Featured & Popular Tasting Notes

shiboridashi? what is that? :)

its basically a japanese gaiwan….

Or easy Gaiwan

I still have the two balls I got in the summer. I’m thinking this weekend I’ll finally have one…

@Brian, awesome!

I’ve spent the last three days on one ball in a Jianshui teapot. They’ve got some long legs. I mistakenly started one ball in a 50ml yixing. It just fit so cute in there. Big mistake! :-)

@ Crimson Lotus Tea its still in my Hanwa, its spilling out of it and its 150ml lol
I had two cups in the morning and had to go to bed for a nap ;P

So do I need to find a bigger teapot for it, boychik? How does 18oz sound?

OMGsrsly lol that’s extremely big. 6-8oz pot is fine. If you don’t have that size fill your 18oz in half. Otherwise it will be thin

@Crimson Lotus Tea, what is the gram amount per ball?

Hahaha. :D Yeah, I know. It’s thermos size. I think I have something ~200ml. :)

does anyone know the gram amount?

@kirkoneill 1988. I think they are about 6g more or less.

@Boychik, hmm… weird that it could get so bitter :/

@kirkoneill it’s not bitter, I didn’t say that. Have you tried it and was it bitter for you?

I really appreciate your advice! I have my 4oz porcelain gaiwan, but also a 6oz glass tea pot. Those should be fine, right?

@Kirkoneill1988 they’re about 8g per ball. It varies, but the average is around there.

@ KiwiDelight yes, start in smallest vessel. Then you will have to transfer, leaves would just explode. Like oolong.
@Crimson Lotus I never weighted them. You are right they are bigger than 6g

@boychik, i must have misread it somewhere :/ i apologize

@Crimson Lotus Tea, i see :)

@ Kirkoneill1988 cool , apology not needed . I thought you’ve tried and it was bitter for you. Misunderstanding

:)

LOL My order is still in Chicago – so several days away yet, but soon you will have MOUNTAINS of this soon!!!

I’ve never even tried this and I kind of want mountains.

Ah! My order came in today! Probably won’t have a chance to try it till next week though xD oh well. This note makes me even more excited though!!!

Your tasting notes are great. You had me right up until you mentioned Nutella. Not a fan of Nutella. :)

I love this one very much, too. :)

(Noooooo!!! That was not helpful Dexter….considering we did order at the same time.)

Mandy, it’s really, really, really good!

Ost, not try it until next week while it’s sitting in your house? you are a master of self control, I admire you :-)

Roughage, lol, it’s just a tiny little note of hazelnut and chocolate I get, hence the nutella reference, don’t let it scare you ;-)

Nightshifter, hard not to like this one, right?

I got my shitload yesterday and right after I finish this cup (my last cup until the mail gets here) of COCOA AMORE, I’m going to make some of my very own LBCG!! Very happy!

MzPriss, Did you open the pouch and sniff it yet????

Of course! I got this awesome ceramic canister at TJMaxx on Sunday (big enough to hold it all) and I’ve already put it into the canister an I lifted the lid and smelled repeatedly and I’ve just had it since yesterday evening. It’s gonna be a chocolate morning

Haha, this cracks me up! So I have to ask. What amount quantifies as a “shitload”? I am so glad this finally arrived. Can’t wait for the rest of you to get your orders!

Haha, this cracks me up! So I have to ask. What amount quantifies as a “shitload”? I am so glad this finally arrived. Can’t wait for the rest of you to get your orders!

hardly a shitload…8oz?

And MzPriss might have gotten slightly more…

Slightly more…not a lot more. LTF – you don’t think 8 oz is a shitload?

Well, since I use 1 big tbsp per cup, it’s almost as if it was just 4oz really…

Well that’s true – I like the way you think LTF

Yay, mine is coming soon! And if I do love it as much as I remember (I needed a refresher), I am buying mountains of this too.

I have a shitload of this…I always buy the 8oz option, & I think I have 2 backups in the attic.
Maybe I should drink a cup now?

I say yes! And I will as well :)

ok, then it’s next in my Q

Meeeee tooooo!!!!

My kettle is on

YAY! LTF – Sars is a huge enabler…..

Are you not at work?

Nope. I’m home. I was too tired and I’m doing some work here

maybe we should try that Google + tea party I’ve been talking about

Terri, I’m almost “tech illiterate” for these things…would have to learn how it works first and that could take a looong time :-O
It’s the kind of chat we hear each other talk?

I don’t know much about it either. I want to try it. I do need to try and see if I really can’t get even a 30 minute nap so I can try to go in

I feel like that should be in the commandments of tea or something : When you fall in love with a particular tea, thou shalt order shitloads of it.

TeaterTotter….I fully endorse that commandment.

I second that motion!

Teehee bumble bee party! http://tinyurl.com/n95df9w

We had two big fat fuzzy bumble bees wrestling inside an okra flower at my house yesterday, too funny!

I would imagine bumble bee wrestling to be similar to sumo… Lol!

Lol, most of them are actually regular working bees, but I like saying Bumble Bee, makes me happy :-)

Lol, Cameron, that pic is cute!

Stephanie, i think Cameron is right, two big fat bumble bees fighting together = sumo bee wrestling :-)

I usually think of the small “regular” bees as honey bees, and the extra large extra fuzzy variety as bumblebees!

They were totally sumo wrestling, LOL

Awwwwwww I love bumblebees! I got stung by one when I was two because I tried to pet it. Surprisingly not traumatized xD

Yeah, re-steepage!!!

Also, sumo wrestling bumbly bees is the cutest image ever.

I’m totally crashing that bumblebee party!!!!!

Haha! KiwiDelight, kudos for petting a bee, so cute!

Sami, except when I do gongfu sessions, I was never much of a re-steeper…now, with those WP teas, it just breaks my heart to throw them out so I can’t help re-steep most of them!

Sars, I was hoping you’d crash ;-)

Bees are so awesome! I went to an insect behavior lecture a couple of months ago (just for fun) and learned some about them. Did you know that all the bees you see outside the hive are female? They are the workers and soldiers. The males stay in the hive and care for the larvae. Fun facts :)

YOU GUYS if you like bees, you need to read this novel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/books/review/the-bees-by-laline-paull.html?_r=0

TTF: You know I can’t resist a party!!!!!

Suddenly The Tea Hobbit has turned us into re-steepers LTF

I’ve learned here on Steepster that resistance is futile Sars…

MzPriss…let’s face it. We are total re-steepers. But only with tea hobbit’s teas… I still dump my other used tea leaves with no guilt after one steep!

The two I actually res-steep are GO and this one. I wih I had some right now. But it’s not long until the 1st. The Tea Hobbit is also lightning shipper

The firsssst…. it nearsssss…. Need teasssssss :p

Where do you get your “subscription” for this tea?

Lol, it’s a joke hippiechick, I said that cause I buy it every month, just can’t live without it, and I easily go through my 2oz within 30 days :-)

Oh ok I was going to order some, due to your amazing review, but it is out of stock. :(

This tea is available in small quantities starting on the first day of each month :-)

Usually sells out pretty quickly, so keep an eye out for it!

Thanks I will!

What mug is this new mug? pictures &/or link?

Haha! Cheri, don’t we like pictures? Look at my post this morning in the what did you get in the mail thread. In the last link, you’ll see my new teaware. “the mug” is in the middle of the pic, it’s very plain looking but I love the shape and size!! And the best part was the discounted price: $7,50!!!

http://steepster.com/discuss/4717-official-star-what-did-you-get-in-the-mail-today-star-thread?page=193

It’s the new fairy jacuzzi mug! Lol. This tea is at the top of my list for my Whispering Pines order…

I actually really love swimming in the rain :-). When I was little, my mom used to have to chase me out of the pool once it started thundering. Obviously, I wasn’t too bright lol

Oh, a fairy jacuzzi, me like that :-)
Hope you will like this one cameron, it truly is a different take on s’mores…I thought I wouldn’t like it cause of the smoke but it turns out the smoke is the reason I like it!

I love huge mugs. But now I’m also loving teeny tiny cups.

