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Thank you mrmopar for this puerh sample tuo cha!

The Tea
This morning, I popped this mini into my purple clay gaiwan, that’s only used for puerh. It was a new tuo cha and I enjoy drinking these when I’ve got a busy day ahead.

As always, I did a rinse, then because the tuo cha was pretty hard I did another quick rinse. I poked the lump of hard leaves a bit after pouring on more boiling water and waited a little more than 30 seconds. (I like to help the steeping along in the beginning)

The wet leaves smelled more like an old book store or library than most. Leather, a little musty and a bit of dirt. Good smells though.

When I sipped my first taste of the dark red brown brew, the liquor was dense like a paint stain, but light and smooth with some faint sweetness.
I expected a cedar flavor which wasn’t present in the tea. No woodsy or earthy flavor, just a mellow…even light American coffee smoothness. Unexpected but nice.

I filled my cup again and again, still holding the same flavor each time without change. A good little tuo cha…thanks mrmopar!

Soapbox
I went to Steepster to begin writing a review about this tea.
When I pulled up the review from the previous evening, something bad had happened.

My review had a comment from someone I didn’t know. He said I was a liar here on Steepster, and that I had an agenda which was to promote only certain tea companies.
It also said that I hide behind my glasses, that I don’t tell the truth about anything. It even misquoted my blog story about the Children’s Shelter Christmas, and said that I beat my children. He said he would like to press charges against me. (The kids were beaten by their parents, not by me!) There was much more!

I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

Several Steepster people saw what was happening, as the attack suddenly went live… and came to my defense, Bless them.

At first I was shocked. Then, I realized that the person had to have planned this for some time. They knew things about me.
A troll or someone with an agenda was out to slam me. But Why?
I chose not to engage with any anger.

So sad for them really. What sadness to carry that kind of poison inside towards others.

You who have known me for the past year have seen me go from Celestial Seasonings Tea, to Davids Tea’s and Kally, Butiki,
Steap Shoppe, Teavivre, Whispering Pines and Verdant to name some of the more common ones. (I’ve left out lots of puer from different sources).

Like you, I drink the tea I like. That’s it.

Some of you love Davids Tea or 52 tea’s or Harney & Son’s. You love what you love. I applaud you for that freedom to choose and I enjoy your reviews. Sometimes, I get to try those favorites of yours in a tea swap!

The comments of the troll disappeared off my reviews. POOF, GONE!
So, I removed my comments also. Why confuse people I thought.

I think this issue isn’t done with. It will probably return.

Other people are going to get slammed or insulted by these trolls now and then so here is what you need to know.

They are not who we are.

We are a kind community and one that is free.

We write our own reviews based on our own opinions and I for one am not for sale, and I can’t be intimidated. I am not afraid of drinking tea and writing honestly what I think. I choose the companies that I buy my tea from.

mrmopar, Indigobloom (who saw what happened) and JC who saw too,
and all the most kind people I’ve ever encountered…and I’m not going to run for the hills in fear.

(Stepping off my soapbox now..) Kumbaya! (Well I do have a sense of humor too!)

Well I got myself bout caught up on all my household duties(I’m a housewife) so I decided to take some time to play Nintendo, Yep! NES Now how do I relate TEA to that, Easy NES Is Japanese(I think) and I know that Legend of Zelda is a Japanese Game so I decided to play the game to the first Dungeon and “Reward” myself with some Japanese tea if I make it :) I made it! and very easily also :) Now this Tea, I it Japanese but I’m not sure who sent me this one I do remember that it was a small amount in a tore up bag so I put it into a small tin for safe keeping.
This tea was very strong with just a short steeping it almost taste like a weak matcha tea but it was pleasant yet very grassy vegetal and really strong green tea taste, I Enjoyed it.
Please look at my screenshots on my blog and share it :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/12/japanese-sen-cha-and-legend-of-zelda-nes.html

A gift from a friend, thank you!

Thank you to all the Veterans who are serving and have served this Country. Thank you to the families who struggle through hardship.

