Featured & Popular Tasting Notes

I am working my way through several teas produced by Tea Urchin using 2015 material. Material from Pasha Mountain in Menghai is hard to come by so I am always on the look out. This Pasha cake is beautiful to look at – whole leaves were carefully pressed to form the beeng. Pleasant fresh smells comes from the material. The tea liquor is a clear yellow-gold color. I used 4 grams of leaf in a 60 ml shibo with flash steeps. Thick and smooth with only the lightest touch of bitterness. Vegetal with a definite buttery sweetness coming through. Coats the tongue and has a bit of a drying effect on the mouth. Qi hit me after the third infusion – a nice relaxing feeling took over and I decided to take a nap. I think this has possibilities but since I have grown accustomed to drinking sheng with at least 8 years of age on them, I’ll be drinking this one rarely as I wait for it to mature.

This is my first time trying matcha! I’m surprised it’s taken me so long, but I’ve never really explored Japanese green tea and I don’t have the right tools. In line with that, I steeped my 2 g sample in a 180 ml mason jar using 160F water.

After extensive shaking, I get a jar full of very green matcha that even has some foam on the top. Taking my first sip is like having a bunch of veggies hit me in the face. I get kale, spinach, asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and grass. Cameron is right that there’s no sweetness whatever, though I don’t get any hay or mustiness either. The body is thick and creamy, and did I mention very vegetal? There were some clumps at the bottom of the jar, so I must not have shaken it as well as I thought.

I think matcha might be an acquired taste for me.

Yum yum yum, thank you Boychik

Sorry I am not feeling super verbose today. I am at Real Job but still recovering from all day outdoor vendor fair yesterday selling my fine art. WHEW SO TIRED!

Good shu helps, though :)

Sipdown, for me…
I’ve had this tea for a while, possibly too long as I think it’s been 3 years since I got it from my brother for Christmas. This isn’t one I drink too often because of the hibiscus and it is tart, but thankfully the hibby is not that strong in this blend. I still wish I could taste a little more of the oolong underneath which seems to be more of the Eastern beauty variety.

kind of glad this is gone and don’t think I’ll be repurchasing.

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 131)

A is for… A Walk in the Woods!

Third tea for today, and another green! This one also introduces one of the themes in the “A” tea names – 4/6 that I located for today just start with “A”. Surprisingly, none starting with Apple.

I hadn’t remembered that this tea contained turmeric, which is among my less-favourite ingredients. Interestingly, the tea didn’t turn vibrant yellow, though, so I guess the effect of the yellow colouration is less when the root isn’t ground up.

Flavour-wise, wasn’t really expecting to like this, and I don’t. It’s earthy and otherwise kind of boring. There is apple in the tea but I don’t really taste it.

ETA: So, I don’t have any 52teas starting with the word “Apple” today because apparently I’ve already drank each of the four once in 2022 already. Haha.

Caramel Custard.

This one was golden, as per usual. I’m running low; need to restock sooner rather than later. Don’t want to wind up in a position where I’m running out of this one.

PS. Steepster Chat is pretty amusing tonight; topic of conversation is Duck Dynasty. I may have exposed my huge thing for bearded men. Or women. Really; just beards in general. The follicle-y fortunate are my sort of people.

I haven’t had an LS in such a long time that I can’t actually remember.

Oh heavens, yes.

That is literally all I can find to write about this right now.

Or maybe more something along the lines of, yaaaaaaaaaaaassssss!!!

I so needed this.

Nothing new to say about this—it’s still an evening favorite, and it looks like most of the reviewers agree that it is spot-on, flavor-wise. My only other observation last night was “I wonder what it would taste like if I put an extra shot of lemon in it?” But by the time I thought that thought, I was just too tired to do anything but rock and read and enjoy what was already in my hand.

My black tea selection of the day, which I’ve been sipping on all morning.

My giant Camellia Sinensis order arrived today!

There were so many goodies in the box, that it was incredibly hard to decide what to start with but I ultimately ended up using my new tea tray for the first time as well as the glass Gaiwan I purchased. The choice of what tea to Christen it with was very hard to make: I felt like it should have been one of the Camellia Sinensis teas I ordered or one of the samples they included but I couldn’t make up my mind so I instead went a very different route.

