Featured & New Tasting Notes

I’m not the tea person who weighs, labels, classifies, catalogs, or scientifically approaches any of my brews…I’m the one with an unlabeled baggie of something that sort of looks like green tea with lemongrass that I might have gotten from a work friend sometime last summer, but eh, it still looks viable, so let’s give it a go….

And I’m glad I go’ed. Whatever I’m drinking, it’s a happy golden color, and with a squeeze of lime, it tastes like spring sunshine.

A little “random” never hurts :)

Cold Brew Sipdown (214)!

Thanks for the sample VariaTEA!

This is a really interesting blend; I fully expected strong coconut notes and hints of lime but it’s more like the other way around? Very strong, bold lime notes especially in the top and mid sip. It’s bright, sweet, juicy and all kinds of tangy! I’m enjoying it a lot. The coconut kicks in during the finish, and is quite buttery actually. Lime and coconut is a pretty solid pairing overall; and it works here mostly. The thing that is kind of disconnected is the butteryness of the coconut – it’s strange next to the tangyness of the lime. Still, it’s nice overall! Probably not something I’d revisit though.

So, for the first time I brewed a cup of this that I was really happy with!

I was trying to think of ways to improve this one, and I decided that I was going to try and put together a food pairing that would highlight the things in the tea that I enjoy and sort of mask what I don’t. I really wanted the feel of a nice Spring/Summer time picnic so I went with a beer sausage vegetarian, of course with honey chevre, arugula and a strawberry balsamic and then a small bowl of cranberry pear gelato on the side.

The hotdog was a brilliant choice because the roastiness of the Houjicha seemed to fade into the savory, meaty quality of the sausage and the whole wheat bun but the acidity of the balsamic, and cool fruity notes of the gelato drew out the bright, sweet watermelon notes so for once it didn’t feel like the roastiness and the melon were clashing but instead delicious parts of one really solid, upbeat and fun Spring time meal!

It was a WONDERFUL way to kick off today’s tea drinking!

Tried this one out today but puppy interrupted my tea drinking with a need to to go play outside with friends. So MOST of this cup was had relatively cold lol I’ll write a better review when i get another chance to drink it hot, but cold it was a nice cup – smooth without any bitterness, good way to start the day!

Ahh finally. Had this again today and got plenty of flavour. Still generic, and sourish. But the nutty hazel tones and chocolate did make an appearance… noticeably! I’m not sure what I did differently this time. Could be the cocoa bits sunk to the bottom of my sample.

GCTTB round 6
“Black tea with flower petals” – unknown tea company

75/100 Very tasty, but not very original/memorable

Loose leaf looks like black tea with wilted/brown flower petals, doesn’t smell like much.

Brew: Distinctly floral, a nice black base with lots of tannins, abeit slightly bitter. Slightly sweet, flavourful. This is your standard floral tea.

This is a favorite of mine! The leaf quality is not the greatest, but it still makes a very nice brew. The compression is tight and gives off tones of leather, dry grass, and mild menthol that lingers in the background. I warmed my yixing up and chip some inside. The scent opens into intense eucalyptus, leather, and pipe tobacco. A warm mahogany note lifts up along with dark wood resin. The background has a faint sweetness of black cherry cream. I washed the leaves twice and prepared for brewing. The taste is incredibly thick and sweet with sugarcane. The woody astringency builds as a contrast to the succulent sugary feel. The huigan begins immediately and is nice and long. The qi begins as a calm and quiet feeling. I can note that things seem more “distant” as I drink this. I would label this effect as a separating sheng. The brew continues on with crisp apricot tones and a clean body. The qi gains force and refocuses on my scalp and commences hair prickling. The prickling quickly and effectively washes over me, and I’m thrown. The brew continues in a perfectly smooth fashion, and it is packed with flavor. Due to compression, this brew tends to last for a very very very long time. Further, the qi continues to build with each sip, so I am pretty smoothed out half way through. By the end of the session, I have gone through flavors of apricot, melon, sugarcane, honey, bright high notes, and a great base of well oiled wood. The qi leaves me feeling like a freshly pressed and steamed suit, haha.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BC3uQwDzGSq/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

This tea is no longer sold by Compass Tea but it may be something they restock in the future, or have something similar to.

The leaf is dark green with a high shine and a sweet, floral scent with a touch of grass. The leaves are of medium size with some broken pieces present, overall it looks as expected ie no discolouration or holes.

Steeping this at a lower temperature around 65C for one minute to try and draw out some of the umami and sweetness.

A golden brown/green liquid is produced (again typical of Superior Sencha) and it bares a toasted grass and seaweed scent, also slightly vegetal.

