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I’ve noticed that this one is actually a Keemum tea, and that I probably could have resteeped this sucker, but the leaves are already in the garbage.

I have company coming over, and it’s been pretty hectic, so I just wanted a no nonsense tea to jumpstart me in the morning.

I don’t know what happened to my water, since I started at around 8 oz, but it looks like it disappeared to around 6 oz. Bizarre. That’s never happened before.

I think I’m actually enjoying this the second time around more than the first. My first whiff of this tea, and I immediately though, cocoa! I have no idea where this comes from but even after several inhales I was still smelling a dark chocolate-y, spicy aroma. It almost reminded me of Yogi’s Stress Relief Kava blend, which has an immensely delicious smell if you’ve never had it.

Drinking this, I’m getting a faint hint of cocoa, mixed with a slightly tart taste that’s altogether delicious. This is all layered under a very delicious, robust taste of tea-ness. It’s a bit astringent, but not in a bad way at all.

After re-drinking the Twinings blend the other day, the two are so different that it’s really hard to compare them. Loose leaf is just completely far superior. I can’t even describe it. I think as I drink more of it, I’m appreciating that bold =/= bitter, and that this just damned tastes better. I find that I’m enjoying the act of sipping more than actually drinking, my face warmed by the steam, the aromas drifting up my nose, the flavor hitting my tongue, and the delicious and content feeling I get after I’ve swallowed.

And this is why tea will always be better than coffee to me.

SECOND STEEPAGE.

This cup steeped up to around the same color as the first, and the leaves opened up a bit more. The taste is surprisingly stronger than the first cup, but it’s still a bit weak tasting. It tastes grassier by far, and there’s still the lingering sweet note. There’s almost an earthy note to this as well. I actually think the sweet aftertaste has mellowed out completely, and I doubt that anyone would be able to pick out “candied pineapple” in this second steep. So it’s probably more green-tea-like. However, I think I actually favor the first cup more. There’s still a wonderful purity to the entire taste. It really is clean and fresh. The first cup was more subtle, and water-ish, but the nuanced flavor profile in it was more interesting than this one.

I’m starting to love the fact that green teas really just have this natural sugary flavor to them. I can’t imagine anyone adding anything to Golden Moon’s Green. Maybe the tiniest bit of honey, but I think it’d overwhelm the delicacy that’s at play here.

I probably could have gotten another steep out, but I’m tiring of the tea, so I dumped the leaves. Still, pretty good for a basic green!

If you haven’t heard, I have the best boyfriend in the entire world.

So, my boyfriend is always amused by my various obsessiveness. I tend to cycle through hobbies and pastimes pretty quickly, and he’s always along for the ride. When he found out that I was getting into loose leaf tea, and made my first order from Adagio, he surprised me with the Golden Moon Tea Taster’s Sampler set (http://www.goldenmoontea.com/Tea_Taster_s_Sampler_P56C28.cfm for those that aren’t in the know). It’s $20 for their entire catalog, 1-2 cups of each of their 31 varieties, and if you use the code “teareviewblog” you get free shipping (it worked when I ordered, at least). It was the perfect gift, and as a result, I have the chance to work my way through the various and interesting teas of a highly respected company.

The box is a bit daunting, so I figured I’d start with the basics. And what’s more basic than plain green tea? I don’t have much experience with green tea overall, but I read on here and elsewhere that this was just straight green tea, with a very mild flavor.

When I opened the little packet, I was sort of surprised at how much there was in there. The leaves were pretty and twisted, a wonderful verdant color. There were some broken bits at the bottom of the packet, but for the most part, most of the leaves were intact. I’d read that many of the offerings were really one cup only, but I measured out a heaping teaspoon of this, and I still had half left. Since I didn’t want to overdue it with the leaves, and add too many to the pot with no knowledge of the the temperament of this tea, I just did the one heaping teaspoon and sealed the rest of the bag up for another time.

The dry leaves smelled… leafy. Green in a plant-like way. Nothing distinctive. The resulting liquid after brewed was a light yellow color. A very, very pale goldenrod. The cup had literally no smell.

On my first sip I was a bit surprised. This tea doesn’t have a strong flavor at all. As someone that’s accustomed to blacks in the morning, it was a bit interesting. There are barely any tasting notes to be had while the cup is still piping hot. A hint of vegetation, a sweet aftertaste.

As the cup cooled, however, the sweetness really came into prominence. I only really tasted the “candied pineapple” tasting note once or twice (this is not flavored with pineapple, so don’t expect a strong flavor at all). The best thing that I can say about this tea is that if it was cold, it’d be immensely chuggable. And I mean that as a compliment. It’s refreshing and light and tasty, with a very pleasing sweet note. It tastes pure and refined. Does it taste like “tea”? No. So if you’re going into this expecting a flavor parade, you will be disappointed. It tastes more like drinking dew from a large leaf in the morning. What I would imagine the water served up on Olympus tastes like.

