Mastress Alita Send Message

Woke up to rain and decided to brew up a thermos of houjicha. This houjicha is stem-heavy and not as darkly roasted as some other houjicha I’ve had in the past, but it is perfectly pleasant. It’s very woody with a slight hay-like quality, with a lot of nutty overtones and a bit of roasted coffee undertones.

I’ve tried this particular houjicha a few different ways. Last weekend I made it into a latte with sweetened almond milk and maple syrup, but it came out way too cloyingly sweet so I think I either need a darker roast houjicha or to play around with the other factors a bit more. Steeping it with a bag of Tazo’s Pumpkin Chai has been by far my favorite preparation method so far, as the flavoring/spices blended really well with the particular notes of this houjicha. My typical grocery store didn’t have Tazo’s Pumpkin Chai in stock when I last went there so I bought a different bagged chai by Stash instead, but it didn’t have the same magic with this houjicha… the flavoring tasted weird and out of place with it, and again I think a darker roast houjicha would’ve worked better for that particular chai blend. This morning I’m just drinking it brewed hot and plain, no additions, and there is certainly nothing wrong that!

I’ve been making this tea as a cold brew, and it’s very refreshing. It brews a bright red color from the hibiscus, but there is no hibiscus flavor or tartness at all. It actually has a quite sweet and creamy flavor… I don’t really get watermelon, but I also associate watermelon with that really strong artificial watermelon flavoring used in candies, which this tea doesn’t taste like at all. Instead I get more of that mixed generic “melon” flavor used in Japanese candies that tastes a bit like cantalope mixed with honeydew and sweeter. I get a bit of a cucumber water note as well. The mint is a fairly strong backdrop, but blends with the melon flavor nicely, and gives the cold brew a very refreshing and cooling aftertaste.

I received a sample of this with a recent order and certainly was not expecting it, so thanks TeaSource! This was even one of the teas I had in my cart but weeded out at the end to only hit the free shipping threshold but not spend over that, so I was curious to try it.

I usually get the chocolate/mint combo on a rooibos base, but I’m really liking it on this black base. I gave it a pretty harty steep and it isn’t astringent at all! There is a bit of a coppery quality coming through, but mostly the flavor is very richly chocolate mint. The cocoa note is dark and smooth, with perhaps a tinge of that alcohol-quality, but not much. The mint has almost a creamy taste rather than being abrasively menthol, but it does leave a very refreshing cool aftertaste on the tongue. It’s well-balanced and tasty and I regret my decision to drop it from my cart last minute, but won’t sleep on it next time. I think this tea would make a wonderful latte, but with just a sample’s worth of leaf, that will have to remain speculation.

I picked up this Japanese black from Tealyra at the same time I grabbed their Benifuki black. This tea also has that sweet, fruity quality I get from Japanese blacks that I really enjoy. The body is more on the medium side for a black, tasting of warm cinnamon bread and autumn leaves, with a subtle stonefruit note that leans a little citrusy in the aftertaste. It’s very tasty, but I do think I enjoy the Benifuki variety better of the two, as it had a little more oomph in its flavor notes. I’ll probably try experimenting more with my leaf ratio and steep times to see if I can push this tea a bit more.

I was out of Rooibos Market Spice but found this tea sourced from TeaSource listed on Tea Runners when I was making an order some time ago and figured it would be a close enough substitute. And, it is. This has that same “sweet cinnamon candy” taste you’d find in Market Spice, Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Spice, or David Tea’s Cinnamon Rooibos Chai. Despite “orange” being in the name, it doesn’t really come out in the flavor… sometimes after the tea is cooled a bit I taste it in the aftertaste. Mainly it’s just the sweet cinnamon, and if you’ve had any tea with that flavor profile, you know what to expect here. It’s very warming and great on a rainy day like today.

I have a complicated relationship with this tea… It has a very obvious artficial flavor to it to bring the “pumpkin” element into this tea so it isn’t just a pumpkin spice blend, which I normally appreciate. The problem is, something about the flavoring they are using just comes off as kind of weird. Sometimes I make it and the warm spices and the sweetness really hits the spot, and other times something comes out in that flavoring that hits me in an off-putting way. I’m not sure why my feelings over the taste aren’t even consistent, but I do think I lean more on the “like” side of the line than the “dislike” side and may even buy another box sometime. But there are definitely pumpkin spice teas out there with added “pumpkin pie” flavoring that are leagues above this like the ones from Bird & Blend or Portal Tea.

