Brand: Lupicia
Type: Black
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Dark black, rolled/needle like leaves; they're a decent size, considering that they're not too broken up
Color: Medium-light copper; clear
Smell: Similar to puerh (a little fishy, earthy) with some hints of mint
Recommended with/as: As is
Rating: 8.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Gonna be a short review again today, since I've had a bunch of tea before this, and I have to make some new tea for my family (see below). Also, I think reviewing a tea with only 1 cup is actually a better way for taste testing, since it forces me to pay more attention.
After smelling, I thought that this would taste a lot like a puerh, but after tasting, I was moderately surprised. While it does have the fishy smell, it's more tangy and brothy than puerh. The earthy taste is relatively the same, if not less than the average puerh. There's little astringency and is very smooth; it doesn't leave any dry taste in the mouth, and has a very nice (in my opinion) texture. I don't really drink keemun tea that often and I'm not sure if it's right to compare it to puerh, so probably take this review with a grain of salt. Overall, however, I like it and would finish the whole pot (if I didn't have to use the pot right now for chai, heh).
Other notes:
Well, sleep wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Got a good 12 hours in (which is good and bad- it's a lot of sleep, which means I woke up super groggy), and only woke up 2-3 times. I'll try another pill in a couple days, since I'm going to SoCal and I'll get home super late.
In other news, today I went to San Francisco and picked up a couple of teas and a large gaiwan. Here's the haul:
From Red Blossom Tea Co.:
Chai (black, with a lychee flavored base)
Pi lo chun (green)
Monkey picked tieguanyin (oolong)
From Vital Tea Leaf:
Blue People Ginseng Oolong
Gaiwan
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Afternoon Tea
Showing posts with label Week 9. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 9. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Day 62: Tokio
Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Green
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small, broken up dark green leaves with long, rolled yellow flower petals
Color: Light golden yellow; clear
Smell: Sweet, floral, and fruity (like very sweet strawberries); however, the smell isn't that strong
Recommended with/as: As is
Rating: 7.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Today's review is going to be a bit short since I only have 2 cups worth of tea (family wanted some), and I'm going to bed early. The first thing I thought when I drank this is that it's already way better than yesterday's; while the berry flavor is a bit more subtle, it actually tastes realistic and blends well with the green tea. It's still sweet, but there is a tiny bit of a sour taste reminiscent of somewhat ripe (it's not super sweet yet) berries. There's little to no astringency, and it goes down smooth. After drinking, the berry taste lingers in your mouth, which isn't bad- it's actually very pleasant. Overall, it's a good tea (and I would drink it if someone gave it to me), but I think there's better fruity/berry teas out there.
Other notes:
Wooooo, spring break! Before I forget, here's my checklist for next week:
1. History: build that moving WW2 model of Kursk
2. AP Bio: finish a dissection write up, begin studying for the final
3. English: read TKAM and finish all of those screenplays I started reading
4. Extracurriculars: get a resume written, start research (electricity, bioreactors, etc.), practice for a piano recital
5. Others: RELAX WOO
Also, I'm going to begin taking melatonin pills (3 mg, maybe once every 3 days) to try and adjust my sleep schedule from 1 am - 6 am to 10/11 pm - ???. I have a feeling this will either end up super well or I will have super scary lucid dreams (because I'm starting off with a relatively high dosage). Let's see how this goes!
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Keemun Queen's Hope
Type: Flavored Green
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small, broken up dark green leaves with long, rolled yellow flower petals
Color: Light golden yellow; clear
Smell: Sweet, floral, and fruity (like very sweet strawberries); however, the smell isn't that strong
Recommended with/as: As is
Rating: 7.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Today's review is going to be a bit short since I only have 2 cups worth of tea (family wanted some), and I'm going to bed early. The first thing I thought when I drank this is that it's already way better than yesterday's; while the berry flavor is a bit more subtle, it actually tastes realistic and blends well with the green tea. It's still sweet, but there is a tiny bit of a sour taste reminiscent of somewhat ripe (it's not super sweet yet) berries. There's little to no astringency, and it goes down smooth. After drinking, the berry taste lingers in your mouth, which isn't bad- it's actually very pleasant. Overall, it's a good tea (and I would drink it if someone gave it to me), but I think there's better fruity/berry teas out there.
