Featured & New Tasting Notes
Yes, I still have this.
When I first opened the (well sealed) package, I’m not gonna lie it smelled bad. Not rancid, but definitely not how I remember.
So I asked some tea friends… should I try it? The answer was yes.
It didn’t smell as bad this morning (maybe airing it out helped?) and I did a quick rinse before my usual 3 minute steep.
It’s actually OK! The flavour has definitely deteriorated, as there’s a weird aftertaste (a bit astringent, a bit metallic), but the tea flavour is still good. I mostly taste vanilla now, so I think it’s the caramel flavour that is behaving weirdly. (I say weirdly but friends, this tea is OLD for a flavoured tea.)
I still love the base Assam that Stacy used. The big leaves, the sweet malty flavour. I’ve tried others in the same tea family but they’re just not as good. A lot of them have more “dirt tea” flavour, which this one never had.
Preparation
Ha ha… my mom finds this tea absolutely repulsive and gags anytime I open it up and wave it around. She says it smells of burning bodies. Dramatic much?
Like any smoked lapsang souchong style tea, the predominate flavour is campfire smoke and burnt plant matter. I think it is slightly more robust than most of its kind but it’s still a surprisingly smooth and smokey-sweet tea.
I don’t reach for this type of tea very often but when I do crave the stuff there is nothing better. It also provides some measure of comfort when one has to be out and about on a dark and damp Pacific Northwest fall evening. It’s the best (unless you are my mom, in which case this is the nastiest thing ever).
Flavors: Campfire, Malt, Smoke, Sweet
Preparation
Smooth with soft malt body, a bit of chocolate, dill and rose. All supplemented by a bright apricot-orange tone and cooling mouthfeel. It’s a clean Nilgiri without much depth. I’m sure eastkyteaguy will swoop in some day with a lengthy list of flavors and aromas; I keep trying to pay attention but it’s one of those flatter thirst quenchers that goes down quickly. Some days do have more oomph than others.
Flavors: Apricot, Baked Bread, Chocolate, Dill, Malt, Menthol, Orange, Rose, Rye, Smooth
Preparation
Derk, I’d like to say that I will be swooping in to post a review with a lengthy list of aromas and flavors for this tea, but at this point, I doubt that will happen. It’s not that I didn’t get a lot out of this tea, because I did. I loved it, and I generally don’t flip over Nilgiri black teas. It’s just that with everything that has come down the pipe in the last day or so, I have no clue how much involvement I will have with Steepster in the future. Due to persistent difficulties logging in and posting content, my role here has been very limited for much of the past year. I have been spending most of my time reading the reviews of others, answering questions, adding new teas, updating product listings, and cleaning out spam. Like all of the other mods that are active, I have been putting in a ton of unpaid work behind the scenes. I love the community here and think this site is a tremendous resource that still has tons of untapped potential. That being said, I also have serious concerns about Adagio taking over the site. I recall some of the controversy with TeaChat, and though I have been impressed with Adagio’s willingness to accept input from the community of active users and their pledge to maintain the content generated by them, I do not trust that this site will truly remain unbiased or will maintain its own distinct identity under the Adagio umbrella for long. I have serious ethical concerns about a tea review site being run by a tea company. I’m willing to give Adagio a chance and sincerely hope they have learned from past mistakes, but I also do not feel that it would be appropriate for me to continue contributing original content to Steepster. I was drawn to Steepster because it was an independent resource. That’s why I joined in the first place. In light of recent events, I feel that continuing to contribute content to this site would amount to an endorsement of a transition about which I have serious ethical concerns. In other words, I’m not sure it would be ethical on my part to endorse a product in which I currently do not have faith. If Adagio allows me to do so, I will gladly continue to serve as an independent moderator, but as far as providing original content goes, I doubt I will be writing anything else for Steepster. If things work out and my fears prove unfounded, then I may start contributing material again here and there, but for now, I would advise you and anyone else who takes the time to read this post not to bet any significant amount on it. I’m serious when I say that this is very likely the last public post I will be making on Steepster. If this does prove to mark the of my time here as a contributor of content, and again, it likely does, then it’s been a great run. I’ve treasured every second of it and truly appreciate every interaction I have had on this site. I still have great difficulty believing that anybody ever liked or agreed with anything I had to say or enjoyed my extremely humorless, mechanical, repetitive, and all too frequently uninspired writing.
Psh, I’m definitely one of those people who love and value your tea notes, eastkyteaguy. One of the best parts of Steepster for me is/was clicking on any given tea here and being met with a hodgepodge of reference notes ranging from open diary entries, stream of consciousness experiences, mixed media scrap-booking, to “scientific”/methodological guides. Regardless of how personal or impersonal your notes are/were it’s clear you put your heart (time & energy) into them. I love and appreciate that. I also find your notes and those like yours so useful when I find myself trying to make a cup of a tea you had previously.
I hope for the best, but if this turns out to be an ending you will be dearly missed!
@eastkyteaguy, I sure hope you do stay around. If not then at least give me a way to contact you. We are still due that tea meet up one day that we talked about a while back. I would like to see both those things come to pass as well as a contact email or phone number from you. You and I have been here a while and I hate to see anyone leave the site.
