Featured & New Tasting Notes

Colour me surprised and delighted because this taste eerily accurate to a soft and doughy sugar cookie to me! Like, one of the closest sugar cookie tasting teas I’ve had in a long, long time. Y’know the little circular sugar cookies you get at the grocery store that almost become a paste in your mouth? With the bright layer of super fun colored icing? Yeah, exactly that!

This was probably my favorite from the sampler box. I held on to this one for quite a while not wanting to finish it off. It was minty and mocha-like and delicious. The soymilk I added turned it into a creamy lazy latte. I would repurchase this one for sure!

This is the final tea in an order I made from Mountain Stream several years ago. Given my well-known penchant for bug-bitten teas, it was inevitable that I’d pick this up, especially given Derk’s glowing review. It isn’t currently on their website, so I’m following Derk’s parameters of 30, 45, 60, 70, 80, 90, 120, and 240 seconds using 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water.

The heady dry aroma is of honey, grain, and citrus. The first steep is very light and immediately indicates by its strong cereal aroma that this is a roasted tea. I get lots of honey, citrus, rose, and wood. The next steep is stronger and has citrus, cherry, grain, mild spices, rose, and lots of honey, but also a touch of astringency. The aftertaste is woody, drying, and a bit sour, though the honey aroma at the bottom of the cup is mouthwatering. The next couple steeps feature the same flavours, but the fruit starts to disappear by steep five, leaving honey, grain, and roast. The end of the session is much like a black tea, with notes of malt, honey, and tannins.

While I enjoyed the fruity flavours and beautiful aromas in this tea, the roast was quite noticeable and I didn’t think it was well integrated. I’ve had many bug-bitten teas and am a bit spoiled regarding this type, and my rating probably reflects that. The tea also lacks longevity. I won’t have trouble finishing my 25 g pouch, but am glad I didn’t buy more.

Unless it was part of a blend, my poor, impaired tastebuds never equated pu-erh with much more than cave water or sweet tree roots. To see some of you mention menthol or camphor as flavor notes mystified me.

Well, today, I finally got it. Cave water first, tree roots next, but then I caught just the smallest breath of mentholated sippiness just after each swallow, which immediately created a mental image of Mama Bear lining the cave with pine and wintergreen branches so that it wouldn’t get too stinky while she hibernates. I’m ready to go back to bed now.

We’ve spent the last couple of days preparing to learn and attempt TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) for the first time. Someone from our local cat-loving FB group came to our house last night and taught us how to use and bait the traps, and so today we’ve been trying to catch the two ferals who live in our community. We tried for a couple hours last night and now again all day today, but we haven’t seen either cat at all (which is very unusual). I had reached out to my neighbors earlier in the week to make sure the cats were indeed feral and received some pushback about trapping them. Apparently at least one of the neighbors thought I was trapping the cats to hurt them, which makes me really sad, and now I’m starting to worry we’ve been sabotaged. I explained what I was doing and why, but I don’t know if they were convinced. My brother says the cats are probably feasting on a gourmet buffet down the street, so they aren’t at all interested in my smelly mackerel. I’m a little bummed, no point in pretending I’m not. I don’t know why I thought we’d get them on the first try, but I suppose this is a good test of my patience.

So while I sit here, with one eye on the trap and the other on my inbox, I’m sipping on this mug of deliciousness. This tea is oh-so-dark and deep and smoky and bittersweet. Just perfect for this chilly afternoon. Bonus: I can drink it inside with the heat on, at least until dark.

This is one of my oldest teas, as it came from the final “Here’s Hoping Teabox” which was the first teabox I joined as a newbie on Steepster back in… 2016 or 2017, I think? I finished everything I had from that box except a few pu’erh samples, as I always think to myself, “Age can’t hurt this!” and try to drink other things that are getting less and less fresh each day. But I failed my “one gong fu session a month” goal last year, and want to try that goal again this year! So I pulled this out to gong fu this morning.

My package simply says “Yiwu Sheng Pu-erh 2016” on it, and since this is the closest match I can find, I’m putting it here (if it is something else, apologies!)

80ml (mini pot) | 4.43g | 205F | Rinse/10s/13s/16s/19s/22s/25s/28s/31s

The wet leaf has a really pungent aroma… smells like umami cooked meats, bitter fruit rind, hay, and minerals. The rinse had a strong aroma of sour fruits and hay. The first steep, after a bit of cooling, has a gentler aroma, and tastes surprisingly fruity and smooth… I’m getting a cooked stonefruit vibe, particularly plum, with a bit of a dry hay/herbaceous backdrop and a bit of minerality in the finish. The next infusion smells and tastes delightfully plummy, a little sour at first with a honeyed note coming forward afterward. I’m getting a sort of black licorice aftertaste on my tongue (which is fine by me, I’m one of those rare black licorice fans). That aftertaste becomes more of a mild muscatal note in subsequent steeps, with the sip continuing to be very plum forward, with a bit more florality/wildflower honey and graham cracker popping up in the taste. Around the sixth infusion the stonefruit notes disappeared and it became more of a mix of bitter melon, hay, herbaceous, citrus peel, and mineral notes. Steeped for eight infusions.

