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An interesting herbal evening tea while catalogging japan lupicia teas.

I won’t rate this one, this go around since I don’t know if I am doing this right.

First mug i put 2 tea bags in this thinking, “hey it says 8 oz of water, I have 14 oz.” Ulck! It was all evergreen tree sap. Like you could raise the dead with this stuff.

Second round: ding! ding! I only used one tea bag for 5 minutes and let it cool down.

Tasting note: Hmm. I get a really sharp medicinal bitterness at the end which reminds me of all the years I crushed/chewed meds that were supposed to be swallowed because I hadn’t developed the swallowing reflex/technique. Lol. This tea is very bitter and medicinal and strong. Pinesol, resin, some sweetness before the medicinal bitter attack. I am giving it two more tries of different brewing methods and if it doesnt behave, im exiling it.

It smells wonderful though, like a sauna or evergreens on a hot day. I guess i could brew it for aroma therapy too. Haha.

Sipdown Theme: Jan 2023: Malty Tea (In Progress)

Bought a sample bag (20g) I believe from Bird and Blend a few months ago after trying their Halloween count down box. I don’t remember at the time if i had this tea plan, or with oatly anymore. I remember liking it a lot though.

Prep: Western (no additives)
Tasting Note: Dry leaf out of the bag is sooo deliciously fragrant, it makes me wonder if this was the true reason I liked it so much the first time. Once steeped the room fills with that delicous creamy caramel smell.
I am now sipping it and it is astringent on its own. There is a maltiness, and caramel flavor but it unfortunately feel as overwhelmed by the bases astringency. Too bad. I didn’t pay extreme close attention to my steep time, I could of went over my time by a minute or two. I am going to give this a splash of oatly and hope for the best.

I think I need one closely monitored infusion on this one to decide what i want to do with this on next: restock or not, keep or share?

Sipdown Theme: January 2023: A tea you love

I found this taiwanese company on etsy at first(now they have their own english translated website) after becoming fascinated with Alishan Oolong at Verdant tea’s since closed cafe back in mid-early 2010s. They sell few different Taiwanese oolongs and black teas and some cute wolf teaware (My favorite animal is a wolf so this was a big sell for me). This tea caught me really off guard as I was testing more straight black teas and none really sparked me as something i would try again. This one was uniquely sweet, floral and had a medium body. In short I was hooked. I haved shopped from them in awhile as I am flooded with tea but I reccommend them, especially if you are interested in getting started gong fuing oolongs.

Prep: Western (could also gongfu but im lazy)
Tasting Note: Before I cross referenced the website, I get very silky notes and medium body to the liquid texture. Not super drying in mouthfeel. The wet scent is sweet and floral. The taste is naturally lightly sweet, has an alpine rose floral quality and has a white wine fruitness. The website’s thumbnail briefly describes the tea to have lychee notes and tropical qualities and I only agree with this in part. I do think there wine like qualities are similar in taste to lychee. I don’t think the tea is very tropical otherwise but that could be a region disconnect. For me tropical is pineapple, mango, coconut notes and this reminds me more of sweet alpine roses and lychee notes. My current stash is 2 years old or more at this point so it is 5elling to me that it still has good texture and flavor. Would restock once all my current wolf teas are sipped down and more manageable.

Tea by Candle Light Sipdown (In Progress): Framboise Chocolat

I don’t actually have candle lit for this one but it reminds me of something you would drink by candle light. Also, I don’t think I will be able to finish this off by the end of the month as I have both a few cup sample and 50 g bag, but progress is what matters.

Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: This is the first time I have tried this tea and I like it a lot. It is malty and sort of creamy but it has a nice raspberry dessert flavor (both of a raspberry sweet and raspberries on their own). I have only had Chambord once before and it has a similar taste. The chocolate is nicely balanced with the malty tea and raspberry. It does remind me of decadent treat. Thanks for the share, Cameron!

Total side note about Lupicia ordering. I tried a tea from Cameron not long ago that isn’t carried by Lupicia Hawaii anymore (or not currently) and talked to customer service about getting it. They essentially lead to the complicated but interesting process of forwarding addresses. So this week I have started doing my first Lupicia Japan order with Tenso.com which is a company forwards your mail orders from their japan warehouse (which acts as your domestic address in Japan) to your country of residence. Completed the first 3 steps of the process which are 1) signing up with tenso, 2) getting your identity confirmed after sign up, 3) ordered teas from Lupicia Japan with Tenso’s designated address. I got a confirmation email from Lupicia so now I guess I just have to wait until Tenso receives the package and I can “consolidate” it (I think this just means pay for the forwarding and international shipping costs and confirm that this is my package). Then it should be on the way to me. I guess to be continued… Oh also, new years tea resolution of not spending until next November already broken 10 days later… bah. Clearly I will have to try again.

Went down a rabbit hole this morning and was on Teatiff blog by skysamurai and saw that Hillside tea (a mn tea sto4e) sources there tea in part from tealet. I have not been to wholesale websites often before but this one waa great because it listed all the tea farms the distribute for and have short videos from them. It is very interesting all yhe different presentation styles for the farm. If you are familiar with the Kyoto Obubu tea farms in Wazuka, Japan and I would reccommend checking their video out. It’s unexpectedly funny. :)

Preparation: Western
Tasting note: Definitely brisk and malty and rich. I think the black tea has some natural fruity notes as I don’t see any fruit ingredients or flavors in the tea. I do get the nutty chestnut taste and coating-slightly drying mouthfeel. There is also a faint bit of creaminess. Overall really good. I have about a cup or so left from my sample to figure out if i would restock this one. Thanks, Cameron for the swap!!

First tea of the new year!

More of an exploratory tea than a favorite tea. My tea resolution is to save my tea budget this year for enjoying tea in japan on our eventual vacation.

I might be on steepster less come late february as we are planning on getting a puppy and i imagine writing tea reviews may get forgotten.

Preparation: Western
Tasting note: I am used to green tea instructions saying to never boil green tea so I ended up putting it at 90C instead. I get a little grassiness and a floral cherriness. It does sort of have that medicinal cherry going on but not overly sugar, which i prefer. I am liking it as it cools down but I don’t think I love the combo.

Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: Certainly has that signature genmaicha taste. In comparison to Marshmallow treat, I don’t think it is as creamy. I am not getting a distinct caramelly flavor either, however it is still nice and rounded. I will probably end of sharing this one as I am not sure I will crave it often and I have a lot of genmaicha options already.

So I was sick for the past week with some weird sinus thing so it was all my normal herbal teas during most of that time. Starting to get back into it more slowly? Idk, green teas are always my safe bet. Plus this helps me work towards a sipdown.

Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: I don’t know if it is all the cookies and caramels I have been munching on (yes, it probably is) but this was much more savory than I was expecting. Considering it has marshmallows and flavoring in it, I thought it would be more sweet. Not a problem though, I think it is really buttery and kind of popped rice cereal tasting. I think this type of blend is a good entry point for someone to be introduced to green teas, genmaicha has more nuttiness and richness than your typical green tea blend.

Side note: I haven’t had 52teas Marshmallow treat tea yet to compare but I have heard good things about that Marshmallow treat too.