Featured & New Tasting Notes

Alright, I’m back again. I’m still struggling with motivation it seems. When I do manage to get some free time, I never seem to want to do much on Steepster. Of course, I have also been in a generally terrible mood for like the last four or five months, so it’s probably a good thing that I don’t seek out any form of social interaction regularly. Anyway, that’s enough of me being a lazy sourpuss. Let’s get on to the tea review. This is another golden oldie of mine. I think I finished my pouch of this tea back in either January or February of this year. I found it to be an excellent winter Dancong oolong.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After rinsing, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of orange blossom, orchid, vanilla, cream, custard, and sugarcane. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of violet, lemon candy, grass, baked bread, and toasted corn. The first infusion introduced a rather subtle gardenia scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of orange blossom, orchid, grass, gardenia, cream, butter, and roasted almond that were chased by subtler impressions of vanilla, baked bread, toasted corn, sugarcane, pear, and peach. The subsequent infusions coaxed out aromas of orange zest, earth, pear, steamed milk, green apple, sour cherry, butter, coriander, roasted almond, and spinach. Impressions of lemon candy, violet, and custard came out in the mouth alongside stronger notes of baked bread, vanilla, toasted corn, pear, peach, and green apple. Impressions of minerals, sour cherry, orange zest, white grape, earth, steamed milk, coriander, and wood also made themselves known. In addition to these new flavors, I could also pick up some hints of plum, spinach, and pomegranate as well. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, cream, butter, earth, wood, grass, and coriander that were balanced by lingering hints of vanilla, baked bread, green apple, lemon candy, spinach, sugarcane, orange zest, sour cherry, and pear.

This was really not what I was expecting of a Ya Shi Xiang. I often find such teas grainy, gritty, nutty, and earthy, and while a lot of those characteristics were present, this tea emphasized floral, vegetal, fruity, and smooth, creamy qualities. It was incredibly easy to drink and very approachable. If I had not known this was a Ya Shi Xiang going into my review session, I doubt I would have been able to identify it. Overall, this was a great Dancong oolong. I could see a tea like this going over well with people who often find Dancong oolongs to be too astringent or too volatile in how they express themselves.

The lime smell is so strong and mouthwatering in this blend that I guess I expected more of it. Not to say this doesn’t have a lot of lime flavor because it does but I guess everything else on top of the lime threw me off. So now that I know a little more of what to expect (mostly the rum flavor), I think I can adjust my expectations and I’ll enjoy the next cup more.

Cold Brew!

It’s not that I’m anti-hibiscus in general, but I do dislike when it gets thoughtless tossed into tea blends (usually for colour) where it doesn’t make sense and takes over the flavours. ‘Cause while hibby does add a beautiful colour, that comes with a very distinct tartness! That’s been my main issue with this blend – the hibiscus is too tart/sour for the delicate violet notes that are so beautiful…

Cold brewing made a big difference in terms of flavour; the cold water extracted much less acidity and sharpness from the hibiscus and so while it was still a present element of the flavour I got to taste a lot more of the violet in the infusion and it was softer/smoother overall. I wouldn’t say it was INCREDIBLE prepared this way, but it was definitely good and I think I’ll have to really keep that in mind going through the rest of this tea…

Ever swig down a tasty tea so fast you didn’t take good mental notes for reviewing purposes? This one is nearly gone, and I enjoyed it immensely, but about the only descriptors I can grab are leather and cocoa. Even the cool remaining half cup smells good! (Thanks, derk!)

Thanks again for the swap, AJRimmer!  This was intriguing despite being from Tazo… but it’s less disappointing than I expected it would be.  I’ve never had what you might call a butterscotch blondie but this is certainly a sweet tea and tastes something like butterscotch or brown sugar with a different layer of flavor from the seemingly misplaced chicory root.  Why might that be in a dessert?  The other flavors fit though.  It’s sweet, it’s black tea.  The second steep was weaker in the tea itself but still some sweetness.   I also drank some of derk’s What-Cha Four Seasons oolong but I have no idea what is going on with me and oolongs lately… they just taste like OOLONG to me and I’m tasting no specifics… so I don’t want to write a note for that one yet…
Steep #1  // 1 teabag for full mug // 18 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 4 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep

I made this iced yesterday and wasn’t loving it. I added lemonade and that wasn’t doing much for me. Today I set up a cold brew and once I had the tea out, I decided to make it hot as well. The cold brew is still in the fridge but the hot tea was really quite nice. Where the iced tea I found to be on the sweeter (almost cloying) side with more muted mint, the hot tea was a lot more refreshing. The mint came more to the forefront with a nice citrus flavor from the lemon. I will see how the cold brew goes but this might be just a hot tea going forward.

