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Yum, it’s been a long time since I’ve had one of my Russian Blends teas. This one in particular is the “Lady Grey” of the bunch, in my opinion – light to medium bergamot level with lovely lemon flavor. A perfect accompaniment to me lazing about on the couch, watching The Fifth Element for the hundredth time!

So I decided to go through all of my tea and separate it out into what I consider “permanent” residents and then what I consider to be “try-me” teas, whether they be from sample orders or swaps, or simply teas that I don’t love enough to keep around on a regular basis. Then, I put all of my “permanent” teas into the cupboard and closed the door. I’m going to allow myself one cup from the cupboard per day, and only one cup. The rest of the tea I drink must be from the more temporary tea selection, which is on the counter and in a couple of small cardboard boxes. There’s quite a variety here, so I don’t see it being a problem until I start to make a lot of progress on it. I do also have a very small box for teas that I dislike enough to not be willing to drink them – these will be for swaps or whatever eventually.

Hopefully this system ends up working out! I was a good girl and put all of my untasted new Butiki teas in the cupboard! Come on, willpower…

Sipdown! (156)

So I have officially put myself on tea-buying hiatus. I have way too many teas, and since all the sales I was planning to order from have passed, I should be well stocked on my favorites for a while (Butiki, TeaVivre, WP). A lot of my collection is samples from swaps, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to reduce the number pretty quickly.

So, this tea. I chose it as one of my samples in the 3rd Anniversary sampler from TeaVivre, and I was really surprised by its flavor. As much as I enjoyed this tea, I’m not too terribly sad to see it go since I have a lot of Yunnans right now. I would consider reordering this when I get my cupboard under control. It really is a different tea from my beloved Golden Tip. :)

Stephanie thoughtfully included some freebie samples in our swap, and this was one of them. After drinking a ridiculously indulgent milk tea, I needed a nice green tea to soothe my tummy. I don’t have much experience with dragonwell teas, but I have enjoyed the ones I’ve tried, and found them to be quite mellow and inoffensive. The leaves of this tea have the traditional flattened look, and they’re a rather bright yellowish green color. The dry scent is mild and spinach-like, and somewhat sweet. I brewed for 2 minutes at 185 degrees.

The brewed aroma is similar, mild and gently vegetal. I seem to always choose spinach as the main descriptor for sencha and these teas, I’m not sure if that’s a general thing or if I’m just not experienced enough with green teas to really notice the different notes. Overall, this tea was quite lovely and mellow, and perfect for my tummy. Very mild vegetal flavor, and something that reminded me of very light toast. There’s also that lovely buttery, nutty quality that seems to be typical of dragonwell teas.

Now I’m relaxed with a calm and happy tummy! :)

Tommy sent me a couple of packets of this mix, hooray! I love milk tea! Generally I would make it cold, but I’m actually feeling a little chilly today (the AC in our apartment is pretty low, stupid boys) so I decided to do a hot version with vanilla soy milk.

Super creamy and delicious, and quite sweet! I’m not going to rate it this way, because I taste the soy milk a lot, and I’m sure it drastically changes the flavor. So I’ll use my other packet with water and then I can give it a rating.

Delicious creamy nomminess! Now my tummy is warm and happy.

Okay, time to try one of the high rollers here on Steepster. I’m always sort of nervous to try teas that are firm favorites around here… I know I won’t be shunned if I don’t love them but I’m still afraid I won’t love them. Hah. This is one of those creepy tree branch teas (I believe the other term is “spider legs”). The leaves are huge and black and very twisty and brittle. I’m surprised by the lack of dry scent – just a vague honey sweetness and some mustiness. I followed the recommended parameters (aside from the boiling water).

Yum, this smells like waffles! With honey and fruits notes, too. Becoming very excited! It tastes like waffles, too! Or to be more generic, it tastes like pastry, but there’s something about it that reminds me specifically of waffles. I definitely get a buttery texture and lovely honey flavor. There’s also that dark dried fruitiness that’s almost syrupy. And cinnamon? Mm! The aftertaste is grain and, in a few sips, fresh apricot. At the base of the flavor is a lovely rich caramelized brown sugar flavor, mm…

So yes, definitely waffles! I don’t necessarily get maple, so I suppose they would be waffles with a dark, caramelized fruit syrup and cinnamon whipped cream! Om nom nom!

