Teas Etc

I’ve had this in my tea cupboard a while now waiting for the cool weather to turn up. Boy did it today. I dug out some of my long sleeved tops and jeans on this chilly second day of Fall (I think). The apple and cinnamon play so nice together and with the oolong. I’m loving the smell and taste of this one so much. It really does smell as though an apple pie is baking somewhere in the house.

Sweet, fragrant, and fall are the words that come to mind as I sip this one. While I enjoy the light breeze coming in through a few open windows while a cat snoozes nearby. Perfect Fall day!

We are in the full swing of Harvest here.
Running constantly the last week or more,and never sure what day it is.
I have been drinking staple teas such as my Earl Grey, but because I am out in the field all day, I have been down to one cup of tea daily.
I feel like those last five words should be in capitol or italics or in bright red.
It has been utterly grueling.
But, today I am home, doing laundry, cleaning and bound and determined to drink tea.
I have this tea from Angrboda and its a odd duck.
The nose of it dry reminds me of some candy I had in my youth.
The most odd thing about this tea, is its color.
My husband walked by and stopped and then sniffed and then asked me with slight fear in his voice “Is…that tea?”
It is sort of a brown-ish purple color.
Now, I only have had figs a few times in my life, but this tea is not coming off overly “figgy” to me.
More fruity.
But, I am rather enjoying it.
Maybe its just because I am actually sitting down in the middle of the day, drinking a cup of tea that I am being rather forgiving.
But, it is a nice fruity afternoon tea.
Thank you for letting me try this tea, Angrboda.

I made this tea for a little experiment inspired by the “offbeat uses for tea” thread1. Before I used it for that purpose, though, I tried it, both unsweetened and sweetened.

I’ve read that our olfactory sense is the one most strongly tied to memory. There’s a hookah joint in NYC called Sultana2, a wonderful place where I’ve spent many an hour sipping iced hibiscus tea and chatting with friends. This herbal “tea” smells just like that place. It’s quite nice.

If you generally like “tropical” concoctions, things with pineapple and coconut and things of that nature, you will probably like this. While I love (non-alcoholic) piña coladas, I’m not a big fan of that mish-mash of flavours that falls under the (mini) umbrella of “tropical.” As such, this isn’t really my thing. The tin says there’s rose in here, and hibiscus, but I didn’t get any floral fragrance or flavour. There’s also orange peel in here, but nothing citrusy stands out. Finally, there’s no actual tea in here, which I rather like in my…tea. =] All that said, it does have that very typical tropical vibe to it, and a nice enough flavour.

1 http://steepster.com/discuss/3374-lets-find-some-offbeat-new-uses-for-tea#forum_post_51847

2 http://yelp.com/biz/sultana-new-york

This is a review for Tung Ting Oolong bought at the Tea Gallerie in San Diego.

I almost misjudged this tea. I love oolongs, but have only really had rock oolongs or other long-leafed varieties. I decided to try this one out because I was looking for something a little different.

It’s much less sweet than I am used to with other oolongs. This doesn’t necessarily bother me, but it also has a kind of “milky” taste to me that doesn’t agree with my stomach. On the first infusion, I actually had to force myself to finish the pot, which almost never happens to me. Needless to say, I was very surprised that I was finding it so bad, and annoyed since I had just bought a bulk amount.

So I decided to give it another go. On the second infusion, everything changed. The astringency and milkiness were gone, there was a definite sweetness, and the whole thing just tasted better. I’ve heard of “rinsing” oolongs before but never practiced it, however I think that will have to be my policy with this one.

Over all, a good quality oolong. I enjoy that it unfolds into a recognizable leaf shape, and little bit really goes a long way. Happy for the experience, and glad I purchased it!

Thank you Rumpus Parable for this delcious sample!!!
This tea was amazing, simply amazing. I think it is the best black tea that I’ve ever had. I love how strong the flavors are, especially the hints of carmel. Yumm!!!

I usually make a cup of earl grey, and add some rose syrup. Rose is my favorite flavor. Thought this would be a bit easier. It was awful. After brewing, it smelled like rose soap and tasted like rose soap. Definitely a strong soapy flavor. Yuck.

