Michelle

Hurricane Sandy is currently wreaking havoc on the east cost. I’m about 300 miles inland, so it’s not bad for us, but my friend’s beach home burnt down the other day, and my sister currently has a German exchange student with her – she got to see both the MA earthquake and the hurricane! Everyone’s fine, though, and that’s the main thing.

I have to say, I’m kind of glad to be inland – it’s just bad enough that the high school is cancelled, so I don’t have to teach, but my school still had classes today. So I went back to my room and curled up with a pot of this.
It’s light, but it’s great for rainy days. The vanilla is sweet and plays nicely with the tangerine and raspberry. The natural sweetness is good.

Hello Steepster!

I’ve been absent for awhile. Lots of things have been crazy. I’m picking classes for next semester… all the ones I want to take are 300-level, and I need to give myself an easy semester. Sigh!

I’ve had this sample for awhile, but never really gotten around to trying it. It smells really fruity, and for some reason there are cat-shaped sprinkles in my packet as well, on top of the general sprinkles.

I’ve heard a lot about the color, but it didn’t look strange until I poured it into my glass. Oh goodness. It’s really murky green. It does not look appetizing. But it smells really fruity. Huh.

Unfortunately, it tastes as murky as it smells. It’s vaguely fruity, but it all seems to blur together. Part of it might also be the weirdness of drinking something that color.

I’m actually really glad that this was the tea sent to me by Pekko. I’m finding that I like it more and more! It’s really smooth and creamy and full of oolong-y goodness.

Weirdly astringent. Doesn’t taste much like vanilla, and even with milk and agave it sort of tastes like vaguely tea-flavored sweet milk. I won’t miss this one.

I got this as a gift from a friend several months ago. I tried half the sample tin and hated it. I tried it again today – I’m not partial to it, but it’s not as bad as I thought it was.

It’s a black mint tea. It’s nothing special.

This came from Terri HarpLady – thanks!

I was waiting for the right time to try this… today was a lazy day, but a good day. I finally got to sleep!

The first steep of this, and I can smell the Laoshan black in here. Bready and rich and dark, it dominates the smell. When I first take a sip, it’s all perfumy dry rose, and that goes well with the astringency of the black. It’s very smooth.

The second steep, and it’s completely different. This is oranges and dark chocolate. What was dry and stiff and powdery and polite is now warm and inviting and rich and smooth.

It’s such a wildly different experience that I can’t decide which I prefer. It’s a fantastic tea.

Had this tonight after not having it for awhile – it tasted kind of like wood to me, and it wasn’t especially appetizing. But today I was sort of craving a bland wood-y taste, so I made a cup of this.

It tastes totally differently from what I remember.

There’s still that sweetwood taste… but it’s somehow foregrounded by something I can’t name. It was a bit sour somehow and kind of vinegary, but there was a weird juiciness to it that almost reminded me of cucumber.

WEIRD.

This was a swap from someone… I’m sorry I’m bad at keeping track!

Fantastic as always. Light and sweet and crisp.

Ooh, today’s a good tea day.

Didn’t teach today – stayed up till 1 with my roommate complaining & bonding, and then had to get up at 6 for class. So that wasn’t happening. Instead I sat at home with the gaiwan and the kettle.

This is light, but deliciously sweet and creamy. It was a swap from someone, but I can’t for the life of me remember who sent it. I’m sorry!!

Thanks to Teavivre for this sample!

I’ve heard so many good things about this tea, I was excited to get to try it. It’s beautiful and chocolatey and kind of bready. It’s sweet. There’s a tiny bit of smoke, but it’s sweet. Fantastic!

This was a custom blend sent to me by my friend Emily.

The caramel is definitely forefront, and it blends well with hazelnut (always a good combo). The raspberry in here is a bit of a rogue element, but it’s not as odd as I thought it was! With a little honey, it all comes together.

Strong, full-bodied cup. Really good cold-brewed. You can’t go wrong with the IB :)

Thanks to Della Terra Teas for this sample! I won it in one of their plentiful Facebook giveaways.

The tea is great. The dry leaf smells really strongly, and that’s good. There are little silver candies and silver flakes in it, which I’ve never seen before, but it actually makes the tea sparkle in the light! I still have enough for one more mug, after this pot plus the bit I parcelled off into a swap, so I’m definitely going to go glass with it.

I taste what is definitely apricot. Which is great, considering some of the lackluster apricot teas I’ve had in the past. I think it’s hard to get right. The flavor is a little bit light, but that’s probably because I went light on the leaves. There’s no astringency or bitterness anywhere. Really, really smooth tea, really good flavor. A winner!

