Unknown

Another mysterious Japanese tea from my friend. I’m 90% sure it’s a bagged genmaicha. The bags have that distinctive sort of roasty smell, and it tastes like a genmaicha. So that’s what I’m calling it.

No information on the tea whatsoever, but it’s good. I just left the bag in my 8oz Pavina and it didn’t get bitter at all, which is wonderful and surprising.

Big surprise, after taking care of my sick boyfriend all weekend, I get sick. Fortunately, it hasn’t hit me anywhere near as hard as him. I’ve just been staying home all day, sipping tea and doing homework (and by that I mean playing Civilization.)

I started with a resteep of this one. Not much different to say. Probably a little sweeter, and less of the other flavors.

I received this in a swap on r/teaexchange. I don’t know anything about it besides that it is a high mountain oolong.

I didn’t get much time for tea yesterday, as my boyfriend is sick, and I had to go take care of him at his apartment. It’ll probably be about the same today, so I’m getting this one in before I go over.

This is a really nice golden color. I’m still not really good at picking out scents and flavors in unflavored teas, but I’m working on it. I would say there is a vegetal smell, with a hint of something roasted. With the first sip of this, it is definitely sweet. Sweet, smooth, and creamy, though a little weak. Perhaps resteepings can fix that. There is a vegetal flavor in the aftertaste.

This one came from Fleurdelily and in a fairly large amount too. I actually had some trouble working out what it was, because the wrappings are all in Chinese and I think it came from Ebay or similar. I had to ask Fleurdelily for some more details and I also had a thread up on the boards asking people to help me read Chinese. Fleurdelily had originally bought it as being a Lapsang Souchong, and with the help from the nice people who could read some Chinese for me, it was determined that more likely than not what we’ve got here is some kind of unsmoked Lapsang Souchong. It’s definitely Fujian, though, because I got that much from the wrapper.

Mostly though, I’ve been thinking about it as ‘Fujian X’ which what I’ve called it here.

I’ve actually had it loads of times by now, and I’ve nearly used up all the little portion pouches, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m any closer to actually being able to write down a proper analysis of it. You see, we’ve mostly had it under circumstances where I just wasn’t paying that much attention to it. It’s that kind of tea really. I tried to when I started writing this post, but then it ended up turning into tea and homemade biscuits on the sofa with some Top Gear on the telly. (We’ve actually today, after having lived here for about one and a half years now, finally managed to have a proper look at which channels we’ve got and arrange them in an easy to find fashion! We’re not really big television-watchers, us. More dvd and blu-ray people. But maybe it’ll help now that we know what our options are. After all, we ARE paying for it.)

So yeah, that shot yet another attempt at proper tasting out of the water.

The overall impression I keep getting from this, though, is ‘Default Fujian’. It has all the qualities that I love about Fujian blacks. Kinda malty, but not too much, and a bit of fruityness to it, along with a grainy and cocoa-y note. I can’t seem to focus on giving it any real attention, but I have been enjoying it immensely.

It’s just the right sort of tea for having while settling in with something. Perhaps it doesn’t really need anything more than that.

I had this at our tea guild meeting today. We made a spice rub, scones with (eeeeevil) Earl Grey soaked currants, and spiced lapsang roasted almonds. I can’t figure out which was my fave part! Seriously, what an awesome end to a really long day. I was at an HR conference/tradeshow schmoozing with the vendors. Whew, what a trip. I have alot of follow up emails to send tomorrow, before I do it all over again :)
Anyhow, this tea was made really strong. I had two tiny cups (as in gaiwan style). Very delicious though, and super lemony. I swear, it was as if someone added lemon.
I’d like to see what a shorter steep would do.
Also, I’m not sure if this was the first or second flush. I suspect it was the second… so I just went with that!
On a side note, you know what’s amazing?? having tea peeps. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without all my peers here on Steepster and at the guild. Coming home from a night of tea talk, and writing about it here to share with my other tea-ples… (yes I just referred to y’all as tea-ples!)
Does it get any better??

