81 Tasting Notes
it’s 2am and this is still delicious. exceptional.
I’m really here to tell someone to buy this so that I don’t have to, it’s a matcha chawan and it is so beautiful. I have a small collection of teaware (including a custom order) from Ray and all of them are exceptionally made and he is a good dude. this one in particular is SO BEAUTIFUL. I already have a matcha chawan from him and I ccccccaaaaannnn’ttttt get this bc I’m trying to be good. so. SOMEONE GET THIS AND TAKE PHOTOS SO THAT I CAN LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH YOU. okay. byyyyeee.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/726633803/handmade-matcha-chawan-ceramic-tea-bowl?ref=shop_home_active_3&frs=1
yELLs: THIS IS AN EXCEPTIONAL ICED TEA.
so, Steven Smith Teamaker (or I guess they are just called Smith Tea now) has a free shipping thing going on and I slipped and got some teas, this being one of them. I don’t know why, maybe I just had a hankering for something labelled ‘iced tea’ like that lipton tea my mom made when I was a kid. WHO KNOWS. maybe it was because I thought it was funny and presumptuous to name a tea ‘exceptional’….again, who knows, I can’t be trusted when purchasing things at night. ANYWAY, this is very tasty, there’s some kind of floraly something in here. hmmm.
you know, looking at their website, I wonder if I maybe made this too strong bc my tea is A LOT darker…well, I suppose I did use two of the sachets, but the box said that each sachet makes 1 quart, and I had a 2 quart pitcher. hmmm. oh well. it’s still tasty. it’s also 1AM and maybe should stop drinking tea and eating cheetos bc I have to be at work in a few hours…..
Flavors: Floral, Malt
No black teas at 1am, annie!
I’m in the nighttime tea-buying club. Cheers, annie.
@tea-sipper, hahaha. my sleep schedule is really messed up rn AND I CAN’T HELP THAT I LOVE BLACK TEAS! :)
@derk, it’s not even just nighttime tea-buying, it’s nighttime everything-buying and it is a problem! hahaha!
I love Steven Smith Teamaker! I visited their flagship shop on my vacation to Portland, Oregon last month!
@Mastress Alita, that’s amazing! I’ve really enjoyed the few teas I’ve tried from them (especially ESPECIALLY the Rose City Genmaicha :D)
Rose City Genmaicha is one of the ones I stocked up on when I visited, I LOVE that tea!
I get where the name came from, but my first reaction was thinking about the INFERIOR apple (stone fruits are the best fruits and I won’t hear any different) and almost didn’t get this. but I’m a sucker. a sucker for dianhongs and I am VERY glad that this ended up in my cart bc this is SO GOOD. it was cherry/peachy and malty and I love it. I forgot that I was steeping and so the first round it was slightly medicinal, but still enjoyable.
I had this yesterday in the cute lil’ cat gaiwan that Bitterleaf has and I cried. but the crying was probably just that I had been wanting some dianhong (or all of the dianhongs) but have mostly been sticking to getting rid of all this green (+also some oolongs) tea that I’ve been hoarding like some kind of monster. THIS is a beautiful dianhong tho, rich…fruitiness? that’s what I remember, which isn’t helpful…and I wrote on the back ‘drink in one year’ so….I guess I’m saving the rest? okay future self.
okay, so there was some user error the last time I cold brewed this. I made sure to get this in the fridge a lot earlier in the day and in the morning? yessss. but I also want to point out that my tea is PRETTY OLD (when was this released? I’m pretty sure that’s when I got it. I think they released Venus and the race car one at the same time and I got both…probably with Black Sunshine. it seems like forever ago?) it still has some nice spinach-y notes nevertheless and I love spinach sooooo. yeah. excellent for these hot days. I’ll be finished with this can soon, which is very exciting, bc the artwork is beautiful. I won’t miss this when it’s gone though.
aw yisss. this was left forgotten in my last (?) sipsby box. I had to cancel that subscription bc I was in TOO DEEP and was drowning in samples. this was another box that was brought to work, where it has been sitting in a drawer that is never opened….which is a SHAME because this is all grape-y, malty, bread-y goodness. it is exactly what I needed on this slow day, when all I want/need is to go home and nap for five hours. or however long Percy will left me sleep before she starts yelling in my face for her treats.
SPEAKING OF PERCY, since it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated here….not that anyone is particularly interested in my cat..but, I’m gonna write about her anyway. Percy started having seizures a few months back, I casually mentioned this to my sister (who I rehomed Percy from) and she was like “yeah, she had seizures here too” and like, uh, that is something that MAYBE she should have mentioned before, because I was (obviously) very concerned about what in our home/environment might have caused the seizures. and it actually made me really upset, bc the original plan for Percy, before I took her in, was that she was going to be rehomed from my sister’s place to the FARM where my brother-in-law found her two years prior (the farm belongs to his family). before Christmas. when it’s COLD outside. two vet visits later and they think she has idiopathic epilepsy, which I would need to go out of town to confirm (no one in town has the ability to do the tests required). this is something that I want to do later this year, but for now I am keeping her unmedicated and am recording any seizures in a notebook so that I can tell her vet about them. I worry about the medication because it is potentially a life-long thing and she is so young, plus it could compromise her kidneys. she would have to go in every six months to do bloodwork….for the rest of her life, basically. she doesn’t have seizures everyday or anything. it’s about 3 a month, which is on the verge of where the vet would want her to be medicated. other than the seizures, which she seems unfazed by, Percy has started to come out of her shell quite a bit and has a hilarious personality. it’s so nice to see her being so sassy, even while still being pretty skittish. I’ve been contemplating getting her a cat-friend because I think it would improve her quality of life….so we’ll see about that!
Oh no, people are definitely interested in your cat! I’ve never dealt with a cat having seizures; I hope there isn’t anything wrong and that she doesn’t need to go on medication. Also, cat friends are awesome and they must help with boredom, even if they aren’t the best of friends!
I haven’t either! I learned that seizures aren’t treated in cats as often as with dogs. I’m hoping for more studies about giving cats cbd oil will pop up, bc that sounds like something that could potentially be beneficial…but there’s not really much information about it and I’m weirdly obsessive about needing ALL the information. WEIRDLY though, a co-worker has a cat that has seizures as well, she said that as her cat has gotten older, the fewer seizures that she has, which is interesting.
and yes!! I think cats are better in pairs! it’s just about finding the Right One (I actually have a list of things to think about while looking, hahaha. :-/)
Someone else mentioned a raisin tea, and I was trying to think of raisin teas around here. I had this one in my hand this morning! I must try this one soon!
Also, yes I want Percy updates! It’s terrible to hear what she is going through but awesome that she is adjusting better.
cold brew for breakfast, I think this may be user error because I couldn’t really taste anything? maybe I didn’t get this in the fridge early enough bc I was having A Day and forgot? but maybe also this is quite old. I’ll refrigerate this again when I get home and see how it is tomorrow.
I’ve had this tea so long, but I /do/ vaguely remember enjoying it…so…/shrug/
