Kittenna

And thanks again, Indigobloom! I’m trying to get through a bunch of samples before my new orders arrive :D

I’m a touch worried that this one will taste similar to the Mango Mango Rooibos, or have the strange flavour of green yerba mate that I’m not sure I’ve acquired a taste for yet.

Oh, not bad. Tastes a little smoky, sweet. Mango is hard to pick up but is present. Actually, I’m wondering if this sat too close to the lapsang souchong, since I can’t think that this one would have smoky notes in it normally…

Either way, not bad, but wouldn’t rank in my favourites either.

Another sample from the very generous Indigobloom!

Ok, this one’s a bit strange. Definitely tasting the medicinal qualities of the rooibos, which I’m not particularly fond of. There’s some fruitiness to it, an overtone of mango, but that’s really all I’m getting. Nice concept but poor execution, imo. I don’t think I’ll bother with a second infusion because I suspect it will just taste of rooibos.

Comparing this one to Oh Canada tonight.

Definitely much creamier/richer in aroma.

Perhaps a result of brewing it stronger (although I thought I used a similar amount of leaf, 2tsp, and an identically sized and filled cup), but this one is definitely richer and creamier in flavour as well. It’s sweet and with a lovely sweet aftertaste that, when compared to Oh Canada, makes me think buttercream more than maple.

The biggest downside to this tea is the one I noticed last time – that the sprinkles make the cup scummy and waxy up the sides as it cools (because of course I like my teas warm, not hot). It’s a little gross. But the flavour is definitely better with this one. So, I guess I should be glad that it’s sticking around on the wall, because if I had to choose, I’d go for this one over Oh Canada. Which is convenient as I still have a couple cups worth of this one left, and none of Oh Canada :)

ETA: Second infusion in half the water was good.

4:21am, perfect time for a comparison of Oh Canada and Birthday Cake… right?

Side by side, it’s apparent that Birthday Cake is much creamier and less mapley, at least by aroma.

I think I brewed this one a touch too weak tonight – used about 2tsp of leaf (the rest of my sample), but probably too much water. However, still tastes sweet and mapley, and the rooibos only shows through slightly. The aftertaste is rich and mapley.

Compared to Birthday Cake, however, it tastes quite thin and definitely doesn’t have the same richness. Certainly not bad, but for a dessert-treat tea I need the richest, creamiest cup I can get.

ETA: Second infusion in half the water also tasty :)

The concept of an oolong chai intrigues me, but I’m a bit apprehensive of whether or not I’ll enjoy it. I love straight tieguanyins, and I love chai (craving 52teas Mayan Chocolate Chai right now), but together? I’m not so sure. And the first sip does nothing to figure that out. It’s sweet, sweeter than I anticipated, and I think there’s a bit of oolong aftertaste. The smell is quite strongly of cinnamon/ginger, and it carries over into the flavour. But, something doesn’t seem quite right. The chai spicing isn’t quite right for me, I don’t think, and the oolong isn’t giving the tea enough body. Maybe I should have steeped it longer? The sweetness is also throwing me a bit – it’s a little too close to the sweet aftertaste of licorice, which I dislike. Maybe if I added some milk it would turn into something tastier?’

Bleh, worth the experiment for curiousity’s sake, but not a tea I really want to drink again. There are many, many other chais out there (a bunch of which are in my cupboard) that I greatly prefer, and although an oolong instead of black base sounded kind of neat, it ended up being so weak in the background that it’s almost like spiced water, if you understand what I’m saying, which is… weird.

Another tea that’s gonna be up for swapsies as soon as I get my act together and compile a list. I’m sure someone’s curious to try it :D And hey – they may even like it!

Thanks to Fusion Tea Room for this incredibly generous sample!