This is an interesting combo of smokey and strong (tannic/very bold) but also fruity (black current maybe?). It is good, but without milk it would be too bitter and tannic for me. A bit of soy milk mellows this blend out, however it isn’t something I would drink regularly if I had other H&S blends available. The cup of tea smells sweet and fruity, but when tasted the mouthfeel is almost smokey and there is a lingering bitterness like if you eat burnt toast and the burnt part has that weird mineral acrid taste. It is difficult to describe, but there is no sweetness. It isn’t bad, and I think many people like black teas that are very strong.

Considering how small the leaf is, I was expecting this to have more astringency. Actually, it’s pretty smooth and malty. I’m pleasantly surprised. I added just a splash of milk so that it went better with my very sophisticated adult breakfast of Lucky Charms, even though it was completely drinkable without. It doesn’t scream ‘English Breakfast’ at me immediately. It’s not as brisk as I’d expect, and there’s a floral note which I wouldn’t associate with an EB either. It is however very tasty as a breakfast tea. Smooth, malty, a touch of citrus and some lingering floral notes. It’s not overly complex, which actually suits my needs well for a breakfast tea, but it’s not too simple either. It takes milk well, but is good without, and I imagine it would work equally well with lemon or sweetener added if that’s your preference. Though it’s not a stand-out, it’s a very decent blend and a good first cup of the day.

I needed to calm down nerves before tomorrow exam. I prepared less than I want to admit myself, moreover I am somehow sleepy.

And I did almost nothing today, which is bad… really bad. Now it is 5 pm, I went through that two chapters of 4, completely wasn’t focused, feel horrible.

Can’t even write down this tasting note in some timely manner.

Tea is quite boozy, but didn’t helped; bananas, bit spicy (cinnamon?)

This was a one-use sachet I received as a sample with a delivery of tampons, of all things. I added hot water and a dash of skimmed milk. A little on the thin side compared to other similar chai latte products I’ve had in the past, but overall it was pretty nice, if a little on the sweet side. Quite heavy on the cinnamon, which I enjoy.

Even old this is still delicious. The base has definitely seen better days, but the marshmallow and spearmint both pulled through. I can’t wait to reach my sipdown target so I can place a 52teas order and get this back in my collection!

GUESS WHO SUBMITTED HER ESSAY!!!!! I’M FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! :D

Drank my resteeped cold brew while I was working, and it was way way better. Melon flavour definitely came through much more, and no bitterness. Definitely have to remember to use less leaf next time I cold brew this one.

I made a jug of this tea iced.

Blech. I found it rather bitter. I know I’;ve had this tea before, and although I didn’t adore it, I didn’t hate it. But this batch? Nuh-uh. I was able to save it somewhat with a splash of the watermelon flavored syrup from Simplee Simple from Etsy. But I did not enjoy this one.

The syrups from that etsy shop are really quite nice. I use them in my sparkling water, in some teas, and to make flavored ice cubes. So far the raspberry is my favorite, but I still have the blackberry and peach to try. Not affiliated in any way with the shop. I just like them.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SimpleeSimple2?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=636734444

This is another sample from my surprise package from derk!

Two of my all time favorite teas blended together? Yes, please! But it was going to be too good to have it just any old time, so I waited. And yesterday I spent HOURS trimming and pulling down the dead vines from the back side of the wall o’ jasmine. It is gorgeous from the yard, but from inside the house and on the carport, it had become a tangled brown mess of all the old vines and was obstructing the view and what little light we get from that angle.