I will say, yesterday before work I woke up to a very rainy day, which immediately made me desire the dark, roasty notes of houjicha… but houjicha just doesn’t have enough caffeinated oomph as a “first thing in the morning” tea. So I steeped a teabag of this in with the houjicha, and that might just be the magic ticket for me. The dark and woody houjicha base really overpowered the weird parts of the pumpkin flavoring and tamed the aftertaste, but the spices were still present and added a pleasant element to the houjicha that made it extra cozy. Plus, the black tea added some of that needed caffeine, even if I couldn’t taste it. Not every franken-tea I brew works out, but this one sure did, and I imagine that will probably be how I finish off this box.

Oof, woke to more rain which is flaring up my migraine-head. I’m hoping it’ll subside by noon since I planned to try out a new Japanese restaurant for lunch for my birthday.

I was going to brew some genmaicha this morning, but then remembered I ordered this tea a year ago and figured I’d give it a try. The aroma of the dry leaf is a little strange to me, but I also can’t drink alcohol (see above about the migraines) so I can’t really compare to actual Irish Creme (I did used to enjoy the Irish Creme flavored Torani syrup in coffee, though). I definitely can smell the fresh green grassiness of green tea, but the flavoring… I guess it smells a little like a chocolate root beer? It’s not unpleasant, just different.

The flavor is pretty nice, though! I used 2g of leaf for a 12 oz. cup and steeped 175F water for only 2 minutes, and the green tea is smooth and flavorful and not a bitter mess. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a green tea and I’m finding the grassy undertone very pleasant. The flavor does have this sort of dryness to it that I imagine is a bit alcohol-esque, and tastes a bit like chocolate, but not abrasively so… it’s pretty smooth, sweet, and subdued. I do get a bit of a cream favor in the aftertaste. It’s quite nice… maybe not my first choice for a rainy day when I tend to go for dark and roasty flavors, but it is certainly the most thematic tea in my cupboard for today and I’m glad I tried it!

It’s a shame Tealyra no longer carries this (I had to do some archive.org magic to get the info from the old sales page to add to Steepster), because this is quite lovely. The name is a bit confusing since “White” makes me think of “white tea” but this is actually a green rooibos herbal blend. It is described as a lemon/vanilla blend, but with the pithy orange in the ingredients, the flavor tastes a bit more like a cross between a lemon cream and an orange creamsicle. It is sweet and definitely has a vanilla cream flavor, but there is just enough citrus zing to keep it from being cloying. I’ve only tried it brewed warm, but I imagine it would be a lovely cold steep, as well. I’ll miss this one once it’s gone!

I personally love Japanese black teas, but they are hard to find (and often quite expensive) especially when trying to avoid foreign shipping. But I had this one from a (now dated) Tealyra order and it is lovely! Of the Japanese blacks I’ve had in the past, there is always this really fruity quality to them that I personally love, and this one is no exception. It leads with strong, malty Assam qualities like baked cinnamon raisin bread and autumn leaves, with a fruity end of the sip that lingers on the tongue that is a little like muscat and cherry. Sometimes the fruitiness presents with a sort of effervescent feeling that reminds me of wine, particularly in the aftertaste.

So far I’ve only been steeping this hot, and since the leaves are hard to come by and a little pricey, I’ve been getting a resteep out of them, as well (which I typically don’t do). The resteep doesn’t have the strong flavor notes and tastes more like a general black breakfast tea, so sometimes I’ll add a little lemon or honey to it. But that first steep is perfect just as it is.

Last week was beautifully spring-like, prompting me to start reaching for a lot of floral flavors… but out here in Idaho we all knew it was our typical “false spring” and it’d likely be snowing again next week. And here we are in “next week” and it’s snowing. Thankfully a lavender Earl Grey seems to suit the colder and wetter weather, too.

This is a pretty potent Earl Grey. The bergamot is fairly strong and pungent, bordering on even a little sour. The lavender is present and leaves a bit of a floral aftertaste, but it is strong-armed a bit by the strength of the bergamot, which really dominates the cup. I used to only be able to tolerate a lighter hand with bergamot, but over time I’ve come to appreciate the more in-your-face ones, too. I can still enjoy this as a plain cup, but I personally prefer to use an Earl Grey like this to make London Fogs… the addition of sweet vanilla almond milk doesn’t hide the bergamot like I’ve found in lighter Earl Greys, so it is still delightfully citrusy while being sweeter and creamy. I also really liked this with a spoon of honey, which really brightened up the lavender, leaving sweet floral notes in the aftertaste.

A nice choice if you like your Earl Grey to pack a punch and aren’t averse to some floral undertones. Those that prefer a more gentle hand would be happier with a different blend.