Eastkyteaguy: I completely understand you, but please, be patient and wait what will develop! Your tasting notes are always nice to read, although sometimes too specific for me, but certainly great! I don’t like the idea of ownership of rating site by some vendor, but maybe it is right now the best way. I have big troubles with discussions and messages, but writing tasting notes worked well for me (athough there were some mishaps).
I am optimistic a bit as well pesimistic. Just puzzled. Happy that something is happening, but tea company is the owner. (rolls eyes)
eastkyteaguy: I think your tasting notes have been an essential part of Steepster and tea knowledge in general. Your notes set the bar extremely high! I get what you’re saying about Adagio, but hopefully things will turn out okay down the road.
Additional notes: I had some extra heavy cream, so I finally made a scone box mix I received a while ago from Simpson & Vail! (The first day of scones was enjoyed with Bird & Blend’s Spiced Pumpkin Pie tea.) The scones were GOOD despite being pumpkin and despite this being July. Then I had some extra cream left over and decided to make an East Frisian tea, lo and behold also from Simpson & Vail. East Frisian style brewed as in, sugar goes in the bottom, cream at the top, no stirring. The cream wafted around a lot anyway. Or possibly I used way too much and it seemed like a cup of cream and I could hardly tell there was tea in the mug. However, I forgot one of the crucial components to East Frisian blending of cream is to slowly lower a spoon of cream into the cup, rather than pouring the cream. Oops. It had been a WHILE. I had this East Frisian before, ages ago from Simpson & Vail and I really liked it! This harvest seems much different (as harvests sometimes happen to change.) The second steep, I tried plain. And even with two teapoons, the flavor is so one noted from what I remember. Very much just like a bland, flat, astringent tea. I will try it again to make sure, but obviously this is the perfect tea as it is, to mask the bland astringency with sugar and lots of cream. Simpson & Vail is usually consistent, even with different harvests, but they can’t be perfect all of the time. But this tea is simply supposed to be malty and brisk, I guess. If I lowered ratings, this would now be a 70.
Sad SIPDOWN
Great tea for cloudy day as today. It is nice blend of black tea with vegetable (pumpkin) notes. And… cloves, cinnamon. All together works brilliant.
But it’s gone.
Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8XyIaHsZEc
Now about Steepster:
Yes, I am happy that it won’t die as Adagio decided to take part. Certainly a great news, but on the other hand… it is a vendor; so I hope they won’t benefit their products, it should stay ad-free and I would really enjoy if it stays like this all the time. Keep users adding teas(teaware) without review by some admin, easy-way to write tasting note.
Keep it similar/same. Don’t do big changes yet. Fix the troubles we experience now, then listen to us and in the end do new.
I can’t write to discussion board though, so I hope, they will read it anyway.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Cloves, Pumpkin
Preparation
I had this tea the other day with some pumpkin scones.. in July. It’s rare I have pumpkin in July!
Yep. Pumpkin is certainly autumn flavour, not summer one. But why not, right? It was actually just right for today weather.
Yeah, just as long as the tea is enjoyed no matter the season! :D
I don’t think it’s the pumpkin itself that’s autumnal; it’s the warming spices used with it that are. Cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmag, mace and so on are traditionally thought of as cold weather spices. Ever had a Thai pumpkin curry? Mmmmm!
Hello. It’s me. Mrs. No Green Tea, thank you very much. But I gotta say, this one is really good. Really, really good. Could it be one of my top two favorite green teas? I think maybe so! Not sure if that says much, since I don’t normally like them. But I’m actually happy to drink this one. I’m enjoying it! The lemon flavor is light and not tart like I might have expected from a lemon tea. I don’t know that I can taste the coconut, but I do think it gives a creamy mouthfeel to the body of the tea. Or maybe I’m making that up. :D
Jumping into the news of the day – I just spewed all of my emotions over in the comment section of ashmanra’s latest post. This takeover by Adagio has me more emotional than I expected. I guess I knew that Steepster wouldn’t last forever, but I guess I didn’t ever expect things to really change. I want to be hopeful that things will change for the better, that they’ll fix the bugs, that maybe SkySamurai will actually be able to post something in the near future. But I’m also worried. I love it here and I don’t want to see it turn into something impersonal. I don’t want this to become a place where only Adagio reviews are welcome and all my tea friends slowly drop away. I’m probably overreacting. Sure, I guess it’s just tea, but the community here is something I look forward to being a part of every time I have a cup. I love reading about your days and your favorite teas. TTBs and swaps are my new favorite hobby! Will those still be allowed?? I know it’s not the end of the world, but I’m really feeling all the feels right now. Anyone else? Or do most of you think it might be a positive thing? I’d love to hear some positive thoughts right about now!
Note – Apparently there are many who can’t post to the forums! Hopefully this will be one of the first things they fix. Steepsterites need to actually be able to use Steepster!
