Terri HarpLady

After sampling 7 small cups of tea from the TTB back to back this morning, I needed something a little more earthy & grounding to drink before I headed out to play my gig. I have a whole collection of both Shu & Sheng Puerhs that I haven’t been drinking much lately. I don’t know why.
I will chalk it up to busyness/laziness. I just haven’t been in the mood or had the time to pry off & weigh a chunk of tea, go through all the motions of multiple steepings, etc. My focus has been more on trying to sample everything in my 200+ stash of teas & samples at least once a month, & on sipping down as many of the smaller quantities as possible so that I can start narrowing it down to mostly the teas that I love the most (there will still probably be 200 of them, LOL).

So, I wanted Shu, but I didn’t want to ceremony today. Just a nice cup to ground me & cleanse my pallet, more or less. That’s when Tuochas are so nice, & this one in particular is a fairly nice one. Earthy, rich, & sweet, with hints of chocolate & the earth.
Just what I needed.

Backtracking, this was my 2nd cup of the morning, enjoyed with breakfast.
A nice bold & lightly malty cup.
Sorry for the lame reviews.
:)

A nice little start to my day.
I’ve reviewed it before.
It’s tasty.

No 12 from TTB-A
I have to confess, I’m really enjoying sampling teas in this way!
These little cups hold just enough tea for a quick sample, & if it’s something I don’t care for, I don’t feel so bad dumping it out.
The one is not getting dumped! It’s tasty!
:)
And that’s enough sampling for now, I have a gig in a little while, the monthly tea party at the nursing home. Time to get ready.

No 11:
The dry leaf smells gently of mandarine & jasmine.
This was a pleasant cup, & I’ll probably give it another go before the box sets off to Canada.
NEXT!

No 10 from TTB-A
The aroma of the dry leaf is somewhat chai like, & the brew itself is ok. Not really my thing though.
NEXT!

No 9 from TTB-A
nope…
Onward through the fog…

No 8 from TTB

I probably should have waited to drink this, as my sinus are still irritated from the momoko.
I’ve never had iced wine, never even heard of it until I joined Steepster, LOL. Of course, I gave up alcohol (& other substances) 29 years ago, so things that are suppose to taste like wine mean nothing to me.
However, I suspect that this will be really good as a cold brew. I think there’s enough in the sample to try it that way, so why not?
NEXT!

So in order to get through the TTB quickly, I’m using my 4 oz gaiwans to brew half cups, that way I can sample a bunch of tea in small amounts. I’m still going with western parameters though.

This tea initially seemed like it might be kind of nice, but after a few sips my mouth began to feel strange, & my sinuses feel the way I feel when someone wearing perfume enters the room, so I’m guessing there are artificial flavors in this.
NEXT!

No 6 from the TTB-A
The boys & I drank a pot of this with breakfast, & it was tasty, but just not my thing I guess.
My main passion in tea is straight full leaf varieties. They contain so much flavor, so many nuances, that I’m generally very satisfied with them. Once in awhile I head off on a tangent of flavored teas, momentarily enamored with the idea of decadent desserts, but I think perhaps I’m reaching my point of saturation, where flavored teas are concerned. Artificial flavors make my tongue hurt. I absolutely can’t bring myself to drink anything that contains glitter, little silver balls, or other crazy decorative things. Most flavored teas, even the ones with natural flavoring, require some stevia to really bring the flavors out, & sitting here, with a TTB full of dessert teas mainly just makes me want a big mug of ASSAM or YUNNAN of OOLONG or PUEHR. Something that really actually tastes like it’s suppose to.

My apologies to anybody who might be offended by my tea bigotry.

This is my #5 sample from the TTB-A.
The flavors are very rich & buttery, almost overly so. It’s been years since I had carrot cake, due to my inability to eat Dairy & gluten, so I can’t say for sure if this mimics the taste or not, but it’s spicey & tasty, that’s for sure. I’ve been wanting to try more rooibos blends, mainly to wean myself from drinking caffeine all the way into the evening. My teas of choice tend to be straight whole leaf teas. This TTB is filled with dessert teas of all kinds, including quite a few rooibos blends. The interesting thing is that drinking dessert teas tends to make me want a stout Black tea to have with my ‘dessert’!

My piano tuner came today for his annual visit. It was 8am, we were both groggy, but he perked up nicely when I offered him a cup of tea. When I asked what time he preferred, his response was, “Oh, anything will do.” He started to lift the lid off my piano, then turned back, “but if you have anything smokey, I’ll be in Heaven!” He smiled.

How often do your guests ask for a smokey tea? Mine never do! I hooked him up with this Caravan, & he loved it!

This tea started out ok for me. The aroma of the leaf hints at peach, roasted oolong, & light florals. The flavor didn’t really deliver any of the flavors promised, other than a very lightly roasted oolong & a physical discomfort on the tip of my tongue that I associate with artificial flavors. There was also a soapyness/perfuminess that built up after a few sips…blech!

