New Tasting Notes

First time trying a flavoured oolong. I quite enjoyed it, but then again, I’m a freak for vanilla, especialy if it’s high quality. The oolong tea in this one is mild with a relatively low oxidation, and the liquor is very clear. It smells like heaven in a cup. Very low astringency, and mild on the finish. It tastes just how it smells and is all around delicious. My only complaint is that it doesn’t hold up to multiple steeps well; even the second steeping was significantly lacking in flavour, and the third was very weak despite steeping for nearly 10 minutes. Overall a delicious tea though, and the vanilla and oolong are a fabulous pairing!

Made a cup this morning and it’s the only thing keeping me from falling asleep right now :D

This is another of the premium imported teas that we picked up at the local Williams Sonoma store this weekend. I wasn’t going to buy it because it also carried a premium price. However, my sweet wife insisted that I do it. OK, she twisted my arm.

I had never tried a French tea before. I realized that the leaves weren’t grown in Paris, but I still thought it would be fun to see if a French twist had been applied to the beverage.

The product came in some impressive packaging. A sturdy and glossy black carboard box protected the black metal tin inside. The tin was capped with a solid metal lid. Beneath the outer lid was a sealed peel-back inner lid with a pull ring, like vacuum-packed food items use.

When I pulled back the inner lid, I immediately smelled strawberries. It wasn’t an artifical aroma, but quite natural.

No steeping instructions came with the product so I opted to brew the black leaves for four minutes at 212 degrees. The steeped liquor was a reddish golden brown.

I could smell strawberries again as I raised the cup to my mouth. My first sip had a strong fruity taste. Again, strawberries seemed to be the dominant resident. There also was an underlying floral flavor, but it was a partner to the fruitiness, not a competitor.

As a rule, I am not crazy about fruity and floral teas. The main problem I have with them is that I feel like I am drinking perfume. I also find these teas to have a strong chemical-like aftertaste that lingers much too long for my liking.

This Marco Polo selection had none of those negative characteristics. The strawberry flavor was natural, fruity, sweet, and smooth. The floral attribute blended softly and amiably with the other flavors. The aftertaste was light, pleasing, and sweet. Bitterness was nowhere to be found. The black tea taste was so far in the background that it was hardly noticed. But, the overall body, taste, and mouth-feel of this brew left no doubt that this was a bona fide card-carrying member of the tea family.

I may have to rethink my philosophy about fruity and flowery teas. I really like this one a lot. Thanks to this Marco Polo blend, I say, oui, to trying more fruity and floral teas, plus grand oui, to tasting more French teas, and, le géant oui, to sampling more Mariage Frères teas!

I won a Facebook draw for a “Try Me” size of any tea. I picked this one and WOW, it totally blew my mind! It tastes a lot like apple cider, but much lighter. My first thought was to make a hot toddy with this tea… aaand I probably will on my next cup. Heh.

I was digging around in my cupboard for something ‘different’, & I realized I still have some of this!! Wow! So this is bubble bath cup #2, sweetened with stevia. Yum! I better get to bathing, before my tea gets cold!

If you’re a US citizen, don’t forget to vote! It isn’t just your right, it’s your responsibility! Enjoy the day!

I got up unusually early (for me, anyway) at 5:00am, so that my 2 sons (Drew age 23 and Leif age 20) could be at the polls when they opened. Last year the line snaked all the way down the block. We arrived at 5:40, and the line was about 20 people, so I’m glad we got there when we did. Within a few minutes the length of the line had tripled, at least. After we voted, we went out to breakfast, then Leif went to school (college) & Drew & I came home & made tea. He’s having Chocolate ‘O’ by the Tea Spot. I brewed 2 cups, which I’ll take to the bubble bath.

Cup # 1 is this wonderful, savory, malty Jin Jun Mei. I’ve reviewed it before, & it is tasty!

First, the specifics of my order:

Matcha grade: Basic
Flavor: Distinctive
Size: 30 g.

You can order (and further customize the type of matcha/flavoring/amount!) here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html.