I had to be really careful as there are still some bird nests up high. With each tug, ancient pollen, dust, and debris showered down into my face and in my hair. I ended up filling three garbage cans – big ones – before stopping. My goal was to have a lovely view from my newly cleaned off carport which looks onto the back garden. I put a small table and a rocker there with a huge fan to keep it comfortable.

My hands were blistered, I was covered in dirt and pollen, and I was ready to relax HARD.

So as a treat, I made this tea last night and sat in the rocker until midnight, reading, sipping, and enjoying the newly re-exposed view!

This is a fantastic tea. It reminds me of a bygone tea I loved but can no longer acquire, Emperor’s Red from Premium Steap. What a tea that was! They never told what the blend was, but I think it must have been very close to this.

This was so smooth. A cocoa aroma not only accompanies the sip, but that powdery “raspy” feel is left on the tongue. It is not at all an astringency or a sourness, it is like you have tasted some dry cocoa powder. It has enough heft to use it as a breakfast tea, and yet is smooth enough to drink by itself in the afternoon or evening. (If you don’t need to avoid caffeine later in the day!) With the dry cocoa, like a perfect dance partner, the Dian Hong adds its full roundness and body, with an extra touch of sweetness and some middle and high notes to go with the low dark notes of the Fujian tea.

I resteeped the leaves and the second steep was wonderful, too. It was good enough that I have saved the leaves to give it one more go today. I will try to add another note for the third steep, as this is a rather expensive tea and getting three western steeps would make a difference in how I view the price for an order!

Thanks for adding this one to the tea box, tea-sipper! I’ve been meaning to buy some plain lavender forever but never got around to it. I’ve been adding this to earl grey lattes at a ratio of 2 tsp decaf earl grey to 1.5 tsp lavender for a large mug. I’m afraid that regular earl grey will taste boring now! This offers a nice lavender flavor. I’d probably want to try another brand to compare, but I definitely want to buy some lavender from someone. Or maybe grow my own?

Grandpa Style!

Seriously misjudged the amount of leaf that I tossed into the Nordic mug, so when it all unfurled it actually unfurled out of the mug. So, suffice to say that this was a STRONG cup of tea! Even still, it didn’t taste bad – creamy, buttery and floral. I can’t remember for sure if this is flavoured/scented, but just judging by this taste (even if it was amped up) I think it probably is?

2020 has just been the worst of years, it’s a surreal rough one.  I thought the world was handling a global pandemic hopefully well enough, I thought more negative things would be happening during a pandemic (as it doesn’t take much in normal times) but then it takes an utterly bizarre heartbreaking event like the death of George Floyd to really set off a powder keg to everything else.  So many similar things happening to so many people along these lines all the time.  George Floyd is certainly one of the more obnoxious deaths in all aspects here.  Everyone should know better by now how to treat other human beings, let alone law enforcement.  Watching the older man be shoved to the ground for no apparent reason by law enforcement, and just passed by bleeding, when they KNOW how many cameras are out there… These are not the people who should be supposedly protecting people.  Sure, being a cop is a tough job that most people could not do… but if you can’t do it RIGHT, choose another field.  A few bad apples, etc… and that goes for all aspects of these events… a few criminals shouldn’t be used to ruin every person of color’s life.  Every bad cop shouldn’t make it more difficult for every good cop.  Everything being so one sided either/or republican/democrat. Everything is just so generalized all the time!! It’s just been a grieving type of year for so many things.  Anyway… I might just be talking about tea most of the time, but there is so much else in my brainpan, as I’m sure is the same for all of you.

I bought this about a year ago with a handful of other teas from Silver Tips Tea. The name of this one sold me on it — I love the idea of a great FRENCH BREAKFAST tea.  It was really the name because now I’m wondering why the heck I would buy a Ceylon base vanilla that doesn’t even have vanilla pieces in it?  Any decent vanilla tea MUST have vanilla bean IMO.   Ceylon is my least favored black tea, personally the flavor is just not for me. To my tastebuds, Ceylon is just boring and flat. There is vanilla flavoring here but it is faint and the Ceylon that I don’t really like detracts from the vanilla anyway.  The second steep has even less vanilla… So this one isn’t for me… but I’m on the lookout for the best vanilla bean tea….
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 18 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  3-4 min
2020 Sipdowns: 39 Teavivre – Jasmine oolong

