tunes&tea Send Message

Lemme start by giving a great big ‘thank you’ to JacquelineM for a VERY generous sample (I mean, she must of bought a truck full and got sick of it “generous”). I really will resist the desire to rave on and on about the share package I recieved from her and will get on with the note.

I had a high expectation after reading several of the near forty posts on this tea. It seems, generally speaking, we like it- actually more than the creator who gave it a 75.

Being this sample resembled a purchase rather than an act of kindness (I’m just dying to reveal how much there is, but I’m sure that would be uncouth-not that I’m overly couthy) I elected to make a pressful= 8 cups. We normally reserve full pots of anything for the Asian grocery oolongs due to the cost effectiveness. I haven’t broken down the pennies to cup ratio as I’ve seen a few do, but it’s cheap. What the heck, I’m living it up this morning.

Where was I, oh yeah the tea. The tin, when opened, (another bonus, it came in a tin! I’m getting so big time with tins and everything! Thanks again Jacqueline) smacked me upside the head with the smell of a barn! Yep, a barn. It smells like dry hay that’s also very malty. Immediately when the water hit the tea my very ampley proportioned nose was filled with a leather like maltiness that made me think “this is going to be a strong cup”. Again when bringing the cup to my lips the malt smell was so apparent, yet when I took the first sip I was greeted by an amazing mix of flavors/impressions. There is a baseline of subtle malt that shares the stage with some smokiness and a faint creamy sweetness that actually stays with you as an aftertaste. Gentle yet bold.

I went ahead and steeped this a second time with fair results. It definitely lacked the complexity and the smokiness that it started with, yet was still considerable as an easy drinking tea. In other words, this second steep was better than some first steeps I’ve came across, and by no means was comparable to the initial infuze.

I’m so thankful that several- Jacqueline,Azz,and LiberTEAS have been so kind as to help me experience many other facets and types of tea that would have taken me months, if not years, to visit. AmazonV, MissMylin, and Autumn Hearth have all pledged to send samples my way as well (unless I already recieved AmazonV’s, which is still to be determined). What a wonderfull community to belong to (sniff sniff) and I appreciate it very much, so many kind and helpful people. OK enough with the sentimental mooshy junk, I gotta get another sample going-this will take weeks to get through.

tunes-the Black Keys=Little Black Submarines/Run Right Back/Sister…turns out the whole El Camino album. It’s all great, as nearly everything they put out is. I have a hard time naming who has more talent between them and Mumford&Sons, yet Black Keys have 7 albums whereas Mumford are just releasing their second.

Ommitted the lead up paragraph so on to the tea, if not abruptly.

The dry leaf has a smokey earthy smell with a malty overtone. Wet the leaves gain a sweetness to accompany the malt notes. The drink is not as dark or malty as I expected. There’s a slight compexity. There’s a touch of smoke that is very well proportioned to the vanilla sweetness I detect. A creamy mouthfeel is starting to reveal itself, though not too strong as of yet. There even seems to be a nuttiness offsetting the tinge of sour bitterness laced through the drink. That bitterness leans toward a chocolate-coffee at the back of the sip. Aftertaste is pleasant leaving my mouth with a clean sweetness, as well as some lingering malty notes.

I tried a second steep against the recommendations of AmazonV’s post (I was sure this came from you but address doesn’t match up-unless you really MOVED) and I should have listened. Though this tea is misnamed (strong black) I still found it very enjoyable and I thank whoever sent it to me.

tunes-the Avett Brothers= Pretend Love/Colorshow/The Ballad Of Love And Hate/Sanguine/SSS/Complainte D’vn Matelot Mourant/Signs

I’m confused! I mean it happens easily but I just can’t seem to get a grasp on what I like and what I don’t. I’m pretty sure I don’t like green teas, not even green oolongs, then this happens.

So thank you LiberTEAS for this sample. I don’t have a lot to say about it. Moroccan Mint is… well, minty. I’m sure that this is a stark revelation for many but I’m known for having a steely sense of discernment so don’t feel inadequate or anything.

On top of minty this drink is crisp and refreshing. This would be a good tea to clean the palate with. I like it…mostly because I don’t taste the green but that’s beside the point. It just means I can’t completely scratch anything off of the list yet.

tunes-Widespread Panic=Pickin’ Up The Pieces/Diner/You’ll Be Fine/Gimme/Impossible/jam

Happy anniversary to me! I’ve been on Steepster one month now. I know, I know…it feels like ages since you’ve first started seeing my posts make my way onto your computer screen…kinda like when I’m talking to my wife about one of my many aches and pains and she says “you’ve been complaining about that for ages” or “it’s been ages since you’ve done something romantic for me”. Hopefully not too many of you associate me with a negative overtone but either way I’ll keep writing until I hear otherwise.

Again I had an errant expectation about today’s tea. I hadn’t read the maker’s description and was unaware that this was a greener oolong. I’m still in an inexperienced state so I’m not sure if the spring picking is why it is that way, but can only assume it to be. The liquor was somewhat a darker brown. Dry leaf was floral and once infuzed it took on a wood/dry grass aroma.

