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additional notes: Steepster dashboard is still down after ten days?! argh. Anyway, I just wanted to write a quick note for this lone teabag from Cameron B — thanks very much! Easy to take this one along on the trip, away from the tea stash. It’s a favorite and I can’t say enough about the star here — that lingering strawberry flavor that only seems to get stronger even on the third steep. Usually if I steep a puerh for many minutes on the third steep, any flavor that would be present is overpowered by the base, but not this lovely strawberry! Raising the rating from 85.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – September 2023 Tea #7- September 21 – World Gratitude Day

I thought I’d throw this note into the abyss.  I hope the one person in charge of keeping Steepster going is having a swell vacation.  Anyway, I’m grateful for this tea during — from what I have heard — is chai day.  YES chai!  I’m especially grateful to this blend because it is a seasonal, therefore rare blend to get ahold of, especially if us in America don’t want to spend a ton of money just for shipping.  I can never tire of this blend!  Perfection.

Back note from before I left town, but also… I see Steepster has been down for three days. sigh.

From Cameron B!  Thanks again!  Sometimes I like the idea of tasting a black tea at night, and that is when decaf is helpful.  But really I think it is just the light base here for showcasing a super strong cherry flavor.  This cherry is not particularly medicinal OR the candy type… so I like it.  It’s almost like if black cherries were treated like maraschino cherries.   It’s Lupicia cherry, I guess!  As their flavors are usually on point.  So when I’m craving cherry, I will go for this one.  I’m glad I like it!   … Didn’t notice I should have been tasting peach until I read the description… this is full cherry to me.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 – 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  just boiled // 3-4 min

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – September 2023 Tea #6- A tea with natural cocoa notes

I wanted to try these, as they remind me a little of one of my favorite teas – Phoenix Pearls!  Looking at these though, these are almost grayish in color, covered in tiny trichomes, while the Phoenix Pearls I know are very shiny and have no trichomes at all.  Really, all they have in common is being rolled black tea. The scent of the dry leaf is  exactly like toasted rice or or genmaicha or buckwheat or oats - all of these scent notes very unlike most black tea, so very intriguing!  A five gram sample has a little over a teaspoon and a half, so I went with a full sample pouch for a mug.   The brew does not get dark like I suspect… it’s very light.  The flavor is mostly like a cup of unsweetened cocoa with a hint of smoke.   The second steep is much the same and especially when cold, the mug is full cocoa.  I can’t help but love Phoenix Pearls more, but this seems to have a slightly different flavor profile than Teavivre’s other Dian Hongs.  Though I wish some of the scents from the dry leaf resulted in the flavor… I think I used the proper amount of leaf for a mug.  I wouldn’t use less but I wouldn’t be opposed to trying at least two teaspoons.  This tea is weighty though! I think I love it best as the leftover tea, cold the next day. I love that Cameron B notices french fries here (-my dinner last night. haha) I didn’t expect this tea to fit a prompt when I steeped it up, but since this cup is full cocoa, it can and it shall. :D
Steep #1 // 1 3/4 teaspoons for a full mug // 24 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep
Harvest: 2023

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – September 2023 Tea #5 – A tea you regret buying

This tea definitely comes to mind when I think “regret buying”.  It’s such a confusing tea!  So muddled, especially with the three bases.  I’m not sure what I was thinking when I bought it… I usually do not like combined base teas with various tea types.  Green tea with black tea?  AND some sort of oolong  AND at least four different flowers No thanks.  At least there are supposedly real vanilla bits here?  Unfortunately, this is definitely not a sipdown as I started with 100 grams. And of course, with it aging, it’s just getting more boring blah. (This is also stored in that bottom box I mentioned yesterday — the hardest to reach box.)

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – September 2023 Tea #4 – Your hardest to reach tea

“Hardest to reach” for me means a stack of three boxes of tea.  This tea is in the bottom box — I have to move the top two boxes.  The bottom box is mainly my box of teas for teas I have extras of, that I like to stay out of the way — like a large amount of Tiesta’s I Gotta Colada when I knew they were discontinuing it.  This tea is fine — it’s aging now into a muddled generic fruit flavor.  But at least there are two different black teas here — one being a CTC.

No other tasting notes for a Whispering Pines tea?!?! This is from Daylon R Thomas!  Thanks so much!  I have been drinking so many Nepal teas lately — all of them different tasting, yet so elusive in describing, that I’m skipping writing tasting notes for many of them… for now.  This one is very good.  Twisty black leaves with only a hint A HINT of auburn.  (But it also looks like my sample has a stray sickle of white tea in there.)  The flavor was surprisingly smoky in that first cup!  I didn’t expect smoke at all. The brew is crisp, clear, sweet.  A medium strength black.  The next morning, finishing the dregs when the cup has cooled, the smoke is gone. The flavor is so different this morning that I forgot I didn’t steep a second cup yet.  The second steep is much less smoky.  I can appreciate the clearness of this tea, the crisp cleanness, which seems the opposite of what otherwise, is mostly a tea with a smoky note.  Not bitter or murky at all, though usually I would prefer a murky tea, this one is just a gem.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  just boiled // 4 min

A sample from Cameron B! Thanks so much! This is one of those blends from David’s I have wanted to try for years. I used half the sample, a little over a teaspoon. I’m glad I did, because the entire sample might have been cloying. This is sweet sweet coconut. Any more sweetness would have been too much! I can hardly tell there is anything here other than coconut and sweeteners but it’s not a bad cup. It fits for a dessert blend that will also put you to sleep. I’m glad this is only a sample, as I can tell this would NOT be a blend that would age well. haha.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – September 2023 Tea #3- Your oldest non-puerh tea

This one is actually tasting its age at this point.  But as the oldest tea around here, I wouldn’t expect it not to taste old.  It still has a glimmer of that lovely flavor that makes this the second or third favorite CS tea.  Next time, a sipdown.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – September 2023 Tea #2- A tea from a favorite vendor

Had to do it.  No other tea shop could probably possibly ever unseat Butiki from THE favorite.  I like to revisit this one in summer.  I think I have a few summers left of it.  The flavor is still so spot on amazing.  The third steep was probably the best, making me regret tossing the leaves before a fourth. It’s coffee, it’s melon, it’s that incomparable base. sigh. I was going to actually finish another Butiki tea but I guess I recently misplaced it! oh no. But I’m sure it’s around somewhere.