This may be the day that the United States honors Veterans and the day of Honor may be different in other Countries, but the message is the same. Sacrifice and Valor. We show our respect to you all.

My Father, Bill was still in his Navy Uniform when he met my mother at a Canteen for Servicemen in San Francisco.

The War was over and 6 weeks after meeting at the First Baptist Church Canteen on Mission Street, they were married! There wasn’t a day for the rest of their lives that they weren’t crazy about each other.

Dad had been a Radio Operator 1st Class. Morse Code…sometimes decoding dits and dots… 24 hours straight during a battle at places like Iwo Jima. (My father had respect for the Marines!)
My dad blinked and twitched for the rest of his life and was buried with his Navy Honors.

My Grandfather Will was 17 when he enlisted in the Spanish American War in the late 1800’s. He was injured by Gas inhalation in the Philippines. There were no benefits for that kind of injury when he got home from war.
Because he was a good carpenter for the Army, he worked on the grounds of the Vet’s home in Yountville, CA. He was allowed to live in a shack there for the rest of his life. This is where my father was raised and the Cemetary there is where my grandfather is buried.
He used to make the Vet’s caskets. Odd.

During the Vietnam era, I was with my husband at Fort Hood, Texas. We didn’t get to have base housing, and things were pretty dangerous for an interracial couple in 1969. I needed an escort to go to the PX. I was attacked and couldn’t do a thing about it.
The first year of my marriage the military told me not to go to basic training with my husband at Fort Bragg because of the KKK.
So, I went to my parents home and later had our first child like so many military wives, by myself.
My years of living on very little money and other problems wasn’t something that happened at that time to me alone. My story was easy compared to most who were truly suffering.
Military families have always had hard times. Often they must move away from family and friends. They face loneliness, injury, stress and lack of funds.
And the ultimate sacrifice, the loss of a loved one.

Thank you to our Military, Veterans and their Families!

Tea
In 1953 I was ‘5’! Amazing that I was able to drink this tea today!

I rinsed the leaves twice and steeped the tea 30 seconds each steeping in a Gaiwan.

The liquor was light champagne yellow, clear and bright.

The wet leaves had the aroma of wet bamboo, roast meat becoming lighter and sweeter with each steeping.

1. The flavor was very SAVORY! I was surprised at how much flavor there was on this first steeping. I’ve never said that a Pu-erh tastes like bamboo, slightly dry and salty sweet, but this one was. There was a little bit of green bean flavor to it, something unexpected.

2. Now the saltiness was lighter and my tongue tingled. There was some dryness in the front of my mouth with the mix of light green bean and bamboo taste. As the tea cooled it became creamier.

3. The savory quality was softened and the bamboo, sweet grass had smoothed into a ribbon of buttery creaminess that increased as the tea cooled. I could feel the tea coat my lips. The aftertaste became sugar snap pea, fresh off the plant.

I was surprised! How could this 59 year old Pu-erh give off so much flavor?!

I just can’t give anything but the best rating to a tea that has given so much to me. Where has it been? What journey has it been on all these years? And to wind up with me…well, I’m amazed and humbled!

Thank you to my friend! What an honor!

Another unknown blender, I think this was from a small teashop which has since changed management and tea providers! I had been sort of hoarding this, because it is good and I can not find it anymore, but in the spirit of trying to purge the tea collection a bit here goes. Keep in mind this tea is already at least a couple years old, maybe more.

And it´s lovely. Pretty simple, rooibos (feels like a smooth nice one), bits of chopped black chocolate and maybe dried ginger. Some unidentifiable blossoms (ginger?). A very strong taste of ginger, a nice deep chocolate and the melted chocolate adding some texture. A total winner. I am coming to terms with the unlikelihood I will find this again, better enjoy it and wave it goodbye.

From some unknown big blender, seen this mix on several different local teashops, with slightly different spellings.

On the great purge, trying to drink samples and finish teas. This is one of those I still got plenty and wow, it´s not bad enough to throw away and just not good enough for me to have much pleasure in still having so much of it. 50 grams really is the best amount for me to buy tea.