Other notes:
Wooooo, spring break! Before I forget, here's my checklist for next week:
1. History: build that moving WW2 model of Kursk
2. AP Bio: finish a dissection write up, begin studying for the final
3. English: read TKAM and finish all of those screenplays I started reading
4. Extracurriculars: get a resume written, start research (electricity, bioreactors, etc.), practice for a piano recital
5. Others: RELAX WOO
Also, I'm going to begin taking melatonin pills (3 mg, maybe once every 3 days) to try and adjust my sleep schedule from 1 am - 6 am to 10/11 pm - ???. I have a feeling this will either end up super well or I will have super scary lucid dreams (because I'm starting off with a relatively high dosage). Let's see how this goes!
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Keemun Queen's Hope
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Day 61: Apple and Berry
Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Green
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Medium-small, (relatively) light green tea leaves with chunks of dried apple, and bright red flower petals (?)
Color: Bright yellow-green or golden; clear
Smell: Fruity (guess like what fruit it smells like- that's right, it's mostly apples) and floral
Recommended with/as: As is, sweetener
Rating: 6.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Well, this tea was surprisingly disappointing. While it does smell nice, there is very little taste. While drinking it, I could really only taste a very strong sweetness- it wasn't fruity or anything, but it was just sweet. This sweetness, combined with a very weak berry taste, made it taste somewhat like sugar water mixed with a drop of raspberry juice. As for the apple, I could only notice it in the aftertaste, where it lingered long after drinking. It also made my throat feel a bit irritated after drinking, and my mouth feel very dry. It's a good flavor combination on paper, but it just isn't blended well in this tea (tastes too artificial and weak, and the tea base is of admittedly low quality). If you want a good apple tea, get Tsugaru Green- I think it's much more flavorful than this one.
Other notes:
Well, today has been pretty shitty. I didn't finish the math test even though I knew how to do all of the problems, mostly because the long division/multiplication took all of my time. What's even worse is that the other classes could use calculators (not us), and the guy next to me (the one that kept taking my paper) used his calculator on the whole test. Then, in English, I said something super stupid in front of the whole class (in short, there's a reason why I don't take art). I know it's dumb to be worrying about this crap (to the point where I'm about to physically throw up), but knowing that makes me feel worse because really, the only thing that I have is my grades (science fair is done and we can't continue until we have funding, fencing club hasn't met in the past few weeks, just pretty much all of my extracurriculars are on hold now). It doesn't help that I was up until 2 AM last night studying for the test. It's just that everyone has had super high expectations for me since elementary school, and I feel like if I don't reach their standards, I'm going to be a failure.
Anyway, this is a great way to start spring break, huh? I guess it's not so bad though, since I know I'll probably get over it after a while and that this is a terrible reason to hate myself, especially since some of my friends are having a crappier day than me. Also, thanks to my friend, I now have another life rule:
While you do need help from others for many things in life, you will also encounter many obstacles you will have to figure out on your own, and in doing so, will make the experience all the more meaningful.
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Tokio
Type: Flavored Green
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Medium-small, (relatively) light green tea leaves with chunks of dried apple, and bright red flower petals (?)
Color: Bright yellow-green or golden; clear
Smell: Fruity (guess like what fruit it smells like- that's right, it's mostly apples) and floral
Recommended with/as: As is, sweetener
Rating: 6.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Well, this tea was surprisingly disappointing. While it does smell nice, there is very little taste. While drinking it, I could really only taste a very strong sweetness- it wasn't fruity or anything, but it was just sweet. This sweetness, combined with a very weak berry taste, made it taste somewhat like sugar water mixed with a drop of raspberry juice. As for the apple, I could only notice it in the aftertaste, where it lingered long after drinking. It also made my throat feel a bit irritated after drinking, and my mouth feel very dry. It's a good flavor combination on paper, but it just isn't blended well in this tea (tastes too artificial and weak, and the tea base is of admittedly low quality). If you want a good apple tea, get Tsugaru Green- I think it's much more flavorful than this one.
Other notes:
Well, today has been pretty shitty. I didn't finish the math test even though I knew how to do all of the problems, mostly because the long division/multiplication took all of my time. What's even worse is that the other classes could use calculators (not us), and the guy next to me (the one that kept taking my paper) used his calculator on the whole test. Then, in English, I said something super stupid in front of the whole class (in short, there's a reason why I don't take art). I know it's dumb to be worrying about this crap (to the point where I'm about to physically throw up), but knowing that makes me feel worse because really, the only thing that I have is my grades (science fair is done and we can't continue until we have funding, fencing club hasn't met in the past few weeks, just pretty much all of my extracurriculars are on hold now). It doesn't help that I was up until 2 AM last night studying for the test. It's just that everyone has had super high expectations for me since elementary school, and I feel like if I don't reach their standards, I'm going to be a failure.
