612 Tasting Notes

drank Autumn Leaves by Della Terra Teas
612 tasting notes

The last of the Secret Pumpkin teas from Lariel I’m trying tonight—I feel so doused in the season now! I love it (fall is the best)! It’s like I’ve had a three-course Thanksgiving meal where every course was a fall dessert, ha.

The maple in this is STRONG both aroma and flavor-wise. But it’s not bitter. I think the green rooibos in this is good stuff, makes the rooibos in general less noticeable/distracting/scented woodchippy.

The maple for me is strong enough that it evokes other things due to childhood association, primarily black walnuts. Memories of picking them up one by one off my neighbors’ driveway (the deal was we could keep them…there must’ve been a reason we didn’t just sweep them with a wide broom to collect them, but now years later it completely escapes me), then going out back with a sledgehammer to open them one by one. My cat playing with them in their rock-hard bristley shells by the fire in winter, the noise they made skittering across the living room. Some of my happiest seasonal memories of upstate.

P.S. The colorful maple leaf candies in this are adorable; I love how they’re visually echoed in the felt maple leaves that came in my Secret Pumpkin card.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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drank Mom's Apple Pie by DAVIDsTEA
612 tasting notes

Decided to make a real autumn taste testing night of it with my teas from Lariel, whee. Was nervous about this one—I like baked apple flavor in tea, but tart-fresh fruity apple in tea for some reason I hate (I don’t know why as I LOVE me a nice raw tart upstate apple). So I was crossing my fingers this was truly a pie apple flavor, not raw apple. And it is! There are pie spices and a cooked 20oz apple sort of flavor—it might be unconventional to say this, but it’s bitter-sweet instead of tart fruity-sweet (kind of similar to clove or unsweet cinnamon, which for all I know is in this, not sure), and I much prefer the former. As is often the case, the smell of the apple is stronger than the taste—the front of the sip tastes pretty weak, watery almost, then you realize it’s kind of like literal unsweetened fruit juice, subtle, and deepens and lingers at the end of the swallow. This is pretty good and a little like the Utopia Tea Berkshire Apple and Fig I tried recently, where the spices here give depth in a way similar to the fig jamminess of the latter. As it cools, the bitter spiciness comes forward and the apple takes a step back. I don’t taste much green tea, but it might be contributing to that specific sweet-bitter baked tart apple flavor. This is a nice fall tea. I have a feeling it would be fantastic cold steeped.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Lariel of Lórien

I used it to flavour oatmeal.

ifjuly

Ooh, that sounds good!

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drank Pistachio Cream by DAVIDsTEA
612 tasting notes

The first tea I’m trying from my first swap on the site, from my Secret Pumpkin Lariel! Thanks. (:

This smells insanely creamy steeping. Like you could cut through the air with a knife heavy cream-like. When I put my nose right up to the pot I get the pistachio. I don’t think I’ve had mulberry leaf in tea that I’ve noticed in my glass teapot before—at first I was like “What’s this? It looks a bit like oolong!” The color in the cup is surprising too, reminds me a little of guayusa, that sort of dark green soil-y hue.

Like with most David’s stuff I’ve tried the smell is quite powerful and then the taste is more subdued. This one’s better than many though in terms of living up to the aroma some. The nuttiness becomes more present as the tea cools a little. I like how there’s a slight saltiness both in smell and taste akin to, yep, a pistachio. Tasty! I don’t think I’ve actually had any tisanes from David’s come to think of it—which makes this extra cool as I often found myself unimpressed with the black bases they use for their flavored teas. That’s not a problem here, so goody.

I’ve been weirdly upset/emotional/stressed out lately for a handful of reasons (that IRS thing, my husband’s job stress, the holidays looming, my seasonal depression kicking in, still mourning my old coworker and friend, and a sick cat in our backyard I’m trying to save and worried is not going to make it and the ensuing feeling of being an inadequate decision-maker when something’s life is on the line, ugh), and tea and rediscovering musicians I loved and bonded with people over when I was younger are the two saving graces lately. I was getting a bit jumpy tonight after so much good black and green tea all day and this was just the thing to calm me down with its sweet, soothing herbal properties. Got the house to myself right now post-band practice, gonna keep watching comfort food stuff like X-Files now after writing in my diary and listening to Richard Buckner and Spiritualized for hours.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
keychange

I know what you mean about going through an emotional, depressive phase. I hope it gets better. You’re stronger than you feel.

ifjuly

Thanks a lot keychange! Those are kind words and exactly the sort of thing I needed to hear. I’m still rooting for you and that durned exam, by the way. (:

