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Another thank you to IndigoBloom for this lovely Sample!

My experience with White Tea is very limited. The White Tea’s in the past have been from Teavivre, and Puripan (now known also as TeaO2) which have been super good tea’s indeed.

I steeped the furry green nettle-like leaves for 2.5 minutes in 160F water Western Style (wanting a large brew for my glass pot).
The wet green leaf aroma was super spinachy, more than any tea I’ve had to date and like steaming artichoke hearts when you’re scooping out the choke.
On the first sip my whole mouth had a gentle pop rock sensation. The salty, lightly spinach flavored tea had a juicy, mineral and slightly bitter taste. The bitterness was not a bother but I don’t really like bitterness. I added sweetening which even with a tiny bit tempered the bitterness without covering up the flavor. Note that the tea’s astringency increases as the it cools.
I wish I could agree with the other reviewer comments on Peach and Floral flavor/scent. Digging deep, I could not find those flavors anywhere! Maybe sweetened, ah yes, that is when the dessert quality came out and was delightful. I thought it tasted more like a Cream Cookie than a Peach though.

As a straight up White Tea, this was a mild, vegital variety that was best hot. Not a candidate for iced tea! It’s low caffeine (nice plus). Sweetened the tea can double as a dessert tea.

Every chance I get to try all the various types of tea is a fantastic experience for me! (although the worm pooped tea that Scott has he can keep to himself!)
Thanks again I-Bloom

Thank you IndigoBloom for this generous Sample!

My first evah Pu-erh was DAVIDsTEA Chocolate Orange. I fell in love! As time went on…I learned to adore unflavored Pu-erh, Pu’er, Puer, Pu’erh’s! (You get what I mean!)
True love none the less. I now drink less flavored Pu-erh but on occasion I go there for a dessert treat and I like to bottle it to drink cold. Pu-erh is wonderful for controlling your food cravings when you need to drop some pounds.

When I steeped this new flavored Pu-erh, I could smell a spiciness even though there isn’t spice added. The orange blossom and orange peel adds a little something extra to the scent. The taste is not very orangy but there is a bitterness at the end from the peel. I found a seed in my brew basket. There isn’t a typical musty, earthy Pu-erh flavor either. The dark chocolate, coffee and orange blossom-vanilla flavor make up the cup.

To compare this Pu-erh to DAVIDs would be way off. They are so very different. Only the name is close like two people with the same name from different Canadian families.
I still prefer my first evah Pu-erh.

This is a good flavored Pu-erh (sans seed) though. And, Teopia is the ONLY Canadian Tea Company I’ve ever actually been inside of at Metropolis Mall in Vancouver, B.C. last Sept. Fantastic Service!!! I bought my first loose leaf tea in my life there, Pumpkin Spice!

Third Tasting Note.

I keep coming back to this tea and using it in different ways.

First I added a pinch to other tea’s to smoke them up a little…especially good with a floral tea or Earl Grey.

Next, I started to steam my broccoli and cauliflower with a pinch of ground Lapsang Souchong and sometimes I grind it with smoked pepper or freeze dried garlic, sprinkling it over the vegetables in the steamer. The house smells so good and the veggies taste wonderful.

I moved on to pasta. Yes, pasta water and a little tea…smoky pasta…which I used first with Cheese Tortellini. Fabulous…just add a little olive oil and some herbs and um….!

Finally I want to try cooking meat and fish with this smoky tea. I know there are people who use it with BBQ rubs. You can google this and try out those options.

I had some WHISKEY CHEESE from my local cheese shop (The Welsh Rabbit in Fort Collins) that I ate while sipping my tea and ohhhhhh it was perfect! Whiskey and Smoke!

That’s it for this round! I love the smoke!

Thank you TeaFairy for this big Sample

Everyone has been lovin this tea. I saved my big sample from TeaFairy for a sweet-tooth cravin day. One of those “I gotta have a candy bar right now” days when will power is gone…but TEA is plentiful. Oh yeah! Ice Cream Cake Tea!

All I have to say is…the reviews about the tea tasting like the name are all TRUE!
This tea is a great dessert! (It’s 2:30 though…when the sugar gremlins are out to get me)
I’ve foiled the plans of the sugar gremlins because this is creamy, cakey and exactly like the “I put the bowl in the microwave for a few seconds to melt it a bit” feel and flavor the kid in me loooves. I know that you can identify with that goopy ice cream cake melty in a bowl flavor too.

Sometimes, I think drinking tea is like playing dress-up. With each tea I can put on another character depending on the flavor and character of the tea. This one being young and playful…I feel like a kid again!

So good!

