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Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!
First gongfu steeping of tea from TTB. Batch: Autumn 2019.

Tea #10
This is a winner! At least so far. I plan to try two more teas.

I decided for gongfu this afternoon and it was the best I could do with this tea. I have used whole 5 grams I had available and steeped in my 125 ml gaiwan. 10 seconds starting time with 10… 15 s increments.

Dry leaf aroma reminds me mostly cacao, slight bitterness and malts.
Steeped? It was a symphony of sweet notes of cacao, chocolate, malt and barley, lightly even a rye, complemented very well with light floral notes and a wee bit of spices.

It deserves a better note.

Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!

Hojicha. My first encounter. Again, I just think so.

Tea #9
Not boiling water. But hot enough. Tea bag is waiting next to the cup. Now, it’s in the cup. Steeping is rather short. Maybe the two minutes mark as Shae did.

Results: roasty. It actually reminds me an Chinese oolong from Sea Dyke Company that I have at work. It’s not bad, but I have been expecting more I think? I can see potential in hojicha, but this was not the best, which I have expected. But it is so mediocre. It was just an okay drink.

Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!
Pu-erh. It is always hit or miss. Especially when flavoured. And tuo chas? Some were better, some were awful. Well, well…
Tea #8
Decided to brew it grandpa in 300 ml cup. It is actually good! Very “dark” taste, but not fishy, stinky, whatever. It was clean shu aroma.

Taste was strong as well, but on the other hand it was mellowed with floral notes from chrysanthemum. It is earthy, but so good taste. Surprising. I had such a low expectations and it is over them so much.

I like to be surprised. This tea is one of those teas.

Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!
So, a pure black tea. It’s from Rwanda, a country I had never tea before. Or did I and just don’t recall?
Tea #7
Dry leaf is broken, but some bigger pieces are there now and then. I used one, a little more heaped teaspoon and I have used a big fillable tea bag. Steeped for suggested 3-3.5 minutes and I am pretty sure about the timing as I have been watching the biathlon in meantime. What a shame for my country.

The tea itself, when dry, have a quite uncommon bitterness. I am not sure what is the reason for that, but reminds me a cheap tobacco and partially Lipton Yellow Label (does it count as a tea?).

Brewed it tastes pretty much light, but the flavours are pretty much alright. Smooth, lightly roasty, autumn leaves. Nice amount of astringency/bitterness and level of malt is low as well, but clearly noticeable. Certainly far from finest teas I had before, but not the worst either. I think my expectations were maybe too high, but it is a great tea if you want a caffeine boost, but without much flavours to find. It is pretty much straight-forward cup.

This tea is from my Poland trip made in the end of 2021 and start of 2022. I bought it in “Pod Lampionami” tearoom in Poznan (search for pictures, it is super cute and cozy). Translated name means “From Persian Market”

However, this tea seems not being from them directly. I have found (and downloaded pic from) Herbatyczas.pl — seems they have more teas from them in Poznan tearoom. I have added it under “Pod Lampionami”, because bought there, however not sure if it’s correct at all.

I bought it on blind buy… I just saw the glass container and it was looking nice, but no ingredients were listed. So, that said, I am not even sure about ingredients. But if they really used Persian tea base, I think it’s amazing.

However…
let’s try the tea. First of all, I notice mostly mint. They say it is nana mint and I didn’t had that much, but seems to be indeed that, but my limited experience notices only mint.

Based on taste, it indeed contains stevia. Sadly, it is indeed very sweet. The mint is refreshing. But the base tea is muted from the stevia. Argh! Why to kill so great, Iranian, tea with sh*tload of stevia?

I am so disappointed. I will save a little, but the rest will go to the TTB for sure.

On the other news: my mother was tested positive for Covid. We made a little improvised quarantine at home, but it is only improvised :(

A tea bag received with postcard from postcrossing community once again.

