momo Send Message

This tea is so pretty! And it smells so good. I love the mix of things in here. Smelling it hot, I want to try it iced!

I get a variety of flavors in here. Toasted marshmallow, roses and orchids, jasmine, goji. I’m starting to really enjoy floral teas after finding out I actually do like chamomile, and this is definitely floral.

Definitely getting a glass of this cold steeping in the fridge ASAP. I may just have to steep this again!

Weird that I have a tasting note from 9 months ago but it says last logged almost a year ago…I was like I know I took time off from this tea because I don’t really like it hot.

I have a pitcher of it cold steeped and I’ve been drinking it all day. I really prefer it cold steeped. There is absolutely no hibiscus taste because it’s doing a far better job in amping up the blackberry. The mint fits in nicely in the aftertaste, but for some reason I want more! As usual though, the green tea is not very apparent, but it’s obviously there slightly, because this doesn’t just taste like I made juice out of dried fruit and flavorings.

Also genius just struck: I have some red table wine in my fridge so I poured a bit in a glass then filled it with this tea. AMAZING. I didn’t really measure but it’s a good mix because I can taste the wine and the tea still. A bit like a sangria but dare I say better?

Before I start on my new samples, I knew I completely forgot this one from the last round. Thank you for all the samples once again, Teavivre!

I’m supposed to be in class right now but I just feel sick and I don’t know why. It probably more has to do with the weather…while I appreciate getting rain it’s just so annoying when it’s just overcast for days. At least more lilies have bloomed since yesterday

This tea is really pretty to look at, with its thin leaves. It has a bit of a smoky, spicy scent to it.

Brewed for 90 seconds for the first steep. This has everything. Seaweed, veggies, sweetness, smokiness. I’m thinking I need to at least try asparagus, because all these teas I like that have the flavor according to other notes, I’d like to confirm that with my own taste buds and that’s kind of hard when you don’t eat the stuff. Of course I am probably like a month too late for any, but if that’s what the taste is here, I’m willing to try. I mean, I drank a foie gras milkshake last week just to find out what it tastes like. Probably not the best way to find out (you know, those weeks in France would have been a better time) but still I had to try it once.

I can’t figure out if I want to describe the last note as smoky or spicy because it’s like it changes with each sip. It’s not very smoky, or very spicy, almost just like a roasted mild pepper.

I prefer sweeter greens most of the time, but right now I really could go for a savory, vegetal one like this. I will give it another steep soon.

Seriously how many times this week am I going to sip something and have my first response be “is this tea for real?!” Wow! The tea I actually wanted has gone MIA so I grabbed something else I had yet to try, feeling still in a melon mood since yesterday.

Just the smell of the loose leaf tea in the bag alone is good. I steeped it to the parameters, 3 1/2 minutes with something around 180 degree water.

This tastes like you’d expect, but even better, it tastes like real cantaloupe. It even smells just like the real thing. And while it’s certainly creamy enough, I had to see what it’d be like with a touch of coconut milk creamer. It definitely just turned up the melon flavor and has given the tea an almost ice cream like mouthfeel.

That kind of took away from the white tea, but I think it adds a nice light base with a bit of natural sweetness. This definitely doesn’t need any sugar.

Resteeps to come, for sure. Amazing stuff. This will be repurchased as soon as I’m out of what I have.

Second steep: about 4 minutes, probably more because I needed to have actual ice cream in the meantime. Less creamy, so I added the creamer again, but now it almost tastes more like melon than the first steep. There is a nice floral flavor too, I’m guessing from the flowers…that reminds me, the lilies I planted back in April FINALLY have started to bloom: http://instagr.am/p/LtY1JBpa6v/ I think I like this steep even better than the first one!

I’m more of a fan of second flush Darjeelings both because of taste and price. This one is a serious exception. At $12.60 for a 125g bag, I might reconsider! I only got a sample of course though which isn’t bad ($2.50 for 15g).

As its cooled though it has become very astringent. I steeped it for 3 minutes exactly and it was good for the most part. It’s weird because the almond flavor in here is almost playing on the astringency, and it tastes like a burned almond. Before this happened though it was a bit buttery and mostly fruity, with just a bit of astringency. This is kind of undrinkable now…so at least I have plenty more to now remember this: drink quickly!

And of course, if I can crack whatever it is with this tea, the 125g packet is a definite possibility. Otherwise I’ll stick to those seconds.

This definitely needs to be made strong. I think I just used 1 1/2 tsp earlier for iced tea…I even left the fruit sitting in there while it cooled and it’s just not as good as the first time. It just seems watered down, so I know it needs more. I want to buy more of this because it’s so good when it’s done right. It’s just so pricey in that case!

I had an interesting cocktail yesterday with watermelon pucker and cucumber vodka, shaken with chopped basil. I think with this in place of the pucker, it would be even better, since that stuff hardly tastes like a real watermelon.

