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It turned out to be an unintentionally Ceylon-ariffic day. I usually wouldn’t do a second black tea in the late afternoon, but I was having a mini-meltdown. I have my final paper due at midnight tomorrow for one of my Library Science classes and I thought that I’d misunderstood the basis of my 8 page paper. The entire basis. After a minute of shock I immediately thought “I need some tea with some oomph – the next 24 hours could be really long.” So I picked this out of the sample basket. As it steeped I took some deep breaths and thought things through. Long story short: from what I understand my basis is sound. I don’t need to get to my library early tomorrow and analyze 50 different books and then write like a fiend. Hallelujah! But I should probably get off the web and stop procrastinating ;)

But now to the tea! I was pleasantly surprised by this :) On the first steep it reminded me of Adagio’s Golden Monkey – not my favorite tea, but it’s got a kick that works for me. I really didn’t taste any sweetness. Then, oh second steep-o-joy! The sweetness came through and made it so yummy! It’s like the French Breakfast tea that I had this morning but more complex. Ah, ’tis all good.

I did try a third steep just for the heck of it. Yeah, not so much. This moves up the shortlist on teas I might purchase after I make my way through the sampler. NE

GM Sampler #ohmylordidon’tknow&amtoolazytotallywhat’sleft of 31 ;)

I awoke to such an overcast drizzly day that I knew I had to start my day with a black tea. But black teas are such a mystery to me. It seems like a lot are much too harsh for me, but then I love lapsang souchongs. I can’t tell the difference between Ceylons, Keemuns, or Assams and that drives me nutty cuz I want to! So I thought as I rifled through the sampler basket “Oh hey, this one’s Ceylon – I just need to make a note of this being a Ceylon and then go from there.” Well, that’s my hope. I think my theory falls flat since I don’t think that I have straight up Keemun or Assam tea handy for a comparison. D’oh!

Everything seemed like stereotypical black tea from the scent of the dried/steeped leaves to the cup’s aroma. The taste is really suprisingly pleasant. There’s this nice subtle sweetness that I’m digging. I feel sorta crazy(er) in that I almost feel like I’m drinking the pre-smoked tea that’s used for lapsangs, because this is the undercurrent taste I get while drinking GM’s LS, only a bit sweeter.

I’m on my second steep and there is a bit of dryness happening at the back of my throat, but not enough to dissuade me from drinking this again. But I’m not rushing to add this to my shopping list. But, I could see myself buying some to keep on hand for days I need a simple “reset” to my tea routine. NE

Oolong – take me away!!!!!

I’m actually backlogging this one from 2 days ago before I realized that this tea was already listed in Steepster. I just wasn’t feeling motivated to add a tea.

I had this tea to go at The Tea Smith and really enjoyed it. It had the asparagusey aroma I associate with oolongs along with a pleasant floral note. I really wanted more and was sad that I didn’t get to try more steeps of it – it seemed like it had amazing potential. So when I returned to the shop I picked up a packet. I now wish that I had only bought a small sample.

With many of the oolongs that I’ve had the tea grows in its complexity and yumminess with each steep. This tea’s brightest moment was its first steep. Each consecutive steep got more and more bland and my mouth never did do the “happy dance of joy” that many oolongs create for me. Maybe this is typical for Jade Oolongs – this is my first one. But I’m not impressed. M

I just had to try this again to compare it to the recent Lapsangs that I’ve tried (see my Tea Smith LS review for the comparison breakdown). Still as good as I remember it. But after reading so many of Doulton’s LS notes I realize that I’ve just begun my journey in finding my dream Lapsang Souchong. I think that this tea’s a nice buddy to have around and it still gets a TG from me. :)

This had a lighter smoke scent than what I’m used to. I’d put the scent as even mellower than Golden Moon’s LS. The fragrance of the cup was also smoky, but without the fragrance of pine that I enjoy.

Oh my. Um…so it’s lacking the sweet undercurrents that I love in the few lapsangs that I’ve had. It has a harsh, almost stinging bitterness that’s assaulting my mouth – especially at the back of my throat. I keep clearing my throat. That astringency comes and goes (one time I came close to tossing my cup), and it’s the first time I’d call a LS “ashy.” It’s like I rinsed out an ashtray and drank the runoff water. I am very glad that I only purchased a sample. I’ll finish it off over time, but there will be no resteeps here (I did do a resteep today with very little change in taste). My temp accuracy (or lack thereof) should be fixed by next week when my new electric kettle arrives (squee!) – so I will try this again with the for sure recommended steep temp and will update if my rating changes as a result. GA

So, to sum up:

Adagio’s LS = RAWR!
Golden Moon’s LS = Meow
The Tea Smith’s LS = a dirty alley cat hacking up a furball

This has become a nighttime staple for me. So much so that I bought myself the big-arse bag and then a big-arse airtight container to hold it. It’s not my favorite tea, but it’s my favorite caffeine-free option that I’ve discovered so far. I’ve also steeped the living crud out of this (both # of times and length of time starting at 7 minutes with future steeps having a minute or more added with each steep) and it still keeps goin’. NE

Sooo…Darjeeling. Yup. That’s what it is. I guess.

I’ve only had one other Darjeeling (Adagio’s #2), and have smelled the teabags that I prepared for others. So I really don’t know what comprises a good Darjeeling. So, keep that in mind.

I had this for my morning tea so I really don’t remember much at this point in the day. It was fine. It had a pleasant fragrance (both in the sample bag and in the cup), but for the life of me I couldn’t seperate what was what. Floralish spicyish teaish. Pleasant. Not really remarkable. Had two pleasant cups. Nothing made me think that I had to have this tea. NE

I think that this may be the first black tea that I’ve added to my shopping list after trying a sample! For lovers of black tea I could imagine that this would be pretty boring, but for me I loves it. This is what I think I’ve always imagined a basic black tea should taste like.

Smelling the sample packet all I could think of was “it’s a black tea.” The smell of the cup at first was “black tea with maybe a teeny-tiny hint of floral or honey.” I know, my descriptive powers are beyond compare.

For me, the money’s in the taste. Whatever type of tea is its base doesn’t have that astringent tongue-killingness that I’d begun to associate with most black teas. It’s smooth and there’s a natural sweetness to it that I adore. I think “nectar” is right on in the description. I can sense honey, but as for lotus and sandalwood my tastebuds do a collective “Wah?” I’m dying to read the other tasting notes to see if I can start to have a better understanding of what I like/don’t like in regards to black teas. TG