The Jade Teapot

Decupboarding this one from a big pitcher of coldbrewed tea with a bit of simple syrup. Although I like this one hot, it really shines when cold.

One of my favorite white teas! I could taste both the blueberry and pomegranate, and steeping for about two minutes was perfect, giving it a nice light flavor.

This makes a great tea latte during the first infusion. Later infusions are great just by themselves!

So after much careful rationing, I’ve finally come to the end of this little sample. I’m so sad that the Jade Teapot is no more because this was a lovely Tie Guan Yin and I wish I had bought more when I had the chance.

I’m revisiting this one today! It is very, very odd for me to pick an oolong, or really any non-black tea, for breakfast – but this was calling my name. It was a good choice too! I love the first infusion with its sweet biscuit-esque thing it has going on. I was a bit heavy handed with the milk though so it isn’t as good as it could be. I’m looking forward to more tasty infusions today!

And so, I looked at the clock, and it read: 1:30am. And I thought to myself, what a perfect time to make iced tea.

Thus.

Actually, this isn’t too bad iced. Fruity but not tart, slight coconut. Stirred in a bit of sugar, but it’s probably fine without. I stirred it in without thinking, because I figured it’d be very tart.

Two tsps for 1 cup, ten minutes, poured over ice cubs.

Meh, kinda bland, but at least it’s not hibiscus-rific. It has a vaguely coconut and fruit flavour, but nothing terribly distinct. On the other hand this little sample has been sitting in the depths of my cupboard for awhile and may have lost some of its flavour.

Three tins, twelve samples to go.

The boyfriend requested a Gunpowder and I happened to remember that I happened to have something sample-sized of that sort. Excellent!

The aroma isn’t particularly strong, but it smells quite green and chinese. Somewhat floral as well, which, if you squint, I suppose could be the pseudo-smoky note that some people can find in Gunpowder. Me, I’ve never found it, it’s always been primarily floral for me and I can’t help but wonder if some people let themselves be slightly biased by the name of the tea. But then again, floral and pseudo-smoky notes are very closely related to one another and people interpret them differently.

Taste-wise I still find it rather floral, more so than smoky. I love smoky, I want it desperately to be smoky, but it just won’t be. With that disappointment (again) behind me, it’s actually a very pleasant tea, this one. It’s not so overwhelmingly Chinese Green in flavour and even strikes me as borderline oolong-y and with a smoothly, thick creamy note.

Quite pleasant, this.

Prepared gongfu style in a beautiful blue and white gaiwan.

1st infusion – 30 sec
Strong, dark flavors, slightly bitter but definitely drinkable

2nd infusion – 25 sec
Much the same profile as the first infusion, but smoother with hints of orange becoming more prevalent

3rd infusion – 45 sec
More floral aroma, the crisp, earthy dark oolong flavor is starting to emerge with the orange pushed to the end of the sip and the aftertaste. This infusion is quite lovely and easy to drink.

4th infusion – 50 sec
Again, very floral aroma. The oolong and orange seem to equally share the stage in this infusion which is the most balanced so far.

5th infusion – 1 min
Round and flavorful. Delicious and well balanced in flavor.

6th infusion – 1 min 15 sec
Aroma is now of orange and the dark oolong flavor is back! Orange is not present in the flavor of the tea, just in the aroma.

7th infusion – 1min 25 sec
Good but very mild flavor. I think this oolong is at its breaking point but I’m very pleased with the number and quality of infusions today.

SIPDOWN #1 for today!!!

This was alright…no stars in it tho. It had a caramel type taste to it today…maybe it was the vanilla. Regardless, the flavor was STRONG!

I don’t really have enough for a large cup left in my stash but I am trying it anyways!

SIPDOWN ALERT!!!! #2 for the day!

It still smells pleasant but it doesn’t look like a ‘brewed’ black tea…very light in color.

The taste is mostly cranberry. little to no black tea taste and little to no hibiscus.

Human error because I didn’t have enough to infuse – it’s not the tea’s fault…

SIPDOWN #3 for the day!

Heavy on the oolong flavor light on the orange…it was an alright cuppa tho!

This is the last of this! No more tea leaves. At least I’ll get a good number of wonderful steeps out of this. It’s probably a good thing, because I’ve held onto this tea far past its prime. I just didn’t want to finish it off because I still really rather like it. And the Jade Teapot’s closed now.

