Life In Teacup
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I’ve tried this one before and thought I would revisit it. Roasted Green Tea and Veggies from my previous experience still apply but I’m enjoying it much more than a 73 as I rated it before so I’m increasing rating. This is dandy! Especially while eating my lunch – today I have Vegan Thai Lime Rice. Great pairing!
This smells like roasted veggies. The wet green leaves are a very vibrant green and that also shows in the very vibrant yellow/green coloring of the infused tea as well.
My first sip revealed a roasted green tea, indeed! It’s the type of taste that sticks with you for a while – it’s fairly strong – and true GREEN – but an ok tasting green tea, regardless!
Preparation
This just SMELLS Malty!
The color is a light to light-medium brown.
The taste is near a roasted peanut type taste. Not really nutty or peanut butter tasting but very hard to thing of anything else that it would be near taste-wise…but certainly roasted…NOT Smokey…roasted. It might come to me more clear at a later date. This is pretty good tho!
Preparation
Okay…so…first things first…70+ points just for the concept and photo of the snowflakes on the lake…(see pic in description)…neat, neat, neat!!!! :)
A while ago I used to not like Jasmine Teas. I think it was because I had OLD Jasmine or Over Infused Jasmine because once I started really trying to taste them for what they were…JASMINE…FLOWERS…I started to appreciate them more. OR maybe, I was just getting more serious about being a tea reviewer than to totally discount it!? Not sure…but…regardless…on to the review of THIS tea, shall we!?
Yes…Intense JASMINE scent. Very much so – Before, During, and After Infusion. While the green tea leaves were infusing all I could think of was seaweed or water plant life going with the flow of the water. It was a very cool experience to watch it. It lives up to it’s description because the petals do rise to the middle and top of the liquid that is steeping. It really does give it the affect of snowflakes on a lake. It’s lovely and a brilliant idea for a tea.
The taste is VERY Jasmine…VERY FLORAL…with a pleasant aftertaste…it’s NOT bitter at all. I really like that!!!! It almost has a sweeter or juicy ending…NICE.
I read a previous review making special note on the 2nd infusion…I am going to put it to the test…stay tuned. A VERY quick thumbs up for this tea! What an experience!
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Life in Teacup…I must say I am VERY pleased with your customer service!!! I’ve VERY excited to try your tea! This is the first one I will be tasting! I see it’s a well rated cup here on Steepster and now I will be a part of it as well! YAY!!!! This is screaming 2nd (or more) infusion(s)!!! Here’s my first go-around with this roasty-toasty dude…
It’s a gentle smoke scent paired with a little bit of woodsy and almost a natural puckery sweet…maybe apple-scent!? LOVELY…and VERY unique!
WOW.
Oh my…I have to laugh…but for GOOD reason…I see that more than one reviewer on Steepster also added WOW regarding this tea…and I thought it was funny…but there I go saying now…WOW…and I’ll say it again…WOW…I can’t say as I have ever tasted anything quite like this…VERY NICE…Unique is rarely bad in my book.
It’s acting like it’s a sweet type taste and ‘fakes you out’ and ‘changes it up’ into a woodsy type taste…then you can taste the smoke. The smoke is VERY pleasant and makes you all warm and fuzzy inside!!! I am picking up on a Apple/Lemon type flavor as an aftertaste, almost…
I agree with the other posts about this being a different kind of a smoke! It’s not your Souchong type…it’s much different…and very relaxing!!!
This Oolong was a very nice surprise in so many ways!!!!
Preparation
Hooray! I totally love LiT’s customer service and can’t say enough good things about how “WOW” their tea is. This was my 10 hour tea and I loved every single sip of it — warm and fuzzy is totally apt. So glad that you love it too :D
Not entirely sure but i think i ordered some of their teas too. (checks) Yup yup i did and a bunch of them too :D
I have some more LiT’s Reviews coming up this afternoon…
Double hoorays!!!!! :D
Ooooh, you know I love roasted oolongs! :) I already had this one on my shopping list. Now, I just need some extra cash. lol
This is the first time I have tried an oolong that has been roasted traditionally over charcoal but I have to admit I am hooked.
