Erin

This was wonderful, as expected. I have MeghannM to thank for this one. The chocolate flavor isn’t too obvious, but that doesn’t stop it from being delicious!

I’m increasing my rating on this one because it really hit the spot today. Maybe I’ve finally gotten my steeping parameters right, but this just really tasted good today! It’s good hot out of the teapot, and in my opinion it only gets better as it starts to cool off. My favorite was when it was just barely lukewarm. I’ll be coming to this one more regularly now, that’s for sure.

52teas has been on a roll lately. They’ve been producing blends that are all appealing to me, and when I try them, the wonderful descriptions turn out to be true! It seems like I spend a lot of time kissing Frank’s you-know-what on here, but it is sincere.

The package was full of bright red gorgeous strawberry hunks. I can smell this cup of tea sitting next to me on the table, that’s how strong the aroma is. The aroma is more sweet and creamy than tart and berry-like.

This is really good. It’s creamy in the wonderful way that coats your entire mouth. That sensation is complemented quite nicely by the strawberries, which I imagine would be even stronger if I had added sweetener to this cup. The strawberry taste lingers on your tongue. Another fantastic 52teas blend!

This is yet another cream cheese/cheesecake blend that I couldn’t resist buying (knock it off Frank! I’m trying to afford college!).

The smell of both the dry leaves and the steeped tea is very much like blueberry, as is the taste. There’s an extra element of creaminess to this; I suppose that’s the cheesecake. The blueberry taste hits the back of your throat as you’re swallowing. It’s not quite as tart as I was expecting, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This will definitely be a good morning tea for me to bring to class.

I got this in the mail today from Meghann M who was generous enough to send me some. Thanks very much!

I made this using the stovetop method, which I have never done before. I was nervous, having read some horror stories of curdling milk lately. I could tell I was doing something right when I licked the spoon. Oh boy, this was gonna be good.

This tastes like regular chai to me (which is delicious and super decadent). I definitely taste the vanilla, but the cheesecake not so much. The spices taste fairly muted, so perhaps I should add more leaf next time. It will be interesting to compare the chocolate version of this, which Meghann M also kindly sent.

This is one of the more delicious drinks I’ve ever made. Today has been a good, good day.

This morning I took this with cream and sugar. It makes for a rich cup of morning tea, but I’m still not getting as much cheesecake as I would like.

I drove to class just to find out it had been canceled, so I’ve got some extra time this morning in which to drink tea!

By now you are probably all aware of my love affair with cheesecake (if not, just look at a picture of my stomach and/or thighs and you’ll see just how much I enjoy the stuff) so I had to buy this. The smell of the dry leaf was very lemony and tangy. The steeped tea smells almost exactly the same as the leaf only slightly less strong. This seems promising!

I’d say there’s about a 3:1 ratio here of Earl Grey to cheesecake. The earl grey seems to be of a high quality, and it is delicious and full of great citrus (bergamot, actually) taste. The cheesecake is more of a lingering taste on the back of your tongue, but it is there. I don’t know how much of an actual cheesecake taste this is. It’s more of an Earl Grey Creme. However, this is still great. My mouth is quite happy.

I’ve been drinking a bunch of infusions of this today while I work on a paper. The buttery mouth feel was striking. It has a heavy mouth feel but a very light taste, if that makes any sense. My mother described it as “earthy” which also seems fitting.

I received this from takgoti a few months ago, so thanks!

I received this in my fabulous takgoti box a while back (thank you again, wherever you may be). I’m always apprehensive when a description isn’t provided on Steepster of what the tea is supposed to taste like. Not because I want to be biased, just because I’d like a little warning. I have to be in a certain mind-set for cinnamon teas, for example. When I sniffed this cup of tea, I smelled berry, which was reassuring. I really like berry teas, especially when they’re a black base, as this is.

And this is extremely delicious. The first part of the sip is sweet and creamy, and as you’re swallowing, you get a hint of tartness that makes your mouth water and your tongue tingle. Fantastic. The tartness lingers for a really long time, with tiny strawberries exploding onto your tongue every once in a while. I’ll definitely be adding a tin of this to my cupboard come winter. Thank you, takgoti!

