Sun and Cloud Mist

Frank had me at cute kitten! :D Just look at that adorable little kitten with his paw in the air, awwwwww!!! I simply love this image. The sun is a lemon and the clouds are marshmallows and then there’s the cutest kitten I’ve ever seen reaching out towards me saying (now you have to imitate a little kitten voice to get the full effect), “Please! Buy this tea!” Awww, I won’t let you down cute kitten! You’re coming home with me!

I promptly opened the package as soon as it arrived and turned on the kettle. Hey, I gotta’ make the little bugger feel welcome! The dry leaf aroma is potently lemon, quickly followed by marshmallow. It smells like those lemon bars with powdered sugar on top. No, it smells like that iced lemon pound cake from Starbucks! Whoa, I’m getting a slight headache from these insanely fragrant leaves. Warning: I think you can get high off sniffing this stuff.

Time to brew it up! The dominant aroma in the brewed tea is lemon followed by green tea and finally, there’s the marshmallow root. It shows up last and still closely resembles icing. I’ve never had a Yun Wu tea before, but I’m excited to try it now!

First taste…lemon and then a lovely green tea like I’ve never tasted before! Wow, it’s heavenly! The aftertaste is slightly vegetal and grassy, but not too grassy. It just screams, “I am a high quality tea!” Man, this tea sure is talkative. And the kitten seems to be getting along nicely with Mr. Frodo. (No, I’m kidding. The tea didn’t actually come with a live kitten).

Back to the tea: this lemon, icing, green tea confection is blowing my mind! I’m getting creamy, I’m getting buttery, I’m getting cakey! Then up comes that grassy aftertaste, and I’m getting green tea! Oh man. I didn’t think I was going to fall in love with this given the fairly simple ingredients. Then again, I think it was love at first sight with that kitten, so I really shouldn’t have doubted. This stuff is almost as magical as the Butterbeer tea! GASP! Yep, I said it! This tea is amazing!

And let me just say, I’m soooo happy that Frank used a high quality Chinese green tea base here and not sencha. Sencha is all fine and good, but this is glorious! Plus, it’s fun to try something new and different and this does not disappoint. To any of you doubters out there, just do it! Buy it! Try it! It’s incredible! You will love it!

Thanks for sharing CHAroma, this is a really tasty tea!!
I’m just not quite sure how to regard it. The marshmallow and lemon really goes well together, and I quite enjoy the taste… but to me, the aroma is that of bergamot, and well, we allll know about my little hate affair with the big Berg. In fact, when it was freshly hot, I could barely stand taking a sip. For that reason, it’s much better as it cools.
Taste wise, it reminds me a bit of Graveyard Mist, which could be due to their shared base tea, or is there some other ingredient that creates the same foggy effect?
Anyhow, the lemon and marshmallow round each other out perfectly. So much in fact that I’m not quite sure what to think. Does it remind me of lemon candy? or marshmallows? agh I can’t quite put my finger on it!!
Thanks again CHAroma!
Edit: on the second steep now and some of the smoothness is missing. Lowering the rating a hair. Of course, it’s still great tea!

Oh yum! This is best if you let it cool for just a couple of minutes – the marshmallow flavor emerges more when it is slightly cooler than the fresh from the teapot hot temperature. I love the way this is blended – the Yun Wu offers a lighter, sweeter, nuttier flavor than the Chinese Sencha that 52teas customarily uses for their green tea blends, and I am loving the difference. I still love the Chinese Sencha too, but this Yun Wu makes for a deliciously different, refreshing change.

Very lemony… but I like that the lemon does not overpower the other flavors throughout the sip, it saves most of it’s very strong flavor for the aftertaste. This tea reminds me of lemon meringue jelly bellys. YUM!

I really love this tea, am so glad I finally got around to trying it. Seriously folks, I have so much tea here waiting for me to try. :)

I try to taste my teas in the order they come in, and I still have several left from a few assorted sales. This came in today, though, and I just couldn’t wait. I’ve dubbed this “kitten tea” and there was no way I wasn’t going to rip the package open after dinner and brew some up.

I saw other reviews that said this smelled like lemon pound cake, and it does, frosting included! It’s kind of intoxicating, and I wanted to keep sniffing it. It doesn’t really taste like pound cake (which I suppose is good, so you don’t get an overly dessert-y flavor), more like lemon meringue or a fresh-baked lemon pie. It’s sweet, citrusy, and so fresh tasting. The marshmallow tastes like the real homemade kind, airy and not too sweet. It comes in at the end of the sip, and sandwiched between the lemon and marshmallow is a gorgeous green base. You can tell this is a high quality tea, and it holds up to the strong flavors so well.