All great compliments, but when I’m drinking tea, I don’t really want water, I want tea. I really enjoyed the subtleties of this tea, and I’m going to try resteeping it (some of the leaves still have a twisted shape and didn’t unfurl completely), but I can’t imagine ordering more of this.

ARR MATEY.

So, if you read my logs on a regular basis, you’ll remember that I compared the Twinings’ Irish Breakfast blend to pirates’ brew. I’m revisiting those thoughts as I’m drinking a cup of this, re-tasting some of my previous bagged favorites to see how they stand up to loose leaf.

And I can definitely say that I could completely see pirates replacing their grog with this in the morning. Extremely malty, overwhelmingly assertive, masculine with a solid growl at the end of each sip. Rough and tumble drinking when you’re barely awake. This one will shake you by the lapels and scream in your face, drill sergeant-style.

On another note, ninjas would not drink this. I’d imagine them drinking something finicky and Japanese green, like Sencha, complete with tea ceremony and gaiwans.

ANYWAY, I find that I’m still enjoying this one, even though it’s a bit maltier and aggressive than I even remember. The first sip took me by surprise. As ridiculous as this sounds, it’s almost horrible tasting in an awesome way. Compulsively drinkable. Challenging you every step of the way. It tastes like something you need in the morning after a heavy night of drinking. Or after a night of barely any sleep (my problem’s the latter today). So yes, I’ve knocked the rating down a few notches, because loose leaf tastes better. It’s true. Adagio’s Irish Breakfast isn’t better, but I’m pretty sure there’s an excellent loose leaf blend out there that’ll find the happy medium between these two puppies.

And in the pirates vs. ninjas debate, I’m pretty sure the ninjas would win.

My first rooibos tea, and it was an okay experience. I received this free sample from Republic of Tea with their latest catalog. I was having a nice wedge of leftover apple pie from Thanksgiving, and I figured that the Cinnamon/Vanilla flavor profile would suit the apple pie’s flavor.

Once brewed, this one smelled a bit like potpourri. Not bad potpourri, just like something that I wouldn’t normally associate with drinking. The rooibos drippings were a dark red in color. Almost scarlet. Very pretty and very festive. The smell was earthy, and a bit medicinal, but in a feel-good kind of way.

The first sip was kind of bland, and a bit floral. The cinnamon and vanilla didn’t really come across strongly – I think the cinnamon was part of the aftertaste, and the vanilla just a hint of sweetness. I’ve been having a really bad time with vanilla teas, and I’ve yet to try a loose leaf one. I can’t stand the taste of artificial vanilla. Or the smell of it. Since I couldn’t really get a grasp on the vanilla here at all, this is inconsequential.

I’m not really sure what rooibos tastes like. So I can’t tell you if it was a dominant flavor profile, or what it was that was added to the mix. The entire thing was fairly sweet, and I’m standing by the potpourri flavorings.

A resounding “meh” from me.

I figured I’d go back and try a bagged tea after all of the loose leaf I’ve had, and see how differently it tastes. That project flew out the window, though, because I think I overstepped this puppy. I was in the midst of a highly entertaining e-mail conversation and let the teabag float there for too long. As a result, this one isn’t tasting as good this morning.

The tea juice is a lot darker than I remember. It’s probably because loose leaf is much less murky and dark. Loose leaf is also a lot less bitter. That might be from the oversteep, because I really don’t remember my cup of English Breakfast looking this dark, but it was still surprisingly bitter compared to what I’ve been drinking the past few days. The nice flavor profiles are still there, but I find myself not wanting to pick up the cup as often. I think that bags might be even more finicky than loose leaf (or at least some bags, for that matter), since you’re releasing so much dust/tannins into the water at such an accelerated rate. If you don’t watch, it’s bitter.

Steep three of this baby and I’m done! So, this time the leaves just sort of looked like… leaves. Yeah, because that’s what they are.

Well, that was intelligent.

Anyway, the cup that brewed up was still around the same color as the others, but this one had a bit more sediment in it. Which I found pretty odd, considering that this was the third steep and all. The leaves still smelled a bit spinach-like. The taste of this cup was closer to the second than the first by a long shot, but the spinach taste had mellowed out. When Gunpowder #3 was hot, it was actually bitter, which took me by surprise. As the tea cooled though, the bitterness disappeared. This one is still definitely veggie-like, but the sweetness is the main flavor component. It’s very, very sugary. I was really surprised by this.

But I was pretty much done with this by the bottom of the cup. I think I might have been able to get another steep out of this one, but I really don’t feel like it. While it was interesting to see the tea evolve over several steeps, the first steep was by far the best, and the reason why I rate this one so highly. I don’t know if I’ll be resteeping this one again, simply because spinach is not one of my favorite flavors, and I really enjoyed the smokiness that was so great the first time around.

My mom thought the entire resteeping thing was pretty odd. “So, you’re just going to leave those leaves there? In the pot? Can you do that? Why would you want to do that? That first cup tasted awful.” It was pretty amusing overall.

Yay! My first second steeping of a tea! If I decide to resteep other teas, I’ll probably tack the findings on to the end of the first steep results. But since my last review of Gunpowder was so massive, I think that’d be a bit unwieldy. Unless I decide to split it up all the time. We’ll see.