Flavour is medium strength with sweet grass highs and toasted peony lows, with a salty seaweed and kale type mineral after taste that lingers and becomes dry.Only a touch of astringency but some umami is present. Half way down my yunomi and it becomes so sweet and floral it’s picked up a perfumed quality has real mouth feel to it. Also slightly bitty at the bottom of my bowl.

A second steep of the same parameters reveals: less sweetness but more umami, mimicking soup broth in this steep. More mouth feel and dryness in the after taste and less perfume. Still it bares little astringency as such and it remains vegetal. It reminds me of Matcha, has a similar sort of flavour and feel about it in this steep. Just a very watery and non foamy Matcha.

Overall I was impressed. The quality was expected (average for a Superior Sencha) but it steeped well and had wonderful characteristics and flavours. A nice example of Sencha and pleasing to drink. I recommend low temperatures if your an umami fan though, at least to start with, I’m an umami fan at heart.

A nice introduction to Compass Teas for me and while this is no longer sold I will certainly keep my eyes open to see what line of Sencha it has in the future.

http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/01/25/superior-sencha-compass-teas/

I’m going to keep this review short. It’s Friday, I barely got any sleep last night, and even though I have not been at work a full hour, I have already had an absolutely miserable, unbearably stressful morning. Some of you may recall me mentioning purchasing this tea in a note I wrote back in November. I had yet to try it at the time and it had been on my to do list ever since. I finally cracked it open earlier in the week, made it through 4-5 cups, and ended up throwing the rest of the sachets out last night. I have literally never done that before with fresh tea, not even with a tea I greatly disliked.

The first turn-off for me was the visible presence of safflower in the blend. I hate safflower. Anyone who claims that it does not contribute a smell or taste to whatever it is blended with has no clue. Anyway, the second turn-off for me was that odd thistle, pepper, and saffron-like smell of the dried safflower. It obscured the tea base, which to be honest, did not seem all that interesting. In the mouth, I got an awkward mix of thistle, malt, caramel, toast, and black peppercorn. The peppery note dominated the finish, leaving an odd, slightly unpleasant tingle coupled with oiliness in the back of my throat.

Now that I have once again failed miserably at keeping things short and simple, allow me to state that this was not for me. Maybe some folks are cool with this blend, but I am certainly not one of them. I found the tea base weak, lifeless, and boring which caused the dreaded safflower to stand out when it really shouldn’t have. This was just an unpleasant experience for me, and I cannot say that I would be willing to recommend this tea to fans of English breakfast blends.

Sipdown! Glad this is now out of the way because I was getting tired of it rather quickly, especially since it isn’t incredibly unique. The spices in here can get bitter rather quickly so I added a couple teaspoons of sugar to my 2-cup mug, along with some milk, but I’m still not enjoying it. Doesn’t seem worth the calories, you know? Now it’s just sweeter with a load of black pepper, followed by some cinnamon and a pinch of clove.

This tea is very ugly. However, we do not drink beauty pagent winners so into the pot she goes. The leaf is incredibly compressed with strong notes of bitter greens, oak, parchment, and slightly sweet raisan-y tobacco tang. I warmed my pot up and tossed the rock inside. I nice sauna yielded some intense tobacco scents along with melon, apricot, and a sweet/spicy medley. I washed the leaf twice and began my boil. The taste is very nice and sweet. The leaf opens up, and I get some brown sugar in the forefront with a nectar sugarcane aftertaste. The ta progresses with sweet corn, tobacco, and fruitiness in the cup. The huigan is beautiful and lasting; I am really enjoying this brew. The body is amazingly full, and the flavors continue to be complex and transfer about. The next steeping move into a wood base with the familiar intense sugarcane aftertaste. The qi begins with a steady flow of energy that emits a calm focused power. The last steeping jump over to hay and peat moss with an undertone of daffodils. This tea is superb, and I should probably get more of it. I can’t stress enough to not judge a tea by its appearance. I’ve noticed that some of the ugliest are the best!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BO2rVrYAyRC/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

This was one of my favourites when I first ordered it, in fact I loved it so much that I added it to my wishlist immediately after my first cup (which I very rarely do when teas are still in my cupboard) and eagerly parsed others’ notes to see if anyone wasn’t keen and wouldn’t mind to swap. I remember taking my first sip and having an ‘ohmygod’ moment. All of the notes were present, particularly the plum and brandy. The reason I’m describing this experience from almost two years ago is that sadly, out of all my Butiki teas, this seems to be the one which has lost its flavour. I’m going to have another cup in a few days once I’ve got through the rest of my drink-a-thon teas in the hopes that it was a fluke, just a bad cup, or I brewed it wrong, because this tea was once magnificent. O’ cruel fate, why must you take from me one of my favourite teas in such a brutal manner?

