New Tasting Notes

Mmmmm the leaves look and smell delicious! Even though it’s not my first time trying this, I could barely wait for this stuff to finish steeping. I love the color it turns out too. Beautiful.

I really love the way this tea tastes. It’s sweet and satisfying. I like how all the different flavors come together. A unique tea indeed. Definitely a great way to round out a relaxing evening. I’ll be sad when this one is gone.

Aw man, when I got this to go at Teavana they definitely didn’t make it to the parameters on the bag. Double strength for iced tea wasn’t enough, it was so good with more tea though so now I know!

That’s not to say it isn’t bad at 2tsp to 8 oz of water, it tastes more like oolong this way. But I really enjoy the pear flavor of this one, and the stronger tea definitely brought it out more.

Sad. I was going to have French onion soup and coq au vin for dinner but I think the coq au vin has freezer burn. I just bought it at Trader Joe’s. :( At least I can get my money back if it tastes like it but it looks like it even after cooking!
I’m also already full from the soup. Oops.

In one of my last posts, I referred to the chocolate store that I worked for, and I’m gonna mention it again. The store decided to release flower inspired chocolates. One of them was a lavender chocolate. I had to try it and it wasn’t good. Well, at least to me it wasn’t.

So, when thinking about trying this tea, I couldn’t help but think of that chocolate, even tho realistically, tea and chocolate are two different things. This came as a free sample and this poor little bag as been waiting for me to try it for months.

The coconut/lavender blend is quite nice! It’s soft and smooth. It’s a calming tea that is very nice. I’d definitely get this one again.

I gave this tea another shot this morning and it turned out better than previous times I made this tea. Before, I found the tea not very creamy or fruity, thus unexciting.

200f, 3 minutes + a couple lumps of plain rock sugar + 1/4 of the vanilla bean pod (I had scraped out the yummy insides for a huge batch of pancakes and kept the empty pod for steeping teas – FYI buy vanilla bean pods off amazon for ultra cheap prices!)

The result: very creamy and strawberry! I think before I was using too hot of a temperature and too long of a steep. And probably adding the vanilla pod cheated some more.

Backlog from a quite some time ago: I’m not sure exactly what it was about this tea, but I really didn’t enjoy it much at all. I can’t pinpoint if it was one thing specifically or just the whole thing overall, but this definitely isn’t my cup of tea.

It has been a long time since I have written anything here. A certain earthquake in 2011 kept me busy for a while, and afterwards I guess I did not find the motivation to continue logging as much. That is, however, all in the past, and I hope to keep blogging here more often from now.

During the summer holiday, some of my friends and I got the opportunity to visit Hibiki-an in Uji. I had already tasted some of their teas and was very happy to visit them. It was also my first time visiting a tea farm, and the experience was a delightful one!

As they did not charge anything for the trip(!), we were more than happy to buy several of their different teas. I have already finished a few, which I will write about later, but now I will use the opportunity to review one I am currently enjoying: Their houjicha bancha.

As most of you probably already know, the bancha part of this houjicha indicates the quality of the leaves. This is very much an everyday-tea and does not contain as high grade leaves as other houjichas I have reviewed earlier. The score will therefore be lower this time, but that does not mean that it does not fulfill its role as an everyday-tea, because that it does. It has a pale roasty flavour that has a very thirst quenching feel to it. It works well both as a hot and a cold brew. Though I think I will be sticking to the hot version for now, as the autumn cold is slowly closing in.

Good to be back!

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

With fish tacos at Mendocino Cafe. Refreshing!

Had just enough left for another cup of this so I tossed this in to do a short cold brew for an after workout drink. I’m really living being able to come home from the gym and have a glass of col brewed tea. I don’t need any more than the one cup but it’s a nice way to have a bit of flavour without having to drink juice or anything.

The first thing I have to say is that the sample size sent to me was so generous! There is enough tea for multiple pots rather than just a cup or two! I was very pleased when my sample box arrived =)

I really enjoyed this tea this afternoon while watching documentaries on netflix. I’m not too farmiliar with green teas, but this was very plesant. A nice clean, fresh flavor but not too overwhelmingly grassy or anything I was worried green tea would be like.

I do think I could have used more leaves though. I used 1 tsp per cup of water and got a very light flavor on the first steep. Second steep I increased the temp and steep time a little and got a better result.

I think I can see more green teas in my future…

It’s become apparent to me that I can’t really tell one black tea from another. Not yet, anyway. This isn’t the best cup of black tea I’ve had, but it’s very nice. Its fragrance is comforting, as the tea smells exactly like what I think when I think black tea. This is a very humble, unassuming tea; it just ambles along, dum dee dum, doing its thing. It’s that A- student that gets her grades by keeping her head down and getting her work done, not by wriggling in her seat with her hand in the air every time the teacher asks a question.

