TeaFrog

This smells – and I mean this in the best possible way – like Pez. It has that candy/fruity sweetness. I wasn’t sure of the steeping parameters on this one, since it’s a green/black blend, but even with near boiling water it’s smooth enough to drink plain.

This reminds me a lot of Red Leaf Tea’s Blue Moon, because they’re both black tea blended with just flower petals, and they both brew up deliciously fruity, smooth, and sweet. I think maybe it’s the Marigold?

This is getting a little astringent as it cools – I’ll try steeping at a lower temp next time.

Got my TeaFrog samples today! I knew mine shipped out late (yes, this is from the Select a couple of weeks back) because I got the Earl Grey Special, so I wasn’t too worried, but it was very exciting to find in the mailbox today.

This is a very tasty plain black tea – the citrus is the description is right on. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was an orange scented tea from the aroma. Pretty similar to an Earl Grey, actually, but milder and sweeter. This was a little harsh for me plain, but it’s great with milk (the spicy citrus flavor is still there).

Second steep (5 minutes) is a little milder and sweeter, enough to drink plain, but plenty strong enough to drink. Spice/citrus notes are still present.

1 heaping tsp (2g) in 8oz water

Well so far my Rooibos tastings haven’t been all that successful. Clearly, from a personal taste stand point, it seems I’m pickier when it comes to those.

This one was interesting. The orange flavor dominates with a slight sense of sweetness remaining after a few sips. Smells like “Pot Pourri” which is not something I had ever planned to taste.

Overall fairly smooth, do not over steep as the orange flavor will turn into a bitter mess.

This was my “oh lord, I drank some beer last night which always upsets my system so I feel horrible in the morning and I need something soothing” tea this morning. I found it very soothing. The sweet floralness really was perfect. This one’s growing on me. It’s like it has the “NERDS! taste but healthier.” I’m gonna bump the rating up a little (the original being a solid 80). NE

I’ve been meaning to try this one since I received the sample, and today’s Steepster Select was a great reminder. The smell and taste of this tea really reminded me of the Tea Guys’ Mango Rose without the Mango (the tea I was all “Nerds!” about and therefore think that the mango aspect pushed it further into the candy category than this tea).

It’s a really pleasant floral tea. My second steep has cooled off completely and it’s still nice. I will definitely order this one when I finally place another TeaFrog order, but I’m more of a “Nerds!” girl and if I had to chose between the two, then this one wouldn’t make the cut. NE

I hope all this caffeine doesn’t keep me up all night. Usually caffeine doesn’t affect me in that way, but, I don’t usually like to chance it and I do usually switch to some sort of tisane by this time of night. But, I received this sample today from TeaFrog and I really wanted to try it!

Yum! Lemon! The tartness of the lemon lingers on the palate, but it isn’t a sour lemon-y taste – tart but not sour

I like it!

The description of this tea mentions “pink rose petals.” Well, I gots me some pink rosebuds in my sample packet which made my inner girlie-girl squee. This is a very pretty looking tea. The smell is somewhat…wait for it…waaait for it…coconutty and vanilla-ey.

The first steep is all about the white tea and coconut. The vanilla is complimenting the coconut nicely. I should mention that I’m not the biggest coconut fan, but this is pleasant in a suntan lotion sorta way (sorry, that’s my main association with coconuts).

I’m really enjoying the second steep (kept the same parameters). I’m getting a bit more vanilla and the coconut/white tea is more mellow and blended. I’m really liking this. I am getting a bit of a dryness at the back of my throat, but am unsure as to how much of it is from this tea and how much it is from my ceiling fan kicking up dust. Maybe it’s a bit of both. I’m thinkin’ that I need to try this iced. NE

On a side note: I’m really liking my JOEmo XL that I got from TeaFrog. I’m still figuring out how best to prep my tea, but it’s getting better each time. It truly keeps the tea shockingly at or near temp. I had it at work yesterday and it kept the tea hot for close to 7 hours (I drank verrry slowly to test this out and I think it could’ve gone longer, but I finished my tea on my commute home). At first I wasn’t a big fan of how I had to push down on the button in the lid (germ issues), but then I realized that the liquid came out on the perimeter and not through the button spot. Still not my favorite thing, but I think that it’s a good tradeoff for being able to drink from any side of the lip. I may have another issue, but I want to give it some time before getting into that.

