Liquid Proust Teas

This is a nice vanilla tea, but it still just (and just by a hair) misses for me. I think it’s too oolong and not enough black tea. The vanilla is really nice, but the oolong is too strong and I feel that the mineral/roasted notes of the oolong doesn’t quite go with the vanilla. The black is just barely present. For my tastes I would prefer there to be more black and less oolong – I think the oolong belongs but it should be in the back ground adding interest and depth rather than being the star of the show. I didn’t get anything from the sandelwood. Others have said cocoa – I’m not getting that. Again I think if the black was more prominent there could be some natural chocolate notes from the black and that would be a nice addition.
Don’t get me wrong, I like this but it’s just not quite right.

Sipdown! This was really good; I quite enjoyed it. The creaminess was present to this last cup, and lasted through multiple infusions. Yum.

(Also – woot for baby finally having a nap not in Mommy’s arms, so she can finally do things that require two hands! Like make tea and write tasting notes! Ahaha.)

Guys… this is BETTER than DT’s Vanilla Orchid. Fresher, and missing that strange fake-flavouring aftertaste. I would probably prefer it without the osmanthus flavouring, because I’m not a huge fan of floral, but it’s still really good. I wasn’t expecting this. It wasn’t even a tea I really chose – it was a substitution for Dark Chocolate Oolong, since someone bought that out before me.

Pretty happy with this tea. I love a creamy, vanilla oolong.

I received my Liquid Proust Tea order today. Trying this one first.
Apple – yep
Cinnamon – yep
Hojicha – not really – pretty much obscured by the flavors
This is not quite what I was expecting. It’s apple cinnamon as advertised but it’s REALLY apple with just a bit of cinnamon (for my tastes this cinnamon is odd). I was expecting more of the roasted hojicha to be present with just hints of apple/cinnamon – toast with apple jelly maybe, something like that. This is hot apple juice with a hint of strange cinnamon.
This is coming out harsher than intended. Other than the cinnamon that bothers me (and that’s personal taste), this isn’t bad – just odd and not what I was expecting.

Quite happy with this tea! I really like the nutty base, and the cinnamon/apple are just perfect. Definitely one of the better fall apple teas I’ve tried.

Thank you TeaNTees!

This. . .tea. . .is. . . good! Sweet, maple syrup, malty .. maybe even hints of chocolate? . yummy!

I might be a bit tea drunk from too much tea this afternon! Ha!

Sipdown (117)!

Thanks again to Liquid Proust for sending this along to me when I ordered from him!

I think I liked this more the second time around, but maybe that’s because I was focusing a lot less on deciphering the flavours of the tea and just enjoying drinking it. I really got potent notes of the dragonfruit and strawberry, though – it was a little like drinking the Dragonfruit flavoured mineral water? Except with a strong grassy flavour that cut through in the finish.

I’ve certainly had my fair share of Dragonfruit mineral water from back when I worked at a movie theatre: we sold three flavours (Dragonfruit, Lemonade, and Orange) and the others were much too tart/sour for me so I probably drank my weight in it. And I am not a petite woman. It was tasty stuff and conveyed the flavour well.

The last little bit of tea leaf went to my mom, who brewed it up hot. Since both two times I drank this were cold brewed I would have loved to steal a few sips of her hot mug but alas she made it while I was at work so no such luck. She liked it a fair bit though; she did find the green tea bitter but probably because she either used too hot of water or oversteeped it. While she’s a tea drinker she isn’t a “tea drinker” the same way most people on Steepster are, so unless I make the tea for her there’s usually at least some user error. However, she really liked the fruity flavour. I don’t think she got dragonfruit the same way I did, but she certainly tasted berries.

Ooh! A challenge!

This tea came with my Liquid Proust Teas order as an added bonus; thank you Andrew! I have to say, the idea of guessing what’s in the blend fascinates me. I think I did a pretty good job with this for Lupicia’s Cache-cache blend – though I didn’t get a chance to with Butiki’s mystery blends.

The the green base is an obvious given but if I’m going to try and guess what makes up this blend then I’m going to use every angle I can get: taking a look at the dry leaf, the infused liquor’s colour, the smell and obviously the taste.

Starting with the dry leaf: I definitely see fruity chunks. My initial thought is strawberry or raspberry; it’s hard to tell whether they’re freeze dried strawberry chunks or little bits of raspberry with all the sections/seeds. There’s also another visible fruit; something much paler. Going on the smell of the dry leaf I certainly want to say dragonfruit. It also doesn’t seem like a stretch for LP to want to experiment with something more exotic. However, visually this looks more like sections of kiwi because of how the seeds are arranged. The flesh of a dragonfruit has seeds all throughout the fruit while kiwi’s are more central. I also clearly see a piece of chocolate (or ‘chocolate yogurt’) in the dry leaf I’ve measured out for myself. Right now I’m leaning towards strawberry kiwi chocolate. That definitely seems like compatible flavours, but just different enough to intrigue LP.

