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Smooth, a bit floral, almost to the point of breaking the smoothness. Long aftertaste with hints of the floral notes.

It’s nice. Magnolia/jasmine type taste, smooth but a bit heavy. Not as light and crisp as I would like.

If I didn’t know better, I would think that this is a jasmine tea. It tastes just a little darker than the typical jasmine fare but otherwise, jasmine. I don’t get peach or anything else like that. Just jasmine with a slight astringency. It just seems kind of normal to me – there’s nothing bad about it but there’s not anything special about it either. It’s fine. If I liked jasmine more I’d probably like this more.
6.1g/12oz

Wow. Seriously, wow. This is sweet. Really sweet. It tastes a bit like eating honeysuckle nectar and chasing it with a bite of thin, newly-sprouted branch. The woody branch bit is fairly similar to the woody/reedy taste from last night’s ginseng oolong. So branch plus the honeysuckle is what I’m guessing Osmanthus tastes like? Anyway, the sweet, light honeysuckle taste is a bit contrary to the green branch taste but at the same time the branch taste grounds the sweetness, keeping it from being too extreme.

The second steep (3:00) has the flavors meshing better so it taste more like a darker floral taste and not quite as sweet. It doesn’t taste anything like rose, but for some reason that’s the comparison that now pops in my mind.

Anyway, I think I prefer last night’s ginseng oolong over this one, but just by a hair or two.
3.6g/7oz

I am finally getting to try this tea courtesy of JacquelineM (Thanks Jackie!). It is such a deep dark tea with a true coconut smell and flavor! The dry leaf smelled phenomenal (if you like coconut that is) and so I was just praying that once steeped it tasted in accordance with the smell and my prayers were answered it does taste like coconut black tea!!

It’s a great tasting tea the first steep was a little strong and I thought maybe it could have used some milk but that’s not how I roll so I just went with it. The second steep has no astringency and is perfect without milk. I like it and will definitely order some that is when I run out of some black teas that I already have.

Thanks again Jackie! It is the black tea version of my coconut custard rooibos that I also love!

This tea smells like a wonderful chocolatey coconut treat. A dark chocolate flavor with strong coconut sweetness. When brewed it loses a bit of the coconut scent. When sipped it is a very smooth tea. Very well blended. I enjoy the flavor but wish for stronger coconut intensity. Not bad. I believe I received this sample from Doulton awhile ago. Thanks for your package of great samples. This one got separated from the bunch so it took a bit longer to review!

I’ve had to drop the rating a little bit on this one, mostly because I followed it up with a fairly mediocre Bao Zhong from Tea from Taiwain and this cup pales in comparison to that one. I still think this is a pretty good tea, but there is a taste which I can’t quite peg – my mind wants to say metallic but it totally isn’t – that just doesn’t hit the right notes with me, even though I enjoy the sweetness of this. Ultimately though, I seem to lean more towards floral sweet over fruit sweet in greener oolongs.

(Looking at the description of this tea, I’m guessing the not-metallic taste is the pineapple note I’m picking up because it has that same teeth-tingling tartness.)

The only other Forever Spring I’ve had was SerendipiTEA’s and I didn’t have hordes of luck with it. It seemed rather dark tasting and a bit flat, missing the sweet high top notes that I tend to gravitate towards in oolongs. This one, on the other hand, seems to be all sweet high top note, even though I was impatient and brewed it at a higher temp which normally would decrease the higher floral notes. That makes this tea a fairly surprising one for me. I like it though.

I think if I had paid more attention to it, I could have picked out some of the notes in it but I was just so busy looking for the expected darker notes that I missed the nuances in the top notes – but it wasn’t a single note flavor. There was a note of fruit-juice-like sweetness along with the slight floral notes that was really enjoyable. My taste buds (and brain) are a little wonky today as I’m having some migraine symptoms going on but I really think I’m going to enjoy the chance to pay more attention to this tea in the future. Right now this is a soft rating and therefore subject to change.
3.5g/7oz

One of the first “real” teas I ever had was SpecialTea’s Fancy Formosa Oolong. I remember not liking it because it tasted like sweet cigar smoke. This tea has me thinking about trying that tea again. It’s smoky but not lapsang souchong smoky. It’s a sweet, light smoky like cigar smoke. But this doesn’t have the acridity some cigar smoke has. Instead, it is smooth and has no edge to it at all. It’s quite nice and even though I’m still not in love with roasty oolongs, I did enjoy having this one around.

Okay, this has been bugging me. Why is it Premium Steap? Why not Steep? What is a Steap? I feel like I’m missing something. Anyone? Anyone? Buller?

