Muiriddin

Another light oolong to continue my oolong odyssey! Smells pretty mild, slightly of grass but honestly does not hit me in the nose like some teas do. Very light aromas nothing pungent by any means. Some slight notes of pleasant vegetables maybe… Very smooth tasting with a crisp finish after swallowing and just a slight subtle hint of bitter at the back of my tongue. The kind of bitter that is good if you understand my meaning.

Color is pale yellow, I think I am going to steep the next one more and try a little more than the suggested amount of tea to see if it makes things bolder. Having also gotten a sample of Adagio’s Ti Kuan Yin and having drank that earlier today, I think I prefer that to this. However that doesn’t mean this is bad by any means at all.

Further tasting and testing will be needed to see where it will finally fall. Right now it goes on my “buy as a substitute if they are out of Ti Kuan Yin oolong tea list” laughs

Yes I do like this, but I probably should try more tea on this with my next fresh “steeping session” for this tea. Probably later this week…. I also need to log a Ti Kuan Yin session when I get a chance… Until then happy steeping folks!

So most oolong’s have been good to me. This one is very good in fact I bought a bag of this after trying a sample from Adagio and it is almost gone already! Very light in comparison to many oolong’s almost like a silver needle, but has more body. It steeps to a light yellowish green, smells of clover mixed with grass. Taste starts like a white tea, but as you hold it in your mouth the oolong slowly comes out to play. As you steep this the leaves slowly unfurl, which is fun to watch. I like teas that make me want to drink them while waiting for them to steep! The leaves fully open after about two steepings.

This is what I had thought a good green tea would taste like, I’m still looking for a green that I can keep in my tea stash all the time and drink daily. Until I find that green I have this, until it runs out!

I’ve been able to steep this multiple times and continue to like the results. As it cools the flavor stays very stable. Some teas the taste changes as the temperature does, this one seems to hold its flavor with varying temperature (at least until my mug is empty). I may have to buy the big bag of this from Adagio…

Smells strongly of strawberry and peach, which seems to mostly overwhelm the green rooibos and completely eliminate any smell of citrus (as it cooled the citrus smell did emerge). This green rooibos tea seems to be more about the different fruit flavors and less about the green rooibos. I don’t mind strawberry and peach, they are two of my favorite fruits and the combination does smell quite nice with the slight malty hint of green rooibos just peaking through yet I find myself wishing for more of the rooibos to “come out and play”.

Taste is dueling strawberry and peach flavors with a hint of green rooibos and something that may occasionally be what is left of the citrus coming through. I came here hoping for a green rooibos with some fruit hints and came away with a mostly fruit tea that has hints of green rooibos. I may try adding some additional green rooibos to see if that achieves more of what I was hoping for with this tea but all in all this will only be purchased in larger quantities if my wife likes it.

As it cools the citrus smell is being further revealed. I can see why many like this tea. It does have layers and a complexity in flavor, however I find myself wanting to blend it with something to truly go where I would want to take this tea.

Not my first choice in rooibos but definitely better and much more drinkable than the red rooibos vanilla.

As it cools I seem to be getting a slight strawberry kool-aid aftertase from this which means I definitely would want to keep this hot to try and prevent this taste from coming through. Hence in my opinion (to avoid the kool-aid flavor) brew it in small cups and drink it quickly before it gets too cold.

NOTE: bumped to a higher rating see comments I’ve added below as to why

Smells of wood, something wet but fresh cut, not oak, Alder maybe. It has been too long since my forestry lab class for me to identify trees from the smell after they have been cut. In addition you have some brown sugar aroma mixed in and a whisper of nutmeg? Something in the smell also reminds me of butter, but that isn’t quite right. In addition with a deep inhale the smell has a slight stinging sensation deep in my nose… Odd… I haven’t noticed that before.

This was prepared with 14 ounces of water and two teaspoons of rooibos, finishing my sample from Adagio. I steeped this one longer than I had previously. Since I was loading the dishwasher and happened to actually let it go the extra minute before my timer went off. Past experience has been that rooibos itself is very forgiving to extra steeping time and this seems to hold true.