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Smells so much of honey. I admit, I love black teas with natural honey notes (Golden Fleece and Honey Orchid are two of my favorites). Interesting it’s from Lincang; I could be imagining it but it seems to have that clean almost minty quality (albeit subtler) Loose and Luscious Lincang Pu Erh has. I really like it; it sets it apart. You don’t think it will work with sweet and “dark” flavors but it does.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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I forgot what was in this, so I was very pleasantly surprised when I opened my sample packet and got that auto-soothing heady scent of bergamot. Figured it’d be a standard kinda heavy, smoky caravan-type blend. But no! There is a bitter smell though, made me worry it’d continue onto the sip and make the tea sharp, but so long as it stays pretty hot it’s not there. This tea is surprisingly light (I tend to associate Russian-labeled stuff as strong and relatively bitter, meant to take tons of sugar). The smokiness is not the ashy, musty kind many lapsangs have; it’s more like scorched firewood, barbecue smoke. Kind of a “wet”, fresh burn, if that makes any sense. I would drink this again! I often feel a tad self-conscious preferring so many of Upton’s blends that admit to having artificial flavors over their natural ones, but them’s the breaks.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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drank Tencha by Harney & Sons
612 tasting notes

Wow, you know how lots of green teas get billed as smelling/tasting like spinach? The truth is I rarely get that (snap pea and green bean yes, spinach no). But I do with this one! No metallic quality to go with it though, which is a big plus—it’s like the freshest, most tender baby spinach. It combines with this fantastic clean sweetness—so much natural sweetness in my teas today, whee. I thought I’d miss the roastiness I’m used to from some greens but the lack of it really lets the sweetness shine. This is a beautiful color in the cup too. Batting really high today with new teas—first I took Queen Catherine to the supermarket with me in my hourglass “flip” to-go steeper, let her hang in the car while I did my thing and by the time I was done shopping it was just the right temp. to drink and was duh-licious on the ride home, perked me right up. Then that Yezi was good AND unique, and this is scrumptious too.

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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drank Qing Pin Black Tea by Yezi Tea
612 tasting notes

Wow, this is really good. I can’t get over how naturally sweet it is. And it has this wonderful quality of feeling, bizarrely enough, both light and clean as well as bold and rich. It’s hard to explain. But this is beautiful. Often Steepster collectively feels like it prizes smooth black Chinese teas above all, and while I’ve enjoyed the zillions I’ve tried I get bored by a kind of…sameness to the most favored ones. This is a class apart though—for once no sweet potato! Really digging this.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec
Sil

I’m a fan of yezi’s teas

ifjuly

I am excited about placing an order, especially given all the generous offers they’ve made to Steepsters.

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This was a freebie Utopia sent me, forgot to cupboard it here, whoops. After so many unsuccessful apple teas I decided to straightaway only try this cold steeped, and I must say it’s really good that way, and perfect for the season—it’s like light, subtle cider, but with more going on, a warmth and fig-jamminess that’s great. Thirst-quenching and tasty. Even so I’m not sure I’ll try what’s left hot…you know me.

Preparation
Iced

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drank Palm Court by Harney & Sons
612 tasting notes

Had with afternoon tea hazelnut and jam ladyfingers, cuke cream cheese sandwiches, and Moulins Mahjoub artichoke spread on toast (I am in love with that stuff, going to be very sad when our jar’s empty…got it on sale at Zingerman’s this spring). Yummy.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Stephanie

Mmmm, your nibbles sound delish!

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drank Queen Catherine by Harney & Sons
612 tasting notes

So Harney’s seasonal promo came just in time; I tried a bunch of sample sizes of Steepster faves way earlier this year (March maybe?) and loved just about all of them but it’s only been lately I’ve been like “Oooh I need me some Tokyo/Boston/Florence/Tower of London/cold steeped Fruits d’Alsace” only to realize oh yeah, they were SAMPLE sized and I have none left. D: Knew I’d restock eventually but didn’t do so immediately because I had so many other teas to try first…but the time has come! I restocked my faves, was delighted to see their black tins are back in stock, and picked up lots of new stuff to sample, mainly breakfast-y black blends (How did I miss the first time that they have about a zillion?! All with neat names too…guess I was still in “exciting-sounding flavored tea” mode) as I’ve had a craving for them lately (have only recently switched to “really well done straight blended tea” mode).

I was also excited in a new way this go-round ‘cause this is the first time I’ve checked the site out and ordered after reading Michael Harney’s tea book (which was a very useful companion as I tried lots of different teas and needed a tetherline to help me map each’s place in the broader spectrum of tea around the globe). I did a good job of knocking out my to-try list of just about every major type of tea he describes (I love that he placed them in order of flavor strength too, helped a lot especially with oolongs which completely confounded me at first…I understood the different types but the way some are Taiwanese and some are Chinese and there’s overlap with the methods and names there but not entirely…well, let’s just say I was overwhelmed!), with a few straggling exceptions which I remedied this time (couldn’t find tencha easily from a source I felt confident ordering from, but H&S carries it…ditto old skool Formosa Oolong, the heavily oxidized kind that Rachel was nostalgic for…they carry every type he mentions naturally as it’s a guide for their line of teas not just tea in general).