A little while back a tea friend here on Steepster, who wishes to remain unnamed for the purposes of this tea, sent me a sample of a greener oolong which I sort of then forgot I had until today when I was searching through samples to try. My bad.

I decided to drink that today; and since I don’t work until 4:30 I had plenty of time to have a nice informal Gong Fu session whilst watching some Gotham on Netflix. I’m not really a huge DC fan but I’ve always loved the very well written villains in the Batman comic universe so that aspect of the TV show really intrigues me. Harley Quinn has always been my favourite, but I have to say I REALLY enjoy the portrayal of The Penguin and The Riddler.

This is a gorgeous tea though! The stems are monstrous; the largest I pulled out of the infused leaf is longer in length than my hand. Damn! However, the leaves are a wonderful bright shade of green and have this really eloquent floral aroma that makes me think of fresh linen and the end of Spring/beginning of summer. Mmm! The steeped liquor is a lively yellow green just slightly heavier on the green side of things.

This is definitely a super floral tea; but in a natural, fresh and sweet way. And as much as I tasted wonderful floral notes (some sort of amalgamation of peony, magnolia, and gardenia perhaps?) and a super light almost bamboo-like vegetal sweetness I also tasted a lot of fruit notes. Something like fresh, sweet grapes, and almost a peachyness too. It was very enjoyable; and the most infusions the more I seemed to notice the fruit flavours as well.

I’d love to see this particular tea paired up with a “darker” kind of berry flavour. Something like blueberry, Saskatoon berry, or maybe blackberry? And perhaps white peaches. I can only imagine that would be divinely tasty.

Also here’s a link to some pictures!

https://www.facebook.com/EyeLikeCookies/media_set?set=a.10205892864334695.1073741829.1051291635&type=3&pnref=story

Pictures are of the things from the Camellia Sinensis order as well as the steeping of this oolong from earlier in the day. I’ve also got pictures thrown in there of the rabbit tattoo I had done a few months ago and some other assorted tea related things…

Photo quality is kind of crappy; I used my cell phone.

Very nice.

The dried leaves smelled of fresh hay. The liquor was light orangish amber with a very light floral aroma. It’s lightly oxidized, tastes like a very creamy Alishan as Daylon said and at times it reminded me of a smooth and creamy TGY without the tartness.

It is a busy day, lots of work and mid-way I fried it (cry) and put boiling water instead and well, it made it bitter >.<. Up until that point, it was lovely. Light florals notes, vegetal, smooth and creamy. Next time, I’ll be more careful.^^

Yixing teapot,
194℉, 130ml, 8g, 10 steeps: rinse, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 1m, 1m30s, 2m

I received a box of this tea for review. It contains 25 nylon sachets/bags. Each is individually sealed in a protective envelop and contain 2.25 g of CTC. I probably have already lost 1/2 of you by mentioning bag and CTC in the same sentence. I personally use a lot of bagged tea and find if you are selective there are some jewels to be found. They do sell it in loose form though it is CTC. That is normal for nearly all tea originating in India.

Dry this has a pleasant malty aroma that only intensifies when steeped. The brew color is a truly beautiful cherry mahogany. I steeped for 2 1/2 minutes and the first sip was intensely eye opening brisk – just like a good breakfast tea should be IMHO. After the initial shock, I got the malt notes along with woody, fruity, and slightly sweet. Just as is it is pretty good.

For fun I added a little Splenda. This civilizes the savage bite, if you are in to that. I will admit it gave the malt and other notes a little more room to display what they had to offer.

Next, I did something for science I never try. I added a splash of milk. Brilliant! While it destroys the beautiful color, it totally surprised me otherwise. To me, milk normally muddies up the cup making all the notes indistinguishable from one another. Here, while it added nothing really new, it did marry all the flavors together while they remained separate notes. I don’t know if that even makes sense. What I know is at this point the cup became empty very fast.

Final analysis – I really enjoyed this and look forward to drinking more of it. In fact, I am going to try it iced in a few moments.

