Featured & New Tasting Notes

In my opinion, Golden Monkey is a Teavivre classic – one that all tea lovers (and particularly black tea lovers) should try at some point. It’s a cupboard staple for me, perfect in any season, and at any time of the day or night. It’s a real comfort tea, for me. Reliable, versatile, and tasty to boot! I used 1 tsp of leaf for my current cup, and gave it approximately 2.5 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is lightly golden, the scent sweet and malty with an underlying hint of grain. I’m drinking it without additions today, hence the reasonably low steep time on this occasion, but it also works well with a 4 minute brew and a splash of milk.

One of the reasons I like this one so much is its almost intensely chocolatey initial flavour. It’s like a square of high quality dark chocolate; bittersweet, with an edge of dark, dry cacao. The malty notes emerge in the mid-sip, and make this a much sweeter prospect, which becomes a little reminiscent of molasses. It’s by no means overpowering, though – there’s just a hint of something treacley lurking in the background. Notes of baked bread, grain and a light nuttiness develop towards the end of the sip, along with a smooth caramel richness.

See my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/05/22/golden-monkey-black-tea-teavivre/

this was a tasty treat today – a deliciously guava like tea with ginseng. I think in the grand scheme of things, i could have done without the ginseng but the guava flavouring was spot on. really interesting tea to try!

Sipdown! Finishing off the very last of this delicious tea today. maybe it’s time to buy some more soon?

Well I was about to type and say my plan for the day but as I was about to begin I received a text message from my husband to say his uncle has passed away. I only met him once as he lives quite far away but he was a nice man, welcoming of me into his family and it’s truly tragic news. He looks like the double of my father in law, it shocked me the first time I met him. Like twins, I will always remember that.

So getting onto what I actually was going to say and start with before being given such sad news. Today I am cross stitching up a storm to try and get somewhere on my Heaven and Earth Designs chart. It’s a massive piece and will take a long time to finish but I adore the design and plan on persevering through. It’s a free chart on their website called Ice Princess by Hannah Lynn, so if you’re into cross stitch/sewing then take a look.
http://heavenandearthdesigns.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=19

To aid my busy sewing day I have a large pot of this delicious Bi Luo Chun that I plan on re-steeping a few times. Usually I would glass tumbler this tea but today I grabbed my personaliTEA teapot from Adagio and decided to brew it that way. Much thicker than the glass tumbler way but just as tasty, gives me a real burst of energy which keeps me sewing.

Then to top it off I am watching horror films throughout the day. Started with Carrie 2 and now moved onto Stake Land. I adore horror films more than I do tea and that is truly saying something. It’s a trait I picked up from my parents and we often enjoy watching horror films together. The more gore the better.

And that is my day and tea of the day, I hope you all drink some wonderful tea today!

This is pineapple love. Such a sweet but not overly sweet breakfast blend with notes of citrus and pineapple. I took this down in no time. Even cold brewed this was good. Sunshine Cottage is just such an adorable Etsy store. She even has tea jewelry. I have my eye on a few pieces. Her site has some fantastic sounding flavored black teas. Yum!

http://www.cuppageek.com/index.php/2015/06/03/tea-of-the-day-bermuda-breakfast-from-sunshine-cottage/

Oh this is yummy.

So, Glen and Lamu sent me a message a little while ago, asking if I’d like some samples in exchange for reviews. I’m always open to that, especially if the tea is good.

And boy, is this tea Goooood.

I wanted to take all kinds of pictures and such, but my phone decided this morning to take a crap for me. All locked up for hours before I sorted it out. While drinking tea. Good tea. It helps a stressful situation be less stressful.

Anyway, this tea. It’s rich and delicious. Sweet. Chocolaty. Tasty. Amazing. It lasted through several infusions. It would have lasted longer, but I was distracted at work on the second infusion, and instead of steeping for about 10s, it was more like 90s. Oops.

I’m adding this tea to my wishlist now. I’m sure I’ll order some soon.

Oh my word, has it really been two months since I last wrote? :o Many apologies! During that time I was studying for a Driving Theory Test which I have now passed and in honesty I went to a bit of a dark place and had to lift myself back up. I drank tea but did not feel like doing much of anything, I’m sure some of you will understand. It’s behind me now and I’ve had my time to recover.

