AJ

And so, I looked at the clock, and it read: 1:30am. And I thought to myself, what a perfect time to make iced tea.

Thus.

Actually, this isn’t too bad iced. Fruity but not tart, slight coconut. Stirred in a bit of sugar, but it’s probably fine without. I stirred it in without thinking, because I figured it’d be very tart.

Two tsps for 1 cup, ten minutes, poured over ice cubs.

Finished off my last bag of this today. Made a small pot and sipped it whilst performing calculus. I will miss this.

I’ve found that trying to do reviews while drinking the tea as a morning tea is a bad idea. I can’t pay attention to flavours because I’m half-awake and trying to get food into my system.

However, it smelt strongly of strawberries, followed by other, less identifiable berries. The first sip was tingling and delicious strawberry, and every time you take a very small sip it’s everywhere throughout it and trailing into the aftertaste. The tea itself isn’t passive here, though. It’s a strong tea, not sharp, Ceylon. You taste it more with larger gulps.

There’s a nice sweetness throughout. Not as strong as Marco Polo, but I’m rather liking this anyways.

Popped into the Urban Tea Merchant today, and after smelling this tea at the counter decided to give it a try. Sadly it wasn’t on the Tea to Go menu, but he offered me a pot instead. It was the first time I’d had tea in the sitting-room at the UTM. It was a little more awkward than I would have liked, because a) all the tables are set for two, and I was alone and b) I was only having a pot of tea, no meal or tray of petit fours.

I didn’t realize this tea had rose in it until I sat down and glanced over the little menu. I hadn’t seen/smelled it in the sample. However, surprisingly it didn’t completely turn me off once I got my pot. The ingredients listed rose, berries and almond (although the description on the tin and website list ‘bergamot’ instead of berries). I smelt the berries as I poured the tea, but couldn’t find it too strongly in the taste. The rose was at the front of every sip, but surprisingly smooth (although I still wouldn’t say I “liked” it). Each sip finished with sweet almond cream; It was, overall, quite delicious. The tea base made a minimal appearance, but it often does in flavoured teas. It’s odd, because you can tell it’s Ceylon, but it’s not that wonderful /Ceylon/ you get when you have a cup of unflavoured Sri Lanka alone. It was barely there, but it gave a good base for the flavours added. I think this is a good tea for rose fans.

I got to enjoy the ambience of the tea room, although I think next time I’ll order some food as well.

Was having trouble deciding what tea I wanted to drink, then realized that I only had about a scoop and a half left of this one, so I finished it off.

I still rather like it. It’s definitely creamy, and the nuttyness is sweet, not too strong. I kind of wish you got more of the oolong taste (it’s still present, though), since it’s sort of swamped by the others, but evaluating it in terms of the flavours added and not the base, it’s delicious. It doesn’t resteep too well—mostly because I do the first steep at three minutes anyhow—but the second steep has more of the tea coming through.

I think I’ll have to get more. When I got this, it had been my first (and only, so far) trip to Teaopia, and I went there specifically for this one—there were no others I was interested in trying. There still aren’t, really. Maybe the other flavoured oolongs.

Finishing off the last of this. Finished off CS’s Bengal Spice, but it turns out I forgot to add that to my cupboard in the first place. I got it way back while I was Up North.

It smells a bit like sharp cheddar cheese, which I find… Unencouraging.

It’s got the taste of a typical greener rolled oolong (or the taste of the ones I’ve tried), with a light hint of cream. Not thick cream, just the stuff you buy for your coffee. Not getting too much sweetness. It’s interesting.

It settles into a thicker mouthfeel as you sip, and a bit of sweetness develops.

First steep: Two minutes.

Second Steep: Two and a half minutes. It’s sweeter, but less creamy. The steep instructions Davids provided read 4-7 minutes. That seemed a bit crazy, but I may have to consider it.

This’ the last of this. I’m going to miss it—it was a great morning tea, and sometimes I’d brew it in a glass container so I could watch the pearls dance.

I layered the bottom of my handled gaiwan with leaves instead of using just a teaspoon’s worth for the cup, and then steeped for half the recommended time. More tea leaf, less time.

The taste is less sharp, but I still get none of the fruity sweetness that I love about dan congs. It’s got more of a raw cocoa taste, and gritty mouth-feel. Ahwell, it’s still an interesting cup, and I’ll get a few more steeps out of this cup one yet, I think.

Edit: It’s becoming a little astringent and bitting again as it cools, but not outright bitter. Lends more to the cocoa feel.

This is the last of my Tealicious teas. Tealicious closed down while I was Up North, and I finished off the Vanilla Black I got from them while I was up there. So I’m savouring this. It always satisfies whenever I’m in the mood of a Ceylon. Oaky.

No notes yet.

Finished this off last night. I will mourn its loss, but I think I’ll branch out and try other 52teas blends instead of buying more of this one (as delicious as it was).

No notes yet.

Hot damn! I thought I was out of this tea, but it turns out I’m not. I was sorting through my tins.

I think I can taste the Age creeping up on this one, but it’s still bold and tasty. Apparently the Tea Desire that’s in my local mall is shutting down/has already shut down. This’ the only tea I’ll miss from there.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

I forgot to log this one. I drank it while awaiting my plane in the “Runway Cafe”. I even jotted down a couple notes and thoughts (not a normal habit—I don’t want to look like some weird food critic scrutinizing their service).

