Featured & New Tasting Notes

My first tea review! I’ve been collecting and drinking for years now, but only recently found out about Steepster, so here I am! This was purchased for me as a birthday treat, and what a treat it was! A beautiful scent right out the tin, whilst maybe being a bit too perfumey, but the taste is nowhere near as strong as the smell, but still delicious. I’d recommend it!

My house is irrefutable proof of entropy and chaos theory. Just this morning as I removed a bag containing two petrified bagels from the kitchen table, I wondered, “How long have those been there?” This, of course, does not happen to you.

The scientific principle carries through to this tea as well. Some of you who are schooled tea blenders may have a name or explanation for the breakdown of flavored tea over time. I loved the buttery overtones of this when it was fresh and new, and it is still absolutely acceptable, but the artificial flavoring just seems a little more artificial after a couple years. It’ll be fine as a “drink with” as I get it sipped down, just no longer a stand alone standout.

Sipdown of a convenient tea for ashmanra’s sipdown challenge. Ugh, I took this from the Strange VariaTea TTB months ago and was sure that I’d written a note, but Steepster didn’t even have an entry for the tea! I love this little corner of the internet but sometimes it really does make me feel like I’m losing it (those times primarily being when tasting notes disappear and then I’m not sure whether they ever even existed in the first place). Anyway, I really enjoy this as an iced tea! It’s like very thin peach juice. I like peach juice, so that’s a mark in its favor. This isn’t watery in an unpleasant way, just not thick and sugary the way juice is. And it’s convenient because it comes in those iced tea pitcher sachets.

From Daylon R Thomas a while ago!  Thanks very much!  Impossible to measure these leaves unless using a scale.  Once in a while, I seem to say “these are the longest leaves I have ever seen”, but these must be the longest!  Not so much twisted together, as almost straightened somehow, but still very difficult even to POUR out of the skinny bag. I was pleased to notice the description says: “Our Cang Ya is tightly twisted into a strip shape.”  So there you go.  The dry leaf has a scent of summer squash and dried hay.  The flavor is also summer squash!   But also a sweet fruit candy flavor that I thought might be strawberry, but then settled on candy grape. The second steep is rich but not overdone or bitter.  Biscuity.  I really expected the flavor to be much lighter on this one, so I’m very happy with how this one resulted! (I’m really not describing the richer flavors here, but there are some.)
Steep #1  // 22 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 – 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  just boiled // 3 min

Prepared in my Jian Shui gaiwan, and served in my porcelain tea cup via my glass cha hai. Filtered Santa Monica municipal water just off the boil throughout.

Dry leaf is brightly aromatic with notes of stone fruit, melon, wildflowers, and alfalfa. The brewed tea evinces the same elements but with more subtlety. Hints of chocolate and malt as well.

Tawny to Titian Red liquor depending on steep times.

Flavor is gently vegetal/savory with malt and grass intermingling. Blind, I’m not sure I could identify this as a black tea as there are flavors that bring to mind white or even green tea as well. Delicate and complex with a grainy/grassy finish. Hints of fresh water chestnuts and wood ear. If pushed, more dark chocolate flavors emerge, but at the cost of bitterness and a touch of astringency/sourness.

Quite energizing – caffeine made me break up the session over a couple mornings.

Unique but at this price I won’t pick up a cake.

goodbye, my dear friend, you were a great tea :)

[Spring 2023 harvest]

I am not very fond of this vintage. It has a decent aroma, similar to the previous ones. However, the flat taste is not so pleasant overall. The tea is a bit sour and has some dryness to it that rubs me the wrong way. In any case, as a tea to dring with breakfast it is still fine.

I’m so behind on tasting notes! The past few weeks it’s just been harder than usual to stay on top of things. Plus I have been drinking a lot of the same teas over and over, because it’s easy or I’m working towards a sipdown or it helps with health stuff in some way.

But! I did manage a sipdown of this very enjoyable blend. It’s just well balanced, true to the name, and makes a great latte. One of my favorites from the 2023 advent calendar.