Today I have had approx four mugs of this which includes a re-steep. It’s been helping me get through my day very nicely, a random pick this morning after breakfast. The leaves are beautiful, brown that turns green in the water and smells lightly of brown sugar and dry wood.

Flavour has been incredible all day, remaining consistently sweet, earthy, wooden and with a slight sour hint in the after taste. Not enough to be malty but almost, more sour wood but fairly thick.

I think this is one of the nicest Bai Mu Dan that I have tried, even with the re-steep it’s delicious!

Will work on a new KittyLovesTea blog entry featuring an award winning Canton Tea Black so stay tuned for that. Also keep an eye open for more SororiTea Sisters posts :D Will be working on one in a day or two.

Oh and ps – I’m listening to Spotify as I just joined and must say I’m loving this song at the moment, if you like rock/metal then check it out.

Red Is The New Black – Funeral For A Friend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHNgtdadQAM

This blend is different. A smokey tea with fruity notes and coconut thrown in. It actually worked. But I do like a smokey blended tea. I had to get this one. I am Game of Thrones obsessed and Kat@Solstice has several more I need to try. She also has a mirage of fantasy based blends. Even some based on her own novels.

Anybody watch last night’s episode? I was freaked out by the White Walkers!

http://www.cuppageek.com/index.php/2015/06/01/tea-of-the-day-white-walker-wakeup-from-solstice-brews/

I polished off a half gallon of this tea yesterday. The mandarin orange is strong and tastes authentic. The black tea sits off in the background, maybe a little hidden because of the stronger mandarin orange flavor, but I still taste the black tea. The mandarin is definitely the star of this show though. Sweet, juicy, vibrant.

I love it how people change the name of a tea to “duplicate”, so that NO ONE CAN FIND IT. And, they don’t realize that it’s actually a different tea – different ingredients, different production, everything – but because it has the same name from the same company, they assume it’s up to them to change a tea’s name to DUPLICATE. Because that’s so helpful, especially to the folks who maintain the database. Don’t you realize, it actually CHANGES the name in the database, and the URL? Sigh.

Instead, I strongly suggest to anyone who thinks there’s a duplicate (this one is NOT – it’s a Special Edition Loose Leaf that’s only available loose in a tin, it is NOT the same as the bagged tea in the brown box), is to get both URLs and email steepster. Let them know. Don’t go changing names of teas so that we have thousands of teas called Duplicate.

/rant over

From my mystery grab bag. Really nice orange flavoring, both in the aroma and the infusion. It’s very delicious, doesn’t seem artificial at all. However, the chocolate is kind of weak aromatically, and I can’t taste it at all. I’m pleased with the orange, but the rating is lower because of the lack of promised chocolate.

Simultaneous taste test along with 2 other teas from the GCTTB4

I steeped 1 tsp of this at 80C for 3 minutes and got a very deep yellow liquor. And when I sipped it… it tasted nutty and vegetal, but also like honey!

I kept on getting this wash of honey over the back of my mouth! This is delicious. Thank you so much to Ubacat for providing a sample of this in the GCTTB. I don’t order from YS, but this tea is seriously making me rethink that. Mmmm.

Damn, I forgot to bring tea to Tony’s house!
All he drinks is earl grey & jubilee, but digging around I found a single (old) bag of tazo Awake & another bag of Tazo Chai, so I brewed them together in a teapot. I’m not sure that this is better than nothing, but it’s what I got. In consolation to myself, I get to count it as a double sipdown :)

I only had a sample of this that I ordered with my last restock of Florence, Paris, and Scottish Morn, so this is already a sipdown. A pleasant one for sure though- at least for people who like strong black teas. This blend is more in line with Scottish Afternoon if I had to pick another Harney tea to compare it to, but I still prefer my beloved Scottish Morn to either. I think it is the Darjeeling- I just tend to gravitate away from it towards Yunnan, Ceylon, etc. If you love Darjeeling though, then this might be perfect with the soft hints of it around the edges. East Frisian is traditionally enjoyed with cream and rock sugar from what I understand, but I only added milk and it was quite tasty. A touch of citrus and strooooong malt to welcome the new day. Yum!