I have to admit, I wasn’t super stoked about this one – I don’t recall whether I requested it specifically, but it’s been a while, and citrusy greens and I have not been getting along terribly well. However, most were from DavidsTea, so I shouldn’t give up on them entirely until I try some from other companies! So I opened up the package to give some away to Indigobloom… and was pleasantly surprised by the smell of the dry tea. Not just citrus, but there’s something a little perfumey, fruity, and delicious-smelling in there too. Makes my mouth water. Steeped, it smells lightly of citrus. (Did I mention I put a giant orange slice and papaya chunk in my infuser?!)

Well, it definitely tastes like it smells dry (this is a GOOD thing!) And I seem to be getting a creamy/nutty green tea aftertaste, which is wonderful. The taste is nicely fruity, with no specific fruit taking over, everything just blends together. Although there is lemongrass in the mix, it also blends seamlessly in with everything else. There’s absolutely no astringency; I’d be tempted to both use more leaf and try a longer infusion to make this a bit stronger.

I think it would be interesting to ice/cold-brew this one for a refreshing fruity iced tea. I probably don’t have enough leaf to do too much playing around, but hopefully can get around to trying it that way!

ETA: Second infusion still has some flavour, but not enough. I should have used half the water. Oh well!

Tonight’s random tea sample courtesy of LiberTEAS :D

I selected this sample tonight by the laborious method of sticking my hand into the sample box and grabbing a pouch. I actually had to do this twice, because I told myself ‘no blacks’, and of course the first one I grabbed was some coconutty black of some sort. So here we are! A straight green sounded lovely for tonight.

No appreciable smells either dry or steeped.

Interesting – this is not what I was expecting. The tea is sweet and maybe a little nutty, but not at all vegetal. I guess I’ve become so accustomed to that flavour that it surprises me when it isn’t present. There’s a bit of green tea aftertaste, but it’s very subtle. I’m thinking I should have gone with a three minute infusion after all. For some reason I feel like I’m catching a bit of flavour that makes me think “stale”, but it may just be that I’m associating a certain flavour I’m tasting with something I tasted in another, older tea and attributed to staleness.

I’ll have to see how this one fares on a second infusion, but although it’s pleasant and nicely astringency-free, I don’t think it’s quite my sort of green tea – boiled veggie/seaweedy/grassy flavours seem to be more up my alley.

ETA: Second infusion, 175F/3min, is rather bleh. Some astringency, and similar flavours to the last cup. Still a nice aftertaste though.

It occurred to me tonight that for whatever reason (ok, it’s because I have too much tea), I hadn’t yet made it through all my samples from Teavivre! So since I was craving oolong (and dessert), it seemed like a perfect tea to try. I used the whole, sticky package in my tiny glass teapot.

First infusion (~boiling/1:15)
Honey-sweet, with a lovely round, sweet oolong aftertaste. There’s just a hint of astringency coming through at the end – glad I didn’t steep it any longer. The sweetness is reminiscent of the honey flavour I got with Treasuregreen’s Emerald (Silver). I’m really enjoying this infusion! It is perhaps a touch on the light side, but that’s ok.

Second infusion (~boiling/2 min):
Definitely moving into a woody flavour here. Perhaps that’s the astringency – I hadn’t meant to steep it this long but was trying to multitask. The sweetness is gone, but I didn’t expect it to last for a second infusion. Aftertaste is lightly oolong. This isn’t bad, but it’s not what I was expecting.

I’m a bit disappointed – after the amazing first cup, I was expecting something a little better for the second. I do have another package of this one, so perhaps will try some different parameters – perhaps a shorter first infusion and similarly short second infusion would help. I can’t recall what the price is, but it’s hard for me to justify purchasing an oolong that really is only capable of one amazing infusion. Even though it really was so very delicious…

Thanks for the sample, Teavivre!

ETA: I just finished off the last of my second infusion, and feel like I need to revise my previous opinion, as I wonder if my tastebuds were tainted by either the first infusion or the chocolate bar I ate… the last sip was actually quite good! Yes, there was astringency, but chalk that one up to my error. I got a lovely honey oolong aftertaste, and aside from the astringency, it was actually quite nice. I still think it might be a bit pricey of a tea, but I may actually try a third infusion now. Also bumping the rating.

ETA again: Third infusion, boiling-ish water for about 1:45, is kind of woody/dark/nutty, as late steepings of oolongs tend to be for me. Not bad, and still that oolong aftertaste. Overall, I’d have to say that this is a perfectly fine oolong, but not one for me.

Cold-brewed the rest of my sample and confirmed that this tea definitely needs to be part of my iced tea collection for the summer if at all possible. The cherry tartness is so well-balanced by the other fruity flavours and like with Tropicalia, there’s nothing weird going on, so if artificial flavours were involved, they were cleverly done (and as long as I can’t taste artificial-ness, I don’t really care). Not as sweet as Tropicalia (but I think I used too much tea with that one, definitely making it a “juice tea”, in the words of Indigobloom.)

Thanks again Amanda for introducing me to this tea :)

Yum.

Cold-steeped the rest of my sample last night, a little stronger this time. Definitely thirst-quenching and refreshing.

Um… cold-brewed Tropicalia? Seriously the best iced tea ever! This is AMAZING! It’s sweet, a little creamy, oh so fruity/pineappley, and there are no strange flavours whatsoever. Between this, Luscious Watermelon, Blazing Strawberries, and hopefully Mahamosa Cherry Kiwi Coconut Fruit, I should be set for the summer! (Also Lime Gelato, Bear Trap, Goji Pop…. yeah I have plenty of choices now!)

Gotta say, DavidsTea would be foolish not to keep this one available permanently, year-round…

Backlog (& sipdown) from last night. I think I brewed it a touch too strong though, which is disappointing. Still good though, and I drank two infusions of it. Adding to the list for an online order…

Cold-steeped this one last night as well. It’s pretty tasty and refreshing as well; honeydew and watermelon with a side of cucumber, perhaps. I think it could be better, but it will be good for cold-steeping this summer, so I think I’ll end up with a tin of it :)

I’m so glad this one’s on the website now! The last (first, only) time I drank it, I liked it enough that the next time I went into the store, I was going to buy 50g of it….. but they had sold out that morning (and since it was seasonal, that was the end). This was in about February, so it had already been around for a while.

Anyhow, now I get to try this one iced and all sorts of ways! I cold-steeped a huge amount of tea in not much water last night, as it’s quite light, or so I’m told. Something like 7tsp?? in a couple cups of water.

Ok, totally worth it. Light strawberry flavour with a refreshing bamboo leaf base. Not getting the spicy notes; perhaps they need warm water to emerge? And in spite of the huge amount of leaf, it’s definitely very light, but tasty and refreshing. Pretty sure it’s going on the list to buy off the website, along with Dulce & Banana. Yum.

The last iced tea for today that finishes off a package.

Although pear-y, this one was too tart and strange hot. Not a big fan. Unfortunately, it still misses the mark iced. I did use an appropriate amount of tea:water, so the flavour’s strong, I’m just finding something a touch off with the flavour. The aftertaste is creamy, vanilla-y, pear-y and lovely, and I can even handle the tartness (although it throws me a bit), but they just don’t combine well for me. That said, it’s way better iced, and is growing on me as I get through the cup, but I won’t be purchasing anymore of this one. If the tartness could only be reduced somewhat, I think it would be lovely as the aftertaste is just perfect…

This is another one now gone from the cupboard. A little sad, a little not. I do still have nearly 50g of Cherry Blossom left (probably about 43g), so that will have to curb my cherry cravings. Again, it was ok hot, but nothing special, and the white tea price is/was a big negative.

The liquor is a lovely amber colour. Hoping it’s not too weak like the last one; it was the same water:leaf ratio (250mL, ~1.5tsp). It smells a bit like sour acerola cherry, which is tasty.

