Mountain Rose Herbs

This tea is Quirky.
I have had Genmaicha Tea before, but a long time ago.
I remember that tea tasted like popcorn.
This tea has a lot more going on.
Dry leaves smell like fresh cut hay drying in the sun.
As soon as the water hits it I am overwhelmed with childhood memories of saying to my mother “Mumsy, can I have a snack?” and then to be handed a Rice Cake.(You all remember Rice Cakes? For some reason in the early 90’s they were the latest health craze and my Mother was all about them)
So, A Rice Cake Nose with a bit of that grassy hay smell too.
Then taste!
Well,A Rice Cake covered in Salty Seaweed comes to mind.(not that my mother served this to me as a child)
A little bit of popcorn at the back of the tongue.
You might think after that sort of review that I will rate this low.
Well, you would be wrong.
I said the tea was quirky, and so am I.
I like it.
Brewed in my Bodum.
Very pale greenish yellow in color.
The flavors only stay strong for a couple of infusions.

This tea is lovely!
I almost did not get it.
It was an afterthought as I was finishing up the order, I thought “Hmmm,well, I guess this tea might be good for cold brewing this summer” and added it to the order.
I have not even tried it cold brewed yet, I have been enjoying it to much hot.
Opening the tin (a tin I placed the tea in, the teas come nicely packed in bag and box, but for long storage transferring to a tin is best:) is a treat.
Now, it is fruity, but not sugary candy like fruit, I would say it is more sophisticated than that.
Its dry leaf smells of a lovely Ceylon, than a Smokey Tropical Fruit.
Add water and inhale and it becomes even bolder!
This dark amber brew is a good Ceylon, nice and bright, but add the Mango and again that underlying smokiness to this tea and it is a delight!
The mouth has a bit of tang on the back of the tongue.
The Mango is very soft, kind of in the background, but not overpowering the Ceylon at all.
Sniffing the infuser basket of wet leaves and you can really smell the Mango, and again not overpowering or ultra sweet, just like you had cut open a fresh mango.
I will return to let you all know how it is cold brewed, but for now, I think I shall sit on the Veranda (the back porch) and pretend I am someplace exotic while sipping this tea.

Update
This tea is delicious cold brewed.
Very Refreshing and thirst quenching.
The Mango has become slightly more pronounced, which I like for a ice tea.

Tea of the morning for me.
For some reason, as soon as I awoke, I knew I wanted this tea.
A dark amber brew with a nice rounded flavor.
There is a bit of Smoke and Leather to this tea that I really enjoy.
The tea is almost Manly.
It is Strong without being harsh, it satisfies with simplicity and it knows how to wake me up in the morning….everything a girl is looking for in a Man…Er, In a TEA, yes in a tea;)
Brewed in my Bodum.
The first two infusions stay about the same, after that it starts getting milder.
It was drank without milk or sweetener (how I drink most all my teas)

Tea of the morning…. (and my daily hard core black)

I picked up some of this on my recent order to Mountain Rose Herbs. The price was very good for an organic and fair trade tea at $4.50 for 4 ounces I was really wanting it for smoking up my Franken Breakfast Blend a little. (And the Assam at a similar price will be used to kick it up a notch….by the time I am done blending, I will be smokin’ and jittery.) I needed to try it on its own, though, just to see how the flavors would blend.

I have to say I was a little apprehensive on trying this as I am not super knowledgeable when it comes to this kind of tea. I have only tried a few varieties. It is not Hu Kwa, but it is very good. Definitely a campfire smell, but the tea itself is smooth and very easy to drink, like Keemun on overdrive. I am not sure a Lapsang noob like me would need anything fancier than this. It has me rethinking my planned purchase of Lapsang Souchong Black Dragon from Upton in the Fall. Yes, when I sweeten this, I get toasted marshmallows….or maybe I should edit that to read the burned torch-like marshmallows that you blow out before you eat them. Is that more accurate, Cheryl? ;)

The packaging is interesting. It is a cute cubical box with some kind of flip top arrangement. Then inside the box is a cello bag with a long free end that is rolled up and secured with tape. I am pretty sure by half way into this, the tape won’t hold much from resticking. I think I will end up transferring to a tin.

