Samovar

Interesting stuff. I’m a huge fan of Kukicha, so when Samovar sent me this free sample of Kuki Yerba Mate I couldn’t wait to brew some up. It has quite an interesting flavor profile. Very earthy and deep. Hints of sweetness stand out occasionally.

Alright, received my first batch of Samovar teas in the mail yesterday, and I’m very excited to try them out. I also have a small tin of Downy Sprout and a pack of the Tencha they were giving away, but this morning the Royal Garland sounded good to me.

From reading on the website, it seems that they like to suggest a few different ways to infuse each tea. I decided to go with the hotter water version they suggest to see where that led.

After rinsing, I sipped the rinse water (why not, right?) and was pleasantly surprised at how flavorful it was for a 5 second rinse.

So after the first infusion, it seems to have a nice, sweet taste. Similar to an oriental beauty except a bit more delicate and a little less of the pure sweetness I’m used to with a Bai Hao. I totally get the Darjeeling vibe that is mentioned in the description. This tea seems too be a bit “drying” in the mouth (how does one say this in proper terms?).

The un-uniformness of the infused leaves was a little surprising at first. Not that it really matters, the taste was still pretty good. But In my gaiwan, I found rust brown leaves alongside jade green and emerald green ones, in addition to the buds. Like I said, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t want to sound like a tea snob, I just noticed it when I looked in :-D

I’ll be curious to try this tea with the lower temperature preparation as well!

I wanted something this morning that I knew I liked. Something I knew was among the things I liked best in the black tea department, without being an Earl Grey, but still being breakfasty.

It seems I have multiple canisters of this that have never been opened. I was clearly hoarding this tea. I have at least two of the 4 oz size and one that is in a smaller copper colored tin. I think I bought the small one when the large ones weren’t available. And I bought two of the large ones when they were available because I was afraid they wouldn’t be available again.

Anyway, I should drink this tea. Carpe diem and all that. So I cracked opened the small copper tin. Cute tin, but so small I can’t see reusing it for tea. Paperclips maybe.

I am also hoping that this is the same thing Samovar is still selling now under the name English Breakfast Black.

Having now had many, many more breakfast blends than when I first tasted this, I feel comfortable bumping up the rating. It’s definitely among my favorites. The caramel-like aftertaste is pretty special.

The Samovar Yunnan blends in particular (though some others have this quality as well) have a quality that I adore, and that I also find in certain Zinfandels that I adore (one from Sobon Estates, one from Cline) which is what I call malty, a full bodied sweet and multi-layered note. In the wines, its grape-y sweet and in the teas it’s more brown sugary sweet, but it’s a common thread and pretty much assures I’ll like whatever it is.

I may bump this up further over time. I have a hard time rating once I get over 90, but it’s definitely over 90.

In serious sleep deficit today and trying to get work done at home. Among the bonuses of working at home is total access to all tea-making equipment and all recent loose tea deliveries.

I wanted something black to keep me running, so I chose this to sample. And a fine choice it was. Unless I’m very much mistaken, the black tea here is at least in part the same as in the Earl Grey Lavender that I liked so much. It has the same malt/brown sugar/molasses aroma to the dry leaves, a true reproduction of which can be found in the scent of the tea after steeping, only richer, rounder and otherwise more developed.

If there was a crayon in the Crayola box labeled “Tea,” it would be this blend’s quintessential color: a warm mix of golden, brown, orange and red. (No offense to green tea drinkers intended; I’m just gambling that in Crayola nomenclature-speak your drink’s color would be called “Green Tea.”)

As this is my first non-bagged breakfast blend, I can’t compare it to others, but I can say that drinking it for breakfast would make me happy. Drinking it now is making me happy. It’s luscious. Compared to the bagged versions of English breakfast I’ve had, it is downright voluptuous. It’s what Awake wants to be.

Back to work I go with a smile on my face, and a pleasantly astringent sweet aftertaste on my tongue.

A great coffee substitute!

