Featured & Popular Tasting Notes

2nd Tea of Christmas 2022

I was a little concerned, because the green tea smells vegetal under the scrumptious chestnut cream aroma. However, while it still is vaguely vegetal to taste, the flavouring all comes together once steeped up and allowed to cool. It’s so buttery and creamy; that alone gets me onboard. The chestnut flavouring is merely the icing on the cake – along with the actual light cream cheese flavour, of course!

Now, I’m off to immediately try out a second steep.

Steep Count: 2 – the second steep is good too. The cream cheese seems to pop out even more; possibly, because of the short length of the first steep?

Wouldn’t you know it…I can count on less than one hand the places other than home I visited during Christmas break…and on the first day back to work, germs from one of those errands caught up with me, causing minor aches, a sore throat, and a whiny disposition. Michelle, I’m glad I saved your Sniffle Slayer sample till it was truly needed!

I’ve been dosing myself with a constant barrage of elderberry tea, zinc lozenges, and ibuprofen for 24 hours, so it will be hard to scientifically isolate the medicinal effects of Sniffle Slayer, but I can affirm that it is tasty. The green rooibos gives a little heft to what would otherwise taste like one of those lemon-mint “spa” blends we discussed recently. Makes it taste like there’s some tea underneath it, even as clugged-up (that’s one notch more than clogged) as I am.

Enjoying an absolutely delicious Sunday break, bathing in a sunbeam aimed directly on my rocking chair (although Tazo is glaring at me because he claims to be the rightful owner of any and all winter sunshine spots).

Close to hand is this nice, silky, buttery oolong from our new favorite shop in the Ozarks. Its fruit flavor and scent is not far from peach cobbler, and while I don’t generally choose oolongs first, I’m glad hubby talked me into bringing this home. Little pricey, so I hope it holds up well in subsequent steeps.

You would have laughed at my Sunday church kids—10 and 11 year olds. They asked me for another tea and cocoa day, and it was fun watching them paw through my chest of random bags and man the electric kettle like grown-ups. Shiloh loves Good Earth Sweet and Spicy with enough sugar to fill a hummingbird feeder; David insists he only likes “sweet tea,” and Jonathan, on a dare, tried a cup of Lapsang Souchong: “Hey, that’s not so bad!”

I’m torn with this one…..
The genmaicha base (or blend) is just spectacular, amazing, phenomenal – it seems almost sacrilegious to add stuff to it. With nothing added this could easily be one of my fav genmaichas.
But – he did add stuff to it…..
Toasty, roasty, nutty everything a good genmaicha should be and then way in the back there is just this hint of cocoa. The sencha is there but without being grassy and intrusive. I think the hojicha is a smart addition, just adds more nuttiness to the genmaicha. I’m not really getting the caramel, but there is a sweetness here.
I really think this is a case where less is more. If this were overpowering chocolate, I would miss all the awesome notes in the tea. Perfect example of using a good quality base and then adding subtle flavors to it without loosing the awesomeness of the tea.
If you are looking for a heavily chocolate genmaicha – this isn’t it. But if you love good genmaicha – you should try this.
I’m happily drinking my 3rd cup of it – but still torn about spoiling a great genmaicha.

So I picked up some teas from Whispering Pines for the first time. I got them today and I started with this one. I am a fan of Black Tea and use it to give me a break from my ripe pu’erhs. I brewed up about 5 grams gongfu style in a 100ml gaiwan. I feel it was a bit light so maybe a bit more leaf would be better. The wet leaf smells sweet and woody with a bit of some kind of fruit. I could tell this was a blend as it tasted like two other teas I have combined (a Jingmai Wild Arbor Black and nice malty Yunnan Black). This was quite enjoyable and had a lingering sweet aftertaste that was really nice. There were notes of baked bread and brown sugar along with a little wood. I also got into some floral notes in the middle steeps. It gave surprisingly well considering leaf size and it being a black. I think I will try this one again Western style as I often like my blacks brewed that way. Not sure what to think about this vendor yet and I have about 3 Oolongs I also bought from them to try. All in all I would say if you like black tea give this one a try. Pretty tasty.

