 tsp of leaf, steeped it for 3:45 at about 195-200….

This brew still wasn’t caramel tasting, but definitely I was able to notice very very slight undertones of burn sugar when I started to get towards the bottom of my mug.

Still going to leave it unrated until I can experiment more…..

I really love this tea… Especially when it comes to nice nighttime chamomile teas…. Definitely helps me go to bed….

Now I bid you all adieu…

Last weekend some friends and I went to club/bar that had $15 all you can drink beer and rails, needless to say, shit got crazy and it was a blast…. But the next morning I wasn’t feeling so great…. Britt told me that she just recently read something that banana milk shakes apparently are good for hangovers because the banana helps calm the stomach, and with the honey, builds up the depleted blood sugar levels. The milk soothes the stomach and re-hydrates your system. Bananas are also rich in the important electrolytes, magnesium and potassium, which are severely depleted during heavy drinking, thus giving you a nice energy boost in the morning. Sadly, last weekend I didn’t have any bananas, so it was just water and Gatorade for me.

Fast forward to this weekend… after a night of Gin N Juice, Smash Bros, and Bang!, I didn’t wake up hungover, but I still didn’t feel like 100%…. So since I now have bananas, I decided to give the banana shake a try even though I wasn’t feeling too bad. But then I remembered reading in a tea book that green tea is good for hangovers, then it hit me…. Banana Matcha Milkshake!

So, pulled out my remaining shiki matcha powder (about 1.5tbsp), added 3 bananas, 2-3 tablespoons of honey, 2 cups of milk, and a handful of ice cubes to add a nice texture too it (plus, H20 always helps with re-hydrating yourself)… BAM! Heaven in a cup…

Boy, does this hit the spot… Great form of sustenance, I feel like I don’t even need to eat breakfast now, I’m actually full from drinking this….. Like I said, this morning, I’m really not hungover, just feeling really lethargic… I already feel a nice little boost of energy from this… So I could definitely see how this would be a nice hangover remedy…

This is a perfect blend of banana and matcha… You get a nice banana flavor, with grassy undertones that mix well together. Then you get that little extra bit of sweetness from the honey… With how glorious this tastes, you’d think it wasn’t healthy for you at all… BUT IT TOTALLY IS!… So I’ll definitely be making this in the future for hangovers or if I just want a nice, refreshing, and healthy drink to satisfy my sweet tooth!

Now I’m just gonna sit here and relax while drinking my shake and watching highlights from last night’s Blues game….

So, I wanted a nice boost of energy to get my day started, so I decided to go with this tea. I figured I’d go with a yerba maté over black tea cause I’d need the extra energy before I go into work later today since I’ll be getting out pretty late.

My tea blend isn’t straight RRLM though, I had a little less than 1oz of Maté Lemon Blast left over in my tea stash, and when I originally got the RRLM I barely saw any maté leaves in it (not surprising since most of their tea is stuff with fruit anyway). But I definitely wanted more maté leaves in the RRLM. Looking at the ingredients I noticed the MLB was just lemon grass and green maté, which are both in the RRLM, so I decided to just mix the rest of it in with the RRLM (2oz RRLM : 1oz MLB). Now this definitely has the amount of maté I’m looking for, and it only increased the lemon scent of the RRLM by a tiny bit.

The smell of this tea is pretty amazing, extremely fruity, I don’t notice any floral smells from the hibiscus or rose buds, only notice the lemony raspberry scents.

This tea turns a deep deep ruby red color, probably the darkest out of any of the teas that turn red that I currently have. The fruity smells seem to decrease a little bit after steeping.

This tastes so fruity and tart/sour (which is nice since I’m looking for that nice kick). I definitely am glad that I added the MLB to this, to give it a bit more of a maté flavor to it. I think this tea would be GREAT as an iced tea, but hot isn’t bad either.

2nd steep on this is ok. The brew is a light pink color now. It definitely loses A LOT of the tart/sour qualities. There is a slight sweetness to it now, and the mate is a bit more noticeable.

If you like fruity and tart teas, or if you want a nice refreshing iced tea to drink while playing sports or being active, I’d say give this tea a shot.

I’ve never been too familiar with Earl Grey teas, I’ve only had a few, the most recent one was the sample I got from The Jade Teapot.

This one is definitely different, not nearly as floral smelling… This one actually almost reminds me of a perfume though… The vanilla is definitely a nice touch to it..

