Heyes Send Message

Yes, fine, I went to Teavana. So be it. And yes, I had to gently get into it with the sales clerk. I knew what I wanted, I did not want to mix my teas with their delightful selections, and no, I did not need to buy TEAVANA brand tins.

Okay rant over.

This is a pretty damned good Oolong for a store in a mall. A really nice finish at the middle and back of the tongue. Tastes like spring, just before the first lawn mowing. Seriously, it has that warm almost yellowish smell of thawing grass. The second and third steep are of course better than the first. The leaves have an interesting crinkle in them as they bloom, reminds me of the look of raw kale. Nice reddening at the edge of the leaves.

if you like your Oolongs on the greener side this is a good pick.

Still, I don’t think I can afford Teavana’s price, and the next time I’m in the mood I’ll check my usual haunt.

Composty earthy tones underneath the “Darjeeling” taste. Not an extremely front of the mouth experience, but still face puckering. having it with whole milk and mesquite honey, but it is still quite bitter. And the buzz? Quick and fierce, like a hammer in the heart. Good stuff for the morning.

This tea is available where I do my regular food shopping so I occasionally pick it up. As has been remarked upon by other tasters it is an usually strong tea flavorwise so I usually cut the quantity of leaves down by 1/3 or even 1/2. It has a spinachy taste, more the dark green vegetal taste than the bright springy green. It makes a swampy green liquor, reminds one of something Yoda might drink on a cold Dagoba night. It leaves a lot of sediment in the cup, but it’s hulky-green color often hides this sediment until the last sips remain. The flavor changes little when it cools or is cold, so it is a good and thrifty all purpose tea. It is easily made, tolerates wide range of temp. The leaves are broad enough to prepare without filters or mesh or any of those tools. It takes lemon very well, and if you make simple syrups it takes a ginger syrup very well.

Well it’s been a while since I’ve updated my tea log. Mostly because it’s been a while since I’ve had a new tea to drink. But in the interest of keeping up a vibrant community presence…

Blech. This whole box of tea has been really distasteful. No floral, no tobacco, no nothing. Just stale, and old. It’ll have to do for now though…

So I finally got myself some new teas, and this is the first batch. It’s kind of funny, because now I realize two things about this. One, I have long been making my tea with about 25 extra milliliters per cup, and two I completely misbrewed this cup. Still it was a wonderful happy accident. I brewed this tea at ten seconds for my first and current cup, having read the instructions for a different tea. YET! This tea came alive in what should have only been the “rinse” steeping. Full body already, very pale yellow/brown color to the liquor, and a taste that reminds me of the smell of fallen leaves in autumn. No, seriously, it has that wet earthy kind of flavor. Granted this is a misbrew, technically, it is really delicious. As I’m tasting it even now there is something almost sorrel-like at the back of the tongue. I can’t wait to drink more of this today.

When i purchased this I requested that full front assault experience. Yeah, this is a tea to be careful with. It’s a great Darjeeling flavor, but it turns quickly. If made over strong, or let to get cool, this tea will pack a serious right hook into your jaw with that bitter (or is it astringent?) flavor. Also, this is a whizz-bang tea – that is to say the buzz is fast-acting and lasts long, but also has a bit of a crash not unlike office-coffee.

Sugar and honey (esp mesquite in my opinion) add a sweetness that only takes off the edge a little. A little milk is nice too.

Rich, fruity, everything you want in an Assam. Well, everything I want in an Assam. Nice rich reddish brown liquor, takes milk and sugar nicely. Might even suggest cream, but that’s only because it’s finally a reasonable temperature outside (44 degrees F).

I received this tea as part of a gift set and I am very surprised by it’s quality. Maybe it’s because I’ve been low on black tea lately, but I don’t think so. It has a real tobacco/raisin flavor that I can’t recall tasting in bagged black tea. I made this tea for the purposes of making iced tea, and drank it both hot and iced. It was definitely enjoyable both ways!

I made this tea as an iced tea today, and it is awesome. I made it a little stronger that normal, let it steep for four minutes, and then put it in a thermos (like device) that was full of ice. Very very delicious!

Wow. So rating this tea while sick was an aesthetic misstep. This tea has a really nice lemon-ginger flavor/aroma. I had some last night to help pass the last hour at work and it was so enjoyable I immediately had a second mugful. Still not as good as actually infusing ginger and lemon into hot water, but nice for a non-caffeine pick me up.