Steenbergs (Tea Merchant)

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Recent Tasting Notes

88

Sipdown! This is actually much better than I thought based on the first cup—the spices must have settled to the bottom of my sample, because it was straight rooibos with a tiny pinch of cinnamon. After making a pot I can safely say this is a well-balanced chai with plenty of ginger and an afterbite of cinnamon/pepper/clove. It’s not outrageously spicy, and the rooibos mellows it out further to make it really easy to drink. I’d probably get it again!

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100

Fantastically calming camomile tea, the smell hints at maple syrup and the flavour doesn’t disappoint. A favourite for when i’m stressed.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 250 ML

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78

I drank this last night – I love having a caffeine free chai option. I am drinking this in the summer, but it is a winter staple. This version is really good – I like it best with a bit of sweetened almond milk for a desserty treat.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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65

I kept an extra serving of this from the tea box to be sure of my opinion of it. This time around, I couldn’t stomach the fruity sweetness. It isn’t so strong several sips in, but I’d rather not have to “suffer” my first few sips of a tea. I have other preferred white teas anyway.

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65

Tea #2 from Another TTB

At first the floral sweetness stood out the most. It’s a sort of sweetness that I often mistake for fruit at first, not like the floral of an oolong. As I drink more of my cup, the hay notes that i am more used to in a Bai Mu Dan come out more, but they are a lot more subtle than those in Verdant’s Bai Mu Dan. By the end of the cup, I can hardly taste the sweetness at all, but I can still smell it. This may sound strange, and maybe it’s just my taste out of whack today, but something hints at wanting to be a spice, but its not spicy. It’s almost like pepper.

The flavor profile of this one is quite interesting. I don’t know if I like it for sure or not. I think I am going to hang on to the last serving of it from the box to try it out again some time later.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 5 min, 30 sec

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77

Backlog:

A decent rooibos chai. Nice and well-spiced. I like that this is an organic rooibos. Woodsy notes from the rooibos, but I like the way this earthiness melds with the earth tones of the spices.

Peppery, warm, and a nice warm-up kind of tisane. Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/05/16/organic-redbush-chai-from-steenbergs-organic/

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76

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – March 2024 Tea #5 – An evening tea  

I think a no caff- chai is a cupboard staple for nighttime drinking, so this one was acceptable!  Hopefully last night was one of the last colder nights for the year.  That wind was fierce.  Fun fact: one of my oldest teas around here looks to still be available!
2024 sipdowns:  25

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76

Additional notes: This tea is flat out OLD. But it is still scrumptious. A no-caffeine chai is certainly one of my cupboard essentials. Not only is Steenberg’s still around (didn’t think they would be after all these years) but their prices are VERY good.

Nevermind— they very distinctly say they do not deliver outside the European Union… well, have at it then.. those from the EU.

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76

thanks for including this one in the traveling teabox, TeaEqualsBliss! I love the idea of a red chai. A spicy caffeine free tea that I can drink at night is nice, since it is rooibos. This one is very spicy! It kicked my throat a bit. I’m guessing that is the pepper. It didn’t look like there were a ton of spices in the blend, so I’m surprised it was this spicy, but there was something light and powdery.. I’m not sure what that was. There was also a tangy flavor, that I’m thinking was the lemongrass, which I don’t really see fitting in this blend. I like this. I’ll take a bit of this out of the teabox and save the rest for others to try!

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88

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea. It’s really delightful.

The leaves look so incredibly fresh! The taste is light and crisp, with notes of vegetation and flower, and a creaminess that is rather comforting. This is the kind of tea that I like to curl up to in the evening … making this the perfect tea choice for RIGHT NOW!

A really wonderful tea. But I’ve come to expect that from Steenbergs.

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90
I just got a box in the mail. The box came from LiberTEAS. For those of you who don’t know she puts awesome samplers together that she sells on her website. More importantly ,for those of you who don’t know she only had one left and is too busy to make more for a little while and I got the last one. It’s sweet.