This one had so much to live up to (there are some diehard fans on the site), and I think it does! Yay! I was very surprised how sweet this smells steeping; I could swear I smell vanilla in there but no one else mentions it in their notes so maybe I’m just hallucinating. Still…so strong, that rich sweet aroma. Sipping I’m pleased to find this is wonderfully smooth while still delivering that breakfast blend “TEA!”-flavored boldness. There’s also a wonderful subtle spiciness, nothing you can precisely put your finger on but it’s there, nice and rounded out by that smooth sweetness. At first I didn’t get any of the smokiness people keep mentioning, but then it comes out near the end of the sip and lingers—it’s a sweet smokiness that pairs perfectly with the initial vanilla aroma, not acrid at all. Delicious. I was skeptical of Harney’s ratings (they’re awesome BTW, wish more tea spots attempted to pinpoint their teas along those lines though I can understand how time consuming it’d be, and tastes vary), particularly the one that indicated very little astringency, but he’s right. Somehow you get all the classic black tea flavor but none of the astringency; it’s like a phantom where you sense the component out of remembering it tends to be inevitably linked to the other flavors, but it isn’t actually there. So this has a lot of the qualities that make me love Tower of London, the way it’s so easy-going to drink but still packs a ton of great intertwining flavors, but it feels stronger and a bit more complex, with deeper sorts of flavors. At the end you wind up with a mouthful of lingering “TEA!” taste, the sort of thing that lets you know you’ve had classic black tea and reminds you of why that’s so delicious. Satisfying and invigorating like breakfast blends should be, but also complex enough to make you dwell on all the flavors you’ve tasted like a good meal.

I’m inclined to agree with the folks who’ve mentioned Harney seems particularly good at doing breakfast-y black blends. Now I’m one of y’all and can invite Catherine over whenever I want, which pleases me to no end.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
yyz

It’s nice when something lives up to its hype!

ifjuly

Definitely! :D

boychik

my favorite. Just restocked last Monday

ifjuly

i think it’s become one of mine too. like when the black lotus is too fancy for my zombie taste buds on rushed mornings, this is gonna be my go-to. we must have similar taste in morning blends!

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Bio

“…you can never know everything about anything, especially something you love.”
-Julia Child on food and cooking, and I think it applies to tea as well!

note: i am currently taking a break from swapping/mail of any kind as money is rather tight. i apologize! i do love to swap but i can’t afford to right now. hopefully in a month things will change.

my cupboard includes any tea i’ve ever owned, including things i’ve sipped down, in order to facilitate swaps with people and keep a record—this way i don’t get redundant samples/order duplicates to try. if you are interested in swapping, i have a separate ever-updated list of teas i actually have on hand i can PM.

i like strong, rich blacks (including some choice old skool CTCs); juicy-fruity flavored green blends; buttery chinese greens; light floral oolongs; flavored oolongs (how sacrilegious!); earl greys; smoky blends; second flush muscatel darjeelings; verdant’s straight oolongs steeped in a gaiwan (mind altering!); anything from laoshan village it seems.

favorite notes include lavender, bergamot, violet, fennel, cardamom, melon, honey, sandalwood, smoke, nuts, roasty/toasty stuff, malt, wood, leather, creamy lemon, steamed rice, artichoke, garden-sweet snap veggies, earth/soil, forest and wet bark, and mushroom.

notes i generally can’t stand (at least in tea) include jasmine, rose (ok in small doses but i often find it overpowering and then everything just smells like musty old lady perfume), astringent apple (and general fruitiness really unless it’s with green tea), and chamomile (unless i’m congested or tired).

my current favorite tea vendors are butiki and harney and sons. i’ve also found some delicious teas and/or had good customer service experiences with the following companies: capital tea ltd., the devotea, verdant, mandala, golden moon, teavivre, lupicia, taiwan tea crafts, yezi tea, den’s tea, the tea merchant, norbu, fauchon paris, tao tea leaf, zen tea, fortnum and mason, townshend’s tea, joy’s teaspoon, new mexico tea company, persimmon tree, teajo teas, whispering pines, della terra, upton imports, mariage freres, samovar, justea, teabox, american tea room, steven smith, steap shoppe, utopia tea, and andrews and dunham damn fine tea. when i’m at the grocery store my “you could do worse” brands include stash, bigelow, tazo, taylors of harrogate, whittard of chelsea, and pg tips. and it’s a fact: you can’t make classic southern sweet tea without luzianne.

