VIT: Cranberry Ti Kwan Yin

I lost track of how many steeps I got out of these leaves. Although the first steep was exciting (there’s always something special about that first sip of a new tea), I think either the third or fourth steep was my favorite: I felt it had the best balance in the taste of the leaves and the tartness of the cranberries.

The flavor and scent are consistent with my expectations of a cranberry oolong. The mix I scooped out today consisted of predominantly tea leaves with a wee fleck o’ cranberry. I am excited to see how much the taste of this tea can vary depending upon the tea leaf/cranberry ratio.

One question for others who have this tea: my pouch has at least 2 large cranberries mixed in that I tried to crush (but instead it just squished, and is now looking at me all deflated and smooshed). I contemplated taking them out, cutting them up and tossing them back in, to ensure a more even distribution of the ingredient, but I’m not sure if there is a reason that I should just leave them whole. I really don’t want to mess with a good thing, at the risk of doing damage. What has worked for you?

So this is coming out of my cupboard. Not because it’s finished but because when you have as many teas as i do, there’s no point in drinking crap you really don’t like. So on to my swap list it goes for anyone who wants to try it. blech not a tea for me.

Hmm, ok. I brewed this up at my boyfriend’s place today (while he was making me potato pancakes, since I was cheated out of them on Easter Sunday, hahahaha), so it was less-than-optimal brewing conditions (even though I now use Brita water there as well)… but something didn’t quite work for me with this one. I made sure that there was a cranberry in the infuser, but to be honest, there was less cranberry flavour in this tea than in the >1 year old Cran-Blackberry Rooibos I just drank. And I’m not really digging the base tea either :/

I brought the leaves home and re-steeped them, and I’m getting virtually no flavour from them at all, to the point where I think I’ll actually just dump the cup :S

I’m kind of disappointed; I was hoping for something much more like Forest Berry Silver Needle, which was really quite delicious. Ah well, perhaps there are some Steepsters out there who are curious to try this one :) I’ll give it another shot here at home, but I have a feeling I’m not going to like it even then.

I had this one today iced in my iced tea travel mug! Excitement ensued. The delicious berry flavor here really pairs well with the smooth oolong flavor. I tried adding tonic water to it because I was out of club soda, but without gin it wasn’t very good.

I know Frank has a sale on this blend right now. I think it has aged better since everyone initially tried it, and you can get lots of subsequent steeps out of a few leaves. So if you like berry, and you like oolongs, you would probably enjoy this one, and could even get it 335 off! It is available here:http://www.zoomdweebies.com/VIT-Cranberry-Ti-Kwan-Yin_p_287.html
This is a nice flavored oolong for all the year long!

Steepster is having some strange issues. I just got a page crammed with code.
Here’s hoping this posts!!

TTBA#4
I’ve been striking out with the teas here. Sheesh. I didn’t get cranberry. Something fruity, and not entirely unreasonable as “cranberry” but I could never pick it out as such.
The base was just ok. Not very delicate, which I prefer in a tky.
Oh well. Not my tea, I suppose!

Backlog:

It took a little while for me to come around to this tea. I think this is better after it’s had a few moments to cool … and it’s even better when it’s iced, in my opinion. When it’s hot, there is a slight “Off” taste to it that I can’t quite describe adequately except to say it’s off for me. But when it cools, that off taste sort of disappears. I suspect it’s the tartness of the cranberry that makes it “off” for me … once it cools, some of the sweeter notes from the Ti Kwan Yin shine through and meld in a really nice way to contrast with the tartness.

This is an enjoyable enough cuppa … not my favorite VIT from 52Teas but given some of the negative reviews on this one, I was worried that I’d really dislike it … and I don’t. I like it … not LOVE … but like, and I’d be willing to drink it anytime. (Just please serve it iced for me!)

Sipdown #42

Why is it that when you want a baby, everyone around you from your co-workers to your childhood friend gets pregnant? I turn on the TV and “A Baby Story” is followed by “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant.” I put on one of my favorite shows instead and two characters get pregnant in the same episode. I get a letter in the mail informing me that my insurance has increased maternity coverage to 100% in 2014. What’s going on? *Sigh. Waiting to start a family is so hard. Might as well enjoy my giant tea stash in the meantime!

ON TO THE TEA!

The dry leaf aroma is sweet and fruity. The brewed tea aroma is green and fresh, fruity and a tad chocolaty. The flavor is melt-in-your-mouth delicious! The cranberry adds a noticeable tartness, while the Ti Kwan Yin lends a smooth sweetness as the base. There is still something going on in this cup that’s reminiscent of cocoa. I think it’s a trick of the flavor profile though. Or perhaps it’s the way I stored it.

Nevertheless, this is a really delicious tea! Subsequent infusions were less cranberry/cocoa and more fresh and green from the base, although the tartness did remain apparent and tasty for multiple cups. I really enjoyed this tea. It was the bright spot in my not so happy afternoon since my Mac hard drive failed and it’s going to cost me $265 to replace it. At least I had everything backed up! Thank you to Sil for sharing this sample!

Meh this one is a miss for me. Sending on maybe someone else will love it.

Thanks to teapot1 for sending some of this my way.

This wasn’t actually a tea that intrigued me, however, thanks to teapot1 I got the opportunity to try it out. I have to say I’m surprised this one doesn’t have a higher rating because I really enjoyed it.

I’m only on my first steep but the oolong base is quite lovely and the cranberry flavour is very much there with a nice tartness, that isn’t overwhelming at all.

This is the first oolong that I’ve ordered. I’m not going to rate it yet, because I don’t feel it would be fair. I really need to try a couple of other ones to have a benchmark. I’m on my first steep, and so far it is just okay. I will have to try some other oolongs to know if it is oolong in general, or this version…