Art of Tea

This tea is monkeying around with me.

HAHAH, so punny.

Anyway, yeah, this one is messing a bit with my taste buds, and I’m sort of getting confused and frustrated as a result. The smell of this dry is really banana-ish, in a Banana Laffy Taffy or a banana chip way. Not the freshest banana smell, but more like candied banana. Or banana candy.

And the dry leaf is ridiculously pretty, with the contrast between the deep red of the rooibos, the poppin’ pink peppercorns, dark cacao nibs, and the yellows of the banana and apple bits.

So I steeped this one up, and the infusion sort of only smells like rooibos. There’s notes of banana in there, but I’m really not getting any cocoa or anything.

Here’s the problem with this one: it feels rich, but tastes bland. If that even makes sense. The tea feels weighty in the mouth, and substantial. Like a lot of flavors are going to burst out and be really tangible. But then the flavors never really develop into much of anything. It’s like a powerhitter that you put in in a pinch, and he strikes out. The anticipation builds, but it leaves you frustrated.

This tea is the tease.

I’m getting hints of good stuff! Banana is definitely the dominant flavor in this one, and it’s fairly nice! There’s only the really, faintest taste of cocoa, but it’s so fleeting I’m not sure if I’m imagining the taste because I want it to be there. I feel a slight tingle in the back of my throat from the pink peppercorn, or at least I think it’s from that. Or else I might have a sore throat coming on. Who knows? There’s sweetness, but I can’t really identify if it’s coming from the rooibos or the apple/banana bits.

At the bottom of the cup, when it’s cooled off, I’m getting a really strong, delicious strawberry flavor. Where that is coming from, I HAVE NO IDEA. Well, it tastes good!

That’s the other problem with this tea. It’s muddled and subtle at the same time. I don’t mind tea where the flavors mesh together so perfectly that I can’t pick them apart, but this is more like that person who chronically speaks low in class and you can never hear. You can pick out some words, but in the end, it’s just frustrating. That’s this tea. It’s not a bad tea, per se, but it just could have been so much more!

Okay, this one’s going to be a quickie because it’s later than I’d like it to be and while we’re not getting pelted with snow for once [sorry, North Easters!] the wind is howling something fierce and my comforter is staring at me to the point that it’s becoming uncomfortable.

So with the wind threatening to shatter the window panes and several Physics problems peeling away at the layers of my brain, I brewed a nice hot cup of this and turned on some Iron and Wine.

I want to add at this time, though some of you may have seen this in the comments on Mike’s log, that I have discovered that a 7 minute steep time pretty much nullifies the caramel in this tea for me. For unknowable reasons, 5 minutes seems to suit it much better. Just a little note from my palate to yours.

So yes, this tea is decadent and delicious and it is also going down in my “Why I Love Steepster So Friggin’ Much” diary [it’s got Hello Kitty and a lock on it] because:

Dear Diary,

If I hadn’t found Steepster I would have never talked to teaplz and if I had never talked to teaplz I never would have gotten sent a sample of this tea and if I had never gotten a sample of this tea I never could have realized just how crazy delicious it is and bought four ounces just for me yay yay yay yay yay.

Oh, and oh my god Diary, John pushed me on the playground today and then he kissed me behind the monkey bars and now I think we’re boyfriend girlfriend.

Love,
Heather

I was thrilled to receive a tea swap package from the lovely teaplz recently and this was in it.

Oh, Steepsterites.

Pear tea is not something I’ve had a lot of good luck with. It’s my favorite fruit [thinking about the validity of that statement and deciding it’s definitely true], and therefore it’s not something that I’m going to be satisfied with if I have to reach for in a tea. [Kind of like the elusive pumpkin, I suppose.] I don’t want it to be light and floaty, though light and floaty pear done well is better than artificial or this ain’t pear. I want it to be in my face and smack me around a bit.

Oh, Steepsterites.

The fact that this combines with my favorite dessert flavor [thinking about the validity of that statement and deciding it’s definitely true] means that this tea could easily be my Icarus. It could soar up high on the warm air currents and then tumble silently before crashing fatally into the sea.

Fortunately, this tea is like Icarus’ happy ending. It’s the Icarus Remix. Pears have a relatively short season where they’re really good [or at least it seems that way because I can’t get enough of them when they’re around] and this tea is going to become like crack for me, especially when pears aren’t in season. I’m already calling it, everyone. When I get really effing weird on Steepster [weirder – that is] and start spitting nonsense, it’s going to be because I’m either out of Ryokucha or this tea. Look forward to it.