The only thing that really bugs me about this company is the price of shipping. It makes it so I can only shop there about once a year. They are in OR and I am in OH. Shipping starts at around $10 and goes up from there. I do like their stance and business practices. I do recommend having your order well thought out before your submit. I have seen online reviews of issues with returns and they do not allow you to change your order once it is submitted.

Usual mug method.

Tisane of the evening…..

Yes, JacquelineM is responsible for my now having this in my cupboard. Who can resist “Holy Dumbledore’s Lemon Drops” when you love lemon tea and are a Potterhead? I needed a few things from Mountain Rose Herbs anyway, and I am trying to incorporate more herbals in my life. So, when I hear about a good one, especially a good lemon one, I tend to cave. I should be good for a while, now. I did get a decent amount of this along with some Assam and Lapsang Souchong, as well as the ingredients for my Comfort Tea blend.

This is lemony for sure. There are herbal notes, too, but it is mostly lemon. I think my non-tea drinking daughter might have a go with this as she needs to drink lemon tea for her musical pursuits. Yes, even flutists have to manage throat goo. I am giving her a Kati cup with a tree on it in the hopes that she will eventually be taken with tea.

Teapot method, 8 minutes. Lightly sweetened with Splenda. I might try the local honey next time. I need to be doing better at consuming it for my allergies.

I have decided that today is the day for Mystery Tea. That means simply tea we haven’t had before. So I’ve been looking at the very tail-end of my Steepster cupboard and discovered a couple of things I didn’t know I had.

This one for example. Would you believe I’ve been going around for ages being intrigued by this type and wondering if it was one I should try to invest in when next I can allow myself an order, and I had it the whole time?!

That’s fairly typical of me, actually.14444444444444444 Oh look a cat has been by in my absence… (Heavily abridged by cat’s owner so as to avoid horizontal scrollbars)

Anyway, this is one of the samples that I don’t know where came from. It’s from before I started my numbering system so it’s getting on in age a bit.

Let’s start with a little introductory ramble on two things here.

First of all, green tea. For me to be intrigued by a green tea at all is kind of remarkable. I enjoy it when it is served to me, but I rarely make it for myself. It has to come with a certain sort of mood, because for most of the time I’d rather have a black tea, flavoured or au naturel.

Which leads to the second things, which is roasting. Roasting tea is one of those things about the processing that I just can’t get my head around. It’s so amazing that it can be done, really, because inside my head it just ought not logically work. My brain will simply not allow for the possibility for some reason, even though I’ve got the very proof of it right here in front of me. (Well. Slightly to the left, but still)

Therefore roasted tea is extremely fascinating to me, although I haven’t yet had enough experience with it yet to be actively seeking it out.

LiberTEAS posted about an unsmoked LS yesterday, I think it was, and that tea was as I understand made like a regular LS only it had been roasted instead of smoked. She found that more pleasant than the regular smoked variety and therein stems some of my fascination.

Now, I like smoky teas. I have a specific balance of smokiness that I prefer, but once in a while it just can’t get smoky enough. Those are the times when, it has occurred to me, it’s not smoky tea I want. It’s roasted tea. From what I have seen here and there on Steepster when people have been posting about smoked teas and/or roasted teas, that smoked tea is generally considered a harsher sort of flavour than roasted tea. For me it’s the other way around.

Smoke comes in a bit prickly and sort of surrounds the flavour in a haze of smoky aroma, whereas roasting tends to be a full-on attack of the tastebuds with pricklyness and charcoal and burnt toast. Roasted tea, for me, is much more violent than smoky tea.

So this is really what I’m expecting. An onslaught of charcoal and some sweetly green vegetation underneath. Like something that has been burnt down and grass and things are just starting to grow back.

This tea brews as dark as any black tea and the aroma is definitely one of burnt stuff. Charcoal and something sweet. Like sugar spilled on a hot plate. So far we’re keeping pretty close to that expectation, there, aren’t we? I quite like this aroma. The more I smell it, the more pleasant I think it is, and the more I smell it the more I also think there’s a note of honey in that sweetness. It’s all dark smelling and brown, but it definitely reminds me a little of liquid honey. Or perhaps more of something which has been honey-glazed.

GOSH! I was not expecting this flavour! It so sweet and sugary and more honey! That’s the first thing I get. The next thing is a sort of cereal-ness. It makes me think of Cheerios. It’s the combination of the grainy notes and honey notes that does it. I can actually even imagine that I can taste milk as well, probably since, if you think about it, milk has a pretty sweet flavour as well. Finally there is something vegetal in it that reveals the green origins. I can’t quite put my finger on that note, but I get a random association to spinach. There that’s because I actually taste spinach in it or whether it’s because spinach is one of the things I just generally connect with green tea flavours, I couldn’t tell.