The tea itself is OK. The base is difficult to judge, the chocolate a not particularly strong note, the chillies and pink peppercorns bring it some heat and overpower both the tea and chocolate notes. And not listed anywhere but I would swear there is a coriander (the seeds. Not the fresh plant!) note in the tea. Inspecting the dry tea, some of the “pepper” might indeed be coriander.
In all, a pretty underwhelming flavoured tea.

There are teas so impressive you want to show them off to your friends. But in every tea pantry there’s a baggie of tea that you wouldn’t recommend to other people, but to keep for yourself for those times that all you want is a no-fuss brew and a hot cup at 11 o’ clock, to get yourself ready for lunch. This kind of tea is the latter.

This Tie Guan Yin was a gift from a friend who had worked in Shanghai. It came in a nice flattened cylinder / oval tin, with an image of a goddess/deity (3 guesses who that might be) over a blue green background.

Brewed Western style, thin layer of pellets just enough to cover the bottom of the gaiwan in a single thing layer. Quick rinse, 5s. (In hindsight maybe I shouldn’t have? But rinsing tea is becoming a habit for me now, what with paranoia over pesticides.) Let it sit in the warm gaiwan for half a minute. Then steeped a couple of minutes.

No remarkable smell (there was the Chinese green smell, but I was too lazy to liken it to something poetic. I thought I caught a faint whiff of brownies, or cocoa, but nothing as strong as what I’d get from my Taiwan oolongs). Tea liquid was a pale chartreuse. After the leaves unfurled, there were many whole leaves, but also a few broken pieces. I hate seeing tea bits (torn off leaf portions as large as baby nails). They make me think that it’s not a very good tea.

Taste is as bland as I expected.

Stating this tea tasted earthy would be a huge understatement! I don’t mind though. I’m alone on this one. The rest of the family tasted only a couple times, and is now passing on further tries.

There is a great depth to this tea. I find myself even thinking there is a small amount of grit in the liquid (there isn’t, though). Fermented mulch, definitely mossy, but not a strong fishy taste, was my thoughts while making multiple steepings. There is some kind of foggy swamp aroma that keeps rising from the cup. I don’t mind any of the above mentioned notes. Guess I’m weird like that.

The leaves are midnight colored, the liquid is a light reddish amber. There is a small amount of astringency, if I go past 5-7 seconds on the infusion. The liquid does turn dark very quickly if I let it got to 20 seconds. Looks like I’m going to stop at 8 steepings, and feel that it could have doubled, if not tripled that.

If you are not afraid of tasting through the “dirtiness” of like Shu Pu’erh this can be a nice tea to taste. IF is the key there. :)

A friend sent me a small sample of this, with the description “Indian White.”

It looks like a white peony / bai mu dan – all brittle, flat leaves.

I’m very sad that this is the end of the sample, since I’m on the third steep and still going strong. Really sweet and soft, creamy. It’s almost like sugar snap peas. It sparkles.

Does anyone have any Indian White teas to recommend me? I haven’t tried any outside of this, but I don’t want to let this one go!

My friend who I went to T-buds with swapped with me, and this was one of my prizes! yumm!! thank you G!!
It’s a nice black, a little syrupy but that’s ok it just reminds me of a Congou. Tasted like mango candies.
Off to bed now. I am zonked after spinning class and then an hr walk in the park- phew! zzzz…

Perfect with a bit of sugar. A favorite of mine.

Sipdown! 204/365!

Really no spice left in this tea, though it made a decent cup of drinkable black tea, with no astringency.

I had a quick sip of this before I cream + maple syrup-ed it, and it was actually not bad. Not overly flavourful in terms of spices, but the CTC base had some good malty flavour to it. It was much better with additions though (I had some leftover whipping cream. Yes, that’s what I used. It was great and probably like 5000 calories.)

Thanks for yet another sample Indigobloom!

The dry tea doesn’t have a great deal of aroma, and the aroma once steeped is fairly light and spicy. I would have barely recognized it for a chai, to be honest.

