A C Perch's

This tea has a lime green color.
It’s still salty, but in a pleasant way. This brew also has a little seaweed notes in it… But this time it’s perfectly balances. It makes me thirst for another sip, while I type. It’s like good food – you know your full but you can’t stop because it just taste so good. You’ll eat it, just for the taste!

Mmh, delicious.

I like it.
It’s salty and makes me think of seaweed. Now, normaly, I don’t like seaweed.
But when drinking this … I’m thinking – why not. We got all this seaweed in the world.
Lets eat and drink it. Especially when it’s as tasty as THIS tea.
Ah, this tea … God, this tea made me HUNGRY.

Thumbs up.

Good morning steepsterites.

This is breakfast. That is all.

(Also, I don’t think I’m using quite the same leaf to water ratio as A C Perch’s do. They recommend steeping for six minutes. I usually do around three. My tongue just shrivelled up and died at the thought of six!)

Goodmorning Steepsterites.

I thought it was an Irish Breakfast sort of morning, especially because I spotted the tin and had forgotten I had it. And what’s more, I’d forgotten what it tasted like.

I’m pleased to re-find that I like it. It has a certain amount of astringency on the swallow, especially as it cools, but apart from that it has a rich smoothness that feels a bit thick. The assam in the blend is making itself known with a very honey-ed sweetness.

I think this would be quite nice for the travel cup in the morning.

Goodmorning Steepsterites.

Yeah, I know it’s nearly… nevermind. I’ve slept in, so it counts.

I have also successfully managed to whittle my following list down to an amazing 139! That’s a far cry from the 1100 or so I think it was before. And at least 80% of them were inactive accounts. It feels good to have done a little house keeping and I think I’ve discovered (maybe) and easier for me way to use the site and still try to keep an eye on a lot of people with the recent posts page. It means an extra click and seeing some things twice and some things from people I had previously chosen not to follow for this or that reason, but I can deal with that. So again, to the few I have dropped that wasn’t inactive, it’s nothing personal against anybody, it’s merely a change of tactics for me. I might readd some people again in the coming days

Anyway, I decided to go for the Irish Morning again this morning, and this time I tried to use a little less leaf. A C Perch’s recommends steeping for six minutes which seems like an awfully long time for such a small leaf tea, but I think it’s because they’ve based it on people who like to add milk. I happen to have milk at the moment, so I think we’ll give that a try.

I’ve just poured a little bit first to try and tell what it’s like without milk. My first thought was that it was extraordinarily sweet! I would never have guessed that from yesterday’s dosage problems. Sweet yes, but not that much. As it cooled a bit, the sweetness went away, so that only really works when it’s still very hot.

Adding a (good) bit of milk, I discover that either I’m not really a big fan of it with milk or my milk has a too high fat content (I tend to prefer 1,5%) to really work with this one. It tastes more like I’ve added cream, and that has not been a problem for me before in adding milk to any other tea. The tea itself seems a bit overpowered by this. So either it needs less milk than I added or it needs a thinner milk. Since I’m not about to change the type of milk I prefer for everything else or begin to buy two types of milk, I’ll have to experiment with less milk.

Or even with no milk at all, which was better yet. Yesterday I got a great resteep, so we’ll try that today as well. And definitely not add milk.

Rating sneakily sneaking upwards, a few points at a time.

Okay, I have re-familiarised myself with the beloved raspberry oolong. I can’t believe how long I’ve gone without it. Now for the second reason for my latest ACP purchase (the third being dangerously low levels of Lapsang Souchong left)

What we’ve got here is a blend of Assam and Travancore, the latter of which is one of those areas that I can never remember exactly where is. Luckily I have literature and atlasses at my disposal, so it was easy enough to figure out. South India for those who suffer from geography deficiency like me.

So far of the Irish Breakfast blends I’ve tried, I have found Adagio’s offering suited me best. Granted I haven’t yet had that many, but this is the way things stand at the moment. I’m a big fan of A C Perch’s as many of you have likely figured out by now, so I have great hopes that their morning tea can, if not beat Adagio’s, then at least be equally as good.

The leaves are quite small and dotted liberally with lovely pretty golden bits, just like my Assam is. Seeing as the leaves are so small though, I will have to play with dosage a bit with this one. My usual dosage in this size pot has turned out to be a wee bit on the strong side for me. The aroma of the dry leaves is absolutely lovely. Assam honey-y sweetness all over the place and something that smells almost, but not quite, smoky. The bag it came in actually had a very smoky aroma hanging at it when I tried sniffing it through the wrapping, which surprised me a bit, because I wouldn’t call this normally a smoky blend. Turns out it was just aroma from the lapsang souchong stuck to the outside of the bag as the leaves inside smell very differently.

