Kiaharii

/sigh/ I forgot to bring enough tea whilst visiting my parents. I am now raiding their stash of teabags to find some good blacks for the mornings. This isn’t bad, I’ve had it before. Not a whole lot of “deep” flavors here, but it’s nice.

A chai that doesn’t make me cough when I drink it, yay! I’m a bit sensitive to some of the more spicy teas that have a whole lot of ginger in them. I love the cinnamon in this (I put cinnamon on everything), and it’s nice a soft with just a hint of that chai bite. Yum!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8126244@N06/7718559360/

I’m finding a lot of Epi Tea’s offerings don’t blow me out the water, but they’re really great for everyday teas. Definitely a good option for wanting loose tea quality conveniently, like at work or when I travel. I’ve only got 2 left to try!

Edit: Upped the rating, as I drink more I like it even more!

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Not a huge expert on Irish breakfast tea (in fact this may be my first). Apparently this is supposed to be composed of mainly Assam. No idea what Assam by itself tastes like, so new mission: find a black tea sampler of straight black tea that is commonly used in blends. Then I will learn!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8126244@N06/7710006456/
Anyway, really nice looking dark cup (I do love my black tea), the taste is pretty generic “black tea”, but smooth. A nice hint of smoke. Definitely a tea bag I would take along for travel.

Pretty tea! It looks like I’ve got green rooibos, chunks of fruit (the package is downstairs, I’m assuming orange and lemon) and some pretty flower petals in the tea. The liquor is a nice deep orange, it smells tangy and citrusy.

I definitely taste the lemon, and I think the orange kind of mingles with it. It’s not bad, especially considering that citrus teas aren’t my favorite. It’s sweet, definitely no sugar needed here. I’d love to try it iced as I love the Green Rooibos Bonita iced (which has more fruit like peaches, and no citrus). Tasty!

Edit: I just read in another review that this smells like fruity pebbles, so I re-sniffed and yes it does! Kind of tastes like it too!

Had this earlier today, got it as a sample from my last order. I love it when free samples are included!

This was alright, not a favorite though. Definitely did taste like strawberry and a bit vanilla/cake-y. My cup was cloudy though, not sure why or if that’s normal. Wish I had a chance to try this cold, but I used all my sample up. :(

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Got this in a swap with Emilie, thanks again!

This smells fantastic, mmm chocolate covered strawberries. The liquor it’s a really pretty deep orange-red.
Really lovely flavor, dark and delicious. Definitely a cocoa taste and not just a “we dumped chocolate syrup in it” taste, which is great. The strawberry mingles really well and I pick it up as a bit of an aftertaste. Yummy!

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No rating for now, I think I messed up on the times here. Brewed a gaiwan with boiling water, but kind of all over the place with times here. Will try again sometime and then rate. :)

Note for me: someone on teachat recommended: "Boiling or near-boiling water (I like to let it come to a boil and let it sit for 1-2 minutes), a heaping teaspoon of tea (which usually covers the bottom of the gaiwan just enough so I can’t see the bottom), and probably 2-3 mins on the infusion – partially just to let it cool down a bit. "

Easy iced tea this morning, bought these in the pouches for convenience.
I was pleasantly surprised that I got a total 2 quarts of tea out of one bag! Steeped in a mason jar for 5 minutes with 16 oz of water, then moved the bag over to another mason jar and did the same. Added cold water and stuck ’em in the fridge. No sugar added right now, I prefer to go the simple syrup route so everyone can add their own amounts.

Both brewed up a nice dark amber color with a nice light sweet mango smell. The taste is nice, nothing too extraordinary but a really good everyday iced tea that pleases a wide audience. The mango is light and sweet and allows the black base to still shine through. Yum. :)

This is growing on me a bit, especially since this was the last of the sample. Can’t decide whether to add this to my “to buy” list or hold off for a bit…

Anyway, nice to have this after a long day’s hike up to the very tippy top of Sharp Top Mountain at Peaks of Otter (once thought to be the tallest point in VA blah blah). It was exhausting to say the least. Short hike, a couple of hours, but pretty much all up hill.