Gmathis noticed me raving about one of my favorites — the many variations on coffee puerh, so she sent over a sample of this one!  Thanks very much (and also for the super cute card! Books!  Tea!)   This might be the first tea I am trying from TeaMaze?   I could tell even before tipping the kettle over, the scent of the dry leaf could not be better.  This blend should have been called “The Best Coffee”.  At least to this coffee novice!  Then again, this is being marketed to tea people and not coffee people!  The flavor couldn’t be better here, the best parts of coffee — it’s coffee, but sweet, mocha, and a hint of cocoa.  Three steeps with great flavor. The twenty minute third steep was almost the same as the second steep.   However, the base is a little too weak for me, no matter which steep it is.  As a combination of puerh and black tea, I love the concept, but the result of the brew is so light in the mug. (The description says “robust” tea and I disagree.) But where I rate this tea so highly, is the perfect flavor that lingers through all three steeps:  IT’S COFFEE.  Delicious coffee to someone who avoids actual coffee. So I will allow the base here to take a backseat as the carrier of this perfect flavor I’m craving all the time (while not actually craving coffee).  Yum.
Steep #1  // 1 heaping teaspoon for full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  15 minutes after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 20 min

Yum, this is so good my tin is almost gone. My favorite of this box! Tastes like a toasted coconut marshmallow. I know this is tea, and that this is just flavoring, but my brain is fooled enough and it’s delicious. I will need more of this one.

Martin, thank you for sharing two bags of this herbal blend—I am afraid I have not done the first one justice because I preceded it with several extremely sweet marshmallow chicks that were in my Easter basket. So my first flavor impressions may not be very accurate. It definitely leads with a nice, fresh peppermint vibe, with an undercurrent of dried flower petals—that must be the echinacea.

I’ll stay out of the sugar before I try my next cup, but even with a candy-coated mouth, it is pleasant and calming. I could go for some calm—last night, there were three tense, pacing adults and three pacing, yowling cats in ready-to-duck mode while a series of nasty storms went through. Tornado warnings missed us by just a few miles, but all is well. Just a handful of small branches down in our yard. Amen and amen.

From AJRimmer QUITE a long time ago — thanks very much!   Honestly, even the scent of the dry leaf had something a bit offputting to me, an odd scent, which might be why it has taken so long to write a note for this. It’s just a mystery — not sure if it is flavoring they have added or one of the ingredients that is creating that scent. It’s nothing TOO bad, just unique.  It also transfers to the flavor.  I probably majorly overleafed here to use up the rest, and wow it is a LOT of tartness in a mostly hibiscus blend.  But then there is another element that gives it a syrupy sweet note. Not really any noticeable fruit?  Not terrible if you are actually craving a tart cup of hibiscus!  
Steep #1  // 2+ teaspoons for full mug // 23 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5+ min
2024 sipdowns: 32

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – April 2024 Tea #1 -April 1 – April Fool’s Day  

Don’t have tea today? ha ha, ashmanra.  This is a fun one —  It’s colorful, it has star sprinkles, even the sunflower petals are fun AND it’s a tea inspired by ice cream!  What could be more fun than ice cream?  This is too tart to be ice cream inspired IMO, but I can live with it.  Definitely not close to a sipdown here though.  Happy April!

Definitely tastes like coffee puerh with cinnamon, and a little banana sweetness underneath. The banana note lingers after the coffee and puerh earthiness depart. I like it but prefer the pecan pie puerh version to this one. I did sign up for the 4x a year subscription and I am loving the first box. I probably wouldn’t buy these separately, but as a whole, I’ll sure enjoy sipping them down. A nice way to explore what Old Barrel has to offer.

Sipdown

A minty tea with fruit. The color of this tea is a bit murky now and makes it hard to see the glitter unless you put it in something clear. Most people would probably love this tea but I am not the biggest fan of mint so I drink it but don’t love it. I do like it well enough iced where the mint helps with the cooling sensation. This is a year past date, but the mint is still quite strong. The big berries don’t appear to have suffered.

Rou gui, and yancha in general, is just not my favourite flavour profile. This tea is no exception. Nevertheless, I would still like to drink it on particular occassions.

It is a strong tea that’s very mineral as expected. Aroma is calming and tender, mostly sweet and woody. The tea also taste like that, coupled with metallic bitterness, and savoury notes of almonds and seafood. The aftertaste is particularly strong and long-lasting. It gives a warming spicy note of cinnamon, which this cultival is famous for. The cha qi is a bit jittery and disorienting, but not unpleasant in the end.

additional notes: I had to check my other notes to make sure I hadn’t already said that I seem to forget about this GEM in my tea collection. It is aging so so well. I really wish more of you were able to try this one. I think it is one of Anne’s best creations. Though I know the problem with that is since it is a mix of white tea/houjicha it will probably never find its way into an advent. It’s so so good though. Even still, it tastes just like a maple cream filling of a candy. A perfect blend. Raising the rating from 89! (I think I raise it every time I have it!)

