Lynne-tea

I decided I would make this into a cold steeped tea.
I find that it is a touch bitter almost… this method definitely did not bring out the creamy aspect – therefore I added some low fat condensed milk and agave. It’s so good it’s stupid. Creamy bergamot deliciousness. I don’t like that I needed to add things – but it’s so good it would please me to drink this instead of an iced coffee on any occasion! Perhaps next time I will hot steep it then ice it as I do miss that creamy flavour and maybe that way it will be sweeter and I wont need to add anything

This is a showdown between the superior grade LS and this grade 2 from Life in Teacup. Let’s get started ‘cause my delicious smelling tea is getting colder by the word.
Dry: Smells of light sweet smokey fire. Nicely twisted dark chocolate leaves.
Liquor (1.5min): Smells and tastes like a camp fire. But sweet bacon and a little malty at the same time. Yum..
ok I just noticed the steep times of the other tasters and mine is wayyy lower. Next round I am trying a 4 minute steep. I’m nervous. Ohhh but it will be good. Here’s the thing – I touched the wet leaves and now my hands smell like salty bacon. Now I want salty smokey sweet bacon. I don’t ever crave meat products so this is weird.
5min: I got side-tracked looking at Life in Teacup Dan Cong. Looks like I will have to order some more tea soon. sips Whoa! New tea almost. Full bodied and with a gentle sparkle feeling around my tongue. Slight drying in the throat, but nothing too bothersome. When I try and think about the sweetness (which is mid-taste for me), visions of black currants pop up in my brain for some reason. Mmmm it’s like black currant syrup on non-crispy maple smoked bacon. I’m in love.
Thank you again Gingko… Life in Teacup has wonderful customer service and I really appreciate that!

I was so excited when my Life In Teacup order arrived a little while ago. So far I have tried their TGYs and jeez are they good! I waited to try the Superior Grade Vs. their grade 2 Lapsang Souchong. After a mixup, the grade 2 had been delayed. But thanks to their fantastic customer service – I quickly received the grade 2 for comparison (along with a few generous and lovely samples – thank you so much Gingko!)
Dry: Sweet and malty leaf. It has a very very subtle smoke hint, but not in your face by any means at all.
Liquor 1.5 min: Very malty and almost dark chocolate like. There is a clean and refreshing feeling at the end of the sip at the back of the throat/tongue. It’s nice and something new to me. Nice subtle roast to it, but not stand out smokey. Very different and mild LS.
5min: Smelling the cup – I detect no smokey notes. Just malty caramel sweetness. Interesting for an LS. Smooth caramel taste with a warm blanket feeling that is amazing. This is a good tea – but comparing to their grade 2 LS.. I honestly prefer the grade 2. I appreciate the refined taste of this tea with the subtle roast flavour and caramel sweetness, but I want some smoke. I want some intensity. This tea reminds me of a sophisticated afternoon high tea with one lady being a rebel and choosing the LS instead of an unaltered straight black (even though this tea tastes almost like a straight black..).
It is good but I am glad I only got a sample as I like more intense LS flavours I guess.

This is sad. I was so looking forwards to this tea and had high hopes for it. But it’s giving me nothing.
Dry: Smells of caramel honey. Long luxe leaves. I like.
Liquor: After a rinse and three steeps.. I’m really not getting very much. I am being a stickler for temperature and amount of leaf, but I am still getting hardly anything. For my fourth steep, I cut my water in half (from 6oz to 3oz for 2 generous tsp of leaf) and upped the steep time to about 2 minutes to get Something.. Anything..
Nothing. My last few sips had some carmel to them, but generally nothing stands out to me. Perhaps my tongue is too untrained? Or perhaps it’s the tea (I have never encountered this before to be honest… sad.) I have enough of the sample left to attempt this again..Hopefully that round will give me something. Maybe I will go back to steeping my old toucha leaves. Thank you so much Tony for this sample from Chicago Tea Garden! I am glad I got to try it (my first Dancong and hopefully not last!)

Edit: Okay – fifth steep is the absolute best so far. I can taste creamy honey and a drying in the back of the throat that I get with honey. A touch of mayyyyybe dried apricots if I stretch it.