This one goes down really smooth… I love the creamy vanilla taste to this. I think I just need to spend more time with this tea and Earl Greys in general… It is a great morning tea…

I’m just gonna continue my day watching the April Fools’ marathon of the Three Stooges… I love these guys…

Backlogging from last night.

I picked up a handful of teas from Teavana yesterday, and this was one I’ve kinda had my eye on for a while, I figured I’d get it since I tend to have issues sleeping most nights and I don’t currently have any other chamomile teas.

So yeah, last night, I was just beat…. I spent most of the day running around places, spent a couple hours at a park throwing a baseball around with a friend just trying to get ourselves ready for summer softball leagues… So I thought this would be a great tea to end the night with to help me get to bed.

The tea itself has a nice smell to it. There is a sweet citrus-y aroma to it either form the orange blossoms or the citrus peels. There are small undertones of lemongrass scents in this as well. I can’t really smell the chamomile all too well though. Once steeped this tea has pretty much the same scents as it does unsteeped.

I typically don’t mind the tartness of hibiscus or rosehips, even when they are in a tea together, I sometimes even enjoy the tartness of the two. But since I was looking for a nice soothing tea to go to bed with, I wasn’t really wanting a tartness to the tea, so I was almost afraid of trying this one.

But MAN, this tea was actually really good and wasn’t tart at all! It definitely does have a very soothing quality to the tea, I could definitely taste the chamomile a lot better than I could when it came to the smell of it. I was able to taste almost every ingredient in this, except for the hibiscus and rosehips, which is pretty interesting.

Needless to say, I passed out shortly after having this tea. I don’t know if it was because of the relaxing qualities of this tea and the chamomile, if it was because I was already feeling dead tired from being out and about for the day, or a combination of the two. But this tea definitely hit the spot right before bed. Definitely a good nighttime tea choice.

I originally ordered this tea from Samovar because I was getting short on the Mate Lemon Blast that I have and I like the nice kick that I get from Yerba Mate (And I admit, it was mainly because I really like Samovar’s tea and I was wanting to add more things to my order and this one was fairly cheap >_> ).

So, when I first smelled this tea, I could smell subtle hints of sweetness in it, but it didn’t have a lemony/vegetal small like my previous yerba mate did, so I thought this would be interesting. When I steeped this, the brew was so dark compared to the other one too… So I really didn’t know what to expect with this tea when taking my first sip…. I was expecting an earthy/vegetal taste like the previous one as well, but since this was so dark and almost muddy looking, I was expecting this to be bitter which most yerba mates are supposed to be…. But man was I wrong…… This tea is really really amazing!

This tea definitely has an earthy taste to it, but then it is followed by a nice sweet punch to your taste buds! The sweetness is especially noticeable when you exhale, it is pretty amazing. I’ll write more on this later. I highly recommend it though!

We haven’t had water for the past day and a half so I’ve been going through tea withdrawls. So since it is back on and working now, I just wanted to make something really quick since the hockey game is on and I don’t want to miss anything (GO BLUES!). I’ve gotta admit, that was probably THE longest fight that I’ve ever seen, close to 3 minutes. But anyway… this tea…

I got my sample from the monthly ROT catalogue, and I opened the package and it smelled quite nice. I couldn’t really tell what the smell was from the package but it sure did smell sweet. Once I brewed this, I could definitely smell a honey scent, it was very sweet smelling.

Just like the smell, this tea tastes very sweet. Definitely can taste the honey in this one. I don’t get too much of a vegetal/earthy/grassy flavor of typical green teas. But this tea sure isn’t bad for a quick brew. I definitely think I could see myself buying a can of this for a quick fix of tea.

This tea would definitely go great with a tablespoon of honey or agave nectar… Definitely a great tea for someone with a sweet tooth.

My Samovar order came in today!

The smell of the yuzu is definitely noticeable compared to the green tea. It makes me want to cry because it is so amazing.

Once brewed, the grassy/vegetal smell is much more noticeable, with slight undertones of yuzu. I kind of wish it would keep the stronger yuzu smell once brewed, but this still smells amazing.

The first sip. This has a much grassier flavor than I originally thought it would have, which isn’t a problem at all since I love green teas. The sencha is vegetal, buttery, and creamy, with very subtle hints of yuzu in the aftertaste. With each sip, the progression of yuzu seems to get a bit stronger in the aftertaste. Next thing I know, I’m at the bottom of my mug. Damn, need to resteep.