This was my first experience with Red Leaf Tea, and I have to say the shipping was unbelievably fast! Like, two days door to door, and there are quite a few states between Georgia and Illinois. It’s like they knew I was waiting impatiently at the other end :).

This was also really my first experience with matcha. I love desserty things, and I love green tea, but I wasn’t so sure how the two would combine. Add to that the lack of traditional equipment and I was worried about not getting an authentic matcha experience. Well – I don’t know if it was authentic, but it was really, really good!

I prepared this latte style, all milk (heated in a saucepan) but no sweetener. I sifted about a tsp. of matcha into the heated milk and stirred to combine before pouring the whole thing into a milk frother. A few pumps of the frother resulted in some very impressive, thick layer of foam that didn’t disappear until I drank it.

And the taste was AMAZING! The sweetness in the milk was all that I needed to taste the cocoa powder and creamy marscapone cheese. There was still that nice vegetal green matcha taste to keep things from being OVERLY dessert-ish, though if that’s what you’re after you could certainly order more flavoring. I loved the balance between everything in this, and it’s a shame I only have an ounce of it. Oh well! Guess I better order more then! :)

Liberteas sent this to me! Thanks a bunch!

This is alright. It’s more perfumy than bergamotty. It’s a tad bitter/astringent but not bad to have on hand.

Another day, another matcha. Still no power at my apartment, though I slept over at some friends’ last night because freezing temps do not sound like good sleeping weather to me.

Rose is one of my absolute favorite flavors. Can’t get enough rose. Rose candies, rose tea, rose everything, so rose matcha had to be high on my list to order. I decided to use this one to try out the white tea base, especially after Alphakitty talked about how delicious it was. I ended up ordering the robust flavoring because like I said, I can’t get enough rose. You can find this matcha here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/rose-matcha.html

When I opened the package, it was like whomph rose! It smelled so delicious and sweet. Not even what I would consider “perfumy” but more like a big fresh batch of loukoumi. When I smelled a little closer, it definitely had that rose-white-tea aroma, which of course makes sense. Unlike the black matcha yesterday, this one didn’t form any reasonable foam at all while whisking, but so it goes.

My first sip was rosey and delightful, and I probably could have drank the whole bowl as is, but I have gotten used to a little sweetness in my (hot) matchas, so I added just a pinch of sugar. It wasn’t actually enough to really make the bowl sweet, but it did bring out more flavors from the white tea base, including a bit of fruitiness. I had a hard time keeping the matcha in this one suspended in the liquid while drinking and had to whisk it every so often to re-mix it. It also, like the black matcha, wasn’t quite as disappearingly smooth as the green matcha.

The white matcha base definitely works well with the rose matcha, but I’m not sure I would go for it again; instead, I might try a more premium grade of the green. Still, a very delicious matcha and I won’t have any problem drinking it up!

Dry Smell: Raisins and hay.

Wet Smell: Like Brussel sprouts.

Well, this tastes vary similar to Brussel sprouts. I like brussel sprouts so this works for me. There is a bit of mineral taste to it though that just peaks through.

This tisane tastes a little more dilute than I remember. I’m not getting the same chocolately creamy taste.

dry – smells like butter and syrup
while brewing – that bready note comes in and really does remind me of pancakes on the griddle :-)
steeped – gorgeous color like dark maple syrup, and still smells like pancakes! Can smell the black tea base too. Surprisingly, I’m getting a bit of bitterness like it’s overbrewed at only 3 min :( It does remind me a bit of the crispy edges of a slightly overdone pancake. I added 1/4 tsp pure maple syrup, which toned down the bitter note, but overshadowed the flavors a bit. Then I added 1tsp milk which seemed to smooth things out.
I will have to try less time/lower temp and see what that does. Overall it’s not a bad morning cuppa and I think I’ll grow to love it.

Until I get the body clock re-set to match the time clock, it’s going to take full-strength unleaded, morning and late afternoon, to keep me functional. This one does it well. Didn’t bother with milk to dilute, just the straight strong stuff. Getting a little bit of a raisiny, figgy, date-y flavor along with the whap-you-in-the-face this morning.

