JoonSusanna

Sigh – I’m not sure what transit is going on overhead but it’s having a doozy of an effect on my emotional state. I’ve just been so blah lately… probably because it’s been cold and rainy too.

But whenever that happens, at least I know there’s tea to help.

I wanted something light and clean today – another sign my body is ready for a new season, I think. Luckily I had a ton of Teavivre samples at my disposal! I picked this one largely because I wanted something with similarities to teas I’d liked before, but not the exact same, you know? (Seriously – I’m usually not this ridiculous!)

But as fickle as I’m being, this managed to work out perfectly. The dry leaf looked like a mixture of sencha and dragonwell, my two favorite greens. It did smell grassy but not quite as vegetal as the senchas can sometimes be. Once steeped, the grassy note magnified in the smell and became brothy as well.

Given the savory smell, I was surprised to taste hints of plum/peach/walnuts. It was very astringent at first, not unpleasantly so, just noticeably drying on the tongue. Strangely enough that astringence has kind of gone away as it’s cooled. The fruity note is more prominent, followed by a dragonwell-esque grassy undertone. This has a slick buttery mouthfeel that really rounds out the complexity.

This is easily one of the most layered greens I’ve ever had – it somehow combines the fruit part of a dancong with the grassiness of a sencha. What an experience! I can’t wait to revisit it soon!

Mmm. This tea.

Based on my phenomenal obsession with Della Terra’s S’mores tea, I was hoping I would like this. Marshmallow is my favorite part of the S’more, after all.

The dried leaf smelled like a bag of marshmallows – not toasted, not melted/charred – just a newly opened bag of them. So sweet, fluffy sugary smelling. The steep time on the bag said 2 minutes, but that didn’t seem like it would be long enough, so I went for 3 minutes. I knew 4 would be way too long after what I did with the donut chai 2 days ago.

There’s no real mystery or complexity here: it tastes like black tea and marshmallow flavoring. It was perfect at 3 miniutes – sweet and creamy with no astringence. It didn’t need any additives, either, though I did add some milk to the second cup. I think I prefer it plain, though – it just held its own really well.

I really like this one – I feel like I’m not giving it enough fanfare, though. It delivers what it promises and there were no surprises, and I am looking forward to the rest of my sample!

I’m not going to lie, this tea was the catalyst for my Compass teas order.

I mean – DONUTS! Probably one of my favorite desserts! In TEA!!!

The smell of this dry is exactly what those cinnamon sugar apple cinnamon donuts smell like. I think you get them from Krispy Kreme? Anyway, even the boyfriend admitted it smelled amazing – though he followed that up with his trademark “but I wouldn’t want to drink it.” Flavored blends just aren’t his thing.

Sadly though I think I steeped this too long. I went by my standard black tea steeping time but plain this is SO astringent, even a touch medicinal. This needs milk and possibly sugar…and even with it that medicinal note is peeking through – maybe that’s the apple-y note gone bad?

Anyway. So next time I’ll try a shorter steep and hope that helps things…

This tea and I have a history wherein sometimes it plays well with my tastebuds, and other times it comes off as bitter.

This is one of the good days – I just added a splash of milk and I’m getting sweet strawberry vanilla yumminess. It’s so similar to the DAVID’sTEA strawberry shortcake that I’m constantly changing my mind over which one I prefer. Usually, it’s the one I’m drinking at the moment. :) But since Strawberry Shortcake is going away I’m glad this is here to be my go-to strawberry dessert tea.

PS: So am I missing something with changing avatars on Steepster? I have had the same one for multiple years now but can’t seem to figure out how to upload my new image. Anyone know how to do it? I’m usually so much better at technology than this…

I have a few days off now so it’s time to drink some tea!

This was in the same order as the S’mores tea but I preferr that one so have been drinking it more. But today I wanted this!

It’s very sweet even without sugar. And it tastes like carmelized/toasted marshmallow. I added a spot of milk and that made it super creamy, but it doesn’t actually need that either. Still, this is something that I just don’t reach for as much as I thought I would – so I likely won’t buy it again.

Doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy what I have, though. :)

The boyfriend and I made breakfast for dinner before starting the season finale of “The Hour” and at the last moment he asked for Frissy. It is his favorite, hands down, so of course I couldn’t refuse.

Perfect as always.

I’ve had the biggest sweet tooth lately.