It’s always nice when they include a sample of a tea or, rather and often, just a tea bag. This is new one for my collection of outer tea wrappings and… sounded so good I decided to brew it instantly.

Rosehip and hibiscus, combined with black tea is indeed Russian traditional blending I think. I never saw it elsewhere.

But the tea, even though it was only a tea bag, was pretty good. It was fruity/punchy taste of rosehip and hibiscus wasn’t too tart at all. Sadly, those flavours overpowered “long leaf” black tea base. Maybe it was, afterall, mellowing the “fruit” flavours, but not a single note from the base is in the taste. If it was more present, I would be happier. But honestly, not sure about Russian market tastes…

EDIT: I see Cameron B. found a better pic than I. Thanks for changing it!

Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!
Actually, today I didn ot wanted to reach the TTB and drink other teas instead. But in the end I had only morning cup and this time it is family pot tea.

Tea #6
Red rooibos combined with lemon and peppermint sounds intriguing. However, when I have opened the pouch, I just saw small pieces of rooibos and peppermint. Nothing much else. Later, some other flecks appeared and I dare to say they were black. Are those promised lemon pieces?

But I have decided to brew it anyway, as I wrote, in a family pot. I was asked for caffeine-free tea as it was already the evening and noone wants to stay awake till midnight as tomorrow is Monday. I get it… although I am not that much sensitive to caffeine at all.

The flavour is pretty good, as I hope a good rooibos base is used. I remember one tea bag with same flavour, minus the lemon and it was so bad. That one was very woody and peppermint was musty and overall it felt very old and dusty.

This one wasn’t like that. The base is almost sweet, and peppermint is very refreshing and fresh. It is not pure menthol as some mints are. Sadly, I do not notice much of lemons. No sourness. No lemon peel note. There is some flavour, that could be from the lemon. But not sure what is it and overall, it is almost non-present. It is noticeable only if I am thinking about it.

So, sadly, it does not live up to its name, The name suggests more lemon… this is not lemon rooibos. At least it isn’t musty and dusty…

Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!
A nepalase oolong sounds interesting. Prepared western, as I had no mood to gongfu. 1 heaped teaspoon in basket and 300 ml cup.

Tea #5

So yup. Finally I took out plain tea. And after drinking it, I need to re-visit this one.

The aroma of dry leaf is interesting. Very floral — rose, with its peppery note that it can have sometimes. I tried my best to match their steeping parameters saying 190°F, however, I haven’t measured it.

Steeped for rather short though, only about 3 minutes — they suggest 4-5.

In taste all the aroma disappeared into lightly vegetal, stonefruits aroma and taste and pretty mouthcoating feeling. It was somehow simple and maybe too much easydrinking considering oolongs. I have been hoping for more.

It was simple afternoon drink. I won’t rate so far.

Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!

I generally don’t like Coke. I drink one can per year, if even that much. It is usually too sweet for me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t drink flavoured sodas. I do, and too much in my opinion. And not only mine, but also my dentist said that.

Tea #4
But I have decided to try this one, because it is black tea from Japan which is rare (and good as well) and ginger will tame the over-sweetness.

Actually, I really like it. Yes, the cola flavour is very present. But as I have hoped, ginger is present and it is not that sweet at all. Luckily, the ginger isn’t fiery at all and it is rather adding some extra flavour.

It’s fine. I think I will keep this small pouch when I will crave some sweet tea (there are those days) and there are two another pouches in the TTB.

Skysamurai’s TTB Thank you!

Tea #3

I won’t lie, I picked this up mostly because the outer tea bag wrapper; which is new for my collection.

And it is plain tea, which is very welcomed in the afternoon, when I am all tired and I don’t want to discover depths of the teas.

This one is exactly that. Plain, Ceylon tea, not much to write home about. Two minutes steep are sufficient, even for larger cup than usual.

As I wrote, not much to write about. Basic, and luckily not bitter nor too astringent, so, in the end… pretty much decent plain black tea in tea bag.