teaplz

I figured I’d go back and try a bagged tea after all of the loose leaf I’ve had, and see how differently it tastes. That project flew out the window, though, because I think I overstepped this puppy. I was in the midst of a highly entertaining e-mail conversation and let the teabag float there for too long. As a result, this one isn’t tasting as good this morning.

The tea juice is a lot darker than I remember. It’s probably because loose leaf is much less murky and dark. Loose leaf is also a lot less bitter. That might be from the oversteep, because I really don’t remember my cup of English Breakfast looking this dark, but it was still surprisingly bitter compared to what I’ve been drinking the past few days. The nice flavor profiles are still there, but I find myself not wanting to pick up the cup as often. I think that bags might be even more finicky than loose leaf (or at least some bags, for that matter), since you’re releasing so much dust/tannins into the water at such an accelerated rate. If you don’t watch, it’s bitter.

Steep three of this baby and I’m done! So, this time the leaves just sort of looked like… leaves. Yeah, because that’s what they are.

Well, that was intelligent.

Anyway, the cup that brewed up was still around the same color as the others, but this one had a bit more sediment in it. Which I found pretty odd, considering that this was the third steep and all. The leaves still smelled a bit spinach-like. The taste of this cup was closer to the second than the first by a long shot, but the spinach taste had mellowed out. When Gunpowder #3 was hot, it was actually bitter, which took me by surprise. As the tea cooled though, the bitterness disappeared. This one is still definitely veggie-like, but the sweetness is the main flavor component. It’s very, very sugary. I was really surprised by this.

But I was pretty much done with this by the bottom of the cup. I think I might have been able to get another steep out of this one, but I really don’t feel like it. While it was interesting to see the tea evolve over several steeps, the first steep was by far the best, and the reason why I rate this one so highly. I don’t know if I’ll be resteeping this one again, simply because spinach is not one of my favorite flavors, and I really enjoyed the smokiness that was so great the first time around.

My mom thought the entire resteeping thing was pretty odd. “So, you’re just going to leave those leaves there? In the pot? Can you do that? Why would you want to do that? That first cup tasted awful.” It was pretty amusing overall.

Yay! My first second steeping of a tea! If I decide to resteep other teas, I’ll probably tack the findings on to the end of the first steep results. But since my last review of Gunpowder was so massive, I think that’d be a bit unwieldy. Unless I decide to split it up all the time. We’ll see.

So, no crazy leaf explosions this time. The leaves did seem to get a bit bigger, though, and look more… leaf-like. Like plants. Which is what they are. I’m still amazed at how much leaf came out of the little rolled pellets. The leaves smelled like spinach this time.

Anyway, the liquid (I know I’m supposed to use “liquor” but that sounds pompous) was around the same color as before, but the taste was completely different. Ridiculously different. It wasn’t like I was drinking the same tea. This steep tasted strongly of Essence of Spinach. If that was even a flavor. It’s like spinach and water infused as one and became a beverage. I don’t really know what to say about that, since spinach is definitely not one of my favorite vegetables. It was interesting, and definitely sippable, but not as enjoyable and complex as the first steep.

I couldn’t detect any of the smoky flavor anymore at all. If anything, it was a faint wisp in the back of my throat. There was a little bit more bittnerness, but nothing out of the ordinary. But what was pretty amazing was the delicious sweetness that became a prominent note and aftertaste. I can still actually taste it now. It tastes like what I always want sugar in my tea to taste like, but it never does. It’s natural and delicious and wonderful. If anything, I kept drinking this second steep for that juicy sugary goodness.

I’m going to try a third steep of this stuff a bit later on. Now it’s more curiosity than wanting to drink it, just because the second steep was radically different than the first.

Homygawd this is awesome.

Okay, so here’s a little secret: out of all the teas I’ve gotten from Adagio, the one that I’ve been sneaking smells from the most often is the Gunpowder. It just smelled so unusual and different from any of the others. And this tea is frankly, adorable. The little glossy pellets look like droppings from a rabbit god. Or something like that. The smell was sooo good too. Smoky and deep and complex, begging me to just taste it.

