Cinoi

Ahh Holiday weekend, which means I woke up this morning and really needed some tea.

Rinsed the cake, 40 seconds. I find that rinsing it for shorter periods actually does not get rid of the raw natural wet dog smell and flavor, so I have to go for a longer rinse. Anyway, after my rinse, I steeped another cup for 20 seconds. The liquor is dark, not transparent, thick soupy black. The tea has a natural, but not fishy or dirty, smell but it is woodsy and rich.

Drinking this really helped to settle my stomach and was a great boost to start my day.

As an aside, I have been drinking some teas I got from a local shop, there is no online description which I can find, so I requested information from the company. Hopefully, I can get the info I need and then can I post away about them soon. I just wanted you all to know so you don’t think I’m slacking over here :)

Absolutely awful morning, but no reason to bother you with that…had my protein shake again today and as promised made it with mandarin matcha..

2 scoops Vanilla Dream (VPX Powder)
8 ounces water
1 tsp mandarin matcha
1/2 banana

Blended until smooth in my Magic Bullet, the mandarin matcha clumped a little more than the strawberry, probably was too cold with the chilled banana and the water, but overall was very good. The usual bitterness of the matcha is overrun by the vanilla ice cream flavor of the powder, but the slight tartness of the mandarin, is still there, it shines through, just barely to make a whole new flavor to this protein shake.

Here’s to a better afternoon!

Lots of stress today, but there is good news: I finally found a white tea I truly love. The smell is natural, a bit like hay, vibrant and it smells delicious.

Infused hot, three minutes, no additives. The tea is light, airy, a brilliant white tea in a sea of otherwise bland and uninteresting white teas. Most of my previous white tea experiences have been blends of white and greens, or whites and flavors, but this is a pure white tea. There is a fruity, slightly floral fragrance of the brewed tea. There is a delicious flavor, it is light, crisp and clean.

Made up my protein shake again this morning, I think I got the ratio right.

2 “Scoops” of the “Vanilla Dream” (VPX)
8 ounces cold water
1 tsp. (I know, a lot) of Strawberry Matcha (52teas)

Blended in Magic Bullet until smooth. This protein mix is very sweet, so it does not need anything added to it, but the little bit of tart from the matcha and the strawberry flavor really go a long way. Going to try it with Mandarin tomorrow. :)

It should go without saying, that I do not hide the fact that I love tea from my friends and family. It should also go without saying that in my many adventures, searching, collecting, trying and rating teas, I have converted a few of those friends and family members into a similar quest.

This one comes from one of my dearest friends. He enjoyed the sample blend at his local Teavana store and decided that he should pick up a few ounces for himself.

The tea itself, is obviously a jumble of teas, you can see some tea leaves, along with typical chai spices, big pieces of citrus peel, lemongrass and a variety of different colored shapes and pieces of tea blend that Teavana is famous for. The smell is very chai, very spiced, but there is a mellow second note, it is spiced and then calm. Smells good.

We infused it hot, three minutes, no additives. A lot of leaf came out of the infuser ball, but these things happen. The liquor is a very pale green color, and the brewed tea smells much like the dried mix in the bag: spiced but mellowed out. The flavor is meh, it is slightly bitter, bland, a hint of citrus and a little peppery, maybe some lemongrass and a bit of cinnamon, but really nothing to write home about. Upon my first sip, I was pretty sure this tea needed something.

Positive this could be better, I must say that a teaspoon of sugar went a long way in this. It awakened all of the citrus, brightened the pepper and cinnamon, even used the lemongrass to play into the whole brew. Overall, it was pretty good, and I am glad, just needed some tweaking! Enjoy!

I spent the night at a friend’s house and was very intrigued by their Keurig Hot Drink Maker. It makes coffee, tea, and hot cocoa out of individual cups into a single serve mug. Neat little device, had seen them before but never thought I would need one. So of course I tried the tea.

This one was powdered, no leaves to be found, no leaves to smell or enjoy, but you could tell (by shaking the “K-Cup”) that it was powder. Hmm. If you know anything about this device, it means you know none of the parameters for making the hot beverage: brewing time, temperature and parameters unknown.

