Auggy

I’ve been using such short steep times for Japanese greens lately that Rishi’s recommended three to four minutes steep time seems absurdly long. But for my first try of this one, I’ll go by their rules… And based on how this turned out, I’ll only be going by their rules this once. Next time I’ll shorten the steep time because this is bordering on bitter for me.

The flavors – vegetal, thick, pungent with hints of freshness – have a lot of promise, reminding me a lot of O-cha’s Yutaka Midori shincha. Now, I know that YM and kukicha are two different types of tea, but the flavor profiles are very similar. This one, though, doesn’t have the same… well, perfection is the only word I can think of. The flavors are a little muddy and don’t really stand out. Yutaka Midori is crisp and citrusy. This has a fresh hint of citrus but it’s only a hint and a lot of that freshness is covered by too much tartness.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ve been spoiled by Yutaka Midori. But it’s good to be reminded how truly awesome that tea is and why I love it so. On the other hand, this tea will probably taste pretty darn good mid-winter when I have no more green tea and am trying to hold out until shincha comes around again.
^6.1g/12oz

I just don’t get what makes this breakfast blend bold. It’s smooth and a bit cocoa-y but there’s not real impact to it. And it tastes a bit like cocoa nib flavored cardboard when additives are included. A breakfast blend that can’t handle a little sugar and milk? Doesn’t qualify as a breakfast blend to me. Anyway, dropping the rating just a hair because I have found that I consistently ignore and avoid this tea when deciding what tea to have each morning. It’s just kind of dull.

I have been craving green tea all day today. I came home, desperately in need of a nap (I almost fell asleep on drive home), but I wanted shincha so badly that I asked the husband to only let me nap a couple of hours because then I’d still have time to have some of this tea without worrying about staying up until 2am (which is what got me needing a nap in the first place). The husband (delightful man that he is) just woke me up so first thing I did – make this.

Of course, I’m a sweet and loving wife, so naturally I made enough to share with him. I wasn’t ultra precise as to temp though, which turns this normally citrusy crisp tea into this fuzzy, thick, pungent thing that, while not as striking as the bright freshness that comes from more detailed brewing, is still pretty awesome. Totally worth a shortened nap. I’ve been drinking on this for a month almost (and had zero sencha for a month or two before that, waiting for shincha) so I’ve pretty much forgotten what bad sencha tastes like. Oh, logically I know it is out there (vague recollections of Golden Moon’s sampler poke at the back of my brain) but this tea, no matter how it is brewed, is so perfectly sencha that I think it all sencha tastes just like this.

I’m approaching the end of the bag of this tea and I’ve really enjoyed it. Like a lot. (Duh, we all knew that. Just look at the score.) But I have two more packages of shincha in my pantry, another from O-cha and one from Maeda-en, both unopened and I’m really looking forward to busting one of those out soon. Hopefully I will get on with them as well as I have with this one.

I didn’t get huge amounts of maple from Tropical Tea Company’s straight Maple tea, so I suppose it is no surprise that I don’t get tons out of this one either. Instead, I get more… calendula cookie. Maybe with a little maple extract added to the cookie mix, but only to the point of making me think, “Hmm, what is that added flavor that makes this not your everyday, plain ole cookie?” instead of making me think “Mmm, maple cookie.” Obviously, I would prefer maple cookie.

Anyway, if this tea had been named Calendula Sugar Cookie (Without Much Sugar), I would have been fully on board and this log would have included the words “hit”, “nail” and “head”. But this is named Maple Creme so I’m just sort of eh about it. While the plain Maple isn’t knock-my-socks-off good, I definitely prefer it over this one.

This not-tea makes me want to sing. Something folksy. Like ‘Jimmy Cracks Corn’ or something. But not that because this taste like puffed wheat, not cracked corn. But I don’t know any songs about puffed wheat. Did the Sugar Crisp bear have a song? Because that minus the sugar is this tea so that’d work.

Today is a sad, sad day. I’ve had to decupboard this beauty of a tea. (Much thanks again to Angrboda for the share.) Is it an Assam? Or a Yunnan? Has cocoa been sprinkled on this? And where is that hint of roasty coming from? And is there smoky, too? Surely there isn’t any Lapsang in this…

No, it’s just a delightful tea with MPD. But that’s why I love it. That and the fact that no matter which personality shows up in my sip, I know it will always be smooth and sweet and so tasty. It will be missed. So let’s all take a moment of silence to morn for my cupboard, which is now lacking this tea.

::cricket::

Thank you. Now, in other news, I just bought plane tickets to go to Hawaii so I suppose this day isn’t a total loss, yeah?

Light, clean, bright, a little sweet. Today this is reminding me of a muted Darjeeling (no sharp edges) though the smell brings to mind chamomile. Not a hint of wood to be found. Yay non-woody rooibos!

Could be thicker or a little chewier but has a nice WAKE-UP flavor to it. Not the end all be all of IB but not bad by any means.