Anyway, tea. Oooh, toasty. This smells like fruits so heavily grilled they are past caramelized and almost into burnt. But in a good way. The taste is a lot milder as far as the toasty, but it is still there. It tastes a lot like grilled peaches and something else… something a little reedy maybe? It’s a very wet taste. There’s no astringency to this, just sweetness and light toasty-ness.

This is a tasty tea and my cup emptied surprisingly quick. I can’t say this something that I require in my pantry, but it’s tasty enough that I would enjoy it if I had some. Since this is so different from my typical, it’s a little hard to rate. I reserve the right to bump it up a bit if I find myself thinking this tea at non-tea times.
3.6g/7oz

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 1 zarafina cup filtered water
Tool: Zarafina Black-Loose-Medium
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: coconut, chocolate, nutty, roast
Steeped Tea Smell: coconut meat and flesh
Flavor: black tea and coconut shell, the shell WTF?
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: none
Liquor: translucent dark brown

Steepster Traveling Teabox Tea

A very smooth and enjoyable tea. Although the coconut isn’t a very strong flavor (it’s more of a strong after taste and smell) it is there, in an odd way. The coconut shell was what I was picking up.

Not sure if I’d trudge through snow for it, but I will enjoy a cup from time to time.

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: Zarafina Black-Loose-Medium
Beautiful! Just as robust as the first cup.
I added a touch of sweetened coconut milk, which brought out the coconut meat flavor.
I think it could easily have done another steep, only I had to leave and get my train into work.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/premium-steap-packaging-black-tea.html

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 6 ounces filtered boiling
Tool: Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: chocolate
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea
Flavor: smooth black tea, astringent but not bitter
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: black tea, astringent
Liquor: dark reddish-brown

Steepster Traveling Teabox Tea

Nice black tea, but not finding the coconut or chocolate. It is especially nice that it’s smooth, astringent, but not bitter.

Post-Steep Additives: 1 tsp German rock sugar, a bit sweeter but that’s all.

This tea is not quite the Nirvana that Premium Steap’s Organic Black with Coconut is. But it’s excellent! The chocolate is deep and rich. The coconut comes out mostly in the aftertaste for me. Black tea is most certainly the base note and a sweet bright chocolate is the middle note. The after-note is the coconut. As the tea cools, the coconut comes out to play a bit more.

Think of this as a bit of coconut enrobed in a big swirl of dark chocolate. It’s very good but perhaps I prefer single-notes in teas (or at least for today!).

Premium Steap has most certainly earned a spot on my "to buy from " list. They have some luscious looking samplers too!

Note: I did use 2 tsp. for about a 10 ounce mug; I’ve been adding more tea than suggested to many of my brews.

This has really pretty leaves, with some golden tips mixed in, and brews up a surprisingly dark red-brown color. I’m still not really getting the vanilla, but there smoke and chocolate are less overwhelming too, so I think some of that may have been proximity to dear Florence and the Caravan. This is still quite tasty, just a bit subtler now. Drinkable plain, with a heavy sweet mouthfeel, but definitely strong enough to hold up to milk; the milk softens and smooths it, and brings out more of the chocolate/vanilla flavors. This one is growing on me!

And oh hey! Now the numerical ratings show up when you over over one of the “previously rated tea” hashes! Thanks Steepster guys!

Well, it’s a good thing I got the tiny teapots from Samovar, because I broke my regular one last night. Rather than going back to mugs and infusers already, I decided to make a little cup of this.

From JacquelineM, this brews up a lovely dark orange. It smells like a straight up Ceylon, at least when hot. In the flavor, I’m actually getting more smoke than vanilla. Adding milk brings out the creamy flavor a little, but this still isn’t quite what I was expecting from the description and the scent.

2nd steep might be better than the first, for me: still nothing I’d describe as vanilla, but rounder, more harmonious flavors. It almost tastes like a blend, with some Assam and/or Keemun in there. I am getting the chocolately notes everyone else mentioned now. Very tasty.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 6 ounces filtered boiling
Tool: Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Chocolate, vanilla – where did that chocolate come from?
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea, chocolate, vanilla
Flavor: black tea, astringent
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: bitter
Liquor: nice dark brown that I forgot to take a picture of

Steepster Traveling Teabox Tea

The leaves were very pretty with their golden colors mixed with brown.

I am not sure if the chocolate was a cross contaminate or if it was supposed to smell chocolaty?

Too bitter for my tastes, maybe I should have done less time? I brewed it at the lower end of the suggested range.

The vanilla is too subtle in this tea for me.