Second Review.
I forgot that I had this tea because I poured it into a short canning jar, and it traveled to the far back of my tea cupboard where I found it huddled with my teacups. Nice surprise to find it since it is so tasty at breakfast time.
I love malty, full and robust tea in the morning (anytime really). Listen folks, when you get older…you need a kickstart to let your system know it’s time to get moving. Tea is my axle grease! This tea does the job in the A.M.!
I’m not going to go into all the details of how I brewed this cuppa and the blah blah color of the leaves and such. That was the first review. I like this tea. Simply put, I add my cream (I don’t like grey tea so 100% milk, can milk or cream is for me) and sweetening and this brew tastes great. The maltiness is not overly heavy and the astringency is there but not too strong either. I noticed that when I got up to do a few chores…my second cup cooled down, but the tea really tasted good. Ha! Of course this was going to be a good tea to use for iced tea also. Hoot man! A Scot’s gotta do what a Scot’s gotta do! The next steeping will go into the frig!
The temp will be in the 80’s today…and when you live at 5000 feet that means the air conditioner comes on. Monday my pool opens..hooray! (Grandkids will arrive more regularly for a swim and Grandma’s tea!)

I do have so much to be greatful for! God has really blessed me!

Thanks to Stacy at Butiki for this sample!

I drink flowery tea only when I’m in the MOOD for them. The mood strikes me fairly infrequently.

This afternoon, there was (and is) a forest fire in Poudre Canyon. I noticed the air was smelling strongly of smoke. The wind had kicked up and the fire had doubled, making me concerned for the people needing to evacuate. I called my daughter to find out how the air was at her house…“Dirty, dark and soot in the air”, which I had seen from 10 miles away. She was closer to the fire, although not in the hills. Her home and 8 kids are only a few blocks from a reservoir. I felt relief.

I wanted to wipe the smoke away and bring back the Springtime. I had a sample tea that had the promise of flowers. Rose Violet Calendula Oolong. What better time to drink this tea than now.

I steeped the Oolong 4 minutes letting the fragrant buds fill me with the most beautiful heady floral bouquet. The sipping from beginning to end was a delight.

My first impression was of candied violets, not overly sweet or cloying but delicate and very juicy. The taste turned to crenshaw melon and became buttercream…almost no astringency at all present. The floral bouquet filled my mouth and the scent was surrounding me creating a complete experience. My glass cup of the light yellow liquor was filled again and I delighted in the tea. Violet stood out as the distinct floral up front but, I can’t say that there was a primary rose flavor, a jasmine flavor, a calendula flavor…but a harmony of the other floral flavors.

I added a little sugar at the end…trying to imagine a tea party…and the sugar was such a great addition for a dessert tea. I think this is a perfect, perfect tea party tea!

If you would please say a prayer for all the people in the path of fires going on in Arizona and Colorado please and the firefighters too. Thanks!

Wooo Hooo 200 Tasting Notes! Well, if you don’t pat yoursef on the back, who will?!

What to do, what to do? My 200th review should be something different. I love me some Puerh…yes I do. Today’s tea should be something different. Stacy (owner of Butiki Teas) had graciously provided me with an ounce of Wild Purple Buds Puerh (Sheng) and this seemed the right choice for this 200th occasion. Thank you to Stacy!

The dry leaf looks amazing. The leaves don’t look like tea leaves, or not what I’ve ever seen before. The leaf is large, full of spiky buds that look like wheat…green, brown, gold and lavender tipped.
The instructions are 3-5 second steep, 195F for 20+ steepings! Begin the day with this tea!!! I started today at 7:30 a.m. and I’m not going to write about 20+ infusions.

I used my PIAO glass infuser pot to watch the leaves and control time.
The liquor color was consistantly pale champagne yellow through all infusions.

Wet Leaves:
1. Floral, vegital, smoky tobacco, and brine scented. Brown, golden and purple tipped.
2.-4. Strongly vegital scented.
5.-6. Leaves were greener and not as multicolored. They opened up, especially the buds and the scent was still strongly vegital.

Flavor:
1. The first impression was on my lips, the coating of cream that I could feel like butter then spreading throughout my mouth like the flavor of creamy white sweet corn. The taste was a little salty and completely smooth and without any tannin or bitterness at all.
2. A little tannin was present on this round right up front, then sweet and creamy like new Spring green beans. There was no bitter or acidic finish.
3. This was the best pour. The buttery feel was coating my lips and the vegital flavor had become cooked greens or butter lettuce…and the tannin had jumped to the finish…leaving a slightly peppery feel on the tongue. This is a Puerh? I am not able to comprehend that this is a Puerh. No earthiness…it tastes like a green tea. But not.
4. What now? My brain was confused. When I took another sip, the flavor was mineral, sweet and juicy, smooth and buttery with a tingling…then a honey wheat bread and greens taste. Sure, how did that make sense? Was I almost discribing a salad with croutons?
5.-6. These steepings brought out more buttery, smoothness and a little saltiness. A new floral quality that I found to be vaguely like paperwhite was now present. Tannin was dry like linen on the finish making the tea very juicy.