The tea is an appropriate liquor color, the odor is faint green, but the cranberry and possibly destroyed green tea in the cup is very bitter. This of course could be for a number of reasons:
1. could be poor quality tea, who would know without ripping open one of the little K-Cups.
2. could just be abused tea, as in it is definitely powder, probably burnt, crushed and thoroughly abused in the process of making it into a single-serve cup.
3. cranberries can be very bitter, and they captured that flavor just right.
4. there are no adjustments on this machine, so no temperature or time adjustments, it simply could not be set up to make green tea.

So, I added a packet of Truvia (the natural no calorie stuff made from Stevia with the strawberry on the logo – thanks wombatgirl) and dealt with it. The tea itself was not good, but I do not blame the tea per se. I believe that the true problem with this product is that the tea was quickly made without taking the care or consideration of how tea should be prepared. After all, the Keurig, which is a product simply of convenience (and very much so for coffee I might add) that it is simply not made to make a good cup of tea, a convenient one, sure, but good, no.

I am curious to try another tea using the machine, just to see if it is the machine or the companies that make the instant tea. Next time I suppose.

Needed to wake up this morning. Brewed up a huge cup of this, infused hot, four minutes, added four rocks of sugar and a tablespoon of half and half.

The aroma of the tea is toasty, a little bitter raisin smell, with a hint of cinnamon. The flavors all blend very nicely: creamy, slightly sweet, cinnamon, raisins, toasty black tea. Absolutely wonderful.

I am not enjoying this one as much as I would have hoped. I like oolong teas, but this one seems a bit too floral for me. There is a floral note to the dried leaves and then one to the brewed tea. Sifting through other reviews on here, it appears I infused it a bit incorrectly, but you live and learn.

As I said, the dried leaves, curled into little balls, smell like oolong with a strong floral note. I will not lie, that this note concerned me, so I added a few rocks of sugar to my cup as it was infusing. Followed package directions, infused hot, three minutes.

The liquor is a very pale yellow and the odor is characteristic of the dried leaves, there are no additional aromas released upon brewing. The tea continues to baffle me because though I can smell the floral orchid note, I really can only taste oolong while it was hot. As I allowed the tea to cool, I noticed more of a bitter note at the end of the oolong, this was not here while the brew was hot. This bitter note is more upsetting because I added sugar to the brew.

I fear I messed something up, that or I do not like orchids in my oolong…

All good things must come to an end. In this case it was my protein shake. I tried to buy a different brand, same flavor, powder to replace it but no dice.

This new powder needs a lot MORE strawberry matcha, but I am OK with that :) Still I was able to make a vanilla cream protein shake with a slight hint of strawberry and matcha. Very pale green, very subtle flavors. Great way to start my day!

I find it so rewarding when you finish tea. I purchased a bag of this and was given another bag from a friend (thanks Madison!!) so though not officially gone, I completed another sample of tea and can make more room (for more tea).

This one I infused hot, five minutes, with three rocks of the German Rock Sugar, and the smallest splash of half and half. This tea without any additives is a little bit bitter, has a natural unsweetened pumpkin taste, a bite of cinnamon, a hint of nuttiness and the black tea flavor. I like natural pumpkin, so I am not put-off by the bitterness, but I do really think the sugar helps to round it out and meld better with the cinnamon. The sugar makes the pumpkin taste sweeter and not be so forceful and actually helps to add to the nuttiness so that it is a little more pronounced and not so hidden. The half and half is really just a bonus for me, pumpkin pie should always be served with whipped cream, and this is the best way for me to get that in the tea :)

As a final note, this tea is still one of my favorites by 52teas, it is right up there with the Coconut Cream Pie, and now that I finished up a sample, I can open up my Peanut Butter Chai!

GM sampler #24, I know I haven’t been counting, but I know that there are five left after this one…

The aroma of the leaves screams black tea, but not much else. I infused the full sample, five minutes, hot with no additives. Honestly, I was not paying attention, again and realized about two minutes after my goal steep (3 minutes) I had overshot the brew. Oh well.

This tea is pretty good, but then again I like black tea. I also cannot really taste the difference between the different types of black tea because I so often get flavored blacks and then I find it hard to distinguish later on. This like I said is very nice. Not too astringent, not overbearing, has nice body, not too light or too strong. There is a slight twang of bitter at the end of this, I would normally consider than astringency, but because I do not taste it through the entire sip of tea, I do not think it is astringent, I just think it’s a little bitter.