Trolling through my notes for this tea I found my recipe for the salted caramel hot chocolate I made a month or so ago. Yay for me writing down EVERYTHING, because I was able to recreate it today!

It was just what I needed – something sweet and warm and cozy for the end of a Saturday afternoon. Yum!

Latte style while catching up on some TV.

The more I have this the less impressed I am. It gets a skin on top (maybe this is also from the milk, but still – ew), and it just doesn’t give me actual cake so much as a generic sweet flavor. I initially thought I would want it forever, but I’m thinking once I finish this I’ll probably be done.

It’s still good – just, not as mindblowing as I thought initially.

Latte style!

This appears to be one of the few teas DAVIDs has spared from their culling. It appears on their website still, anyway. So that means it’s in the clear, right?

If it wasn’t I’d probably have to buy some to hoard. This is sooooo good. Smell, taste, everything. My perfect strawberry dessert tea, because it’s like sponge cake and whipped cream with that natural strawberry taste. A perfect before work treat!

Nothing like a cup of this at 3AM when your energy is flagging.

I have a coworker who always perks up when she smells this. I usually always share because I have plenty and today she finally asked me where I got it. Is it wrong to feel so…victorious? :)

Anyway, good as always, though it’s only relegated to work now. I love it forever!

David generously provided this sample to me with my last Verdant order! I do so love a good black tea, so I was quite excited to give this a shot. Especially given how amazing every tea from Verdant has been so far!

Preparation notes: Entire sample in the Breville, 500 ml. water. According to the Western brewing parameters on the site, it was recommended to steep the tea initially for one minute (seemed a bit long but I’m trusting the powers that be with this one), pour it off and then steeped at the below parameters.

The smell of this dry – guh. Gives new meaning to the word cocoa, really. Very fresh cocoa powder with an undertone of fresh earth. That is a smell that never gets old.

The steep, at 4 minutes, is a little light on flavor, but I’m really betting its due to that one minute I poured off (kicking myself so darn hard for that now – ugh!). But I do get a thick oily texture – and it does have a sort of olive/peppery bite to it. And it’s kind of nutty toward the end of the sip as well – most like walnuts I think. For the darkness of the body itself, I was surprised that it wasn’t heavier really. But it is still quite smooth and full on the tongue. It has a brightness to it, too – like a Darjeeling or Ceylon. Maybe that is where people get grape? Given Darjeelings have that quality?

Hmm. I’m not as blown away with this one as the Laoshan black so far, but that is more to personal taste as I love bold, heavy blacks. I’m curious to see where the taste is going to go, though, so I will be trying a second steep tomorrow. I’ll update then!

EDIT: Second steep, 8 minutes. I actually ended up having this cold because I forgot about it before work yesterday :(. But it was not bad – just lighter on flavor. In general I think this just isn’t robust enough for my coarse palate. :) But I’m super glad I was given the chance to try it!

Tea of the morning this morning. In my beautiful mug that I promise I will shut up about forever after this sentence is finished.

I had to choke this down pretty quick to be out the door for a class but honestly that’s just what this tea is for – tea to drink on the run. Or maybe that’s just me. Earl Grey tends to come off a little thin in the body for my tastes, and if I take my time on it I focus on that aspect and it loses some of its charm.

Or maybe this just means I haven’t found the Earl Grey for me yet?

My most amazing tea mug has arrived! To christen it I went with my old faithful – milk and sugar, same old parameters. It’s practically my Breville’s default setting. :)

Has anyone else noticed that underneath the teacup/tasting note icon you can see the first time you’ve ever drank a particular tea? It’s written as “last logged” but I know that’s not right, because that would mean I haven’t had this since September 2011…which just isn’t possible.

Anyway – tonight I’m enjoying not being at work, relaxing and watching Top Gear. Yay for time off!

Upping this a few points.

With milk and sugar it really is tasty. If you get past the steeped tea smell. I don’t know why it bothers me, but it does. Fortunately it doesn’t taste like the cheap chocolate it’s pretending to be.

Mostly it’s coconut and black tea that I get, with a background milk chocolate note, so really all the flavors are present in just the right order where my tastes are concerned. Definitely an improvement from my first cup!

I really need to get a gaiwan. I think this every single time I try one of Verdant’s teas.