MrMopar gave me a sample of this tea to encourage me to add a cake to my next TU order.

It is hard to write a review, since this is one of those teas that sends me into the lotus position to just drift with the cha qi. After 3 cups (about 6 oz) I needed to take a 30 minute break to recover. So, A+ on the cha qi.

The taste is good too.It started with a straw favor with a hint of wood and the balance gradually shifted toward wood with each steep. By the third steep, the tea displayed a nice balance between young sheng and old. Hard to tell how much of this is due to MrMopar’s famous pumidor storage. I found both the young and old flavors enjoyable, and they didn’t really clash at all: just two aspects of a well-integrated tea. Speaking of well-integrated, the taste drifts smoothly into a very nice finish that I’m still tasting 15 minutes after my 3rd cup. While the tea has good classic flavor it doesn’t really display much flavor beyond the basic straw/wood balance. It does what it does very well but lacks that something extra that would make me consider it a special occasion tea.

My rating is based entirely on taste. My internal system adds a second rating for cha qi and this one scores 100.

First tea of the morning.

I added some cashew milk into it this time because last time I thought it was a little harsh and I remembered wanting to mellow it out a little bit.

I think the cashew milk is doing wonders here; the tea is definitely still thick and very smoky with tobacco, ash, and leather notes but I don’t feel nearly as assaulted by it and it’s smoother/creamier . Previously, it had a level of astringency that sort of felt the way that nail on a chalkboard sounds. In addition to the wonderful Lapsang, the cherry also comes through very nicely. It’s dark and seductive, and tastes sweet without having the brightness that a bing or maraschino cherry would have. If this cherry note were a person, it’d be at the point in life where it’s a bit of a Silver Fox. You know, still very hot/attractive but with hair starting to grey and wrinkles in just the right places. Yes, this cherry is the Clooney of cherries…

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv_nBEgwCaw&index=1&list=WL

Ah, perfect mood music! Completely matches the tone of the tea and is submersive in every way. Plus, Iwan Rheon is just so nice to look at. Whether you see him as Simon from Misfits or Ramsey from GoT I think you’ve gotta agree the man can sing…

29 teas to go and I caved hard. Currently now on a massive oolong buying spree from any place that carries oolong. Thank you, tax returns.

Anyways, this was yet another giant tin I excavated from the back of the cupboard. It’s probably one of the best rediscoveries, and definitely the only tea I own that I’m grateful to have an abundance of (over 4oz).

Even though I should know better by now, I’m still surprised how much complexity the first sip yields. Tiger Assam is like a particularly dynamic red wine (even when diluted in milk)- it’s also like red wine in that it tastes of grapes and stuff, and drinking it goes to my head in a way that is delightful to me and an annoyance for everyone else in the near vicinity. People don’t judge me as harshly for drinking it though, which is another perk.

Day 10 of 52 teas 12 days of Christmas.

First of all, I am really surprised there are not more reviews on this one.

This one is quite well done. It smells similar to other 52 teas chai blends. But after brewing it smells like a delicious gingerbread cookie. No jokes here. The chai spices mix with the popcorn flavours and you get a delicious cake like drink. There is a slightly salty, seaweedy green tea base, but it is also sweet, not overpowering, and works really well with the chai spices. I would describe this as a very “light” genmaicha. I think anyone interested in trying genmaicha should try this one. It’s definitely a winner.

On a side note, I hope that there is lemon merengue chai in the last of these 12 days of Christmas. Fingers crossed.

GCTTB

The teas from bitterleaf arrived for me to add to the part 2 box? haha This one smells quite lovely, different from other yunnans that i’ve had – maybe slightly sweeter? I brewed this one western as i won’t have a huge amount of time for gonfu today, and i’ve got those picked out already. However, i’ll be resteeoing this a few times to see what happens. Brewed, there’s a slight smell of wet dog that’s only now a little damp…or I’ve got puppies on the brain haha. that being said, i like this one. there’s an almost baked good sort of flavour hanging out in the background. sort of bread-y but not quite. It’s a sweeter tea, but not SWEET. this is also a more mild tea, so it’s not what i’d call a breakfast, WAKE UP NOW sort of tea. This would make a great leisurely sipping in the afternoon sort of tea. yeah. this is interesting. Different from other’s that i’ve had of a similar variety.

thanks for sharing bitterleaf!