I just tried their Campfire Blend, which was very smokey, and I liked it a lot. My first smokey tea. :P So I think I would really enjoy this one. :D

Oooh now I sorta wish I’d grabbed one too, but cupboard space is so limited. :| I ended up getting rid of two mugs to fit my new tentacle mug!

Lol, mj, I’m still lacking in the bright department apparently :-0
Seriously though, it wasn’t thundering, so I took a chance!

Cheri, I so love tiny cups but only for gungfu sessions…

Cameron, yes I remember reading your post, I didn’t have campfire blend yet, so I can’t compare, but I’m assuming Brenden is using the same Lapsang in both blends, so yes, you’d probably like it then :-)

Cavo, I too will have to get rid of some mugs, no room for the new teaware…but that’s ok, I like to gift people with them. The tentacle mug is awesome :-)

Ohhh man…one of my favorite things: Sitting outside in the fall when it’s just a tad too chilly to not have tea, sipping on a heavy mug of strong yunnan black tea or lapsang :)

Huge mugs of giant proportions really are awesome! It’s like a never ending cup of happiness^.^

I think early fall is my favourite part of the year…everything is perfect, no more mosquitos, fresh air but not too cold, colours changing…ok, but lets have a summer before we start talking about autumn :-)

^That

Quinoa milk???? I want that.

My current fave is the almond/coconut blend. But I am determined to find some quinoa milk now!

Sarsonator, I found it last week at my local health food store. They even have sunflower seed milk, which is also very nutty.

But I too adore the almond/coconut milk, but with all these new choices, it’s nice to be able change things up a little :-)

The almond coconut is also my favorite :)

No health food stores anywhere near me…guess I just have to use the forest! :D

Oh, I’m sure you can find a way to make some kind of extra special mushroom/bark forest milk :-)

Hahahaha!!! Mushroom bark forest milk??? I want that!

What about a Mushroom bark forest tea? It could be called: Autumn Fungus or Midnight Morel Madness. LOL

:-) Oh, oh, I think we’re on to something!!!

Funny you should mention that…I had chaga-infused rice milk last week :)

Did you really? Isn’t that the mushroom that grows on tree bark? It’s actually edible?
See, you did make your own bark forest milk ;-)

If the zombie apocalypse happens, it seems like Brendan would be an extremely useful guy to have around with his living-off-the-land-eating-tree-mushroom skills.

Maybe we should start a Zombie Apocalypse Tea survival group. I garden, forage for wild food, and make beer & wine. Brenden lives off the land and eats tree mushrooms. What else have we got? LOL

I’m in for the survival group. I’ll be bringing my friend and neighbor because she is super outdoorsy (like 2 week long camping trip outdoorsy) and has all the equipment. I’ve also already claimed her as one my zombie survival teammates. I bring to the table relatively few useful practical skills, except sailing a boat, swimming well, cooking decently, fishing, sewing, crocheting, and knitting. All my other skills are lab-related.

I should add that I’m not a complete nut job. I own The Walking Dead board game. My friends and I discuss silly hypotheticals while we play haha

Oh, i can negotiate with the wild life, I have Dr, Doolittle skills, no wild critter can resist me, so we can be safe from bears, wolves and coyotes. In fact, we can make them our friends and have them fight the zombies for us :-) Ducks seem to particularly like me, so we could have fresh duck eggs every morning and i could make us some mean omelet as breakefast. Also, I can make fire. Just sayin…

Lol, mj, your crocheting, sewing and knitting skills will be very helpful, you could create decent Pocahontas outfits, I always wanted to of wear one of those :-)

I could probably handle Pocahontas outfits lol. Also, I may or may not have been Tiger Lily from Peter Pan for Halloween for three consecutive years as a kid. So I’ve got a basic idea of the pattern…

Hahaha! “may or may not have been..”

Yep, Chaga is 100% edible. Well, with water or alcohol extraction. It’s considered “the mushroom of immortality” and is used extensively in Chinese medicine. It goes by the name Bai Hua Rong I believe in Chinese medicine, and is considered the king of all healing herbs. Basically if you drink chaga tea every day, you’ll stay at a VERY low risk or be totally immune to cancer cells, your immune system will be godly, and your overall health will increase dramatically. I’m a huge believer in the stuff. I drink it daily along with reishi and turkey tail mushrooms, too. Goes beautifully boiled with some elderberries and black tea.

I don’t like mushrooms for texture reasons, but I wonder how I’d feel about a mushroom tea. Hmm..

i’m so happy you enjoyed this one. i love this puerh a lot.

It’s your part-tea and you can steep how you want to, steep how you want to!!

Yay for ME tea nights, so proud of you :-)
Dark and choco, yum, yum!!

Wow, I tried this the other night and got it wrong. I’ll definitely try it again with longer steep parameters.

Darn right you can do what you want! :D

Cold steeping pu’erh, ah? I have to try that.

That sounds really amazing.
I will TRY to steep mine that long but I gotta say 4 minutes, and NINE minutes makes me a little nervous. I’m a “followe the vendors instructions, you noob” sorat gal. Especially with this. It’s my FIRST/ONLY Mandala tea!

It’s my par-tea and I did what I wanted. :)) It turned out great.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy it MissB – it doesn’t get nasty as you steep it longer, it just gets deeper and more chocolate. I highly recommend a long steep. I was VERY nervous too, but after trying the 4 minute steep, I knew you could not hurt it. I will do 8 or 9 minutes first steep next time.

Kamyria I didn’t believe the cold steep pu’erh either, and then I tried it. I quite often western steep leaves a couple of times, then toss them in the fridge for 16ish hours. Can’t explain it, it’s a different experience – very refreshing, you should try it once….

Cavocorax – if you want to follow vendors instructions, then you go right ahead. It’s your tea, don’t let me talk you out of your comfort zone. First/only Mandala? You are starting with a good one….

I twisted her rubber arm into ordering SOMETHING, ANYTHING from mandala when I placed my order lol

omg yay!! u just put the seal of approval on this one for me…it’s on my to-try list from Mandala…it sounded delicious to begin with, although i was worried it might have a damp,earthy pu’erh quality. but if this is anything like you say, i simply must give it a go!

Good job Sil – “something – anything” is pretty much correct when it comes to Mandala – it’s all good.

pyarkaaloo – but I like the “damp,earthy pu’erh quality” This has a little of that – it is a pu’erh, but it’s more in the background adding depth to the chocolate rather than hitting you in the face. I love all Mandala pu’erh. Their Silver Buds are really mild – more of a white tea with a hint of pu’erh. Noble Mark is just fantastic, but more traditional pu’erh. Wild Monk is the best sheng I’ve ever drank – pretty much what Sil said – anything from Mandala is a good choice….

Does restocking favorites count as breaking hiatus?

thanks for the clarification…this sounds like a nice pu’erh! i think i’ll be happy with this as long as it isn’t a predominantly ‘mossy/earth’ kind of flavor, although one never knows…if i try enough pu’erh cakes i may find one that i love! or i may develop my palate.. the cold steeping sounds delicious!

Yeah, I’m really happy Sil was able to do talk me into it! It was difficult because it was Black Friday and I’d already allocated most of my budget to Butiki and DTT. But ONE tea from Mandala… OK YES.

There will be more from them in the future. I still have to get past them being fancy in my head and just start drinking!

And I can experiment now! It’s just the first steep that I don’t like to mess with on the assumption that the vender knows what’s best. :P

Does.not.count.

Cavocorax This is a video of Garret giving you permission to play with your tea. He has a very open, whatever you like is correct for you attitude…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUt6kt00mpo&feature=youtube_gdata

I love steeping Special Dark for extreme amounts of time. Unlike with most teas, this one improves on a longer steep. The last time I had Special Dark I steeped it for 15 minutes and added a touch of cream. Heaven.

Garret does have a very laissez-faire approach to tea. Which I really appreciate. It eliminates the guilt when I, inevitably, break the rules.

