Samovar

Enjoyed Ryokucha first thing this morning as it has been highly noted that it could be considered a meal in itself… I can see that it comes from the matcha powder and brown rice which add the creamy/roasty mouthfeel.

About the roasted brown rice.. I was initially put off by what smelled like rice burning while it was brewing…I wonder if I’m brewing it too hot (tho it says 180-190 degrees on the canister) BUT it has sucha sweet & creamy green taste that I shall definitely be keeping this one in the morning lineup. Goes great with my everything bagel/cream cheese.. I can see it pairing well with other breakfast foods.

It’s also labeled as a coffee converter ;)

A very complex and fascinating blend. I’ve never been a huge fan of lavender, so my expectations for this tea were quite low. At first glance/smell, this tea seems to be pure lavender, with the little flowers dotting the tea. However, after a 5 min steep, the lavender is there but not as strong as I had expected. The flavors are very complex and rich. A very high quality Earl Grey with just a hint of lavender for a rich floral aftertaste.

What an enticingly introspective blend from Samovar! Ala takgoti, of course, and her wonderful tea swapping choices.

I was out in the cold today because a few friends and myself decided to take a trip to the Brooklyn Brewery (http://www.brooklynbrewery.com/) for a tour. BB is a pretty popular microbrewery and we just sat around, tasted lots of varieties of beer (I liked the Weisse and the Cookie Jar Porter myself). I’m not a beer person, though, so I was happy to get home to some tea.

I pulled this out because I’ve been chilly all day, and mint, while refreshing, is always such a warming and comforting thing to me. Like most of the Samovar blends, this one smells ridiculously complex. Lots of warmth from the cardamom and ginger, mixed with a spicy, minty aroma. The leaves are similarly intriguing, with the yellows and greens blending together in very pretty ways.

So I steeped this one up, and let me tell you, the steam that came off the wet leaves when I opened the top of my pot could have given me a facial. The mint and pepper combination was so strong that I could literally taste it and feel it in my eyes. The vapors!

The cup was a pretty orange-yellow, and the smell of it gave me pause. It’s rather herbal-like and woody. A bit medicinal. But the flavor profile? Boy is it exotic.

And sophisticated. That’s the word that just keeps coming to my head with Samovar. It’s not child’s play. This is real tea, blended very seriously. And it completely works. It’s grown-up tea. I’m not a big spice person, so I can’t pick out individual flavors, but I can taste just the tiniest of zings from the black pepper each time I take a sip. Leave it on your tongue for a while, and it builds up. The taste of the body is very ginger-like and rich, extremely smooth and supple on the tongue. There’s just a hint of a Chinese green vegetal note, which sort of holds the entire thing together seamlessly. I’m getting lots of sweetness (more than likely from the fennel?) on the swallow, which is followed by a rush of peppermint. It’s less about the flavor of the mint itself, but more about that feeling right after you’ve brushed your teeth of refreshing awesomeness.

The tea gets even sweeter as it cools, so I probably prefer it at its highest heat setting. I’m really enjoying the zing of the pepper. This is the first tea I’ve had that includes pepper as an ingredient that I can really pick it out of.

Samovar just feels luxe. takgoti sent me so much of their stuff. I really am so thankful for that, because I’m pretty sure at this point that they’re my favorite tea company. And I haven’t even had some of the greater, higher-rated stuff yet! This is one of the best mint teas I’ve had – and I love mint tea. It’s so complex and interesting that I can’t help but take sip after sip, working my way through all of the flavors and intricacies. Fun and WIN.

I’m currently watching Hockey Night in Canada and trying to corral my ever increasing tea collection. I didn’t need more tea. But I got it. So yeah, the corralling thing is gonna take some time.

I have a little stack of teas that I’m almost out of and this was one in that stack. I decided to make a big ole cup with the remainder of the leaf. Not only could I use a big cup of tea, it will be nice to unclick the “In Your Cupboard” button on something.

So this one is a big favorite of takgoti. She was nice enough to send me some a bit back for me to try. Honestly, I never quite got it. I adjusted the parameters some and got it more my speed but it still never quite fully clicked with me. It was good, but I was missing the love takgoti had for it.

This cup? Has the love. Maybe because I went a little heavy on the leaf, maybe because this tea does best when brewed in large quantities. I don’t know. But this is good. Fresh and rich with a bit of a sparkling floral top note. Not delicate but not heavy handed either. Just a really good, fresh tasting, comfortable, tasty green oolong. And I’m not reminded of being made to eat cattail leaves by my dad, which is always a bonus.

I’m sad that it took me until my last cup to discover the pretty of this tea, but I’m really glad I have. I’ve upped the rating a bit to reflect the yumminess.
8g/14oz

Trying this one again to see how it does for me at a lower temp. Based on how the dry leaf smells (sweet, rich and nectar-y), I can’t imagine not liking it but I sure didn’t have success with it the first time we met.

