2816 Tasting Notes
Green tea of the morning here. I decided just to dump the whole sample into my 18 oz. Lupicia handy cooler today, so I can drink a lot of green tea!
This is definitely different than other senchas I have tried, like the ones from Den’s and Lupicia. It definitely looks and appears lighter to me and not quite as vividly green. It has a nice, sweet flavor with a bit of palate cleansing astringency in the finish. There’s a bit of nuttiness somewhere… The flavor is vegetal, it reminds me a lot of spinach. This is a nice green tea! I’m not sure I would necessarily need more to add into my huge stash that’s FULL of green tea but I’ve enjoyed this a lot. After I drank a bunch of this, I am feeling GOOD!
Flavors: Spinach
This is a sipdown for me, I’ve had this oolong for a while so it’s good to be clearing out something to make way for more tea :)
This definitely has a roasted dark flavor, but I’m also appreciating the floral notes that you get towards the end of the cup. Shui Xians and wuyi ooongs in general are probably my favorite type oolong. I’ve enjoyed this a lot but probably won’t restock soon since I also have the Verdant version of this tea in my cabinet.
I always thought you should steep oolongs at a lower temp. but just noticed on the bag it says to use boiling water, so I tried it that way today and it seems to be fine.
I love the aroma of this as well, very fruity.
Preparation
Backlog from yesterday, Steepster was acting really slow and would not allow me to do much.
This was a nice houjicha, definitely very roasty and earthy with a slight smoky note. I tried it hot and also over ice, it was good both ways but I wish it was a bit sweeter somehow.
Preparation
Hi Steepster-
This is a sample from Adagio I decided to finish off today in my iced tea pitcher. It’s a good one to drink iced because the green rooibos is mild and the tropical fruit flavors come through. It’s refreshing and almost make me feel like I’m drinking punch. I wouldn’t mind getting this again if I routinely ordered anything from Adagio (I seldom do).
The Persimmon Tree has one like this which is also good called Peach Picnic. I may have to try some more of my rooibos blends as iced teas!
Flavors: Mango
Preparation
Good afternoon Steepster…
I was in a pretty good mood until I got home from taking a walk. I asked my work to send me some boxes a few weeks ago with my personal belongings and they arrived today. I forgot how much tea I was keeping at the office, now I have LOTS of tea, my gosh.
Aside form being reunited with my tea collection, I’m just feeling really sad about not having a job. I was ready to move on from these people anyway but it would have been good if they had treated me better after the 9 years I was working there. I see they are still advertising my position though, maybe nobody else wants it? lol
Anyway as to this tea, it isn’t on the Spicely company website and I’ve no idea why, so no picture. Sorry. This looks to be a Chinese green tea with coconut shreds. It has a nice coconut-vanilla flavor, although not the best coconut tea I’ve had by far. Here’s a nice nutty flavor in this as well. Glad to have this one back, now I just have to figure out where I am going to put all this tea that I got back… :)
Preparation
Thank you Cameron B., for sending some of this my way!
I’m usually a fan of Moroccan mint teas so I figured I’d enjoy this. Oh my gosh, is it MINTY! I smelled the mint in the mailbox before I even opened up the package… he he
I steeped up a pot of it this morning in my little red Stump teapot. It definitely looks like a pellet-shaped gunpowder green tea and is a dark yellow in color. I am finding the spearmint in this blend to be a bit overwhelming to say the least. I like Moroccan mint teas where you can taste a bit of the smoky green underneath it and I’m not getting that here. I wonder how this is flavored and could you please tone it down, Kusmi? hee hee.
This seems to be a common theme between Kusmi and I — their flavored teas just seem a bit too flavored for me.
Anyway I tried this plain and then added a bit of sugar, it is good both ways but I do sort of feel like I’m drinking toothpaste. I put the rest in my Lupicia cooler to cold brew, as I’m thinking this would be really nice with tomorrow’s lunch and a few ice cubes might tone it down a bit as well.
Thanks again Cameron, it was fun to swap with you!
Flavors: Spearmint
Preparation
Good morning Steepster!
I’m happy to report I can finally breathe this morning. Last night was kind of rough though, I was coughing throughout my entire class and then couldn’t fall asleep until around 3 am. Ick.
I’ve had this tea a few times now and this seems a difficult one to get “right”. I think I happened upon success today with 3 minutes at around 200 F. It has green tea in it, as well as black, which makes the steeping parameters a bit tricky. I’m getting the candied orange and vanilla notes quite prominently and this is an easy one to sip on plain. It seems like more of an afternoon tea than a breakfast tea — it has a sweetness about it due to the flavoring I’m not keen on.
It’s nice but I don’t plan to restock it once it’s gone. Maybe snooty French teas are not my thing as I haven’t been too impressed with anything I’ve had from MF so far, even the esteemed Marco Polo just missed the mark for me. This is another one I’d be happy to swap out if anyone wants to try it. :)
Preparation
Good morning Steepster!
This is such a delicious Ceylon, normally I’m not a fan of Ceylons, I can find them too bitter and wine-y. This has such a delicious flavor profile of cherry and a bit of menthol. It’s also “hefty” and has great body which is not something I normally associate with a Ceylon.
SOT says: One of the classics, this is what an Uva Ceylon can and should taste like!
I agree, it puts most of the other Ceylons I’ve had to shame. Evidently I’ve been drinking crap Ceylons but this is one I will gladly restock once it runs out. I’m also excited to be getting a couple of other things from them (hopefully this week).
There’s one other Ceylon that I liked equally as much and that was the Sam Bodhi by Palais de Thes. I just haven’t bothered restocking it that one because there weren’t too many other things from Palais de Thes that really “wowed” me & you have to spend $75 to get free shipping.
I’m still sick, although I am feeling like I’m a bit on the mend. I hope I survive the day, as I have writing class tonight that goes until 9 pm.
Preparation
CT says this tea is good during times of illness… well we’ll see about that!
I brewed up some of this yesterday in my Lupicia handy cooler and it’s been sitting in the fridge overnight. I think this is really nice as an iced tea, the lemon and gingergrass are very refreshing. The mint seems stronger than I remember and there’s only a tiny bit of licorice in here. It’s barely noticeable if you ask me. Still I feel like I am not tasting things normally at all so I still don’t want to try anything new.
I’m already feeling like a nap and it’s only 2 pm. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of my day… :)
Preparation
My breakfast today is heavenly – I made a smoothie with this matcha, an entire 2 cups of strawberries, banana, chia seeds, soymilk, and some cashew “cream” I made last night.
Really yummy and delicious – tastes almost like a dessert. I am getting that Vitamin C in today! Lots of it!
Hooray, the sencha saga continues! I’ve been trying a couple senchas the past few days and now I really want to order this sampler. :P You enabler you!
ha – I am having fun trying all the teas :)