Flavors: Creamy, Drying, Lemon
Preparation
Latest statement on discussion board from Michael at Adagio is encouraging:
My Adagio Teas colleagues and I are honored by the opportunity to restore Steepster as the preeminent destination for tea discussion and knowledge, especially at a time when online communities are so important to our social wellbeing. In days to come, we will listen and note your ideas for the improvements that you’d like us to prioritize as we work to make Steepster a welcome place for all.
I think it’s great that they seem to want user input on future changes/improvements (we’ll see what the follow through is on that), but I don’t think that should be the immediate focus – where I would put my initial effort is learning what things they need to leave alone in order to preserve the small, but very loyal and active, collective of people currently using the platform.
Shae, I understand what you’re thinking. But I guess this could be better than Steepster completely disappearing one day? And hopefully if adagio ever decides to bail, they will also be considerate enough to ask if anyone else wants to take over, as Jason & Mike have.
ashmanra – This is so encouraging! I’ve read some of Michael’s comments in the discussion post and I’m feeling much better about the whole thing today. They do seem to be taking this seriously and have plans to fix a lot of the bugs and make it better.
Roswell – I also really appreciate that they are asking for user input and that their primary focus seems to be fixing the issues with the site before making any major changes. That sounds like a step in the right direction.
tea-sipper – You are so right. This could have been a complete shutdown. I know I’m acting entitled here when Jason and Mike have been fronting all the costs to keep Steepster up and running for us. I certainly don’t mean to be ungrateful for all they’ve put into this over the years. I think my emotions got the better of me yesterday. I’m feeling much more optimistic today after reading through some of the discussion posts. I’m hopeful this will be a really good thing!
I guess everyone has seen the post, either here or on Facebook, that Adagio is going to be running Steepster henceforth. I hope it doesn’t change too much! This is my 90% of my social life! Ha ha!
I can’t believe this was not already in my cupboard, as Superanna gave it to me a while back and I have drunk it many times.
This is a Keemun tea with rose flavor, slightly less rose-y than Rose Scented by Harney and Sons, and with deeper, darker tea notes due to the base being Keemun instead of Ceylon. Both are great, and this one is better for my husband who doesn’t like his tea too terribly floral.
It does not need milk and sugar to smooth or sweeten, but it is strong enough that I feel it would be really great that way if that is how you prefer your tea.
Any idea why they call it pouchong? Pouchong is Bao Zhong. This is Keemun and to all taste and appearance is black tea. I hope someone knows and will enlighten me!
It was a great pot of tea to start my day!
Seriously? No, I had not seen anything about management change. (I am not completely weaned, but trying to spend progressively less time on FB—tends to drag my attitude in directions it doesn’t belong!)
There is an announcement here on the discussion page, too. and I agree. Spending less time on Facebook and feel like I have to look at it with one eye closed and the other peeping.
I saw it a little while ago and honestly I’m scared they are going to change everything to the point that it’s unrecognizable. I’m waiting until my emotions about the whole thing subside and I can comment with a level head. All of the other Adagio sites that Jason mentioned look exactly the same and I don’t want that to happen to Steepster. I love the community here (my social life is mostly here too!) and I don’t want to see everything replaced by something more aligned with Adagio’s corporate brand. I do appreciate Jason and Mike keeping up the costs of the site, but I also wish they would have considered asking us our thoughts as we are the ones using the site daily. That’s probably just me being selfish, but maybe someone here would have been interested in taking over. I know I would have been glad to help with cost and admin duties, personally. Anyway, I’ll leave some suggestions in the discussion post later, but this is me venting a bit. So sorry to take over your comments with my mood, lol.
I hadn’t heard the news either… I don’t use social media, and given all the spam/bugs, I haven’t even been on Steepster’s discussion boards in ages, as well. I hated that the site had been left to rot with bugs/no improvement, but I do not like a tea company being in charge, which feels fueled with bias and creates an environment that just feels… not as welcoming to other companies/etc. Too many moods right now…
hadn’t heard. I don’t bother with the boards here most days and adagio isn’t really a company i follow for the limited time i’m on FB.
I saw the post by Steepster on Facebook first and then came here and saw it on the discussion board. I almost never look at the discussion boards, but I was specifically checking for it. It is the same as the FB announcement, no difference. Here’s hoping we see improvements and not destruction of the community we have here.
Shae: I think a lot of us would have been willing to contribute to keeping Steepster up and running. I hope it all turns out okay. I hope adagio is paying attention to what the Steepsterites want.
The latest statement on the board from Michael at Adagio:
My Adagio Teas colleagues and I are honored by the opportunity to restore Steepster as the preeminent destination for tea discussion and knowledge, especially at a time when online communities are so important to our social wellbeing. In days to come, we will listen and note your ideas for the improvements that you’d like us to prioritize as we work to make Steepster a welcome place for all.
Color me cynical :/
Haven’t heard; but noticed (and read) it after reading few tasting notes.
I am cynical as derk and many others. I don’t like the idea it is going to be owned by some tea company. It won’t be really independent. I don’t like the ownership of tea comapny, but on the other hand, I am happy to see that something will happen! That it won’t shut down just one day and nobody will know what have happened! What about collecting e-mail adresses of our group here (are we only one active, or there are more groups like us?); and if something goes “wrong”, we can be in contact somehow and for example start some new discussion board or something we can work out (for example Discord).