I’ve fallen in love with this tea. It does such wonderful things in my mouth I can’t help but love it.
Dry: Smells malty to me with dark dark chocolate coco notes. Nice twisted leaves.
Liquor 30s: Nice amber color which tastes like umami and salty flavours (salty like a calmed down soy sauce..). Very nice on the tongue. To be honest – I don’t get carmel or sweet type flavours at all. All of them are malty umami soy sauce. I am extremely happy those are the flavours I get as they are ridiculously good in such a surprising way (hence why I have been drinking this often).
45s: I think I get a lot of these umami and salty flavours when its hot. That is when they are most prominent to me. This is definitely more smooth in the initial taste.. then unfolds into a sparkly malty deliciousness. I still sense the same flavours from the first steep, but this time they have changed slightly. Some sips I even encounter a surprising smooth creaminess. Fantastic tea.

I will write more steeps another day. Today I must conquer genetics. Hmph.

I was so very very excited to see this wonderful package arrive all thanks to Tony from Chicago Tea Garden. I am so thankful I got to try a very generous selection of their teas. Now that I have some time, I can really get into these teas and see what they have to offer. So far – impressed. Very impressed.
Dry: cute little pu-erh touchas that have a mild smell. Earthy and starchy.
Liquor: 30s Light yellow liquor that smells like buttery rice. It also tastes like buttery rice. Sticky buttery rice. Ooooh yUm!
35s: A darker yellow/toasted color. More intense in the buttery goodness – more of flavour than of feeling. Very very good. I like it. Thick and toasty almost. Buttery roasty toasty.
48s: Sweeter buttery rice. As though a rice wine vinegar and sugar mixture was added, but without the acidity. mmm goodness.
1min: Delicious. Much the same as 3rd steep.
1.15min: Whoa mouth butter. This covers my tongue in that butter sensation.. like a melting pat of butter on my tongue. Slow and warm creep with a touch of a salty sensation (like a tingle almost.. your taste buddies get excited and I picture them dancing for joy – creating the slight tingle/bright sparkle feeling). I think this may be my favourite so far. But that is hard to say as all the steeps were soo very delicious. I do think I will be able to get at least another 4 steeps out of this with strong flavour as it appears the pu-erh was just changing it up a bit for the fourth steep
In the end – absolutely wonderful comfort tea. I am drinking this on a hot sunny day today. Is that crazy? No.. it’s absolutely suiting in an odd way. Personally – I will drink this tea whenever I crave buttery sticky rice…. surprisingly often to be honest. Thank you again Tony for your generosity. I am so happy I got to try this!

Yay!! Raspberry Oolong!
After a beautifully sunny and warm bike ride (finally!) – I arrived to find a white parcel sticking out of my mailbox. NO way! No Way No Way! Angrbodas wonderful parcel! Which meant that A. C. Perch samples were just waiting for me to drink them. So, me and my massive smile made a wonderful cup of this legendary oolong (with filtered water! Finally!)
Dry:…It is beautiful. Smaller green and larger, twisted black pieces of leaves with raspberry chunks. Oh jeez this is the bees knees. The smell brings me back to ANY raspberry bush I have had an intimate encounter with (by intimate I mean scouring a bunch of bushes for 2 or more hours in order to eat any raspberries in sight).
Liquor: The smell is not super raspberry on the nose, but more of a linger in the background. The forefront smell is a combination of roasted and green oolong. The taste – delightful. It is a very well balanced cup. I can clearly taste a light raspberry.. which reminds me of raspberry iced tea. But not fake flavouring. The roasted note is mild but definitely present… and I feel like the last bit of a sip has a more green buttery/baked goodness to it.
Wow. Well rounded delicious tea. I am on my second steep and this time around I did a longer steep (1.5 min vs. 5 min)… This is different for me as usually I steep oolongs for shorter periods of time at lower water temperatures but this definitely needs a longer steeping time and high temp to bring out the raspberry. Ooh jeez my cup keeps draining so fast. I swear there is a small leak at the bottom of my mug and sneaky sugar ants are drinking it all up. Or it’s me… but that means I will have to order some more of this tea. hmph.

