New Tasting Notes

I love this flavor. Seriously, this tastes like cotton candy. Sweet and yummy. Plus the delicious taste of Matcha.

This one is definitely one of my faves.

Lipton Black Pearl is a very pleasant surprise in good quality, especially since it is coming from the tea company whose name is often used as an adjective to describe poor quality tea. Black Pearl is a surprisingly smooth black tea that does not have any traces of bitterness and one that I would view as being worth buying again. Sure it would be easy to find a better quality black tea but the fact remains for its price range and being a grocery store black tea I think it would be hard to beat.

Aged. Yunnan. Gold.

If there were three more rapturous words in the English dictionary…I can’t think of them right now. It’s no secret that Yunnan Golds are probably my favorite types of black teas. What I hadn’t had, though, was an aged version. When I ordered this last week at a Chinese Garden tearoom, I was expecting a pu-erh version, but – nay – the host informed me that it was a normal hong cha, simply aged.

And it was everything it was supposed to be – honey, peppery, slightly malty, sweet, and – most importantly – winy. Dare I say, I was even tea-drunk after scores of steeps of the stuff.

The full story can be found here: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2012/09/28/tea-flutes-and-yellow-hatted-hoffmans/

Well, this isn’t the best tea from Rwanda that I’ve tasted, but, it is decent. I do appreciate that it’s fair trade and organic, and that gives it bonus points in my book. I would rather it not be a bagged tea though, and I don’t know if it’s my mind set or if I can actually taste the paper that the bag is made from in my cup, but I do get a slight “wet paper” kind of taste.

But, aside from that, it is a rich, pleasantly malty black tea. I do recommend brewing it strong though – I found that my first time brewing this one tea bag for 10 ounces of water wasn’t quite enough, but this time I brewed it with two bags in my mug and found it to be really pleasing.

Not bad. I’d rather it were loose leaf, but, that being said, it’s better than some bagged teas out there.

It takes forever for me to describe the tea here, so Teaser! I am calling this my Baclava Tea. I also tormented this poor tea and broke several tea laws. I noted my rule violations at the bottom of my post

My fiance got this for me… like last year. Or maybe even longer ago. So I suck. And now, so might this tea! Time to find out :)
No brewing instructions because this came from a little pharmacy on Canal St. I guessed 195 because it’s an oolong and decided to start with 3 minutes.
This thing is so cool – I haven’t had a blooming tea in years. Right now it’s deployed its oolong tentacles and is floating and spinning at the top of the pot like an anemone space ship.
And… then it descends, still spinning and lands, all of a sudden.
Awesome.

The liquor is still really light. And, confession, I totally forgot how long I have been steeping it for, distracted by the Space Tea. So I’m guessing on the time. I poured my first cup at around 3 minutes.

First cup: I let my mother have the first sip because I do not have a mouth of steel. She couldn’t taste anything, said it was too hot. My sister agreed but added “comforting” though.
Okay, my thoughts (geeze, BlueKitty, get on with it!!). It smells like honey. And it actually tastes really good! It has a nice nutty flavor without astringency. I feel like I just ate baclava actually… mmm. It has that oolong quality where it lingers in your mouth and throat.
You know what, enough said. This rocks. I am so pleasantly surprised! Tea lasts freaking forever, I guess.

… want to hear how I stored this? You will cringe I swear.

I got it 2 Christmases ago, I think. I stored it in a cabinet. Then I moved to nyc. It came with me. It lived above the stove there. Then I moved back. It went into a temporary greenhouse outside where many of my possessions got absolutely destroyed. This somehow was spared. Then I moved the bag to the cabinet opposite the stove over my sink for a year. Then I found it, squeed, and added it to my tea cabinet in a little sealed container.
So, all the tea violations here: ~2 years old. Kept over stove. Kept in hot humid conditions. And yet, freaking incredible.
And now I miss nyc again :(

Sooo for some reason I don’t have a rating on this tea when I know I have reviewed it a few times. Welp! Here’s my rating! haha

I used 1 tsp instead of my usual 2 tsps. It tastes soo much better when I’m light on the leaf – I just hope it works just as well!

The Lush hiring party went super swell, so here’s my story: I worked from 8:30-5, stayed at the mall until the hiring party at 6, took the bus home and got home at 7:30 – reached in my purse to find the keys to be.. well.. not there. So! I sat in tim horton’s for 3 hours, sipping an extra large steeped tea, thinking about how awesome my interview was and when Mike finally got home I was so wired!

Took a bath with my free Lush bubble bar, and now I’m sippin this magical tea, waiting for it to kick in because I am still so wired and happy. Come on tea, I work at 8:30 again tomorrow, help me out here!

I love this tea.

The end!

Blah I made the mistake of using a nasal spray before drinking this, so of course all its nasty artificial sweeteners are stuck in my throat and this will probably taste funny.

But that won’t be a problem because walnuts are apparently right up there with almonds in the bad flavoring department for me. While the sweetness I’m now trapped with actually makes it good, the walnut aftertaste is just awful. And even if I just keep the tea on my tongue, I can’t stand how it tastes, which is purely of walnuts. It tastes like nothing but walnut until I do actually drink it, then maybe I guess I get banana.

But ugh, nuts in tea, why can’t I get along with more of you? Eating you is no problem but the minute you’re infused in a beverage we’re not friends.

I’ll try it again, and I’ll steep it for less time too. Maybe that will help, but I can definitely tell it’s the nut flavor imparting a bitterness rather than the tea itself.

Thanks, Will Work For Tea!

Mmmm Ahhhhhhh Mmmmmmm YES! YES! Soooo goooood!
I was so totally absolutely craving this all day long – barely had time for tea today didn’t even get my Matcha time today :(
LOTS of work and the day FLEW by but now – its me and this tea OH YES!