It’s been a while since I last drank this tea, and I re-discovered it while digging through my stash to find something different. Anyways, I decided to brew it with my gaiwan, just as an experiment, so I threw some leaves in it, and used some approximately 140 degree water to steep the leaves for about 15 seconds. I know, that really short of a Japanese green, but bear with me, it was an experiment. The tea is a very pale green, but the flavor profile is much bolder. The tea is initially very sweet, and it’s hard to taste much else, but as time goes on a pleasant grass flavor emerges. While fairly standard for a Japanese green, it is still very pleasant and adds a lot to the experience. Finally, the tea has a smooth mineral aftertaste. It’s not like a Wuyi Oolong, but that’s the best way to describe it. As the tea cools, the sweetness becomes more pronounced and the grass flavor diminishes a bit, but it’s hard to actually let the tea sit that long. All in all, it’s very pleasant, and I’d say that the tea actually benefited a bit from this brewing method.

While this tea appears to be rather dubious, I can assure you that it’s actally the realy deal. My parents tell me that they got it at Wegmans, a fantastic grocery store chain, and that it was in the Organic Food section. Also, I’ve tried this tea when I was at my grandmother’s house (where I couldn’t post a reveiw), but it tastes like the descriptions of Gyokuro, so I’m going to say it’s legit and move on.

Now that that is out of the way, I prepared the first infusion with about 140 degree water, and let it steep for a minute. The result is a very pale green tea, which proably has a pleasant aroma but my current head cold prevents me from experiencing it. The initial flavor of the tea is amazingly sweet, much more so than any other tea I have. The flavor doesn’t really change in the middle, but the aftertaste develops into a pleasant sweet grass that gradually fades into an interesting metalic/minal feeling. Teh really interesting thing is that as this development is taking place, it feels like it is climbing the roof of my mouth, something that is certainly unique…I can’t wait for the next cup.

I prepared the second cup a bit differently, using nearly-boiling water and only letting the leaves steep for about 15 seconds. The result is very nice, with a bit of astringency mixed in with the sweetness from before. Actually, that is the only difference: Every part of the flavor has developed some mild astringency. It’s nice, since it adds a new dimension to the flavor and keeps me interested in the tea.

Tea
Mrmopar sent me a few small Tuo cha’s around Christmas (nice of him) so this morning I rinsed one piece for 20 seconds in boiling water, poking it gently with my Puer knife. I used a small pot for brewing tea instead of a Gaiwan.

The steep time was 1 minute because I prefer a strong brew.

Surprisingly, the flavor wasn’t strong but bland. Uninteresting, bland Puer is something I rarely encounter.

Recently, I put together a bin of herbs, spices and berries for adding to tea when I feel like experimenting with flavor.

The list contains:
Elderberry, tulsi and various kinds of mint, goji berries, lavendar, cinnamon bark chips, dry ginger, burdock root, jasmine flowers,
chrysanthemum blossoms, cranberries, orange peel, cassia seeds and cocoa hulls. (Most items cost about $2 an ounce)

I had this blah tasting Puer and I knew that I could do something to improve the flavor with an ingredient from my bin of goodies.
I chose the packet of cocoa hulls and steeped a very small amount in the brew basket with the bland Puer tuo cha.

The addition worked! I created a tasty pot of very Cocoa PU! I added cream and sweetened the cocoa pu to make it even more delicious.

Can’t wait to see what else can be created from this bin of flavor boosters!

Humility:
My daughter called…

“Mom, guess what? We just got a ‘Star Award’ for best Foster Parents and I don’t know what to say? How can I accept the award when I get mad and frustrated at my children and lose it sometimes?”

It didn’t surprise me that she and my son-in-law recieved the award, or that she would say that she didn’t deserve it. People who deserve awards usually don’t realize that what they do is special, or heroic. It’s in their character to go beyond normal.

That same day, she got another call and was informed that they had received ‘Foster Parents of the Year’ for our County.

Now she was complaining again! “How could this be?!”

Blubber, blubber, blubber!

Calmly I explained that life has to have balance. The many nights sitting up with the bi-polar 8 year old who can’t sleep and is bouncing off the walls. The baby on oxygen who was crying. Then I remembered the baby who was thrown out the window and had broken bones, and the many newborns they had nursed off drugs.

The rest is on www.teaandincense.com with a picture…

Thank you mrmopar for this puerh sample tuo cha!

