Various Artists

the linden tea I have at work seemingly is not here, but had it as a celebration — the meeting went well! I’m going to make my application soon !! AAAH!!!!

just wanted to get on here and say that I got to have tea with Ailin, the wonderful owner of an Asian import store in my town (that I go to at least once a week)
We drank two different black teas and a tea-filled orange as well
It was wonderful to chat with her, and she taught me how to use the gaiwan I bought from her a couple of months back!
she also made me feel more like I DONT have to be hyper scientific with gongfu, which made today’s session (a rolled oolong I got from her) a lot more flexible as well — no more timers! no more precision scales! I’ll save that for western brews :D
I’ve been going to her shop for months, it feels great that we’re more than client-shopkeeper <3

Steepster! I have missed you so. I am still getting settled in my new home, but I’m starting to finally feel the pull to sit quietly for tea and contemplation. I’ve been so busy getting packed and then unpacked… I have taken a lot of distracted fly-by tea in the last month.

My very first session in the new place was Floating Leaves’ Lala Shan Hong Shui, which I don’t regret doing even though my unfiltered tap turned it evil. A good lesson in the power of water. I poured some out on the land and sat in gratitude anyway.

I want to do a big update on my cupboard here and really get tuned into my leaves as autumn settles on the mountain. I am looking forward to catching up on all of your musings over the last month. Here’s to new chapters, my friends.

Sipdown! Finished the herb blend that my friend made from his garden, with the “Rose tea” May prompt in mind. So glad the rose only appears in petal form, and doesn’t carry pretty much any flavor into the brew itself. Cannot stand rose in tea, perfumes, or the like. For me, I enjoy roses only in a garden. Farewell tea blend!

Drank some DIY herbal for Ashmanra’s monthly prompt: April 17th – national herbalist day!

I have so many random herbals lying around, gifts from others a homegrown mix here and there; and an old roommate of mine got into herbalism while we were living together so I have a lot of their test blends hahaha. For this prompt, I chose to go with something a little special – my partners old roomie now has a house in central MA and has a lush butterfly/tea garden. He gifted us a little jar of his personal blend – red clover, mint, rose, lemon balm, sage, and lavender. Sounds like a chaotic blend, but all the flavors were pretty subdued and thus made for a very light herbaceous brew. The lavender, lemon balm, and clover were the stronger flavor players in this blend, and I certainly didn’t hate it! It made my allergies and scratchy throat feel so nice :)

Found an unlabled random sample in my cupboard while cleaning it out today. It looked like black tea, so i treated it as such.
Thankfully, I was right! I think it’s a japanese black, by the way the leaves look like small flat needles, with some curled leaves. It has a thin, light brew with bright notes of raisin. It also has a slight floral note, almost like a rose. I also noticed a lightly sour note, but in a pleasant way, like a green grape. I was able to steep this four times before it gave up the ghost.

it’ll be fun to finish this random thing off at work!

Since I don’t have a booze-inspired tea to line up with Ashmanra’s 3/2 tea prompt to celebrate Irish Whiskey day, I made myself a fancy hot toddy of sorts for myself and a friend. Blended 50/50 Melbourne Bfast from T2 and LS from Camellia Sinensis, added a touch of honey and an appropriate amount of Suntory Hibiki Whiskey. Not Irish, but it still hit the spot. The smokiness from the Lapsang and creamy vanilla from the Melbourne Breakfast really punched up the whiskey so dang well.

Homemade Advent Calendar from Arby: Days 18 & 20

Day 18 – Zelda’s Lullaby (Tea Hippie): A very pleasant, chamomile-forward tisane with mild fruity notes. Tasty!
Day 20 – Rose Oolong (Victoria Tea Company): Hellooooo, rose! I didn’t pay a ton of attention to this one while drinking it, but yes. It was very rosy. :)

Homemade Advent Calendar from Arby: Day 6

This is a straight chamomile from London Tea Company, and I’m too tired to make a listing for it. XD It’s fairly mild, with just a bit of the mustiness I associate with chamomile.

I’m trying to calm myself because it’s been a stressful day in about a zillion ways aaand I’m prepping to head out of town for a long weekend. I can’t say the chamomile is helping, physiologically speaking, but it’s a pleasant nighttime cuppa nonetheless!