Taking a break. I have been working on putting together Christmas chord sheets and learning to play carols since before Thanksgiving. Then in my free time I have my, much neglected of late, tea blog, and several forums I frequent, along with my Kerbal Space Adventures game to which I’m addicted. Somewhere in there, needs to be some tea, just for the pure enjoyment, time.

I finally set everything aside and dug into the mountain of tea until I found Zombie Pearls. I love this stuff. With the first steep, the little bug shaped pearls barely open. This always tastes crisp and clean. Today while this was steeping I grabbed a big spoon of peanut butter. As I was enjoying it, I thought I might be ruining the tea I desperately needed. Instead I accidentally stumbled upon the most perfect pairing, at least to my uncultured taste buds. The cucumber and other white tea notes rose above the peanut butter and really shined through.

If you haven’t experienced this tea type I highly recommend it – and peanut butter (in my case Great Value brand with the red lid). Yum!

I really wanted to love this tea but something did not click on our first date. Which is strange, because this puerh does display many positive traits: a fairly complex taste with no funkiness, decay or excessive bitterness, a pleasant long aftertaste, resistance to over-steeping…

It just that I did not see any appreciable personality and uniqueness in it. Nothing controversial, eccentric, charmingly odd. This tea was assiduously virtuous, proper and careful about not displaying any negatives. You cannot go wrong with it but you will never get excited either. And why bother then?

This is a factory production which I have had carefully stored for over two years and now it has had 10+ years to develop into something worthwhile. I quite enjoyed my time with it yesterday! The material is comprised of mostly “chop” – very few, if any, whole leaves. Pleasant enough scent though – sweet and pure. The liquor is dark gold in color albeit a bit on the cloudy side. The sip is quite mellow and smooth – looks like ten years of age really has helped this mid-level quality material develop into something interesting. A bit fruity and a low sweetness; no real bitterness and a cooling and decent sensation throughout. Mouth action adds a little tingle to the tip of the tongue. This cake is part of the Six Famous Tea Mountain Tea Factory (Liu Da Chashan) series of six cakes composed of old tree material from well-known tea mountains in southern Yunnan (Jinggu, Youle, Mengsong, Bangwei, Bulang, Nannuo). Each cake is 100% material from that particular mountain.

I adopted this off the pay-it-forward table at work because…well…a perfectly viable unopened tin of tea. Do I need more justification?

Actually, with iced tea season almost upon us, I thought it would be pleasant this summer. But before chilling it, I made a conventional cup this afternoon. For a grocery store selection, it isn’t bad. The jasmine didn’t taste like guest soap. I was a little heavy handed on the water temp so it was a little bitter this time around, but next time, with a little more care, I think it will be acceptably leafy and vegetal.

A good cheap date, especially with your eyes closed, listening to the maple tree “helicopters” plinking on the roof.

In honor of today’s H&S Steepster Select, I decided to dig into my sample of Vanilla Comoro!

Oh my my god…you guys, the reviews aren’t wrong—this tea is delicious!! It’s delicious for a decaf tea, it’s delicious for a regular tea. The flavor is is just rich and great!

Like ashmanra says, the scent of the dry leaves is just like maple syrup. The taste is like caramelized vanila sugar. There’s no hint of cough syrup or that awful fake fruitiness in this tea! And underneath the vanilla flavor, I can actually detect the black tea taste! I’m really surprised this is decaf. It’s very satisfying for decaf.

This is on my list to order a full-size!

At last we have another truly cool evening with low humidity! After broiling through days with a heat index of 104F as recently as a week ago, we are going to dip into the 50’s tonight! I have been waiting for this all day.

As soon as we dipped below 65F, I suggested to my husband a bit of rocking chair time on the back porch with a cuppa.

I made this latte style, heating the milk first and continuing to heat it for about one minute with the leaves added, then off the heat and steeping for another three to four minutes. I usually sweeten my lattes and I did add sugar to this one.

I get a lot of chamomile in the aroma but mostly taste the spice – pumpkin spice and cardamom. Oh, I love cardamom in blends like this!

Drinking it, I noticed a tingling warm sensation in my mouth from the ginger. I can imagine how delightful that will be when the temperatures are truly cold!

