Postcard Teas

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Recent Tasting Notes

100

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Not that I celebrate it as such since you should celebrate love to your partner every day…but I understand the sentiment. Planned for today is to play Borderlands The Pre Sequal pretty much non stop on split screen, drink lots of tea and cook a diet friendly 3 course meal. Such a thing is possible I found.

This morning I started with English Rose black tea from Whittard of Chelsea, the most romantic tea I could think of this morning, and now I’ve gone for this Gianfranco’s Earl Grey which is still simply amazing. Full of flavour without being overly strong due to the Darjeeling base but keeping fresh and pleasant through storage. Almost out of this one one but I will definitely be re-stocking it.

Hope you all have a nice day!

DeliriumsFrogs

I know I already said this to you…but, Borderlands is Love. lol
(You know it’s true, when your partner lets you pick up the amazing gun out of the loot chest… that’s better than flowers. haha)

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100

Yahoo!
Celebration
Yahoo!
This is your celebration

Celebrate good times, come on!
(Let’s celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on!
(Let’s celebrate)

Yes that was Kool & The Gang and we are celebrating my 1000th Steeping note! Boy this has come around very quickly, 1000 notes of me mumbling about tea and life stories. Thank you to those who have made it possible. Damn the Oscar music has come on so I am being shown off stage.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
And now we are back into the land of tea and Earl Grey. This was surprisingly strong when I opened the tin, the bergamot is absolutely gorgeous. Then I realised it was still sealed in the foil packet, this is one of if not the strongest Earl Grey teas I have had the pleasure of sniffing. What do we want? Strong Earl Grey. When do we want it? Now!

Not only was the scent divine but looking at the leaves and seeing the beautiful autumn tones of a Darjeeling pushed this tea over the edge. So far I am astonished I have not tried this before.

Sampling without sugar but with a splash of milk for my first taste. Plus I have some left over wedding cake on the side that my cousin was kind enough to drop off for my aunty to distribute. Earl grey and wedding cake…sounds like bliss already.

Fragrant, perfumed, strong, clean, waxy, sweet. Some of the words that came to mind as I took my first sip. It is a very strong Earl Grey but it’s not heavy, and the bergamot is somewhat perfumed amongst the floral-esque Darjeeling but at the same time it is waxy, sweet and pure. ie non chemical or artificial. The balance is nice, though both elements are strong you can taste them both, though the bergamot lingers longer in the after taste.

I love Earl Grey and have tried many over the years, including especially imported and expensive blends. Compared to my Earl Grey index this particular one has to be my favourite. I’m not sure if I will be disappointed in the next month or two as the tea is now out of it’s foil packet and though tinned may loose it’s strength (as has happened many times over with various teas) but honestly this Earl Grey is so good I would offer it to Captain Picard.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 5 OZ / 150 ML
Sil

Grats on 1000! Notes :)

looseTman

Congratulations on your 1000th Steeping note! That’s quite a milestone! I’ve certainly enjoyed reading many of them and found them to be very informative and helpful. Great job! Next stop 2000!

Rosehips

1000 notes! Wow. I mut add my congratulations!

ohfancythat

Congrats!!

Jennkay

Wow, congrats on the 1000! That’s quite an accomplishment :)

MzPriss

That is a LOT of notes. Congratulations Kitty!

TheTeaFairy

Beautiful, I always enjoy reading your notes, cheers to the next 1000!

TheTeaFairy

(Lol, now I can’t stop signing Celebration, it’s such a good song but I’m totally destroying it!!)

keychange

Woohoo!! and I love that song too hahaha.

Ysaurella

Bravo Kitty ! sounds like a kind of MBA in tea notes :)

KittyLovesTea

Thank you everyone! When I first joined Steepster I had no idea I would reach anywhere near the 1000 mark let alone meet and befriend so many wonderful people. I am truly honoured to be here with you all.

