2902 Tasting Notes
Left this in the fridge overnight instead of just a few hours and it went a little bit bitter. As always, though, with iced tea, a little bite is no big deal as long as it’s COLD. (Oh, for one stray chilly foggy day to wander through and remind us what the weather is like somewhere other than Hades :)
Margaret’s Hope. Isn’t that a nice name? Shades of a young wife standing on her widow’s walk with sea spray blowing in her face waiting for her true love to sail back home…
…which has little do to with this really fine, fruity and grapey Darjeeling. I have maybe just enough (courtesy of the lovely jacquelinem) to try a small pot’s worth chilled, which I’m thinking would be elegantly refreshing.
Ummm, I hate to break it to you, but Margaret hoped to run the plantation for her dad one day, but died as a young teen on the ship back to England. Legend says that when it is time to pick the tea, her ghost walks through the big house in India and the curtains flutter as she passes through. Her Dad renamed the plantation in her honor. Sniff. Sniff.
This may all simply be excellent marketing! LOL!
When I get time, I’ll write the novelization :)
ashmanra, thank you for the story! I had never heard it!
Uh oh we have another story teller in our midst! Come on!
http://www.nottinghall.com/margaretshope.htm
:) Here you go!
http://steepster.com/teas/culinary-teas/12128-margarets-hope-2nd-flush-ftgfop-darjeeling
I finally found where I first saw the story, and it was here on Steepster all along!
I really need to find out the brand for y’all on this one, because it’s just plumb tasty! OK, Lemon, not plum. In bulk at my local herbal hangout, and they tend to stock San Francisco Herb and Spice or Frontier Natural Food Co-op stuff, but I haven’t found it on either website.
At any rate, it is a lovely Cheapster Steepster blend with gobs of lovely dried lemon peel. I prepared a pot properly, then chilled it—don’t have much luck cold-steeping green tea (it bitters up). At any rate, this has a wonderful baked-goods lemon cookie/pastry flavor that is every bit as good cold as it is hot. My introductory ounce is going fast.
Well, pickle. I am the Black Hole of discontinued flavors…as soon as I fall in love with something, somebody else decides to pull it. Further research led me here http://www.herbspicetea.com/scripts/silverware.exe/moreinfo@d:%5Celevclients%5Csfherbtea%5Celevator.prg?ITEM=1044NH with the unfortunate word “closeout” behind it. Sigh.
Oh man, that always sucks! By the way, I’m not sure you’re missing out on cold-brewing. A lot of people seem to enjoy it, but it just scares the bejeebies out of me.
With a brain as needy as mine is needing directions to follow for everything or I get confused, I use videos from the big tea houses like Teavivre and Verdant all the time. Verdant has all the cold brew and iced information that helped me understand what to do. Fear not Dylan of Oxford…brave one that thou art. and gmathis…I love the Well, pickle! What charm!
Thanks, Bonnie. I’m probably not the hick I make myself out to be. Much.
I’m still developing my pu-erh chops; all the more so since Dr. Oz said pu-erh, especially when imbibed early in the day, is a fat burner. (I am not of the “if Dr. Oz said it, it must be true” camp, but hey, another excuse to drink tea!)
Anyway, I chilled a pint after my morning cup. Cold cave water! Which, on a triple-digit day, is a pretty nice little sensory side trip. I always did like the smell of stalagmites.
I drink chilled puerh and love it! Not bad with a little mint or ginger too.
This comment makes me smile. I almost sense a touch of sarcasm. :) “Cold cave water” and “smell of stalagmites” sounds splendid for a cuppa tea. ;)
I’ve always drank my puerh hot with a short steeping. What is the best way to cold brew puerh; both the amount and time left to brew would be helpful?
No sarcasm…I did my courtin’ in the Ozarks and fell in love with an amateur spelunker :) Haven’t tried a cold-steep batch yet, I just stuck leftovers in the fridge.
Bonnie, the mint sounds great … I’ll have to look and see if Peppermint Patty has any leaves that haven’t fried int this heat.
When I finish my morning hot pot of pu’erh (like today) I brew again, let it cool down and bottle (sometimes I dilute to taste with orange water or mint water and I sweeten sometimes too) . Then….into the frig! You can pour over ice if you steep strong using a gaiwan.
Wow, Bonnie! I bet that it is delicious!
GMathis: ts is a green puerh. Do you like shu or cooked puerh at all?
Thanks guys! I’m gonna try this right away. Sounds delish.
Ashmanra, I think I do—very limited experience and bungled preparation on my part. I’ve had a couple of shu samples. The cooked ones are the little pre-shaped things, right?
hmm, I don’t see this on their website, did you buy it in the store? Maochas are pretty tasty.
No, Amy, this was a gift from … one of my kind Steepster buddies, but I can’t remember whom. So it may be a little oldish; wouldn’t surprise me if it isn’t in current rotation.
I sent it! They only carried it for about a year. I think it was one of Emeric’s picks. I still have some left and it is aging nicely!
The cooked and greens can come every whichaway! Cakes, mini tuocha, loose. I have a bagged shu that is pretty good from Numi. Someone on here gave a helpful tip, green and sheng sound a lot alike, and shu and cooked sound a bit alike, so that helps me keep straight which is which!
Ay-yi-yi, so much to learn!
Subscribing to the it’s-going-to-be-stinkin’-hot-so-make-your-one-good-cup-count theory today. This is light and sweet, but enough so that the flavor makes itself known to you—your taste buds don’t have to hunt it down. What I wish all white teas tasted like (if this were a white, which it isn’t).
Traditions/Good Young Tea Co. Strawberry Black Tea + Citrus (In Pursuit of Tea) = a plausible summer chill-out.
The Citrus has followed me around for a very long time—part of the bin that survived our trauma. Largely, it’s been around for so long because it’s so tart and dry I can’t stand it on its own, but I can’t bear to throw out tea.
So I did a half-and-half with my new strawberry addiction, cold in the fridge, and while it didn’t improve the strawberry on its own, it gave it a lemonade-y kick that isn’t bad on a sweltering afternoon.
I’ve previously noted how light this is for a morning tea, but I will amend my comments after steeping a quart of this all day in the fridge. It stoutens (Yeah, stoutens. I made it up, so there)considerably with a slow, cold steep. Bit of apple-peel sharpness to it now. Good stuff.
Running low on bagged teas and wanted something I could cold-steep quickly, so I tossed 3 bags in a quart jar, and into the fridge it went.
It’s not normally the kind of tea I’d ice down — I prefer straight, strong, black tea or fruity stuff — but it wasn’t bad. Not unlike a vanilla ice cream cone.
Summer seems to be the universal Steepster Scrap Drive season—using up the bits to make room for the good stuff next fall. And in keeping with the spirit of salvage, I pulled this out to make a jar of cold brew. A gift from the kind and creative jacquelinem last summer, it’s a scrap of berry this and a pinch of berry that. All sweet, no tart, it makes a wonderful cooler and soother. (100 in the shade this afternoon.)
My husband recommended renaming it Teaberry Suicide, or Teaberry Strangler in honor of the Laura Childs mystery.