top picks, fall 2013

black:
verdant zhu rong yunnan black
verdant laoshan black
thepuriTea hong jing luo (no longer available :( )
thepuriTea red dragon pearl (no longer available :( )
mandala morning sun
golden moon honey orchid
verdant golden fleece
taiwan tea crafts red jade
yezi tea zheng shan xiao zhong “scotch” tea
capital tea borsapori estate assam tgfop1 (spl)
butiki khongea golden tippy assam
butiki giddahapar darjeeling extra special
upton imports fikkal estate
golden moon sinharaja
harney and sons new vithanakande
persimmon tree vintage black
teajo teas black manas
justea kenyan black
harney and sons kangaita op

morning blends:
butiki the black lotus
harney and sons queen catherine
harney and sons eight at the fort
harney and sons big red sun
harney and sons scottish morn
golden moon irish breakfast
harney and sons irish breakfast
utopia tea english breakfast
fortnum and mason breakfast blend (needs milk!)
andrews and dunham double knit blend
steven smith no. 25 morning light
butiki irish cream cheesecake

earl greys and scented afternoon blends:
teajo teas silky earl grey
harney and sons viennese earl grey
upton imports lavender earl grey
american tea room victoria
lupicia earl grey grand classic
harney and sons tower of london
tao tea leaf cream earl grey
zen tea earl grey cream
della terra earl grey creme
upton imports season’s pick earl grey creme vanilla
upton imports baker street afternoon blend
harney and sons russian country
della terra professor grey
verdant earl of anxi

flavored black:
herbal infusions moose tracks
american tea room brioche
steap shoppe cinnamon swirl bread
della terra oatmeal raisin cookie
butiki nutmeg cream
kusmi caramel
david’s tea brazillionaire
lupicia banane chocolat
butiki hello sweetie
fauchon paris raspberry macaron
butiki blueberry purple tea
herbal infusions marshmallow snowflake earl grey
herbal infusions creme brulee chai

pu erh:
mandala loose and luscious lincang 2007 shu/ripe pu erh
mandala special dark 2006 shu/ripe pu erh

oolong:
verdant shui jin gui wuyi oolong
verdant hand-picked early spring tieguanyin
butiki 2003 reserve four season oolong
harney and sons formosa oolong
tea merchant silk dragon
golden moon coconut pouchong
zen tea coconut oolong
american tea room coconut oolong
teavivre taiwan jin xuan milk oolong
butiki flowery pineapple oolong
butiki lychee oolong
lupicia momo oolong supergrade
butiki strawberry oolong
butiki pumpkin milkshake darjeeling oolong
52teas tiramisu oolong

green:
verdant laoshan bilochun green
verdant autumn harvest laoshan green
tao tea leaf hou kui
harney and sons tencha
harney and sons gyokuro
new mexico casablanca
butiki with open eyes
american tea room nirvana
joy’s teaspoon mahalo
den’s tea pineapple sencha
harney and sons tokyo
butiki potato pancakes and applesauce
butiki holiday eggnog and pralines
den’s tea organic genmaicha with matcha
golden moon hojicha

white:
butiki cantaloupe and cream
butiki champagne and rose cream

no caf:
harney and sons soba buckwheat
butiki birthday cake
della terra lemon chiffon
52teas strawberry pie honeybush
butiki mango lassi
joy’s teaspoon italian dream
butiki coconut cream pie rooibos
butiki peppermint patty
persimmon tree mint chocolate chip rooibos
art of tea velvet tea
fusion teas chocolate cake honeybush
american tea room choco-late
steven smith no. 40 bon bon
townshend’s tea dark forest chai
utopia tea decaffeinated earl grey cream

sleep aid/medicinal/therapeutic:
new mexico extra sleepy bear
stash white christmas
verdant ginger sage winter spa blend
samovar turmeric spice
butiki the killer’s vanilla guayusa

coldsteeped wonders:
whispering pines manistee moonrise
harney and sons fruits d’alsace
utopia tea berkshire apple and fig
culinary teas peaches and cream
butiki peach hoppiTea
butiki ruby pie
whispering pines gingerade

besides tea

born in seoul, raised in new england and upstate new york, went to college in pittsburgh, currently in memphis with an eye toward philadelphia, portland, or asheville eventually.

i like cats, most beverages really (i also like good freshly roasted coffee, craft beer, wine, whiskey and gin-based cocktails, and soda/soft drinks like agua fresca), art (mainly writing but also visual and music) and critical theory, feminism/genderqueer politics, historiography, statistics, children’s literature and librarianship, travel, and food/cooking. also have recently gotten into weightlifting (mark rippetoe and stumptuous!) and sprint training (HIIT, plyometrics) and i love it.

Location

Memphis, TN

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http://facebook.com/ifjuly

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