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80
drank Sobacha by Postcard Teas
1379 tasting notes

I’ve been after some more Sobacha after Sil sent me a roasted buckwheat tea sachet last year and it charmed my mouth. I remember it was like drinking liquid peanut butter only light and tasty (since I’m not much of a PB fan). Then on Wednesday I won £5 off Whittington’s Tea Emporium thanks to a contest I had entered, however the voucher code gave me £5 off each tea and free shipping so I made off like a bandit. I got three Postcard Tea tins, one for Sobacha, one for Earl Grey and another for Green Mulberry tea. The total was only £6.75 and they arrived this morning. First call of action – drink Sobacha.

One teaspoon of mix into boiling water. Simple.

Now I have the buckwheat at the bottom of the cup which give it a pebble fish tank look and the liquid is light yellow. Yep there is is in scent, peanuts, roasted peanuts. It tastes gentle yet the after taste is strongly roasted with high wheat and nut flavours. It’s naturally sweet and somewhat buttery. Caffeine free, low fat, peanut butter on toast in a mug. Perfect.

By the way (non tea related) – I got into the swing of writing again so I wrote a poem, though it’s safe to say that I never got the hang of happy endings.
Ps – If you are easily upset then it’s best you don’t read it.

http://thestarlitecafe.com/poems/105/poem_91274907.html

Flavors: Nuts

Preparation
Boiling
Nattie

On the plus side, the tea sounds lovely (:

On the negative, I come on here in my first break for weeks to post one review, an update, then leave to get on with my work again, and end up reading poetry and crying about it. I knew this was a bad idea.

Hehe, good poem though (:

Sil

Yay glad you found another version :)

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93

This was another excellent gift from my excellent mother. I brewed this gong fu style while Casey and I watched the original Terminator movie tonight. Some of the outdated special effects made me giggle. It was like watching that Russian alien in the X-Files episode from “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space”. Never mind.

Anyway. This tea was really nice. The first steeps were like caramel and nuts and coffee. The texture of the tea was creamy and smooth. It held up to many steepings, and didn’t become too drying at the end like some teas can. Looking forward to enjoying a few more steeps in the morning, but for now we’re going to bed.

boychik

Terminator is my hubby’s all time fave. he can watch it any time from the middle and even the end is good enough for him. He introduced my 7 yr old son to it and now they watch together;)

CharlotteZero

Neither Casey nor I had seen it before last night, and we both really enjoyed it. We’ll probably watch the sequel either tonight or tomorrow. Apparently there’s also a new Terminator movie due to come out next year…Are your husband and son planning to go see that one?

boychik

yes. Im going to watch it too. After all I saw it so many times, i practically know his lines. Some other my hubby faves are Robocop and Die Hard. So you have an idea:) i watch lots of movies, foreign, independent, sometimes I forget if i saw it. we love Charlie Chaplin. its endless but those 3 i mentioned above are like DeBeers diamonds. Funny right?

CharlotteZero

Sounds like you have a broad range of movie tastes! I also haven’t seen Robocop or Die Hard. Now that I’ve found that Terminator was an enjoyable movie, maybe I will give some other vintage action movies a try…

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92

This was an awesome birthday present from my mother. I’m still not the biggest fan of Dragon Well tea, but of the Longjing I have tried, this is one of my favorites. What I like about this tea that makes it better than others I’ve had is that it has a beautiful long-lasting finish. I made 4 infusions of this. I believe this is also the greenest in color of any Longjing I’ve had. I wonder how the flavor of this typically varies between different harvests.

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92
drank English Breakfast by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

Had a delicious cup of this this morning. A sweet medium strength black tea, that can tolerate milk (and is recommended with milk), but is certainly in the “light” edge of the breakfast tea scale. Don’t come in expecting a “builder’s brew”, and you will enjoy this tea.

