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The Great Un-Steepstering of 2020 Review #6 (08/15/20)

Today is the one year anniversary of me buying this house! Which was around the time I fell really behind on reading Steepster reviews, hense the year-or-so backlog I have to get through. It will also be the one-year adoptionversary for my kitty Chiya in a few days (PRIORITIES… bought the house to get a cat!) and sadly, I have to get her booster shots. I will certainly make it up to her with a special treat and I already replaced her favorite mouse that she went Mike Tyson on by ripping its ear off (and it probably won’t be long until she destroys this one… she’s a little black death machine!)

Still trying to get through my 2017 teas, which are my oldest (I got into tea late in 2016 and did a lot of bulk orders in 2017 in my enthusiam!) I especially have a lot of pure origin teas from that time, which is sad I let them get so old, but c’est la vie… Here is another from that old What-cha order, and it was a big bag! Oof, this will take a while to sip down… I’ve already made one cold brew batch and will probably be doing that a lot to work through the bag, but right now I have a warm cuppa to sip with my classy microwave eggroll lunch. 2g in 175F water, 2 minute steep.

I have tried other Bi Luo Chun’s in the past. The aroma of this one smells very floral, which my (admittedly poor) memory doesn’t recall any of the others I’ve tried being particularly floral (they were always a very savory vegetal flavor with a strong beany note, with some variances on that between the different ones I tried). I’d have to look through all different iterations to see if any of them struck strongly floral… I do smell that “beany” quality as well, though. First sip, and this definitely does have a florality to the flavor… smooth, a bit like the lilac/orchid flavor in green oolongs, not heavy or perfumy. The vegetal quality is there, and I am definitely getting that bean note lingering on my tongue after the sip. The vegetal flavor is a bit like peas/pea pods, green beans, and black beans, and comes across very savory/umami. I know I’ve had a few Bi Luo Chun that had a “meaty” taste in the past, but I’m not getting that here from the umami quality… perhaps because of the florality of the tea.

It’s a nice tea, I probably don’t need 50g of it, but it is pleasant.

The Great Un-Steepstering of 2020 Review #5 (08/07/20)

My What-cha teas are all really old now (it was a 2017 order) so I’m trying to move those to the forefront. I know green teas are not prime for aging but I really like greens, whites, and oolongs as cold brews, so I opted to cold brew this one. 5g in 32oz of water, steeped overnight and strained to make ice tea.

This is a delightful cold brew. I’m getting a very nutty flavor from the tea, with notes of roasted nuts, particularly chestnut and walnut. There is a brisk and refreshing vegetal background, that is sweet and subtly spinachy. The flavor reminds me a bit of genmaicha… a sweet grass paired with toasty rice, even though this has no genmai in it.

Very tasty and a refreshing cold brew tea! I was going to use the rest of the sampler as a warm cup, but now I think I’ll just make another cold brew batch with it.

Last teabox black, from the Discovery Teabox, so thank you to Skysamurai for organizing and all who participated and shared teas in the teabox! (All I have left now are some very old teabox pu’erhs from the very last Here’s Hoping Teabox… and since pu’s aren’t my favorite, I’ve continued to sort of… uh… “let them age”? Hahaha.) Another floral tea, so of course I wanted to try it! Scooped a teaspoon (CBA to weigh this morning), 3 minute steep, 350ml of 205F water for my work thermos. Brewed to accompany my two pieces of toast with marmalade and then take to work with me.

This is a strongly lavender black tea. The florality isn’t perfumy but has a bit of a herbaceous bite, and that is with a short 3 minute steep (I bet any longer and it would’ve gone very bitter, as lavender in high quantities tends to do that easily). This is probably stronger in lavender than any Lavender Earl Grey I’ve ever had… but then, maybe the bergamot is cutting through the lavender some in those cases. I like lavender, but omph, it is very heady here, and if I knew it would be this strong, I would’ve prepared this as a latte (I love me some lavender milk). As a bonified, 100% loves-all-things-lavender fan, and even I feel this tastes like a little too much, I think the blend could’ve either done with a) a little less lavender in the ratio or b) a stronger black base to compensate. I’m really not able to pick out any particular notes from the base black tea against the lavender. That said… the base tea is supposed to be apricot-flavored?! I think that was what interested me the most about this blend, as apricot plus lavender sounded like an absolute win of a flavor combo. But I do not taste any apricot at all! That’s a bit disappointing too. Who knows, maybe it is in there, but with the lavender being so strong, there is just no way to taste it…

I added a teaspoon of honey and a dash of lemon juice to the cup to add a bit of a mellowing effect against the strength of the lavender, and that was actually quite pleasant (I somehow always forget additives are there to save an otherwise meh cup!) I will probably continue that going forward with future cups, or go with the latte idea, since the milky/vanilla flavor will help compliment/cut through the lavender flower as well.

