The Tea Spot

Tea of the morning…..

Needs more input ;), but this one is very smooth. I have many ounces to put together a thoughtful review with a numerical rating, but for today, you will just have to be happy with “Yum!”.

Usual teapot method.
Resteep of the same pot….

More Yum! Notes of cocoa, no smoke, maybe a slight bit of malt. Full body. So happy with this one.

Resteep at the same parameters. Adding my rating!

I like how you can use boiling water with this one. It’s just easier for me then having to wait for the water to be “just right”. Anyways…
This tastes just like a Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie:) Simple and well balanced. I may acquire some in the future. Thanks Shelley ’s mom for this sample!

When they call this Thin Mint I think of Girl Scout cookies..but this is not it…nor do I think that’s their goal. I taste a vegetal green tea and a side of peppermint. It tastes like a basic kind of tea to me…nothing amazingly special. But that’s why I’m trying every kind of green mint tea out there…so I can find what I like:) Thank you Shelly for this sample!

Sipdown! Thanks to QueenofTarts for swapping! Finished off the remaining sample by brewing up a nice big mug.

The dry form of this one is so pretty; beautiful, light little spindly curls for leaves. They open up nicely when steeped.

I don’t think this smells like chocolate. I think it smells (unsurprisingly) like a Chinese black tea. The color of the liquor is a beautiful dark mahogany-brown. Tastes predominantly like a smooth & malty black with notes of chocolate. (I think the base tea is also caramely, as I’m picking that up, but can’t imagine they’d add caramel flavoring without labeling it so.)

To be honest, if I was given this tea in an unlabeled/blind taste-test (without ever having tried it before), I’m not sure if I’d be able to tell you “chocolate flavored black.” Perhaps my palate isn’t developed enough yet (w/r/t tea; I’m aces with beer), but I think I would guess that it was an unflavored black that was malty and had caramel and chocolate-like undertones.

That said… ‘tis good. Very good. The base tea in this is wonderful. I just don’t find it overwhelmingly chocolatey, which could be a plus or negative, depending on your tastes.

ETA: Whoo-hoo, I might get down to under 50 in the cupboard today! So what if I have a shipment of 7 new teas due to come in tomorrow? It’s still a goal achievement for today!

I am feeling a little less pressured by my stash lately, and I don’t feel the need to totally concentrate on sipdowns like I have been. This morning I was kinda sorta in the mood for an unflavored black tea, or at least a non-fruity black. Most of my teas are in boxes for an eventual move into a real office, so I poked through the boxes a bit and came out with this one. Yeah, it’s not unflavored, but it’s got a high enough quality base that it doesn’t matter.

Many, I forgot just how delicious this tea is. So much rich, creamy chocolate… it’s the only chocolate tea I’ve ever been really satisfied with. A lot of teas hint at chocolate, or are somewhat chocolatey, but this is just chocolate. Mmm. I’ve probably said this a million times about this tea, but the base really makes it. There’s just no excuse for a poor tea base!

what a fruity way to start the day! and jeez do i need it.
(start work rant) my boss is on vacation and my office counter part is out sick. so i am all alone and deadlines are quickly approaching. i CANNOT POSSIBLY get everything done that i need to.
sigh.
i have moments of motivation followed by a feeling of defeat. and i can’t seem to stay focused.
being so busy also means i don’t have time to really write tea notes as i would like to. but i am tasting all the swap samples! it’s something to look forward to while i am feeling downtrodden. (end work rant!)
i like the scent of the brewed tea a lot and the cup was very easy to drink. i have the leaves saved at home for a second steep! and i’m looking forward to it.
thank you Shelley_Lorraine! thank you.

Super silky and smooth as the name implies. Reminds me of a lapsung (sp?), lovin’ the smokey, chocolatey, whiskiness.

It’s been awhile since I had a cup of this, who knows why.
I love this tea! It’s a blend of black teas, plus some Shu, AND chocolate. It’s properly bold & malty, & nicely chocolatey too. The mouth-feel of this is so rich & full.
I made a nice big cup to sip on while driving to play a wedding.

I got two new white teas to try from my swap with TastyBrew

I am going to compare them all here (with my original white tea) and post the same note to the others.
I brewed 2 tsp of each in small teacups, steeped for 3 min at 180F

Monkey Picked White – The Tea Spot: Still my favorite white. It has the most pale liquor of all three and the most amazing creamy texture, with just a hint of citrus. When I say hint, I mean that it is so slight that I don’t always detect it.

White Symphony – Adagio: is this even a white tea? wow, the liquor is really dark golden and the flavor is strong of hay and barley. It kind of reminds me of brewers yeast (I had a lot of that (mixed in cups of water) growing up because my father was obsessed with the stuff). I actually like this one, but I don’t think of it as a white tea. It’s in a unique league of its own. I don’t know that it’s a tea that I’d want all the time, but I could be in the mood for it sometimes.

Snowbud – Adagio: My least favorite of the three. Liquor color is in between the other two. Flavor is slightly bitter and its not as creamy as my Monkey picked. There is another flavor, I don’t know if its nutty or mineral, maybe a blend of the two?

I steeped up a pot of this to share with one of my students this morning. It’s a fairly nice Dragonwell, but fairly plain compared to Ms. Li’s…

Sipdown #1
A nice malty smooth cup, not as bold as their ‘not organic’ Assam, but tasty none the less!