I know, it won’t have this nice feeling of Steepster, but I would love to stay in touch with all you!
By the way, as I can’t write to discussion board by myself, consider me, I want to save “as is” as long as possible and fix all the mishaps and after that just start adding new features, new design etc.
I like the connectivity as well. This site is a big part of my social media and the friends from here are priceless.
I like you people. Don’t go anywhere.
Hopefully adagio keeps it mostly the same Steepster, just taking care of the bugs, but I’m not sure how that might benefit adagio?
Maybe Adagio can just advertise here and keep it the same. I know money drives things, but surely supporting a site that encourages the love of and exploration of tea would be beneficial. Please be good to us, Adagio! This is our happy place!
Just sad as it seems that there wasn’t any thought given to asking the community first to see if someone here would like to take it over
I’m cynical too but something traumatic would have to happen to this site for me to permanently abandon it. You all mean too much!
I see that Adiago asked for suggestions on the forums and I back everyone else who says the bugs need to be fixed first and foremost. Countless users, including myself, can’t even make posts on the forums!
I hadn’t heard this news either! Maybe that explains why I had such a hard time logging in today (admittedly, after two years of being away, but still).
Ashmanra, to answer the question in your review of this tea, the word ‘pouchong’ is a romanization of Bao Zhong.
@White Antlers, but what does Maofeng Keemun have to do with Bao Zhong? This tea tin labels itself as both in different places.
@CrowKettle I just saw your query. Frankly I have no clue. I am not familiar with the tea tin and I am more of a wordsmith than a teasmith.
White Antlers – I had somehow missed your comment from ten days ago! Yes, that was what was perplexing to me. I love my Wenshan Baozhong and have had a jasmine pouchong that was just okay, but they call this Rose Pouchong and the ingredient list says it is keemun. If I remember correctly, pouchong means “the wrapped kind”, so I am wondering if this wrapping treatment can be performed,on Keemun tea also, and that is what this refers to? It is definitely black tea, definitely Keemun taste and that is how they say to prepare it, and the tin doesn’t elaborate on why the name is pouchong. I should contact the company and see if they can answer our query! There is always something new and exciting to learn.
@White Antlers, That’s ok! Like ashmanra, I’m also perplexed about this tea label and wondered if there was a simple explanation rooted in etymology of tea names and labels, which is something I’m not super knowledgeable about.
@ashmanra, let me know if you do contact the company about this. Every now and then I fixate on this “mystery” and that probably won’t stop until my tin is gone. haha
I am still alive, just went for two days visit my friend in different region, we hiked about 20 km in the mountains (in one day). Pretty nice days.
I got this tea bag in “big bags section”, so it is probably quite old.
“Watte means Estate, Medameans Mid” — that’s what they claim on back side of tea bags.
Mid Grown (2000-3000 feet altitude)
Another statements: “Strong, pungent & full-bodied. In the style of a Shiraz!”
I don’t recall drinking Shiraz wine, but whatever. Tea brewws dark mahogany colour, celar and strong tannic aroma. Tea itself isn’t much different. It’s quite tannic, but as well nicely malty, strong taste and overall very “tea like”. Not very complex in taste, but caffeine booster for sure (I need it though). And overall nice and enjoyable. Fresh would be better.
Flavors: Malt, Tannic, Tea
Preparation
I think Shiraz might be the name of a wine flavored iced cream Youngest had in…Poland? Somewhere? She loved it, whatever kind it was! Maybe Youngest will check in and let us know!
Good to see you back!
Oops. Nope. She says the ice cream was Malaga ice cream. I was wrong!
Shiraz is called Syrah here in California. Maybe you’ve had Syrah? Also if you change the g to k in that ice cream, you get a fun Greek word.
@derk-The Brits would call that a ‘tosser.’ lol
I’ve tried a few different Rooibos EG’s and haven’t liked a single one thus far. I’ve had this one in my cupboard for ages and have yet to have tried it, probably because of my bad track record with bergamot on rooibos. However, I’m out of a black lavender EG and that was what I was craving to go with my lemon poppyseed cookie, so I finally decided to try this. Maybe the lavender made a big difference, because I actually didn’t mind this. The bergamot tastes a little grapefruity, but doesn’t come across too sour, even on the lighter base. The lavender is lovely and strongly floral, and pairs well with the strong citrus flavor of the bergamot. The rooibos is a strong flavor, a bit woody, hay-like, and sweet. I wouldn’t select this over a good black lavender EG, but this is surprisingly suitable for a rooibos alternative when I have traditionally hated bergamot paired with rooibos.
Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Floral, Grapefruit, Honey, Hot hay, Lavender, Sweet, Tart, Wood
Preparation
Superlative Yunnan Tea!