This was the first tea I tried from my Hackberry order. I opened the envelope and smelled it and it was all over after that. It smelled so deliciously plummy that I had to try it right away – and my husband did too. We both ended up resteeping the leaves, which is unusual for me – I usually don’t resteep at all. The leaf appeared to be of good quality: long and unbroken. No fannings here! There are some bits of red, those could be hibiscus but I did not really taste the hibiscus in the blend. The overriding flavors are definitely plum and currant. Anything else in the blend just enhances and supports those. It would be easy to say that this is the best plum tea I have ever had.
Photos: https://tealover.net/2015/05/hackberry-tea-red-velvet-a-la-mode-salted-caramel-corn-currant-plum/

Good morning! I probably should be out in the garden by now, there is so much to do, but I’m enjoying a good breakfast & tea first. My tea drinking habits have changed somewhat recently. It started with the sip down extravaganza, drinking up all the teas that were one cup samples (mostly from Sil, LOL). Then I started working on teas that I didn’t have much of, & teas that have been in my cupboard for awhile. In the old days I’d drink several different teas in a day, but lately I’ve been slowing down a bit, choosing one tea & drinking it all day, either steep & resteep or gongfu, or whatever. So I’ve actually been drinking this one all week, LOL. It’s not the only tea I’ve had all week, but it’s been my breakfast tea since Monday, and sometimes my afternoon tea as well. Why? I have no idea. It’s hard to pinpoint. I wanted to write a review about it, but my allergies are affecting my tastebuds & sense of smell, so it’s hard to define those elements right now. What I can say is that although it’s not a fancy tea or whatever, I’m enjoying it this week. Things I like: it has a robust quality to it, a satisfying feeling. I’ve drank it several ways. The suggestion was to use 1 tsp x 3 – 5 min. That was not very satisfying, rather bland actually. I bumped it up to 2 tsp & gave it 5 minutes, & it becomes a cup that I can really get behind in the morning. Not fancy, just solid. A hint of smoke & toasted brown sugar, a full mouth, kind of like a Qimen, but with a hint of shu thrown in, just a little of that earthy compost taste. I think I’ll finish my cup & get to work!

This morning I was looking for something smooth, flavorful, and delicious- this is it. No hint of astringency or bitterness, but the classic Yunnan Dian Hong flavor brings me to life this morning. I drink this straight with nothing added and it is truly a delight. I’d recommend this one to anyone that enjoys Yunnan types. The deep mahogany color only adds to the beauty in my cup this morning. Happy Thursday!

OH MY. This was so good! The rooibos isn’t really obvious. I get a hint of cinnamon, a little clove, and the ginger is like the bow on top, wrapping it all together. My daughter was nearby and asked to taste it, and I didn’t think I would get it back from her. Her advice was to take a drink and then breathe out through my nose, and I tried that. Pure ginger bliss. It wasn’t overpowering, just deliciously fresh. I could see getting this one again.

Full review and photos on: https://tealover.net/2015/05/chi-whole-leaf-floral-herb-and-ginger-chai/

Few weeks ago, a collegue of mine gave me that tea caddy because she is not a tea drinker.

So I do own a new beautiful tea caddy and a new tea to taste. Problem : this is a plain blend from Breakfast type and I am very picky with these types of teas.

I get scared by the leaf ! Broken soooo broken… I’m going to take a ride on the strong side of the tea it seems !

So I decide to steep it only 2 minutes in a water at 90°c to lower the strengh of the Assam

The liquor is from a deep orange.

Tasting it , I was right to be a little afraid : Assam is there and so present with its strong bitterness.

Of course as any Breakfast Tea it is quite malty. It reveals orange notes as well, strangely.

I am trying to add a splash of milk . English Tea is comfortable and cosy. It is against my habits. But let’s get crazy and let’s add some sugar rocks.

Verdict : England won again … yes with some milk and sugar this tea is quite pleasant…this is the reason why English people have their breakfast tea that way, no ?

I am not the public for Strong Breakfast teas nor indian teas but once pimped my cup is nice.

Pics of my session with this tea are visible here : https://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/strong-breakfast-boissier/

So I tried an in store sample of this, but was pretty unimpressed by it – something about the dry smell really interested me though, so I decided to still purchase some to try at home. When I got home and was trying to decide how to prepare this one it hit me that it smelled very juicy and sweet and that those flavours would probably apply well to tea soda. So that’s how I’m trying this one!

