chrine

Backlogging.
I had several cups of Japanese Wild Cherry sencha Tuesday afternoon/evening.

I brought this tea awhile back as a sample from the Teavana tent at the Farmer’s Market. I was probably steeping it with boiling water in the beginning and I remember it as being bitter and vegetal tasting with a cherry flavor and I liked it for awhile. Then it fell out of favor. The cherry taste seemed a bit odd and I tired of the bitter.

After I realized that water temperatures made a BIG difference in the taste of green teas, I tried this tea again. I was kind of blah about it and drank it a few times. It ended up in the back of the cupboard.

I haven’t had this tea since I got a thermometer and started using more precise water temperatures. But I saw something about cherry flavored something or cherry flavored tea, possibly on here or elsewhere online, and started thinking about this tea. The next day I pulled it out. It was light, it was green, I could taste the cherry, I could taste the sencha, it was not bitter at all. I liked the tea! I drank it quickly. I wanted a second cup.

2nd steep: 175° F, 1 min.
Was very similar to the first and also quite enjoyable.

3rd steep: 175° F, 1 min 30 sec.
This steep was quite watery but still drinkable. It needs a longer steeping time.

I had meant to do a 4th steep but ended up not having anymore tea that day.

Good 1st steep parameters.

Yesterday evening, I went to make a cup of tea and notice I had clean nearly dry leaves of Jackee from a late morning steep. I thought why not steep him again rather than throw him out. 2nd steep Jackee is a lightly smoky caramelly good drink. Then I added a small splash of milk for reasons I’m not quite sure of. Woah, did it bring out the smoky taste in a way it hadn’t before. Not necessarily stronger though. And still caramelly sweet. I would definitely drink him this way again. I might even try a bit of milk on a first steep to see what it does. I wasn’t expected it to change noticeably. I’d be interested to see what milk did to Thomas and the Tiger as well.

2nd steep.

Look at your tea. Now look at Jackee. Look at your tea. Now back at Jackee. Your tea does not look like Jackee. But your tea could smell like Jackee. With A&D DFT.

Yesterday morning, I had a cup of Jackee. He was delicious as always. But he deserves better than just an ordinary tealog. Hence, the above.

Ideal 1st steep parameters.

Backlogging. Very late at night Wednesday.

Another late late night cup of Lullaby Time was had. I steeped it 1 minute longer than the last time. At 5 minutes, it was similar to at 4 minutes with less spearmint, more chamomile, and a softer taste. I definitely prefer it at 4-5 minutes rather than the strong spearmint taste at 3 minutes. I should also note that I drank this cup rather quickly and it was quite hot the entire time.

Ideal steep time: 4-5 min.

Disheartened after my first experience with matcha, I did not feel up to writing a tealog for Strawberry Matcha last night. I think I can safely say that matcha is not my cup of tea, which makes me frowny-faced since I was so excitedly looking forwards to this tea arriving and a bit surprised since I’ve more than liked all the other new-to-me tea types I’ve tried.

Sight
Powder: Light olive.
Tea: Dark green, slightly olived.

Smell
Powder: Strawberry marshmallows in kid’s cereal or strawberry Nestle’s Quick.
Tea: Less strong, strawberry flavored syrup (like they use in coffee drinks).

Taste
Powder: (Yeah, I tasted it.) Not much taste, a bit bitter.
Tea: BITTER! Strong, strong essence of green tea, like green tea concentrate. I can catch a hint of strawberry. Not enough to be able to tell if it’s as fake tasting as the smell or if it tastes closer to real strawberries.

I don’t think I’m going to rate this tea. I’m clearly not a matcha fan. So I have no idea how this one would compare against other matchas. And I don’t think it would be fair to rate a tea company badly because I ended up not liking a type of tea I’ve never tried before. I will try it once more to see if it grows on me at all, which I doubt. And I might try latte-izing it like Sophistre did. But I imagine I’m going to be offering the rest of it to someone here on Steepster in the near future.

Edit – I forgot to put in that my preparation method was 1 tsp in 5 oz water.

