Various Artists

Time for another Design a Tea sample! This time, I’m trying Apricot Caramel with a green tea base. The green tea leaves are smallish and steamed flat. For some unknown reason, there are rosehips mixed in (and flower petals). I must say, I am getting pretty annoyed with the unnecessary added ingredients (that I didn’t ask for) in these blends. I do not enjoy rose hips, I find them tart and not much else, similar to hibiscus. So please don’t put them in my sample when I didn’t ask for them… Grumble. Anyway… Dry scent is tart apricot with something else I can’t place. I steeped for 3 minutes at 175.

Brewed aroma is apricot with a strange powdered sugary scent. Meh the green tea base is pretty much just grassy and kind of tastes like leaves (imagine that, lol). There’s not enough flavoring here for me, and I mostly just taste the base. Tried adding sugar, and while it did help it taste more like caramel, it muted the apricot. It’s now only present as a sort of apricot jam aftertaste. Meh! Rating would be in the high 60s.

Next sample up from Design a Tea is Vanilla Nutmeg Black! This one was kind of a safe bet for me, as I love vanilla black teas in general and nutmeg is amazing. Visually, this one looks similar to Butiki’s Nutmeg Cream but with smaller leaf pieces (they’re small but not quite fannings like the last one…). It also smells pretty similar – strong nutmeg with lovely vanilla/cream undertones. I’m steeping this one for 4 minutes at 200 degrees.

Once brewed, the vanilla/cream and nutmeg scents are more equal. It smells like some kind of amazing nutmeg vanilla custard pie! Okay, now I need to make one of those… Happily, this cup did not come out bitter at all. The beginning of the sip is mostly nutmeg, and then the vanilla shows up near the middle and continues to the end, which reminds me of creamy vanilla pudding. I actually dared to add some vanilla almond milk to this, which just pushed it over the top. I think I prefer soy milk, but I bought a carton of almond this time to compare. Overall, I’m pleased with this blend! Rating would be in the low 80s. :)

I ordered 5 samples for $5 from Design a Tea, and I feel like it would be silly to add them all into the database, as they’re custom and I will probably only drink them once. So I’m going to log them all under “Random Steepings” and just list the rating at the bottom of the note instead.

First up is “Maple Cider Oolong”. The oolong itself is an oxidized variety. I must say, I’m pretty disappointed by the leaf quality here, my sample is almost all tiny pieces and fannings. These samples come prepackaged in a tea bag, but I cut mine open and used my infuser instead. Well, I definitely regret it now… For some unknown reason, they decided to add chamomile to this blend, and if I had known that, I would have left it in the bag. Chamomile pollen likes to stick in my infuser, even though it’s super fine, and it’s a giant pain in the ass to clean it out. Not off to a good start here, Design a Tea…

Anyway, dry it smells nice enough, sweet and apple-y with maple undertones. I let mine steep for 3 minutes at 200 degrees (the instructions said 3-4 minutes but I didn’t want to go longer with such tiny leaf pieces). Brewed aroma has a lot of chamomile… Now I’m grumpy. I can smell apple and sweet maple too, but the chamomile is strongest.

Even though I only steeped for 3 minutes, it’s a little bit bitter. I do taste some chamomile, but at least it’s not as strong as the smell… The cider flavor is nice, but I don’t really taste maple. I even tried adding a little sugar to see if that would bring it out, but it didn’t seem to help.

Overall, the cider flavor is good in this one, but I don’t taste maple and I’m somewhat upset by the chamomile… Rating would be somewhere in the 65-70 range probably.

So this is an oolong sample I got from the very generous swap I got from Liquid Proust! I hate that it’s taken so so long to get to the teas you’ve sent me. I’ve been having to drink herbals so much lately because my body keeps randomly tensing up…I’m not a fan :( So yeah, sorry,and to anyone else who has swapped with me this year and I haven’t reviewed the teas you gave me. I’m trying new ones when I can but trying to drink the favorites that are caffeinated before they get old, when I can, but most of the time it’s just decaf, low caff, and no caff for me these days. :(
Anyway! Not sure where this is from. The label just says “Premium Oolong Min Shen En” And then he wrote, "Smell it (: " xD So yeah, no idea where it’s from. But finally got to trying it. Was a pretty light oolong over all. A lot of vegetable flavors-not really floral. Just like vegetables…haha, I’m so tired, it’s hard for me to explain how I feel about this tea! XD
Drank the whole cup of it, it had a nice sweet note to it that I rather liked but it wasn’t my absolute favorite. Probably will give the rest of the sample to someone else who would like it more. (: But thanks for letting me try, Liquid Proust!! I am always happy to try more oolongs!

