148 Tasting Notes

88

I had this last night in my new gaiwan from Butiki, which is gorgeous! This tea really made me scratch my head for awhile. I kept thinking it’s really a black tea…no, it’s an oolong…but it tastes kind of like black tea…

This was like a tippy black tea and a fruity oolong. The flavor was unfamiliar, but that made it really fascinating (as you can probably tell from my ellipses brain wanderings). The first steep tasted almost exclusively like black tea to me, and in later steepings it got more and more raisin-like, and sweet. I think I need to drink this one a lot more so I can figure it out. ;)

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 30 sec
Michelle Butler Hallett

This sounds lovely.

Claire

It’s really good! I definitely recommend it.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
drank Black Pearl by Mandala Tea
148 tasting notes

More on this tea later, but for right now this is exactly what the doctor ordered. I have a feeling this ounce of tea is going to go bye bye very fast. Malty, rich, toasty, and cocoa like. Sooo good. This warms my soul.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Terri HarpLady

I need some of that : )

Bonnie

Me too!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

77

Darjeeling Second Flush, I hardly knew ye. Drank the last of this today in my to go mug. It’s still pretty tasty but I miss my malt monster black tea. Thankfully my friend Becky and I are tea swapping and she’s sending me nearly a pound of Malachi McCormick! Am I lucky or what?

Some news for my Steepster pals: my hearing test resulted in good news and bad news. The good news is that while I do have some hearing loss, the audiologist said it’s not too severe and she did not think that I need a hearing aid at this time. The bad news is she does think I have some nerve damage inside my ear, and said I should see an ENT as soon as I can afford it.

In other news, I am now an official member of the Letter Writers Alliance! If you would like some snail mail, feel free to send me a message with your address. :) One caveat is that I am a pretty busy person, and it may take me awhile to get something cool out in the mail to you.

Sil

letter writers alliance??

ashmanra

I have the book Good Mail Day and I love it! Have you seen it?

Claire

Sil – you can check out their website here – http://16sparrows.typepad.com/letterwritersalliance/

ashmanra – I have it on request from interlibrary loan, so it should get to my library within the week. :)

Sil

Ty ill check it out :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93

Only one teaspoon of this left! Thankfully Rayn gifted me some iron goddess from Samovar, and I have lots of oolong coming in from Butiki. :)

I haven’t been drinking much oolong lately, but it remains one of my comfort teas. When the day is long and I am tired the act of measuring out the rolled green leaves, watching them unfold, and inhaling the scent of orchids as it wafts up from the cup contents me. There is so much in that little cup of pale yellow liquid.

I am going to be doing something soon that I’ve resisted for a long time: getting my hearing tested. About 8 years ago my left eardrum was damaged in an accident, and my hearing never fully recovered. I think I have known for awhile now that it was getting worse and not better, but did not really want to admit it to myself. Today my doctor referred me to an audiologist for testing, and I called them and left a message. Baby steps. I can do this!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec
Terri HarpLady

Yes you can!
Years ago I started having problems with my right ear, which eventually resulted in having my eardrum replaced. I was deaf in that ear for awhile, not good for a musician, but then the new ear drum took! It was like a miracle! My hearing in that ear will never be as good as the other one, but I’m so grateful to have what I have. I’m the worst for avoiding doctors, but some of the miracles of modern medicine have their place!

Bonnie

Good for you! I had operations on both my eyes last year not realizing how blind I really was until I could see again. It was shocking! We get used to not hearing until it gets in our face like my blindness did. You’ll be glad you took this step to recovery.

Claire

Terri HarpLady – that is very nice to hear. I’m not in a place right now where I can afford surgery, but I may have to get a hearing aid as I’m losing a lot of sounds, and at this point in any kind of group environment with multiple people talking I may as well not be there.

Bonnie – thanks for the kind words. I am really scared of going deaf but as Rayn put it, it doesn’t hurt to take the steps I can towards that not happening.

Today has actually been a real whirlwind of events – the Audiologist called me back and could only meet at Tuesdays and at 4pm! After a lot more phone calls and stopping by a Professor’s office, the Audiologist will be doing preliminary tests for me today. I am a bit anxious but probably better to get it out of the way!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93

Yummmm. For some reason I hadn’t opened my sample of this yet, and decided tonight was a good night for it.

I can taste similarities between this and the laoshan green, but this is far sweeter, creamier, and slightly nutty. It feels thick on the tongue instead of sparkling. I taste a little of the laoshan green bean/asparagus flavor but it’s a lot more understated in this tea. The sweetness in this almost reminds me of a spring oolong.

Another fantastic tea from the He family. :)

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

77

I’ve had this the last couple days in the travel mug. It’s not the greatest darjeeling I’ve ever had, but certainly not bad either, especially for the price! A little bit of fruity sweetness and mild astringency.