Post-steeping, I’m getting a rich and fresh smell. Reminds me of a pouchong, which is good because I do adore me some pouchong. Sipping and yeah, this is so far much more successful than my last encounter. It’s got a pouchong-like floral richness to it even though the taste is fairly mild. Heavy but floral – more like nectar than flowers with maybe a little hair of buttery thrown it. There is still a hint of the super-dark green flavor that I tasted previous, but now it isn’t overly heavy and comes just at the end of the sip, which makes the overall taste seem much lighter and more balanced. Before, that taste made this fall a little flat for me but now it adds a little depth and keeps the tea from being a total floral puff of insubstantial lightness.

As it cools, that darker green taste spreads through the tea, but the lightness is still stronger so once again, this makes it feel balanced to me, not heavy on the dark side. That dark green taste is starting to show up more like… fresh peas or plants. In the back yard of the house I grew up in, we had this little swampy section that had some cattails growing in it. My dad, being the alternative food kind of guy that he is, read that parts of the cattail leaf were edible. So yeah, call me a guinea pig. It was a light green and fairly textured but mild tasting and very much like eating a thick but young leaf (which is exactly what it actually was). That’s the taste this dark green flavor, the heavy flavor, is turning in to. Which sounds weird but is actually pretty pleasant.

Okay, lower temp is the way to go for my enjoyment here. To recap: flower nectar and young cattail leaves, balanced nicely to give a good, interesting flavor with nice depth while still remaining a relatively mild (but not truly delicate) tea.

I don’t typically make green oolongs with anything close to boiling water, but I thought I’d give it a shot since that was what was recommended (I also don’t typically rinse my oolongs because I’m lazy, but again, it was recommended so I gave it a shot). I’m thinking next time I’ll use cooler water since the leaf now smells a little cooked. None of that smell is in the tea, though, so it might be a-okay. The tea smells thick and rich, texture-y with a hint of sweet floral on the end.

The taste is really quite surprising. Well, part of it is. The initial taste is a lot like SeredipiTEA’s Four Season’s Forever Spring which was a good tea but felt a little flat for me. The first half of the sip tastes like that – not the flatness but the same darker green taste. But then as it hits my tongue fully, there is a lighter flavor that gets laid on top of the darker, richer flavor. The light flavor is very faint but sweet. Based on previous oolong experiences, I’m thinking (hoping) that a lower water temp would pull the note out more.

Ultimately, I feel like I’m missing something with this tea. It’s decent but it has a tease to it of being so much more. I’m going to wait to rate it until I try it with cooler water. Because if I can find the parameters that make it sparkle, I think I might love this tea but right now it’s just sort of unexciting for me.

Called Vanilla Blossoming now? Same yummy stuff tho.. <3

Pulled out an old favorite this morning, for the sake of a quicker brewing process (in that I don’t sit there and wonder which tea to make). This time I put in a 1/2 tbsp of Samovar’s Masala Chai to give it a bit of spice/warmth. I have to say it was a good choice! I also have to say you can’t go wrong with this Dian Hong since it seems to provide a base to potentially mix in several other flavors. Cheers!

This is one my all time faves.. felt like adding a splash of creme brulee creamer for my first morning cup. I think I like it better than with the hazelnut. Re-steeped a few more times and drank it straight. Made for a steady morning pick-me-up without the edge.

I received some of this a few weeks ago along with some Ryokucha and Peppermint Yerba Mate… had been drinking it straight (which is still mighty tasty), then a few mornings ago I thought…

I had a variety of creamers in the fridge (hazelnut, gingerbread, vanilla caramel..) with the hubby still drinking coffee and I being a recent coffee convert … Tried a tiny bit of creme brulee creamer..like a 1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon for a full 16 oz. pot. OMG. SOGOOD. ..and not overwhelming. Though I can see how putting in anymore than that would greatly take away from the tea.

Gives me the familiar mouthfeel of a creamy cuppa jo, but still tasting the mellow vanilla marshmallowy flavor of the tea… Fantastic alternative to coffee discovered!

Drinking this out of my Eight Cranes Perfect Steeper. Great tea in the morning. Never lets me down.

This tea is definitely a shocker. As mentioned by other reviews, the initial outlook on this tea is that of your typical black or breakfast tea. The smell is similar to others, yet it does give off that earthy/sweet profile that makes this tea a true winner. The initial flavor profile is a bit like a breakfast blend but more earthy and pu-erh like. As it cools the sweetness and balanced flavors remind me of a more reserved version of Maiden’s Ecstasy pu-erh. Very interesting, a well rounded tea.

O hai, Steepsterites.

I have been buried in school, but I wanted to stop by and say hello and catch up.

So…how’ve y’all been?

Right. Apparently I’ve forgotten how to write in my time away so you’ll have to excuse the abrupt awkwardness of this log.

Also, I can’t stop drinking this damn tea.

No, seriously, it’s buttery and grassy and sweet and I love it and I can’t stop drinking it and we’re gonna get married. The past three days of tea for me have consisted of kukicha, ryokucha, and sobacha and not much else. Cha cha cha. Hahaha.

Oh god. I…I don’t know.