Do as you like :) Whenever I do tea classes, I give people basic parameters for brewing and leave the rest up to them. I let people know that if they dig a green tea with boiling water, that’s cool, that’s how they should have it. I do use a little disclaimer here, though, and tell them that if they are serving tea to guests that it might be a good idea to go to more “traditional” way of brewing it :)

Yay! I love this one. And I love that someone was awesome and reminded you you should not get overwhelmed with sampling and take some time out for whatever you want to drink. Definitely.

And so agree, it’s the most intensely chocolate tea I’ve tasted.

Good morning! :)

And good morning to you as well ;-)

Sssshh… I’m still sleeping. :p

(Oops, Okay…sorry ;-))

Seriously, you have inspired me to try to get up early and see a sunrise. I think it’s been over 15 years since that happened, and it wasn’t from getting up early, it was from staying out late!

Nothing beats that feeling…
Haha! I’ve had those wasted sunrises as well dear…memory lane. Mind you, I went to bed past 2am, so it was almost that!

This makes me want to start dragging my butt out of bed earlier, at least once in awhile!
I love the freshness of the early morning, & of course the birds & their songs!
My problem is I also love the silence of late night & my creativity seems to always awaken & peak from 10pm to 2am.:)

I understand the night creativity…then just be like me, a night AND a morning person ;-)

TheTeaFairy, do you get that beautiful blanket of cool mist in the mornings?

Brenden, yes I do… Especially on cooler nights like yesterday. A blanket is right, this morning, it was only at ground level, so dense I could not see through!

My favorite :) I had a fair bit of fog here last night and I went for a walk. Truly beautiful stuff!

I work in the night time Indiana woods. Last night a mist enveloped my world. A very special sight/feeling. :)

I so love that feeling inranger…glad to know the sight doesn’t get old even for you, as it is part of your job to see beautiful nature canvases every day :-)

Yes, I am blessed. :)

Every day!

Count me in also :-)

Love these comments!

Brenden, I go night walking as well, but only when there’s a full moon. Then it gets really magical!

Then jump in KS, you are always welcome :-)

The smell of thick fog in the forest is my absolute favorite thing <3

Or after it’s stormed all night and the sun is hitting the trees and you get that unexplainable freshness…mmm

Ok stop! You’re going to cause a massive human migration to the woods…how could anyone resist all that?

Right?! Well, I could only do about 5 minutes in the woods today to get some mushrooms I was letting grow a bit more…It’s mosquito hell out there today!

Understand the night and morning person thing. I just have to watch out for the phase out in the middle of the day thing bred into me by years of boredom at school.

Yyz, hate napping in the afternoon, it’s screws me up more than my insomnia!!

Brendan, mmm, fresh mushroom…what kind do you get? Have to be careful though…
And mosquitos have been the worst here this year, they are so big, and they give me allergic reactions, i have a bite the size of an orange on one leg, dammit!

That is awesome. Congratulations on moving into… YOUR HOUSE!

Exciting, but exhausting, Congrats on your new house, have fun making it into your new home!

Congratulations. Now you can host tea parties in your own home! :)

Woop! Congrats!

Yay! Congratulations :)

Too awesome!

Welcome home!

Gratz dearie! Sounds wonderful!

Awesome! Enjoy these moments :)

Woo! :) Congratulations on your house. :)

Yay, congrats!

Congratulations! Enjoy every bit of the experience!

Congratulations on your house!

wow, congrats!

I love the road trip, because you can. This tea is AMAZING. I must have more. I emailed them and they mentioned you…

ME? lol

Haha yeah, Sil, they told both of us to talk to you about a group order to save on shipping :P. I am glad you liked it by the way. I think I recalled reading your tasting note so I tossed in a bit more so you could have it again.

Haha yes. If only Steepster could support pictures. I also was chatting with VariaTEA for this. They mentioned you might place an order and to see if we could get some sort of group order going to help with shipping costs because they think it’ll be quite expensive.

Oh man, VariaTEA I would send you anything for more haha!

So….i’m likely going to be trying to visit their store in Miami at the end of February. If i do, i’m fine to bring things back and send them to you guys or something like that…

Ahh yes. That’s not quite what came across in the email haha. I definitely wouldn’t want to take up room in your suitcase, although I appreciate the offer. :)

….you realise, when i travel to florida i take 2 suitcases right? one for the clothes and one for tea? hahahaha

(don’t get me wrong, i’m all for a joint order as well, but if i’m going there, we save on the shipping to us and just need to split shipping from here to us when i get back)

Hahaha the two suitcases. Okay, I don’t feel so badly anymore. :P

i guess technically we pay the 25$ for flying BUT the second one i can totally turn into a carry on and not pay for it bwahahaha

Haha. I was actually saying to Courtney I will be in Florida in March and plan to do the same thing as you Sil. Plus, last time I came back from Florida I also had a second suitcase to bring back my teas. By the way, where do you buy tea when you are there? Aside from Nina’s, I couldn’t really find where to go.

Soooo funny story…i order from retailers, ship it to my friend’s places and pick up that plus anything else i’ve ordered. I am a fan of ordering my camera bags while i’m down there: www.kellymoorebag.com to save on duty/taxes etc..

It’s okay. I order from retailers and send it to my Dad in LA to save on shipping. If he knows I will be in Florida he sends the stuff there to avoid customs and then I just bring it home. Yay for tea mules!!

Pssssst. I would be interested in a group order.

Right Cavo? Group order for the win!

Haha. I feel like the group order would be a whole bunch of samples and a shitton of Nina’s Japon :P

Oh man. Sil! I need to get on this group order. :D

I like how Sil has been appointed the leader of the group order by the people at Nina’s themselves.

Hahaha. Yea, that’s pretty hilarious. And tey should probably give Sil and VariaTEA some free teas for a) getting us all excited about an order and b) ‘volunteering’ to make it happen!

I am ALL for that… totally plotting how to get to Miami with ease…

If you are there around valentine’s day, they are having a tea, wine, and chocolate tasting event.

sadly it would be the last week in February..if i can convince folks to make the drive. We’re usually only in the orlando area when we o.

I won’t be there until March so I am missing it too. I tried convincing my mom to go but she is not into teas enough to drive the hour into Miami.

Lavender? Wah wah!

BLERGAMOT! I can’t stop laughing, Sil. At least you gave us some entertainment out of it? :)

for sure… my other half is laughing at me as well… “WHY would you put that in your mouth?” uh…because i need to try ALL THE TEAS! “even if they taste like ass?” uh…..yes? :)

Can you and your other half come live with me? Please? 1) you’re adorkable and 2) you crack me up to no end!

I love Earl Grey and green. The lavender sounds a bit weird though…..

…i think this would have tasted better with more blergamot and less lavender to be honest…

yucky lavender makes me think of the Thrills gum. Now there is lavender soap taste for you! I don’t think anything can be as bad as that. Then again I haven’t tried the tea yet so….

I am cringing as I read this note, and hope that I have zero teas today with either ingredient in them. Blergamot though? I love that word!

helena – is that those purple gum thingies? if so i know what you’re talking about and this is way more lavender and much more gross…and those are gross. lol

Hmm, I like lavender in sencha…I like bergamot and lavender in black tea…the idea of it in green just sound kinda odd.

YES, those purple crunchy coated gums! Me and my brother would buy them and dare each other to eat them.. and then my mom found them somewhere and got us each a packet for Christmas. Haha. It’s just sitting there, waiting…

LOL what a note. This seems to actually be a revamp(?) of an old blend they had way back when they first started Alchemy Blends called Lavender Earl Green. I tried it then and thought it had too much lavender, so I am interested to see how this one compares. I doubt I will have your reaction, though…

Yep Thrills gum is that evil deceptively purple chicklet looking gum that tastes like Lavender Soap not that I’ve ever eaten Lavender Soap but I dare anyone to try that gum and not say that’s what it tastes like :D

This is way more lavender than that thrills gum IF my memory serves…..

Dinosara – yeah…you will probably be ok with these…

I could always send you some Thrills if you’d like to compare, Sil. :D

LOL!, I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. I’ve only come across one tea that made good use of lavender, and it was a ratio of one or two of those mini buds per 4-5gms of the rest of the herbal tea. Bergamot… not so much, to me it is too strong and ‘invasive’, it overshadows all other flavors.

