Featured & New Tasting Notes
52teas 12 Teas of Christmas – Day 8
Only 3g left and brewed in a glass gaiwan.
Back in December, I got more of the lightly creamy eggnog vibe and stronger nutmeg taste. Now it’s all banana candy and I’m here to say I love that smell/taste after years of hate. It is not at all cloying and works really well with the mineral and floral oolong base. There’s also a soft streak of bittersweetness after finishing the cup that sits so satisyingly in my mouth. Aroma is like banana candy and rum.
Oh yeah — goes great with cinnamon bread!
Flavors: Banana, Bittersweet, Candy, Clean, Floral, Mineral, Nutmeg, Rum
Preparation
It’s hard to decide what I think of this one. I taste the orange and rooibos with a bit of bergamot. It’s fine cold, if a little too tangy. Once I add milk, it gets more of a creamsicle quality, but I no longer notice the bergamot. I think it’s a bit of a strange blend.
This was in a my Christmas stocking this past December in festive holiday packaging. I remember thinking Ghostly Green was an odd name to add into a Christmas based tea collection but hooray for a tea I’ve not had before.
There is a strong mint flavor with a hint of floral in the back. There’s a bit of creaminess to it as the tea cools.
Flavors: Cream, Floral, Green, Mint
March Sipdown Challenge Prompt – Pi Day and Einstein’s Birthday
Superanna gave me this tea and said I could go ahead and unwrap it, but I decided to save it for my birthday and have it be my breakfast tea. This was purchased in Tokyo, I believe, so I had to add it to the data base. The Hawaii store doesn’t sell it.
Pi Day is my actual birthday, but I tip my cup to all of the March babies here, and there are so many of us!
As for the tea, the dry leaves unfurl to quite an impressive size on steeping. The steeped tea has a rich aroma, a lot of body, and a thick, creamy mouthfeel. Lightly steamed asparagus is the leading flavor note to me, and I love asparagus. This has a richness that I associate with the word umami, but I don’t know if I am using that correctly as this has none of the seaweed or briny notes you might find in some teas that carry that description.
Many thanks, Superanna, for a rare and delightful tea treat that I might never have been able to try without your trip to Japan!
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – March 2024 Tea #7 -March 14 – Pi Day and Einstein’s Birthday
Had to go with a cake tea for all those Steepster bdays! I hope everyone with a March bday has or had a great day! As usual, I’m about a month behind on reading tasting notes, so probably won’t get to wish you well on your own day! This tea is hanging on strong somehow, with a best by date of 2013. Yowzers. Next time will be a sipdown of this particular pouch.
I started drinking and acquiring tea seriously around 2016, so I have a few teas that are almost as old. Glad this has stood the test of time!
We could have an “oldest non-puerh/intentionally aged tea” contest! But we would be brave enough to drink the very oldest ones?
Wow, this tea is incredible. I think I got this as a sample in a TTC order a year or so ago and kind of tossed it into my work stash and forgot about it. Found it today and decided to brew it gongfu style and I was so pleasantly surprised.
It tastes a lot like Thai iced tea- that same caramelly sugary sweetness. Maybe like roasted candy-coated pecans? So tasty.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Caramel, Caramelized Sugar, Pecan
I’m not a fan of white tea in general, but I like this one. Dunno if I can actually taste the pear or ginger, but its a general berry flavor with a floral aftertaste on the first steep only. I might try this as a cold brew.
Flavors: Berry, Floral, Sweet
Michelle – A friend (Sandy here on Steepster) has just moved to Colorado and plans to go to Happy Lucky Tea House sometime. I know Bonnie used to go a lot. Have you ever been in person or do you just order from them?
I have been in person, they are good people, but tell her to go when it’s not so crowded for better service. It’s one of my favorite tea houses :)
This tea was a sample with my Brigadoon Breakfast order.
The aroma of the dry blend was heavenly. I prepared myself for a super fruity treat on this warm and sunny spring day of outside yard work.