3. from TTB-A
   When I first saw this one I was immediately excited, as I enjoy a good rose black tea, & this one looks so beautiful with the pink of the rose petals against the dark chocolate color of the tea leaves. The rose scent is not particularly strong in the dry leaf or the brewed cup, & for the most part, it’s a fairly nice cup of tea. I’m not a huge fan of ceylon, I much prefer a Keemun as the base for my rose teas. Also, there is an odd after taste & sensation, kind of salty, but not really salty, if that makes sense. Kind of soapy, but not really soapy…
   Sorry for being vague…it’s hard to define.

I steeped up a pot of this to share with one of my students this morning. It’s a fairly nice Dragonwell, but fairly plain compared to Ms. Li’s…

2. from the TTBA:
   This was tasty! Not as interesting as Butiki’s Caramel Vanilla Assam, but still a nice cup of joy :)

This is not from the TTBA, but I realized looking through it that it’s mostly flavored blends, heavy on the rooibos, & although I still plan on sampling them all, I gotta have some black tea that is unflavored first!
This is a pleasant Darjeeling, nothing special, but nice enough.

TTBA!! (For those who are new to Steepster, that stands for Traveling Tea Box A).
There’s an envelope with 2 bags of this. I had one as my pre-breakfast tea. I probably should have made it my breakfast tea, it’s nicely bold & malty. Not sure if I’ll drink the other bag, as it’s a little on the bitter end as well. I might leave that one for one of my other black tea loving friends to sample.
Anyways, for a bagged tea it does pack a punch, which I find rare, but probably not something I’d stock.
NEXT?

Added 4 hours later: Had errands to run & knew I’d be stopping off for 2nd breakfast at a little hole in the wall I like, so I brought the 2nd bag, which as was pretty nice with the meal.

Home from my performances, I’m enjoying a cup of this. Although I’m not always a fan of bergamot, I am a fan of Steven Smith, at least of the teas from him that I have tried so far (plus, as I’ve said before, I had a crush on a boy once named steve smith, so I can’t help but feel a small bit of nostalgia). The Earl is a little bolder than most, as it includes some Assam along with the usual ceylon. All of the blacks are of high quality, as is the Bergamot oil itself, and that, my friends, makes all the difference. :)

Yes, I am still hoarding some of this, & how could I not. I hadn’t drank any for awhile, & so I steeped & resteeped, filling a 16 oz cup to take with me to my gigs today. It was such a pleasure to sip while playing: Puer, Ginger, Licorice, Elderberry…it is the most delicious tea blend ever, IMO. I will be sad when it is gone, but I also have a small supply of Yanxin’s Reserve Shu, & I have plenty of licorice, elderberry & ginger, so I might try making a similar blend. I even have sichuan peppercorns! It is rare that I enjoy Shu mixed with anything else, I prefer such teas on their own, but this one is the exception.

This morning while I was getting ready for my gig, my son’s Drew & Leif fixed breakfast! Leif steeped a large pot of this tea, which he refers to as ‘Lemon Song’, to go with breakfast. It’s a mix of earl grey moonlight, rooibos lemon cloud, & coconut. It’s a bright & lemony brew, I don’t really taste the coconut. Purchased because of our love of Dr. Who, of course! :)

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there in SteepsterLand & Beyond!
I will spend most of the day playing for other Mothers at 2 separate events, a brunch which I will leave for soon, followed by an Afternoon Tea.

I chose this Hattialli for my first tea of the day because it’s A very nice assam with malty fruity flavors, & nicely bold enough to start my day, but not so bold as to yell, “I AM ASSAM!”

Another Sil Samplebox Sipdown! Thanks Sil :)

So this would be ok, except it has a wierd bitterness to it that resulted in me dumping the last part of it, as it continued to get worse as it cooled. Anyway, I do taste the Genmaicha part of it, but am not getting chocolate or graham crackers.
Oh well, win some lose some, right?

Sil’s Sampler Sipdown #3
Hmmmm….this is really interesting!
It definitely tastes & smells like pretzels in a way, only with an amazing sweet aftertaste that grows & lingers.
Back in my vegetarian days, I used to eat buckwheat quite often: Pancakes, Kasha with cabbage, savory buckwheat crepes stuffed with shrooms… Buckwheat groats are an under-used grain, very flavorful in a lovely earthy way.
I don’t know if this is just toasted buckwheat groats, or if there is more to it, but I’d like to buy some buckwheat, roast it, & then try steeping it to find out. Wouldn’t it be great if it was really that simple? I’d enjoy drinking this in the evening anytime. :D
Thank Sil!

BTW, for those who love Tattoos, check this one out:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=292955120839095&set=a.187908691343739.46929.171861656281776&type=1&theat