Auggy

Y’all. Seriously, y’all. I got this at my grocery store. A 20g tin. For $3.00. No, not even for $3.00. For $2.99. I kid you not. Teance has this on their site for $37. (As does In Pursuit of Tea… are they the same company?) It’s not out of date or anything. It’s just really, really cheap. Someone was obviously smoking something when they priced this. I knew this tin was a good deal; that’s why I picked it up. I didn’t realize it was that good of a deal. Anyway, on with the show!

Have I ever mentioned that I’m scared of matcha? I would sell my first born for a limitless supply of shincha (Yutaka Midori, please) yet for some reason, matcha freaks me out. The first time I had it was at a tea ceremony my friend was performing at our high school’s culture festival (文化祭) many years ago in Japan. Ryoko, said friend, told me when she invited me that “even the Japanese don’t like the tea in the tea ceremony.” Stellar recommendation. And the tea served totally matched up to expectations. Ick. I think that’s why I’ve not been a big matcha girl. Then, when I finally found the cajones to try matcha again, it was some that I received in a swap and had been sitting on my counter for months, getting icky and not-green, as I tried to get up the nerve to try it. Unsurprisingly, that tasted icky, too. I did have some iced matcha at Teavana at one point. That was okay. But it was iced… and from Teavana. So that was sort of discounted as a typical matcha experience. But when I say this at the store marked $2.99, I figured I’d give another go. Three bucks for potentially nasty tea isn’t that big of a deal. Which brings me to what is currently in my cup…

OMG, WHY was I afraid of matcha??? This is lovely! It smells like a fresh sheet of crisp, sweet, toasty nori. And the taste!! The taste is so mild and creamy and sweet! It’s like sencha, but dessert sencha instead of pungent dinner entree sencha. I know why people make ice cream out of matcha now – it’s so creamy! I could mainline this stuff!

Okay, okay, it’s never going to replace my love of a deep steamed sencha – I just love the rich pungency too much and this is no where even close to pungent. But this is so good. SO. GOOD. Yeah, it could be more complex but honestly, who doesn’t like sencha taste coupled with smooth, creamy and sweet? Green tea ice cream without the cold or the calories, that’s what this is. This is sencha dessert in a cup. With caffeine. And that caffeine is the only reason I’m not making myself another cup RIGHT NOW. And another in five more minutes. And another five minutes after that.

Looks like I have to make an emergency run to the grocery store. I think they had three more tins of this, all at $2.99. Time to stock up!

(This will be my attempt to write a brief(er than normal) tea log. Wish me luck!)

The set up: I’ve had a bit of an uncheerful time lately and today is no different. Fortunately, my Kusmi order showed up a day earlier than expected so I will be able to cheer myself up with tea!

The smell: The dry leaves give me marzipan with a hint of spice and a flash of soft floral and bakey. The tea smells of… tea (like some sort of Lipton-esque blend that just comes across as “tea”) with a little soft spice (thankfully not enough to make me think of potpourri) and something that reminds me of pancakes (sweet and bready).

The taste: It’s mild. I can detect rose and spice when I slurp but otherwise it’s faintly marzipan and orange with a cinnamon-like sweetness of spice at the end. But the notes all sort of blend to give a smooth, rather softly flavored, afternoon tea.

The verdict: I had hoped that this would be a little stronger on the almond and orange (as I love those flavors) but I do like the mild-ness and smooth-ness of this. I probably won’t buy this one again as it’s fairly un-wowing, but the smoothness and mild flavor is relaxing to me on this grumpy day.

Can you tell I recently received a Chicago Tea Garden order? Cause I did! And I got samples! This is another sample I picked up. I’m not typically a fan of white tea but if CTG offers it, I’m probably going to try it. After all, the one strong exception to my general un-fanish stance towards white tea is CTG Silver Needle so why not, right?

I feel a bit like I’m raking leaves in the fall as I weight out the tea to put in my pot. The leaves are big, chunky, light, crispy and fairly unruly. They keep trying to jump off of the scale. For some reason, these leaves (and the leaves of bai mu dan) kind of freak me out. They look a little too unintentional for a food or beverage. Instead I want to pile them up and jump in them, like I did when I lived where fall actually existed.

These leaves don’t really smell of fall-chore leaves to me, though. Mostly the leaves are just faintly musty with perhaps a little tinge of sweet. The sweetness comes out more while I am steeping the leaves, but once the tea is poured into the cup, the smell (any smell) is very faint. It’s perhaps vegetal, grain-ish, sweet and musty… though it’s hard to tell due to the faintness.

The taste is very delicate but my reaction to the first sip was surprise and delight. Normally white teas are a bit too boiled-vegetable-water for me. This, however, is predominately a cross between floral nectar and honey. It’s delicate and light, yes, but there seems to be a richness to the sweet flavor of it, a darkness or heaviness that belies typical (sweet & light) floral thoughts, perhaps even a caramelization? Caramelized gardenia, perhaps? (Gardenias always strike me as a sweet but non-floral-ish type of flower.) Underneath that is a slight vegetal note that is more steamed edamame than boiled green beans and an end note of warmth that brings to mind the feel of ginger, if not quite the taste.

As it cools, the vegetal note pokes out more, but again, it isn’t boiled-until-they-are-olive-green-and-soggy vegetable water but something a hint fresher and more vibrant. Slurping still brings out the sweet gardenia nectar notes and I like that. The spicy warmth is still there but milder, hitting mostly in the middle of my tongue and the back of my throat. Perhaps it is now more of a cinnamon warmth than a ginger warmth.

This is not a fast-sipping tea. It’s delicate and light, but there’s a lot of nuances so I feel the need to slowly and almost meditatively sip. Drinking quickly feels a bit sacrilegious. Which is weird since I don’t really like white tea, but there you go.

I can’t help but wonder how this tea would be if I increased the leaves significantly, steeping it more in line with what I do for Japanese greens with five or even six grams per six ounce cup. I have a feeling it would be kind of amazing…

With that thought in mind, I did the second steep with only four ounces of water (160°/1:30). The smell is stronger – more warm rye bread with butter; sweet, grain-ish, silky. The taste is the same, but different. It’s a bit stronger and more intense and somehow that seems to make the notes combine together to create a fuller taste but also become more distinctive and easier to identify separately.

