Dinosara

Sipdown, 241. Thanks to Nina’s Paris for this sample! Rose is of course one of my favorites, so Versailles Rose was an immediate selection. Plus grapefruit sounded like an interesting combo!

Well it seems like you can count Nina’s among the Parisian teas that I really enjoy. First off, delicious black base. Malty, nutty, with a hint of honey. Based on reading reviews of their other teas, it seems like this one has a much subtler flavoring. The grapefruit is light, just adding a slight citrusy note to the tea, and the rose is also very subtle, coming across as lightly herby-floral. I probably could have used more of those flavors here, but the base tea is quite delicious so it doesn’t matter as much to me. Looking forward to trying my other samples!

Paris! My parents are planning a vacation there, so I have been giving them tips and such. Just so happens I brought some sachets of this home with me too. It has been a long time since I’ve had this tea, and when I opened the pouch the sachet was so strong and delicious smelling it made my mouth water.

MMMMM man I forgot how much I love this tea. Red fruits, caramel and bergamot, some of my favorites. This tea really is love in a cup.

Sipdown, 242. I randomly picked up a sachet of this at a hotel or conference once, and I have had it in my stash since. I brought it home with me this weekend because my parents don’t have a good tea set up so I brought sachets.

This also means that the water is less than optimal, but I don’t think that it is the reason that this tea is both mostly tasteless and also bitter. Not just tannic black tea bitter, but the taste of poorly deployed, bitter bergamot. No wonder so many people dislike Earl Greys, when they are always exposed to examples like this. With sugar and a splash of half and half it is ok drinkable, but I’m glad I never bought a box of these a the grocery.

Sipdown, 243 (back log). Those of you who have taken notice of my tea numbers will notice that this is a sipdown but my tea numbers have gone up by three! Well I got Nina’s samples and a swap in the mail, so my total number has once again risen.

I may have over-leafed my travel mug a touch, as this was a tiny bit bitter, but holy crap did it smell intensely like cinnamon brownies. The hint of bitterness made the overall sip taste like unsweetened chocolate, like you were making brownies and forgot the sugar. I bet brewed strong like this, with the addition of sugar, this would be so decadent.

Sipdown, 240. I sneakily got rid of a partial sample that was not worth saving, so I dropped one more tea in the interim. This is an old sample and probably not enough leaf for the cup, but I am steeping it longer to make up for it.

Hmm, not the black tea for me this morning. Floral, definitely, which usually would be a good thing for me but they are just not working for me here. Almost perfumy. There are aspects that I do enjoy, like it seems to have a hint of chocolate under everything, and toward the end of the sip it seems to meld and form a pleasant taste, but at the beginning those perfume notes are so strong that it puts me off it a bit.

Sipdown, 242. After that last cup I still needed a black tea, because it’s freaking early, but I wanted one that wasn’t going to totally kick my ass (and my stomach). Decided to sipdown this one… aww, two of my Dammann teas have been sipped down now. Makes me want that order even more now! I officially have 5 large tins empty now, but I’ll have to see what kind of damage I do at Lupicia in San Fransicso next week.

Mmm, nutty chocolate, with a hint of orange. And I am appreciating my filtered water again because it is apparently certain teas taste sweet on their own… who would have thought?? This one is like dessert for breakfast. Yum!

Sipdown, 243. This is another sample from Majani that I have thanks to Kasumi no Chajin!

After my experience with the Thabiti black (it was a bit too robust for my tastes), I steeped this one cooler and shorter. Still, the steeped tea smells strong and full-bodied. Woof, this is strong! Too strong and bitter for me. This needs milk and sugar (and many Kenyan teas are basically designed to be taken with milk and sugar), but I unfortunately have none. This type of tea is really not my type, although it is likely a good example of it’s type. Glad to try it out, though.

More rose! So currently I have a couple of rose Earl Greys, but actually none that really are really exactly what I want. Bergamot Rose Laoshan Black is of course delicious, but the Bergamot is very light on that one so it doesn’t come across as an Earl. I have the new Scarlet & Grey from my local tea shop, but it’s not powerful enough with either flavor. An then there’s this one. This one never quite worked out the way I’d hoped, and it continues to do so. I just want more bergamot and more rose from it. Still, it’s a decently tasty tea and I enjoy the base way more than I did when I first got it.

Really, the solution to my rose Earl Grey deficit is to purchase some Rosy Earl Grey from Teas etc, which is my favorite of the type. Perhaps one day!

Almonds and rose, some of my favorite flavors, ever. And they go together so well! I think there should be more blends of those flavors.

I think my original stash of this is aging just a touch, because it’s not as almondy or rosy as I remember. However! It was so much of those things originally that this still has a lot of flavor.

Rosy tea No. 3. It’s been forever since I’ve had this tea! And damn, I forgot to start my timer. Ah well, it’s still tasty.