Oh man this is sooooo good this morning. I added just a touch of french vanilla matcha to my concoction this morning and it’s perfect! I only wish i had a blender at work that I could borrow to have my smoothie in the afternoon as well. heh I really need to find time this weekend to review the 3? new matchas that i picked up the other day. But for now? for now i am relishing the creamy mocha goodness that is this smoothie today. mmmmmmm YUM!

Bumping up the rating on this one a little since it seems to be working for me in the evening this fall. Thankfully this is one of Frank’s permanent blends or i’d be annoyed lol. I had this last night before bed with a little popcorn and “walking dead.” we’re still catching up on last season – we’re always a season behind because we don’t have cable. It’s nice to be able to get some relax time with the other half given how crazy our days and weeks have been. What i wouldn’t give for a weekend where both of us weren’t working. blech. Anyway there is something about the strawberry in this tea that I am really digging. A little less cinnamon and it might just be perfect.

This tea has me utterly stumped. Dry, it smelled a whole lot like eggnog to me. Steeped, it smells like lemon, eggnog, and vanilla. It’s bitter and definitely needs sweetening, but I didn’t know about the milk element. To me, the presence of a lemony flavour makes milk a no-no. But the scent of this really calls for that creaminess. I added a bit of soy milk and I think it was a good choice. God, this is a really unusual tea. I’m having trouble finding anything useful to say. It’s quite heavily black, so if black tea is only palatable to you with strong added flavours, you probably won’t like this. It kind of seems to me like a very toned down relative of Kusmi’s Anastasia (less so when milk is added [or maybe that’s just me, since when I drank Anatasia I thought milk would be a bad option]) mixed with a dash of spice and a lot of vanilla. It smells very, very good both brewed and dry.

Sorry, I wish this was a more helpful review, but my main reason for drinking tea just now is that I’m in a rush for class and wanted something comforting and something that would wake me up a bit, since I don’t have time for breakfast. I have another bag of this, so I’ll be elaborating on this soon. It’s what the description would imply, basically-citrus-y, vanilla-y, black tea-y, a bit spicy. The spice is really an aroma, flavour or impression. It doesn’t provide any bite or sharpness like in chai, and the only “bite” comes from the bitterness of the tea, which I found bitter even when steeped according to the directions.

This was my last bag of this from the Kusmi essentials box I’ve got, so now I’m wishing I’d given it more of a go without milk. It’s not awful with it or anything, but I do get the sense without milk is the way to go. Overall, I’m not impressed. I wouldn’t buy a tin of this, but if I got another sampler or it came with something else, I’d still drink it without grudge.

This was a sample Ysaurella so kindly sent me, thanks so much! The joys of receiving great tea in the mail, made my week!

At my first thought when i sipped this was “oh my, Marco Polo and Thé à L´Opéra had a child together! And this is it!”. The red fruits and vanilla, the strong strawberry (?) note, the mixed green and black teas. And I just can not shake that impression from my head.

This is a very lovely tea – a blend of green and black, with vanilla and strawberry and a few things more indeed to make it more mysterious. It is IMO an afternoon tea, and I can see why they named it after an opera, it is such a perfect tea for an evening occasion. Lovely.

Although I always steep my teas with boiling water, I tried this with slightly cooler water. It wasn’t strong enough for my at 6 minutes, so I ended up closer to 10. I would stick with boiling water!

I love the tart flavour of hibiscus and usually rejoice to see its random presence on the ingredients list but I have to admit that I’m baffled as to why it would be included in a white tea blend. Hibiscus has such a strong flavour that it doesn’t leave much breathing room for the Bai Mu Dan or the white peony. That’s my sole complaint.