Thank you SO Much Angrboda! A great tea that is very much appreciated!

How delicious!
I wanted something chocolate and flavourful. My water was around 85C so I thought I might as well go for this one as it is chocolatey and has a complex and delightful aftertaste to accompany the chocolate.
I have just finished up three steeps with this tea. All delicious. Halfway through my first cup I added a little brown sugar. It was wonderful and I feel it woke the cup up a bit as the smells were so strong, but the flavour was subtle and needed coaxing. I rarely rarely rarely add anything to my tea anymore, but this just fit tonight.
Chocolate, berry taste (black? blue?) with a cinnamon spice trailing behind. I like I like!

The dry leaf smells deliciously of vanilla and flowery cream. Nice long twists of oolong leaf amongst pretty yellow lemon myrtle and marigold pieces.
The liquor is a nice pale greenish yellow that smells delicious. Vanilla cake… or pudding… hmm. Definite creaminess to the oolong with a light vanilla taste. I’m definitely getting vanilla pudding. I wish it had real vanilla bean pieces in it to bump up the vanilla flavour. Its delicious and delicate though…. but I still wish it was a little stronger with the vanilla flavour. It’s still very pleasant.

I needed a comfort tea so I decided creamy peach would be perfect.
Liquor: I think my palate has been tuned to natural teas a lot more lately so I can definitely taste a bit of an artificial flavour now, but I don’t mind it. It really is not blowing my socks off like it originally did… Perhaps it was due to my absentmindedness and failure to closely watch steep times. It’s nice though – peachy cream. I can taste a semi-decent black base that is slightly smokey/malty. Nice. Okay it’s growing on me again. To be honest – I like this more than Long Life Oolong. A lot more… Especially the aftertaste. The aftertaste alone makes me want to drink this tea more.

I was somewhat excited to try this. I do like my oolongs simple with nothing added.. but I figured I might as well try this too.
Dry: Smells pretty peachy apricot wonderful. Yum. Nice pieces of almond and orange peel.
Liquor: Um.. okay ew. For some reason the color of the ‘tea’ has turned into an electric yellowish amber that reminds me of the antiseptic liquid they apply just before surgery to sterilize the area. I hope they didn’t add a dye to this tea under ‘flavouring’. Guh! The peach is definitely present, same with some apricot tones. I sense a little oolong playing around under all the stone fruit tastes. Oh boy..I don’t even like to swirl my cup to try and cool down the tea as all I see against the white of the mug is antiseptic wash >.< Aftertaste is a little juicy.. nice. I think this one tastes best luke warm (have yet to try it cold). It’s a lot more juicy and I could definitely see myself incorporating this into a skinny peachy summer drink..
It’s good.

I stuffed a bag full of this tea so I had something to drink at silly Starbucks while I studied. Their tea is horrible and so is their coffee. Either way – It’s butter. In a bag. Impressive.
Will write a better review later but for the price… WOW!

Holy Hannah banana this smells amazing. It’s making my stomach grumble and want food just smelling it. This is a dangerous tea =\
Dry: Chocolate covered raspberries…with a hint of cream. Mmm so yummy smelling. Nice pieces of coconut and raspberries. Eee! =)
Liquor: Strong black tea. Awh maybe 4 minutes was too much. Slightly bitter, but I can taste the raspberry and coconut. It’s nice, but I still think I messed up the steeping time. Boo =(

I am very excited to try this tea. And I must say – Life In Teacup has wonderful customer service!
Dry: Leaves are full and big – not little broken up chunks. (Yay!) The smell is sweet and lightly smokey. Yum.
Liquor: YUM. Toasty and creamy. Light amberish honey liquor. This is magnificent. Staple for sure. I have the perfect activity for this tea – a dark comfy bed with a movie and popcorn. I think I will go engage in such an activity. Maybe not a movie, but It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia instead. Oh jeez I’m in love with this tea. Very comforting and roasty.
Sorry for the short note. I will make a longer one later when I catch up on sleep.

