Amy oh

Tea of the morning here. I like my morning teas to be kind of strong and hefty! You definitely need some soymilk (or regular milk) with this to temper it a bit. I added some rock sugar too although it doesn’t really need it.

I’d rather be at home making art than working today — what else is new?!

It’s been a long day, first a whole day of being at work and then drawing class in the evening. I got home kind of late and wanted something relaxing so I thought I’d have a big mug of this. I’m not always in the mood for something so minty but when I am, this tea fits the bill!

Maybe I’ll finish my box off before next Christmas?

Monday? Is that you already?

Tea of the morning here… I always know I will like this when I steep it up. Today it reminds me of graham crackers dipped in milk. Truly scrumptious!

Tea of the morning here; dark and luscious – and a real eye opener. I reviewed it a few days ago. It’s so yummy!

Tea of the morning here, I’ve been on somewhat of an assam kick lately I guess…

I was fortunate to find this is the bulk bin at the Local Whole Foods. I don’t know that I will get any more once it runs out because I have a few other assams to drink now! Still, this is very nice, mellow, almost creamy in flavor. Perfect with a touch of soymilk!

Decided to get this Arya Estate Ruby to try, I assume this is from 2012 since I don’t think the 2013 sf darjeelings are here yet. I don’t tend to like sf’s as much as ff’s but that doesn’t mean I will ever stop trying. :-P

This brews up to be a lovely medium orange color. This is exceptionally fruity for a sf and even has a bit of sweetness to it. I’m also picking up a bit of rose in the finish, very nice. This is one of the better sf darjeelings I’ve had in a while – it was also good with a touch of rock sugar to help bring the sweetness forward a bit.

This is another first flush sample I picked out from Upton in my last order.

I tend to like first flushes a lot but this isn’t anything terribly special to me. I’m getting a light muscatel with a nutty element and a slight bit of bitterness in the finish. I might need to try steeping this at a lower temperature to see what happens. Also Happy Earth Tea mentioned cold brewing their ff darjeelings so I may try it out with this one to see what happens. It’s ok but nothing to rave about. Perhaps my expectations are too high but I want my darjeelings to be truly sublime…

Okay, I decided to try it again this morning at 3 minutes 30 seconds… it is a delightful assam. Malty and very rich, an excellent breakfast tea. There is something floral about it, but the finish is also spicy and strong. I added some soymilk to mine but no sugar. Might even be a bit better at 3 minutes only. Not the best assam I have ever had but definitely up at the top in terms of flavor. Assams are my favorite breakfast tea so I’m glad I got a lot of this! I also recommend checking out the Brahmin if you like a strong tea.

Sorry, Sil. I’m keeping it! :-P

Tea of the afternoon here…
I drink this all of the time and it is SUPER GOOD!

Life is going great!

This was my tea of the morning, so confident I would like it that I bought 4 oz…

I let this steep too long by accident (mornings are not my best time). It seems very thick and malty (a real spoonbender) but I just need to time it correctly before getting an accurate review/impression.

Yet another tea sachet sample from Steven Smith… in the interest of full disclosure I am generally not a fan of Earl Grey/bergamot based blends but I have to try it anyway… right?

For a bergamot blend this is pretty tasty. The black tea base is dark and rich and the bergamot is bright and flavorful. Gasp – an Earl Grey I actually like!? Most of them are obnoxious and soapy in my opinion.

A splash of soymilk just really made this perfect for me. I might need to keep some of this on hand… yummy. It seems so well balanced and artfully composed. On the list it goes. I rather wish I had purchased some more of this.

Another tea sachet sample to try from Steven Smith…

Eh I wasn’t terribly impressed with this chai for some reason. I’m finding the assam tea base isn’t really standing up to the spices and the ginger root seems much stronger than the other spices in the tea. Better with soymilk and sugar but probably won’t go on my list of things to repurchase.

After lunch tea here for me…

I don’t tend to gravitate towards second flushes very often but I have quite a few first flushes and thought I’d at least try it based on the description.

This review is for the tea sachet version of this tea. It steeps up to be a medium orangy-brown. I really like the fact that it has a sweet, almost juicy finish instead of the stubborn astringency I find a lot in 2nd flushes. Has a light muscatel flavor and some woodiness. I wouldn’t really describe this as floral, only slightly in the aroma.

I’ll happily finish off the bag I have of this… IMO it was a bit better than the No. 47 I tried yesterday.

Surprised at the meh sort of reviews this blend has received, I thought it was pretty good.

Definitely a lot of assam in here but the ceylons add a bright note. The keemun is likely my least favorite part, to me it makes the blend slightly muddy, it is very rich though and the bit of smokiness is a nice touch. A good eye opening breakfast blend… I enjoyed mine with a bit of soymilk!