This is absolutely just what I needed tonight. It’s dreamy.

Another TeaFrog sample.

Between the time I ordered it and now I’ve pretty much decided not to order mixed black and green teas any more, absent a really compelling reason to do so. It’s just too hard to know how to steep these for maximum benefit, and I am certain I get it somewhere between wildly wrong and not quite right pretty much every time. If I got it very right, I doubt I’d even know. I’d probably figure it could still be better. And then of course, even if I got it very right and knew it, it’s impossible to know whether it would be achievable the next time. Just thinking about it makes my brain hurt.

One thing I don’t need while trying to relax with a cup of tea is a lot of uncertainty. I have enough of that in other aspects of my life. Some things should just be reliably certain, dammit.

Getting off soapbox now.

So I’m going to go with 3 minutes at 200 and see what happens. I find that with these mixes, very hot temperatures obliterate the taste of the green tea, and green tea temperatures make the black tea a shadow of what it could be. Also, steeping too long is dangerous because the green tea can get bitter.

The dry mix smells fruity to me, which is bizarre because there is nothing identified as fruit in it. For whatever reason I’m getting that grape Tootsie-Pop smell Rabs identified in one of her notes. (Lots of things are smelling fruity to me today that shouldn’t. Wonder if one of the kids stuffed a roll-up up my nose while I was sleeping?) What it seems I should have smelled, from the jasmine and rose ingredients, is flowers, and this I didn’t smell. The rose petals in this one must be a white rose or at least not red, as all petals appear to be varying shades of white, tending toward the creamy or yellow end.

In the tea’s aroma, the grapey, candy smell opens up into something more like jasmine. There’s a hint of vegetal greenness in the aroma, but mostly what I’m smelling is fruity black tea.

Surprisingly, I can taste the green tea here. It adds a vegetal taste to a jasminy, fruity, black tea.

It isn’t at all bad. It just isn’t enough to compel me to order a green/black blend.

Oh, and I went and read the other notes on this just now and I am so relieved to see I’m not the only one who got fruit here. You have no idea how relieved I am. ;-)

♫ Earl Grey Special: it’s for everyone!
Earl Grey Special: come and join in the fun!
With magic everywhere
A world for us to share
With friendly faces hoping that you want to meet us there
For Earl Grey Special
It’s about to appear —
It’s about to appear! deedle-ee deedel-ee deedle-ee deeee!
Earl Grey Special!
Shout it loud and clear:
Earl Grey Special! ♪

Yes, I know I’d posted that in the comments of Ewa’s note on Devonshire Earl Grey by Upton, but it tickled me so much that I wanted it to be it’s own note. Yes I have issues.

I finished off my sample today using my JOEmo and was surprised at how sad I was to see it go. It’s quite a nice Earl Grey and will definitely be part of my “someday” order from TeaFrog. NE

It was like I had another psychic tea moment this morning with the Earl Grey: I didn’t know that Patrick Stewart was getting knighted, perhaps at the very moment I was drinking this. In honor of Sir Patrick Stewart I present this montage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2IJdfxWtPM

My TeaFrog samples and JOEmo arrived yesterday and today I finally am trying them out! I’ll be using the JOEmo on my commute (still a few hours away) so I’ll write a mini-review of that in the near future. This tea was the one I was most excited to try.

Nothing too remarkable about the dry leaf smell beyond knowing that this was an Earl Grey. Same with the cup — it’s an Earl Grey. I’m the first to admit that I’m not the most familiar with EGs, but I’ve had the good, the bad, and the ugly. This one’s definitely in the good category. It’s smooth, it’s not a fake bergamot-Pledge hybrid, and there’s a little something extra with the jasmine. If I’d been handed a cup of this without any information on it, then I’d think it was a really good EG. But knowing that there’s jasmine, I can sense its presence like a Tea Psychic. It’s more in the smell than anything else, and even then it’s a whisper. But it’s really pleasant. The second steep is equally nice.