Got a sample of this from a swap with QueenofTarts. Thanks!

These leaves are interesting; skinny little guys, aren’t they? Not getting much of a chocolate smell, but that could be due in part to fact that I’m still getting over a yucky sinus thing and can’t smell much of anything.

In terms of taste, I actually found the flavoring to be very subtle. A malty black tea with a hint of chocolate notes, rather than “WHAM! Chocolate!”. (Although, again, still getting over a sinus thing, so that may have played into it a bit.)

I enjoyed it (2 steeps – one sweetened, one not) and will happily finish off the sample, but it’s not likely to be a purchase for me.

SIPDOWN! I would totally purchase this one again! Thank you so much for sharing this with me terri! So i WAS well on my way to getting to 200 but 3 of my swaps arrived today and now i am back at 258! (with 6 more swaps on their way eventually, plus teas sitting with people) So now, my mini goal is just to try and NOT hit 300 lol. i still have every intention of getting to 200 before the end of may so that i can place an order in June but right now I’m just super happy about swaps.

Seriously? Total shout out to all my swap friends who have shared teas they love and dislike since i’ve been on steepster (not even a year). It’s pretty amazing how wonderful it is to share in our mutual excitement of tea. I love not only finding better homes for teas i don’t like, but getting to share old favourites with new friends :) Totally not really a tea posting note but oh well. this? This tea is good. Chocolatey and delicious!

…and for all those out there that i haven’t swapped with yet, looking forward to sharing teas with you!

I served this to one of my students today, & enjoyed a cup myself as well. Bold, Malty, & smooth.
And another Sipdown!

I haven’t had pu-erh in a while. This pu-erh is one of the first loose teas I ever purchased (I have since had to refill).

I really like this shu pu-erh. It’s earthy and sweet. A very comforting tea. I just brewed it in my Gaiwan and brought the leaves and a thermos of hot water to my study as I will need lots of comfort as I continue studying for finals.

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h353/flightysprite/Tea/IMG_0783_zpsdaa03bee.jpg

backlog sipdown! Had this yesterday and after all of that, this is a pretty middle of the road keemun for me. It’s not bad but it’s not exciting and different. This could be in my cupboard or not. I’m still glad to have tried it, since i wouldn’t be opposed to having it in my cupboard again :)

Thank you Sil for this sample.

I have the start of what I call ‘tea belly’ so something light would be best to continue my tea marathon with. As a blend it’s attractive and fragrant, nice to see the tea pearls blending in nicely. Scent is very floral and sweet, like a secret rose garden with one bench and your sat there in the sun with your eyes closed just absorbing it’s beautiful aura.

Once steeped the tea looks mushy inside the teapot and weird..not as attractive as it’s raw form. The tea soup is golden in colour with a sweet rose scent.

Flavour is stronger than I thought it would be and I wish I opted for a weaker steep time (maybe around 2-3 minutes). As it’s so strong it has a little bitterness and a sort of waxy tone but only on a minor scale.

The rose is sweet and natural tasting and there is something sweeter in the background that I believe to be jasmine. I think as a blend it’s too floral, the rose and jasmine are competing against each other for dominance and I just don’t think it blends as smoothly as it should. It’s alright but just not for me so I wont be rating this one. Would suit someone that loves strong flower teas.

IMO this is awesome, plain & simple.

I had this earlier in the day when I was trying to see how I was feeling. Sadly I don’t recall much, beyond feeling like it was an average every day kind of Keemun. Ill write more after I have the last cup of this.

SIPDOWN! (221 for anyone counting….)

oh man terri..this one is great! It’s the deliciousness of mint and a black tea without that icky film on the top of the tea that so many mint chocolate blends have. it’s also a black tea, so that makes me happy. For sure prefer this to read my lips from david’s tea – this is a darker chocolate and makes me happy. May have to pick up some more of this…in june. bah!

I bought a sample of this awhile back, & have drank it, but neglected to write a review. As I recall, it was nice hot, but maybe not as peachy as I’d like it to be. There is a nice bit of ginger though! I love Ginger! So today I used up the rest of the sample making sun tea while I was working in the garden. Then I let it chill & it’s very nice! I’ll actually finish drinking it tomorrow, because I’ve had enough caffeine for today, but I did want to log it, because it’s a SIPdown! :D

sipdown backlog! finished off this one as well over the past couple of days. I think this might be a reorder in a small size just to have a chance to revisit it. thanks again terri!

hahaha i’m so glad you drank this today terri! Funnily enough it’s what i had first thing this morning but couldn’t find it in my cupboard – somehow missed adding this one. Couldn’t remember who the vendor was so until you posted this i couldn’t log it.

I enjoyed this one this morning but it wasn’t anything to knock my socks off. It was a good bold black to kick my morning off with no astringency. Thanks for the share Terri!

I’m not having a very good tea day so far. I got up, did my yoga, made a cup of this, took a few sips, & jumped in the shower. It didn’t settle well with my stomach. I couldn’t drink any more of it, or I would have barfed. Plain & simple, some teas do that to me on an empty stomach, mostly green teas & ceylons. I can drink Assams, Keemuns, & Yunnans before breakfast, but this tea fits into the ’don’t drink before breakfast’ category. It also reminds me of the ‘iced tea’ kind of tea, so I put the cup in the frig, & left to meet a friend for breakfast, basically tea-less.