Since 52teas’ Citrus Piledriver was the first and only other time I ever have had guayusa, I am reminded a lot of it. Guayusa really does taste good with citrusy fruits added to it. So now it’s time for the next step…all guayusa with flavors!

So for the first time of having something that’s just guayusa, it’s an interesting flavor for me. When I smell it, I don’t want to drink it…then I drink it, and want more. (I’m like this with basil too, when cooking I’m like don’t add too much! And then I’m eating it, I wish I had more.) The creaminess you’d expect in a tea named Tangerine Creamsicle is probably the reason. It tastes orangey and creamy and with that herby, grassy taste of the guayusa, it’s very enjoyable….Should I probably just go back to sleep since I want to describe everything by ending it in -y?

Hopefully this helps wake me up a bit. I got up at the same time I did yesterday because I went to see sheep and goats that are eating the kudzu around Atlanta parks. I fed 2 of them, they really liked whatever I had a branch of, especially the goat…the goat just ripped it out of my hand. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Or if I go back to sleep, no harm done. This is a dreamy flavor, it really tastes like tangerines and oranges with a touch of cream. If you’re interested in trying a guayusa, this is definitely one to check out. You can get a feel for what the base tastes like and enjoy how well it blends with citrusy flavors! This is going on my shopping list for later when I have less things in my cupboard (and boxes and spice drawer and so on), and I bet it would taste so good iced.

Thank you for the sample, Stacy!

Comparing to other flavored white teas I’ve gotten, this has some big fluffy leaves for being $2.50 an ounce (roughly). I cold steeped some earlier, just for a few hours, so the tea was overall light. I wanted that though, because I actually really am not sure I even like black currant. It’s the main berry in here, although I got a bit of blackberry too. Even with just a few hours it still had the lightness of the white tea. I think the longer it would steep, the more it would become straight berry.

I’m going to steep it longer, more like overnight, soon and also give it a try hot. It seems like a good tea to go either way.

I had typed something up last night, thinking Steepster was all set…and then it threw the kettle at me. So here it is again, saved, and appearing now like 15 hours later.

I went to the mall after my class today because I needed some face wash. I ended up also getting a sample of a moisturizer for something different, and I kind of zoned out when the associate was going on about it having white tea for anti-aging because, well…I drink that. And then it was like “TEA. You must go to Teavana since you had to come to the second floor anyway.”

So off I went, and what do I head straight towards? http://www.teavana.com/tea-products/tea-cups-mugs/ceramic-tea-cups/p/laughing-owls-tea-cup Owls on a teacup! So perfect for me since it was also on sale.

By the way getting to and from the nearest mall is now awesome because of a diverging diamond interchange. Check it out on youtube if you’ve never heard of them. I got from the parking lot at the mall to the parking lot of my apartment complex in under 8 minutes. That’s ridiculous.

Anyway. I sort of had been thinking I needed a refill of Blackberry Mojito, though I maintain I have an owl radar (owldar?) and I had oddly made a beeline right over to the sale stuff without realizing it. The sales associate who came over there and I had been talking the whole time, and we seemed to have really similar tastes in tea, so she had me smell this one, which is her favorite.

I was sold on the scent. They should just make it into a perfume too. This is probably like the one time I have actually given in to an upsell there but it was too hard to resist. Then I came home, saw it has somewhat negative reviews here on Steepster, and knew I’d probably like it since somehow that’s how I operate with Teavana blends.

I let this steep at room temp. for around 1 1/2 or 2 hours, long enough for the jasmine pearls to unfurl. This is a hot, hot pink tea, probably thanks to rosehips and hibiscus. This is definitely something I’ll be saving for having cold only.

It really isn’t as good as it smells, but it’s not that horrible. In fact, I quite like it. The problem is the name is silly, because the strawberry and kiwi in here are far more dominant flavors, although I do get a bit of peach. I saw a review on their site where someone said the flavors all kind of intertwine into one fruity flavor, but I can definitely get all three. It mixes nicely with the floral jasmine and the tart hibiscus. It’s not too sweet, and it’s not too tart. Oddly, the aftertaste, which is full on tart, is rather nice in here.

I probably won’t get more after I use up what I bought considering the price, but it’s not bad. Only problem other than the lack of peach considering its place in the tea’s name, is how the actual flavor of the green tea itself is absolutely lost. It definitely would make this tea even better if I could taste more than the jasmine.

Finishing up my pitcher of this tonight, I’ve been using less coconut milk creamer than before…for a bit yesterday I kept overpowering it and it was sad. Splash means splash for a reason! Hopefully by the time the pitcher is empty there will be a new Stanley Cup champion team… /bitter towards both but accepting lesser of two evils

I think I like it better with a bit of rum, but I don’t want any rum today, ha. I guess it’s the coconut rum instead of the creamer that brings out the pineapple even more! I thought it was the creamer.

I think this will just be a staple in my pitcher through the summer.