K S

This is so much more aromatic than the Harney version I started the day with. So nicely fruity. It does not have the face jolt astringency either. Just a beautiful fully developed cup. I imagine A Southern Season is a reseller of this tea. I wonder who actually blends it. Very nice.

No way have I had this sample for 5 months! Retirement is killing my tea drinking. At the office I had a mug in my hand all day long. In the last two days I have had exactly one cup. I’m retired, shouldn’t I get to sit home and sip tea all day? Apparently not.

Woke up at 5:00 a.m. tried to go back to sleep but gave up. Bagel/cream cheese and Irish Breakfast. I am going to get some tea in me right from the start. I wish I had a camera this morning filming my sleepyhead trying to fix this. I made me laugh I was so out of it.

The cup turned out great despite me. This was full of cheek numbing in a good way. Strong enough to get me moving without the horrible nasty taste of coffee. Off to the farmer’s market.

This tin is way over a year old and it shows it. Makes me sad. I used to buy Earl Grey green by the pound. Now I have so many choices I find 4 ounces is a lot of tea. I’ll need to use this up soon.

My favorite cheap EG.

I bought this for rooibos and herbals. It does an excellent job of keeping fine particles out of my cup. This is the medium sized Finum. It fits perfectly in my 12oz mug. Clean up is easy.

When I discovered it also fits well in my 6oz cup, I started using it when doing small quick steeps of 3-4oz in a quasi-gong fu style. I don’t own a gaiwan so this does a good job as a substitute.

This works so well we bought another. One or both are full of leaf all the time. I can think of nothing that needs changed unless it would be to make the plastic parts out of stainless, but then it would probably be a lot more expensive.

I was looking at my teas thinking I want earl grey. No, I want something more gentle – like white or green tea. Enter Silver Jade. I can have it all, well sort of. This is NOT Earl Grey. The bergamot is so light even you bergamot haters (you know who you are) could not complain. It adds only a hint of citrus to the white tea. The green also has a supporting role giving the tea more heft. This is really hitting the spot.

I just got back from the new Star Trek movie. I loved it. Lots of classic cliche lines. Lots of cowboy type action. A good follow up to the reboot of the franchise.

The tea – I am writing a separate note for the second cup. This one was delightful. Sweeter than the first, greener, creamy and mineral at the same time. The bite is mostly gone and the aftertaste really lingers.

This is the 2013 version of this tea. I used the whole sample in my Finum and my 6oz cup. That is twice the leaf and half the water I used with last years batch. I notice two big differences right away. To me the late sip reminds me of corn. I have never used that in description before. That’s cool. The other is rather than buttery, this seems thinner and has a fair amount of bite. I like it fine but pretty sure next time I will try it using my frugal method. I think I prefer it that way. Leaving the rating alone.

My evening cup. I used a 6oz Corelle cup and a Finum basket. That seems to work best with their sample sizes. This smells awesome. The strawberry is the strongest scent. The raspberry aroma is easily separated but not as intense. The brew looks like honey. The flavor of the sip is as fruity and natural as the scent but not over the top. You can taste the green tea base – yeah! The base is vegetal with a nice bite at the end. You could probably eliminate the bite with a shorter steep – but why? I used a tiny bit of sweetener to really make the fruit pop. A very nice cup.

While sipping the third cup I thought the second deserved a comment of its own. My wife made a spinach and strawberry salad with orange poppy seed dressing and a honey chicken Parmesan cheese thing she made up. This tea held up really well against it. The combination brought out some spicey notes that weren’t present before. Yum.

I know I am supposed to hate this. I don’t. It’s family.

Speaking of which – last night I was telling my dad about a particular iced tea I enjoyed at a restaurant. He had it once as well. He said it was too weak for him. Then proceeded to tell me of a local eatery that made the best iced tea ever. Yeah, they brew this. It is cloudy. The water is slightly soured. And they use a plastic glass. Mmmm now that’s tea. :)

My rating is high by most of your standards. By my rating system if fits square in the average range. That is what it is blended to be – beige. On Steepster all teas start at 77 as the middle of the road and our ratings adjust it from there. I figure 77 is for an average loose leaf and around 60-65 is my average for bagged. Included just so you know.

