Blue Unicorn

YAY!!!

YAY!!!!! I said…YAY!!!!!

I finally got my Blue Unicorn today and I am so excited! I won this on Shanti’s Facebook Contest!!! Woot!

I’m infusing 3 “horns” as suggested…

I completely agree with Cinoi that the pre-infusion scent is completely different than the during and post-infusion scent!

Pre – Sweet/Floral
During – Floral/Semi-Sugary
Post – Sweet Honey/Candied

This is a VERY hefty handcrafted leaf! Surely up to multiple infusions!

The Sip…
WOW!!!!
YAY!
I said…WOW! AND YAY!

Oh my! What a treat! VERY unique! VERY Sweet! Juicy! Clean and Crisp! Champagne-Like! Almost fruity but I am not sure what kind of fruit to compare it to! WOW!

I will be playing with this one as often as possible. This is also one I will be reviewing in greater length at SororiTEA Sisters…

http://sororitea.wordpress.com/

Probably within the next week or so.

Of course I am kind of bias because I LOVE Unicorns and that is partially why I chose this tea for my winning tea. I collect anything unicorns! I have well over 500 unicorn items!!!

I love everything about this tea, I really – REALLY – really do! :)

100.

YAY!

I received so much tea in the mail today, you would think it was my birthday (wink wink, nudge nudge). Of them, I was extremely excited to try this one and be the first reviewer on Steepster. I have to say, that all of the reviews (shantitea.ca) and hype (facebook) about this tea are completely justified! The tea is visually BEA-utiful: tiny spears of perfectly rolled tea, a dark color with highlights of silver (tips) and gold and cinnamon-red colors. The smell of the dried tea is very faint oolong, clean, light, wonderful.

I put three of the “horns” into my infusing basket, used water just below boiling (as I typically do) and infused hot for 4 minutes with no additives. The spears unfurled a little, in that time and released a new aroma; still clean and light, but a little more body and a typical sweet oolong scent. The liquor is pale yellow. The tea is almost divine, it is like no oolong I have had before, it is light, sweet, a slight crispness at the end of each sip with an overall cleanliness that is more typical of white tea. The slight undertones that are similar to champagne also help to round out the flavors.

Second infusion, same three horns, brewed hot, 3 minutes. Liquor, aroma and taste is similar, no overdone or “burnt” flavor of the oolong. Still wonderful.

Third infusion, same three horns, brewed hot, 2 minutes. Liquor is slightly lighter, but aroma and flavor remain unchanged.

This tea is so wonderful that it can only be harmed by additions. Absolutely wonderful-highly recommended.

Thank you, Ms Bonnie, for this interesting sample!

First, I don’t know what brand this is, but when I entered blue unicorn, Shanti Tea came up, & the picture looks right, so I’m just going to go with it.

It’s a cool looking tea! I love the ‘horns’, they remind me of those catapillar crysallis thingies that I used to see when I was a kid in California. They didn’t smell like anything to me dry.

I had 2 horns, so I put them in my little glass teapot & added hot water. They took turns floating up & down & releasing little air bubbles. I’m sipping the first steeping now, really just killing time before I meet 2 of my kids & my Man for lunch.

This is Ceylon tea, which in my mind means not particularly exciting. I get that Ceylon is the Champagne of teas, & is suppose to have a light & bright flavor. Call me unsophisticated if you must, but I tend to lose interest quickly.

The taste? I’m only on the first steeping, which honestly has kind of a salty & soapy vibe. When I get home I’ll run it through a few more steepings, as the horns have only barely started to open. For now, I’d rather drink water.

Hrm. Not sure what I think of this one. Withholding rating for now. I brewed 3 horns in 11 oz cup. At 4 minutes (with a 15 sec boiling pre-rinse), it was golden but tasted like water. Stuck the leaves back in for another 2. Now I am getting some flavor but it doesn’t taste like much. Did I not use enough horns? Did I not steep it long enough? Wonder what temp I should have brewed that at?

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea. This has to be one of the most unique Oolong teas I’ve encountered. From reading the description, one would think that this is, in fact, a black tea, but, as Shanti Tea has categorized it as an Oolong, that is what I’ll call it.

It has a lot of “black tea” characteristics in the flavor, too, although it is significantly lighter. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that I brewed this in my gaiwan using short steeps and a lower temp than what I’d use for a black tea. It has a lovely spiced undertone to it, and it is sweet, and earthy and warm and really quite enjoyable. I look forward to many infusions with this one.

I received this tea in the weekly Twitter contest. I really wanted to love this tea. Sadly, I can’t say that I do. The first time around I didn’t get much flavor out of it, honestly. It was pale in color and very light in flavor. I let it steep for a good 7-8 mins. I used just under boiling water. I couldn’t taste much of anything, accept a slight crispness.

Second go around this morning, same 3 horns. Hotter water, at just boiling, steeped for about 8 minutes. There is definitely more flavor this time around. It is crisp and somewhat peachy, I can kind of get that champagne-like flavor as well, but I’m finding it bland and a little, well, funky and not fresh. I do like peach, and I do like champagne, but for some reason, this tea is just not doing it for me. Perhaps I will send it on to someone else. :)

This is a tea I got from TeaEqualsBliss awhile ago thank you very much. Backlogging I did like that this was cute looking and did look like horns and had a black tea smell to it. Taste wise a light black tea with abit of oolong to it. This is a good tea when you want something alittle lighter and not to wake you up. I thought this was pretty good.

This tea, for me, has all these hints of flavor and sweetness… but they’re only hints. I wish it had more flavor and more of the elements only hinted at.

Another twisty tea from Indulgashinna. It’s funny, I think the Thousand Arrows looks more like unicorn horns than this does. Thousand Arrows is uniformly twisted. These are fuller in the middle.

I had the impression of joints when I first looked at them. I needed a reality check so I asked the BF to take a look. He said: “looks like weed.”

In any case, the two teas smell very similar in the tin. Which makes me wonder whether they are made from the same underlying leaf?

I put 3 “horns” in the gaiwan, rinsed, and steeped at 195F for multiple steeps starting at 15 seconds and increasing by 5 each time. I did 4.

The first steep gave a very light colored liquor, just the palest yellow, and not a ton of flavor. The note that Terri mentioned (bleach) was something I was also aware of, though I don’t know if I’d have called it that without reading her note, but there was also a sweetness.

Steep 2 gave a much more in the realm of oolong pale yellow liquor and an even sweeter tea. It’s not really a honey sweetness like I got with the Thousand Arrows, though. It’s more like spun sugar.

Steep 3 is where the tea starts to bear an aroma and flavor similarity to the Thousand Arrows. The liquor is deeper in color, and the wine/grape note is more prevalent. The sugary aspect also takes on something deeper, darker, and more honey like.

Not as charming looking as the Thousand Arrows, but a very interesting presentation nevetheless. This alone means I’ll be holding onto it for a while as Shanti no longer has this available on its website and it appears to have been discontinued.

I’m rating this where I rated the Thousand Arrows and bumping the Thousand Arrows up some.