I brewed up a level teaspoon in my IngenuiTEA, and waited for the magic. Now, you might not know this, but I’m new to loose leaf, and therefore am fascinated by the leaves unfurling. I sit in front of the IngenuiTEA like a kid in a candy show and watch the fireworks. And boy, did these little critters put on a show. They were writhing and shuddering in the steeper like The Little Shop of Horrors was coming to town. Bursting open with their little leafy tentacles… I expected one of the little buggers to wave to me. That’s how lifelike it looked. The leaves also blew up in size and proportion as they bombastically exploded. I was shocked at the jungle in my pot when it came time to pour.

The liquid that comes out of the craziness is a pretty yellow-green, that color in the Crayola box that you could sometimes never find use for. There wasn’t really much of a smell at all coming from the cup. But the taste? Mmmmm.

Okay, let’s go on a tangent here. Trust me, it’s necessary. When I was little, we’d go to Disney World on occasion for vacation. My favorite part was EPCOT, and my favorite ride was Spaceship Earth (hey, I’m a dork – leave me alone!). Ridiculously enough, my favorite part of Spaceship Earth was Rome burning. Why? Because they’d pump into the air an awesome smell of burning wood and smoke, a mesquite-like scent, that I’d try to keep in my lungs as much as possible after the ride moved on.

This tea tasted like Rome burning. And it was amazing. Smoky and deep and mysterious. I was in heaven. There was a bit of a sour taste, and a bit of a sweet aftertaste. The sweet taste fought a battle with the smoke and won as the cup cooled down. Sweet and a teeny bit grassy, with the smoke as the aftertaste. But at the highest point of heat, it was all smoke. I’m not getting the ashes description that a lot of people are suggesting, but still. There’s a little bit of a slight astringency on the palate once it’s cooled down a bit, but it’s sort of pleasing in a way that I can’t describe.

I do not think this tea is for everyone. The proof was when I offered my mom a sip of this. She was on the phone when I gave it to her. She immediately shook her head and visibly almost gagged. And I thought, well, that was interesting. It pretty much tastes like it smells dry, so if you don’t like the smell, don’t drink it.

But yeah, I love this already. We’re going to try and get multiple steepings out of this baby today, so stay tuned for future logs as the day goes on! :D

I have a really annoying canker sore in my mouth. I bit my lip last week, and it’s developed into an ugly little bugger on the inside of my bottom lip. No, it’s not a cold sore, and no, I don’t have mouth herpes or some other thing. And no, it’s not contagious. But still, it’s sore. I read somewhere that tannins might actually help out a sore, so I’m drinking some black tea right now. But of course, it’s late, so I needed something decaf.

Okay, really bizarre thing. I had Adagio’s Decaf Ceylon the other day, and I found it to be a nice, basic decaf drink, perfect for nighttime. But tonight, after drinking Yunnan Jig earlier in the day, I’m finding this to be more flavorless than I remember. It tastes much more basic and much less special than the last batch I made, even though I steeped it exactly the same way as before. While the earlier Yunnan tasted like a yummy earthy beverage, this just tastes like… tea. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (I love tea!). But oddly enough, I was actually expecting something a bit different than how this tastes today. It’s comfortable and comforting and familiar, but it’s not dynamic.

Mmmm. I think that TeaEqualsBliss said that this was bold yet comforting, and she’s exactly right.

This is my first Yunnan tea. The dry leaves themselves smell a bit peppery, and they’re a really pretty gold/black color. Steeping these was really fun, because the leaves proceeded to twist and jiggle their way around until they unfurled and grew to enormous lengths. When poured, the cup is a very pretty amber color.

The best way I can describe this tea is robust. It tastes a bit earthy, but a pure earth flavor, not like dirt. More like if dirt were refined and recycled into an absolutely delicious substance. I don’t know. There is a slight edge of bitterness, but it was more on the side of malty. And there wasn’t any astringency to speak of.