JC – i kinda think that’s part of the fun of new teas…even if they are soooo very gross lol

OMG – i will hurt you lol

Lol, I call those a ‘learning experience’ together with low or no score. I always insist that nothing teaches you about great tea like awful tea.

all right everyone send 1 pack of Thrills gum to Sil on Christmas morning (insert evil laughter here)

LOL

Helena, I like how you think. ;)

Haha awe so much hate for this tea, I found it pretty tasty haha but I am a rare one who like lavender and ‘Blergamot’ lol :D still, quite an entertaining note! Sorry it didn’t pan out though lol

haha it’s all good misslena. I’m happy someone out there loved it haha

I LOVE this tea and would LOVE to have more of it!!!

lol

Sil~ It is hard for me to see anyone rating it so low…
Different strokes for different folks~ I guess ;-)

I didn’t like it either. This showed up in my monthly verdant tea bundle and I tossed it.

Awww, Helena…wish you would have sent it to me…ahahaha…
I love it!

There are something like four versions of this in the catalog.

I like the comparison to the EoT tea, although I’ve not tried it. It shows you have pinned it down to something specific.

@tea123 it is very close. I think an initial tasting would be close. The Baotang has a touch more depth to it.

It’s a yearly series? Tried your 2011? It’s smoky and chop but not the worst I’ve had.

@Cwyn, I think this has had some emphasis put on it. It is very much different from the 2012 that I have. It is still chop and goes maybe 9 steeps before I tossed it but the age of the leaf is evident with the taste and color.

That Baotang is superb. I’ll have to look into this.

^I second Haveteawilltravel’s comment. mrmopar thank you for directing me onto Baotang a few months ago, so I’ll have to look into this tea too.

Is “Baotang” an alternative spelling of Bo He Tang? “Bohe” is mandarin for peppermint. Stuff from this terrior is extremely rare and pricey.

its two separate locations. Baotang 保塘 is in the Mengsong region of Menghai, and BoheTang 薄荷塘 is in Wangong region of Mengla

@mrmopar where did you buy this? King Tea?

Sqt, I did in fact get it from King Tea. I bought it on a whim for historical aspect but it turned out well so I grabbed another.

@mrmopar thank you, threw in a cake with my last order :)

I like this type of Dancong, the one I love has this really interesting liqueur tones that reminds me of this whisky based liqueur that my cousin brought back from Scotland.

Mmmm, sounds really good yyz!

It is… Curious about what notes you’ll get when you gongfu it.

I love this one :)

Sounds lovely! I’ve tried two different Huang Zhi Xiang wulongs, one from Seven Cups and the other from Verdant. The former was so sweet, it was as if I was drinking straight mango and passion fruit nectar. The latter was more mellow, still juicy and sweet with oaky notes. And yours, well, again, it sounds completely different! That must go to show how even on particular tea can change character from purveyor to purveyor.

Chadao, I have verdant also, you are right, it’s very sweet in an almost fruit juice kind of way. I will have to see how different this one is Gongfu style. I am expecting sweeter notes that way. And I agree, it’s amazing how different tea can be from on estate to the other, or from one harvest to the other. I’ve had a Da Yu Ling oolong recently that was so muted in taste compared to the regular brand I normally drink.

Did you ever end up making the in the gaiwan? :)

I did! Didn’t I review it a second time?
Its more boozy and orangy with short steeps…I much prefer it that way, it keeps changing from one steep to the next…that’s why I like gongfu brewing so much…did you try it yourself?

Yep, I have. I like it more that way too :) I think you did review it now that I’m thinking about it…hmmm…haha

Hmm…appears not! :P But yes, super nommy :)

Lol, no worries, I can’t remember myself…But I drank it many times this way already and it’s much more complex, my favourite way for pretty much any oolong. I bought a nice Yixing pot for them, just can’t decided if I should use it for green oolong or more oxidized like this one…big dilemma.

Normally I would comment something like – just get another then you don’t have to decide – BUT I would be remiss of me not to bring up the fact that you’ve agreed to go on an yixing buying hiatus…. ;)

Haha!! Dexter, thanks for keeping an eye on me…but let’s not give that story to the world…not my finest moment, oops :-O

But, but, I was just on Zen Tea’s website cause my heart is just like my little pumpkin pot…it’s broken :-( what to do???

:) I just bought two yixing pots (my first ones) last week! I’m stoked!

I’ve got a set of yixing cups for yunnan blacks, shou puer, and lapsang…so I bought a 120ml red yixing pot to match my yunnan black yixing cups and a 150ml black yixing pot to match my shou puer cups :)

If only they made 50ml yixing pots…i would be ALL OVER THAT. I can’t get over small teaware. It’s just so…adorable and perfect. :P

Remember that number you quoted not that long ago (but long enough that you’ve placed more orders since) – THAT NUMBER – you know the scary one – and it didn’t include any of the tins for you organization project…. I have no problem with you replacing your pumpkin pot – just trying to look out for you….

Brenden, that’s so cute! I love tiny teaware too but a 50ml pot?? Lol, that’s one sip! Have you seasoned them yet?

Oh, but Dexter, I just want the pots!! No tea. Lol, Brenden seems to be getting all my business lately anyways :-)

Those Zen Tea pots are going to disapear very soon, unbeatable quality for the price. I was thinking of replacing the broken one + the one the boychik got, the orange one. Then I’m gonna lock them up so I don’t break them no more. What do you think?

If I told you what I really thought (you should use and love them not lock them up) – you would laugh hysterically and tell me to take a look in my own cupboard, no right to give you advice etc. I would say something like do as I say not as I do – you would smile, pat me on the head and buy one anyway. :))
LOL you can do what you like, I’m just trying to do my job as the “voice of reason”.
(For those that don’t understand – I have four yixing pots, I’ve only seasoned one – not using any of them – I have no right to tell anyone that they should be using and enjoying their teaware…)

Lol, we know each other too well by now, scary!! The thing is, before I went to “breaking” mode, I was using them on REGULAR basis….but now my confidence is shaken…I’m wondering if they are better off being just “looked at” instead of end up cracked on the floor!!!

(Smile, pat on the shoulder… I just bought them!!)

Nope, they’re still on the way to me, but I’ll be seasoning them right away when they arrive!

Lol, Dexter…I can’t imagine having teaware that didnt get used!

I would highly suggest creating a tea space with thick fuzzy carpet under the drinking area. I personally have a nice big carpet under my tea table, which is only a few inches taller than my knee. I’ve dropped many cups off of the table and none of them have broken :)

Brenden are your yixing cups porcelain lined? or are they just clay? How do you like drinking out of them? I have a yixing mug (I understand that’s not what you have) and I don’t like the roughness of the clay to drink out of – don’t like how it feels in the mouth, against teeth. I have itty, bitty, teeny tiny clay tasting cups, but have never used them – too small, and afraid of the clay feel. Just wondering if proper sized cups would be better?

Fairy – I am not surprised. :))
It is scary, don’t need to actually HAVE the conversation to know how it would go. Enjoy your new pots!!!
One of these days I’m going to take a me tea day and actually spend some quality time with some of my GOOD teas and GOOD teaware – just need to find some time…

Brenden, i had a phase of uncontrollable clumsiness…let’s hope it’s over now. But the carpet is an option to consider ;-) i’d love to see your pots when you get them!!

Dexter, You know I hope and pray everyday for that to happen for you my dear friend :-)

Dexter, totally unglazed. I love drinking out of them…when I first got them, I didnt season them and they felt and tasted rough, just like you explained. After I seasoned them they began to feel smoother on the lips and produce much better tasting tea. I didn’t think I would notice much difference, but after using them for a few months I definitely started tasting a difference. All of the teas I make in them are so much smoother and cleaner tasting. I have a set of clay cups that are really low quality and i couldn’t stand to drink out of them…after seasoning it was so much better…but still definitely not as good as a good quality cup.