I am so glad this has honeybush as the base instead of the ubiquitous red rooibos which is not a favorite of mine. I greatly prefer honeybush or green rooibos in its place. This carries the spices so much better and lets them shine more, in my opinion.

It passed the husband test and was deemed as a worthy bedtime treat. And now the warm milk and chamomile combo have made me sleepy, so off to bed!

I never go for apple spice teas, but I’m so glad I bought this one. It tastes so natural and good. The apple flavor is very fresh and appley. The spices aren’t spicy, but complement the apple very well. I taste a nice natural cinnamon and ginger. I enjoy this one both hot and cold.

Overall the tea is fairly smooth and easy to drink. Smoke detected in the aroma of the dry leaf but this barely appeared in the tea soup. Orange liquor with a woody base, hints of nutty notes and a light sweetness. Not much (if any) bitterness found and no astringency. Good mouthfeel with a nice tingling on the tongue. The flavor held up nicely through 6-7 steeps. My experience with this tea was rather pleasant and enjoyable for sipping through the day yesterday.
—-Some recent tea notes for samples obtained from finepuer mentioned dry, flavorless tea and I can say that for this one, I opened the three sample boxes I had and dumped the chunks into a small yixing crock to sit for two weeks before trying. When I opened the boxes and plastic bags, there was really no aroma but after storing in the yixing for two weeks, there was a sweet, floral aroma with a little smoke and the results of brewing the leaves were very pleasant.

Lavender go woooo.
That’s my review. I’m very tired.
I’m not as much a fan of this any more. It was never my favourite, but I liked it better than I do now. Anyway, I submitted my essay. So that’s cool. Only four more weeks until the next one is due… and I haven’t started the reading yet…

I’ve had this tea three times now. It is tasty. There’s cocoa, but it’s not dominant, more subtle. There’s also some fruity notes, like cherry or plum. It’s incredibly smooth. I really enjoy it but have a hard time describing the notes. Maybe my tastebuds are messed up due to allergies. Anyway, I can safely say it’s good. Go get some! ;)

Sipdown! (20 | 175)

I didn’t love this one. To me, it’s not grapey at all, which isn’t a surprise given there is no grape flavor (there are a few raisins, but raisins don’t taste like grape).

The initial color was interesting and bluish when I first poured in the water, either from the blueberries or the mallow, but it was quickly overtaken by the more pinkish hue of the hibiscus. As for the taste… I actually enjoy Deb’s strawberry flavoring in certain teas, but I feel like the addition of the hibiscus here makes it taste like a generic tart-ish fruity tea, and the more syrupy/jammy strawberry doesn’t really go well with it? It ends up a bit weak and a bit vague IMO.

Luckily I have other grape teas to fulfill my grapey cravings! :P

Once upon a time Wombatgirl suggested to Angrboda that they do a tea swap. Ang thought that was a good idea and agreed, so they exchanged addresses.

“I’m a little broke this month, though,” said Ang. “Do you mind if we wait a little while?”

Wombatgirl, luckily, saw no fault with that.

And so they waited.

Days went by and payday came and went. Ang and Wombatgirl each put together a selection of teas from their stores and sent it off to each other. Mail between America and Europe takes many days, so they waited impatiently to receive their packages. There was nothing else that they could do. Days crawled by at a snail’s pace until finally the notification came.

There was a package for Ang in the town’s Package Pick-Up Place, a wonderful contraption where Ang could fetch packages to her at all hours of the day with the use of two pin codes texted to her upon the package’s arrival.

Ang picked up her package and hurried on home to open it. It contained a great many interesting things, but star among them was a sample of Heritage Aijjiao from Red Blossom Tea Company.

Ang rather liked the notes of leather-y cocoa and something earthy in the aroma of those leaves, so she decided to make a pot of that first.

Oh, what a revalation that was! After she had steeped the leaves in water just under boiling point for a minute, the aroma of the cup she poured was rich with cocoa, sweet and earthy and plentiful.

