Samovar

Just amazing! It has a nice, dark earthy taste.

The Jasmine was at first a little overwhelming but later it became a wonderful part of this tea

It has been a couple weeks since my last cup of this fine concoction. It really hit the spot and got me moving after my exercise session I did today.

Love the ginger that is in this tea.

Bought with Merany at Samovar Tea Lounge in Hayes Valley

One of the best teas I have ever had. Open leaves before steeping. Steep multiple times and it gets better. Use a pu-erh cup for the best taste.

This isn’t so much about the tea as it is about the teapot.

Wait, let me rephrase that.

This isn’t so much about the tea as it is about The teapot.

Yes, I got my Sorapot in the mail today, and yes, I love it. It is fabulous. It is divine. It is solidly-constructed, and it beautiful, and, for me, worth every single penny I spent on it. I have to give a major, major shout-out to our Steepster Overlords for having the thoughtfulness to include something like this in the Steepster Select cycle and I have to give some major, major props to Joey Roth for designing such a singularly exquisite piece. I have seen teapots that cost much, much more than this [and not just ancient ones – more contemporary ones, too] that I don’t think are nearly as nice, or as well-made. It’s fully functional, I think it’s breath-taking, and it’s made with thought. I can’t ask for much more out of something I’m going to drop a fair amount of money on.

I knew that this would be arriving soon-ish, so I saved my last little bit of Four Seasons for it. One, because I knew that it would look gorgeous as it opened up in the glass chamber, but most of all because I knew that the first tea I drank in this should be special. My BFF dropped by today, and we spent some time catching up, drinking tea, and watching Avatar [the TV show, not the movie – both are excellent, by the way]. She patiently waited while I took pictures, and we sipped on the tea while we chatted about what’s been going on in our respective lives.

It made for a really nice, really calming afternoon. Four Seasons is a versatile tea. It can be enjoyed in solitude, easily taking the center stage of your attentions with its subtle complexity. It’s a lovely companion when you’re sitting down to do some work with its thick yet light richness of flavor. It can swish and ripple softly in the background while you settle in to have a conversation with a friend. And it unfurls majestically in an extraordinarily designed, long-awaited metal and glass teapot.

And now, in a manner completely contrasting to the tone of this review [because I like to shake things up], I present to you: my Sorapot.
http://bit.ly/75ewf1

The scene in Shawshank Redemption where Andy Dufresne comes crawling out of the tunnel into the rain.

That is me today. Crawling through foot after foot, yard after yard, of metaphorical sewage to reach the cleansing downpour of sweet, sweet FREEDOM.

Yes, Steepsterites. I am free. I. Am. FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

At least until mid-January, when the whole process starts anew. But for now, I am going to savor this unadulterated sense of not needing to do…anything. I have big, big plans for winter break, part of which include trying to catch up with what I’ve been missing on this site [I can’t even fathom how long that’s going to take] and inundating you with tea logs [FUN FOR YOU]. Because yes, in true tea dork fashion, I TOOK NOTES when I knew I wasn’t going to be able to write logs on here. If you would have told me a few years ago that I would be jotting down things to remember about a tea in a moleskine so that I could semi-accurately log it later, I would have laughed at you. Just laughed and laughed and laughed. And then apologized, and then probably laughed some more.

So, after being released from my last final of the semester, I turned the kettle on and began an impromptu dance party. Some Ting Tings, a little Modeselektor, a bit of La Roux, a slice of Roisin Murphy and an Under the Influence of Giants track later, I was drinking this tea and laughing madly. Partially because I was so giddy with being finished with school, and partially because of the enormous lack of sleep I have had these past few weeks.

There are very few teas that I would reach for in lieu of this in such a moment of intense celebration. I luckily got my Samovar package in the mail right before studying for finals commenced in earnest, so I replenished my stash of Four Seasons and I drank a fair amount of it while trying to cram every bit of information I could into my already bursting at the seams brain.

It is, far and away, beyond a shadow of a doubt, four monkeys on top of a giraffe, my favorite oolong. It is buttery, and washes into a lightly floral finish as it progresses through the steeps. I will admit that is more expensive than other oolongs I have chanced upon, but considering that I get about 5 cups on the regular [more if I’m feeling patient] from it, it ends up being not that bad.

It is a tea that just makes my inner being sigh and melt into a daze of pleasant complacency. Delicious, intricate, complex, and balanced. Coupled with the unshackling of my SOUL, it made for a singularly fantastic afternoon. [It also motivated me to spend a couple of hours cleaning my car.] I cannot think of anything that would have been more appropriate.

So, brace yourself Steepster. Hide your children and iron your pants, because I’M BACK!

For a while, I thought that oolongs weren’t [please pardon the pun] my cup of tea. I’d pretty much written them off in my mind as dirty spinach-y cousins of my tea repertoire who did unspeakable things with sheep and so no one talks about them.

I’m not sure why this is. It might be because the first steep of the oolongs I’ve tried tend to be pretty vegetal and I stopped paying attention after that. I probably also wasn’t steeping them in hot enough water or something equally silly, which speaks to how well I read directions sometimes.