Before brewing I split the mini brick in half down the middle to decrease the thickness to avoid having problems of it not wanting to open up enough to brew properly. Overall a decent ripe puerh that holds true to the vendor claims but without a doubt the 2011 MGH 1108 brick is a bit better so unless you really want the mini brick style I would say go with that one instead.

Last night’s midnight cup. I learned I really don’t like this without sweetener. Unsweetened it tastes a lot like Tazo Rest (I think that was the name of it). It is too rose and powdery tasting for me. Add sweetener and all these other flavors pop out. It has a decaf black tea base. It takes on a berry like taste when sweet. My wife likes the icky unsweet taste.

Thanks to my friend Aisha for swapping me some of this tea!

Today is one of those days where the thunderstorm’s been building all day long, and now it’s a bit darker than it should be at 4:30 pm, and the air is cool and damp, and it smells like rain. I’m so excited. I love rain and thunder and lightning.

The leaf of this smells like buttered, movie theater popcorn. It’s great. It’s mostly green leaves, and they’re flat and hard-edged and sort of artichoke colored, and then there are some twisty black leaves in there as well.

I steeped according to my general Adagio green parameters – 180, 2 minutes.

Okay.

The smell is still sort of caramelly, but the flavor is first buttery green tea (green tea + caramel?) and then vanilla. I taste a tiny bit of the pu’erh in the background, but it’s not enough to overwhelm the flavors.

If I had tried this tea before placing my last Adagio order (it should get here on Wednesday, hopefully!) I’d definitely have added some of this. It’s creamy and mellow without tasting too artificial.

It’s Labor day, which for me is Pajama Day, & next on my agenda (of basically doing nothing) is a hot bubble bath, which must be accompanied by a hot cup of tea. I would rather my first post here be about something loose leafed, but I’m at my weekend home (that’s my boyfriend of 12 years house), & my selections here aren’t as varied. I want something bold & rich for my bath, & this one was in my wallet. (I carry a selection of bagged teas in my wallet for when I want a cup & none is available). So Emperor’s Puerh it is.

Let me mention that although I love tea in all it’s varieties & drink it often, I’m not in the habit of putting words to the flavors, images, & emotions I get while drinking it, so please be patient with me, as I’m new to writing these things down. Even more difficult is the idea of rating a tea…that will take some thought!

Of course, I’ve drank this tea before. While I was heating the water, I raised the bag to my nose & breathed in: the smell of salt & clay. Adding the water, I smell kelp as well, with an undertone of mushroom.

The taste is earthy & very smooth, the color dark & rich. I want a more malty, chocolate flavor, but it isn’t there. What is there is a mellow mineral tinged cup with an aftertaste of newly mown hay. I like it. As with other Numi teas, I feel that they tend to skimp on the amount of tea they put in the bag, but that’s the opinion of someone who likes her tea kind of strong.

Just for fun, I’m adding a little stevia to the 2nd half of the cup, and… I like it better plain. Oh darn, I’ve drank the whole cup of tea & haven’t even drawn my bathwater! I guess I’d better brew another cup!

Another from Nicole! I really love assam, it’s my favorite unflavored type of black for sure. While I am quite loyal to my Captain Assam, I know it’s not going to be around forever so I’d like to find a good substitute for the horrible day when my tin runs out (actually I’m almost there!) and there are no more for sale.

This is a nice assam, perhaps a bit lacking on the strong, malty molasses notes I look for usually. In fact, this is pretty light for an assam, without any of those “WAKE UP!” flavors I’d expect. It’s a nice tea and I’m happy to have tried it, but it doesn’t quite have the punch I was hoping for.

My second to last sample from Malt! This is a lighter version of the 120 Malt, which I totally adored. Apparently these ones are given a bit of a lighter treatment, and as such have a less potent malty flavor. This is definitely true—it brews up lighter in color, and looks more like honey than molasses. Tastes like it, too, there’s a really strong honey taste here! Also notes of hay and corn, it reminds me a bit of a pu-erh.

There’s still quite a bit of malty goodness, it’s not as rich and savory as the 120 but still very present. If the 120 was a dark chocolate malted ball, this is a milk chocolate one—sweeter, lighter, with less depth of flavor but not in a bad way. The 120 was kind of a kick in the tastebuds, this is a bit… easier to drink? If that makes sense. With the 120 I found myself intrigued with every sip, while the 60 goes down smooth and easy. I do enjoy the molasses-y, complex notes of the stronger malt but this one is also so delicious!