Anyway, this is a great way to start spring break, huh? I guess it's not so bad though, since I know I'll probably get over it after a while and that this is a terrible reason to hate myself, especially since some of my friends are having a crappier day than me. Also, thanks to my friend, I now have another life rule:
While you do need help from others for many things in life, you will also encounter many obstacles you will have to figure out on your own, and in doing so, will make the experience all the more meaningful.
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Tokio
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Day 60: Ginger Tea
Brand: Lupicia
Type: Blend (Black and Herbal)
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small CTC black tea with relatively large chunks of dried ginger
Color: Dark copper/very dark red; clear (but so dark that it's hard to see through)
Smell: Mainly ginger and its spice, with the earthy and caramel notes of the black tea (assam)
Recommended with/as: As is, milk (?), sweetener
Rating: 8/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Well, this tea isn't what I expected. Even though the smell of the ginger overpowers the tea base, you can barely taste it in the tea. Mainly however, it tastes like an assam- earthy, malty, and a little bit creamy. I can sort of notice the ginger (mainly its spice/kick), but it's overwhelmed by the taste of the tea base. Overall, its smooth, very strong, and would make for a nice breakfast tea. However, it's a bit basic (it's literally just black tea with chunks of ginger added, nothing else); personally, I would just go with a plain assam instead. It did make for a good studying tea though!
Lupicia suggested the tea with milk, but since I used all of my milk yesterday for the latte, I couldn't try it. However, I imagine it would be better with milk because of the strong black tea taste, and it might actually bring out the taste of the ginger a little bit more.
Other notes:
Oh hey, 60 days in and I officially finished one of the 9 boxes! (If you didn't know, the book of tea is split up into 9 boxes, each with 11/12 tea bags each. The reason why this happened so late into the project is that I've been using a randomizer and picking a tea from a random box each day).
Other than that, nothing much today other than my grade for math might actually be salvaged! We got our grades from the last tests (not the one from yesterday), and I got a 92.5 and 95, so now my quarter grade is 92%. As long as I don't screw up the test tomorrow, I should be golden. I'll just leave it at that, since I have to go study for that test (I think this is actually the first time I've had a pretty good study schedule going for math for the past few days- about an hour or 2 each day, with problems from 2 different textbooks, timed).
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Apple and Berry
Type: Blend (Black and Herbal)
Brew Time & Temperature: 3 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small CTC black tea with relatively large chunks of dried ginger
Color: Dark copper/very dark red; clear (but so dark that it's hard to see through)
Smell: Mainly ginger and its spice, with the earthy and caramel notes of the black tea (assam)
Recommended with/as: As is, milk (?), sweetener
Rating: 8/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Well, this tea isn't what I expected. Even though the smell of the ginger overpowers the tea base, you can barely taste it in the tea. Mainly however, it tastes like an assam- earthy, malty, and a little bit creamy. I can sort of notice the ginger (mainly its spice/kick), but it's overwhelmed by the taste of the tea base. Overall, its smooth, very strong, and would make for a nice breakfast tea. However, it's a bit basic (it's literally just black tea with chunks of ginger added, nothing else); personally, I would just go with a plain assam instead. It did make for a good studying tea though!
Lupicia suggested the tea with milk, but since I used all of my milk yesterday for the latte, I couldn't try it. However, I imagine it would be better with milk because of the strong black tea taste, and it might actually bring out the taste of the ginger a little bit more.
Other notes:
Oh hey, 60 days in and I officially finished one of the 9 boxes! (If you didn't know, the book of tea is split up into 9 boxes, each with 11/12 tea bags each. The reason why this happened so late into the project is that I've been using a randomizer and picking a tea from a random box each day).
Other than that, nothing much today other than my grade for math might actually be salvaged! We got our grades from the last tests (not the one from yesterday), and I got a 92.5 and 95, so now my quarter grade is 92%. As long as I don't screw up the test tomorrow, I should be golden. I'll just leave it at that, since I have to go study for that test (I think this is actually the first time I've had a pretty good study schedule going for math for the past few days- about an hour or 2 each day, with problems from 2 different textbooks, timed).
