Oddly enough when I searched from “Dragon Balls”, this tea did not come up. Boo. Anyway…
As the song Cup of Brown Joy says, “If you’re tired of tea then you’re tired of life.” Well, I’m not so much tired of life, but it has been feeling somewhat blah lately. And so I’ve been somewhat blah about tea as well. So yeah, I’m still drinking it but I’m just not that excited. Which is stupid because I have some teas to try that I’ve wanted to try for a while and now I have the chance! But I feel that they deserve more than blah me so I’m holding on for enthusiastic me to come back. (If the freakin’ wind would stop trying to blow my house down and the sun would stay out, enthusiastic me would probably show up quicker.)
With my lackadaisical attitude about, well, everything lately, I took a different approach to this tea today. I tossed a couple of balls :snicker: in my cup, boiled some water, brought the kettle to my desk, filled up my cup and just kept topping my cup off as I sipped. So there’s no real steeping time, no real water temp. I really wish I had some oolong at work to try this with but maybe tomorrow.
So how did the experiment work? Okay, so I ended up with a slightly strong first cup since I needed to let the water cool so I could drink it and it kept get stronger as I got about half way down into the cup. But it didn’t get bitter, just strong and I learned to top off my cup frequently-ish and that took care of the too-strong issue. And I might have had to put a leaf bit or two back in the cup at the beginning. But a bit of leaf floating into my mouth isn’t near as bad as a gnat or something and once things got going the leaves stayed firmly in the bottom of the cup (which was kind of neat). The tea tasted good even though there was fair amount of variety depending on how much water was in the cup and how long it had been since I last added more. In fact, towards the end it ended up being pretty sweet which is something I don’t think I’ve hit on with this tea before.
All in all it worked out pretty great and the brewing style fit in well with my current meh-ness. It seemed like I got a lot more tea out of the leaf than I would have otherwise (close to about 26oz I’d guess) and it was pretty tasty once I got the hang of when to top off and by how much. So I’m gonna count this as a win and make note to do it again. Even if the leaves in my cup did make it look like I was drinking a cup of swamp water.
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DRAGON BALLS! LOL
LOVE IT!!!!
I know what you mean about the teas deserving more that “blah me”…I’ve been kind of put off of tea after my Samovar order, because it was so hyped up yet the tins were so tiny and the one I tried so far (Four Seasons) was just a “meh” weak tie guan yin for me that I spent a (very small) fortune on…I haven’t been able to really write a review since then because I know I have to write a “meh” review for FS but then everyone on steepster will kill me in my sleep, heh. And that’s just makes me feel “blah” because whenever I remember the tins, I feel like I got ripped off big time, and that depresses me, and I get put off of drinking the tea…
TeaEqualsBliss, I kid you not, that’s what I searched for. It didn’t show up. :(
Aww, poor Shanti. I didn’t really ‘get’ the Four Seasons love until I went a bit heavy on the leaf – then I got a fuller taste to it. Before that it seemed a bit flat. So hopefully you’ll find the love.
I just might have to blend an Adagio Signature Blend and call it DRAGON BALLS…lol…
I’ll have to try it that way. I just feel deceived…the website says 40 servings with multiple infusions. How big are the servings supposed to be?? There can’t be more than 15, maybe 20 teaspoons in my tin, which is barely half full. After this experience, I will not be ordering from Samovar ever again, nor will I recommend them. Plus, I had to steep FS for like 4 minutes, and I could barely taste anything, whereas my other TGYs for around 45 seconds and the flavor is much stronger and has that signature TGY heavy mouth feel. So boo to FS, and boo to Samovar.
</ rage>
Somehow I feel better after typing that out publically, heh…I’ve been avoiding Steepster since I tried the FS, but I feel motivated again to type up some tasting notes now. :)
Wow, that seems very not good. I don’t know what to tell you. Even when I went lighter on the leaf there was still taste at 2 minutes but it didn’t truly shine for me until I did about .8g/oz (instead of the normal .5g/oz I start out with – yes, I have ratios, I’m a dork). I don’t know how that would equate to teaspoons though so I’m no real help there. Hopefully you got other things from them that are awesome and won’t leave you with a bad taste in your mouth (literally or figuratively!)
Shanti, I hear you. I figure that the amount of dry tea called for on the packages is suitable for a 4 ounce dainty little tea cup or even a demi-tasse. So I adjust like mad. I typically use 3 or sometimes even 4 times the amount called for in a typical mug of mine that holds perhaps 8 or 10 ounces. And I’ve never felt that there was too much tea in my tea!
Aw I’ve been wanting to try black dragon pearls for ages but never see them anywhere! Simply because the green ones are so pretty to watch unfurl but I’m not much of a fan of the taste.
DRAGON BALLS! LOL
LOVE IT!!!!
I know what you mean about the teas deserving more that “blah me”…I’ve been kind of put off of tea after my Samovar order, because it was so hyped up yet the tins were so tiny and the one I tried so far (Four Seasons) was just a “meh” weak tie guan yin for me that I spent a (very small) fortune on…I haven’t been able to really write a review since then because I know I have to write a “meh” review for FS but then everyone on steepster will kill me in my sleep, heh. And that’s just makes me feel “blah” because whenever I remember the tins, I feel like I got ripped off big time, and that depresses me, and I get put off of drinking the tea…
TeaEqualsBliss, I kid you not, that’s what I searched for. It didn’t show up. :(
Aww, poor Shanti. I didn’t really ‘get’ the Four Seasons love until I went a bit heavy on the leaf – then I got a fuller taste to it. Before that it seemed a bit flat. So hopefully you’ll find the love.
I just might have to blend an Adagio Signature Blend and call it DRAGON BALLS…lol…
I’ll have to try it that way. I just feel deceived…the website says 40 servings with multiple infusions. How big are the servings supposed to be?? There can’t be more than 15, maybe 20 teaspoons in my tin, which is barely half full. After this experience, I will not be ordering from Samovar ever again, nor will I recommend them. Plus, I had to steep FS for like 4 minutes, and I could barely taste anything, whereas my other TGYs for around 45 seconds and the flavor is much stronger and has that signature TGY heavy mouth feel. So boo to FS, and boo to Samovar.
</ rage>
Somehow I feel better after typing that out publically, heh…I’ve been avoiding Steepster since I tried the FS, but I feel motivated again to type up some tasting notes now. :)
Wow, that seems very not good. I don’t know what to tell you. Even when I went lighter on the leaf there was still taste at 2 minutes but it didn’t truly shine for me until I did about .8g/oz (instead of the normal .5g/oz I start out with – yes, I have ratios, I’m a dork). I don’t know how that would equate to teaspoons though so I’m no real help there. Hopefully you got other things from them that are awesome and won’t leave you with a bad taste in your mouth (literally or figuratively!)
Shanti, I hear you. I figure that the amount of dry tea called for on the packages is suitable for a 4 ounce dainty little tea cup or even a demi-tasse. So I adjust like mad. I typically use 3 or sometimes even 4 times the amount called for in a typical mug of mine that holds perhaps 8 or 10 ounces. And I’ve never felt that there was too much tea in my tea!
Aw I’ve been wanting to try black dragon pearls for ages but never see them anywhere! Simply because the green ones are so pretty to watch unfurl but I’m not much of a fan of the taste.