I did this one as a cold brew, so I don’t really get to use the aroma of the steeping tea as an indicator. However, the visual liquor is giving me a lot to go off – it’s this really cloudly ‘blush pink’ colour and I know this beautiful shade of pink couldn’t be achieved with dried fruit alone so even though I didn’t see any in the leaf I have a hunch there’s some hibiscus in this blend. The cloudiness is also a tip off; teas with chocolate or yogurt definitely tend to look that way so this is in my mind validating that I did indeed see chocolate in the dry leaf.

And finally the taste test! Let me start by saying that despite the green base I do like the way this tea tastes and first and foremost that’s the most important thing here – not solving LP’s mystery tea flavour. Though that’s certainly fun and a part of the experience too.

I have to say, I was leaning towards strawberry before trying the tea but now I definitely get more of a raspberry note – especially in the lingering aftertaste. The base is really grassy and kind of marine tasting too, I like the flavour but unfortunately I feel like it’s masking some of the ingredients LP has used here. Other than raspberry and base, there’s a tartness that’s clearly hibiscus but not a lot of it. If the colour hadn’t tipped me off I may not have noticed? Or, at least, I’d probably have attributed it to the raspberry. What I’m really trying to figure out is this whole kiwi/dragonfruit dilemma. I wonder if there’s a possibility this has both? When I thought the raspberry was strawberry, kiwi seemed a lot more plausible than it does now and whatever the flavour it’s a little too mild to really stand out as something distinct and not just ‘tropical’.

Alright Andrew, here’s my final(ish) guess:

- Green Tea Base (duh)
- Chocolate of some kind
- Hibiscus
- Raspberry
- Dragonfruit

and possibly…

- Strawberry
- Kiwi

How’d I do?

The dry leaf of this smells amazing. The etsy product page states “90 seconds at 175F” So I took 8 oz of boiling water and added 2 ice cubes to bring down the temp and set the timer for a mere 90 seconds. The smell of the brewed liquid is not as pleasant as the dry leaf, and woah, it’s taste is something I have yet to come across. I think the main taste my buds get from this is cinnamon popcorn? It’s strange, in a very tasty way. I look forward to having this again and trying to find the blueberry in it :)

https://instagram.com/p/7s5HZBJnr0pPnB4uKPLuq_BDBDbMGb0kWTG880/?taken-by=kkpeltzer

So I unfortunately oversteeped this the first time I had it (forgot it was gyokuro and needed a super short infusion), but I did still drink it. I’m not sure if it was my imagination, but I felt like I could taste the vanilla, and really enjoyed it. The jackfruit seeds, not so much, though there was one in the infuser. I’ll have to keep a closer eye on it next time. Rating tentatively for now.

Later infusions were really only gyokuro.

Another sipdown from way back. This tea was always too floral for me, which made me sad as I really wanted to like it. I don’t know if it was the flavouring or the base, but I’m not too sad that it’s gone.

I continue to be unbelievably behind on logging teas (I don’t think I’m ever going to catch up…), but figured I should try to get a few new things reviewed. I just made a few bigs orders, and this was one of the teas I got!

Aroma was fairly floral, which I wasn’t expecting – I was definitely hoping for more of creamy, eggy vanilla (french toast). The tea, while being somewhat chocolatey and malty, also tasted fairly floral; not bad, but again, I was expecting more custard-vanilla, not vanilla flower. Possibly also a hint of cinnamon (but ONLY the barest hint).

Strangely, I did also get the “too floral” flavour from two other brand new blacks I had today (from Taiwan Tea Crafts), so I have to wonder if it’s my tastebuds or something (I have been sick for about 10 days, so it’s possible, though it’s mostly in my chest and I haven’t noticed anything else tasting different than expected).

Anyhow, I’ll withhold rating for now, in the event that it’s a problem on my end, but I was somewhat disappointed in this tea being so floral. I was happy enough with the base, and it wasn’t an unpleasant drinking experience by ANY means, I was just expecting something different.

Yum! Chocolate nutty roasted oolong goodness. . . Another winner from Liquid Proust Teas, but this may be my least favorite.

Another lovely tea from TeaNTees goodie box! Thank you again my dear.

Yummy.

The fruit does not overpower the green tea (sencha? gyokuro?), which IMO is no easy feat of mixology. Also I was going to guess dates and maybe blueberry as an ingredient; I drank it before I read the review and LP’s disclosure of what’s in the tea, but looks like I was wrong about that on both counts. Anyway, it’s yummy.

The scent of the dry leaf is nice, almost juicy. The scent of the brewed liquid, is not. The first sips I get a black tea feel with a bit of a bite. The addition of sugar seems to round out the cup and makes it very pleasant!.

As a latte = wow!