(Also, I just realized that the last time I used the Random Steepings listing was for… a chamomile teabag during the homemade advent swap last year. :D Funny!)

Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | March 2023 | A favorite herbal tisane

March has been abysmal for sipdowns so far! And I really need to step up my game: My 52Teas February subscription box just arrived, my parents sent me some herbal blends from a small Rhode Island-based tea company for my birthday, and my in-laws sent me a Simpson & Vail gift card, sooo… I’ve gotta make room! (On that note, would love to hear everybody’s favorites from S&V!)

Anyway! This is a sad sipdown of a cinnamon-cardamom blend my wonderful supervisor gave me for the holidays last year, along with a lovely little mug hand-thrown by her husband. (It has pleasing dimples where my fingers naturally fall and is a real pleasure to use.) I don’t know where this blend is from or exactly what all is in it besides cinnamon, cardamom, and pink peppercorn, but it’s very comforting and gently spiced. I’m drinking it alongside an amazing vegan peanut butter pie my partner made for my birthday. :) A good Wednesday!

2023 sipdown count: 27/75

Advent Calendar from Kaylee: Day 19

OK, so this is a review for “Red Fruits” from Alice’s Tea Cup. This blend is VERY SADLY not for sale on their e-store, so I can’t provide any details for a new listing or look up the ingredients. I say “VERY SADLY” because it’s really good! It’s a black tea laced with jammy berry flavors and manages to strike a great balance between the inherent taste of the tea and the sweet berry notes. I drank it a few days ago and don’t have detailed notes, but I’m looking forward to savoring the remainder of the packet!

There’s a “Black Fruits” blend online that includes black currants, blackberries, and blueberries, and I bet that one’s yummy too.

Lebensbaum Advent Calendar: Days 4, 5, & 6

Day 4: Blütenkuss (Flower Kiss): Featuring linden, lemongrass, elderflower, lime blossom, lemon balm, and vanilla. “Start your day with a gentle kiss of flowers on your lips and let yourself be enchanted by our special tea.” Well, don’t mind if I do! I actually drank this one on Sunday evening. TIL that linden = lime blossom (not citrus lime, obviously). Despite all the very light-sounding ingredients, this one smells and tastes almost musty when it’s brewed up.

Day 5: Minze, Minze, Minze (Mint, Mint, & Mint): Based on the name, one might expect a minty delight. One would be sorely disappointed. Somehow this is not terribly minty?! Google Translate says the ingredients are “Nana mint, peppermint, apple mint, and white lemon balm” but I just got muddy muted mint.

Day 6: Würziger Winterapfel (Spicy Winter Apple): I glanced at the ingredients quickly, saw “Ceylon,” and assumed this was a black tea blend — perfect for my second tea of the morning. Butttt then I saw that the recommended steeping time is 10 minutes and quickly realized that “Ceylon-Zimt” is Ceylon cinnamon, not tea. Ha!

This is a winter spice blend with wild apple as the first ingredient. I’m not getting much apple, though, just a kind of drying, muddy, almost woody cinnamon flavor followed by a mouth-coating sweetness. I initially thought it came just from the licorice root, but then I realized that “Honigblatt” (literally “honey leaf”) is apparently stevia! There’s maybe a little apple as it cools, but in a weird, kind of sour way. Meh.

Advent Calendar from Kaylee: Day 8

Last night I had “Chamomile Fields” from Dunkin Donuts! I had no idea Dunkin had its own proprietary blends. Funny. I grew up in Rhode Island, where there’s a Dunkin on every corner and people are OBSESSED with them. Truly obsessed. But I think their coffee is terrible, and they don’t have vegan doughnuts, so it’s been a while since I’ve visited one! (Saying that, though, the Dunkins in Europe have a bunch of vegan options! I had a strawberry glazed one in Germany and it brought me right back to childhood.)

