50
drank Silver Needle by Todd & Holland
2036 tasting notes

Hi everyone! We just got back from Italy last night. We had a wonderful time! It was very hot there so mostly I drank cold water (frizzante), an occasional beer, or a glass of prosecco, pinot gregio or chianti with dinner. I developed a taste for espresso, which didn’t happen the last time I went to Italy, and which I hadn’t thought possible. I started the morning with an American coffee with latte, a cappuccino or espresso. Sometimes I had one of those with lunch or dinner as well. I needed it to keep up with my self-imposed schedule. There was so much to see and so little time.

I did have a “tea” one night with my tartufo, a lemon ginger herbal concoction that was quite lovely.

But anyway, I’m back and resuming the project of working my way through my white teas. This is a never opened sample I’ve had for a while, as are most of my samples these days.

I steeped at the Breville setting for white tea, but I have enough to try it a couple of different ways, too. The package says steep at 185 for 2 minutes. That sounds like a recipe for not tasting anything to me, but I’m willing to try it. I am also planning to try it at the parameters for the Ancient Moonlight and see what that does.

At the temp I used, I got a clear golden-yellow liquor, but not much in the way of distinguishing flavor. It’s possible this is because I had some flavored black tea leaves left in the Breville basket while I was gone and mostly what I smell and taste is something I can’t be sure isn’t partly that other tea.

For my second tea this morning, I think I’m going to try this one again at the settings recommended on the package and see what I get.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 4 min, 0 sec 5 g 17 OZ / 500 ML
evol-ving

Welcome back!

Italy! How wonderful! Where and what and tell us more, please. Let us travel vicariously through you.

__Morgana__

Rome, Florence (with side trips to Pisa and three of the five Cinque Terre towns), Maranello for the Ferrari museum (for No. 2), Venice, Merano for the Lamborghini museum (also for No. 2), Bellagio and Milan. Bellagio is my new favorite place in the world. I would live there in a heartbeat!

evol-ving

Ah! My happiness is now complete. I have been to Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan. The others are a mystery to me. I will look up Bellagio. Thank you for sharing your experience.

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evol-ving

Welcome back!

Italy! How wonderful! Where and what and tell us more, please. Let us travel vicariously through you.

__Morgana__

Rome, Florence (with side trips to Pisa and three of the five Cinque Terre towns), Maranello for the Ferrari museum (for No. 2), Venice, Merano for the Lamborghini museum (also for No. 2), Bellagio and Milan. Bellagio is my new favorite place in the world. I would live there in a heartbeat!

evol-ving

Ah! My happiness is now complete. I have been to Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan. The others are a mystery to me. I will look up Bellagio. Thank you for sharing your experience.

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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