All in all, this roasting was not at all as harsh as I had expected. I found it quite enjoyable, and I think it’s definitely a type of tea that I need to look into more. I think I rather need this in my life. (Should have a closer look at hojicha as well, actually.)

OK, so Mountain Rose Herbs sells this as a bulk herb rather than as a tea, so the smallest amount I could buy was 4 oz. That’s A LOT of lemongrass! Luckily, it makes a superb tea with multiple infusions. The smell of this herb is wonderful. Just a light, bright, sunny aroma that makes me smile. The aroma of the brewing tea is just as inviting. The lemon aroma is more subtle than the grassy, more vegetal aroma surrounding it, but it’s there, and makes me think of sunny Spring and Summer days. I love to mix this with mint for a lovely blended tea.

I leave it to you to determine the temperature of the water and how long to steep it. I’ve steeped it for 2-3 minutes using boiling water (very enjoyable), and I’ve steeped it using very hot water from my thermos and letting it steep for 3 – 5 minutes- very enjoyable as well. I have yet to sweeten it with anything. This is definitely a favorite for me, both alone and in blends.

For loose-leaf drinkers, this team resembles faintly the smell of a strong green blend of some kind. But rather than a vegetal taste, it carries a more menthol smell that extends to the drink itself. Just not an especially pleasurable drinking experience if you don’t know what you’re getting into. Just a bit too bitter, not especially flavorful in an enjoyable way and certainly not the type of drink to oversteep. More enjoyable than say, Yerba Mate, but…not by much.

This is unlike any other green tea I’ve steeped.

The dried leaves are a dark green, but become a lighter leaf green when wet.

The taste, to me, is rich and full-bodied. Its intensity is well above that of standard green tea, and maybe a slight notch below gunpowder green.

It might sound weird, but I get a hint of hot, cooked bacon in this tea. That’s the best way I can identify the unique flavor of these leaves.

When it goes into the mouth, you immediately sense that this is a “different” sort of green tea. The rich, slightly smoky flavor quickly fills the mouth, and goes down without any bitterness.

1 minute seems like the perfect steep if you prefer a little subtlety, which I do. I wouldn’t go longer than 2 minutes. You’ll get plenty of the bold bacon into the water in that amount of time.

I had this with breakfast yesterday. While this tea is perhaps not the most lofty of blacks, it certainly is full-bodied and delicious. Unlike Irish or English Breakfast, this tea, rather than complementing the cream/milk/half n half, seems to merge with it completely. The smell, both of the dry leaf and the brew, is so comforting and enjoyable, I keep going back to it again and again. As I’m searching my tea shelf for what I’m “in the mood for,” this one continues to catch my eye. I wouldn’t change a thing. :)

Quite like this. It has a deep earthiness that somehow still manages to be light. Very nice.

I have so many herbs in my cupboard and drink them all the time, so I might as well write about them. People consume herbs like peppermint and chamomile for taste purely all the time, so why not something like nettle? So here begins my review into my collection of herbal treasures.

Nettle is the epitome of an earthy taste to me. There is nothing that smells, tastes, and resembles the fragrant dirt that lines the earth more than nettle. With every sip you literally imbibing the potent fibers of the ground. For some that may be off putting, but perhaps if you’re into pu-erh, this could be just the herb for you.

Imagine that after a rainstorm the rain has penetrated the ground and fallen leaves. Now imagine making an infusion out of said leaf- there’s the taste of nettle- the taste of earth itself.

Whilst in my week-long maelstrom of creative endeavering (and procrastinating), I put a whole saucepan of water on the stove and left it to simmer with these sweet stems. I added a dollop of Wild Branch Botanicals’ Chaga in Maple Syrup, so healing and energizing that it feels like a big hug from a beautiful old tree, and tastes like hugs too! The combination sweetened my temper, turned the storm into a free dance of raindrops. Yes for comfort teas. And it’s macrobiotic, too.