Nahnahnabooboo!
Enough with the immaturity. I now have to give a proper tasting note on Steenbergs Milky Oolong. I haven’t had this tea for 3-4 weeks. I wrote a note off memory just because it was my first favorite tea. I got a little more from LiberTEAS ( thank you sooo much! ) and so now can write a note as I sip, properly.
Dry leaf smell is fruity and floral, my mind jumps to-DESSERT.Leaves are slow to unfurl and the fruity notes start to intensify once infused. Liquor is a pale golden color. The first drink you can’t help but notice the sweet fruity taste, for me it’s something between strawberries and blueberries. It’s literally hard to believe this flavor comes naturally with no additives. There’s really no astringency and my mouth actually waters while I drink this magical oolong. I tap my feet through 4 more steepings, increasing the time 15 seconds each one, it’s still a testament of amazing deliciousity. This would be a good tea for someone who typically sweetens to go ‘oh naturale’. Before ending this note I must also thank Pureleaf for suggesting I drop my temp from boiling to 190 degrees thereby encouraging the full potential of flavor to be released. I was happy with it before, yet when making this change there was a distinct increase in it’s sweetness.
Tapping my foot to Silly Wizard-a celtic/gaelic band from the 70’s&80’s. The set was Fisherman’s Song/Isla Waters/Parish Of Dunkeld/Twa Brithers.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 30 sec
julesbean

I’m going to check this out. I’m on a major milk oolong kick! Thanks for the great review! If you know of any other really nice milk oolongs, please let me know!

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90
Just came across my empty :( sample bag of this tea.I drank it just before joining Steepster and so had not started logging my experiences yet, a thorough note will have to wait on a full purchase to be made soon.That said,all I really want to say is that this stuff is delicious with floral and fruity notes.This came with my first share pack from Pureleaf(thank you so much)My wife did not realize that I wanted atleast a cup from every sample contained so she made a pot…and used it all.I came home several hours later and went ahead and steeped it a few more times.I really look forward to that first infuse that I missed out on that time,but it was really good despite being 6 hours out from initial infuse.
Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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84

I thought FOR SURE I already logged this one…I don’t even see the tea anywhere so here we go again…

a nice yellowish color to it. This is nice and soothing in every way. It quenches my thirst. It’s slightly sweet. Slightly floral. It’s a ‘greener’ white tea but very clean and crisp. This is a mighty fine straight-up white tea!

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86

Finished off the last of this that I got a while back from TeaEqualsBliss. I still enjoy it and plan on trying other Milky Oolongs.

Preparation
3 min, 30 sec

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86

I got in a giant envelope packed with teas from TeaEqualsBliss today! I’m so excited to try all these new teas. I even saw a Verdant tea in there! It’ll be my first time trying out a tea from Verdant. I’ll have to save it for something special.

I decided to start with this. This will be my first milky oolong. I meant to steep it for three minutes. I set my little mesh basket in my cup, and set the timer on my laptop for three minutes. I turned away to finish making lunch. When I turned back, the timer had gone off, but I never heard it! This could have steeped for three minutes and two seconds, or ten minutes! Either way at least it still tastes good.

While hot, this was creamy and smooth, with just a bit of sourness on the back of the tongue at the end of the sip. Now that it’s cooled some down to just warm, the sips are overall more creamy. Though while it was cooling, I did take a big bite of soup that I thought was a lot cooler than it was, and burnt my tongue some. Hopefully it’s not affecting my tastes too much. I’ve never really played around with multiple steeps before, but I think I’ll give it a try with this and see what I get.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C

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83

I received large packed envelope from TeaEqualsBliss
Thank you!
I was a little overwhelmed when I opened the package but excited because there is so many teas I have not even heard of! How Fun!
I spotted this tea right away and headed for the tea kettle.
I have wanted to try a Milky Oolong for awhile now.
The dry leaves do not have any distinct odor to them.
Add water and you get a delicate creamy oolong odor arising to your nose.
Mmmm…yummy.
I cannot think of the right word for the first taste that reaches my tongue but its bringing forth autumnal memories.
It reminds me of raking damp moist leaves, then a bit of astringency reaches the back of your tongue right before you swallow.
Very, lovely light afternoon tea.
Beautiful blond color.
Brewed in my Bodum.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Alphakitty

I love milk oolongs, they are a bit autumn-y!