Here I added a little sugar. The saltiness of the Puerh and the vegital quality with the tannin with a bit of sugar created a beautiful balance of sweet/salty tea that brightened the cup tremendously. Here is where I would play with this effect. It made this tea dance and sparkle with flavor.

I have been pleased with the tea’s from Butiki…the new ones that are not commonly available elsewhere like the Wild Purple Bud Puerh and the Blue Nettle and some of the African Tea’s. Most of all the wonderful customer service has been so appreciated!

http://youtu.be/PSH0eRKq1lE Bagpipes…Well! (Bonnie Cameron-Johnstone)

Before I review this tea, take a good look at the picture of the tea itself. Yes, it is hand rolled and twisted…and the leaves are whole and full of buds. This tea is from Sri Lanka, and Fair Trade…glad to say!

I wondered if my tea friends at Happy Lucky’s Tea House had ever seen tea like this one. I decided to get spiffed up and went on a short trip to Old Town. The first comment when the guys saw the tea was “Which end do you light” …ha..ha…and then “I’ve never seen a tea like that”…followed quickly by a ching of a Gaiwan getting ready for brewing of my offered Blue Nettle Tea.

Only 2 (creatures…sticks…cigars?) of tea are needed for 8oz. / 180F for 3min.
This Green Tea was floral but delicate and the leaves had a scent that was not orchid or any flower we could discribe. We agreed there was a clean sugar taste but not rock sugar. No artichoke or seaweed taste was detected. There was a bit of tannin on when the liquid cooled and a smooth buttery mouthfeel.

What a puzzle this tea was. I gave each of the 3 gents and the owner a sample of my tea. There needs to be more time and discovery but a lot of interest was generated among the group that did the tasting. We all agreed that this tea was something special!
Leave it to Butiki to bring along a new tea adventure!

I would suggest serving this tea in a glass gaiwan or small glass teapot. It is fun to watch.
We commented on how much it looked like a sea creature, a long worm ready to become a butterfly. I can’t wait to take time alone to taste this tea again!

Thanks to Stacy at Butiki Teas for this Sample!

I love, love, love the service from Stacy! Could not be better! The fact that I am able to pick the samples that I want to try is such a cool deal…I mean…who does this now days?!
And, I don’t know of any other company her size that has the amount of African teas from small or organic farms either. This is the future of tea that I want to support!

I chose the Kenya Kangaita as one of my free samples and it is a hand-picked tea.
The wet leaves remind me more of a Puer…all rich red-brown, large and woody chopped looking. The scent was even a bit earthy and vegital but sweet, a little malty and floral in a way I could not figure out.
When I tasted the tea, the flavor was clean and bright, without any tannin…and juicy. There again was the floral scent and flavor that I was having problems identifying. I had just emptied the pot of tea, so I took off the lid and stuck my nose inside as far as possible and inhaled over and over again…(like a tea nerd-nut)… and came away with some conclusions on scent and flavor.
There was orange pekoe, apricot, a little malt, licorice..itsy, pepper on the tongue, the tea was juicy and clean with tannin developing when the tea begins to cool. The flavors are also super wonderful with sugar and cream. I WISH I HAD MORE!

I really like this tea! It’s $4.00 an oz. and for me, I think it’s good to support the growth of small farms.

Thank you IndigoBloom for this big Sample

In my younger lady days (1977), I had no idea at all how to prepare tea. My neighbor was from Ceylon (Sri Lanka now) and went home for a visit, bringing home a big quantity of very superior tea as a gift for me. I ruined it…not knowing how to properly steep tea. I threw some leaves in a pot, put boiling water in and after awhile drank the tea (never removing the leaves). Of course the tea became bitter right away.

IndigoBloom has supplied me with a do-over! The forgiveness of my former tea sin!

I do love black tea. Most of the ones I taste are from China, a few from India but none really from Ceylon. This lovely tea was quite vanilla floral and cocoa smelling. There was astringency but no bitterness. Adding sugar and cream inproved the tea and increased the chocolatey malty taste. I didn’t taste or smell raspberry which others have commented on.
My response to the tea itself was that it was clear, bright, light with an almost sparkling quality that reminded me of a freshwater spring. I know that sounds strange, but it had a quality of freshness that made it a perfect tea for blending with heavier black tea’s. It was also what makes this tea perfect for iced tea. It was CLEAN tea!

Thank’s Indigo-B