Amy oh

I decided to switch over to green tea and I’m enjoying this yuzu green tea by Mellow Monk… it is delightful. I have to say I have been very impressed with all of their teas but I am partial to this and the fnow garden, both so delicious. I can see I will need to try the others soon! See previous notes for more details.

Tea of the morning here, it’s a nice hefty blend with a bit of lapsang mixed in. It’s still raining here and looks like it will be all day. Too bad I have so many plans that will take me out of my Hobbit hole today. :)

2nd tisane of the evening… no I am not having a rocking Friday night but I have big plans for the rest of the weekend so I don’t feel too bad for being nerdy today. This tea should be called “almond apple” because it is quite fruity in addition to the almond. I wonder if this is the same exact tea that Joy’s teaspoon carries? Has anyone tried them both?

This is a very strange name for a tea, in my opinion. Anti Strain?

Anyway I purchased this from ESP a few months ago and I evidently did not get the chance to review it yet. Reading the list of ingredients it reminds me of a chai, but it’s all bits and pieces of herbs. Personally I feel the licorice is quite strong in this blend and I wouldn’t mind a little less of it, it’s quite sweet. I am also picking up a bit of fennel and ginger. This tisane is no doubt good for relaxation and also very healthy. Not sure I would get it again though.

This is a nice tea to experiment with. I thought I would try steeping it along with some dried goji berries to see what would happen. The goji lends a nice tart fruitiness while the silver needle is sweet and slightly vegetal. I finished a painting today and now I am off to do some yoga. :)

I haven’t been drinking much puerh lately, but I think that will be changing especially now that the rainy season appears to be upon us here in San Francisco. I don’t tend to drink much shu pu-erh at all when the weather is warm. This shu is delicious, especially after the first steep is gone. Nice flavors of chocolate and fruit are present with a very creamy mouthfeel here in this tea. Great for a mid-afternoon pickup here in the damp.

This is an ancient sample that came from Jenn and it’s probably over a year old now so I don’t know how this is influencing the tasting. I don’t know about this tea though… normally I am a fan of fruit flavored teas but this is just o.k. to me, I feel like the flavors are just clashing with each other and not coming together in a cohesive way. It’s kind of like a rummy cough syrup. Okay, I will stop whining now. It isn’t something I would buy from Harney and Sons but it’s drinkable…

Hurray! This one is really GOOD and that’s not something I say about rooibos blends too often. The dry leaf smells incredible and after steeping this smells like apple cider. Yep, definitely apple cider-y in the flavor too. I am picking up cinnamom and clove and there’s chunks of dried apple in the tisane. It seems almost juicy!

This doesn’t have that “sour wood” flavor that a lot of rooibos blends have and I’m impressed that the flavoring here tastes so natural. This will be great for those chilly winter days. Yum – love it and wish I had bought the bigger size. If you’re a fan of rooibos you might want to try it. I’m happy I am digging a lot of my Simpson and Vail purchases but I think they need to do some samplers. :)

Note: I used approximately 2 tsp. in a 10 oz. mug.

I am having a tough day today so I’m hoping this Happy Goji tea will cheer me up… I do like this one and I would get more if I ordered stuff from ESP Emporium.

This probably isn’t a tea that one should be drinking at 10 am, but here goes nothing.

I don’t expect a lot from flavored tea most of the time but this was a pleasant surprise. I love the black tea base here which is a mix of Ceylon and a Chinese tea. It provides a rich background for the chocolate, which I can definitely taste, and the orange, which is refreshing and very natural tasting. You do see some bits of dried orange peel in the blend and they also used orange oil. Nice that it doesn’t seem artificial at all.

This is so tasty, rich and delicious. Simpson & Vail has created a real dessert tea winner here, IMHO. I had mine with soymilk but it would be good plain too. I only got 1 oz. which won’t last very long. :)

This was the whole reason for me ordering again from S & V – this is a great morning breakfast blend! see previous notes.

Tea of the morning here, I am not such a fan of Earl Grey or Bergamot in things but I had some of this sample left and decided to finish it off this morning. See previous notes for more info. ;)

I haven’t always been a big fan of floral teas but lilac is one of my favorite flower-y aromas, so I thought I’d check this out. Even though it’s called white lilac, this is a green tea.

After steeping I noticed little lavender colored blobs in the cup, I guess these are lilac pieces or tiny petals of some sort? This has a very relaxing and lovely aroma. I like the green tea here which is a Chinese tea, I think. It has a vegetal, almost buttery quality and a light yellow tea liquor.

The flavor is a bit… soapy which is not such a surprise. I love lilac soap, so there you go. This makes for an elegant afternoon tea but I can’t say I would drink this too often. Overall, I liked it but you need to be in the mood for a very flowery tea. I’m tempted to dab some behind my ears… :-P

Oh, I was a little nervous about this one initially because when I opened the tin the aroma reminded me of potpourri…. :)

Visually this is stunning with bits of cardamon, cinnamon stick, clove and ginger mingling around with the black tea. This is nicely blended because none of the flavors seem like they are overshadowing the others. I like the vanilla mixed with the chai, it reminds me of a chai creme brulee! This is delicious with soymilk.