My thoughts, quoted directly from my notes: “Brews dark (fanning); taste is bold, not bitter. Bergamot scent borders on Pledge-y, but that doesn’t translate into the taste. Just a touch of dark citrus. Well-rounded earl grey. I like it. 72-77%?”

No idea what their water temperature was at, but I default-steep most plain blacks at five minutes.

I found this on my way to a tea store, while cutting through a grocery store.

Upon opening the bag, I got a puff of delicious vanilla. I’ve found that my hand-made mug makes a perfect little handled chawan, since the bottom is smooth and rounded.

I don’t normally consider buying matcha, since I can only stand it in small quantities, and on occasion. But I’ve been keeping my eye out for Domo for quite a while (after missing my first chance to pick it up), and it materialized again.

I probably shouldn’t have brushed my teeth just prior to making some. The matcha is vanilla in the front, very smooth, which trails off into grass. Not strong, and also smooth, so it’s very nice. I was considering milk, but I think I can do without it.

I’m still working out what proportions I like. It’s getting a bit more bitter as it cools, but that’s to be expected.

You can definitely taste the bancha. It’s forward in the tea, with the black more in the background and supplementing the taste wonderfully. It’s a little sweet, either from the mocha brandy flavouring described, or the candy pink elephants.

I think it all ties together very well, though.

I’ve been duped! Rose wasn’t listed anywhere as an ingredient, and the sample they had out for sniffing had no rose petals in it either.

Also, they seem to hint that it’s a green and black blend, but I didn’t see any signs of green.

It smells of citrus and jasmine, as expected. Not much rose, because I was careful to keep the petals out of my teaspoon as I scooped it into the strainer. There’s also what looks like dried thistle in here. Huh.

Brewed is a citrus smell with a touch of jasmine. The taste is a good ceylon with a touch of citrus, and this bizzare verging-on-spice taste that I can only conclude may possibly be the thistle. It’s rather pleasant, though.

I’m a little disappointed that Murchie’s fallen into adding candy and decorative items to their teas recently. Most of the new ‘specialty’ limited-time ones are like that. I picked up “Lucky Elephant” as well, despite it having candy pink elephants in it. I thought the roasted bancha mixed with black tea sounded interesting (and, apparently, mocha flavours…). Somehow in my mind, something called “Lucky Elephant” should be more traditional.

Back to this tea… It looks like I prevented the rose from ruining the experience, but I won’t know for sure until it’s cooled enough. It could still get bitter.

I’ve been gone from my part-time job so long (three months) I have no idea what our uniform looks like. Plus we’ve completely changed season in my absence, so we’ll have a whole new line of clothes. Fun. I’ll have no idea where anything is.

Rating this a medium-positive for now. I like it, but I haven’t decided my full opinion on it yet. I drank tea instead of eating breakfast.

Dawn, don’t ever leave me again. Even though I know the hard water of Up North would have reeked havoc on you. And I’ve only a few teaspoons of your deliciousness left.

I finished this off just two days ago. I wanted to bring the empty box home, to use for other teabags or some such, but wasn’t able to fit it into my luggage and was forced to chuck it. I’ll probably buy more tea from Smith anyways, so chances are I will collect more of the boxes.

Just as delicious as always. I’ll miss the cracked-wheat essence. I’m home now, though, and able to access my full tea cupboard. I nearly hugged it.

The trip was fine. I got to the airport very early (long story), and my luggage was over-weight, so I had to choose what bag would be bumped in the event that the plane was too heavy. My rocks were in one bag, my tea and books in the other. It was a difficult decision, but luckily nothing was bumped, so I haven’t suffered.

I have a ten-page report to write that’s due this week. I’ve procrastinated the hell out of it, and I’m very bad for doing so.

I finished off the last of this yesterday. I did’t have enough for a full cup, so I mixed it with my Honeybee oolong. I was quite sad about it, because apparently Tealicious has closed down in my absence (I’ll know for sure once I get back home). I had only this tea and one other. If I’d known, I would have seriously stocked up.

The mellow vanilla and china black didn’t go as well with Honeybee as I’d hoped (Honeybee being a bit sharper, especially since blending them meant blending their steeping-times), but I think it was a good attempt, and it was still quite tasty. Sadly I had to drink most of it cold, because I got dragged out of the office shortly after making it. Administrative work rather than geology-related; I was helping make a presentation for comparing the different units our department’s thinking of renting, so we can move out of our current trailer. It’s too small for our planned expansion.

Eleven days until I head home. I had troubles with the internet in the library today, so I ended up spending three housr reading the League of Extaordinary Gentleman instead. I finally got it working, but I’ve only an hour and a half before the library closes.

Another update from the library. My aunt sent up this tea and Tea Desire’s Earl Grey. The earl grey isn’t anything special—I didn’t expect it to be—but I’m pleasantly surprised by this lapsang. It’s nice—not fantastic, but it’s not sharp and burnt like Murchie’s. She also sent up a Britta water filter with the tea. I don’t think it helps the hard aspect of the water, but it removes the chlorine smell.

It’s difficult trying to keep my virtual cupboard in order. I’ve been keeping a paper log of teas that I’ve finished/gotten, so that I can update them the next time I get a chance to go the library and log onto Steepster. But work is fun. I need to take some pictures out in the field with my Libre.