First sip I found to be pretty grassy with a bit of nutty notes and it left a faint sweetness I noticed when I licked my lips. A few drinks later and the nutty had transformed into a wood/acorn note while the grassy notes had increased. More and more I’m seeing the greener tastes phasing out of my personal selections, though this being an oolong and not a straight green tea has made it much more tolerable. I can definitely say that there is little to no astringency.

All in all it’s a fine cup that I could keep on drinking but won’t steep past the second steeping because I have darker oolongs to drink instead. I’ve read online a little about oolongs trying to decipher the greener from darker ones but haven’t seen a formula yet.

Wife was going through her old college CD’s, so the selection of music hinged on that.
tunes-Dave Mathew’s Band=Captain/Grey Street/Two Step/The Stone/ Granny/Minarets

Sadly, it pains me to write this note. I guess I shouldn’t have had the high expectations that I did, though. So many people have written their ravings over this tea and I love bananas and so I thought that this tale would end with me penning, typing rather, the words ‘and everyone lived happily ever after’…such is not the case.

As I said I shouldn’t have had such I high expectation. To clue you in to what this tea was for me I could first mention that I should maybe change my name officially to ASTRINGENCY WEENIE MAN. It seems it has come into play during several of my recent notes. This will be no exception.

I will go into little detail. I will simply say that the drink started out with strong cinnamon flavor with the vanilla/banana coming soon after. The obvious problem is that I could not get through the strong astringent ‘like licking chalk’ sort of ‘mouth devoid of all moisture’ effect it played on my tongue.

I’m certainly sure it’s me, it’s all me (sounds like every other break-up I had in my yoot-youth). Too many others had nothing but good to say about it so don’t consider what I’ve had to say, though my wife didn’t like it either.

no tune,flick (kinda like’no Coke-Pepsi) The Grey/ with Liam Neeson

Thank you LiberTEAS for this sample. I’m gonna jump right in and say that this is a bold cuppa. My palate was a little sleepy from the half hour I laid down- that was supposed to be sleep (4th week on third shift that this has happened) so the first sip GRABBED me. I was about to write something to the effect of ‘if this is Canadian breakfast I’m starting to think that they’re all lumberjacks and steelworkers-including the women’, but within a few sips I got used to and started to really appreciate the boldness it has (and yes I realize that women can equally fill the roles of lumberjack and steelworker. My wife and I are both commercial/industrial painters who may be climbing steel,hanging off the side of a building,or just painting the walls of a brand new hospital on any given day,so no offense intended).

Soon after I got used to the initial boldness I started really seeking out the malt aspect. I must agree with the makers description that there is an oak characteristic, though I’m not too sure how flowery it is. For me the touch of sweet I find is subdued by an equal touch of smoke…almost a mesquite, but ever so slight. I- ‘THE ASTRINGENCY WEENIE’ am shocked to find that the astringency most other taste notes spoke of was hardly present…at first. This may be because, out of fear, I elected to steep this for two and a half of the three to five minutes suggested. At first, I only found slight dryness on the roof of my mouth with very little on my tongue not sure if that’s normal or not.
As the cup cooled, as cups always do, the astringency rose a bit as well as the malty notes. Now my tongue was getting that dry, almost chalky, feeling.

Second steep was three minutes with a little less water. As before the cup started out smoother before cooling. Out of curiousity I checked it when pouring my cup-one hundred ninety degrees farenheit. It’s not as complex either. Maybe a little less water still would be in order. Mostly what’s left is a semi-sweet malt flavor that gains astingency when it cools. That’s all I got, a pretty good cuppa especially to start the day with.

tunes-Benny Goodman=Mambo Swing,Louis Prima=St.Louis Blues/Just A Gigolo(David Lee Roth didn’t write this song),Charlie Byrd=So Danco Sambo/A Carol For All Seasons

Thanks LiberTEAS for this sample. Let me start by saying this is a good tea to break me (or anyone else needing broken in I suppose) to green teas in that I’ve not had but a couple I enjoyed and I am an oolong fan so obvious deduction= green oolongs.

Dry leaf is, as you would expect- green (shocker) and smells floral and maybe even fruity. The liquor steeped to a bright yellow with just a tad of greenish brown. Wet leaf smells very green indeed, kinda like seaweed maybe.

I was happy to see that, although this is a green oolong, it starts out not overpoweringly green and with a certain amount of nutiness in the sip. A faint sweetness is present, aside from the organic kind of sweetness I associate with grasses,but there’s not a strong enough presence for me to decipher what it resembles. The level of astringency is within my embarrassingly low threshold of tolerance for enjoyment. It, as I’m learning, leaves my palate feeling clean without any kind of bitter aftertaste. As the cup cools the grassiness becomes stronger, thereby reinforcing my earlier statement that it’s a good drink to break in to greens with. With the utmost of manners it brought me along into it’s vegative flavor and in turn kept itself from being poured out prematurely. Who knew that common manners could be so self preserving.

