TastyBrew

Backlog from yesterday.

I got this in a mystery swap from Shelley_Lorraine. Thanks! This is a very smooth oolong. nothing too exciting about it. I think when it comes to oolongs I like them either really buttery or roasty, otherwise they’re kind of boring. But it was still a nice cup.

Backlog from yesterday.

I don’t think I know what a macaron. Is it the same as a macaroon? If so, then I don’t understand this tea at all. If its something different then, it may be ok. I’m not sure what I think of this tea. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t love it. I only steeped it for about 2 minutes and still was a tad bitter.

Thanks shmiracles!

I really like this tea. Especially brewed western style. So roasty and chocolatey. I needed a recovery tea after a really bad chai latte I made for a friend earlier. She likes them sweet, me not so much. Too much sweet. Ugh. This is the perfect remedy tea.

This morning I stared at my tea cupboard for like 10 minutes not know what to have. It made me curious about that tea randomizer I saw on the discussion board but as I don’t keep my cupboard up to date it wouldn’t work so well for me. So I scoffed off all responsibilities today and catalogued every single tea I have in a spreadsheet (except for the crappy bagged teas). I included samples and swaps as well. Drumroll… I have 332 teas. Wow. I honestly didn’t think I had that many. Anyway, before my days as a stay at home mom I was an application developer in Excel VBA and could create pretty amazing spreadsheets and programs that draw off of Excel spreadsheets. It was time to dust off some of those skills! I got all my teas added noting tea type, flavor, amount, if it’s eligible for swapping (i.e. do i have enough/willing to share), if it’s something I like, and if it’s a swap, who it’s from. Then I worked up some magic and now I have an application where I choose from a drop down what type (black, green, etc..), if I want a flavored, and if I want a sipdown. It immediately spits out a random tea that matches all the criteria. Which finally brings me to the this tea. My tea chooser chose this one for me tonight. I wanted a flavored green that is sipdown. Out popped Bubbly!

And you know, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be! Kind of good actually. Or maybe I’m just still high on my excel buzz. I mean, it’s not great and I wouldn’t purchase it. I don’t really like floral teas or pineapple and they are both present in this, but it does have a good champagne flavor and aroma. Had it not been for my tea chooser this would have sat in the drawer a lot longer.

I can see geeking out on this thing a lot more. Adding a lot more functionality. Good to know I still have skills! And shmiracles thanks again for the insane amount of tea you sent including this one.

This is a strange tea, but I actually really like it. Bummer too because it doesn’t look like they sell it anymore. I’ve only found a few puerh blends that I like much and thats generally if I can’t taste the puerh. The puerh isn’t hiding in this one at all but the hazelnut and the puerh really compliment eachother. I’m sad to only get to have a bit of this but thank you to shmiracles for the chance!!!

Another tasty treat from shmiracles. I read the reviews ahead of time and was planning a 2.5 minute steep but I was 15 seconds late and this tea gets bitter fast! Luckily it wasn’t too bitter and the creamy chocolate and caramel still shine through. I really like this. I would really think about ordering more of this.

I got the most amazing mystery box from shmiracles. Seriously, if she ever offers to send you a box, don’t miss the opportunity! There are some 20+ teas all indivually wrapped in foil pouches. It took me about 10 minutes of sifting to decide where to begin. I chose this one.

It was described as chocolaty and maraschino cherry. I totally got the cherry, a little chocolate. The fun thing about the mystery box is you get a bunch of teas that you probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise. A great chance to expand the horizons! This tea was perfect example of that. And I really liked it. Probably not a keep stocked on the shelf tea, but a tea I would happily drink if offered.

Thanks shmiracles!

I ordered this when Utopia tea had their free tea promotion and was not disappointed with the sheer quantity of free tea I received. This is the first tea I tried and the one I was most excited for.

The only thing I can really say is, dishsoap. I’m drinking hot dishsoap. And the dishsoap flavor is SOOOOOO strong. I thought maybe I had some soap remaining in my cup or something so I dumped it. Rinsed a bunch, sniffed my cup to make sure there was no more dishsoap in there and made some more.

DISHSOAP!

This tea is really quite bad. I’m sorry. It pains me to say that as I like to help small business, but there’s something wrong with this tea. Maybe my batch got tainted by something. I hope so, cause I can’t imagine anyone tasting this and thinking, yes, I’ll sell it. And dumb, over eager me bought 2 bags of it.

Tried this while at the teashop too. The smell is very rich and a tad smoky, the actual tea flavor isn’t all that rich and smokey, very flavorful though. Enjoyed my cup, but didn’t purchase any.

Sitting at the Steven smith headquarters sipping this with the Bean who stole my cookie! Luckily this teas is so good I don’t need a cookie. I’m very excited as there are several teas I’ve never seen here before. Sil & Terri, you’re in for a treat!

No notes yet.

