Various Artists

Week #4 of Tea 103 PT2:

These cuppings are from last Tuesday, I just felt too tired after class to break them down here on Steepster after going over them more in depth during class. Remember, the “theme” for the week was ‘pairs’ – so the last two pairs I had to cup were a lightly and darkly roasted oolong, and a 1st and 2nd flush darjeeling.

Starting with the oolongs; I think this was my favourite of all four cuppings that week. Both the light and darkly roasted oolong tasted absolutely phenomenal! The lightly roasted oolong was one I’d done during a previous week and my observations about the taste were basically the same thing. Umm, notes on that here:

http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/313816#likes

Obviously, the visual difference between the light oolong and dark was the most noticable; from dry leaf appearance (beautiful forest green twisted leaves to a more mulched up, flaky roasted brown) to the infused liquour. The taste contrast was huge too; the darker oolong actually reminded me a lot of Butiki’s 1991 Da Ye Aged Oolong just not quite as nice but it had those wonderful petrichor, wood/bark, butter, dill, and roasted peanut notes I get from the Aged Oolong. Not gonna lie; that kind of tea could maybe be a bit of an aphrodisiac for me. Screw chocolate and wine!

The oolong pairing was the one I got to discuss in class too; so my teacher and the other students got to hear me wax poetic about oolong in probably just slightly too much depth for too long a time – but damn that pairing was wonderful. For exam week next week we have to do a presentation comparing and contrasting a ‘pair’ of teas (could be the Ceylons, Kenyan Teas, Darjeelings, Oolongs, or Chinese and Japanese Green teas) and this is the one I’m leaning towards doing, though I think it might be the ‘obvious’/easiest one just because of how drastic the difference is.

The last pairing for the week was the 1st and 2nd Flush Darjeeling; and to be honest I know Darjeeling teas I supposed to be very prized, but I just didn’t like this pairing. In fact, it was my least favourite of the week. However, I think I also learned the most from it – I wasn’t aware not all Darjeeling has that ‘praised’ muscatel note to it, and that’s actually a trait associated with 2nd flush Darjeeling. Visually, I don’t think I’d be able to differentiate the brewed liquor from one another but I was impressed with myself that I could tell the difference between the dry leaf: the 1st flush had greener leaf than the 2nd flush. Honestly, I thought I was reading into things too much with that observation but after the cupping I read the ‘follow up’ notes we had and that was the correct visual indicator, so go me. The first flush was my least favourite of the two (though not by much) – according to the readings from class most people find it to be the ‘superior’ flush of Darjeeling but the simple floral and mildly earthy flavour kind of bored me. The 2nd Flush was very raisiny – probably why I didn’t like it much either to be honest. That favour just doesn’t appeal to me. It also had some acidity, and a note that made me think of rye bread.

Also got more details about the blind cupping we have to do next week: this time I’m allowed to see the steeper liquor (I wasn’t for Tea 101) but I have to identify more than just the generic tea type: I actually have to pinpoint the variety and what makes it different. So, basically, I have to be able to say “Kenyan CTC” or “High Grown Ceylon” and not gonna lie I’m slightly stressing. I just hope my palate is good enough to pick up on the subtle differences.

Week #4 of Tea 103:

Aside from the bagged/loose English Breakfast homework assignment there are eight different teas to do cuppings for this week – and the focus/‘theme’ of the week is “pairs” so those eight teas are split into four groups. Today I did half of them, and I’ll do the other half before class on Tuesday.

The first set was Kenyan Teas; a CTC and an Orthodox. About 5% of tea Kenya produces is Orthodox, and the rest is black CTC for commercial use. My understanding is that while ‘tea’ is a fairly large industry in Kenya, there’s not much of a “tea culture” between the people themselves? Someone please correct me if I’m wrong – I just found that fact rather interesting.

I found the flavors of this pairing were strikingly similar with one major difference; while both shared major flavours such as raisin, citrus, and malt the orthodox was more naunced and had other flavours such as baked bread, cinnamon, and honey and was sweeter overall. The CTC on the other hand didn’t quite taste ‘bitter’ but was much more intense and focused on those three initial flavors that nothing else was present except for an almost vinegary sourness/acidity. It was also fairly astringent. I did prefer the orthodox for the nuances but both teas were in my opinion quite well done with very rich flavours. I think this CTC may be one of the best ones I’ve tasted; certainly within class but I think in a broader sense too.

The second pairing I did today was a high and low grown Ceylon tea. I wish I knew the specific region (for example Uva or Dimbula for the high grown or Rahuna for the low) but I don’t; I’m gonna inquire about it in class on Tuesday, though. This pairing definitely wasn’t as good as the Kenyan in my opinion; but I did find it interesting how big the visual difference in dry leaf appearance was; the low grown was much more wiry/spindly and a more uniform, even colour while the high grown was broken into smaller leaf pieces and had a greater colour range; it also opened up MUCH MORE when steeped while the low grown stayed very spindly but got longer.

The highgrown tasted so boring to me; it had a very light fruity sweetness as well as some light malt notes and a much greater, but still quite delicate, floral flavour. I can see why it’s so often used in blending/for flavored blends. It was just too thin tasting for me though, and I was eager to move on. The low grown definitely tasted richer and more full bodied to me; it still had floral notes but was more malty and sweet with a nuttyness that reminded me of walnut. By far my favourite of the two infusions.

My Dad and my nephew were in town yesterday, so before work they took me out for tea/brunch at my favourite restaurant in town – it’s called Prairie Ink and it’s located inside a McNally Robinson’s which just makes it infinitely better in my opinion. What’s better than tea and books?

