148 Tasting Notes

100

Mmm. Such a delicious and beautifully floral oolong. I think this calls for another tea poem:

Come drink with me and have my tea,
And we will all the pleasures see
That black, mate, green, and white
Herbal or silky oolong delight.

Thanks to Chris Marlowe, and now back to work for me!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Claire

And to celebrate: 4.5 pages written in about 2 hours (although it helps when you’ve already completely outlined your essay).

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99
drank Laoshan Black by Verdant Tea
148 tasting notes

Midterms continue and I have a lot to do today, so it’s time to drink some black tea!

First thing I noticed: this tea smells like chocolate and a hint of malt.
I began sipping and thought that not only does it taste like chocolate and malt, it’s also spicy-sweet and creamy. I really like malty black teas and this has just the right amount. Smooth drinking with loads of dark chocolate flavor.

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

As an example of how differently two people can perceive flavor, I had Rayn take a sip of this and after a moment he made a frowny face and said “Bleh”.
He is crazy about the Chocolate Phoenix Chai, though.

JasonCT

Whoa a 99 rating – now that’s impressive!

canadianadia

I hope you midterms are going well

Claire

Like a lot of other people on Steepster, I was really impressed by the quality and complexity of this black tea!

Claire

Thanks Nadia – I’m working on a paper now comparing Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus to Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy. Fun stuff. ;)

Terri HarpLady

I love this tea!I drank 2 cups today, just for the mouth-feel, adding stevia so I could taste somethings, LOL! Tony hates it.
Have fun writing your paper, Claire! Good luck with midterms.

Bonnie

I’m beginning to think that there are Green Tea people and Black Tea people(although there are those who are happy with both and some people who gobble up every tea in sight like a tea Vacume Cleaner). What I’m refering to are those who taste Black tea’s and go blech… and Black tea drinker’s who do the same with any Green tea giving the same blech reaction.
‘Sigh’…this makes me scratch my head in bewilderment.

Claire

I think you’re onto something Bonnie! Rayn loves green teas (one of his favorites is gunpowder) and will also happily drink any oolong I put in front of him.
I like black tea, especially the maltier ones, but I do tend to drink a lot more green/oolong tea than I do black. For me it’s mostly the caffeine, I definitely get a bit of the jitters with black tea (and forget mate – tried that once and won’t again).

I wonder if it’s one of those flavor things like how some people love cilantro and for some people it tastes like soap. Hmmm…

Nik

Right on, Bonnie. [points to self] Vacuum cleaner, right here.

Daisy Chubb

Good call Bonnie! My boyfriend loves matcha and oolong but find every (unflavoured) black tea tastes the same, and that taste is blech! lol

Daisy Chubb

(even this tea! Which is like heaven in a cup!)

Bonnie

Oh yes, I have VACUUM spelling block! The curse of a former English Major.

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100

First of all, the scent of this tea both dry and liquid is absolutely stunning. Beautiful florals and a strong orchid scent.

I have one of these steeper type things where the tea leaves have a lot of room to brew, and I can watch the tea as it steeps. This may just be a superstition, but it seems like every high quality tea I make in it floats to the top. All of the leaves floated to the top during the first steep. On the second steeping, the steeper was literally full of unfurled leaves. Beautiful.

The first thing that hits me is how sweet this oolong is. Not in an unnatural/cloying kind of way, but the level of sweetness I would expect in a very good tieguanyin. The liquid is lightly creamy as well. It tastes orchid-like, and for some reason I thought of dandelions a few sips in, possibly due to the hint of vegetal flavor, a faint reminder of grass.

Absolutely fantastic. Thank you, Verdant Tea.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

Tea isn’t just about the taste, you’ve discovered the beauty of watching the leaves which is like watching the prelude.

Claire

I love watching green and oolong teas steep, it’s so beautiful! I’d get a glass teapot except I’d surely break it.

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95

Yay, my sense of smell is returning! This tastes very minty to me today along with the chocolate and chamomile. I’m also getting a hint of warm spiciness.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

Yay! Sense of smell is like not tasting anything!

Terri HarpLady

Thank you Claire, you have given me hope! :)

Claire

Sense of smell is pretty much back! New oolong tasting tonight! :)

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96

I made this in my to go mug this morning before I took a philosophy midterm – I hardly felt like I tasted it until it was cold. Apparently my mind was actually focused on something besides tea.
As a lukewarm/cold tea, this was sweet with strong florals. Very honey flavored!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec
JasonCT

Hmm not sure about his tea since I like my tea hot ;)
How did the exam go?

Claire

As long as I receive a good grade on the essay portion, then I definitely got an A. :)

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97
drank Laoshan Genmaicha by Verdant Tea
148 tasting notes

My last cup of tea of the day as my sense of smell returns.
I really love genmaicha, and this does not disappoint. The smell, both of the dry tea and the liquid is very nice with a hint of astringency, though I may have steeped it for too long. It’s nicely vegetal and grassy with the familiar toastyness of genmaicha. Another great tea from Verdant. :)

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 45 sec
Daisy Chubb

Oh man I love genmaicha too! I hope I get a chance to try this before it goes away

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97

This is my very last few teaspoons of this tea. Goodbye delicious green tea! My sadness is slightly remedied by the fact that I have so much tea still to drink.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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95

I can’t smell anything so this won’t be the most exciting tasting note ever because…all I can taste is chamomile today with a little bit of chocolate.
This is still really delicious, but come back to me taste buds! I miss you.

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

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95

My taste buds are a bit off due to sick, but woah! The chocolate and chamomile are so interesting together. At first I went sip…sip…what the heck does this taste like…
And then I thought, oh it tastes like the name! The tea smells very dark chocolate and as it cools I’m definitely tasting mint.

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

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Profile

Bio

I mostly drink straight tea, and some of my favorites are green teas and oolongs. I almost always have some sencha and tieguanyin in my tea cupboard (and if I run out, awesome, an excuse to buy tea). I do like some flavored teas, but can’t stand really sugary stuff so if it’s very sweet I probably won’t like it. I can’t drink milk so all my reviews are of tea without milk and sugar!
I’ve been getting into puerh the last few months.

Outside of Steepster I’m an English Lit major, and will FINALLY be graduating after the Fall 2013 semester. After that I plan on applying for graduate school to obtain a Master’s in Library Science. Currently I work as a student assistant in the Archives and Special Collections department of my school’s library.
I also like reading (of course) and playing video games when I have time for them.

I’m happy to send samples to anyone in the US or Canada. Just ask. :)

Location

San Francisco, CA

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