The steeped tea is quite different, though! Now it smells like cinnamon candy, the kind that is so strong that it tastes like clove. Because of the drastic change, I sweetened it and put it in the fridge to chill and drank it with lunch instead.
It wasn’t bad, but I am not a cinnamon candy fan, and I was so looking forward to the tropical fruit flavors I smelled in the dry blend. I am glad I got to try it, but I wouldn’t buy it for myself.
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
1st steep: Wow, this tea is really lovely. The scent reminds me of the holidays aha, but the tea is incredibly well balanced. The thyme is very clear and definitely comes through. The base tea is smooth and not astringent at all. A really lovely and unique tea from Martin, thank you!
2nd steep: Just as lovely the second time around. Impressive for a black tea!
Sipdown prompt: Your tea with the shortest name, but I have plenty (roughly 35 grams of 50 grams of the packaging) of this tea remaining. But the name must be one of the shortest definitely.
First time I had it it was quite sweet, malty and rye bread; somehow like cane sugar as vendor suggests; however today it was like a light morning breakfast tea with again malty notes, but definitely less sweet than the previous session. It was, stil very delicate and lovely. Of course it is like that because I have a soft spot for Georgian teas, maybe just because they are definitely less harsh than Indian teas for example.
I will try to recreate first impressions of this tea. I assume that colder water is the key; as amount of leaf was the same, as well as the volume of my vessel.
Preparation
A bit let down by this. I’m getting a lot of milk aroma (it smells like added milk flavoring, though that isn’t listed anywhere), but I don’t get it in the flavor. I’m definitely not getting any honey. Mostly butter and lilac. It’s quite average, and the price just doesn’t align with the quality ($15.50/30g….which is a perfectly acceptable price for a decent Jin Xuan but not this Jin Xuan).
Flavors: Artichoke, Butter, Clover, Green, Lilac
This one’s nice! I could smell the rich citrus as soon as the water hit the teabag. Reminds me a little bit of orange slice gumdrop candy, minus the overbearing sweetness. No overbearing tartness. Just bearing :)
One of my favorite webcams when I need eye candy is the Las Vegas Bellagio Conservatory. As I write this, they’re in construction mode for their spring display. You’ll appreciate the theme! https://www.earthcam.com/usa/nevada/lasvegas/bellagio/?cam=bellagio (I hope the link gets you there.)
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – March 2024 Tea #1- Your tea with the shortest name
Oo, I like this prompt. It required some thinking! I’m guessing at six letters, this is one of the teas with the shortest names. And it’s a good excuse to dig it out of the stash. It’s such an interesting looking leaf! Wish I had enjoyed it in its prime, but it isn’t bad now.
Album: GRETA – Portals
Song: First Weeks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuTUT-D4tIg
A sipdown! (M: 1 Y: 33) — prompt: An evening tea, as drank in the evening :)
I was craving some sweet-thing tea and this is not my general flavour profile. So, I have been happy to find a last (hopefully) tea bag of this tea. And I found out I never wrote a tasting note, so I am doing it as a sipdown note.
Courtney ’s description it quite spot on. Cocoa marshmellow and also quite dark chocolate here!
Subtle, cozy tea. That could be definition of this blend. Surprisingly well done. A splash of milk or something similar would make a cup similar to hot cocoa I assume.
Preparation
I bought a few Thunderbolt teas last summer at a deep discount, and as usual, I’m just getting to them. Their moonlight teas are among their more iconic offerings, so I was excited to try this version from Margaret’s Hope. I steeped 3.5 g of leaf in 150 ml of 180F water for 2.5, 3.5, 5, and 7 minutes, plus a couple uncounted steeps.