Would be fantastic with some half and half and/or sugar. I think I’ll go do that and repost…

Today, while in the mall, I traveled to Teavana to pick up a tea that, turns out, was discontinued-which fully explains why I had never heard of it and was so intrigued. (Holy Run-On Sentence Batman!) Nonetheless, I decided to aid digestion in a cup of the old favorite. I asked for it hot and “slightly sweetened” which usually means a lot less sugar than was put in here. I am not criticizing, I am just saying…

For this store made brew, I am afraid I have to almost change my rating, it did not taste nor smell anything like I remembered. It was strangely sweet, smelled like oatmeal – an oaty, sugary, cinnamon and raisin kind of smell. The flavor was sweet and slightly and I mean very slightly spiced with cinnamon, but that’s it. This really reminds me of snickerdoodles, the butter cookie with cinnamon and sugar and that’s about it…sigh, this is not what I remembered at all!

To make sure I was not crazy, I went home to dig through my cabinets to see if I had any remaining and try and figure out what was amiss. I had enough for one small pot (this is a bittersweet moment, I had enough to quiz and question myself, but was able to finish off another tea). The pot I made at home was much more like I remembered: some almond flavor, some coconut, spices from cinnamon and cardamom, nothing at all like what I just had in the mall!

My infusion was three minutes, hot, no additives. The store was three minutes hot, slightly sweetened. Could “slightly sweetening” with the German Rock Sugar really do that? I guess so. So, fellow Steepsterites, I do not really know if this proves anything, but what I do know is do not sweeten this tea, it kills the flavors and undertones that you should be enjoying and almost killed a perfectly good rating.

For now, I will chalk the change up to the sweetened version and keep my rating for the version made at home. If you do give this one a try, I cannot stress enough to try it on it’s own before adding anything.

The leaves are long and pale green, a white tea and smell faintly of melon. Not really like the green melon I thought it was, it smells more like cantaloupe. Anyway, steeped this tea up, hot, no additives, was aiming for 3 minutes, but forgot about it-so it actually infused about six minutes, no big deal.

The aroma coming off of this tea is very sweet, almost sickeningly sweet, like a nectar or extremely fragrant flowers, actually reminds me a very sweet wine. The tea itself, tastes like melon and is very sweet, but not overpowering, which is weird, because based on the smell I would have thought it to be sweeter. I am glad it is not as sweet as it smells, that would have been too sweet.

The tea wasn’t bad, it was pretty good but too sweet for me to enjoy on a regular basis. This of course could have been from the over-infusion, so I might have to get another sample and find out.

So, I figured it was time to finish up the GM sampler. Picked blindly, got this one, perfect for breakfast!

This tea is probably one of the best breakfast blends I have ever had. You can smell the typical breakfast tea aroma from the leaves, but once brewed it releases a whole world of aroma and flavor. A robust aroma of black tea – slightly fruity and slightly smokey, definitely smells delicious. The flavor, you can actually almost pick out all of the teas in here: there is a smoothness, a malty flavor, a slight smoke and a hint of fruit. Absolutely delicious.

Infused hot, four minutes, no additives. Delicious. Second cup enjoyed with a teaspoon of sugar and some half and half. Also delicious.

Got some of this from Golden Moon…it’s bagged and comes in clear little plastic pouches. As of late, I must say that all the hate for bagged tea is becoming unfounded, they are wrapped in plastic and/or foil wrapping which stops aroma from seeping out and the tea getting stale, the quality of ingredients have increased greatly, with full large leaves loosely packed in the individual bags, and the flavors and blends have become more exotic and interesting. This tea is another example of just that.

The bagged tea, though looks plain, smells delicious, like green and genmaicha, a rich matcha aroma and a hint of vanilla. Infused one bag in 8 ounces of water, hot, three minutes, no additives.

The tea smells much the same as the bag. The liquor is a very pale green. The flavor, like so many good blends, comes in layers. The first sip starts with genmaicha, a hint of green, then vanilla, then matcha, finished with the toasty rice flavor of genmaicha again. After you swallowed the tea, there is a sweet minty aftertaste. The taro and honeybush flavors are not in the layers, they are smoothly blended amongst the other flavors and hardly detectable amongst the other flavors. This tea is complicated and delicious. I finished the whole cup before I even knew it. I tried to resteep the bag, and it was much weaker, but still drinkable.

Overall, this tea was fantastic, I am very excited I still have another bag to enjoy later.

