tea-sipper select Send Message

Mainly posting this to see what is happening with steepster…. I liked this more than I previously thought! Maybe the flavors are melding with age. I even like how rich the rooibos is.

From Tiffany a while ago, thanks very much!  I had this tea yesterday, so this note won’t be great.  It’s a middle of the road earl.  Sadly so, as it looks like a great quality black tea leaf.  I’m not sure if it’s worth saying it has silver tips though… I only see one or two of those sickles in my sample pouch.  The bergamot used here is just okay.  Not my favorite, not terrible.  Maybe hints of grapefruit.  Always happy to try all the Earls!

Album: Buck Meek – Haunted Mountain
Song: Paradise – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RdRqZTLce4
Bonus Song: Haunted Mountain – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv8uI2VXppA

From Daylon R Thomas a while ago, thanks very much!  Can’t believe only Daylon ever wrote a note for this.  Must have been a quick offering from Whispering Pines and then disappeared.  The dry leaf looks absolutely my jam:  twisty with lots of gold… what I can only describe as a beautiful mess of twisted leaves. :D  It’s quite the golden cup!  Might be a little light for me, but it’s great for a light tea.  Lots of mineral notes.   I think the lingering aftertaste might even be better than while drinking it: like a tomato soup that is mostly cream.   Then maybe some pine sap and BBQ sauce spices.  The second steep is almost FULL buttermilk or cream.  Very odd and unique!  I don’t think I have noticed buttermilk in a tea before?  The leaf looks fierce in appearance, but the flavor is so delicate, I almost wouldn’t guess it was a black tea.  Definitely a tea I might occasionally crave, if I’m not in the mood for a strong cup…
Steep #1 // two teaspoons for a mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  just boiled // 4 min

Album: Wye Oak – Every Day Like the Last: Collected Singles
Song: Fortune https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNBjdcxB9J4

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2024 Tea #8- A tea ordered online

Finished one of my pouches of this classic.  Always good!  I’m very glad I tried this tea way back when B&B started out.
2024 sipdowns: 20

Album:  The Coral – Sea of Mirrors  
Song:  Cycles of the Seasons – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJFc5K87pjo
Bonus song:  Sea of Mirrors – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHrGZP6WKjU

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2024 Tea #7 – Your cheapest tea

This might not actually be my “cheapest tea” but I think of it when I think in terms of the biggest sale/discount!  Let me look through my e-mail receipts for the actual price I paid for this….  Back in 2016 my receipt says I paid $3.70 for 150grams of Christmas Cake!  Now that is a steal.  In no way close to a sipdown, but it looks like I have less than 50grams left at this point.  It’s a robust black tea!  A bit like chai, with pine notes and fondant icing… it shouldn’t work but it DOES.   I’m happy to steep this up today,as I usually only have it once a year on Christmas day anyway. :D

Album: Fruit Bats – A River Running to Your Heart
Song:  See the World by Night – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h28NWjj7lu4

additional notes:  I stand by my original note for this one, nine years ago.  Though these tuochas are from a different source than my original sample: this time from Meowster.  Thanks very much!  It’s just not a very good representation of sticky rice and puerh is quite bland.  But maybe the “rice scent herb” that they add to the tuochas don’t age as well as puerh is supposed to.  However, I was really craving a ripe puerh to go with my cantaloupe this morning.  It’s such a great combination.  I think of Butiki’s Dark Side of the Melon blend for this inspiration, but that was a black tea and espresso flavoring with melon.  I don’t know how there has not been a cantaloupe/ ripe puerh blend yet!  Though I think I do remember Roswell mentioning one?  If not, maybe I’m remembering Roswell’s awesome fruit/tea pairings. :D

Offtopic about music if you are interested:  So I listen to hundreds of albums each year, at least once (on youtube — sorry musicians that aren’t getting my money…), because of my FOMO on any great gem of an album that I might otherwise never find.  Then at the end of the year, I make my favorites list of albums, before I read all those end-of-the-year best of lists, which tend to end up being basically the same list over and over.  Really, I just read those to make sure I didn’t miss any albums that I might be interested in.  2023 was especially harsh for me, as MOST of my favorite albums never even hit ONE year end list.   However, I think at this point, my FOMO has now almost become a FOMO for other people missing some really great albums, just because they aren’t listed on any of these lists.  A sadness that these musicians are somehow going unnoticed, underappreciated.  So in order for me to feel a little bit better about this, maybe get a few of them out there into the ether, I will occasionally post a favorite song from a 2023 album I really wish had gotten more recognition and attention!  But I usually recommend the entire album.  I will start with my favorite album of 2023 that actually had me crying a bit when I first heard it, that I might have missed it… and this album was not listed on a single Best Of list for 2023.  So now I’m grateful I caught it!  Again, the entire album is stellar (and the album cover is perfect to go along with a tea from Meowster!):

Album: Mapache – Swinging Stars
Song:  Amazing – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHDEn6lhaac

additional notes: I have been busy revisiting some old tea favorites, rather than working on sipdowns, but I really need to buckle down and aim for some more sipdowns! This blend is just so good and I’m almost finished… probably never be able to find it again. I think this is happening with most teas I have been drinking lately.