Take a second to travel to Imaginationland for a second with me here. Think about a nice, ripe, juicy pear. You know, where they’re in that state of limbo between firm and mushy and when you bite into it you have to have a towel on hand [if you care about that kind of thing] because you inevitably end up making a mess. Now, cut that pear up into little half inch cubes and stick them in a bowl. You still with me? Okay, now there’s a saucepan on the stove to your left. It’s got some caramel sauce bubbling in it – deep orange-brown, bubbling, thick, and satiny. Give it a good stir, cut off the heat, and let it cool for a minute. Excellent. Take the caramel, and pour that all over the pear bits. The whole thing. Don’t hold back. Stir everything around gently, do not smush the pear.

Now, take out a spoon. Put the spoon in your mouth. Remove your belt and wrap it around your head. Take off your shoes and go outside. There will be a bag of trash in your trashcan. Take that out, and…

I’m kidding, I’m kidding.

Okay, take the spoon. Dip into the mixture and…I think you can take it from there.

That is what this tea tasted like to me. It was rich, and the caramel and the pear were both just so very much present. Between the mouthfeel and the taste and just the absolute giddiness I got from the fact that they nailed the pear so hard it won’t see straight until the weekend. Just…AH.

The two tastes didn’t combine often. When they did, it was maybe just a smidge weird, but the majority of the time it tasted like a piece of pear coated in decadent caramel, and Zeus help me, it’s going to take an insane amount of willpower to keep this sample from disappearing before I order it.

As it cooled, the caramel started to melt away a bit and the pear came to the forefront. The only thing that could keep me from being disappointed at this is the fact that I love pear to the point that it raises eyebrows, but the fact that the tea did this for me is something that I think y’all should be aware of. [This was also true of the second steep – more pear than anything else. I let it sit for seven minutes on the second infusion, but I’ll try steeping it a little longer next time. The more mileage I can get out of this the better, I think.] Oh, and the rooibos didn’t come into the picture at all.

Anyhow, win. Just…win. It was such a win that everything else could have lost that day and I wouldn’t have cared much. The ONLY reason that this tea isn’t going to get a flat out 100 from me is unfortunately because of something that also makes it so awesome. It is sweet and rich and a full on dessert tea. I can’t drink this every day, though I wish I could. If I did, I’d get sick of it, which would make my tea self cry, and this is not a tea I want to have to take out of rotation.

Anyhow.

ABSO-EFFING-LUTELY DELICIOUS. Thanks, teaplz!

This is the best flavored rooibos I’ve tasted. This and Ocean of Wisdom. Except OoW is way more grown-up and sophisticated than this. They fit different niches.

ANYWAY, that Strawberry Chocolate let me down earlier today, and I wanted to end the evening on a somewhat better note. With a bit of trepidation, I decided to do this one by Art of Tea. The lovely Jon gave me this as part of my Christmas present, but I hadn’t tried it. The rooibos blend is very pretty, with the marigold blossoms and the bits of apples, offset by the red rooibos. It smells ridiculously of pear. Not even joking. I feel that pear is such a hard thing to nail. It’s one of my favorite fruits, but fake pear tastes are pretty gross. Luckily enough, this smells fresh and juicy and even a bit candied.

So I steeped it up for a bit longer than required, and the smell emanating from the infusion was pure pear. Almost like the aroma equivalent of Jelly Belly’s Juicy Pear flavor (which is amazing if you’re a pear freak). I took the first sip, a bit afraid of what I was going to encounter… and okay, all doubts have pretty much vanished.

This is a caramelized pear tea, and it tastes like a caramelized pear tea. If you’re not a fan of rooibos, the rooibos taste is barely noticeable. At all. I can’t even really detect it. What I am getting is succulent, wonderful pear all the way through. It’s in the top note, the end note, the everything note. The caramel comes through only extremely slightly in the end taste, and in the scent, but it’s definitely not the star. And there’s a wonderful sweetness. A fresh fruit sweetness that lingers on your tongue after every sip.

Needless to say, I’m pretty damned impressed with this one by Art of Tea. It’s very light and compulsively drinkable. I could see sticking this in the fridge and coming out with a delicious sort of iced tea. Now this is what I call a dessert tea!