I ended up getting a pot of a loose blend called “Ruby Chai”; since McNally’s has this huge Tea Forte display I incorrectly assumed that it was a Tea Forte blend but I just checked both the Steepster database and Tea Forte’s website and they don’t carry a blend by that name so who knows what the company was, hence why I’m logging this here…

Anyway; as someone who’s not really into Chai that much I quite enjoyed this one. Probably ‘cause the clove in it was very intense, as was the cinnamon but the taste of ginger was incredibly mild. It also used a rooibos base which I wasn’t expecting (but I suppose is probably where the name comes from) though I do think it provided a nice change from the little Chai I do drink, which is typically black. It was a relatively simple blend overall though and just right for brunch with family before work.

Summary of Tasting Notes from the last three cuppings for Week 3 of “Tea 103”:

The final three cuppings I had to do were an Orthodox Assam, 2nd Flush Darjeeling, and a lightly oxidized oolong. Regarding the oolong, my ‘prof’ said she wasn’t 100% sure what kind of oolong it was, but that the flavour profile was very similar to Tung Ting. I actually liked all three of these teas, which means when combined with the Pai Mu Tan I did earlier in the week there wasn’t a single tea I didn’t like – though I’d definitely say the darjeeling was my least favourite and the oolong my favourite.

The Orthodox Assam had very generic Assam notes; malt, cocoa, honey, etc. so nothing really particular to note with that one.

The Darjeeling displayed characteristic Darjeeling notes; a muscatel/raisin note which was really pronounced with this one and some spicier/cinnamon type notes. But the most note worthy thing was the strong metallic taste – it reminded me of pennies. When I brought this up in class today I was told I was probably interpreting the astringency and the way it made my mouth feel as metallic – and honestly I kind of felt like that generalization devalued my taste experience. I’m familiar enough with ‘astringency’ to know it when I’m experiencing it, and this brew wasn’t actually really astringent at all. More than that, what we’ve learned in class is that astringency differs from bitterness because it is a feeling and not a flavour, and I not only tasted those metallic notes but I could smell them too.

The oolong was really lovely; the quality of some of the leaves/teas we’ve cupped have been a bit questionable (I’d call out the black teas over anything else, to be honest) but this was definitely a very nice oolong. The leaves were very long, and finely twisted up and were this really beautiful dark green colour. The flavour was initially very floral, but transitioned into a smokier toasty finish with really pronounced buttery artichoke notes. Absolutely delicious! And, I get to taste the same tea again this week so I’m really excited for that.

Had my second class for the current Tea Sommelier module I’m taking, Sensory Development, this afternoon;

The instructor for this module is definitely pretty interesting; while the Tea 101 instructor was great he didn’t do much of anything to engage the class in any sort of discussion, in fact we were all muted in our online meeting. Instead, in this class we were actually called upon to discuss some of the different tastings we did this week (olive oil, water, chocolate, and coffee). In particular, I got to discuss this week my observations with the chocolate tasting; and one of the things I learned this week was that despite always thinking of myself as someone who “doesn’t like dark chocolate” my favourite I tried was an organic, fair trade 85% dark chocolate that, thanks to all the practice doing this with tea and a crash course on professional chocolate tastings, I was able to break down as having a berry-like fruitiness to it which was very enjoyable.

And now I’m finally into the part of this module where I’ll be actually doing tea tastings! We’re tasting four different teas this week, and I’m quite happy to see that they appear to be a step up from the teas tasted in the Tea 101 module; we’ve been given more information about each of these teas we’re tasting, and the varieties of tea are a bit more specified from things other than “Pu’Erh” or “China Green”.

I still have three of four teas left to taste, but I started after class with the cupping for a Pai Mu Tan. The recent, albeit small, journey of ‘self discovery’ I had with white and yellow peaches and my relationship with both couldn’t have come at a better time – with the tasting of this tea I found it to have very strong hay/straw notes and a floral quality and sweet peachy finish in line with white peaches that I felt I could better appreciate now, after that discovery, than I would have been able to appreciate prior to that breakthrough.

I also feel like my understanding of why people tend to describe the fruityness of white tea (or even green tea and less oxidized oolong) as “peach” more than any other fruit was strengthened after learning that white peaches have a more naturally floral flavour to them. If these are all teas that taste relatively floral then it makes sense for the fruit they’re tied to/compared with to have a more naturally floral taste to it as well.

I still prefer Yin Zhen/Silver Needle to Pai Mu Tan/Bai Mu Dan though.

So this review is for the Twisted Tea “Hard” Iced Tea alcoholic drink…

I did search the database to see if it was there, but I couldn’t find it and I decided I didn’t really want to create an entry for an alcoholic drink though I still wanted to review it.

http://www.twistedtea.com/sites/all/themes/twisted/images/flavors/original_bottle-flair.png

My Dad, I guess, bought one of the six packs of bottle when he found out I was coming up for a few days – and since getting up he’s been asking me at just about every meal if I wanted to try one; each time I’ve denied and opted to drink the tea I’ve brought with for the trip. But today is my last day here so I’ve caved and am now having one with lunch.

It’s… Not really my thing.

You can’t taste the alcohol at all; and I don’t know whether that’s necessarily a pro or a con but the “tea” taste is weird. It’s very sharp with a sour note to it, and incredibly sweet. Like Southern Sweet Tea with lemon I guess. Except, there’s barley and ‘added malt flavour’ in the ingredients list and I can taste both of those things as well and I feel like the really shouldn’t be here.

