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Tea and a Movie
The downtime with Steepster today drove me to my Netflix and a Romance movie. A Foreign Romance movie with “Subtitles”. Ah…you do have to pay attention and read!
I’ve been reviewing such bold tea lately (Pu-erh’s especially) and wanted to turn a corner abruptly and review a tea to match my movie mood. I decided on a tea that I will discribe as romantic and sensual (Stacy at Butiki should like that discription Ha!).

The beauty of the green Oolong nuggets and the scent of the leaves when wet is so lovely. It is the flavor however, that is the crowne jewel. The Strawberry flavor does not hide the character of pure Organic Oolong tea. It enhances the natural flavor if anything, and layers naturally with it. The taste is soft and creamy, coating your tongue and when it cools a bit there is no horrid bitterness. I sweetened my tea, I like it that way. When you grow older and watch old romance movies (or the newer ones) your own memories of life and love are refreshed and come alive again. In your own mind you are young forever like the old woman in Titanic.
It’s fun to pick tea for an occasion. Pu-erh is for a mystery movie. Assam is nice for an old English Drama. You can find so many tea’s to match movies…so what are your favorites? The Pu-erh I had the other day…hum…something a little wild…or trippy…

What do you suggest as a tea movie pairing?

I had just enough left of this Pu-erh to review again. It has been awhile!

After my experience with the mind altering Pu’er from Verdant yesterday, I wanted an experience where I could look down at my feet and see that …yes…there were my toes and the nails were painted purple just like I remembered! Those of you who have tasted the Xingyang 1998 from Verdant will understand what I’m talking about. I’m a bit hungover!

So, I had a hankering this morning for chocolate and Happy Lucky’s uses cocoa nibs instead of flavoring mixed with their Pu-erh in this blend. What a good idea. I am moving further and further away from the desire for artificial flavors. Don’t get me wrong…I like flavored tea! My preference now is for Organic and Natural flavors since there are so many available and they taste better.

My steep time was about 4 minutes and this brewed up very dark! The chocolate was closer to a bittersweet chocolate than a milk chocolate. There is no way I would drink this tea without milk and sweetening. It screams for it to be added! The flavor was rich and creamy like a hot chocolate, but not. There was a chocolate shot (liquor) flavor that was not like cocoa. I think the only down side for me was the lack of Pu-erh flavor. I missed the earthiness that Pu-erh has. Ah well.
For those that dislike Pu-erh’s but want the health benefits this would be the perfect choice.

Thank you David Duckler for this great Sample!

Attempting to review this Pu’er is like me auditioning for “So You Think You Can Dance”!

All the equipment I used was glass…pot, cup etc. I used spring water, made sure not to eat first, no perfumes or lipstick, just everything clean! Steeping time 2-3 minutes.
I recorded 3 infusions but this 1 tsp to 4oz water method can go 12 infusions (gulp)!

The Pu’er is so intense that I felt like I was in an old movie and this is how I am going to discribe the experience, in scenes.
The color of the Pu’er liquor remained a beautiful shimmering light gold.

Scene (steep) 1. If you picture an old movie set…a cloak and dagger type by Agatha Christy then I’m the old lady in the library and a gentleman (David Duckler) has handed me a glass with a golden liquid. He disappears.
Unaffraid (or stupid) I take a sip of the liquid…it reminds me of linen…and my grandmama’s attic long ago…when I would sneak vanilla wafers. I can smell the vanilla far off down in the kitchen. My tongue tingles. My tongue feels quite furry and I taste earthiness with the sensation that I’m about to be buried in a cave. I feel different. Is the golden statue in the corner of the room watching me?

Scene 2. The earthy flavor makes me feel like a Greek goddess…yes…like I have taken a big bite out of Corfu! Corfu tastes really good, not muddy whatever and salty! Wait now, put your nose in the cup and there’s coffee toffee latte! BREATHE DEEPLY! INHALE!
I need my fan! I need my lounge chair and a nap! My mouth is tingling and juicy and where is everyone? This is not natural! The room is askew!

Scene 3. Must have dozed off. My cup refilled itself…peculiar. A hand, leather gloved and looking like Geoffrey’s hand, has slipped some more golden liquor into my glass. It smells faintly like a fruit…pineapple? A flower perhaps? My tongue tingles like fire and then turns into a silky creaminess. NO! It almost tastes like coconut water and earth.
My desire to be or do anything else has disappeared like a vapor.
Have I been drugged? The elixer is too enjoyable to resist.
Where is David Duckler and Geoffrey to tell me what to do next. I must have more!

This was all in fun…I loved this Pu’er! I hope you don’t mind my playful attitude!

To Sum it up:
Sweet, Tingles, Salt, Linen, Earthy, Pineapple, Creamy/Silky, Vanilla Cookie, Coffee Toffee Latte, Coconut Water, Some Flower, Furry, Cave, Higher than a Kite!