This is, quite literally, one of the very best Yunnan teas that I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. It is sweet with notes of chocolate and caramel, as well as an apricot fruitiness. There are pronounced and pleasant rose like floral notes. There is also a mild maltiness with a subtle hint of almond. The overall best description of this superlative Yunnan tea would be Darjeeling-esque – In both aroma and taste – The love child of a tippy Yunnan and a second flush Darjeeling if you will. A single steep with a water temperature of 200-203F for four minutes worked best for me.
This tea will be a permanent item of my tea pantry for sure! Happy Earth Tea has the fastest shipping I have ever encountered, and I can’t wait to try the generous sample of premium Colombian black tea they included with my purchase!
Flavors: Almond, Apricot, Caramel, Chocolate, Floral, Fruity, Malt, Rose
Preparation
Welcome back!
Thank you, tea-sipper! :)
Yum, that sounds like tea for me!
You won’t be disappointed, Martin! This tea is amazing!
Do they deliver outside US? I have to find out!
Martin, I just contacted Happy Earth Tea. The owner is going to contact me about international shipping and I will let you know as soon as I find out something.
Martin! Happy Earth Tea has international shipping and can ship to the Czech Republic! The owner is very nice and their service is excellent – Their tea is top notch! The owner said that there could be customs delays but they have not encountered any delivery problems. Here is a link to their website
https://happyearthtea.com/
Hope this helps, my friend. Get ready for some delicious, high quality tea! :)
Thanks, I need to get some money and then I will find out the teas :)
They deliver to CR, yes, they do. But for 3 oz of tea worth 16 USD I should pay 24 USD per shipping. Uhh…
So this is from Kawaii433 but I also received some from derk. THANK YOU BOTH. Not sure if Kawaii’s is also from 2017, as derk’s is noted on the sample. I thought it was time I try it, since there are two separate samples! I don’t know what I was thinking though, as I just sipped a roasted oolong the other day and they are definitely not the type of tea I want to drink often. Anything with the name “roasted” is all I can taste, which ends up being very one note and disappointing, as I know others can usually taste other flavors in these roasted oolongs. It’s always a shame! It is all I can taste: roasted charcoal. The third steep was especially off putting… shouldn’t have brewed if for four minutes, that’s for sure. The leaves are VERY dark and VERY tightly bundled. The flavor is smooth anyway, until that third steep. I think I sadly give up on roasted oolongs. They just ain’t my thing. But it’s nice to officially know that at this point.
Steep #1 // 1 3/4 teaspoons for full mug // rinse // 29 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 28 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 4 min
2020 sipdowns: 52 (one sample sipdowned anyway)
I have no idea when year it was, tea-sipper but it probably is the 2017. I’ve come to a similar conclusion concerning Dan Cong oolongs. o.O
Yes, Dan Cong oolong isn’t my favorite either. I hope all of those people you knew with Covid have recovered, Kawaii!
tea-sipper, the family of 6 with 4 little kids recovered with no issue. Thank goodness. Rusty who is in his 50s recovered and poor Sue will probably have lung damage the rest of her life. :( Thank you so much for asking and hoping all is healthy and well with you <3.
Thanks for the update, Kawaii. It’s good to know most of them are mostly okay.
I just saw this note. I also have trouble detecting anything other than roast in these oolongs.
Additional notes: So I did end up stocking up on a tin of this with my reward points a while ago. This is just dreamy on a hot summer day. Caffeine kick with lovely lingering flavors of violet and roses. Reading outside, I feel like Alice waiting to fall into Wonderland… or at the mad tea party with all this crazy news lately. But trying to enjoy my day while ignoring the news. Please everyone stay safe for this fourth of July weekend. I wish the best for all of you!
Edited to add: the second steep is just as flavorful. It’s really the perfect mix of florals and base of black tea. It might be my favorite floral black tea! Even cold, delicious.
After my first order from S&V, I wrote reviews on their website to get points, but the points never showed up, so I stopped bothering. Of course I could have emailed them for help, but their tea is cheap anyway, so I decided not to bother with the points. Seems like their reward system is fairly generous when it is functioning though.
Are you logged into your account when you post the reviews? I know it takes a couple days for them to go through and approve the reviews for the site so maybe that is why? I would e-mail them about it. Their customer service couldn’t be better, especially as they are such a small company. It’s certainly worth it when the reward points work.
This was a few years ago, but I remember that I realized that I wasn’t logged in, so I logged in to write some more, but still received no points. Maybe I’ll try again!
OH one other thing that is usually a problem for me, is S&V has a preview page before the submit button page, and sometimes I forget to hit ‘submit’ button, thinking the preview page is enough to get it through. Maybe that is the case for you?
I looked through to see if my reviews are there, and it looks like the ones where I didn’t sign in are, but I don’t know about my later ones. Oh well, I’m having a slow day today, so I could work on some!
Aha! I think I figured it out. I was logged in, but didn’t include my email address with the reviews. I just read the fine print and found out that’s required.
Yeah, I should have mentioned that. Glad you figured it out!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am drinking dumpster tea. Youngest found this dumpster diving at college as people moved out. Mind you, this wasn’t in a pile of banana peels and old rice, but piled with furniture and rugs and such. She found three teas, all sealed and unused. One was a yingde black – not very good but great for making gallons of sweet tea and nearly all gone now. One was a Long Jing that I haven’t tried yet.
