Sil

This tea confuses my brain. I didn’t enjoy the intial sip because there was a weirdly strange aftertaste. However, as I’ve continued to drink this it’s turned into a really nice lemon custard type tea. Which is still weird to me since this is supposed to be vanilla? This really isn’t vanilla at all to me except as maybe a hint of it in the background mellowing out the lemon flavour. Not sure how i feel about this overall as a staple in the cupboard but not a bad early grey as far as not tasting the bergamot AND being a dessert type lemon tea.

So the only downside to a large bag of matcha from Red Leaf is when you only have the small tins lol. I finally was able to finish the last of this that was still hanging out in the bag that wouldn’t fit into the tin. I added a dash of vanilla matcha to this as well to blend the flavours together. The result – a wonderful matcha morning smoothie!

I finally cracked open this pouch of tea last night, because I was looking for a fruit flavoured tea to be a bit of a refreshing cup. I’ve only ever had this at majesteas so I wasn’t sure how it would hold up to brewing at home. Turns out that it’s just fine. :) I’m picking up a wee bit of artificial taste this time around but maybe my taste buds are a bit wonky. Either way, it was still an enjoyable strawberry cup of tea.

Another backlog from last night – such things will happen when you have people over until far too late lol Ah well, at least a really enjoyable evening. Another tea from the travelling tea box (and coincidently the 12 days of christmas swap). I’m still rather enjoying this one, though I’d like to try it as a cold brew still. Something about the black base and the black currant makes me feel like this one could be really tasty cold.

Backlogging from last night.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one anymore. It seems to be pretty hit or miss each time I brew it. Sometimes it’s a smooth wonderful delicious blending of chocolate and orange and then the next it will have this weird aftertaste to it that just makes me not want to finish drinking it. I haven’t yet figure out if it’s how I’m brewing it or what, so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to comment! I want very much to love this a lot because not only is it a damn pretty tea but it’s got one of my favourite flavour combos going on. Dropping the rating until i figure out what’s wrong with it or what i’m doing wrong.

Sipdown! Tank you again tatooed_tea for sharing this tea with us over the 12 days swap. I really love this a lot. I may just need to hit you up for a swap of this in the summer :) cold brewed this is fantastic.

So I finally got around to trying this again with a clean brew basket. This is a wonderful tea! I’m actually pretty sad that it doesn’t look like Harney carries this one anymore, so now I may need to start my hunt for a good yellow tea (or you know stacy could find one for me…) :) The body of this one is really smooth and tasty. It’s creamy, and delicious and i wish i could find the words to adequately describe this. I’m looking forward to re-steeps and the last bit of my sample that should let me have this one more time.

Thank you nicole!

Sipdown!

Stacy sent me a sample of this one in my last order. This is a pretty good tea! There’s a sweet, floral, taste to this but there’s also almost a hint of cinnamon? in here. Ir’s not as strong and bold a cup as i normally enjoy but it IS really tasty and full of varying notes that play in and out of the brew.

Sipdown! YAY!

Today, there’s no astringency in my cup and it’s almost fruity? sweet? I really enjoy this cup! I think i’d actually order this for myself sometime when i’m in the market for an order from Pekko teas. Thank you so much Nicole for this sample.

Sipdown! (and a backlog from yesterday)

This is the first real Puerh that I’ve tried. It’s something that’s on my list of things to try and start sampling in 2013. Unwrapping the small cake, leaves me with a little cake with a small indentation in it. The cake is hard, brown and has an earthy smell to it. Little crumbs fall off the cake as I pick it up, but overall the cake is very well put together and doesn’t fall apart.
Since I don’t have a gaiwan at the moment, I decided to try this western brewing style according to the instructions provided by Butiki Teas. Seven minutes later my cup is full of a dark brown coffee like brew. The aroma of the brew is earthy and there might be a hint of a fishy taste but that may just be my inexperience with Puerh. Even after the seven minute brew, the little cake is still trying to hold together.
The first sip of this brew is earthy but not overly so. It’s a mouth full of delicious goodness. I can’t place the taste but it’s familiar to me somehow. This is a beautiful cup of tea. Before I knew it, the cup was done. Because the puerh cake had not fully broken apart, I re-steeped this again. The brew held it’s taste and even still, the mini cake did not fully break apart. I was able to re-steep this another three times without the brew becoming weak or becoming fishy. Instead, throughout the process it remained mildly earthy and delicious. I still can’t place the “other” taste that I’m getting as I drink this. I have to say, for my first, foray into the world of puerh, this was a great start! I’m looking forward to trying this again after I’ve experienced other puerhs.

