Awkward Soul

I hate when this happens:

I’m steeping tea. 3 or 4 minutes left on the timer. All of the sudden, I need to go to the bathroom, now! (probably result from drinking so much tea).
The options are:
A. pull the leaves out early and have a light cup of tea.
B. run to the bathroom and risk oversteeping
C. dance around the tea pot like an idiot, holding it in until the tea is done.
D. Compromise and hold out as long as I can, pulling the tea out with a minute or 30 seconds left.

I did a combination of C and D.

Onto the Banana Oolong – I’ve enjoyed this tea and on the dredges of the bag. The leaves are kinda in tiny flake mode and ARRRGGGG the taste is off! Like I ate a mouthful of stevia. Unless all that stevia was on the bottom of the bag? BLEECCCK! Poor Banana Oolong. Unless this was the result of me dancing around the pot and pulling out the tea early.. ehhhhhhhhh.

I really need to stop buying soy/almond/coconut milk eggnog. I saw one on sale and bought it. Ewww, it was thicken cornstarch sludge, weird brown colour, weak on spices.

I had a great idea then to use that icky eggnog, mix in this matcha, and weaken the texture with soymilk. Yeah… didn’t work. Tastes right but the texture is like drinking chunky sauce instead.

Maybe I’ll keep my eye out for lactose free eggnog, or just stick to this matcha in regular soy milk.

TY to Tea from Taiwan for offering free samples!

All my teas came kinda vacuumed sealed, about 3tsp or so.

I follow these steeping instructions from their site http://www.teafromtaiwan.com/Brewing_Tea
doing short steepings x lots of steepings.

DRY: Hard to see, but the tea is in tight grassy balls.

STEEPED: light yellow tea – the more steepings, the tea unfurls. Interestingly it looks like the tea is still attached to stems.

TASTE:
First steeping – Very light, naturally sweet, slightly milky and buttery.
Second steeping – more milky, vegetal and buttery. Trying to pick out the vegetal flavor that is now coming out. Green bean?
Third steeping – best steeping, yum! Full flavor, buttery, mellowy sweet and lightly vegetal. Very fresh and refreshing taste here.
Fourth steeping – starting to get dryness here. The flavor is pretty similar, slightly buttery.
Fifth steeping – The leaves are huge now. The tea is taking sweeter, no milky or buttery taste this time. Moreso reminds me of green tea here as it’s more grassy vegetal now. Dry aftertaste.
Six steeping – more astringent / dry taste for the whole sip.

COMMENTS:
I’ve had a milky oolong before purchased off a farmers market in LA. This milky oolong is less astringent, more milky and quite fresh tasting. I like the butteryness and sweetness. The milkyness is light and present in the early steepings – overall pretty nice. Though, I’d love more floral, but that’s just personal taste. A good tea for someone who wants a light milky oolong.

Bleck, just feeling under the weather here. All of a sudden it is “cold” in southern california. I know its 10 to 12c colder right now back where I’m from in Canada, but relative to the weather last week, 10-14c here is COLD! Surprisingly, I’m fighting cold toes and ears – the californian’s weakness to “cold” has gotten this canadian.

So, how about some hot banana bread tea? I make banana bread often, breakfast favorite here, since we always buy bananas and crappy at eating them. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/banana-banana-bread/detail.aspx is the recipe I use, but doctored up with spices, vanilla extract, nuts, chocolate chips, cocoa battered swirl, nutella, peanut butter – whatever I feel like doing.

DRY: Smells weird, like that soury weird smell of banana skins or artificial. Very heavy tea, so seems like I didn’t get much for my 20g.

STEEPED: Oooh smells like Banana bread! Smells sweet, banana and my mind makes me think of butter dripping off the hot banana bread, ooh yeah! Smells more nutty the longer I steep. At the end, this herbal is a gooey mash on the bottom of the tea strainer, so glad I didn’t use my Steeper!

TASTE: At the 6 minute mark, this tea tastes like hot sweet water with a nutty finish. BOOOO, I made this in a pot, so I’m gonna follow others and keep this herbal in for another 4 mins. Totally not going to add any sweeteners, this is pretty sweet already.