This one was completely unlabeled, just in a sealed foil pouch. The leaves were medium length, thin, slightly twisted and very dark. I thought it might be black tea but it smelled like Chun Mee, which is not a favorite green for me.
I made it by black tea parameters, saw the wet leaves turn bright green, tasted the nasty astringency, and started over.
Made as a green tea, I think this probably IS Chun Mee. I might try to find a way to use it – sweet and flavored maybe? But since it was free tea and I know nothing of its origins, I might just toss it. It is not terrible, but I will definitely reach around this for the greens I love and then it will just be taking up space.
Thanks for the adventure, ”Youngest”!
Couldn’t be any worse than my Junkyard Tea Jar :)
Gmathis: I am guessing that is bits of leftover tea that didn’t have enough for a mug all mixed together?
Heh, my first Wuyi rock oolong was dumpstered. It led to a long and still ongoing affair with rock oolong. Way to be a resourceful one, “Youngest” and you adventurous, ashmanra :)
Derk: they have made some impressive furniture and houseware finds. I told her they should get lots of pieces and store them and sell them cheaply when students move in again in the fall! Cheap, good furniture for the newcomers, small income for the oldtimers!
I never stayed in the dorms at university. It wasn’t until the end of my senior year driving through that part of campus did I see all the dumpsters overflowing with everything. I thought about the same thing, storing all the worthy finds and staging a beginning-of-the-school-year thrift shop on campus. “Youngest”: go forth and make that money!
Yeah, it’s nice to see dumped things that are actually good and saved!
I hate the idea that food or something goes bad one day after best before date! It won’t, but they have to throw that away. I always check those “almost best before” aisles and I found wonderful stuff there.
And as I remember from Finland, there was a shop which belonged to charity and you can bring there anything and they sell it for cheap to everyone; no batter if student, someone in need or normal people. And there were wonderful things too (though I won’t enjoy the books in Finnish) :)
Treasures can be found just by the persons perspective. I always look around too..
Anybody can go buy something new. It takes someone with gumption and creativity to search out and repurpose! Ashmanra, yes—the Junkyard Tea Jar is the little bits and nubbins of unflavored black that I used to make iced tea when it’s just too doggone hot to care about anything except that it’s cold. It’s sort of like the Everlasting Gobstopper of Leaf; flavor profile changes daily.
Derk: she is off campus but most of the apartments are rented by students. They have some really good furniture and even a foosball table now!
Gmathis: that’s sounds like a great use of bits of tea to me!
Martin: Ask my family – I frequently tell them “if I fall ill or die, throw out the…(whatever expired or aged food I just ate).” Ha ha! They did rescue some naan bread as well!
Enjoy your dumpster tea! I’ve sometimes been tempted to put tea I don’t particularly like in the garbage, but worry no one will pick it up. Perhaps I should list it on Steepster so that avid tea drinkers can get the benefit of my four-year-old Darjeeling and six-year-old Yunnan green tea!
Hey-ho, we’re embarking on a new batch of teas! I ordered these a while back, because we were getting low on breakfast tea, but I decided to make a rule that all the old flavoured stuff had to be used up first before we could start on the new stuff. This is because a couple of them were a bit meh, and I just know it would have lingered in the cupboard forever and been forgotten otherwise. So, them’s the rules. It’s been tough. I’ve been quite excited about trying this one.
This is a honey flavoured Keemun. I don’t recall if I’ve ever had a honey flavoured tea before other than honey and vanilla chamomiles (which are entirely different beasts), so I had little to nothing to go on. I do very much like honey, though, and preferably the stronger flavoured once. We tend to buy heather honey, because it’s the strongest one available, with the added advantage of being rather on the runny side so a little goes a long way and it really seeps into the bread in a delicious way.
But anyway, I’m not here to review honey.
When making this tea, it certainly smells like honey. The whole kitchen smelled of honey while this was steeping. It was very distinctive. Sniffing the cup more ‘up close’ though, it didn’t actually smell that honey-y, but rather more floral. I wasn’t aware that it was a Keemun base at the time, but I felt like there was something else in there that I could quite put my finger on. A bit woody, I wanted to say. Maybe slightly malty. Finding out about the Keemun afterwards surprised me not even a little bit. It was rather more of an ‘oh, of course’ sort of moment.
Flavourwise, it’s quite pleasant. The honey is subtle but present. It doesn’t so much taste like a tea flavoured with honey as it does a tea with a little honey added to the cup, only without sweetening it. The base does taste somewhat generic, but it’s got a good strength to it so it feels like a robust cup of tea. Which, in my opinion, a Keemun always should. I’m forever puzzled when Keemun black is described as ‘mild’. A Keemun black should absolutely be able to stand up for itself, kick bottom and take names. I think it’s the honey flavouring that makes it feel a little generic, though. I feel like there might be a pretty good Keemun at the base of this.