And now for trying the older, larger tuocha again from Tealyra… for science!  Using the same parameters I have been using…  Second steep, yep, definitely confirming that I just love this rich, dark shou.  Third steep:  still dark and delicious.   The fourth steep is like the second steep in the new batch of smaller tuochas, but never do I taste that flavor that reminds me of cardboard.  Such a shame.  Rating for the new batch would probably be about a 73. I shall try the new tuochas with 1 1/2 pieces soon….
Steep #1 // 1 tuocha for medium sized mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 7 second rinse // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 11 minutes after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min
Steep #4 // just boiled // 10 min

SOOOO I busted my buy-ban already in January.  I needed something on Amazon and needed something else to tag along for free shipping purposes and noticed there was a good price for these…  I had already had the thought to buy more (many many times I had this thought..), so I just did it.  sigh.  Sadly, even though I bought my first Perfect and Glorious batch of these tuochas in 2022, it looks like they have already been changed because the new batch is considerably smaller sized. oh no!!! I thought they were perfect just the way they were, for this particular deep dark shou fan.  And steeping this one up, it does taste considerably different.  To me, there is like a stale cardboard flavor that is the most noticeable.  Yes, the leaves seem the same and the tuocha is still the faster little unraveler, but I think just because there is less leaf in the tuocha, the flavor just isn’t the same for me.  Before, there would be four very strong steeps.  Now the second steep is lighter, and the third lighter still.  The fourth steep is ridiculously weak… I wouldn’t bother going for a fourth steep in the future.  In fact, I’m regretting buying these again at all. I am still using the parameters I had been using for the Teavivre samples, so I’m sure I’m steeping it differently than I have in the past, but really the flavor shouldn’t be this noticeably different.  I was about to weigh the tuochas to see the size differences, but found out my scale has broken.   I COULD try breaking apart a tuocha and using 1 1/2 tuochas per session, but that seems inconvenient and two tuochas at once seems like way too much.  sigh.  I will probably try 1 1/2 at least once, to see how it goes…  Contacting Tealyra, they said the manufacturer must be processing the tuochas differently, since they are smaller, but told me they should be the same.   To me they are not the same.  They were perfect before.  I’m so sad about it!  I don’t know why I’m surprised.  Even with food, if I really like a certain something it will quickly be discontinued, so I should be surprised they still have these tuochas available at all.  (also, sidenote, the pouch the tuochas came in had holes in the bottom, somehow… I highly doubt it happened in transit, and trying to contact Amazon is ridiculous. But what if holes in the bottom of the pouch could have changed the quality/flavor?  Amazon might not think of this, but as a tea fan, I certainly do.  So I also informed Tealyra about the holes, as something happening at Amazon shouldn’t be representing Tealyra.  I’m hoping all of their pouches aren’t doing that over at Amazon…) 
Original price was $7.90  for 15 tuochas.
On Amazon, I paid $29.99 for 75 tuochas.
Even more hilarious…. I bought these right before I figured out that I’m a much bigger fan of Fengqing shou, more than any other type of shou.  And then I go and stock up on a ton of Menghai… so maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about and good shou is just good shou.  Just as long as it is processed to the strength I like?
Steep #1 // 1 tuocha for medium sized mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 7 second rinse // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 11 minutes after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min
Steep #4 // just boiled // 10 min
Tldr:  the new batch is smaller than the batch from 2022, changing the flavor.  I regret buying this new batch of 75 tuochas.  

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2024 Tea #6- A tea that energizes you

I thought of this one for this prompt.  It’s supposed to have natural caffeine added making it “3x the caffeine of a regular tea”, whatever that means, so in theory, it should energize me…  not sure if it does.   Before steeping, I do notice on the leaf in the pyramid tea bag, that there is like a matte coating to some of the leaves… that must be the added caffeine.  The flavor is decent enough, yet unique for an earl, most reminds me of grapefruit with a hint of cream.  Next time is a sipdown, not quite yet!

I was also thinking of this tea because I was looking for Angry Tea Room’s Caramel Popcorn Movie Night blend and it looked like Tea Guys used to have it.  Tea Guys have since closed and apparently had legal issues?  And Zest Tea was previously involved with Tea Guys which brought them to court?   And I thought “hey, I have some of Zest tea around here.”  A shame Tea Guys didn’t make it. But it’s also a shame I won’t be able to find Caramel Popcorn Movie Night again…