New Tasting Notes

I had 2 cups yesterday and 2 today! Upping rating a tad.

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Had this today. While i don’t have the same aversion to this as most oolongs, it’s also not anything special. It’s a nice cup of tea but that’s about it for me.

Drinking this while setting up my new iPad mini, and working on my thesis. A “comfort” blend that doesn’t require much thought

Brewed 2 quarts using 185°F water for 3 minutes. Put the pitcher in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

Delicious fruity tea. I definitely taste the pomegranate and blackberry, but the pomegranate is more prominent to me. It is naturally sweet and has a lovely sweet, white tea aftertaste. This actually reminds me of the Forest Berries Silver Needle VIT.

Azzrian & I were talking about a trade the other day. We did a tea swap back in the fall when I first joined steepster, & I enjoyed the lovely teas she shared with me, but I realized I still haven’t drank them all! I got caught up in all the amazing black, green, oolong, whites, & puers out there, & wasn’t drinking much in the way of flavored teas. My mood for flavors comes & goes, & I’m glad because I don’t want to be some kind of perfect purist, although I will maintain my right to be a tea snob & stick with high quality teas that aren’t loaded with artificial crap.

So…this tea is nice. I hadn’t read the info on it, & was expecting a breakfast blend, like the founding father’s version of english breakfast. It smells like graham crackers & cranberries & caramel. I brewed it kind of strong, cuz that’s the way I roll, & it’s delicious! The taste reminds me of a cranberry almond granola bar, held together by buttery caramel. I thought about adding some stevia…it is robust enough to do so, & I’m sure the sweetness would make the flavors pop, but I’m enjoying it so much as it is, that I finished the cup plain.
The flavors are nicely balanced, & it’s a Sipdown!
Thanks Azz!!

Resteep of the bag from yesterday this morning. I didn’t want to take it in my travel mug cuz I thought it’d be too light, so I am actually having a cup of tea before going to class! I rarely do this lol, maybe I will have to start haha. Anyways, tasty as always, a bit muted as it’s the second steep and the bag sat out all day yesterday. But a nice start to the day, I am returning my signed job offer today!! I had been waiting for one more company to get back to me and they did yesterday saying they didn’t have time for a second interview before I had to reply to my other job offer. So now I can accept that one and I have my first full-time job in my familiar city and my boyfriend is here for the summer too!! I’m so happy :)

Sipdown (Verdant Edition), 225. Today will be drinking almost exclusively Verdant teas, sipping down those that I’ve had for a while, and a few, like this one, that aren’t so old. I am, after all, apparently getting both my Verdant order and March’s reserve club package in the mail today.

I steeped this western style using the instructions for Verdant’s Tong Tian Xiang Phoenix Dancong, which seems to be the non-reserve version of this one. It smells like a roasty toasty dancong oolong, which is not my favorite of course, but still pretty good. Taking a sip, I am surprised by the fruitiness and juiciness; definitely lychee and perhaps some citrus as well. My problem lies with the fact that it is like I am having lychees (yum) and charcoal (blech). I just can never quite get into that minerally, toasted-to-burned taste that dancongs have. Oh well, the rest of this one is earmarked to go to another steepsterite for a sample, so I am counting it as a sipdown.

I am not sure what is in this tea, but I saw a few small green leaves mixed with a lot of various shades of brown tea leaves. It smells a lot like Keemun with a little Yunnan to me. It is smooth with a hint of astringency at the end of a sip. It is buttery and toasty with some roasted nuts. This has a very rich flavor! Great for the snowy day out.

Very tasty! Thanks to Stacy at Butiki for the sample.

I was surprised at how light the tea brewed up based on how potent it smells dry, but it was very flavourful! Definitely raspberry and chocolate. Not sure I would order this for myself but I enjoyed it thoroughly and have a bit left to try at home with some sugar as per the suggestions!

I’m actually unable to drink eggnog. I’m allergic to an enzyme in many dairy products and eggnog is painful for me. I drink the Silk version, but it’s not the same.

So when I saw this at Butiki, and it was on sale, I had to get it!

This has to be one of the best Christmas-type teas ever. It’s so creamy, but not heavy. It’s eggnog-y with a hint a spice (this may be power of suggestion). The flavor is pretty light, which is my only complaint. I bet this would be amazing iced, but there is no way my limited supply will make it to spring so I can try it iced! :)

I wish this could be year round, or part of the permanent Christmas-time collection! (hint hint, nudge nudge) :)

I just grabbed the packet out of my tea collection and hadn’t read anything about it.

