The Persimmon Tree Tea Company

Sipdown (192/194)!

Apparently I can’t type right now – my fingers are all fumbly. Anyway, this one comes from Boychik, and I took advantage of the easy sipdown this afternoon (it feels like morning, EG is morning tea). I even got another “sipdown” in from adding tea to a bunch of stuff eventually going out to VariaTEA (she’s gonna get the last of my Demain). Pressure’s on to sip down some stuff before more things arrive – I don’t exactly feel excited about maybe getting over 200 again.

Dry, this some lightly of Bergamot and strongly of vanilla. Mmm! That could certainly be a winning combination for me!

Now that it’s steeped up, it’s a little more 50/50 between the two but it really is very delicious and well balanced; a great EG Creme. I seem to be drinking lots of EG lately, I guess due to having received a fair bit of it this week (last week?) and I’m a little tired of it at the moment – so I think it may be a little while after this cup before I have some more, though.

Still, very nice.

Backlog:

A very summer-y kind of tea. A tea that I’d imagine drinking in the summer to cool off and refresh! It reminds me of summertime in California, when strawberries are in season.

You can read about that here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/01/15/white-guava-tea-from-the-persimmon-tree/

Sweet and fruity with a true-to-fruit sort of flavor. Subtle white peony notes, sweet, slightly earthy. A nicely balanced tea.

Sipdown (198/200)

Morning cold brew in my beautiful mason jar (I haven’t said it recently, so thank you again Keychange) using the sample from the very generous and kind Boychik. I had most of this in the morning before leaving, but the remainder came in my second timolino with to the mall.

All in all, this was just sort of a generic fruity green although it did have a touch of a bitter edge to it which was unwelcome. I don’t think I’d exactly pinpoint pomegranate as the flavour though; maybe more like raspberry? All in all, ok and an easy sipdown but not really for me.

Cold brew time was five hours.

Don’t you hate it when you are awakened at dawn by your phone beeping because the battery is low? I tried to ignore it for awhile. sigh.

I haven’t had much tea lately. I’ve been engrossed in a project – moving the church website. It was made extra complicated because it was on Wordpress with Godaddy and all the wonderful plugins, but it was getting expensive, now it is on Blogger which is free but limited gadgets and not really a static site platform. I made it work anyway.

I went looking for a tiny whisk yesterday to use with my morning cup of matcha milk. Couldn’t find one in our little town. I’ll look when I go to the big city. We do have a sort of small one that I used this morning. It made a nice frothy drink with everything dissolved. Giant improvement over the spoon I was using. My morning addiction has been fed.

Looks like my wife is going to win. I’m going to take her to town this morning to pick up a Chineranian. Apparently a cross between a Japanese Chin and a Pomeranian. I really don’t think we need another dog. She thinks Spike our Chihuahua/Jack Russel mix needs a playmate. I thought that was our job. What do I know. I joked the dog should be called Buffy. My wife liked the idea. I was just kidding

As has become my new normal I started with this again today. Milk+matcha+caramel+vanilla=Yum.

I wondered if this would ever happen. I had a Starbucks green tea frap yesterday. It was same as always but I found myself longing for this instead. After increasing the vanilla a little, this is a really good low calorie alternative that i actually like better.

I think I have developed a new addiction. I have been starting every morning with this one mixed with milk, caramel, and vanilla syrup. I am also noticing the amount I add to the glass is growing each day. I am up to a lightly heaping tsp. I started with only 1/4 tsp. I have learned to appreciate the taste on its own merits instead of comparing it to my usual Thursday drink. The syrups are sugar free so the only calories are in the 2% milk but with the added bonus of the benefits of tea.

Mixed 1/2 tsp with 2% milk and added some caramel syrup and a splash of vanilla syrup. Toasted a bagel and smeared with cream cheese and topped with apple butter. What a delightfully tasty and simple brunch. I will be repeating this again another day.

