New Tasting Notes

On smell I get vegetal notes. Taste is earthy, nutty, and mineral like. Kind of reminds me of their roasted oolong, with less of a coffee note in the background. All in all this is a pretty solid oolong.

Sipdown!

Ok I only had enough for 2 cups but let me have it. I also got royally distracted from this cup but it is good cold!

This probably was well towards the end of its lifespan because the strawberry is very hard to pick up on now, but the oolong is still nice…just a hint of berry behind it.

I’ve been having issues sleeping lately, so I decided to try this tea out. First time steeping it, and I added a small amount of blackberry honey to it. I do feel a bit more relaxed. I enjoy the minty aftertaste, but I can’t discern any of the other flavors. I don’t think the blend tastes well, so I’ll probably experiment with adding milk, lemon, and sugar.

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: tart, fruity
After water is first poured: sweet– tart, fruity
At end of steep: mellowed earthy, fruity
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: deep sunset-clay red
Staple? Type, yes, found some loose leaf options to look into for restock
Preferred time of day: any, as needed medicinally
Taste:
At first: warm, earthy floral, tart close
As it cools ? tart notes become more central in the palate, then mellow and blend, slight astringent note surfaces

Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No, but have had with some added sugar, often in summer

Lingers? yes, herby and tart at the back of the throat

Great chilled

I really enjoyed this tea! I love the peppermint flavour in the tea. Very great for relaxing days

Well I tricked myself with this one because I assumed it would taste somewhat like raspberry. However, this tea uses the raspberry leaf – so no raspberry flavor. My mistake.

This is a great afternoon/evening tea. It is mild in taste but somewhat full bodied. A bit woodsy/grassy in a nice way. The liquor is a golden color and the smell reminiscent of an oolong earthiness.

Edit: I got home tonight and was craving this tea again. So I made a pot. I also hiked up the rating as this tea seems to be growing on me.

I will never really understand the Chinese tea-naming mind. I mean, I think this tea is supposed somehow to look like a water tortoise, but I keep thinking it tastes like a water tortoise. Shui Jin Gui is normally one of if not the greenest of the great Yanchas. But this one brews an amazing dark orange. The first impression is cashews and balsam. The roast is present and important but very subtle. There is a clarity and a complexity that rewards slurping and making your tongue go flat so that some gets to the sides of your inner cheeks. I am willing to bet that a golden water tortoise has cheeks. The other thing striking about this tea is the compulsion to brew two pots and pour them both into a larger cup rather than using a little cup. It just goes with the slurping propensity. But please don’t miss this: at the end, after the cup is empty, the sweet evergreen aroma lingers and is really worth paying attention to.

mmm, sweet and minty black tea, got this as a sample in a box of Earl Grey by Twinings. Mint is fresh and soothing, the black tea is strong and caffeinated.

I’ve been experimenting with this Phoenix Oolong the last couple days, brewing it both Western and Gong fu style. Either way, I found it to be very tasty with a deliciously fragrant aroma. When brewed in a gaiwan with a lot of leaf, I got multiple steepings, and picked up on honey, floral, and nectar-like notes as I went along. Teavivre’s instructions are to use 10 gm with 3 oz water at 212 F, with a quick rinse, then 2-3 second steeps for the 1st 4 steeps, then increase time slightly with subsequent infusions, good for more than 12 steepings.( I modified Teavivre’s instructions a little and used my 7 gm sample in 4 oz water),with good results. I have run out of time, so haven’t made it to 12 infusions, but thus far, am very happy with this oolong. My husband is the bigger oolong drinker, as I lean more toward blacks, but I anticipate re-ordering this since this is one we both like it a lot.

I had been wanting to try a milk black tea and I finally got around to put it in my tumbler on my way out the door this morning.

This tea tastes to me as if I had brewed some black tea and added some milk, in just the right mix. It is great as a morning tea and while I took it without honey, I think with a teaspoon of honey this would be perfect -

I was going to edit and add this info, but this steep deserves its own tasting note.

Still roasty and dark in flavor though not a deep dark cup in color, this tea is disappearing quickly as I take long draughts of it. The dark roasty part is exquisite – I love this in an oolong, though I love green oolongs as well. But I am really getting this amazing lingering sweet taste, almost the feeling left behind by a tisane with licorice root in it. And there is a slight nutty component as well.

Excellent tea and a big thumbs up. This one actually seems to be improving over time rather than losing flavor or freshness.

Last of my mini tin. The smell is sooooo good, that just smelling it is relaxing. Smooth tasting, not strong on the aftertaste. It’s ok but I wouldn’t reorder.

I knew I was going to love this when I first opened the bag. It smelled like chocolate mint heaven. This is tea? I was so excited to try this!