Oh well; I guess it’s cool that my rather conservative father was alright with his “little girl” sharing a drink with him. I know I had my first drink around him when we went to see Cirque de Soleil and that was kind of weird ‘cause I’m the one who ‘broke that seal’ (or whatever you want to call it) by ordering it. This is almost weirder though ‘cause it’s him offering it?

I’ll stick to my personal favourites in the future though; Gin and Schnapps.

Just finished the blind cupping portion of my three part class exam!

I had to enlist the help of my Dad and Step Mom since I wasn’t allowed to visually see the dry leaf, steeping instructions, infused leaf, or tea liquor. Basically; I got blind folded and had to identify five teas based on smell and taste. A Pu’erh, Black, Oolong, Green and White.

My guesses…

A) Pu’erh
B) Black
C) Green
D) Oolong
E) White

The only one/s I wasn’t 100% sure about were the green/oolong. The oolong we did for this class is a very green one; the only real “tip off” being that it’s rather floral. So when I tried the green I thought that maybe there was a chance it was the oolong – but then after trying the oolong I knew 100% which was which because I could taste the contrast.

Now I just have to do a multiple choice portion, and a Skype Presentation. I’m confidant I’ll kick ass though! As soon as I have officially “passed” I can register for the next class as well. Right now I’m tied between these two: “From Bush to Cup” and “Sensory Development”. Any thoughts on which I should do next?

True story; every time I go to search for this one I write out “Random Sampling”. Don’t ask me why my brain can’t comprehend that that’s not the name…

This is pretty well just my backlogged summary from last week’s Tea Class though; the focus was on visually identifying different grades of black tea. We did a PF, BOP, CTC, FTGFOP, and SFTFOP – personally I thought it was way too many broken grades. I mean, realistically, I think it’s more valuable to be able to differentiate the whole leaf/orthodox grades…

That said; the BOP and the SFTGFOP were my favourites. The FTGFOP was the same Orthodox Black we’ve been doing every week and it was alright as well. The other two broken leaf grades were hardly even drinkable to me. Far, far too bitter and astringent. Of course, they were sure to drill into our memories during class that a better grade doesn’t necisarrily equal a better taste which is definitely true; but I think in this case it was safe to say the better grade teas were also the better tasting.

This week is exam week! I have to do a blind folded cupping and identify five teas (gonna have to get my Dad to help with this; thankfully I’m visiting for the next three days – if I wasn’t I’d be screwed ‘cause Tre’s on vacation), and then a written exam before Tuesday and then a presentation on Skype. So, three part exam. But I’m confidant I’ll do well.

Finished the last 3/7 of this weeks cupping for class today a few hours before the actual class. For some reason they were all deeply unsatisfying, especially the Pu’erh which was my favourite of last week’s teas.

The Pu’erh was confirmed, like I expected, in class tonight to be a Sheng Pu’erh, though my instructor did not know the exact age of it – but suspected it to be a young one. What killed it for me this time around with the cupping was that I couldn’t get over the finish which tasted profoundly like sea salt to me! Bleck.

We also revisited the same Orthodox Assam, and I felt I made the same observations this week as last week – it was pretty good. Though it pales in comparison to the Yun Nan Dian Hong I had earlier in the week.

And finally, we did a CTC (also from Assam) which I thought was just terrible. I’ve had CTC from Butiki before; same very uniform crushed black tea balls/pellets that look more like fish food than tea – and they weren’t bad! We were told to expect some “mild astringency” with this one, and I’m sorry but the level of bitterness and astringency was not, in any definition of the word, mild. My first reaction for this one was to immediately spit it out. Which I did, on to the kitchen floor…

Class was otherwise pretty good; other than a few terms used to describe dry leaf in more of an industry setting I did feel like a lot of this week was review for me. Next week I think will be better; the focus is more on tea grading and while I’m familiar with the terms used for grading I have less of a familiarity with what these grades actually look like in practice so I’m excited to visually see some of the grades (I’m sure I’ve seen them before; they’ve just not been pointed out).

It did make me pretty sad when my instructor said that yellow tea isn’t visited at all within the Tea Sommelier course; we’ve been studying/learning about it but it wont be tasted. Such a bummer since I’ve enjoyed the yellow teas I’ve had so much.

I did 4/7 of this weeks cuppings for class this afternoon. I have such a bad caffeine buzz going on right now; I feel like I should be doing something super productive like running a marathon or filing taxes or something. At the same time, I feel like I could keel over any minute and have a heart attack…

I don’t want to post the whole cupping sheets from the ones I reviewed today, like I did with last week’s teas so I guess I’ll just summarize key stuff.

I did the same Silver Needle and Ti Kuan Yin as last week – the purpose of which was to go back and see what new things we could notice, especially now that we’ve done more readings. This week’s reading was basically a super big glossary of descriptive terms used for cupping/professional tastings – many were already familiar to me through reviewing here on Steepster but there were some new ones, mostly in regard to how to describe the dry leaf appearance of tea. I still really liked the silver needle, though something about the oolong tasted different; it was almost sweeter and more fruity trying it this time.

The big thing from this week was the green tea; in addition to learning about tea tasting terminology we learned more about the process of making each type of tea from picking it until the finished process. Part of this was doing a side by side comparison of a Chinese pan fried green and a Japanese steamed green (a sencha).

