Liquid Proust Teas

Sample from evol ving ness

So i have to say that i actually ended up spitting this one out. I hadn’t looked at what the blend was made of before i drank it….my mistake. The oolong has a great aroma to it, and before the amacha kicked in it was a good cup..but about 2 secons in to the sip the amacha kicked in and it was like drinking a cup of stevia that’s been slightly dilluted with water. i tried to weaken the brew by adding some water to it but i just couldn’t get it down. super sweet… ick.

in case anyone else is curious:
http://theteacupoflife.com/2017/02/amacha-japanese-herbal-tea.html

GCTTB

I tried this one because a number of folks had extolled the amazingness of this one. I hadn’t had a chance to place an order so i was glad to see it in the box to try. Thanks for sharing with us LP! I have to say, i love the shou in this one, and the addition of the “rum” aka aging in the barrels is a fun experiment. slightly sweet….earthy…creamy. interesting experiment!

I’m sad to announce a sipdown of this fabulously rich dessert tea. I brought it over to a tea tasting with friends. Tea + horror movies + great friend is a good combo.

Very malty and smooth base. Flavourful, hints of porcelain (stored in a foil pouch and clean teapot/cup. Cocoa powder, dark chocolate, something nutty. Nothing resembling genmaicha/toasted rice or grain, but it is still very tasty.

Deliciously rich flavours of cocoa and dark chocolate bean husks. I love the sweet, malty base and the rich flavour combination. I just love everything about it. So amazing by itself, and I’ll bet it would be good with a touch of milk, but I don’t want to risk losing any of the flavours of the base tea itself. The base tea (teas?) itself has notes of milk, dark dry wood, cocoa, and has a malty mouthfeel. Everything just goes really well together. I didn’t get very much in terms of grain/toasted rice, but disregarding that it doesn’t match the name, it is a smooth and enjoyable drink.

Yet another great blend from LP, who always makes unique and quality stuff.

Sample from Evol from a few days ago. I’ve been slacking at getting notes down/tracking teas as we’ve got a lot on the go these days. Still drinking tea but i hope i have a weekend soon to just get organised again. This one was sort of middle of the road for me if i recall. Not a bad tea, but nothing that leaves me wanting my own supply.

I’ve had a substantial amount of tea this weekend with friends & tea geeks alike. I must admit that I’ve probably not had this much tea in a long while or ever, maybe. However, I found myself drinking with friends in Columbus and back at my house, too.

As we (my wife, friend, and myself) binge watched Stranger Things, I had my friend pull some tea from the tea cabinet. I think visiting with tea friends, he had realized that there is a great community within the gift of tea; therefore, he has been constantly nagging for unique stuff.

During our time in Columbus, Liquid Proust had also brought out a couple of his blends for us to smell; to which my friend had been obsessive about trying a creation made by LP. So, I had told him to get some tea out of the cabinet and where he could find the “LP” bag within another “sample” box. He had chosen this blend mainly for the name.

Notes: Sweet nuttiness with a touch of vanilla (?). Eventually the tea became something on the lines of “burnt caramelized pecans with hint of sweetness (unknown).” All-in-all, we both mutually agreed that this was a unique tea to have before calling it a night.

mmmm sample from evol ving ness yep. happy to try this one finally, even if i can’t currently purchase it lol. This one feels more chocolatey than the version from verdant and more “oolongy” It is also missing the roastyness from the rice that i always really enjoyed. I think this is a tasty blend, but it’s not quite the verdant blend that i want it to be. However, i would totally pick this up on it’s own merits for a different sort of taste experience :)

Final count: 100 (since even if i have more tea tonight, not time to log until tomorrow)

This tea really lives up to it’s name. First steep today was a full 3 minutes in a gaiwan and it was really strong. Second steep was 1 minute and I enjoyed that much better. It instantly takes me back to when I was a child and the old barn that we had on the farm. Dark, dank, musty, wet. Who knows what all is lurking in the darkness. The second sip takes me back to some woods we used to play in. An overcast, dark sky, rain falling, piles of rotting leaves. It’s getting dark.

Time for another sip…

An excellent tea! I really enjoy the flavor and the vanilla comes through as well. Made with the hot water spigot at work, a loose leaf bag, and coffee cup. Temperature was around 190 and steeped for 2 minutes. Added some Almond Cream as well. Fantastic breakfast tea to drink during my morning meetings.

I really enjoyed this Berry Genmaicha. It was made at work so I just had the general hot water spigot, a coffee mug, and a loose leaf tea bag. There is a good fruity scent and there is a nice toasted rice/berry flavor to start with. It moves into more of a green tea aftertaste. It is a great after lunch tea.

GGTTB6 sample that I removed to try later. I used about 3/4 of a teaspoon because I wanted to make sure there was enough for others to try too. I brew small pots of tea most of the time anyway.

Looseleaf: Beautiful orange sandlewood contrasted against dark black tea.

Steep 1: Used 1 tsp leaf in 250 mL hot water
Very deep and rich. Minerals, cocoa, leather? not exactly smoke, more like tanned leather, lots of tannins, but never bitter or tannic. Extremely complex and flavourful.

Steep 2: 250mL hot (90 deg C water)
Dark chocolate, the smell of tobacco cigars and incense, dark/old wood like from a really old antique shelf.

Steep 3: "
More woody than the previous steeps, quite Earthy tones (not like wet soil, more like dry decayed wood, tanned leather, minerals in rich cocoa powder). Less rich and more Earthy.

Yet another mind blowing blends from LP. I’ve never had anything quite like this.

Was measuring out tea leaf from this mug and I saw a chunk of vanilla bean in my scoop a little over an inch long! Christ, LP – that it A LOT of vanilla bean to just toss in!? For starters, vanilla is fucking expensive – but also straight up vanilla also has a bit of a bitter taste when just had straight in large amounts… Y’need balance, yo.

