Michelle

This was given to me by a friend. The package is all in Chinese characters. She gave me about six of these little foil packets, each containing ~3 tsp of leaves. They smell oolongy, but not sweet or floral at all. Very woodsy. There’s something reminiscent almost of a Yunnan black in the scent.

Taste is similar to the smell. It’s a darker oolong, but it doesn’t taste roasted. Just… dark. I may have oversteeped as it was a little bitter, but I still finished a large mug.

Iiiiinterestinggg…..

The only tea I had yesterday for St Patrick’s day was a bagged Wegmans green – shocker! I was at my roommate’s for the weekend, and that’s all they have in they have. Not that I’m a tea snot or anything :)

So I’m making up for it today. My trip to Ireland in April 2010 was what started me drinking tea, and there’s a special place in my heart for IBs. I need to wake up because (1) I’m about to drive 300 miles home, and (2) I just had breakfast and it’s 1:30 PM. Whoof.

Just tossing this sachet in and hitting the road. Doesn’t get bitter. YAY.

Not actually bad for a cafeteria bagged black. A little light on flavor, which I like in an EG. Tealuxe is one of my favorite local tea shops, and they have a ton of EG variations… but their “Extra Bergamot Earl Grey” always terrifies me. This one is solid!

Got this in a care package from my friend. It’s good! Surprisingly appley, comforting. Doesn’t resteep well, but it’s decent.

Thanks for the free sample from Teajo!

Not-Tea Notes

It was nice to see this in my mailbox today – such a good day!

In Shakespeare, we all had to prepare the same scene from Richard III. My professor announced today that we were having a surprise “callback” – he was going to pick scene partners out of a hat. We decided that the two best actors would get to pick monologues for our professor to perform for us. As far as I know, none of us have ever seen him act.

I was the last Elizabeth to go, and the universe was on my side – the Richard I was put with happened to be the girl I rehearsed with most often. I won out of all the Elizabeths (and I’m not even really an actor, I just love Shakespeare SO FREAKING MUCH) and so the Richard winner and I performed the whole scene – he was someone I’d worked with too, so we already had a sort of rhythm going, and it was surprisingly different from the first time I’d done it.

And now we get to see my professor do a Don Pedro monologue from Much Ado and a Hal monologue from Henry V… the latter of which he’s never performed in front of people before. Happy spring break, professor! :)

Tea Notes

I smelled this one, and thought “ooh, that’s strong.” I don’t have any straight Earl Greys because I’m not a huge fan of bergamot – I prefer EGCs. But I like to have one in my collection.

I put two heaping teaspoons in my 20oz Amsterdam pot, boiling water, 2 min.

The first cup was surprisingly light. It was a really beautiful Assam base, and it wasn’t overwhelmingly perfumey. The bergamot was supported because the tea itself is of a good quality.

Later cups got stronger, perhaps because it cooled. I thought it might have been due to broken pieces left in the bottom of the pot, but there’s hardly anything there.

It was smooth enough for me to drink straight. I might do milk/sugar next time, just because of personal preference, but it really is a great Earl Grey!

Cold-brewed this overnight. I was afraid it was wayyy too long (24 hours?) when I looked at it. It’s almost black. When I pour it into a glass, it pours dark, dark purple. It looks almost like grape juice.

It tastes surprisingly light. I definitely get the raspberry and lime. I am tasting a bit of grape, but that could be a side effect of the color. I’m not a huge fan of grape juice.

Still, good!

Yup… the way to drink this one is blended with a bit of NMTC’s Cream Vanilla. Even then it’s blah. Eh. Don’t love it, don’t hate it, but I need the caffiene.

Dipping Girl Scout Shortbreads into this.

Oh happy day.

Eurgh. I do not feel good. Here’s to hoping this settles my stomach down a bit.

All throughout Shakespeare I was craving this. I had a cup of Golden Monkey, and this is absolutely the opposite. Smooth and sweet and scented and buttery… ohhh I’m in tea heaven right now.

I feel like I’m getting sick. Oh no!

Big cup of this with lots of honey. Neither of which I like, necessarily… but both of which will help. Am I the only one who doesn’t really like honey?

Long, spindly thin black needle-leaves.

Yesterday I steeped a tumbler of this hot, and it was good. In between classes, though, I didn’t have enough time to heat water and wait for it to steep, so I just filled my tumbler with cold water and let the second steep cold-brew on the way to class.

