Featured & New Tasting Notes

After reading about the concept of insect feces as tea, it was only a matter of time until I drank it. This product is said to be a home made product from the early 1980’s via Chawang. A short excerpt:
“Local people put medicinal herbs and old tea leaves into a bamboo basket and let them natural fermentation to produce aroma to lure insects lay eggs, after some months larvae eat the leaves and leaving the droppings there. People take droppings out and dry them in the sun, then fry the droppings together with tea and honey in the iron pan for 20 minutes so that the final insect feces tea is ready for drinking.” (http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/1980s-guangxi-chong-shi-cha-10g.html)

How could a tea addict not let these words brew curiosity within themselves of an unknown journey that this would provide? This is something that I knew I would approach with a lot of time dedicated to the thoughts of brewing it as well as tasting it.
The first steep had a flash wash just to wake it up; I wanted my antique poop to be more alive when I tasked it! The first session I stuck with the typical 10 second steep as I would with a liubao or raw puerh I have no idea what to do with. The first thing you notice is, this is poop; just from the look alone, there is no denying that I just put poop in my teapot. The first steep I decided to sniff it awhile while it cooled. There is a medicinal smell in there mixed with a bit of that ‘dirty’ smell that luibao tends to have. The first sip took me by surprise as I was expecting more of a dirt taste and dryness. Initially I tasted some wet hay that is in the drying process. The similarities of luibao and this tea are evident from the look, smell, and taste. What I like most about this is how smooth it is. Interestingly, it leaves an oil like texture on the back of the teeth once you sip it down. That feeling is enjoyable until I remembered that it’s basically poop lubricant that I’m running my tongue across to assess the feeling.
Upon finishing the first session, I decided that I needed to go on to the next. Surprisingly this resteep very well. The next steep has a lot of the same qualities that you find in a really dried out white tea. It’s quite nice to have mixed in with the luibao taste. The oil like feeling has gone away which is unfortunate now because the after taste is quite dry. Little pieces are finding its way in my cup as they may be dissolving and getting smaller. Now I’m drinking and eating poop that’s older than me; isn’t that a weird concept?

I went ahead to four total steeps with a total of 22’ish ounces brewed and drank. In regards to the price: At $8 for 10g, it seems high but you have to keep in mind that you won’t be using 4g for a session. I think the price is lower than it could be, it’s actually a great deal for the experience and age of what it is.

Thank you Rich for providing this sample! I might be the happiest person to receive poop in the mail for quite awhile.
http://imgur.com/a/RTQOv
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBdXiO_xYLq/

It will be interesting to see what this tastes like, as it has been living in its paper sample bag in a plastic container along with other Simpson & Vails, some of which are florals, in their paper sample bags.

The dry leaves are small and medium in the tippy and curly department. They smell a little perfumey, which scares me some.

The tea steeps dark, darker than I’ve seen in most yunnans. A clear, dark mahogany. The aroma is malty-deep, slightly sweet, with just a hint of pepper. The perfume smell doesn’t carry over into the aroma, fortunately.

The flavor is surprisingly mild given the dark color and smell, but flavorful. Gentle on the stomach. There’s just the smallest amount of perfume carry-over, but not enough to give the tea an altogether different flavor from what it is. It’s not the best yunnan I’ve had, solid, but not overly interesting. It sort of reminds me of the Numi Chinese Breakfast.

I suspect I’ll sip this one down easily and quickly, both because it’s a pleasant drink and because with all the other yunnans in my cupboard that I prefer to this one, I’d rather sip down this one as a distraction from focusing on the others.

Now for the life update. No need to read if you’re in this for the tea. ;-)

Sorry I’ve been rather scarce. I’m still getting a feel for the new routine. I’ve been doing coffee first thing in the morning for the extra alertness jolt with fast preparation time, taking tea with me in the Timolino, typically a green of some sort, and always one I’ve written about before and so far there hasn’t been much to add by way of notes.

There is tea at work, by the way. There’s a full Starbucks in one of the campus buildings, and a variety of bagged Numi teas in the kitchen on my floor. I also brought some tea to work. Essentially all the bags I have left. I haven’t actually steeped any yet though. I’ve been occupied with trying to learn everything there is to learn which makes the time fly and before I know it, the day is gone and I haven’t made any tea at work again.