Sorry there is no picture on the website for this, I wish there was, it is so pretty. There is the small rooibos splinters and granulated cinnamon and ginger pieces that look like glitter sprinkled throughout the tea. There is something else in there, something that clumps up a bit, but immediately breaks down when touched with my spoon.

The tea smells like a gingersnap cookie, sweet and spicy at the same time with a light rooibos fragrance. Since it did not smell incredibly strong, I was not concerned about it being too strong. Infused hot, 5 minutes, no additives.

The liquor is red, gingersnap cookie, duh, the fragrance actually manages to smell more and more like a gingersnap cookie. It is warm and spiced, yet sweet and almost a little buttery. The flavor mirrors this very well. There is the spice ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg flavor, there is a little extra cinnamon for a chemical as well as physical heat, and something that makes this natural sweet without having added anything. There is a slight buttery flavor, not creamy but a slightly salty, caramel flavor.

This tea was good, and good on its own without any additives. :) So far, Tea Largo has done a fantastic job with these blends.

Long have I sought for the tea that will conquer the constant craving for carrot cake. I have tried a few (will be posting soon enough) and this is one of them.

The blended tea smells fantastic, just like carrot cake should smell. You can smell carrot and spice: cinnamon and nutmeg perhaps, along with big pieces of walnut.

Infused hot, five minutes, no additives, the tea is a little blander than I would have liked plain and alone like this. It is definitely carrot cake colored, yet you are really only smelling spice, the flavor is definitely carrots with spice and walnut, but something is missing. The creamy sweetness of cream cheese frosting? Most likely.

So I tried it again, same sampling of the tea, hot, a pinch of rock sugar, infused 4 minutes. This was closer, the added sweetness from the sugar brought out a flavor that was not there before. Interesting. I am liking this one a lot better. Might as well try it with milk.

One last time, same sample of tea, got a decent amount of infuses out of this, hot, infused 4 minutes, a pinch of rock sugar and a splash of half and half. (Sorry about the “technical” terms pinch and splash, they are not a full tablespoon for my full 8 ounce serving of tea, they are like a teaspoon of sugar, and two teaspoons of milk). This is pretty dead on flavor wise. It has a creaminess (from the milk) a sweetness (from the sugar) and then the spiced carroty goodness of carrot cake. The rooibos did not bring too much to the party, I am pretty sure it helped impart color on the liquor, but not much more, it was not overpowering and it let the additional ingredients really do their own thing in the tea.

Overall, this was pretty good. I did prefer it with milk and sugar though.

Today was a long day in the professional world: fancy clothes, big meeting, followed by dinner with clients, customers and my bosses. When dessert rolled around, I noticed a tea list, and how could I resist? I had not heard of this specific Mighty Leaf, though I knew the brand well, so I decided it would aid in digestion and make a fantastic tasting note.

The waiter kindly dropped off my (and two others’) tea bags in tea cups with saucers and spoons, but alas, no water. Impatient, I ripped open the bag, I am sure I looked nuts because I smelled the tea bag, mind you this is normal if it was wine, but whatever. The leaves are delicately packed in the silk satchel, they are not crushed, and there are small yellowish pieces amongst the leaves. The smell is floral-fruity, as in flowers that bear fruit, and coconut. Strange, intriguing, smells delicious. Where is the waiter with my water? There he is…Infused hot, four minutes, no additives. The flavor is subdued, you are still smelling the coconut, but you are only tasting oolong with a hint of fruity-floral at the end.

The tea flavor is delicate; the flower bearing fruit smell can be described as “powdery”, like it is an essence of the fruit and flowers without actually being in there. I did not taste coconut, but I was not upset. This overall was very good.

This morning, when my alarm went off, I was absolutely positive it was Sunday, and furious for making myself wake up so early on a Sunday. About a half hour later, I realized, it’s Monday, and after my ten day vacation, it was time to get back to work…

So needless to say, I desperately needed a pick-me-up and it came today in the form of my new favorite caffeinated friend: Lapsang Souchong. The first pot I absolutely downed, couldn’t really even rate it based on how fast I drank it. But once I was awake, I was able to brew up some more and try and get a good sampling for a rating.

So my first infusion: 5 minutes, hot water, no additives, was downed with no rating. Sorry.

Second infusion of the same basket: 4 minutes, no additives. The smell is perfect, the liquor is spot-on, however, the flavor is a little weaker than I expected (I tend to compare all Lapsangs to Golden Moon’s). A little concerned at this moment, I decided to make a fresh pot with new leaves. This time taking careful notes as I do.