Another new to me vendor, Spirit Tea, which I see Daylon has been posting notes for lately. I came across them looking for something but don’t remember what They have a gentle, relationship-building vibe about their work and marketing that I admit drew me in. If you get warm fuzzies seeing pictures of traveling tea hunters with tea farmers, one or all of them pointing at leaves or in the distance, Spirit Tea may be for you (tongue-in-cheek — they have a LOT of teas that sound fantastic). Looks like they really get around, offering landscape, production and intimate encounter photos of nearly every tea they offer, which are sourced from their travels through China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

Quick cups this morning before I try to take advantage of this spring weather in January. It doesn’t feel right that the daffodils bloomed this morning or that the blueberries are fully flowering.

From Yunnan, China, this green tea is grown and processed in a Muslim-Chinese minority village.

This large-leaved green tea is rich and so satisfying, unlike any other green tea I’ve had. Sweet, viscous, a little tongue-numbing and with practically no astringency. Aroma matches the taste and aftertaste of the tea. The tasting notes of honeycomb and sandalwood are spot on. Apricot is more of a bright undertone. A comforting toasty nature rounds out the flavor flawlessly. If you want to try a green tea without the typical beany, grassy or vegetal notes, or one that won’t upset an empty stomach, I highly suggest this nourishing tea!

I’ve had no communication yet with this company and am trying to not come off as sounding like a shameless plug. Hopefully the other 3 teas I ordered are just as satisfying.

This is a really lovely chocolate orange blend; the orange is aromatic and sweet and the chocolate notes so dark and rich. The both play beautifully with the tastes of malt, honey, grains, sweet potato, cacao, and soft fruitiness of the black tea base as well. However, I’m not necessarily getting anything that makes me think of cannolis specifically. That could be either the fried dough/shell or more of the sweet cheese/cream filling – I’d take either.

I see I rated this very highly in the past, so I’d be curious to go back and read those tasting notes. Maybe this is something that’s unique to the cup I steeped in particular, or just this reblend? Perhaps my tastes have changed slightly. Regardless I still liked the mug a lot and thought the flavours were exceptional. Just missing a slight ‘something something’ in terms of nailing the name perfectly.

I received a sad e-mail from S&V today – Jim Harron, Sr. passed away a couple days ago. I didn’t know him, but appreciate what the Harrons have done with Simpson & Vail – one of my favorite tea shops and a small business too! So I wanted to sip a cup of tea today in his memory and appreciate that S&V exists in the world.
Some have recently wondered about Black Currant teas – I have never actually tasted real black currants but I know I have had some dismal black currant teas before with awful flavoring. This is not one of them – almost a floral flavor with the fruit. Now if that fruit is black currant, I can’t say. But knowing that S&V usually has accurate flavors, this probably tastes like black currant.

I can’t remember what the context was, but Marika brought this tea up in a conversation recently as just being perfect and cozy and it made me want to pull out my sample of it to revisit. I’ve been hard core channeling the “cozy” feeling with my working from home tea selections lately and she was dead on that this reaaalllyyy fits well with that! Rich black tea with notes of malt, walnut, and honey mixed with silky vanilla and warming cinnamon undertones.

As I sip this tea I can definitely picture myself in the Gryffindor common room over the winter break, all curdled up with a mug of tea in a jumper made by Molly Weasely.

This tea is from my Poland trip made in the end of 2021 and start of 2022. I bought it in “Pod Lampionami” tearoom in Poznan (search for pictures, it is super cute and cozy). Translated name means “From Persian Market”

However, this tea seems not being from them directly. I have found (and downloaded pic from) Herbatyczas.pl — seems they have more teas from them in Poznan tearoom. I have added it under “Pod Lampionami”, because bought there, however not sure if it’s correct at all.

I bought it on blind buy… I just saw the glass container and it was looking nice, but no ingredients were listed. So, that said, I am not even sure about ingredients. But if they really used Persian tea base, I think it’s amazing.

However…
let’s try the tea. First of all, I notice mostly mint. They say it is nana mint and I didn’t had that much, but seems to be indeed that, but my limited experience notices only mint.

Based on taste, it indeed contains stevia. Sadly, it is indeed very sweet. The mint is refreshing. But the base tea is muted from the stevia. Argh! Why to kill so great, Iranian, tea with sh*tload of stevia?