On the home de-cluttering front: continued success! This morning I packed up five boxes for storage, mostly my old toys I’d saved from childhood for the kids that they’ve outgrown and the toys they have sentimental attachment to but don’t play with anymore. With that, the toy project is pretty much done except for the random things that continue to turn up in weird places. I can pretty much be assured to find at least one Lego in every drawer in the house if I look hard enough. ;-)

So to recap: toys are done, office is done. What’s left? Books and clothes, mostly.

Last weekend we took some books to the library to donate. They don’t put them in the library but they sell them for fundraising. There will probably be another box or two of these coming as I finish going through the kids’ books with them, but there aren’t too many left to go through. Then there will be are a few boxes of books to store—baby favorites that they don’t want to let go but don’t look at much anymore.

The book project was pretty amusing. Who knew we had five copies of Goodnight Moon, until we looked through everything?

I’m hoping to finish some of this packing up this weekend, but I’m not going to stress about it. As long as I continue to see progress, I think I can keep motivated to finish.

The one thing that has suffered in all of this is my writing. I have several stories I’ve workshopped and need to revise, and some stories that have been sent back from magazines that need to be resubmitted. Maybe I’ll be able to make an hour or two tomorrow to work on my Writers of the Future entry for this quarter. According to my readers it only needs some minor revision, so if I can get it revised, I can set it aside until next weekend, do a reread, and submit if I can’t think of anything else to do to it.

This is one of my favorite, ‘take with me to the snow teas’, for drinking on early cold snowy mornings in bed with a book before waking up the husband and getting his butt out of bed for a day of snowboarding on the mountain. I don’t get pecan specifically from this tea but rather a generic general nuttiness which works well with the Caramel and chocolate notes. The addition of milk amps up the creaminess factor and I couldn’t honestly imagine drinking it without a generous splash. I may have to reconsider more of this tea if my stash runs out before the snow melts this season.

2016 Sheng Olympics

I couldn’t tell you why I took some of this to work with me… but I did. With that being said, I used a kamjove and water that was probably 90c from what I have been able to asses while brewing at work. My session, which lasted six hour , consisted of 10 second steeps. The amount of steeps that I ended up with was over 14 and I stopped counting after 10. I’ll be honest to say that I feel like there might be a possible write up in the future for me as I take a lot of pee brakes because of how much tea I drink at work.

This was one of the most looked forward teas for me because it has some time to sit and do it’s thing. What was really weird about this was the background taste of honey for the first six steeps. Unsure if any other raw puerh has ever had me taste a thick sweetness hidden inside it, but it was there. This tea for me is in the medium area for thickness and darkness. The taste is comprised of very smooth notes that stay on the lower area of the mouth and the roof of the mouth. There’s some roasted vegetable notes with a small hint of stone fruits because the sweetness mixed in there appears that way for me. Since I was at work, I am unsure if this provided any real feeling or not because I stay quite busy and never notice anything besides the ‘I have to pee’ feeling.

I will say that I was very pleased with this. I do have some more to try at home with better conditions and I think comparing it to the 2009 and 2015 will be quite interesting :)

Urgh. This is annoying me so much not being able to do tasting notes, I think i’m just going to review my cold.

This cold is an interesting one: initial steeps were very hot, ending in me sleeping only four hours last night which wasnt great. The body is medium sore, with the headfeel definitely strong enough to be in the ache category but not as strong as, say, a migraine. My nose is also blocked so im frequently having to bump this with sudafed.

The most amazing thing is the mouthy feeels & huiguan, I just cant taste anything! for three days! Oh how fun that has made drinking tea. They are on to a winner with that one.

medium to strong astringency

I steeped this in a 100ml gaiwan with boiling water

Sample from Evol Ving Ness and while i’ve had this one before ages ago it was nice to revisit it. I still prefer the subtle differences that you find with fancy french vanilla teas. On the other hand, this one is certainly more readily available to have. thanks a bunch evol!

2016 Sheng Olympics sheng sampler from Liquid Proust. This is without doubt one of the best shengs I have ever drank. It had very little bitterness and a sweet taste from the start. I would have to use the word apricot to describe the sweetness, apricots and stonefruits definitely. I gave this ten steeps and may go back to two more if I reheat my Anta Pottery Clay Boiler again. I don’t know how much this one cost and I’ve never ordered from Tea Urchin but I definitely want one. I think I want to buy one and store it it my pumidor for the long term. However, since I also want to go in on the group order from Yanqqinghao with Emmet I may have to wait on this.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 100ml gaiwan with 6.3g 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, and 1 min. The tea was not played out at ten steeps, I’m sure I could get a few more from it and may go back to it after I finish this review.