So my dad brought me home this random TGY oolong from China, was a bit nervous that he wouldn’t find the right once since I also had asked him to find me a cheap teapot but he said he couldn’t find any and yeah, there was much confusion over the tea stuff too xD
But alas!
He did find a tea!
Of course he bought me two boxes of it-to all those who follow me on Instagram, I will post of a picture of what he got me later. :P
So when I opened up the package it smelled like floral and like orchard-y. I don’t think that’s a scent, but I can’t explain it. It’s not grass and not like veggies, but it’s like trees and i don’t know.. But like It’s really good smell.
Was nervous about this being a buttery oolong too-but!
It only has a small hint of butter-the main flavor is floral and that like orchard-y taste that I LOVE in oolongs! I steeped it for 5 minutes last time I tried it and like feels no matter how long I actually do it it’s not a super bold TGY,which is disappointing. But hey, it might be a lighter one, but sometimes I am in the mood for a less intense floral oolong. So yeah, I have lots of it soo if you happen to be into the green floral tasting oolongs you should let me know!
I already know I gotta send some to The Cookie Lady since she loves those teas too xD
If you like that kind of tea definitely hit me up even if we happened to have just swapped. It’s in vacuum sealed packaging so like it’s pretty safe even if I sent it to you in a few months. I’m not down for swapping tons at the moment because of my poor health but I’m hoping that I’ll at least catch up on some things so I can do better at swapping and all-but yeah. This tea is a winner! (:

Cookies gave me an oolong…Not really sure what it said on the bag because it’s like in cursive…and though I did learn cursive as a child, I hated it, sooo I really avoided at all costs to write in it. I could read pretty much everything else, but this one tea. Either it’s not in this system or I can’t read it. xD I have no idea.
So I apologize Cookies!
This one wasn’t my favorite anyway. Was mainly roasty and nutty. Kinda like 50/50. Neither one really dominated which was rather nice, I admit. But still not my favorite. Always glad to try another oolong though. So thank you, Cookies! :D

Just tried this sample that that Taiwan tea company sent out to people a few months ago-I can’t find them on here, so I figured I’d just use this. I got their Honey Black tea, and was really excited about it because it sounded like it would be honey-ish. But it just was super roasted….and I don’t like that there were no brewing instructions…that didn’t help either :/ Glad it was just a free sample!

This is from a swap a couple months ago with Steven Cook. He sent me his own blend of Teavana’s Monkey Picked Oolong and Four Seasons Oolong.
The dry leaf and steeping aroma is slightly floral, but not very strong.
The actual taste is kinda the same. Maybe it lost its flavor in the zip lock bag in came in, or maybe it’s old? I’m not sure. :( Bummer about this one though.

Albertocanfly also sent me this tea called “Sleigh Ride” from a company called “The Tea Stove”. She said that it’s from Germany. Since I’m too lazy to make a new tea on here, I’ll just write my note on here.
This is very plum-y. While it is a rooibos, it’s not very woody. The plum flavor hides it well. Plums in my experience are okay, not my favorite fruit. But we used to have a plum tree,so I used to eat them all the time…that is if I could find a good one that the birds hadn’t utterly destroyed!
If you’re looking for a good plum tea, this is the one!
Can’t pick out any other flavors in this tea other than plum. So yeah, it’s interesting. Thanks for broadening my tea horizons, Albertocanfly! :P

This was in my surprise birthday package from The Cookie Lady. She told me she couldn’t remember what it was. And now that I’ve tasted it I think it’s a jasmine tea!
Least that’s what it tastes like to me. Not bad at all!
Plus!
The leaves are rolled up into little pearls, which I really love! They’re so unique and pretty! Thank you for the generous sample, The Cookie Lady! You’re fantastic! (:

http://instagram.com/p/uhdMx6KHPV/?modal=true

So, this is my last tea from my swap with Rie T sadly
The tag on this last tea(which is genmaicha with matcha) it says:
“From my relative. This is very typical genmaicha for home use, with added matcha powder in this version.”

So it’s even more legit! :P
This one isn’t as strong as the other genmaicha teas I’ve had tonight. But it’s not bad. Still has that extra sweetness from the matcha that I really like. Glad I got to try this.
Thank you, Rie T.!

Got a Genmaicha from Mandy in a surprise package she sent to me a month or so ago. It’s from Enjoying Tea.
Actually was in the mood for genmaicha this morning too. Steeped it for like three minutes, and it’s still not very strong for some reason…
Not the best genmaicha that I’ve tried yet….
So my quest for the perfect genmaicha continues!

So here’s quick reviews about two unnamed oolongs that Albertocanfly sent me. Oh how I love mysterious oolongs. :P This is the kind of tea I’m used to drinking-haha!
Also, steeped both of them grandpa style. Just like I used to all the time before I realized steeping times existed.
So the first one is pretty roasty. Not overly so, but enough to be the main flavor of it.
Second was pretty green-y. Pretty grassy. Definitely not my kind of oolong. xD
Not my favorite oolong but I definitely enjoyed trying them! It’s been a while since I drank oolong. But it’s nice to go back to my first love in the tea world :P

In addition to the indian white, I also got a Chinese black, a Kukicha, and a matcha covered Genmaicha. The Chinese black, labeled only as such, is smoky, woodsy, and floral. I expect it might be a Keemun. Nevertheless, it reminds me of spring in the Olympic mountains. Wild flowers abundant, evergreens standing crisply in the chilly air, perhaps near a campfire. Lovely tea so long as I am careful not to steep it. The Kukicha tastes like a warm chocolate chip cookie without the chocolate, and it can take some steeping abuse. A wonderful tea, as well.