I kept trying to taste that unique Yunnan peppery flavor, but I really couldn’t detect it. Maybe my tastebuds and tea knowledge aren’t up to snuff yet, or perhaps this tea isn’t the highest quality Yunnan out there. I sat in my chair with my hands cupped around the mug, sipping this quietly and reveling in the flavor. I really enjoyed this cup!

Woah. So this is the last tea that rounds off the loose teas that I have in my cupboard that I’ve tasted in their bagged incarnations. And this one is probably one of the most different.

I shared the cup with my mom, who was amazed at how fresher and interesting this tastes as opposed to regular, garden-variety chamomile. It brews up to a beautiful light yellow. Let me tell you, this one is a real chore to clean out of the infuser basket in the IngenuiTEA. Or probably any infuser, for that matter. The blossoms, while adorable, break up a lot in the water and require multiple rinses to remove all the pesky residue. It’s pretty annoying.

The other complaint that I have is that after the first layer of beautiful, full blossoms of chamomile, there seems to be a lot of crumbled dust in my sampler tin. I think there might be full blossoms under that, but I really can’t tell. It’s a bit disappointing if they’re all smashed to smithereens in the tin, though.

The taste of this is a lot better than I expected it to be, actually. I like chamomile, but only really when I’m feeling under the weather. It’s always really sweet, almost to the point of being cloying. I’ve found as I’ve drunk more and more tea that I’m losing a taste for stuff like this. I was surprised at how light yet rich this one was! Although it steeps to a pale color, the flavor is very, very refined. I never noticed that chamomile tastes like apples, but it does! Like fresh apples from an orchard, scented my the flowers around them. Or something poetic along those lines.

Anyway, this was pretty enjoyable. Does this mean that I want to drink chamomile every day? No. But this really is much better than a lot of the bagged stuff.

Wow.

So this one’s actually pretty interesting for me, because I think I’m beginning to be able to detect taste differences between different varieties of teas!

This one steeps to a medium-colored amber. It’s drastically different than the color of Twinings’ brew, which is so dark and murky it could be mistaken for coffee.

Even though I haven’t ever tasted Assam tea by itself, because I had some Ceylon last night, I was able to pick out the Ceylon taste immediately. In the first couple of sips I kept thinking “buttery” once again for Ceylon. This disappeared as I got midway through the cup, but it was still interesting. After each sip, I’d get a dark and interesting kick. Not bitter (and I think there’s a fine line here), but I guess a taste that could be described as “malty,” as Adagio and Lena have said. And I thought to myself, that has to be the Assam!

I really, really enjoyed this cup this morning. But here’s the crazy thing – I actually wanted it to be even bolder. I think the ratio of Ceylon to Assam is okay, but I would have actually wanted more of an Assam kick. I wanted the brew to be a bit more in-your-face, kicking ass and taking names. Towards the bottom of the cup, the Assam was definitely more present, and I felt myself grinning through those last few sips.

This is definitely more endlessly sippable than the Twinings blend, but I sort of like how assertive and RAWR-worthy Twinings’ Irish Breakfast is. Thinking back on it, it’s probably because they’ve dialed it up on the Assam a bit. Their blend made me feel like a scurvy pirate, slugging down my brew with a big “ARR.” It’s almost masculine. This one was more of a “rawr” without Caps-Lock. Not to say it isn’t delicious – because it is – but I was actually expecting it to be a bit stronger.

Just a late-night cup before going off to sleep. This loose leaf thing is kind of ritualistic and soothing in a way. It’s pretty late, so I figured I should try and steep up some decaf.

I’ve had Harney & Sons Decaf Ceylon bagged, so I sort of knew what this one was going to taste like. Ceylon has a very default “tea” flavor. It’s pretty mild, light, and soothing.

Adagio’s Decaf Ceylon was no different. It brew up a nice orange color, and didn’t have any strong smell (neither in the wet leaves nor in the actual cup). The taste was pretty full-flavored, even though it was decaf. My palate isn’t good enough to detect the difference between decaf and regular tea. Or maybe it’s the CO2 process that makes it taste pretty much the same.

