3224 Tasting Notes

drank Queen Catherine by Harney & Sons
3224 tasting notes

It is a hard day, fellow steepsterites. Sandy and her two doggies that we have been keeping for her since June of 2010 are now officially moved out, gone, and headed for their next big adventure. The “clubhouse” is on the market. Sandy is the one who first introduced us to loose leaf tea, and who first drove me to Southern Season to discover the many kinds.

This is a day for Catherine’s embrace! Youngest has been pretty weepy since our early morning good-byes. I thought a nice cuppa would help cheer us all up.

Queen Catherine is such a versatile tea. The kids drink it with milk and sugar, but it is every bit as delicious plain, and as wonderful paired with afternoon tea snacks as it is for breakfast.

I had a refill from Harney and Sons but it is almost gone already. If you are ordering online you can just put in the notes that you already have a tin and they will send it vacuum sealed in a bag. They even sent me an extra ounce of the most expensive tea I ordered, and I am assuming that was a sort of gift for not using up a tin, like getting a bag discount at Whole Foods and SS when you bring your own. This tea is a cabinet staple for me.

SimplyJenW

Hugs…..You are such a sweet friend.
Also, thanks for the info on ordering in bags!

gmathis

Goodbyes are tough. What a week you’ve had! No wonder you’ve been steeping up the strong stuff!

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Sandy and I are making our way through some more delightful teas today.

This is the first high quality flowering tea I have had. I bought some at Southern Season and some at a tea room over a year ago and it was faded both in taste and color. I threw the remaining ones away. They were that bad. I had hoped to serve them at special events, but the tea was so flavorless and the show so lackluster that I discarded the idea.

This is another story! I love the color and shape! The two white dragons holding up the marigold unfolded sweetly and continued to expand and bloom. As delighted as I was with the show, the taste of the tea is equally delightful. It is sweet, not bitter at all, and there is a warm, nuttiness to the base that I have found in some oolongs. I am very pleased with this and would definitely be inclined to serve it at special occasions.

Thank you, Angel and Teavivire!

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drank Vanilla Black by Rishi Tea
3224 tasting notes

I noticed that the tin says you can get two steeps from this tea, and since it was a bit pricey for how much leaf it calls for, I decided to make it earn its keep! I resteeped the leaves from last night early this morning and let it steep for four and a half minutes. Surprisingly, the second pot tastes much like the first. The vanilla is still there, and I found it subtle in both steeps. Though it isn’t strong, it does have a nice, natural flavor and isn’t perfume-y or artificial tasting. The tea base also seemed to keep most of its strength.

Unless something happens, this isn’t a tea I am going to upset about when I run out, but I have a friend who loves the vanilla black by Mariages Freres and I think this may be right up her alley. If she likes it, I may just pass this tin on to her. I do very much like the double lidded tins from Rishi Tea and have bought them empty before for storing my teas.

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drank Coconut Chai by Zhena's Gypsy Tea
3224 tasting notes

Sandy and I bought a few new teas in Southern Season yesterday, so we are sitting down for a marathon tea tasting day. (Which reminds me, congratulations to Sandy on your first half marathon. You can add that to your Century Rides!).

I was staring at the walls of teas with my eyes glazing over at how many there were when I caught sight of this and a little neuron fired in my brain. I practically screamed, “That’s the tea that JacquelineM likes!”. Naturally we had to buy it and try it, and also thanks to JacquelineM I am having mine with an everything bagel. Until JacquelineM, I was a bagel atheist, but it turns out I was a bagel agnostic and Jacquelime showed me the way.

I could smell and taste the ginger and clove but I wasn’t getting much coconut, mostly just a creaminess.

We decided to take Mike Harney’s advice and slurp slurp slurp. That really amplified the clove and took it over the top but I didn’t pick up more coconut. I am drinking it plain. Perhaps the onion of my everything bagel is interfering with the coconut, or maybe it is just a hint and that is why I am getting creaminess instead of coconut. Either way, this is very good. It reminds me a bit of Stash Tea Holiday Chai. And I do believe we have just finished the whole pot!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 15 sec
Sandy

Thank you! but it was a full marathon & I want credit for the extra 13.1 miles

Veronica

Your line about being a bagel atheist/agnostic made me laugh. I’ve never thought of food in that particular way before. :)

ashmanra

WOW! I am impressed! Somehow I was thinking you ran a half! You better get that sticker for the back of your car…I sure would!

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drank Vanilla Black by Rishi Tea
3224 tasting notes

First of all, I was surprised to see that the tin calls for one tablespoon of tea per 8 oz. water. When you are making a full pot of tea, that comes out to appreciably more leaf used than the standard one teaspoon per 5-6 oz. water. Since it was my first time trying this I decided to use their parameters.