Massively cheered by this aroma, Ang took the first sip from the cup. A smile slowly spread out on her face as she savoured that wonderful flavour. It was everything the aroma had been. A strong earthy note that shouted out its oolong origins topped with the sweetness of a heavy chocolate-y note. What a most wonderful tea! Ang found herself sipping more and more of it, trying to determine more details in the flavour. A touch of flowers here, an aftertaste of nuts there.

Perhaps, she thought, she could even guess which region of China it came from. Ang was never much of an expert on telling these things, but she thought that a cocoa note as strong as this seemed to be typical for the Fujian Province. And indeed it was.

She sipped and sipped and sipped, until suddenly the cup was empty. Oh that happened all too soon! Unhappily, she went for a resteep, hoping it would be as good as the first one, and to her relief it was. There was a little more gentleness about the flavour, but all in all, the flavour profile of it was intact.

Wombatgirl had kindly provided with enough dry leaf of this most wonderful beverage that Ang could get another pot. Ang was not, however, willing to part with those leaves so quickly so she hoarded them away for a long time. Protected they were in their little bag at the bottom of the Bits’n’Bops Basket.

But nothing good lasts forever, and one sad day, those leaves were gone too. Steeped within an inch of their lives, they were, but inevitably they had to be discarded. There was much sadness on that day.

Meanwhile, Wombatgirl had rather enjoyed the sample of Lemon Oolong from Nothing But Tea that Ang had sent her. As Ang was, at the time of being told about this, in the initial stages of planning a purchase at that very company, she offered to buy some more of that for Wombatgirl as well. Eager she was to spread knowledge of this fine tea shop around the world. And thus their second swap was decided upon.

Another waiting period followed, for Ang to get the package from Nothing But Tea and then for the two swap packages to reach their respective destination. Ang’s package from Wombatgirl arrived in due time and Ang opened it as soon as she came home, excited to see what wonderful things might have been packed into it.

Behold! Heritage Aijjiao from Red Blossom Tea Company! A whole little tin of it. Enough for three or maybe even four, if she was thrifty, pots

Once again finding that urge within herself to hoard the leaves and never part with them, it took a long time before Ang could actually bring herself to open the tin and use some of them.

One morning in December, shortly before Christmas she felt it was time. There was snow on the ground outside, it was dreadfully cold and the sky was blue with not a cloud in sight. Most importantly, it was wednesday and therefore not a work-day for Ang.

The time had come at last to break into that tin of Heritage Aijjiao. And so she did, savouring every sip while writing the longest ever post on Steepster.

And they lived happily ever after (or at least until the leaves ran out. Again.)

Holy f-ing f. This is AMAZING.

So spicy and rich.

I don’t even know how to describe it.

This was yesterday’s tea. I’ve enjoyed these crystallized packets. Not just because they are convenient to the extreme. They also taste pretty good. They don’t have all the nuances of brewing some fine leaves yourself, but are better than bagged or any RTD that I have tried.

This one surprised me. All of the others have had a fairly sharp edge – almost tart. I like that but not everyone does. This blend is Assam and Ceylon. I expect a brisk bite. Instead this is smooth malt. They call it earthy. My mind interpreted it as woods and leafy. Fruity. Maybe a little floral. The color was dark orange leaning heavily towards ruby. At the end just before the aftertaste it develops a nice edge that breaks the smooth mold.

I next tried it cold by adding a packet to a 12 oz bottle of icy water. What is interesting to me is it had more edge iced. This works perfect for me. I like my hot breakfast tea to bring me evenly into the day rather than with a jolt. I want my iced tea to be more grrrr. This does both and pretty well.

These Pique teas are not pre-sweetened. They don’t need sweetened, but they take it well if you so desire.

So this is from Kawaii433 but I also received some from derk.  THANK YOU BOTH.  Not sure if Kawaii’s is also from 2017, as derk’s is noted on the sample.  I thought it was time I try it, since there are two separate samples!  I don’t know what I was thinking though, as I just sipped a roasted oolong the other day and they are definitely not the type of tea I want to drink often. Anything with the name “roasted” is all I can taste, which ends up being very one note and disappointing, as I know others can usually taste other flavors in these roasted oolongs.  It’s always a shame!  It is all I can taste: roasted charcoal.  The third steep was especially off putting… shouldn’t have brewed if for four minutes, that’s for sure. The leaves are VERY dark and VERY tightly bundled.  The flavor is smooth anyway, until that third steep.  I think I sadly give up on roasted oolongs.  They just ain’t my thing.  But it’s nice to officially know that at this point.
Steep #1  // 1 3/4 teaspoons for full mug //  rinse //  29 minutes after boiling  // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 28 minutes after boiling //  2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 4 min
2020 sipdowns:  52 (one sample sipdowned anyway)