So yes, pretty good. On the other hand, I suspect I could probably reproduce a similar cup by adding a small amount of strong honey to a suitable black tea myself. Don’t much like sweetened tea, though, so this probably is the better choice for me.
missed ya! glad to see you’re still drinking tea and trying new things :)
Yaaaaay! Good to see you here! I have had Harney’s Elise’s Blend which is a honey flavored black. It was odd. One cup would be awesome and then next….meh. I need to try it again and figure out how to make it awesome every time.
oh whoa, a malty keemun with honey flavor?
Sil, I’ve always tended towards posting about things only once or twice, because I run out of things to say about it. :) I’ll probably stick somewhat to this system of using stuff up before getting into new things, you’ll be able to tell when that happens. :D
ashmanra, I’ll have to see how this one holds up to further scrutiny. I’ve definitely had a box of those aforementioned honey and vanilla chamomiles that would vary greatly from bag to bag. We used them extensively as a Before Bed Beverage at one point. Sometimes it’d be a bee hive in a cup, other times it’d be all vanilla all the time.
tea-sipper, yes so it seemed. I would have been quite curious to try this base on its own, just to have a closer look at it. I’m also curious to see what I’ll get out of it now that I know what characteristics to look for. I find malty keemuns can sometimes take on an elusive almost caramel-y aspect if you get it Just Right, so the combination is not a huge stretch for me.
Yum!
Standard steep with milk. I still really like this tea.
I’m drinking it with the Shutterbean earl grey chocolate cake. I haven’t made it for a couple years but it’s delicious as ever.
Sipdown (257)
I made this tea this morning because I wanted the caffeine. Then I ate breakfast and that sort of woke me up so I just slowly sipped on this. Then, I got distracted and it’s now 6 pm, I’ve napped, and I am still drinking this tea.
It’s cold and has gotten brisker as it cooled. It’s got a lot of raisin notes now and while usually there is a lot more going on with this, that’s what has caught my attention.
Cold brew, though it’s not the best weather for it. I left it steeping for much longer than I originally intended, so it’s not quite as sweet and delicate as I’d hoped. It is still very tasty though, and quite different to the profile I get from this one when it’s hot. It’s thick with fruity notes, mostly stonefruits, with flowery florals which complement the fruitiness well. Peach, plum, papaya, lychee, white grape, rose, honeysuckle and gardenia all meld together with a rocky mineral backbone which I suspect is more noticeable because of the almost 24 hour steep I gave this. With a pinch of soft brown sugar, this is delicious. Bumping my rating up a couple of points from 75, because I appreciate when a nice tea makes a good cold brew as well as hot. We love a dual purpose!
Preparation
I was won over by the description of this tea and how everyone who smells it ends up buying it so I wanted to smell it too. Spoiler: it smells goooood! That smell does transfer slightly to the taste, leaving a velvety smooth coconut impression. Alas, there is a sharp metallic twang at the end of this sip that really distracts from it. Calabash doesn’t give recommended steeping parameters so I went with my usual of 3 mins at 200F. Won’t be doing that again.
So… blue & coconut? Why call it blue then?
It has coconut and blue petals. I think “blue velvet” is a thing though.
Blue Velvet was a song by Bobbie Vinton, released in 1963. It was also a horror film that I never saw in the…80’s? I am guessing they were going for the smooth Vinton song. Maybe the blue is cornflower petals and the coconut is the smooth velvet?
That makes bit sense then :)
Thanks so much, derk! Another confusing oolong for me! What is wrong with me and oolongs lately. sigh. I will try my best. The name is lovely, and I’m very glad to have another Jun Chiyabari cross my path! It’s interesting that it is a mix of Japanese and Taiwanese tea cultivars. If I had to guess, I would say it tastes like a Japanese green… kind of marine like at times, which is not at all what I expect from Jun Chiyabari. Otherwise, light, buttery, sweet, creamy. The leaves after the rinse had an amazing fragrance… almost the scent of a Premium Taiwanese Assam which almost makes sense since the leaves are partly from Taiwan. I really wish the tea had tasted more like the rinsed leaves. The later rinsed leaves had more of a marine scent. So maybe I should have went with much shorter steeps. I will try the remaining leaves soon…
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 21 minutes after boiling // rinse // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 16 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 min
2020 Sipdowns – 47 (Teavivre – Paris Champs)
Sipdown! I’ve been waiting for my birthday to finish this off, and now it’s a double (edit: triple!) celebration because it’s Martin ’s birthday too! Edit: And Teatotaler ’s!
This was never really a favourite of mine because it’s essentially vanilla, but this time around I overleafed slightly to finish off my sample and it actually made quite a difference to my enjoyment level. It’s still not something I’m sad about losing, but I could actually taste something cake-like and not just herbal vanilla, which is what I normally get from this. Unfortunately I overdosed on cake today so I wasn’t really in the mood for more, haha! My aunty, who used to work in a bakery and makes all our birthday cakes, gave me a gorgeous light chocolate sponge filled with fresh cream and strawberries. I had a giant slab of it, and I’m not exaggerating. My mam also made a slow cooker self-saucing chocolate pudding, just as an experiment, and I was of course obliged to have a bowl of that with plenty of cream. To top it off, my partner’s parents turned up with my present from them at lunch time – afternoon tea! A huge tray full of sandwiches, quiche, sausage rolls, a scone, and various dessert treats. It was so thoughtful of them and I of course had to sample everything, before sharing the rest with my parents and grandparents. As a result I am all caked out! And possibly won’t eat again for the rest of the week. Totally worth it though. I’m having a much better birthday in quarantine than I expected! Bumping my rating ever so slightly from 60 to reflect the cakiness.
