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Backlogging big time and based on my long term memory

Experience buying from SpecialTeas http://steepster.com/places/2931-specialteas-online-stratford-connecticut

I bought four ounces of this during SpecialTeas’ going-out-of-business sale at the beginning of 2011 for 75 % off.

Other than the name, I couldn’t find a picture or a description of this tea anywhere. This was my second sencha (my first was from a local spice shop). Other than the fact that the lemon scent reminded me of Lemon Pledge (strangely enough, that wasn’t all that bad), I really don’t remember much else. I do remember that it was of a better quality than the local stuff. Although I thought it was drinkable, my wife did not (too ‘grassy’, I think). I don’t think any of the teas from SpecialTeas were really all that bad, which is more than I can say for some other unnamed behemoth tea shop that bought them out; ah well, what are you gonna do? All-in-all, from what I what remember I judge it was a decent quality flavor-added Japanese tea. As it was my first quality sencha, I’m leaving off the rating (It’s actually kind of nice not having to assign a rating to some teas).

Backlogging and based on my long term memory and some on my notes

Experience buying from SpecialTeas http://steepster.com/places/2931-specialteas-online-stratford-connecticut

I bought two pounds of this during SpecialTeas’ going-out-of-business sale at the beginning of 2011 for 75 % off (I think it was around $24 for the two pounds). This is a very ‘leafy’ tea, so the bag was humongous, as you might imagine was needed for 32 ounces of fluffy white tea. It was basically a flavor-added bai mu dan white tea. The leaf when taking it out of its bag was so dry I thought something was not quite right (I believe that’s called, bake-y) and I’ve never seen that quality in a tea before or since. Still, I don’t think it was stale or ‘bad’, maybe just a bit over-baked when it was processed?

I tried brewing this starting at lots of different temperature ranges: starting points ranged from 160F all the way to 200F (increasing the temperature about 5F each steeping for a total of five steepings, as at the time that was what I was told to expect out of a white tea). It seemed starting at somewhere between 165 and 190 was best, otherwise it came out flat (little to no flavor). I used my standard white tea brewing times (start at 2 min, then add 1 min for each addn’l steeping).

The liquor had a very light strawberry color. I don’t really remember much about the aroma, other than it was mild, and a little unusual (this was my first exposure to white tea, so it was probably the standard sweet hay aroma). Finally, we come to the flavor; ah the flavor. At first we liked it. I don’t exactly know what happened, but after drinking it off-and-on for a couple of months (maybe less) it didn’t taste as good. It was like, there was something ‘off’ about it, and I started to think the flavors didn’t really belong together. I don’t think the change was due to the tea itself; I think it was our drinking preferences that had changed it was as if it lost its appeal to us, somehow.

After that I tried brewing it up every now and then (I could still drink it, although just barely), and every time I tried slipping it by my wife this is basically what happened: “What is it?” “Uh, a white tea.” She would then give me a suspicious look, and I would either smile, or walk away before our eyes would meet. Upon returning, “How did you like it?” “I didn’t. < pause > Is this one of those teas I don’t like?” It didn’t take long for her to ask me, as I handed her any tea, “Is this one I like?” Smart woman. : /

I gave some of it away, but we still have quite a bit of it (I estimate at least a half pound, or 1/4 of what we had originally, and maybe even more). One positive thing that sticks out in my mind about it: it was a somewhat colorful looking tea, with little blue corn-flower petal and red cranberries mixed in with the white tea tea-leaves. I am currently storing what we have left of it on the top shelf way in the back of our cabinet; and there it sits until I figure out what to do with it. We have talked about adding it to her bath water (similar to Missy’s idea of the foot bath), but we haven’t tried that yet.

Overall I’m disappointed that we stopped liking it. Yet, as with any interesting tea, I’m glad we at least tried it, as it was our first white tea. Since it was my first white tea, I’m leaving off the rating, as I don;t know what to expect at the time. I have tried other bai mu dan’s since, and although I like them, it seems my wife does not. So, maybe she simply doesn’t like the flavor of the base tea, and it wasn’t the flavoring. If I ever get around to swapping I would be more than be happy to give this away to as many that are interested (I just got two separate shipments of samples today—woo, hoo!—and although I was hoping to look into swapping this summer, I don’t see that happening for some time yet). As a final note since it has an odd name (for a dorky English speaker), I used to call it ‘Casablanca’. Can’t beat the classic with Bergman and Bogart, now can you?

Backlogging

Experience buying from Tea Trekker http://steepster.com/places/2820-tea-trekker-online-northampton-massachusetts

During the spring of 2011 I ordered eight teas from Tea Trekker: three 2010 green teas, one 2011 green tea, one 2010 yellow tea, and three black teas (with one free 2011 green tea sample thrown in). I finished all of the green and yellow teas by the end of 2011.

This was my very first fresh spring green tea, and so merits a more in-depth review than the others.

I like artichokes, and I remember that this tasted like artichokes. I couldn’t believe tea could taste like artichokes and that it could actually taste good. For months I had been reading about how fresh green teas can taste like all kinds of different green vegetables (spinach, green beans, collard greens, etc). So when I tasted artichokes in this tea, it was all I could talk about (I bet it may have been a little annoying to hear me go on and on about it). I brewed this up for a friend later that summer, one who never had a fresh spring green tea before (that I am aware of), and he was about as impressed as I was that it tasted like artichokes. On a side note: the flavor of Life in Teacup’s Frosty Spring Yunnan Roast Green somewhat reminds me of the flavor of this tea.

