Steepster

This puts the TEA in complexiTEA. (rimshot)

Honestly, this tea made me feel like a novice trying to decipher its complex offerings of layered flavors and aromas. For a while I wasn’t sure how to describe them, but some reflection and time with the tea made it clearer, and the later infusions brought out hidden qualities that were present in the earlier infusions but I couldn’t quite put my thumb on before.

This is my first time with a Red Robe. I had high expectations since it is a rather well-known and prestigious tea. I can say my expectations were well met.

The aroma has consistent notes of cinnamon, and for the first several infusions was very woodsy with notes of amber and hay. The amber notes are especially evident when smelling the wet leaves. As for the flavor, it really evolved a lot from one steeping to the next. The common denominator was the sweet cinnamon taste. In earlier steepings it was very woodsy with flavors of sunflower seeds. Later steepings mellowed out and revealed nutmeg and sandalwood. The sweetness accompanying this tea throughout started out like molasses but gradually got lighter with each steeping, moving to an unmistakable caramel note, then becoming more like honey by the fourth or fifth infusion.

These notes all come together to make a really complex cup that is very warming and very “red”. It’s a wonderful and unique tea. Not exactly my tastes, as I tend to be lured by more bright and fresh tasting teas and this one is definitely deep and bold. I couldn’t see myself drinking it often, but I would definitely like to revisit it every once in a while.

As for preparation, I used 2.5g of leaf per 100ml of water, 194F/90C, steeping for 1’30 and adding 0’30 each time.

EDIT: I have finally gotten around to drinking the other packet of this and I am doing this the more traditional Gongfu way for Wuyi oolong, which I’ve learned is to use more leaf and less time, so I’m infusing 4g in 100ml of water for about 10 seconds followed by flash infusions. I can say this definitely yields a much lighter result. Sweet, but with a seriously thick mouthfeel and still plenty of flavor. I would recommend this method over the previous one I used.

Let me start by imparting this wisdom: If you are going to try to prepare this the traditional way for New Year’s with umeboshi and kombu in it, you will definitely be getting some aroma from the kombu and a good bit of salty vinegar flavor from the umeboshi. I could not taste the tea much when I prepared a cup this way, so in short, if you want to do the ritual for fun, go for it. If you want to really appreciate the tea, don’t add anything!

Alright, onto the real review. The first thing that really struck me about this sencha was the incredibly creamy aroma of the dry leaves once added to a warm gaiwan. The aroma of the tea itself is vegetal with hints of ocean. Through the first three steepings of this tea the flavor was pretty consistent, with the first taste being that of cream, then transitioning into the more hearty brothy flavor, very vegetal with hints of seaweed. Finally, it finishes with a mineral or ocean note. On the third and fourth steepings, however, there was a sweetness that emerged in the middle note which was very pleasant.

I brewed in a glass gaiwan using 2g of leaf per 100ml of water, 176F/80C with the following steep times: 1’00, 0’30, 0’40, 1’00. Just a tip: It’s really fun to watch this tea brew in glass! Very green and very pretty!

Overall, this tea was pleasant. It’s cloudy spring green liquor seems to glow and really enhances the “Spring” vibe of this tea. As for flavor, it was not outstanding or terribly unique as a green tea, but on the other side of that coin it has a reliable flavor, making it easy to enjoy.

Second January Steepster tea of the day. Hopefully I can do it justice. I’m trying this one unsweetened to start with. Sometimes I can get away with that for really nice greens. I don’t have a lot of experience with Japanese greens like this but the last sencha I had, a cupping class at the JusTea headquarters, I really liked it and that obviously didn’t have sugar in it. Thankfully this experience won’t involve so much slurping.

This smells very much a very vegetal green. As soon as it cools down a bit, I’m looking forward to drinking.

First steep (1 minute), very very GREEN. All the things are muddled together and it isn’t as clear tasting as the sencha I had before. It tastes darker if that’s possible. Not sure what to make of it.

Will be edited if other infusions are different.

I love roasted oolongs, so I was very happy to receive this sample from Jason at the last NYC meetup. This is indeed roasty, but it’s surprisingly light at the same time. A bit too light for me, in fact—I love those super dark, strong-bodied coffee-esque oolongs, and this is not one of them. It almost reminds me of houjicha. I’m enjoying this and would happily drink it again, but it’s probably not something I’d want to keep around.

I really enjoy this tea. This is not surprising, since I like wuyi and oolongs overall as a rule, but this one is really quite good. There’s something particularly satisfying about its roasted scent and taste on a cold morning in particular. If you like Red Robes you’ll certainly like this one. The only downside is that I don’t have more.

Light, smooth and refreshing!