I was in mood of flavoured oolong today. I have some other oolongs that have last serving left but no, I just had to pick this one. Just had to.

I weighted 4 grams of this wonderful tea; visually as well as the quality of the ingredients. Big pieces of jasmine and lemon myrtle with nice amount of beautiful small balls of oolong. I haven’t checked on the scale the ratio, but I believe it could be 2 grams of oolong + 2 grams of herbs.

I have used, as suggested, 85°C water and steeped for 3-4 minutes; haven’t timed exactly… but it was closer to the 4.
A very nice whiff of lemony scent was coming from my mug and then the floral note took part as well. The scent was heavenly.
After removing the strainer I got a wonderful light clear green coloured liquid that was right something I wanted to drink… but it still too hot.

When sipped for first time, I distinctly noticed the myrtle. Slightly lemony and herbaceous in the same time, accompanied with floral notes of jasmine. In the end of the sip there was a slight mineral aftertaste, probably from the oolong itself.

Honestly I like this tea more than I thoguht. I assume it’s because so unique combination and it works so well. Just keeping the right ratio between base tea and other ingredients seems a bit tricky.

Note: I received Tielka teas, included in this (and following) tasting notes, free of charge in exchange for a tasting note. I will do my best to remain unbiased, but of course, I am very grateful for this opportunity.

Sipdown 30 – 2024

52teas 12 Teas of Christmas – Day 11

Neat tea. It bends my mind and tongue. I like how the lemon (reads mostly lemongrass to me) melds with the soft vanilla meringue flavor and smooth chai spices (heavy on the cardamom and ginger for me). A little wood and malt barely poke through to ground it all. Almost sassy but mostly a sophisticated blend.

I didn’t love this before adding milk, but with milk and sugar, I’m having a good time! It’s fruity, a bit spiced, and so realistic and pleasant. I enjoy this red and green rooibos mixture! The second steep was tasty too. The spice blend was typical for 52teas, but quite nice. I feel like I taste banana more than pear, but I like banana!

Wow this is a properly aged white! And a wonderful tea for the price ($0.13/g). Much better than the aged white from KTM, although a lot more expensive for sure. The price to quality ratio here is phenomenal, though. I am really starting to love aged whites. I will be caking this FOR SURE.

Incredibly sweet, no bitterness. Can handle boiling water. Mouthfeel is thick and oily. Hui gan is insanely long-lasting; 15-20 mins later I still have sweet honey taste lingering in my mouth. Lasts 5 infusions. Complexity is very high for a white tea.

Harvest: Autumn, 2013
Location: Diantou, Fuding, China

Dry leaf: Fermented fruit, dried apricot, fig, honey.
Wet leaf: Same
Flavors: Dried apricot, fig, dates, honey, sweet, vanilla, old library, cream, thick.

Day 2 Davids Tea 2023 Advent Calendar

I actually have a pouch of this somewhere in my tea cabinet as well and I’m glad because I enjoyed this one. Being “from the north” sweet potato pie is not a common occurrence for meals. Our family sure loves sweet potatoes though.
I steeped for about 5 minutes at 200F. The blend looked interesting with chopped nuts and marshmallow bits. Its definitely sweet as I would expect and has a caramelized sugar taste. Definitely gives off vibes of cozy, warm, and comfort. Next time I drink this, I think I’ll make it as a latte to bump up the dessert factor.

A sipdown! (M: 4 Y: 36) prompt: Your tea with the longest name — well, let’s say longest single word, name. Even that is not really accurate, but I am probably too lazy to get through all cupboard to find really longest name. Received from postcrossing.

This tea is supposed to be strawberry-lemongrrass and the strawberry is there in three parts. First one is aroma. Distinctly, fresh strawberry aroma with other red frutis (probably hibiscus taking its part) and overall very pleasing. Second is the colour of the brew. Very deep red colour with shiny reflection and absolutely clear. The sachet makes good strainer. And third one is taste. Yes it is strawberry in taste and yes there is lemongrass flavour as well. As it was cooling down it was somehow generic red fruits, but definitely it was good flavour profile and athough not like a bite to fresh straberry; it was fine enough. And it wasn’t tart, that’s a good thing!