Today’s blog post is another review of the teas I received from Masters by Adagio Teas. Today I am reviewing the Balasun First Flush Darjeeling tea . See here for my thoughts on Masters Teas and its website in general. I took pictures of the tea before steeping and after steeping, but because the light is different on different days, I also included some rosemary and chocolate mint sprigs so you can compare the color of the tea. Balasun First Flush: According to the website: “Our 2019 Spring Darjeeling is an early harvest black tea from the Darjeeling region of India. Different from later harvests, this first flush has a light body and layers of character that lean toward floral with a hint of fruity notes, and a crisp clean finish. Grown on the Balasun Estate, it has all of the classic notes of a first flush that are highly prized by connoisseurs across the globe. Famous for producing some of the best quality teas, the Balasun Tea Estate (est. 1871) is spread across rolli...

Today’s blog post is another review of the teas I received from Masters by Adagio Teas. Today I am reviewing the Shi Feng Long Jing green tea . See here for my thoughts on Masters Teas and its website in general. I took pictures of the tea before steeping and after steeping, but because the light is different on different days, I also included some rosemary and chocolate mint sprigs so you can compare the color of the tea. Shi Feng Long Jing: According to the website: “Our 2019 Shi Feng Long Jing , which translates to Lion's Peak Dragonwell, is one of the most famous green teas in China. It hails from the equally famous and historic West Lake area in Hangshou, Zhejiang province. This Shi Feng Long Jing is a pre-Qing Ming Festival, and so its early spring harvest results in a tender, young plucking. The liquor is a pale yellow, with a soft, sweet chestnut aroma. The crisp body is delicately nutty, quite complex, with a flickering hint of sweet grass and apricot blossoms. ...

Today’s blog post is another review of the teas I received from Masters by Adagio Teas. Today I am reviewing the Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha green tea . See here for my thoughts on Masters Teas and its website in general. I took pictures of the tea before steeping and after steeping, but because the light is different on different days, I also included some rosemary and chocolate mint sprigs so you can compare the color of the tea. Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha: According to the website: “With its exquisite spear-like leaves, our Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha is a very young plucking. A gentle yet complex cup, it offers notes of spring flowers, sweet grass with traces of lychee. A beautiful tea for those who want the experience of a green tea without the sharp grassiness found in other styles.” “This tea contains a moderate level of caffeine. Steep at 170° for 2-3 minutes.” I put 1 heaping tablespoon of tea in 235 mL (about 1 cup) of 170℉ water for 3 minutes. Since the leaves are extremely long...

Today’s blog post is another review of the teas I received from Masters by Adagio Teas. Today I am reviewing the Ali Shan Special oolong tea . See here for my thoughts on Masters Teas and its website in general. As a disclaimer, I drink a lot of green tea—sencha, genmaicha, and hojicha—and I’m a big fan of various black teas prepared British style with milk and sometimes sugar, but I don’t drink much oolong tea. I prepared the oolongs the way it recommended on the MastersTeas.com website, but since I don’t have a lot of experience with oolong, I used this article on the smithtea.com website as reference for steeping the oolongs Gong Fu style. I have a small Japanese tea pot which I used for all the teas. I took pictures of the tea before steeping and after steeping, but because the light is different on different days, I also included some rosemary and chocolate mint sprigs so you can compare the color of the tea. Ali Shan Special: According to the website: “Our 2019 ...

I was thrilled to hear about the MastersTeas.com website by Adagio Teas. I was even more thrilled to get a chance to sample some of their teas. Masters Teas by Adagio are all freshly harvested and from small tea farms. My mom always liked to buy the expensive “first flush” or freshly picked teas at her local Japanese store, shipped straight from Japan, because she likes the superior flavor of the tea, so a website completely dedicated to freshly harvested teas is really neat. First flush teas typically have an expiration date from 6-12 months after harvest, and I could really tell that the quality decreases after a year, even if the teas are stored properly. As of this blog post, the sample packets did not have instructions for steeping (it would have been nice to have instructions on the packet), so I had to look it up on the MastersTeas.com website. I received 2 oolongs, 2 green teas, and 1 black tea sampler. Today, I’ll review the Formosa Fancy Bai Hao oolong . As a discla...

I got a chance to review a really awesome Advent Calendar from Adagio Teas ! It’s supposed to be for Advent but I couldn’t wait so I opened it right away. :) As with other Advent calendars I’ve used, the best part is being surprised by what you get each day. I would open the calendar and drink whatever tea I got for my teatime each day around 4 pm, so I ended up eating a lot of cookies and pastries with my tea. :) I’m really impressed with the variety of tea in this calendar. There was everything: plain black tea as well as flavored black tea, oolong, green, flavored green, white, flavored white, rooibos and herbal. I admit I’m not a huge fan of oolong or rooibos, but I ended up liking some of the tea I got despite my bias. Since I don’t want to spoil the surprise of what tea is in it, I’ll only highlight my favorite flavors. I liked the flavored black teas the best, but especially the winter and Christmas themed ones. The chestnut black tea was surprisingly good. I usually don’...

I’ve been watching the anime Violet Evergarden on Netflix and it is possibly the most beautiful anime series I’ve ever seen. The animation by Kyoto Animation is top notch, the storyline (based on the light novel series ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン by Kana Akatsuki (暁 佳奈)) is emotional and unique, and the original soundtrack by Evan Call is out of this world. The vocal songs in the series are also really beautiful, but the best one is the opening song, “Sincerely” by TRUE. She not only has a beautiful voice, but the melody and lyrics are absolutely gorgeous. I can’t rave about this song enough. 知らない言葉を　覚えていくたび おもかげのなか　手を伸ばすの Each time unknown words come to mind, I reach my hand toward the traces they leave. だけど一人では　分からない言葉も あるのかもしれない But there may be words That I can’t comprehend all alone. さよならは　苦くて アイシテルは　遠いにおいがした 例えようのない　この想いは とても怖くて　だけど　とても愛おしくて “Goodbye” is so bitter, While “I love you” carries a far-off scent. This incomparable feeling Is so very frightening… bu...