JoonSusanna

This is the last of the samples I bought from thepuriTea during their Cyber Monday sale.

Preparation notes: I prepared about 6 grams of leaf in 500 ml. water at the below parameters in my Breville. No additives were used.

Dry leaf: The dry leaf consisted of very small tightly rolled dark green balls. The scent was lightly vegetal and floral. It could be that my palate just isn’t sophisticated enough, but I don’t sense anything that separates it from other green oolongs that I’ve tried.

Steeped tea: The steeped tea is a light golden yellow color. The dominant scent of the liquor is floral – slightly honeyed floral.

Unfortunately I think the taste falls short. It’s not bitter or astringent, but the mouthfeel and taste are thin and watery, and even when it cools I get nothing more than light floral notes.

Steeping parameters from the website recommended 1 or 2 grams of tea per 8 oz. cup, and I did 3 grams, but it still seems weak. And seriously, if I have to use more than this amount of leaf each cup it would get really expensive really fast.

It was drinkable but not something I’ll be seeking out in the future.

Free sample generously provided to me by Teavivre. Thanks so much!

Preparation notes: 2 of the 4 enclosed tuo cha in 500 ml. water in my Breville at the below parameters.

Dry leaf: My only other run in with pu erh tea was with a Teavana blend roughly a year ago. It was a fruit blend, and in loose leaf form, not a cake, so I guess you could say this is my first authentic pu erh experience.

The tuo cha are small – maybe the size of a quarter, or slightly larger. The immediate scent that came to mind was fishy, which my boyfriend interpreted as food pellets. There were also notes of dirt. Very organic smelling.

Steeped tea: I opted toward the later steeping time with this one, and though it isn’t bitter, I’m thinking I might have gone a little strong and would probably dial it back next time. This brewed up a dark brown to black color which totally shocked me, even though it had been noted by others. I guess I just didn’t think it would be possible to get so dark despite the short steep time.

The predominant smell from the steeped tea is that of the hamster food pellets my boyfriend smelled initially. The fishy smell is displaced more toward the background, with hay and dirt taking the center stage. It smells a touch sour, too.

Surprisingly, given how dark it is, it doesn’t taste astringent or bitter. Just…strong, with a full mouthfeel. It seems like a midway point between black tea and coffee. The taste itself does have some earth on the swallow, otherwise, think a very strong black tea, with the accompanying maltiness and smoothness that it has when steeped properly, and you will have an accurate picture of what this tastes like as well.

I understand why people say that pu erh is an acquired taste. In my case the taste wasn’t the issue – it was the smell I’ll have to get used to. After my experience with Teavana I had written this type of tea off completely, but it turns that I may actually like them after all. I think further exploration is in order!

Some days, especially days that start with cold mornings, you want a stout black tea to convince you to get (and stay) out of bed.

I’ve found that this one will always do the trick. Especially if milk and sugar are involved.

Free sample generously provided to me by Teavivre. Thanks so much! From what I’ve tried of oolongs so far, my favorites are the milk oolong and dan cong varietals – so I was really excited to give this tea a try!

Preparation notes: 2 of the 4 enclosed red packets in 500 ml. water in my Breville at the below parameters.

Dry leaf: The dry leaf is typical of milk oolongs I’ve seen – small, tightly rolled dark green leaves that give off a grassy smell with a slight creamy hint.

Steeped tea: The steeped liquor is a greenish yellow with a predominantly creamy scent and underlying grass notes. A slight floral aroma seems to become more evident as it cools.

The tea itself is quite smooth – I don’t pick up on any bitterness. I feel like I’m getting hints of milk or caramel towards the beginning of the sip before it fades into more of a green, buttery taste (with some floral accents) typical of a ti kwan yin. Towards the end of the cup I did notice that it seemed to be drying out my mouth, but this wasn’t unpleasant, just something I picked up on.

This is yet another solid offering from Teavivre – while it’s not my favorite milk oolong, it is still very good and an affordable option for what can be a pricey tea.

This tea smelled so good in the tin this morning that I decided to have honeybush for breakfast (even though I’m a caffeine addict). 3 tsp. leaf, 500 ml. water, in my Breville at below parameters. Added milk and sugar because that’s what I like with my breakfast.

Unfortunately, I think I over sweetened it, or my tongue has been desensitized to the flavor too easily, because right now it tastes mostly like icing. Cinnamon infused icing. If I take my time between sips a hint of breadiness sneaks back in, but mostly the sweet is overpowering. The mouthfeel is a little thin too, strangely, because I’ve added milk so you wouldn’t think that’d be a problem.

I think I liked it better when I had it iced because it had more of a well rounded flavor. I will likely use the rest of the leaf this way, and save my coconut cream pie/coconut cheesecake honeybush to be made hot.