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Apple and Berry
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Day 59: Chai Bag Cinnamon
Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Black
Brew Time & Temperature: Made a latte this time (since my sister wanted one), so I did this:
1. Boiled water + milk (no actual measurements, sorry)
2. Added leaves
3. Brewed for about 7-10 minutes
4. Strained into a tea pot
5. Added sweetener (honey or dulce de leche)
6. Served it out
Leaf Appearance: Dark brown, very small CTC black tea with various spices added
Color: Light caramel brown; milky (so it's not clear, duh)
Smell: A bit earthy, definitely milky, with the spices and cinnamon being the most dominant smell
Recommended with/as: As is, milk, sweetener
Rating: 9/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Oh man, I think this is my favorite chai blend out of all of the ones in the box. The cinnamon is smooth, blends well with the spice of chai, and is amazing with milk. The tea base is strong and the spices add a nice kick to the tea, but it has a bit of a natural sweetness that makes it very pleasing. It's balanced very well- other reviewers say the cinnamon is too strong, but for me, it was relatively equal with the other tastes. This might be because I used a tea bag to brew a full litre, but I don't think it should change that much with more leaf. Overall, it's one of my favorite milk teas now, but that may just be because I got better at brewing chai lattes. However, I'm pretty disappointed since I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to wait a long time before the randomizer picks another chai bag.
Other notes:
Well, I guess my math grade is screwed for this quarter since I'm pretty sure my group did terrible on the group test. We didn't even finish, and we actually spent most of the time arguing- the guy next to me kept taking my paper from me while I was in the middle of a problem and spent most of the time doing the bonus instead of the actual problems, and the guy in front of me didn't do the problems we told him to do. The girl in the group did pretty well (we ended up catching each others mistakes), but she got super frustrated by the end.
I'm taking this as a wake up call because I'm almost certain that I'm going to end the quarter with a B (a few tests aren't online and I have exactly a 90% right now). So, my plans for next quarter, aka in 2 weeks, is to get my shit together in math (practice my speed), go to afterschool tutoring with the teacher, petition the tea club to the vice principal, and get a job (my team decided to continue research through next year, but we don't have the funds). Let's see how that goes!
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Ginger Tea
Type: Flavored Black
Brew Time & Temperature: Made a latte this time (since my sister wanted one), so I did this:
1. Boiled water + milk (no actual measurements, sorry)
2. Added leaves
3. Brewed for about 7-10 minutes
4. Strained into a tea pot
5. Added sweetener (honey or dulce de leche)
6. Served it out
Leaf Appearance: Dark brown, very small CTC black tea with various spices added
Color: Light caramel brown; milky (so it's not clear, duh)
Smell: A bit earthy, definitely milky, with the spices and cinnamon being the most dominant smell
Recommended with/as: As is, milk, sweetener
Rating: 9/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Oh man, I think this is my favorite chai blend out of all of the ones in the box. The cinnamon is smooth, blends well with the spice of chai, and is amazing with milk. The tea base is strong and the spices add a nice kick to the tea, but it has a bit of a natural sweetness that makes it very pleasing. It's balanced very well- other reviewers say the cinnamon is too strong, but for me, it was relatively equal with the other tastes. This might be because I used a tea bag to brew a full litre, but I don't think it should change that much with more leaf. Overall, it's one of my favorite milk teas now, but that may just be because I got better at brewing chai lattes. However, I'm pretty disappointed since I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to wait a long time before the randomizer picks another chai bag.
Other notes:
Well, I guess my math grade is screwed for this quarter since I'm pretty sure my group did terrible on the group test. We didn't even finish, and we actually spent most of the time arguing- the guy next to me kept taking my paper from me while I was in the middle of a problem and spent most of the time doing the bonus instead of the actual problems, and the guy in front of me didn't do the problems we told him to do. The girl in the group did pretty well (we ended up catching each others mistakes), but she got super frustrated by the end.
I'm taking this as a wake up call because I'm almost certain that I'm going to end the quarter with a B (a few tests aren't online and I have exactly a 90% right now). So, my plans for next quarter, aka in 2 weeks, is to get my shit together in math (practice my speed), go to afterschool tutoring with the teacher, petition the tea club to the vice principal, and get a job (my team decided to continue research through next year, but we don't have the funds). Let's see how that goes!