I love this tea. There is depth to the flavor. And I love how the marshmallow settles in after you have taken a sip

Ancient Forest. That sounds interesting. The name alone sounds appealing to me. Something that sparks the imagination. I like that. Apparently this is a Yunnan tea, so I’m curious if it will taste similar to the Yunnans I’m familiar with. Sort of pepper-y/smoky and with spicyness and sweet hay notes underneath.

The aroma is certainly similar. It’s sweet and haylike, with some prickly spicyness teasing the nose. But it’s also different. It’s a lot more grainy and rye bread-y than what I expect in a Yunnan tea. It’s actually so much so that I’m reminded more of the beloved Tan Yang than straight up Yunnan.

That’s really interesting. If one was to blend Tan Yang and your average Golden Yunnan 1:1, I wonder if the result would be something that smelled something like this.

But that’s really where the Tan Yang similarity stop. The flavour is very Yunnan-y, and the grainy aspect is not as prominent here. It’s still there, but it has retreated to the background, making place for that sweet hay and spice that is typical to the region.

It’s quite smooth and only a little prickly on the swallow, but what you find here is a very definite note of pepper. I have previously been unable to decide whether I experienced that particular note in Yunnans as more pepper-like or more pseudo-smoky, and I vascilated back and forth between the two with each Yunnan I drank and sometimes with each sip from the same cup. Here, it is very definitely pepper and there’s absolutely no doubt about that.

It’s very definitely a tea with all the typical Yunnan characteristics, but it’s utilising them in a way that just feels different. Older. More experienced. This is like the wise old grandmother, where the Golden Yunnans are the more adventurous and sometimes rash youths.

So far, I believe this is the Yunnan I have liked the best so far. It’s a hearty and full-bodied tea, and it’s just interesting. Even after having attempted to analyse the flavour profile, it’s still like I can’t get quite finished tasting it.

This Organic Gun Powder tea is wonderful. It’s my old standby for a great cup of tea. I like the back sides of the tongue bitters you get from it. Don’t over steep it cause it will be super bitter. Maybe good for some folks stomachs… but not my taste buds! It’s also a really good price. Under $20 for a pound. Get some!

This is one of my new favorite teas. I love it. I like all sorts of different teas, but I’ll pull this one out if I see it first. The smooth flavor and “forest” like feeling you get from it makes you want to sit on a big redwood tree limb and enjoy a cup with a hobbit.

Nothing high end or fussy about this, it is nonetheless tasty and roasted, thus mellow. While it thrives in warmer water, it puts up with my office’s auto-heated water tap stuff and still offers just a little caffeine to get me through the day without napping at my desk.

A perfectly blend-able background for creative additions. It’s affordable, and the company has a staunch reputation as a fair trade and organic supplier.

This is soothing. Can be somewhat complex, if prepared in a gaiwan and not over-steeped. Many small cups may be prepared from the leaves. It’s better than average.

I had a recent volunteer gig in a hot and humid spot. I knew I’d be on my feet a lot, so I brewed up a batch of two parts of this tea, and then added 1 part each spearmint and peppermint to the liquor, and steeped that overnight in the fridge. Added a little agave, ice, and lemon; and had an all-day pick-me-up that saw me through some challenging work.

On a hot night, I like nothing better than iced tea while I’m winding down. But most keep me up all night. With a very low caffeine level, I’m using this in the evenings. I make large batches every few days, and fridge in some canning jars I had laying around.

I love this tea with nothing added. The roasted-twiggy goodness really satisfies.

Yummy – and not much work.

I know I spend a lot of time with some teas, making sure they are ready just as we drink them, and appreciating the brewing method, the subtle nuances in each carefully timed brew, the water, the …..you get it. This can be prepared this way, however, I prefer to use it as an anti-sipping tea.

This is a background to your day. A delightful backdrop for low-caffiene chai, enjoyed iced with fruit juice, etc. It’s great with many kinds of foods, and lends itself well to a low temp simmer on the stove, through coversations with friends.

This is another chewy type tea and I like it. nomnomnom.

Semi-earthy, semi-cakey

I love the effect of drinking Tulsi- it really makes you feel great after a long hard day. I prefer to steep it using a 4 part Tulsi/2 part Peppermint(any mint in a pinch)/1 part Stevia leaf. NEVER the stevia extract or the current lines of commercial stevia sweeteners. Slight licorice flavor with earthy undertones for the Tulsi- proven adaptogen that balances you out. They still don’t know how adaptogens work, only that they do; gotta love that.