Yesterday afternoon I drank my 2nd steep of the Tiger. The Tiger tasted just like a nice black tea this time. He was good but not great with that usually Tiger magic. I think it may have been my stuffed up allergies.

2nd steep.

Backlogging.
Cold Season Tea is one of the two Earth Fare brand herbals I brought for drinking at night. My allergies are acting up right now so I decided to try this one before bed Tuesday night. This isn’t going to be a full first-time-drinking-this tealog since it was pretty late and I was pretty tired and I may have overestimated my ability to drink a new herbal and making notes for a tealog in my head at that time. So, I remember that it was extremely tart and drying and there was fruit/berry/apple flavors. Next tealog on this one should be the first-time-drinking-this tealog.

It came in the post today! I have not had it yet. But I just had to tell you guys it was here. I’m going to go have a shower then have a cup before I make dinner. I hope the yum level is close to the level of excitement at purchasing and receiving it.

Backlogging. Sunday late at night.
My mom has a box of Sleepytime Vanilla from her many purchases from when she visited the Celestial Seasoning’s plant in Denver, CO while vacationing and visiting my sister Kath’s ex-fiance. This is not the first time I’ve had this herbal at her place. I like it pretty well for a non-caffeinated bagged herbal before bed. Better than plain Sleepytime, if my memory of it is correct. The vanilla mutes the flavors into a better mix.

Backlogging.
I had a cup of Lullaby Time really late at night on Saturday. I got home from my family’s after midnight and after I’d gotten stuff I needed to do for the morning done, I wanted to relax with some tea and tv before going to bed. I steeped it a minute longer this time. Oddly, less spearmint. I could taste the chamomile a bit. Maybe it muted the spearmint.

From getting up through my morning routine and feeding the cats to tea making time, I could not decided between Jackee, Thomas, and the Tiger. I opened my cupboard and the Tiger was dominating the forward teascape. So he went into my cup. Bold and enjoyable as usual. Lots of stuff going on so not as much an a sit-down-and-enjoy-the-tea-straight-though drinking experience.

Before tealogging the Tiger, I was skimming tealogs I hadn’t read on his page and came across takgoti’s on lower steeping times for blacks, which I tend to prefer too. She’s steeping her Tiger lower than I am so I intend to try lowering the steep time next time I have him. After the second steep of him this afternoon, that is.

As this tea tasted watery-tart-appley the first time I drank it, I upped the steeping time 1 minute. And there was the berry. Mostly it tasted like warm blackberries with some warm raspberries and a bit of warm strawberries, all with a tart finish. Much better cup this time. I will bump the rating accordingly. Next time I might try steeping it an additional minute to see what happens.

Lullaby Time is one of my recent purchases of boxed herbals to drink in the evening. I saw no fewer than six “sleepy time” herbal blends at my local grocery. I’ve had the official Celestial Seasoning’s Sleepy Time Tea. I picked the store brand to try this time.

Sight
Dry leaves: Spring green and lighter with cream and tan.
Wet leaves: Bright green with yellow and brown.
Tea: Light yellow brown.

Smell
Dry leaves: Spearmint and sweet.
Wet leaves: Muted spearmint.
Tea: Spearmint with a touch of chamomile.

Taste
Mostly spearmint. Not super mint. Softened by chamomile. Perhaps a hint of citrus.

Running late to a hair appointment, I had to take a travel mug of Vanilla Bean since I had no time for breakfast. I added a splash of milk and perhaps I splashed too much. It tasted milky and faintly vanilla with little tea taste. But it was very hot and I didn’t get to drink it all.

I’ve been on the fence about this hair stylist. The hair cut was not bad but it was not what I asked for and I told her as soon as I saw what she was doing that I didn’t want. I think I will be trying a new one next time.

I had the 2nd steep of this morning’s Ceylon late afternoon with a snack of artichoke and spinach hummus on garlic crisps. While this morning’s steep in the larger mug remained the same as usual, this steep did not, despite using the same amount of fresh leaf I’d add to a 2nd steep of Ceylon in a standard mug. It was watery and DRY big time and tasted of tea, but not strongly.

