The Tea Spot

sipdown! Another one of terri’s teas! I think i’m beginning to discover that i’m not as much a fan of darjeelings as i used to be. There’s a flavour in a lot of darjeelings that tends to not agree with me. I’m not entirely sure what it is. This isn’t a bad tea but there are others i like better. Maybe i need to have a darjeeling journey to figure things out :)

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!

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.

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!

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.

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

Delicious cup of tea this morning to get the day started. I’ve got to get through a few teas from the sipdown box today because i did add a couple to my cupboard yesterday. So need to keep making progress there. Long weekend because of thanksgiving, so i’m hoping i get a chance to RELAX and have some tea since we don’t have to run around visiting family. haha

This was really nice to revisit – thanks terri. slightly smokey, smooth, mild but still flavourful.

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 :)

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!

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!

Another swap from Terri (that leaves what, 60+ more to go?) This isn’t something that i’d have normally picked up myself since i don’t seem to enjoy yerba mate. However, in this blend? i am digging it. Maybe it’s because there’s about 9812309182309218 things going on in this blend but it’s pretty darn tasty :) The smells makes my nose itch a little but not to the point of not enjoying sitting here with a steaming mug of this.

This tastes almost like a vanila chai tea blend to me. though it’s not overly vanilla by any stretch of the imagination. There’s also some citrusy notes going on that i can’t place. Cinnamon is present, but not in that way that makes you scream CINNAMON! OMG! There’s a sweetness here as well that might be the licorice root? but i have no frame of reference for that really. :)

Overall a pretty pleasant cup.

sipdown!

heh yeah here’s hoping that can happen a bit today. Still enjoyed this one today though it’s most certainly more of a ginger tea than a peach tea. There’s a nice kick to this that helped clear up my nose right away while drinking it haha. Thanks for letting me try this terri!

Fine. Look at me being the first to review this, though how that makes sense I dunno.

Anyway this tea? Man i wish it was a Pear tea, because this ginger is spot on for what i’ve been wanting in a ginger pear tea. It’s got just a small kick to it to say HEY i’m ginger! which helps balance and offset the sweetness of the peach. Overall i’m a fan of this.

Another one of my teas from today…which while it doesn’t contribute to my sipdowns, is still a decent cup of tea. But i like boulder breakfast better haha

Another tea from the morning. I think that this one is starting to wane in terms of my love for it. Not that it’s a bad tea, but i think i like it less than i first did though. I’m not sure if it’s because i’ve been brewing it in my travel mug, so i’ll have to have another cup of this when i’m at home.

I had this one, in the morning. I’m fairly certain that i prefer boulder breakfast to this one now that i’ve had it again. It doesn’t mean i don’t enjoy this one a lot, but i’ll have to crack open my boulder breakfast again soon and do a comparison :)

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’m thinking that the tea spot and i are going to have to have a chat soon about putting some of their teas into my house. Terri was awesome enough to send me a bunch of their teas and I’m thoroughly enjoying a bunch of them. I’d take tea spot teas over tealux teas every day! (and no i have no idea why the two are comparable in my mind) I wanted a cup of this without any additions but i for sure can see how amaaazing this will be with a bit of sweetner and possibly milk added to it.

Without additions this is a cocoa chocolate malty delicious sort of tea. Kittenna better be careful or i’ll steal her samples that Terri sent along. :)

Edit: This resteeps really nicely too!