I am so disappointed. I will save a little, but the rest will go to the TTB for sure.

On the other news: my mother was tested positive for Covid. We made a little improvised quarantine at home, but it is only improvised :(

SIpdown. And now i have to decide if i want to re-order. I’m not really all that impressed with YS as far as the customer experience goes on this one. I haven’t had issues before but no issues does not mean that it would have been handled better. I’m not demanding but i have recieved exceptional customer service from places even during covid and this was not that. Make a mistake – own it, resolve it in the customers favour.

having worked in multiple roles over my life so far that were customer facing maybe my expectations are too high but i DO praise/celebrate companies that do it right, so i don’t feel bad knocking companies doing it less well. All in all just a missed opportunity to make me a high promoter of the company.

So a couple of weeks ago, I somehow found myself on the Andrews & Dunham website. I don’t recall how, maybe I saw something on Steepster that made me curious to see what teas they had in stock. Regardless, I found this tea in stock and promptly ordered a tin. I have four of their other teas and they’re always enjoyable, if slightly neglected in my cupboard. I then promptly forgot about the purchase.

So fast forward to two days ago, this tea showed up at my doorstep and ooh, what a lovely surprise gift from my (slightly) past self! XD

I admit, I was slightly nervous when I smelled the dry leaf, as the smoke dominates the aroma. I don’t dislike smoked teas, in fact I often quite enjoy them, but it’s not something I drink often, and sometimes I do find them a bit too smoky. But I needn’t have worried, this is very well-balanced. The smokiness is obvious, but it’s not the only thing I taste, and it has a lovely savory meaty flavor as opposed to a charred or ashy one. Underneath is a lovely sweetness, an earthy woodiness, and also a satisfyingly chewy bread note. Perhaps a touch of dark dried fruit as well?

Very yummy, and I certainly don’t regret ordering it on a whim. I haven’t been disappointed by A&D yet! :)

The first thing I taste is a bit of pepper, which doesn’t seem to fit. I guess there’s some chocolate flavor, but it tastes sort of like low quality Easter chocolate. It all combines to taste sort of…meh? Pepper, low quality chocolate, and possibly a little of something else, but this really isn’t great. It tastes better after it cools to room temperature. I get a little bit of salt, like in a raw cookie dough. It’s also pleasantly desserty. It’s still not too special, but I sort of like it.

Another from TreeGal a while ago!  Thank you!  A single sample that looked so fancy – the package makes it seem so classy and dessert like, so the actual tea was confusing.   I expected a long leaf black, with creamy peach sugar flavor.  Really, it’s like a tart peach, not even a candy peach.  The black tea is finely chopped – very small.  I only see an occasional marigold flower, but upon steeping, I definitely taste some coconut and yep, there it is in the description too.  No idea how old this is now, but I know I have had this sample for at least a year or two.  The description mentions mango flavor?  Not even peach flavor?  I guess it could taste like mango, but then why not call it mango brulee?  It isn’t brulee either.  Just confusing all around.  I didn’t hate it, didn’t love it.  I probably would have been better blindtasting it, than relying on the name to guide me.  Glad to sample, glad it’s gone.  Next morning cold tea tasted like stone fruits on rich black tea — I love next morning cold tea. :D
Steep #1 // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep
2022 sipdowns: 6

The blueberry flavor is pretty authentic and tasty! The black tea goes with it well. I don’t really taste any elements other than blueberry and black tea, but it does a good job at those flavors. It goes well with milk. This one is simple, but impressive.

Skysamurai’s TTB
I just wanted to bring some TTB teas to work, and this is one of them. I didn’t had there much of flavoured black teas and this one sounded great.

TEA #2

As I said in preface, I brought this tea to work. I am after booster vaccine and this time I decided (as it was suggested by doctor) to change it. So, not a third Pfizer, but this time Moderna. Sadly, it hit me hard. Yesterday only sore arm, today I am all sore. Feeling sick. I had to leave work after three hours because feeling so bad. Now, at home, I feel a wee better.

But the tea I actually had at work, while having breakfast. I have noticed very robust base filled with caramel sweetness and decent vanilla notes! In flavour there were some fruitiness which can be mentioned pomergranate.

Honestly, it has remembered me Hunky Dory Breakfast I had actually yesterday at work! With extra fruitiness.

So, in the end I can tell, it is decent dessert tea, but nothing I will have again. Maaybe I like pure teas more. Thank you Skysamurai, though I am returning it to the TTB.

This one was sent by Shae, and I’m just getting around to a note when it’s a sipdown.
I’m not sure if this has caffeine in it, the ingredients are Lapsang, but it’s in the herbal section of the Tupelo tea web site.
I like this tea because it has a bunch of different notes that may not seem to work together, but I like cinnamon, licorice and pepper so I don’t mind them all melded into one. Add a bit of smokyness from the lapsang and there is a lot going on here! I’m not sure if I need this in my cupboard, but I’d be tempted to add it to an order. Thanks for sharing, Shae!