The boyfriend tasted this one and he like it enough to have a couple of sips, commenting that it was smooth. I have to agree. I’m still surprised at how not bitter loose leaf is in any way. How pure and clean everything tastes. It’s like the essence of the tea leaf (which it essentially is).

I should just throw in the towel with Earl Grey, or perhaps I didn’t like Adagio’s blend. Or maybe I brewed it up incorrectly. :(

Whatever the case, this didn’t work for me this morning. This tea smells absolutely delicious – more like a Lady Grey than an actual Grey. I’ve had my nose permanently stuck in it since my Adagio order came in. It’s mouthwatering. And pretty, with the little blues and the dark black of the tea.

And it steeped up to a beautiful amber hue, with a very pleasant smell. Bergamot and citrus and floral.

But the taste left something to be desired for me. It was fairly smooth at the get-go, but then there was a really bitter kick at the end. Very bitter. As in, over-steeped tea, even though I followed the directions that Adagio gave for brewing this baby. Or maybe it was bergamot overload. The bergamot flavor here comes on stronger in the sipping than it does on the nose. Like really, really strong.

I think I need to lower the steeping time on this one significantly. I’m feeling fairly disappointed right now, though. I thought I was going to experience an Earl Grey revelation. As in, “Ahhh, now THIS is what Earl Grey is supposed to be.” I was able to finish the entire cup, but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I hoped I would have. Maybe it’s time for me and Grey to part company – even though I really do love Twining’s Lady Grey.

I’ll keep experimenting with steeping time, though, and see if I can mellow this beast.

(P.S. This is one of the funniest reviews that I’ve read about this tea: http://www.teaviews.com/2007/06/25/review-adagio-earl-grey/ I can’t say my experience was AS bad, but it was disappointing on so many levels.)

I drink a lot of peppermint tea. It’s true. I really enjoy the way it tastes, I like the menthol feeling on my tongue and in the back of my throat, and I really enjoy the benefits of it (and the lack of caffeine as well). I know bagged peppermint pretty well.

How awesome is real peppermint? I mean, yeah, in the bag, it’s peppermint. But it’s not like peppermint dust. This is awesome. Amazing. So refreshing and yummy and minty! I used two level teaspoons and followed Adagio’s directions for steeping time and water temperature. The result was a green-yellow liquor that didn’t smell that strongly of peppermint.

But the taste! I still feel the coolness in the back of my throat. I’ve always felt that peppermint has a slightly bitter taste to it. Not this! No bitterness, and after the cooling effect, there’s a faint hint of sweetness. It’s really refreshing. I could drink this all day.

Loose leaf is proving to be super-awesome indeed. Color me impressed!

And so the journey begins…

I just finished my first cup of loose leaf tea, and what a tactile experience it is! I brewed this up in my brand-new IngenuiTEA, using a teaspoon of Adagio’s blend, and steeping it for the recommended five minutes. I couldn’t help but sniff the little tin over and over again as I waited impatiently for the cup to finish brewing.

The tea steeped to a much more amber color than I was expecting, but I’ve read in several places that this is typical of Adagio’s blend. But the smell! It was so tea-like, so indescribable in a tea way, that my nose is too newb-ish to make out everything. It’s so awesome to watch those leaves unfurl and grow. It looks like an actual plant, and not dust from the factory floor!

The taste is amazing. Beyond the taste of the English Breakfast blend, and this tea in particular, I’m going to talk about the taste of the loose leaf itself. It tastes clean, and pure. It’s not bitter at all (the five minute steep time sort of freaked me out, because if you steep most bagged teas for that long, you have a fairly foul brew). It’s rich and smooth and nuanced. It’s almost like seeing in 3D for the first time. There’s no flatness of taste, or stale flavor. It’s just pure, unadulterated joy.