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92
drank English Breakfast by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

First one to review this tea! Woot!
I’ve just had two cups back to back of this tea, it’s that good. It is, however, misleadingly named. This is not a bold, breakfast tea. It’s a quiet afternoon friend. I forgot it for over ten minutes to brew during my second brew, and it was still on the lighter side of black teas (not Darj light, but Ceylon light). No caffeine kick here – go for one of Postcard Teas Japanese blacks for that. This is a sweet, rich wonderful afternoon tea, with some astringency, so sugar can help with that.
A great little tea, and a relative newcomer to Postcard Teas’s lineup.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Sil

I’ll have to try them sometime. Their product always seems interesting to me when i look at them

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62
drank Genmaicha by Postcard Teas
1 tasting notes

Though a nice look when dry, it smells too savoury for me and tastes kinda like straw. interesting none the less.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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80

I bought a “50g refill” size of this tea in May 2012 and enjoyed a cup just now, with 1.15 teacup weight (on my Upton scale) brewed in a 2-cup teapot, swirled a few times right after water poured. I found the tea had an almost chocolatey note, especially in the scent coming from the damp leaves left behind in the teapot after pouring. I drank this with 2% milk (Ref No 606-C in Onkar Kukar’s brilliant milky-tea shades chart, http://www.onkarkular.com/files/poster-460.jpg) and enjoyed it very much – the smoothest hearty assam in my collection – but I regret not drinking more when it was fresher.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec

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89

Mildly aromatic infusion.
Infusion colour: dark caramel.
Taste: mild sweet tobacco. Slight aftertaste I find very agreeable.
Steeping conditions.
Tea leaves 3.4 g. Water 120 ml. Water temperature: approximately 90 C (water just boiled in an electric kettle and tea infused in a preheated metallic pot). Steeping time: 1 min., 1 min., 3 min.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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drank Beijing Breakfast by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

Having this now, and it has a fantastic lemony flavour to it. Tried to brew it nice and strong, but no luck. I don’t see this teas as a breakfast tea, or as a tea that would take milk well, but it is a good, interesting black tea nonetheless. Happy new year to all those who celebrate it! Ours was way back in September.
Back to the end of semester study grind for me.

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drank Beijing Breakfast by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

I have had this tea for breakfast two days in a row now. It is not a breakfast tea. I repeat – it is NOT a breakfast tea. It’s a light bodied, gentle tea, and it could never stand up to milk. It’s not assertive enough. When you brew it (and take your time – I don’t believe that you can overbrew this tea) it looks like you took a large dollop of honey and melted it in hot water. The tea has that hue and cloudiness that comes from making hot honey water. And when you taste it tastes like you took a large dollop of honey and melted it in hot water. Sweet, honey flavor with only a dash of malt, no astringency, and very comforting. This is a perfect “get well soon” tea, a great intro to tea for sweet toothed people, but not a tea that would make an English/Irish Breakfast tea drinker happy.

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83

Postcard Teas are very subtle-they’re like the best of England meets eastern culture. Being a brash American I expected a vanilla that’s bold and strong and hits me over the head, which totally isn’t the case with this tea. It’s a very mild vanilla, very mild. They include a whole vanilla bean in with the tea (do NOT ask me the type-I don’t know if Madagascar, Ceylon or Tahiti,etc ok?) It creates a beautiful fragrant tea that is fantastic with milk. It’s smooth and mellow but it’s so much more a ‘black’ tea than a ‘vanilla’ tea. It’s more a suggestion of vanilla than a flavor. Subtle.
Yes, this is my first review so please keep this in mind!

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73

I’d definitely agree with the plum/prune sweetness in the description. However this tea left me wanting more. It was interesting to try a black tea from Japan, but it lacked the sophistication that I was expecting.

