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Thank you mrmopar for this pu-erh sample!

Yikes! What a hardened packet of pu-erh nibs! I had to SOAK the little devils for a bit to soften them enough to break apart, all the while letting no color from the nibs leech into the water.

As I said, “Hard!”

Once they were pliable, color began to swirl rapidly in my glass pot and timing began.

A minute later, I pulled my basket and took a sip of the dark coffee brown liquor.

The flavor was savory mushrooms, sweet and salty. When I moved my head back from the cup, I smelled vanilla tobacco as the scent of the mushrooms mixed with vanilla wafer.

Late in the tasting, the feel of spice tingled my tongue the way cinnamon feels.

I wasn’t expecting this much complexity out of the work I put in breaking up the nibs. They were pretty ugly and the liquor was uninteresting to look at.

People can be like tea. Not much to look at and uninteresting on the surface. Some are very hard and take time to get to know! If time is taken, and if we can look past that initial hardness they can be the most interesting, unique and memorable people of our lives.

Like always, tea is an awesome teacher.

I’m not sure if the “Company Name” would be Three Rivers or what I got this one at an Indian store across town, Its not a chai or anything like that it’s just green tea, i tasted it made straight in the gaiwan and it taste similar to maybe a gunpowder green tea to me,slightly smokey with a pleasant bitter, but when I make it a certain way with a little milk turns Pink somehow.
I had to look online for an better way to make it rather than follow the jar instructions because instructions on the jar was obviously for making a really large amount at once AND the english was so bad I really didn’t know the amounts of water to use.
So I found way to make a smaller amount and I had to show lance and ask him “what color is this tea?” and he confirmed to me that it was Pink tho it looked more reddish to me.
Interesting, i’m really not sure how the Pink colour come about but it does, I also wonder if it is something they did to the tea or can ANY green tea do this when made this way or maybe a white tea?
I’ve googled pink tea and how to make pink tea and I see similar type methods of making it and some of them use Baking Soda to make it turn pink and that confuses me, I didn’t use baking soda.
I poured 300ml filtered water into saucepan with 1/2 teaspoon of the Kashmiri Tea and brought to a boil and let it simmer for 10 minutes, I then added 100ml of cold filtered water to it and brought it back to a boil once again, then I added milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it turned pink.
When it turned pink i added some sweetener and sipped it like a breakfast tea, It didn’t taste bad or super good to me tho i did like it, it just tasted like a strong green tea with milk in it which was something I haven’t had before so it was different.
I’ll drink it sometimes for breakfast if I want something different, I’ll likely not add anything to it to make it a chai tho because I think I like it just plain pink with only milk :)

This tea smells more interesting then it tastes. I never have had a Mojito, so could not tell you if the tea tastes like one. There are subtle hints of lime and mint, (Though the mint impression might be due to my last cup from last night, I may not of washed out the cup and strainer as well as I should of.)
So, I might be inclined to get this one again…we’ll see. (LOL. Got this from my favorite tea store, which while it is a ways from my house, it’s practically down the street from where I am staying this week. I find it amusing that if this tea were from DT, or another tea store that I couldn’t get to without alot of hassle, the lack of interest in it so far would of provoke an automatic ‘no’ in whether or not I would get it again.)

Got this yesterday while hanging out with My Mom for our dual b-days (Mine was the 2nd, her’s is the 3rd.) and took her to my favorite tea store nearby where I am staying this week. I had wanted to get this tea the last time I was there, but it didn’t make the cut list.

The directions say to use 175 F on it, yet the taste is a bit off, like not as flavorful. Kind of like when tea had been boiled when it shouldn’t be. It smells wonderful though. I am kind of picky when it comes to cherry flavored things, whether it’s real cherries or not. But the smell isn’t really cherry-ish to me, it actually smells like caramel. I just wish I knew why the taste is off though. Maybe once it cools off more the flavor will come thru. I could always try to get my Dad to taste it…he loves cherries. Good thing we live in a state known for it’s cherries (Michigan.) smiles

This was a little sample that came to me in a set of itsallabouttheleaf.com review teas, and for the life of me, I can’t remember what company provided it. Do any of you recognize a company whose samples are vacuum-packed in pretty little pink pouches?

Well, whoever provided this gets a salute from me. It’s a medium honey-succulent tea that doesn’t have the mouth-drying astringency of some fancy-schmancy oolongs. Quite pleasant. Looking forward to sleuthing out its origin.

Well, for a bank-busting $3.60 at Fox Farm Whole Foods, I have just embarked on an enjoyable experiment. Based on my consistently positive experience with calendula as a blend-in in many varieties of teas, I wanted to try it on its own. I will likely be trying it for years to come: one packed-tight little bulk bag, loosened, filled two quart jars with nearly a pint of dry leaf left over!

First impression is good. Looks like chamomile in the cup, and tastes similar, but sweeter. Sunshiny and a little coppery without being citrusy, if that makes sense.