I just want to start this off by saying I never win anything. If there is a raffle or a contest or even eeny meeny miney moe, I will lose. So the fact that I won this tea in the steepster select monthly prize makes me think there was divine intervention in me receiving this tea. I even began my steepster account that same month! Anyway, I’ve had a lot of golden monkey tea but I’ve never had one that has had such a lovely blend of spiciness and maltiness. Its got this great creaminess that kinda fills your whole mouth, it borders on being a dessert tea without the sweetness. Very nice.

Thank you LiberTEAS for this wonderful sample!

There is not much to add to the many others that have commented on this great tea. Plain and simple, it is a very delicious and delightful tea!

This tea is very smooth, even if you decide to steep it a couple extra minutes (of which I tried and found no strong bitterness; only a continued satisfying richness).

One finding however: It seems that a shorter steeping (2mins or less) produces an Assam-like flavored liquid – so I personally recommend steeping 4mins+.

I love pu-erh tea! So I was thrilled to see I had tossed this sample in my lunch bag this morning. The dry leaf smells very minty and chocolaty the perfect after lunch treat. When the leaves are steeping the smell of the pu-erh comes out to play with a very earthy but not overpowering smell and taste. All three flavors pu-erh, peppermint and spearmint play very nice together. I know I didn’t say chocolate in the ingredient list. I’m thinking (and what I’m tasting) is the peppermint and spearmint brings out the chocolate notes of this pu-erh, love it!

No description on the website yet…but this was a sample with an order from Teas Etc. not too long ago. It is a strong cup of tea! I can’t quite put my finger on the flavor…whatever tanzanian black is supposed to taste like is my guess. (Helpful I know) I like it. It has a nice kick in the pants I need to get moving this morning at work. Always hard getting and staying going the day before a day off.

On to the next tea from LiberTEAS! I probably used more leaf than was necessary, but I didn’t want to have a weak cup of tea. I’ve only tried one flavored yerba mate before, so this will be my first unflavored version.

After being told Guayusa was similar to puer and then discovering it was nothing like it, I wonder if anyone mixed Guayusa and Yerba Mate up. Now this reminds me of puer! It has a very puer-esque aroma: earthy and slightly medicinal with a touch of salt. Uh oh. I’m definitely more intimidated now than I was with the Guayusa.

The liquor is fairly light though. So, I can’t imagine it’s going to be too much like puer. Only one way to find out! Whoa!! I was not expecting that punch of flavor!

This is yet another very unique taste. I definitely like it more than puer and maybe more than guayusa too. It’s interesting because it’s so intense, but only when it’s still in your mouth. As soon as I swallow, it has barely any after taste at all. In fact, it’s kind of palate cleansing.

I wish I could describe the taste better. It has a black pepper quality to it. Hmm, that’s all I can come up with. The description says light body and clean finish. I think that’s accurate. There’s no bitterness or astringency.

I probably wouldn’t drink this unflavored on a regular basis as it is somewhat bland. But I’m definitely going to revisit the 52teas’ flavored yerba mate I have now that I’ve a better understanding of what the base tastes like. But there’re still two more yerba mates to try in my package of samplers first! Thanks LiberTEAS!!

One of the first things I noticed when I opened this tea was an aroma similar to pipe tobacco. Some of that aroma is still present in the steeped tea, but not as clear as from the leaves. I am a fan of this tea, and I am usually not big on straight black teas. However, this has a lot of complexity in flavor with the slight tobacco and almost an apricot / stone fruit flavor. Carrying all those other flavors is a solid black tea. Well balanced and worth trying.

I have Teh Guilt. Autumn_Aewyd sent me a lovely package full of a whole little Green Tea Education, and I haven’t tried a single one of them yet. I haven’t even felt the desire to try one yet.

It will come though. Just as soon as my left ear stops being stupid (I asked our ear, nose and throat specialist at work and she seems to think it’s a mild inner ear infection). It feels like it’s full of water, but it’s more irritating than actually painful. Still, I’m not feeling ill, I’m just not feeling 100% well either.

On top of that, it’s really waaaaaarm outside. I’m sitting here in a thin summer dress and I still feel like it must be at least forty degrees in here. I can’t brain!

Clearly Autumn_Aelwyd’s careful selection would be wasted under these circumstances, so I’m cold brewing and drinking down the stash with some well-known flavoured greens, regular greens and greener oolongs. Things that I can actually finish off, or things I’ve been avoiding for a while, so I can remove them if my fear proves grounded. Black and dark oolong doesn’t really sound very appealing at the moment.

