ashmanra

Hmmmm. Dry leaves – nice, very light honey aroma. First cup from the pot was unsweetened and no milk. Very smooth, no astringency, light flavor, sweet enough to drink as is, but no where nearly as sweet as Golden Monkey or Zhen Qu. Pretty good.

Second cup – Leaves are out, they have BEEN out, but this cup looks darker and has a stronger aroma. It isn’t as sweet. Is it just me??? I add sugar, but it is too much! Just a tiny dab of sugar will sweeten this one. I also add a drop of milk to counteract the newly sensed strength to what seemed so light on the first cup. Now I have what tastes like a good, but plain Jane, breakfast tea. Hmmm. Maybe I need to do a new pot on a new day and try this one again! It isn’t bad. Just wondering how it changed from one cup to the next from the SAME pot? Must be me!

Hallelujah! The search is over for a replacement tea for my daughter who says she MUST drink it during math or fail. Her London Cuppa is no longer available here, and I found out that it was heavy on the Kenyan tea, so I tried this one from the fine tea wall at SS. It is very low priced – only $2 the ounce! This is smooth like a Ceylon and has a lot of natural sweetness. I could drink it without sugar, but with sugar you have something akin to good ole’ Southern iced tea taste going on. This isn’t a high-falutin’ tea. It is a good basic, smooth tea much like Lipton loose or Black Pearl, but smoother. We steeped for four minutes but it could have used one more.

I have only had one other oolong tea, and that was quite some time ago. I don’t even know if I steeped it properly! But I wanted to give oolongs a try and see what all the hubbub is about. The young man at the shop said to wash the leaves and steep for 3 minutes, so that is what I did. Also, the Harney Tea book said to resteep adding about 30 seconds each time, so subsequent cups follow that rule.

Oh…my…..goodness. I don’t know what to say. Is this how oolongs taste? I am confused. I feel just like I felt after the first time my husband kissed me – first, WOW! followed by, “I want to do that again!” The first sip was…. very light in taste at first. Then the aftertaste – AMAZING! Being new to oolongs I am at a loss to describe this. It doesn’t taste like any tea I have ever had. After the first sip, it gets stronger and stronger. Each cup gets darker, oddly enough. One would think it would be lighter. By the fourth steep, it is starting to get lighter. There is such a sweetness here. It is almost like when you pull honeysuckle flowers off the vine and drink the nectar, but closely followed by a mineral coating that stays with you. Each time I inhale, I REALLY taste this tea, and I mean for several breaths AFTER the sip. This one is a keeper, really amazing. Now I have to try even more oolongs!

This was the tea for today’s virtual tea tasting via Skype with Sandy. It was more vegetal than I remembered. I like darjeeling tea much better now that I know to only steep for 3 minutes!

Made a small pot of this to follow up my English muffin and get me kick started out the door to the gym. I added milk and sugar, because that is how Malachi himself would have drunk this! Aaaaaah. This was just what I needed this morning. Very similar to a good breakfast tea, strong enough with maybe only the barest hint of smoke if it is there at all. Maybe it is just the body of the tea that I am tasting. Good stuff!

Delicious plain, as always!

Drinking this one today in honor of my daughter in Northern Ireland, who is staying in today because she heard this bomb go off early this morning…..http://www.u.tv/News/200lb-bomb-at-Derry-police-station/3679f67d-23a2-4a12-b07b-95c840b3a12b.

This is a strong tea but not overpowering. It has nice body, not astringent, not smokey. Maybe a little chewy? And perhaps just a bit of “bite”! I like this one with milk and sugar.

This was my early tea today. I haven’t had it in a long time. It is a decent cup, nothing too spectacular but not bad. I think I should have added a little more leaf and maybe a little more time, but this is definitely a milk and sugar tea for me.

Delicious and lightly smokey. Went very well with our little cold eclairs! Another tea from the virtual tea party via Skype today with our distant tea friend.

Ah, my pale gold treasure! This is the lightest black tea is have ever seen, and is delightful without milk and sugar. It can handle it if you want to add milk and sugar, but this tea has such lovely nuance that I take it plain! Just enjoyed it as a virtual tea party via Skype with my travelling tea friend.

A mild pu erh, just right today after a heavy lunch and accompanied by some whole wheat low sugar chocolate mini-muffins. Mmmmm….

This was a sample sent by TEAEQUALSBLISS. Thanks! The aroma is grape-y, almost like a soft drink or candy. Smells good! The flavor is fruity and good without tasting like candy. It has enough flavor to keep your interest, not enough tartness or fruitiness to overpower. The aroma is the big thing with this one. A good tea, and very refreshing on this hot day.

I bought this one with the intention of drinking it iced, which I have done only once. It is very good iced, but I also enjoy it as a hot tea. It has a strong, fruity aroma, and surprisingly it steeps to a very pale straw color. It has very nice flavor. We drank it unsweetened today, and my friend kept commenting on how very sweet it was. It is a nice tea, not too tart (don’t think of it in the vein of Tazo Passion), and very refreshing in this abominably hot weather! I want to try rebrewing these bags and see what sort of result I get….

Wonderful tea! I drink this one with no sweetener, no milk. This is one of my little luxury teas that I enjoy in the afternoon with a light snack like tea cookies or little eclairs.

No notes yet.

Excellent cup this morning! It is medium strength, not smoky, not astringent, full of good tea flavor. Yum!

Drank this side by side with Malachi McCormick’s blend today, and this time I DID notice the astringency. Not that it is terribly astringent, just that when compared to MM it is a noticeable difference. A good tea, I think I like it better for afternoons with a snack than for my mid-morning cup.

Had this one side by side with Palm Court this morning. This tea is what it claims to be – a decent cup of tea and a good breakfast companion. Not pushy, pretty laid back, and nice to be with. Not a lot of smoky keemun flavor, definitely has the smoothing effect of the assam. A good keep-it-in-the-cupboard tea.

This tea is FANTASTIC without milk or sugar! One of the few that I can drink that way and really enjoy it.

Delightful every time!

When I first started drinking tea I couldn’t wrap my head around the thought of combining these two flavors. I mean, tea is tea and chocolate is chocolate. I decided to try this one after I enjoyed Florence so much. It is VERY GOOD! It isn’t just Florence minus the hazelnut, either. I add milk and that really intensifies the chocolate flavor, and I do add a bit of sugar but that’s just me! If you wanted a great chocolate dessert and didn’t want a lot of calories, this should take care of it!

First, the leaves smell awesome! And I mean, AWESOME! It is a sweet aroma without really smelling like honey, and TEA! I don’t really smell the smoke in the dry leaves so much. (I opened a packet of lapsang once and thought I had stuck my nose in an ashtray. Yeh, this isn’t like that at all.) The wet leaves DO have the smoky aroma and it is mmm-mmm-good. The tea? Delightful! I added milk and sugar and drank it all on the way to the gym, ooh-ing and aah-ing the whole time. And it is organic! I haven’t had many lapsangs, and I understand that this is supposed to be about the same thing as a bohea if that gives you an idea of the strength of the smoke. No wonder the Dutch came back for more…..

No notes yet.

Bought a sample of this – youngest child aka the tea addict says BUY A TIN! This tea has a wonderful aroma – I could sit here sniffing the leaves for the rest of the afternoon but I have to go to the gym. (We had eclairs with our tea this afternoon so it is especially important!) The dry leaves are interesting to look at – black, straight leaves, thin lightly curled ones, and green ones that aren’t green tea I think but maybe darjeeling? At least when it is steeped they look just like my 1629 Blend Darjeeling from Southern Season. It was initially astringent, which I don’t like, and might mean I should steep it for less time. I added milk and a little sugar (my friend added only milk and was satisified -she’s a no sugar gal) and it was deeee-licious! This one is a keeper! Plus, I LOVE the history behind it. And my kid wants it, so…….