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Sipdown! (147)

Yummy, still love this one. It’s all honey, grains, and raisins! This is the tea that inspired me to try other oxidized oolongs. I probably won’t repurchase this one, at least not right away, just because I’ll most likely be trying other oolongs for a while yet. Thanks again to Green Terrace for the round of free samples! Your teas are quite lovely. :)

This was in the latest batch of free samples from Angel at TeaVivre. Thanks, Angel! I was a little bit confused by this tea, is it a white tea or a sheng? Either way, I figured I’d try it tonight. The dry leaf is in flakes, since it’s been broken off of a cake. The leaves are a darkish brown/green color. The smell is amazingly honeyed with notes of sweet dried fruits and hay or sweet dry grass. There was nothing in the instructions that said how much tea to use, so I just put a few pieces in until it was about a teaspoon and a half or so. Steeped at 200 for 6 minutes.

Yum, the aroma is super strong raw honey! I also get the same sweet dried fruit and hay from the dry scent, along with autumn leaves and tobacco. I can definitely see similarities to sheng here – it has a lighter version of that eucalyptus/menthol taste that I’ve gotten in shengs before. Lovely roasted hay and autumn leaf notes, along with a slight grainy taste. It’s overall quite sweet and honeyed, yum. I’m getting a little bit of the tingly tongue and I can feel this tea’s influence on my heart rate.

Overall, very good and unique for a white tea. I’m not sure I would purchase this, since you have to buy an entire cake. I guess technically I could just buy multiple samples of it. :P

So… Another “vanilla” tea from this month’s Verdant blends club. Now, I am not a lover of floral teas in general, but jasmine is okay sometimes. Looking into the pouch, this tea looks like potpourri – it’s basically a bag full of flower petals with a couple of silver needles thrown in. It smells very strongly of rose… ick. I looked up silver needle steeping instructions because for some reason Verdant’s steeping parameters are always for super short steeps with a lot of tea. Honestly I think I overleafed a bit, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.

Brewed aroma is mostly sweet jasmine, and thank goodness the floral is less intense than the dry scent. The rose is still there, but weaker than the jasmine now. Overall it smells quite sweet, and there’s a little bit of cucumber along with a faint hay aroma. The first thing I taste is the lemongrass, which is a nice surprise. The overall taste is mostly jasmine, however, but it’s not terribly strong. The rose is mostly present as an aftertaste, and honestly I don’t really taste white tea at all.

I have to say, there is absolutely no vanilla flavor at all in this tea! I feel like I’ve been duped… Verdant, you have broken my fragile little heart! This one will go into the rehoming box, there’s no way I’ll drink this with the amount of floral in it. Not going to rate.

This tea was provided for free in exchange for review, thanks teasenz! You can find it here: http://www.teasenz.com/golden-yunnan-tea-jinjunmei#.U-lC6PldXX8

Wow, the picture on their website does not do this tea justice! I actually said “wow” out loud when I opened the packet. It consists of the most beautiful little golden-orange fuzzy tips, and they’re very light and fluffy. It almost reminds me of yarn, but with a slight metallic element. Here’s a picture, I couldn’t resist! (http://i.imgur.com/vi6lJGv.jpg) The dry scent is light malt with sweet honey and cocoa notes. I did my usual 3 minute steep without looking up any instructions (such arrogance!).

Brewed, it smells sweet and malty with a definite cocoa note. I also get rich molasses and dried fruit, and a slight herby presence. Yummmmmm! Lol, I sound like a Furby… I wouldn’t call this tea super complex, but the quality of flavor is divine. It’s quite malty and bready, and slightly sweet in the raw honey sense. There’s a little bit of peppery interest, and an herbaceousness that is almost definitely reminiscent of dill. I find a tiny bit of dried fruit if I specifically look for it, but it’s not very prominent overall. Lovely smooth and mellow tea with a clean finish and no bitterness or astringency whatsoever! This one is absolutely going into my permanent cupboard, right this second.

Wow, I am very impressed with teasenz so far, and I am so glad that I sent that email requesting samples! And this tea is only $9.95 for 70 grams, what? Definitely an amazing value as well as just a great tea. :D

Sipdown! (148)

This sample came from Nicole, and it made me laugh a little bit. First of all, I love the way that Nicole labels her little sample baggies. Instead of writing on the bag or using a sticky label, she writes the name of the tea (etc) on what looks like a piece of an index card (it has graph lines which makes it extra cute) and puts it directly into the bag with the tea. And her handwriting is lovely! This one in particular made me giggle a bit because it said something along the lines of “I think this is Butiki’s chai, it was in a tin with no label”. Thanks for the giggle, Nicole!

I used the recommended 1.5 tsp and brewed it in about 6 ounces of water so I would have room for milk. Added a little bit of sugar and tasted, it’s actually quite mild, which I didn’t expect! I still added the soy milk just to see how it would come out. I’m finding it a bit weak on spice flavor with the milk added. So I suppose next time I would use more tea if I’m going to add milk, or drink it without.

However, I do enjoy the blend of spices here. I can taste the ginger, but it’s not overpowering the cinnamon and clove. I’m definitely enjoying my cup, even if it is a bit mild. I’m not going to give this a rating because I feel it wouldn’t be fair since I added the milk. :P

Sipdown! (149)

Aww, I’ll miss this tea! But it’s more important right now for me to reduce the number of teas in my cupboard instead of hoarding tiny samples. I can always order this one later, especially considering that Yunnan Sourcing is absolutely at the top of my list once my hiatus is over. This tea is so good! Rich and fruity, grainy and with a touch of herb or spice flavor. Definitely on my list for purchase!

On a side note, I would like to give a shout-out to Mandala for their Smart Soak. I got an ounce of it with my ripe puerh sampler, and it works very well! One of my poor little noble cups had a stubborn brown ring stain from tea sitting in it too long, and I wasn’t having any luck with trying to wash it out. So I mixed two cups of water with a teaspoon of the Smart Soak and filled the cup, then let it soak for probably about fifteen minutes or so. Stain gone! No scrubbing required! I was so happy. :D A question though, the package just says to rinse the teaware afterward, but should I be washing with soap and water? I’m not sure what’s in the Smart Soak, but I guess it must be safe for consumption if they’re only recommending a rinse. Just wondering! :D

Trying this tea again after I painstakingly removed all of the hibiscus petals from it (ugh). It’s definitely much better than it was before, I’m glad I bothered picking through it.

It now tastes mostly of apple, which is okay with me. There’s a bit of marshmallowy flavor in the second half of the sip and in the aftertaste. It’s like apple juice followed by marshmallow – not the best combination but much more palatable than that hibiscus nightmare. Interestingly, I’m getting a slight cooling sensation on my tongue after each sip, though there isn’t any mint listed in this blend. Odd! Not going to change the rating since this is basically a custom blend now…

Daily Summary: 6 sipdowns, 150 teas remaining in cupboard

Miss Stephanie was nice enough to send me a sample of this tea. It’s a fairly famous one around here, and I’ve been curious about it for quite some time. I generally love almond and brioche is delicious, of course! So even though I’m not loving flavored teas as much these days, I was still excited to try this. There are some slices of almond mixed in with the tea, along with those tiny red flower petals that seem to be in every flavored black tea lately. Dry, it smells quite lovely and sweet with a definite almond influence.

Honestly, I wasn’t terribly impressed with this when I tried it straight. Sugar helped a bit. But milk (in my case, vanilla soy) is certainly the secret ingredient here, it makes this taste infinitely more pastry-like and buttery. I can definitely taste the almond, but it’s not a marzipan taste, just nutty and buttery almonds. There’s a little dash of cinnamon, and it really adds a lovely dimension to the tea. I’m almost reminded of French toast, but made with brioche of course! I think next time I’ll brew this a little bit stronger so it’ll stand up to the milk better.

Right now I don’t think I would order this, mostly because I don’t tend to reach for flavored teas as much. Also, I haven’t tried anything else from American Tea Room, and I can’t imagine making an order for just one tea unless it was the best tea ever…

Sipdown! (152)

So the stevia taste in this bothered me plain, but I did find a way that I really enjoy it. I brewed it with a little bit less water and then added some sugar and vanilla soymilk. Tastes like a blueberry muffin, yum! Still on the hunt for the perfect blueberry tea… :P

Sipdown! (153)

I’m undecided on this one! It does have a lovely honey flavor, especially in the aftertaste. However, there’s a little bit of floral and it’s leaving me with a soapy taste today. Mm but that lovely creamy honey! Delicious.

I still need to order a round of samples from Green Terrace with my free-shipping-for-samples code, as I really want to try their Li Shan Black. Obviously, it’ll be a little while since I’m on hiatus, but the code says it doesn’t expire so hooray! I may order another sample pack of this tea too, so I can make my mind up about it. :P