But seriously, aside from the melodramatic mourning, I was so disappointed when I took my first expectant sip. The flavour hasn’t completely dissipated, but it’s faded to the point where I have to chase the notes to taste them. The scent is very creamy, and the cheesecake flavour is probably the most prominent note remaining, but I barely get any brandy at all and the plum is seriously fading. The base itself was on the light side, too, and I could taste the water through it, so I’m living in hope that I just underleafed even though I followed Stacy’s suggestions. This might have to be moved into my focus box until it’s sipped down.

My rating for this is based on how amazing it was when I first bought it, since it wouldn’t be fair to it or to Stacy to mark it down because of my negligence/hoarding.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Six – Tea #23
Sorry everyone, this one was a teabox sipdown! I thought there would be one serving left when I started scooping but nope. I like where this tea was going. There seemed to be very complimentary ingredients here. I wish I was tasting more vanilla though! The black tea and roasted oolong worked very well together. The black tea reminded me of a light Laoshan black. The sandalwood didn’t overwhelm the tea — a nice subtle flavor that was a nice addition. A comforting three steeps, definitely!

“Mystery 2012 Fuding White”

Thick mouthfeel with a nice taste of jasmine. Slightly astringent, but nothing too extreme.

80/100

I had a couple of samples of this tea left over from a couple of Harney & Sons orders. I’m still under the impression that whoever packs their freebies somehow knows what I don’t like and sends me such things as a joke. The only Harney & Sons freebie I have ever received that I recall liking was their Earl Grey Imperial. Still, I was willing to give this a chance. Though I don’t care for gingko, I do enjoy citrus and green tea, and considering the green tea base is Indian, I was immediately intrigued.

I prepared this tea using a two step Western infusion process. I started by steeping one silken sachet in 8 ounces of 175 F water for 2 minutes. I followed this infusion with a 3 minute infusion at the same temperature.

Prior to infusion, the dry blend presented a powerful mix of lemon, lemongrass, hay, and straw. There was a little bit of nuttiness from the gingko too. After infusion, the bouquet became more integrated and intense. In the mouth, I discovered a powerful, yet muddled mix of dried grass, lemon zest, hay, straw, lemongrass, nuts, and wood. The nuttiness and woodiness of the gingko became more intense on the finish, drying my mouth out and leaving me parched. The second infusion was more mellow, offering more prominent aromas and flavors of lemon and lemongrass before the gingko once again asserted itself and left my mouth and throat feeling dry.

I have to give this blend credit for one thing-it reminded me of why I do not particularly care for gingko. I could not stand how it kept popping up at the end and drying out my mouth. The citrus and lemongrass did not really help matters either. Part of the problem here was that the base tea did not seem all that interesting. It was as if Harney & Sons tried to cover its blandness up with additives that did not work all that well together. To me, this blend just came off as a mess. There was no balance. Everything was out of focus. I highly doubt I will ever have this one again.

Quick tasting note before I take a walk down to my nana’s, I’m going out with her for lunch. I’m also going to Weight Watchers tonight and have an appointment at the dentist’s, so I’m not sure how much tea I’m going to get drank on my only day off this week! Next Monday and Tuesday are the last days of January and the last of my drink-a-thon, so it might end up being a sprint finish if I can’t find the time sooner.

I estimated the temperature while I was distracted, and think I might have brewed this a little too hot, since the liquor is a darker colour than I expected and there’s a tiny hint of astringency right at the back end of the sip. It’s not too noticeable, and doesn’t bother me, but still I feel like I could have done this more justice. The squash comes across to me as a cake, cookie or muffin sort of flavour, and along with the vanilla and cinnamon the overall effect is one of a cinnamon cookie, which is just fine by me! The sweet, earthy, starchy squash is the most prominent note in the body of the sip, mingling with the vanilla note which helps make it more sweet than savoury. The soft cinnamon comes through at the end of the sip like a blanket, covering the mouth with a natural, comforting spice which makes me suspect this tea would be perfect for curling up in front of a fire in the Autumn. I added my usual half a sugar, and now the vanilla and cinnamon notes are more prominent and the squash less so. I do wish this tea had a thicker mouthfeel to match the creamy starchy flavour, but it’s very enjoyable nonetheless.

ETA: As it cools the muffin comparison gets stronger. It’s reminding me strongly of a muffin I can picture quite clearly which I used to have often as a treat when I was younger, but I can’t quite remember where I got them or the context around them. What I can picture quite clearly while I’m drinking this is the colour, texture and flavour of the muffin, right down to the gooey, sticky glaze on the golden brown top and the spongy but dense feel of breaking off a piece to pop in my mouth while the coating got stuck to my fingers. I was originally going to rate this a 76 but I’m going to have to raise that because yay for muffin tea!

This is a nice sheng. Sweet from the beginning with little bitterness and some astringency. The tea had a darker color than you would expect for a new sheng. It had a nice taste to it including a positive flavor note I failed to pick up on specifically.