Ok, this one’s definitely tastier iced. Loving the cherry tartness – I would so much rather have sour cherries in blends instead of hibiscus! Again, it could stand to be stronger, but that’s my fault. Like with the Mango Madness, there’s a touch of bitterness that I’m not fond of. I’m sure a bit of sugar would cut it nicely, but I really don’t want to be doing that. I’m going to attribute it to the white tea, and therefore continue the search for a herbal cherry tea to ice (well, if Mahamosa Cherry Kiwi Coconut Fruit becomes available, that will be the one, I think! Darn, should have iced the remnants of my sample last night alongside.)

If this one’s on the tea wall still (can’t recall) and I don’t locate another sufficiently cherry-flavoured tea to ice, I might pick up some more, but only because that flavour is really fabulous for iced tea IMO. Upping the rating based on the iced version :)

So I’m quite pleased with myself for cold-steeping five different teas last night. Not only do I now have a bunch of delicious iced tea, but I finished off three different packages! Hooray!

This is the first. I don’t think I was particularly fond of it hot. If nothing else, the fact that it was sold as a white tea was irritating given the utter lack thereof.

This cold-steeps up to a bright yellow-ish liquor with a nice mangoey aroma.

Other than being a bit weak (consequence of just using whatever tea I had left), it’s not bad at all. Kind of sweet, kind of mangoey. Almost a touch of bitterness for whatever reason. I do wish it was stronger and am kicking myself a bit for that (I thought I had used little enough water but apparently not; in retrospect 250mL water to the ~1.5tsp I had left really wasn’t enough). There’s a nice lingering mangoey-white tea flavour.

I think had this been a straight herbal, I might have bought it again for icing, but the high price for it being a white means this is likely the last I’ll ever see of it. Oh well! Knocking it up just a couple points, but that’s all.

This is for the first harvest of 2012 Spring Tieguanyin. I’m attempting a bit of gong-fu style steeping here with my new pot. Infusions are about 10 seconds long, from the time the water touches the leaves to the time most of the water has been poured out (apparently oolongs are drippy… who knew?!) Water is approximately boiling, but I did the first four infusions in succession, followed by another four, so the water probably cooled over each set somewhat. 5g of leaf in my more-than-4-5-oz pot.

First infusion: I didn’t do a rinse; this probably should have been it. Light in flavour, a bit creamy and floral. Regardless, I like it, because I love these tieguanyins.
2: Liquor’s a bit darker, expecting a richer flavour…. yup. This time there’s… something different there. The same basic floral/creaminess, but there’s something almost rich and woody in there. Also, it’s a little bit vegetal. Green bean was the flavour that my mind is conjuring up, but given that I read reviews of the Laoshan greens today, it’s hard to know whether that was just already in my head or whether I actually tasted it.
3: I definitely feel like there’s a greener taste to this one. The floralness is disappearing already… I miss it. Still great though. The aftertaste lingers more on these second two infusions, no surprise.
4: Rather similar to the third. I feel like there’s something different at the end of the sip. Maybe a bit of fruitiness? I feel like I’m losing flavour though; going with 15 second infusions from now on. (Also I’m feeling rather full suddenly from sipping from four cups back and forth in succession… boo.)
5: Ok, 15 seconds ended up being 20 for each of these. It happens. Although it’s still creamy, I definitely feel like we’re moving into the woody, more vegetal phase here. Oolong aftertaste is intense here, just how I like it.
6: Similar to 5, even less floral.
7: Likewise.
8: Oh, starting to get something different here. Reminds me more of the Wuyi Mountain oolong I had last night. It’s good too, but I think I prefer earlier infusions.

At this point my tiny little teapot is completely full of opened leaves. I might see what I can do with it tomorrow but seriously, my tummy is DONE for the night! I really need to figure out what size the little pot is; I think the tea tasted a bit dilute because 5g of tea was meant for a 4-5oz. pot, and I think it’s at least 8oz.? It was good, I just could have done with more flavour. Still need to compare this to the autumn version sometime soon! But perhaps not until I have the mental ability to describe things as more than just “wow, it’s different now!” Haha.