Ugh oh gods no there’s licorice root in this too? Bear With Me, you are a trouble maker. ;)

Huh. Actually, this mostly just tastes like rooibos. I didn’t steep it long, and I added honey, so maybe that… no, there’s the sweet licorice root grody aftertaste. Haha.

But it’s no completely terrible and I am SO COLD today, I will sit here cuddling my mug.

I’m kind of a cardamom freak. I’ve always wanted to try this tea so I ordered some from Amazon when I needed a few other things. This is by far the largest tin of tea I’ve ever had at 17.6 ounces! The tin is HUGE. I recall having an 8 oz. tin of Florence by Harney and Sons that seemed to last forever. I guess I’ll have this stuff for years. Let me know if anyone would like a sample ;)

Now on to the tea tasting notes. I steeped it this morning in my Adagio tea maker for 3 minutes. I didn’t see an cardamom pods or powder in here. I think this is cardamom flavored tea. I’m not sure if the flavoring comes from oil or what. Compared to the cardamom french toast I had from David’s Tea this is much milder. Less cardamom-y. Since I have so much of it I might throw in some cardamom pods or desiccated cardamom into the tin to bump up the flavor a bit.

As for the tea itself, it’s a dark, somewhat standard ceylon. I found it had quite a bit of heft compared to some other ceylons I’ve tried. It has that citrusy, sort of copper-y flavor that’s fairly unique to ceylons. I had a mug of this in the morning with soymilk added. I haven’t tried it with sugar yet, but I imagine that would be good with this particular flavor combo.

Overall I like this stuff but I wish I liked it a bit more, since I definitely have way too much of it. I guess it won’t go stale anytime soon, that’s the good thing about black tea.

A non-tea drinker asked to come to tea yesterday! I have found that people who don’t already drink tea seem to very open to puerh, and many get addicted to it. I can name three people who had puerh at my house and now have a large puerh collection, even though they didn’t drink tea before they came. And I serve other teas, but puerh gets the fans!

Anyway, after showing my guest some loose leaf puerh, flavored puerh, coin puerh, and beengs, I chose this one to serve. She really liked it and said it was her favorite of all the tea we drank. (We started with Teavivre Dian Hong – Golden Tip, then had their Anxi Tie Guan Yin) I made a lot of it in resteeps, then cold steeped the leaves overnight and had the cold puerh with my lunch today. Hubby came home from work and we had grilled cheese sandwiches and creamy broccoli soup with a little grated cheese on top.

I would say this is already better tasting than when I got it 14 months ago. I liked it then, but I think I like it even more now. It has not unseated my beloved and now out of stock Mengku Palace Ripened Golden Buds, though.

This has quite an earthy aroma, but she wasn’t frightened away by it. The taste is earthy, too – more farm-fresh soil than barn and horse.

On another note – I DESPERATELY WANT THOSE CHICKEN TEA PETS FOR SALE AT THE TEAHOUSE SHOP!!! I can not believe it. I have too much stuff, too much tea stuff, too many doodads, and don’t need any more kitsch, but they are so adorable! I never thought I would ever buy a tea pet. Yes, I will probably break down and buy them very soon.

Somehow my review for this didn’t post and I just noticed while updating my cupboard…

Anyways, this is clearly one exceptionally stored tea. Being that I am not a fan of OB, that is some strong words. This taste like a light version of the 90’s red mark sheng from W2T; not even a slight exaggeration. This is just a beautiful tea all around that provides some nice notes that I am unable to describe to anyone who hasn’t drank a 20’year sheng (which I can say this is like the 98 mark as well).
I don’t suggest many teas because I know how important money and spending is, but out of all the aged oolong I’ve had (beside the 89’ from Tea Urchin)…. I highly suggest buying some of this. You won’t find such a beautifully stored and aged OB that brews at such ease with such the flavor profile that this has.
I’d love to be proved wrong as I always love me some new tea :)

Jin Jun Mei… Need I say more?

OK, I will. Dry leaf scent is malt and brownies. The steeped leaf aroma is honey and molasses. The brew is a deep reddish brown. It tastes of honey and malt with hints of sweet potato. I notice a crisp briskness running through the sip but it stays out of the limelight. I also thought it neat that the more I sipped, the more I caught a citrus type fruitiness. This is a pretty solid example of the type.