I am generally a pretty easy going guy. Today trying to get everything organized to make a cup of tea proved to be almost too big of a task. I didn’t completely loose my cool to the point of embarrassing myself, but it was close. Didn’t break anything but there are a number of tea puddles that I am attempting to clean up.

This tea. This is my third Huang Shan Mao Feng. It is the first nonpareil. I looked at my reviews of the other versions after I tasted this one. This wins hands down. I used the entire sample, a Finum basket and a mug. It started as like clean mineral water that quickly changes to a smooth creaminess. The flavor begins, to my tastes, as grain (oats) accompanied by more vegetal notes. What I call oats, other reviews refer to as chestnut. Next, a wonderful green astringent bite kicks in. TeaVivre calls it brisk, and it is, but not like the bite I associate with Assam based tea. The aftertaste is fresh and hangs around like it is begging me to take another sip. So of course I must oblige. There is a fair amount of cooling sensation present as well.

As you can tell I really liked this one.

I am only six cups into this so far. I will post a better review after I take this several cups further. My notes are so closely paralleling Awkward Soul’s wonderful review on her website, that it amazed me. I do not have a clay pot. I did decide to make-shift gaiwan steep it using a tiny Corelle cup, and a Finum basket with lid. Each steep is between 3-4 ounces.

Young sheng takes some getting used to. I happen to like sheng and found this to be really nice even as young as it is. If I had the self control to age pu’er, I believe this would be a good one.

Awkward Souls’s rating is correct for what this is now. I raised it a bit for potential.
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Edit

I took this on through 10 cups. The leaf still has more to give but I have run out of day. As the flavor starts to diminish and the astringency increases around the 8th cup, adding a tiny amount of sweetener brings this to life in a very good way.

I enjoyed my day with this one. Thanks Misty Peak Teas for the sample.

Apparently this is what they serve when you order iced tea at Cheddars. Dopplergaydar was the first to report this is the tea served. It was confirmed by our waitress today. By the lack of information on the S&D website this shouldn’t be any better than Lipton or any other generic tea. It shouldn’t be, but I love this tea. It is very earthy and refreshing. This is my favorite restaurant tea by far. Just don’t order the hot tea there because it IS ^Lipton :P

I learned something new with this tea. I love it when that happens. I thought gyokuro was a higher grade of sencha. It can be made of sencha but doesn’t have to be. What makes it gyokuro is that the tea bushes are covered for a few days prior to picking. This does some kind of mojo to the taste.

This is my first of this type tea. I have no idea if it is a good representation of gyokuro. I do know I really liked it. I used a cooler white tea type water temperature. Prepared this way it was not bitter. It was smooth, silky, not grassy, and I was happy to see Nina’s mentions in their description that there is a touch of the sea in the flavor. I picked that up before I read it. I love it when that happens.

I went to the clinic Saturday due to an earache that won’t go away that has kept me so dizzy I haven’t wanted to brew tea. Drugs haven’t helped much yet but this morning I needed a good cup.

I previously reviewed what I recall was the 2011 version. Ain’t gonna lie to you. I freak’n love this tea. It is hard to pick a favorite from TeaVivre but this one is definitely very near the top. The leaf still reminds me of old time upholstery stuffing and the sip still tastes like Cheerios. There is a floral element similar to green oolong hiding in the middle of the sip. This turns creamy late sip. Good aftertaste. Resteeps well. My favorite part is when I sip it the world around me dissapears for a moment. Who couldn’t use a little of that now and then?

Thanks Angel for the sample.

I love peach tea. This is an oolong peach. I think I could stop there and it would be enough, but you know I am seldom brief. The wet leaf scent is peach and roasted oolong. The sip begins lightly peach and then the oolong comes in mid sip and is much lighter on the roastiness than expected. If you dislike roasted oolongs, never fear, this is light and more nutty in flavor. Late in the sip it changes back to peach with some citrus notes. The cup is naturally sweet but will take additional sweetener if you are so inclined. The aftertaste lingers nicely.

