Luthien

Having a cup of this to get rid of the lingering aftertaste of the Imperial Oolong.

This oolong has a really distinctive aftertaste not unlike licorice. It’s really… interesting and complex, but I’m still not entirely sure how much I like it. It’s worth continuing with to explore further, anyway.

Another Japanese green from my order from raku-cha. I used my default green tea steeping: two and a half minutes in water at 75-80C and it seemed to be about right for this tea. It has a bit of a grassy aroma, similar to other Japanese teas, but it’s not overpowering. It produces a bright yellow brew and the taste’s really not bad – plenty of flavour but a lot less earthy and woody than I was prepared for. I actually like this one quite a lot. All in all, it was a pleasant surprise.

One of the more full-bodied white teas, and one that I haven’t had for a while, so when I was sent a free sample pack it seemed like a good time to revisit it. As with many white teas, I always find the second steeping better than the first. This time I steeped it for five minutes in water at 75C. If you like pai mu tan/white peony you’ll probably like this one, too.

Having another cup of this. This is definitely this week’s favourite new tea.

I wanted to try a really good sencha, so I ordered this from a place that specialises in Japanese green teas. I steeped it for two minutes in water at 77C. This produced a pale yellow brew with a light seaweed-like aroma. The taste was delicate and smooth. The second steeping produced the richer flavour that I’d been expecting, but I didn’t get it quite right and I ended up with a cloudy, darker yellow brew that was edging towards the bitter. I will keep experimenting with this one!

I seem to be on an oolong kick this week, because here’s another one. The osmanthus flowers look very pretty when steeping and they also give a faint sweetness to the aroma. That slight sweetness is also present in the flavour. This is one of the best oolongs I’ve tried. I’ll definitely be drinking more of it.

Having a late evening cup of this, just because, with a piece of the apple pie my other half brought home. I’ve been drinking this for years and I always come back to it.

A mild oolong, with the rose buds giving it just that hint of an extra something. This is one of those teas that works best on the second steeping.

Having another cup of this and getting towards the end of the sample packet. I’ll be ordering a full packet of this one.

Made this up into a chaiffogato tonight: one cup very strong chai over one scoop of vanilla ice cream, stir in a dash of honey and sprinkle chocolate over the top. A bit like a very light hot chocolate.

A Chinese green that makes a brew of a relatively strong yellow. The taste is moderately malty and nicely smooth. I really like this one.

A pleasant white tea, delicate and sweet but with nothing about it that makes it really stand out from other decent white teas. The first pot was steeped for a couple of minutes in water at 68C. The second pot was steeped for significantly longer – almost ten minutes – in water at 82C; it had a stronger flavour and I liked it better.

A delicate tea with a slightly malty taste. The second steeping has more body and I like it better.

Just trying this one out in the kyuusu, water at 70C and steeping for two and a half minutes. This is such a lovely, smooth tea, one of my very favourite greens and incrediblly easy to drink – and with that lovely honey scent. It’s worked out very well in the kyuusu, but I think I’ll play around with it a bit more and maybe use just slightly hotter water next time.

When I was growing up, my family drank tea and coffee, both with milk, about 50-50, but I only ever drank coffee. A few years ago, I gave up coffee almost completely and found white tea, and then green tea. I still don’t go in for black teas all that much, and I hardly ever drink tea with milk.

This tea is an exception. Steep in boiling water for at least five minutes, add milk and honey, and on days like today when the cold fingers of winter first reach out to touch us I don’t miss the flavoured lattes that used to be my favourite during the colder months.

Very delicate, very subtle green tea with the instantly recognisable flat green leaves and pale yellow brew. This one is lighter in taste than the Dragonwell from Teas & Tisanes that I had the other day. Water at 70C and steeped for two minutes.

I first had Genmaicha years ago when I was very new to green tea. The person who introduced me to it didn’t brew it properly and, of course, I didn’t like it. This time I’ve used water at 77C and steeped it for two and a half minutes, and it’s much, much better. It produces the typical light yellow brew of a Japanese green, and I really like the slightly nutty taste. I’m not so crazy about the smell, which reminds me of slightly burnt toasted breakfast cereal.

I’ve been drinking so much sencha lately that I took the plunge and bought a kyuusu. It’s taken me a couple of goes to get the brew exactly as I like it but I think I’m going to love using it for this tea. A special tea pot for a favourite tea.

The leaves are distinctively flat and green, and make a pale yellow-green brew. This is a very delicate green tea with a mild malty taste to it, and a sweeter aftertaste than any other green tea I’ve tried. I like this one a lot.

I keep trying, but I don’t think I’ll ever really get the appeal of rooibos. I like this one slightly better than the Rooibos Peach Cream I tried recently, but it still seems very lacking in flavour to me.

The leaves are silvery and possess the distinctive curly shape, and they brew up into a yellow-brown liquid that reminds me a lot of white peony/pai mu tan. The taste also reminds me a lot of a good loose-leaf pai mu tan. The aftertaste gets progressively more bitter as you get to the end of the pot; I found the second steeping a lot more gentle. This is a green tea that will definitely appeal to lovers of white tea.

Having another pot of old faithful to help with a headache. Have I mentioned that this is a really forgiving white tea? Even if the water temperature’s not quite right and you forget to take the leaves out for a while, it’s still incredibly easy to drink.

I’m really addicted to sencha at the moment so when I somehow happened to be going past the local tea shop this morning – no idea how that happened g – I ended up with a packet of this. This makes a typical sencha yellow-coloured brew, and you can really smell the strawberry and raspberry in it. The fruit taste isn’t overpowering, but somehow it does leave a fairly bitter aftertaste, even when making sure that the water is the right temperature for green tea.

This is my least favourite of the sencha blends I’ve tried recently. It’s not awful, but I’d much rather have a cup of Sencha Honey or Lime and Coconut than revisit this one.