Samovar

Yet Another Auggy Tea…Thanks Aug-meister!
:)

This has the ever so slight aroma of veggies and a gentle smoke…not the typical smoke I usually post about – more like an incense smoke from afar…

That may be a a bit of a stretch – but – I don’t want to say it’s smoky because it’s a very different type smell, ya know!? But mostly vegetal.

The taste is very mild but relaxing there is a small hint of pine towards the back of the mouth once your sip is complete. I think the fruity description mentioned by the company is somewhat noticeable in the aftermath…or if you were to “soodle” or “suddle” your tea! (Oh my! Who would do such a thing!? – ME…lol)

Finishing this off – my tin is empty. I doubt I’ll order any more, but it was pleasant when it was here. It’s not as creamy and sweet this morning. I think it’s not happy with the idea that it’s gone now.

So, I got a notice that someone contacted my old agents to have a showing for my house (we’re trying to sell our home so we can get a larger one), and so to celebrate, I’m drinking some Four Seasons. It’s really creamy, and a little extra floral today. Very aromatic and yummy.

Cross your fingers for me and hope it goes well tomorrow. If I get a new place – I’ll have more room for tea! And I can get all my yixing teapots out of storage.

Been drinking a lot of this lately. Had a batch yesterday I got 5 steeps out of. This tea’s good for warm weather.. and Kansas City’s been REALLY HOT lately. Slightly bumping this – I’ve been liking it a little more.

Made up this tea yesterday before I noticed how late at work it was – and I didn’t want to waste the oolong leaves, so I quickly brewed up two more batches and stuck them in my waterbottle in the fridge overnight.

Not a bad iced tea. I did brew at boiling, so it’s got an edge of bitter, but overall, this is pretty darned decent for iced tea! I’ll have to do this again.

Well, I’ve been playing with this tea a while, trying to get the best out of it. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get much.

The scent of the leaf is great. Milky and floral and oolong-y. I brewed it up to the reccomendations on the web site, and I got a very silky and smooth liquor, but it had a very light flavor – almost not there. When I added a little more leaf, the green and floral was enhanced. (Then I oversteeped it and it got all bitter. Not it’s fault – all mine)

Subsequent steepings have given me a still-silky brew, and a variety of green flavors.

It’s not a bad oolong, but not my favorite.

I got one of those $3 samplers from Samovar. And what is frustrating about those samples are the size: they are soo tiny so only one shot to try it. In my inexperienced view, I am not sure how I feel about this compared to the raves and price.

This IS a peppery and bold yunnan. Reading other tasting notes, maybe it was Liberteas’, this tea’s third steep was sort of like a darjeeling. In fact, I would imagine if this tea were oversteeped, it could be astrigent. But I have to agree w/Ricky (even though we are well in the minority), this was sort of OK. But then what does a high quality yunnan taste like? The others I have tried have been mild and sweet…

Thank you to LORI for this sample. I am drinking it right now and find it simply delicious. As Ricky noted, the dry leaf seems to equally feature greenish lemongrass and black leaves—and it’s an attractive mix.

Yes, it smells like Lemon Pledge but what if Lemon Pledge is really the aroma of lemon? I’m just saying—every since the Lemon Pledge comparison here was published, I’ve been afflicted by Lemon-y Pledge-ness. In the mouth, however, it’s really not at all a polishing agent nor the least bit chemical or synthetic.

I think that this is an excellent choice for lovers of lemon and wish I had a handy slice of lemon to add. I also suspect it would be a fantastic iced tea. Perhaps the better name would be something like “Superior Black Lemon Tea” because it was hard for me to detect a Yunnan note but I can certainly taste that the black tea is a high quality one.

I have not tasted too many of them, but this is certainly the best lemon black tea blend I have had. I would consider purchasing a full load of it.

Or maybe I’m just in a good mood because I had a particularly bright Dolcetto with a dinner prepared by somebody else. (Query: why does tea taste better when I brew it myself but food and wine taste better when cooked and decanted by somebody else???)

Okay…so…I will also post this review under the Tea Hawaii Listing…

I received this ROCKSTAR Tea from Auggy! Woot Woot!!!!

I will agree with others in saying that this is – by far – a black tea of it’s own! It’s in a completely different category! It’s wonderful BUT…it’s certainly NOT your stereotypical Black Tea!