After steeping I waited til it was cooled down a bit to enjoy it. Love the minty aftertaste and the chocolate flavor is perfect. I added some vanilla almond milk to amp up the yummy flavor. I tried it without sugar for a bit but then I’m like, “what the hell” and added a teaspoon in. It developed just a little more of that sweetness that I wanted. It’s surely satisfying enough for any hot cocoa craving.

I also want to add that the end of the cup is amazing. Has some leftover sugar down there that didn’t get blended and it’s the perfect ending treat.

Lovely, savoury, roasty smell. Taste has the same savoury edge, a little vegetal, but fairly mild. Noticeably dry feel, though. Second steep is much lighter flavour and more typical green tea, with a sweet melon note, and the savoury quality only coming at the end of a sip. I like the smell more than I like the flavour, and second steep was underwhelming, but it’s still very nice.

My first Verdant Tea tasting!

Not very good at describing what I taste yet but I’ll do my best.

Dry leaf: Small little swirls that smell vegetal. Alfalfa, peas, green beans… Stuff of that nature.

I followed the western brewing instructions from Verdant because I don’t have a Gongfu set. So one minute in 175 degree water. The liquor is a bright yellow green. And it smells so good! It smells like creamy spinach and green beans. Also has a buttery scent to it.

Taste!
Being new to loose leaf teas, this tastes so interesting! It’s hard to describe. As I sip it all I can think is creamy, buttery, green beans. Ha. Spinach too! It’s so good! I haven’t had many loose leaf greens so I can’t really compare this to anything but I’m really satisfied with this purchase!

To me it tastes a bit like a mix from Pu-erh and chocolate,with a smoky note.Very delicious and exotic.

I totally forgot this was caffeine free when i brewed this up this morning. Still a delicious cup though as I’m a fan of the mint and vanilla blend. It went quite well with my black so no complaints here!

Off site meeting all day at work today means I’ve been MIA from steepster all day and it sucked! Basically chose two comforting teas for myself this morning so that when I was stuck with bagged tea for the rest of the evening at least my morning would be a happy tea place. Still really enjoying this one from Stacy. It’s bold and malty and delicious :)

Thank you to Azzrian for sending me some of this tea.

When I read a tasting note about this tea just yesterday, I had read that it was a smoky tasting tea, and that stuck with me when I brewed this, so, I did a quick rinse of the leaves before I brewed to maybe remove some of the heavy smoke flavor. I’m not a big fan of smoke, I prefer a gently smoky tea over a heavily smoked one … so I hoped that a quick rinse might keep it from tasting too overwhelmingly smoky.

And … it doesn’t. It is smoky, yes, but there is so much more going on here. The berry notes are outstanding. I taste notes of lemon as well, and the pine’s resinous notes. The mint is subtle but I love that crisp note it provides.

A really lovely tea. I’m so glad I was able to try it!

This tea surprised me. When smelling it, it was overpowering and I feared it would taste as such but brewing a cup proved to be quite the opposite. It’s a very pleasant tea that I would drink when not even sick. When sick, I know this will probably be one of the first ones I take off my shelf. It was mild, and with a little honey, sweet and delightful.

Definitely recommend picking up a tin of this or more.

Loose
Appearance: multi colored, large, fine leaf, several greens, bright red- orange safflowers, deep blue cornflower

Aroma when Dry: deep deserty sweet, almost spiced icing
After water is first poured: floral, buttery coconut
At end of steep: coconut spiced rice
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: med spring green

Staple? YES

Preferred time of day: afternoon, evening
Taste:
At first: coconut pulp, closing with hints of floral, tea lightens at close
As it cools ? Starts to get a honeyed coconut note, with hints of honeysuckle, and pineapple mint, gets thick brothy texture, hints of salt on close

Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No

Lingers? Yes lightly herby coconut notes, closing with white tea and hints of melon

Second steep (4 min)
Aroma: milky, buttery
Taste:
At first: lighter, spice notes deepen, notes layer, coconut cream notes finish
As it cools: notes open, tea gets creamier, brothy

Third Steep (5 min)
Aroma: light nuttycoconut
Taste:
At first:brothy, only hints of coconut and salt

I needed a tea to pair with supper. I made loaded baked potato soup topped with shredded cheddar and crumbles of bacon, and some sprinkles of California Spice on hubby’s and Penzey’s 4S on mine. On the side we had grilled cheddar and mozzarella sandwiches with raspberry sauce. What could hold up to that?

THIS TEA! My gosh, it was fantastic, too. The first pot is gone and I am definitely resteeping tonight and I don’t care if it keeps me up all night long! It is so dark and roasty, so mellow and smooth, so sweet and good. For some reason it makes me think of brown sugar.

Dessert – tea and Bissingers chocolates, coming up.