The leaves are small and dark, curled tightly, with the usual smokey aroma. Infused 5 minutes, no additives. The flavor is stronger, more what I expected, yet it is still lesser than GM and Adagio. Overall, I think this might be a good thing. When I say “lesser” I mean that the smokiness is not as strong, it is not kick-you-in-the-face smokey, it is slightly smoked, like the scent left on your clothes after a camp fire a few days ago. It is a distant smokey, an aged smokey, this gives a chance for more of the tea to shine through: a little astringent, definitely black tea, yet crisp and clean, the hint of smoke, the slight earthy natural flavor. Overall, good.

Since I got what I wanted, I decided one more infusion from this basket was worth a shot. Hot, 4 minutes, added milk (no sweetener). The milk made it creamy, and subdued the smokey flavor a little bit more, but overall it was more of the same. Cleaner tea taste, slight smoke, slight earth, a little less strong than I would have liked.

To get the stronger smokiness in the tea, I will probably aim for longer infusion times in the future, but to all those who do not like the smoke, or want a more subdued smoke, I think this tea might be more of what you are looking for.

In the end, I enjoyed this tea, I will enjoy finishing the tin of it.

I have been drinking this for the past three or four days (multiple bottles, I admit) because it was the only non-sweetened iced tea available in the area. Imagine my surprise when I came on Steepster to see a fresh review of it…

The color is light, the aroma is faint jasmine. Enjoyed cold from the bottle. Drinking straight from the bottle interferes slightly with the bouquet from the tea, but I do not think it hurts the flavor. The flavor is faint jasmine but not obtrusive, it is light and airy, green tea, no vegetal just jasmine. The unsweetened is also very enjoyable, the jasmine brings enough to the slightly floral jasmine that it is all the sweetness you need without any additives. Overall, very good.

No notes yet.

So I’m in Florida on vaca and I have to say that I’m pretty sure security went through my checked bag like twice because of all the tea in there, haha. Honestly though, I brought a full box of these (start the day off right you know?) and I my hotel is right next to a mall. And in that mall? A Tavalon store!! So you might not here from me a lot, but I will have much to post when I get back :)

See you all soon Steepsterites!

I ordered this the other day when it was on the Steepster Select deal. Not surprisingly, I received it the very next day because I live in the same state…

First, I have to say, that the tea is really packed in this tin, not that it is crushed, it is loosely in the tin and has room to move, but man, did they fill the tin, as in, I opened it up to smell it and lost some tea. Fantasticly full :)

Second, kudos to you Leafspa, you did a fantastic job advertising, you really got your name out there and then with this fantastic deal on Steepster Select (half price tea, how could I say no?) you sealed the deal.

Thirdly, the packaging is the most detailed I have ever seen. The label on the tin has everything you could possibly want to know about the tea. I was especially impressed with the infusion instructions and a warning so you do not oversteep: because as the package spelled-out “tea will become bitter”.

I brewed two scoops in my 22 ounce beehouse pot. Brewed 2 minutes, hot, no additives. This tea is very good. The leaves are definitely high quality, they are mixed gold and black curls of tea. The smell is peppery and black tea. The infusion makes a copper colored liquor. The aroma is again, peppery, black, a little earthy and distinctly Yunnan tea. The tea flavor is delicious; earthy black tea, with a peppery note coming up at the end of the mouthfull and finishing with a slight aftertaste (of pepper).

I did not get the smokiness I was hoping to get like I did with The Tiger, but I think that might be from infusion time. I will rebrew this again and see if I can get the smokey flavor I so desire. Overall, very good tea, definitely worth trying.

Backlogging again. I am unsure if I am doing this correctly, I brewed the tea, hot no additives, 2.5 minutes.

I can definitely smell the puffed/toasted rice in the tea pot, but the steeped leaves now have a bitter aroma, I think I may have oversteeped. The bitterness was not found in the tea. The tea has a few layers of flavor: first the toasty rice, then a sweet green, followed by a mellow nut flavor. I drank the pot (22 ounces) over about an hour. The first cup was delicious, the second was alright, then the third I was starting to get that bitter flavor.

Maybe I need to drink this hot? Any suggestions?

Overall, it was not bad, but the bitterness is disappointing, I wish the toasty-rice flavor would remain uncompromised.