I think I need to put an order in at Life in Teacup. They have a wonderful selection of Tie Guan Yins. Plus, I’ve been eyeing a few of their handsome little teacups… The one with the fish pattern mostly. Although I like the semi-glazed one they’ve just released, but I actually came home with a SET of teacups very similar to that from Value Village. I also want to order a few teas based off of the samples I got. I’d have to look up which ones… I’m forgetful when it comes to names.

I am a collector of things, it’s very bad.

But yes, the tea. A bit different from how I remembered it, but it has been a while, and it’s on the greener side of the scale, so I know it doesn’t last as long. Still, light and delicious to sip, and makes me want to break out a book to read.

Another tea from AmazonV!

This one was very fruity dry, but the brewed liquid smells only of hibiscus. The taste is mostly hibiscus as well, although there’s something cooling in there, which I’m taking to be the pineapple. Otherwise, there’s a chewy non-fruityness as well, and… a hint of orange, I think. Hmm. Maybe I’ll try more next time. It’s still refreshing, though.

had the last tsp of this at work today in my kati with hot spigot water and about 3 minutes steep and some sugar, nice mild afternoon tea

I went to pick out a tea to sip today and kept getting drawn to an oolong. So I decided to go with this, since I haven’t had it in a lengthy amount of time, and I’ve still got a good few scoops left.

The liquid appears greener than I remember, and the smell is faintly of jasmine. Or at least something a touch floral in with the usual cooked vegetable scent. Steeping this in sets of half a cup of water per steep. About four ounces.

The taste is how I remember it. Very light and green, touches of floral. The greeness is more refreshing, less baked. I think this is a good Book tea. I’d sip it while I read. I’m pretty sure I mentioned that last post. I’d have to go back and reread it.

Second Steep: Seems sharper, I suppose, a little stronger and less floral but still very smooth, almost butter in the back of the throat.

Third Steep: Starting to take the hot water through it, I think. No floral whiffs left at all. Sharper taste, but still very pleasant.

Fourth Steep: Pretty much like the third steep.

I let the leaves sit out and dry overnight.

Fifth Steep: May be because I left the tea to cool as I made toast (I remember Jillian saying something about oolongs becoming sweeter as they cool), but it did taste slightly sweet. And not as sharp. I think the jasmineish floral taste might’ve been making a slight comeback as well.

Sixth Steep: The colour has yet to weaken. Still getting a sweetness, even though I’m drinking this one much hotter. A slightly sharp, vegetal sweetness. Mmm.

Seventh Steep: Holy crap still going strong. Still a sweetness, and the smooth vegetable taste. I’m not getting any more original with my descriptions here.

Eight Steep: It seems the taste is finally starting to wane. Still smells strongly, though. No sweetness this time around.

Lengthening the steeping time didn’t really do much except make the rooibos taste stronger, unfortunately. No offense intended to the seller, but I think it was a good thing that this blend was discontinued; it’s rather sub-par in my opinion.

3 tsp, hot spigot water 16 oz, paper tea filter, a very long time and left it in
see prior notes for flavor etc

Lisbet was nice enough to send me a few spoonfuls of this tea to try.

This tea has a nice smell that is reminiscent of caramel apple I suppose and there’s some nice little apple chunks visible that were mixed in with the rooibos. Sadly like so many flavoured teas it smells better than it tastes.

IMO plain rooibos has a slightly apple-like flavour anyway, so I think it’s masking much of the taste. The caramel is there – sort of – as a bit of sweetness to each sip. Nothing really stand out and screams ’Caramel Apple" unfortunately.

Meh. Let this get a bit lukewarm before sipping, and kinda glad I could. It’s gulpable, and I can swallow it, but it’s not good. Their’s something in the aftertaste that tastes like dry paper/cardboard. I wish the bergamot and honey were a bit more present in this. Just not my kinda tea. I do like that it isn’t super asparagus-y as are some greens.

No notes yet.

bumping up a little as i tweak with it more
fast note at work, no real time for a blog
kati loose tea system (http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/04/kati-review.html)
12 oz hot spigot water
3 tsp (heaping) leaf
5 min steep (http://steep.it/5 minutes)
delicious red color
smells like orange hibiscus
tastes like hibiscus, orange, pineapple
coconut is a hint at 5 min
yum yum

I haven’t wanted this in a long time, but it is tasting pretty nice tonight. I don’t think I feel the need to keep it around in the long run, but it is good while I have it.

No notes yet.