My old notes say it had good flavor through three steepings (and some on the forth and a little on the fifth). I go on-and-on in my notes about the quality of this leaf (being the first spring green I’d ever seen): fresh, bright-looking, army-green-colored leaves (medium-to-small sized), with plenty of bud-sets. It’s kind of funny reading my notes, as it’s like listening to a little kid describing how great his first new spangled thing a-ma-bob is, the one that just came in the mail that day, the one he’s been waiting for for weeks (anyone seen, A Christmas Story?). Anyway, this tea’s what got me loving Tea Trekker, and fresh green teas, and it got me to see that I didn’t have to pay lots for a good quality green tea (it was $15 / 4 OZ). Fresh green tea ROCKS!

Backlogging

Experience buying from Tea Trekker http://steepster.com/places/2820-tea-trekker-online-northampton-massachusetts

Tea Leaf: The leaf is CTC, but still quality.

This was my first exposure to a quality, loose-leaf Ceylon, and my wife and I have both enjoyed this tea (I also showcased it at least once and got a good response). I found scant notes on this tea (from an old notebook I just remembered I used to keep notes in), and it looks like it had good flavor through three steepings, and still a little on the fifth. Evidently, it was also good iced. Impressive!

(I still have some of this, so I may update this review at a later time).

Backlogging

Experience buying from Tea Trekker http://steepster.com/places/2820-tea-trekker-online-northampton-massachusetts

During the spring of 2011 I ordered eight teas from Tea Trekker: three 2010 green teas, one 2011 green tea, one 2010 yellow tea, and three black teas (with one free 2011 green tea sample thrown in). I finished all of the green and yellow teas by the end of 2011.

This was my first yellow tea. At the time it tasted pretty much like a green tea to me. I liked it. I still don’t exactly know what to expect from a yellow tea, so no numerical rating.

Experience buying from Tea Trekker http://steepster.com/places/2820-tea-trekker-online-northampton-massachusetts

I liked this tea, too. : )

Backlogging. I’m tired of wanting to do these reviews and still not doing them (because I don’t have much to say about them, and the tea is long done been drunk up). So I am going to knock a bunch of ‘em out by keepin’ ’em simple.

Experience buying from Tea Trekker http://steepster.com/places/2820-tea-trekker-online-northampton-massachusetts

I liked this tea. Can’t get any simpler than that, now can ya!?

Experience buying from Life in Teacup http://steepster.com/places/2861-life-in-a-teacup-online-easthampton-massachusetts

I just got finished brewing up four good pots of this. I added some peach schnapps to the forth, and the peach flavor mixed surprisingly well with the floral notes and gave the tea an unusual body provided by the schnapps syrupy consistency. I liked this tea (both with and without the schnapps).

Experience buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana
I bought a partial sample of this sometime in the fall of 2011.

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: about the same as the rest of the flavor-added black teas from Culinary Teas: medium grade leaf, strong, sweet, fruity aroma, hard to say if it smelled like pineapple, but I did like it.

Brewing guidelines: sixteen-oz ceramic cup with metal basket; stevia added; my standard black tea steeping times and temperatures; three steepings.

Flavor of tea liquor (based on the most recent session): The first was fruity, but a little bitter and too strong for me (maybe that’s from drinking the delicate flavored green teas as often as I have been these days?); better on the second (no bitterness, and not as intense), but with a somewhat artificial-ness to the more-or-less pineapple-like flavor; and the third is tasty, but considerably milder. Still, there was no off-flavor in any of the steepings.

Value: Culinary flavor-added tea’s are generally very reasonably priced; as most of her flavor-added black teas are, this one is $8.15 / 4 OZ, which puts it at about $2 / OZ (and even less with any discounts and/or if you buy it in larger quantities).

Overall: I bought this one since I love pineapple (incidentally it was not in the batch of flavor-added blacks I bought during the Black Friday sale). This is at least the third flavor-added black Culinary Tea I have noticed that I find a bitter taste from on the initial steeping, and something tells me it may be wise to adjust one of my brewing parameters (either lower the temperature, or shorten the time) the next time I brew another flavor-added black and see if that helps. I will say these teas always seem to have a nice, clear color; that’s always good; I wonder if this one would be better iced. Oh well, although it’s reasonably tasty, there are plenty of other flavor-added teas that are more interesting than this one, and I’m more interested in pure teas now, anyway. This is the last of it and as it stands I don’t plan to repurchase it.

Experience buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: about the same as the rest of the flavor-added black teas from Culinary Teas: medium grade leaf, strong, spicy aroma with the barest hint of pumpkin.

Brewing guidelines: four TSP, four cups H2O; loose in four-cup ceramic teapot; stevia added; my standard black tea steeping times and temperatures; three steepings; two separate sessions.

Flavor of tea liquor (based on the most recent session): mostly chocolaty, no pumpkin flavor I could taste on the first two steepings, and some kind of weird off-flavor that was in the first two steepings, but which was more prominent on the third steeping. It did not taste good at all when it came to room temperature.

Value: Culinary flavor-added tea’s are generally very reasonably priced; as most of her flavor-added black teas are, this one is $8.15 / 4 OZ, which puts it at about $2 / OZ (and even less with any discounts and/or if you buy it in larger quantities).

Overall: This is the sixth? of the flavor-added black tea samples from Culinary. I was ‘scolded’ for brewing this up out of a desire to finish these samples off as she’s not digging drinking scalding hot tea in the summer; what’s her problem, anyway?! :p It’s weird that the chocolate notes were much more in the forefront and that there was no pumpkin flavor (at least none I could discern). I didn’t care for this tea, and my wife didn’t either. Not planning on buying this one again. Still, another one bites the dust … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNQRfBAzSzo (I didn’t know Queen performed this?).