I had to get this tea after discovering I have a great soft spot for smokey tea.
Dry: Much more fragmented leaves than the Nepal black by DT. Wonderful pine notes with a deep sweet smoke. Yum.
Liquor (1.5min): A deep reddish brown. Its is molasses sweet – like homemade barbecue sauce on something recently gilled. Definite pine notes at the first taste which are very strong and smokey (a little too much so). This intensity then mellows into a sweet barbecue flavour for me. Delicious!
Overall this tea is good. I wish it had a more well rounded black tea, instead of just a high intensity flavour off the get go. I want to enjoy my cup – not have my tongue assaulted by a burning pine branch. It’s drinkable – only because I didn’t steep it as long as DT said. No way hosay would I drink this steeped at 4-6 min =\ yikes.

No notes yet.

I needed a comforting cup of oolong and decided to go with this one. Looks like I am the first to review it (whoa)… so here we go!
Dry: Small leaves with a nutty smell to them. Almost like a baked whole wheat/nutty bread. I’m excited. I hope it wraps me in a big doughy ball of warmth – like a tea hug. I need it.
Liquor: 1st steep (30s): Well – I will never do 2-3tsp of oolong per 8oz steeped for 2-3 min.. then proceed to drink it. That would be way too intense for me. So instead I only steeped for about 30s instead using boiling water as they recommend (it worries me a touch… and depending on how this turns out I may drop it down – though the leaves are fully fermented so it’s probably alright). The liquor is a warm apricot colour. It’s nice. I don’t sense any floral notes at all, but a nice roasted chestnut taste. It’s slightly sweet, like a clover flower, though there is a different creaminess that isn’t a typical creamy (I’m attributing this to the chestnut taste). Oh delicious. Based on the leaves, I wasn’t expecting it to produce. How naive haha! In all honesty – this tea is still hot but I am gulping it down. I should slow it down and let it cool a bit. Hmph.
2nd steep (1 min): It’s now a deep amber apricot colour. The leaves are about 1/3 unfurled. I pick up a more floral note hidden amongst a toasty caramel smell (maybe?). At first I immediately thought citrus, then it became the caramel smell.. then coconut. I don’t know what is going on with either my nose or this tea but it’s neat (and confusing). Whoa strong. I watered it down. About an extra 1.5 oz. I am not fond of this steep. I’ll be honest. It’s a dumper. Drats!
3rd steep (30s): Intermediate colour between 1st and 2nd steep. I get a stronger clover flower smell. It’s Meh
Maybe my steeping parameters need to go back to my typical oolong steeping methods. This is way too overpowering and just tastes like strong tea with an interesting smell but a blank palate. Sad. It’s okay though – I have 100g worth to get this one right! For now I will stick with my rating – though I will seek to improve it with my steeping methods (aka – do NOT follow anywhere near their guidelines. Unless you like extremely strong tea).

PS. Warning – geek fest if you read on I was reading the description and looked up a research paper on oolong and it’s inhibitory effects on Streptococci (bacteria). Very neat: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8319255

EDIT: I let the 2nd steep cool off (I was too lazy to get up immediately and dump it).. and after giving up on steeping the leaves again, I had nothing to drink but this (and was too lazy to go to wash out the strainer for new leaves).. so I sipped it. AND GOOD. Chocolate. 70% dark chocolate. Just a touch of sweetness. I now regret ditching the leaves. I think this will be a fantastic oolong for icing in the summer. Yummy – rating goes up (had it at 61)

Finally! A sit-down with a tea. I feel like it’s been so long for some reason. I have been doing other wonderful things though so I don’t feel neglected due to lack of tea (plus I sneak good tea whenever I can). Since it’s almost 12 and I will be getting up early.. I figured a herbal tea would be much better than all my new oolongs that I am absolutely longing to try. So here we are. With Midsummer Night’s Dream. A sample I picked up from my Davids Tea trip (where I also filled up on their Quangzhou Milk Oolong..possibly more excited about that than all the other teas I got.)
Dry: Pretty – I had a large gooseberry in my tisane. I enjoy gooseberries by the way. The first smell I get is KUMQUATS. Whoa. Honestly my favourite fruit. I can eat a decent sized bag in one go. They are my crack. Sweet but yet tangy at the same time. I showed this to my sister and she wanted to take the bag. I said no way, but offered to give her a sample of my sample to try. She declined and opted for a tea party date instead. I’m excited.
Liquor: Hmm.. first sip tastes like Neocitran. Then it quickly calms into a very sweet complex flavour I am trying to figure out. The afterward mouth-feel even reminds me of kumquats, though I suspect it is the mint lingering. This tea is alright. But it’s not really tea. I want real tea. It sweetens as it cools and the citrus mellows a bit more. I don’t feel like I’m being punched in the face with citrus anymore. Because this tea does not taste like a kumquat, I am a bit displeased.
I won’t do another steep tonight, but I will save the tisane for tomorrow. The rating may change based on a cold steep (as I hear that is good..). Maybe tonight I just wanted some camilla sensis of any sort… not herbal =\