So, I broke that long piece of vanilla up into thirds and tossed one of those into my cup. It was actually a delicious cup – thick liquor and smooth/coating. You definitely get more of that sandalwood deep in the back of the throat, and it lingers in a very soothing manor. The vanilla is certainly present, but with the broken up piece it wasn’t bitter. It was cool because I could see little black specks of the vanilla “caviar” (inside bit) floating around in the cup. Other notes are leather, oak wood, and dark cherry.

Mmmmm!!!

Shared a mug of this with a couple coworkers earlier in the week – they were both very impressed with the tea.

The sandalwood/vanilla in this tea are certainly very nice, and they add this very refined/nuanced/classy sort of feeling to the tea that just sort of slowly builds until it hits you hard and then it just stays with you for minutes after the sip; lingering on the palate. However, also very worth noting that the two base teas are also excellent and have stood the test of time very well.

Got more of this recently from, I believe, VariaTEA…

I’ve had this before; I think I found it to be pretty solid. I was excited to have it again though because I’ve basically tapped out the vanilla black teas in my cupboard and that’s always a really nice flavour profile to have around.

I’m just a little torn because I do taste the sandalwood in this blend and it’s a flavour I don’t heavily enjoy – but the rest of the profile was incredibly smooth and soothing. I actually found drinking this to be incredibly beneficial for all of the stress I was carrying around from my work day. Like, I felt relaxed as fuck. Notes of vanilla, without being sweet, and smooth wood, cocoa, raisin, and plenty of malt. Mostly tastes of the black tea in the blend to me, but definitely aspects of the oolong coming through as well. Probably mostly in the general roastiness.

GCTTB Round Six

I was very excited to see this one included in the tea box because it’s one I’ve felt drawn to for a while because of the name but that I’ve never really been willing to order for myself because I dislike sandalwood a lot. So, getting to try it low risk here was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

I was surprised when I tried it that I thought the strongest note was the vanilla; I full expected to be over taken by the sandalwood and instead it was very light, soft and tasteful. I liked it a lot paired with the vanilla, and I thought overall the drink was really silky and even a little exotic feeling? Mostly I liked that there was an air of exoticism without relying at all on tropical fruits. That was refreshing.

Didn’t make me feel nostalgic though; likely because I don’t have anything I strongly associate with sandalwood other than general distaste for it. Hard to build nostalgia off a starting point like that…

But yes, tasty and not scary at all!

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Six – Tea #23
Sorry everyone, this one was a teabox sipdown! I thought there would be one serving left when I started scooping but nope. I like where this tea was going. There seemed to be very complimentary ingredients here. I wish I was tasting more vanilla though! The black tea and roasted oolong worked very well together. The black tea reminded me of a light Laoshan black. The sandalwood didn’t overwhelm the tea — a nice subtle flavor that was a nice addition. A comforting three steeps, definitely!

This tea is truly wonderful. The leaves themselves are gorgeous, with silver coated apple pieces and pine needles. The taste is floral at first followed with a bite of fresh pine. I definitely recommend this tea.

So rhinkle’s had this one before, but this is my first time trying it. She’d westerened it before but found too much bitterness came out for her tastes, so insisted on us gongfuing it this time.

I am not an earl grey drinker, so this is not my domain. I can tell that the tea base is good, nice and smooth. The bergamot comes through very strong for me, as I don’t handle scents all that well, but the balance of flavors is just right for her. I’m not really familiar with the scent or flavor or amaranth, so I’m not sure how will that comes through or if it could come through steeping this way, but the petals certainly add a nice visual aesthetic.

We get a couple steeps of this one before she has to head back to her desk and, all in all, I would have to say this was more enjoyable than the few earl grey-drinking experiences I’ve had in the past.

I just ordered this from Liquid Proust, and I couldn’t be happier. It didn’t come with brewing instructions so I followed my instincts and managed to make a perfect brew at 195 degrees Fahrenheit, for 40 seconds. The leaves are aesthetically pleasing, like little dark brown rolled up leaves. The scent of the liquor is warm and inviting. The liqour tastes smooth and rich, with a wonderful roasted flavor. I would recommend this tea to anybody who enjoys roasted oolongs.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Six – Tea #6
I like this one. I can see the idea was like a smoky cinnamon roll? This one is smoky but not TOO smoky. With cinnamon that really makes an appearance on the second steep. The base is smoky enough for me, but I wish the tea itself had a darker flavor. I like the idea of a smoky cinnamon roll tea. It reminds me of my much loved cinnamon bread pu-erh that I only have a little of. OR that lovely Butiki Cinnamon bread tea.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoon for a full mug// 14 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

Sipdown! I could have sworn that I wrote a taste comparison between this and 52teas’ Coconut French Toast with Cardamom Maple Syrup, but now I can’t find it anywhere and I finished off the 52teas about a month ago so… either I planned to write it and never did, wrote it somewhere unusual and lost track of it, or accidentally deleted it, but the end result is that no such tasting note exists. Alas.

I drank most of this tea grandpa-style, with two balls in a 12-oz mug. I must have gone off script at some point, because I ended up with just one ball left. I decided to gong fu it. I’m five steeps in and still going. The first steep has a strong maple flavor. Subsequent steeps transition to primarily malt and cocoa notes. It’s good on a cold winter’s night.

I had this about a year ago and recall it being bland and disappointing so I have put off having it again until now. However, today I brewed it much better because there is more to it than just a subpar black tea. It is vanilla, a touch cocoa and then leather. Sounds weird but its nice.

Think I brewed this wrong because it is sort of a plain black tea. Bland and generic. Though, I think that is on me and not a reflection of the tea so we will see how subsequent brews go with this in the future.