The Tea
This morning, I popped this mini into my purple clay gaiwan, that’s only used for puerh. It was a new tuo cha and I enjoy drinking these when I’ve got a busy day ahead.

As always, I did a rinse, then because the tuo cha was pretty hard I did another quick rinse. I poked the lump of hard leaves a bit after pouring on more boiling water and waited a little more than 30 seconds. (I like to help the steeping along in the beginning)

The wet leaves smelled more like an old book store or library than most. Leather, a little musty and a bit of dirt. Good smells though.

When I sipped my first taste of the dark red brown brew, the liquor was dense like a paint stain, but light and smooth with some faint sweetness.
I expected a cedar flavor which wasn’t present in the tea. No woodsy or earthy flavor, just a mellow…even light American coffee smoothness. Unexpected but nice.

I filled my cup again and again, still holding the same flavor each time without change. A good little tuo cha…thanks mrmopar!

Soapbox
I went to Steepster to begin writing a review about this tea.
When I pulled up the review from the previous evening, something bad had happened.

My review had a comment from someone I didn’t know. He said I was a liar here on Steepster, and that I had an agenda which was to promote only certain tea companies.
It also said that I hide behind my glasses, that I don’t tell the truth about anything. It even misquoted my blog story about the Children’s Shelter Christmas, and said that I beat my children. He said he would like to press charges against me. (The kids were beaten by their parents, not by me!) There was much more!

I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

Several Steepster people saw what was happening, as the attack suddenly went live… and came to my defense, Bless them.

At first I was shocked. Then, I realized that the person had to have planned this for some time. They knew things about me.
A troll or someone with an agenda was out to slam me. But Why?
I chose not to engage with any anger.

So sad for them really. What sadness to carry that kind of poison inside towards others.

You who have known me for the past year have seen me go from Celestial Seasonings Tea, to Davids Tea’s and Kally, Butiki,
Steap Shoppe, Teavivre, Whispering Pines and Verdant to name some of the more common ones. (I’ve left out lots of puer from different sources).

Like you, I drink the tea I like. That’s it.

Some of you love Davids Tea or 52 tea’s or Harney & Son’s. You love what you love. I applaud you for that freedom to choose and I enjoy your reviews. Sometimes, I get to try those favorites of yours in a tea swap!

The comments of the troll disappeared off my reviews. POOF, GONE!
So, I removed my comments also. Why confuse people I thought.

I think this issue isn’t done with. It will probably return.

Other people are going to get slammed or insulted by these trolls now and then so here is what you need to know.

They are not who we are.

We are a kind community and one that is free.

We write our own reviews based on our own opinions and I for one am not for sale, and I can’t be intimidated. I am not afraid of drinking tea and writing honestly what I think. I choose the companies that I buy my tea from.

mrmopar, Indigobloom (who saw what happened) and JC who saw too,
and all the most kind people I’ve ever encountered…and I’m not going to run for the hills in fear.

(Stepping off my soapbox now..) Kumbaya! (Well I do have a sense of humor too!)

Well I got myself bout caught up on all my household duties(I’m a housewife) so I decided to take some time to play Nintendo, Yep! NES Now how do I relate TEA to that, Easy NES Is Japanese(I think) and I know that Legend of Zelda is a Japanese Game so I decided to play the game to the first Dungeon and “Reward” myself with some Japanese tea if I make it :) I made it! and very easily also :) Now this Tea, I it Japanese but I’m not sure who sent me this one I do remember that it was a small amount in a tore up bag so I put it into a small tin for safe keeping.
This tea was very strong with just a short steeping it almost taste like a weak matcha tea but it was pleasant yet very grassy vegetal and really strong green tea taste, I Enjoyed it.
Please look at my screenshots on my blog and share it :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/12/japanese-sen-cha-and-legend-of-zelda-nes.html

A gift from a friend, thank you!

Thank you to all the Veterans who are serving and have served this Country. Thank you to the families who struggle through hardship.

This may be the day that the United States honors Veterans and the day of Honor may be different in other Countries, but the message is the same. Sacrifice and Valor. We show our respect to you all.

My Father, Bill was still in his Navy Uniform when he met my mother at a Canteen for Servicemen in San Francisco.