This tea is fantastic, amazing! I could probably drink it every day, but I feel like this is going to be a tea I horde for special days. I’m already considering buying another pouch and I’m only one cup into the bag I have! Oh kitten tea, I love you.

EDIT: So I played around with this last night and got a really great second steep. It’s way more marshmallow-y than the first one, much like how the Cheesecake Earl Grey is more cheesecakey on the second steep. It’s also sweeter, almost candy-like (but in a good way). The mouthfeel is creamier and richer as well.

I also tried something new and cold brewed the leaves I’d already steeped twice. I hate to waste a tea like this which is both amazingly delicious AND a limited edition. I let it steep for around 16 hours, longer than usual for me, but I didn’t know how strong the flavor would be. It’s very lemony and light, with the green base more prominent here than on the previous steeps. The marshmallow is the least-prominent, though some sweetness comes in at the end of the sip. It’s pretty much the opposite of the second steep, while the first was right in the middle. It’s great to see so many different aspects of the same tea!

My swap from CHAroma arrived today! Yay! Now if only the boxed up teas were potent enough to combat the nauseating skunk smell of the house…. Ever since 6:30am, the house has reeked of skunk. And so did my car (everytime I got into it, it smelled horrible!) It’s truly nauseating. Stupid skunk.

Anyhow, I was so excited for this one that I figured I should try it first. And aside from the fact that I obviously oversteeped it, it was pretty yummy! Very delicious, creamy lemon fluff flavours. So glad I ordered it before it sold out! I can’t rate it until I’ve steeped it properly (4 minutes is too long), but I think it’s going to be high. Also, the base tea is lovely – I can really taste it shining through! Now to wait the 3+ weeks until I get my very own baggie of it…

ETA: Seriously? I ruined the second infusion by oversteeping too? You’re kidding me. Guess it’s a very good thing I’m getting my own. Also, highly recommend like 2 min or less infusion times…

I almost didn’t buy this because of the goofy cat, but I like green teas and adore lemony flavored things so I finally gave in. Shipping was very fast (Thank you, Frank) and I decided to steep some of this up after lunch.

It definitely smells lemony in the package and then after I smell the wet leaf, I’m thinking, “Huh, this really does smell like lemon pound cake.”

I’m liking this as it cools down. I don’t know if it tastes like lemon pound cake to me, but it is yummy. I am thinking it is more like a lemon tart. I like the green tea base here, which is very light and soft and really allows the lemon yumminess to shine through. To me, it smells more marshmallow-y than it tastes, but I like it nonetheless! Compared to the lemon cardamom chun mee, it’s not as zesty, it’s definitely on the softer side. I am going to have to try this with a little soymilk added, I bet it would also be really good iced.

When I’ve had cloud mist teas on their own they seem a little boring, but it works well as the base for this.

Frank you are terrific with these lemon blends. I will enjoy this with no problem. :)

I am not having this under the best of circumstances, I must admit, because I made it upon coming home from work. Therefore I am gulping like my life depended on it (which it very nearly does!) and quite forgetting to pay attention. So today’s post might be a little superficial and stuff.

I’ll start with the beginning, namely when I opened the envelope yesterday. After having been sceptical for the first two days, this one finally got my hopes up for something that we would enjoy. Husband has a weakness for almost anything to do with lemon, so I was certain that he would like it. Me, I was struck by how much it smelled like a cross between a lemon surprise pudding and the sort of lemon pudding that my dad used to make when I was younger. (Unfortunately he can’t make it for Husband as gelatine is an important ingredient and Husband being vegetarian. He tried with agar-agar once, but it didn’t turn out very well at all).

After brewing it still has this lemon pudding medley smell. Lemony, creamy and sugary. I was pleased.

The flavour I was expecting was something a lot like these lemon puddings, and of course you just can’t do that in tea. You can get something that imitates a thick, creamy, custardy consistency, but you can’t actually get it. And the aroma was making me want that consistency.

I got over it though. You just can’t always get what you want.

The actual sip gave me initially green tea, then a funny flat note, and then a bunch of lemon-y lemonness. I don’t know what the flat note is. I can’t really describe it as anything else. It was just a feeling of flatness right there in the middle of the sip, like the first bit and the last bit weren’t properly connected. It didn’t make the tea unpleasant in anyway; it was just a bit odd, that’s all.