Backlogging from yesterday.

It’s difficult to even remember a lot about this one, since I was drinking it while I was packaging up some teaswaps for Auggy and takgoti. I was more concerned about the ratio of tea to bag, and how I was going to fit everything in a box, than I was about the flavor of this one.

Anyway, it’s a rooibos blend, and it actually smells very pretty when you stick your nose in it. There’s a strong berry scent, but underneath those berry tones is a warm, comforting twinge of vanilla. The entire tea looks very pretty as well, with the red of the rooibos contrasting against the deeper reds of the currants and hibiscus, and the white shavings of white chocolate.

So I steeped this one up, and the flavor is a bit disappointing. The tart, berry flavors completely overwhelm the vanilla here. The only thing that works out well is that I think the vanilla does tame down a lot of the tartness, and allows for flavor elements like hibiscus to be muted (which is always a plus, in my opinion). The white chocolate, I couldn’t taste, and the rooibos has its typically woodsy-sweet flavor. None of it is particularly aggressive or assertive. If anything, the blend is a bit bland.

But the tea wasn’t bad enough to distract me from the wonderfulness of getting prepared to share tea with some awesome ladies, so I guess that’s a point in its favor!

I purchased this tea with some scepticism. I love the flavor of pears, but I’ve had too many tea-bags that proclaim Pear flavor with no discernable taste nor even odor of pear.

This one is a true keeper. The aroma is strong and distinct and the taste is divine. There are pear over-notes, mid-notes, and base-notes! I was so caught up in my first cup that all I could do was start thinking about my second cup. For me that is a signal of true tea dementia. When I get demented over a tea, I know that I love it.
If you like sweet flavored teas and the taste of pear you will love this. It’s de-caf so you can drink it all evening long and you don’t need to worry about over-steeping.

I wanted to like this more than I did. The description is tantalizingly delicious. I’ve had several cups of Chocolate Monkey and it’s nicely subtle. It’s quiet, aromatic, and has a great banana aftertaste.

It’s naturally sweet and very laid-back. The monkey seems to be napping and not up to much mischief here.

I realize more and more that I like big, brash, arrogant teas and that the subtle delights often pass me by because I want an enormous flavor whallop. Chocolate Monkey is a bit sedate and lady-like for me. Maybe if I crush the peppercorns? I’ll try that next.

Crisp and Creamy.

The flavor feels like I’m chewing on bark, but without the rough texture of wood. It tastes quite like how it looks — like twigs. However, I don’t deny its quite earthy and robust when sipped and an occasional change from more floral teas or weaker teas.

I tried this tea at a tearoom, called Veda House. It had one of the best flavors I had taste in my whole life. It was very rejuvenating.

I’ve had this tea for 4+ months in a bag. I’m not sure how that effects the tea. This is also the last of my supply of this tea. Brewed a 20oz pot of tea. The first cup tasted like paper. The second was much more pleasant. It was refreshing, clean, clear. It would pair well with shortbread or shortcake. This tea would be fun to add stuff to. I was thinking about adding some dehydrated tart apples or possibly strawberries. If you are looking to tweak a tea then this is your best bet for a white tea.

I had to change my rating on this tea. I lowered it to 72 from 80. The tea doesn’t seem to have a pure smooth taste as it did the first time. I’m not just brewing some old tea that has been opened for a while. I bought more of this tea so it should be fresh. It’s got a hint of a young dandelion taste.

A happy flowery soft and gentle scent. As most white teas the Select Tips has a light taste and is soft to the palate. Doesn’t taste as clean as a Rishi Silver Needle white tea. A decent tea. Next time I will be getting a different white tea.

A nice white tea with goji and lemon. I’ts has a nice unique fruit taste.

my first gen mai cha. deliciously toasty. i like to drink it with dinner.

Delicious both hot and iced.

Iced Tea Vanilla Soy Latte made from the @steepster survey prize.

http://dessireegreen.tumblr.com/post/169241023/iced-tea-vanilla-soy-latte

Ooooo, this is good! A great blend of White Peony and Coconut that doesn’t taste artificial.

The Goji is really strong and extremely aromatic. It has an almost citrus feel that takes some getting used to. It’s is very refreshing!

most excellent

Light fruity decadent and refreshing. A detoxifing tea ready to enjoy iced or hot.

I always loved oolongs. This tops the bunch. I didnt think I could pull notes from a tea like this before.