TeaFairy, I will definitely be posting pictures on here. Excited! :)

Also, I like to pour my first cup of the session into the yixing cups and let it sit for a minute before drinking. This seems to “open” the teacups up. Could just be my imagination though :P

Thanks Brenden – now that you say it – makes perfect sense. I did let tea sit in my mug a couple of times when I first got it to “season”, but I didn’t submerge it. That’s what I need to do, build up some patina on the lip and outside to cut down the rough mouth feel. I really want to love my yixing mug – I’m way more of a coffee mug rather than tiny cup kind of girl – this seemed like the best of both world. I’m going to submerge my mug a few times and see if I can’t get it to “smooth out”. Thanks for the advice. :))

(I’m both a super large and super tiny teaware kind of gal…I’m want ALL things tea!!!

What you need to do is boil it in a pot with the tea you want to use. Add like a half ounce of the tea and boil the tea for 20 minutes, then add the mug and boil for an hour. That initial seasoning is what really makes it start to taste good :)

That does look lovely. Why must you tempt me so! I told Steepster and my entire family that I wouldn’t buy any more tea until September!

So pretty in that glass. Do you love that steeper? I’ve been thinking about one…

Christina…just give in…september was way too ambitious ;-)

MzPriss, I love my test tube! Short steep for the lazy…works really well for green and shou but not so much for larger leaf like oolong, it gets too jammed packed.

I like the pictures you post :-)

Thanks mj :-)

@TeaF I’ve been eyeing one at I think Verdant. What I need to be eyeing is where I’m going to put everything that is either alresady here or coming to my house.
@Christina – she is a total temptress…

Oh, I hear you on that…massive shit load of tea coming our way…i have 2 yixing pots on the way also. Sigh.
(I did buy my test tube at Verdant…totally worth it…you should seriously consider…just sayin’)

Maybe when the Laoshan Choky Genmaicha comes in. I have massive shitloads still to come, but I’ve been putting Madala in tins this morning and it makes me happeh :) I have also been LOLing at my messages this morning but now I want chai, so that will be my on the way to work tea…

2 yxings??? LOL. I LOVE you.

Hahaha! I don’t blame you, I cold brewed some right after that conversation!

Well you obviously don’t know my relationship with yixing pots…I buy them, I break them…then I buy some more, and I break some more….CLUMSY!!!

I a breaker too. Well more of a chipper actually. Although, my sweet little cup w/infuser that I reviewed on here recently? I had it for a week and a half before I broke the mug :(

’scuse my typos. not enough sleep :(

Off to work (with my chai) Have a good day

Lol, you too :-)

Why don’t you have a blog? :)

I love your pictures!

Lovely pics as always, & we have matching test tube steepers :)
I love that thing, wouldn’t dream of brewing green teas in anything else!
On the topic of breaking things (rolls eyes dramatically), my desk & studio are both littered with chipped tea cups, because once I chip them I won’t serve tea in them. So they become holders of things: pennies, paperclips, a wet tea strainer, the weird little Bingo keytags that I write my daily tasks on (in hopes of actually getting them done), etc.
I have a fantasy of rounding them up this fall & planting a small succulent jade plant in each on, to give as winter gifts to my students.
Gratefully, I haven’t broken any of my yixings (knock on wood). I would be heart broken.

I love that jade plant idea! Teacup planters are adorable and I have a very handsome jade plant that I enjoy a lot. It’s one of my favorites (shhhh don’t tell my other plants)

Yixings? From where ? Links ?
I love the pics and you should blog, telling ya

Thanks you guys, but no need for a blog, Steepster is my tea-home, I’m way happier here with you all :-)

Terri, what a great idea!

Boychik…dunno if you remember, but when you were buying yours from Zen Tea, I told you I had purchased the pumpkin one and that IMHO, their prices could not be beaten for signed handmade pots. Well….I cracked it. It’s not conpletely broken, but can’t be used anymore. I liked it soooo much that I repurchased it…

http://zentealife.com/yixing-teapot-siji.html

And…couldn’t resist this one in the process…does it look familiar?

http://zentealife.com/yixing-teapot-songdan.html

Oh I love the pumpkin and second looks very familiar. I just checked prices went up, mine was $29
Oh well, it’s worth every penny.

Lol, yes, it’s totally worth it…I have bought lots of teaware from them and I know they are 100% reliable. I don’t know any other places where you can get a certificate of authenticity for such low price. Kenneth, the owner had told me it was his last batch in inventory, he wouldn’t be able to get them anymore. So I made my move before they’re all gone :-)

Mine are all very plain, but wonderfully functional, all from Mandala. However, there are others I’ve been drooling over for awhile…

I got 2 fr YS some time ago but they are 200 ml. At that time I didn’t realize that they are huge. I really want them to be 100-130ml .

You are so funny.

Oh thank you! :)

I’m drunk on sheng and watching Ghost Shark now. This tea is yummmz!!!!

Ghost…Shark…?

>>

You can blame ost for telling me about it. :p

Can we add this to my list Sarsy?

Absolutely, pumpkin pie!

<3 !!! I just had some Teavivre gold bud thingie out of my newly seasoned pot and it’s deeeeelicious! I’m not excited about the way my pruple pot starts off pouring though. Maybe I’m doing it Rong?

WHY Steepster? WHY? Why do you eat entire sentences?

I was telling you I just had some Teavivre’s gold bud-thingie out of my newky seasoned purple pot and it’s so so good.

sigh. Newly. But at the beginning of the pour it is not good – maybe I’m doing it wrong?

You mean the pour is not good?

Too much c.

It is once its going but at first it goes everywhere

I have one other one that does that. the other don’t. It’s probably me. Marz – c?

LOL MARZIPAN! Too good.

I tilt the cup to meet the teapot a little. Usually works. If it’s still being funky, maybe post on the forum? Someone may have a suggestion.

It does it even when it’s not full >.<

And I still haven’t eaten dinner

I had a veggie burger. Yumz

Oh I have some of those. And some corn and cheese tamales in the freezer

But right now I’m eating chocolate

This tea sounds great, and you guys are silly and making me laugh. I love it.

You got yourself the tea qi.

Oh it was nice, too!!!!

Yah Ima-addict. :P

LOL @ this thread. Want to live in Sarasonator’s tea forest a la Swiss Family Robinson: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gSvAoHjnktM/TKxjXlna9OI/AAAAAAAABW8/FF0q0qnaLTk/s1600/Tobago+Swiss+Tree+1960.jpg
Cuz I don’t rough it

Lol, mj, that’s totally our fashengista in her tea forest, you are too funny!!!

:p Cwyn

OMG mj!!!! That’s perfect!!!!

I am already shenging this AM, Foxy. We will see where I end up today :)

That will be it.

I’m a bonafide space cadet!

The Chairman ha sent his approval of your tasting notes. He was read this since he can’t personally read and sent a 2 meow response.

When are we getting a pic of the Chairman Meow-er?

Here’s my Chairman. Mrmopar has his own Chairman :)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124304184@N02/14742665251/

Oh and mrmopar… I tried to get my Chairman Meow to pick my tea the other day. He gave me a stare that said, “whatever human. Bow down to your kitty overlord and get me some treats”

So it didn’t work out well…

That is a corporate executive cat! He definitely has some personality, had to laugh at the lion pose he has got there.

I call that his “Most Interesting Cat in the World” pose :p

Interesting method!

Yes, I find I’m not achieving the results I,m seeking with short steeps if I use less. I know this tea is good no matter what, but this method elevates it to the tenth power for me!

I still haven’t tried that with this tea…yet!

I have no doubt time will come, Terri!

Reading anything good?

Well Teabrat, I just finished Rebecca from Daphne Du Maurier and I’m now contemplating either Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth’s sequel World Without End or Camilla Läckberg ‘s Ice Princess. Hard to choose sometimes isn’t it?

Interesting! I will have to try that. I usually fill the gaiwan about half way full.

Stacy, I know, that’s what I do too with regular teas (meaning other than pu’erh and oolongs, those I weigh instead) but I wanted a bolder flavour and that’s what works best for me, very short steeps, lots of leaves. (Which I’ll be running out of real soon!!)
I would’t recommend it to someone not like a strong brew, but I know you do!