Creamy coconut, almond and vanilla, with a hit of rose. Yum! Sure, it’s maybe a bit oversteeped, but not by much is combo is delicious and I am glad that it seems to be part of Harney’s permanent stash.

Heeey, sipdown and rose tea! 244 (I discovered somhow steepster removed a Verdant tea from my cupboard that should have been there, so my number didn’t drop this time). This is a sample thanks to Kasumi no Chajin!

You see a lot of rose blacks, and a good amount of rose whites, but not a lot of rose greens, so I was interested in trying this one. This tea has possibly a higher rose petal to leaf ratio than any I’ve ever seen! It basically looks just like the picture. The steeped tea is darker than I expected (almost brown) and is less rosy smelling than expected. It’s certainly got some green floral notes, but not a thick, rich rose. It’s a fresh, grassy rose.

This is definitely a light floral tea, and thus possibly a good option for people who find rose perfumy. This isn’t perfumy at all, and the green tea has some light buttery notes as well as the green vegetal notes that are the main notes. For me, I want more rose, because I always want more rose (except in cases where there cannot possibly be more rose, see: Harney’s Rose Scented). But this is a really nice tea nonetheless.

I am taking a break from sipping down to do what I did last Valentine’s Day, which is to survey all of my rose-flavored teas. I have a lot!

I finally remembered to bring in my brita filter to the office for tea. And boy, what a difference it makes! This tea is almost sweet now! Lovely, strong, sweet rose flavor. This tea is roses in a cup, and a perfect valentines day treat.

Not a sipdown, oh well. I got this one in a swap with Tea Sipper, thanks!

I like lemon and ginger, so I have high hopes for this one. And it totally delivers! This could be my perfect sick-tea… I often want lemon and ginger when not feeling well, and this is great. Sweet, lemony, gingery without being “hot” or too spicy. I think I could steep it longer and still be very happy, or possibly happier, with even more gingery lemon flavor. This is the kind of herbal tisane I can get behind,

Sipdown, 244. I am sipping down this and another fruity rooibos that I got in a swap, although I no longer remember exactly from whom. Seems like it could have been an envelope from TeaEqualsBliss? In any case, thanks who ever sent it.

I am coming to the conclusion that fruity rooibos is not for me. Generically tart fruity? Check. Smells like cough medicine? Check. Oh well, I know what to avoid, now.

Sipdown, 246. This sample comes to me thanks to Kasumi no Chajin! I am reviewing the bagged version of this tea, which is no longer available; it is only sold loose now.

Funny how the name of a tea company can influence your perception. For some reason I thought the name of this tea company was Zhena’s Gypsy Chai, no doubt from the preponderance of chais in their catalog. So I immediately assumed that this was a chai until I looked it up and saw that no, it was actually a white tea with mint and rose. I am not usually one for minty teas, but I am game to try most things.

Well this is certainly minty, and I imagine that if you were in to that type of thing that this would be really up your alley. I was disappointed that I couldn’t really taste the rose at all in my cup. It was pleasant enough, but definitely not something I would go back to.

Sipdown, 247. I could have sworn that I tried this tea before, but apparently not. Apparently I was thinking of Salted Caramel, for some reason. This sample comes from a swap I did a while ago with Faith. Thanks!

A blend of black tea and white tea seems challenging to steep, temperature-wise, but I did as I usually do and went for a mid-temp. It seems like everyone steeps this one for 4 minutes or more, but I could not bring myself to do that. The aroma is… odd. Not bad odd, just hard to place odd. Coconut, ok. A hint of burnt-sugar caramel. A hint of apple-y chamomile? Taste is iiiinteresting. Definitely toasted coconut, and maybe I can kind of see chocolate but I don’t really taste it very strongly. I don’t really know what to make of this one! There is also a bitterness that is more coffee-like than tea-like, and it has the sensation of coffee, though not really the flavor. I’m not a fan of coffee, so that aspect isn’t my favorite. But all in all it’s a pretty decent cup.

Sipdown, 248. This one comes to me thanks to Tea Sipper!

I have been a bit curious about Teavana’s Earl Grey and variants thereof, but never enough to actually seek them out. But Tea Sipper included a sample of this, so I get to try it.

My first impression immediately after it was finished steeping was that of cleaning solution. Uh oh. There is just something about the bergamot that seems off. I feared Bitter Bergamot Syndrome in the taste of this one, but actually it turned out alright. I mean, it’s not terrible, but it’s not really good, either. Despite the fact I used slightly more leaf than I normally would for this cup, the flavor is kind of bland. The cream is nice in the aftertaste but not great in the main sip. The bergamot is kind of meh and more typical of mediocre Earl Greys, not fruity and citrusy and lovely. All in all, not a bad cup, but not one that I will look for again.