It’s still sweet but instead of a heavy, dark sweetness, it’s more of a butter-cream sweet. The previous heavy darkness has strengthened and turned into a more separate grain-like note (like a not super-dark rye). Slurping brings out sweet nectar (slightly lighter tasting than the first steep) and each sip still ends with a chaser of spice-like warmth. There is virtually zero vegetal taste in this cup, at least not that I can pick out. Perhaps it has joined with the grain note for added depth?

This steep makes me think less of caramelized gardenia nectar with edamame and more of… cinnamon sugar toast with sweet cream butter. This cup feels less meditative and more nom. And poof, it is gone.

The third steep (4oz/160°/2min), made significantly after the first two, seems radically different. The flavor is predominately green now, with an almost-bite to it (that I think comes from the leafy greens flavor combined with the ginger-ish warmth) that makes me think of collard greens. Slurping still brings out sweetness, but now it is more of a normal clover honey than anything nectary. I don’t pick up any grain notes though that darker note could be coupling with the green note (and spice feel) to give me collard greens as they are a rather dark and heavy green. There’s also a sticky dryness at the end of the sip now – not astringency in the way that leads to bitterness but rather something that makes all the saliva in my mouth disappear for a few seconds. Honestly, this steep is kind of weird and I don’t think I’d go for this tea if this were the consistent taste, but as weird as it is, I still find it pretty interesting. And this is long enough and dinner is nigh so I think I’m going to stop there.

Bottom line: I don’t love this as much as CTG’s Silver Needles, but I do think I will be ordering this at least once, at the very least because it’s so interesting. A sample is simple not enough to allow me to play with it like I want to.

(Once again, sorry about the massive tasting note. Brevity and I don’t get along. If you read this far, you have earned my admiration for your fortitude. And a cookie.)

My grocery store recently revamped their tea section and part of that revamping including selling new vendors, Zhi Tea being one of them. I was looking to see if I could find one of the yummy-sounding unflavored teas Zhi offers but it looks like my grocery store is just offering a selection of their flavored blends. Somehow, I will manage to cope. Coconut will help in the coping process.

I’m a bit mixed on this tea. First off, it smells awesome. Honest-to-goodness coconut with a touch of bakey. The steeping tea smells even better than the dry leaves – musty/sweet coconut. It makes my mouth water. Though after smelling the steeping leaves, going back to smell the dry leaves makes me notice something unpleasant in the smell, something almost fake or plastic. Maybe it is the coconut flavoring or maybe I’m smelling the packaging. I’m going to ignore it for now and just smell the steeping tea.

Once I get the tea into my cup, the coconut smell is milder than it was in the steeping leaves, but it’s still quite nice. I do so love coconut. (Though I rarely eat it because I can’t get behind the texture. Yuck.) Still, quite lovely. But it’s the taste of this tea that has me a little torn.

First off, let me explain. I used to log every single cup of tea that I drank. I can be a little too structured with things like that. But then Steepster slowed down to a snail’s pace and logging was too frustrating so I went away for a while (all or nothing, you know). Now I’m trying a little moderation – logging teas to review them but not being obsessive about it. So this is not the first time I’ve had this cup since I purchased it, it’s just the first time I’m posting (and being coherent) with my thoughts on it.

The first time I had this, it was more Assam with a coconut aftertaste. The Assam was nice – honeyed, bakey, a little starchy – but the coconut felt a bit lacking. This time, however, there is coconut all through the sip, from beginning to end. Good, strong, lovely coconut. I can taste the Assam underneath the coconut, but it doesn’t seem as nice as before. Starchy, malty and maybe slightly sweet. But sometimes I also get flashes of… watery. And strong prickles of astringency that weren’t there before. And the honeyed note is all but gone, replace (or overwhelmed) by a faint tartness that doesn’t quite enter into Bitter-land but definitely has been planning a trip there.

So it seems like my choices for this tea are either 1) delicious, smooth and sweet Assam with a disappointingly faint aftertaste of coconut or 2) strong, full coconut flavor with a rough and unpleasant Assam. I’m not sure how one tea gives two such different cups when brewed the same way both times. Ideally, I’d like the sweet and smooth Assam note to be coupled with a beginning-to-end coconut note. Maybe the third time will be the charm. Or else my next cup will be faint coconut aftertaste coupled with a rough and watery Assam.

So see? Torn. It’s a bit too roulette wheel for my tastes but the potential for awesomeness is there. But this is either inconsistent or picky. And since both attributes make me grumpy when I find them in tea, I suppose I’ll be sticking to SerendipiTEA’s Burroughs’ Brew for my coconut tea cravings.

I do not like rooibos. I do not like it in a box, I do not like it with a fox. I do not like it in a house, I do not like it with a mouse. I do not like rooibos. And you can’t make me.

That being said, my mom purchased a big ole box of this from Amazon so I swiped a few bags just to try. Because sometimes I like to torture myself with tea.

Tonight, I’m in desperate need of something tea-like. I’ve been out of the house all day and only got one cup in this morning. This makes my tongue is sad. But it’s too late to have something caffeinated and my Zojirushi is on 208°. So sure, let’s have some rooibos torture!

I think this smells fairly gross, like sweet and rotting wood. Which means it smells like a fairly normal rooibos, as I think they all smell like rotting wood. Par for the course there.

The taste, though? It’s not bad. And that’s coming from me, someone who thinks most rooibos also tastes like rotting wood. But no, I didn’t gag or even make a face while drinking this. I even drank the whole cup!

Of course, I’m not sure if that really speaks to how tasty this tea is (or isn’t) because the lack of face-making was mostly due to the fact that this is actually rather bland. Most of the sip tastes like heavy and wet and that’s about it. There’s a little sweet, almost-but-not-quite-rotting wood aftertaste which is by far the most flavorful thing about the cup (also the most unpleasant for me). Oddly, that aftertaste makes me think a bit of perfume, which is weird and not all that pleasant but hey, it’s in the aftertaste so whatever. Slurping brings some dry-wood notes to the sip but it’s still fairly mild. The texture’s a bit thick and silky with no slurping (it tries to be a little astringent with slurping) so that’s kind of pleasant.

Verdict: It’s not really all that torturous. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this actually tastes good, but it’s very drinkable and, for me, that’s pretty huge. I can’t say that rooibos-liking people would like this because it might be too bland? Or perhaps blandness is a positive attribute for all rooibos drinkers, not just me. But I think fellow rooibos-haters could probably get down a cup of this one with little problems.