TRY THIS TEA!!! This is with out a doubt my favorite morning tea, it has a fantastic strong taste and creamy texture heavy notes of the brown rice come through perfectly with the grassy flavor of the tea.

This is my favorite night time tea. Very soothing and full of flavor. The ginger helps digestion and goes great after a nice dinner. I usually drink a cup of this before bed to help me relax. Try it with honey, and you’ll forget about chamomile.

I originally ordered this tea from Samovar because I was getting short on the Mate Lemon Blast that I have and I like the nice kick that I get from Yerba Mate (And I admit, it was mainly because I really like Samovar’s tea and I was wanting to add more things to my order and this one was fairly cheap >_> ).

So, when I first smelled this tea, I could smell subtle hints of sweetness in it, but it didn’t have a lemony/vegetal small like my previous yerba mate did, so I thought this would be interesting. When I steeped this, the brew was so dark compared to the other one too… So I really didn’t know what to expect with this tea when taking my first sip…. I was expecting an earthy/vegetal taste like the previous one as well, but since this was so dark and almost muddy looking, I was expecting this to be bitter which most yerba mates are supposed to be…. But man was I wrong…… This tea is really really amazing!

This tea definitely has an earthy taste to it, but then it is followed by a nice sweet punch to your taste buds! The sweetness is especially noticeable when you exhale, it is pretty amazing. I’ll write more on this later. I highly recommend it though!

I have been starting my day with Tazo Earl Grey since I have a lot of bags of it left (not the full leaf sachets, which I plowed through already, but the other kind). The taste isn’t all bad, though it’s strong on the bergamot. But something about it can give me a tummy ache at times. I’m guessing it is the acidity of the citrus, mixed with the black tea. My other Earl Grey experiences are limited to bagged tea by Numi, Twinings and Bigelow, all of which were satisfactory enough to make me want to try loose Earl Grey. This is my first foray into that, though I have some other sample sets on order.

Let me just say that the difference between any of those I have tried and Samovar’s Earl Lavender is, to put it mildly, astonishing. In fact, I was tempted to start this entire note out with “so this is what a really really GOOD Earl Grey tastes like?” but I didn’t because I don’t have other loose leaf experience for comparison.

First, there’s the way it smells. I’m getting a brown sugary smell, which is delicious, mixed with a gentle lavender, and just a tiny bit of citrus. Then there’s the way it feels. Thick and silky, and it coats your mouth in a pleasing way. Then there’s the way it tastes. Here’s where the resemblance to other Earl Greys comes in most directly. It definitely has a flavor in the same ballpark as those; you’d recognize it if you drank it blindfolded. But there is so much more to it. A smooth black tea base that isn’t distracting and doesn’t overpower, nor is it overpowered by, the other flavors. A lavender floral scent/taste that takes the edge off the citrus, and a citrus that is present but not perfumy or oily.

This is my second Samovar sample, and I am rapidly reaching the conclusion that theirs are exceptionally well-blended teas. But that isn’t news to most of you here. :-)

YAY! MY FIRST SAMOVAR ORDER IS HERE!!! It took forever to get here though! The tracking said it was out for delivery at 7:48am, but didn’t get here til 1:30pm. My UPS guy is normally here ~11.

After forcefully pulling myself away from my (first) yixing pot, I made this. Someone (takgoti?) said that steeping instructions come on the packaging, but I was deeply disappointed that it did not. Also, it’s in a silver bag that is not resealable… bummer… 2 disappointments already and I haven’t even opened it. I went online to contact them, but the only contact info they give there is email and I wanted to drink this now so I looked them up in the yellow pages and called. Meg, the woman I spoke to, said I should steep it using the steeping parameters: 1tsp/160 degrees/1-3min… argh… generalized steeping parameters. Another disappointment. Oh well, this is not “3 strikes and you’re out” so I use the other suggestion I got, from Networld and steeped it like a premium Gyokuro (2g/140 degrees/2.5 min.