First taste when it hits your tongue is also very woody, but in a pleasant way. Aftertaste is much the same with a touch of olive oil? Something that makes my brain think of butter or olive oil, but my taste buds are still shouting wood! Red rooibos mixes very well with flavors and straight “red bush” tea is something I wanted to try so I would know what was the rooibos and what was the extra added flavors. All in all I prefer the Adagio Orange Rooibos for taste, but the smell of straight rooibos tea is quite good and a delight to my nose. As it cools the flavor of wood becomes a little milder and I might be getting a dash of pepper from the back of my tongue, a very mild black pepper like nibble back there…

In case you haven’t noticed I do like my rooibos, now that I’m out I’ll have to find some more from somewhere. Luckily my new tea shipment should come tomorrow assuming the weather north of me hasn’t delayed it yet again…

After what happened earlier today I’m not sure I should continue with tasting notes, since I’m questioning everything… Therefore I’m putting this one in with no rating.

I am on my second steep for this and am liking it…

It’s nose has a hint of something fig and maybe licorice? It almost smells like a good fig newton bar to me. It tastes slightly malty and bold with a pleasant lingering after taste… It has a hint of sweet over what I normally taste within my Ceylon Sonata. All in all this tea has convinced me to add some Yunnan to my future purchase/experimentation list.

Okay my morning tea did something to me this morning that I just don’t comprehend. I brewed my first cup as normal two mounded teaspoons around 12 ounces of water steeped for 3 minutes. Got my day started. The first cup tasted good as usual.

Then I brewed the second cup which goes with me on my commute (same tea leaves, second steep, same duration which usually creates a slightly weaker cup, that brings out some different tastes in the tea). On the highway something odd happened. I got my nose down in my cup and inhaled as usual and expected the nice aroma of Ceylon Black Tea that I expect (give me the sonata, that music that gets me started each morning!) and suddenly the nose screamed wet dog and poof… I didn’t finish my second cup and ended up making some earl grey to clear the whole thing from my brain when I got to work.

I am not bumping down my rating of Ceylon Sonata for this yet, if it continues I really have no explanation as to what happened. I brewed it with the same teaware, into the same cup and the same way I do every morning and the first steep tasted good.

I will try this again, but it may be a couple of days as I wait for the memory to clear.

Have any of you had something like this happen? Where a daily drinking tea suddenly has something happen which changes your perspective? Was this just a bad second steep? I’ll have to take a good look at everything back home when I get back this evening to see if there is some explanation.

So my tea shipment seems to be delayed, and therefore I ran out and got some more Silver Needle from a different source (does this mean I’m addicted?)

Based on what I could determine this appears to be a different tea than the Silver Needle Premium from Rishi, so I’ve added it to the list for Steepster.

Two mounded tablespoon’s and about 12 ounces of water steeped for 2 minutes. This one is slightly more colorful when steeped than Adagio’s Silver Needle, smell here is more hay than Adagio’s I believe.

Wow work got me interrupted there, where was I…

Ahh I am now on the second steeping of the Rishi Silver Needle. The second steeping smells more floral than the first but I did steep it 2:30 instead of just 2:00 of my first. The taste of this has a hint more flower to it than Adagio’s and seems slightly less complex. On first impressions I’m going to have to say I prefer the Adagio to the Rishi. However I really should try steeping them both so I can try them almost simultaneously.

With how well this came out on the second steeping I may have to try three and that is where Adagio’s Silver Needle seemed to “give out” in my mind. When I get my tea shipment I will brew two cups one of each and try them both to truly contrast them.

However since my first impression is that I prefer the adagio, I currently have given them the higher rating here. Another tea that goes in the “Needs further experimentation section” of my cabinet.

I haven’t written a tasting note for this because my first impression was not good and yet darjeeling is one of my father’s favorites…

So I tried it again today and my impression is better than my first try so here we go. The nose is typical black tea with some additional forest moss smell, kind of musty but in a clean fresh way. In addition it has a faint nutty maybe smokey smell that lets me know this is going to be different than my typical morning black (Ceylon Sonata).

Its taste ends with some bitter and astringency, nothing overwhelming but it is there. If you wait even longer though it has an ever so slight ash-like taste in your first inhale/exhale after you swallow which I do not like. The taste begins with something like my morning Ceylon, but adds a hint of single-malt scotch. Almost a taste of something peat-like however while normally that could be a compliment, this isn’t… I can understand where this might appeal to some, but not me… All in all it has potential and I wouldn’t turn down a cup if someone brewed it for me. I do think there might be more darjeeling’s out there that might appeal more to me.

Orange and rooibos, sounds like a great mix, however this isn’t as orange as you might think based on how it smells as you are putting it into whatever teaware you use to steep it. The smell is almost 100% orange, however once it has steeped and you get it in your cup, the rooibos comes out to play.

This was my after superbowl drink actually, basically something to calm me down after the big game. Having had it before I knew what to expect, a big orange nose until it falls into my cup, then it is almost all rooibos with a hint of orange overtone. Basically what you have is a woody rooibos symphony and just a hint of orange harmony, exactly backwards what you would think from smelling it before you brew it.

