Amy oh

Well, I got the 1 oz. sample to try from Verdant and I was not disappointed at all…

I did the first two steeps at once and they were quite lovely together. I get a light medium-yellowish color with the tea liquor. I am really picking up on the semolina type flavors or maybe a touch of pastry. Plus the floral notes are coming through in a very light way. I would say this is gentle and sweet at the same time. I used water that was nearly boiling and for around 10 seconds so I will try a slightly lower temp. for the next steep.

3rd and 4th steep, intriguing this tea is now a bit darker and the delicate notes have disappeared a bit and I am finding the cinnamon spice flavors coming to the forefront.

this is a very intriguing and interesting cake and it is tempting to purchase a whole one for aging, although I feel $110.00 for a cake this young (2011) seem rather pricey, even though the quality is fine. It has not been aging for very long so far, but it would be very interesting to see what happens to it in the future. Perhaps I will age this smaller piece for a bit or pick up another smaller piece to age. I have certainly enjoyed trying it.

This is one of the few keemuns I am actually fond of. I got this in the bulk section at Whole Foods so I hope they have more when I go back. It’s very hefty and also takes soymilk well, but it isn’t too “winey” or bitter which is a problem I have with some other teas of this variety. It is fruity with a very slight smokiness.

This tea was a recent one I scored at the trip to Capitol Teas In Washington DC. I’ve had it a couple of times now and I’m not quite sure what I think of it. It smells better than it tastes, in my opinion. There is definitely an aroma of toffee but the flavor doesn’t translate as well. To me it doesn’t seem that rich and decadent…

Unlike a lot of flavored pu-erhs, you can actually taste the pu-erh in here though and it’s very rich and smooth. I added some soymilk and liked it better than way. hmm. I bet this would be really good as a latte.

And I hope I can sleep tonight after drinking this so late!

I had this tea after dinner with some key lime pie this evening…

Eh, it’s okay. I was not blown away by it, it had a slight orange blossom flavor but was also a bit on the bitter side somehow and really needed sugar. Of course the water may have been too hot, and if I was at home I might have prepared it with cooler water. Definitely not destined to be a favorite of mine.

I have been doing badly with drinking this lovely tea, it got put in my refrigerator and I keep forgetting about it. I’m having some this morning and it is so sweet and delicate. I will definitely get more next year if I can manage to finish this off before then. :)

see previous notes for more info.

Oh, I am having a green tea kind of day and this tea from Verdant is just delightful on a sunny day! See previous notes for more info & Happy Friday!

I decided I was going to try cold brewing some of this last night as an experiment; I always have problems waking up in the morning so figured one less thing to do in the a.m. would be a good idea.

The experiment was a success, it tastes pretty good this way. I don’t know how thrilled I am about drinking cold plain sencha, but it was nice warmed up in the microwave for 60 seconds. I hope I have not offended any tea purists with that statement!

I thought I had rated this before but I guess not… I will do a proper tea brewing and tasting of it soon. For now I can say it is very clean and vegetal tasting.

okay, I am finishing this sample up today and I really like it – I upped the score a bit and put it on my shopping list. Because of course I need MORE tea! :-D

Lemon-y goodness, yum!

I picked this as another thing to try from Della Terra recently. Rooibos & Honeybush blends can be very “iffy” but I do tend to like lemon flavored things.

I steeped this for around 5 minutes and added soymilk, perhaps I am weird but I drink practically all my rooibos and honeybush tisanes this way. This really reminds me of a lemon bar, it’s slightly sweet, lemony and tart and with a nice “creamy” quality which is certainly helped along by the soymilk. I’m actually puckering up a bit… ha ha

This is good, I’m enjoying it! It’s better than I thought it would be and will probably help me kill some after lunch/dinner dessert cravings. Another nice offering from Della Terra.

I’m finishing off the rest of this one today – the smoky flavor would make it a better tea for a rainy day, I think. It’s very earthy and natural tasting. I don’t believe I have ever had eucalyptus in a tea and I’m quite enjoying it.

I ordered a smaller size bag of this about a month ago but am just getting around to trying it now.

I have loved all my white teas from RtR so I had really high hopes for this one. The leaves smell so sweet and fresh in the bag and are long, fluffy and slightly fuzzy.

This is a lovely white tea, it’s slighly vegetal with flavors of freshly shucked corn and cream. There’s a slight fruity sweetness in the finish reminiscent of nectarines. I’m not surprised this tea was a North American champion, it’s really nice!

Sipdown!
This was my tea of the morning and I am officially out of Assam in my tea cupboard which gives me an great excuse to buy more tea. :)

This came as a free sample from RtR & I’ve had it for a while but just got around to trying it today.

I like this okay, it’s very vegetal and slightly pungent, it reminds me a bit of a gunpowder tea. Yes, I am picking up on a bit of smoke but also a trace of bitterness which is not exactly to my liking this morning. I will finish the sample off but probably won’t need to buy anymore. If you like very assertive green teas, this could be for you.