Happy new year everyone!!!

Free sample generously provided to me by Teavivre. Thanks so much!

Preparation notes: 3 heaping tsp. leaf to 500 ml. water steeped in my Breville at the below parameters.

Dry leaf: Thin dark green leaves – they remind me of dried blades of grass. The smell of the leaf is initially a kind of grassy smell that is quickly overtaken by smoke – cigarette smoke, to be specific. It reminds me of the Keemun I once tried (and really didn’t like) from Upton. I’m hoping this doesn’t carry over into the taste.

Steeped tea: The liquor is a light, bright green. Luckily that smoky scent is completely gone in the tea itself, replaced by a strong spinach aroma – it is very reminiscent of sencha to me which is a huge plus because I love sencha!

The taste of the tea is quite spinachy and sweet. There seems to be a slight astringent note in the taste as well, coming out more as the tea cools. It is sencha-like, but not as smooth a tea as the sencha can be.

Still, I love green teas, and this is no exception. It’s one of the more vegetal greens, so if that’s your thing, you will definitely love it!

Prepared my usual way.

When you add milk and sugar to this it really pops – coconut, cream and black tea in perfect balance. A perfectly decadent tea to enjoy on this last morning of the year.

Free sample generously provided to me by Teavivre. Thanks so much!

Preparation notes: 5 heaping tsp. leaf to 500 ml. water in the Breville (side note: my beloved Brevi is 1 year old today!!) at the below parameters. No additives needed. I want to add here that one of my favorite things about the Teavivre samples are that the steeping parameters provided are bang on – a huge help to someone like me who just isn’t familiar/confident with the lighter teas.

Dry leaf: Fluffy white long skinny leaves – they are so soft and fuzzy! There is a very evident note of hay or grains in the smell.

Steeped tea: The tea brews up almost colorless – that’s how pale yellow it is. There is a faint aroma of hay or grass, which matches the taste. The sweet hay notes come out more as it cools.

This is a very quiet and soft tea – the way it tastes reminds me of watching a snowfall at night. Very refreshing and clean.

In general I am just learning about white teas and their flavor profiles, but I think I’ve established that their main taste characteristic is that of hay or straw. This is the second white I’ve tried from Teavivre, and it is so far my favorite of any that I’ve tried. I like how straightforward it is – sometimes you just want a tea to drink and appreciate without having to overthink it, and this is definitely in that category.

Free sample generously provided to me by Teavivre. Thanks so much!

Preparation notes: 3 heaping tsp. leaf to 500 ml. water in Breville. No additives.

Dry leaf: Dark dullish green, gnarled and twisted, fluffy looking (kind of reminded me of a white tea. Scents of grain/bread, but also a musty note that I found kind of off putting.

Steeped tea: The liquor appears faintly yellow/green tinged. Very light, but not surprising given a short steeping time.

Still a musty smell, though fainter, and less offensive to my nose – it has become a grassier mustiness. I agree with the Cheerios description – think Cheerios infused green tea. It has a slight musty taste that fades as the tea cools.

This is not a particularly vegetal green tea, in fact it seems to me to almost be a hybrid between white and green teas. It has that wonderful grainy mouthfeel and yet a grassy taste. I like greens in general, and this one in particular speaks to how versatile they can be.

This was day 10 (I think?) of the 12 teas of Christmas sampler from 52teas – I am finally getting around to trying both this one and the one from day 12 – both of which were the only new ones (to me) of the last half of the box. This particular sample was the only one of the 12 that had an improperly sealed bottom, but I was able to collect it and still have enough for two full cups, so it ended up okay!

Anyway – steeped one heaping tsp. of this in about 7 oz water at below parameters. The dry leaf was very ground up – I used a paper tea filter instead of my Breville because I remember someone saying how it easily got through the mesh basket, and I didn’t want to have a huge mess on my hands. It smelled quite spicy – no hints of vanilla and caramel, though.

Once steeped, I added milk (probably about 2 oz) and sugar because that’s how I like my chais prepared. Taste-wise, I think the overall spiciness of the chai was kind of weak – it didn’t have as much bite as I wanted. However, I did get a touch of vanilla and buttery caramel, which I suspect the milk and sugar were instrumental in bringing out. I didn’t notice any underlying astringency with the black tea base, but I didn’t try it sans additives so that could be why.

Overall, I think it is a nice, though mild chai. More for people who like the idea of vanilla and caramel tea with a hint of spice, rather than the other way around – but more than a welcome addition to my tea cabinet during this cold weather!

I need a detox soooo bad after this past weekend and the scandalous amount of chocolate and decadent food I ate. Luckily, I had this in my cupboard.

I really like the light, vegetal quality of this – makes me feel a little bit healthier (even though I know it’s a placebo effect) after drinking it. It hit the spot tonight for sure.