Post-Steep Additives: +1 tsp German rock sugar, made no impact
+ splash of almond milk, no change

Resteep: 4 min, not bitter (1 tsp German rock and splash almond milk) I liked this steep much more than the first, but it was a little on the weaker side, and no vanilla.

I am giving it the rating for the resteep, the first steep would have been lower. If I bought this I would plan to steep it shorter, and immediately add sugar and milk.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/premium-steap-loose-leaf-black-tea.html

JacquelineM put this into the traveling tea box and when it came to my door there was only one scant tsp. left. But I am the kind of person who appreciates the labour of love that trudging through the snow can be. The best way to honor JacquelineM is to thank her for her efforts and not allow this tea to travel to a potentially less appreciative home.

I am going to need to place an order with Premium Steap. I like coconut teas and this one is so utterly true and pure and rich. There’s been no compromise whatsoever on flavor. It’s Full Metal Jacket Coconut with no frilly little nods to the tropics. So many times the exquisite flavor of coconut gets lost in a marriage with chocolate or in a threesome with chocolate and pineapple or into a tropical melange of flavors. The purity of this tea really allows one to focus on the coconut and the satisfactions it offers.

This flavor is excellent. Coconut has taken rather a bashing with all those synthetic shampoos and soaps and sun-lotions. This is not a Copper-Tone kind of coconut, but rather a Tea at the Savoy kind of coconut. I could imagine the Queen of England sipping this whilst murmuring endearments to her corgi dogs.

This is an exquisite tea that I will need to keep in stock. It’s a tea for grown-ups. I added a tiny crystal of brown sugar and an ort of milk.

finished the TTB sample off this morning with a splash of almond milk – needed sugar and perhaps a little less steep time (4 min but a bit over 3 tsp for 1 pot)

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 1 full cast iron teapot of filtered boiling
Steep Time: a little over 4 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: sweet and nutty (almond biscotti or cookie to AmazonV)
Steeped Tea Smell: almond cookie, or almond sweet breakfast cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds)
Flavor: not sweet almond black tea
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent and bitter briefly (MilitiaJim says it doesn’t do that when hot)
Liquor: cloudy translucent reddish brown

Steepster Traveling Teabox Tea, grabbed because MilitiaJim loves almonds

MilitiaJim: It tasted more almondy than it smelled which is a good thing.

AmazonV: The smell was so sweet, I think the tea needs sweetening to match the scent. I also think a splash of almond milk would do it well. This was a great tea.

OMG this is near me, I can go there!!!!

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: 8+ minutes, fail, watery almond water

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/premium-steap-tea-store-loose-leaf.html

Jacqueline sent me some of this tea. Some her willing-to-trudge-out-through-the-snow-to-get-this-tea tea, no less, which I consider to be a high honor. When she said that she found this to be even better than Coconut Pouchong, I was intrigued.

Now, I shall admit that the first third of this cup did not go over well because I drank it too hot. I need to learn to let things cool down more before I start drinking them. The flavors open up much more for me that way. So at the start, this mainly tasted like bitter black tea and I thought I’d effed up royally somehow. I was already planning how I was going to adjust the parameters the next time I tried this and jotting notes down on a post-it.

Not to worry, though. By the time that the tea was at an appropriate temperature the coconut macaroon flavor began to come through much more and I found myself in a much happier place.

So here’s the thing. This is definitely a black tea. I can taste it, which I don’t mind, but I’m much more of a buttery oolong type of gal and so while this is really a very tasty tea, it was already at a slight disadvantage because given the choice between a black tea and an oolong I’m predisposed to pick the latter. Now, to be perfectly fair, I have yet to try this with milk, and milk could very well add that extra dimension of richness that I like from my oolong teas. [Though, again, given the choice between drinking straight tea and drinking tea with milk, I’m going to choose the former.]

There wasn’t much else that I got out of this tea flavor-wise aside from the black tea taste and that toasted coconut, macaroony taste, with which I am perfectly fine. It was an extremely enjoyable cup of tea and I can see why Jacqueline likes it so much; especially since she drinks a lot of black tea.

This tea was good enough to get me to briefly peruse Premium Steap’s website, which is saying something because I really don’t need to be buying more tea right now. And, oooh, drat. They’ve got Pantone and Marimekko and adorable owl mugs and a milk oolong and URRRRGH.

April, when you get here you’ll be sending me a London Sky mug and one or five oolongs. Mark my words. Thanks so much for letting me try this one, Jacqueline! Next time, with milk!

Although I think this is a tasty black tea…I’m not getting the hint of vanilla the other reviews have noted…it is quite smooth tho…almost velvety. I won’t hold that against it…it’s good regardless.