Mmmm… The yellowish green may look like a lot of ordinary green teas, but it definitely smells like matcha as the raw leaf does. The aroma is very grassy and vegetal w/ just a bit of bitterness. My brain just doesn’t know what to think of tencha yet. On one hand, it tastes a lot like matcha, but the mouth feel is so much thinner… Definitely a tea for those that love matcha as well as those that don’t like the texture of matcha. I can’t wait to nail the steeping parameters for this!

I’m excited to finally try this tea which has reached a seemingly mythic reputation here on Steepster. Thanks to

Cait

SECOND STEEP: A nice fragrance which is more subtle. It seems as if there’s only 1 stick of butter in this and not an entire pound. I do like creamy and buttery teas and this is excellent. The second steep is a bit more vegetal; I can see that we’ve moved down the flowery garden path to the vegetable garden. I steeped this for two minutes which seems about right for a 2nd steep. I’m still liking this tea and will have to order it someday. But today I got: 4 boxes from Andrews and Dunham, a big box from Upton, some generous samples from Norbu, and an order from Pangea tea which also calls itself the Lavender Tea Company. Not to mention a genuine, old-fashioned letter from a friend.

I tried this when I was out in San Francisco during the incredible tea tasting that Jesse led Jack and I through. This was a few weeks ago, so keep in mind that I am writing this from the dregs of memory. And off we go.

The first infusion of this tea [and most gyokuros, I believe] is done cold. Jesse let it sit for about 4 minutes or so, and then shook it out into the cup.

WOW.

I know that I am not going to be able to adequately explain what this tasted like. First off, it is hella strong. It’s as if someone some mad scientist took spinach and zucchini and artichoke and avocado and freshly-mowed grass and extracted the flavors and then injected them all with PHP and steroids and squeezed them into a cup. Seriously, it will sucker-punch you if you aren’t ready for it. It’s unlike anything that I’ve ever tasted from a tea.

Subsequent infusions, with heated water, are much lighter and impossibly fresh. The grassy, vegetal notes fade substantially and they are joined with slightly sweeter and oceany flavors. It’s standing outside on the edge of a cliff that drops off into an ocean with a large meadow of cut grass, hay, and wildflowers right behind you. Jesse just kept it going, and going, and going, and it never diminished in flavor. I would need to spend more time with it to be able to start picking out specific flavors for you, but scheiße [pardon my German], it was so good. It also started building up that kind of high I get from a good pu-erh.

I’ve found myself thinking about it, weeks later, with a wistful dreaminess. With a heavy price tag, I shied away from picking it up when it was available, but now? Hmm. I don’t know. I’d consider it heavily, because as ridiculous as it sounds that tea could be worth it. Unfortunately, it’s gone now, and so Gyokuro Inoka Hill is going to be tacked down as the one who got away in my tea story. It was the perfect way to finish off the tasting, and judge all you like, but I’m a bit humbled that I had the opportunity to try it.

It just doesn’t feel right to give it anything less, so this seriously unique tea is going to get full marks.

In line with the pairing suggestions, I’m drinking this with bread and butter :) I’ve been off pu-erhs for awhile, so unfortunately I’m getting more of the barnyard taste (that I acclimate to when drinking pu-erh frequently). It’s also not comparing well to some of the plain blacks I’ve had lately, just for strength of flavor. But, it is exactly what I wanted after my bike ride – something smooth, sweet, and mild, but also energizing (and for a bonus, re-steepable and forgiving) – so points for that.

We’ll see if it grows on me after a couple of cups.

1 tsp leaf, 4oz water, dumped first rinse with boiling water

Today felt like a pu-erh day; I’ve had a few more since the last time I drank this one, so I’m appreciating the strength of flavor a bit more. This is smooth, and sweet, and rich, and goes really well with the chocolate bar I’m currently nibbling on. We’ll see later how it tastes with leftover curry – I’m optimistic. Definitely bumping the rating, but keep in mind that that’s relative only to other pu-erhs

ETA: I’m on steep 4 or 5 and going strong; it did indeed taste good with a curry :) and is as forgiving of steep times as any puerh. I’ve tried everything from 1 to 10 minutes today with little variation in flavor.

