New Tasting Notes

I used the last of this to cold brew it. This is so refreshing. Smells and tastes like smooth creamy lime. Absolutely no hint of bitterness, and I did not add any sweetener. Next time I cold brew it though, I would use a little warmer water to make sure all those yogurt granule things melt fully. It sits overnight anyway, so it would be cold by morning either way!
Yummy!

another sample that i drank as i was learning about tea.
i would just drink whatever.
and enjoy myself and steep things poorly and be confused and just keep drinking.
jumping in. jumping in.

Sleater-Kinney – Jumpers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vREfgKNgqkQ
Lonely as a cloud In the Golden State
“The coldest winter that I ever saw Was the summer that I spent…”

first drank May 28, 2012.
04/29/2013 added note.

hahaha it’s hilarious the amount of herbal teas with hibiscus in them that i never wrote notes for.

i would like to try this one again someday hopefully. i bet i would like it much more now.

first drank 05/28/2012.

I’m still contemplating this one, but think I should put a note out anyway.

It’s good…..problem is, I’m not old enough for alcohol, so I can’t say I identify the tastes in this tea as champagne, because I’ve never had it, or if I have had sips it was way long ago at the last wedding I went to.

So yeah, it’s good. But I can’t taste strawberry much, and….I don’t know. Maybe I’ll let it cool.

Update: The more I drank, the less I liked, though after cooling the strawberry did come out more. I think I also steeped this wrong. Because it did have promise. Ah well.

This tea is really great. It reminds me of Dawn but mellower. It’s got a nice malty caramel like flavor with very little bitterness. When I opened the package, I was surprised and pleased by the long wiry greenish-gold tea leaves. I was not at all disappointed when it was brewed. Thanks much TeaVivre for sending me this sample. It’s a keeper!

Everyone is making iced tea!
Why not make some too today?! My grandkids are coming over to swim in my pool (I planned my purchase of this condo so that we could have a good time!).

What better than some sweetened Iced Watermelon Tea with a twist.
A let the tea brew quite strong, chilled it awhile then poured half in a tall glass and added a few ice cubes and sparkling water to fill the glass completely! (It gets better) There is an option to add sliced strawberries for those who want it. Um yum!
Don’t you love being a big kid and drinking a chilled fruit drink and a glob of real fruit splashes into your mouth! I DO!
(I must admit that the sweetening is not sugar little Micah turns into an ugly creature with sugar and we can’t have that)
It is a beautiful, sunny high altitude day here in the Frontrange. I’m listening to my Spotify… to Pink Martini http://youtu.be/satMi-rws1A
…ah yes….and drinking the cool watermelon tea…so refreshing and light! Not artificial tasting…and no caffeine either! Cool….so…cool…

Later when I need it (and I will need it later) I’m going to listen to the best Tango music ever that a fellow Steepster shared with me THANK YOU! and drink a stronger tea with some brawn…and caffeine!

It is far too hot to make any tea, and I’ve been drinking the same iced tea for about a week now, so I thought I’d do a backlogged review of this instead of adding yet another tasting note to Bangkok. This is also the first loose-leaf tea I made iced, so it seemed fitting!

When I made this hot for the first time my reaction was basically, “what the hell?!” It’s supposed to be a jasmine/rose blend, yet it tasted way more fruity than floral. Hot, it was not something I liked at all, but instead of leaving the bag to languish in my cupboard I made it iced. And suddenly, it was a whole different tea! The jasmine popped a lot more, and while the rose was still subdued there was a wonderful fruity mango taste. I don’t like hot fruit teas at all really, but iced is a different story—and mango is my favorite fruit, so really this worked out for the best. Now it’s one of the first teas I reach for when I need something cool, so even while it wasn’t what I expected/wanted I think it was actually a pretty fortunate accident.

Thanks to Angel at Teavivre for this WONDERFUL tea!!

I LOVE THIS TEA! I just wanted to put that out there.