Are doing a 10 second steep on that? I’d like to try it how you recommend. :)

OMG i would never dream of recommending ANYTHING to you on this tea, madam!!!

But 10seconds is probably what I do, I never really count, I “estimate” to give people and idea. So yes, I would estimate 10sec for the first 3 steeps and increase by 10 also for the subsequents. And as I often do, I read while brewing, so I forget it and it becomes almost syrupy…But call me crazy, I still like it!!!

I haven’t tried this with your Wild mountain yet, but i will.

Well, I would love to try your method. I will give it a try tonight. For this tea and the TWMB, I normally just do a 1/2 gaiwan filled steep for 30ish seconds. I like the first steep to come out a bit strong. It will be interesting to try it this way. :)

Whoa, the 10 second steep with a full gaiwan is delicious! Excellent recommendation. Very malty but still sweet.

Phew! thanks for letting me know, lol, i was a little nervous that you might think I’m just a fool!!! So happy you liked it this way. Is it possible to ever mess up this tea i ask you???

It was absolutely delicious! Very different than what I normally do but I love how different it is. It reminded me of coffee a little bit in flavor though only what I would imagine coffee would taste like since I’ve only tasted like maybe twice in my life.

Yay! You’re right Stacy, it does bring more of coffee almost mocha feel to it!

Guess I’ll have to give this a try…

Oh, my…what a calming review! I think I need you to come read me a bedtime story :)

I need to try this!

I’m jealous! I’ve been dying to try this but when it was restocked I didn’t know about it until it was too late. It’s on my wishlist so hopefully nexttime!

Same here Cavocorax, I just placed my first WP order and it was the one tea I wanted that was out of stock. :( Yes, next time.

The needles for this tea are harvested on the first of each month, and the amount of it available is based on how much I can sustainably harvest…There should be about a pound available on the first of the month :)

Gmathis, wouldn’t that be fun ;-) it’s hard for me to relax at night and this tea did the trick yesterday, it has a very claming effect, just made me feel so good.

Cavocorax and inranger, I sure hope you get the chance to try it eventually :-)

Brenden, the first of the month is maked in RED on my calendar!!

oh I was just thinking about how I had been trying to find a good jasmine before I got side tracked with travel (and some truly awful tea experiences). I MUST try this one! I often drink green jasmine until nearly bed time. this would be better.

bizbee, the base of this tea is our River Rain green tea, which I LOVE for before bed. It’s a blend of mao jian and jasmine yin hao teas from China. :)

well Whispering Pines as soon as you get more in I’ll be “there” I have a whole relationship with bears theme in my life, raising funds for the fortress of the bear is Sitka AK and avoiding bears during my AK swims (I was recently told this year’s proposed route ends near some bears that like to swim out to fishing boats) sleeping bears are a good thing!
So is pine for remembering the bears when I am amongst the palm trees working!

:) Bears rock! It’s too bad the Legend of the Sleeping Bear is not a happy one :(

Bizbee1, that sounds amazing!!!

(Brenden, If the bear dies in the end, I don’t want to know!!)

Well, it IS just a legend… http://www.nps.gov/slbe/historyculture/stories.htm

But yes, there are dying bears involved :(

well to counteract the sadness here is a happy place for orphaned baby bears (htough it has little to do with tea unless we make a tea and use it as a fundraiser). The family that runs the fortress have dedicated their lives to these bears but they give a lot in return! http://www.fortressofthebear.org/

Arrgh!!! I knew i shouldn’t have read the legend…it takes two words to make me cry: cub and death. What a sad story…but I’m sure the dunes created in their memories are beautiful…

Bizbee1, thanks for posting this, it warms my heart to hear about such amazing people :-)

Oh they are more than just beautiful! ;) http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/best_places_USA/sleeping-bear-dunes-michigan-voted-good-morning-americas/story?id=14319616

Awww! You’ve got it all my friend…it’s gorgeous.

And Mario Batali? And cherries, my favourite fruits in the world???

This will be available for purchase in an hour and a half!!! :D That’s 2pm EST, right here: whisperingpinestea.com/the-sleeping-bear-blend.html

ok I want to get some for me and some for a care package going out to a friend so I’ll waaiitt :)

Very limited quantity…so be ready! :D

@Fairy, yes…the best cherries you could ever imagine. I can’t even eat cherries from anywhere else :)

Also, I’m having my first cup of this harvest now. It’s AMAZING. I changed my processing slightly on the pine, so now there’s much more pine flavor and a light roasty hint in the background. Also, new jasmine in it, which is WAY better than the old one. I keep saying this, but I don’t think I can make this tea any better!

Have my order in :)

Yay! :) Congrats, and thank you :)

Oh, I’m SO tempted to grab this, but I just got my WP order in a few days ago, and don’t want to pay $12 shipping for 2 oz of tea. :P Guess I’ll have to wait until it’s restocked later on. Is it always the 1st of the month that you bring it in? I can plan a future order based on that!

Cavocorax, I’ll message you :)

And yes, to answer your question, I harvest on the first of each month. Usually there’s about 10 ounces available, but I’m trying to make that a pound in the future.

I could do a special harvest for anyone that wants 4 ounces or more though :)

Does it actually taste like cotton candy though?

Not even remotely. Here is what I think it tastes like: http://steepster.com/clareborn/posts/227538

Haha! Hilarious, yes we are a bunch of enablers, aren’t we? Like I spent my entire day under a blanket, reading a book and sipping oolong because of TeaTiff! ( yes, I proudly play the blaming game!!)

IT’S EVERYONE’S FAULT.

So it seems like my first thoughts about this being similar to DAVIDs Birthday Cake is probably right. Thank you for sharing :)

LOL. I can’t believe that you reading “frozen girlfriend” from my gf lasagne made you HUNGRY.

THAT OBVIOUSLY MEANS GIRLFRIEND LASAGNE OKAY.

Also girls are totally tasty.

And VariaTEA – I haven’t tried that yet, but I’m going to try to trick Sil into getting some for me for our swap!

No need to trick Sil because I have lots and am happy to share. Also, I will be by David’s tomorrow and can pick stuff up :)

Aww, thank you. You’re the best. <3

hey! i need tea to send to her! don’t steal things i can go get for her! lol

Sil, I am sure there is plenty to send and this way I save you a trip to DAVIDs.

No, because Sil must go there and get me the Movie Night she LOATHES BEYOND WORDS AND COMPREHENSION.

It’s pretty funny.

Also I love you guys.

Alright. So I will leave this for Sil to get you unless instructed otherwise prior to our eventual swap

lmao…. it’s all a vicious plot to make me go to davids…but i’m ok with that… though honestly, we should all just get together and make one GIANT BOX for anna that takes like 2 ppl to carry…

I’m packing my box as full to 500g as possible. Scale is out, and everything. :D :D :D

…uh that’s anna’s box right?

lol

Yes. My box for Anna, I meant. Clarification achieved. Although your box is a little bigger than Anna’s, Sil.

Sil, we should!! Just combine everything and it will be a cupboard explosion of tastiness.

Bigeger…but lighter? hopeful

Lighter only due to Anna’s non-tea contents, I think.

I’ll weigh before I finally manage to send (next week now because I’m visiting family this weekend) and report back. :D

Aaaaaaaaaah THE REVENGE OS SIL.

Wait, I just read this whole thing – OMGsrsly, what are you DOING?! What is in this box? I DEMAND TO KNOW. No, wait I don’t want to know. Or… no. But. NO. ARGH.

I am not in the box. Do not fear. (I do not weigh less than 500g.)

It would be so awesome if you were in the box and I opened it and you came walking out and it turned out YOU’VE BEEN THAT SIZE ALL ALONG.

Also, you’re lucky you don’t weigh less than 500g, because otherwise I would never let you out of my purse and that might get boring for you.

I guess it would depend on what you have in your purse! Any interesting books? :)

I would build an entire kingdom for you in my purse.

I agree on the price. I always want to try the new “vanilla dreams” teas, but they’re just too expensive for me.

don’t get me wrong, i can appreciate that quality sometimes costs more, but i’m not sure i can personally justify it, at least not as often as i’d want too :(

Absolutely. I just feel that I would rather buy multiple teas or more of a tea I love for the same price. :)

But I haven’t tried any of the expensive ones, so if I had I may have a different opinion! Lol.