Smells like a slightly toasted Nilgiri but fortunately it doesn’t have the raw taste I associate with Nilgiris. Instead, this tastes like roasted nori sheets – a little fishy, a little soy sauce-y, fairly vegetal and crisp. It’s quite tasty and makes me crave rice with nori sheets.

Hmm, second steep isn’t nearly as nifty. The smell still brings to mind a Nilgiri and the taste has migrated from toasted nori sheets to a mix of wakame seaweed and Nilgiri rawness. I definitely prefer the first steep.
^2.5g/5oz

The leaves smell delightful. I tossed in the whole sample (7.7g – a rounded Tbsp) into my gaiwan and did a quick rinse (5s). So away we go!
Steep 1: (1:00 @ 175°) Smells fresh, floral, green, buttery. The taste is surprisingly sharp and tangy. Creamy feeling but taste-wise makes me think of lemon butter. Probably could have backed off the time a bit since this is pretty intense.
Steep 2: (45s @ 175°) Smells fresh, clean. The taste is more of a lemon herb butter. Not quite as intense and sharp but still more citrus than floral, though I think some floral notes are creeping in.
Steep 3: (50s @185°) Starting to smell more “typical” oolong with some floral notes. The taste is more floral, softer, but it still has a citrusy tart twang at the end.
Steep 4: (55s @ 185°) The taste seems a little creamier but also a little muddier. Still overall a very ‘yellow’ taste which makes me think of lemons (though it has lost the tartness it originally had).
Steep 5: (60s @190°) The flavor has cleaned up a bit and is smoother but still lemony (though faint) with a hint of creamy.
I’m sure this tea has at least three more steeps in it, but I’m not sure if I do. I think I’ll move on.

Ultimately, I think this is a quality tea – the tastes are very clear and unmuddled – but it’s a bit too refreshing/lemony for what I’m looking for in a green oolong and so not quite to my tastes. Those that enjoy cleaner, brighter tasting oolongs (and lemony teas) would most likely enjoy this one lots.

Backlogging from the weekend in Louisiana.
This tea has officially become a required vacation staple. Uncontrollable brewing parameters? Pshaw! This tea is forgiving enough to take it! Bad tasting water? No problem! This is strong enough to cover it up and still taste delightful. This tea is a hero in my book. ♥

I’ve had a Monk’s Blend before and while, thanks to Jillian, I now know that grenadine is not cherry flavoring, it still registers in my brain as cherry. I just can’t help it! So this smells very cherry-y, or perhaps like heated Dr Pepper. The taste is vaguely similar too, but with less citrus burst (though the hot Dr Pepper I tried had lemon it in, which would explain the citrus.) I did add sugar and milk but after tasting it, I’m thinking it might be okay on its own – it’s pretty sweet and I didn’t add that much sugar. I’m pretty sure this has calendula petals in it (at least it looks like it does) but it’s a lot less than the other MB I tried. Since calendula seems to make my tongue tingle unpleasantly, less calendula is a good thing. Anyway, this isn’t exactly a complex tea and is a bit like drinking warm Cherry Coke. But I like it.

I really cut down the steep time and increased the leaf a little (just under 5g for 10oz) to see if I could get more flavor and less I’m-having-a-quick-plant-snack feeling from this tea. It seems to have worked somewhat. Now I’m getting more sweet, light almost-but-not-quite Assam taste with only a faint hint of raw texture/taste to it. There’s still a bit of bitterness that brings to mind oversteeped Darjeeling but it’s decreased and seems to blend with the rawness in a way that, while not exactly pleasant, isn’t jarring. Still not exactly my cuppa.

ETA: Uhm, what happened? It started to cool and I got more rawness from it which wasn’t happy making but meh, I kept sipping. And it got cooler and now tastes like I’ve dosed it with at least one, maybe even two, heaping teaspoons of sugar. Which would normally be neat but for this tea? Just seems weird.

The first steep is bold, smooth and stout – a great wake-up type tea (yes, it is 2pm but I do need to wake up). Honestly though, I’m looking forward to the 2nd and hopefully 3rd steep on this one. Last time, I was able to get some serious milkiness from those steeps so I’m hoping I’ll get them this time, too.

OMG at the caffeine. No wonder this is called “Morning Tea”. It’s been a very nice wake up call for me this morning. I added sugar and milk because honestly, it is strong enough to take it. It’s still not the most special tea ever or anything but it was very drinkable and the wake up factor is a big plus. Plus the slight hint of vanilla, while not distinctively vanilla, gives the CTC Assam a slightly more interesting taste.

This is basically a fairly mild, inoffensive dessert tea with no rooibos evilness to be found. The dry leaves smell awesome – chocolaty, coconut and creamy – but once brewed it tastes more like a soft blend than the smell led me to expect. The blend of flavors is nice, but just a little too mild. Not weak, just not as strong as I was expecting/hoping based on the smell. Though it does make for a more soothing evening tea so I don’t count this one as a total loss. In fact, I liked it more and more as I got closer to the bottom of the cup.