Smell: It was a colorful mix, and I smelled lots of blueberry, a bit of grape, and a tart smell that hinted at that sneaky hibiscus. But it was a lovely berry blend! Steeping it reminded me of wine or even blueberry juice.

Taste: I was worried about the hibiscus, thinking this would be VERY tart. But IT WASN’T!! It was very, very yummy!! It had a nice, strong blueberry flavor, which had a sweet-tart mix provided by the grape, and then it had a smooth tart where the hibiscus was. I loved it hot, but after drinking a few hot sips, since I had to go to an outing, I poured the rest in a glass and let it sit in the fridge. Upon returning, I drank it cold and it was even more amazing!! I LOVE A TEA THAT CAN DO BOTH!! Truly, it was a perfect blueberry tea! :-)

Oh, I put in two spoonfuls of sugar, kindof medium in amount. It was a lovely tea, really!!

So it seems that the disgustingly humid New York summer has officially begun. For that reason, I currently have two different teas cold brewing in the fridge. I had a liter of Swampwater in the fridge two days ago. Most of it was consumed in one day. Now I’m looking for a more traditional flavor. Mmmm gyokuro to the rescue. So delicious. So unbelievably refreshing and quick to cold brew. It might be because the leaves are a bit cut up but this was ready for drinking in less than an hour of cold brewing. The leaves had turned a lovely bright green. Sniffing the wet leaves, you’d swear you’re holding a handful of fresh bruised leaves. So green and vibrant! And the color! Japanese tea makers know how to make tea beautiful!

And even though this was a cold brew steeped for under an hour, the flavor was all there! Green and sweet and and smooth. It’s a bit vegetal and slightly oceanic.

My husband, drawn in by the bright green liquid, eagerly took a sip and made a disgusted face. “Is this Japanese green tea? Why are they always so seaweedy?” haha I happen to love the oceanic aspect but he pretty much hates all Japanese greens. So while I think this tea is lovely, it’s not for those who aren’t fond of oceanic flavors. :)

Also, since the first glass was cold brewed so quickly, I used the same leaves for another glass of cold brewing. This second glass is lightly flavored and more of a yellow green but the taste is still refreshing and delicious. I get more of a minerally/vitaminy flavor now. I love this!

Next cold brew in my fridge: a pitcher of 52 Teas’ Cantaloupe White tea. Can’t wait to get to that one!

I just used up the last of my stock of this tea. Not to worry I ordered more as it is currently on sale! (Bad influence I know) I’m not usually a fan of green teas, but I am slowly finding out which ones I like and which I don’t. This is one I really enjoy a lot. It does have a bit of a veggie flavor to it, but in a good way. This is a really crisp cup of green tea. It also (at least for me) never gets bitter – which is a green tea turn off for me.

I also have to say the description here is pretty accurate the tea almost sparkles in the cup and it is very refreshing. I’ve also enjoyed it iced too. I scored three infusions of what little tea i had left…I sure hope my new order arrives this week! I highly suggest picking some up.

Matcha limeade is delicious – 2 Tbsp each sugar and lime juice, 1 tsp matcha and 16 oz water and ice. The sweet and sour limeade is a perfect complement to the slight bitterness of the matcha.

Thanks to Scott Tea Man for this one, the last of my pre-chingming samples!

I steeped this in a glass teapot for 3 minutes at around 175F. The color of the tea is a very light yellow and I agree it looks kinda like a white tea due to the large furry leaves on this!

This is a very light and delicate tea, I am definitely picking up notes of honeydew melon and perhaps… cucumber? There is a slight sweetness to it as well, a corn husk aroma.

I’m trying to appreciate the subtle flavor of some of these lighter green and yellow teas, it is a bit challenging for me at times, but I am coming to appreciate them for what they are and enjoy them at different moments when the mood might strike. It’s great to have some teas that are devoid of astringency and I would place this in that category as well.