2nd steep, for 30 seconds. I’d have to agree with teaplz, the second steep could possibly be even better than the first. The yuzu is much more noticeable when you taste this. I’d say the tastes of the sencha and yuzu are almost equal now.

3rd steep, 30 more seconds. I’m tasting straight yuzu now. The tea has gotten quite light, but still tastes pretty amazing… Now that I’m tasting almost straight yuzu, it reminds me of drinking a very very light or watered down yuzu juice. I think that is pretty amazing.

With the progression of tastes in this tea, with each steep, you would almost think this is a different tea every time you tasted the new brew. Which that is just amazing.

Overall, I think it is a pretty freaking awesome tea. It is a nice, light, refreshing tea that cleanses the palette after almost each sip. But, there is a part of me that was a little let down. Not with this tea itself, but at my expectations of this tea. Let me explain.

When this tea first appeared on Samovar’s site, I got so excited. I was so happy that I found a yuzu green tea that I could get outside of Japan (then again, I never actively searched for some after I got back home). The first thing that came to mind was the amazing yuzu tea that I had while in Japan. I then went on a little stroll down memory lane. Britt and I were back in Harajuku, and we were walking down Omotesando. I wanted to get some tea at this interesting looking tea shop that was above Heiroku Sushi (which is an amazing kaitenzushi/conveyor belt sushi restaurant, I’d highly recommend going there). So we stopped in there, and I decided to go with the yuzu tea since I had been hooked on drinking hot yuzu juice from the conbini during my stay there. It tasted glorious, it was like they brewed the tea with straight yuzu juice, and it also had a few large chunks of the citrus-y fruit in there along with the tea. It was even better than the yuzu juice that I had been hooked on. So, we come back to reality, and I think to myself “Man, I gotta get this! It is yuzu tea, just like I had in Japan!” So, I am a little disappointed in myself and thinking this was going to taste exactly like the tea I had in Japan.

But this tea, definitely a winner in my book. I’d highly recommend it!

Still working my way through The Jade Teapot samples.

This tea has a nice citrus smell to it that isn’t too overpowering. But I do wish I could smell the earthy/grassy scent of the green tea a little more though.

With the name Liquid Jade, you’d think this tea would have a nice green tint to it, but it has a much more yellow color to the brew. The bergamot gives this tea a nice citrus flavor with a touch of honey, and I can taste a slight bit of grassy flavor from the green tea.

The resteeps on this tea are crazy, I’m on cup 5 and I’m just now noticing the tea being lighter in color and flavor, the green is almost non-existent and I can only taste the citrus now. I could definitely get a few more steeps out of this.

I don’t think I would drink this on a daily basis just because I like the grassy/earthy flavor from green teas. But this is definitely a nice tea and is a good change of pace. Plus, this is a great tea if you are wanting to find a nice tasting tea that will last you many many steepings.

The 3rd sample from The Jade Teapot that I’ve tried.

The smells of this are very strong. Definitely can smell the pomegranate right off the bat, but with each time I take a whiff of this, I can smell the more subtle things like the blueberry and peony. When comparing to a bag of pomegranate white tea from Argo Tea, the white tea from Argo smells like a much sweeter pomegranate. The blueberry pomegranate tea from TJT smells like pure pomegranate juice almost.

I think this tastes quite nice, but I do agree with Erin that the fruity flavor can be a bit overpowering. But to me, that isn’t a bad thing. I would recommend steeping this at low times and temps so the pomegranate and blueberry isn’t super overpowering. I still find this to be a good, relaxing tea.

This is the next Jade Teapot sample I’m trying out of the ones I’ve received.

The first things you notice with this tea are it’s amazing smells of lavender and the bright purple flowers throughout this black tea. While steeping this tea, you’ll notice how the black tea stains the purple flowers, so they turn to this almost greenish color and won’t be the vibrant purple they started out to be. But tea is all about the taste, not about what the infused tea looks like afterward, right?

After steeping this tea, the lavender smell is still pretty strong, but not nearly as strong as it was in loose leaf form. I can definitely smell the bergamot in this now.

Taste wise… It’s really strange, but a good strange… I was expecting a huge floral punch in the face, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. There are floral notes to it, but it’s a slight bit, has a relaxing feel to it. I can definitely taste the earl grey, the bergamot flavor isn’t huge, but it’s there. I think this has a very nice balance to it. This would be a solid buy.

I would write a bit more, but the Blues are on now. KICK THE SNOT OUT OF COLUMBUS!