I’m almost out of my medicinal Bronc-Aid tea (which really isn’t so bad though I don’t think I’d ever drink it for fun) so I figured I’d pick some of this up as a replacement since it was available and the store I was at had no Bronc-Aid.

Can’t say I’m wild about this. It’s not bad (though, okay, the first sip I did make a face – there was some sort of bitter end note that flashed by and thankfully didn’t repeat in later sips) but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is good.

Licorice is the strongest taste and that makes it not so bad since it adds some sweetness to the tea. But it’s pretty much the only flavor in the aftertaste and it’s pretty cloying after a few minutes. I’m getting pretty tired of it. Tea (or even not-tea) doesn’t usually leave me with the urge to chew gum unless I use sugar and milk in it.

Aside from licorice, there’s a bit of herbal-ly green darkness to it that is probably the peppermint and eucalyptus but it isn’t strong enough to come across as mentholated or whooshy (which I was kind of hoping for). My mouth does feel a bit cooler, so perhaps that is the mint and eucalyptus in action. Still, could have used more in the flavor.

Honestly? Not all that tasty. It’s kind of bland and flat and I really wish the flavor wasn’t licorice so dominated. At the same time, the sweetness from the licorice (and the way that seems to coat my mouth) is probably the only reason I didn’t keep making faces as I sipped.

I think I’ll see if my mom wants to share this box with me so I can get rid of it a bit faster. I’ll either go back to my cat-urine-smelling-but-not-bad-tasting Bronc-Aid or try the Yogi Teas lung-ular focused not-tea.

I love CTG. I don’t know specifically why I adore them so, but I have a special place in my heart for them. Perhaps because Tony is so nice. Maybe because they have my favorite daily tea (their Keemun). Maybe it is because the hubby loves their sticky rice pu-erh so much that I know I can always get him to support a CTG order if I say we are running low on that tea. Or maybe it’s because, while they might not have a ton of teas, what they do offer is always quality and often quirky (oolong from New Zealand, anyone?) and that matches my tea personality well. Or perhaps it is because they have the only Silver Needle that I love enough to buy more than a sample of. For whatever the reason, I love CTG. So if they offer a tea that seems even remotely interesting to me, I’ll pick up a sample.

This is one of those teas that isn’t in my normal tea profile (not a big fan of Chinese greens) but since CTG offered it, I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m so happy I did. First off, the smell is delightful. I don’t know if I would have automatically said unripened mango, but after reading it on the tea card, yes, totally, that is what I smell. Because this smells sweet – a mild, sweet but not overly strong, fruit. There’s also a little note of chlorophyll to the smell while steeping, as well as a hint of not-quite-oceanic water during the pour. But the overwhelming notes are sweetness and something reminding me of chestnuts, which is weird because I’m not overly familiar with chestnuts, but that’s what pops in my head.

Sipping and wow. It’s nutty. A very clean, slightly sweet nut. I tend to like pecans when I go for nuts; this is sweet like a pecan but the taste is cleaner and smoother – again I want to say chestnut but am not familiar enough with that type of nut to say for sure that it is chestnut-y or just what my mind thinks chestnut should taste like.

The aftertaste is sweet. It does remind me of the unripened mango I used to get from Costco, but perhaps I am thinking that again because I read the tea description before drinking this. But it is sweet in a soft, thin, fruity way. If pushed to describe it as something other than firm mango, I’d probably go for a very thin orange blossom honey. I say thin because it doesn’t really coat the mouth in that thick, sugary way honey does.

Gosh, the more this cools the sweeter it gets. It’s pretty awesome. I almost feel like I’ve put sugar in this, that’s how sweet it is. There’s a tiny prickle on my tongue now, kind of that mineral/salt-ish aftertaste I tend to aways associate with Chinese greens (and is the reason I can’t really get behind Chinese greens), but this one doesn’t come across as too much or too strong. Instead, it’s just a little drying prickle that keeps the tea from being too sweet and cloying. Underneath the sweetness is a nice vegetal base note. Sweet, but in a swiss chard kind of way. It’s really nice.

Oh, and look at that: my cup is empty. When did that happen? I never enjoy Chinese greens that much. Or find them that sweet! Nutty, sure, but usually in a bitter nut kind of way, like those dark pecans that you know you shouldn’t eat but do anyway and then have to eat something else to clean that overly strong taste out of your mouth? But this is clean nutty, transitioning to sweet vegetal with a nutty chaser. It’s really good.

If this is considered an “everyday” Chinese green, I’ve sooooo been picking the wrong teas. Because if this is an everyday one, I can’t imagine how awesome a special one is.

A second steep (1 minute) results in a very similar cup with perhaps a bit more prickle. Or maybe that’s just because I couldn’t wait for it to cool any before sipping. As it cools, the prickle backs off to just a little tingle on my tongue post-swallow and the dominate notes are once again sweet and nutty. There seems to be a little nori or perhaps chlorophyll hanging out underneath, too. The sweet and nutty tastes are probably more balanced this time, compared to the first steep that was more on the sweet end.

And wow, now that cup is gone, too. How did that happen? How can I like a Chinese green this much? Darn you, CTG, for making me crave things that I never expected to want in my pantry!

(And holy monkeys, why can I not write a short tasting note????)

I got this not-tea a while ago, mostly because it says that it is supposed to be good for the lungs. I have a tendency towards bronchitis and typically disagree with most antibiotics, so I’m up for anything more natural to help me during those times.

Right now is one of those times. I have a cold. Another one. This is cold number three since September. It sucks. I’m miserable and, in hopes of preventing a sinus infection (like what happened with my last cold) or bronchitis, I’m dosing myself with anything and everything I can think of: decongestants, expectorants, herbs (four different ones, actually), homeopathic pills, steam, nasal irrigation and plenty of tea. I’m cycling through different teas (spearmint, Bronch-Aid, general happy teas and other miscellaneous herbals) and I decided that it is this one’s turn.

I’ve had this a couple of times before. I’m not sure how it does as far as lung-health, but it doesn’t cause anything to get worse so why not? This is not a tea I have for fun, though. It’s not nasty or anything. It’s just weird. Really weird. I mean, you’d think lily = flower so lily tea = floral notes, right? No. TeaCuppa says this is “refreshing with a sweet and smooth finish”. I say they must be drinking a different tea.