238/400
I wish that I got so many things as you did! I actually received nothing; but we are gonna celebrate it with my brothers next weekend. So, there are some hope I will get some gifts, sweets and similar :) but probably not teas though :)
Happy birthday! All of those treats sound great!
Happy birthday, Nattie! 24 June is my birthday too! :)
Martin – I was definitely spoiled! Sorry you didn’t get anything for your birthday, but I hope you have a great time celebrating next weekend! (:
Leafhopper – Thank you! My family definitely spoiled me.
Teatotaler – Thanks! I hope you had a great birthday too! :D It seems we have a very common birthday, haha!
Happy birthday y’all!
Thank you!! :D
You ever drink a tea that’s so good it makes you want to cry? That.
Resteeped this cup twice, that’s how good it was – second resteep was good, third was pushing it. Not a complaint; rarely does ANY flavoured tea steep well the third time, but just noting for myself…
Flavors: Cranberry, Lemon, Lime, Sweet
And another tasting note of this one. Raising the rating from 95 to 99 as it is my all time favourite I guess.
Yes, as you know, I have birthday today! And this day needs great tea. And that one from morning wasn’t it. But quarter of a century over here? To sum up… I had completely different thoughts about last 5 years. But it is like that and I don’t want to change it. If I decided otherwise I won’t met so perfect guys around me. Not only Steepster people, nor classamtes, nor co-workers. It’s not perfect life, but who needs a perfect life? It would be boring.
But this tea is close to perfect and no way boring. I won’t repeat myself, just read other notes :)
Yummy, malty jam. No bitterness even prepared grandpa as usual, full-bodied, just perfect for this day!
Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYEC4TZsy-Y
Although there could be many nice songs, for example this one helped to go through the panic attack yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHCV_ro2U_A (if you google translate lyrics, you will lose the play with words, but you will get basic thought of song)
Thank you all that I could be member of this community. I like it here because of you guys!
Preparation
Happy birthday! I hope it’s filled with lots of beautiful tea.
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy birthday, again, Martin! First song is one I knew well, and the second one is really awesome. I didn’t see a translation in the comments but listening to it was quite nice!
Managed to translate it a bit; check that out :)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v6jgvrGJIUfdgQ0bfACzX7ReWiwl9hinXG4K2b03kDU/edit?usp=sharing
Just don’t edit it. I want that you all can enjoy it :)
Happy birthday! Yes, Steepster is a great community. Wishing you more good tea in the year to come.
Happy birthday, Martin! 24 June is my birthday too. It seems that there are three of us here born on 24 June. :)
Wow! Happy birthday to you, also, Teatotaler!
Martin: Thank you for the translation! That was a lot of work!
Teatotaler: Happy birthday then for you as well! So, we are at least 3 on Steepster with same day. Oh, and it is just one of 365 days.
ashmanra: I just wanted you all to understand that song. It is easier to listening to English songs and then translating it for myself to Czech than vice versa. But I am happy that you liked it even without translation :)
Everyone: Thank you for being here, despite Steepster looks like in agony. I hope it will survive as long as possible. I am glad to have at least few people with other contacts. I was even thinking making some alternative for this page, but busy with school, so… it is still just in my head.
Happy birthday for yesterday Martin and teatotaler! What a coincidence that there are so many of us here on Steepster with the same birthday! (:
Happy birthday Martin!
Thank you mrmopar!
Yay, glad it mostly worked out!
Taiwanese Assam and Wild Mountain are still some of my favourite black teas too.
It worked out enough that I will drink all I have for nostalgia reasons. It’s actually way more drinkable than the H&S Paris I had yesterday…
I just wish I had a (local, reliable) source for Taiwanese Assam THIS GOOD.
I’m with you. I caved and ordered from Whispering Pines when they had it in stock a couple years ago, and it made so nostalgic and happy.. but it’s WP, and they are both expensive and carry a limited supply of their teas with unpredictable restocking. If they get it and/or Tawainese Wild Mountain back this year I’m breaking my self-imposed tea buy ban.
I mean, it sounds like a plan to hold out and jump on fav’s when they’re released!
It’s my one and only exception.. and also a possible Jayida Che reorder because they gave me a 20% off code. That’s totally it though. D:
i’ve been hoping tawain tea crafts would bring back the few varieties they have that are delicious. WP is too expensive and never has enough stock for me to make a cart worthwhile.
Taiwan Tea Crafts would definitely be more ideal. I’ll try to keep them on my radar too. WP is for years when my tea budget is not.. like this year.
I never ordered from either TTC or WP. I think I’ve had a few of their teas, but not a lot. TTC always intrigued me but their turn over of teas was quite fast I think???