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87

Thank you LiberTEAS for this sample!

As previously mentioned, the leaves are slightly flatter than expected and not as tightly rolled, which seems to encourage the leaves to unfurl slightly faster. The quality of the liquid seems to make this a moot point, as it is produces a nice relaxing cuppa tea.

As many of the Milk Oolongs, there is plenty of the prominent floral and fruity notes, of which this particular one brings a very good balance of both. It seems to be a nice choice for one that is non-interested in a stronger fruity flavor.

There is a small amount of astringency, but not overbearingly bitter. I found this tea to work well shortly after breakfast, as this seemed to compliment my meal and smooth my palate.

The color in the cup is more of a melon to tangerine, but changes quickly to a darker persimmon juice visual. This doesn’t seem to change the taste and is still enjoyable, even if you aren’t able to finish the cup immediately.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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91

Divvying – Paying It Forward – Adding some to the Replace Box, etc…
See previous notes :)

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91

Oops! Where have YOU been hiding?

I just came across this one totally unopened! Eeeeek!

MUST TRY NOW!

This smells like a combo of spices, sweet-wood, and cologne when dry (prior to infusing)

Post infusing it smells like a sweet-smoky type wood with earthy herbs and spices.

I must make special note of this taste/flavor here! It’s unique!

This has to be the most brothy rooibos blend I have tried. Yes! It’s actually brothy! I don’t think I have even tried a Rooibos – as of yet – with this texture/taste! I really like this characteristic. The Honeybush/Rooibos combo is pretty splendid. The spices are nicely combined. The real kicker – for me – is the addition of the lemongrass. I thought that was going to throw me off but you know what? I really like that dash of lemongrass in there!

This is a pretty special Tisane! And nice Chai flavors! Yeah…this is something else! That’s for sure! And I mean that in a very good way!

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86

I’m on my fifth infusion now, and I’ve noticed that in these later infusions, a sour fruit taste begins to emerge. Not overwhelmingly sour, but a nice contrast to the sweet and creamy notes of the tea. A vegetal tone is also emerging – it is slightly sweet and complements the other flavors.

A really like this Oolong, and the more I sip it, the more I enjoy it.

Bonnie

Sometimes persistence pays off! Earlier I drank a nice puerh from Butiki and I just resteeped and am enjoying it again also! Cheers!

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86

This is a pleasing Milk Oolong. The leaves were a bit smaller than I expected them to be, not all of them looked to be in tightly wound pellets the way I usually find with a Milk Oolong.

The flavor is beautifully sweet but not overly so, and it does have a very pleasing creaminess to it, although I did not find this to be quite as creamy as I usually notice with a Milk Oolong. It could be that it is a naturally occurring milk Oolong rather than a flavor enhanced one.

I find this to be very enjoyable. Sweet, creamy and quite soothing.

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90

Backlog: I made apple pear sauce this evening for dinner, and I steeped some of this to use as the liquid to cook down the fruit… And I steeped enough to enjoy a chai latte as well. YUM! It was delicious as a chai … and it made a delicious fruit sauce to go with pork chops.

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90

Having a cup of this today, made it latte, and added some maple syrup to sweeten it instead of honey. Yummy.

ms.aineecbeland

syrup or honey as opposed to plain sugar granules. Enjoy!

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90

Thanks to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

This is a lovely, warmly spiced chai. The spices are not over the top or too spicy, and they have a nice balance to them, creating a seamless flavor. I don’t taste a lot of individual spice flavors, just a really good blend of spice.

The black tea base is good and strong, with notes of malt and a hearty flavor and texture.

I drank my first cup without any milk, just a drizzle of honey. My second cup I added a little bit of milk to try it as a latte, and it is quite fantastic as a latte. A REALLY good chai!

KeenTeaThyme

YUM! This sounds like a fabulous one to try!

Itsyknits

I agree!

ms.aineecbeland

Tin is somewhat interesting. Well somewhat.

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