So, no crazy leaf explosions this time. The leaves did seem to get a bit bigger, though, and look more… leaf-like. Like plants. Which is what they are. I’m still amazed at how much leaf came out of the little rolled pellets. The leaves smelled like spinach this time.

Anyway, the liquid (I know I’m supposed to use “liquor” but that sounds pompous) was around the same color as before, but the taste was completely different. Ridiculously different. It wasn’t like I was drinking the same tea. This steep tasted strongly of Essence of Spinach. If that was even a flavor. It’s like spinach and water infused as one and became a beverage. I don’t really know what to say about that, since spinach is definitely not one of my favorite vegetables. It was interesting, and definitely sippable, but not as enjoyable and complex as the first steep.

I couldn’t detect any of the smoky flavor anymore at all. If anything, it was a faint wisp in the back of my throat. There was a little bit more bittnerness, but nothing out of the ordinary. But what was pretty amazing was the delicious sweetness that became a prominent note and aftertaste. I can still actually taste it now. It tastes like what I always want sugar in my tea to taste like, but it never does. It’s natural and delicious and wonderful. If anything, I kept drinking this second steep for that juicy sugary goodness.

I’m going to try a third steep of this stuff a bit later on. Now it’s more curiosity than wanting to drink it, just because the second steep was radically different than the first.

Homygawd this is awesome.

Okay, so here’s a little secret: out of all the teas I’ve gotten from Adagio, the one that I’ve been sneaking smells from the most often is the Gunpowder. It just smelled so unusual and different from any of the others. And this tea is frankly, adorable. The little glossy pellets look like droppings from a rabbit god. Or something like that. The smell was sooo good too. Smoky and deep and complex, begging me to just taste it.

I brewed up a level teaspoon in my IngenuiTEA, and waited for the magic. Now, you might not know this, but I’m new to loose leaf, and therefore am fascinated by the leaves unfurling. I sit in front of the IngenuiTEA like a kid in a candy show and watch the fireworks. And boy, did these little critters put on a show. They were writhing and shuddering in the steeper like The Little Shop of Horrors was coming to town. Bursting open with their little leafy tentacles… I expected one of the little buggers to wave to me. That’s how lifelike it looked. The leaves also blew up in size and proportion as they bombastically exploded. I was shocked at the jungle in my pot when it came time to pour.

The liquid that comes out of the craziness is a pretty yellow-green, that color in the Crayola box that you could sometimes never find use for. There wasn’t really much of a smell at all coming from the cup. But the taste? Mmmmm.

Okay, let’s go on a tangent here. Trust me, it’s necessary. When I was little, we’d go to Disney World on occasion for vacation. My favorite part was EPCOT, and my favorite ride was Spaceship Earth (hey, I’m a dork – leave me alone!). Ridiculously enough, my favorite part of Spaceship Earth was Rome burning. Why? Because they’d pump into the air an awesome smell of burning wood and smoke, a mesquite-like scent, that I’d try to keep in my lungs as much as possible after the ride moved on.

This tea tasted like Rome burning. And it was amazing. Smoky and deep and mysterious. I was in heaven. There was a bit of a sour taste, and a bit of a sweet aftertaste. The sweet taste fought a battle with the smoke and won as the cup cooled down. Sweet and a teeny bit grassy, with the smoke as the aftertaste. But at the highest point of heat, it was all smoke. I’m not getting the ashes description that a lot of people are suggesting, but still. There’s a little bit of a slight astringency on the palate once it’s cooled down a bit, but it’s sort of pleasing in a way that I can’t describe.

I do not think this tea is for everyone. The proof was when I offered my mom a sip of this. She was on the phone when I gave it to her. She immediately shook her head and visibly almost gagged. And I thought, well, that was interesting. It pretty much tastes like it smells dry, so if you don’t like the smell, don’t drink it.

But yeah, I love this already. We’re going to try and get multiple steepings out of this baby today, so stay tuned for future logs as the day goes on! :D

I have a really annoying canker sore in my mouth. I bit my lip last week, and it’s developed into an ugly little bugger on the inside of my bottom lip. No, it’s not a cold sore, and no, I don’t have mouth herpes or some other thing. And no, it’s not contagious. But still, it’s sore. I read somewhere that tannins might actually help out a sore, so I’m drinking some black tea right now. But of course, it’s late, so I needed something decaf.

Okay, really bizarre thing. I had Adagio’s Decaf Ceylon the other day, and I found it to be a nice, basic decaf drink, perfect for nighttime. But tonight, after drinking Yunnan Jig earlier in the day, I’m finding this to be more flavorless than I remember. It tastes much more basic and much less special than the last batch I made, even though I steeped it exactly the same way as before. While the earlier Yunnan tasted like a yummy earthy beverage, this just tastes like… tea. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (I love tea!). But oddly enough, I was actually expecting something a bit different than how this tastes today. It’s comfortable and comforting and familiar, but it’s not dynamic.