Alright Steepsterites – I’m not even sure I like puerh (yet), but I spent the last ten minutes holding this under my nose while I waited for it to cool. It still has the barnyard smell/taste I’ve gotten from other puerhs, but somehow that’s not off-putting. It’s… satisfying? Addictive? This was a very short steep, so I didn’t get a lot of complexity in the flavor (at least that I can discern), but it is sweet and nice. It’s a very spring sort of flavor: wet earth, new grass.

I’m having a really hard time ranking this, though. It’s a whole different type of tea! It’d be like trying to rank coffee on the same slider. So… no number yet.

Steep 2, 1:15 min (1 tsp leaves, 4oz servings)
Steep 3, 2:15 – I do love how well the lid on Samovar’s yixing pot stays on; the lid for the glass pot likes to fall into my cup while I’m pouring, if I don’t remember to hold it.
Steep 4, 4:15 is a little weaker in both aroma and flavor, but still going really well with last night’s carrot cake.
Steep 5: ~6 minutes

Yes! Delicious! This one reminds me a bit of Aveda’s Comfort Tea, but is still very good in its own right. I really like licorice tea! (Anyone else love the Licorice Tea demos by Jump Little Children?) Yay for another Samovar winner!

I did wait a bit before I gave this one a try. It’s just as good as everyone claims it is, and you can resteep it at least 3 times without losing anything. If you like oolong, this is something you should try! I don’t think it will become a staple because I’m such a huge fan of flavored teas, but this is really, really good.

I trust Auggy. If she says, as a fellow disliker of rooibos, that this is a good smoky, then I believe her.

Even if it has what looks like a LOT of rooibos in it.

I was a bit apprehensive of this one, going around poking the tin cautiously for a while now. It’s the last one of the Auggy-smokies, so there’s no way to postpone it any longer.

The dry leaves smell more woody and Earl Grey-y than I had expected. Spicy too. Pepper-y. I reminded of cayenne and such like. (I trust Auggy)

There is a sweet, honey-y smell from the cup when I pour, and when I smell a bit closer, there the smoke is. It’s not a very permeating note in the aroma, but it’s there. In combination with the rooibos it turns into a funny citrus-y note, which brings my mind back to the Earl Grey-ness of the dry leaves.

I trust Auggy.

Okay, here goes. This is me about to have rooibos blend. (This is me post-poning the moment, actually). I have my sugar dispenser within reach, just in case I need to drown out some of the rooibos. Okay. Insert trusting Auggy mantra here. Right. takes deep breath and gathers courage

Okay, this is odd.

sips again

This is unmistakably rooibos. sips But it sort of doesn’t taste entirely like rooibos. The smoke is doing some weird things to it. That special sweet/spicy/sour note of regular rooibos is very underplayed here, barely there at all, but it tastes a bit like there ought to be a handful of freshly cut wood chips in there.

It’s supposed to have a lychee note too. I’m in the fortunate position that I actually know what lychees taste like (they’re very yummy) so I know which flavour to search for. And it is indeed there. A bit woodier than the real fruit, but it’s there loud and clear on the swallow and to some degree in the aftertaste.

The smoke itself, because the smoke is what’s important here, is not really very obvious when you drink this. Mostly I’m just sitting here considering what an odd general flavour it has, and then the smoke comes in as a sort of after thought. If it hadn’t been for the smoke, however, I’m really not sure I could have made myself finish the cup.

With the smoke it is a very nice cup indeed, but it’s not one I couldn’t live without. (Unlike that Andrews & Dunham Caravan… What’s to become of me now?) Of these four that Auggy shared with me, I would put this one as my least favourite. Which isn’t really saying much considering that I’m still giving it so many points.

My trust in Auggy suffered no damage on account of this tea, even if I was quite apprehensive about it at first.

What a strange and complicated tea.