Reminded me of a black tea from Vietnam or elsewhere in south-east asia.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 45 sec

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97
drank golden tip assam by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

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97
drank golden tip assam by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

I have had two steepings of this, one plain, and one with milk and sugar. This is one of my best and most unique Assams, although not one of my strongest ones. It is also a very attractive tea, with golden tips winking between the dusky recesses of the dark brown brothers. A very smooth Assam, with a wonderful maltiness to it and no astringency whatsoever – which makes it great for plain drinking. It can hold its own w/ milk and sugar, but this is one of those rarer cases where an Assam is better on its own than with friends.
What else can I say? Ah, it comes from a beautiful and very friendly tea shop called Postcard Teas, right off Oxford Street in London. I’ve raved about them before, and will probably do so again. And sadly, like many of my favourites, it is out of stock and there is no plan to restock it in the foreseeable future. Postcard Teas have replaced all their black tea providers, which is a shame, since they were brilliant. However, their new black tea selection is also very good, so not all is lost :)

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97
drank golden tip assam by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

This is a strong, malty Assam that is very good, very smooth, and not at all astringent. Had a plain cup of it this morning, after a sleepless night. I’m experiencing an unfortunate bout of food poisoning, so I needed something brisk to pick me up, and help me soldier on. This most definitely did the trick.
This tea also works well with milk, just so you know.

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97
drank golden tip assam by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

Had this for breakfast. A fantastically smooth Assam that plays very well with tea. Lots of golden buds. A must for Assam lovers

Terri HarpLady

that would be me, lol
I still haven’t tried Postcard Teas, yet!

NofarS

They are turning out to be a fantastic company. Do you want me to send you some samples?

Terri HarpLady

I would love that!
I can reciprocate with samples as well :)

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97
drank golden tip assam by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

When I visited Postcard Teas for the first time last year, the shop owner was dealing with a customer who wanted a smooth, non-astringent Assam. “He wants a Dian Hong, or some other Chinese tea”, I thought to myself as I perused the shelves, “there’s no such thing as non-astringent, subtle Assam”. So I was completely taken off guard when the owner said “of course” and handed him a tin of this tea (mentioning that the the bag refill was cheaper, which was decent of him, I thought. He could have given him the tin as the only option and the buyer wouldn’t have known better). Well, I wasn’t planning on buying any Assam that day, but once I overheard that conversation, of course I HAD to try that tea. I was halfway expecting it to be a standard, good-quality Assam, no more, no less. But it isn’t. It’s a class onto itself. There’s a bracing, tasteful bitter tinge to its malty sweetness that gives it depth, but the dryness, the mouth puckering so common after drinking Assam… It’s not there. I had a super long, super tiring day, and I desperately need to wake up. I almost without thinking grabbed this tea, even though I never drink Assams in the evening. It hit the spot exactly, in a “grandma is bringing tea and biscuits, and we’ll sit on the sofa and you’ll relax and tell me all your troubles so that I can hug and comfort you” kind of way. Minus the mothball smell, of course…

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 30 sec
RiaDarling

Wow. I am so disappointed I did not try some of that now! I commented to him that I try to drink milk with tea as it’s the only way I get calcium and he suggested three that would be best with milk-the Supernatural black (and your description of that was bang on-that is exactly the way it struck me but I’m not quite so articulate in my descriptions), the vanilla and the Beijing Breakfast. The Beijing Breakfast is AMAZING. It’s brilliant. It has a strong malty, nutty, flavor that’s like a tea AND a cereal so that’s what I use in the morning but I often crave a cup in the evening as well. Great with milk but just as good solo. One of the most mellow and complex teas that I have had. I reordered it before I had even opened some of the others that I had purchased while I was there!

NofarS

Thank you! :) I love their Beijing Breakfast! It’s such a wonderful and different take on breakfast tea.

RiaDarling

I went ahead and ordered this Assam from Postcard based on your comments. So excited! I have not tried it yet as I just got back from Australia and was given a variety of T2 teas to try (mainly flavoured breakfast blends)but will let you know when I do!

