Awkward Soul

Oh man, melon tea!

I love Butiki Tea’s Watermelon Xylophone and Cantaloupe & Cream. With my Lupicia order, I decided to give this melon tea a try, especially with other tea logs saying this was more honeydew in flavor.

DRY: mmm melon scent! Let me at it!

STEEPED: Smells like those asian melon juice drinks. In fact, I have a melon yogurt aloe chunk juice in my fridge!

TASTE: The melon taste comes right through, moreso on the ripe honeydew side, though I get a little cantaloupe too. Very naturally sweet, I do not need sugar at all. If I added sugar, this would totally be like juice!
The white tea here is very light.

I’ll try a resteep later. I’m about to tuck into some kimchi soup and burn out my taste buds.
EDIT: 2nd infusion – less melon taste, but it’s still there and melony but less sweet. The white tea is coming out and is nice and smooth, yum!

COMMENTS: MMMm, this is good! I love the honeydew flavor! This would be a killer iced or cold steep!

I’m wondering.. if I mix the Butiki watermelon, cantaloupe and this tea, would I get a melon fruit salad tea? I’m tempted to try!

Forgot I owned this tea! I’ve been chain drinking pots as I chip away at xmas gifts – my husband family gives ornaments to each other, so I’m knitting teeeeny mittens and socks for them.

Steeped this with a chunk of vanilla bean (I have so many of them! My husband loves rice crispies made with real vanilla and I save the pods after I scrape them). Very good! cheesecakey tart, lingering creamyness and apricoty!
I’m practically drooling as I drink this tea!

This tea is amazing with the following steeping directions:

200, 3.5mins. Steep with a vanilla bean pod (I scraped it already for baking awhile back, about 2cm long). Then sweetened a bit along with some vanilla soy. Hot damn! Love it! Pumpkiny, creamy, vanilla, cheesecake, spicy – ooooh yeah!

Gave this tea another shot.

Tried 2.5 minutes at 200f – much better in terms of no bitterness. But, the flavored parts of this tea, the ginger is out and pleasant. The apricot has disappeared though. A little bit of sweetness and that’s it.

Well, next time I’ll cold steep or ice tea this – maybe that’ll bring out the apricot.

/shakes fist Crazy disney tea! Work with me! I love your fun tin! At my dinner party last night everyone kept checking out the tin too.

WOoot Lupicia! My first time trying them out!

STEEPED: Yellow tea, smells like sweet plums and loads of floral.

TASTE: Light vegetal oolong, slightly buttery and sweet, and quite rosey floral. Very light on the plum, with a plum aftertaste.

I actually stole a bit for iced tea yesterday – and this tea made pretty good iced tea. THe plum was much sweeter, but still floral and oolong flavor present.

I then resteeped it for hot tea and it was good, but there was no plum flavor, but the floral and oolong was pretty nice. I could probably get a 3rd resteeping if I have time.

Overall, check this one out if you like floral teas. The plum here is quite nice, I’d love more of it for hot tea, but is pretty good.

I’m still running a rampage for my Lupicia order. I hate UPS. It’s raining (rare in california) and I do not want my tea tossed over the fence and getting soggy!

More annoyingly, staying home for jiu jitsu – I was about to go but my sinuses hurt too much when I was getting ready. Bleh. Back to watching jiu jitsu videos then.

I still have tea trades I haven’t finished, lol! This one is from Kittena, yay!

Creamy coconutty that lingers in my mouth. Slightly sweet as well. The honeybush is good base, going well with the coconut. I’m not getting much of the cheesecake though.

Overall, okay but not fantastic. I’d like the coconut to be stronger, with more cheesecake flavor.

My Lupicia order is supposed to show up today – and I’m hoping it does so I can have some tea before I go to jiu jitsu, but instead this tea shows up in my mailbox. Usually my 52Teas orders come on Saturdays. Oh well, all mine!