This was a free sample with one of my orders a while ago.  It’s very sad I’m not trying teas like this when they are fresher.  But as ever,  Teavivre’s packaging is great so I’m sure that helps.  This seems like a different tea on every level: the dry leaf, the wet leaf, the flavor of the tea couldn’t be more different.  Before steeping, the long dark leaves have a fragrance of dried hay.   After steeping, the scent was very strong, smoky with a hint of grapefruit which is very unique — I’ve never noticed that in any tea before.  The flavor is very citrusy, both grapefruit and lemon, maybe even some lemon myrtle with the smoke in the background.  I say smoke, but it’s really just that type of flavor that is this type of oolong — tough to describe!  Lingering flavors on the backsip of green grapes, minerals, sugarcane.  After the cup has cooled, the “smoke” moves to the front of the profile.  The color of the brew even looks like lemonade or water infused with lemon.  Then a lingering creaminess takes over.  The first steep was the best and I wished I had kept steeping with cooler water, shorter steep times because then the “smokiness” takes over more — less of those lighter flavors. Maybe this tea tasted more like “honey orchid” when it was fresher? Again I could kick myself for not drinking it sooner.   I certainly don’t usually prefer teas like this one, but this might be the best I’ve tried.   Very unique, at least to me in my tea journey so far.
Note to self, steep cooler with shorter steeps.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 18 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep   
Steep #3 //  just boiled // 2 minute steep
Harvest: 2018

I hope everyone who celebrates is having a wonderful Christmas!

Another from StarFevre!  Thanks again!  Sadly no tasting notes on Steepster for this one.  It’s pleasant enough for being so old.  The black tea is on the tiny side – probably Ceylon, but it has the flavor and dryness of something like Darjeeling mixed with Ceylon, and Darjeeling sounds dreamy enough paired with raspberry.  There is still some remaining flavor here, raspberry but on the side of tasting slightly like hibiscus.  The second steep is a bit too brisk, but the flavor isn’t faded from the first steep which is what I expected.  I bet it was really great when it was fresh.  As it is now, I really just want to drink it right down.  If I had to compare it to a tea, I’d say Bird & Blend’s Mrs. Claus’ Raspberry Prosecco.  I don’t think this tea shop is around anymore.  I don’t think I’d ever heard of  this shop before StarFevre generously sent over a couple of their blends. I don’t think much of Steepster heard of them either.  A shame.    I hope everyone is staying safe!  Just because it’s summer, doesn’t mean Covid went away (which I’m sure none of you lovely Steepster people need to hear it from me…but I must throw it out there anyway. Trump is going to make so many people sick for the simple fact he has never worn a freakin face mask… why why why ((vanity)) )
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 3 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep

I’m stumped. I cannot even explain this tea…..

Meaty smell, but like the beef jerky in a can kinda meaty….(https://dustysbeefjerky.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/dustys-jerky-chew2.jpeg)

And then the tea itself is just…..great! It’s like sweetly roasted meat. That’s the only way I can put it….Just sweet brown sugared beef….

On a good note: I cleaned out the old laptop. I also start my new job on Monday….

Fin

Runs away….Maniacal laughter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6MlHxAzLXA

Had a Western style mug of this a few nights ago and it was just lovely. Thick liquor with such a complex flavour – sort of somewhere between medium to full bodied. I think the general flavours of oak and other sweeter but dark leaning woods stood out the most to me, but they were pretty matched by a stone-y mineral quality, more savory and umami herbaceous dill and other brothy flavours, some charcoal roast, and then a nice undertone of dark plum that built up on the palate over the coarse of the mug. A smidge of vanilla too – not much, though. It was just so warm and inviting with a great spread of really cozy flavours that still felt connected and embedded in nature.