After steeping, I have to admit I didn’t consider paying that much attention to the aroma, and it’s gone a bit too cold now to really tell. At this temperature, though, where it’s good for drinking, it smells kind of smooth. Maybe even a bit milky. The actual aroma notes are too weak for me to register at this point. Not because the aroma as such is weak or non-existant, but more because I had an incident at work a few days ago, which involved me, a garbage bag with a hole in it, a bucket with a popped off lid and a few liters of formalin on the floor. To be cleaned up. By me. That’s a few hundred brain cells I’ll never see again. It was quite unpleasant, and I don’t really think my nasal mucus membranes are completely recovered from all the formaldehyde fumes yet. It makes it a bit difficult to really tell what I’m smelling here.

Taste, though. As mentioned, I made it a little too strong for my liking, so next time I’ll have to knock a little off the leaf dosage. The Assam is definitely there, but it feels a little more rounded off here. Relatively astringent, which may be caused by the extra amount of leaf. I tend to be pretty tolerant to astringency, but this cup is right on the border of my limit. I’m trying to look away from that, though.

There is indeed no smokyness in the tea at all. Only the cardboard-y Assam and that other fuller, rounder flavour that is more difficult to pin down. Like the Assam is only providing the frame around this other flavour. Like how a pretty picture is marred by an ugly frame but enhanced by a pretty frame, you know? It’s rather abstract, I’ll admit. Difficult to explain what I mean.

It’s definitely a blend with a good punch, this. It reminds me of Teaplz and the pirate analogy a while ago. I wonder if I can say the tea has that ARRRR-factor. ;) I’m rating it like this for the time being and deeming it indeed a worthy rival of Adagio’s IBB. As I experiment with the leaves, this rating may change.

Isn’t it ironic, by the way, that while I’m sitting here posting about breakfast blends, my actual breakfast is standing on a plate in the kitchen, quite forgotten?

ETA: Very good on the resteep too. A bit smoother and still full of flavour.

I’ve had this one plain and it showed a lot of potential but ultimately disappointed me because of the bitter-nut taste at the end. So I thought I’d try it today with some half & half and sugar. Because of the remembered icky end note, I added a little more sugar and half & half than I normally would but I figured better safe than sorry, right? I do believe I was rewarded. With the additives, this tea actually brought to mind Thomas Sampsom (always a good comparison). It wasn’t quite as smooth and there was still a tiny hint of the bitter-nutty unpleasantness at the end which I never get from good ole TS but it was still stout and bake-y with a nice, thick texture that made me want to chew on it a bit. So while this is not something I’d want to have plain (because of the end note), it is a good morning tea when doctored. Thomas’ place in my heart isn’t at risk, but one day Thomas will not be and I could see this being an acceptable (if not quite as good) substitute.

I needed a pick-me-up and what better one than tea? Well, unless it is tea provided by lovely Steepsterite Angrboda. Which is what this is, so rejoice!

The dry leaves smell like hay or dried grass. It’s sweet and nature-y but not deep/dark enough to be earthy. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten this exact smell from tea before and I am intrigued. It makes me think of the middle of summer when everything is dry and the sun beats down mercilessly and I desperately want to be out by a pool. For the record, that kind of day? Is pretty perfect for me. So I like this smell. A lot.

Once it gets in my cup, it smells much sweeter – I’m cycling between honey and fruit and syrup trying to peg the exact smell. There is still the underlying nature-y smell but it is very faint, though it comes out a bit more as the cup cools.

Wow, this is a sturdy cup. Bold but not really rough, it is surprisingly sweet, like I’ve tossed some raw sugar in (I haven’t). There’s also a sweet malty taste that isn’t so much bake-y as it is not-quite-burned toast. The end of the sip has a faint bitterness that reminds me of walnuts or maybe those dark, not-so-happy pecans. If given a longer steep time, it might become unpleasant but currently it’s not quite there (though I did do a pretty long steep time for not putting anything in it, so kudos to this tea for taking that so well). Instead, that edge makes me want to see how this is with a dollop of half & half in the cup. (Though I imagine there are those out there less wussy than I that would enjoy the sweet and almost bitter mix in this tea and not think to smooth it out with additives.)