I’ve had this sample hanging around for a while now. I’m pretty eager to try it, although I see it has received some not-so-good reviews. This doesn’t really concern me because a lot of people didn’t seem to like Golden Moon’s White Licorice either, but I loved it.

The aroma of the dry leaf is just your average, meat and potatoes white tea smell. I don’t detect any ginger.

If I randomly drank from a cup of this, I wouldn’t know I was drinking something that is supposedly ginger flavored. I can’t taste ginger, I only taste a nice white tea. This tea tickles your tonsils on the way down, so maybe that’s the ginger. It would be nice if I could taste it, though.

I don’t taste ginger, but what I do taste is good.

I just finished up the last of this. This chocolatey goodness is sure to become a staple in my cupboard! It’s a perfect day for it too, all rainy and dreary, which as far as I’m concerned is wonderful!

I am back… kind of.

Okay, Steepsterites, I can explain! I know I’ve been away for a long time, and I know you missed me (hardehar). But you don’t understand…

Texas is hot. Like, really hot. And I’m not used to this. I’m used to being able to go outside and do things. I am not used to stepping outside, vomiting from heat exhaustion, and subsequently having to spend all summer all day inside.

So I really didn’t drink tea all summer. Once again, I know. I miss drinking tea. So as soon as we had a cool(ish) day, I grabbed at the opportunity. This was about a week ago. It was rainy and it almost felt like a normal New Jersey summer day in terms of heat. I got out my old teapot and favorite mug, cleaned off the dust, and reintroduced myself to my tea cupboard. Man, I have a lot of samples in there!

This tea was delicious as usual, no surprise there. See my other tasting notes if you want more detail. It reminded me of just how much I love tea and winter and things not Texan. I miss tea and I miss home.

So, Steepsterites, I guess I’ll see you the next time it’s semi-cold! Until winter!

I haven’t been around Steepster lately, as you may have noticed. The weather turned blisteringly hot seemingly overnight (don’t they have spring here?) and I just cannot cope. I’m not as fond of iced tea, so I’ve been drinking less and less tea. My job is keeping me spectacularly busy as well. I hardly have any free time, but I do have more money to my name than ever before (I don’t mean to brag, just simply to tell you how strange it is to buy stuff without feeling guilty). It is burning a hole in my pocket, just itching to be turned into tea leaves and teacups and teapots. I’ve already converted a large portion of my paychecks into books – I now need another shelf.

Thank you Doulton for sending me this tea a while back. It’s stormy and not nearly as hot today – only 74 degrees – so I don’t think I’ll suffer heat exhaustion if I enjoy a cuppa. Hopefully.

The aroma is that of an apple pie baking in the oven. This storm has both my dog and myself on edge, so the first sip felt like sinking into a warm, cinnamon scented bubble bath.

Doulton has made me a liar! This is really hitting the spot, so I’m not going to be able to have just one cuppa today… I made myself another pot and this time took it with milk, just as an experiment.

Either absence (of tea, in my case) really does make the heart grow fonder or this is an exceptional tea. The milk adds a whole new layer. It is now like eating a cinnamon bun but without feeling like one is simultaneously developing type two diabetes. Thank you, Doulton, for helping me to remember what it’s like to take a metaphorical chill pill in the middle of my day.

This was my free sample that came with my latest Republic of Tea catalog. The aroma is interesting… it smells like artificial peaches and… chlorine? I find that any artificial fruit flavor or smell will have a chlorinated edge to it. The steeped tea came to a lovely light orange color.

The first sip is pretty good. I’m not getting very much green tea or ginger, mostly just peach. It doesn’t taste like true peaches, but rather a peach flavored lollipop. It isn’t bad, but if you’re looking for a real peach taste, don’t get this. I’m picking up just the slightest hint of green tea in the aftertaste, so this would be a good tea for people who don’t exactly like green tea. As for the ginger… I can’t find it at all. Darn. Still, this is decent.