The leaves are glorious! They are on the biggest leaves I have EVER SEEN…EVER! They are FAB! And SCREAMING for multiple infusions!!!! The very slight sweet smell of the tea is barely there and it’s a light and mellow yet pleasant and sweet and juicy taste. In a way I am thinking about ROCK CANDY from the 80s…you know…on the stick!? But I can also comprehend the Rye-Bread comparison made by a few others. The product description from the company says roasted sweet…when I first read that all I could say is “REALLY?” but the more I drink it the more it makes sense! I suppose as an after taste and after thought I can taste the caramel notes.

WOW.

I just don’t know…there are some things that throw me for a loop – but in a good way!!! Trying to figure out HOW this tea is done so well and why more people haven’t tried it or even heard of it…just might have to be added to that list!

I’m going to infused the EVER-LIVIN’ out of these leaves…so stay tuned for the multiple infusion notes!

This is a tart tea- I mostly taste hibiscus and a background note of of clove…as I drink it, it grows on me..maybe I need to try this iced? Right now, I am not sure if I like this one….

Anyone try the jasmine tea lemonade from samovars? It’s to die for and I need to find out what to order and how to make it! Great for a hot day.

Subtle, smooth, dark, and slightly minty. Great taste of rooibos in with black tea. Great amount of caffeine, perfect for mornings.

Hey Steepsterites. Do you remember me? No? That’s cool. Can’t say I blame you.

Anyway, I hope all has been well in the Steepsterverse. I poked around a few times during the frenzy that was the final leg of the semester and saw that I missed a few contests, the start of a book club [how fantastic, btdubs] and the NYC meet up. Looks like y’all have been having a blast!

So yes, I actually only have a week before summer session starts up and life gets crazy go nuts again, but I did want to drop in and say that this tea has been maintaining my morning to afternoon happiness levels a really long time. Like, since the last time I wrote a Steepster log, easily. I received some when I went out to San Francisco and, while I was expecting it to be lovely and tasty because I enjoy the oolong grown on the same farm, I was NOT expecting it to be the extravangelical [not a word] explosion of starchy sweetness and tropical florals that it is. Hear my words: YOU SHOULD DRINK THIS TEA.

Okay, I’m about to watch a movie that has subtitles in it, so I need to go pay attention, but this tea has totally earned a 100 in my book.

My taste buds have always been overly sensitive to spices, so this one was just a little too gingery for me. It could have something to do with my getting distracted by the latest episode of Desperate Housewives and steeping it for a couple of minutes longer than I meant to…

My second steep was about half the time of the first, and the ginger was much more manageable — though I can’t tell if it’s because I steeped it for less time or because the ginger is naturally more mellow on the second steep.

More experimentation is required! I may try mixing this one with the oolong I just bought.

Prepped on stove top. Very good – slight dry notes at the end that take away from it, otherwise excellent.

First time I tried this, I loved it to pieces.

Then, a few weeks ago, I was in San Fran, so I got to try it live and in person at one of their locations. And surprisingly, it was not as good as I remember. But because I loved it so much before, I bought some to take home.

So, I’m trying it this morning. And it’s not quite living up to the hype again, but is better than it was at their location. I think I like it stronger than they tend to serve.

I’m not dropping the score yet, but it I’m not as thrilled with the next few cups, I will.

Buzz, buzz nom. Nom nom nom.
Buzz.

This is a nice tea. Very complex. In fact my first thought when having this tea was “mmm.. this is complex.” I am a genmaicha fan, and this is one of the better ones I’ve had.

It also has a lot of caffiene. Or at least I’m getting a serious buzz from this one. (Nevermind the fact I’ve had 3 other cups of tea today… :P )

This tea is the lovely green color others have mentioned, murky, deep, flavorful, and just pretty awesome. Liking this tea!!!

(And possibly twitching at this point, but I won’t dwell on that… )

Not a bad silver needle.

I tend to judge all silver needles against the first one I ever tried – which was a oddly magical experience. I was in Nashville, TN for a training course, and I went to go scout out the tea shop I’d be meeting Lena at later in the week. I got there right as they closed, so I couldn’t stay long, so I ordered something I’d never tried before to go, just so I would have tried something.

I then drove around trying to find a restaurant that didn’t exist.

Because I was driving at the time, I let the tea cool more than I tend to normally, and the buttery flavor of the tea got amplified. I was really in awe. (And I think the lady was a little heavy on the leaf). It was good tea.

Trying this tea – I get the buttery, and even some of the peach overtones they mention. But the flavors aren’t as strong as I’d like. And yes, I know this is a lighter tea, but the mouthfeel and the light flavor of the white tea are lighter than I’d like.

