Franz & Sophie

oddree is back from her journey, and she returned with loose leaf tea the whole way from Sarajevo.

i loved every picture she took of sarajevo. lots of balance. both grey and vibrant. sparse and whimsical. minimal and decadent. humility and pride.
(think coffee and fresh simple bread, then cake slices piled next to each other and 50 flavors of liquors and wine. or sprawling and indifferent buildings of apartments and shops and then a mosaic and golden gilded town center.)
i could go on, but i’ll let her tell you about it
this tea matches those pictures.
and from a tea company i realized i can order online, and probably will. cuz when things are bought from exotic places they taste better. it’s totally science i swear.

I’ve been waiting too long to drink a cuppa of this one again . Few months ago I was offered a cup of this tea in tea shop in Sarajevo, and I was quite impressed with it, but didn’t buy any since I had it all planned out – bought some greens and oolongs instead. Tomorrow morning I had regrets for not buying it, and when I came back to buy some , there wasn’t any… I guess that tells you if certain tea is good – reminds me of my ex telling me that the best cakes in pastry shop are the ones that are out of stock.
I was excited the other day to see a fresh batch of this perfect black blend and grabbed some without much thought.

This blend has one of the best aromas (if not the very best) I stumbled upon so far. Full bodied cocoa note goes so well with almond in ways that can’t be described. I’m almost tempted to eat all broken cocoa seeds and almond slices in it. Actually, I nibble some cocoa while waiting for water to boil, and sometimes I try to pick out as much of it as I can from strained leaves while waiting for the tea to cool a bit.
Tea is not expensive – 5,95 BAM / 50 gr (or $3.87 at the moment). If you ever come to Sarajevo, I strongly recommend that you at least try it.

After brewing few cups, I found that 4 min brew suits me best, more than that and the tea will release some bitterness (not much though). I’m having an idea right now to steep it for 5 mins. or more and add some milk to it. I think I’ll try that later…
Anyways, cocoa note is sturdy and natural, with nutty-almond finish… and it’s the same with every sip – not the taste curve that you would usually expect with succeeding tea sips.

…’kay time for some organic Kukicha.

This is my first time to drink Kukicha actually, because one person asked me to write a review for it. Otherwise, I wasn’t attracted to Kukucha… until I tried it that is. I couldn’t believe that twigs and stems can bring up such a pleasant flavor.

Tea soup resembles Sencha in appearance, just to lack that grassy note with some aroma that I somehow closely relate to roasted corn on a cob. I was surprised how refreshing and tasty it was. You know when you try something for the first time and you get less than you expected, well, it’s the other way around with this cuppa.
Few sips into familiarizing with Kukicha and slight sourness arises, just a dash, and no astringency. Few sips more and subtle grassy Sencha flavor comes about. I drank it all the way to the bottom (:eeeew:). No really, it was that tasty.

I wasn’t feeling like washing my teapot for some Keemun so I dared to re-steep it on lower temperature and at least 5 minutes. And it was worth it. Maybe not as flavorful as the first steep, minus freshness, but I could feel some Gyokuro, and boy, that made my day.

To wrap it up, an excellent tea, I could drink it almost on a daily basis. Nice to meet you Kukicha.

Here’s the album, sorry for low res I had to resize for the forum I post my reviews.

http://imageshack.us/g/401/311220111477.jpg/

I’ve heard of this tisane few weeks ago. I stumbled upon it last week and purchased 1 Oz, just to give it a try. I’m really not fond of tisanes, but I really can’t drink any C. Sinensis in evening, or I’ll be staying awake for couple more hours than usual. Anyways, this cuppa has cooled enough for sipping, so let’s get to the point.

Liquor reminds me of rich red wine in color, and aroma rising from the cup is somewhat fruity with a dash of honey. Taste itself reminds of rooibos, it has that earthy body and tobacco-y finish. Besides that, it derives from rooibos with some short lasting sweetness culminating to freshness in the end. There’s a certain fruity aroma that lingers about, that I just can’t put my finger on. And as I strain my brain cells to reach for it, it slips away. I don’t want to bother about it right now, I pretty much enjoy this cuppa.
Few sips to finish this one, and I notice that liquor slightly changed color, looking more like Ceylon than rooibos.

To wrap it up, this is pretty neat cuppa, like rooibos on steroids (lol). But seriously, I don’t fancy drinking plain rooibos, only in blends, but I could hang out with this one for quite the time.

Just a quick note,

I poured 2 cups cold water over dry leaves for one cup (3 gr) and let it brew overnight. I’m now enjoying a delicious cup of tea. It has a nice mix of herb and nutty notes with smooth silky touch. I like it better this way than when brewed with hot water.

Raising its marks to 85.

I bought this one couple days ago from tea shop in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I really hesitated to buy it, since I’m not fond of white teas, although I do enjoy some now and then.
So, let’s see… Recommend parameters on package goes as following: 75-85 Celsius, 5-7 teaspoons of dry leaf per liter, brew 2-3 minutes.
I’m going for lower temperature-longer infusion (2 gr, 5.5 fl Oz, 75C, 3 min.).

Dry leaf smells kinda funny to me, almost like flour when it rises and gets to your nostrils. I guess it’s more of natural tea aroma than of greens and blacks. I don’t dislike it though, just find it a bit funny and somewhat alien in this occasion.
One more detail caught my eye – it seems that due to leaf shape some leaves can’t sink but float on water surface. This gives me that ‘lifting one eyebrow and grin’ moment, meaning that I could steep it at least one more time. I’m using glass teapot, BTW.

Three minutes later, and I’m straining it into cup. At first glance, tea soup seems to have a light green note, but as it settles down bright yellow hue takes over. Aroma is somewhat sweet, but I can’t notice anything else.

First sip… wow. Soup is crisp, herbal and sweet. It’s rather unique in appearance to me. At tip of mouth is crisp, on the middle it gets more herbal and sweet lacking crisp notes, and when swallowing crispness emerges to surface again. Aftertaste is just tiny tiny bit astringent, and I can sense that funny dry leaf aroma evaporating from the throat.
After few sips it gets more herbal and some fruity notes move about.

I’m re-steeping it with 85C – 2 mins.

Liquor came out more golden in appearance and had bolder herbal note to it. It also dries up mouth a bit, just a bit. That quirky flour aroma is gone but I got short for crisp note in the end.

In the end this tea is excellent, except that fuzzy aroma. Otherwise, I could rate it almost 90. I’ll experiment with it though, maybe I’ll find sweet spot for my palate.