After the cup had been standing there for a bit and been allowed to develop slightly, the flat note gradually became shorter and weaker and after a few more minutes it was completely gone, so if I had just waited a little longer before sipping the first sip, I wouldn’t even have encountered it.

I always find it interesting how a tea can completely change character just by being left on its own for a few minutes. I’m especially noticing this in green and oolongs. Black teas do it too, but not to the same degree. They’re much more consistent in flavour most of the time.

Anyway, this did indeed live up to my expectations, if not completely then at least nearly, and Husband, predictably, gave the thumbs up as well.

I’m seriously craving a lemon-y pudding now, though! I tried my hand at aforementioned lemon surprise pudding earlier this year because I know it’s a favourite of Husband’s and it was for his birthday. It turned out really awesome (even with the dividing of eggs which is something I normally try to avoid as much as possible), so perhaps one of these days I’ll do it again.

And now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a few top secret items to wrap.

The label is hilarious! What’s up with the kitten? I love random weirdness like this, I can’t help but smile.

When it comes to lemon flavored anything, I’m quite picky. So this tea didn’t have much chance of making my reorder list. It’s still a nice blend where I can taste both the green tea and the lemon in a complimentary balance. Those are two flavors that I wouldn’t have thought could taste good together, but what can I say, that’s the magic of 52teas!

However, because of my lemon indifference, it’s not something that I’d choose to reorder for myself. There are just too many other teas out there that I’d prefer to drink. I’m still glad I had the chance to give it a try.

Speaking of reordering, I went ahead and placed another order with 52teas yesterday. Not that I needed more tea. I have a rule that my tea collection must fit in a shoebox sized Rubbermaid container. For now, my collection still fits, but I recently (and conveniently) lost the lid to the container, which can allow me to pile my teas sky high. So far the container isn’t overflowing, but I ordered a bunch of tea a while back,and gave it to my Dad to give me for Christmas, which is only a few days away. Thank goodness I ordered mostly sample sizes for that company. So hopefully I’ll be through a good bunch of them before my 52teas order arrives.

Made in my steep and go today!

Lemon marshmallows. I always see recipes for making your own marshmallows, but who needs that when you can have tea that tastes like lemon marshmallows.

I haaaaate my M/W classes. I’m gone from 10:55 to 3:40 or so I wake up at like 10:30 because I hate mornings and then get to eat like some breakfast biscuits and that’s about it till I get home. Not fun. I’ll try to get myself up earlier next week and eat an actual breakfast. I even made myself a coffee to get moving and then left it completely untouched. Way to go.

This I took with me and I am still enjoying it. I didn’t have cold water and of course when I tried to refill the bottle with some, the water fountain wasn’t working. My school is great. I think this might require a longer steep in a legitimate cold brew format because when it’s cold I feel like I’m only getting the flavors rather than the tea. Earlier I could taste green tea, but I still felt like I was missing out on something more.

Kitten tea is a winner anyway. I really feel like I am drinking in a great big lemony, marshmallow cloud.

I’ve been buying far too many flavoured blacks lately and wanted to pick up a green tea. This one fit the bill.

In the pouch, the dry leaf smells extra lemony, like a tart lemon candy. A little creamy but it’s very subtle.

The first time I steeped this, I did for about two-and-a-half minutes. Unfortunately, I found it to be on the bitter side. The lemon was there, but between the vegetal base and the bitterness, there was no fluffy lemon marshmallowness to be had.

Second steep, I cut the steep time down to around two minutes, and it was still too bitter and vegetal for my liking. The lemon was a little creamier, but overall, weaker than the first steep. Both times, I steeped it at approximately the same (lower) temperature that I do with my other greens, so hmm.

Just now, I steeped a fresh pot with some new leaves, and tried around 1 min 15 sec, and it was so much better. The bitterness was gone, the vegetal twang was more subdued, and the lemon turned into lemon pie filling. Now we’re talking. I wish there were more marshmallows going on in this blend, but I’ll continue to experiment with the steeping perimeters. Perhaps lower the temperature even more or something.

I have some of this yummy tea thanks to two very awesome people on Steepster – Amy Oh and MadelineAlyce! Thank you both awesome people! Steepster just seems to attract the most generous people.

My doggies and I went to the vet this morning. Poor things got their annual shots for various things. Vet said that Cali has an abnormally slow heart rate and an unusual rhythm. They want to do some more checking up next week. :( Then she said that we need to find out the closest emergency pet center in case he collapses due to insufficient oxygen. :( It’s so weird because he’s so much more hyper than the other dog. How can someone with boundless energy have an abnormally slow heart rate? :( He seems so normal.

While my mind isn’t completely put at ease, by this particular tea, I find that the bright lemon flavor and cute packaging is sorta helpful. I cold brewed this fantastic smelling tea overnight. I think I used a bit too much leaf, but that’s easily remedied by adding more water. It’s so delightfully refreshing and lemony. It really tastes like lemon! Like lemon zest! There’s also a bit of sweet marshmallow in the end of the sip that really makes this taste like a yummy lemon dessert. Like lemon meringue maybe. Tasty tea base as well! It’s supportive and grounding for the lemon flavoring.

Backlogging -

Got this with my Graveyard Mist purchase because you can’t buy just one of Frank’s gems! :) This is a really unique flavor. I taste the lemon and the marshmallow, but it’s not an artificial of either, which is nice. I wonder how this is iced?

The kitten on the package is adorable too. Makes me miss my kitty-cat, Reesi. We put her to sleep in 2006 after 15 years of awesomeness. Seriously, she was the best cat ever. She’s spoiled us for other cats! Anyhoo, she would probably enjoy this…or at least enjoy a snack while I enjoyed this cuppa. :)

I bought this tea along with 52 Tea’s Butterbeer. “Sun and Cloud Mist” (S&CM) I think should have the kitty wearing a hollowed out lemon helmet on its head. I dunno, I’m weird. But hey, that’s cool, you can’t please everyone right? Regardless, I do like lemony teas, so I wanted to try this tea out.

OBSERVATIONS: I am wondering why Frank doesn’t post steeping times. For this and butterbeer I went onto Steepster to figure out what others did for their tea – and it looks like “S&CM” has some tinkering to avoid bitterness. I feel bad for the peeps that overcook their tea, and it is limited edition type tea.

DRY: Lemony drop smell – sweet and lemony! I wanna chomp down on these tea leaves because it smells so delicious!

STEEPED: Pure yellow colour. Smells slightly sweet with lemon.

TASTE: Sharp and lemony with a hit of grassyness, starting to creep into bitterness. There’s a mysterious hit of fluffy creamyness at the end. Aftertaste is back to grassy lemon. Refreshing tea!
As it cools, the mystery creamyness comes out more and less bitterness.

WHO’D LIKE THIS TEA: Lemon tea drinkers. Or people like me who love lemon bars! oooooooh!

COMMENTS: Hrmmmm. I’m totally the tart bitter tea police as I think I’m sensitive to those flavors. I think with this tea I need to mess with steeping times more, maybe 165F or drop to 2 minutes to drop that hint of bitterness. That or cold steeping would be interesting to try on this tea.

However, S&CM is addictive as I chugged it down so fast. The mystery fluff flavor is interesting. MMMM fluff!!! Now my cup is empty and I’m going to get a cold steep started on this and hopefully not destroy it like my last cold steep.

The dogs and I are having an odd morning today. Since next week my alarm clock is going to be set for 3:30am (haha, yea…) I’ve been trying to get up earlier, but my dogs don’t seem to want to wake up until just around now, so it’s a battle of cranky dogs for a few hours.

Anyway, you might see a lot of tea tasting notes from me today because I’ve been slacking on drinking tea and as a result have become DEHYDRATED. Which is NOT good for my weak digestive system :-/ SO, tea is on the agenda today! (Along with homework for the final few weeks of my online classes FINALLY)

So, to the tea. I didn’t smell much when this was in the bag (A sample from Amy Oh; THANK YOU!) but once it was it the cup, YUM! Smells JUST LIKE lemon dessert bars mmmmm. I’m almost afraid to taste it because I don’t want to ruin the taste… Well, here goes nothing… Sip…. Not bad! It has a lighter flavor than the smell, but it does taste almost exactly like it smells! Perfect lemony creamy flavor with just the perfect taste of green tea. Now, I’m not usually a green tea fan, but I actually really like this flavor. Must be a different type of green tea (and I’m a fan!) I think the soymilk I added helps with the creamyness, but I might actually omit it on the next cup and see if it brings out the lemon flavor a bit more. Thanks for the sample Amy Oh and for creating this wonderful tea Frank ! :)

This was one of the teas I received in the grab bags 52teas was selling a few months ago. So, when I opened the package I saw this one first. Green tea with a cute kitty on the front? Sold! I’ve been drinking this for a while now, just a little slow to logging it!

Anyways, upon opening the bag I am hit by lemon, reminds me of Pledge, with a marshmallow note underneath. The wet leaf is a sweeter lemon, like a lemon pastry of some sort. The taste is sweet lemon with vegetal green tea, and marshmallow, mostly in the tail-end and aftertaste.

