laurenpressley

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I’ve been thinking of this tea ever since the unveiling of the 4oz pot steeping method. Finally I got some and it’s really good. I wanted to do a few cups normally before the intense steeping method, so that’s what I’ve been doing this morning. Just over a teaspoon to 4 oz, resteeped several times. I have to agree with Ricky: if you weren’t paying attention it’d be a good white tea. Really paying attention turns this into a really good cup.

I have been waiting for this tea for some time but I didn’t even realize it.

But first: I had an experience that wasn’t as great as I’d hoped with a Samovar order. I emailed about it and they were totally awesome! I love the company even more now and plan to order a lot more tea from them. Well done, Samovar.

Back to the tea: it’s great! I’ve done a few infusions and it went from being a fairly standard oolong to being nearly sweet. I need to do a more focused study of it, with much more attention to temperature, time, and number of steeps, but even without that I can say with confidence that this is my favorite oolong.

That, and the leaves are crazy! They’re not curled up the way many oolongs are and they’re HUGE!

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I’m a little under the weather and would typically turn to an herbal “tea” to boost the immune system and/or provide comfort. However, since I’m still nursing, I can’t have a lot of the herbals I’d like. A trip to the grocery turned this up and I figured it could help with the comfort part. It’s a good cup! Not what I’d normally go for, but I’m sure I’ll finish the box!

So I got a black sampler set from Samovar, but something weird must have happened in the shipping because everything smells a bit of lapsang souchong (not the best for me). So the fact that I didn’t love this might be because of the faintly smoky smell and taste of it. Otherwise: total flowers. I’m abstaining from applying a numerical rating since the LS scent would cause me to lower the rating and that might just be a one-off thing in my sample.

backlogging: I had some of this thanks to the traveling tea box. it was a lovely floral cup, more strongly flavored than I expected, but that was probably because I steeped it in less water than I might have otherwise.

I’m having a cup of this thanks to a coworker who got a box from a student who traveled abroad. It’s a really really good cup of tea. I also happen to be drinking this after steeping in the muslin teabag that it came in. As far as teabags go this one is excellent!

For me the smell of chocolate is greater than the taste, and the spiciness is about the same in scent and flavor. There’s definite clove, though I’m not sure what else. It’s a rally nice dessert cup and I find myself wishing for more so that I could experiment with sweeteners and milks.

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I think I had this tea tonight. We went to a friend’s place, and I thought they had a jasmine green tea from Adagio. I’m pretty certain they got it from a grocery store, too. However, when looking at the Adagio site, I can’t find green jasmine. Looking at the pictures here, this is the most likely candidate. Though, I could have sworn it had a green flavor rather than an oolong one.

Anyway, it was a lovely cuppa. And it made me look forward to the jasmine pearls waiting for me back at the office.

I had a cup of this earlier today. Or, rather, I had a glass. I made a cup according to the directions, and realized after the fact I had meant to steep it more strongly to add soymilk. I decided to go ahead and add the soymilk, and then ice to cool it down, and at that point it was so bland that it was really chai flavored soymilk. Next time I’ll do it right!

Jasmine pearls are my favorite type of pearls. I hadn’t had Adagio’s take on them, so I ordered a sample. As always, the sample is generous, and I’ve been resteeping all morning long. Now the leaves are fully unfurled and the tea continues to be tasty! A win!

Today I picked back up the sample of this I ordered from Samovar, since I’d been having McNulty’s version for a few days. This one is noticeably lighter and sweeter. It’s different enough, though, that I wouldn’t have guessed it was in a similar family.

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I am slowly getting back into tea now that I’m in the office and letting myself have a few cups through the day. I can’t figure out how to drink oolong (with the multiple steeps) at home, so I brought my tiny pot to work and have cups throughout the day.

This is a good one. I’m out of practice, so I don’t have much to say other than it’s very good. It lacks some of the harshness in the first few steeps that some oolongs have, which makes it a winner in my book!

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I ran across this several months ago, and having an interest in British teas (and the cheap price tag) I picked up a box. Just today I finally tried a cup.

As soon as I opened the bag I had second thoughts. It looked worse that the tea in the teabags that I get at many of the local restaurants… the tea was tiny and granular. I wondered for a second if maybe it was instant. Rereading the box I realized it was not, but didn’t see how it would stay in a strainer. I got the finest mesh one in my possession and brewed up a cup to see how it would go.

It brewed very darkly! It looked more like coffee than tea. Typically, when learning about a cup of tea I start with it plain, then add things in to see if creamer or sweetener enhances the flavor. This one I just went straight to the doctoring up phase.

And you know what? It was actually pretty good. It’s not something I’d really look forward to having, but if it were rainy or cold out and I just wanted a basic cuppa, it would hit the spot! So I guess I’ve learned my lesson about preconceived notions…. this one will end up staying in my pantry until I finish it!

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This is a pretty tea! I steeped the loose leaf version and was surprised to see the flowers open up and drift around as the tea steeped. I didn’t realize that there was green tea, so I steeped a little hotter than I might have otherwise. It’s a floral tea that seems like one that could be universally liked. I think this one, in particular, could make for a lovely afternoon tea get together in a glass pot with non-tea-drinking friends.

I got this one from the Traveling Tea Box. It’s a good basic black. I can barely pick up on the Cream, which is good for me. It’s not a tea that I would go out of my way to order, but if I happened to be in Ann Arbor, I’d probably pick some up. :)

Pretty much exactly what I expect from a black tea. Nothing spectacular here, but a solid choice when craving a basic black.

I added this onto my Den’s Tea order almost on a whim, because I really am not all that much of Houji fan. I do love Genmaicha, though, and the site indicated the low caffeine would enable a nightime cup of this. So that’s what I did last night. It’s pretty good! The roasted rice stands out and the Houji compliments it well. I do think this will work for an evening cup of “real” tea!