And really, wow. The flavour change between my own prepared tea soda and the weak iced sample I had in store is dramatic. Based on the iced sample, I wouldn’t have been inclined to buy this but going purely off the tea soda I’d say I would 100% pick up at least a little more to try and recreate the flavour.

The peach is very strong, fresh, and sticky sweet tasting. I’d describe it as Fuzzy Peaches meet Peach Bellini meets Peach Schnapps, and you all know how much I love my peach schnapps. It does a great job of navigating away from overly artificial or cloying territory though.

The touch of sweeter but also slightly tart green apples stops this from being totally monotone in flavor, but really that secondary flavour is all this needs – the absence of blackberry doesn’t disappoint me. This is just a simple, fun tisane that’s incredibly hydrating and energetic with the peach candy flavour. I can’t get enough of this one; and just writing about this tisane soda has me craving it again so badly; I’m sure a restock will be in my future – I think the question is just how much I’ll be picking up.

i got a sample recently and decided to try last night.
This tea is really good. it has no storage smell or taste. at all. just aged ripe shou, extremely clean but i wouldnt say its flat . its rich,creamy, fruity( more like red fruits),some malt and super clean. its a pure pleasure to drink 2002 tea without any mustiness or fermentation flavors. if only Chawang shipping wasnt that tricky.

https://instagram.com/p/3IUzqBhwuE/

https://instagram.com/p/3IXUn6hwhg/

i am on here too rarely… from feast a year ago to famine now!

i got a notification from ATR that they had a new website up and running, that if i wanted to sign up all over again there were discounts to be had. i have my favourites with ATR, i made a list and my package arrived today.

sitting on top of my items was THIS sample. i usually try samples first… suspicious nature maybe, or perhaps adventurous spirit? i don’t know know if this classes as a gift or a torment. it’s fantastic— like home run fantastic. like add milk and it’s a grown up creamsicle with way more layers and perfectly balanced flavour… …… ….. but. (of course there’s a but) IT ARRIVED WITH THE ORDER I ALREADY PLACED!!!!!!!!!

pretty funny when you think about it. it’s as though ATR has been taking lessons from stacy lim.

awesome blend on the heels of a great honour at school that will look fantastic on a resume. not a bad day… maybe i’ll behave badly and order more of this blend. maybe. =0D

So I finally got around to picking up the summer teas from DT; definitely later than I had wanted to, but I’ve now tried all five – reviews to follow (hopefully today) for them. I definitely wasn’t impressed by at least one of them, but most I felt were pretty solid.

This one I tried as an in store sample, iced. The other one they were sampling the day I went was Mint To Be; definitely did not have an interest in that one. And actually, I didn’t have much of an interest in this either if I’m being honest. I know it was around last year; but there were a few seasonal peach teas last year and I didn’t bite on any but one. Regardless, I didn’t write about it – but I can’t remember if the one I tried was the Spring peach tea or the summer one. I had a few sips of the hot version on a date; and I don’t remember being overly impressed.

Since the sample was so small of this, I don’t think I got to make as many observations as I normally would. It’s supposed to be peach and blackberry, which is definitely a cool pairing but I only tasted the peach. I also thought it was really weak/watery but I know it’s also likely that’s because it was the watered down/stretched out in store version. Regardless, I picked up some of it along with all the other blends and I tried it out on my own terms at home – but based on this tasting alone it’s not an impressive blend.

Today’s word of the day is… Melodramatic.

Melodramatic means: “exaggerated and emotional or sentimental; sensational; overdramatic”. A good real life example? Tre was being totally melodramatic when I got home today about the amount of dishes in the kitchen sink (it’s his turn to clean them – and they’re only so bad because he left it so long). Domestic squabbles. We’re like an old married couple with the old and without the married couple part.

Randomly grabbed this last night, and boy is it ever amazing. I know I’ve had it before, but it was nowhere near this good! Dunno what I did differently, other than oversteep it way way WAY too much (15 minutes). Loved it, helped me power through writing a murder mystery – right up until the last second when I had to leave to play it with 32 others. Success!