The taste is a delight. This oolong rolls over your tongue and leaves behind the tastes of pear and hazelnut. The aftertaste is lingering and is both drying and sweet. And it leaves you craving for more. My first cup disappeared too quickly to really analyze the flavors as I couldn’t drink it quickly enough. The second went the same way. I was finally able to slow down and savor the flavor on my third mug.
Preparation
Backlogging from last night.
I originally tried drinking this “Chinese style” with the leaves in the tea cup. After battling floating leaves through most of one cup and hardly being able to taste anything except the leaves that kept creeping into my mouth I decided that the Chinese must be either crazy or very skilled & dumped the leaves into my green tetsubin, adding a bit more since the pot is obviously larger than my cup.
Ah, much better. The pale pale gold liquor was vegetal, nutty, and (with a tiny bit of sugar) had a buttery, almost silken, mouth-feel. You know how it feels to drape a heavy silk brocade over your arm and hand and then you turn your arm this way and that to feel how it drapes and swishes, pretending that you are wearing a formal kimono with long, flowing sleeves? Yeah, it was kinda like that.
Preparation
This tea’s note is gonna have to jump the line in front of my Shakespeare one. Oh, what a joyous tea-drinking day! The Shakespeare tea (to be named later) was a revelation. This tea (I’m not even done with the first infustion) had me doing this (the PG tips intro for those who haven’t seen it — I’d be the monkey): http://www.pgtips.co.uk/
I’ll probaby do some editing on this note later to add info on the further steeping times and give it a rating. I was planning on having a lazy tea/book day and then I got a call to do an interview for a temporary summer library gig to help me get more hours/$. So I didn’t really do anything special with this tea. I plopped the whole packet into my large teapot (I know — sorry fellow oolong lovers, but I needed an oolong STAT and propriety flew out the window), but I did take 20 seconds to rinse the tea.
The smell was like a whammy to my scent memory (both the dry and infused tea). There’s something in my childhood it evokes. I think that I’ve narrowed it down to the church potlucks my family used to go to. They were held in a basement (sorta creepy but cool at the same time), and there was always a section of hot vegetable dishes. That’s this smell mixed with something else. I keep thinking that the something else has to do with early elementary school. I think that it may be the smell of the little boxes I used to keep my pencils, scissors and crayons in (like a cigar-box, but for school supplies). Weird, but true. If I hadn’t had oolong before, then it’d probably scare me off. But sweet baby jeebus on a pogostick: sip one and I was floored. This is oolong joy in my mouth! It’s got depth, a sweetness, a floralness, just yummy oolonginess! TG
ETA: getting ready for the 10th large cup infusion. This is ridiculous (but in a good way). I’ve been drinking this tea since around noon and it’s almost 10 hours later and it’s still pretty dang good. The flavor has definitely mellowed, but I love the sweetness that remains. ::sigh:: I love you tea!
Preparation
When I saw that video, the first thing I thought was “That is what Rabs means by TG!” Lol, too funny.
Someone else pointed me to that video (perhaps Feisty or Jamie) in one of the selects after s/he saw my TG. I laughed until I cried. I’ve said “nerdgasm” for years and when I got into tea and had my first excellent cup that’s when I decided that my highest praise would be TG :D
Hmm, I’ll bump this up a little for being a decent mug-brewed tea — I dropped six leaves into a mug and poured hot water over it, and the result was extremely smooth and nicely sweet — but there is still no bergamot to be tasted in it. Maybe I have a batch that missed the flavoring? Although given that steeping for two minutes brings out bitterness and leaving the leaves in the mug for a few hours makes the tea smooth and sweet, there must be something going on in there….