This tea has a bright oolong taste with the toasted notes underneath it rounding it out and giving it more depth than your traditional oolong. I’m always a big fan of toasted teas, including Genmaicha and this is an excellent addition to my collection.

oh this is a tasty sencha! followed steepster instructions for first steeping – i’m not sure i was tasting pine, but was definitely pungent and explosive (in the best of all possible ways!). lovely round mouth-feel, not quite creamy, but definitely round, hard, and smooth. second steeping at just off-boiling for 20s is less pungent, not explosive at all, but i’m quite enjoying it – the mouth is quite the same, this time seeming more creamy, since the pungency is less. sweeter, perhaps. (how do people use words to describe taste? it is so synaesthetic for me that i don’t know if i make any sense!)

I don’t know if i’ll make it to a third steeping, may step out for some lunch, but i’ll update if i do. as far as whether i preferred the first to second steepings – it really was a different tea each time, reminiscent of how a sencha iri matcha will be so…matcha! the first steep and then settle into a sencha by the second or third. at any rate, this is one i’d pick up for a staple in my tea cabinet. it is less astringent by far than other senchas i’ve had, less brassy-grassy, yet still quite flavorful somehow.

must be the “pine.”

I liked this tea better than the previous select green, Karigane. Long Jing was a bit grassy on the first steep, with a slight honey note at the end. The second steep was less grassy and more honey at the end. I’m not the biggest fan of green tea, but this was quite drinkable.

This is only my second experience with Long Jing, also known as Dragon Well tea. My first was unfortunate and was very bitter no matter how I brewed it (Republic of Tea). However, this magnificent tea from Steepster was exactly what I expect from one of China’s 10 famous teas.

The mouthfeel of this tea is thick, juicy and wet. It has a very lush, full flavor, green and vegetal with notes of earth, quite savory. There’s a top note of lemon. The finish is smooth, slightly sweet, and lacking in astringency. Upon a second infusion the tea is more mellow, more sweet, and nutty tones of almond come through.

White tea was my favorite type for years, but green teas like this one have recently won my favor and I find myself just craving them more and more. I’m glad that with Steepster Select I was able to add another tea to my repertoire and enjoy a very famous and well known tea the way it is meant to be enjoyed (minus yixing pot, anyways).

As for brewing, I eschewed the suggested 180F for a bit softer 176F/80C. I steeped it in a porcelain gaiwan with the lid propped open for the suggested 2’ 30, adding 0 ’15 for repeated infusions and using 1.75g of leaf per 100ml of water.

Grabbed this one at random from my steepster box and kind of groaned. I don’t love oolongs, but it’s what I grabbed so I made it exactly per the instructions on the bag.

The first thought upon sipping it, “holy crap, this is tasty!” It tasted like a burnt hazelnut caramel. Seriously delicious. I’ve had other red robes and they are just roasty, like hojicha. This one has some seriously yummy flavor to back up the roast. Would definitely order this if I could. Can I?

ok, drinking again, hoping for a better outcome, and while it is still a perfectly good tea, it is not an amazing tea. ah well. not that i don’t enjoy almost any cuppa mid-afternoon. next up, adding milk!

first infusion done perfectly according to instructions and was pleasantly plump, but definitely not as rich as i’d hoped. never got any sweet, sugar, or caramel notes.

second infusion is falling flat, it is a perfectly serviceable tea, but i may as well add milk and sugar and slurp it down in 3 minutes. not worth savoring as i had hoped. alas.

LongJing always has a place in my cupboard, so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this one the most from January’s Steepster Select; or maybe the Okubucha.. Can’t decide yet.

Brewed in the traditional Dragonwell method, I emptied contents into a warmed tall glass, poured in 180F spring sourced water and let sit until the leaves expanded and danced around the glass. I drank the glass 2/3rds and added more water to the remaining 1/3rd. I had maybe 5 infusions with this method, the last resulting in mostly clear hot water with very little flavour.

The aroma was nutty and vegetal, as described on the packet, and lasted through the first 3-4 infusions.
The taste was typical of Longjing, and I thought it to be delicious. The fact that it’s organic only made it better.

Definietly a great tea, and I’ve yet to have a bad longjing…knock on wood.

I steeped this loose leaf in a small teapot.

The first steeping I followed the instructions on my Select packet. It was a punch in the mouth of a pine forest. I had a hard time discerning any specific flavors because of how large it was.

The second steeping I gave it a little less time. It came out with a solid green forest flavor with nice overtones of eucalyptus. It was savory, elegant, but still bold.

The third steeping I let it sit a bit longer. It was sweeter, but still savory and tasted closer to the smell of a pine forest with the ground covered in needles during an early, brisk sunny dawn in Spring. It was definitely my favorite steeping.

The fourth steeping I let it sit much longer (I might have forgotten about it). It was acceptable, but more astringent due to the long steep time and yet weaker because it was the fourth steeping. The third steeping was definitely the sweet spot for me.