Im HOPING to be able to make my more expensive teas available as 1/2oz in the next few weeks or so. It’s ridiculously laborious to blend the teas that contain Tahitian Vanilla…takes about 30 minutes per ounce. :/

I really want to try this one.

Does the multiple steep make up for price? I hardly ever re-steep “flavored” teas (I understand this is blended not flavored). If you can multiple steep it, does that help offset cost. (I haven’t tried this one yet…) Happy that you like it. :))

Mmm good point…I always get at least 4 steeps from this one.

Dexter….so yes and no hahaha my dilemma is that sometimes, I don’t WANT 36+oz of the same tea
Brendan – totally understand, and this one is lovely…I can appreciate the time and effort that crafting a tea can require.
Cameron – if/when Brendan has the half ounce option, I suggest trying it at the very least as a little splurge :) it’s quite lovely with the vanilla… This is more what I was hoping for with the verdant blends this month a la vanilla style

Sil, I will definitely consider trying this one and Cocoa Amore if there’s a half ounce option. :)

And those stupid Verdant blends angered me! The vanilla was such an afterthought in all of them except maybe the tieguanyin…

I understand that Sil – I agree don’t always want 4 big cups of the same tea. To save leaf/cost, should we be making 4 steeps of small cups. Make four 4oz cups rather than four 8oz cups? Do we need to change our habits to save money and make these more affordable?

Dex….probably…but I find unless I’m doing gongfu…I want my big delicious mugs of steaming tea….or else it cools too fast for me lol

You could always halve the leaf amount and add infusion times together :)

But yes, I’m hoping that a 1/2oz option will make these more accessible.

1/2 is a good sample size. Is that one the two awesome black teas?

Not sure what you mean?

A blend of two awesome black teas?

Ahh yes, it’s Imperial Gold Bud Dian Hong and Ailaoshan Black :-)

What?? Those are two of my WP faves! I might have to splurge on this (and Cocoa Amore, naturally) in October for a birthday present to me…from me….I just won’t think about it too hard ;)

Yay for October birthdays. This blend sounds good for that season too. (I rather liked the Ailaoshan Black, almost as much as Fujian S’mores… I mean Black Tea.)

Interesting discussion here…my own personal reflexion on it, is that for me, each buck is well spent only because those vanilla dreams teas make me happy beyond what they cost me. And I’m at a point where I like to drink less of everything, and more of my favourites. So in the end, again for my own personal situation, it’s not more expensive cause I have stopped ordering from many other companies and stick to the very few I want to drink tea from like forever!! Having said that, I understand that they do not fit every budget. But I will happily cut somewhere else, before I cut on my WP orders :-)

I’ve always wanted to sample the WP teas too but since most are black I doubt I would stock them on a regular basis.

TeaFairy, I know what you mean about drinking more of your favs. I’ve been reaching for lots of my favs lately too.

Ubacat, you can order a sample pack for $5. Not all of the teas are available as samples, but a lot of them are :)

Teafairy – totally understand that, and i’m pretty sure that’s where i’ll end up once my life isn’t so hectic. For right now, i hate to waste money on teas that are a “luxury” if i know i’ll struggle to find time to actually have time to myself to sit and enjoy them, instead of the teas i drink while at work to make work more enjoyable with happy tea moments. Work tea sometimes gets forgotten, and i wouldn’t want to do that to my special teas :)

I’m with you, Sil. I need to have a stock of teas that are great in travel mugs or if left to cool, plus some teas I adore that I can just sit and sip on when I get home from work or have a lazy morning. :)

The samples are good, but a bit small.

I did see the samples. I might have to order some of them to try BEFORE they have a sale. Then I will know which ones to order. Thanks.

WOOOOO! When my new yixings get here – I’m going the same thing!

Go look at your PM. And “bathed in awesomeness all night long” is full of win!

Lol, I guess not! Can’t wait for you to try this…

I think I want my Vanilla Pot to be the purple one that sadly, is coming from China so will take a while. Maybe I’ll change my mind and use another one for the vanillas.

You have the purple and the one from mandala coming right? Any others I should know about?

No. I finally managed to stop after the Mandala one. For pots anyway – I do have that lotus cup coming. But I also have 2 others I need to season. One will be just for SD and one will be for other shous and that will leave one for…..?

I REALLY want the purple one to be the vanilla one though, so I may have to wait

Yes, you better wait for what you really want…just pretend you did not see this note this morning…

I will try

This new yixing habit is going to get expensive… I can already tell. In addition to the yixing gaiwans I’ve bought over the past few days, I bought a wall shelf last night, to keep them on. Because you can’t have broken tea ware! And now I see this idea, so I need another yixing gaiwan!

This time, I blame Brenden. You’re off the hook, Foxy!

I’m having GO as my going out the door tea this morning. @Sars the lotus gaiwan need to be the Vanilla one

Have a great day MzPriss!!

Sars…it’s totally on him, thank you.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125488674@N02/14688641333/

Cute new mug (filled with GO)

Which lotus, HoneyBelle? I got two. Though one is a different type of clay. So maybe I should stick with the yixing for this. Not sure.

Love the new mug!!!

The mug looks awesome!!!

The one where the lotus is actually the shape of the clay with no glaze. Isn’t that mug cute? $4.99 @ TJMaxx

OK out the door with my GO. Have a great day y’all

Thanks for the suggestion, MzP! Have a great day!!!

So glad you liked it! Well worth the price if you can pick it up when A&D does free shipping to canada. Also the tin is just darling! :)

I’ve been really happy with A & D’s damn fine teas, this one especially!

I am such a fan of Andrews & Dunham in general, I can’t tell you how much my fingers are itching to hop over to their web site and order some of this. But I fear the slippery slope of tea ordering justification. Sigh.

Thanks Sil for letting me know about the free shipping I’ll keep a look for it, as you know, I’m in no rush to order :-)

Terri, this is my first A & D ever… I like the humour behind the brand, will sure place an order eventually!

Morgana, boy do I know about finger itch, I have it on all 10 fingers!!!!

they have a new tea as well that is pretty good. I also like their smokey tea but the quantitity would take me forever to get through.. I keep meaning to email them to see if i can custom make a 3 pack and include the new tea instead of the EG

Crap. I DID IT!

Hahaha! Morgana, that was funny!
But i must resist, i’m on a «pseudo» hiatus, you should never post comments like that. Ever.

I’m sorry, TF. I can assure you it won’t happen with anything other than A&D. Although…. I keep hearing the word Samovar in my brain. (Sticking fingers in ears and humming loudly.)

Lalalala, lalalalalaa, lala, lalalalala….

Really lurking at the adventure pack…

" this is my first A & D ever… " Hmmmm interesting – add that to the proife – will see what I can do about that…

Hooo, Dexter, the profiler…you make me smile, I like that :-)

I want cherries

Lol, wish I could share them with you…I have to admit these are so good, I just don’t care where they came from!!

We have them in the stores now. I always get some every summer – but I dream of what they would be like if they didn’t travel so far.

yummmmmm! :)

Well I must say the ones I’m having now are pretty darn close of “bing” prefect!!

Did you see the snail pictures mj found to go with the Bi Luo Chun? They are amazing and adoreable!

http://steepster.com/mj1851/posts/252508

This sounds amazing. I want a black cherry tea! But one without artificial flavors. Does that exist?

Tealux does have a black tea with whole cherries and fig pieces in it, but the ingredients list also includes “flavouring” – http://steepster.com/teas/tealux/33776-cherry-fantasy

MzPriss, those snails, OMG!! Did you see the cherry kiss?

Sarsonator, I gave up on finding a good flavoured cherry tea…I really don’t think it exists… I think my version of it this morning is much better :-)

YES @ the cherry kiss! Those pics make me want to have pet snails :D

Lol, pet snails ;-)

Christina, thank you…unfortunately, I have tried that tea and did not like it. Cherry flavoured teas always end up tasting weird for my own personal taste.