The smell of this dry….guh. It is a rich, dark scent – malt and cocoa, everything I love in a black tea. I only ordered a sample size of this but based on the smell alone I already know I will be ordering more. Once steeped, it is just as heavy on the cocoa – the smell is practically pouring out of my Breville and I want to figure out a way to bottle it, seriously.

As I pour the first steep into the cup, this loses some of the distinctive cocoa and turns a touch more roasted edamame. It also smells starchy, like slightly burnt toast, or the blackened ends of french fries. I was worried I oversteeped but really the texture is so smooth and buttery and not the least astringent that I’m fairly sure this is the way it’s meant to taste. And surprisingly, it works for now. Onto the second infusion!

This steep, at 6 minutes, is a lot lighter in body. The roasted bit is gone, replaced with honey and remnants of the cocoa from before. And then fresh baked (not burnt) bread. Almost like a brownie…oh my gosh this is so good! I love this steep even more than the first! It is beyond amazing.

Supposedly I can get two more steeps out of this so I’m definitely going to give it a shot, but it’ll have to be tomorrow for the sake of my bladder. I definitely see why this is rated so highly – absolutely fantastic.

This has decided me – I’ll get more of this and a gaiwan and live happily ever after. :)

3 tsp. leaf, 500 ml. water, milk and sugar added.

The bread aspect is a ghost of its former self, but buttery nutty banana isn’t really a bad consolation prize. I still have about 2 more cups left, so that makes me happy at least. I’m running out of all my 52Teas blends at the same time, it seems. At least this will likely justify placing a huge order in the near future!

Well since my other DAVID’S sample went less than ideally, I figured I’d just dump it and give this one a shot in the hopes it will get me to bed sooner.

The power is flickering here because it is so windy outside, so I’m glad I’ve got something i hot to drink.

I haven’t really had chamomile that much, but my grandmother loves it. In fact I think the only time I’ve ever had it I was at her house. She is very fussy about how she likes her tea prepped – she uses a HotShot to brew up the water, then steeps the bag (always Celestial Seasonings, from what I remember) for the length of the cup, and adds an ice cube to get it to cool down because she’s too impatient to wait those few minutes and let it cool down on it’s own. It’s funny what memories get triggered, sometimes.

Anyway, chamomile has an immediately recognizable smell, but at the same time, it’s not one that is particularly memorable to me, either. I couldn’t tell you what it smelled like without it being directly under my nose, in any event. Just – floral. And like it would be good with honey. But in this case I have an extra tang of hibiscus pinking up the liquor and adding an interesting complexity to the scent.

I’m surprised, but I really really like this! I think it’s the hibiscus that’s doing it, too. There’s just enough to be noticeable, but not enough that I’m tasting that overly drying, metallic note. I think I taste the lemon/citrus addition as well, but thankfully no licorice – that really isn’t my thing.

Now if this sucker manages to get me sleepy on top of tasting good, I’m pretty sure an order will be in my future. Yay for pleasant surprises!

This was a free sample from a DAVID’s order a month or so ago.

I’d forgotten about it really, but I’ve had a lot of tea already today and figured I should stick to something not black this late in the day.

The dry leaf smelled like oatmeal to me. I think because it had a strong cinnamon note and then was kind of appley too? And when I think apple cinnamon, oatmeal tends to be the main food type thing with that flavoring. Smells kind of good, actually, but I’m ambivalent about apple cinnamon flavored anything so I’m not particularly riveted here.

I’ve never had stevia before and I’m kind of nervous because I HATE the taste of any sweetener that isn’t honey or sugar. Agave is too thin for my tastes, and even Splenda has something off about it that doesn’t work. So I’m assuming stevia will stick out like a sore thumb.

Now that it’s steeped something smells medicinal. Boo – I want the apple cinnamon back. I can’t taste any added sweetness from the stevia – but maybe it’s the culprit for the fakey taste? Blech. I’m only getting cinnamon flavored water – this doesn’t even have any oolong flavor to it. In fact, if I hadn’t seen the leaves I’d have though it was an herbal.

Nope, this doesn’t work for me at all – I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to finish this.

It’s so funny how teas can taste different no matter how close you get to the same parameters. I had this one prepped the way I’ve done before (and liked) – and for some reason the strawberry came off artificial tonight. It was like strawberry candy with a slightly bitter note from the black tea base. Milk and sugar were then added as reinforcements.

That took the edge off and made the cup more palatable. Hmm… I guess next time I’ll go with 4 minutes because that’s where I’ve settled on black teas for the most part.