This is a sample for review i got from Tea Yuan.

Dry leaves are so pretty, long and full. wet leaves smell of this intoxicating aroma of roasted nuts and cannabis
6g /100ml shiboridashi (gaiwan) 205F
rinse/short steeps 5/7/10 sec
This tea is complex. a lot of flavors come to mind. sweet and mineral, chocolaty and nutty, some floral at the background, thick mouthfeel. responded good to pushing with longer steeps without bitterness or unpleasant soapiness. lasted thru many steeps.
I enjoyed this tea a lot, thank you Tea Yuan for the opportunity to try it

https://instagram.com/p/BBFvR-bBwkY/

https://instagram.com/p/BBFxydxBwpU/

Hi Steepster friends!
I haven’t been here much lately as I am not trying a lot of new things lately, most of the tea I’ve been drinking is stuff I am trying to sip down or old favorites I’ve already written tasting notes for.

I’m not a big David’s tea fan but I do love cardamom so I got some of this the last time I was in the store. I have enjoyed this as a breakfast tea most of the time with soymilk added. It definitely has a strong cardamom flavor, so if you don’t like cardamom I would skip this. I’m not sure I’m getting french toast but there is something buttery and pastry like in the flavor.

The only bad thing about this in my opinion is the very sweet after taste. I definitely don’t mind it as much as some of the other tasters did. I wonder if they could have just made this without the added sweetener, after all it’s easy enough to add your own.

Overall, this is better than I thought it would be but I probably won’t repurchase it.

2016 Sheng Olympics
After checking on the shipments and seeing they have been scanned, with many already in different states, I decided that I could finally begin. First up was something I knew was going to be light because it had to be able to pair with dinner and continue throughout the night. I had one tight beenghole for this session.
At first I didn’t know if it was going to work out because it wasn’t breaking up, but then I decided that I needed to give it a little help so I did.
The first few steeps had a nice roasted vegetable tone to it like a bang dong. After brewing it out I realized that it wasn’t as light as a bang dong because the beeghold decided to let me in a bit and taste what it was hiding. A little bit of astringency came out but then faded as I continued on. The lightness of this tea was consistent and that is how I like my sheng. There might not have been much texture to the liquid itself, but it has a proper vegetable taste throughout the session.
This is a great raw tea to drink, but the Midas Touch puts it to shame. That being said, damn you Midas Touch for selling out; but also thank you to those who have offered to sell me one, I’m still thinking about it. I’m curious how this one will compare with the other Baiying cake that was in the 2016 Sheng Olympics.
All of this is to say that I don’t have any negative remarks for this tea besides the beenghole being deceptive on its notes from not opening to fully opening. That issue is something that others won’t experience because I am rather confident that I broke all the material up well and for those who got some dust… it had to happen, but I am pretty sure it’ll be good dust :)

Shockingly, this is amazing. The staffer told me she too was surprised with it, so I grabbed some to check. No sweetener needed, it’s rich, it actually tastes like a crumbly apple strudel. I’d say this is one of the first apple read teas I’ve really enjoyed.

I’m not sure if age affects astringency or not, but holy pucker, this was bitter. So I played around with the parameters a bit but I finally got it right. I don’t remember this tea being bitter (but that was forever ago)!

3/4tsp makes a difference instead of a full tsp.

Now, this Assam is smooth, with notes of stone fruit, citrus, and chocolate. Yum

I steeped briefly using cooler water to work with the green and black blend.

To my taste, this tea is too perfumey. Not that I dislike floral teas, but this one is redolent of perfume shops in that sort of busy flavour kind of way. Perhaps it didn’t help that I added a big teaspoon of honey. Perhaps that complicates the flavour further.

I like the smell of the tea in my cup very much though.

Maybe the second steep will be more of a pleasure

Thankfully, I have enough to try again with less honey if any at all.

Much appreciated, Sil. There’s a lot to enjoy here, but I don’t need to place an order for this immediately. Or ever.

The second steep is lovely. The perfume has calmed down, but the flavour notes are still present in the background. I didn’t add anything to the tea. Much more pleasant this way. Perhaps I need to underleaf next time to make this more to my taste.