NofarS

I hope that you like it! Such pressure :)

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97
drank golden tip assam by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

This is a very unusual Assam. There’s some bitterness at the end of each sip, but it’s gentle, not unpleasant, and it only enhances the malty caramel sweetness of this tea. There’s also surprisingly little astringency, and a relatively light body. This makes me think that perhaps milk would overpower its subtle flavours. A very good, atypical Assam

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This is a tea with presence – powerful, flavorful, complex and unapologetic. It is a tea that makes you sit up and take notice- good before a study session, meditation, preparing a New Year’s resolution list or a trip to the gym. You will want to be a better person after drinking this tea – it’s like being face to face with a gruff old zen master that also doubles as a samurai :)
There’s a pleasant bitterness, a muted fruity flavor, practically no astringency, and a depth of flavor in this bright coppery tea. It’s small leaves may tempt you to brew it western style, but I believe that gongfu will do it more justice. Sugar and milk will tame the samurai – but why tame such a powerful force?

Sil

i’ve always wanted to try their teas..if only for the interesting gimmick of the postcards :)

NofarS

Their packaging is awesome – beautiful, creative, and functional. But if I hadn’t gone to their London shop I probably wouldn’t have bought anything from them – they have such a tiny online presence compared with other suppliers. I’ve met the owner, and he is extremely knowledgable and generous, and he takes tea very seriously. A person to trust

Sil

nice! thatnks for the feedback on them. Of course now i really want to travel to london to shop there haha

Terri HarpLady

I love this review! I’ve wanted to try postcard teas as well. Their website is really fun :)

NofarS

Remind me to send you some when we swap again. I’ve only just come to trying out their teas and others, driven by our swap to try new teas and not just go back to my all time favourites again and again :) This is one of the most interesting strong blacks that I’ve tasted – nothing like any other black tea that I’ve tried

Terri HarpLady

Definitely!

Sil

cough!

RiaDarling

I agree-a trip to Postcard Teas was a highlight of my time in London. The owner has a wonderful eye for matching the vintage postcards and making the tins and he knows his tea. He knows the growers and the blends. He was a pleasure to talk tea with!

NofarS

I was in London again in August and visiting their shop was once again a trip highlight.

Terri HarpLady

:)
Just let me know when you’re ready for our next swap! :)
I still love this review!

NofarS

:) Of course. Thank you!

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99
drank Hijiri Black by Postcard Teas
423 tasting notes

The dry leaves of this tea are very small and delicate, and black, and remind me of the leaves of a good Ceylon BOP, only darker. This lead me to expect a dark and powerful brew, but this tea is closer to a Ceylon, a light black tea, than to an Assam or Kenya. It’s sweet, with a more ethereal and subtle taste than any Ceylon that I had – and no astringency! It’s very light bodied, almost a cross between Ceylon and Darjeeling, and it’s not at all suitable for milk. If you sweeten your tea, use less sugar than you would normally use – a very small amount of sugar will enhance the tea’s taste, but too much will overpower it. I don’t think that it needs sugar, but it can take sugar.
I brewed it 5 times Western style, and only on the sixth brewing did it lose flavour.
This is going into to be one of my favourite black teas – drinking it was like meeting an old friend that you haven’t met in years, but suddenly run into, and then discover that you miss each other, and have more in common than you ever had, and you ought not to lose sight of each other every again. It’s the tea that you never knew was missing from your cupboard, but that you don’t ever intend to run out of once you’ve found it.
I’ve decided to borrow something from my fountain pen ink reviews into my Steepster reviews: how easy is it to clean up after a tea, once the leaves are spent.
This tea gets a 3/10 in that category – its small leaves are EVERYWHERE! You also have to be careful not to clog up the sink with them, and make sure that you use a strainer – the leaves are so small that some will get through the pot’s strainer and try to be nuisance in your cup.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 1 min, 15 sec

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87

This is one of the better, if not the best, Darjeeling teas I’ve had. I’ve not had enough to know if I like first flush, second, or some other option, but this is good. I still like Assam teas better, but this is very enjoyable.

It is more astringent than the Assams I usually drink, which may be why I lean more toward those, but this has a great taste while drinking it and a lovely aftertaste, too.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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