Anyway, I didn’t get much more than chamomile in this one despite it including orange peel, lemongrass, licorice root, and cornflower. A promising blend! Buttttt I realized this morning that I’ve brewed my most recent few tea bags in a very tall and narrow mug, and I’m wondering if that vessel shape just isn’t conducive to well-brewed tea. So I might not have done the last few tea bags justice. :(

Lebensbaum Advent Calendar: Days 1, 2, & 3

I was in a grocery store in Amsterdam, saw this German tea brand’s advent calendar, and couldn’t resist picking it up! It was only 5 euro and was small enough to fit in my carry-on, so c’mon… anyone would’ve done the same. Of course it’s not really a calendar, just a box with a bunch of individually wrapped tea bags in it, but whatever. It was cheap and I’m a sucker.

I don’t think I’m going to create individual notes for each tea offering, because then I’d have to create new listings for each tea, and that seems too time-consuming for some fairly generic bagged tea! Instead I’ll probably be reviewing them in batches of tasting notes, like this one.

Day 1: Wärmende Winterkräuter (Warming Winter Herbs): This is a winter spice blend layered on a rooibos base. There’s star anise, clove, and orange, but there’s also a surprising amount of sweetness from blackberry leaf, which I could’ve done without.

Day 2: Linde & Lagerfeuer (Linden & Bonfire): One might expect a “bonfire” tea to include lapsang souchong for smokiness, but no — this is a honeybush blend with a ton of flavors: chicory, apple, black pepper, star anise, ginger, cardamom, vanilla, blueberry, linden flower, and more blackberry leaf. It’s interesting! And pretty good, with a sweet, almost honey-ish flavor that overwhelms the spices. When I used Google Translate to read through the description, it mentioned something about linden blossoms inspiring warmth and good feelings, and it looks like linden trees are pretty common in Germany. So there’s probably a cultural resonance to these flavors that I can’t understand. But that’s OK! I’m glad I tried this one.

Day 3: Earl Grey: Well, this is a bagged Earl Grey. It is very bergamot-forward, which does nothing good for me because I don’t care for bergamot. Nothing more to say here. :)

Didn’t drink much tea over the summer. I’m not really a fan of cold tea so I switch to iced coffee when it’s too hot for life and I can’t bear the thought of hot drinks. It’s starting to cool down a bit so I’ve been making tea more often lately but haven’t been keeping great notes. Mostly stuff from White2Tea subscription boxes, I think. I’ve tried to save enough of each for at least a teeny baby gaiwan session later to make more detailed notes.

Dahongpao
Stone Milk
Fireside Tgy
Chuan Huang yellow
Chuan Zibai slightly purple white
Coal Mtn Green maojian
Cloud Mist Green from Sichuan

The oolongs were okay, nothing life-changing but did help confirm my suspicion that I don’t hate oolong, I just hate oolong brewed western style. First yellow tea I’ve tried…seemed a lot like a green to me? Would like to try more because the type of greens it reminded me of are the sort I like. The greens and white were tasty. The Cloud Mist was more tropical fruity and the Coal Mountain more of the floral beany thing that sounds weird and gross but kinda works for me. Sorta snap peas and sunflower sprouts, maybe? With a fistful of clover? The tiny leaves of the Coal Mtn are cute.

I’ve been drinking teas but nothing really new or needing a whole note of its own.

Aiya Ceremonial matcha – as usucha/thin tea, not life-changingly good or anything but it’s drinkable, definitely worth the $8/tin clearance price, froths well when whisked, it becomes bitter if you veer into thick tea territory (didn’t measure, just dumped some in my bowl), lacking traditional Japanese tea sweets I’ve been having it with little maple sugar leaf shaped candies

Bonne Maman Serenity – my favorite of the Bonne Maman teas, nice before bed tea

Bonne Maman Dream – second favorite BM tea, nice before bed

Tea Drops Glow Sprinkles – much better than the sugary Tea Drops, cinnamon very prominent, grabbed several boxes when I thought this was being discontinued but it looks like they were just changing it from the powder packets to a solid “drop” like their other teas

White2Tea Planetary Shark Feed dragon ball – these are aging nicely, less young ripe wet pile flavors now, more yummy sweet molasses-y flavors

Yunnan Sourcing Taiping Houkui – always a favorite!