I steeped this tea eight times in a 150ml gaiwan with 9.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. Overall this tea was quite good. I could have kept steeping it but want to drink something else.

I haven’t had hongcha in awhile, so I pulled this out. The dry leaf is long fuzzy gold and black tendrils with a smooth light milk cocoa aroma. I take another inhale to grasp at salted caramel and malt. I warmed my gaiwan up and placed what I had inside. The scent deepens to Hot dark cocoa and marshmallow. A burnt sugar note peeked through alone with grapeskins. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste is very smooth and sweet. The brew is a little thin, and the tones are not as powerful as I had thought, but it was good hongcha. The tones and smooth malt with some cocoa and base of caramel. A good tea, but I wouldn’t call it great.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPdFghLg7Wh/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

So I have had a comedy-level cold over the weekend. The whole shebang, with sneezing, stuffed up voices, and coughing. Bleh.
I’m much better today, but now my face is sort of chapped, and I’m still not back to 100% tasting.
But I’m going to coax my tastebuds out with this, one of my favorite blends. And ahh, there are my tastebuds again.
I’m really in love with this tea. One of my favorites, to be sure. And its just nice on a morning like today!

This tea didn’t have a name in a traditional sense so I used the description as a name to add it to the database. The name may look spam like but it is not. It is a cheap ripe sold in 100g cakes by Han Ecological Tea Group on Aliexpress. They didn’t give a year specifically either but a range of one to three years for age so I just guessed this was a 2016 tea. I only paid $7.46 each for these, now it has gone up somewhat in price. This turned out to be a nice tea. It had a fair amount of fermentation flavor but that flavor was neither unpleasant or fishy. It had a sweet note from the start with virtually no bitterness. Overall it was a very nice tea. I am not sure how to characterize the sweet notes in this so I won’t try. Didn’t notice any chocolate notes but then again I wasn’t really paying attention. The taste of this tea was a pleasant surprise to say the least.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 160ml Ru Kiln Shui Ping teapot with 11g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min.

Checked my notes – ‘Tastes like varnish wooden fruit, by steep 10 I thought yiwu’

Yeah I wont give up my day job to review tea quite yet. ..

I found this to be quite straightforward with its flavour & experience. Each steep did its thing, which was that aged varnish-bitter woody fruit taste (only way I can describe it), without much fuss. ’Twas ok. The front of the sip was the same as the end, not much in the way of a taste journey. It lasted throughout the day, and I particularly liked the later steeps when the taste changed to a hot-dark-milky/rounded base with some sour bitter lift.

It was ok – didn’t set me alight with complexity but its a cheap cake, so yeah recommended for the price – it also might be in sheng limbo-age, I don’t have enough data to know how this will progress when stored for a good few years nicely. Cheap enough to give it a try though :)

Sipdown. Sad to see it go, but I’ve got to make room for the hundreds of samples I seem to have in my possession right now. I’m hoping to go back to Seattle in the next year or two, so I will pick up some more of this next time I’m in the city.

Some final notes on this amazing yellow (black?) tea
-very rich, creamy, malt, cocoa flavours but not bitter at all
-never astringent, bitter, sour, or anything else unpleasant
-no vegetal notes at all, this isn’t a green/unprocessed yellow tea
-very, very smooth
-taste of minerals that IMO accompanies the classic “tea” flavour, no hint of salt, moss, soil, or fermentation
-thick mouthfeel
-slightly toasty
-lots of flavourful tannins, tastes like a high grade black tea (because it has the flavour of an oxidized tea), but is a tiny bit toasty and less brash
-resteeps very well, I did 3 pots of 700 mL today and there was no loss of flavour from the 1 tsp of leaf I used. Yet it doesn’t get bitter or overly tannic! Yay for good quality tea leaves!

A dessert tea with breakfast?!?
I didn’t care. This was exactly what I needed. Not the best tea I’ve ever had, but this morning I kinda wanted less than perfection. So yeah I’m very happy with this simple, clearly caramel, overly astringent black tea. Good with or without milk (because creamy caramel). And if it wasn’t for the mouth puckering sour astringency, I’d boost up the rating. A lot.

I really enjoy Korean green tea; they have wonderful aromas. I don’t remember where I got this, but I discovered it a little bit ago. The leaves are vibrant and loosely rolled with a warm scent of dried seaweed, roasted chestnuts, almonds, and kale. I warmed my kyusu and scooped some inside. The directions said really light and really short steeps, but I disagreed. The drink was a nice pale jade with a roasted aroma. The taste is very very thin and sweet. The brew lasted about two steeps and yielded a cup of light grassy notes and slight florals. The base was starchy and roasted corn, but it was very faint. This is a very easy drinker, and it is nice for night time sippin, but I wouldn’t get any more of this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPftdLNgmRI/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel