Rie

^{A strange up and down day. Not a normal day by any means…
And to top it off, here comes my first herbal tea, pretty much ever. I’d never have gone out of my way to acquire one on my own, at this point, so I have a great friend to thank for bringing this all the way from Mr. Zed in Washington, D.C. I’m grateful to be able to try it, even all the way out here across the country, thanks to them both.}

So here goes, first herbal tea! That’s made me double skeptical of this tea, too; herbal tea has never sounded particularly appealing, and I’m wary of cafe tea in general. I actually wasn’t even in the mood for the citrusy, spicy aroma of this tea tonight. What I really wanted was a dark oolong tea, but this sample was all exposed and needed brewing.

And while I was fully prepared to say that this was one tea that didn’t suit the evening for once, this tea turned around and completely won my approval. It’s sweet, dark, warm, and smooth, but backlit with just pure, clear and rich flavors of lemongrass and ginger, and dotted with spices that just linger at the surface, the way that I like the heat. Wow – I’ve really never had anything like this. Fantastic! And while this is my first purely herbal tea, I can guess that this is a good one, since I’ve had tea blends before with similar ingredients that aren’t quite so high-definition in outcome.

Lesson from herbal tea… sometimes, traditional tea will just not cut it. Only lemongrass can deliver lemongrass so purely. Only cardamom can be cardamom! And as much of a flavor chameleon as Camellia sinensis can be, I really am enjoying the boldness, clarity, and purity of flavor, from this herbal tea. Thanks again, Zed, wherever you are in D.C., and thanks, universe, that a tea person can have such considerate, horizon-expanding coffee-drinking friends. Haha! Now, time to discover just how much resteeping this can handle…

Had this bottled tea on the go, from a random store. It was a happy-sleepy day – not optimal for a work day! My co-worker and I had both been unable to make a morning tea, so we had to resort to a store-bought tea…

And I think, given this, I’d rather have a nice, black coffee. This is “Pure Leaf”, but it has added citric acid, so the sense goes out out the window. The taste and texture does, too – it’s sour with a bittersweet, old black teabag flavor, without any of the charming dusty maturity, and the texture is thin without being smooth at all. No refreshing or mood-lifting qualities either.

Even as far as convenience tea goes, this is pretty bad. I’m very unlikely to purchase this again; if this is the only choice I get, I’d just skip the tea altogether.

^{The myrtle is in full bloom in the garden. Myrtle is one of my favorite trees. The tall tree is bowing with lush heavy clusters of tiny blooms. The glass tea pot is in full bloom too. It’s tea time with Little Niece, of course! Flowering tea has always been nice to have – I never tire of the process. But ever since shifting into fine tea, I’ve often skipped the blooms because the liquor is not very good. Now I’m stocking flowering tea again because Little Niece enjoys it. I usually take a cup or two from the pot, but discard the rest very quickly, as it’s just too bitter and overbrewed.}

This ambassador of flowering tea from Verdant is simply the best I’ve ever encountered. The ball is solid, but compact, and I admire how relatively small and round it is compared to the sometimes gargantuan, misshapen balls of flowering tea. When brewed, it opens immediately – it blooms with great balance and intent in the water, sinking steadily but quickly, centering itself, flowering with enthusiasm. Clean, elegant, fluid. Full needles falling apart to reveal a small white florets with a red-orange blossom. (This might be a different ball – I did not find any amaranth as described). It had finished in a little over one minute, compared to the three to five minutes of other varieties. A timely, beautiful show.

More so, though, I was caught off guard by the sugar syrup flavor, the smoothness and fullness of the liquor, with just a breath of floral notes. And this wasn’t just for the first few minutes, either – although the smoothness developed some sharpness and astringency later on as the floral notes overbrewed, the sugar syrup persisted, thickening and sweetening to the point that I felt like I was having sweet tofu pudding. It’s a Chinese dessert – soft, silky tofu with a clear sweet sugar syrup, served hot or cold, and one of my most favorite things. This tea, without exaggeration, is just as sweet (if not more so) and almost as syrupy, also both hot or cold, that I’m forgetting this isn’t dessert… Incidentally, the name of that dessert is literally “tofu flower”. I never knew why, but now I have my own connection to assign to it thanks to this tea.

To be clear, there is even better tea to drink out there. But remember, this is a flowering tea, supposedly meant to be overbrewed in a glass pot, bitter to drink, mostly for aesthetic purposes. I’m astounded by what this bloom has given me here today. I’ve never resteeped one for drinking before. As beautiful as the bloom is, I’ll have to sacrifice a few hours of its ornamental value for more dessert… Verdant, this is truly amazing, thank you. Is the rest of your tea like this? I’ve heard many things through the grapevine, both positive and negative, but for as much as “Flowering Green Jasmine Tea = Tofu Pudding Dessert” is true right now, this Verdant newcomer is excited.

Have purchased this for the last 3 weeks or so from the same gourmet coffee specialist’s booth. See previous notes.

I’m not sure if I want to purchase this cup again, though. For some reason, there was something a bit too strong about the tea today that made it a bit cloying and strong in pure base tea flavor, that I got a headache as a result. Haven’t felt so awful after a tea in a while. Maybe the cold-brew iced novelty is gone now, and I’m accidentally doing subconscious tasting sessions on this as I’m working, because I’m picking up on unpleasant notes like this more and more as the weeks go by.

And of course part of the issue is with whoever is brewing the tea – it was another staff member who brewed this today – but that a basic black tea could turn so harsh all of a sudden… that kind of cancels out the plus points this gets for being accessible and user-friendly. Must drop the rating on this until I try this again.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

Gave an attentive cold-brew to this yesterday, in preparation for another hot day. Leaves, ice, then cold water, to be refilled throughout the day. The day was less hot than expected, the tea was even better than expected. Fine, smooth, and nutty, with no astringency, like a second infusion hot-brew cooled properly overnight… which makes this feel like cheating. But I’ll happily take it, considering how still notoriously bad I am at cold tea.

^{What I didn’t expect was that I was going to be resteeping this not just from morning to evening, for waking and work, but also to a night show at the Mandalay Bay theatre. The show was the Cirque du Soleil “One”, the Michael Jackson tribute, version 2. Not their best, and not the best in terms of dancing, but always at least incredible from CDS, as usual. It’s funny how being a Las Vegas local and show-watching veteran makes you picky about CDS shows…}

Anyway, Dragonwell isn’t too much of a night and bright-lights tea for me, so it was not my top choice to be having this during the show – I’d have preferred a darker, more fruity liquor-like tea, like a lightly-roasted oolong or a specific flavored black. But then what else but a house Dragonwell can suit an entire day and night, and still brew up so comfortably and well in a little metal tumbler? And without demanding too much focus and attention? Imagine being lost in thought over the complexities of a Puer in the middle of a busy valet parking lot…

A peaceful day at the open-air Town Square, on a weekday, drawn into Teavana… Had this cup made away from home, by the Teavana tea people. I’ve been curious about their straight tea, ever since I tried their Dragonwell a while back and was pleasantly surprised by the quality. I requested a hot cup of their Monkey-Picked Oolong.

I think my mild-to-moderate horror was not too outwardly obvious when they asked me if I wanted to add sweetener. And I’m completely for free tea choices – with awareness. What confuses me is that Teavana, having sourced such a good oolong as this, doesn’t inform their staff and customer base about how to best enjoy it. Once informed, people can choose and develop their preferences as they like. Here, it seems more of negligence than free tea choice, a lack of information and genuine concern.

Because it really is a great tea, already sweet enough on its own. Mildly fruity, with barely any green oolong florals, and thinly smooth, with absolutely no bitterness or astringency. Nutty on the undertone, instead of outright savory. I do wish there was a bit more depth and complexity, maybe even strength, considering this was a 15oz Western brew without rinse, which tends to showcase a broad spectrum of the tea flavor. Also considering the pricing. But I can’t complain too much either, for how smooth and cohesive this was. Still one of the better to-go tea experiences I’ve had. Thanks, Teavana. Now, please make the most of this great tea that you have stocked! Let people see just how deep tea can be, even without sugar.

^{Today has included some pretty interesting culinary and ideological debate adventures, so it’s fitting that I’ve designated today to be my first straight Puer brew. I’m not as intimidated as I used to be, having already fallen in love with my first flavored Puer, Lupicia’s Chocolate & Strawberry. But this is a whole different territory. No more training wheels…}

Dry leaf looks like pried pieces from a compressed tea cake – almost completely dark brown, with none of the lighter tips I thought there’d be. Am I supposed to break this apart more? I don’t see any instructions regarding that, so 8g of leaf into a 75mL gaiwan it is. Brewed gongfu style, with Teavivre parameters. I usually sip at oolong rinse brews, but even with two 5-10s rinses, the rinse brews for this were too intimidating. The scent was horse barn, with a tint of fishiness, wrapped up in earth. I don’t dare, not this time. I’ll give myself space today… but yes, definitely no oolong. My sheer inexperience with puer is making it difficult to describe things in specifics, and to know what to look for…

The first 3 infusions were mild, with no offensive flavor I was afraid of from the scent of the rinse brew. Very slightly sweet, with a mild generally ‘earthy’ taste, like wet soil. Agreeable, a little tasty, but nothing impressive, except for the smooth, inoffensive profile itself. The 4th to 6th infusions saw the development of a sharper profile, a bit leathery, but bitter like I imagine tobacco would be, with a touch of smoke. Less agreeable, but I’m glad to have detected some development. The 7th to 9th infusions kept up that sharp bitterness at the edges, but a slight, dark sweetness running through the middle that’s similar to the base of the C&S Puer, something I’ve been waiting for after noting the similarities in liquor color, and that I am glad to have found. Along with that is some lightening of the bitter tobacco into something a bit sour-earthy emerging. The 10th to 12th infusions lighten up more, developing more of that sweetness, making them my clear favorite set of infusions from this session.

Althroughout the session, the liquor has been a beautiful dark mahogany, a deep, warm brown tinted red at the edges, turning into a dark rose with a golden tint in later infusions. The liquor has swirls of layered color that I’ve not seen from any other kind of tea. I loved this liquor profile from the C&S Puer, and again am glad to have found it here as well.

The session ends here at the 12th infusion, with the leaf having now completely loose from the original pried pieces. There’s definitely infusions to be had here yet for a session in the morning, and I hope the sweeter end of the profile continues. I’m relieved that this first look into straight puer has been inoffensive and promising; perhaps a bit more bitter, sharp, and serious than I’d have liked, but then there’s a lot of space for learning and adjustment. And I do know now that I will be a puer person! Looking forward to it.

WHEW. I survived something potent.

We made an excess of the house tea today, so Uncle and I (the culinary mad scientists of the family) decided to combine it in the blender for a cooling tonic blend. Lemon-cucumbers, green apples, and celery, plus a very concentrated brew of this, our house sencha, blended with the house Dragonwell (Teavivre). Needless to say, the resulting drink was Very Strong.

As strange as this is, this is probably closer to what tea was like all the way back then, when it was a more savory, multi-ingredient drink. I remember mention of something similar in The Book of Tea, I think… that makes me feel less strange for having agreed to making this, and having finished drinking my entire cup. The consistency was a bit like a rough, sinewy matcha, and the taste was… well, complex. Bitter. The kind of drink that you know must be good for you, which explains why people even drank this kind of concoction in the first place all the way back then. And very cooling, as all the components are “cold” ingredients.

Admittedly, green tea tastes… passably good with produce – I don’t see any other tea quite being able to pull this off, minus maybe a not-so-floral green oolong. Knowing Uncle, he will probably want to attempt this again, so good luck to me and my straight-tea self…!

Incurable sweet-tooth is ringing again. Thank goodness for dessert tea. Thank goodness for Maria sending this to me from so far away, haha!