First tea in the gaiwan. It is strange to use a mere 4 ounces of water and then that amount doesn’t fit in the cup! I like that using this piece of brewing equipment makes me slow down and appreciate the tea. On the flip side, I am quickly realizing that I like to drink a lot more tea at a time!

The first steep was 2 minutes and tasty.
The second steep was 3 minutes and had more astringency.

I didn’t get farther than that because I forgot I had to leave to get to a car appointment!

https://instagram.com/p/8YaQVKJnhzDfM9c9iN0zFSD9B4nATXg_euSHo0/?taken-by=kkpeltzer

I’m not getting vanilla out of this. There is a sweetness at the back of the sip which is quite pleasant. It is also very smooth. While I can tell this has black tea in it, it isn’t bitter. I think next time I will try a sweetener to see if I can encourage the vanilla :)

Well this tea is delicious. Dang! I’m not going to go into all the flavors, I think other reviewers have covered that. Cocoa, malt, vanilla, custard, sweet, etc. Yes, yes, yes. I brewed an entire ball in my cast iron pot, water just under boiling, first steep of 2.5 minutes. The ball hasn’t entirely opened yet, so I’m looking forward to more steeps. What I really want to mention is that I decided to experiment a little, and I added some half and half and stevia to the tea. Like I said, it’s already sweet, but I have a wicked sweet tooth so it’s rare that anything is ever “too sweet” for me. Anyway, the additions took this tea up to 11 on the yummy meter for me. I would definitely purchase this again!

Side note: It would appear that as I write this, LP is out of this tea. I have a message for Andrew: http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/574/moar-cat.jpg

Oh wow, the aroma of this tea is lovely, both before and after steeping. I don’t even know how to describe it. I swear I’m tasting soy sauce though, which sounds insane, but then again I probably have a weird palate anyway. I can’t decide if this is a good dessert tea, or a good appetizer tea. I did just eat dinner, so I’m having it for dessert. But I can imagine it being awesome with pot stickers. For the first steep I’m definitely getting more of the toasted rice and sweetness more so than the cocoa or tea. Second and third steeps are increasingly less sweet, toasted rice is still there and I’m assuming I’m tasting more of the hojicha? I’m not sure as I’ve never had it before. This is a lovely warm and comforting tea. I’m hoping the caffeine content isn’t too high (I’ll find out later!) because it would be a wonderful before bed tea, especially in the winter.

Yummers! This tea is hitting all those floral notes and more. So good. Plus, the tea brews up to an almost neon green color. I’m glad I still have a ton of this tea left. I drank it just about the entire day yesterday and plan on taking it to work with me again.

http://www.cuppageek.com/index.php/2015/09/11/andrews-birthday-insanity-from-liquid-proust-teas/

Happy Friday Sipping All!

Sipdown (113)!

First things first, this is my 3000th tasting note!

I’ve been keeping track for a while trying to carefully calculate what to write and when to write it so that my 3000th note is for a tea that seems appropriate for the monumental occasion. I finally landed, about a week ago, on this tea because I thought it seemed appropriate to celebrate my involvement here on Steepster by drinking from a Steepster member who is not only a creator but a consumer as well!

I also treated myself last night to a Liquid Proust Teas order to kind of ‘mark the occasion’. With my being currently unemployed now I figure I’ll likely not get to put in any large orders for a while – so I gave myself one from a company I’ve wanted to support since Andrew announced he was starting it.

But anyway, the tea itself…

The base for this tea is a Tung Ting/Dong Ding, which is a type of oolong I find pretty enjoyable though not one I drink as regularly as other types. The infused leaf was just gorgeous; long, full olive green leaves with a nicely bruised and oxidized red rim around the edge of the leaf. I tried to show my mother, who was watching me brew the tea but she just didn’t understand the beauty of that.

With both Western Style infusions I ended up doing, I found that more than anything else that I could taste the base tea. It was very fragile/delicate overall with an initial sweet flavour with almost a ‘leather’ or gentle smoke note, but then evolved into this super fragrant and aromatic floral tea with very bright, round notes of lily or possibly lilac to a lesser extent. There was also a smooth, silky vanilla-like sweetness as well especially in the end of the sip/long lingering aftertaste.

I could also taste the peach blossom as just this extra ‘floral’ flavour with a little bit of honey and generic fruit sweetness. Sometimes I forget that, unlike orange blossoms, peach blossoms don’t exactly taste ‘peachy’. I do wish this had been peachier, though – with a name that contains both “Elixir” and “Peachy” I expected both a more vibrant, rich fruity taste as well as something distinctly peach.

That said, this was a very calm, delicious tea and I did really enjoy drinking it. I’d recommend it to fans of greener oolong as it was really enjoyable in that regard. It didn’t make it into my order last night though just because I’ve tried better things made my LP, and I wanted to restock those in addition to trying some new stuff.