Yummm love this so much has such a great finish and aftertaste!!

This smelled of malt and hay when I opened the package.

From the description of “full leaf” and “whole leaf” I had expected a bit more unfurling of large leaves but they pretty much stayed the same size they were when dry. That’s okay though. Possibly just me not understanding what a full leaf tea should be.

This tastes like it smells. Malty and faintly of hay. A nice, standard golden reddish brown liquid. It is a bold and basic black tea. Hearty and full bodied, I’m certain it would stand up well to milk and sugar if one desired such. Smooth and with a hint of dryness at the end of the sip.

Absolutely love this tea. Was probably my first loose leaf tea and definitely keep going back to it. Darlene’s teaport seems to be one of the most economical of loose leaf tea.

This is a smooth blend with juicy orange and warming spices that I made to replace a “Christmas” tea that I’d run out of. Maybe not as complete as that original tea, but still very good and made out of what I had on hand. Hubby will ask for this as a morning cup, and that makes it rather rare so I’m happy to oblige! Haven’t tried it cold yet (probably without the added cinnamon stick), but I bet it’d be pretty good!

Picked this up at Wegmans in Penfield, NY. Stored properly in a large, airtight metal bin. Labeled as a Wegmans brand yet Ito En’s products match word-for-word every tea on the shelf in the store. Strange.

Listening to Bon Iver, thinking about a girl who probably isn’t thinking about me. It’s ok. It happens. Tea to the rescue.

Mildly grassy but not “liquified grass clippings”. Minimal vegetal tone at first but it disappears. The mouthfeel is light and the lingering but subtle creaminess that rests on the pallet is quiet and calming. It’s like the volume for the taste is set at 4 and the aftertaste slowly turns the dial back down to 1. A relaxed, midday tea, possibly a good choice for those trying green tea for the first time who want a little smoother endnote. Me? I’m just happy to sit here and let this nice and subdued tea do it’s quiet little thing that it does so well.

I almost forgot I had samples coming to me from Teajo! Thanks for the samples, folks!

This is a very good Earl Grey. Very smooth. Creamy, almost like it has vanilla, though there is no overt vanilla taste. Really strong bergamot but not acidic or bitter. If you are not a bergamot fan, this is not going to be for you.

Ingredients say cacao, but I taste only bergamot and cream.

A really high quality Earl Grey. I’d definitely keep this in my cupboard over other Earls. Maybe it’s the Indian base – I do love Indian black teas.

Cold brewed for 10 hours. At first sniff I was a little put off. Don’t ask me why I was expecting it to be fruity and instead it smells like old lady perfume. Thankfully, it tastes a little better than it smells. Brews into a nice, light pink. The predominant taste is definitely roses, which isn’t as weird as I thought it would be. It’s a nice sweet tang that sits lightly on the tongue. I don’t love it, but I wouldn’t turn down a cup if someone offered it to me.

First off I need to thank dhart1214 for the sample of this wonderful matcha.

This is my first matcha so I don’t have much to compare it too I put it through a sieve and into a normal bowl (because I don’t have any real matcha supplies) I heated my water to about 165 and poured 70 ml of water on a tsp of the match. I wasn’t sure what to expect but due to the smell I thought the caramel would be overwhelming. Despite using a makeshift method, the result was surprisingly good. I didn’t get hardly any bitterness that I have heard other people describe and the caramel was an enhancement to the green tea flavor instead of being overwhelming. Luckily dhart was kind enough to share a fair amount, so I will definitely be able to make at least a couple more bowls :)

First off I need to thank dhart1214 for the sample of this wonderful matcha.

This is my first matcha so I don’t have much to compare it too I put it through a sieve and into a normal bowl (because I don’t have any real matcha supplies) I heated my water to about 165 and poured 70 ml of water on a tsp of the match. I wasn’t sure what to expect but due to the smell I thought the caramel would be overwhelming. Despite using a makeshift method, the result was surprisingly good. I didn’t get hardly any bitterness that I have heard other people describe and the caramel was an enhancement to the green tea flavor instead of being overwhelming. Luckily dhart was kind enough to share a fair amount, so I will definitely be able to make at least a couple more bowls :)

I just realized I’ve had this tea for close to a year! SHoot, better drink it up! Though, it looks like I got another couple cups to go.

Still good, but still just as finicky. I still remember the amazing steeping I got one time, tasted crust, spices and pie! Never again.. this cup is close, but not as strong flavored in the apple sense, but heavy on the cinnamon. Might of not added enough leaf. I love the direction of this tea, but I want it to work, mebe I’ll venture into other apple pie teas…

Sip down. I don’t know if it is the nature of the tea or if it is due to handling during shipping but what is left of the sample would be better suited for a Finum basket than my press. It has a lot of fine particles. This was my favorite of the four samples I received. The consensus seemed the fruit blends could generally benefit from being amped up a bit. This one, to me, is perfect the way it is blended. Peppermint, ginko, green tea – its just really good. I am happy to report it did not give me a headache today, so I do not have a ginko allergy. Yeah! My previous pain was probably work stress induced. Good job on this one sTEAp Shoppe!

Sip down, in an attempt to get control of all my samples. I thought appropriate mood music would be Boston – Walk On, Organized, Walk On (Some More). Emphasis on the organized – got to get this under control! I was not a big Boston fan until I saw them live back in the day. It was in a little stadium that held maybe 8,000 people max. The crowd was so in to the group, they kept coming back for encores. Finally, they came out and said people we literally know only one more song. It was not even their song but they rocked it. Sammy Hagar opened for them. Get on your bad motor scooter and ride! What a great concert. Back then it cost like $7 a ticket. Been a while huh?