Where the “tea-ish-ness” is lacking the delicious juicy fruit factor is not. The fruit medley is reminiscent of sour fruit gummies, or of a SunRipe fruit bar- which often has similar ingredients, but neither are as refreshing as Indian Summer. The hibiscus, when coupled with the cherry and lemongrass, creates a citrine sour cherry endnote that I adore. The apple-carrot combo and watermelon are cooling sweet “breaks” in the tartness. The blend is at its best when cooled or iced. I’m still searching for the pumpkin and fig. I’ll have to check the dry leaves to make sure I’m actually getting any in my steeper. It’s like a fruit scavenger hunt!

I am going to need a Mad Tea Party today…but I won’t get one. I couldn’t sleep, as usually happens before a major election. I fell asleep just after two and woke up at four and I have a fifteen to sixteen hour workday ahead of me.

My daughter brought this tea to me as a gift from her Disney trip. It is very similar to Madame Butterfly or Fuzzy Navel, but with a black tea base instead of green. We drank it sans additions and it was very good. I bet it is fantastic iced, too!

I won’t be making any tea today. It will be far too hectic. Hopefully the activity will keep me from feeling sleepy or tired. Before I know it, it will be time to have a cuppa at home and get in bed. I can hardly wait.

Say a prayer for us all if you think of it, please! We need it!

Up from the depths and rolling (momentarily) out of the gutters. I’m back to smoking cigarettes, the dreads were cut last week, new job started, leaving the bookstore behind for good in a matter of days. These last eight months have not been kind. Trouble at every turn, mistakes were made, both lessons and love forgotten. Odd winds are blowing in, carrying the faint smell of new beginnings. As anyone who’s seen a storm roll in knows, a light breeze can turn into a thunderous affair before anyone’s had a chance to realize what has happened.

Many things went awry in the time I’ve been gone, and one that I’ve missed the most is tea. You see I don’t handle heat all that well. As the temperature rose and the madness I try so desperately to keep at bay with it, this drink we love so much was cast aside and forgotten about. Too hot I told myself. You don’t have the time. You don’t really want iced tea. You’d rather drink gin. Lots and lots and lots of gin. Who would drink that scalding lettuce juice when you have this beautiful clear nectar dancing among tonic water and dashes of lime. The cool glass sweating so beautifully. Reminding you that she holds the key to relief from the warmth that is trying most successfully to smother you.

Well now. That temptress winter is approaching, and an increase in financial status is coming by to say hello, so what better way to greet them than with your old, neglected, yet ever faithful friend tea? After a few steepings of the Earl to talk to some sense into yourself, you know what to do. You know exactly will help set you back on a more satisfying path.

A kiss. Not just any kiss though, not for you. You’ve always got to do things the hard way. That’s always been your problem. Well go on, you’re in luck. You know exactly where to find her. Every time you walked by that cabinet you heard her song. Faintly creeping out like a distant memory just lingering. Now though it’s picked up. Louder, sweeter, more enticing. It’s time again to embrace the Mermaid’s Kiss.

(Yup, still wonderful. A few steepings were greatly appreciated while watching Deathly Hallows part 2.)

Still wonderful. Time is taking it’s toll, as these beautiful tins aren’t exactly air tight, but it still tastes magnificent none the less.

I like this a lot!!! I got a sneak peak/sniff of this on Halloween by one of the lovely ladies at Uptown which is closest to my friend’s place, and I was on my way to her party, but needed a cuppa to get me through the night. Anyways, it smelled amazing! The saddest part was that there was no time from the first until now for me to get some. Finally got in tonight after work, in that last half hour before they closed downtown. I got this to go, though I almost got Alpine Punch. Mmmm, Alpine Punch….

The dry leaf smell is like vanilla ice cream, and it is creamy tasting and smelling too. I can pick up the oolong base, but I have to say, at least with this steep, it isn’t overly floral. Under the vanilla, you can taste the base, and it is good. This tea, to me, is like a milk oolong if the milk was vanilla milk.

I will see if I can re-steep my bag tomorrow, if it is still good. I worry that it oversteeped on the way home though, as it did get a bit bitter when I was home and too the bag out, but I added some sugar and hot water and it was fine. I did pick up 10g of this and a few others, so I can play around with steeping on my own time next.

But this one is a winner to me so far.