This one is one of those that I’ve been scared of. I’m ambivalent at best about figs. I like them processed but I’m not crazy about them on their own. I have the same problem with dates. More so with dates, actually, I absolutely dislike dates.

What we’ve got here is a cup of something that smells heavily of soap and something I can only describe as wet dog. I really don’t think this will be something for me, but I am, regardless of what it may look like, trying to keep an open mind about it.

It tastes of soap and perfume as well. A very alkaline sort of side note to it. I can’t tell if this is due to the flavouring or if it has something to do with the blend seemingly being two thirds flowers.

There’s a smooth oolong base underneath, so slippery it almost slides off the tongue, but that sensation in addition to above soapy aspect is just not a good idea. It puts me in mind of something kinda slimy and gives me all sorts of nasty associations.

That said, though, it’s not completely undrinkable. I could probably finish a whole cup of this IF there was nothing else to choose from, or if the alternative was something totally unacceptable, like for example a hibiscus-y blend. As there actually is something else to choose from, I’m going to go with that, and put this one in the box of things to go out to a new home. (Two other people have posted that they enjoyed it very much, so be not afraid. Simply a bad match in this house.)

So after a day of Cotton Candy which have I mentioned is MARVELOUS .. I really just needed to get back to the basics..the roots…the taste of something not so sticky sweet but really top notch NUM. I hate the way that sounds because my day with Cotton Candy was delightful and I struggle to find the right way to say this without diminishing how wonderful CC was but I just needed something on the totally opposite end of the tasting spectrum. Now I will say this cuppa is also sweet – but in such a different way. Oh I am tired and only having this caffeine now because I am waiting on my 18 year old son to get here from his place for an early apportionment he has to be at in the morning in town here – he is 20 minutes away.
Long story longer huh? Anyway I guess he forgets we are not all 18 anymore and need rest! Then again if I had not had my schedule change recently I would be ready to keep rockin at this hour. ANYWAYYYYYY …
this tea is so delightful….creamy….milky….sweet….brothy….malty….most keywords have been spoken for in other reviews. A hint of honey and maybe chocolate? Maybe. So tired….but this is just what I needed to keep rollin until the “young adult” gets here.
Thanks Steepster Select for including this gem in your monthly package!

Smooth like honey. No astringency. I have been coming back to this one and love to have a cup late at night. Im lucky caffeine does not bother me because this and the Laoshan black tea my night time blacks. I’m careful not to over brew it, I only do it for a minute and its perfect. I get about 6 good steeps out of it.

Everyone MUST try it. There’s no hype around this tea. Bold, sweet, milky. By far one of the best black teas I have ever had. Put down whatever you’re drinking right now. Order this and sit at your front door. You won’t be disappointed.

Has a very grassy/alfalfa smell dry. A lovely, light, vegetal taste. Some astringent bite to it, but I found it lessened as the tea cooled.

Lovely, has a great nutty aroma & taste. Slightly sweet, not astringent, Dragonwell may be my favorite green tea. I don’t get a real buttery mouth feel, but maybe I just don’t know what to feel for yet? Second steep introduced a bit of an astringent taste.

Got this as a sample. I really liked it, reminded me of Harney & Sons Snow Dragon even though that one’s technically a green. Jasmine scent was lovely but not overpowering. Taste was very light, no real bite of astringency.

Backlog:

Amazing! This month’s steepster select box is the best box that I’ve received from Steepster Select (and I’ve been a subscriber from the start).

This golden monkey is fabulous. Even better than fabulous. One of the very best black teas I’ve yet to taste. Definitely earning its 100 rating from me.

LOVE!

Still on the hunt for an alternative to Teavana’s Zingiber Ginger in case it gets retired. This has a nice coconut/rooibos flavor, but there’s also a little extra something that smells weird to me. Can’t place it, & can’t really taste it but I smell it in both the dry leaves & brewed tea. I prefer to mix this with a rooibos/chai blend as well for more depth.

This smells of a very honey sweetness.

It tastes like that charcoalish burnt flavor of black tea, but pleasantly so. Not too heavy like some can be. It is very red and round on the back of the throat and under the tongue. The finish is faintly bitter and a mix of the red and black flavors, depending on where in the mouth you focus.

Over all, a very pleasant tea.