Took some of this with me tonight when we went out to celebrate a friends birthday at Wvurst. Basically think cafeteria style seating with a bar and a place to order sausages! Gluten free option for one of our friends who can’t have gluten. Best part of the evening besides the tasty sausages? couple of friends we haven’t been able to hang out with on their own are going to drop by tomorrow for evening games, dinner and…tea! They’re curious about all this tea business and are willing to have me nerd out on them a bit. It’ll be nice to have another couple over. Now to find the gluten free teas :)

Anyway this was a nice contrast to the tasty tasty sausages and helped with that whole grease effect from the fries and such. Overall a pretty nice soft, sweet cup for a great day of tea drinking!

SIPDOWN! well basically since the last little bit of this is off to Kittenna to try at our tea swap meet :) Still enjoy this though i think it would be a nice summer cold drink moreso than a hot one.

bumping the rating on this one as it’s a nice smooth mint. I can get behind this one from della terra.

SIPDOWN!

mmmmm still really liking this one, even with the bright red colour. I can see myself keeping this one around in the cooler months. I wouldn’t necessarily drink this in summer though as it’s more of a cakey cold weather type tea. Glad to have the chance to drink it though!

SIPDOWN!

yeah…so this really isn’t gingersnap. It’s a nice tea but gingersnap it is not. As a result, dropping the rating for being something that it is not!

SIPDOWN!

Also another from the travelling tea box if i recall correctly. While I can appreciate a great cup of coffee, this tea is just kinda blech. This brews up into a tea that’s pretty much the colour of a good thick black coffee. It’s not a pleasant cup of tea either. I tried to add a bit of milk to this to see if it improved the taste but it’s really just kind of burnt and icky. Maybe i can’t drink coffee anymore, but this…just sucks lol I supposed someone looking for a gradual switch from coffee to tea might enjoy this, but i’d rather jump to beautiful blacks that have wonderful flavours.

When I first opened the sample of this tea, all I could smell were Peach notes. The leaves are green, curled with hints of yellow. I brewed this tea western style instead of via gaiwan. As the leaves steeped, they opened and produced a peachy, creamy aroma. The liquid is a beautiful golden yellow colour. Now, as some may know, green oolongs are not my favourite. However, I continue to try various teas to expand my tea palate and experience new things, so that was part of the reason of the reason for picking up this tea.

As I continue to sip on this tea, and as i go through the re-steeps, the flavour moves from a creamy, peachy type flavour to a more vegetal floral taste. There is no perfumey harshness to this tea, but it is still too floral for my liking, particularly as you move through the re-steeps.

Overall not something that I enjoy but a reasonable enough tea for me to have tried. I’m sure others will enjoy it much more than me.

Sipdown!
I believe this was from the travelling tea box! It’s not a bad rooibos, but it’s not good per say either. There’s a vanilla taste to this that is present, but it’s not particularly strong. This comes across as more like lightly flavoured water than anything much else.

Another jasmine green to try out today from teavivire. Again, the jasmine is just too much for me to handle. I’m sure that this would be a really nice cup for anyone who likes a smooth floral cup of tea but it’s not for me.

Figured I’d try this one even though i wasn’t expecting much with the coconut in it. The initial sips are quite nice but then it turns into a mildly bitter cup with a strange after taste. It might be worth checking out if you enjoy coconut but overall, no thanks from me! Thanks to Nicole for letting me try this!

Another experiment in green teas! Wheee! Again, though i don’t mind this tea the jasmine is not my favourite. There are bursts of sweet in this as I sip the cup that i’m not sure i can place. If you’re a fan of green tea and/or jasmine this is a really nice tea.

mmmmm this! This is a delicious cup of tea! I’m getting sweet notes and a small bit of cinnamon??? I’m getting honey notes as I go through a few more steepings. I will really enjoy the re-steeps of this one i think. I’m happy to see as well, that dark oolong are ok with me as there’s not hint of that that i can’t stand in many green oolongs.

I picked this one up from teavivre to broaden my tea experiences and continue in my quest to branch out with teas and figure out what types of teas I most enjoy. I much prefer strong blacks so i knew there wasn’t a lot of hope that I’d fall in love with this white tea. The dry scent is not my favourite. The Jasmine is a bit too floral for me.
This tea brews up into a pale golden liquor but the aroma isn’t overly floral. At first sip, I am pleasantly surprised. This is a really nice cup of tea. As i drink this, the floral builds up and it becomes a bit much for me. That being said, this is a wonderful cup of tea for anyone who enjoys jasmine. It’s smooth and delicious.

Random Teavivre Sample…though there will be more today :)

I haven’t had too many Lapsang Souchong – the last time i had one it was used to cook with :) The aroma of this one isn’t overly strong, it’s a softer smoky scent. This is a really nice tea. I can’t say that I’d drink a Lapsang daily but every now and then, this would be a really great cup to enjoy. I like that with this cup the smoke blends really nicely with the tea.

I took a page out of Bonnie’s notes and added a bit of maple syrup to this tea and it was fantastic! I actually think it would be interesting to make some chicken with the lapsang and a bit of maple. Smokey maple chicken anyone? :)