First teaware casualties of the year :’(
Matcha whisk holder died in the sink while I was rinsing teathings
Dragon yixing pot now has a small chip in the top edge from clumsily dropping the lid

Sipdown

“2021 Gushu Baicha”

I cannot remember for the life of me where or when I required this sample. It may have been from one of my farmer sources on IG or from a swap. I failed to make a note who sent the tea. My notes on the slip of paper attached read, “Unsweetened grapes, pencil shavings, malt, & wood chips. 55/100.”

Backlog and Sip Down

Ya Shi Xiang from Hong Tea China (?)

I cannot remember for the life of me where I acquired this sample! Ha-ha. I know it was in the sip down box which I made prior to moving to our house, but I never marked the vendor on the packet. It may have been from the same farmer/vendor since the packaging is similar…Not 100% certain. Anyway, I brewed this on Friday during work. Of course, with a long shift, tea was needed. I half focused on the session, but I relied on jotting tasting notes as I worked.

As all Dancong teas go, this reminded me of an IPA (mildly bitter citrus notes) and the mouthfeel was thin. The tea lasted for 5 steeps and faded fast after the 5th brewing. On the 6th brew I noted, “Now we’re back to drinking hot water.”

Sipdown

“Bai Hao Yin Zhang White Tea” from Hong Tea China

I’m currently sipping on this tea after nearly sleeping (poorly) for 10 hours. This work week needs to end. Lol. Thankfully, I’ve scheduled Friday and Monday off, but I’m overloaded with work until that time. My boss found it fitting to task me to train the new supervisor and 4 new hires…I’ve lost my voice talking so much.

Anyway, this is pleasant. The dry leaf didn’t offer much. The wet leaf was bursting with the essence of freshly picked strawberries, soaking in the sun’s rays, and offering their tart-sweetness to your senses. The first two cups even tasted of strawberries and a lingering pear note. As the tea session continues, there are more notes of hay and a mild bitterness in the lingering aftertaste. Still not too bad. I really enjoy this tea.

“Xiao Ging Gan Shu Cha”

I cannot find “Hong Tea China’s” webpage on their IG. After checking messages, we exchanged conversation and I ‘ordered’ off the Excel file that they had sent for their teas. They are a small farmer that I met and conversed with for a few years now. 2023 was the first time I became curious about their teas (I was playing around with the idea of starting a small business to build the local tea community via Tea Bus, but this will not be a feasible venture for a few years once I’ve adjusted to my surroundings and we complete a few projects that will soon begin) and made a dash at obtaining several samples; which now find themselves on the sipdown pile.

Essentially, these were 3 grades of puerh stuffed inside a tangerine. Grades “A,” “AA”, and “AAA.” From my understanding of Yan’s notes, the grades were based on the leaf material. On the back of the packet, I made notes as I sampled the teas.
A: Orange, mild earthiness from the puerh, and a little fishy. 5/10
AA: Orange juice with a mild earthy note; not fishy; leather. 7/10
AAA (the most recent): Reminds me of the fruit leather Target sells – sweet, citrusy, tangy, and the puerh has a nice earthiness with a hint of nuttiness. 8.5/10.

“2017 Heng Bang Bulang”

This was from a sample swap years ago from a friend who has now dipped from the tea community. As I sipped down the last session, I began to wonder how they were doing. I understand the need to leave the noise of social media…I’ve been off Facebook for 9 years! However, IG, Steepster, and YouTube are my ways of staying in touch with my tea peeps!

The note on the card didn’t have the vendor and I can’t track where this may have come from on Google. Yunnan Sourcing has one listed, but it’s a brick form, and this sample I had was rounded, similar to a tea cake. The tea was a little bitter and had some bite despite the 7 years on the tea. I didn’t have much else noted on this final session…Sometimes, I will spend time with the tea and my thoughts, quietly meditating on memories and such.

I had a random Sheng coin provided by Tao Teaware with a pot purchase. It was tightly compressed, which made it hard to figure out what type of tea it was at first. It didn’t really have a smell. After tossing boiling water into the pot, it was decided that it was sheng. It took 2 days and 8 infusions to get it to open, after which, I steeped the coin for a solid minute. It was a STRONG tea – very heavy in apricot, floral, and mildly bitter notes. I was able to get a few more brews from the leaf, but it was pretty much steeped out after the 12th or 13th infusion.

*Note: flavors were muted from steeps 1-6. The flavor really developed upon the 7th infusion and on.