This wasn’t the best time to come back here and post something. My brain is still reeling from the incomprehensible explosion of WHAT that was the Dollhouse series finale tonight. I just said it to my friend, but nobody, ain’t nobody can do bittersweet like Joss Whedon.

At least I have another addiction that I can turn to now that the book of Dollhouse has closed. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go drown my sorrows in another cup.

This tea finally arrived the other day, and so I figured I would take some to work and give it a try for the day. The first impression I got when I smelt the leaves was that it was going to be a very unique and interesting citrus oriented tea. That was a pretty accurate first impression.

Honestly, for the first few sips I was wondering if I was going to like it enough to finish the tin I got. Luckily, those thoughts were washed away fairly rapidly once I got more into it. As teaplz perfectly explains, this is much more of a “dark citrus” as opposed to the “sunny Florida orange” citrus. As such, I would be comfortable in saying that this is a good tea for the winter. How appropriate, given that this morning we have a nice and crisp -16 degrees Celsius outside, with a “feels like” factor of -22. Perfect for this tea. ;)

Just got this in, along with their Earl Lavender and Ancient Gold blends. This tea is reminiscent of Earl Grey blends I have had in the past, yet a little less floral/citrusy and much more smokey and woody. The rooibos is a very nice touch and add’s a nice character to the tea that really completes the whole package.

Yes, because I need more tea today. And yet, I kind of do. Out of general shell-shock-ed-ness I’m not taking this one past two steeps.

This is a happy tea. I could stand for this to be a little stronger but then I probably should have used less water then, shouldn’t I? Yes. Regardless, this one is still fresh and sweet but a bit citrus-y refreshing and it makes me think happy thoughts. Which is sad because finishing this one off means I think I’m out of good Japanese greens. I’ll have to dig around to see if I have one more little bit hiding somewhere but I don’t think I do. But fortunately at least Maeda-en has started to accept shincha pre-orders so I have a feeling my lack of Japanese greens won’t last for long.
5.9g/12oz

Nothing I’m having tonight is really hitting the spot. But this one is good and I want a sweet green. And while this isn’t exactly what I’ve been hunting for tonight, it’s good enough that I just don’t care.

Grassy, sweet, refreshing and clean with a little tiny hint of mouthfeel. I like it with the shorter steep time – it keep the darker, almost tart taste to just a delightful contrasting hint at the end of each sweet sip. There is a great transition in each sip – buttery then grassy then sweet then finishing off with a hint of almost lemony tart. Probably one of the most complex cups of kukicha I’ve had.

ETA: 2nd steep @ 5 – 10s. A little lighter than the initial steep but very similar flavor. Might do a slightly longer 2nd steep next time but maybe not because of the potential for bitterness.
3.5g/6oz

Oh, this smells so delicious. Clean and fresh and green and sweet and oh! So nice. Somewhat guessing on the water temp. Did water at 175° into a cold cup, then into a preheated kyusu. So in the 160 – 165° range is close enough. The tea smells so fresh it almost smells lemony. And the taste is rich for a kukicha. Green and sweet but also dark and almost musky. There’s a fair amount of body and umami to the tea. It’s edging toward a little too dark for me so I think next time I will go with two minutes. But this is gooooood. Very rich. Thick. With a little edge of dark thickness and faint astringency to keep it from being plain or boring. Mmm.

Interesting tea. Quite malty with hints of roasted nuts. For me it has a similar flavor profile with Ryokucha, with little less punch.

It’s hard to write a note here after reading teaplz’s entry, because I feel like there’s nothing left to say.

Upon opening the can and smelling it for the first time, I was honestly a little shocked at how similar it smelt to a “standard” kind of tea you’d expect from a bagged tea bought at a coffee shop or something. For some reason, it reminds me much of Samovar’s Breakfast Blend. I expected a much more earthy smell than what I was presented.

But, I didn’t know what to expect from the taste so I boiled some water and steeped it and gave it a try. At first, it was what I expected. Kind of disappointingly similar to Breakfast Blend. But as I continued drinking I started to notice the different flavours coming out. I definitely can tell this is a far more complex tea than what you expect initially. I definitely can see the resemblance to pu-erh, and that’s a good thing because I like pu-erhs.

I think I might have to come back and re-rate this down the road after I’ve tried more of this tea.

I wanted something more to drink tonight but it is pretty late so it needed to be decaf. Fortunately, I’ve managed to amass quite a collection of herbal samples! This is my last of this one and while I’m pretty sure I won’t reorder, I have really enjoyed a full-on rooibos/honeybush base that doesn’t taste sour or off or just plain ole nasty. I don’t know if that speaks to the quality of rooibos that Samovar uses or their stellar blending ability (though perhaps both).

This is definitely woody but there is some nice spice and warmth to this that keeps it from being a flat, boring wood taste. Now that I’ve finally gotten used to the fact that this is rooibos but not evil, I seem to give different spices each time I take a sip. Ginger, cinnamon and cloves all pop up at the front of sips and I’m getting something almost citrusy at the end.

I don’t think I’ll ever be a huge fan of anything with this much rooibos but then I think it’s pretty surprising that I like this one as much as I do.