Please, do not let what happened to me happened to you. Unless what happens to you is what ENDED up happening to me, because I drank this tea for an entire week.

An entire week. ALL WEEK LONG I DRANK THIS TEA. I woke up, started the day with a little Ryokucha or a matcha shake to prod my brain into waking up, and then I would drink this tea and do physics. Or drink this tea and do calculus. Or drink this tea and program. I would drink it in a box, and I would drink it with a fox. I would drink it in a house, and I would drink it with a mouse. I would drink it here and there and I WOULD DRINK IT EVERYWHERE. I drank this tea until I ran out of it yesterday, though tragically I just put an order through with Samovar so it’ll have to wait until next time.

In the same way that I was shocked when I tried Ryokucha for the first time, I was floored with how different this tea tasted from how I thought tea could ever taste. And my god, people, it EVOLVES [oh dear Zeus, I just had a flashback to my Pokemon playing days]. That isn’t just some shit they spin for the description to get you to buy the stuff. The taste shifts and matures and does all sorts of wonderful things between steeps so that you’re getting new flavors in every cup. And that little bit of magic is why this tea would last me for an entire afternoon, sometimes longer.

Before I get back to the taste, let me tell you first that I’ve heard/seen the phrase “mouth-feel” thrown around a few times as I get acclimated into the tea world, and I always snickered a bit. I mean, it’s water, right? I didn’t fully understand what they were referring to until I really gave this tea a chance. It DOES have texture. It’s…kind of silky, if that makes sense. It feels rich, almost luxurious. Perhaps you are accustomed to paying attention to this aspect of tea, but for someone who’s new to it…I guess you could say I’ve had a tea-piphany.

Samovar’s description of Four Seasons completely nails what is going on in this tea. I don’t always “get” the full array of what I could be experiencing when it comes to tea, but I was pleased to find myself able to pick out flavors from this one. The buttery component of it, especially, was something that surprised me. I bet this would taste sinfully good with a croissant.

In fact, and excuse me while I expose a little MORE geekiosity on you here, this tea is just about exactly what I thought butter beer would taste like.

Yes, I am referring to Harry Potter.

Just drank this at Samovar on Thursday. Not bad! I’m curious about the blood orange pu-erh. This was surprisingly strong at short 30 second steepings.

Today’s overcast day filled of greyness and puppy fecal matter told me that drinking a nice hot cup of earth might make me feel better.

It also told me it might wake me up a bit.

I can confirm on both accounts.

Yeah, I did it. I went for the hard stuff in the morning. You got a problem with that? Whatcha gonna do about it? You wanna step?

I apologize. I’m very tired. Which is why I decided that it was pu-erh time. I don’t drink pu-erh too often, because it’s something I like to spend some time with and I usually go for a second or third cup. [Or fourth. Or the occasional fifth.] That, and it tends to get me a little “tea high.”

Maiden’s Ecstasy is a favorite, for sure. It smells like you’re about to drink a big cup of tree bark and dirt. [That may not be appealing to some of you, but please don’t let that deter you from trying it.] If you have it in a glass mug or one that allows you to see the coloring well, it looks not unlike coffee.

The taste of this is bold and intense, which only grows the longer you steep it. I’ve found that more of the sweetness tends to emerge when you let it sit longer, but it will also intensify when it gets a little bit cooler. Allowing it to travel over all parts of the tongue and linger a little at the back of the mouth will also make the flavor of this more enjoyable. [There’s a dirty joke in there somewhere, but I’m too lazy to find it.]

For me, this is a tea that gets better the longer you let it go, though I don’t think I’ve ever gone past ten minutes on any given steep. I have a tendency to continue re-steeping this until I’ve stripped all the flavor from it because I think it’s just that good. It’s perfect for when you know you’re going to be chatting with a couple of friends for a few hours.

Well, LENA F. just called me out on my Samovar love, but their online store is back up and in trying to figure out what I want to order/re-order, I’ve been drinking their stuff all day.

When I was first introduced to honeysuckle as a kid, it was a joyous discovery. I was astounded that you could get this lovely sweetness from chewing on the end of a blossom. Of course, as any of you who have done this know, you don’t get much. The taste is wonderful, but it’s fleeting, as was my initial experience with honeysuckle, because my friend’s mom told us that they sprayed pesticides where we were and so we couldn’t have any more.

Ever since then, part of me has wished that you could get honeysuckle nectar in an 8 oz bottle. So far as I’m aware, you’re not able to, but this tea is pretty damn close.

When I started drinking this, I don’t think that I was steeping it for long enough because I wasn’t getting nearly as much flavor out of it as I have recently. It has the delicate, almost tangy sweetness of honeysuckle in it, with hints of acidic pineapple and honey. In the aftertaste, I sometimes get the flavor of apricot jam.

The aroma of the leaves is sweet as well, but the kind of sweetness you get from chlorophyll and not necessarily fruit. The scent of the tea has a roasted tone to it but is still somewhat sweet.

This silver needle is, overall, very light and refreshing. It’s a tea that, once I start drinking it, I want to keep on drinking [and sometimes do]. I might even go so far as to say it’s my favorite white tea.