I know nothing about matcha but I do know I have a serious Starbucks Green Tea Frappuccino addiction. In the never ending quest to duplicate same in a slightly healthier home version I tried this one today. 8 oz cold 2% milk, 8 oz shaved ice, 2 packets of Splenda, & 1/2 tsp of matcha.

While it does not taste like Starbucks it is really good. It made a rich creamy froth. The sweetness was to my liking and a lot less sweet than Starbucks. I pretty much drank it straight down.

The taste difference of the matcha is Starbucks seems brighter and greener (and actually is greener in appearance). This is halfway in taste between Starbucks and Teavivre’s powdered green tea (not matcha). Saying that, this one I liked immediately. The Teavivre version I am still trying to work out proportions. I also see nothing on The Persimmon Tree’s website to suggest this is not actual Japanese matcha.

Water: 16oz

Leaves: mixture of various leaves + coconut

Steep: 4m

Aroma: coconut & caramel

Color: golden yellow

Taste: I decided after eating my bowl of ramen i wanted to drink so tea & this was my go to, since i haven’t tried it yet. As i opened the package i notice a coconut & caramel aroma. This time around i wanted to try something different (i wanted a bit more tea than the usual 8oz) so i use 16oz of water & allowed my tea to steep. The tea was a golden yellow that i noticed to be a bit more flavored than the other two teas I’ve previously tried. Although I’m not a huge fan of coconut in general this tea wasn’t so bad.

First Sip Thought: “Hello Spring”

Smell: Inhale the aroma and you will be in heaven. I find the smell to be light but the marigold petals are definitely made evident.

Taste: A best seller indeed. I’ve slowly become a frequent oolong drinker and this one can easily be on my list of favourites. Like the scent, the taste is subtle with a hint of sweetness. I was very impressed that it was not bitter at all. I was a bit confused why it was called “cream” until I took a sip and noticed a lingering taste of natural vanilla. The vanilla flavour is a nice touch and compliments the citrus well. The lemon myrtle and marigold petals instantly make me think of spring time (which could come sooner rather than later!) Overall, this tea is quite delicious and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a flavourful, yet smooth flavoured oolong tea.

www.theteacupoflife.blogspot.com

I’m not totally sure yet, I will have to give it another try.

The dry smell reminded me of David’s Coco Chai Rooibos, which I enjoy very much, so I couldn’t help but compare the taste. I like David’s Coco Chai Rooibos way better, but this is still quite nice I think. I don’t taste the chai part enough though, it’s mostly lemongrass and light coconut. As I said, I’m not totally sure. I’ll have more of an opinion when I try it again I guess.

This is very interesting. I had heard The Persimmon Tree was very good with their coconut flavouring, and now I get why. It doesn’t taste like overly sweet coconut that you find in many desserts. It tastes just like real, fresh coconut water.

That being said, I do like the overly sweet coconut taste from desserts. But this is unique and I really like it. Very smooth, very light, and you can still taste the white tea base which is awesome. Yes, very interesting indeed !

Here’s hoping tea box

Overly sweet, fake-tasting vanilla. The base was decently madly and full-bodied, but I had to poor half the cup out because of the vanilla flavoring.

Here’s Hoping Tea Box

I really enjoyed this blend! Malty, slightly sweet, with just enough briskness to make it refreshing.

Water: 8oz

Leaves: ginger, ginseng, chamomile mixture of other ingredients

Steep: 5m

Aroma: Chamomile & Citrus

Color: Dark Yellow

Taste: This tea at first I found it bland, but with a few more sips the flavor began to come through. I noticed more of the Chamomile & hint of Citrus favor more so than the ginger & ginseng despite that being the name of the tea.

I drank no tea yesterday. Truth be told until suppertime the only fluid I drank was a glass of milk first thing in the morning. I got busy and just lost track of time. I was hoping to make up lost time today but haven’t done well so far. I am following so many people there is no way I can catch up with tasting notes. I barely checked in on Steepster yesterday now I have way to many unread notes. I have got a few cups of this one in me though.