I’m in need of a good comfort tea today – I’ve been wallowing a whole lot lately and it’s starting to get pathetic. So hopefully this will blow my mind and make me forget where I am.

The smell of this was divine. It was a whole lot of burnt sugar and caramel. Now, I much prefer caramel to chocolate; it is probably my favorite sweet out there. So you can see why I chose this tea today.

Right away, I taste the oolong. It’s one of those nice buttery, creamy oolongs, so it is complemented very nicely by the caramel. The caramel doesn’t come out and assault your taste buds, but rather it very gently massages them into submission until you’re lost in the taste. The longer I hold the tea in my mouth, the stronger the caramel becomes. It’s not the sickeningly sweet caramel you would pour over ice cream; it’s almost like there’s nuts added.

This doesn’t come right out and scream “Desert Tea!” It isn’t sweet enough, so it’s perfect to have around as a comfort tea. Which is what I needed right now. I bet after a couple more infusions I’ll be wondering why I was ever in a funk in the first place.

This has nothing to do with the tea, but it just started absolutely pouring. Like, the kind of storm that sends my poor dog running under my bed with her tail between her legs. It was perfectly nice out a minute ago. The weather is so weird here…

EDIT: Oh, lovely. Now it’s hailing, too. And raining sideways.

I love melons, and Rishi’s Honeydew Melon is one of my favorite teas. I’ve heard that this is quite similar, so I’m expecting to like this one very much. I took this unsweetened.

The scent of this one is like baking bread. It’s yeasty and almost smells a little like beer. The melon in this is pretty subtle, not surprisingly. It blends perfectly with the white tea in the background. This is a very light tea that would probably be sublime when iced. It leaves practically no aftertaste. I feel that the addition of sweetener would make this too sweet.

I can’t decide if I’m tasting muskmelon or honeydew or both, but whatever it is, it is good! Another winner from Golden Moon!

EDIT: In case you were wondering, I think I like this better than Rishi’s version. Rishi’s is still excellent, but the melon is a hair artificial. This wins by a mere 3 points.

From the looks of it, I’m one of the few people here who actually like licorice. The dry leaf smelled quite delicious. The tea smells more herb-y (as in parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, not the horrible Lindsay Lohan movie with the talking car) than licorice-y.

This is very pleasant! The licorice doesn’t smack you in the face, so there is no need to fear this tea. Up front there is just a taste of general herb. The licorice is only a very quick note on the tail end. It leaves your tongue feeling heavy and tingly (and in my case, happy).

I could certainly see myself buying this again. It’s light enough to enjoy as a hot summer tea, but the mouth feel is curious and heavy enough to enjoy this in the winter, too.

My job keeps me even more busy than my classes did! It looks like during the summer I’ll only have time to log tea on my days off. This was a tea that the lovely Takgoti sent to me. Once again, I’m using my tiny oolong teapot from Samovar for this tasting.

I rinsed the leaves, then got down to some serious oolong business.

The tea is a medium brown color. It smells sugary sweet. The one taste that stands out the most is (obviously) honey, and this is a pretty light tea. It also tastes slightly doughy, yeasty, or “bakey”. It’s a good combination!

This is the second tea I’ve had from The Simple Leaf. I love Dawn, and I like this. Thanks, Takgoti!

This is another fabulous Takgoti tea. I wanted to wait until I had a decent chunk of time on my hands to really give this tea the tasting note it deserves. This is a special tea! Not many teas are grown in America, so I feel honored to be able to taste this. I’m using my new teensy weensy Glass Oolong Teapot from Samovar for this tasting, as well as my new Lotus White Teacup from Rishi. The teapot is so cute! This is how small it is in comparison with my hand (and you can also check out the unique shape of the dry leaf): http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4598524179/ Upon steeping, the leaves unfurl to epic proportions: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4599146076/ I rinsed the leaves first and then made my first infusion. Here is the finished first infusion in my new Rishi teacup: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4599148028/

First infusion: This tea has the kind of buttery, smooth mouth feel that I associate with a white tea, such as Samovar’s Downy Sprout. The texture is like a white tea, but the taste is a strange cross between an oolong and a sweet green. It is just slightly grassy, but I also taste a tree-like note (and reading what Samovar has to say about this, I think I’m tasting the pine or evergreen) like how a Christmas tree smells. It is less buttery and more sweet as it cools down.