I got to mucking about and didn’t document the first two steeps (2s, 4s), but they were sweet for sure. I will make sure to take better notes on that portion next time.
3rd steep (6s): Beautiful green.. it reminds me of steamed asparagus water (except without the smell). Or perhaps spinach water? Something leafy and dark green. Definitely a sweet doughy smell to me. Very sparkly and fresh on the tongue, and somehow tastes as complex as a summer meadow would smell. Bursting with tall grasses, nectar filled flowers and a clean mountainous breeze. At the end of a sip.. the lingering aftertaste on the back of my tongue is almost like my taste buds are having some kind of wild party with champagne (you’re welcome taste buddies).
4th steep (8s): Must save for later or note later.. I’m off to see my dad!
(holding off on rating until I have a good sitdown with this.. not eating okra and sipping… x.x)

EDIT:
Okay.. so 5th steep (11s): Magic. I left the leaves sit for 7 hours and just did another infusion. Rock candy. Everywhere. All in my mouth and then it’s gone. Oddest thing. I don’t think I have ever had a tea that tastes so different from sip to sip. I’m intrigued and need more.

No notes yet.

Whoops… I added this review to the 2011 previously
{Warning: Long one.. I’m sorry}
I’m going for it tonight. I’ve waited far too long to let lack of sleep get in the way of this tea. I have more to enjoy and try later on anyways. David graciously included a note. I like that very much. It truly shows an appreciation for the customer, and is much more personalized than a stereotypical printed-out ‘thank you’ page. Well, let’s get to it. To be honest – I am nervous. I have such high hopes for this tea and I feel very happy to have the ability to try…Oh man I’m drinking it already. I can’t stop drinking it. I decided to give my leaves a rinse and use traditional brewing techniques. I didn’t have a place to dispose of the rinse water so I just sipped a bit..cause it was sitting there.. (I’m a curious person okay?).. Anyway- I couldn’t stop. I found myself drifting off into a honeysuckle galaxy whilst The Antlers – Rolled Together played in the background. I’m. So. Excited.
- Sorry-.. Back on track.
Dry: The leaves are beautiful. Various shades of a forest green.. the little leaves remind me of little pieces of acrylic paint that have dried. Odd association – but the color and texture remind me of painting. The smell to me is vegetal and strongly floral, with a bright upper note I can’t place right now.
1st steep (2s): Smells very floral up front, but I find an almost vanilla jasmine smell in the background. This tea makes me smile SO much. When I was young, I grew up in an area that had a large forest that I use to play in right down the block from my house. It was honeysuckle heaven in there! This steep brings me right back there as if I had just bit the tip off the honeysuckle and drank out the sweet juice inside. I still get a jasmine note that is very strong in the scent and immediate taste. Ooh I burnt my lip! Darn I am so impatient. Even as it cools it tastes like I’m just drinking a warmed cup of delicious honeysuckle juice. Enough notes on this steep.
2nd steep (2s): Sweetness is still present, though not as prominent. Sparkly flavours on the back and sides of tongue. I do taste a little camomile.. or just a similar sweetness that I find in camomile. Delightful.
I won’t bore you with the (hopefully) 30 other steepings unless there is a major development!
Very yummy and interesting tea so far

Not a true milk oolong- but a milky flavoured oolong none the less. After becoming a lover of oolong (and being nearly out of Davids Tea milk oolong), I decided to give this tea a go as I can purchase it locally.