Not one of Simpson & Vail’s florals that I would purchase (it’s no Violet Black!) as without the novelty of the apricot with the lavender, I can easily add lavender buds to any black tea myself, and then control the propotions more to my taste. Definitely glad I got the chance to sample this first, since it’s the sort of thing I probably would’ve bought for myself and then been a bit disappointed that it wasn’t what I really wanted. Thanks so much for the sample, tea_sipper!

The Great Un-Steepstering of 2020 Review #3 (08/05/20)

Some days are multi-cup, black-as-black tea days… my sleep has been “where the hell is it?” lately, and today is one of those days for me. Pulled out this bag which came from Meowster’s cupboard de-stash a few summers ago… thank you, Meowster!

I was a big fan of Keemun Concerto (I do like me Chinese blacks) and have to say, I’m really enjoying this one as well. It tastes a bit like barbecue, but in the best way… there is a hint of smokiness, but not too much, and a sort of tangerine citrus note that reminds me of an Asian sauce, a bit of aged leather that brings out the librarian in me, with the backing of a deep, malty/bread black tea flavor. And it’s really, really smooth. Nice first thing in the morning, but also as my mid-day kick-in-the-pants cuppa, too.

Great Steepster Freeze of 2020 Review #2 (08/04/20)

So technically it appears the site is back up, but since I know everyone will be madly posting all their tea reviews at once, I’m going to continue to hold off for a few more days (which really isn’t that big of a problem… I write all my tea reviews externally, saved on a document for safe-keeping and backup, and then copy and paste to Steepster which I can do at any time, really). This is the last herbal from my teabox stash, which came from the Discovery Teabox, so thanks to Skysamurai for organizing and all who contributed! Confession: I had never once had a Teavana tea prior to their closing, despite their major “presence” (after all, I live in an area that doesn’t have any “retail” tea shops, chain or independantly owned). When I saw this in the box, I was curious… and the fact it had “Lavender” in the name (as I love floral teas, and lavender is a particular weakness of mine) pretty much sold me.

Brewed up a cup as my evening herbal. The aroma has a bit of a lavender smell, but mostly it smells sweet and caramelly. And… that is pretty much what I’m getting from the flavor, too. There were a lot of things in the infuser (like several whole cardamom pods!) but really all I’m getting in the flavor is a strong rooibos presence, with some notes of wood, honey, caramel, and vanilla, a very sweel caramel flavor, and a more subtle note of the lavender flower that mostly settles a bit on my tongue late in the sip. I’m not getting any of the more interesting ingredients listed (like fig!) or even the cardamom spice, despite the fact I could see it very clearly steeping in the infuser. It’s fine, but mostly just a caramel rooibos (of which I’ve had before) with some lavender flowers added, and the lavender presence still feels a bit weak at that. But it’s probably ridiculously old, so I feel I’m not in a position to judge it too harshly, and I am happy I got the chance to try it (if nothing else, I can now say I have “had Teavana’s tea”).

Thanks to whoever offered up this sample! I’ll certainly enjoy the little bit I have left in evening cuppas.

Great Steepster Freeze of 2020 Review #1 (08/02/20)

Only two black teas left from my teabox stash, so I’m working through my sipdowns steadily! This came from the Discovery Teabox, so thanks to Skysamurai for organizing and all who contributed! I love floral teas, but have never had violet before, so I was definitely curious about trying this one!

I made my 5g sampler as a small 500ml pot of tea, western style, 205F for a 3 minute steep for breakfast. The aroma of the dry leaf is very interesting, a strong and sweet floral aroma, which comes out just as strongly in the steeped tea. It smells sort of like a candied or soda sweetness (though none I’ve ever had). It’s… really good! Easily on par for me with rose and lavender flavors… it’s a really fragrant and sweet floral flavor, and the black tea base is very smooth, with a subtle honeyed note that accompanies the florality nicely. I think this is a tea I could gladly keep stocked, and while I know florals are hit and miss for a lot of people I do wonder why I see violet as a flavor option so little now.

Thanks for the sample, tea-sipper!

Still working through my long overdue backlong of teabox teas, so this is another sample from the Discovery Teabox (thanks to Skysamurai for organizing and all who contributed!) I am a fan of Vietnamese blacks and was excited to be able to sample this one!