I really didn’t like the Chinese one, but I did feel like I made leaps in my understanding of nomenclature for green teas. I’ve always had a harder time describing green tea. Comparatively, I found the Japanese one much, much more enjoyable and it caused me to have an epiphany of sorts. It’s always been obvious to me that green tea is my least favourite type of tea but I know there are some exceptions to that; matcha, Genmaicha, Hojicha primarily. Well, all of those are kinds of Japanese green tea which is something I’d never noticed before. Steamed > Pan Fried, I guess. It’s neat knowing that maybe I just need to put more effort into exploring that class of green tea though, instead of somewhat writing off the type all together.

Gotta do the last three cuppings on Tuesday; two different black teas and a Pu’Erh.

Did the last three cuppings for class this afternoon…

Silver Needle China White #1

DRY LEAF APPEARANCE:
Thin, slender leaves with fine, delicate fuzz/down. A very pale green colour primarily.

WET LEAF APPEARANCE:
Leaves no longer look fuzzy; and have hardly expanded. They’re a more distinct pea green with browned ends.

INFUSED LIQUOR ANALYSIS:
Translucent liquor; very soft and pale yellow colour. Next to no sediment.

AROMA ANALYSIS:
Light, sweet aroma of blooming flowers and honey.

FLAVOUR ANALYSIS:
Very delicate with sweet floral and fruit notes. Distinctly honeysuckle with light, fresh lemon and vanilla notes. Silky mouthfeel & refreshing.

Gunpowder China Green #1

DRY LEAF APPEARANCE:
Very small, fine tightly rolled medium green coloured leaves. Pellet/ball shaped and fairly uniform.

WET LEAF APPEARANCE:
Leaves have unraveled from their tightly wound balls; but aren’t as expanded as they perhaps could be. Thin/narrow strands. A khaki green.

INFUSED LIQUOR ANALYSIS:
Brighter, golden yellow/green liquor. Very clear.

AROMA ANALYSIS:
Smokey and vegetal; with a bit of a buttery steamed artichoke scent.

FLAVOUR ANALYSIS:
Smokey and nutty with a sharper green grass flavor. Peppery, with a coppery/metallic tasting finish. Semi-tannic.

Ti Kuan Yin Oolong

DRY LEAF APPEARANCE:
Semi-rolled tea leaves; vaguely pellet shaped. Varying green hues but predominantly olive. Some brown.

WET LEAF APPEARANCE:
Mostly unfurled leaves; still largely olive in colour with brown parts. Leaves are either full/unbroken or mostly unbroken.

INFUSED LIQUOR ANALYSIS:
Very clear, pale yellow green colour. Fine bits of sediment at the bottom of the brewing vessel.

AROMA ANALYSIS:
Dominated by roasty notes with some floral notes shining through. Has a bit of a fresh cut grass smell.

FLAVOUR ANALYSIS:
Roasty/nutty top notes that spread into the body, which tastes sweeter and vegetal. Floral finish with magnolia like notes.

I liked both the Silver Needle and the Ti Kuan Yin, but didn’t like the gunpowder at all. It was also the blend that, out of the five, I struggled with describing (the aroma and taste; visually it’s very easy to describe) the most.

I just finished the first two of five cuppings/tastings for my Tea Sommelier Course. Tomorrow is the first online/group class, and we’re supposed to have tried the five teas provided for this one as well as completed assigned reading.

I did the reading a few days ago because they sent a digital copy to everyone in the class; but I couldn’t do the cuppings until today because the tea hadn’t arrived in the mail yet. As is, I wont be able to do them all tonight – so I’m doing three tomorrow afternoon. We’re trying, essentially, one thing from each class of tea: A Black Orthodox Assam, a Chinese Pu’Erh, Gunpowder (Green), Ti Kuan Yin, and a Silver Needle.

The cupping sheets we have to fill out are pretty straight forward; it’s actually essentially what I’m doing here on Steepster every day but a lot more structured and brief. We don’t really have a reference to go off, so I hope I’m filling everything out adequately. Tonight I did the black tea and the Pu’Erh because I was in the mood for something darker. It’s definitely irritating me a little not knowing as much about each specific tea as I want to; there’s no associated company, no real ‘name’ (my Pu’erh is literally labelled China Pu’erh #1), and really any of the stuff I’m used to being able to pull up on a whim here on Steepster. But, I guess that’s the point really – I have to learn to identify these teas without those kind of aids.

Anyway, here’s my cupping info for “Black Orthodox Assam”…

DRY LEAF APPEARANCE:
Smaller cm sized leaves ranging from darker brown/black colour to bright auburn.

WET LEAF APPEARANCE:
Tawny/red/brown leaves. Flecks of olive green present on some of the leaves. Majority have opened up, but don’t occupy much more space.

INFUSED LIQUOR ANALYSIS:
Clear red/amber colour which leaves a copper tint along the wall of the cup. Minimal sediment.

AROMA ANALYSIS:
Strong notes of cocoa with malt and raisin notes offering support. Very rich and full bodied smell.

FLAVOUR ANALYSIS:
Less defined cocoa notes; more malty, with raisin and nutty finish. Pleasantly astringent.

I wasn’t a huge fan of “Black Orthodox Assam” – certainly not the worst black tea I’ve ever experienced (I can’t actually recall a “worst” but it definitely wasn’t this) but it just seemed kind of run of the mill?

And here’s the cupping info for “China Pu’erh #1”…

DRY LEAF APPEARANCE:
Small, semi-broken leaves; different shades of umber. Almost seem to have a worn look. Some visible stems in the leaf.

WET LEAF APPEARANCE:
Very dark brown/black colour. Almost like velvet. Minimal leaf expansion.