10 minutes, the colour is a darker yellow. Tastes lightly like banana extract or banana chips to me and very sweet nutty finish end of sip. Though, some sips tastes pretty natural banana, like that taste of those stringy bits on bananas when you peel them, but accidentally eat them.

I decided to just leave the tea in my tea pot – 15 minute mark, the banana goes to a sour/tart end with a deeper nutty finish. Not sure if it’s the currants or what doing it. Lots of dredgy bits at the bottom of my cup.

COMMENTS: I thought this more taste more bananay – like their Banana Oolong. I’m thinking freeze dried bananas are the way to go in tea, compared to whatever was used here.
That, and I think I rather have walnuts instead of almonds in this tea. So overall, meh and could be better.

Gawd, I sound picky!

I made a huge pot of this tea to sip while I do my NaNoWriMo writing. Most of my writing energies has been put towards this as I started late, thus needed to catch up on my word count.
Finally, I hit par today, 20,000 words and plenty of time today to get ahead. Phew!

Artichoke green – I enjoy how sweet this tea is, in a vegetal way. I don’t mind this tea sitting in a tea pot or travel mug for hours, it seems to keep decently. Gah, I have so much of it! I should really trade out some.

I snagged the Den’s Tea Sampler pack – which is a very good deal. 5 tea bags and 3 packs of loose leaf samples for $3, which also came with a coupon for the next order! This is the first tea for me to try out of the sampler.
I was going to order awhile back and forgot. Then I was in a Japanese grocery store and saw Den’s tea on their shelves and realized they are really close to me! So I put an order for the sampler.

DRY: Smells buttery matcha like. Lots of dust in the bottom of the package, which I tossed into my tea.

STEEPED: Cloudy gold green, light smelling.

TASTE: Light, yet full flavored. Bit of a slightly sweet floral note and earth grassy.
Second steep, I followed the online instructions on their site (though, the package came with lots of paperwork I forgot to read) for 15 seconds. The second steep is more grassy and brighter of a taste.

COMMENTS: One of the better bagged green teas I’ve had. Too many taste like paper, but this one is overall nice and clean tasting. I can’t wait to try their other teas!

Finished the rest of my sample – making a large pot of this while I work on my NaNoWriMo story.
I’m trying to catch up since I started late, plus I didn’t write much during my birthday. Getting there!

I simply left the leaves in my large tea pot, since it lacks a strainer. This tea, oversteeped, develops a smokey touch to it and loses it’s energizing zing to it. Still pretty good and kept me going with my writing.

MMMMM! I was craving a white tea this morning after all that crazy jiu jitsu last night which was my first time in the blue belt class.

For this batch, I threw in a vanilla bean pod that I scraped a few days ago for a dessert. Steeped for 2.5 mins. Doh, forgot I wanted to do a shorter steep!
Very strong white chocolate taste, most white chocolate I’ve tasted in a tea, super creamy, naturally sweet, silky and slightly malty. The vanilla added some extra smoothness to the tea! Yum!

This tea hit the spot this morning, but I’m still tired! Need to switch to something more perky after this.

My brain is exploding on how The Persimmon Tree has two sections here, some teas on one, some on another, blllarg!

After some quick house cleaning, I’m ready to get cracking on more NaNo writing! I’m behind by a lot! WWah! Rest assured, I have plenty of material!

DRY: Sweet sweet pomegranate with a tart twist. Delicious! I love how the Persimmon Tree has amazing smelling teas.

STEEPED: again, delicious pomegranate smell, green gold coloured tea. I went with a 1.5 minute steep for 175f. 2t for a cup.

TASTE: Green base that is slightly savory, but also a touch silky and a little floral. Very lightly flavored pomegranate with a very light and natural pomegranate tart peeking out – just a tiny bit of tart, and is actually tasty. Great pomegranate aftertaste that is naturally sweet, the tartness not messing with it. I can tell if I over steeped GP that it’ll get bitter.

CHECK OUT THIS TEA IF: you want a lightly flavored green, with the ability to do a lower temperature steep.