Second infusion: The mouth feel has become a lot lighter; it’s not nearly as buttery anymore. This infusion tastes more like an oolong instead of a green/oolong/white hybrid. After each sip, the aftertaste makes me think that I just ate a few grains of sugar.

Third infusion: The color is beginning to lighten up a hair. The taste is starting to get more sweet and flowery, and the Christmas tree taste isn’t as prominent anymore. The buttery feel is no longer existent.

Fourth infusion: Color is even lighter now. The Christmas tree taste is just barely there, but the floral taste is now the most noticeable note. It continues to get sweeter, but everything is starting to taste a little watery.

Again, I want to thank Takgoti for this experience!

I didn’t steep this cup as long as I did last time. I tasted mostly the caramel and not as much juicy pear, which was upsetting.

However, I love this so much that I ordered a full tin for myself!

I’m trying to work my way through all of the samples I’ve received from very generous people like Doulton on my days off from work. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be nuts about this, since I used to hate the taste of coffee. Now, however, I get tons of free samples from the cafe in the bookstore where I work (be jealous), so I’ve become somewhat used to the harsh taste of coffee. As a precaution, I’ve added some milk to this in an attempt to hopefully cut the harshness and make this easier on my stomach.

In the first sip, it was the citrus flavor that hit me. The combination of the coffee and citrus is making this a bit bitter, but in a coffee way, not in a bad way. If you concentrate, you taste the sweet notes underneath the sharp orange taste. The caramel hides in the aftertaste, while the cream floats around throughout the cup. I’m not getting any chocolate, but that’s fine by me, as I’m not much of a chocolatey tea person anyway.

After subsequent sips of this, the bitterness is dying down a lot. Now it’s mainly sweet orange and cream with those fleeting hints of glorious caramel. This is quite a unique tea; all the tea that Doulton has sent me have been uncommon, surprising teas. Thank you!

I’m finally trying this iced, and I like it a lot! I’ve bumped up the rating tad. I wish I could taste more melon in this; the main flavor I’m getting is cucumber. It’s a very natural cucumber flavor though, and the hint of sweetness at the end is wonderful! I can’t tell if the sweetness is from the melon or from the sweetener I added, but whatever it is, it isn’t artificial. This is very very refreshing!

Instead of buying the whole Golden Moon Sampler for $20, I purchased only those teas that I was interested in and saved $11. This was one of those teas. I love vanilla and I love jasmine, so I’d be telling a lie if I said I wasn’t excited about this one.

The smell is intensely vanilla. It’s an intensely creamy vanilla smell, like vanilla bean ice cream or the vanilla extract I use when baking cakes to decorate. The jasmine is there, but only slightly. It is tantalizing my nostrils.

This is wonderful! For a black tea, it is surprisingly light. I should mention that I’m drinking this after it has cooled down significantly; I was making some iced tea for my mother and forgot that this was waiting for me on the table. I actually don’t taste a whole lot of tea in here – it’s mainly just that extremely creamy vanilla with some jasmine on the tail end. There isn’t a whole lot to say about this. It is a very simple tea. Simple, but high quality and soothing.

This is from Doulton! Thank you!

Mariage Freres does not provide much in the way of a description for this tea. So it’s up to me to try and figure out what is in this. I love a challenge – bring it on!

The scent is reminiscent of chocolate covered strawberries. Upon tasting, I’m getting something creamy (banana?) and the faintest hint of tart raspberry. This is most interesting. One of the things I’m enjoying about this is that it doesn’t seem to be astringent. It has some creaminess, like vanilla or banana, that calms down the black tea. I think adding some milk to this would put the creamy factor on 12.

I recommend anyone who wants a tea adventure to try this. Since it lacks a description, it doesn’t fill your head with subliminal thoughts of what you’re supposed to taste. And since I’m not sure if all of the notes I detected were truly there, I can conclude that this tea was full just general delicious things.