INFUSED LIQUOR ANALYSIS:
Muddy, opaque espresso colour. I can’t see the bottom of my brewing vessel. Hard to tell if there’s sediment.

AROMA ANALYSIS:
Strong scent of wet soil and mildew; like old books from an attic. A little woody, with some sweetness.

FLAVOUR ANALYSIS:
Sweeter cocoa and leather top notes. Very earthy foundation; still rather damp soil taste. Refreshing and rich.

I definitely hope my instructor has an appreciation for more poetic language/descriptions like “old books from an attic”. Also, this one was significantly better than the black tea. The tea they’ve sent is more than enough to do each cupping so I’ve been wondering what I’m going to do with it – because there’s obviously going to be a lot of it, but this one I’m totally confidant I will drink it all.

Very excited, and nervous about tomorrow though! Hopefully class #1 goes well!

Mystery bagged Earl Grey!

So last week when the construction on the floor for my landlord’s half of the house was really, really bad (ie. migraine creating loud) I ended up going to work an hour early because I just couldn’t handle that level of noise so early in the morning. Ten is was too early for drilling! On a day off, I would’ve still been sleeping!

I ended up running into Chef Darcy before he’d started his shift; for whatever reason he was also there an hour early. He bought me a tea from the coffee bar, and we sat and talked about art culture within Saskatoon and Regina (where I grew up) and the differences, and he showed me photos of his art, which was stunning of course. It’s weird how we have such similar but also drastically different styles. For one, I primarily work in clay (though his only exposure to my art has been the dry erase drawings I do on the board for the classes he teaches) and I like to incorporate mythology and the idea of innocence/purity into my art work and it seems like the themes of his art seem to be the overlap between nature and technology. But visually, the style is very similar. I think we both really heavily love surrealism, Pop-art, and neo-dadaism, and cool colours. Though I saw some cubism in his paintings too.

As for the tea, it was… Well it was lower quality bagged bergamot, pretty much. I’m guessing it was probably Compliments’ brand (the Sobeys ‘name’ brand) because it’s one of the few ‘flavored’ teas carried by that brand, and it’s probably dirt cheap too. Which would make sense seeing as tea and coffee are sold for only 50 cents to staff. Ultimately, I don’t know though…

Mine was heavily drowned out with milk to cancel out the nasty bitter taste. The point wasn’t the flavour though – it was sharing a warm cuppa before work with a friend, and having an awesome conversation we wouldn’t have otherwise had I not been in the right place at the right time.

So last Saturday, Sobeys was hosting this weird “Food Fair” event where we basically sampled out a WHOLE BUNCH of the new summer food/stock – it was the perfect day to forget to pack a lunch. We were one of two stores in Western Canada picked to do it, or something like that? That’s kind of cool I guess.

Some of the things I got to try (there were a few other things, but they weren’t vegetarian) were:

- Rootbeer Flavored Zevia (A “healthy” kind of pop made with Stevia)
- Some kind of really fancy corn chip from the Gluten-free part of the store
- Brie cheese topped with sour cherry preserve
- Raspberry & Cream Italian soda
- Watermelon w. Balsamic dressing
- Pecan topped ice cream
- A savory grilling cheese
- Vegetarian spring rolls w. mango

And, tea related, a peach infused iced green tea that we’re going to be selling at our coffee bar all summer (along with the Italian sodas)!

Visually, this definitely looked like green tea – it was a surprisingly dark, spinachy green colour. However, it just tasted like artificial peach which was pretty disappointing. Like, the “flavour shot” was so sweet/strong it drained out any of the green tea’s flavour and it just wasn’t a good flavour to begin with.

Still, this was the most popular flavoured iced green tea we sampled out – and I guess I can see why. A lot of the people who actually ended up buying a full sized one were the sort of type that (and I know I’m totally stereotyping here) seem like they’re into green tea for the ‘health perks’ and not the tea itself. So this was something easily justifiable as “healthy green tea” despite sugary additives…

This is a sipdown, however I don’t get the satisfaction of removing this tea from my cupboard since it never made it into my cupboard in the first place.

What is this a sipdown of? Well, back in January I spent some time at my mother’s for a late Christmas and I stole a small sample of a mystery Bi Luo Chun that she got from China a few years ago when she was visiting. I had totally forgotten about the sample until today when, while looking for something to drink, I found the unmarked tin I had put it in a shoved way into the back of my sipdown/sample drawer.

Unfortunately I don’t really have any information about this tea other than that it’s Bi Luo Chun and also probably significantly old. Back in January, when I asked my Mom about it, she said she didn’t really know much but was served it at a restaurant or cafe or something and bought it ‘cause she thought it was decent. Apparently, it didn’t cost much; like a dollar or two for a giant, probably close to 250g bag – I don’t know if that’s because it’s cheap quality or because she actually bought it in China or…?

The entire bag is written in Chinese with Chinese characters except for “Bi Luo Chun” scrawled across it. I wish I’d taken a picture back in January, but I didn’t think to. Visually, the leaf is a darker emerald/forest green colour and kind of formed into very loose balls? It smells fresher than I’d expect given its age (probably like three years old).

Since I took enough leaf for about a pot of tea, that’s what I made it as today. For someone who isn’t really a big fan of green tea but who has been significantly more open to it this year and who is, slowly, learning to appreciate it I thought it was pretty good. It had a very, very nutty flavour – more so than I’ve experienced with most straight/non-genmaicha green teas. This was supported by some buttery and spinach like notes and some crisp sweetness that reminds me of snap peas and flowers.

