Cofftea Send Message

1 tea bag in a random amount of water at a random temp for a random amount of time during Bible Study this morning. A stronger green tea, not light like a lot of loose leaf I drink. Definitely not a bad tea… and ABSOLUTELY better than no tea at all. I’m getting some lemon notes which is interesting.

Sigh I still don’t have my strawberry matcha so I had a half bowl (1 scoop/8oz water) before church. What a yummy breakfast! I still want my strawberry though.

Janefan made matcha lemonade so I decided to make my own variation. I used this cuz I’m getting very low on unflavored matcha.

1 tsp powdered sencha/6oz (minus 2TB) cold water/2TB lemon juice. Unlike Janefan, I didn’t sweeten mine. Approx. ratios of a double portion of Usucha and almost 8x stronger than the suggested parameters for powdered sencha.

Wow… measuring by the tsp sure is messy! I had to be very careful not to spill. I put it in a empty plastic water bottle so I could shake it well. It created a lot of foam that didn’t collapse easily. Lemon and matcha were both very evident. Personally I think I prefer my matcha hot. That and not drinking it from my chawan just wasn’t the same.

Whew… what a day. I woke up to problems w/ my flight that I booked to Seattle for June so I’m just now drinking tea.

Maestro Collection: Set 1, Tea #1

I still have no clue what that Amber Pu Erh is, so I decided to pass it up and start on my other set. I’ve only had one other pouchong, and it was also from Adagio so this should be a pretty good comparison.

Prepared as suggested. This pouchong has very different steeping parameters than their “regular” pouchong. This tea requires a hotter temp (205 vs 180), but a shorter steep time (1-2min vs. 5).

The leaves are dark green and twisted. The aroma is clean and fresh like a spring rain.

The liquor is a very light yellow as I expected and smells like freshly mown grass that had just been rained on- 2 of my favorite scents.

The flavor, while light, is not weak. The strength does not leave me disappointed or wanting more, although I don’t think I’d suggest the 1min steep. The mouth feel is very clean and smooth, making my tongue feel washed instead of blanketed. The flavor is exactly what I’d expect from the aroma… green (not vegetal or grass), a delicate balance of sweetness with just a tinge of bitterness, and rain. It can be somed up in one word. Spring. Definitely yixing worthy.

My boyfriend can’t be online today and, while I miss him, it gives me time to get thru these reviews.

Maestro Collection: Set 1, Tea #3

My 2nd Wu Yi. The dark leaves are loosely twisted and look like tiny pieces of raffia. This oolong grows between rocks and it even looks like it does. Something about it just says “I’ve had a tough life and I’ve faught to be here”. The aroma is dark and slightly roasty. My last Wu Yi wasn’t roasty… which is good cuz I don’t like roasty teas.

Prepared as suggested.

The liquor is a lovely reddish orange color and the aroma still contains those roasty notes although there is a sweetness to it as well.

When I take a sip I am relieved that this is not by far the most roasty tea I’ve ever had. The roastyness is present, but there’s also quite a bit of sweetness in the background to cut thru it and make this more enjoyable for me. The description says it has notes of wet stone, but as I have no idea what wet stone tastes like, I can’t tell you if it’s there or not.

MY 500th TASTING NOTE! I saw the Maestro Collection in SS today so I thought I better get going and give people some tasting notes to read! I nearly fell over when I saw that these teas are valued at $58 and I am even more greatful for them as I’m not able to afford them right now. Even for not being a black tea person, Yunnan Curls were pretty good so I decided to continue w/ that set and try the other black tea. I’ve never had a Keemun tea before.

Maestro Collection: Set 2, tea #2

I’m suprised at the tiny, wirey shape of the raw leaf. The aroma has faints notes of smokyness, but is also very smooth and slightly sweet.

Prepared as directed.

The liquor is coffeish like the Yunnan Curls with reddish tones. Too bad I don’t like blacks more, they sure are pretty. The aroma is lighter than I expected, but echo that of the raw leaf.