I had a yucky morning headache today. Between allergies, the weather, and being a poor/erratic sleeper, I often wake up with a small to moderate headache in the morning that usually goes away with time, caffeine, and food in 20 to 40 min. Some days are headache free, some days are worse or lingering headaches. I could tell this one might be one of those so I took two ibuprofen and a large glass of water. I was also really dry when I woke up too. I knew I should have more water but I needed and wanted tea. A good basic like Ceylon to calm, sooth, and enjoy. I realized this morning that one of my favorite pottery mugs is much larger than I thought it was. I had thought it was only slightly larger than a standard mug but it turns out it was one and a half times as large. Tea turned out just fine though. I wonder why. But not too much. I’ll just go with it since it works.

Again, a cup of Yunnan around noon. I seem to be drinking my tea in pairs. I’ll drink the same tea for two days, then another tea for two days. Today’s Yunnan didn’t seem as smokey as it has previously. Am I getting used to the smokey? The smokey was still there but it wasn’t the okay-this-is-smokey it had been before.

I had a lovely cup of Yunnan at around noon today. It was just what I wanted and expect it to be. I had thought I’d have Thomas, but I changed my mind on the way to the cupboard. I am thinking about making the 2nd steep of the leaves with a bit of milk before bed.

I didn’t think this would take a 2nd steep. But I decided to try resteeping it last night. Appley. Tart? Tart? No. Watery! This no can do a 2nd steep.

I always check out the tea sales when I’m at Earth Fare. A couple of weeks ago, two leaves and a bud were on sale. Since I was in need of more caffeine-free teas for evening consumption, I picked Alpine Berry. This is my first two leaves and a bud tea.

Sight
Dry leaves: Small green leaf pieces, orange peel pieces, dark pink-red pieces, pink-brown pieces.
Wet leaves: Larger green leaf pieces, larger orange peel pieces, muddied pink-red pieces.
Tea: Immediately began turning a rich mulberry, which ended as a black mulberry.

Smell
Dry leaves: Apple, rose, orange, generic berry – perhaps blackberry and strawberry.
Wet leaves: Warm apple, tart.
Tea: Apple, strawberry.

Taste
Weaker than I expected. Watery. Apple. Tart. No berry. I smell berry but no berry taste.

I am going to try steeping this longer next time, in hopes to get stronger flavor and less watery. Drinkable but not something I’d buy again unless it improves with experimentation. I’m going with a 50 rating (decent) for now but will probably lower it if I cannot improve the strength.

I had to see if I could replicate yesterday’s Jackee. Yes! Wonderful again. Now I have to worry about drinking him up too fast. Thankfully, Thomas has had two days of recovery from his harrowing evening half-drunk wanderings and should be up to going out again tomorrow.

2nd steep: 205° F, 5 min.

The 2nd steep of this morning’s Jackee was just as good. I enjoyed him thoroughly with a Greek chicken wrap.

The husband is on night shift currently. So I made him a cup of Thomas yesterday evening when he first woke up. He did not drink a 2nd steep. So late last night right before bed, I drank it with a bit of half and half (the milk was unopened and I didn’t want to open it for just a tad of it) to temper it down for nighttime. I know this did not decrease the caffeine content but somehow tea with milk seems more relaxing. I also slightly oversteeped to compensate for the dairy I knew I’d be adding. It still overpowered the tea too much.

PS This is out of order. I should have logged this before the previous tealog on Jackee.

2nd steep.

I think I’ve found my ideal Jackee this morning. I gave him the same treatment as I gave Thomas yesterday – decrease the steep time 15 sec and the water temperature 5° – as I found them both just a bit strong for my exact taste but still totally crave worthy. While I did not have success with Thomas this way, I did with Jackee.

He was creamy caramel. He was buttery. He had some smokyness. He was a deep dark honey as he cooled. I love this Jackee. Does he get a ratings bump? He does. He’s now tied with Thomas and A&D’s Yunnan. I cannot pick a favorite.