I think this tea is Golden Moon’s Sinharaja’s more rough-and-tumble cousin. It has similar sweet notes to it, making it taste like there is raw sugar in the cup, but this one has a bit of an edge to it that makes it a little too strong to be the all-day tea Sinharaja is. I definitely don’t think sugar is needed at all in this puppy since it is nicely sweet but I think I want to give it a shot one morning with a little half & half to see if I can’t smooth the end taste a little. I speculate that it could be pretty freakin’ nifty then.
3g/8oz

The dry leaf smells smoky and rich with a note of tarry sweetness. It’s more of a glazed ham than the smoked brisket I associate with other lapsang souchongs. Oddly enough, post-steeping I’m getting a chocolate scent under the smoke as well as a sweet fairly fruity smell.

Ha! It’s nice outside so we’ve opened the office door and my coworker just made a comment that it smells like someone is burning brush nearby. Nope, that’s my tea.

The taste is lovely – rich, smoky and silky with hints sweet. The smoke flavor is strong but nicely balanced with the flavor of the smooth, faintly sweetish tea (though I can no longer pick out the chocolaty and fruity aspects I got from the smell). There is no heavy tar note to this though I imagine one might show up if steeped extra long. Anyway, I’m not quite sure how this tea does it, but it manages to be both almost decadently rich and not too heavy. Quite a tasty little number! Thanks Angrboda!
3.1g/8oz

Oolong is one of my favorite cups. Sweet, but not overly so.
It’s like the grayzone between green and black tea – which it is, but that “grey” zone has it’s taste of it’s own. It’s like when it’s raining and the sun shines through and make a rainbow. That’s how I see oolong… visually.

The rasberry is perfectly blended into the tea, like many of Perchs blends.
You can’t seperate the taste of oolong and rasberry – it’s “tied” together in a duet.
I am always suprised by it’s taste. Full of … notes, but still neutral.
It’s one of the teas I have standing in my workplace, to drink when I don’t have the time to decide “what I want”. And because of it’s peculiar smell, my collegues haven’t dared to taste it yet, so there it stands for me alone like a undiscovered tresure chest.

One of my top 5.

Rijje takes a sip of this tea and…
Smash her head on the table.

When will I find the perfect Earl Grey?
It’s like Atlantis.

So, another Earl Grey try. (I will not cease untill I found a good one)

This cup is very (VERY) dark brown/orange.
It’s so bitter! I can taste the bergamot, but it’s not tasty.

I kind of understand the attraction to Earl Grey – Tea and bergamot?
It should be tasty! Have to keep trying.

Another Traveling Tea Box Tea!

It is a dreary rainy day here, and I thought something berrylicious would perk me up :) Time to try the Raspberry Oolong! I was delighted to see raspberry pieces in the tea – and is that a blueberry too!?!?!?

1st steep – I decided to be conservative (for once in my life!) and try 5 minutes instead of 8, and use 190 deg water and not boiling. Gorgeous fragrance of tea and berries! It was VERY hard to wait for this to steep because it smelled so good. OOoooh I get to pour now!!! sip sip sip WOW! This is SO DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A really great sweet/tart thing going on, but mostly sweet, and 100% natural tasting. The oolong is a winner – no bitterness. I love it!!!

2nd steep, 6 min: Very similar to the first! Still getting luscious berries and the wonderful tea taste. A+++++

I am soooo thrilled that I got to try this, AND that I have just about another teaspoon for another pot! I am going to save it for another dreary day so that I can have a bright spot.

(I love the Traveling Tea Box!!!!!!)

WE still LIKE it!
My tastebuds are slowly becoming better. Yesterday I drank a clean oolong with a friend and enjoyed the notes of nuts and other stuff and then my friend said:

“I miss something in this tea”
What?
“Taste”
… But there is so much in it!

(Sorry all the editing, all the text didn’t show up because of some signs)

Thumbs up from here!

It’s WEIRD.
This tea never cease to suprise me, but today, it scared the crap out of me.
My first infusion oversteep the leaves, and somehow left the tealeafs without a single note of ginger. Or green tea.

The only tasting note left in my cup is “metal”, iron?
This made my eyes bulged out in surprise, because it taste like BLOOD.
Yes, blood.

Damn weird.

Wonders of wonders.
How can something I never enjoyed before in sushi or any other food, be sooo good in tea?

This tea is green in color, smells of citric and ginger (suprise).
The taste is suprisingly pleasant. Suprising because it taste milky, sweet, soapy, and bitter.
This is not my favorite taste – except for sweet – so why does it taste this great.

I don’t know. It’s a mystery, really.

Beautiful clear dark orange liquid.
Taste of honey, vanilla and brown sugar.
Takes additional infusion easily – even happily.

I am finding myself liking rooibos more and more!
And this – I really,really, like! Maybe I should buy something next time!
Maybe, I should buy some of this to my Rooibus fan of a friend.