So what does this not-tea taste like?

Think Chinese food. Specifically, breaded Chinese food (chicken, perhaps?) with lots of garlic, some soy sauce and maybe even a few water chestnuts. It’s actually fairly complex for a single-ingredient herbal tea. But that complexity all ends up relating to Chinese food in my mind. And it’s weird to drink something that tastes like dinner.

The overall pungency is milder when it’s brewed at a lower temperature (195° versus 208°) and a two minute steep results in a brew that is simultaneously clear and cloudy. Mostly because the cloudy bits in the tea are fairly large (pollen?) so you can see the clear, light bronze colored liquid around the cloudy, floaty bits which range in color from yellow to dark orange. I tried photographing this tea once. It didn’t go well. This is as good as it got: http://flic.kr/p/9U6yjX

I find it virtually impossible to rate this tea. I mean, it’s not nasty – I can easily finish the whole cup. But it’s just so weird and that turns me off of it. But I drink it for the (hopefully) medicinal value and, as a medicinal not-tea, it’s pretty good in a suddenly-I’m-craving-General-Tso’s kind of way. I was coughing up a storm with my throat feeling all icky and scratchy before I had this. One cup down and my throat feels nicely moist and I no longer want to cough up a lung. (Okay, so I have never really wanted to cough up a lung, but sometimes it feels like I need to, you know?) I still have a bit of a tickle that makes me clear my throat every so often, but I’m feeling a lot better at the moment. I don’t recall my three cups of Keemun this morning making quite the same difference (but they were tastier, so trade-off, yes?).

Would I have this tea for fun? No, too weird. Will I have more today? Yep. Would I recommend this tea? Uhm, maybe? If you are up for weird stuff, like Chinese food and have lung issues that you’d like to pamper herbally, this could be the perfect tea for you. For myself, I imagine I’ll only be busting this on out when I am feeling unwell.

(ETA: The second steep (2:00) is weird but less weird than the first. Now it’s more a post-Chinese-food-dinner-that-I’m-following-with-fried-sesame-seed-balls (but without the sesame flavor). It’s sweet and almost glazed-bread-ish but pungent in a way that makes me think I’ve just eaten a heavy meal full of darker notes which still linger. It’s actually edging it’s way to good, not just weirdly inoffensive. Maybe the third steep will be more fried sesame balls. I love those things.)

Recently, my local(ish) grocery story re-did their tea section. They stopped carrying some of the more ‘normal’ teas (like Twinings and Bigelow) and added some new ones (like Teatulia and Le Palais des Thes). Even though most of the new teas they added are bagged (though they did add some loose, too), I couldn’t resist trying them. I was so pleased with Le Palais des Thes’ Blue of London that the next time I stopped into the store, I perused the other LPdT selections. This was one of the ones that I grabbed.

I do love smoky teas. Love them. But I am not too big on harsh tar in my smoky teas. And I just sort of expect tar in bagged Lapsang. (Probably because of the smell of the Twinings Lapsang Souchong bags that I use to make the husband’s iced tea.) So I really wasn’t expecting much from this tea. But yeah, I bought it anyway and was prepared to be disappointed.

I was wrong. It’s lovely! There’s no tar in this at all. It’s smooth and silky with no astringency and a nice, sweet ending. I will say, for a tea that is described as “the smokiest of the smoky”, it’s actually relatively mild. That’s not to say the smoke is hiding – oh no! It’s there, evoking thoughts of brisket, bacon and ham. But I was expecting harsh, strong and smoke that smacked me around. Instead it’s calming, softy smoky and has a very mellow overall feeling with a great smooth, round flavor. The ending is sweet and smooth and makes me think of caramelized sugar paired with soft smoke.

The bag gives off a great smoked-ham-with-a-honey-glaze sort of smoky smell, especially once hot water hits it. It’s mouthwatering. But after steeping for four minutes, the taste isn’t as strong as that smell. In fact, once the bag is removed, the smell mellows out to a thick, heavy fall-like smoke and sweetness. And that’s what the taste is – smoke, tea and sweetness. It’s not overly complex but it is very nice to have all three flavors present during all parts of the sip. It gives such a great overall feel to the tea – smoothness, sweetness, mellowness and cuddly fall-esque smoke.

If I had one complaint about this tea, it would be that it is almost too soft and mild. The strong smell of the steeping teabag leads me to expect more oomph in the smoke and not to have it almost on the same level as the sweetness in the tea. But honestly, I like the sweetness so much that I can’t find it in myself to complain too much about the relatively equal balance.

I’ve had more complex Lapsangs but I can’t off of the top of my head think of a sweeter one. And for a tea bag, this is rather impressive. In fact, I liked it so much that I used it to make a cheesecake (bacon cake!) for Thanksgiving. It was amazing! The sweetness of the tea worked well with the dessert aspects of the cheesecake and the smoky added a delightful hearty sophistication to it. I served the cake with cups of du Tigre and the pairing was wonderful, accenting the smokiness in the cheesecake and the sweetness in the tea. The cheesecake was so delicious; I would definitely be willing to repeat the experience. And even without the cheesecake, I’m enthusiastic about repeating this tea experience. I imagine I’ll buy this tea again (and again).

(And if anyone is interested in the recipe I used, here it is: http://pinkness.danzimmermann.com/2011/11/bacon-cake.html)

I’ve logged this tea before (quite a number of times actually) but that was all from the 2010 crop. This is 2011. I’ll admit, I knew I wanted more of this tea before shincha preordering was even an option. I mean, it was so delicious last year. Sweet, pungent, notes of muscat and nori. It’s the stereotypical sencha profile taken this close to perfection. On top of that, it could take any kind of brewing method – it gave me deliciousness when brewed in not only my kyusu but also a steeping ball and an in-cup steeping basket (and not many sencha seem to be able to take that kind of abuse). So last year this delightful tea had firmly burrowed into my heart.

But this year, I didn’t order any. I was trying to be good and only do one (slightly massive) shincha order and O-cha.com didn’t get that order this year. And I loved my new shinchas. I really did. They were good to me. But by summer time, I was missing this one. Every time I’d try a new green tea, I’d think, “Mmm, this is delicious… but Yutaka Midori is better.” Fortunately, I happened to be complaining about my lack of my one favorite shincha around the time that my SIL was apparently searching for a birthday present for me. So she surprised me a pack of this. Have I mentioned the awesomeness that is my SIL?