This, I think, is my final pick from the EU TTB. I knew I wanted to try it, and as I’ve not that much experience with matcha I set it aside for a later date. It turns out today is that later date. There are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly, it’s no secret that I’ve not been feeling great recently. I’m tired a lot of the time, and I never feel like I have enough energy to do all the things I need to do in a day. My doctor will only recommend vitamins and early nights, both of which I have already. I’ve lost interest in a lot of things, probably because I’m so tired, and I know something’s likely wrong by I don’t know WHAT. I’ve also had what’s becoming a permenant headache for the last week or so, but I’ve been drinking less tea so I’m sort of thinking that might partly be the reason. I do get headaches if I don’t have caffeine. That’s reason one – if I increase my tea intake so it’s near where it used to be, my headaches should clear up a bit. If they don’t, then it’s back to the doctors for me.

Reason two, specific to this tea, is that people tell me matcha has energy-giving properties, and I could seriously use some energy right now. Teapigs have a matcha challenge which I’m going to take – at least one shot of matcha every day for two weeks. I figure it can’t hurt to try, so that’s what I’m going to do.

Today is day one, and I’m starting with a matcha latte. I used 1/2 tsp of matcha whisked into boiling water, topped up with heated, frothed milk. I’m using an aerolatte whisk for now rather than the traditional kit, but if it turns out that matcha is my thing then it’s something I might look into. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’m actually really enjoying it. The vanilla flavouring is pretty strong, so it doesn’t taste too much like milky green tea. It’s sweet, creamy, and mostly reminiscent of vanilla milkshake. The powder combined well, with no clumping, which is always a bonus in my book. I’d definitely drink this one again!

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox – Round #5 – Tea #1
The teabox is back and signups are available for round six in the forums! Please join up if you’re in the US!
This is the first one I chose with barely a dive into the teas. It’s also the first of the NEW 52Teas blends I get to try! From a glance at the tasting notes, I like this one more than most (probably because of the Lapsang.) I’m not sure if the name is accurate, but this is a mighty tasty cup. It tastes like some sort of dessert (probably the nutmeg or caramel) but with some smokiness along with it. Sweet and cinnamon and thirst quenching. The second cup seems a little weaker though and most of the smoke is gone. Maybe those who don’t like the smoke can try the second steep and like it better?
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// few minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Found a tin on clearance on at Marshalls, so score! When I made a Harney & Sons order three years ago, I regretted not picking this up, and was quite surprised I didn’t since I love chocolate mint.

This is a middle-of-the-road chocolate mint black. Nothing special but not bad. This is probably because, in my opinion, Harney’s chocolate note in itself is middle-of-the-road. It’s not waxy or artificial but yet it’s not prominent and rich enough. The peppermint is fresh, and there a whisper of sweetness in the background but ultimately, there isn’t enough oomph. The base is so light, I can barely taste it when I add milk.

For the record, Della Terra made my favourite chocolate mint black teas, while Zen carries my favourite rooibos blend, with Zen’s possibly being my all-time favourite chocolate mint blend regardless of the base.

I’ve been avoiding steepster for awhile. I’m back.
YS is the company I buy the majority of my teas from, and this one is among my favorites.
Today I’m attempting to compare the Spring and Fall versions of this tea, both from 2015. So far all I can really say is that I enjoy them both, but the Spring rendition is probably preferred over the Fall. Why?
It has a sweeter taste and a creamier mouth.
Also, the Fall version is a little heavier in the kind of grassy hay-like flavor.

Having said that, I will happily drink either one of them on any day of the week!

The leaves of this Mi Lan werent full, it was quite broken, although I had the bottom of the bag, and its over a year old now.

Its really perky! One cup and boing, i can feel it. I am comparing it with my benchmark Mi Lan which is the JingTeaShop one. This one has a bit more of a baked flavour – this is however very subtle, not smoky, and i think i can taste the years age on it – it has that slightly softer taste than fresh. Standard orchid floral aroma, less astringency than others. Probably the age again.

I get some butter, cream & honey. Its very pleasant – a bit like honey on toast. Also a lot of oil was released, with a drying mouth. Not super-fruity, more like some of the oolongs from the #OolongTimeAgo group buy.

Quite a mellow tasting cup but with a perky head – I can feel the caffeine. Recommended if you want something soft tasting but with a bit of punch to wake you up.

I had a small sample of this at the Toronto Tea Festival yesterday, and it really did taste and smell like fruit loops! There must be some vanilla or pastry seasoning here in the blend in order to accomplish that.

It was tasty, but lord I have way too much tea already! I resisted buying this.