F is for…Forged from the Stars

My brother-in-law and I are separately rewatching the MCU movies in chronological order. It’s hard for us to watch them together because typically my sister is home and she has no interest in the MCU whatsoever and refuses to let us watch. However, today was an odd day where my sister had to actually go to work in person so my brother-in-law finally got caught up on the Falcon and the Winter Soldier. We then were debating what to watch so I asked where he’d gotten in the rewatch and he said he just finished Iron Man 2. Same for me so Thor was next and how convenient that it worked out that we are watching Thor on the same day the Thor-inspired blend matches the letter of the alphabet.

Anyways, I brewed a cup to drink while watching the movie. It’s a weird nutty chocolate tea though and I’m not sure how it reflect the God of Thunder. Not really sure where they are going here. And taste wise, it’s cooled a little and is becoming a touch astringent. Alright, a lot astringent which is making the nuttiness come off kind of strange. I have more of this and will need to revisit because this wasn’t the best.

After a pleasurable bout of food poisoning yesterday, my stomach and head are still tender and throwing a big wrench in my marathon tea drinking plans. Overly sweet and floral teas are currently out, which is unfortunately the majority of my cupboard.

Given the situation, this lovely tea is perfect. The delicious and, most importantly, bland rice flavouring flows perfectly into the creamy and slightly vegetal notes of this jin xuan. I can’t tell where the flavouring ends and the oolong begins.

I’ll have to remember to stock up on more smooth and silky ripe puerhs and milk oolongs like this one for rainy days. They are a balm and they are essential.

Steep count: 6 (and still going strong, but I think that’s it for the evening)

Even in latter steeps the sticky rice flavour retains the intensity of it’s nutty sweetness; it puts me in mind of almond milk.

(2016 fall harvest)

It’s floral, flavourful, and smells good, but I don’t think it’s going to stick out from the 15 or so Tieguanyin samples I have right now… and before you ask, no, I don’t know why I have that much Tieguanyin, especially since I’m a simple Milk Oolong person.

Steep Count: 4

The second steep brought the sweet and lilac cream custard Verdant advertised, with lingering tart fruit notes.

Third steep I left a minute over. The liquid’s aroma has taken on a quality like powdered sugar on light pastry, with a dash of tart. It’s sort of dessert-like and light.

(2016 Harvest)

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – December Tea #10 – a favorite tea

additional notes: It was time to say goodbye to this old favorite that I would most definitely stock up on again — a favorite from Adagio…. which now that I said “favorite” twice, I guess I will switch the top of this note to count for my final December prompt – a favorite tea! Which also means ALL ten of the December prompts were actual sipdowns. Awesome. I think I may have finished my Sherlock teas. Time for a rewatch?
2022 sipdowns: 140

It has been a long time since I have written a tasting note, but that is mostly because I was on vacation in Scotland! What a beautiful place it is, the rugged highlands, epic oceans, sandy beaches, cliffs, hills, munroes..everything was great! And the weather was gorgeous to boot! I can’t wait to go back someday, it was a good 10 days there but I will definitely return to see the eastern parts (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, we saved the whole eastern coast with its castles for another trip) and I would love to go back to the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides again, they were stunning! Great time, wish I was still there!

Anyways, so while on holiday I did drink a fair amount of tea, every morning in fact, although it was mostly basic bagged black teas by Twinings or Tetley, but I took those with milk and sugar so they were quite good with the delicious Scottish breakfasts. A few places had peppermint, and I had that one or two mornings to help with digesting the heavy food near the end of the trip. I also had loose tea once, in Glasgow, at a little cafe near the University I got an EG to go and it looked like it was loose tossed in a tea bag, it was also pretty good. So overall a lot of tea drinking, also, every B&B and hotel we stayed at provided a kettle, tea, sugar and milk in the room! I wish they did that here in Canada!!