Even after three minutes of steeping, there’s a good bit of astringency (perhaps because it’s ctc?), and the spices aren’t as prominent as I would like. Oddly it does seem a bit creamy to me. I think it needs some milk and sugar to be tasty (although I think they will completely overwhelm the spicing).

Ok, completely forgot about this and it’s cold. I will re-heat and milk/sugar it and perhaps review properly later.

ETA: So I did re-heat and add milk and sugar, and it actually took them fairly well. Quite drinkable that way. So it will definitely get finished. I have to say that’s it’s really nothing special though.

Big thanks to Azzrian for this sample!!
It’s tasty. Not exactly berry-like, but it goes down smooth and has a general fruity quality to it. Perhaps the raspberry would emerge as it got cold… if I ever let it get cold that is! Fruity green teas, I don’t crave them often but when I do, nothing else will suffice!
I’ve been spring cleaning today, and finally dug up the half of my tea collection that was packed away while we had visitors eons ago, and then wasn’t able to reach until today.
Then after that… Things were so hectic that the place got messy and we had no time to tidy up. It feels SO good to have finally get some of that done. Oh there is plenty more, but we now have some breathing room. Whew!
Anyhow, I really enjoyed this. It was a much needed break from our Big Purge. Thanks again Azzrian :)

EMPTY THAT B…eh, you know the drill at this point. I’m emptying the sample box and in general trying to drink the stash down. All the way down. Ish.

Therefore I have recently placed another Le Palais des Thes order. :D This one is just a stocking up on some favourites, though. The boyfriend has fallen head over heels for the Tigger Tea and had asked me a few times if I had ordered more yet as the pouch is close to empty. I hadn’t because technically I’m not allowed to buy anything until after the wedding. Plus, the whole drinking down thing. But I caved and got him some more Tigger, and while I was at it stocked up on the four red fruits, foret noir and toffee as well. The toffee is nearly gone too, and I’m not quite finished with that one yet. Only got one new thing and that was a rooibos in the spirit of flavoured rooibos exploration, so I thought that almost didn’t count.

Anyway, this doesn’t mean that we’re not still going to make some drastic reductions here.

So. This one came from Spoonvonstrup as well. It almost looks like a theme, but that’s because that package contained primarily black teas, and I’m just in a black tea sort of mood at the moment. Also, those are the easiest ones to drink for me, as it’s my preferred type.

The aroma is really nice. It’s grainy and cocoa-y and rather sweet. I don’t know squat about this tea, but it smells kind of Fujian-y. Now, that’s quite promising, indeed. There’s also something vaguely red berry-y about this aroma. I’m put in mind of currants and not too sweet cherries when I smell this, but it’s ever so vague.

Now, that was an odd flavour. Hmm. Strange. Unexpected. Kind of straw-like without being Yunnan-y. That’s new! It tastes brightly orange, this one, as in the colour, not the fruit. I think it’s that almost-straw that does it along with a touch of something a bit wood-y.

On closer inspection, I find a lot of that cocoa note in the flavour as well as a lot of grain. In spite of the above mysteriousness, it has totally retained that Fujian-ness in the flavour. That, in this case, isn’t particularly interesting though.

(!)

I know; I said it.

(!!!)

Yeah, I’m shocked too, Steepsterites.

But really, the intersting thing about this flavour in this particular tea, apart from having a lot of nommy Fujian-ness, is that note of red berry from the aroma. It’s still here! It’s tart and juicy and juuuuust underneath everything else. I think it’s more currrants than anything else at this point, though, but I’m totally associating it with biting a juicy berry.

Now Spoonvonstrup, if you can weigh in with an origin confirmation on this one, I should be grateful. Fujian or thereabouts is my immediate guess.

EMPTY THAT BOX!

Here’s another one from Spoonvonstrup. Presumably this is also a type of Lapsang Souchong, because when I looked the name up in the Steepster database, lots of LS suggestions came up.

Now, this one also smells a little Yunnan-y, like those last two samples of JJM, but it’s not as strong in this one. There is the honey-y note to it and quite a fair bit of grain, but I’m not finding more than a smattering of the hay-y note. It’s that hay in particular that I tend to find less interesting in Yunnans. It does have a bit of a cocoa-y note to it, though, which reminds me of those black tea pearls.

