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This has been a very depressing day. I started this tea cold brewing when I left the house today. I didn’t realize it was an oolong. For some reason I thought this was a green. Well the leaves expanded way more than expected for that reason and my cup is pretty strong on flavor. Dilute it was cold water and it tastes just about perfect. It’s a very soothing cup of chilled tea for a tough day. The vanilla is comfortingly creamy and sweet and the lemon keeps it fresh.

This reminds me quite s bit of David’s Tea’s Vanilla Oolong. I’d be curious to try them side by side to compare.

Thank you, Azzrian for sharing this delicious blend with me.

Mmmm, yum, grape! thanks for the sample Krystaleyn! I’ve been wanting to try some Butiki oolongs for a while. This one tastes just like grape bubble gum. I love grape bubble gum! I love this light oolong base lending its fresh greenness to a candy-like grape flavor that would otherwise be cloying.

This is really tasty! I cold brewed it over night, of course. It’s almost 100 here today! Green oolongs take really well to cold brewing. So do green teas. and white. not sure about dark oolongs. I think I’ll try it out on my mi lan dan cong. :)

Tomorrow’s gonna be another hot day so I’m sticking a few more teas into the fridge. I love my refrigerator. Do we ever really stop to think about how awesome it is? You can take away my electric lights, my clothes dryer, my microwave, even the computer… but not my refrigerator.

Another sample from Krystaleyn! Yummy! I’m really kicking butt in trying a bunch of new teas today! go me!

This particular tea is delicious! I cold brewed this cause who can drink hot tea in weather like this?! (Says the girl who just had hot soup for dinner) I’m really liking the balance of spices here! A lot of times, chais use too much of one thing or another, but this one is just perfect! The cardamom and the cinnamon and the yummy white base that is almost milky.

And, the slightly fruitiness of the peach. It’s only lightly peachy. I think if I didn’t know it was flavored, I would have thought that the peachiness was an inherent quality in the tea. Though I don’t usually get peach notes from a white tea. Very very tasty.

Despite cold brewing, I’m getting quite a caffeine kick from this. I can only imagine how I’d feel if I had hot brewed this. White teas are definitely morning teas.

Okay, I’m finally getting to some of my new matchas! I really have too much tea. I don’t even know what I have anymore. Samples everywhere!

anyways, this tea. In my last order, I got some matchas that I thought would be good for making smoothies. I also happen to love mangoes. The Champagne mango is the queen of all mangoes, but alas, she knows her worth. It is every so pricy to feed my mango habit. There’s nothing like a sweet creamy mango. yumm. Even my dogs love it. They sit at my feet and give me puppy dog eyes until I give them a nibble. So cute. so anyway, this mango matcha (http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/mango-matcha.html) seemed like the perfect thing for me!

The appearance of this tea is a slightly brownish green powder. As usual, there’s a little specks of white stuff in there that I’m guessing is the flavoring agent. It’s a bit clumpy but I’ve definitely seen worse.

For preparation, I added a bit of cold water to make a paste, then hot water to make the tea!

Well, sad to say, I’m a little disappointed. The smell reminds me of plastic. Like sweet peach and plastic. The taste is similar to the smell, except I’m also getting the grassy mineral flavor of the matcha. This is just so artificial and not like mango at all! I’ve loved all the other matchas from this company so I have no idea what happened here, but this flavor is not for me. At least, not as a hot tea. I think I’ll chill this and see if it gets better cold.

Later:
Okay, cold, this is a lot better. Still not good though. It tastes oddly floral and perfumey. I can still taste the matcha base, and that is as good as always but please find another mango flavoring. :( I can’t finish this. I’m sorry.

Thanks to Azzrian for sending me a sample of this! I can see from her review how precious this tea is to her. :)

I think I used too little leaf in this brew, but despite that I’m finding it pretty tasty. The white tea is the most prominent flavor. It’s hay and sun dried grass. Smooth and slightly toasty. The berry flavor is just an enhancement. A very tasty enhancement.

It’s like sitting on the summer meadow with a bowl of mixed berries. What a romantic flavor.

I think I’ll try cold brewing this next. :)

Got some of this from krystaleyn. Thanks for the sample! just enough of this to make s large cup cold brewed. I can taste the tarty hibiscus and the berry. I also taste the rooibos, which doesn’t bother me too much but it seems s bit out of place. And the after taste here seems a bit artificial.

Okay. Added a touch of sugar. Definitely helps the berry pop and makes it quite juicy. Not bad but not my favorite.

My package from Krystaleyn came today. Yaaaay. This is the first tea I’m trying from that bunch and I am super happy about it! Even though this was way over steeped as I dealt with a cooking emergency, it did not develop that odd sour wood flavor some rooibos tend to. I get a lovely sweet mango flavor with a bit of spice. I don’t really taste anything that might indicate creaminess or yogurt though.

I think the base is excellent and the mango is very realistic. Very nice. And I was just lamenting my lack of fruity caffeine free teas until the package arrived. :D

Shou pu-erh. It just always triggers something in my memory. It’s the taste of a dim sum restaurant. In my mind, pu-erh is a noisy crowded place filled with the scent of greasy foods and pungent sauces. It’s sitting at a table with my family and a small cup of some dark harsh liquid. Needless to say, the tea was pretty subpar. They servers simply fill a pot with leaves and boiling water. Then they set it at the table. The first few cups are always too light. the last few cups are always too dark. Then the pots are refilled with water and it’s a slightly better brew. But with the leaves they tend to use, it doesn’t get that much better. Until a certain age, my grandparents would just get me a can of soda. Then I learned I could just ask for jasmine or chrysanthemum tea and it was better. So the pu-erh of my youth was not really a good example of this illustrious tea. Yet every time I have a shou pu-erh, even a quality one like this offering from Teavivre, I always remember those dim sum places with my family. and that sub-par tea. The flavor is so familiar to me I don’t even notice what tasting unless I really think about it. All I get is memories.

If pressed, I’d say this tastes like autumn leaves. There’s a leather-y flavor and a smooth sweet finish. And that’s all I’ve got. :) I think shou pu-erh isn’t really my thing, but I think this is a good one. From the few sheng pu-erhs I’ve tried though, those might be worth exploring for me.

Thank you, Teavivre, for this generous sample!

Mmm, tasty tea! The moment I read the description for this, I thought it sounded a lot of David’s Tea’s Forever Nuts. and it is indeed very similar. This one tastes more natural though. And the apple seems more present. There’s definitely a lightly cinnamon-y cookie flavor. and it tastes like fresh toasty almonds! How is this done? Magic I tells you! Very tasty and nutty and good. My dog seems to like it too! Yaay.

Imagine a hot cup of this tea with a puppy napping on your lap. Heaven.

Oh yes, I happen to be home because I’m in between temp assignments at the moment. I think I just landed another one to start next week! At my previous assignment, some permanent people looked on me with pity, but I think of this as a vacation. I don’t have any debts or responsibilities at the moment so you gotta enjoy life while you can!

Until then, I’ll keep looking for that job which will allow me to bring my pups to work. :D