Furthermore, according to many magnanimous health claims, this will fix tummy troubles, girl problems, skin wounds, and my dog’s fleas (if I had a dog). According to one recap:

Calendula is so gentle, it is often given to children for upset stomach. It’s astringent and anti-inflammatory properties make it particularly useful for treating heartburn. As a skin wash, calendula stimulates the grows of skin cells to fight wrinkles, keeps complexion smooth, moist, and helps fight acne breakouts. (More info at http://www.calendulatea.net/).

This could be the beginning of an interesting relationship.

steeped about 10 mostly whole cacao beans in porcelain competition tasting set.

nice sweet tea with cacao aroma as expected.

the reason why I am reviewing it here, is because it appears to balance out the side effects of drinking too much caffeinated tea

I drank many cups of dan cong, until my hands were sweaty. just now, I drank a few cups of this, and I feel a pleasant, strengthening warmth along the sides of lower torso. a ‘refueling’ grounding effect. defininitely warming.

It’s me with a new profile picture. My mom and I spent the day enjoying lunch at the Dragonfly Artisan Tea Cottage in Sylvania and shopping. It was lovely.

My mom had me choose the tea today because she says I’m the tea expert :) I chose this because my mom loves fruit teas. It is wonderfully fruity and sweet on its own. I’m learning to enjoy fruit teas more. If you’re ever in the Toledo area, the Dragonfly is the place to go!!

Have you ever had a busy few days, filled with festivities and fun… but when it was over, felt so tapped out that the concept of sleep sounded like the most wonderful thing in the world?
Well that’s me today! Hermit mode. Serves me right for booking almost a week straight of holiday celebrations.

Anyhow, I went for Chinese food yesterday… to sop up some of the alcohol that was consumed over New Years. They served Pu-erh tea, I have no idea what brand. But it was nice to sip on and kept me warm! Smooth and comforting. Though it didn’t go very well with my soup, which came after I had a few cups of tea!

Happy New year everyone!!!

I’m off to bed then. Nap time :)

My second cup of tea today;) Trying to convince myself to start cleaning, because we (My Dad and StepMom) are hosting Christmas Day Dinner and I foolishly volunteered to clean, so I am deliberately having plenty of caffeine. Anyways….(In case it doesn’t say…I’m the one who added this tea. The shop in question is Tranquilitea, in Plymouth Michigan. It is my favorite shop and all the staff that I’ve met are terrific, and their prices are reasonable. Sorry but I cannot supply the link to the shop website, but it is easily googled.

1st Smell: Light and flowery.
1st taste: Coconut. LOL I am not sure why I am getting the impression of coconuts, as that is not among the ingredients. But that is ok, I like coconuts. It also tastes flowery. Not in a overly heavy flower taste, but like the smell, light, unassuming. Definitely going to get this again.

I, too, got a GREAT card from the wonderful and talented card maker otherwise known as gmathis! Mine had the most wonderful olde fashioned black boot on it – I know it belongs to a very elegant and stylish witch – with an adorable green Halloween background full of her tiny monster friends.

I am drinking the oooooooooOOOOooooo-long she included in the card right now, and it’s delightful! A bit roasty and the end of the sip has that greenfloral wonderment that is so typical of oolongs.

Why, why, why don’t I drink more oolongs, this stubborn mule of a tea drinker asks herself?!?!? I am so glad that I have leaves enough for another pot of this. It’s delicious and such a nice change of pace.

THANK YOU GMATHIS!!!!

Everyone is going to be so jelly! My kids and my husband all went off, it is the first chilly day we have had, and I have the house to myself for at least an hour with TEA! And not just any tea, but very exclusive boooo-long tea!

This tea was a surprise gift from GMathis, and it came in the CUTEST CARD YOU HAVE EVER SEEN!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24998856@N06/8067387501/in/photostream/

The dangly spider even MOVES! I squee’ed when I got it! :)

And on top of that, I get a yummy oolong tea. (It was labeled boooo-long. Now how cute is that?)
This is a dark roasted oolong, not a green, and has that baked flavor and heft with a mineral quality that I enjoy, the very thing that makes me crave dark oolongs.

Thank you, GMathis! It is a perfect cup for this rainy, chilly day!

Ah a mystery tea from The Traveling Tea Box! This one came from Sare, from a swap with Rachel Sincere. No company nor ingredients were indicated, just the name “December”. This is made up of short fine black leaves with shreds of spices and possibly fruit. Brewed up this smells like mulled wine and the taste is not that far off, though I would say it is more like mulled cider. But it tastes more familiar than that, like another tea I’ve tried. It took me some time, wracking my brain trying to thing of similar blends I’ve tried, then it came to me it wasn’t a blend, this is Ceylon! Winey, cidery, Ceylon. The other ingredients are really just supporting the tea in this blend. There are some things a like about Ceylon but unfortunately it easily can turn astringent, which is what this one is doing, boo.