The War was over and 6 weeks after meeting at the First Baptist Church Canteen on Mission Street, they were married! There wasn’t a day for the rest of their lives that they weren’t crazy about each other.

Dad had been a Radio Operator 1st Class. Morse Code…sometimes decoding dits and dots… 24 hours straight during a battle at places like Iwo Jima. (My father had respect for the Marines!)
My dad blinked and twitched for the rest of his life and was buried with his Navy Honors.

My Grandfather Will was 17 when he enlisted in the Spanish American War in the late 1800’s. He was injured by Gas inhalation in the Philippines. There were no benefits for that kind of injury when he got home from war.
Because he was a good carpenter for the Army, he worked on the grounds of the Vet’s home in Yountville, CA. He was allowed to live in a shack there for the rest of his life. This is where my father was raised and the Cemetary there is where my grandfather is buried.
He used to make the Vet’s caskets. Odd.

During the Vietnam era, I was with my husband at Fort Hood, Texas. We didn’t get to have base housing, and things were pretty dangerous for an interracial couple in 1969. I needed an escort to go to the PX. I was attacked and couldn’t do a thing about it.
The first year of my marriage the military told me not to go to basic training with my husband at Fort Bragg because of the KKK.
So, I went to my parents home and later had our first child like so many military wives, by myself.
My years of living on very little money and other problems wasn’t something that happened at that time to me alone. My story was easy compared to most who were truly suffering.
Military families have always had hard times. Often they must move away from family and friends. They face loneliness, injury, stress and lack of funds.
And the ultimate sacrifice, the loss of a loved one.

Thank you to our Military, Veterans and their Families!

Tea
In 1953 I was ‘5’! Amazing that I was able to drink this tea today!

I rinsed the leaves twice and steeped the tea 30 seconds each steeping in a Gaiwan.

The liquor was light champagne yellow, clear and bright.

The wet leaves had the aroma of wet bamboo, roast meat becoming lighter and sweeter with each steeping.

1. The flavor was very SAVORY! I was surprised at how much flavor there was on this first steeping. I’ve never said that a Pu-erh tastes like bamboo, slightly dry and salty sweet, but this one was. There was a little bit of green bean flavor to it, something unexpected.

2. Now the saltiness was lighter and my tongue tingled. There was some dryness in the front of my mouth with the mix of light green bean and bamboo taste. As the tea cooled it became creamier.

3. The savory quality was softened and the bamboo, sweet grass had smoothed into a ribbon of buttery creaminess that increased as the tea cooled. I could feel the tea coat my lips. The aftertaste became sugar snap pea, fresh off the plant.

I was surprised! How could this 59 year old Pu-erh give off so much flavor?!

I just can’t give anything but the best rating to a tea that has given so much to me. Where has it been? What journey has it been on all these years? And to wind up with me…well, I’m amazed and humbled!

Thank you to my friend! What an honor!

Another unknown blender, I think this was from a small teashop which has since changed management and tea providers! I had been sort of hoarding this, because it is good and I can not find it anymore, but in the spirit of trying to purge the tea collection a bit here goes. Keep in mind this tea is already at least a couple years old, maybe more.

And it´s lovely. Pretty simple, rooibos (feels like a smooth nice one), bits of chopped black chocolate and maybe dried ginger. Some unidentifiable blossoms (ginger?). A very strong taste of ginger, a nice deep chocolate and the melted chocolate adding some texture. A total winner. I am coming to terms with the unlikelihood I will find this again, better enjoy it and wave it goodbye.

From some unknown big blender, seen this mix on several different local teashops, with slightly different spellings.

On the great purge, trying to drink samples and finish teas. This is one of those I still got plenty and wow, it´s not bad enough to throw away and just not good enough for me to have much pleasure in still having so much of it. 50 grams really is the best amount for me to buy tea.

The tea itself is OK. The base is difficult to judge, the chocolate a not particularly strong note, the chillies and pink peppercorns bring it some heat and overpower both the tea and chocolate notes. And not listed anywhere but I would swear there is a coriander (the seeds. Not the fresh plant!) note in the tea. Inspecting the dry tea, some of the “pepper” might indeed be coriander.
In all, a pretty underwhelming flavoured tea.