I’ll admit, part of me was a little nervous to try this one again. Tea quality can differ from crop to crop and Japan didn’t exactly have an easy time of it the past year. Maybe the new crop wouldn’t be as good as the year before. Maybe it would tarnish my memory of Yutaka Midori forever.

Thankfully it didn’t. It’s just as tasty (and as forgiving) as last year. This tea has officially become one of my top hedonistic pleasure. Rough day? This is what I do: Drop some YM into a preheated pot and sniff the heady, sensual notes of gourd vegetables baked by the sun. As I smell the thick, heavy green-ness of the tea, tension begins to melt away. Add some water, pause for a few moments then pour. Inhale the oceanic notes, warm and heavy and I notice that my eyes have drifted closed as I smell. Sip. Ah, nectar of the gods. It explodes on my tongue – sweet, heavy, pungent, green. A strong but sweet vegetal taste with flashes of citrus, muscat, nori and ocean. The texture is heavy and silky and it coats my mouth and tongue and I can swear that when I swallow, I can feel it flowing down my throat into my stomach and then seeping into my muscles, forcing them to soften and relax. One cup later and I’ve officially become a puddle of mush. Rough day? What day? We had a day? All I can remember is tea.

Are there better senchas out there? Eh, probably. But I have yet to run across one that is as consistently delicious as this one is. Others might have flashes of orgasmic brilliance, but repeating that perfect cup can feel nigh on impossible. (I’m looking at you Maeda-en Tokujo Shin-cha.) This one though? Every cup gives me afterglow. Every. Cup.

Excuse me while I go bask some more.

I went a little nuts this year with shincha pre-ordering. I had never ordered from Yuuki-cha and they have a fair number of interesting teas – black, oolong and pan-fried Japanese teas. I did try to rein myself in a bit but with so many different and unusual teas, I pretty much blew my shincha budget on the one order and not even all of it on shincha. This one, though, was one of the new-crop teas I picked up.

Honestly, it’s a pretty wild tea. It’s just so flavorful! It’s got notes that I recognize from sencha, but also Chinese green notes. It smells like a thick, green, vegetal honey. And the taste is amazing – it’s sweet. Very sweet. It’s almost fruity in a way that makes me think of slightly unripened mango. It’s a very bright and vibrant taste. The first sip of this tea always surprises me because it’s so sparkly and shiny!

After that surprising first taste of sweet fruit, the tea transitions into this thick, heavy pungency that borders on bitterness but isn’t. It’s a little drying and prickly but not unpleasant, almost like the brine note I get from most Chinese greens, but not quite. The longer I hold the tea in my mouth, the more the thick, textured pungency develops and then it glides down smoothly when I swallow, leaving behind a feeling that gives a post-red wine feeling.

Slurping brings out a new flavor, a heavy, dark grassy flavor that is really delicious. It’s almost dessert-like, if there was such a thing as a desert grass. Continued slurping brings out a muscat-y flavor underneath that, tying in with the unripened mango and red wine notes. As it cools the pungency increases, giving it a heavier mouthfeel and the taste that comes out in slurping pokes out a bit in a sweet dried hay note.

Lots of flavors! I keep finding this tea kind of shocking. It’s so interesting and it transitions through so many different flavors, like a multi-flavored gobstopper but of different tea flavors. It doesn’t seem like the flavors and textures – mango, grass, thickness, wine-like ending – should go together but it does. It’s fascinating to me. I want to keep drinking it because it keeps surprising me, making the last sip as interesting as the first sip. And that’s not something I can say about a lot of teas!

O-cha.com is still probably my go-to place for shincha orders because they have my ultimate favorite Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori and, as I discovered this year when I tried to limit myself to just one shincha order, I can’t do without that tea. But an offering like this? Pretty much makes it a given that I’ll be ordering from Yuuki-cha again.

I’ve posted about this tea before, but it was at the beginning of my fascination with loose leaf. Sadly, a lot of teas that I loved at the beginning of my introduction to loose leaf have suffered as I delved more into the fancy-schmancy teas. Just as bagged tea used to be fine in my cup, so did almost any flavored tea. Now? It’s a different story.

Thankfully, this tea is one that holds up well. It’s a different drinking experience now compared to two years ago, though. When I first had this, I pretty much put sugar and milk in with any flavored black tea. Now that I no longer have to fill a travel mug and deal with a morning commute, though, it’s a rare day that I put in any additives. With sugar and milk, this was a creamy, sweet, dessert-like coconut concoction. Let me tell ya, it was pretty good.

But straight? Well, I think I might enjoy it more. The coconut flavor is more honest-to-goodness coconut instead of dessert coconut. There’s even a slightly musky under note that makes me think of fresh coconut. The tea taste isn’t overly strong – the coconut is definitely the star – but it’s not like it is hiding. Just like it acknowledges that the reason it exists is to give the coconut a place to shine. Mild with a little prickle of dryness (but not to the point of calling it astringency) the tea gives a good, faintly woodsy backdrop to the honest coconut flavor.

Coconut always makes me think tropical thoughts. Slightly different coconuts (sweet, musky, dry, toasted) all give me slightly different tropical thoughts. This one has evolved from toasted coconut on the road to Hana in Maui (when it is sweetened and creamed) to sitting on the mostly empty Kailua beach, feeling the silky sand under my hands and quietly watching a little puff of cloud go by in a bright blue sky.

I saw this tea on Yuuki-cha’s website earlier in the year when I was deciding what shincha to preorder. I love trying new and interesting teas and a Japanese black tea? Totally qualifies. I picked up this one and the Yabukita varietal. I’m almost out of both of them but I think the Saemidori is my favorite.

When I first started drinking teas, I ended up with a fair number of Darjeelings. (I think it was because I liked the Twinning’s bagged Darjeeling with sugar and milk so I thought Darjeeling = good.) There were aspects of Darjeeling tea that I really liked (the muscat note and the brightness in particular) but so often it seemed that they had bitter and/or astringent end notes that killed the pleasure for me. And once I discovered Chinese black teas and their can’t-make-it-bitter end note, any Indian tea that had that potential for bitterness? Migrated out of my pantry and never came back. (In fact, even today I have only three Indian teas in my pantry, all Assams, out of over 80 different teas.)