The cooler the cup gets the stronger the flavors become – especially the peach. Lala said this was delicious cold brewed. Based on a room temperature cup, I totally believe her. This is a very refreshing tea.

Warning! Warning! Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

After shopping today it was 80 and we were hot and thirsty. My son bought me and him one of these. He likes it. First, ingredient water, second is sugar, then natural flavors, and wait for it… Instant Tea. O Yum, this tastes as scrumptious as it sounds. Yes, sarcasm.

It is sweet enough to make your kidneys hurt. The taste is just odd. It is either a little soured tasting or they added a tiny bit of lemon flavor (natural of course).

I don’t know what my son paid, but it was too much. I appreciate his generosity so I accepted graciously. Again, he likes it – BUT – I am warning you good folks. Do not attempt this at home!

I just realized I am a little more Sheldon than I care to admit. Saturday is Mother Parker OP tea. This is Thursday so it must be green tea Frap from Starbucks day. Different is not good. They say it is, but it’s not. So anyway, Had this skinny, no whipped cream, and an everything bagel smeared with cream cheese. Over priced yes, but breakfast of champions. What an excellent combination.

Actually feeling like me today. No headache. No earache. Yeah! Sipping this one again today. Still tasty.

I picked up a bass guitar a few days ago. I can’t play bass – yet, but I have one. Today is the first day I have had a chance to thump on it. Used headphones so I wouldn’t annoy others or embarrass myself. A good time was had by all. Started with Paranoid. The bass line drives that song. Since I am not likely to work it in to a song at church, I guess I’ll finish my cup and go work on something more appropriate. Although we do have a punk inspired version of This Is The Day. Most fun you can have with three chords.

I have had such a headache for two days. It was making me nearly sick to my stomach. I barely ate or drank all day. This evening my brother gave me a bag of morels he and his wife found growing in their yard. They are huge. One made a sandwich. Snapped me out of my pain.

In celebration I fixed this tonight. I don’t know about the rest of you but I cannot bring myself to use as much leaf as called for on the instructions. 8g/8oz would make this $3/‘teapot’ (1 cup). I know it is a free sample, I just can’t. I used abt 3.5g (half the sample) and it is plenty hearty enough for me. I could sit and breath in the wet leaf all night, except then I wouldn’t get to drink it. This is excellent even fixed my way and it steeps 3 times.

Just got back from town. It’s cool (my wife says cold). It’s dreary and lightly raining. This was the perfect tea for this moment. It is warm. The taste is fresh and green with enough bite toward the end of the sip, to make you take notice without crossing the line in to bitterness. Really hitting the spot.

Today we went shopping for our very first ever NEW mattress. My wife and I have slept on hand-me-downs our entire lives. We did own a new water bed years ago but that kind of doesn’t count. It will not be delivered for a week or so because we special ordered the foundation. But it is going to be awesome.

In the last month we have paid off the house, the truck, the tractor, and the credit card. The mattress is a small victory celebration. There is still a mountain of medical bills that we hope to conquer next. All this has occurred after I was permanently laid off. It does not add up on paper. All I know is we have been blessed beyond measure.

Three cups of this one to start my day. The first one, I was overcome by a spirit of stupid or something. I added cream and honey. OMGosh that’s just gross. I emptied the cup in a hurry so I could drink it dark and strong. So much beter. A good basic bagged black. Sometimes that’s what it takes to get the day moving.

Rummaging through my box of samples and found this one. Looks like I last logged this 9 months ago. The leaf is long for black tea and dark. The dry aroma is of grain. The brew scent is light smoke and malt. It is fairly sweet and lightly smoked. It reminded me of Bailin Gongfu when I last had it. Today I would say it doesn’t have the chocolate notes. What ever. This is a really nicely smooth satisfying cup. Two thumbs up.

Yeah! I finally get to drink some tea! Check out the picture of this one. It looks alien. It smells delicious. I sipped this hot, but the taste reminds me of a grown up shaved ice drink. I imagine this would be awesome iced with a little sugar. There are several different berry and citrus ingredients in this. I personally could only separate out the blueberry. It all blends so perfectly, maybe too perfectly? Nice lingering aftertaste. I sipped this slowly and enjoyed every sip.