There are teas so impressive you want to show them off to your friends. But in every tea pantry there’s a baggie of tea that you wouldn’t recommend to other people, but to keep for yourself for those times that all you want is a no-fuss brew and a hot cup at 11 o’ clock, to get yourself ready for lunch. This kind of tea is the latter.

This Tie Guan Yin was a gift from a friend who had worked in Shanghai. It came in a nice flattened cylinder / oval tin, with an image of a goddess/deity (3 guesses who that might be) over a blue green background.

Brewed Western style, thin layer of pellets just enough to cover the bottom of the gaiwan in a single thing layer. Quick rinse, 5s. (In hindsight maybe I shouldn’t have? But rinsing tea is becoming a habit for me now, what with paranoia over pesticides.) Let it sit in the warm gaiwan for half a minute. Then steeped a couple of minutes.

No remarkable smell (there was the Chinese green smell, but I was too lazy to liken it to something poetic. I thought I caught a faint whiff of brownies, or cocoa, but nothing as strong as what I’d get from my Taiwan oolongs). Tea liquid was a pale chartreuse. After the leaves unfurled, there were many whole leaves, but also a few broken pieces. I hate seeing tea bits (torn off leaf portions as large as baby nails). They make me think that it’s not a very good tea.

Taste is as bland as I expected.

Stating this tea tasted earthy would be a huge understatement! I don’t mind though. I’m alone on this one. The rest of the family tasted only a couple times, and is now passing on further tries.

There is a great depth to this tea. I find myself even thinking there is a small amount of grit in the liquid (there isn’t, though). Fermented mulch, definitely mossy, but not a strong fishy taste, was my thoughts while making multiple steepings. There is some kind of foggy swamp aroma that keeps rising from the cup. I don’t mind any of the above mentioned notes. Guess I’m weird like that.

The leaves are midnight colored, the liquid is a light reddish amber. There is a small amount of astringency, if I go past 5-7 seconds on the infusion. The liquid does turn dark very quickly if I let it got to 20 seconds. Looks like I’m going to stop at 8 steepings, and feel that it could have doubled, if not tripled that.

If you are not afraid of tasting through the “dirtiness” of like Shu Pu’erh this can be a nice tea to taste. IF is the key there. :)

A friend sent me a small sample of this, with the description “Indian White.”

It looks like a white peony / bai mu dan – all brittle, flat leaves.

I’m very sad that this is the end of the sample, since I’m on the third steep and still going strong. Really sweet and soft, creamy. It’s almost like sugar snap peas. It sparkles.

Does anyone have any Indian White teas to recommend me? I haven’t tried any outside of this, but I don’t want to let this one go!

My friend who I went to T-buds with swapped with me, and this was one of my prizes! yumm!! thank you G!!
It’s a nice black, a little syrupy but that’s ok it just reminds me of a Congou. Tasted like mango candies.
Off to bed now. I am zonked after spinning class and then an hr walk in the park- phew! zzzz…

Perfect with a bit of sugar. A favorite of mine.

Sipdown! 204/365!

Really no spice left in this tea, though it made a decent cup of drinkable black tea, with no astringency.

I had a quick sip of this before I cream + maple syrup-ed it, and it was actually not bad. Not overly flavourful in terms of spices, but the CTC base had some good malty flavour to it. It was much better with additions though (I had some leftover whipping cream. Yes, that’s what I used. It was great and probably like 5000 calories.)

Thanks for yet another sample Indigobloom!

The dry tea doesn’t have a great deal of aroma, and the aroma once steeped is fairly light and spicy. I would have barely recognized it for a chai, to be honest.

Even after three minutes of steeping, there’s a good bit of astringency (perhaps because it’s ctc?), and the spices aren’t as prominent as I would like. Oddly it does seem a bit creamy to me. I think it needs some milk and sugar to be tasty (although I think they will completely overwhelm the spicing).

Ok, completely forgot about this and it’s cold. I will re-heat and milk/sugar it and perhaps review properly later.

ETA: So I did re-heat and add milk and sugar, and it actually took them fairly well. Quite drinkable that way. So it will definitely get finished. I have to say that’s it’s really nothing special though.