This tea smelled so promising in the bag, but the flavor didn’t translate into the cup. I get a little hint of dull lavender when I’m focusing on it. Maybe something masquerading as citrus? The whole cup is dull and depressing and I overleafed this one a touch. I don’t know what it is about Harney teas, but it’s rare that I find one I enjoy!

This was from TreeGal a while ago!  Thanks so much!  It’s actually in a package that looks like it contains a teabag but it’s actually a surprising amount of loose leaf!  This could have been enough for a teapot… but into a teabag it went, and into a big mug it went.  This seemed like it would be my thing. The ingredients are lovely and the name sounded like I would fragrantly be drifted off to sleep on this blustery night.  Sadly, there is a flavor note here that seems odd — like licorice —  and I can’t tell where it’s coming from.   But it kind of takes away from what should be a lovely blend of flavors.  I can’t even smell these bright rose petals.  Maybe it’s just an unusual flavored chamomile, when usually I wouldn’t have a problem with chamomile. I really wish this tasted like a great mix of these four ingredients: chamomile, rose, fennel and lemon verbena. And I also can have no idea how old this tea is… Oh well, it was worth trying one serving anyway!
Steep #1 // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 min

A belated happy new year Steepsterites! Hope 2022 will be a great year for everyone. Still on semi-hiatus due to studies – can’t wait till March when I’m finished with it all – but do plan to post here and there.

I picked this up on a whim a couple of weeks ago when I was in Florida for a wedding. It was in the checkout aisle at Ross of all places. I had bought loose tea with me as I always do during my travels but not sencha. Although I seldom bother with teabags, Ito-En is a reputable Japanese tea brand and I drink their bottled tea all the time. The date of production stamped on the package showed it was only 6 months old, which is about as fresh as it gets with bagged tea.

Color of the tea is intense green and infuses rather quickly, which indicates a fukamushi. The flavor is also characteristic of a deep steamed sencha. At higher water temperature, it’s matcha like with raw wheatgrass and chlorophyll. Smooth and full bodied. Lower temperatures bring out spinachy, grassy notes with a mellow sweet taste. Doesn’t have all of the nuances of loose tea but still delivers with a rich flavor and freshness.

I’ve continued drinking this upon returning home. Despite having plenty of sencha in my cupboard, the convenience of teabags can’t be beat. Especially during busy times when I just need a quick cup and don’t have time to fuss with gaiwans and pitchers. Is this the best sencha ever? No, but it’s more than serviceable and head and shoulders above standard bagged tea. The only downside is it can’t be resteeped so this is a one and done kind of tea.

I’ve been on a bubble tea kick lately while at the office. It’s the one thing I have to motivate me to be there. I’m the only person alone in a 2500 sq ft space for the past month, so it’s all I have. Hopefully they’ll send me back to remote working next week. I’m starting to lose my cool. ;)

Anyway, back to the bubble tea. I’ve had several teas that were really really amazing. I noticed a new barista, so I asked my age old question, “What do you recommend?” They said to try the “Black Cream Bubble Tea,” so I went with it. I disliked it. A lot. It reminded me of Lipton tea with cream and very little sugar. The tapioca was the only thing keeping me from throwing the cup away, but that was barely.

So, it looks like I’ll just stick to my Brown Sugar Black with pudding balls or the Kiwi Strawberry.

Thank you derk and Leafhopper. Received from first one mentioned, with second name on the label.

Steep count 2, both brewed similar.

I guess it is my first GABA oolong? Not sure, but certainly I don’t recall having any before. Who cares? Not me.

Leaves are big and have amazing look even when dry. Steeped western, in big strainer, however even this one is too small maybe?

Nose is saying honey for me, lightly vegetal, baked apples and spices, probably cinnamon.

Taste is great, very smooth, very similar to aroma described above, with some fruity note in the end of sip. In the second steep I notice more of the spices, fruitiness and vegetal notes are a bit stronger too.

I read that GABA should have inhibitory function (I read it after drinking first steep) and I feel I have to agree. I have been pretty much tired after work (long, monotonous job today) and this calmed me down and moreover, I have enjoyed a nice oolong at home. That all counts.

additional notes: There has been talk of this one in the discussion thread, and yes, I still have some actual ATR Brioche that I decided to dig out and have a cup of and oh wow, the flavor is still so so good. It’s amazing really, as this is one of my oldest teas. I can never give up on these old teas. I’m noticing a pattern now: when a new year starts I like to start drinking my oldest teas, which means not many tasting notes from me but I’m still drinking away.