COMMENTS: Dang, Persimmon Tree, always expertly flavored teas! If you can get this steeped just right, it’s pretty good! However, I can see this tea not being for peeps who want a strong fruit flavor. I enjoyed this and will try the rest of my sample iced sometime.

I’ve noticed I reach for this tea for stressful mornings. The smooth vanilla, perky guayusa plus relaxing lavender? Sign me up!

Had a crazy crazy birthday yesterday evening – did a lot of jiu jitsu, frozen yogurt with mochi and was up really late.

Argg, if the caffeine doesn’t kick in soon, I’m going for a nap until it does, heheh!

BIRTHDAY TEA MODE!

It’s my birthday! My Husband gave me one of those papasan chairs, pie bird among other things! Also doing jiu jitsu twice today, gah!!! /dies

I had Butiki Tea’s Grapefruit Dragon for breakfast – very delicious, grapefruity tingle BUT did not go well with my breakfast of cheese jalapeno bagel, cream cheese and lox (smoked salmon), so I had to drink my tea and enjoy my tea after I finished my bagel.

Actually, what tea would go with bagel and lox? I guess a straight green? Oh well – it was all very tasty!

Made this iced to sip on while I do some NaNo writing – I need a couple hundred words tonight, but I’d like to get ahead if I’m rolling good. This scoop had a HUGE freaking rose bud, I first thought it was a little artichoke.

Pretty good iced, I got another batch of iced tea left for this tea. I’ve noticed I tend to horde herbals I like and not drink them.

Okay, this matcha salt is the BOMB for edamame. Brings out the butteryness and goes well with the edamame. I think I’m more enjoying the salt here, lol!
Better than using regular salt! Yummy lunch!

LATTE MODE!

Thought maybe a Stormy night latte would do the trick. Brewed double strength, poured over hot soy milk and honey.

Latte tastes good, lattes always taste good, buuuut still weak tea flavor. There is a bit of spice with the cinnamon and a peek of chocolate, but that’s it. BOOOO Stormy Night, you are a weak storm!

I’m off – I need to hit the mall, then start hammering away at NaNoWriMo, which I started yesterday, eeeep!

Really distracted this morning, I’m thinking the day light savings thing messed up my internal clock.

A pretty golden cup of oolong – full bodied vegetal flavor, a little sweet but has a mysterious energizing crisp quality too, like almost minty, but does not taste minty, if that makes sense.

Resteeped, the tea is a darker gold. Less refreshing taste, but still full of flavor.

Overall, pretty good – the refreshing first cup was pretty good! If you want a non floral oolong that is more on the veggie side, this would be up your alley!

Another DT tea my sis snagged for me before visiting me. My husband loves rhubarb in baking. We were planning on having rhubarb pie at our wedding, but it was off season and no rhubarb to be found, fresh, frozen or canned – he was really bummed out and wanted to delay the wedding!

DRY: Super super juicy strawberry! Got me really pumped up!

STEEPED: Lightly juicy strawberry. Everyone in the house is impressed with the berry smell. Very pretty dark red.

TASTE: TARRRRRRRRTTTT! WAHHHHHHHHH! I should of read up on this tea on Steepster before steeping it. This was a hibiscus punch to the face with a rhubarb tart eye gouge thrown in for good effect. My tart o meter almost got knocked out!
I tried sweetening it to make it less angry, still pretty tart – good flavor past the tart, strawberry, rhubarb, bit of creamy. As it cools, less tart and good juicy strawberry flavor. Unless it is still really tart and it blew out my tongue.

COMMENTS: This is just way too tart for me, but this tea has loads of potential. I’m thinking shorter steep time? latte? Iced? more water? Another day.

EDIT: The tea hating husband took a sip and finished my cup! Said it tasted like a strawberry rhubarb cider and wanted more. Finally a tea he likes!

Crazy day so far. Got new washer and dryer. Watched the husband install the thing without really looking at the manual. Had a gas leak. Hardware store trips. Fixed leak. Put stuff in the washer and during the spin cycle the washer sounded like an airplane taking off and smashing into the side of the house – which was the washer smashing around the closet trying to escape and kill everyone. Husband fixed that, which was him failing to do Step 1 and 2 of the instructions. Sigh. Now sitting down for tea. How about a perfumey oolong?