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Ginger Tea
Monday, March 23, 2015
Day 58: Honeybush
Brand: Lupicia
Type: Herbal
Brew Time & Temperature: 4 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small, dark red and orange rooibos leaves; they look like small woodchips
Color: Golden red-orange; when it was pouring, it was actually pink and clear
Smell: Sort of like menthol/cough syrup with some berries; there's also a tiny bit of honey (listed in the description), but it's not very strong
Recommended with/as: As is
Rating: 8.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
I actually really enjoy this rooibos. I'm used to unflavored rooibos having the cough syrup/medicinal taste (that I mentioned in previous reviews), but this one isn't that bad. It still does have that taste, but its pretty light in relation to the other flavors. Surprisingly, this has a bit of a brothy taste, with some fruit notes that a tangy aftertaste. It's smooth (as expected of an herbal tea) and ends (like stated in the description,) cleanly. It's one of the most complex rooibos I've tasted so far, and I ended up finishing the whole pot, which I don't do that often.
Other notes:
Gonna skip on writing a long notes section today since I have a math test tomorrow. AP bio test was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be, though! (Oh, and also, a friend forced me to take the Myers-Briggs personality test and apparently I'm a ISTJ inspector instead of a INTJ mastermind now, so there's that).
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Chai Bag Cinnamon
Type: Herbal
Brew Time & Temperature: 4 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Small, dark red and orange rooibos leaves; they look like small woodchips
Color: Golden red-orange; when it was pouring, it was actually pink and clear
Smell: Sort of like menthol/cough syrup with some berries; there's also a tiny bit of honey (listed in the description), but it's not very strong
Recommended with/as: As is
Rating: 8.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
I actually really enjoy this rooibos. I'm used to unflavored rooibos having the cough syrup/medicinal taste (that I mentioned in previous reviews), but this one isn't that bad. It still does have that taste, but its pretty light in relation to the other flavors. Surprisingly, this has a bit of a brothy taste, with some fruit notes that a tangy aftertaste. It's smooth (as expected of an herbal tea) and ends (like stated in the description,) cleanly. It's one of the most complex rooibos I've tasted so far, and I ended up finishing the whole pot, which I don't do that often.
Other notes:
Gonna skip on writing a long notes section today since I have a math test tomorrow. AP bio test was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be, though! (Oh, and also, a friend forced me to take the Myers-Briggs personality test and apparently I'm a ISTJ inspector instead of a INTJ mastermind now, so there's that).
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Chai Bag Cinnamon
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Day 57: Milk Caramel
Brand: Lupicia
Type: Flavored Houjicha
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Drab yellow-green broken-up leaves, with twigs and bits of almond
Color: Golden brown; clear
Smell: Sweet and milky; I can sort of smell the caramel along with a bit of saltiness, but for some reason, there isn't much of a roasted smell (which is characteristic of houjicha)
Recommended with/as: As is, sweetener, milk
Rating: 7.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Well, despite the name and what I expected, this houjicha is much lighter than I thought. Like most houjichas, I expected this to taste and smell very roasty, but it isn't; it's not bad per se, but it's just not what I was expecting. Rather, it tastes very much like caramel with a bit of nuttiness and a very little bit of roasty taste. It's creamy and smooth, but not very sweet or strong. There's little astringency, and with milk, it's pretty decent, but it's relatively the same. It's good, but I actually prefer an unflavored houjicha more.
Other notes:
Wooo, we won second place in our category! No special awards though. I think we're set on continuing the project next year, but we might drop one of our teammates (since he hasn't really contributed much). I'll let you know tomorrow since I have an AP bio test and I'm too tired to keep writing/studying.
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Honeybush
Type: Flavored Houjicha
Brew Time & Temperature: 2 minutes, boiling
Leaf Appearance: Drab yellow-green broken-up leaves, with twigs and bits of almond
Color: Golden brown; clear
Smell: Sweet and milky; I can sort of smell the caramel along with a bit of saltiness, but for some reason, there isn't much of a roasted smell (which is characteristic of houjicha)
Recommended with/as: As is, sweetener, milk
Rating: 7.5/10
Tasting notes and thoughts:
Well, despite the name and what I expected, this houjicha is much lighter than I thought. Like most houjichas, I expected this to taste and smell very roasty, but it isn't; it's not bad per se, but it's just not what I was expecting. Rather, it tastes very much like caramel with a bit of nuttiness and a very little bit of roasty taste. It's creamy and smooth, but not very sweet or strong. There's little astringency, and with milk, it's pretty decent, but it's relatively the same. It's good, but I actually prefer an unflavored houjicha more.
Other notes:
Wooo, we won second place in our category! No special awards though. I think we're set on continuing the project next year, but we might drop one of our teammates (since he hasn't really contributed much). I'll let you know tomorrow since I have an AP bio test and I'm too tired to keep writing/studying.
Next on the 100 Days of Tea: Honeybush
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