DRY: smells strongly like banana, almost banana liquor like. I got some huge whole slices of banana, which I smashed up and tried to mix into my bag of tea evenly.

STEEPED: Banana! And graham crust smell, nice!

TASTE: Strong green tea and banana. Banana is leaning on that flavor I had for medicine I had as a kid (no bad memories with it though). Nice rice toastyness from the genmaicha. Bit of a weird bitter finish, maybe medicinal. Strong banana aftertaste that is pretty nice.

Sweetened, this tea performs better – bananay with a cheesecake finish showing up. The genmaicha is a nice match, but still has a weird taste. As it cools, it is getting creamy tasting, which is nice. Overall, I like this tea sweetened.

COMMENTS:
Maybe I over steeped or over leafed this as it was pretty strong and weird tastes – but theres lots of elements I like in this tea, such as the good banana aftertaste and the genmaicha pairing. With that said, I’m a little mixed on this tea whether I like it or not. But I think I will need to try it again, fudging with the steep times.

In other news, I finish NaNoWriMo! Woot Woot!

Say what, no notes on this tea?
Am I the only one who was super curious of the pop rocks in this tea? OMG POP ROCKS!

DRY: Red hots – super spicy cinnamon smell!
STEEPED: smokey black and cinnamon smell. Yes, I heard the pop rocks going off while it steeped! Sounded more like bubbles popping.

TASTE: Spicy cinnamon, sweet and warm. Nice full body from the black tea base. Tastes just like those spicy cinnamon hearts on valentines day. There is a powerful cinnamon candy finish, with a hit of almost bitter loads of cinnamon just like the candies. The cinnamon tingles my tongue as an after effect.
Quite sweet on its own, does not need sugar I think.

COMMNENTS:
Liquid Candy tea!
This reminds me of DAVIDsTea’s “Hot Lips” but much much better. The sweet finish makes this tea more like a cup of candy than a straight cinnamon blasting. The pop rocks were a fun bonus to this tea.

This would be a fun latte (I always think that). If you like spicy cinnamon and sweet teas, seek this one out!

I made this tea double strength as a soy latte with a bit of light agave.

Very Very good – Double strength and with milk, the flavorings come out well and not rooibosy at all. Creamy, sweet, hint of caramel and coffee flavor. Actually better than any cups of fancy high calorie coffee I’ve had.

AAERRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!
So mad right now! I was going to do a side by side tasting of Zen Tea’s Coconut Green and Coconut Oolong.. and a huge ugly a$$ fly fell into my cup of coconut green before I could taste both teas together! EWWW! I was almost tempted to scoop out the fly and drink, but decided against it. Eww. Cry.

I chose this Coconut green and their Coconut Oolong from Zen teas – see which one I like more!

DRY: Sweet, natural coconut smell, with a hint of smokey.
STEEPED: Milky coconut, light gold tea.

TASTE: Lightly floral, vegetal and creamy oolong, sweeter from the coconut with a really good coconut aftertaste. The coconut here is very natural tasting – I can almost sense the texture of the coconut flesh while I sip. Creamy taste lingers in my mouth.

Second infusion, I cannot get any coconut flavor but the oolong is still good – sweet, lightly floral and bright. I’d drink this second infusion on its own! No astringency.

COMMENTS: This oolong is pretty solid – a great combo with the bao zhong. The second infusion is pretty good too, despite lacking coconut.

Comparison (copy n pasted to Coconut Green)
Coconut green = More balanced flavoring with coconut and sencha together
Coconut oolong = the coconut melds with the oolong, enhancing the creamy and sweet of the bao zhong, with a coconut finish.

Tough call, I’m leaning on Coconut oolong more as the whole experience is overall fantastic, but coconut green has a really good flavoring as well.

TY out to Zen Tea for a sample of this!

I do like my coconut – especially these days since my husband and his family hate it, so I’m mysteriously drawn to coconut more and more.

I chose this Coconut green and their Coconut Oolong from Zen teas – see which one I like more!