I’ve had this tea in my stash for awhile, I guess I didn’t drink much of it as it was kinda a pricey tea and I’m weird like that.

First off, steeping instructions said 5 mins, boiling. Yeah I’m not risking drinking another astringent tea so I went 190 for 4 mins.

Overall mild, but quite peachy perfumey, which lingers as an aftertaste as well. Starting to get astringent, but still good. Pretty good – I love my oolongs floral! I have a few more cups left, but not sure if I’d buy more, rather try some other dangcongs from other tea companies first.

After jiu jitsu my husband cracked up a coconut for us to drink out of and offered me the remains. Uggg, hate how much work it is to eat coconut! I gave up and decided to go for some tea. This one is from Kittena, yay!

I find this tisane (wooo!) tastes overall very mild, with a soft pineapple creamy finish. Hmmm, I thought this should taste stronger – I’m thinking I should of cold steeped this bad boy into a stronger form. Alas, I only got one shot at this sample, so maybe another time!

OPERATION: Finish Old Teas

Looks like I took a spoon out of my sample and never touched it. Think I know why now.

Steeped, has a great peanut nutty smell. Taste wise, it’s very smokey. A little too smokey for me, almost reminds me of black tea. The more I sip it, the more astringent it gets and tastes like munching on peanut shells. Totally what Charoma said in their review.

However, I didn’t follow Adagio’s steeping times, might be better as a quick steep over multiple steepings.

We meet again Three Wishes, for one last cup in my stash!
This time I went really conservative, 2.5 mins, 175f. Much much better!

Very floral, peachy with depth of the black tea. The black tea isn’t getting bitter here. Not sure why DT had the steeping times so nutty – sometimes I think they just stamp 98c for 4-7 for most teas.

Three wishes?
1. Never get injuries in jiu jitsu or weight lifting again
2. Always get the perfect cup of tea
3. Free tickets to all the concerts – pfpfffff $200+ to see BIGBANG tomorrow? I’ll just admire GD from afar on youtube for free http://youtu.be/6IHq9yv_qis

Finally finished up this tea from last year! I really need to finish up my older teas, I’m making that my goal before I do big tea order (I’m thinking Lupicia).

/waves fist! Curse you Mom’s apple pie! I still remember have that perfect cup once and never again! The last of this tea I get a bit of bitter apple.
Regardless, this still was fun trying to get that perfect cup.

For peeps who follow me, you’d figured I’ve tried this tea – Forever Nuts, a popular DT item. Okay, 3 months before I was moving out of Canada, I was trying to get a sample of this tea. 4-5 visits and they never had it in stock or it just ran out. I didn’t want to buy online in case I didn’t like it. My sister grabs me a sample from Victoria before visiting me, but said it was the dregs and not 20g worth. Sigh.

DRY: Nutty, very nutty. The roommates already think I’m weird and commented (yet again) why I’m drinking trail mix. For some reason my evening teas resemble trail mix.

STEEPED: Smells like apple pie with crust? Steeps up an interesting pretty opaque pink.

TASTE: Buttery at first tongue hit reminding me of pie crust. Then the sip finishing off a bright, brisk tart apple.

COMMENTS: My tea hating husband took a sip and said it tasted like weak cider. I would say that too if I could taste any spice. I would like this tea more if A. Stayed buttery tasting B. More spice to move towards apple cider C. Less tart D. all of the above, but then it would taste apple pie, yum!

Maybe I’ll try it with sugar next time.

Drinking this tasty cantaloupe tea while my fall stew is simmering on the stove.

Mmm, tastes so much cantaloupe with a lingering melon aftertaste. All this over a good white tea base. Super juicy tea! Yum!!!

In other news, this is tealog # 300! WHOOOO! Shout out to all the Steepster peeps for being super nice and introducing me to new teas! Tea has been awesome to me!

Totally dragging my butt this morning and wanted something sweet. For some reason this tea tastes more over the top apple skin flavor than normal today.
Not getting the caramel, but digging the natural apple flavor.

Man, I want a candy apple! Or not, I should go workout.