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Another sipdown!

I haven’t had this forever apparently.

I still really enjoy this blend. The light earl grey and berries. Jasmine is present, but I would rather enjoy jasmine by itself. I am going to decrease the rating just a smidge.

This resteeps well at 5minutes.

And it is also fairly decent cold.

Thanks to Emilie and Will Work for Tea for these samples.

4 minutes is where it’s at. Last time, I steeped this for 5 minutes and found some astringency. At 4 minutes, no astringency!

Upping the rating a little! Delicious!

EDIT: I put the remainder of my cup in the fridge to cool. It is actually pretty good chilled.

Thankyou to Will Work for Tea for this sample. Your werwe right, this is right up my alley! And heck, the name is awesome!

I am getting the chocolate and slight caramel notes. But, it is a little bit astringent.

A splash of milk cuts the astringency a little. I will try brewing a little less time next time, maybe that will help.

Thanks to Batrachoid for this sample.

I find this really bold and a bit astringent. I don’t really find any sweetness here.

I added a splash of milk, and it cut a little bit of the astringency, but it was stilll there. Not bad, but I don’t think I would re-stock this.

Sipdown

I really like this combo of currants, orange, and vanilla. They just complement each other so well.

This is good for an after supper dessert. However, I am getting that fake “bubblegum” note that others have mentioned. I am decreasing the rating a little, but I still really enjoy this.

Gongfu today. I brewed 4 steeps:rinse,30s,50s,1m20s,1m40s.

I actually find that I enjoy this tea more brewed with this method. It tastes less vegetal, and it seems like more of the citrus as fruity notes sweep to the forefront.

This definitely smells good. It is ok, good for a sweet dessert. Maybe a little bit artificial tasting.

I can see this as being good to mix with other teas that need a sweet kick.

Thanks to Batrachoid for this sample.

Dry leaves smell very smoky.

It is quite bold and smoky tasting. Great for waking up in the morning. Malty, and a good assam IMO.

I did 6 steeps: rinse, 40s,1m10s,1m30s,2m,2m20s,3m in my gongfu pot today.

Using this brewing method, I find that the jasmine is much lighter and it seems like the green tea isn’t as strong. But it is less sweet somehow. The jasmine remains delicious and not overpowering. However, I do prefer the western brewing metod for this tea.

I can’t wait for my first order to come from China! These pearls are in the order!

Again, I am brewing this in my gongfu pot.

I did 6 steeps:rinse,45s,1m,1m30s,1m45s,2m20s,3m

The same notes come out as western brewing. Floral, slightly sweet, grass/hay, and that organic freshness. Delicious for an afternoon relaxing on a day off.

I brewed this in my little gongfu pot today.

I did 7 steeps: rinse,25s,35s,45s,55s,65s,75s,85s.

It took longer for the creamy taste to develop using this method. And it seemed to be more vegetal when prepared this way versus western brewing. It is still buttery and floral. And definitely enjoyable. However, I think I do prefer the western brewing method with this particular oolong.

This was one of the first teas I tried from my local tea shop. It is very tropical and natural tasting. Pineapple is probably the strongest note.

I brewed this for 4 minutes and flash chilled it. This is the first time I am having this iced. It is a little more astringent than I remember. However, I still love it, and it is very refreshing.

Thank you to Nicole for this sample.

This tastes a little sweet with honey notes. I get a little bit of smokiness. It is slightly astringent as well. And it gets even more astringent as it cools. So drink it quick!

Thanks to Amanda and tattooed_tea for the samples. I combined what I had left of my samples for a cold brew.

This is really good cold brewed as well. I am getting chocolate most of all, then strawberry, then vanilla. The vanilla is the lightest note here.

I made a tea smoothie with this tea using frozen strawberries and vanilla greek yogurt. It was SOOO good!

I will certainly be ordering this tea one day when my 52teas stash is a little less!

Thanks to Batrachoid for this sample

This tea is really light in jasmine. So this would be good for people who would like a lighter jasmine taste. For me, I thought it was pretty good, but I usually like stronger jasmine. It wasn’t quite as sweet as lots of other jamsine teas I have tried.

It was good for a relaxing Sunday afternoon!

Time for my weekend tea treat!

I made this one the stove today, not sure if I did it right because this is the first time I tried it, but it turned out really good. Milk, water, tea, and a teaspoon of brown sugar in the pan, simmering for 10minutes.

I put a dollop of light cool-whip on it as well. A real treat, and it was delicious!!!! This is such a comforting tea! Such a good mood now! Have a WONDERFUL Sunday everyone!

Huge pieces of fruit in this one! It smells delicious.

But the taste is a little disappointing. I think there was lots of apple pieces so I am not really getting that much cranberry pear taste. Don’t get me wrong, it is still there, but I am also getting an artificial taste to it. I will have to see where future cups take me with different amounts of fruit.