I am definitely getting a ginger and clove “bite” in the finish. I agree with Hesper June, there is something about this that just reminds me of Christmas and it smells so lovely. It will be a nice cozy tea for winter, I think I’ll be keeping mine in the office where it tends to get very drafty in the winter time.

Still working my way through the Simpson and Vail order I received yesterday. This tea smells very fruity in the tin and has purple flowers in it. :)

This was steeped for around 3 minutes and soymilk was added, but I think it would be very good plain as well. This tea is hefty enough for morning but would also be good as an afternoon tea. The currant flavor is light and not too sickening like some currant teas can be. The description says China and India teas but I’m not sure I could place which ones – perhaps a yunnan and an assam? In any case I definitely like this blend and am happy I got a tin of this. It will be a great everyday drinker.

Second tea of the day from Simpson and Vail, I may need to stop soon before a caffeine overload. A co-worker remarked on how good the kitchen smelled and accurately identified this as strawberry & chocolate.

Another tea that tastes slightly better with sugar. This really smells like a cupcake and the flavor is pretty good. I do tend to like strawberry flavored teas and this is pretty nice. I only got 1 oz. but will have no problems finishing it off. Hopefully this will cut down on my dessert cravings a bit!

New order arrived from Simpson & Vail today – I was excited and I picked this as the first thing to try.

Steeped for around 3 minutes and with a little bit of soymilk added. I am finding the flavor to be slightly artifical tasting to me but it does taste a lot like pumpkin with a big wallop of nutmeg. Adding a bit of sugar helped it along and make it more dessert like. I’m not sure I will order this again but it’s definitely a nice tea for fall. I admit I was hoping for something a bit different but flavored teas are always kind of hit or miss for me. I do have a whole tin of it now so maybe someone would like a sample?

I’m trying to get through this ancient sample from Upton Imports. I did up the rating a bit on this tea this morning since it’s a lot tastier than I last recall. See previous notes for more info.

Tea of the morning here – a delightful Ceylon, also would be good for the afternoon. I hope my new Simpson and Vail order arrives soon! :-D

This afternoon has been about tidying up my apartment, which is why I’m drinking so much tea. And yes, I did get some cleaning done in between all the notes on Steepster. :)

This ancient sample comes from Mercuryhime – thank you!

This tea has the dreaded hibiscus in it, so I wasn’t going in expecting too much. It does smell very nice when you open up the sample pack, however.

I’m drinking this out of a glass mug and it’s a beautiful red color! The flavor is bit like fruit punch but thankfully isn’t too tart (I bet the sugared mango helps with this). Interesting that so many people did not like this one, it isn’t the worst hibiscus tea I have had by far but I don’t know if I will CRAVE this, ever. It would probably be really good as an iced tea.

Thanks for the sample, MH!

This came as a free sample from Simpson & Vail and seems very apropos for the autumn weather. This was steeped for 4 minutes in the Beehouse teapot and is a very easy one to drink plain.

I am definitely getting the orange rind as well as a bit of tartness from the cranberry. Compared to other fruit flavored teas I have had, it doesn’t overwhelm you with flavoring but is just about right. I don’t love this particular flavor profile, but if you are a huge orange/cranberry fan you should check it out. Very enjoyable for the afternoon.

Thanks to JC for sending me this one, I don’t have a ton of experience with drinking Liu-Ans, this is only the second one I have ever had! Regardless I decided to steep this in the Yixing teapot I have for shus and there is a lot of similarity to a shu pu-erh, this tea seems to me to have a slight coffee bean aroma and flavor with a hint of bitterness in the finish. Pretty interesting but I don’t know if I would buy it and I have no idea how to rate it so I’ll leave that off for now…

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this one… I had it at a day long meditation class on Saturday. It was better than I thought it would be but might have needed two teabags, it has a very light apple taste and also seems very cinnamon-y. Might be worth buying if you didn’t have to use two teabags because that would make this a pretty expensive tisane.

Thank you to JC for sending me a sample of this. I’ve had a few silver needle puerhs and I’ve liked them immensely. When I first saw this I thought it was a green tea, anyway the leaves are very slender and beautiful looking. I probably should have used the whole sample I was given but I used 1/2 of it instead so I suspect this will be a very light tasting.

I steeped this in the Yixing and did a quick rinse, not even sure if that was necessary but oh well… I steeped it for around 30 seconds and it has a nice creamy flavor, reminds me a bit of almonds and is also a bit floral. Very delicate and nice for an evening.

2nd steep: I am getting the melon flavor here and I can kind of see why this tea is named snow mountain, it seems to have the essence of a fresh frosty mountain.

It’s really lovely, thanks for sharing JC! I may steep this a few more times tonight and will keep you posted. ;)