Good morning, Steepster! Yes, I know it’s almost noon, but I still have 8 minutes to write this before that happens! I figured I would choose the only Yunnan from my Butiki order as my tea of the morning, since I generally like to drink a Yunnan first. The dry leaves are adorable! Fairly short, small black leaves mixed with cute little fuzzball golden tips. It left lovely golden Yunnan fairy dust all over the teaspoon I used to measure! Aww! Dry scent is sweet, musty hay with chocolate and a slight herby spice note.

Mm, tea is so lovely. The brewed tea smells quite bready, with honey notes along with light floral and fruity scents. At first, I thought this tea was a bit too light, but it seemed that as I kept sipping it, I stopped thinking so. Maybe the flavor builds with this one? Anyway, it’s definitely light for a black tea, or even for a Yunnan. The taste is very grainy in the chewy raw grain sense, not in the bread sense. I was surprised to taste an interesting hint of cinnamon, which I loved! There’s also a wee bit of floral here (less excited about that one) and it makes an intriguing mix when combined with the cinnamon. Lastly, some cocoa notes and a very smooth, mellow texture round out the end of the sip. This tea is very lovely, and definitely different from any other Yunnan I have tried! :D

This tea makes me grumpy…

I love the vanilla flavoring and its custardiness, but I feel like this tea is super finicky or something. If I steep it for too long, it comes out bitter. However, I tried a 3-minute steep tonight, and it’s too weak. And it’s astringent?! Wtf, tea.

Only one serving left of this and it definitely won’t be a repurchase. There are other vanilla teas that I like. It’s a shame though. :(

I believe this sample came from Shadowfall. I’ve been noticing lately that I never drink any of my chai samples. I guess it’s just something that I have to be in a specific mood for? So I figured I’d try to drink some of them within the next few days. This one actually smells fairly mild. I don’t really smell orange, just some cinnamon and a sweetness that almost says vanilla to me. I did a 4 minute steep.

I dunno, this tea is fairly weak for a chai. I added a little sugar but no milk, so I guess I’m appreciating the weak flavor right now since it’s not diluted. But normally, I feel chai should be strongly spiced so that it can stand up to the traditional preparation method. I would call this a spiced black tea, not necessarily a chai. I taste a wee bit of orange, but mostly cinnamon and some clove. The flavor that’s here isn’t bad, there’s just not enough of it.

This was probably the new blend that I was most excited about. Caramel apple tea? Yum! This is a rolled oolong, and the leaves are very dark. I can see a few pieces of dried apple and some tiny red flower petals mixed in with the tea. The dry scent is extremely strong and very caramel apple-y! In this case, it’s definitely a granny smith apple. I can smell the butter in the caramel, too. I noticed that the pellets barely unrolled in the first infusion.

The brewed aroma is very caramel! The apple is still there, but it’s much fainter and less tart, and I can smell a sort of autumn leaf scent that I associate with oxidized oolongs. Yum, the caramel is strong with this one! It’s definitely a darker caramel, similar to burnt sugar. I don’t really get butter like I would expect from real caramel. The apple is much milder than the smell – it’s definitely either a cooked apple or the red delicious variety, more sweet than tart. I am, however, getting a very fresh and crisp pear flavor, I assume from the Gui Fei base. Quite lovely! There is a mild (thank goodness) floral note and an overall sweet honey-like taste from those cute little leafhoppers!

This one is a hit, Stacy! :D

I think this is the Butiki tea that I’ve been waiting to try the longest. I love cantaloupe and melon things in general, and I like white teas a lot, so this is right up my alley! Wow, these leaves are huge! This is definitely a very full-leaf bai mudan, and it has the most lovely little flowers mixed in. Beautiful! The smell is extremely melon, although I wouldn’t say it’s any specific melon.

The brewed aroma is also strong melon, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it cantaloupe. I added a wee bit of sugar to mine after a quick taste. I don’t know that I would call this cantaloupe specifically – it tastes more like honeydew to me. And that is not a bad thing, I love honeydew too! There is a light creaminess to this, especially as you near the end of the sip. I also taste a mild hay-like flavor from the bai mudan itself. Lovely!

I’m not sure whether I underleafed, but this is a very light tea. Next time I may try it with extra leaf. Those darn huge leaves are hard to measure! :P