The tea base has a little more bite than the Harney Vanilla Black base. I believe I taste some Assam in the base, as it is reminding of some of the tea bases I have had in flavored French teas. The vanilla smelled great when I opened the tin, but the taste is very subtle in the steeped tea. I need to experiment a bit, but right now Harney and Sons is superior to me. There is a lot more vanilla flavor if that is what you are after. If you want a subtle vanilla and more tea, this is a good bet.

No additions this time, just plain tea.

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Sandy and I are going herbal again to avoid caffeine! The first sips of this were just okay, but all it took was a bit of turbinado sugar to make it really delicious. Sandy opted for honey and felt that the sweetener really improved it. The orange aroma is soo juicy in this. The vanilla is subtle. This was very enjoyable and would probably make an awesome iced tea. I’m reminded of some of the Teavana blends they offer as store samples, but I bet this is a lot cheaper.

Preparation
Boiling 6 min, 0 sec

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Sandy brought this home from Australia for our tea tasting marathons as we try to cath up on what we have each tried while she was away!

I didn’t look at the ingredients before preparing, but when it was steeping I knew there was ginger in it! I had a bad experience with ginger once, before I knew that candied ginger is sweet for a minute and then it gets really REALLY hot. Well, this tisane redeems ginger if you have had anything like that happen to you. We are drinking it because it is late and we didn’t want to take in more caffeine, but I can tell that this would be a veritable life saver if you have a sore, scratchy throat. I am drinking it plain, but I bet it would be fabulous with honey.

Edited to add: The more I drink this the more the ginger is coming out to play!

Preparation
Boiling 6 min, 0 sec

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This is a lovely sample from Angel at Teavivre! I have a house full of teens again, Rock Lobster blasting, and the sounds of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 filling one end of the house.

I made an escape to my tea table sanctuary and turned on Pandora radio to Chinese Flute. As Jason recommended, I lifted my little cup with the words, “This cup is useful in that it is empty.”

The dry leaves smell strongly of jasmine and just as strongly of fresh green tea with a woodsy, lightly toasted aroma. The steeped tea has a light and natural tasting jasmine flavor, not a soapy perfume jasmine like the one I bought at Southern Season and can not drink. The green tea base has a nice touch of dryness with no bitterness. I tried two small cups of first steep and resteeped the leaves.

The second steep is lighter on the jasmine flavor and the green tea base comes out more. The tea base is a little nutty, reminding me of bok choy. Now that I have had two cups from each steep, I will mix the two pots together into my tetsubin, light the warmer, and sip on this throughout the afternoon with the music playing softly. I hope Sandy stops by so she can try it , too!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 0 sec
gmathis

Pandora-ing myself this afternoon. (J.J. Heller.) I’ll have to try your channel.

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Open this package and you will immediately see the wisdom in double packaging these teas, as the aroma of this one was quite strong! If it had not been in the outer pouch it would have scented the other teas, quite surprising to me since I thought of white tea as being rather weak.

The dry leaves have a strong buttery scent, sweet like Dixie Queen corn but with a fruity note as well. The leaves are large and fluffy. The steeped tea has a lot of color for a white tea.

We enjoyed this with no additions. It is a warm and peaceful cup, very contemplative. We will be drinking it again tomorrow to further compare notes. A very flavorful white tea!

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Thank you, Teavivre and Angel Chen for these wonderful samples! They just arrived today and I invited Sandy and my youngest daughter to join me sampling them.

We began with this lovely black tea. It is very smooth, lightly honeyed, and naturally sweet. The aroma is a very clean and natural tea aroma. I intended to try it plain, with sugar, and with milk and sugar, but by the time I had my third cup I realized I hadn’t made any additions. It doesn’t need them! But youngest always adds milk and sugar and she liked it that way, too.

I love that this tea is organic, and there is so much information on the pouch. I am looking forward to trying the rest of these! If you like Teavana’s Golden Monkey, you really should try this one as it is just as good or even better but costs less. You will save money without sacrificing quality or taste.

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Bio

I am a music teacher, tutor, and former homeschool mom (25 years!) who started drinking loose leaf tea about fourteen years ago! My daughters and I have tea every day, and we are frequently joined by my students or friends for “tea time.” Now my hubby joins us, too. His tastes have evolved from Tetley with milk and sugar to mostly unadorned greens and oolongs.

We have learned so much history, geography, and culture in this journey.

My avatar is a mole in a teacup! Long story…

Location

North Carolina

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