chrine

Backlogging.

I had remembered this not being strong enough so I thought I steeped it longer this time. I added only a tiny bit of milk. This tea still tastes like just spicy and not tea and not a very strong or chai-like spicy at that. It just need more.

Backlogging.

I think I made this slightly different this time, but I don’t remember how. It tasted slightly different this time.

The great backlog continues…

I’m sure I’ve had this more than the three times I’ve logged it thus far. It’s quickly becoming my staple tea for a mildly upset tummy. Very soothing. I’m the kind of person to keep trying different teas and not rebuy the same ones often. But I think I will have to get more of this one when I run out.

Backlogging.

Drank as a late night mug of. Particularly good that night. Yum, yum!

Backlogging.

Just to try something different, I added this as my bit of fresh leaf to a second steep of A&D’s Ceylon. It was unmemorable.

Sooo ugh, I’ve accumulated over a week’s backlog again. And I feel that I’ve had some tea that I’ve forgotten about and didn’t make it on the list.

As for this one, drank in the morning. Consistent. Added the Tiger as my bit of fresh leaf for the second steep. I don’t remember liking it or disliking it much.

2nd steep: 5 min.

Backlogging.

Last night I steeped up a cup of Honeybush Apple and it came out strong, nice, and hot.

Backlogging. Yesterday.

I made a pot early afternoon for my husband and I. I was curious to see what he thought of this tea as he’s liked some flavored black but I haven’t tried him on anything but fruity ones yet. And cause frankly, I really liked this tea when I tried it earlier in the week and I wanted more. I steeped it for the full five minutes recommended and think it’s fine like that, not too strong or overpowering. It could go 30 seconds less but more than four minutes, I think. As for my husband, I expect him to like it or really dislike it. He liked it but didn’t comment enthusiastically as he has on others.

Backlogging. Two days ago.

Halfed with A&D’s EG. My mug came out strong that morning.

Backlogging. Two days ago.

Halfed with A&D’s Ceylon. My mug came out strong that morning.

Backlogging.

Moar Tiger. Plain and simple.

2nd steep: 5 min 30 sec.

Backlogging.

Two delicious steeps of this tea. The second one more wonderfully vanilla than the first.

2nd steep: 5 min.

Backlogging – the last set of three.

I drank the second steep of a mug of mate that I made for my husband. Weak, but still strong enough to be drinkable. I made it almost to the end of the cup before the taste got to be too much of that taste for me

2nd steep: 10 min.

Backlogging.

Mmm… This tea is good! I’m sure I’ve had it before at the B&N. But my mom gave me a 4oz tin that my grandma had given her as a gift and she hasn’t liked. The dry leaf smells exactly like Red Hots. The tea is lighter in color than I’d have thought and it smells only faintly of cinnamon and sweet. This tea tastes like sweet cinnamon! Which I love!

I only steeped it for four minutes cause the smell of the dry leaf was so strong and I didn’t want the tea to end up overpoweringly undrinkable cinnamon-y. However, the taste didn’t come out very strong. I think it could easily handle five minutes. The resteeping was lightly cinnamoned water.

I’m giving this tea a high (for me) 83 right off (80-90 = great range) and will likely raise it later on.

This tea is one steep only.

Backlogging.

I remember liking this odd lime tisaine well enough the last time I had it. I enjoyed the taste and its uniqueness. This time the tisaine wasn’t as I remembered it being. I didn’t enjoy it as much and I struggled to finish the last of the cup. I suspect I need to try it another time or two to make a firm decision on how I feel about it. This steep maybe have been user error. Perhaps I steeped it three minutes the first time I had it. Either way, I have no more bags of it. I’ll not buy it again for the sole purpose of trying it again. But I may at some point get another Numi bagged teas sampler from the grocery.

The end result is that I’m rating it for this time drinking it. I thought I had tealogged it last time I had it but I see I did not. So it gets a 45, right in the middle of drinkable (40-50). I actually feel it should be even lower, closer to 40, but it gets a scant few points for the memory of having liked it last time.

Here comes the second set of backlogs.

So I woke up wanting darjeeling that morning. I used a lower water temperature than I ever have with this tea. I liked it and think I’ll continue to do so.

2nd steep: 6 min.

Backlogging.

A single simple mug of Ceylon. This tea tin is getting empty. This has been a v good standard tea for me.

(I’ve decided to backlog in sets of three, with three sets total, so the second set is coming later today.)

Backlogging.

Drinking this Sencha again sooner rather than later. I am not finding myself resteeping this tea when I have it. Perhaps I need to make sure I finish my cup while it is hotter, I don’t like this tea much as it cools.

Damn it, I’ve accumulated a backlog again. At first it was only 3-4 teas, now it’s up to about 10. Okay, must slog through getting these tealogs done. =D

What’s not the love about the Tiger? I’ve been steeping him slightly stonger lately.

2nd steep: 6 min.

My husband and I shared a pot of Kenchanjangha this afternoon while watching this week’s Mad Men then cooking dinner – naked baked salmon with just a touch of sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, pole beans (long, flat green beans), and sweet potatoes with brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon.

I don’t know what was off but the Kenchanjangha didn’t come out as it has in the past. The first two steeps were bitterer than usually and the last steep was on the weak side (it’s usually as flavorful as the others). Perhaps it was steeping in a teapot instead of by the cup or perhaps it was too much leaf. I intentionally used to bit more than normal but not by very much.

I nearly forgot to mention. I love the smell of this tea (okay, I love the smell of quite a lot of teas). It’s different from any other I’ve smelled before and I had yet to be able to put my finger on quite what I thought it smelled like. Today I distinctly thought it smelled like nice really dark chocolate or unsweetened dark cocoa powder. My husband did not get this when I asked him if he smelled it too and I’m not entirely sure it’ll smell like that to me again next time I have it.

1st steep: 2 min.
2nd steep: 2 min 15 sec.
3rd steep: 3 min.

Oolong is SO good. I don’t know why I don’t drink it more often. Two steeps before dinner, two steeps after dinner. Stopped resteeping because it was time for bed and my previous tealogs said that the fifth steep was on the weak side. Again, steeps three and four were the best.

1st steep: 4 min.
2nd steep: 4 min 30 sec.
3rd steep: 5 min.
4th steep: 5 min 30 sec.

These steeping parameters worked well.

Yesterday afternoon, I started watching Oprah’s interview with JK Rowling and they were drinking tea so I had to pause and make tea. I liked this tea so much the first time that I thought I might have built it up in my head saying “I can’t drink this now because I want to be able to fully enjoy it” each time I thought about having it. But it wasn’t built up at all. It was that good. Except now that I know for sure, I don’t think I’ll wait to have it again. =)

I’m happy with this tea at these parameters. I might try a higher water temperature or a longer steeping interval. I did not steep past the fourth steep, but it was still going strongly then so I don’t know if it could take more. Several of the steeps started out tasting mostly of white tea and fading into the black current taste as I drank. I think that had to do with the temperature of the tea as it cooled while I drank. I liked the latter steeps most.

1st steep: 2 min.
2nd steep: 2 min 30 sec.
3rd steep: 3 min.
4th steep: 3 min 30 sec.

Backlogging. Wednesday morning.

I wanted something more delicate and more complex. I also tried steeping using a lower water temperature, which I think I like. Although, I can’t put my finger on why.

2nd steep: 6 min.

Backlogging. Tuesday morning.

The Tiger needs no reason. Okay, he’s what I usually drink in the morning if I don’t know what I want. My tin is definitely at the half full point or less now. =( Currently, I think the Tiger is my favorite of all the A&D teas.

2nd steep: 5 min 30 sec.