TIme to cross another tea off the neverending list to try! (Although I’m thrilled – I just put 5 teas in the fridge to cold steep, which used up the last of three of them, none of which I’m likely to restock! Progress!)

Dry, the tea smells peachy and a bit floral. Steeped, much the same but to a lesser degree.

Ack! This tastes oversteeped and somewhat bitter. I can taste the peachy flavour (tastes like fuzzy peaches), something floral (jasmine? rose petals?), an oolong creaminess, but it’s just not doing it for me. Too floral, too in-your-face. To be honest, I’m making a face as I drink this too. Bleh. I guess we’ll try a shorter infusion next time, but I suspect this won’t be a favourite. The aftertaste is nice though, lingering floral and oolong notes, I think.

Dry, it’s sweet, caramelly, and nutty-smelling. A bit of strawberry, but it’s not too prominent. Steeped, the aroma is sweet and caramelly, with a distinct strawberry note. Well, more like a strawberry song. Delicious.

I was a bit wary of a 5-minute infusion, but have realized that DavidsTea’s blacks tend not to steep up quite as harshly as others, so my standard three minutes isn’t long enough. Turns out 5 minutes was not bad (although perhaps 4 would have eliminated the astringency I’m getting). The base is malty and somewhat astringent, with a lovely caramelly flavour. The strawberry isn’t as prominent as I would have expected. It’s funny though – this combination does actually make me think Strawberry Shortcake! Not my favourite dessert though, but it reminds me of Thinking Day celebrations in Girl Guides.

I’ll have to try again with a bit of a reduced infusion time, as astringency is not my friend, but this one’s pretty decent. Not likely something I’d pick up again, but a perfectly good tea.

Whoops, had a little confusion issue about which tea I was reviewing. Probably caught it quickly enough for nobody to notice though :D

Anyways, this is round 2 of ice wine tea tasting, courtesy of Indigobloom!

Dry, this one smelled a little off, like fermenting grapes. I think 52teas Sweet Merlot had a similar aroma. However, that’s kind of what wine/a winery smell like!

Steeped, this one’s very dark, in spite of the 2 minute infusion I gave it! The aroma is a bit of black tea, with some sweetness and a bit of that fermenty grape flavour. I think I’m making a mental association to purple Kool-aid flavoured homemade playdough…

Ooh! Different. Thanks for the warning Indigobloom, this one definitely brews up strong! There’s astringency but it stops just short of bitterness thankfully. I think I would have been happier with only a minute-long infusion though. The flavour is hard to get at for me, because of the astringency. It’s a bit sweet, and perhaps a bit grapey/winey. Definitely a lot heavier than the Culinary Teas version. I think I prefer the Culinary Teas one over this though, as I think there’s more flavour.

Neither of these teas really did it for me though, to be honest. Interesting to try them though! Thanks again for the sample, Indigobloom!

Decided I’d compare the two ice wine teas I have tonight. Should have thrown 52teas Sweet Merlot in the mix too, but I didn’t think about it and probably have enough teas on the go right now anyhow. This one is courtesy of Azzrian!

Dry, this one smells sweet and a bit tangy. Steeped, it smells sweet and perfumey and OMG I’m such an idiot, I was swirling it around and dumped a bunch on my computer. Ok, all better, luckily I missed the actual keys part of the keyboard, just got some next to the trackpad. Funnily enough this is not even the first time I’ve spilled on my keyboard today… I’m usually better, I swear!

So back to the tea. Definitely surprisingly perfumey given the relative lack of aroma from the dry tea!

First infusion (boiling-ish/4min):
The taste is perfumey. Definitely reminiscent of an ice wine. Rather mild, which is ok. I can’t pick out the black tea base specifically, but can feel that it’s there. There’s also a touch of astringency, but not bad, just a bit mouth-drying.