Thanks Jackie T for letting me try this one! I trying to catch up on some sample sipdowns as I have a few big mystery swaps coming my way. I haven’t found many mate teas that I like much, but I’m always hopeful. The 52teas flavored mates seem to have a banana flavor I don’t like much. This one too. Bummer, but glad to have tried it.

Thanks whatshesaid for a surprise sample of this tea! Coconut teas are hit or miss for me and I’m afraid this one is a miss. For some reason, every time I take a sip I get a soap flavor. Not really what I was going for. I feel a little bit like Ralphie right now and I didn’t even say fudge!

[Head nod to those who get that reference :-)]

No notes yet.

Trying to remember the teas I had yesterday. The wine has my head a little fuzzy…

I made this one in the afternoon when I wasn’t really sure what sounded good. This ended up being a good choice. I brewed it at 180 for about 2.5 and then let it cool for about 5 minutes before I drank any. Both the chocolate and caramel are present and accounted for as is a nice strong black base. This is good dessert tea and no additions are necessary at all. Not sure I’ll have to keep this around all the time, but I can see reordering this from time to time.

After discovering how much tastier the Simpson & Vail teas are if they are steeped at a lower temp, I tried that with this tea. Often the 52tea flavors get lost by the bitter taste of the tea so I did this one for 2.5 @ 180. This is ok. I’m a little disappointed though. I was hoping for some buttery cake. I’m getting only brandy. And I do like brandy. So this is ok, but I was craving some buttery cake. Not that of Pineapple upside down cake, that’s straight cake, I wanted something with a good black base. I guess I’ll keep looking.

Backlog from yesterday

I got this in the mail yesterday and was super excited as I’m digging the flavored Genmaichas. I was a little nervous about the cherry flavor as cherry flavor often reminds me cough medicine and I absolutely hate cough medicine. I cannot take it. Yuck. Anyway, this doesn’t have any kind of cough mediciney taste at all. In fact, the cherry flavor is really good. This will definitely make it into my nighttime rotation.

I wasn’t having any luck with tea this morning. Made several cups that just weren’t working for me. I decided to give this one another try at a much lower temp (180) to see if this one improves like the almond sugar cookie. It definitely improved it and I enjoyed it a lot. It tastes nearly identical to the sugar cookie but substituting apple for the almond. I prefer the almond but can see craving this one from time to time.

I got this from culinary teas not realizing it is a different brand of tea. It comes in bags and not the fancy kind. The tea smells very blueberry candy-y dry. Once it steeped, I took a few sips and realized that this would be much better iced. It’s chilling in my fridge now and I’ll update this when I’ve tried it. Hot, it was very much an artificially blueberry tea, which was disappointing. I think it has good cold brew potential. I hope…

FYI whatshesaid this one definitely wasn’t worth the wait :-(

Jackie T gave me some good steeping advice for the S&V teas so I tried this one again. Man am I glad I did. This tea is ridiculous. So yummy. The cookie is spot on. No additions necessary this time around. I used about 1.5tsp per cup and steeped at 180 for 3 minutes. Resteeped for about 5 or 6 and still tasted great. Definite keeper. And the first time I made this I really didn’t like it much!

Backlog from this morning
Jackie T very generously gave a sample of this. I’ve been wanting to try it, but didnt want to buy it as I don’t like pancakes in general. But for some reason the tea sounds very appealing.
Unfortunately, I didn’t like it much. I couldn’t really taste anything out of it. But I do have a bit of a cold, so maybe that’s the culprit. I still have a bit left of my sample so I’ll try the rest when I’m cold free.

My son had itty bitty little tubes put it in his ears this morning. Not a big deal at all but required him to go under anasthesia. I chose this tea for my hospital day because 1) it’s delicious 2) can be resteeped a bujillion times. I simply threw some in my travel mug that has a strainer and then filled it over and over with the hot water from the pump and dumped it into my little paper cup. Worked perfectly. As did his procedure. Just waiting for the groggy little man to be awake enough for us to head home and eat popsicles all day!

I’ve been meaning to experiment more with keemuns. I had a bad one once that kept me away for awhile but its time to try again now that my tastes are evolving. Thankful Stacy included a sample of this with one of my recent orders. I’m on my 3rd steep and have enjoyed every drop! I think keemuns are definitely worth exploring. Love the honey sweetness of this paired with the rich flavor. Not sure I taste all the other subtleties mentioned in the description, but this is a sweet enjoyable cup! Thanks Stacy!

I was at a Japanese grocery store last week and in their tea section they sell large bags of the toasted rice used in genmaicha. First off, it’s so tasty just to snack on. Second, sizzling rice soup is one of my favorites soups ever but making the rice is a pain, this stuff is perfect! Finally, I’m having so much fun adding this to all varieties of tea. I added the rice to my movie night tonight and it was amazing. First steep was much more popcorn like than apple, which normally dominates, and the popcorn flavor tasted like it was from a movie popper, just a tad burnt, in a good way! The second steep tasted like a toasted apple tea, also very enjoyable. Tomorrow I’m going to add it to my morning tea just for giggles and see what happens! So far it’s made everything better!