2.5g sample brewed Western in 350ml 205F water for what should have been 3 minutes, but I got interrupted so it was probably closer to 5 (longer than I typically brew black teas, so hopefully this didn’t turn out too tannic for me!) It has a lovely malty, honey-sweet aroma, with a bit of a marmalade jam note and almost a barbecue-esque aroma. The flavor has a bit of malt, with some notes of leather, smoke, orange peel, and pepper, with a medium astringency and a subtle minerality left after the sip.

I wish I hadn’t steeped it quite so long since this is a rather hardy black, but it is still a pleasant flavor. A good breakfast tea! Thanks for the sample, tea_sipper!

This tea is sooooooo old now, it’s been discontinued from TeaSource’s website for some time. When it was pulled from their site, I knew that my local cafe that sources some selection of TeaSource still had a tin of it, and I’d often order a cup of it from them on my lunch breaks from work… then a coworker gifted me an ounce she bought from that cafe with a cute coffee cup for my birthday one year. I kinda forgot about it until I was scanning my spreadsheet for my oldest teas and saw this and thought, “Ugh, I should drink that.”

Western brew, 3.5g steeped in 350ml of 205F water for 3 minutes. The leaf looks like gunpowder green tea, small and pellet-like, and even smells a bit vegetal/metallic/smoky in the bag, but brewed up? It tastes very much like a Four Seasons green oolong to me… smooth and very floral, like lilac and honeysuckle but not overwhelmingly perfumy, with a bit of a pear-like note, and a touch of cinnamon spice and sweet honey. There is a subtle, earthy roasted nuts note and a bit of a mineral aftertaste. It’s a very pleasant green oolong that looks quite deceptive from the exterior. I may try a batch cold-brewed, as well.

This was another sampler from the Discovery Teabox, so thank you to Skysamurai for organizing and to everyone that contributed! I took a 5g sample and used half of it for my travel thermos to take to an early morning staff meeting at work yesterday, and am finishing it up this morning.

The base of this tea has a really lovely flavor that makes is apparent that the black tea leaf blend is using at least some Chinese black… there are those notes of burnt toast, smoke, molasses, and a hint of leather and fruit (cherry? mandarin? a bit hard to peg under the flavoring…) Mostly, the natural slightly burnt/smoky flavors come through, and the salted caramel flavoring in this tea is actually really good. Usually even teas that call themselves “salted caramel” just taste like “caramel” to me and don’t have that distinction to me, but this one does, and I quite like it! With the natural smoky notes and rich molasses from the base, I get a bit of a burnt sugar/melted caramel vibe from it. I don’t, however, get any of the proposed “pumpkin flavor” from this tea at all. I realize pumpkin is a difficult flavor to pull off (especially when you are separating it from all the spice) but with such strong flavor notes in here, I’d be curious what the blend would be like if that was turned up a bit. I like pumpkin. Even savory pumpkin. And it isn’t used enough, it’s always the spice blend that gets all the cred.

So some points off for no pumpkin, but I am still a big fan of this Chinese black-heavy base and nailing a salted caramel flavor. Thanks for the sample, tea_sipper!

My last teabox oolong (this one came from the Discovery Teabox, so thanks to Skysamurai for coordinating and all who contributed!), and also my last milk oolong from my cupboard (booooooo!) until I restock one.

My sample was just the right size for about the leaf-to-water ratio I use when I cold brew a litre of oolong, and I have never tried milk oolong that way (though I have done other green oolongs cold brewed, and typically love them that style!) so I figured I’d go for it. 7.5g of leaf (I usually use 8g but eh, close enough!) in about 946ml of water in a mason jar, left to brew in the fridge overnight, and then strained the next morning. I’ve been sipping it out of a cold thermos throughout the hot (too hot!) day.

Refreshing, still with buttered vegetable notes. I’m getting a bit of a fresh cucumber/zuccini note, which is the first time I’ve tasted that in a Jin Xuan… not sure if it happens to be this particular variety and harvest or the cold brew preparation, but it is very pleasant. The florality feels a little more muted to me prepared this way… It’s coming out a bit as a floral sweetness at the back of the throat toward the end of the sip, but not as a strong flavor. It tastes a bit more green or herbaceous… like a very sweet grass rather than blossomy/perfumy. The butter note is still quite present, and on some sips it really lingers on the tongue.

I’ll certainly miss having a milk oolong around, but know it’ll never be too long before another will make its way back into my cupboards… I love the stuff! Thanks for allowing me to sample this one!