The leaves are very large and pretty and full of silver tips. The dry aroma is of white chocolate, cucumber, honey, and spring flowers. The first steep has notes of spring flowers, rose, herbs, coriander, honey, cucumber, green pepper, pine, citrus, and mango. There’s a touch of astringency and the tea is very aromatic and strong. The next steep is more piney, herbaceous, floral, and vegetal, with hints of grapefruit and mango and more pronounced tannins. The rose persists during some sessions, while others are more herbaceous. The final few steeps are herbaceous and vegetal, with more astringency and some remaining rose florality.
This is a lovely, complex tea that kept reminding me of alcohol, either gin or an IPA depending on the session. The citrus, pine, and florals are pronounced and fresh, especially since I’m drinking this a year after it was harvested. I have a feeling that Derk would get a lot more out of this tea than I can!
Flavors: Astringent, Citrus, Coriander, Cucumber, Floral, Grapefruit, Green, Green Pepper, Herbaceous, Honey, Mango, Pine, Rose, Tannic, Vegetal, White Chocolate
Preparation
I bought this for… reason unknown. Maybe I wanted to try fruit filled puerh, at least that sounds like a plausible explanation.
Anyway, I split the mandarin in half and picking some amount of puerh inside with a finger. Also adding some of the peel. I just hope it is intended to be steeped with the tea.
I tried it once before writing this note, but as my 4 years old niece was around, I was rather checking if my cup is far enough from the table border, than checking the tea itself.
Today I prepared 3g/3 mins with 90°C water.
It much earthier than I have expected. I also notice some of the cardboard / paper note which seems like a flaw to me. It’s not what I was expecting, to be honest. Also, earthy note is strong and then it fades into that I wrote about. I do notice some of the orange zest, but rather in aroma than the taste.
As it cools down it is getting better. Not by a lot, though. Have I used wrong steeping parameters? Was I supposed to steep it gongfu only? Was it packed in the paper wrapping for too long? Discuss below.
Preparation
This is a great tea to start the morning. A bit of briskness and a nice touch of astringency, all come together nicely with this beautiful leaf. Long leaves tightly twisted with fuzzy golden buds. This leaf is just gorgeous. The wet leaf reminds me of dark chocolate and raisin bread. Maybe a mixture of both. The flavor is very similar to the aroma with cocoa and bitter chocolate notes also a bit of malt, and some lacquered wood. The mouthfeel, as I mentioned earlier is a bit astringent but mostly it is smooth. The astringency just helps to add some depth. My first brew was bitter with a slightly overwhelming astringency. I had my dad try it first and when I tried it I felt bad that the first experience was so off, luckily the second was better. He said he still prefers coffee though… I’ll keep trying.
Gongfu!
W2T just released some new smoked teas, so this afternoon I’m revisiting on of my favourite smoked teas from this past year. This is one of the cleanest smoked teas I’ve tried, with a more medium body despite that pronounced campfire-like finish. It’s got a lot of upfront sweetness with notes that make me think of ripe green melon, freshly pressed sugar cane, and cool, crisp rain or early morning dew. I’ve made this comparison before, but the smoke notes are like when you douse a bonfire and for a fleeting moment the air in the immediate area becomes a dance between the steamy fresh water vapor and the last whisps of campfire smoke. It feels like drinking a deeply ingrained core memory.
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4BgSnGOUr-/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib9GAmhcxnw
Cheery, indeed! I looked this up on the Sonnentor website and the array of ingredients (there’s a little picture of each one) looks like a spring bouquet. We grow apple mint every year and I use it as a tea/juice/water additive constantly while it’s in season, but I’ve never seen it used in a commercial tea before. It’s a very subtle mint that doesn’t overpower the blackberry, raspberry, or strawberry leaves, all of which are also very understated. But together, it’s a really pleasant herbal blend. Martin, you’re the best!
I taste a lot of peach here with a bit of nuttiness too. I like this sweetened with milk, but I don’t love it. The flavor combination is interesting, but the base was a bit stronger than the flavoring and sometimes contributed some bitterness even when steeped properly. The resteep tastes similar to the first.