I give this Pu’er…a standing ovation. It is fantastic and mystical. Thank you to David for the opportunity to drink this Pu’er!
http://youtu.be/21NCH2sPlhc You’ll never guess!

Second Review Teavivre Sample…thankyou!

I made it to the Post Office in my local health food market just before closing at 6pm last evening…to send off samples of tea to Stoo (Steepster) and my sister-in-law Kathy (Special Ed. teacher). Some evil old desire came over me and I found myself next door at Starbucks, sitting in a big leather chair with a skinny vanilla latte (coffee) with Kindle in hand jotting comments on Steepster. How evil is that?! How could I? I repent!

To make up for last night, I need to blot out the memory of that coffee with a really great tasting PU-ERH! Yes!

Teavivre has one of my favorite loose Pu-erhs for every day drinking. It has big bold flavor. You do a quick rinse, steep 3 minutes and Wow! The darkest liquor!

The Pu-erh is super rich, deep, with an earthy broth and mushroom taste that is also a little salty. As a latte you could not ask for more. There is smooth creamy caramel without sacrificing a barrel aged, cave cured taste that I crave in Pu-erh’s.

I will buy this tea. It is not enough to have a large sample. I want to have this often. It has the most mushroom flavor of any Pu-erh I’ve tasted thus far. I should begin to catagorize my Pu-erh’s with flavor profile tags now. Seems like a better system than my memory.

Hope I am forgiven for backsliding. Why would I go back when there is so much more in tea (especially Pu-erh) than I ever imagined as a coffee drinker.

This morning I’ve been scurrying about like some sort of ground squirrel gathering nuts and seeds…only my stash has been tea. A packet here and a sprinkle there into a packet for a friend in a distant place who has yet to try one of my favorite tea’s. I especially love sending out loose tea to a Steepster newbee who has mostly teabag’s. (I have a few and I enjoy my Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice on occasion). It’s going to rain.

My treat for myself in all this tea hustle and bustle is Chocolate Chamomile Curiosity Brew! I did a wahoo review the first time I tasted it. Really, I was not able to control my enthusiasm. Now that I’ve had this tea 4 or 5 times…I can lean back like a fat cat because I’ve ordered more of the fine blend you know. Ta Ta!

You have to be prepared for the experience. There is the warm side…chocolate Laoshan Black with luxurious Wuyi Big Red Robe (I never think of tea…I think of a mink coat) and then…cool Mint. It reminds me of a scene in Dr. Zhivago…and I’m riding in a Troika racing through the snowy night wrapped in fur with the wind in my face and a pot of tea at my feet and chocolates…just that whole warm cool world . Wow am I a romantic!
This is a brilliant cup! Watch Dr. Zhivago again or for the first time with this blend sometime.
http://youtu.be/nynMR6AZ8Rc Original Score Dr. Zhivago
Back to packing tea with me!

My first tasting

Everyone is getting their Golden Fleece in the mail and reviewing it! What a treat!

I watched David’s video on the Verdant website and chose the method of steeping with a basket in a mug…just to be different than what I’ve done before. All the timing was the same as the video and I’m recording 6 steepings. After that I was full and happy!

I. The scent struck me first. It was like one of my sweet potato pies…full of the best cinnamon and butter, steaming hot right out of the oven. There was a scent like pineapple far off. Taking a careful sip was like plunging into a pool of water and gasping for air. The flavor was clean but humid like the tropics after a rain and you take a breath which is juicy and spice filled from exotic plants. I could taste the spotted verdura plantains ripe but barely sweet. The tea became creamier as it cooled.

2. My tongue lit up. Fire! There is no tannin but heat on my tongue with butter lettuce and juice. I put my nose into the glass mug and breathed in and out…slowly inhaling steam. Sugared creamy pudding. I have no idea how to say what the flavor was! Tapioca? Something had happened physically to me! The tea was in my pores like I’d had a tea transfusion! It was all over me! Whoa…what an awesome feeling!

3. Cake. Juicy cake.

4. The insides of my lips were tingling and my mouth and cheeks felt like they were vibrating. This was too strange (but not bad)! I know that I have a brain dysfunction, but I’d like to know if anyone else has a tea high like this!

5. Very spicy and juicy.

6. Here’s where it also got interesting. I’ve had all these steepings to think about the flavor. Pie, yam, cinnamon, juicy, lettuce…all good. Then, a memory came in to ruin everything and I had to put it here.
My old Aunt had a cabin in the Coast Range Mt’s. of California, where my daughter also lived before moving to Colorado. The place is Mount Hermon, close to Santa Cruz and is in the Redwoods. The smell of the Redwood forest floor, the California Scrub Oak, Bay, Myrtle, Laurel, Arbutus, and….Wild Blackberry bushes not far from the ocean! That smell and this tea. The forest floor and the berries in the sun is what I thought of on the last sip. http://www.flickr.com/photos/disabilitea/7265662702/

I want to recommend using a Gaiwan for this tea. My infusions were very successful but I know that a Gaiwan would allow these tea leaves to have contact with the water better. I am still tasting the tea long after finishing the actual drinking of it. Like liquor I am tea drunk. I expect my rating will increase as I have more experience with this tea.