This tea is basically everything I like about Darjeeling and none of the things I don’t. It’s like a sweet, summer-fruit-tart Darjeeling was raised in China where it learned to give a heavy, silky mouthfeel and a floral and non-bitter end note.

The dry leaf smells of sweet hay but the brewed tea smell is just shocking because it has none of that hay note. Instead, it is all plums and cherries (the bright red tart kind, not black). It’s crazy to compare the smell of the leaf to that of the tea. The two smells don’t seem to match at all.

The taste is surprising. It is very much like a Darjeeling (as I mentioned) but without the astringency. The cherries and plums from the smell come through on the taste – tart summer fruits that taste like the first of the season, not the ones that have been ripening on the tree for a while. It also has the smoothest, silkiest mouthfeel and end note ever. It feels so heavy on my tongue!

As it cools, the taste smoothes out even more and becomes softer and more floral. Maybe a faint note of roses though not as perfumed. (My lack of knowledge of flower scents is really showing here… think of a dark smelling, not overly sweet rose.) Every so often I start to get a note of the hay-like sweet smell in the taste but it is rare. It’s a sort of softly woody/dry grass note that lays underneath the summer fruit and floral notes.

The strength of the flavor is really powerful. I tend to go for smooth, mellow black teas that make me think of cuddles. But this? It’s vibrant and powerful and bright. Delicious, but energetic. And as good as it tastes, one cup is usually enough for me for a while. I mean, imagine the pungency of a good sencha and carry it over to a black tea because that’s how the taste is. Pungent but in a tart, fruity, floral way. And with a really long aftertaste. I’m talking easily five minutes after my last sip I can still taste the floral tart-sweet on my tongue. Delightful! It’s also nicely caffeinated. Of course, that could have something to do with the 3g/5oz/2min steeping suggesting but just like sencha can get my hands shaking, so can this. So yeah, one cup can totally take care of me for a while!

Yuuki-cha no longer has this one their website. They went out of stock on it pretty quickly and I guess they don’t have the ability (or intention?) of caring it again until hopefully next year when the new crop rolls around. I can’t say this is my normal style tea – it’s actually pretty opposite – but it is such a different, surprising and tasty tea, I could see myself buying it again.

I’m not normally a huge fan of Adagio’s flavored stuff. I used to be. But I suppose places like Kusmi, Lupicia and Mariage Freres have raised my expectations for flavored teas and Adagio no longer matches up. That being said, the husband loves having his tea with lots of sugar and milk and I refuse to sacrifice some of my super tasty (and sometimes expensive) teas (both flavored and un-) to him because of that. He gets Stash and Adagio and the like.

This is the tea I made for him this morning and the leaves smelled so good, I had to make myself some. The smell made me think of icing on an Earl Grey cupcake (if one were to make and ice an Earl Grey cupcake). Sadly, post-steeping the smell calms down from that super-sweetness a bit. But happily it still smells like an Earl Grey cupcake, just now the baked cake part (I think that’s the vanilla note making me think of cupcake cake).

The taste isn’t as cupcake-y as the smell(s). In fact, I get no cupcake. (Sadness.) But it is still nice. Oh, it’s not the smoothest tea – it’s got a little prickly texture that isn’t astringency but probably would turn into that if steeped longer – but the flavor is nice. There’s a bit of a perfume/fake flavor note on the front end, especially when slurped but the vanilla/cream-ish note to it smooths things out a bit.

Honestly, it’s not the best tea ever or anything, but it is totally drinkable without additives and that counts for something in my book.

This tea bag is a funky little thing. I was expecting the silky bag type that so many upper end vendors seem to be using but it is a rectangular, loosely woven muslin bag, more like Kusmi’s but bleached rather than off-white. (Well, the box says unbleached but it is much whiter than Kusmi’s unbleached…) The bag also really plumps up when steeped and I can’t help but think that is a good thing – it means there might be some real leaves in there! I’m going to have to cut a bag open at some point…

The scent of the tea is rather interesting – it’s Earl Grey but there is also a note in there that reminds me of yuzu. It’s all in the citrus family so I suppose that works. The scent is rather strong but not unpleasant or fake.

The flavor is a bit surprising. The scent is so strong, I was kind of braced for a bit of a perfume shock. But there wasn’t one. Sweet and smooth on the front end, the dominant flavor is definitely the Earl Grey, but as strong as the smell and flavor of the EG is, there is no unpleasantness associated with it. I don’t feel like I’m breathing perfume and there is zero astringency or roughness. The mouthfeel is really quite silky.

I’m finding that I am having difficulty figuring out the proper words to describe the EG taste. It’s like a silky, sophisticated peel of some citrus fruit mix (mandarian with yuzu, perhaps) but without the bitterness or tartness associated with citrus peel or pith.

I can’t honestly say I love Earl Grey as a tea entity unto itself (but the husband does so I’m always on the lookout for a good one) but this one is really lovely. I feel kind of sophisticated drinking it. I’m actually sitting here in my silky monkey pajama, but I feel a bit like I’m having tea with Jane Austen. Or Mr. Darcy. At Pemberley. In full period dress.

The second steep (5:00) isn’t quite as sophisticated feeling as the first. There is a little prickle on my tongue that shows up at the end of the sip. It stays small, though, so that’s good. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the tea is astringent now, but the silky mouthfeel is missing. The flavoring seems sweeter now, but it is still in the citrus family – a navel orange, perhaps. The slight prickle brings to mind orange pith a little, that kind of tongue tingling/numbing sensation pith can give. (Or is that the center of a pineapple?) Anyway, the first steep is definitely my favorite. (That being said, the second steep sure disappeared quickly.)

(ETA: I cut open the bag after the second steep. The leaves are broken but probably some of the largest leaves I’ve seen in a teabag. Here’s a pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aug3zimm/6332730588/ )

Yay for coconut! I luf coconut. And I luf pouchong. So when I saw this tea, I knew I had to try it. I actually got this from the Spice & Tea Exchange in the Stockyards when my SIL and her boy were visiting but, after doing some digging, figured out that they source their teas from Rishi. So I’m putting it here.

The smell of the leaf is delightful – creamy, buttery, coconut. Totally delicious. Though, hmm, the liquor smells less creamy, decadent inner coconut and more dark, fiber-y outer coconut. But it’s still coconut so that’s good, right?