I’ve been eyeing up the Scarlet Jasmine blend on Teavana’s website, which I suspect is just Dragonfruit Devotion and Jasmine Pearls. It sounds like an awesome combination, but I don’t want to buy 100g of it. So last night I mixed Dragonfruit Devotion and three pieces of DAVIDs Butterfly Jasmine tea to see if the flavour combination did work.

It was a little tarter than I would have ideally liked, but overall, jasmine green tea with a good fruit tisane is a winner in my books. The floral jasmine goes really nicely with fruit flavours.

I might pick up Teavana’s blend at some point, if I can find someone local to split it with (or if it ends up on sale) but for now I think I can make due with blending something similar at home.

I had a craving for a simple, roasted oolong to go with dinner. My stomach is still a bit off, and making a pot to drink grandpa style just sounded soothing.

I tossed the rest of my Metropolitan Tea Co Formosa Oolong into my pot, but I barely got a teaspoon out of it after shaking out some of the dust, so I topped it up with two teaspoons of Sea Dyke China Fujian Oolong.

This made for a pretty tasty pot – roasty, nutty, simple and soothing. I’m not sure if the Formosa Oolong improved the Sea Dyke oolong, or if I’m just developing more of a taste for roasted oolongs, but I really enjoyed this.

I threw my Yunnan Dian Hong Golden Tips (Teavivre) and North Winds (Whispering Pines) leaves together for a second steeping, and made it into a delicious latte. Yum yum!

A friend brought over a really nice blend of green mate, ginger and cardamom for my party today. I’m not usually a mate drinker, but I had to try this. It was incredibly strong and kind of bitter, but with sugar and diluted 50/50 with water it was quite delicious.

Last night we went to Infernos for a family holiday dinner. In addition to the wonderful food, and the ridiculously, unnecessarily large slice of chocolate ganache (I ate the whole thing anyway), I had a nice prickly pear green tea. I get excited by fruit flavoured greens that don’t just taste generically fruity. :P It was pretty good though probably not something I would be inclined to reach for.

A back log from the other day.

I’m not sure why, but looking through my bag of small samples and near sipdowns, I discovered that I had less than half a teaspoon each of a few teas. Why?? So incredibly pointless. I have no idea why I didn’t just overleaf my last cup of those and shorten the steeping time a bit.

Anyway, I had a wee bit of DAVIDs Saigon Chai, which I was unimpressed with, a wee bit of DAVIDs Glitter and Gold, which is nice. I threw these together with a bit of Two Guys’ Tea Vanilla Chai to round out the dry leaf and ended up with quite a pleasant, creamy cup. A mellow and enjoyable chai.

And yay! Two sipdowns in one cup. I might buy Glitter & Gold again, and I’m glad to be rid of the Saigon Chai.

Though this is our third Christmas together, this is the first year going to my partner’s family dinner. It was pretty epic – so many kinds of meat, amazing borscht, home made perogies, just a mountain of food. It was a great meal and nice to meet that part of the family.

After dinner I ate a stack of buttercream brownies, and had a lovely tea from Greece. Not sure exactly what it was – a black with grapefruit, vanilla and a peppery note. Quite floral too. Very nice.

I feel old – it’s only 8:30 and I’m pooped.

We went out for Somali food for the first time today, to a little restaurant that opened recently. We were served a delicious clear broth with lemon and meat samosas to start. My sweetie ordered kalaankal, a dry beef stew, and I had grilled king fish, which was salty and heavily spiced. Dinner came with muufo flat breads, similar to Indian chapati. Everything was delicious.

After the meal, the owner brought out shaah, Somali tea. This is a really strong black tea similar to chai. Heavy on the cinnamon and clove, with ginger, cardamom, maybe nutmeg and black pepper. Very sweet – not quite syrupy, but thick and very strong tasting, with a spicy kick. Amazing! So delicious.

If you ever get the chance to try this, definitely do.

Today we checked out a little hole in the wall Chinese restaurant for dinner, and it was pretty excellent. Good pho, Shanghai noodles, ginger beef and these spectacular fried jumbo shrimp. Mmmm. The accompanying tea was just jasmine bagged tea, I think the stuff that comes in the yellow box with the red and white writing, but it was a pretty great accompaniment to a good meal.

We went for Korean barbecue and all you can eat sushi for lunch yesterday. It was fantastic – I’m always impressed when an all you can eat place does sushi well. Chopped scallop, shrimp tempura and tamago maki, red snapper, salmon, and tuna nigiri, goma ae, tempura, wakame salad, fried smelts, corn croquet, and lots of grilled meat and veg. A nice genmaicha was the perfect accompaniment.