Overall, a tasty week of teas and a great holiday. Now I am back to my stash, and will hopefully log some notes as the weather here is turning cooler so I should be drinking more chai, puerh and spicy pumpkin and apple things haha.

You know what is kinda fun? Playing around with the wedding registry! I have not made it public yet since we don’t have a date set and that seems disingenuous, so I am occupying myself by perfecting it. By perfecting it I mean adding ridiculous captions to all the things on it, and of course removing the completely random nonsense I add at three in the morning when I am bored. The majority of things on it are things that are useful but we have just not acquired, like silicon baking mats and a deep fryer, but there are also silly things like a skull shaped trinket bowl, replacement nerf darts, and of course the much desired skull shaped ice trays. There is a real skull theme going on.

Recently I was given the opportunity to look at an old favorite tea company, Adagio! Over the several years I have been tea rambling they have shown up many times, they were the first online tea company I tried after diving into the vast ocean of online tea shopping, so I have a real nostalgic fondness for them. I am looking at Casablanca Twist, their take on Moroccan Mint, something I have been craving lately but have had no luck getting my hands on any that has been enjoyable. Granted I am not a huge fan of gunpowder, so seeing their blend used Sungma Summer Darjeeling and Peppermint I was very intrigued. I think I got really unlucky with my sample pouch though, I am pretty sure it is 90% mint. You can see a few spindly leaves mixed around with the mint, but mostly it is bright green minty fun. When sniffing this tea, all I smell is mint, fresh and cool and super strong. My nose is now clear and my lungs are happy, mint is good for the sinuses!

I decided to cold steep the tea, it just seemed right…maybe because I am Southern and chilled mint and black tea is kinda a big thing. The aroma after I crack open the cold steeper is a minty blast in the face, it is like walking into a snowy crisp landscape, and considering it is summer this is not too bad a thing. I get absolutely no notes of the Darjeeling, the mint has totally overpowered it. The aroma of the liquid sans leaves is pretty much the same, there is a tiny hint of brisk sweetness but mostly it is all mint all the time.

Well, tasting this tea is tasting mint. There is a slight bitterness to it, not the bitterness of tannins but the bitterness of vegetation, for me mint always comes off a tiny bit bitter, it is one of the main reasons I like mint blends and not just straight up mint. I also like my mint blends a bit more balanced, it is such a potent herb that it will almost always overpower what it is blended with if it is used in abundance. The photo on the website made it seem like it was a more even split, so I think I just got unlucky and since mint is fluffy I got the mint…somewhere out there maybe someone got a sample that is mostly Darjeeling. I really like the idea of a mint Darjeeling blend, but sadly I just got to really explore the mint side, so I do not have a real opinion on this tea. The quest for a Moroccan Mint continues!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/08/adagio-teas-casablanca-twist-tea-review.html

As you may or may not be aware, I battle with respiratory issues. Well, during Thanksgiving my niece had a scented candle burning. It was a light cinnamon something and quite pleasant. Until I got up the next morning. I had a major flare up. Fought it with lots of drugs and anti-biotics. Was feeling pretty good until yesterday. We plugged in a couple air freshener night lights, and a few hours later I could feel it clogging up the lungs. So back on the drugs. I am telling you this so as you gather with family this holiday season that you might think twice before lighting that candle or setting out that potpourri if one of your guests has a weakened system or has asthma.

Anyway, this tea – from a bag. Smells pretty inviting. I have no idea what an actual mango smells like (I’ve led such a sheltered culinary life). This reminds me of peaches but more prickly and with some tartness. If that’s mango, then nailed it. Don’t read the list of ingredients or you’ll just go eeeewwww. OK I’ll tell you – hibiscus, rosehips, and chamomile are in there as well as stevia. (All together now – eeeewwww) The however is that it works here. What I taste is that sweet fruity tartness. It is actually pretty enjoyable. My only complaint is the bitterness in the aftertaste from the stevia. On the other hand, I think it is there to complete the tartness/sweet of the fruit flavor. I would like to try it without the stevia and see for myself if it is necessary.