The taste is more in line with the smell of the dry leaf, which is good. It’s a little thin feeling which makes me feel like the flavor is too mild, but it really isn’t. But at the same time, there is something… sad about the flavor. Perhaps it is at the beginning of the swallow (vs. just when I’m holding the tea in my mouth): where I want pouchong thick, rich happiness, I get… water. Almost metallic water? Then there is a nice coconut-ish musky aftertaste that I enjoy but my brain keeps saying, “But the water/metal taste at the end of the sip is sad! Yummy coconut aftertaste can’t make up for metal-sip!”

As the tea cools, I’m getting more pouchong taste (and I wish my Mac would stop autocorrecting pouchong to pouching) with an undercurrent of mild, unsweetened coconut. Honestly, I’m liking that more than when the tea was warmer, but I still am getting a weird little dull metallic note when I swallow. It’s distracting.

I want to like this, I really do. But that taste that pops up when I swallow just makes me sad. This tea makes me sad. Sad Auggy. :(

The second steep (3:30) is better. Or at least not as sad. The metallic sharpness has moved to a flash right at the end of the swallow (instead of the beginning, which was more distracting) and is much quieter. However the coconut flavor is quieter, too, and the pouchong tastes boiled/wilted. So the tea no longer makes me sad but it’s not all that great.

Sigh. At least the leaf smells awesome. (And go me, back into Steepster for the second day and already I’m bucking the trends since it seems everyone else adores this tea… Maybe when straight from Rishi this tea is happier? Let’s blame the Spice and Tea Exchange, okay?)

I have decided to attempt to wade through the superslow loading that is Steepster. Why? Well, I miss having a tea-centric spot with friendly tea-folk. (And it’s really nice to check out what I rated a tea on Steepster from my phone when I’m at the grocery store.)

This one is one of the lovely freebie Lupicia teabags that they send out with their newsletters. The smell is amazing and pretty different. The newsletter description says chestnut, pumpkin and sweet potato. I think the smell is mostly pumpkin/potato with a slight sweetness under chestnut. After a few sniffs I can pick up the underlying rooibos scent. It’s kind of whacky smelling but I am intrigued.

The liquor smells more of chestnuts – warm, roasty, nutty, comforting. There is a small note of gourd-y sweetness that I think I’m picking up, too, particularly in the back end. The rooibos scent is there but it pairs nicely with the chestnut so I’m not icked out by it.

The taste is nicely mild. As with the smell, the rooibos pairs nicely with the chestnut. There is a little dryness to the end that, for some reason, I attribute to the rooibos but works with the chestnut. But it’s all quite pleasant. Slurping brings out the sweet potato/pumpkin notes (which to me have always seemed virtually the same) and it blends seamlessly into the chestnut.

All in all, I actually like this. Very fitting for the season and delicately done, I think. I could more see getting this for my fall-loving SIL thank I could for getting it for myself, though, simply because I’m more of a summer girl.

(Second steep: the dryness at the end of the sip is gone, the flavor is a bit milder and the texture is smoother. The chestnut doesn’t seem quite as distinctive, or perhaps the sweet potato/pumpkin is just a little more obvious as the flavor seems sweeter. Honestly, if I wanted a good fall cup? This would be it.)

I hold out hope that I can make this tea sparkle but so far this one has only been okay for me. I followed Adagio’s directions (thinking that tea-specific directions they seem to give for the Master’s Collection might be there for a reason but apparently not) and it just made it meh. (Next time I’ll do it my way, with more leaf and a more gong fu style brewing, and see what happens.)

Anyway, I will say that it did have a nice buttery aftertaste but that’s all it has going for it. It wasn’t all that nuanced, it tasted a little flat and the initial flavor of the sip was almost sort of metallic. Even the husband, who pretty much gives any green oolong two enthusiastic thumbs up, said that this was nothing special.

Alright, Adagio. I was all for the Master’s Collection because of Yunnan Golden Curls and Anhui Keemun but you gotta do better than this with the oolongs.

Late last month, takgoti did a cross-country trip and I bribed her into stopping by my place by offering a free place to spend the night. It was super-cool to officially meet her and needless to say, she’s even more wonderful in person than on the interwebs. Added to the lovely fact that I got to experience her sparkling and fun personality in person, she also shared tea with me! Yay for hand delivered tea swaps!

This one was one of the lovelies she gave to me. Honestly, I didn’t take too many notes on it because I was really just enjoying it too much to. Basically, this is a lot like Royal Garland but without any residual dryness or astringency (which I didn’t really notice with Royal Garland until I had this tea). It’s like grape juice and sweet fruits and wonderfulness. Juicy and sweet and good. It resteeped rather well, too. Thick and sweet and staying remarkably true to the initial taste while also developing a heavier flavor to balance the sweet juicy grape-ness.

I’m still probably a Royal Garland fangirl at heart – anything that can make me think of grilling fruit on a beach as a storm front comes in is a win in my book – but I would say that I could easily enjoy having some Bai Hao around.

Ah, one of the delightful teas from my Lupicia Herbal Happy Bag! I was really pleased to get this one as I had been eying it for a bit. Seems I’m becoming addicted to lemongrass, especially as my sinuses have decided to state their displeasure with winter. Stupid cold weather season. Lupicia was also the reason I discovered that not all rooibos are created equal (nasty). Green rooibos is actually my friend. So yay for herbals that include both lemongrass and rooibos!

Previous, I had had a grapefruit flavored teabag from Lupicia and I was a bit disappointed because it wasn’t as obnoxious tasting as the smell and, for once, I wanted an obnoxious flavored tea. Well, this one isn’t obnoxious either, but, coupled with the lemongrass (or perhaps because the base is green rooibos instead of a black tea), the grapefruit seems to really pack more of a punch. It’s very citrus-y. The two flavors pair well to give this not-tea a great whooshy feeling that feels refreshing, makes my sinuses happy but still manages to be mild and smooth.

I couldn’t really pick out the rooibos (which is fine since it is a fairly mild taste anyway) but I think it managed to show up a bit at the end, adding a hint of extra sweetness to the citrus whoosh-iness that kept the tea from having a sharp citrus edge. I could have dealt with the flavors being a bit more intense, but at the same time, if the flavors were stronger this tea might become a one-cup-and-done type tea. As it is, I enjoyed it so much I felt the need for an almost instant resteep.