Since the cordial mannerisms of this tea were worthy to make mention I also deemed it worthy a second steeping. Fret not those of a frugal mindset; I shall not waste this sample but rather once this note is finished will continue steeping for any family members enthusiastic about drinking it during the wind down moments before bed.

Second steeping; a little info to start- often times I try to split even small samples in half in case I oversteep or something. I’m not stocked up on teaware yet so to do this I use one of those two cup glass pots with the finum basket inside you see at Asian groceries. It loses temp quickly. That said, when I went to steep a second time I forgot to set a timer (do not mock my primitive means you fortunate ‘Breville One Touch’ owners) and it went for maybe ten minutes. To my surprise it wasn’t bitter or overly strong…it seemed fine. I can only now assume that with the rapid temperature loss that the tea ‘stopped’ steeping once it got low enough. It was greener still,with a slightly more dry mouthfeel which may have been due to oversteeping. Generally this was a good tea, just not so much for me with my slowly but surely leaning away from green stuff palate.

tunes-Johnny Cash=Hurt/Rusty Cage/Thirteen/God’s Gonna Cut You Down

WOOO!!! It’s the weekend! Sorry for any of you who work weekends, but surely you get some form of weekend or time off or you atleast make alot of money because you work so much and your happy about your days off or all the money you make and I will be happy for you, but right now it’s my weekend…. A HOLIDAY WEEKEND, and so I’m elated, not to mention that I can finally do some tasting notes (deep breath of air), which I’ve been too busy to do all week.
Now that that’s out of the way…

I want to thank LiberTEAS for this sample that I was very glad made it into my sample box. The dry leaf smelled like something I would eat for breakfast-sweet and syrupy. The color of this tea was a deep redish brown. I can’t seem to make out in my hand written note what the wet leaf smelled like though.

The first few sips I got a strong woody/walnut impression that leaned toward, but not quite, malty. Within a few sips I started to detect the buttery sweet notes that would end up being present throughout. I was second geussing myself as to whether it was a floral sweetness or not, so I won’t commit either way.Then came the malty! I’m not overly excited about malty tea, but this one has a great balance of malt/wood/sweet worth noting. There’s enough malt to give it more depth, yet still allow it to be a sweet gulper once it’s cool enough. It’s got a little dryness, but not bitter at all, and there’s a woody aftertaste with just a little sweetness mixed in.

All in all, a fine cuppa and a wonderful suggestion by LiberTEAS.

Another from AZZ’s generosity. Though I saw mixed reviews on this one I still went into it optimisticly, yet this optimism was soon tempered once opening the bag to smell the dry leaf- a strong artificial cinnamon smell that you often find with scented candles. The color of the liqour was a deeper brown and the wet leaf smelled slightly more appealing than it did dry.

First drink I was surprised, intrigued actually. There was a certain degree of complexity right away. The nutty tones mingled nicely with the dark chocolate ones. It’s so nice when flavors can play well together and no ‘time outs’ need to be administered. The slight astringency was easy to overlook when considering all that my mouth had to process. The chili was so faint it was barely detectable, which I was glad since I’ve not had chili in tea yet and didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the spice. The bold black flavor played well in this drink for me too.

My wife loved the tea and stated “this may be my favorite so far”…which she ended up saying three times today in all. To be fair she is even newer than me and so I try to bring her along as much as possible. I must also note that, in general, when I list low to moderate astringency in a tea she tells me she doesn’t find any at all. Again I’m an astringency weenie.

We liked it, my soon to be sixteen year old as well, though the wife liked it most. This tea made it on her "one to buy’ list until,that is, she tried another tea. That is another note altogether isn’t it.

tunes-Richie Havens=Freedom/Eleanor Rigby/Motherless Child/Here Comes The Sun

Thank you so much for this generous sample,Butiki Teas. Once again, I have to comment on the pristine condition of the leaves. I am just so impressed at the care with which this sample was obviously handled. They infuse beautifully as well, yeilding a bright yellow liquor.

I just did a note on a Bao Zhong and wasn’t too impressed so the fact that greener teas are not among my favorites could dictate some of what I write. For me the Bao Zhong leans hard toward the green side of oolongs. That said I am still impressed with the overall taste I’m currently experiencing. There are delicate intertwining notes of citrus,vanilla,floral notes, and green sweetness. The pineapple is genuine tasting-I’ve heard complaints about other teas attempting to create this flavor unsuccessfully. There’s a buttery creaminess that seems to come from the vanilla that is so prominant in the aftertaste as well. The green portion of this tea gives me that tidbit of dryness, though it’s still juicy and mouth watering. My wife insists that she detects no dryness or astringency whatsoever and she only finds the buttery creaminess throughout.

I ended up steeping this tea three times. The flavors all settled down into a mellow tasty cup. Somewhere in there I was able to appreciate the Bao Zhong part alot more with the subtle blending of added flavors. Thanks again Stacy, a wonderful drink indeed. I look forward to the other samples you’ve sent me yet to be tried. I’m sure to love them.

tunes-Adele=Crazy For You/Fool That I Am/Make You Feel My Love/Lovesong
I enjoy her classic jazz songs best and she chooses some greats to do covers tunes of.