The dry leaf smell is just as heavenly as I remember – it is one of my favorite smelling teas that I own. Strawberries and custard…. makes me want some right now!

There’s a tornado watch, it’s raining, and I don’t go back to work until Friday night. So I decided to just make a few cups of this and watch the sky decide what it wants to do. Its nearly 70 outside, and I love it! Cold weather is death to me.

Of course the only downside to it getting warmer is that I tend to go off hot tea. If it weren’t such a waste of money and resources, I’d be tempted to blast the AC so I can have the best of both worlds…

This is only my second time having this, and the first time adding milk and sweetener. This is truly an amazing tea both ways. This way the creaminess of the marshmallow really sticks out, but I easily pick up on chocolate, orange, and marshmallow in equal amounts. The flavors manage to meld together into something delicious while each sticking out in their own way, which is really fun.

Maybe it’s the orange here, but I almost feel like it has an Earl Grey-esque quality to it, too. I love Earl Grey so I consider that a bonus, though.

Happy sigh – it’s been a few days since I’ve had any tea, and it feels soooo nice to get back in the routine of it!

Backlog from…Sunday?

I’ve had quite a long gap in tea drinking! I do this occasionally, especially when things start warming up (which is happening already – 68 degrees outside today!). But I had this with some milk and sugar, and realized I’ve probably got enough left for one or two cups and then I’m out for good.

Oh, and I officially bought that awesome Dr. Who mug from Etsy! We’re moving house in April, probably to get more space, and I’m so excited to create a dedicated tea space with all of my various paraphernalia. I’m tempted to start drawing out actual blueprints, but that might even be too neurotic for me, haha.

Eh, whatever. The only thing better than having a big tea stash is a having a big, organized one!

As I got this ready in the Breville this morning I just kept thinking ‘huh – a black tea at 170 degrees? Wonder if it’s a Darjeeling base?’

And then I realized I probably didn’t get enough sleep. Because duh – oolong.

Anyway, 4 g. of this (new tea scale, yay!), to 500 ml. water in the Breville, no additives.

I typically don’t drink oolongs in the morning but it worked out okay since this goes pretty well with some oatmeal. The cinnamon really emphasizes a cake-like flavor, while there plum note comes across just as strongly. And yet, the oolong keeps it all from being overly heavy. When I really think about it I get some orange at the end of the sip, but otherwise that isn’t very prominent for me.

Quite yummy on this Saturday morning!

2 tsp. of this with 1 cup milk and 1 cup water. No sweetener.

Initially this was just a slightly sweet (cocoa-sweet more than fruity-sweet) creamy latte but as it cooled the cherry turned a touch medicinal. I guess that’s a good reason for me to just drink it faster next time, right?

Also, there is an actual mug with my favorite tea quote on it…and since I broke my DAVID’sTea mug a few days ago I might actually be able to justify getting one.

Lookit! and SQUEE:

http://img1.etsystatic.com/001/0/6131901/il_fullxfull.399202729_njo4.jpg

This was a generous sample from TeaVivre. Thank you so much!

Hmmm…I may have gone too long on the steep time, because this had a touch of astringence to it. And that was only at 2 minutes! I did use 4.5 grams of leaf for 500 ml. of water, though, so maybe that might be part of it…

The smell of this was slightly smoky, which I’m coming to realize is a general characteristic of Fujian teas. It wasn’t ash tray smoky, luckily, so I didn’t feel too apprehensive about trying it. Especially because of an underlying starchy/malty note that adds some extra (and very pleasant) complexity.

The taste is…raisins. Rather, the taste plus astringence equals raisins. Kind of fruity and dry but also that vague sulphur-y flavor which I think is what that smoky smell turned into. Interestingly, even though it’s dry it also has a thick texture that coats the mouth – this is quite the maze of contradictions!

I wonder if this is related to the Tan Yang Angrboda loves so dearly? It’s just that she described that tea pretty much how I think this one tastes. They are from the same province, so I suppose it’s possible.

Anyway, I’m going to try a little less leaf or a little less steeping time or some combination of the two the next time I brew this – I’m curious to see what will happen. Tonight’s preparation yielded a good tea, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t get everything out of it that I could have.

I will say that it definitely has a TON of character and it’s a shame human error had to go and get in the way. :( Oh, well – at least there can be a next time!