Tisane of the afternoon… I really like this one!

See previous notes for more info.

MMmMm… this is yummy

I smell a lot of cookie flavor, like cinnamon, when I open the bag. I also get a lot of vanilla and brown sugar here. The raisin flavor is slightly subdued, but present. I wasn’t expecting to like this much but it is good. Definitely on the sweet side and perfect with a splash of soymilk. I like it!

This is part of a recent order from Della Terra, my new source for dessert teas. :)

I only got 1 oz. of this but I wish I had gotten more! I like ginger a lot and I let this steep for over 5 minutes (can’t remember exactly how long). It is pretty strong on the ginger side but also sweet and fruity. I might try to use slightly less tea next time because it came out very strong… I like it though! This would be great as a latte, I drank mine with soymilk. yum!

Oh my goodness!

I love coconut and this smells really good… and yes I see a bunch of coconut flakes in the package. After reading Nicole’s note I was a little bummed, but was hoping that I would like this more than she did.

I agree the color is a bit light with this tea and I’m not getting a ton of “tea” flavor from the black tea but with a bit of soymilk and turbinado sugar this is a nice after lunch/dessert sort of drink. Plain, it leaves something to be desired. I may try mixing this with some straight black tea to see what happens. Overall, okay but not one of my favorites from the company so far.

Tea of the afternoon here… an ancient sample from Ashmanra I am just finishing up. Somehow it doesn’t seem as smoky as I remember but it’s possible it just got a bit stale too. See previous notes for more info.

This is another tea from the chocolate sampler pack and it’s a little early for dessert tea but I wanted some anyway… :)

I steeped this for over 5 minutes, honestly I just lost track of time. Co-workers have commented on how good this tea smells! I took a sip and then added some soymilk and liked it better that way. I am getting lots of strawberry, a slight tartness, but not as much chocolate. Still, this is very tasty and I normally I am not too impressed with chocolate teas. Definitely worth checking out.

Here’s another sample from the Della Terra dessert sampler pack.

I have to say that this reminds me a lot of the Numi Chocolate pu-erh, which I’ve had before in teabag form. For me personally it’s a bit hard to taste a lot of pu-erh in here, which mostly makes a nice backdrop for the flavorings. I added some soymilk to mine and it reminds me a of a spicy chocolate milk. It doesn’t remind me a LOT of chai per se, but I am picking up a lot on the gentle flavorings of orange, cardamom and cinnamon. Not totally what I was expecting but pretty good. I would like a little ginger, perhaps. I s’pose I could always add some in!

pretty good for a dessert/after lunch tea and I’m listening to this along with Bobby McFerrin this afternoon.

I got this in a fall sampler pack I ordered from Della Terra Teas – Azzrian this is all your fault!

Anyway I am usually not a huge fan of dessert teas, somehow they seem to be too strong or they miss the mark somehow. I was pretty impressed with this. I decided to add a touch of soymilk and turbinado sugar to bring out the sweetness. It’s slightly pumpkin-y, nutmeggy and brown sugar-y. I swear there is something about this that really tastes like a pie. I think I might need more when this sample runs out. It’s scrumptious and smells good too!

Okay, it’s a sipdown!

I finally finished off a tin of this and am trying to decide if I should get anymore right now. It is definitely something I would get from Upton again!

I have had this tea for a while but just got around to tasting it tonight. I admit one thing that attracted me to it was the 15 year shelf life.

So anyway I love wuyi teas and this was not cheap – also rated AAA but I figure I can afford to indulge every once in a while.

1st steep: This went into the Yixing teapot at around 180F for 30 seconds. Yum! I really like this darkly roasted tea. It has flavors of coffee and roasted cherry with a hint of sugar cane. Yum, yum yum! I guess the heavy baking here makes the difference, but to me it does not taste charbroiled or burnt, which is a bonus.

2nd steep: Still hearty, rich and delicious. I am getting some plum notes coming up. This tea is reminiscent of a fine wine and has a very sweet/roasted finish kind of like buckwheat.

I’m by no means a sheng expert but this is a really nice raw pu-erh, down to the lovely paper it comes in.

I did a quick rinse and then ended up steeping this for around 45 seconds. I’m getting a very vegetal taste, kind of bold and assertive like a gunpowder tea but with a slightly effervescent or fizzy taste on the tongue. It does have the slight sourness I’ve come to associate with young shengs and also has a woodsy flavor.

My second steep, I meant to steep it for a short period of time but I ended up forgetting about it. It was a little too strong to drink!

My third steep is a little bit better, it’s now starting to get kind of mellow and sweeter but still with the vegetal quality. I think it has a hint of smokiness too. I think this will age really well but don’t know if I will be able to keep it long enough to age!

I notice Garret’s tasting note claims this tea is good for stagnancy and the heart meridian, it definitely seems to be waking me up and helping me to feel calm and entered. I am not a morning person and suffer from sleepiness a lot so this has gotten me right and chipper!

I need to go but will enjoy a few more steeps of it this afternoon. It’s a lovely sheng.