Cold Brew Sipdown (267)…sorta since I just put the rest in my swap box

This cold brewed for almost 48 hours because I intended to drink it yesterday but had a shitstorm of a day. Back in December, I left my mom’s house to come stay with my sister due to a lot of drama I am sure I have previously mentioned. My brother arrived a few days later after my mom kicked him out. Since then, my brother has been quite difficult to live with because despite being 30, he hasn’t learned the basic skills of an adult. For instance, he can’t even seem to get his plates from the sink to the dishwasher (In London, I don’t even have a dishwasher so I have to hand wash everything so I feel like this is not asking much of him). Given his age and the fact that he has a full-time job and no debt in addition to the fact that he doesn’t pull his weight around the house, my sister told him a few weeks ago that she thinks it is time he starts looking for a place of his own. She gave him a deadline of August 1 seeing as she is expected to deliver her baby in September and wanted to get things settled and ready in her house (which includes moving me out of the room I am currently sleeping in which is meant to be the nursery to the room my brother was using, which was always meant to be for me). My brother didn’t want to move out though so he was not actively looking and since he refuses to live with a roommate or in a basement apartment but still has a fairly low budget, any decent place that fits his requirements is (and has) gone quickly. Given his laziness and apathy, we have continuously had to push him to search and yesterday my sister lost it on him when she caught him lying about it. His response to this was to decide he’d rather live in his car than with the “abuse” he experienced here. Both my brother-in-law and I tried talking to him but his arrogant attitude led to us yelling at him and he left. Of course the guy who won’t even live in a basement apartment wasn’t actually going to live in his car so he went running back to our Mom’s place.

If that wasn’t bad enough, my mom decided to call my sister and give her shit for telling my brother he had to move out. She first said that we (my sister, brother-in-law and I) were ganging up on my brother and that we were too harsh and he was sensitive. Then when she couldn’t present positive arguments for why my brother should get to stay, she questioned why my sister would let me stay and not him. Then my own mother went on to attack my character to try to show my sister why it was wrong for me to stay and not my brother. Then she told my sister that her and I were the true disappointments because we dismiss people from our lives easily like her, her brother (who once was found standing over my sister in only his underwear while she was sleeping despite her locking the door to the room she was in before she went to sleep…oh and she was a teenager at the time), and now our brother (who chose to leave). So yeah…shitstorm.

Actual tea review starts here

Today is a new day though and as things have calmed in our house, I can get back to the important things…like tea. This tea in particular which I hoped would be better cold brewed but alas it is not. I think it might actually be worse so I am getting much more rooibos than I did in the regular cup. Plus, the coconut is coming off a little more lotion-y than it did in the hot cup and the hibiscus is definitely stronger. Stupid me waiting as long as I did to try this…

I need a t-shirt that says, “Mail is my love language.” This traveled to my house from derk in an envelope peppered with cheerful, artsy stamps. Furthermore, I have the luxury of some use-it-or-lose-it vacation time to burn before end of the month, so I am enjoying it at home, not in the office.

I tasted before I investigated the description, and couldn’t quite place the flavor, although the scent was deliciously rich. Come to find out, says Whispering Pines, this is a lapsang souchong variety. If so, it is the mildest one I’ve ever sampled—like the outside rim of a very lightly toasted marshmallow rather than campfires and bacon.

I cold brewed the last of this in the hopes of coaxing out more of the cotton candy/candyfloss, but it still tastes like a whole load of nothing to me (except tea). Then again, candyfloss tastes like a whole lot of nothing to me too, so I guess it’s accurate? My mam said she could taste the candyfloss, but only after I told her what it was, and before then she said cherry. Idk, I don’t even like real candyfloss so maybe it’s me. Shrugs. I do prefer it cold steeped, though, I think.

Note: This is Frank’s original version, not Anne’s newer one. It’s super old now, but even fresh my experience of it was the same.

Sipdown 209/399.

Should I do something special for my 100th tasting note, or is it just another cup of tea?