Sipdown, 248. I put all my single-serving-left teas in one box this morning, so I can finish them off quickly and feel extra good about stash reduction. As it is, this quantification is making me feel pretty good. More than 10 teas in less than a week, yay!

I am extra tired this morning and could really use a boost. This tea seemed like just the ticket! And it is extra delicious today. Citrusy and sweet and very creamy. Sometime after I have stash-reduced more, I will certainly make an order for more of this tea. It is nice to have something besides strong blacks in the morning that I know will wake me up.

Sipdown, and swap-down. 249! I’ve swapped a bunch of samples away, plus I am sipping down this one that is actually two. I had a tiny bit of Winter Palace Marzipan from a local tea shop in Port Jefferson, NY, and some of this, which I got in a swap from Sare (thanks!). I think they are the same blend, and this pot was mostly this tea, so it’s getting logged here. I also put a lot of rooibos in the pot because these samples are both fairly old, and it’s hard to oversteep rooibos.

Mmmmmmarzipanny! The fruityness that rooibos often provides is interpreted here as apricot, which of course always works well with almond. I can definitely taste the coconut in this one as well, which lends a creamy quality to it that is nice. This is a nice evening tea, and I think that roobois is best with nutty flavors like almond. Glad to have this one this evening.

This is a big sample, and it’s getting up there in age, especially for a white tea. I really need to drink it down!

I put a big pile of this in my gongfu teapot and steeped it for somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds. Not a lot of precision here, but the result is quite lovely. Sweet, honeysuckle-y jasmine, yum. My second cup is not my favorite… I think the white tea is overtaking the jasmine, somehow, and I think I prefer a green base (rather, a pearl base) for jasmines overall. But still a delicious jasmine tea.

I was so super psyched to see this tea in the Verdant Reserve Club box this month. Laoshan Black is one of my all-time favorite teas, so a super-special version of it? Awesome. I wanted to try it right away but I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to get to it until today. An I certainly wanted to make sure I had the time to savor and appreciate it. I am steeping this gong-fu today.

The dry leaf is beautiful, and smells like chocolate and toasted caramel. This being so limited, there is not much of it, so I intend to savor every drop. Thus, I am certainly drinking my rinse. And what a rinse! It is very pale golden in color, but so flavorful already. Incredibly sweet, with a flavor that reminds me a bit of roasted, honeyed, cocoa-dusted nuts.

My second steep (only 5 seconds) is considerably darker, a lovely amber color. It is out of this world. It smells kind of like cayenne chocolate, or at least chocolate with a little spice, and caramel. There is still a lot of sweetness, and now there is some rich graininess and molasses notes along with the chocolate.

Third steep smells even more like spicy chocolate, but this time it smells like spicy milk chocolate instead of spicy dark. Interesting because there is no hint of spice to the flavor, but for whatever reason my mind thinks “spice” at that aroma. This steep is where the chocolate is at. I mentioned it before but in the previous steeps it’s just been flirting around the edges, never taking the main stage. But here it is, in this steep!

I just realized that I am brewing this weaker than suggested (I used only 4g in my 6oz teapot), but I wanted to stretch my leaf. It is still amazing!

After many subsequent steeps, I think I have tapped them out. I totally lost track of how many I got, but it was almost more than I could hold. :D In a related note, perhaps I am getting better at this whole gongfu thing.

This tea is amazing and it makes me sad that this one small ounce-ish is all that I will have of it.

Steepster, you are killing me this afternoon! You only load like every other page.

Anyway, sipdown, 261. This is a sample thanks to Kasumi no Chajin!

I continue to be enthralled by these Kenyan teas. A Kenyan green is particularly interesting because almost all the tea you see coming out of there is black. Steeped up, this tea definitely smelled buttery and nutty, with a bit of grassiness to it as well (but not too much). The flavor was initially lackluster but it built on my palate as I drank it and is now pretty delicious. I particularly like the aftertaste of lilacs… the tea itself is not floral at all, but then a few moments after swallowing the sensation of lilacs fills my mouth and nose. Delightful. Not sure that I would rebuy this one based soley on this tasting, but it is very pleasant and a lovely tea to drink.

Sipdown: 262

The last time I had this one I brewed it at the recommended time/temp, but was wanting more flavor so I decided this time I would go hotter/shorter. Not sure that entirely worked for me, as now it is edging on bitter. Not quite at that point, but maybe I went too hot this time. Ah well. In the end, I’m still not really a fan of dark oolongs, but I do like trying well-rated ones occasionally just in case my tastes have changed.

Sipdown: 263. Since a good number of those are samples, I’m hoping to get down to 200 in a relatively short period of time. I’m taking a trip to San Francisco in about a week, and will definitely be going by the Lupicia store there, so I want to feel ok about stocking up on tea then!

This one was nice and pumpkiny and spicy today, and I will definitely miss it. I might have to restock it next fall!