The flavor is almost exactly that of the aroma. While the flavor is substantial, it’s definitely not harsh. Slightly smoky, sweet, and smooth. It doesn’t taste like coffee, but it does have some of the same qualities so I can see why people would drink this in the morning. Not a bad tea.

I had quite a spicy dinner so I decided to put my daily matcha in some yogurt. I didn’t have vanilla so I went w/ Boston Cream Pie. The flavor of the yogurt was stronger than expected and some spoonfuls had more matcha flavor than others. Not too bad though.

I must say, 2nd to steepster- I love twitter. Adagio said that they were looking for people to taste and review their new (yet to be introduced) single estate teas so I volunteered. I was thinking 2, maybe 3. No. They gave me 8 different teas! Some observations: label change! It’s not only visually more appealing, I love that they put the leaf:water ratio on them (in grams yet!) and they have tweaked the temps/times as well. They now use 185 F instead of 180 and include 205 and they give ranges for steeping times- 1-2min, 2-3min, 3-4min, and 3-5min for the teas they gave me. Sadly, they still treat Pu Erh like a black. I’m not a non chai black tea person, but was given 2. One of them was this and I’ve never tried golden curls before so I decided to dive in. The golden color makes me less worried lol.

Maestro Collection: Set 2, tea #2

The raw leaf looks like golden raw ramen noodles with a fuzzy texture and the aroma is lighter than I expected from a black tea and slightly peppery.

Steeped as suggested.

Given the color of the raw leaf, I’m surprised at the darkness of the decanted tea. It’s almost as dark as coffee. The aroma is very much like the raw leaf, although there is also a sweetness coming thru.

When I taste it, I know this isn’t a dark oolong. It’s definitely like a lot of black teas I’ve had, but lighter and less offensive to my personal tastes. The peppery of the Yunnan is there, but not as strong as it might be in a chai. There’s also a smooth caramely sweetness (that must be the toffee they speak of) that prevents the tea from punching you in the face. As it cools I’m definitely getting both a sweet potato taste and texture as well as a hint of what I’m guessing is leather. If you like Yunnan teas and/or their sweet potato pie tea this is a must try.

Another tea from Irina. Again, I’m hesitant to log this because I’m just guessing at what tea it is. The raw leaf is tightly rolled leaves and has chunks in it LOL. There are things that look like chocolate covered raisins only slightly green in color and lighter golden colored things. I tried one and they are rather soft and slightly chewy. Maybe fruit? Apple? It smells chocolatey, but I’m detecting something I think is raisin… but there are savory notes too… I think that must be the pumpkin.

Due to the heavy chunks, I measured this by 1 heaping tsp (2.75g)/6oz water. After steeping the liquor is a light yellowy. A light apple juice or… um… well.. I’ll stick w/ a light apple juice. The flavor is light for an oolong- it’s definitely a green oolong base. It’s sweet, slightly spicy, and even a little cidery- although not apple cidery. Whatever this is, it’s GOOD! Rating pending positive ID.

I’m prefacing this by saying this might not actually be Garden Aria. I got this from my best friend Irina a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t labeled and she couldn’t remember what it was. She just knew it was a Teavana tea. I didn’t want to drink it til I had it identifying it for fear of placing the tasting note on the wrong tea, but yesterday was her birthday so I thought I’d try it. (Couldn’t yesterday as I had a cavity filled.)

It has long, slender, almost twig or needle shaped leaves (wirey, not smooth and sleek like silver or emerald needle) that are white and greenish in color mixed in w/ the strawberry- although there appears to be something else here as well… kinda orangish. It definitely smells like a red fruit flavored tea. I can’t smell the tea base at all.

2.25g/6oz water. The liquor is very light, almost like a more peachy version of a White Zin.

The aroma is faint, but sweet- mostly fruity, but a hint of tea. The flavor is exactly what you’d expect from the aroma and liquor. Light and fruity… although now there’s an additional peach flavor peeking thru.

Not my personal cuppa, but I can see where a person that loves fruit flavored whites would love this. Could be amazing iced. Will hold off on the rating until I have it positively identified.