How my tea tastes have changed since my first few reviews when I thought Teavana and Mighty leaf were the best teas, through the Steepster Select experiment, to now when I look for tasty bagged tea or a chocolatey yunnan black or a creamy shu puerh.

I thank the Steepster community for introducing me to Butiki, traveling tea boxes, and secret pumpkin swaps. So many yummy teas I have discovered since logging onto this site!

I do love a bargin, and this Vanilla Tea is just that. To me a bargin is quality at a lower price, and I like the challenge of paying less for a similar good product that others may pay more for. I have tried many steeps looking for a flaw in this tea, could it be an aftertaste, a bitterness, too much astringency? I haven’t found much negative here, its a single note tea, but it does it quite well. It reminds me of a Bryers Ice cream natural vanilla, but not so sweet. This is comfort food at its best, the reason why vanilla is a favorite dessert flavor, and why do other vanilla teas end up with a weird after taste? I am still impressed by every sip and have been unable to oversteep. Is it the vanilla bean or the vanilla flavor that is spot on? Maybe my only complaint is the black tea base isn’t really there, its just a conveyance for the vanilla.
I will order this again, and I will savor the sips of this comforting tea that only needs one flavor note to be delicious.

I had high hopes for this, mostly due to tea sipper’s love of it. Alas, I also didn’t get to this for over about a year (this is from July 2019 and I just broke the seal this morning) and given the coconut, it’s already showing signs of age. When I steeped it up hot, the coconut smelled rather lotion-y, which to me indicates it is starting to go rancid. Thankfully that doesn’t translate to the taste though. Taste is mostly hibiscus for me with a touch of rooibos. It’s fine but not really my thing. Tea Sipper, if you want 50 more grams of this (less some tsps), let me know. Fair warning on the age though since it’s almost a year old.

Woah… I don’t know what was so different about this tea today, but I’m not getting any of the usual notes from it. Instead, this tastes like an IPA! I did a double take when I first sipped it. It’s floral and fruity, but there’s an unmistakeable hoppy note about it too. It’s nothing like what I expected from this tea, but I’m really enjoying it! The front of the sip is all grapefruit and lychee, with an elderflower-like note lingering at the end of the sip. A hoppy note runs through the entire sip. It tastes so much like an IPA that I feel kind of wrong sipping on it at midday while I’m working, haha. I would never have thought to try cold brewing this tea, but now I’m really intrigued. Maybe it’ll bring out the chocolate and malt notes I usually get from this tea, or maybe I’ll be like drinking a nice, cold beer… Totally not what I was expecting when I brewed this one up, but a nice surprise.

Decided to brew pu-erh in gaiwan again, I need to calm down and this somehow works well to me. Not just tea, but sitting and enjoying the cuppa.

I prepared 5 grams in 85 ml gaiwan, boiling water in thermos. Quick rinse (10 seconds), letting humidity for 5 minutes to entry the chunk of tea.

First steep was ten seconds long and it brewed so dark… bit oily brew. The taste was quite boring, typical shu flavour, woody, no notes of chocolate I noticed last time.
Second one was with 5 seconds extra, brewed even darker, the taste is nice and mellow, but again that typical shu, without any complexity. I haven’t reached that soup is ultra thick and will coat your mouth throughout the session, just like a good old Irish stout! yet too. But it looks like that for sure. Some sweet notes bit reminding vanilla appears.

Third one, 25 seconds. It’s not that dark! Dark mahogany colour right now, clear.
Indeed some sweet notes are there. Not sure about the vanilla, but sweet. What is sweet, but somehow mild? Not sugary sweet? Is it that notes of chocolates I noticed other day?

Another. 30 seconds.
Smooth shu. There are no rough notes. Decent.

45 seconds. I am drinking it somehow fast. Do I hurry? Noo! Why then? Anyway, it’s so nice, mellow, easydrinking.

Another 45 seconds long steep. Did I bite dark chocolate? No, it is just a tea.

Praying for justice and calm heads in US, I hope that methods of police will change too. I don’t consider normal kneeing on someone’s neck. Moreover when he was trying to breath. I don’t say that riots will solve anything, but honestly I am not surprised. What else they can do? Should they remain silent? I am afraid that is what they want.