They are not kidding about melon taste to it. Strong.

The tea is medium-light in the darker tones of white tea, the melon flavor fills your mouth on sipping and stays in the finish.

I’m usually anti-melon very strongly… but this is a nice change in whites, something that surprised me. Seriously, I took a gulp and went WOAH MELON and went and got the packet to look it up.

I’d recommend it to at least try by folks. I’m torn on whether I’ll put it down as one to buy in the future as I can’t see me drinking it a lot… but it is really good for variety. We’ll see.

Sipping this, this morning blended with the 5 year aged tieguanyin. Wonderfully compliments one another. The creaminess of the oolong is in perfect balance with the spice of this blend. Happy Friday!

I have been drinking tea for 40 years. This is the first time I have sipped PG Tips! How is that even possible? This is what English Breakfast tea is supposed to taste like in my mind. Instant eye opener. O.O Stout enough to kick the butt of even the manliest of teas in your collection. The inside of my cheeks are still tingling. I now understand why people add milk and sugar. I never add milk. I almost did this time. taste mellows a bit as the cup cooled. Love the intense aftertaste.

This one is getting old, but it’s still juicy, not too acidic, a little cocoa taste at the very bottom of each sip. (Have been doing much troubled philosophical pondering this week on the validity of the “it has to be new to be good” mindset, so this was a good fit.)

I don’t give Darjeelings enough time and consideration. This is good.

Morning Matcha smoothie!

I’m having a tough time trying to decide if i should place another red leaf order to get 50% off GC so that i can place a second order with that 50% off. The problem is, i have a few unopened packages of my favourites sitting in the cupboard waiting for me to get through a few of my less enjoyed matchas (chai, pear, raspberry truffle i’m looking at you). Decisions, decisions…especially since there are so many other flavours i still want to try from red leaf!

This one is a delicious fruity matcha, though not likely one i need to restock. I’m happy it’s in my cupboard and I will enjoy it for the next few smoothies i make but that will be it. :)

The beau brought a silken satchet of this home from his work for me to try. While I’m not the biggest rooibos fan anymore I do love him so try it I shall. The aroma reminds me of Ruby Red from Joy’s Teaspoon – some sweetness, tropical fruit of some sort and some rooibos. Nothing objectionable, but not too snazzy either. A quick comment on the satchet though – I love it! For a rooibos, it had plenty of room for spreading out and getting fully steeped. Actual tea might have needed a bit more room, but this was great for a non-expanding tea. It was also fine enough to keep the rooibos in which is important for me. I hate small floaties.

First sips are nice enough. It echoes the smell with some undistinguishable fruit flavouring and sweetness. There is almost a hint of bubble gum but it doesn’t quite go there (luckily). Still reminds me of Ruby Red, which I have 4 or 5 ounces of at home. One of the better rooibos teas I have had lately. Generic but good. :)

Currently drinking this. Accident steeped it for six minutes, so it is a little bitter. The dry leaf smelled a bit artificial to me, but brewed the vanilla is lovely, sweet, creamy, reminds me of marshmallows. Will definitely try it again, and will carefully watch the brewing time. Next time will add some milk.

This came as a sample with my latest Davids Tea order – I love that they always send so many extra samples because it lets me try teas I wouldn’t otherwise have drank.

The smell of this blend is quite lovely, a spicy mix of ginger and tangy orange. The pu’erh/oolong blend is a bit of an odd combo in my opinion, and I think it was the pu’erh that made the tea smell like meat (yeah, I know) when I added the hot water. The flavour was a bit of a let down, all told, as the base had a leathery, smokey flavour that was a little bit bitter and the ginger made the whole thing came across as medicinal. Mind you, it did soothe my mildly upset stomach quite nicely.

I added this tea simply so I can say how impressed with it I am. With Peach and Mango in the flavor notes I assumed I would, but the combination togeter tastes and smells more like lychee then either of the other two. Its lovely subtle flavor and an amazing scent make it a very relaxing drink. Well done Della Terra!

Just lovely, as always.

I picked this one up from the Ovation liquidation sale for its potential as a cold brew in the summertime. Most of my favorite iced teas (for example Cantaloupe & Cream or Green Chestnut) are way too pricey to make in bulk, and while I have a few that I like to make pitchers of I enjoy variety. And with 8 ounces of this one I think it will last quite a while!

This is nice iced, the pineapple is in the forefront and the blueberry a nice burst at the end of the sip. I think I’m going to leave off a rating until it’s hot and really iced tea season, I can see this being so refreshing during the warmer months… especially with a splash of coconut sake.