I’ll give it a try Christina!

Maybe I can use dried cherries and make my own cherry tea. I like your method, TTF, but I can’t always get fresh cherries here. So I’d like to find something for the winter months, too.

I’m glad you liked the snails MzPriss! I’m a little obsessed with those snail pics. They’re just so stinking cute

Also, I have a samples of this and now I’m going to have to bust it out this morning! Sans cherries though, although I don’t really mind. Cherries are ok, but aren’t a favorite of mine

I’m having this tea next and looking at the snails some more. But :O cherries aren’t a favorite???

I’ll make some now and we can be tea twins :-). MzPriss, moment of inspiration brought on by madametj’s recent turtle tea pet acquisition: you could get a snail tea pet?
Yeah, I mean I like cherries but berries are more my thing. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries….mmmm. The best I ever had were in Germany, of all places, last summer

Firm, crunchy cherries are the best kind! <3

Also, fair warning: If you look up the photographer that took those snail pics, he has some other very cute insect pics on his site, but also some total boob pics which I discovered AT WORK. Total panic! I haven’t been fired yet though. Such a weird combination of subjects

I pretty much love all things cherry, and I’ve found a few that are pretty good (obviously have different tastes than TTF) – this is my favorite cherry tisane, but it’s showing out of stock. :((
http://www.nmteaco.com/Pondi-Cherry_p_404.html

LOL @ boob pics with the adorable snails

Oh man, I wish I had some cherries now! And those snails are the cutest thing! It’s like he has permission to go to fairyland and take photos!

That is exactly right – they look like snails in fairyland!

Skulleigh, that’s EXACTLY what fairyland looks like!!!

I am glad you liked it. And yes, your prof may have accidentally (or perhaps not accidentally) accused you of not having a life.

thank you so much for sending it! gotta love a prof that puts up with grading extra work and then calls it like he sees it…. politely! lol!!!
yours should be there soon i hope!

Maybe he’s a little envious. I remember some of my undergraduate profs (mostly department heads) complaining that 70% of their time was dedicated to finding funding/politics, 20% to their own research and grad students, and 10% to the classroom.

well, he might be indulging me a bit because i appear to be the only tech savvy student willing to work with networking software for the NGOs, not just mine. also the fact that i have over 100 hours in and it should be more 36 and i’m trying to make it self-sustaining for after i leave as well. my classmates are just starting now, i’ve been at it full time for a month. (no sleep, lotsa tea…. that’s why no reviews!)

Goodness, with that amount of work in, it would be nice if you could at least get a tax receipt for your volunteer time. Sounds exciting, but don’t push yourself towards burnout!

you say what i think…. and yet there’s no one else with my particular spray of skill sets: art, language, people, programs, photo editing with a strong real world network as well. it’ll be fine…. probably. lol.

Anyways I feel for you…

thank you! xoxo…. are you enjoying your bits and pieces?

I am.. So far I have revisited Hepburn, and Toffee Dream, I was kind of too busy to give a tea proper attention today. I wm planning to explore something new tomorrow, looking forward to it!

i’m crazy busy, if you don’t have time to review i’d be the last one to gripe. just thought i’d ask!! =0)

No harm in it, James they all look fabulous! I think I’m going to have to close my eyes and reach in, to decide where to begin. I’ve also been wasting time contemplating a Betjeman order.

i did NOT just read that. i have enough tea… i have enough tea… i will not look them up online!! lol!

It’s a little bit more effort. To get decent shipping you have to do a phone order from Fouvrac in Montreal. They carry the full line, but don’t have a webstore. So you have to check out the teas at the Betjeman and Barton site. Shipping they said was cheap, someone had an order sent to California for $10.

Fouvrac seems to carry a lot of companies. They have Betjeman, and a lot of Kusmi, but I have also seen Fauchon, Compagnie Coloniale, and Marriage Frères tins in the pictures on their Facebook page.

I saw Montreal and perked up. I suppose I have another store to check out now.

Also this is a list (granted an incomplete one) of the tea companies they have: http://www.lefouvrac.com/grocery-product/en_tea.html

https://m.facebook.com/lefouvrac?id=220918191303544&_rdr. They have 2 locations. I’m not sure which is better but the Betjeman site lists the Fleury location. http://www.betjemanandbarton.com/en/content/9-world

They have really cute teaware as well!

The other location is closer but realistically the difference is insignificant unless you are driving there.

I AM COVERING MY EYES!!!!!! i am not reading! i have been SO well behaved. CURSES! lol.

Looks like you’re fine going to the Laurier location anyways. They apparently have an annex to the store dedicated to the Betjeman teas. http://voir.ca/voir-la-vie/art-de-vivre/2012/12/06/home-sweet-home/

Yeah. Damn. I really shouldn’t be buying more. It is just so tempting though.

Beware, according to the fleury St description they carry 48 companies teas.

And it’s smaller than the Laurier one

Hahaha. This could hurt my wallet. Perhaps I should avoid the store.

True, it does look dangerous. If you go set a limit, but it looks at least you can buy 50g.

James, we kind of hijacked this discussion, but you know when I finally get around to placing an order, some samples will be coming to you.

ha ha ha ha…. hijack away! i am a man of mettle! i’ll misbehave- i just have to save it up for next semester is all =0)

Oh wow, yyz, that is a serious thing to consider! I could get a lot of things I’ve been wanting to try all with just one order. :D

beautiful!

Thanks stephanie :-)

Sometimes it’s a special occasion with no reason at all. And that drinking this tea gave you pure joy, that’s a special occasion and a special tea. <3

Well said cheri :-)

I like that you have a Butiki drawer, that is a level of organization I can appreciate!

Beautiful picture! I am anxiously awaiting for my butiki order to arrivr:)

Lovely! I adore da yu lings!!!!

Thanks christeana, med too can’t wait to get it, especially the mug!!!

Amanda, I only create the illusion of being organized…too much tea!!!

Sars, da yu ling is my favourite high mountain oolong :-)

No, it’s MY fave high mountain oolong ;p

It’s awesome that you have a Butiki drawer.

You deserve a miracle tea find :).

Kaylee, butiki was the first tea Co. I ever dedicated a drawer to :-)

mj, awww, thank you ;-)

Hehe. What are the other companies?

Well, i recently invested in a tin system, that means less tea in drawers! But other than Butiki, Whispering Pines and Teavivre each have their own ;-)
(So much tea!!)

Love your pic! :) Unfortunately, we just missed out on the Da Yu Ling this year. I waited a few days too long to purchase and it was already gone. :( Instead I was able to find a fantastic Fu Shou Shan in its place.

Whoa! That sounds like a truly horrific few days!
I am so glad you are on the mend.
Hope you will be feeling in tip top shape soon.

Yikes! I echo Hesper’s comment. It’s good that you’re (slowly) getting better. I hope you continue to take it easy.

Oh I’m so glad you’re starting to feel better! That’s awful. I know what you mean about the “advil or morphine” as pain management options. So ridiculous. There are lots of options!

Thanks, guys. I can’t wait until I feel fully like myself again. And omgsrsly, that really was very annoying. Give me a break-not everyone in pain is pretending, and not every painkiller is habit-forming.

What an awful sounding few days. I’m glad you’re getting better. Take good care of yourself, Keychange. I recommend libral amounts of tea.

That sounds horrible! I’m glad you’re feeling a bit better now.

Ya know, I thought we hadn’t heard/read anything from you for a few days. I was thinking you might be sick. I’m glad you are beginning to be on the mend. Get lost of rest and the always good advice from this group… drink tea :)

I am so glad you’re better and I am so sorry you had to go through all that! I am sending lots of hugs your way!

Thanks guys! let’s hope this never happens to anyone ever! LOL

Poor thing, feel better!

Hope you feel all better soon!

You guys are all so sweet.

Big hugs to you, sweetie! What a couple of days you’ve had. I hope you continue to mend swiftly!

Thank you! so far so good :)

Yikes, hope you’re feeling better!!

Thanks. I’m getting there, I hope :D

Feel better soon and take care of yourself :-)

So much love, thank you.