Backlogging 2 cups from the Christmas weekend – this tea was made for the holidays. :)

One thing I’ve learned from this past weekend is that I can leave the sachet in for the length of the cup and it doesn’t get bitter. I think this will become my go to travel tea because of the flexibility and portability of it. It is lovely!

So I skipped a couple of days of the Christmas sampler mostly because I’d had those teas before, and been busy working at some semblance of a job during the day. This is the first tea (since day 4) that I have not had before, and it seemed to sound better to me as an iced tea, so I brewed it and let it cool to try it that way. I just couldn’t imagine flat, hot ginger ale!

I definitely got the bergamot and some of the ginger, though the ginger didn’t have an overwhelming amount of bite to it. I also got some vanilla, strangely enough – I wonder if that’s the bergamot? To me the flavors didn’t resemble ginger ale at all as I know it – though maybe that’s the carbonation I’m missing?

Eh, it’s not bad – I just don’t see myself wanting to reach for it at any specific time. I think of ginger ale as more of a sick drink, so maybe that’s why I’ve had such a lukewarm response to this.

Backlogging two cups from last night, in hot chocolate form.

This really is amazing as hot chocolate; it kind of reminds me of nutella if I’m honest – nutty dark chocolate. I shouldn’t have had it mostly because it had a lot of dairy and I’m fighting a cold (dairy and colds don’t mix!), but oh, at the time it was SO. WORTH. IT.

Finally got around to trying this iced.

This was VERY fruity. I lost the tea flavor, really (probably my fault because I sweetened it), but creamy sherbet was there in spades – really it tasted like I was drinking melted sherbet! I think I would have liked it better if I’d gone lighter on the sugar. While it was good – it just isn’t something you can pair with food. Since I prefer my iced teas to be with meals, it probably won’t be something I get more of.

But man, if you like just sipping on the occasional glass of iced tea sans accompaniment, you will LOVE this come summer!

Using up the last of my Upton sample this morning with breakfast – 3 tsp. (a little over) to 500 (-ish, this was also a little over) ml. water at below parameters.

The last time I tried this I used boiling water and a longer steep time and got…black tea. Kind of flat in the sense that there was nothing else there – none of the typical darjeeling extras, so to speak. Several people offered steeping recommendations so I thought I may as well try them to see if the tea could be improved upon.

The tea this time is significantly more complex. There is astringency in the taste (mildly pleasant) and a more layered scent and taste (there’s the muscatel/grape-ish note!). It’s quite earthy and that is the most dominant feature of the tea by far, but it’s not the only thing I’m getting, like last time.

The only thing I would change now is to back off even a little more on steep time – 2:30 would likely ease off on the astringency that much more. I don’t know that there will be a next time, however – there are plenty more darjeelings to try.

I’m open to suggestions if anyone has them!

Backlogging from this morning – this finished off the last of my sample included in the 12 teas of Christmas.

I really do like this tea – it was a nice decadent breakfast tea that helped me come to terms with the fact that the weekend was over. I will definitely be getting more of this; it’s my favorite of the Christmas sampler from 52teas so far.

So…. um, flowers.

They really aren’t my thing. But I got this sample free with my thepuriTea order so I figured I had nothing to lose by giving it a shot. Steeped the entire sample in 500 ml. water at the below parameters.

The smell and taste of the leaf was predictably jasmine, and really it wasn’t bad. I drank it unaltered and though it was a bit perfumy, I found it drinkable. It just isn’t to my tastes because I’m not a floral person. I do think it was equal parts jasmine and tea, so if you are someone who likes this type of tea, you would enjoy it.

A perfect tea for a weekend breakfast – and one of my standby morning teas.

1 tsp. per 8 oz. always produces a strong cup that stands up well to milk and sugar. Yum!

I am a little late getting to the 4th tea of Christmas – it’s been a long day.

When I opened the packet and asked the boyfriend if he wanted tea, I assumed that he for sure would not want to try this (see: he hates flavored anything). But he sniffed this and said “Whoa. WHOA.” which was amazing in and of itself. So I used the whole sample in 750 ml. water in the Breville at the below parameters, since that would be enough to allow both of us to try it hot and leave some for me to make iced.

The tea when hot is insane, in a very good way! It tastes just like sherbet – I get the raspberry and orange the most, with a hint of lime. The black tea was a little astringent without sweetener, but the astringence seemed to bring out the creaminess of the vanilla, so that ended up being a positive. And the aftertaste is the most impressive – it’s kind of a head trip because you feel like you’ve just taken a bite of sherbet but don’t have the accompanying cold sensation that goes with it.

I ended up adding a little bit of sugar to really make the sherbet stand out and take away from some of the astringent flavor, but really it works well sweetened or not. I’ve put the remainder in the refrigerator to see what happens when it becomes iced, but I will be seriously amazed if it manages to surpass the wonderfulness that it is hot.