First the bad news. I cannot make the honeysuckle connection. It grows wild in the fence rows all around here. In the summertime the air is amazing in the early morning air. Slow car rides with the windows down are highly recommended.

Now the good. This is a very mellow gentle puerh. The dry leaf scent is like a fruity black tea with hints of mint. The sip is very smooth with a sweet forest floor woodsy floral aroma. My first cup was at 30 s and it was light with notes of mint. The second I went 5 minutes per The Persimmon Tree suggestion. It was a little stronger and spicier but really pretty similar to the first. I actually preferred the first. I think next time I’ll start at 2 minutes and adjust from there. This is a really nice first unflavored puerh with enough depth to grow with you for quite a while.

I oversteeped this by just a hint this time, but it doesn’t suffer for it at all. The base is more robust but it doesn’t quite make it to bitter. The fruit and florals are both present but the jasmine is a little deeper and fruitier this time around. The middle of the sip is astringent but not too much, and it all makes for a nice, complex cup.

Another one from Jennkay! This is really nice. The passion fruit is the star of this one (yay!), with the jasmine lending a soft, sugary note to the overall flavor. This is a very fluffy jasmine and not overpowering or perfumy at all. This also brews up well at high temperature; I had no idea there was green tea in this until I looked at the page, and yet after brewing it like a black there’s no bitterness or burned flavors at all. I would definitely restock this.

Thanks for sending me this Moraiwe! I really like this one! I’m a big fan of white teas, and butterscotch isn’t something I would have normally picked out for myself, but I’m really enjoying this. I have been debating on ordering from the Persimmon Tree for a while now, so this experience might persuade me to do so :)

Water: 8oz

Leaves: Mixture of green tea & various ingredients

Steep: 1m,2m,3m

Aroma: Caramel

Color: light yellow

Taste: First I want to say i was very excited to receive this in the mail today! Along with it my other samples Persimmon Tree Tea. Upon opening the package the scent was amazing! It reminded me of the soft chewy caramel candy. That made me even more excited to brew it. The first steep I think I might have let my water cool too much although the aroma was there I didn’t get much flavor. Moving to the second steep this time I left my water a bit hotter than before adding an additional minute to the steep time. The result was the same as the first still lacking. On the last steep at three minutes. Overall I can say this was an okay tea good for if your looking for something light with amazing aroma.

*Thank you Persimmon Tree Tea for this sample

I got to try some of this courtesy of Moraiwe! Thanks!

This tea smells like a butterscotch candle! When I sip, first thing I taste is a light cinnamon that fades into a smooth butterscotch. It has an almost light floral aspect to it and the aftertaste is lovely! It is fantastic with a bit of sugar. Each sip is a little more harsh at the beginning, but quickly smooths down by mid sip. I can’t usually pick out the tea in white based tea and this tea holds true to that. It is really an interesting tea and the first I have tried from Persimmon Tree. I’m glad I have another serving or two of this because I’m teetering on if it should be on my shopping list or not!

Steeped this longer than I intended today. Not sure how long – maybe 8 minutes. Tasted completely different than a shorter steep but still very good. It did not become bitter. Instead this became more green tea like. I know it is very lightly oxidized but it had more oolong characteristics when steep 3 minutes. A light refreshing tea.

The picture looks lighter and greener than this did in my spoon. Maybe I should add more light. OK, so my first unflavored bao zhong. I never know how I am going to respond to an oolong. There is no pattern to my likes and dislikes that I can figure out. This one I really liked. Sweet, floral (but not in your face floral) like lilac or light rose, and unexpected melon notes. It becomes more creamy as it cools . Something I didn’t note on my blog, as I just caught it while typing this – there is a darker earthy flavor that pop up as it cools even further, it is like a hint of roasted flavor. This is a really nice cup of yum.