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

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Prince of Wales by Twinings
148 tasting notes

I think I’ve either finally been spoiled by loose leaf, or this box of tea was stale. I’ve tried a couple of cups now and it tastes like dust and paper. Or maybe I’m just working in the library too much…

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
darby

I find twining a teas prefer tap water to taste good.

Claire

Thanks for the tip darby, I’ll have to try that!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

100
drank Krampus Brew by Handmade Tea
148 tasting notes

I am still in love with this. Not much more to say about it except I wish it was available FOREVER and I am almost out. But, I do have what I think is a funny story for my fellow steepsters about me, my tea thermos, and OMG GERMS.

We can’t have any food or drinks inside the department of the library where I work. The materials we have are too old/valuable and it’s one of those things where no one ever thinks they will spill but then they do, and holy crap that 400 year old copy of Dante’s Inferno is ruined. So right outside our double doors we have a little table where people can set their drinks or snacks. Last Friday I was working on foldering old newspaper clippings when I spotted a man lurking just outside the door. I looked up from my work and realized that he was touching my tea thermos. And not just touching it, but unscrewing the lid, looking inside, etc.
I should note at this point that I can be a real neat freak, and I am most definitely not okay with random strangers touching things that go near my mouth. So basically I was screaming on the inside at this point, but I managed to compose myself, got up and opened the door. I asked him, “Can I help you?”
He looked at me, then back to our various thermoses and drinks on the little table and said “Is all this trash?”
I said something like “No, it’s not trash, these belong to the people who work here. That is my thermos.”
Now I THOUGHT at that point he would buy a clue and put it down. But nooo. Instead he says “Oh”, and continues playing with the lid and looking inside. “Is this a tea thermos or something?”
I said “Yes. It’s MINE,” in my most notsubtle-ohmygosh-stoptouchingmystuff voice.
At that point he finally put the lid back on, set it back down and said “Oh okay. Have a good night.”
Steepsters. I had to soak that thermos in so much hot water you would not even believe it. DEFILED.

Sil

Lol I shouldn’t laugh but just thought of this interaction really makes me chuckle. Some people!

Claire

It’s okay to laugh, I thought it was funny after the fact! I told my aunt (raised me for most of my life) about it over the weekend, and she was laughing so hard she was crying. Probably because she knows me well enough to know how much I was FREAKING OUT.

Invader Zim

For some reason Jeff Dunham’s act with Achmed when Achmed yells “Stop touching me!” was going through my head! Only “stop touching my stuff” instead of me!

Miss Starfish

Oh dear! Perhaps for next time? “Dude, just step away from the thermos and no one gets hurt. I know all about papercuts, trust me, you don’t want that world of pain brought down on you.”

Claire

Oh man Miss Starfish, I get so many papercuts at work, he’d better watch out! ;)
Invader Zim – It was at all socially appropriate to yell that at him, I probably would have.

Kittenna

Uh….. that would probably bother me to the point of not having a thermos at work again. I’m always concerned with thoughts of people slipping things into my drinks….

Claire

Kittenna – For now we moved the table so it’s more easily visible while we’re inside. The problem is if I don’t bring a drink I’m stuck with using the water fountain.

Kittenna

Yeah. I’m usually in a similar situation; food/drink are not allowed in the lab, and I’m wary of leaving things outside the door! So I am bad sometimes and keep my thermoses tucked in my backpack (which I’m also technically not supposed to have with me). I still go out of the lab to drink, but feel waaaaay safer. I’m guessing that that isn’t an option for you :(

Claire

Kittenna – yeah, it wouldn’t be good if I told other people the rules and then they saw me break them. ;)

Earl Jeff

Lol wow. What a sheister, that man….. :P Boundaries, anyone?

That tea sounds delicious, by the way. I am currently lamenting its recent unavailability. :(

Michelle Butler Hallett

Oh my GAWD! I’d be freaking out, too!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85

Sipping a cup of this hot tonight. I’ve had it cold and hot now – cold is definitely better. When it’s cold steeped it’s like drinking sweet and juicy mangoes and peaches. Hot I can still taste the fruit but it’s understated, a little subtle. The fruit is there but not hogging the show.

I just finished grading 22 papers and I feel exhausted. There’s something about assigning points to a real and important subject matter that’s just draining. I feel like commenting, this matters to someone in real life. If I do badly on a Shakespeare paper, it doesn’t mess up Shakespeare’s life, after all.

Lately I feel very grateful for all the amazing things I have going on in my life, and deeply sad that so many wonderful people are having a hard time right now.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 30 sec
gmathis

If I had to criticially read 22 papers, I believe you’d have to pick me up out of the pile of drool on the floor! Love to write; love the creative process; forget editing and proofing!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Champagne Rosé by Lupicia
148 tasting notes

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer