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Backlogging from last night.. Bad, I know.

I wasn’t sure whether to log this under Honeybush Mango or Gunpowder, since I went half and half with the two teas. This is now my new favorite blend. I think however, in order to get a better balance, that you should use more of the honeybush mango than the gunpowder. I liked my first blending experiment better, where I used 2 teaspoons of the Mango and 1 of the gunpowder. The veggie taste was still there, but it had an overall sweeter flavor since there was more Mango after all.

Wow. What a week. I don’t know if I’ve just been working too hard or if I’m getting sick, but I’m just exhausted by about 4 pm everyday. Perhaps I just need more sleep. Being a music major is harder than it looks! 4 hours a day just practicing, on top of another 2-3 hours of rehearsal on some days is just killing me. Oh yeah, and 8 AM classes. BOO. Luckily just one more week until spring break.. I can finally relax, sleep in, and even take a shower without shoes on.. you know. The dorm life. Also, perhaps I’ve been listening to too much folk music. It puts me in such a relaxed, tired mood. MORE GUNPOWDER I SAY!

Wow. I discovered the best blend EVERRRR but first lets talk about the stand alone Honeybush.

I ordered a sample of this stuff in addition to my Gunpowder order from Adagio. It had high ratings on the site so I figured I would give it a try. I popped the lid and the mango scent hit me immediately; it smells like candy. I knew this stuff was going to be good. I put in about 2 heaping tea spoons in the infuser, poured my water and let it steep for 6 minutes.

Impressions:
-Mango taste consistent throughout, not too strong (I could make it stronger if I wanted) but also it didn’t need any sweetener in my opinion. The taste was on the surface level, not too complex. After taste was a light and sweet. My mouth tasted of the mango afterwards.
-Cup tended to taste better as I drank it more. I would say that the steep of 6-7 minutes will work great but perhaps bring the temp. down a bit. I could definitely see this tasting great at a cooler temperature or even iced with some sweetener. Actually, not a bad idea :)
-Aroma is deliciousss. This is really one of those teas that tastes like it smells. I love when that happens.

MY PERSONAL BLEND:
So for my second steep I decided to add the overabundance of Gunpowder I have, as I figured it would sweeten up my vegetative cup with a little mango. I tossed in a tea spoon of green tea and let it sit for about 6 minutes. OH boy. this was good. It’s so much more complex this way.. at first I thought I put in too much Gunpowder, as my first couple sips didn’t have much mango flavor. But then, as the cup cooled, the gunpowder and mango blended so well.. an initial taste of green tea and then an after taste of mango and green tea. It’s so gooood. In general with this mix, cooler temp=better. End of the cup was a lot better than the start. I could see this blending with a lot of teas very well. And sure, you can try my own recipe for yourself :)

Such a long exhausting day. This whole week has been a blur. Seriously. You know, the days when you look at the clock and realize it’s 11:30 at night. Where did the day go?! I’m.. ready for spring break. 10 more days..

This tea. I don’t know. I’ve been drinking a lot more of it recently. There’s something about it. I don’t enjoy it too much while I’m drinking it but then after wards I always want to make another cup. What’s the deal Adagio? Do you line your teas with herion? Such a .. strange addiction. I’m excited to get my order of Gunpowder along with a few other samples tomorrow.. and my treats from 52teas should be arriving any day now. I love getting packages.

Been logging this stuff a lot over the past week but then again I did just order another 6 oz..

ANYway..
Let me say that I simply love Adagio. I find their website and service to be the most welcoming of anyone I’ve experienced and they take the confusion out of tea for beginners. I don’t know what it is, but I always get a feeling of ease when I shop with them. Also, since I’m a big twitter addict I love how they send me my shipment updates via Twitter, not to mention their shipping is cheap and quick. Nothin better than that.

But yeah. We all know how I feel about this tea :) Nuff’said.

Backlogging from last night..
Surprisingly tasty, and better than I expected. That good experience might push me to finish the leaves I have left of this haha. I think tossing a ton of leaves in brought out the lemon flavor a lot more than usual and resulted in a change of heart this go around..
I’ll have to see what the next cup says.

I hate Sundays. I think it’s because it’s still a weekend so I don’t feel like doing anything but I still need to do work. The two worlds are clashing. I figured Genmai Cha would brighten my life up a little bit and it did, until I realized I don’t have very much left..

Always an issue at hand. Luckily I’m a sucker for popped rice..

Ah yes. Gunpowder. Hopefully 3-4 cups of you will awaken me from zombie mode. Time to put you to the test.

Finishing up my tin of this, I think I got another cup left. I do enjoy this tea. It has a sweet aftertaste and the subtle taste of a green tea overall, not to mention it smells delicious. I’m honestly not sure how long I steeped my first time.. and this resulted in a slightly bitter cup. Either way, I do enjoy teas that are a bit sweet. Anyone know of any other sweet teas?

Not too too much to say about this tea. Sadly this is my last sample from Samovar.. for now at least :) I’ve had Adagio’s Houjicha and for the most part, I found it to be a little more smokey but not as smooth as this tea. I felt it was a good trade off; I’d rather sacrifice a little bit of smokyness for smoothness any day. Regardless, it had some good nuttyness and definitely was woodsy as the description says. There are twigs in the tea leaves after all…

This tea is a great staple and if your in the mood for drinking a smooth, nutty tea, this is the one. I’m all for exotic tasting teas, but this is one I could see myself having every day without objection.

Here we are again.. finishing up my round of samples from Samovar. Of all the teas I was most excited to try it was this one, although I did find some new favorites this week as well. Blood Orange Pu-erh.. hmm. What to say.. or rather what not to say.

Opening the package is an experience all in it’s own, as I was smacked with the aroma of oranges instantly. And yes, I did like it. The pu-erh-y smell was masked in the dry leaves but really came out after I rinsed them the first time. I’m honestly not the biggest fan of the smell; too fishy for me. Like.. really. Too. Fishy.

I ended up doing two steeps with about 8oz of water, one for 6 minutes and another at 7. There wasn’t too much of a difference between the two, although there was less pu-erh taste in the 7 minute steep. This tea certainly looks like a pu-erh.. very, very dark and bold looking flavor. Now lets talk about the flavor itself..

This tea is interesting. Pu-erh in my opinion is very interesting in general and something perhaps I need to get used to, or rather we all need to get used to. I will say I enjoyed this a bit more than the Maiden’s Ecstasy and I’ll have to contribute this to the strong blood orange flavor. In describing this tea, I think the best way is to say it’s predominately orange in taste, with ginger that tends to bite your tongue a little, while sitting on a pu-erh base. You can certainly tell that this is a pu-erh tea, although the orange tends to mask that very bold earth flavor you get with plain ol’ pu-erh. However, without the pu-erh, I can’t see how the orange flavor could be as dark as it is. You certainly get a dark citrus taste, as I would assume would happen when adding any kind of flavor to Pu-erh. It seems to darken up everything a bit and give it that earthy quality.

I’m not sure what to think of this tea just yet. I’m questioning my rating as I’m not to sure how accurate I’m really being. It’s really subjective. However, I am glad I tried this tea as I do like spicing up my palette with some new flavors. Right now, this isn’t one I can see myself drinking on a daily basis, or perhaps even one I can see myself craving, but it does have it’s place. And… I’m open to pu-erh now. It’s definitely.. different.