This time, I’d already known how much I like this, so in my need to hoard it I think I did an underleaf. Despite sufficient steep times (4min and 8min), it was a little on the weaker side. Although I prefer the somewhat thicker, deeper, sweeter profile of the previous stronger brew, this lighter version is also delicious. I can appreciate more of the nutty hazelnut flavor, and the present tea base underneath the cocoa. It fills less – not as satisfying, but then leaving more room for more tea, which is good since I’m right in the middle of my tea day! The finish, which in comparison was a bit too sugary at times last time, is a little more mild now. …Of course, I’m a sweet-tooth, so I’m not exactly complaining about a sugary tea, but I’m not a particular fan of simple sweetness, either, so I’m content either way.

What I am is a definite fan of this tea, though! I will have to pick up more of this eventually, clearly skimping on leaf as I am already… Notes for the future: brew towards the strong profile, with thicker teaware, and keep hot. Try adding sugar, milk, etc: it will probably become downright thick with sweet decadence.

A hot afternoon warrants another attempt at making Ceylon iced tea; this time, a hot brew over ice. Still courtesy of moraiwe. Thank you so much for this surprise sample!

Brewed the last of my sample at double strength (2x leaf, and 2x time at 8min), still no sugar or any other additives. Actually, this is probably the (relatively) most successful hot brew over ice I’ve done, since I’m notoriously bad at making cold tea of any kind…

It’s not as sweet and refreshing as I’d have expected, but then the average iced tea is supercharged with sugar, so the fact that this is as mild, slightly sweet, and pleasant as it is, is nice. There’s a bit of malt and a more pronounced cooling sensation that sets this apart from a common iced tea. I’d still take a grocery CTC OP black over this to cold-brew though, just because so much of the interest is lost here, and the CTC would do a better job at a fuller, stronger brew to stand up against ice.

Oh, but wow, this is so cooling, with the ice and the natural cool feel of the Ceylon… …I’m downright cold, now. I’ll now wander outside into the 106F heat to see how long the ice shield effect lasts, haha!

Today I received my new teaware; I’ve needed them for a while, having run low on gongfu and good cups through the last few teaware tragedies. And of course, always have to test new teaware with a habitual tea. Taiwan High Mountain it is. But tonight’s brew is a lesson kind of brew, not a leisure session… Same leaves, but new, unfamiliar teaware, adjusted amounts… the result was very different. For one, I definitely didn’t use enough leaf; the brew was weak. It was top heavy, with lots of light milk flavor, but weak and lacking depth. It’s struggling to get to a solid 10th infusion as a result, when I usually get an easy 12th. Actually, compared to my current other THM, this one stands to have more leaf.

For two, this gaiwan and the first set of cups are definitely cold-weather pieces – I misjudged that on the order. They’re thick and full, and I can’t wait to use these later in the year, and on darker tea and white tea. But they will just not do for green and green oolong, especially as we’re on the edge of a long summer. The gaiwan is a sturdy, hot, thick-walled one, and the cups are heavy and full in the hand, with a thick, round sip. That’s making this tea sweeter and heavier, but in a way that doesn’t complement the dewy, light milky (not ‘creamy’) profile at all. It’s better in my other gaiwan, even despite the rickety handling of that piece, just because the thinner walls probably don’t weigh it down as much with the handling and temperature.

Bottom-line: just a shift in teaware and a small leafing error completely changed this tea. To think that I’d have written this tea off if I didn’t know already what it usually is like… it’s intimidating, and humbling. I think of all the tea I will ruin in the future, the fine leaves that I’ll criticize for my own poor qualities, never discovering their true depth. Then, of all the tea I’m already ruining, of all the tea I’ve ruined since. But then tea is a drink of people – leaving room for endless mistakes, but also for endless potential. Let’s just be less imperfect than the day before…

The high-strung, high-energy day continues into night – thus, the Assam at 11:00 PM. I’m not the type who has trouble sleeping due to caffeine, but I do seem to get jitters in the fingers when I have a pot of Assam. While this is a sipdown for this tea, it’s the first time I’ve brewed up a whole pot of it instead of just single cups. Maybe this kind of tea is best brewed Western-style and in larger quantities, because this was the my favorite of 5 sessions… but then I’m going to be clumsily typing from the shaky hands, since this is a 750mL pot I have here, and I always resteep…

Not that I’m complaining. The scattered flavors from other brews are the most balanced I’ve seen them, here, and still so complex. The malt finally cooperates well with the dark-fruit here, with a nice brightness from citrus notes, although I’d like to see the profile thicker for all this. I also have to note the liquor through the glass teapot and white Western-style tea cups: thin, clear and with a lot of inner light. This tea bubbles easily with a medium-high pour, making it airy and malty, but has a soft low pour that seems to bring out the cacao more. Very enjoyable to watch and drink.