Sorry for the short review but I’m late already.

This came with the black tea sampler I got from Steven Smith teas today…

I love darjeeling (at least the first flush) so I had some pretty high expectations about this. It’s a blend of 1st and 2nd flush teas and came in a sachet.

The instructions say to steep this for 5 minutes which seemed a bit excessive to me. I went for around 4 minutes.

The aroma of the wet leaf is woody and toasty and the tea liquor is a medium reddish brown. I’m definitely getting the nutty and toasty notes from this tea but the fruit /flower flavor seems to be eluding me. I was hoping for some muscatel which I’m not finding anywhere. For a darjeeling, it is very mellow and gentle.

Overall, it’s fairly good but nothing I would bother to keep in stock on a regular basis. If I was going to buy one teabag form of a blended darjeeling it would be Mighty Leaf’s version. Still I am glad I tried it!

Tea of the morning here, I am not wanting to get up today and was hoping this would help. This is a 5g sample from Upton tea Imports – the leaves inside are very dark, slender and curly.

I admit I forgot to set a timer so I have no idea how long this was really steeping for. I am getting some chocolate type notes along with spiciness in the finish. It would be interesting to compare this with the Imperial Bohea, which I really love. This isn’t as smoky as the I.B. from what I recall. I’m not sure I got the full flavor profile because of the timing issue but so far my impressions are very good. Definitely more on the mellow side of teas…

I’ve had this for a few months but never assigned a rating to it until now. I figured I’d better start drinking it before the flavor starts disappearing. It is pretty good but I still feel like the green tea is slightly bitter and I don’t know why. I like the banana/nutty notes in here for sure. I might need to try this as a latte someday. :)

Just got home from a long weekend at Harbin Hot Springs and I thought I’d relax with a nice cup of tea.

This is one of the 2012 ff samples I got from Upton, tried to restrain myself this year and did not buy any full sizes.

I smelled the leaves after steeping and they are so incredibly fragrant and fresh. The cup brews up to be a light orange and I am definitely getting the melon-like sweetness they claimed along with a slight nuttiness that reminds me of almonds or white chocolate. Excellent to sip on plain, needs no sugar at all and putting milk into this would be a crime. Totally devoid of astringency and almost broth like in texture.

When it comes to darjeelings people seem to either love them or hate them, but to me this is like a little bit of heaven in a cup!

I hope all my Steepster friends in the US had a great Memorial day weekend.

Assam tea of the morning here. 3/4 of the Upton tea sampler. The leaves are very slender and broken (GBOP = golden broken orange pekoe)

This is pretty good, I wish I had the foresight to try it plain before I dumped in my usual soymilk that I drink with assams. I’m getting a lot of malty flavor with a bit of chocolate and a trace of bitterness in the finish. I wonder why you need your leaves broken if you’re drinking the tea in loose leaf form… anyway this is pretty good but a bit pungent and strong even with the addition of soymilk. An eye opener for sure but not something I would need to have around on a permanent basis.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!

I’ve had this tea for over a year now and I really just need to finish it off… somehow whites are not among my things to reach for when I’m craving a tea.

This is less sweet than a lot of white teas I’ve tried and has more the character of a green; it’s a bit smoky and vegetal. I am going to try cold brewing some of it overnight to see what happens.

Wah, it’s a sipdown. I love this houjicha and it will certainly go on my list of things to repurchase from Den’s when I need some other things. Meanwhile I think I can cope with the bagged houjicha I got in Japantown.

Music of the afternoon: Classical Indian music for Healing and Relaxation. It’s groovy! http://www.amazon.com/Santoor-Solo-In-Rag-Bhairav/dp/B0016UIHLM

After lunch tea here… this is really good iced with some soymilk. yummy yum!

I might try to get some chocolate syrup to put in this. Chunky Monkey tea anyone? :)

Speaking of sweet things I am going to be reunited with my cute guy today, the best part about coming home for sure…

Ordered this sample the last time I placed an order with Upton Tea. The leaves are olive green, very long and slender (needle like, duh).

The tea liquor steeps up to be a very pale yellow. There isn’t much of an aroma coming from this. Flavor wise, it’s slightly floral with very light vegetal notes of corn. This is a very gentle and light tea but I generally prefer my greens to have a little more heft. Probably not something I would bother to keep in my personal stash. Still, it’s an elegant and relaxing cuppa on this lovely spring day. If you like yellow teas you might want to give this one a shot.

Upton’s notes say the tea has a pine needle flavor but I don’t think I would have picked that out if I hadn’t read their description. I thought I detected a bit of smoke somewhere in the finish.

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