Actually, no. I will definitely say it. This is my favorite white tea.

This is a tea that just seems to get better and more complex the more that I drink it. I like to drink white teas in the afternoon or early evening, when I know that I might not want to be running around on a caffeine high for too long. That’s why I’m sipping on this one right now and trying to get some work done. It is subtly flavored, I’ve found that there is more sweetness to the aroma than the taste unless you suck some air over it. It’s one of those teas that lends itself to some slow breaths and concentration. Perfect for quiet contemplation [or trying to remain relaxed while studying].

Today was a very busy day. A busy day of classes and mind-numbing waits for various appointments. It was a CRAM CRAM CRAM w a iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii t CRAM CRAM WATNOROOM? MAKEROOM SMASH! day.

After class tonight my brain was completely on overload. My professors are still trying to figure out what we’re going to do because of the time we missed from the snow, and so their apparent solution for most of them is to keep everything on the same timetable, but maybe change it at the last second. A winning solution.

So I came back in from class tonight, ready to watch Castle because that’s my Monday night unwind activity and it wasn’t on. It was the stupid idiot Bachelor. I should have known. Blerg. Blerg blerg blerg.

So I made myself a cup of this tea and just laid down in the middle of the floor because I didn’t want to do anything else besides drink some good tea and stare at the ceiling.

Which I did. I stared at the ceiling and I drank this tea. The ginger warmed me while the black pepper tickled my tongue. The fennel brought in a bit of sweetness while the cardamom whispered of places that aren’t here. And then the mint swept it gently away with a cleansing breath that told me to let everything else fall away and come back in, bit by bit, when I’m ready.

It’s not even like today was a bad day, because really it wasn’t, but you know those days when your brain just gets so stuffed with information you asplode internally and you need to go catatonic? Hi, welcome. Let’s be friends.

Lucky for me, I have really good tea, like this one, to fall back on when these days happen. That, and a rapidly approaching trip to San Francisco to visit my brother and a warmer climate, and hopefully catch up with some old friends.

Time to write that physics lab.

Woo-sah.

Woke up this morning and my stomach was NOT happy with me. Let me tell you, waking up to a big, “WAKE UP, LADY! Why you gotta eat spicy food? You KNOW I don’t like spicy food! And when I’m not happy, you’re no- what? No, I don’t wanna HEAR none-a that mess! Don’t eat spicy food! Just don’t eat- SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME, JUST DON’T EAT IT!”…

Right, then. Mint tea it is.

I like red licorice, but black licorice is not on my list of things I like to chew on. [This seems random, but walk with me for a second here.] As a child, a friend’s mother kept a bowl of black licorice jelly beans in foyer and I tried one once and spit it out without telling anyone. It ricocheted somewhere into their hall closet and I couldn’t find it. So after the great jelly bean incident of 1991, I would BOOK IT through the foyer, terrified that they were going to discover it and ban me from ever playing with my friend again. Well, that, and I was kind of afraid that someone would offer me a jelly bean.

My palate has since matured a bit, and I don’t have quite the same aversion to that black licorice taste, though I certainly won’t seek it out. [And if you were to offer me a black jelly bean I would likely politely decline.] Because fennel has that kind of licorice-y taste to it, I typically don’t like it when it is overpowering in a dish or what have you. The fact that it is bearable, even PLEASANT to me in this tea is speaking tomes to the power of a good blend.

Moorish mint a tea that I like to keep moving, either giving it a little swish in my mouth or drinking it quickly. There is a LOT going on in the aftertaste, and if I let the liquid sit on my tongue for too long the bite from the black pepper becomes overwhelming. The various components combine quite nicely, and the mint makes the overall effect refreshing.

Occasionally, I think I’m tasting chocolate in the background. Actually, I have moments where it tastes like Thin Mint. I mean, it’s not nearly as sweet and if I think about it too hard I lose it. And being honest, if what I were tasting were replicated into an actual cookie I’d probably laugh at you and hand you a five and tell you to go get me some real cookies. But as a tea, it works. It definitely works.

And it’s working on my stomach right now. I’m pairing it with the Lenka album and it’s made for a nice transition into afternoon. Time to go get some stuff done.

Hello, lover. I missed you while you were gone.

I can go from fatigued to bliss[fully fatigued] in 3 minutes and 30 seconds. And start waking up in about 5 more once the caffeine starts to work its juju. It’s a win-win situation, if you ask me.

I’m out of Moorish Mint.

I’m out.

Of.

Moorish Mint.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

All right, Wallet. Methinks it’s time to get ready for a little workout. Have you been doing your exercises? Go wake up little miss Credit. Listen, don’t get me any lip. Shut your pie hole. I SAID, shut your PIE HOLE! It’s not my fault they put crack in this shizz.

Sweet baby Jesus, I love this tea. The proportion of the mint is just right – enough that it gives you that tingle, but gently. I’ve also found that a couple of deep breaths to inhale the scent every now and then does magical things for clearing the head. Definitely ordering the big tin when I run out of this one.

Lovely note to start the day on, and difficult one to stop. I’m on cup number three.