Overall, this tea has provided good, fun experimentation! Thank you for this great tea, Shelley_Lorraine, and the cute, cute tiny tin that now needs a new resident with this sipdown!

High-strung, high-energy day. Needing a battery recharge: this is still the clear choice for that. I do hope I run into another tea to replace its key role before it runs out…

Brewed this time at a lower temperature, and lower steep time. The steep time adjustment made this a bit weak, but the lower temperature did bring out some nice sweetness and more of the tea base. The ume isn’t as strong and clearly multi-dimensional as it is at boiling, but while it’s not as assertive, it’s still all-present and full. Looks like I just do a simple increase or decrease of temperature to increase or decrease the strength of the ume. It’s just a change of degree, and no change in overall profile. Such a practical green tea! And great resteeps too, although the profile deepens and darkens and I think the tea loses out to the ume at times.

^{Has the day come already? Sipdown, on my first ever Puer tea. To think that I was genuinely off-put by this in the beginning – and now, it’s a minor catastrophe that I’ve run out. I realize now that this is a ‘favorite’ tea, which is the first time this has happened since Earl Grey Creme, and since I’ve been on Steepster. There is more more refined, more valuable, and/or more flavorful tea in my cupboard than this, but this just brings overall happiness. I understand what you all mean now, when there’s a specific tea that you love.}

Brewed over 4 steeps with intuitive rinse (around 5-10 s), in its designated cup. Thank goodness this is a puer; this tea would not be as special as it is without the shu puer base. Complex, deep, and very distinctly tea, but with the subtle but persisting chocolate & strawberry candy flavor. It changes over parameters and steeps, but I’ll happily take anything this tea gives; every dimension is so good in its own way. Even the bitterness. Even the mustiness. Even the Meiji Apollo candy over wet soil combination… I’d never thought I’d ever appreciate that kind of strange profile, but somehow, I truly do.

^{Maybe it’s just the newly-discovered world of Puer that I’ve fallen in love with, but for now, I will truly be pining for this tea… I won’t be reordering this for a while, I think, to force myself to explore puer, but I’m willing to guess this is one that won’t ever fall out of favor, as it is.}

No notes yet.

A hot but relatively happy afternoon. Again, making me want to have cold tea.
Cold-brewed this, since this has pretty small leaf, and small leaf teas seem to cold-brew better. Good in theory, but… forgetting all about the salted sakura leaf in the blend was a bad idea. The tea does not quite catch up with the sakura leaf in the cold brew, so this comes off like cherry-scented, highly-diluted saltwater. It’s not revolting, but even when ice cold it’s admittedly hard to enjoy the sakura and tea with that light but distinct salt aftertaste.

This tea is very specific to brew. There’s a very limited range during which this is as wonderful as it can be, when the cherry scent is still delicate, and the tea is strong over the light salt. Definitely a tea to get a larger sample of; a small sample size with a less-than-ideal trial might turn people off very easily to a tea that can do so much at a perfect 195F-200F.

I can’t help but reduce the rating on this until I can replicate that perfectly balanced soft sakura profile again.

No notes yet.