I just had two lovely cups (more like Japanese style mugs, glazed pottery with comfy indents on all 4 sides for easy holding) at a local sushi place. So warming and yummy with salmon sushi. Even my husband tried it and liked the roasty flavor as opposed to “plain” green tea.

Just need something sweet, warm, and familiar to clutch. This particular bundle comes from the bulk bin at local Fox Farm.

Counting on it to help unclench a little after a pretty harrowing thunderstorm. Nothing like watching your spouse and son turn gray when the storm sirens activate. Big limbs down in the backyard, half a tree through a neighbor’s roof, but we are safe. Thanking God for safety through this first wave. More fun to come.

This one comes courtesy of Gmathis. She says this is her favorite Cheapster Steepster oolong at an incredible $0.31/oz! Did I read that right?!? That’s $5/lb. This looks like mulch. ha. There are all kinds of different sizes, shapes, and colors in this bag. I steeped about 4 minutes.

This is a prime candidate for a Finum basket. Some of this is very fine and is clinging to the mesh on my press. The way I brewed this it makes a light bodied cup. The taste is similar to Foojoy but lighter. The roasted notes of Foojoy are more toasted here. Actually, it is somewhere in the middle between Foojoy and a genmaicha. It doesn’t have that strong rice flavor but the toastiness is very similar.

After having the strawberry tea just before this one. I am thinking this would make a great base to add some fruit or mint and see what happens. A good bargain everyday tea.

Yum- this is a great afternoon tea. Longjing from this year’s spring sent by a friend.

Nutty and buttery (in a sweet way, not savory) with a texture that reminds me of pudding, plus the background layer of sweet, cool greens. Also a tiny bit of green apple skins.

Yeesh, I have to be careful to leave some buds in the cup to keep steeping and not eat them- they are quite tender and delicious. Looking forward to snacking – er- sipping on this all afternoon. I don’t often find myself in the mood for real Dragonwell (love ya, Laoshan!), so now that I am and I have it in front of me, here’s to soft and sunny!

Again- tea of yesterday evening (iced.. cold press) and first tea of the morning. Much more buckwheat coming out from a long steeping.

Had several cups of this iced (cold brew) last night. I love how well Yunnan Blacks do this way- always refreshing with a really ..uh.. thick mouthfeel (like jelly? but not weird!)

Used more leaves to make a pot of this hot this morning: extreemly strong cereal taste in this one (reminds me of a breakfast of granola, vanilla cream/yogurt, and berries).

:-/

Made this the old stick-in-a-glass-and-keep-drinking-off-of-it method as a personal dare. It was… uh… yep.

EDIT a real tasting note, thanks to Bonnie!
Normally, I wouldn’t have written anything about this, since I tend do go for the “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” approach (if not nice, at least helpful to someone else). But since I’m currently challenging myself to log every tea I drink in a day, no matter what, I couldn’t leave this one out!

Here’s the story:

I still have a few good friends in Qingdao who sometimes send over tea and fun stuff (and we send over chocolates and other fun US stuff). One of my friends is quite a funny gal who isn’t actually a fan a pu’er, but she knows that I am! So in part of a care package that included great TGY and green tea, there was this tea tucked away in a triple sealed bag. How could I resist! It was like a giant “:-P” face..daring me to try it. So we did- it was very funny in how little sense it made. A super duper dark base (not the greatest shu, not revolting but definitely murky..sour…ashy..drying) plus, for no particular reason, jasmine? Honestly, it was much better in a giant mug than it was when I first tried it in a gaiwan. Strangely juicy, with not a trace of jasmine or florals.. why were they stuck into it in the first place? In the mug, they are swallowed up by mud. In a gaiwan, they stick out like a sore thumb from the base.. but so unrelated, it’s more like a disembodied floating sore thumb.

Poor little tuocha- I know the plant that grew its leaves worked hard all season gathering the nutrients to turn into sugars and cell walls and everything needed to make it’s little tea leaves. So full of promise and good things! And someone picked those leaves and pile-fermented them and then said to themselves.. you know what? I’m going to take these jasmine flowers over here, and for no reason at all, I’m going to stick ’em onto this pile ’o leaves and make inexplicable tuochas! My friend also thought is was funny in how inappropriate it was.. but it can only be share through experience.

So here the tuocha’s are.. sitting in a baggie on my desk in all ways like a bad joke. I don’t want to laugh at you but.. there’s something in your complete lack-of-sense that also makes you endearing.. like some sort of terrible internet preposterous joke. I imagine unwrapping you and sticking googly eyes on you: that’s who you are.
http://i.imgur.com/4qiQy.jpg

It’s been quite a while since I tried this tea last, and when I came upon it in the giant TO-DRINK-AT-WORK bag, I giggled and said to myself.. Ok- I dare you! Do it! And I did. And survived with some fun! :-P
http://i.imgur.com/7RGy7.jpg