I got a tea package today from a friend in NYC. Yum!

This is one of the ones she sent me. It’s a really peachy oolong, and there’s some sort of spice to it too.

My tastebuds are kind of on the fritz, but this is still good!

And I was surprised and happy to see that she’d included a blend with ginger… as much as I hate ginger, it’s good for sore throats.

Chamomile and honey. Way too sweet, but that’s medicine for you. At least it beats NyQuil. Vocal rest tomorrow, hiding for the weekend, and maybe I’ll be able to talk come Monday.

I am surrounded by idiots.

If I have to read one more “critique” of my Lapsang poem that says nothing but “Great work” and “I really find no fault with this piece” I’m going to vomit. The point of a CRITIQUE is not to bleed rainbows. Tell me what needs work!

Shut up, Shell.

In other words, soothing tea time. This is really light and sweet green, and while I’m not entirely sure I’d call it perfectly cherry, it’s not disgustingly artificial. It’s fruity and calming and a really pretty pink and just what I need right now.

This came courtesy of Pekko Teas. Thanks!

I had a bad first experience with milk oolongs, and even after having tried Teavivre’s excellent ones, I’m still a bit wary of them. Still, I had to give this one a go!

The leaves are tightly rolled and fairly large. They smell REALLY creamy, sort of like rice pudding. I get a hint of the described orchid.

The creaminess comes out, but it’s not overwhelming. I definitely tasted the oolong itself, and that does a lot to ground the milk flavor. The floral-ness of this is great.

Thanks, Pekko!

Oh. God.

I must have gotten a bad batch of this, because it’s rated fairly high on here. I myself find it disgusting.

It’s weird hot. I sort of expect it to be a berry flavored tea, and there’s that, but then there’s also a mintiness afterwards… sort of like fruit-flavored gum. The hibiscus isn’t too strong, though, so yay?

And cold… I figured it would be better cold. It almost is. The vanilla comes out, as does the mint, and the fruit takes a bit of a backseat. It’s still sort of like gum, but the flavors jive a bit better. But there’s an unbearable bitterness, which I think comes from the orange rinds. I tried to finish the mug… but couldn’t.

I’ll leave off the rating, since people seem to think it’s okay, and I still have some of my bag left, but sigh. I’m disappointed. At least it was (fairly) cheap.

Really rosy. I like it! The black is present but not overwhelming, and the rose is strong without being too perfumey. Although I am a fan of rose things. I might go longer (4-5 mins) next time to get a bit of a stronger flavor, but there’s no bitterness at all, which is lovely.

The latest batch of samples courtesy of Angel and Teavivre showed up in my mailbox on Friday, but I didn’t get a chance to try them until after I’d gotten back to school from break.

Break was fantastic, but I’m glad to be back, and trying new teas!

I really like this one. The leaves are bright spinach green, and they smell very vegetal. The taste is also very spinach-y and vegetal, but I like it. It’s kind of like my beloved Dragonwell! Delightful.

Hello Steepster!

I need your help. I know that Lapsang Souchong is the name of this tea. I also know that a lot of people refer to it as Lapsang. I’m writing a poem about lapsang… is it okay if I refer only to it as Lapsang, or should the Souchong fit its way into the beginning somewhere? I want to be correct.

-

Tea! Drinking this for a poem. I was SO glad I still had a bit of the sample so generously provided by Teavivre left – I needed the inspiration!

It’s a sweet lapsang. The smoke is mostly in the smell, whereas the tea itself tastes like sweet pine tar, especially as it cools. Steeped in tasting cup – rinse, 15, 25, added a pinch more leaves and then 45, 1 min and 1 min 30. The last three steeps were combined into a travel mug because I didn’t have the time to sit. It produced a wonderfully multilayered brew.

Thanks to Terri HarpLady for this sample!

Apparently I’ve tried it before, and I sort of have a vague memory of drinking it… but I haven’t tried this in a long time.

It’s a light jasmine flavor, with some natural sweetness to it. It’s not especially perfumey or soapy, as can often happen. It’s nice!

Backlog
These 7:30 am classes are NOT doing my sleep schedule any favors… It’s mate day!
This was my second mate before 10 am.

I mixed about a teaspoon of Adagio’s Hazelnut (sipdown… so sad) with a teaspoon of Adagio’s Caramel and a teaspoon of Fusion Tea Room’s Roasted Mate.

The result is fantastic. Roasty and naturally sweet, I’m definitely getting some chocolate and hazelnut. It’s too bad I’m out of the hazelnut now!

Delightful! It’s a really sweet jasmine, which is nice, and the black tea stands up well. It smells very floral, but the taste is fantastically sweet.