^{The best thing about summer, by far, is the fruit! I don’t like the summer much, but I love fruit. I didn’t even realize that I’d requested only fruit-flavored tea for this latest swap until I received the package today. Exciting! Thank you for the tea, greenteafairy! I’ll definitely enjoy them!}

This is a popular fruit tea by Lupicia – easy first choice. And a great start, too! A steep and a resteep, with similar results. The profile is spot on; there’s just no question that this is grapefruit. There’s that distinct bittersweet flavor with a citrus tang, the juicy textures with a dry finish that lingers alongside the fruity aroma and astringent mouthfeel. Lupicia is amazing with fruit profiles, capturing not just the flavor, but the different tastes, textures, components as well. It’s not just the flesh of the fruit, but the rind and moisture too. I have half a Ruby Red in the fruit bowl at the moment that I could blend into my tea cup, but that would be redundant with how near-complete this flavoring is. It’s just a little less sharp and tart than it could be, but then it’s also a little more pleasant that way. Delicious, fresh grapefruit in a cup!

But then the flavoring is so accurate that this tea is headed too fast towards juice; the only tea I can strongly detect is that typical underlying sweetness from fragments of ryokucha, and then I can tell that the green freshness is cooperating with the flavor. But I would have liked the tea base to come through just a bit more on its own.

I can’t fault this tea too much, though; as accurate as the rest of the profile is, I wouldn’t be surprised if the weak tea base was intended to be subtle and blended-in, and is not just a fluke or flavor error. And because of that intent, and the sheer complexity and appeal of the grapefruit flavor, I’m not as troubled by the fruit-juice effect, admittedly… it’s a pretty delicious effect, as evidenced by my quickly-emptied cups. Ultimately, another win for Lupicia! And thank you again, greenteafairy; it’s a promising start to the fruit tea and my week.

^{A particularly domestic evening… everyone in the kitchen, a bit bustling, a bit relaxed, after everyone being out throughout the day, and such.}

A light black tea was requested, so this is what I selected. Brewed at normal parameters and then sweetened, this is much better than the strong brewed version I used for chilled tea. It requires less sugar to become sweet, more like 1/3 tsp per 150ml instead of the 1 tsp I had to use on the strong brew, and the soft, naturally fruity quality is still preserved.

^{Then, also, Little Niece takes the initiative to ask for her own cup and space on the tea arrangement: “I love tea!”. It’s just 5-year-old her, and 19-year-old me, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a point for Team Tea!}

No notes yet.

Disoriented upon waking… needed some kind of familiar tea to establish some ground, but also something that won’t settle lazily, something to clear the mental fog. This Earl Grey Grand Classic has quickly become a key tea in my current cupboard. It’s still an Earl Grey, just the black tea and bergamot I love and know so well, at the base. But then that fruit-and-incense profile is always a bit challenging and stimulating, so that I don’t end up drifting off into space either. I really do have to sit up straight, pay attention, and think.

I imagine that if an early Qing Dynasty scholar ever had a cup of Western-style tea during the long hours of study for the imperial exams, it would be something like this. Or maybe I just like the cute image I get in my head, a smart, cheerful bergamot junkie somewhere in 1600s China, somehow… See what this tea does? Serious mind exercise here!

Quiet, but happy midnight. Sleepy, but not tired; a bit sick, but with good humor. Needing a reliable tea to tie this all together. Genmaicha is such a solid companion of a tea, and this matcha-iri version of it is just as reliable, but more light-hearted. Just as easy to brew, easy to drink, so aromatic, full and true in scent, flavorful but uncomplicated, and so delicious. Also, that cute, cheerful neon color that I really enjoy seeing in my green-tea cups. Instant mood elevator. Going up?

Tonight’s two cups are light; the toasty, slightly sweet, and marine profile of stronger brews manifests as steamed, lightly salted veggies here. Definitely carrot this time, somehow. Raw carrot with the first, short steep, grilled carrot on the prolonged, second steep. Strange, but it does make some sense – both have a bit of salt, a bit of earthy sweetness, and a whole lot of bright, full flavor.

Although I like traditional genmaicha, the matcha here makes it so cute, and keeps it tasting more fresh and upbeat! I may switch to normal genmaicha when it gets cold again, since it settles and warms more, but for these months, a brightened matcha-iri genmaicha seems much more appealing. And now, I’ve been both refreshed and comforted by the scent and flavor of this tea – still ready to sleep, but more ‘relaxed’ than ‘drowsy’, and more cheerful about the world. Genmaicha really has a lot of influence on me, apparently…