New Tasting Notes

I’ve been drinking this tea quite a bit lately, almost to the exclusion of everything else — even my usual pu-erh. I’m particularly impressed with its re-steepability and its ability to take a really long steeping to produce a strong, fragrant cup without bitterness.

My Euro Election Results Tea.

This was more earthy than I was expecting, and the sweetness more subtle, but I’m definitely enjoying it so far. I’m going to try and steep it a little longer on the next cup. Another cup may be asking for trouble because I can already feel the caffeine kicking in, but what can I say? I live on the edge.

Ahhh, properly made this time, with dark agave nectar and soy milk. A cup of chai to fuel the watering of the herb garden this morning.

A friend and I drank four cups of this last night between the two of us. I used the proportions that was in the video Jesse from Samovar and Kevin Rose made, but appears to be down [was here | http://is.gd/RMKC ]; 2 cups water, 2 cups whole milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons chai. That’s good for two cups and adds just enough sweetness for me, so I don’t mess with it. [You can halve-ish, the proportions if you’re making it for one, but might want to play around with the amount of sugar and/or chai a little bit.] Some instructions can be found here | http://is.gd/RMPn if you’d like to try it out.

This makes my house smell like I want to bite into it. The chai itself is delicious. It obviously takes a little bit more prep than your traditional brew, but wholly worth it. Especially on a rough day.

Watched French Open and had a cup of Earl Grey. Nice!

First try of the Maiden’s Ecstasy and it’s not bad a lot. Very delicate taste, good for breakfast. Note to self: let cool the water a little bit more next time.

The usual excellent, grassy flavour, full bodied yet delicate, with a very subtle collection of undertones. Brewed with just a touch of water at the bottom initially, to avoid damaging the tea, before filling the pot.

I’ll be re-steeping multiple times today.

I get variable results with this tea when I steep it a full three minutes. Sometimes it comes out fragrant with a lot of citrus, other times it’s more woody bordering on bitter. I find that adding an extra teaspoon to my pot and reducing the steep time by a half or full minute really lets the floral notes dominate.

My usual breakfast cup…

Usually my attempts to brew this have ended bitterly, so I tend to favor that Leo Zodiac blend for my decaf fix. This time I decided to try it with a 3 minute steep as opposed to the 5, and it seems to have done the trick. No bitterness whatsoever.

Loving this stuff. Thinking about checking out A & D’s series 2, but I still haven’t finished this or the Dragonwell, and I haven’t even touched the Ceylon yet. Don’t want to risk tea overload I guess, heh.

Something about a strong english tea while reading about the undead in the middle of the night… I do enjoy it so…

Leaves smell very sweet and fruity. Very nice.
The colour strikes me a kind of boring light golden brown. It doesn’t look bad, it just looks very average.
It doesn’t taste very fruity. I can find the raspberry, but it’s rather subtle and not enormously sweet. I like that, and I think it might benefit from a little sugar. I’ll have to experiment wtih that.

I just got more of this in today. It could not have come at a better time.

Re-steep.

A delicate oolong that still produces a good amount of flavor. I experienced nutty, sweet, and floral flavors over 3 infusions.

A wonderful, not overly sweet, refreshing treat.