But hey, I only got a 20gram sample. I will still drink it but I won’t re-stock.

Thank you to David and Verdant Tea for this sample. And what wonderful customer service to hand-write a note!! It really shows that you care about your tea!

I steeped 8 steeps per the website’s directions at 20,15,25,25,25,30,35,40s.

Ah silver needle, I have missed you. I am sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you like this. I feel like I should be wearing a pretty dress, big hat, and white gloves to drink this tea. It is just so delicate and romantic.

It is sweet and floral with not an ounce of astingency. It is just the slightest tad malty. Like a fine wine, this is aged to perfection.

First of all, I was surprised when I opened up this bag and found long leaves that resembled black tea. It wasn’t rolled like I was expecting like other oolongs.

The brewed tea is a nice light yellow and smells like honey.

I did a quick rinse and did 8 steepings at 2seconds, then 8 steepings at 4seconds.

The most prominent note for me is sandalwood. There is some honey notes in the beginning. The tea then changes to more of a citrus note, especially grapefruit, since it is slightly sour tasting.

This isn’t my favourite offering from Verdant but I certainly wouldn’t turn down a cuppa (or 2!)

Thanks to Stacy for this sample!

These leaves are long and beautiful. They open up completely and are huge! It smells really sweet in the mug.

It is nice and smooth, a little malty. I am definitely getting a sweet fruity note here. Stacy describes this as raisin and it is fairly close. In the middle of the sip, I begin to pick up a slight cinnamon note that isn’t too strong, just mildly present. As for the cloves in the description, I am not sure that I am getting that. But maybe it is mixed in with the cinnamon and I can not distinguish the two.

No additions are needed to enjoy this cuppa.

Out of curiosity sake, I brewed up the Organic Assam to compare. The leaves are about half the size. The smell in the bag is much stronger than this premium assam. The premium assam is sweeter and smoother. They are both malty. The Premium Assam can be enjoyed without additions, but I feel that I have to add milk to the Organic Assam to bring out its best qualities. In conclusion, they are both good teas, but the premium is better IMO (I guess that is why she called it premium hey!).

I have drunk a lot of tea today! Can anyone say tea drunk…..lol

Apples are delicious in tea. This one is no exception to that rule. The pistachio adds a nice flavour, a sweet nuttiness (haha, nutty like me!). But then wait for it……rose?……hmmm, don’t like that as much. I think this would be better without roses but I guess it might also be not quite as sweet.

Anyway, this isn’t my fav apple tea but it is still very tasty. I don’t know if I would get more when my 20g sample is finished or not. I will have to see when I sipdown.

I put some in the fridge to chill, and it does redeem itself a little there. Because it is very refreshing.

And it resteeps fairly well.

Teavivre black teas gongfu experiment day!

I drank 3 black teas from Teavivre today. I was curious how the gongfu method would impact the notes in the teas.

I did 5 steeps: rinse, 30s, 50s, 70s, 1.5min, 2min

The colour of the brew is very interesting. I poured all these in quick succession and have each steep lined up in front of me. It starts off a light yellow/amber and shifts to a deep autumn amber.

It takes longer for the malty, sweet, chocolate flavour to develop with short steepings. It doesn’t show up until about the 3rd steep. This is still sweet, malty, with those wonderful dark cocoa notes.

Surprisingly, I think I prefer the Western brewing method in the case of this tea. It really gives the sweet and cocoa notes more time to develop.

I am increasing the rating because this tea is even better than I remember!

And that concludes my Teavivre black teas gongfu experiment for now…..thank goodness I don’t have more of their black teas at the moment! (but there are more on their way ;0)

Since I was re-visiting the Bailin black, I figured I might as well try this one out again using the gongfu method. Teavivre black teas gongfu experiment day!

I did four steepings: rinse,15,25,40, and 60 seconds.

The gongfu method really brings out the sweetness in the tea. I am getting more caramel notes than I did with the western method. I am still getting that slight sweet potatoe note as well. Or maybe my tastes have developed more and my palate is becoming more refined. Either way, I am increasing my rating a bit!

I wanted to steep this tea with my gongfu pot to see if I could bring out a little more of the chocolate notes and less of the grainy feeling to the tea.

Using my little gongfu pot. One note here: the leaves don’t get very large so make sure you use a straining device or else there will be leaves in your cup.

Quick rinse

I did four steepings at 30seconds, 40seconds, 60seconds, and 75seconds

I found with the gongfu steeping, there was a milder grainy aspect, which I enjoyed. It still wasn’t as sweet as I was hoping it would be. However, the chocolate did seem to come out a little more. I am pleased with this method and will continue to steep using this method with this tea.

Or if I continue to western brew this tea, I will take the first steeping as a rinse because I enjoyed the second and third steepings much more.