As always I am grateful for the sample and have enjoyed trying something new. This is fairly tasty but not something I’d go out of my way to purchase.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Definitely a nice treat for this morning. I usually just drink gyokuro on the weekends which is a good thing, since it’s kind of costly.

Lovely and sweet, vegetal and seaweedy kind of cup. I got two excellent steeps out of it, which was great. See my previous notes for more info.

Toasty and tasty! I really do love Genmaicha! It’s one of the very few teas I can drink without sweetener and dairy. (And I think I need that after finishing a sweeter chai. :) )

Note to self: I need to try this iced.

I’m very much in the mood for creamy today even though it’s hot out. I think it has to do with the AC being on. You see, I’m very sensitive to temperature changes, and my husband is very sensitive to heat. He usually wins this battle by putting on the air. I end up putting on longer layers to stay warm… and drinking hot tea!

To soothe the need to put cream and sugar in my cup, I decided chai would fit the bill. I’m also feeling a bit nutty. Hazelnut Chai is checking off all my wants.

My cups of chai are always sweetened with a healthy dose of dairy. I like this particular blend because its not black pepper-spicy. It’s not my favorite ingredient in chai. The more it has in it, the more I feel I have to compensate it with sugar. So I tend to lean more toward chai has has pepper toward the bottom of the ingredient list, if its in there at all.

This is nutty and comforting – just what I’m feeling like! :)

It’s just really really good! Very smooth. The first steep was more floral than the subsequent ones. I like floral. =) I found myself draining it quickly and craving the next cup. 195 degrees for 3 minutes, 1 tsp per 8 oz.

It pains me to remove this tea from my cupboard. Made the last of it for my husband’s morning pot. I know that freshness-wise, it’s a good thing, but oh! I just have not found such a smooth bready malty raisiny wonder like Thomas. I’m also a little nostalgic because it is one of the first teas I fell in love with directly because of my involvement in Steepster – I don’t know if I would have found out about Andrews & Dunham on my own.

Sniff sniff – I love you Thomas, I love you Andrews & Dunham, and I love you Steepsterites!!!

This one is from the package that I’ve started thinking of as Cteresa’s Yumchaa Highlights. :) It was one I had already seen and been interested in, so I was very pleased that she included a sample of it for me to try before purchasing.

I was double glad of it, when it turns out to be a disappointment to me when brewed hot. I mean it tasted really nice and all, but so so busy! There are so many things in this that neither I nor the boyfriend could pick anything out of the flavour in particular. It was just all sort of jumbled together into a generic ‘fruit flavour’.

And while that’s nice and all, it’s just not that interesting. It has no personality.

So I despaired a bit.

Then this week, while it has been so hot, I’ve been doing a fair amount of coldbrewing, and it struck me that this would be an excellent way to round of the sample.

It works much better for me as a cold brew. It’s still a generic ‘fruit flavour’ with nothing in particular standing out, but somehow that seems less anonymous and tame when it has spent some 8-10 hours in the fridge first. I’m glad I decided to do this and I’m rating it solely based on this.

I’ve been drinking two glasses just now while I’m catching up on Steepster, having not looked for a few days. Nope, make that three glasses.

Cheers!

I’m trying it iced today (double-strong-then-ice method) and it’s actually really good! I usually only like fruity iced teas but this one is more sweet and creamy. I added just a little agave to bring out the flavours. It’s actually pretty refreshing. I think it would be even better as an iced latte. (Unfortunately I have no milk foamer thingy and am still latte challenged)

I reached for this today because I am definitely feeling a bit low on the energy scale. I really HAVE to finish up my many piles of laundry today so I’m hoping this will give me the kick that I need to be productive. This is a nicely balanced tea that isn’t astringent even though I’m certain I oversteeped this – I totally forgot to set a timer. I am drinking it with a tiny bit of sugar and cream and it is pretty awesome this way.