To talk about this English Breakfast – it’s a bit lighter than I think of when I think of English Breakfast, but it has a lot of the smokey elements that I can sometimes detect. It has an almost buttery quality underneath the main tea taste, with a pretty sweet aftertaste. It isn’t astringent at all, and rolls on my tongue in pure delicious awesomeness.

I am definitely craving another cup. How yummy! It’s like I wasn’t wearing glasses anymore, and now I can see! The only complaints I have right now is that I probably want this one a little stronger. I probably have to add a teeny bit more tea to my teaspoon.

Here comes a ridiculous question, regarding the teaspoon. How does everyone put their tea on the teaspoon? I tried digging my measuring spoon into the tin, but then freaked when I realized that I was probably breaking my precious leaves! So I washed my hands and dried them a million times before carefully picking up the leaves and placing them on the teaspoon. I wasn’t sure how to really “make” the teaspoon, though. The leaves are fairly wiry and long. It didn’t seem like a full “teaspoon,” even though the leaves were peeking out beyond the level point of the spoon.

I know I’m getting all technical. Perhaps I just have to add more tea to the teaspoon, or buy one of those teaspoons made especially for measuring out tea.

Either way, this was an awesome, awesome experience. I can’t wait to continue my journey with loose leaf! YAY!

Backlogging from last night and oh my.

So, I went away with my friends to a trip to my friend’s cabin in the woods a last month, and I brought some teabags with me. I had one left-over bag that I found yesterday of peppermint from that trip, and decided to steep it.

What a big mistake! What a foul, stale brew that tasted like twigs and had this bizarre, bitter taste. I threw out my cup and immediately steeped another cup (from a fresh bag), which tasted much, much better.

I doubt I’m going to have much time to pause today and tomorrow due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, so my tealog is going to be fairly vacant. But I really can’t wait to try the loose leaf tea that’s coming my way (and should be here super-soon).

More peppermint for a really garbagy morning. :(

Random note of the day: this tea brews up to a really funky color. I guess I never paid attention, but the edges are green and the middle is this clay brown. Bizarre. Whatever.

I’m just sitting here, sipping this after I’ve felt fairly awful all day, and playing some Snowball 2007 (http://armorgames.com/play/314/armor-games-snowball-2007/ ). It’s addictive, fun, and awesome for the upcoming winter season. My personal high school was an even 3500. My tea is nice and soothing. I think I might be loosing a taste for chamomile, though. If anyone added sugar to this, I’d look at them as if they were crazy.

I’m feeling really awful. As a result, this goes into my tummy.

I steeped this for a good long while, and it came out really nice and strong. Very calming on the stomach, and a soothing herbal for the night. I happen to love the menthol feel that peppermint tea leaves in your mouth!

Second try with my PG Tips Pyramids. This time I only steeped in for two minutes, but the flavor was still very, very bitter when left alone. Much more tolerable than my first steep, but still with a very strong kick. The tea steeps to a very dark hue, with a surprisingly strong veggie smell. My bag smelled like stewed vegetables when I sniffed it wet. The tea does contain this aroma. It’s not a bad smell, but it’s sort of odd for me from a black tea.

This tea is definitely more complex than a lot of the other bagged varieties out there. The pyramid shape probably lets the tea grow a bit, even if the pieces are somewhat small already. I added some milk again (soymilk, around 3 tsps), and the taste infinitely improved. This tea would probably rank higher for me if I didn’t have to doctor it up with additives. I hate putting anything in my tea, but I really can’t imagine drinking this one without first smoothing it out with either milk or some lemon juice. It was designed to be drunk that way, and I’m having a difficult time accepting that. I drink Irish Breakfast without putting anything in it, so…

That being said, I think I’ll try and do a really short steep of this one and taste the results at a later date, to see if this can indeed be had neat. Someone recommended online using a large amount of water and just pouring off the excess. I might do that.

