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Sampler September! There were only green teas left in my PDX fundraiser bag, and I was in the mood for black tea this morning. Found this sampler from a long ago Yunomi order.

I had a Benifuuki cultivar wakocha in the past and loved it. No idea what cultivar(s) this tea is, but my brewed cup has a deep color and a strong bready/grain-like aroma, with a bit of a raisin/muscatel edge. (Is that a cat hair floating on top? …I choose to ignore that…)

Prepared western, using my own preferences for black tea rather than Yunomi’s guidelines (Japanese brewing guidelines always use a much higher leaf-to-water ratio that makes everything taste bitter to me). So half the sample (2.5g) in 350ml 205F water. I may drop the temperature to their suggested on my final serving, just to see if that makes any difference.

Mmm… the flavor definitely reminds me of the Benifuki black I tried and loved before. Leads with a somewhat malty but strongly bready flavor, with just a hint of raisin and cinnamon in that bread. A strong fruity presense quickly takes over, which tastes of a syrupy cherry and orange citrus. There is a mild florality but mostly it is just floral sweetness… a dab of wildflower honey. Super smooth.

I will have to add more wakocha back into my life… I appear to be a fan!

Flavors: Bread, Cherry, Cinnamon, Citrus, Floral, Fruity, Grain, Honey, Malt, Orange, Raisins, Smooth

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 12 OZ / 350 ML
Shae

Can you even have cats without a random cat hair floating in your tea (or drifting slowly past your face)? If so, someone needs to share their secret.

I have had so many sipdowns this month thanks to Sampler September. Such a great prompt. It feels good to get all those little packages out of my cabinet.

Mastress Alita

I’m so used to finding cat hair in the most insane places that it doesn’t even phase me anymore, hahaha. Sometimes I’m certain I ingest just as much cat hair as the cat does…

AJRimmer

Ha yes, the air in my house is fully saturated with cat hair. My partner ends up in front of the mirror fishing cat hair out of his eyes every day, but I wear glasses and never have this problem, so I told him he should get some clear glasses just to keep the cat hairs out.

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Comments

Shae

Can you even have cats without a random cat hair floating in your tea (or drifting slowly past your face)? If so, someone needs to share their secret.

I have had so many sipdowns this month thanks to Sampler September. Such a great prompt. It feels good to get all those little packages out of my cabinet.

Mastress Alita

I’m so used to finding cat hair in the most insane places that it doesn’t even phase me anymore, hahaha. Sometimes I’m certain I ingest just as much cat hair as the cat does…

AJRimmer

Ha yes, the air in my house is fully saturated with cat hair. My partner ends up in front of the mirror fishing cat hair out of his eyes every day, but I wear glasses and never have this problem, so I told him he should get some clear glasses just to keep the cat hairs out.

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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