Which just so happens to be how I like it. So if you like rooibos drink this tea, if you are looking for a tea dominated by the orange go somewhere else this one is not for you.

Nose is rooibos wood with just a hint of orange after steeping. Taste is almost all rooibos with just a layered hint of fruit. Which fruit you ask? You aren’t asking you know which one! I prepared this with two teaspoon fulls of “leaf” and 2 cups of water, steeped it and put it in one of my favorite big mugs.

Hope you all have a good evening. Maybe my next tea shipment will come tomorrow… until then!

Wow this smells different than my typical black morning tea (Ceylon Sonata). This was the last sealed bag in my black sampler from Adagio. Maybe the name Dante scared me off since I didn’t want to end up in the inferno?

It steeped cloudy which startled me, has a very different nose from any other black tea I’ve tried. The smell reminds me of rain on clay if that makes sense with a hint of dust, smoke and dark spice added in, something my wife adds to the Indian curry for flavor, maybe black cardamom? The taste is fairly mild in comparison to the smell, tough to compare to anything since I’m not sure I’ve tasted something like this before.

The aftertaste is long and layered in that it starts with a black tea flavor and ends with a bit of astringency and bitterness almost 5 seconds after swallowing. All in all this one goes in the “needs further research” pile since my first impression isn’t bad, but it might need a different approach to steeping/preparation.

I used two heaping teaspoon fulls with just under 2 cups of water.

Red Rooibos is something that my wife hates, but for some reason I can’t get enough of. After having tried several different rooibos flavored teas I decided that I needed to simply try it by itself. When you start steeping this it gets red quick and only darkens the longer you steep it. Smells of fresh cut hardwood and wet tree bark are prevalent with the barest hint of cinnamon smoke? Some kind of spice that I have trouble putting my finger on. Maybe it is just my memory of the Rooibos Chai that I enjoy so much. Taste finishes with a pleasant woody wetness that for some reason always makes me think of my grandfathers wood working shop in his basement, additionally it has slight a bitterness that barely hits your tongue at the end. The taste starts with a bit of nut flavor and almost a hint of brown ale hoppiness? Tough to describe to be honest, but a great evening no caffeine beverage that I do need to order more of. This “leaf” is very forgiving if you go longer than 5 minutes when steeping. Although I can’t say I’ve tried more than 8 minutes myself.

I find it hardest to write about teas that I don’t like. How do I describe what tastes bad? This one is all about what I do not want in an oolong, Take the worst of black and green tea, mix it in a large kettle and toss it down the garbage disposal. What is funny is the straight Formosa from Adagio was quite good, whatever they did which caused them to add “bai hao” to it isn’t.

Tea, like life is a journey. The reason this site exists is if you don’t document your way, how can anyone learn from the experience? I’ve obviously gone off the deep end tonight. This note is for a tea I drank hours ago and want to make sure I don’t accidentally purchase again. So bear with me.

A very subtle tea, smells ever so slightly of a freshly cut farmers field. Taste is strangely creamy/buttery with a clean finish once swallowed. If you are looking for bold go somewhere else. If you want to experiment with something very subtle this tea can reward quite nicely. I find that I can vary the amount of tea on this one quite a bit and still like the results even with 4 heaping teaspoons added to my ingenuitea. Contrary to what others have said I have not been able to steep this more than twice. The third attempt at steeping seems to not work, maybe I shouldn’t be increasing the amount of time I steep past a certain amount? Only further testing will reveal!

This is a wonderful spicy aromatic drink. It takes everything I love about Chai, takes away the caffeine and adds the woodiness of Rooibos and blends it together very well. I have to try this with milk like a real chai tea!

Wow, I like Rooibos and Vanilla, who knew the combination could do this! I simply did not like this at all, too much vanilla and it brought the bad tastes that I didn’t even know existed out of the Rooibos.

This is my daily before noon black tea. I got a 4 pack of black samplers from Adagio and this one is what I bought a larger bag of. It is simple no nonsense black tea that has a good flavor and mixes well with almost anything you throw at it. At 3 minutes it isn’t bitter and delights with a good black tea flavor.

Very subtle yet tasty, green oolong. I got a sample of this bagged and followed Adagio’s suggested approach, except I steeped for a bit less time (they suggested 5 minutes). The nose is a mixture of slight floral, grass and licorice. Reminds me of a cross between a good silver needle and a good green oolong.

I need to get some more of this and experiment a bit.