Second infusion (boiling-ish/5-6min):
Less perfumey in aroma, but almost more perfumey in taste, perhaps because there’s less black tea base there to disguise it? Actually – it’s reminding me an awful lot of some sort of similarly-scented soap. That’s not to say it tastes soapy, but I swear I’ve had a soap in the past that smell/tasted VERY similar. Or bubble bath or something… some bath product. Perhaps even shampoo/conditioner. To my knowledge though, I don’t think I’ve ever had an ice wine or even grape-scented bath product (unless it’s one of those little plasticky bubble bath thingers that I’m thinking of, in which case it could be grape). I didn’t get this association really until the second cup (and even went back and it’s just not quite the same in the first infusion).

Overall, an interesting tea, but I don’t think I’d choose it for myself. I’ll have to see what the next version is like! And perhaps at some point give the Design-a-Tea version a try, since that was Azzrian’s favourite.

I’ve logged this one before, and it’s delicious. Trying to drink it up before it goes stale, since the sample packet doesn’t re-seal!

First infusion (160F/45s):
Agh, so green and delicious! I think I used too much water/not enough leaf though – I want more concentrated delicious vegetalness. My bad though. Need to remember that for next time. Seriously though, I adore this flavour. I wish I could put a name to it, but I guess lightly steamed veggie will have to do. Perhaps asparagus-y. There’s almost a spiciness to it today. Don’t know where that’s coming from. It’s also a bit cloudy/murky today and as I reached the end of the cup, I got a throatful of fine particles which made me cough. Odd, I used likely my finest infuser. I can deal though.

Second infusion (185F/30s):
Upped this infusion 10 seconds from the last time I tried, but unfortunately I think I made the mistake of too much water for this infusion too. Sigh. Still good, just too weak. More tea aftertaste though, which is appreciated, but less on the vegetal side. Green teas really don’t last for more than a couple infusions, do they.

First attempt with this one. I’m using my new glass “gung-fu” teapot from DavidsTea! The only downside I’ve noticed is that it took about 8 seconds to pour the tea out, so my attempt at a 15-second infusion turned into more like 25 seconds. Hopefully that won’t be a problem. I used 3g of leaf for the pot (however many ounces it is – I will find this out later.)

First infusion (~208F/~25s):
Omg omg. I took a sip of the still super-hot tea and I think it tastes sweet and fabulous! Thrilling! Have to wait until it cools to really talk about it though. I kind of burnt my tongue…

Argh, obligatory Mother’s Day phone conversation means my tea is extra-cool now. Well, I can say that it’s sweet and tasty with a toasty aroma and flavour. A bit like a genmaicha, strangely??

Second infusion (~205F/~25s):
This one’s even sweeter :) But also completely cold. Sigh. I do have a few infusions to get to yet. Thankfully however, I didn’t screw this one up like I did the other oolong from Verdant. There’s a lingering aftertaste of… juiciness? I’m not sure. It’s good.

Third infusion (~208F/45s):
Just a bit of a toasty aroma. Again, sweet and delicious. I’m not catching any flavour nuances to be honest, but I’m definitely enjoying this cup/this tea. Although I’ve gotta admit that after cheese panel, one can get rather tired of analyzing things. (I must say, there’s a lovely aftertaste here though!)

Fourth infusion (~205F/53s):
This is too weak. I thought that as I poured it out and it was considerably lighter in colour. I’m pretty sure a longer infusion for a fifth steep would revive it though. Might try.

Overall, this is good, but I’m just not catching subtleties in the infusions. Also, I’m pretty sure that for the duration of this cheese panel (mid-late June), my palate just isn’t going to be up to figuring out differences due to palate (and mental) fatigue! So I don’t think I’ll properly be reviewing any straight teas for a while, although that doesn’t mean I’ll be drinking them.