Nice to come back and relax with this, I think with the shorter steep time I can taste the white base more, which is nice. The peach, while naturally flavored, came on a little strong the last time I had this. 3 minutes, whereas last time I did 4. We’ll see what the second steep brings…

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Where to start! First off this was two days ago! This was my first puerh and my first experience using a gaiwan (no spellcheck, I don’t mean Taiwan). It was amazing, even though I’m quite sure I did a lot wrong. :) It felt great to just set aside some time to really drink tea and enjoy it. Not that I don’t enjoy tea normally, but I usually just make it and then grab the cup and go do something else (like write about it on Steepster!). Anywho…

I did a quick rinse of the tea and then moved into the first infusion. This tea is nice a smokey (I love a smokey tea). The leaves smelled very smokey after the first infusion, but this lessened as the session went by. I have some awesome pictures I’ll link to later! So back to the first infusion, smokey and earthy, very smooth and maybe a bit creamy (not sure if this is the right word). The liquor was a really pretty deep straw color. I got about 10 infusions out of this but I don’t think I did the increments right, not long enough. However, I only used a bit of my sample, so I will try again tomorrow!

Also, I’ve been reading about “cha qi/chi” and I think that it may have occurred/the tea may have it? (Or it’s all in my head! :P) I’m not sure what the proper way to use the word is, but the Tea Masters blog says it nicely:

“You may feel the Chi because your whole body feels warm and you start to sweat. And/or your mouth will be secreting saliva because it tells you it wants more of that tea. And/or your mind will feel crystal clear, as if you had breathed very pure and fresh air.” (http://preview.tinyurl.com/d5mtomu)

I’m a little hesitant to rate this, only because I have no other puerh experience to really compare it too! However, I really enjoyed it so a high rating it gets. :)

It’s been an Earl Grey day!

I’ve had this a couple times now and it’s very tasty. I love that there isn’t any bergamot oils/flavorings, but just the bergamot itself. I can’t really remember what else I thought about this! I’ve been very bad at logging teas today, in any case it was tasty!

Thanks Epi Tea for sending out these samples, I always love to try out new stuff!

Tried this tea early this morning before work, didn’t get a chance to write about it! I’m going to try my best and remember what I thought…

Lovely lavender smell, it’s also the flavor that comes across most in the tea. I don’t think I’ve had any lavender tea before and I really enjoyed it. I’m also pleased there’s another Earl Grey that I like (had a not so good experience with DT’s Cream of Earl Grey). Woohoo! The bergamot was there but was not overpowering which is great. Overall very nice. :) I re-steeped and got another light, but still decent cup.

I would definitely grab pick up some more of these, good easy morning “single serving” teas (I’ve been making a lot of pots of tea for my future mother-in-law while we stay here).

Trying this again, brewed hot this time.
Not bitterness like I got with the cold brewed (maybe it was my water, I’m in a different location now).

Smells peachy and delicious, and the loose tea is very pretty to look at. Very nice and light and peachy. Added a little bit of sweetener to the last bit of tea in my cup and it makes it pretty tasty.

My future mother-in-law gave me this, which was a gift to her, but she says she doesn’t have the time to make tea.

It’s a pretty “meh” blend, I even steeped it for a bit longer. It could be because I’ve been drinking some stronger teas lately, but it just seemed like a general herbal. The honey bush is nice, and I do get a very light mint flavor from spearmint, not so much of the other ingredients. I’ve got one more that I’ll probably use at some point, but definitely won’t go out of the way to get any myself.

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Woo! This might be a bit too spicy for me. I’m a pretty big wuss though when it comes to spices.

I got this from the sampler pack and brewed this according to one of the reviews on Adagio: " I brew it in boiling water for 2 minutes, then add milk (1:1 proportion), bring to a boil, bring the heat down and simmer for another 5-6 minutes. Then add in some honey and its perfect."

I think it may be the ginger, but something hits me right in the back of the throat. I’m not a huge fan of ginger so… Not sure how much of the actual tea I was getting either, could have been I didn’t use enough (a heaping perfect teaspoon). This definitely needed the honey for me, sweetens it up nicely and brings out some of the flavors. I may try again with some different brewing.

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