Samovar

Today’s warm rains have put me in the mood for a taste of the islands. Still sweet, starchy, rich and fragrant and a fantastic way to whisk myself away. A couple infusions today, each one wonderful. Once again I’m impressed by the size of the leaves as they unfold – they get up to several inches long and a couple inches across – and the pie-like aroma as it steeps. So good, so good.

This smells like Hawaii. I’ve been spending time there regularly since I was kid, and was overwhelmed by memories in a Proustian moment when I opened the packet of tea. Warm rain, damp earth, trade winds, and tropical softness are all in there, somehow, magically. The leaves are huge and dark, their twists unfurling majestically in the hot water.

Several steepings all reveal intense sweetness, a definite roasted sweet potato warmth, maltiness and a little bit of roastiness. No astringency or bitterness at all. I don’t think I’ll ever put milk, cream, or sugar in this – I just want to taste the tea and nothing else.

I’m already alarmed at how quickly and easily this 25g pack could be used up, and in the back of my mind I’m trying to do cost/cup calculations based on multiple infusions to justify getting more…

I love this stuff.

Love this stuff…can’t get enough. Going to up my rating to a 100

Samovar stovetop in my Breville.

Add Sugar, tea and 1000 ml water
3 Minutes at 212
Add Milk 200 ml milk (2%)
1 Minute are 212
5 Minutes at 160

This is working out really well

Did another chai + pu erh combo. This time it turned out great. I had more chai mix this time around, and so was able to add more.

I used my Breville One Touch. First 3 minutes at 212 with basket cycle, then add milk and set for 5 minutes at 165 with basket cycle.

Its not perfect – it does come out a bit peppery but I love it.

I went a little off course on this one. I used the samovar stovetop but I used organic pu-erh from SpecialTeas. This was an interesting brew, I’m going to try it again when I get some more samovar chai.

I have decided that steeping in the milk is an essential part of making good chai. I think some of the flavors in the spice mix are only soluble in fat (so don’t use skim milk either).

Today’s first cup was like heaven.

Combined this with specialtead East Friesan Broken blend, and prepared it in my new Breville one touch. I decided to follow the recipe and put the milk in the tea and reboil. It was a little scary putting milk in my new kettle but it handled it just fine.

This tea was simply amazing. Spicy, sweet, smelling of cloves and cardamon. Definately going to infuse this a few more times.

I swear this tea tastes different every time I drink it. This time I tasted notes of leather, spicy tobacco, smoke and minerals. It wasn’t unpleasant…just different from the last time I made a cup. Admittedly, I steeped the heck out it. Probably a good 8 minutes at least. It was dark! I’m sure it would have been better if I could have focused a little more on tea and less on being pulled 10 different directions at the office. I used boiling water again, since it had such nice results last time. I’m off to make another cup of this ever evolving tea. But this time I’ll use my tea timer!

Well, it turns out that I really needed to follow the instructions on the packaging. I’ve been playing around with this tea at my office with minimal results on the “tasty meter”. It turns out that this oolong truly needs the boiling water to make it sing. Previous efforts yielded decent yet average results in the 70-75 range. Kind of bland…not what I expect from Samovar. The tea tasted more like charcoal than “roasted”. The phrase, “Taste the meat, not the heat” comes to mind. No matter how long I steeped, I ended up with blasé charcoal water.

Boiling water made all the difference.

Everything about the tea improved. The smell, the taste, the color of the liquor…all drastically heightened. The liquor is darker, the taste more complex. Now Samovar’s description is making sense. Earthy (I’m guessing this is where the peat notes come in), nutty (especially in the aroma), light barley…but more charcoal-y in my opinion. Much more robust! Now we’re talking! Sometimes it pays to follow the instructions.
But not always. :)

The best tea I have ever had. I had it about a year ago at Samovar and I still think about it today. The tea is grown next to a pineapple field and you can actually taste the pineapple in the tea! Subtle and tasty. Can’t wait until they have more.

This is the tea that got me into tea, as it were. I had fallen in love with masala chai on a trip to India, and an Indian teacher of mine told me that the best chai in San Francisco was at Samovar. It was only a small step form there to trying out the rest of Samovar’s selection…

It’s everything I ask for in a tea.

Perfect and delicious. How do they do it?

Flavorful and complex but so easy to drink…on a daily basis.

No more typing. I’m going to focus on the tea and drink, drink, drink.

This is a great iced tea w/straightforward flavors- a solid, not astringent tea base and lemon grass. As others have said, the lemon grass flavor is strong. But with a little bit of sugar to cut the pungency of the lemon grass, this is wonderful. As the lemongrass is strong, it masks the yunnan-flavors of the tea base. But on the other hand, if a cheaper tea base were used, perhaps, this blend would not be as pleasant.

In fact, this one holds up to multiple infusions.

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tablespoons
Water: 16 ounces boiling filtered water
Tool: Adagio IngenuiTEA 16 oz
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: vegetal, grassy
Steeped Tea Smell: vegetal, earthy
Flavor: grassy, bitter, MilitiaJim got motor oil
Body: Full
Aftertaste: bitter, grassy
Liquor: opaque with particulate, murky brown-green

We both managed two sips, and then tossed it down the drain.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/08/samovar-loose-leaf-mate-tea-kuki-yerba.html

The appearance of this tea is impressive. The leaves are very loosely packed in the tin as they are quit long and “fluffy” as others have described. The tiny orange-yellow osmanthus blossoms are sprinkled throughout, but you need to shake the tin as they tend to settle to the bottom during shipping. The fragrance is hay>grass>pineapple in that order of predominance.

I was surprised by the color of the brewed tea. The natural coloring of the blossoms turns the pale honey colored silver needle to an interesting gold-orange. The coloration was almost swirled as opposed to uniform. In taste, you get a faint grassiness, then honey then just a touch of peach-pear. I know osmanthus is supposed to have an apricot flavor profile, but this wasn’t quite that sweet.

On my first infusion, the tea got bitter very quickly as the cup cooled to the point where the last sip wasn’t drinkable. (I had followed the merchant’s recommended brewing instructions.) On the second infusion, I decreased the steep time and that seemed to help. Per Samovar, I stopped after two.

I can sum this tea up as “complicated.” It was enjoyable, but it’s sort of like trying to drive a high performance sports car when you’re used to a Chevy. You might enjoy the ride, but probably won’t get the most out of it until you learn how to shift better. I’ll need to come back to this one after I’ve built up more tea experience.

This tea has an amazing smoky, bacon-flavor unlike any tea I’ve had before. Definitely keeping it around the house at all times.