365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 19
So today, I went to The Steeping Room in Austin for a lovely early afternoon tea! Unfortunately, the tea that I had does not appear to be available for sale on their website, so I’m putting the note here (under Random Steepings) instead.
I ended up having three different teas while I was there. The first two were the Noble Concubine (gui fei) oolong, and the White Tea #18, which is a Taiwanese white tea. The third tea was a resteep of my boyfriend’s Milk Oolong. At The Steeping Room, the servers present you with the wet tea leaves on a small dish along with the steeped tea, and they’ll resteep the same leaves multiple times if you simply ask.
The gui fei was very tasty! It had yummy sweet dried fruit and honey notes along with a very light floral and peach aftertaste. The white tea was less memorable for me, and I couldn’t find much complexity in it. It tasted much as I would expect for a generic white tea – like hay and oats. I was surprised, since the description mentions eucalyptus and camphor notes, which I didn’t find at all. The (unflavored) milk oolong was smooth and silky with a lovely peaches ‘n’ cream sort of flavor. I drank the second steeping, which was just as flavorful as the first.
For food, I had a duo of scones. Their scones are some of my favorite menu items, as I feel they’re very well-made. This time, I chose the Cranberry Walnut and Mixed Berry Spelt scones. Though I felt there was too much walnut in the cranberry scone, it was still very tasty, especially with the included honey butter. The spelt scone was delicious, and reminded me of a fluffy biscuit with mixed berries inside!
For some reason, I decided I should also get dessert! I got the Flourless Chamomile Almond Torte, which was beautifully textured and delicious. It was plated with fresh fruit and drizzled with honey. I was so full of tea and food at this point that I brought half of my dessert home with me!
Anyway, I would highly recommend The Steeping Room to anyone who might find him or herself in Austin! Price-wise, it’s a little bit on the higher side, but I feel the quality is worth it.
Sounds lovely! Not surprisingly, Gui Fei is one of my favourite oolongs. I also have dessert envy. :)