It was so good! There was a beautiful honey-like sweetness that blended surprisingly well with the smoky notes! And any astringency or maltiness had faded, so it was a much softer brew.

This is from Summer 2012. It came courtesy of Autumn Hearth

I’ve been hoarding the last few cups of this in my stash. It’s so good I don’t want to waste it. At the same time, it’s been a long time since I’ve had any really good tea.

I’m having a hard time breathing today so I’m trying to stay away from caffeine. I don’t want to make anything worse. And I decided that I’ve had a rough couple of weeks. I deserve some good tea.

Brewed Western-style, ~2tsp /16 oz. 30 sec first infusion.

So light, but it’s so thick and creamy and delicious. It’s sweet and sparkling. It has that nuttiness that I love about Dragonwell. And ohhh the lingering aftertaste.

Breathing is good. So is this tea. :)

Nom noms. Deep and rich and hearty.

I’ve spent all night touching up the photos of my school’s winter show, and they’re finally up! :)
http://on.fb.me/15I7CKr

(this post more an advertisement than an actual tasting note XD)

I want something sweet and decadent.

Last night I had a bad night, so I went to the music building and played until I didn’t have the fine motor control to trill and playing forte actually produced strain. I was shaky and so, so tired, but I couldn’t stop. When the kid working in the music library left after security had locked the doors, he asked if I wanted someone to walk me home. “I’m fine,” I said, “I do this all the time. But thanks.” (It was about 2 in the morning). It was so unexpectedly nice.

Today, though, I’m falling asleep. My sleep schedule’s been so wonky because of things like this. And I don’t get lunch.

So I want something sweet and creamy and heavy, and I tossed in a teaspoon of mate. Which will either wake me up or give me a panic attack. Here’s to hoping for the former.

I’m leaving school and going home for the weekend. Hopefully I’ll feel better then.

Another sipdown! Woohoo!

I shot our winter play last night, and I’m sitting here watermarking the photos… it’s so boring. This is keeping me company :)

Another sample sipdown! This one came from Azzrian, I’m fairly certain.

I have about five different vanilla teas in my stash right now, and even for me that’s a bit too much.

This one has a really interesting sort of baked goods smell wafting from it – as if it really were a “cafe” vanilla tea instead of just a vanilla tea! There’s a buttery fruitiness to it that’s really intriguing. A lovely cup.

Byebye! Sipdown time!

I’m actually really happy to be getting rid of some of the teas that I like… but don’t love, and therefore don’t drink a lot.

Also: this is my 300th tasting note! Woohoo!

Another mysterious Japanese tea from my friend. I’m 90% sure it’s a bagged genmaicha. The bags have that distinctive sort of roasty smell, and it tastes like a genmaicha. So that’s what I’m calling it.

No information on the tea whatsoever, but it’s good. I just left the bag in my 8oz Pavina and it didn’t get bitter at all, which is wonderful and surprising.

My friend doesn’t drink green tea, and her parents came home from Japan with, well, green tea. So I passed a bunch of my teas off to her, and she traded me.

I can’t read anything on the package except for the words “Blendy Stick.” I figured it was some sort of matcha. When I opened it up, there, were a bunch of little plastic tube-type pouches which had written on the “Matcha au lait.” Awesome. Matcha with milk.

I don’t have a way to heat milk, so I heated my water to 180F and mixed that in 50/50 with milk from the fridge – I figure that would take the temp down to 150ish and also give it the support of the milk. I mixed it with my stick frother until it all looked edamame green and there was a little layer of froth on top.

It’s good, it’s really good! The first thing that hit me was the sweetener – it’s definitely sweetened, but it’s not done so past the point of drinkibility. I can still taste the matcha there, which is good. Interesting!

I’ve found my Earl Grey. Plain, it tastes like a well-rounded EG: not too much bergamot, smooth black tea. With milk, the cream overtones come out. It works both ways. I’m very happy. :)

Sipdown!

Erm… I’m 90% sure that this came from Rachel, but it was so long ago who knows. If it was someone else, I’m sorry!

Pale kind of spinachy-flavor with a little bit of nuttiness. It’s good. I like it. Not in love, but I’m on my second steeping, so that counts for something :)

A little milk, doesn’t get bitter. Not bad.

Sipdown from Terri HarpLady! Thanks! It’s taken me forever to get to it, I know… AND I have a package for you going out next week! :)

It’s a smooth black tea blend. I think I prefer flavored blacks in general, but this was a good afternoon knitting tea.