I want everyone to know that I did NOT read the review notes of anyone besides Jim Marks prior to my tasting today. So whatever I wrote is my opinion and you can form your own!

First tasting note
It is an odd occasion that this tea information was posted today May 23, 2012 and the tea arrived at my home today also, and today is my Birthday “64”! It was meant to be.

With the rain pouring down outside and a day that was going to be spent alone with no plans, the arrival of my Verdant tea was extra joyful. David (the owner of Verdant) put a little something extra inside my shipment besides the regular sample for me to try which brought a tear to my eye. The kindness of strangers as they say. More and more the people I encounter on Steepster, and several tea providers, are less like strangers and are individuals that I care about. Thank you!

I was determined NOT to do a complicated long review of this tea.
I followed the instructions on the Verdant site for Western Style preparation because it was later in the day when my tea arrived. Using Spring water I could count on a great pot of tea.

My first flavor impression was Chocolate. A big, then bigger, then huge mouthful of chocolate at first… followed by what I imagined was pecan pound cake. (Now I think the cake was not made with wheat flour but potato. I know…that sounds crazy.) The tea wasn’t vanilla, yam, cinnamon or malty tasting like so many other popular black tea’s. This was fruity (but not discernable as to what fruit) and clean. I hunted for some acid or tannin…but couldn’t find any. The smoothness was creamy and rich. The difference between this black tea and others was…well…this was like an expensive satin covered down comforter and the others are wool blankets, rough and kind of thin. Everything in a cup like liquid, shimmering amber gold.

I let the tea cool down. It was so good plain. Straight up it was sweet, genteel and smooth with NO acid at all! The finish was creamy and I am in love with it!

I love this tea! I really am amazed! This is the first Black Tea of any kind that I can and would drink straight up without sugar or cream always! I love the Laoshan Black but I think it’s a tie here. This is so mellow!

Second Steep Still amazing! I forgot to say that when I stuck my nose way down into the cup I was reminded of the fruity scent of wine inside the barrels at Fortino’s Winery where I worked one Summer but without sourness and just the sweet dry wine. The wine produced in that area of California was like liquid sunshine. Ripe sunkissed berries. That’s the fruit somewhere in the scent.
The flavor of this tea has no sourness either, but now I taste that distant berry. I feel the cedar and pepper on the front of my tongue but not at the finish so the smoothness is still good. Chocolate delight. Naked!
Third Steeping I’m not going into the flavor that much. I has all the same qualities that it had before. Such a strong leaf! What I have found at this point is another dimension. One that I stumbled upon because I had an Artist friend that cooked a fantastic dinner served outdoors in the evening served by candlelight. The end of the meal was followed by fine cigars and an aged, expensive Port. Here’s the part I want to share. This tea has the essense of fine cigars and port about it. A taste, scent…something.
There I’ve done it. I can’t explain why. See for yourself. I’m putting it out for you to tell me if I’m right or wrong! Because of this brilliance, I’ve upped the rating! I could not help myself!

It’s a beautiful cool rainy day on the Frontrange. This follows a 91F hot day yesterday so you can imagine how happy us mountain people are feeling today!
Last night my granddaughter Megan (16) conducted her school choir in an original composition that she wrote in Latin about the death of Ceasar. It was fantastic! I am so proud of all the kids…but she’s my kindred spirit.
For breakfast I decided on this Butiki Organic Assam. I love the fact that it is Organic and relatively mild. The tea is smooth like velvet…without astringency or heavy raw edged smokiness. I know there are those who want that more assertive type of robust Assam. Something akin to drinking white lightenin. I really do like my black tea’s strong and sexy…don’t get me wrong…but I like them to have some manners too. When it’s all said and done, I want to remember days later that this tea gave me a good time.

And, this tea is a good time!
(It’s my first choice today of a Birthday tea!)

I’ve been trying to do a review of this tasty tea and the review keeps erasing! That’s the kind of trouble I’ve had with Steepster the past 24 hours! Anyone else?!?

One of the things I love about this spiced Creme Brulee Pumpkin Tea is that it is Organic. The spices, pumpkin and tea are all superior to fake flavoring. You sure can tell the difference. Stacy at Butiki really knows what she’s doing! I have no idea how she has managed to conjour up the brulee illusion without any dairy or vanilla. The creaminess is insane and the spice does not cut into it with a vulgar sharpness. Adding a bit of milk and sweetening the cup is so brilliant that I would not drink this tea any other way. On my next order I want to pick up some of Butiki’s brown sugar amber gems. They would look so beautiful in a little bowl…and I’ll bet some real whipped cream in another little bowl would be delightful with buscuits and this tea some Saturday morning.
I’ve decided to raise my rating on this tea. Worth it!