Unfortunately, there was some bitterness that cut into the otherwise nice flavour profile. It was especially apparent in the last two of five tiny cups that I enjoyed. It also began to pick up an increasingly grassy borderline “bug spray” like flavour? In the end I had enough in my pot left for ‘half’ of a sixth cup but I just decided it wasn’t worth drinking it.

Never the less, I appreciated getting to learn from this mystery tea! I do wish I knew more about it, but it comes from a time where I had virtually no interest in tea at all (my how that’s changed) so the last thing on my mind when my mom went to China was to make sure she brought tea home and learned as much about it as possible…

This note is for “Compliments” brand Iced Tea;

Compliments is the Sobey’s “house brand” that the store carries (along with Sensations, Balance and Signal). I had a can of it last week during the Sobey’s Staff Easter dinner/lunch. And, as much as I want to be able to say good things about it because I work at Sobeys and we sell it I really just can’t…

If you’ve ever had Nestea or Brisk (like I’m sure many of us have) you know it’s not the best quality iced tea out there; it’s super sugary/sweet and doesn’t really taste a whole lot like tea to begin with. Well, this was exactly like that but with a watered down (but still very artificial/sugary) taste. Lower quality Brisk/Nestea, essentially.

The Staff dinner was nice though; they had tons of different platters of fruits and veggies and wraps and meats as well as a shit ton of Easter candy/treats. And I know it was all food from the store, but it still took the people who assembled it all for us quite a bit of time and work – so it was really, really appreciated (free lunch is never a bad thing). So that as many people as possible throughout the day (all the staff too; not just my department) could participate they made the meal and three different points throughout the day!

This review is for POM Super Tea’s “Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea”. I picked up a bottle after work today, just ‘cause I was in the mood for it. I don’t think I’ve had this one before? Honestly, I’ve sort of lost track of which of the teas from this line I’ve tried though. I know I haven’t done the honey one ’cause all the floaty sediment in the bottles for that one freaks me out a lot.

I don’t taste the pomegranate or the white tea in this at all; but I do get a lot of peach flavour with a distinctly passion fruit aftertaste. Really, this barely counts as tea if it counts at all but it is good. Expensive – but good.

Just checked my email only to see two messages from Canada Post saying that my Camellia Sinensis orders had been delivered. “No, there was just the one when I got home” I thought to myself – but sure enough, I just checked the mail again and my second CS order has been delivered! Wow – it’s been a REALLY good mail day for me. This order wasn’t supposed to arrive until the 16th!

It’s not really my order though; I wouldn’t have put in an order for one tea, and then paid $12 shipping on it. My Dad ordered it for me as a birthday present; I’ve been dying to try it but it’s a little too expensive for my tastes; $21 for 25g. So, all in all he paid like $33 for 25g of one tea – if you factor shipping into the price, that’s more than $1/g. Which is crazy, in my opinion.

PS. This is the tea I’m talking about: http://steepster.com/teas/camellia-sinensis/38823-meng-ding-huang-ya My first, straight, yellow tea!

Cracked the bag open because I just had to. It smells amazing. I’m salivating; seriously. So sweet and nutty; vanilla and hazlenuts for sure! And then, just a tiny bit herbaceous. I can’t wait to dive into it! Not today, though – I’ve set aside other things for today. But damn. So stoked!

So about two maybe three years ago, before I had moved out, my Mom spent a couple of weeks in China. This was well before I had any interest in tea. Of course, she brought some tea back with her at the end of the trip, but I never really thought anything of it.

This weekend though I took the time to really raid through her tea cupboard; mostly it was the same ancient teabags that had always been in it when I was growing up – peppermint, chamomille, a generic breakfast blend (all of which are probably pushing 20 years old) and then some of what I had given to her last time I was visiting; assorted teas from DT, a couple Teavivre samples, and a tiny pouch of matcha. There were a few new bagged teas like the Maple Cider one from Stash I reviewed earlier this weekend. And then way, way in the back were the teas she had brought home from China.

One is a herbal; I remember thinking it smelled wonderful back when I was a non-tea drinker but now it just stinks of hibiscus to me. Noxious, foul hibiscus. The other is a green tea in a solidly coloured plastic bag held together with a chip clip; all the writing on it is in Chinese except for the words “Bi Luo Chun” printed in red down the side of the bag. I have no idea what the company is or any other information about this tea – just that this is the type. Te leaves don’t look too broken up though, and they’re a beauitful, deep emerald green. This tea is easily two years old – if not older.

My family has really gotten into the whole “teapop” thing since I’ve been here, and since for the most part I didn’t bring large amounts of anything on the trip, it was decided we were gonna use one of Mom’s teas. Honestly; out of green tea and hibiscus I was really leaning towards hibiscus but everyone else wanted green tea so that’s what we went with. I used extra sugar to make the simple syrup for this one. Heh…

Taste wise; everyone thought it was a smashing success except me. I’m still really on the fence about what I thought of it; I mean, mostly I tasted the sugar used to sweeten it, and not so much the tea itself. The green/vegetal flavour actually did make the sugar (which was just normal white sugar) taste more like cane sugar or even unflavoured agave? Hmmm, I guess I’d call it Agave and Snap Peas? That’s not really so bad as a flavour, but relatively weird carbonated in my opinion. But they liked it so I’ll just call it a success I guess.

I stole a tiny bit of the leaf; I’m gonna try it straight. Why not challenge my tastes? It’s been a little while since I had a truly straight green tea; even if it’s not my favourite I’m sure there’s something I can learn from it!