This is some REALLY good stuff!

I am batting 1000 with this sampler set – so far all three teas have been ones I have not tried yet. I remember that I desperately wanted this one over the summer, so I’m prepping the whole sample and will have half iced and half hot to see which method I like better. If it ends up being iced – well, I may have to buy some for summer before it runs out. I’m a sucker for iced fruity teas.

About 3 tsp. (a little over that I think) to 750 ml. in the Breville at the below parameters. First, a word about the leaf – when I opened the pouch and sniffed I immediately was able to guess what blend it was – the strawberry and lemon scent is heavenly. The leaves were small and kind of broken up but that happens when you’re trying to stuff lots of packets into a box, I expect! The liquor, once steeped, is a lightish yellow, typical for a white tea. I was wondering if strawberry in the blend would lead to a reddish tinge but I can now unequivocally say that it does not.

When I poured the tea into the cup I got a whiff of the lemon – it wasn’t a tart lemonade-ish lemon – it actually reminded more of a lemon I would drink when I was sick, which is not the most pleasant smell memory. After it sat for a minute or two the scent of strawberry (very light) began to creep in. Still that lemon predominates. The taste on this is much like the smell – lemon with a touch of strawberry, with the strawberry coming out more as it cooled. I tried sweetening the tea while hot and mostly just got a lemon sweet drink – so I decided to refrigerate it and wait a bit to see what happened then.

When iced there is a much better balance between strawberry and lemon – it’s much more palatable this way! But, with that said, I don’t quite know that I love it….I wish there was more of a tartness to the lemon to make it seem more like the lemonade part of the name. Still, it’s good, and I’m glad I got to try it, in any case!

Day 2 of the 12 teas of Christmas…

Woohoo! This was another tea that I hadn’t tried yet! Steeped 2 tsp. tea in 500 ml. water in the Breville at below parameters.

Playing my “guess what it is before you look game” once again had me stumped; and this time the smell wasn’t remotely familiar so I at least knew I would be getting a blend I hadn’t had before. Once I knew what it was, the chocolate and caramel scents were more evident. At first it actually didn’t smell very good, but once I was aware of what I was smelling it became much more pleasant – and mouthwatering!

When drinking with additives, this did the same thing that the pancake breakfast tea does – it starts out tasting just like what it’s supposed to be, but then fades into just the tea taste. Luckily, just like the pancake breakfast tea, adding in milk and sugar brings the flavors back out, and then some. This is definitely like drinking a liquid chocolate turtle! The caramel and chocolate are equally present, with nutty notes from the cashew taking on more of a background note. The black tea is definitely there too, bringing out more of a dark chocolate taste than there would be otherwise. This is so decadent!

I will have to get more of this one – it ranks up there as one of my favorite 52teas blends for sure!

Made this into a hot chocolate per boyfriends request since he adores mint. I drank it because it duh, it had chocolate and sugar in it, but the mint kind of ruined it for me – I just don’t like the flavor combination (it’s because I could take or leave the mint itself, I think).

But the boyfriend definitely liked it. He said he would have preferred peppermint, if we had it, but as it was, he practically slurped it down. :)

Day 1 of the 12 teas of Christmas…

SURPRISE! Wasn’t expecting this! And then I looked up the date it was made and realized it was from November 2010 (but after the 2010 12 Teas of Christmas had already been finalized) I was hoping Frank would do it this way (why yes, I have given this too much thought) because otherwise a lot of teas could be excluded from the final list, if you only include teas from January – October.

Anyway, on to the tea! I’m trying to identify what the tea is before I look at the label, just to see if I can. When I first opened this pouch I could smell…fruity. But it also smelled familiar somehow. I eventually gave up and pulled the label out, and realized I was likely smelling the butter smell from other blends (Pancake breakfast, etc). Don’t know why the fruit essence came to mind, but it didn’t show up in the smell of the steeped tea.

I steeped up about 2 tsp. of this in my Breville (500 ml water) at the below parameters. The smell of the steeped liquor was BUTTER. Like in your face, without a doubt butter. During the sip the butter predominates, and in the aftertaste the popcorn makes itself known. I’m drinking this without additives (although I did try salt and some honey to bring out the flavors to the previous cup, but it hurt rather than helped in the end) and I think the taste is really accurate. It’s definitely a black tea, and the flavoring is in perfect balance with it.

I also have to admit I’m a little surprised at myself – I mean, I like savory teas, but I’ve never really gone for the idea of a savory flavored blend. I just assumed it would be not to my tastes. But it’s really, really good! And I came on to Steepster after it was produced last year so I would have never gotten a chance to taste this if I hadn’t gotten the sampler – so yay for new experiences!