If I hadn’t discovered my cup of frou-frou, then this would have been a contender. As it is I can easily dub this my cup of frou. I feel like an oaf drinking it in a huge honkin’ mug — it seems to want to be in a small china cup and demands that I lift my pinky whilst drinking it. I’m really curious to see what other more experienced EG drinkers have to say about this one. NE

When Teafrog posted their “Sample deals” on Steepster I decided to go a little crazy and ordered 9 of them.

This is the first one I tried. While Teafrog were awesome in shipping and they offered very generous quantities for samplers, I must say I was disappointed with the taste of this one.

As the previous reviewer mentioned, the scent is absolutely amazing: Up until you pour boiling water on this one, you are literally holding a piece of Tiramisu in your hands -it’s that convincing !

Unfortunately, that all goes away to be replaced by the overpowering taste of pure rooibos with an accent of artificial cherry flavor -nothing else.

Not bad, it is a bit acidic for me and believe it or not a get a fruit vibe on this one. Nevertheless, a pretty good cup.

I am bumping up this a few points…as it cooled the floral side of this tea made itself known…beautiful. :-)

Last time I tried this it turned out a bit too bitter, so I’ve notched down the temperature and steeping time and I think it works much better. I’m still getting noticeable roastiness, some green vegetable flavor, and just the right amount of astringency. It’s nice to finally get the parameters right on this one!

I’m sticking with green teas today – Japanese in the morning and Chinese in the afternoon. Don’t know if it was coincidence or subconscious, but both of them feature nutty/roasty flavors in significant measure, so it’s been nice to contrast them on the same day. I think I may have had the water a touch too hot for this though – it was noticeably more bitter than the last time I had it. Still enjoyable, but I’ll be more careful next time.

Another of my TeaFrog samplers that I’m excited to try. It’s hard for me to tell the aroma of the dry leaf because I had the previously opened bag of “Chocolate and Ginger Spice” next to this bag, and now all I can smell is chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. The leaves are flat and dark olive green, somewhat similar in shape to sencha, but darker.

1st steep: 180 degrees, 2 minutes. The liquor is a beautiful golden color and has a mix of light nutty and vegetal scents. The taste also has a gentle hint of nuttiness, a pleasing amount of astringency, and also an unusual and tasty piquancy – which sometimes comes across as a very light tartness or fruitiness. Very enjoyable tea at this stage.

2nd steep: 180 degrees, 1 minute. Much lighter liquor this time, straw-colored, and now the aroma has lost nuttiness in favor of vegetal. The flavor is light but very nice; astringency is down but nuttiness and vegetable goodness are still both there.

Nice contrast to the Japanese greens – looking forward to trying more Chinese greens.

This was the free additional sample included with my TeaFrog sampler order. Seeing that the base was chicory, I was a little hesitant about it, as that’s not my favorite flavor. However the chicory is really competing with all the other flavors in this mix: chocolate, red pepper, and ginger are all there in strength. There’s a natural sweetness to the liquor, which steeps up to a cloudy medium brown.

Surprisingly, adding milk and sugar brings out the chicory flavor more, but it also mellows out the peppery accents – it’s tasty this way too. I’m not sure I’d order more of this right away, but it was a nice new tisane to try out.

Ya know I have found myself in an interesting position today. For some reason I not only tried teas today that I am normally fond of but a couple actually surprised me. Take this tea. This is a very lemony tea but the peppermint makes it a bit spicy in a weird way but not actually bad. The peppermint sneaks up on the back end not taking away from the lemon flavor but rather gives it a little bite. I think I would like to try this cold. So lesson learned today don’t judge an entire teas group on a few bad experiences, keep trying them and you never know what you might find.

Not really sure about this one. I tried this hoping there would be an explosion of flavor. With so many flavors included I thought it would be a spicy, earthy, slighty fruity blend. Instead what I tasted was unrecognizable. No one flavor popped out. Nevertheless, it was drinkable just don’t plan on ordering more once my sample is done. Keep in mind I am not a huge flavored green tea fan but I thought heck let me try it, it is a sample after all and a great deal.

My love for this tea (and rating) goes up every time I have some. Supply is getting low, making me sad, not going to panic…. really, really not going to panic…. maybe I can stretch it out a bit more……….. staring at TeaFrog … I don’t have any genmai but I do have some cha, can I make my own? Maybe tencha and minute-rice…. not going to panic……..