Last week a whole bunch of “tea” drinks were on sale for a dollar instead of the usual $1.30 or whatever it was, so I drank a lot of Snapple (which “has tea in it” on break). So I’m just kinda writing this to vaguely keep track of that. Of all the ones we carry, Peach was my favourite. None of them tasted especially tea heavy though; tea for non tea drinkers, really…

I’m in Steepster chat right now and we’re looking at Kyusu and Chawan. If the past is any indicator I’ll have purchsed a Chawan by midnight tonight. Damn enablers. I love you all though, despite that. Apparently I have expensive taste for the most part…

Anyway here are some of my favourites:

http://www.rikyucha.com/item/list2/141601/ (Reminds me of Greek Pottery)

http://www.rikyucha.com/item/list2/141891/ (Buns!)

http://camellia-sinensis.com/en/teapot/chawan-fleurs-opalines

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Kutani-Porcelain-Rabbit-Chawan/dp/B00HJXFIY4/ref=sr_1_195?ie=UTF8&qid=1420921967&sr=8-195&keywords=kyusu (More Buns)

http://www.rikyucha.com/item/list2/139791/ (Orange is my favourite colour…)

http://www.rikyucha.com/item/list2/102151/

I’m not saying I’m going to buy one, but if I was buying one which ones/designs do you guys like? I fail at stopping Steepster from enabling this addiction.

This note is for the Goji Chrysanthemum tea offered at Herbal Tree Tea House in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I was there near the end of December to meet up with Kittenna while she was in the city, and have a nice sit down ‘tea date’ with her.

Herbal Tree only recently opened up here in Saskatoon; maybe at the end of August? They offer a selection of sweets to go alongside a large variety of bubble tea flavours and an assortment of herbal teas; some of which are simpler, more "classic’ herbal teas, and some of which had more unique ingredients that I hadn’t seen elsewhere (Jujube dates, for example). They also offer a “tea for two” package for about twenty dollars which includes a selection of cheesecakes and ganaches along with tea served in very fancy, traditional teapots and cups.

In addition to my tea, I also got a slice of Lychee Cheesecake – as per the sales associate’s recommendation (I asked to try his favourite kind of cheesecake). I was really impressed with the cheesecake part of the cheesecake – it wasn’t too dense or too fluffy, and it tasted really good. But the “topping” on top that was meant to be lychee left a little to be desired. I got the floral tones/aspects present in lychee but not so much the juicy fruit taste, so that was kind of disappointing.

The atmosphere of the places is really pretty too! They’ve got some really nice art displayed and the whole place is painted this really pretty, earthy green colour that makes it easy to relax in. Sadly, it’s in a weird area of town (in this tiny “strip mall” section in the middle of a suburban new development housing area) and thus probably not getting the exposure it should; hence why for the two hours Kittenna and I were there, we were the only people to come in. I felt a little bad for the sales associate/server. If it’s that quiet all the time I can’t imagine they’ll stay open long which would be really sad since it was a lovely place.

Our tea was served to us in very, very cute clear glass “bubble” sort of teacups with glass strainers and the sales associate made a very pretty show of presenting us the tea, still steeping, and then straining it – and then left the strainer w. tea leaves on these cute little flower coaster things so we could see the ingredients. I think that description probably doesn’t do it justice; but it was just gorgeous, and super cute. I took pictures of my tea, and of Kittenna’s so if I’ve got time I may come back and edit them into this note.

Before I get into my tea; I just want to rub it in everyone’s face that I got to meet Kittenna (again) because she’s a total sweetheart and so friendly and lovely, and I had a wonderful afternoon talking with her and exchanging tea and just kind of catching up. I met her briefly last year; but our interaction was maybe five or ten minutes and at that point last year we didn’t know one another well yet either. So from talking about tiny baby hands, creepy guys, career ambitions or whatever else it was awesome!

And, the tea itself was good too. I enjoyed two tasty cups of it. It was definitely a softer/lighter tasting tea, with a delicate floral sweetness to it from the chrysanthemum. Really, the chrysanthemum far outweighed the goji to me; though I’ve had probably in the past picking up on the flavour of goji so that may have been a “me” thing since Kittenna remarked at one point that the goji smelled very aromatic – and I could only smell the chrysanthemum. The goji I did taste came off to me like a watered down cranberry flavour which was enjoyable.

I would definitely go to Herbal Tree again to try one of their other blends (perhaps the one Kittenna had; it smelled very lovely), but because of where they’re located I’m not sure if I’ll have the chance any time soon. Bus service in that area is weird, and I like I said up top it’s in a very strange location.

Also; I now really want to try more stuff with goji to further explore whether it’s a “me thing”, in regard to having a hard time picking up on goji flavour.

POM Peach Passion White Tea

- Tried out another flavour; this is the best so far!
- Definitely strongly taste all fruits: Pomegranate, Peach, Passion Fruit
- Can’t taste the white tea, really
- Unless it’s contributing the “honey” flavour I also get
- Would totally buy this one again!

I always crack up when I read the “flavours” of this “tea” – I try to picture one tea with all those flavours, and wouldn’t that just be the grossest thing ever? … Or maybe the best?

So while I was at my Aunt’s she made this very nice home cooked meal for us; it’s a big deal for me since, despite living with a chef, I don’t get home cooked meals anymore since moving out on my own. I mean, I cook – but from boxes and stuff. She uses actual fresh fruits and vegetables (some from her own garden) and does stuff from scratch.