As Genmaicha teas go, this one is very tasty and authentic. When you look at this tea you will see it has green leaves, brown rice (really just roasted white rice) and popped rice that are white and look like little popcorn puffs (try one- it is delicious!). “Gen-mai” means the roasted rice, and “cha” is tea. When getting teas like this it is a good idea to go to asian distributors and markets because these places carry the “real thing,” what Japanese people themselves drink. Finding a label on the bag that says “imported by Yamama Matsuden Co. Ltd.” or “Made in Japan” is very important so as to not get fooled.

Japanese green teas are meant to be steeped for shorter times and at lower temperatures than black teas or red teas. Don’t steep it for more than 5 minutes- and much shorter than that is best. For stronger tea, use more tea leaves instead of brewing longer, because if you brew green tea too long it turns brown and develops a bitter taste. When making it iced, which you can very well do, you must use more tea leaves and brew for much longer, however. With ice water, a good brew time is 10 minutes. You want the tea to be a pretty and mellow green color, same as when it it hot. Judge when the tea is ready by the color, not the time passed. This is a surefire way to get tasty tea, every time.

I am SO behind on tasting notes! I think I’ve just been drinking an unusual (for me at least) amount of tea recently, and it’s finally caught up with me. I’ve been doing 2-4 cold brews a day, and this is one from this morning.

Thanks to Nicole for this tea! I really like what I’ve tried from Golden Moon Tea, and I’ve had my eye on this one for a while. I’ve never had a black jasmine tea, though I do have a Jasmine Cream from NMT to try out. Ah, my sample backlog is getting overwhelming! Anyway, this tea has all the ingredients for success. It’s got a really nice kind of malty black base, a rich floral taste from the jasmine, and a wonderful creaminess from the vanilla. In fact, it reminds me of cream soda! Only, you know, without the fizz and a lot less sweet. The black base and the vanilla also tone down the jasmine a lot so it’s not perfume-y or overly floral.

While all the elements are there, it’s missing a little bit of pizazz. Don’t get me wrong, I really like it, but it just doesn’t scream “this is a special tea!” to me. I think it would be nice for an everyday iced tea, though it seems to be a bit expensive for that. I am really digging the cream soda vibes though, it’s a nice way to get a sweet fix without having tons of calories!

If I had to pick a sound track for today it would be “Doctor, my eyes” I spent 4 1/2 hours observing the coffee culture at Starbucks ;) I had two of these ridiculously sweet things and some ham (they called it bacon), egg, and cheese thingy. I was using their high speed bandwidth to download a 2gb program I need to learn. Too big to download on my home account. Anyway observing the goings on for all that time was amusing. Mostly the young and in love, can’t keep their hands off each other, couples. Plus students studying and surfing the web. I wish their were tea hangouts like this around here. If you have one you are very fortunate.

I bought this tea knowing full well it wouldn’t taste anything like baked goods or truffles or whatever they say it is “supposed” to be. I found the idea of a pseudo-Indian savory tea really intriguing, so into my cart it went!

The smell of the dry leaves is incredible. And I almost understand the name: the very first whiff is very much like buttery baked goods, and then you get a big hit of that cumin. It’s so intriguing, I spent a long time just smelling it! It tastes very interesting: the spices come out well and are almost chai-like, there’s a nuttiness from the pistachio, the cumin almost makes it savory but there’s a creamy vanilla-like texture that brings it back to sweet. I don’t really know how to rate this one so I am just going to leave it off: I really enjoyed it, but it’s a very very odd tea and definitely not for everyone. I plan on mixing some with a rose congou and sweetening with honey to create more of an Indian dessert feel!

I love rose teas. I mean, I really love them—if push came to shove, I’d probably pick rose as the one flavor to have every day. Not that I’ll ever be in a situation where that will happen, but hypothetically. Unless, you know, a genie comes down and will grant me one wish if I pick one flavor of tea to drink for all eternity. Actually… I love tea so darn much I might only take that offer up if it was for 3 wishes! Or if the first wish didn’t have an “I wish for infinite wishes” clause.

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while, but I have so many rose teas I didn’t know if this would be worth a 50g purchase. Fortunately, I got a sample in a swap with Sare! It smells SO good, like rose perfume. Okay, I know most people don’t like perfume-y teas, but I do. They remind me of when I was a little girl and had fake tea parties. In my head, the imaginary tea I served smelled JUST like this. I made this iced, since I have enough to try it both hot and cold.

This reminds me a lot of Upton’s Rose Congou. It’s got that same pervasive rose taste, backed up by a strong but not overwhelming black base. However, this might be even more rosy, believe it or not! The white chocolate also adds a wonderful hint of sweetness. This is such a little girl tea—not, of course, in a bad way. But you know when you’re 5 and all dressed up for some party in a pink frock, with ribbons in your hair? That’s what that tea is. Simple, sweet, innocent, fresh, delicious! This is definitely one of the very best rose teas I’ve tried, thanks so much Sare!