Apparently I had this about a month ago. I didn’t rate it since I wasn’t really sure about it, mate being well outside my normal range of teas. But instead of thinking it over, having some more and rating it, I managed to forget all about this tea. So okay, forgetting I’ve had the tea certainly doesn’t speak favorably for it, but at least it wasn’t so horrible that it scarred me – because that’s the wrong type of memorable. Anyway, I’m prepared to give this one another go and actually rate it this time.

Huh. I think mate and I just aren’t going to develop a close relationship. It’s a little too woodsy and autumnal for me, but not in a crisp-autumn-day-spent-hiking-through-the-woods type of way that I could get behind. Instead, it’s more of an I-live-on-a-commune-with-goats-and-never-shave kind of way. Which isn’t to say that commune living with goats is a bad thing. It’s just that I like my razor and my husband says I can’t have goats (or alpacas) because I’d let them in the house. (He’s right.) So even though this is (very) sweet from the licorice and has a simultaneously clean and cuddly taste, I think it is a little too natural tasting for my personal tastes.

ETA: Dropping the rating a lot (a lot). Licorice apparently gives me bad heartburn. This tea killed me for hours after the cup was done.

The only other Forever Spring I’ve had was SerendipiTEA’s and I didn’t have hordes of luck with it. It seemed rather dark tasting and a bit flat, missing the sweet high top notes that I tend to gravitate towards in oolongs. This one, on the other hand, seems to be all sweet high top note, even though I was impatient and brewed it at a higher temp which normally would decrease the higher floral notes. That makes this tea a fairly surprising one for me. I like it though.

I think if I had paid more attention to it, I could have picked out some of the notes in it but I was just so busy looking for the expected darker notes that I missed the nuances in the top notes – but it wasn’t a single note flavor. There was a note of fruit-juice-like sweetness along with the slight floral notes that was really enjoyable. My taste buds (and brain) are a little wonky today as I’m having some migraine symptoms going on but I really think I’m going to enjoy the chance to pay more attention to this tea in the future. Right now this is a soft rating and therefore subject to change.
^3.5g/7oz

This is so tasty. Bold, smooth, thick, sort of malty but not, sort of hay-y but not. It makes me think of a having a nice cup of coffee to wake up with but without the acidity or bitterness. I really didn’t take many notes at all on this tea because I was too busy drinking it. My 12 oz went fast!

I really didn’t plan on being impressed by Teas Etc but I have several ‘must haves’ that I’ll be ordering soon – and this is one of them.

ETA: The second steep (5 minutes) taste like I’ve put milk in it! That deserves a little ratings bump.

I didn’t realize I hadn’t had this one before. I thought I had tried each of my Kusmi Russian blend teas but apparently not. Anyway, taken with no additives. Like all Kusmi teas, this is not overpoweringly flavored. There are soft citrus accents, the most noticeable one being a fresh-lemon taste that gives it a hint of tartness. There is a soft sweetness to the tea that makes it not need sugar but it isn’t as sweet as something like Troika or St. Petersburg. I think the lemony tartness is the cause of this, countering the thick smoothness of the tea and creating just a hint of discord. This is still a pretty tea but I prefer the rich silkiness of Troika (even though it can edge towards too decadent) over this silky tea and fresh lemon mix. Though I will say, the lemon tartness is very well done – it tastes remarkably like real fresh lemon. I would say this tea is more of a match for people that find other Kusmi teas too heavy/silky/rich or those that enjoy lemony teas. Personally, I prefer citrus with more sweetness and less tartness.

This. Tea. Is. So. Good.
The husband is eating waffles and that smell is combining with the rye bread and syrup taste of this tea to make me feel like I’m eating waffles, too, covered in cane syrup.
♥

I’ve been saving this sweet little monster for when I really need a pick me up. And I need one today so I’m busting this out. I fully anticipate going at least 4 steeps, possibly 6. The sweet, sugary, candy-flower, maripan insanity will actually last that long (or at least it has in the past). I’m half convinced it keeps on going because it is so determined to make me happy. It’s just that kind of tea.

One of the first “real” teas I ever had was SpecialTea’s Fancy Formosa Oolong. I remember not liking it because it tasted like sweet cigar smoke. This tea has me thinking about trying that tea again. It’s smoky but not lapsang souchong smoky. It’s a sweet, light smoky like cigar smoke. But this doesn’t have the acridity some cigar smoke has. Instead, it is smooth and has no edge to it at all. It’s quite nice and even though I’m still not in love with roasty oolongs, I did enjoy having this one around.

The roasty, salty of this is a great counterpoint to the fresh, sweet and pungent shincha I’ve been downing. While shincha is a spring taste, this one brings fall more to my mind.