So we had steamed green beans and corn on the cob with Vegan apple crisp & almond milk for dessert. She made stuffed Portobellos too in an effort to be concious of my being a Vegetarian, but forgot about my mushroom allergy so I had to politely decline those. And then, to go along with everything we had green tea – from a super nice, Bone China teapot. I’m like 90% sure the tea was Tetley since that’s her bagged tea brand of choice, but since I don’t know for sure I’m putting it here.

I didn’t really enjoy the tea, honestly – and not just ’cause it was straight Green tea. More so, the problem for me was that she steeped it a boiling temperature for an extended period of time so it was very bitter and scalded. But I so appreciated the gesture/effort and the beautiful teaware. And the meal was very nice, though not super filling.

…So, when I got home a couple hours later I ordered in food with Tre, though apparently I made a bad meal choice because I got stuffed Zucchini and, like the mature young adults we are, we couldn’t stop giggling over how phallic everything was when we were eating it. I am so ashamed to say that I have now deep throated a zucchini. After that we just watched The Voice and sorta hung out for a while; it was nice. There may have been a tickle fight, and I may have inadvertently kicked him in the jaw. But it was still nice.

Ugh; I feel like I’m really burning up and that makes me super nervous ’cause Tre has been feeling sick all of yesterday and today; I cannot afford to get sick and miss work!

But anyway; my Aunt Nancy is one of those people who is “super into tea”, which I put into quotations because she’s really more one of those people who likes tea a lot, but doesn’t know much about it. We all know the kind; you say “Oh yeah, I love tea” and she responds “Me too! Have you heard of Teavana” or “I just bought the best Vanilla Rooibos from Tetley” or “Have you tried Passion from Starbucks?”. Literally she has said all of those things to me. And I bite my tongue every time because she’s 65 and well meaning and I don’t want to be a snobby brat when she’s usually very hospitable to me. But it can be frustrating because she’ll ask me my opinions on tea things and when I go more into detail about stuff like tea prep or my “favourite tea” or where I’ve been ordering from recently she’ll either give me a totally vacant look (which I’m pretty accustomed to) or she’ll try to “match” what I’m saying with points of her own. It goes down something like this:

Me: I’ve been trying to be more open with straight black teas lately and try things with dominant notes other than malt or bread. Recently I had a straight black with strong raisin notes and while I didn’t love it, it was a nice switch up.

Aunt Nancy: Oh, well I really like No Name Black tea. We bought a box on sale the other day, and I was really surprised by how nice the quality was. It was just as good as the Tetley we usually buy!

Me: … Cricket Noises

She’s one of those people that has a really hard time admitting other people know more about different things than she does. Which is true in some regards; I mean she’s an expert when it comes to commercial sewing and bridal design and I can’t even scratch the surface on that – but just let me have this one…

One thing that is cool about her though, she is very into gardening and since the last time I saw her (Christmas) she has started growing her own herbs and things to dry and make into herbal teas, so when I was there yesterday to spend time with my Grandma she offered to let me try one of her herbal teas. The one, which I passed on, smelled very strongly of mint/coconut and not much else but the one I did have was definitely more savory smelling and unique.

I actually am not so sure what was in it other than it definitely had a lot of basil. It was nice; but it was strong and distinct. As for other stuff, I’d maybe guess mint? But I’m not really that sure. Very calming and relaxing overall though.

Ok, so my little sister Brenna’s birthday is on the 4th of August, and this is the first year that I wont be around to celebrate with her, so I knew that at the very least I had to send her the most awesome birthday present EVER to try and make up for it. So while I was out running around I stopped at Saskatoon’s local gourmet/fancy ass candy store and I dropped about $50 on a really, really large assortment of candy for her: a combination of things I thought she’d find delicious/know she loves, and then just some of the weirdest things I could find in the store like Onion Ring Mints and Chocolate Flavoured Pop Rocks. I mailed everything out to her the same day; just waiting to get confirmation she’s received everything!

I also picked up some stuff for myself! For my stuff, I got Pina Colada Honey Sticks, Juicy Drop Taffy, Chocolate Poprocks (yeah, I got ‘em for Brenna and for myself too), Tabasco Chocolate (this was really interesting; I got some for Tre and myself, and I liked it more than he did which is weird given he likes spicy food and I don’t), Latte/Coffee Hard Candies, and drum roll because this is what the note is kinda sorta mostly about hard Tea Candies!

I’ve been in this candy store so many times, but this was the first that I saw these ones, so I’m thinking they must have been new inventory! But basically it was a bag of hard candies flavoured like “classic iced tea” – so I was definitely thinking like Southern sweet iced tea. The company they’re from is called Bali’s Best and each candy is infused with “real tea”. Honestly, I’ve been snacking on them all week and I not a single person I’ve given ‘em to (Tre, Bobbi, my assistant manager Val, and one of our cashier’s named Marina) has disliked them.

Personally, I actually do really like them myself. To me they come off as a mildly sweetened black lemon blend and I really am reminded of iced tea. It does take a little while of having one in your mouth for the flavour to really sink in, but it’s good and not too sweet – just sorta nicely balanced. I guess really what I have to complain about the most with these ones is that they really stick to the packaging so when you try to open one up quite often it’s a bit of a hassle, and a few times the plastic has gotten stuck so badly I’ve ended up with semi plastic coated candy in my mouth.

I’m happy I bought them overall though! Out of 100 I think I’d give them pretty close to a 75/100.

PS. VariaTEA I definitely added some candy to my package for you! So I hope you enjoy the tea candies and Tabasco chocolate!