Dry: Leaves are more broken up and more stems then Davids Tea (which is to be expected if you pay $5/50g in my opinion). Smells like condensed milk. I like that. Wet leaves unfurled rather quickly (almost all open after one steep).. though again, to be expected.
Liquor: Deeply rich carmel colour. It smells heavenly actually. Sunshine (and yellow) comes to mind for some reason when I smell this which makes me happy. Caramelly sweet smell with a touch of vanilla and camomile (random). The taste is pleasing – I can definitely taste the oolong and there is a buttery sensation/flavour as an intermediate note. No real substantial aftertaste, except a mild candy note.. like a gummy real fruit candy, except not sweet. It’s subtle but nice.
Note: I am half delirious right now due to lack of sleep and I am pretty sure I put in 1 tbsp for my whole 6oz cup. I’m not sure why I did that. Or why I let it steep longer then I usually would. At least with my trusty thermometer I now know exactly what temperature water was used (93C). Due to these factors – I will hold off on rating until I figure out my life and stop mucking up my tea! (Thank goodness I didn’t try playing with my Verdant tea yet.. I definitely need more sleep for that session!)

I went for it. The very first time I smelled this tea I was amazed that someone would drink such a smokey intensely flavoured tea (other than sweet flavours, and I do recall even asking the sales woman if they actually do sell it very often). Very malty and comforting to me now, but at the time I didn’t think I would like it (back when I was an always-add-things-to-my-tea type person.. not that that is a bad thing. I just find it hides flavours sometimes.)
Anyways.. so I just finished up 4/5 final exams (YAY! ONE MORE!) and thought I should buy some tea to reward myself (even though my Verdant tea order finally arrived today so I don’t have to stalk the mail man – Yay #2!). I walked away with a lot of tea today and a thermometer.
Dry: Little twisted black leaves. Nothing fancy. Smell is addictive. Really addictive (to be honest I have smelled it over 15 times since I got it two hours ago).
Liquor: Very dark.. I steeped it for about two minutes and thought that that was good based on color. The steep was a touch weak, so I popped the leaves back in and managed to forget about it for a while (therefore, no idea on steeping times). I tried it.. Very good.. though slightly bitter (my fault!.. brewing it like a true Russian zavarka almost!) I fixed this by adding hot water. There is no bitterness to this tea anymore. It is very smokey, though not overly so. Definitely malty and rich…Aftertaste reminds me of applewood smoked gouda for some reason and I love it.

I can definitely see myself making this on an extremely regular basis (especially considering it was only $5 for 50g). I’m sold. To be honest, this will probably replace coffee in the AM for me on most days.

Oh wow – I haven’t wrote a review for this tea yet. I can’t believe it as this was one of my first DT shipments and it’s so delicious I guess I told everyone but you all how much I love it (though by the rating, you all obviously know the great wonderfulness of this tea!)

Dry: I want to crawl into the bag to be honest. I wish I had some machine to shrink me down so I could intermingle with the delicious scents of creamy pumpkin chai. So clean and sharp smelling.. if that makes sense? As in I can smell every individual flavour.

Liquor: Beautiful deep/burnt amber. Smells even creamier – it reminds me of a slice of pumpkin pie with a WHOLE bunch of whipping cream on top. Sweet whipping cream (though not too sweet) Holy jeez this smells good. (So good that a professor of mine got distracted in class and asked what in the dickens I was drinking as it smelled so delectable… I sense another convert.) I can taste a lovely malty black tea that has a creamy/rounded quality to it. I taste caramelized sugar and a bit of pumpkin. The flavours are not as strong as I remember, though I did go for a shorter steeping time and just under boiling water compared to last time. I enjoy a longer steep I think to bring out more of the chai/spice flavours. The aftertaste is not very strong (again, could be due to a lower steeping time).. but its a sweet malty aftertaste. Mostly black tea I think.. though maybe I am mistaken (I really need to get into plain black tea to know for sure).

Overall – a delicious brew. I will for sure be replacing this tea… the smell and taste are too irresistible to pass up! I am sure this would be fantastic with milk.. but I just want to drink unaltered tea lately. Maybe soon I will make this into a latte.. I can only imagine the deliciousness of this in latte form..with whip cream? oh my .