Which, speaking of resteeping, this one handled it rather handsomely. The first steep had the grapefruit flavor being a tad stronger than the lemongrass. In the second, the lemongrass perked up to stand out a bit more. The grapefruit wasn’t weak and was still noticeable but in this steep the balance was tilted ever so slightly in favor of the lemongrass. In other words – still great whooshy citrus with no unhappy or sharp edges and something I could totally get behind having more of.

Hello Steepsterites! Yes, it has been a while since I’ve been on. Honestly, Steepster loads so slowly for me that it just takes too long for me to get on here and play, so I haven’t been. But I figured I needed to bite the bullet and do some clean up to my cupboard as well as check in with folks so I’m doing that today. Hopefully slow load times won’t tick me off too much and I’ll even be able to get some backlogs in.

But enough hoping about backlogs – I’m here to log a tea that’s actually in my cup right now! This one was a teabag included in with my Lupicia Happy Bag that I bought. I can’t help it – I love their surprise grab bags! I certainly don’t need more tea, much less surprise tea, but I still buy it anyway. I’m trying to be good though, and not break open too many of the new packages of tea before I do away with some older teas. So this one, being a single teabag, is a nice burst of new that doubles as a decupboard. So win all around!

First off, the smell. Holy mother of goodness does this teabag smell apple-y. It’s like a just bit into a fresh, crispy, juicy Gala or Pinata apple. I can almost feel the crunch in my teeth! As I kept smelling the teabag wrapper while my tea was brewing (everyone does this, right?) a little note of apple-flavored hard candy started to come out on the edges of the smell which took away a bit of the I-am-eating-a-fresh-apple feeling, but it still smells delicious. Post-brewing, the actual liquid tea smells almost bake-y but not quite. Maybe like an unsweetened version of a chocolate graham cracker topped with a large dollop of tart green apple preserves. I say tart mostly because it doesn’t smell super sugared and cinnamon-y like most apple flavored things seem to. I will admit, while unusual, it is nice to have something apple that isn’t apple cinnamon.

The taste is mild compared to the smell, but that’s pretty typical with Lupicia. I taste a tea base but I can’t really identify it – Ceylon probably. The apple taste is a bit more green apple than anything but I think that has to do mostly with the end note. The initial taste of the sip seems to be fairly evenly split between tea and sweet red apple. It’s very mild but summer-time pleasant. Then the swallow which edges a bit towards the tea side – making me think a bit of a Nilgiri but without the feeling that I’m eating rose bush leaves (the texture/flavor I always seem to associate with Nilgiri teas) – with only a hint of apple sweetness. Then post-swallow, the green apple flavor expands to fill my mouth, making me feel a bit like I just took a lick of an apple Jolly Rancher, but without the sticky, icky aftertaste a lot of candies can leave. It’s not a tart green apple flavor though. There’s no sourness or pucker to it. It’s just not as sweet as the red apple portion of the program.

As almost always seems to be the case with Lupicia, the flavor is very true to the name. This is an apple tea. Quite honestly, it’s a really good apple tea. I can’t say for sure if I’d ever buy this – I rarely find myself craving apple flavored things unless they are an actual apple and even that doesn’t happen too often – but the flavor is so tasty and makes me feel like I’m walking through an apple orchard so I really can’t dislike this tea. I’d say anyone that tends to crave apple things (or just wants to experience the novelty of something apple-flavored without also being cinnamon-flavored or sour/tart) would greatly enjoy having this tea around. Honestly, I wish I had more than one bag so I could see if this made me start craving apple things. I think it might. Because now my cup is empty and I think I want more.

I was a bit scared to try this one since I can be iffy with flavored greens and I had such a not fun experience with the other “Bouquet” tea Kusmi has, the Bouquet No. 18 or something. But this actually isn’t bad. It’s not great or anything, but the bergamot flavor is mild and blends well with the heavier type of whatever green tea Kusmi uses. There’s a bitterness that seems to build as I keep sipping but I attribute that more to the tea base than the flavoring and it isn’t entirely unpleasant. It’s not really bitter and not really salty. It reminds me of the taste of sea salt, which I find nice, especially when compared to the regular Morton’s table salt. Most Chinese greens give me table salt salty – this gives me a flavorful sea salt taste, softly kissed with a hint of slightly floral bergamot.

It’s not stellar or anything, but it’s respectable and I don’t hate it. I don’t love it either, but it’s not near as bad as I was fearing so thumbs up.

I’m sick and feel awful. But my experience with this the other day was so tasty, I’ve been wanting it again. This time, I’ll man up and do the full four minute suggested steep.

Looking at and smelling the wet leaf I’m convinced there must be Darjeeling in there. Which must be what attributes to the brightness of the tea. But based on my first experience with this tea, I’m also pretty sure there is some Yunnan in there, which perhaps keeps the Darjeeling from taking on a sharp endnote.

This time I can taste Darjeeling – I’m guessing the longer steep time let it pop out over the other tea in the blend – but there’s still some other note that’s balancing the brightness of the Darjeeling. At three minutes that note seemed easily identifiable as Yunnan but at four minutes it is less so. It’s just a slight textured presence that adds a little sweetness and a bit heavier taste.

At three minutes this seemed like a milder Tiger. At four minutes, it’s like a whole ’nother tea. Both teas are pretty good. I probably prefer the Yunnan-dominated three minute steep but I tend to gravitate towards more of a Chinese black taste profile. I do like the fact that this tea is so changeable.

I was worried about the “bright” in the description of this tea, concerned it would be Darjeeling which, don’t get me wrong, can be good and sometimes really hits the spot, but can quite often lead to a bit too much of a shock at the end of the sip for me. And I just couldn’t handle that this morning. Thankfully, if there is Darjeeling in this, I can’t tell.

There’s no bitterness or tartness – just sweetness and a little cuddle factor, perhaps the suggestion of spices. Not spicy but just something that gives me the idea that this would pair with sugar cookies or snickerdoodles perfectly. The taste is smooth but with a little texture. And yes, it is bright. How it does that without delving into iffy tartness or astringency territory I’ll never know but I like it.

If I had to call what was in it, all I could pick out would be Yunnan. It reminds me a lot of the Tiger, though perhaps the Tiger was stouter? Or perhaps I just brewed the Tiger longer. Either way, tasty tea, I am happy I have it!