It definitely reminds me of some sort of lemon pastry, it’s good! The green tea is surprisingly not buried underneath the lemon, it has a butter-like taste to it that only helps to amplify the pastry taste. Butter croissant with lemon icing maybe? Either way, it’s yummy, and the adorable kitty on the front, well it’s fun to stare at while sipping the tea!

SPOILER ALERT!

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me a mug full of … sun and cloud mist tea.

I have been waiting all day to try and not be the first person to blab the third tea of the 52 Teas 12 days of Christmas box but it’s almost 9pm here and I’m off to bed soon. I have been drinking this throughout the day which has given me a while to contemplate the blend properly. Plus I have to mention the kitten on the label is adorable!

My first thought when I opened the packet was that it smells very similar to Gooey Butter Cake which also has lemon myrtle. The main difference seems to be that this tea is green and the GBC is black. But they both have the same creamy lemon smell.

Once brewed they do still have a very similar smell and taste but this is a much lighter version than GBC and a little fresher tasting. Judging this tea without comparing is hard to do.

Smell: Creamy lemon
Taste: Light and greenly fresh with creamy and slightly sweet lemon. The green tea is of nice quality with no bitterness which makes me think this would be delicious as an iced tea. I am using my last cups of this with my husband though as he liked it so I don’t have enough to test that theory :(

This was on my list of tea’s to try from Frank so I am glad I had this opportunity but since I have a pack of Gooey Butter Cake and am used to that one and with this being so similar I don’t think I’m won over by it. I do like it don’t get me wrong but I just wished it was a little different.

16/12/2012
silly label. pretty good tea. i had a lot of problems trying to get these 52teas christmas box teas brewed in a tasty way. i just never seemed to get the time and temp right even after all the teas i tried. but this one was nice. do like lemon greens :) yum

OK, so. I saw this label, and knew that no matter what kind of tea it was for, I had to own it. It has an ADORABLE KITTEN on a bed of MARSHMALLOWS. With a slice of lemon for the sun. You guys. YOU GUYS.

So anyway, I was going to order it no matter what, but I did actually read the description and thought it sounded pretty good. I mean, I wasn’t really sure about the marshmallow with the lemon, but I have been dying to find a yummy, lemony green tea lately, so I was more than willing to give it a go.

And then it arrived — after my order of Butterbeer. And let me tell you, Steepster, I have finished an entire pouch of Butterbeer already. And I only gave a very small amount to my tea drinking pal because it was incredible and I didn’t want to share. So I haven’t really been drinking anything else at home, and I don’t do loose tea at work after my first attempt because of the mess factor.

So I didn’t try this tea until just now. Things to know:

1. It smells like dessert. I guess it’s the marshmallow pile adding even more yum to the lemon sunshine, but oh gosh does this smell great. And I can’t really separate the scent of the tea, but I can tell it’s there. I want to just, I don’t know, eat the leaves or something.

2. It tastes like dessert. It seriously lives up to the smell. The handful of lemony greens I’ve tried so far have been pretty unimpressive, so I was a bit nervous going into this, but it’s just the right lemon to tea ratio, and the marshmallow adds a sweet note that mellows the lemon’s sharpness a little and ties everything together beautifully.

3. I’m terrified to try more 52teas blends because WHAT IF THEY ARE ALL THIS DELICIOUS??? What if I have to start ordering all my tea in wholesale amounts!? I could drown and/or be buried in delicious tea — AND I’M OK WITH THAT.

But seriously, this blend is so amazing and I give it all of the thumbs up.

Another sample from the Calender and this was AMAZING!! really love it and would put it on my shopping list :D

I love the cute little kitten on the label of this tea, and I smiled as I was opening the packet. The dry tea smells very strongly of lemon, almost like a creamy lemon aroma from a lemon cake. The color of this brewed tea is a pretty pale (almost clear) yellow. The flavor is very light also, with only a wispy touch of lemon present. It is much better with sweetener, which brings out some of the marshmallow flavors. Overall, a very light and delicate tea. I can imagine I would enjoy this best during the summer, as it is very refreshing.

-Dry blend has medium size green tea leaves and pieces of white marshmallow root and lemongrass.
-Dry leaves smell like lemon cake. Tea liquor aroma is faintly of creamy lemon.
-Tea liquor is a clear pale yellow color.
-Soft lemon flavor with a smooth finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Delicate lemon cake flavor.