EDIT: quick note… there are multiple steeps in this, but the second and third steeps lose the taste of black tea and I taste nothing but floral, which isn’t really a bad thing.

I just received my samples from The Jade Teapot (thanks btw!), and this was one of the ones I decided to sample.

The citrus flavor in this is amazing, it’s not too overpowering, because you can still taste the rooibos. But you can definitely tell it is a blood orange by both the taste and smell. The hibiscus isn’t overpowering, I think this makes for an amazing nighttime tea. I’ll write more on this later

Just got my Series 2 in the mail today! Not going to rate this quite yet. Jackee is hiding the caramel from me. I steeped this a second time and didn’t get as much of a smoky flavor, and there was a slight sweetness to it. I definitely think it is due to my steep time and temp, the second steep wasn’t as long or nearly as hot. Jackee is teasing me, I know the caramel is there, I just need to work a little harder to find it!

Backlogging from earlier today.

The smell of this is so potent, it’s amazing, almost make me want to eat the pearls themselves. The smell definitely stays when you steep… but one thing that doesn’t seem to stay, is any sort of flavor. I don’t really know how this is considered green tea with how light it is, by the taste of it and sight of the tea, you’d think it was a white tea. I definitely think the steep time on this is way off. I originally steeped it for 3 1/2 minutes which didn’t seem like enough. I went about it again with new tea, this time for 7 minutes, definitely got more flavor with no bitter aftertaste like you’d normally get with greens from over-steeping. I think I just need to get better at steeping this one and it will turn out fine.

I’ve made this many times before in the past, but it has always been in much larger quantities and steeped for sometimes up a few hours or even overnight. The flavor of those always turned our really nice, but it was being made for a semi-sweet ice tea (made with a half cup of sugar and 1 gallon of tea ratio). Even when I sampled it at Teavana it tasted much different than it did when I brewed it this time.

Backlogging from yesterday, so just a quick note.

This tea isn’t really half bad. Definitely can taste the cloves in it, but it makes a nice spicy chai for when you’re on the go. What kind of weirded me out at first when I opened this, was the oily bag the tea was contained in, but then I noticed the ingredients and was a little more ok with the sight of an oily teabag.

Just needed something quick in the morning to kinda wake me up and get me started. With the xanthines in this tea, it was just the thing I needed. And with the nice energy boost from this, I won’t be feeling left jittery or cracked out later on.

This tea has a nice sort of vegetal/earthy taste, almost reminds me of a weak green tea. The lemongrass is a nice addition to this, gives it a nice subtle lemon flavoring. I don’t really notice any bitterness to it which apparently happens with a hand full of yerba mate teas.

This has got to be one of my favorite Samovar teas.

Just got home from a long day at work, feet are killing me, I’m just beat. I ended up having stir fry for dinner, and this tea makes a great after meal tea. It really helped offset the oily tastes from this stir fry. After eating a bowl of the stir fry, I was fairly full, but after drinking this tea, I now feel much more satisfied as far as fullness is concerned. This tea could definitely be a meal on it’s own.

The first sip, this tea has a nice nuttiness to it, like most genmaicha. But a couple sips after that the nuttiness gets a bit sweeter, and for some reason brings thoughts of Cracker Jacks, just with a little less caramel flavor. With the following sips, intertwined with the sweet/roasted nut/popcorn-like flavor from the genmai, are nice hints of mildly sweet grass-like flavors from the sencha.

I really enjoy genmaicha, I probably drank it almost half the time that I was visiting my girlfriend (she is a JET) in Japan (which wasn’t too long, about a week and a half, but what an amazing week and a half). So drinking this always kind of brings back nice memories. But with this tea, there is one thing that sets it apart from the others. There is an amazing full bodied milkiness to this tea due to the matcha. The sweet, toasty, creaminess is just amazing.

The color and aroma of this are both amazing. The deep green color is just amazing, I guess from the matcha. I can definitely relate the smell to brine with hints of grass. Almost reminds me of opening a jar of lotus root in brine that you would get from an international food market. While not one of the most amazing of smells, it is definitely recognizable.

2nd Steep: 5 minutes – Still nutty and a bit creamy. There is a little bit of residual matcha in this steeping. The color comparison of the first and second steep are like night and day. Second steep gives off a slightly green/amber color.

3rd Steep: 8 minutes – Pretty much tastes like a typical genmaicha, which is not a problem at all with me since I like genmaicha.