DRY: Smells like coconut milk with a hint of grassyness. Interesting

STEEPED: Fragrant green, with a creamy smell. Golden green colour.

TASTE: Sweet coconut, like eating a fresh baby coconut – buttery, milky, naturally sweet. All this is balanced with a sencha base. No bitterness.

The flavor has no fancy frills – just coconut and sencha, no chocolate, pineapple or stevia. Actually, from all these Zen teas I’ve tried, they follow that theme – no frills or wild blends, simple flavoring, playing up the tea.

COMMENTS:
Very good! I like how balanced the coconut and sencha are. If you prefer a green over oolong, I’d give this tea a try.

Comparison
Coconut green = More balanced flavoring with coconut and sencha together
Coconut oolong = the coconut melds with the oolong, enhancing the creamy and sweet of the bao zhong, with a coconut finish.

Tough call, I’m leaning on Coconut oolong more as the whole experience is overall fantastic, but coconut green has a good balance I enjoy.

I bought a lot of stuff online for black friday and cyber monday (with me being the only one of my friends circle buying stuff, everyone was on the “no buy” bandwagon. I cannot resist deals, especially tea deals.)
My della terra order is the first thing that came out of all the stuff I bought! WOOOOOT!

DRY: strong, liquor like smell with a mix of spices scent. Very cute snow flake sprinkles!

STEEPED: similar to dry, liquoury spicy smell. Inviting and not smelling like ack rooibos!

TASTE: Warm, well rounded spices – lightly cinnamon and nutmeg? The spices are not overly strong or overpowering. Slightly sweet and creamy. Warming on the tongue from the spice. A touch watery, but very good considering I’ve had many watery rooibos blends. Not very red rooibosy tasting, in fact, I forgot I was drinking rooibos!

COMMENTS: I’m thinking this tea as a latte, this would be killer!
I quite enjoy this Winter nog – it’s a great evening, winter tea. The spice level is perfect, it’s kinda sweet. Yum. I don’t know if I’d order more after the sample is done as it’s not making me go crazy yet, but I’d highly recommend peeps to try this tea out if you are into a good winter themed tea.

Totally having a floral tea day.

Tried this tea steeped at 175 = no bitterness at all. Bright, maraschino cherry flavor (not sweet) over loads of florally rose. Good, savory sencha background. Very good. I killed off my sample, I wish I tried it iced, the cherry would be pretty good, but I’m not sure about the floral being good iced.

Turns out I’m sinus infectioning out right now – better than the strep that’s now contained with antibiotics in my house, but still sucky.

I did 175 and 2 minutes – less weird floral bitterness and much better of a cup. Less peachyness though, but still very floral tea that came out quite mellow. I want to love this tea, but it’s just too finicky to make perfect it seems.

Do not have this tea while eating fresh pineapple!

I found it out the hard way, during lunch eeeeeeggg! They just do not go together at all and it’s quite awful.

/random

I’ve been craving this tea for awhile now, and finally gave in. I love white teas, but it’s another tea I tend to conserve and not drink too often.

This pot will not last long. I was up most of the night sick with I don’t know what, but I feel like my head is going to freeze off. I’m chugging this tea to stay warm. I like the sweetness here, but since I was impatient, I just chucked in the leaves so it’s getting oversteeped and weird bruised fruit tasting.

I’m going to sit with my rabbit and drink tea. He’s nice and warm.

What can this tea not do? Hangover cure, morning pick me up, great iced, cold killer! I drank a pot of this, killing off the rest of my bag – rest assured, I have another bag, MUHAHAHAHAHAAA!

I guess it’s not a great bedtime tea.

My house has strep throat, and I’m trying to ensure I don’t get it. Though, the last few days I’ve been waking up with mild cold symptoms, hoping I don’t actually have it already!

Either way, I’m drinking tea non stop, taking vitamins, drinking lots of juice and eating more fruit. Uggg so tired of going to the bathroom!