I wish there was more in the sample, so I could try the other steeping method mentioned, but alas, this is just a sample. I am enjoying it, and I do enjoy silver needle in general. However, I think I’ve had other silver needles I enjoy more.

This was very creamy, smooth, and yummy. I have to admit, it had more of a peppery or spicy bite than I was expecting, and I almost didn’t like it as first, but it grew on me.

I had samples of this, so I don’t know if it says this on the larger package but my sample mentioned that I should add another tbsp of black tea to the package. And honestly, I found this a little disapointing of them. Samovar charges some of the higher prices out there for their sample sizes, and to have them provide a sample that you then are supposed to add more tea to yourself? It felt a little cheap. If they want to offer the possibility for higher or lower caffiene, I’d personally prefer that they just offer two different blends. But that’s me.

But in general, this was pretty darned yummy.

Yesterday, I came to the realization that pu-erh and I will never be more than passing acquaintances. There is just something about the strong earthy, hay-like sweetness that comes across as cloying to me. But the citrus in this along with the gingery tingle (one that reminds me of my super-yummy Midel Ginger Snap cookies) gives fantastic balance to that super-sweet pu-erh-ness. The sweetness is there but it is lurking in the smell and under the ginger citrus. In fact, that now-subdued sweetness reinforces the ginger snap feeling. The aftertaste – sweet with a strong ginger tingle and a certain freshness – is the same aftertaste I get from my gingersnaps.

So yeah, this might smell a bit like citrus-scented dirt when brewing (though it smells like delicious citrus-peel citrus when dry) and that just isn’t the most appetizing thing, but this is gingersnap cookie tea for me. So I like it.

PS – I used my entire sample (which was around 5g) in my 10oz cup, so I did go a little heavy on the leaf. Dunno what exact difference that might make but I’d be all for repeating the heavy leafness in the future to make sure I get ginger snap tea.

ETA: The second steep is mostly ginger and pu-erh which is a little disappointing. I miss my clean, fresh ginger snaps.

I’ve been drinking a bunch of infusions of this today while I work on a paper. The buttery mouth feel was striking. It has a heavy mouth feel but a very light taste, if that makes any sense. My mother described it as “earthy” which also seems fitting.

I received this from takgoti a few months ago, so thanks!

This is another fabulous Takgoti tea. I wanted to wait until I had a decent chunk of time on my hands to really give this tea the tasting note it deserves. This is a special tea! Not many teas are grown in America, so I feel honored to be able to taste this. I’m using my new teensy weensy Glass Oolong Teapot from Samovar for this tasting, as well as my new Lotus White Teacup from Rishi. The teapot is so cute! This is how small it is in comparison with my hand (and you can also check out the unique shape of the dry leaf): http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4598524179/ Upon steeping, the leaves unfurl to epic proportions: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4599146076/ I rinsed the leaves first and then made my first infusion. Here is the finished first infusion in my new Rishi teacup: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4599148028/

First infusion: This tea has the kind of buttery, smooth mouth feel that I associate with a white tea, such as Samovar’s Downy Sprout. The texture is like a white tea, but the taste is a strange cross between an oolong and a sweet green. It is just slightly grassy, but I also taste a tree-like note (and reading what Samovar has to say about this, I think I’m tasting the pine or evergreen) like how a Christmas tree smells. It is less buttery and more sweet as it cools down.

Second infusion: The mouth feel has become a lot lighter; it’s not nearly as buttery anymore. This infusion tastes more like an oolong instead of a green/oolong/white hybrid. After each sip, the aftertaste makes me think that I just ate a few grains of sugar.

Third infusion: The color is beginning to lighten up a hair. The taste is starting to get more sweet and flowery, and the Christmas tree taste isn’t as prominent anymore. The buttery feel is no longer existent.

Fourth infusion: Color is even lighter now. The Christmas tree taste is just barely there, but the floral taste is now the most noticeable note. It continues to get sweeter, but everything is starting to taste a little watery.

Again, I want to thank Takgoti for this experience!

It smells like caramelized vanilla and something heavy and almost coffee-like. The taste is unexpected – not sweet and soft like a typical vanilla but more… masculine, for want of a better word. Earthy? I can totally see Cocoa Puffs flavor they mention in the tasting notes, particularly in the aftertaste. I don’t get graham crackers so much as that undernote of whatever cracker-like thing Cocoa Puffs are made of. It has a hint of pu-erh sweetness to it but the vanilla tempers it, keeps it from being too strong. It is much heavier and bolder than I originally expected and I like it though the thickness of the flavor makes one cup plenty.