Yeppers — this was my tea of the day. I had a wonderful (if not whirlwind) Thanksgiving in Kansas City where there was a distinct lack of tea. The short turnaround made it not worth bringing all my tea-making items with me. So, these truly are the first cups I’ve had in ::mumble-mumble:: days. I checked Life In Teacup last week and they said that this tea is out of stock and should be back in by the end of November (and then they go on their haitus) – so I really need to keep an eye on their site. I don’t know why, but I had been treating this tea like something crazy-sacred instead of just enjoying it. I’m over it now, but realizing how much faster I go through the packets! TG
Oh, and yeah — I sorta broke my “no new tea until I drink some of my cupboard down” and ordered the Fortnum set from Williams-Sonoma (backordered until the end of next month!). So that gives me a month to do some sip-downs. Heh. And yeah, if you happened to notice — I’ll be breaking my “no new tea” rule for this tea as well. Double-heh.
I’m just gonna sorta sneak in here with my tail between my legs. I’ve finally returned to the land of tea last week when I came down with a nasty head cold. Since then I’ve been drinking this almost non-stop (still as awesome as ever). And with drinking this I naturally thought of Steepster and that I’d kinda fallen off the face of the earth here. And I really feel bad with how I’d been planning to send out gift bags of tea and utterly failed at that after people had shared their mailing addresses with me (so very, very sorry!). Every-once-in-a-while I’d think of that plan and just wanna crawl into a hole and die because of my lack of follow-through :(
Onto happier notes — I am really very happy with how much better this site is running! Six months ago — the last time I posted (eek!) this site ran like molasses for me, taking almost a minute for each page to load. I stop by this evening and holy-molie is it fast! And my stuck “Notices” have finally cleared up! So, huzzah to the Steepster overlords!
So, I’m going to try and post at least once-a-week here. Things are still hectic in my life, but I’m finally getting into a rhythm. And I think my return to tea is a nice indicator of that. However, I won’t be reviewing much new. I am determined to get through lots of my teas in my cupboard before I order any more. Uh, except for the Fortnum teas I just discovered at Williams-Sonoma. Yeah, I’m gonna have to try those. But nothing beyond that. I hope!
I have missed you all and hope that everyone is doing well!
Great to see you back! I missed you!
Wish my stuck notices would get unstuck. Welcome back!
Welcome back!
Don’t sneak. :) It’s good to have you around again. And yes they did something to the site speed. It’s still not perfect, but it’s a whole lot better.
Thank you all so much! I know that I’m an utter goober, but that doesn’t excuse my lameness. I just need to re-prioritize some aspects of my life — and tea/Steepster should be higher up on that list :)
I decided that I needed a yummy zen-like tea to get me through the day. Ah yes, this one hits the spot. I really noticed the butteriness of this one starting with the second steep — it almost felt like I’d applied lip balm (bizarre, but true). This tea just makes me happy from the aroma to the taste to the warm fuzzies it imparts. I lost count of the infusions, but there were many. TG
Preparation
“Back to basics” day 3. Shockingly, the thought of a black tea this morning had me cringing — and that’s unusual since I’ve gained a love and appreciation for them. I was leaning more toward oolongs when I realized that I hadn’t had my favoritest favorite oolong in awhile. I quickly (well, for mornings it was quick) got out my precious underused yixing pot and a packet of this tea.
I’m only on the first and weakest steep and already I’m reminded why I love this one so much: yummy green freshness that’s gonna evolve into even yummier green floral freshness. This one’s gonna be steeped like crazy today. TG
Preparation
Happy May Day/Beltane to all! This has been a beyond marvelous day for me: I tried this tea with my new gaiwan and am loving it, and most importantly Doulton’s Shakespeare box came!!!!! I’m just so overwhelmed with tea joy at the moment. But I do need to review this tea before I move onto the amazing box-o-Shakespeare (and it truly is amazing).
Speaking of amazing: this tea is beyond amazing. I’m so glad that I purchased my new kettle and first gaiwan just for this tea. It’s worth it. I’m on infusion #8 and it’s still going strong. I wait until there’s only about 1/4 of liquid left in the cup and then add more water, stir with the lid, and then commence sipping.
Steep 1-3 were all consistent and good. I didn’t feel “FLOWERS!” like other notes I’ve seen, but more like “Spring Meadow” right before the flowers get boisterous. Each subsequent infusion started to do the wonderful “oolong morph” that I highly prize, and on steep #7 it turned into the best sweet floral oolong that I’ve ever had. I’ve mentioned how some oolongs will feel like their sweet yumminess infuses into my tongue? Not only is this tea doing that, but I can feel it all the way to my stomach and that’s a new and unique sensation that I’m loving. So far this is my favorite oolong hands down. I thought that I’d never give a 100 to any tea, but here it is. I will lose my mind if I ever run out of this tea. TG
ETA: It finally started to fade on steep #10.
Preparation
So glad you liked it, it really is a very special tea.
Oh, I LOVE this tea. I’m introducing a coworker to loose leaf teas (I let her borrow my first kettle, teapot, and then made her a bunch of samples), and she really loved the few oolongs that she’s had so far. I must have her try some of this. And I think I’m in love with drinking from a gaiwan. :D
I want to get a gaiwan but I keep being worried about lead in glazes from China. Maybe I’m being overly paranoid. I noticed someone has a glass one, can’t remember where I saw it now.
I hadn’t thought about lead in the glazes. Hmmm…and that’s very worth thinking about. I googled “glass gaiwan” and saw quite a few from tea companies I recognize (from Republic of Tea to Teaspring). You’ll have to let me know if you go for it! :)
Maybe I’m a fool for trusting the signs, but my teashop posts a very straightforward sign noting that many of the yixing pots and gaiwans and other ceramic teawares have lead-containing glazes used for exterior decoration.
I don’t worry about the exterior glazes, because liquids have to be in contact with the lead glaze for a good while to leach out significant amounts. I stick to simple interiors, and enjoy my teas.
The one glass gaiwan I tried was awkward because it had a little rim inside the body of the cup for the lid to rest on, which at first seemed like a great idea, but in practice made it very difficult to tilt the lid just a little to serve as a strainer when pouring tea. So I went back and bought several more of the porcelain gaiwans to have a matched set for tastings.
No worries.
Thank you so very much for the info teaddict! I really think that most of my tea accessory budget will be going toward gaiwans for awhile :)
Gaiwans should not take a large chunk of your budget, depending on how fancy and finished you want them to be.
This was $2.99 or $3.99 at my chinatown tea shop.
Of course, shopping online, not many merchants carry such basic inexpensive items. But still, if you don’t need frills for your starter set, you can do well for little $$.
Yay, I’m so glad to see more love for this tea! It is AMAZING, right? When I try to compare this to a, uhm, less enjoyed but more expensive TGY I recently had, my soul weeps.
And what tea would that be Shanti? ;) Tee-hee! Seriously, I think I now know what you mean about your soul weeping and I haven’t had that more expensive tea, and now I don’t think I will.
And teaddict: thanks for the info! I don’t think that I have any local options for finding gaiwans. I do all my tea-related shopping online, so it can get expensive – and I’m looking for gaiwan’s that are very aesthetically pleasing to me (and so far those haven’t been cheap). And currently almost all of my tea budget’s going toward tea :)
Rabs, I’d encourage you not to give up on the Samovar Four Seasons. Just get a sample size so it’s not a huge investment and judge for yourself. (I’m not personally invested in it whether others like what I like so please don’t worry about offending me if you don’t. My skin is v. thick. ;-)) I thought it was very like the An Xi TGY in terms of flavors — lots of flowers, very buttery and creamy - except more robust, like the tea had grown up. I think you may like it and if not, there’s always this lovely little gem that you’ve already fallen in love with. :)
Ugh. Why oh why does that line through thing happen. Never mind, I know why but I seriously thought I’d typed two hyphens there. Geez.