I’m not going to rate this one quite yet. I drank half a cup today, mainly because I messed up on the steeping time. The pyramid bags are quite cute! But because of their shape, they probably release a lot of juicy, tea flavor at a much faster rate. Well, I sort of wasn’t paying attention, and I let my bag drift around in the cup for a good five minutes. The resulting brew was extremely bitter! I could barely drink it.

I added a bit of milk (a teaspoon, literally), and the tiniest pinch of sugar, but it was still very, very bitter. I could taste some interesting, complex notes, but I really couldn’t get a good read on them, because the entire thing just tasted overcooked.

How long should I steep these guys? There really isn’t much information out there. I’m thinking more like 2 minutes, tops…

Steeped this for shorter than normal. It makes it taste weaker, not better. I’m just attempting to blow through the rest of the bags in the box so I don’t feel like I wasted money on awful tea. :(

Mmm. After a really disappointing string of Bigelow teas that made me very, very sad, it’s nice to try something good from Twinings! This was the perfect cup to start off my morning. When I opened the little packet, the smell made me smile. It’s a really perky blend of citrus, and it smelled absolutely delicious!

The tea brews up fairly dark, and I have to say, the taste is superior to Twinings’ regular Earl Grey. It’s still got a floral edge to it, but the citrus flavors are more pronounced and a bit more complex. The combination is the perfect blend of soothing and eye-opening. It doesn’t jolt you awake; it coaxes you.

This is the last of the blends in my Twinings variety pack to taste, and I must say, I pretty much enjoyed every flavor in here. I’m looking forward to finishing up the rest of the bags. If loose leaf tea tastes a lot better than this, then I can’t wait!

D: Oh man! Bigelow, I do not want you in my cupboard anymore. I wanted some decaf teas. I can’t have a lot of caffeine due to my migraines and my stomach condition, so I can’t drink more than one cup of caffeinated tea a day. I bought the Bigelow variety decaf pack so I could try a bunch of stuff and have some decaf in the house. And so far nearly every flavor has been a huge disappointment.

The French Vanilla has artificial flavoring in it, and when you open the package, that fake vanilla smell comes on really, really strong. I love the taste of vanilla, but only when it’s a natural vanilla. Fake vanilla makes me feel nauseous.

The saving grace of this tea is that the taste is not overwhelmingly vanilla. In fact, it tastes like an extremely plain black tea with just the faintest wisp of a vanilla aftertaste. That aftertaste is pretty artificial, but it tastes more realistic than it smells. The smell really is so awfully overpowering, though. I love breathing in tea. This one brought no enjoyment whatsoever in that regard.

I don’t want to drink this again, but I have two more bags so we’ll see what happens.

It’s that time of the month, and I’ve read that chamomile is fairly successful in soothing cramps. This chamomile is pretty much basic in a bag. It looks, smells, and tastes like chamomile. I can’t imagine adding any sugar to this one (it’s already ridiculously sweet out of the bag). The flavor is fairly strong, but not overwhelming. I don’t know if the chamomile really did the trick, but the hot liquid made me feel a bit better as November cools down!

This was not a good Earl Grey. I’m starting to wonder if there is a good EG out there for me! Maybe it exists in loose leaf form, or maybe I’m just simply not the Earl Grey drinker. Bigelow’s bag is smells overwhelmingly of bergamot. Like, knock your halfway across the room. It’s a fairly pleasant scent, but I’m not gonna lie – it takes some time to get used to. It brews up fairly dark, darker than the Twinings blend I tried a few days back. And it still smells of bergamot.

This one tastes much more citrus-y than the Twinings blend. It’s not bitter, like the Tazo blend. The bergamot is pretty damn strong, with highlights of both a bracing citrus and floral notes. What I really didn’t like about this tea was its oiliness. If that’s how I can describe it. It coats your mouth, and leaves your lips feeling greasy. It’s not a very pleasant sensation at all. The black tea doesn’t taste like anything special; I think the low grade fannings are completely overwhelmed by the bergamot.

I’m not looking forward to finishing the other two bags that I have. It’s drinkable, but it’s not something that I’d anticipate a cup of on any given day.