As for the flavour, it’s a bit like that JJM from yesterday. It’s got a two-step flavour profile with first something extremely milky tasting and then pepper-y, smoky notes showing up later. This one is less of a punch in the face though, the second step flavours gradually taking over the first step. I like that.

It also still isn’t exhibiting any of that very Yunnan-y hay-y notes. A little bit perhaps, but not to any large degree at all. What is there of it, I find to be a tolerable level as it isn’t overshadowing everything else. As long as it’s not the primary flavour, I can deal with it. Unfortunately with Yunnans, it does tend to be the primary flavour more often than not.

The aroma also spoke of grain and a smidge of cocoa, and while I do find some grain in this, I can’t locate any of the cocoa. Oh well. I think for my particular tastes, grain would be more important anyway. I consider cocoa to be more of a top note and I really like it when a black tea has a good substatial grainy element to it.

All in all, I’m finding this one quite enjoyable!

Post lunch, sipping this divine, simple fragrant and subtle white tea – while working on the book I am writing ( listening to some Jazz ! Wynton Kelly trio) – ain’t this what life is all about ? :-)

Back to my starting point among my new but rapidly growing collection of teas – love the mild floral fragrance. very calming !

I loooved this white tea ( being an absolute tea and definitely white tea novice !) – I felt it to be very gentle – the way I love it ! I am so glad I bought it :-)

Mmmmmm Yummy! This is JUST what I needed!
Sweet, Buttery, Nutty, Vegetal.
Strange – it gets a little bitter as it cools – gotta drink it HOT!
:)
I may have over steeped this a little too though – I forgot to set my timer in all the chaos of the storms. I was trying to just average it.
Still this is a nice one. I would probably add it to my wish list if I knew where it was from.
Thank you Indigobloom – this was a winner!

Thank you so much to Azzrian for the sample!! love it!
The flavours in this one are unique. I’m not sure what the base is, but I taste alot of roastedness. Maybe even a Brazilian tea sortof note. Earthy like. It’s pleasant, but a little biting as well.
I am getting some banana, underneath that. I do like banana. Yum!! but I can’t seem to find the strawberry, even with sugar, and some milk.
There is a hint of something fruity beyond banana, but whether that is strawberry or not I can’t say.
Bah, it’s tasty nonetheless. Thanks again Azzrian!

This is possibly the most expensive pot of rose bud tea ever. I’m at a cafe in the Beijing airport (Cafe Sambal, to be specific), and while I wasn’t shocked that my food was way overpriced, especially by Beijing standards, their profit margins must be the highest on tea. A pot of rose tea is close to $30, and that’s one of the “cheap” teas! Heaven forbid I want a pot of tieguanyin or something. It’s a pretty decently sized pot, but it doesn’t come close to $30 of herbal tea. But having not had the greatest of days so far, I said F it, I want some F-ing rose tea.

I’m realizing that I’ve never actually had just straight rose buds tea. I bought those rose buds at the beginning of my trip that I used to mix with the tieguanyin I bought, but I never drank them on their own. Rose buds as an herbal infusion really taste so different than, say, a rose black. They’re unsurprisingly much closer to the flavor of a white tea with rose, which usually is just literally white tea and rosebuds. This is reminding me a bit of the Meditative Mind blend from the Tea Spot, which is a white tea with rosebuds along with some jasmine pearls. But you never steep white tea for very long (at least I don’t), so it’s been interesting to see how this pot has progressed as it has steeped from my first cup, after steeping a short time, to my final cup, after it has steeped for at least half and hour. I mean, basically all the flavors stayed very similar, but they just intensified incredibly. At first it was lightly rosey, a bit vegetal, a tad earthy, slightly hay-ish (all those descriptors make me understand why rose buds go well with puerh). Of those, the rose and hay come out most, but then there’s a lovely, surprising sweetness.

Well, they just refilled my pot with hot water, so at least I’m getting closer to my money’s worth. I wonder how long rose buds last in infusion? I guess I’ll be finding out this afternoon!