Brought out The Skinny this morning – hoping the orange and gingery combo here will unclog my dry throat. Which it did, yay! Now to stalk cyber monday sales.

TYs out to Zen tea for a sample of this tea!

Blarg, I’ve been mostly drinking unflavored teas that can survive the “Dump into tea pot without strainer and sit there all day” treatment, as I want to pound out my writing for NaNoWriMo without having to stop and make tea and wait for it.

DRY: Smells like those really sweet red cherries in a jar. Maraschino cherries? DROOLDROOLDROOOOOL

STEEPED: Strong floral mixed with a zing of sweet cherry!

TASTE: Lots of flavor! Strong rosey floral taste that is very fresh tasting. Distinctive cherry taste, not very sweet as it smells. A little bit of bitterness, maybe from the floral. The green tea is in the background, and it’s smooth, bordering silky.

COMMENTS: If you do not like floral, stay clear of this one!
This tea is pretty strongly floral – the cherry is a nice flavor. I did not like the bitterness I got, but I think I will steep this at 175 next time, which I think will help. Overall, pretty nice – but I love floral teas.

MMm! This is hitting the spot! This is a great, full flavored buttery green! Having this with a bagel with edamame hummus for dinner.

Huge balls of tea! I got so much of this tea too, I like how a little goes a long way and resteepable. Nice, solid, earthy black tea that is fun to watch unfurl.

Bleh, I want to do some tea trades, but I don’t think I have to time to coordinate plus go to my local post office from hell. Pretty much NaNoWriMo is taking up my spare time, with long jiu jitsu hours, along with knitting christmas gifts. Sigh.

TY to Whispering Pines Tea Company for having a weekly drawing – and woot, I won tea!
http://whisperingpinestea.com/drawing.php let’s go tea peeps, enter!

DRY: very spicy smell! Clovey!

STEEPED: Black tea brown colour, smells kinda smokey with a hint of sweet.

TASTE: Very earthy and woodsy, full of flavor and slight smokey. The cloves are present but not overpowering, and a hint of citrus at the end. Interesting, the tea is smooth and the flavors mix well. No bitterness or astringency.

I tried this tea with a bit of honey and a splash of soy milk and it turned out very well – honey with this tea is very tasty!

COMMENTS: I’m thinking latte with this one.. or next time my Dad visits he’ll ask for this tea every morning until I’m out. The spice level is nice, the black tea base is interesting – I was really worried this was going to be bitter, but it wasn’t.

Oh, I didn’t tealog this one?

I need to work on NaNoWriMo – it’s day 15, the halfway mark of 25,000 words.

Arctic Raspberry has a good raspberry taste, very simple, with a ceylon finish with a mild berry tart. My tea got cold while I was chipping away at my writing, and it’s pretty good cold.

Next time, fully iced and sweetened!

I received this tea as a wedding gift. Interestingly, this company isn’t even on Steepster yet! Looks like a local tea company in my area.

So,I never buy these kinds of herbal teas – chamomile I drink only when I have a sick stomach, but otherwise I’m not into. But hey, it was a gift.

DRY: I smell licorice, I think. Oh man, I’m undecided about this.

STEEPED: Smells like mint, chamomile. Herbally!

TASTE: Chamomile mellow and light citrus bitterness and spice that also hits the throat with a zingy mint aftertastes that goes down the throat.

COMMENTS: Hmmmm. I like the minty throat zing – a great contrast to the slight bitterness. I’d drink this again, but not purchase as it’s not my kinda thing.

Annoyingly, I can’t find an ingredients list for this tea, never mind, it’s not on the page where you can purchase the tea, but on link before listing the teas.

Oh crap, this had white tea in it, I totally had it pegged for an herbal, I didn’t want any caffeine. Sigh.

edit, whoa they sell some weird mugs http://www.thelooseteas.com/servlet/the-STYLE-cln-Funky/Categories