237 Tasting Notes
I wanted a strong one to start off the work week, and this seemed like a good bet. Nothing too out of the ordinary in the scent or appearance of the dry leaf. I’m going for five minutes of steeping time to make sure I get all the flavors.
Well, it certainly is black tea. Dark, dark brown liquor and a full-bodied aroma with hints of tobacco. The first sip lets me know that there are plenty of tannins – I’m getting that scritchy feeling on my teeth, like I’ve been eating spinach. There’s some sweetness there too. Okay, time for the cream and sugar. Mmm, that really mellows out the tannins, but it’s not bringing any other flavors strongly to the fore. Overall it’s a fine tea, but not spectacular.
Preparation
Hmmm, I’m afraid Den’s Sencha has spoiled me. Prior to tasting their varieties, I probably would have looked on the Golden Moon Sencha as quite a nice pick. The leaves are pretty enough, the vegetal and fresh aromas are present enough, and the tea itself is tasty enough. But in each of these categories, the Den’s Sencha is head and shoulders above Golden Moon’s. Den’s has a much more substantial mouth feel and a lingering buttery sensation that is really good.
Preparation
Looking forward to this one, as it’s been a while since I had a good chance to sample some Sri Lankan teas. Nice spicy, rich and enticing aroma to the dry leaf.
Great balance of flavors here. Strong and complex at the same time, just the way I like them. I’m getting a warm general spiciness rather than a particular note like cinnamon or clove, and some sweetness that I associate with berry or stone fruit jams. I want to see how this will taste with a little cream and sugar, but I’m enjoying it plain so much there’s not going to be a whole lot left over! A pleasing amount of astringency and good mouth feel.
With the additions it’s really luscious. I think the berry/fruit notes have morphed into maltiness. The aftertaste is like I’ve been having shortbread cookies with the tea but I swear I haven’t!
Score – two really nice ones today.
Preparation
Mmmm, this one smells so good, it’s just crying out for cream and sugar – but I’ll start it off solo and see how it goes. Steeped for five minutes at just under boiling, the scent is mouth-watering – chocolate and malt. Yum, tastes chocolatey, and creamy as well. Not sure how they get the creamy flavor in there without there being any cream in it yet! I think they must use a fairly mild black tea as the base, because the tea flavors are present but mild. There’s very little astringency or bitterness.
Okay, can’t hold off any longer – I’m putting in the cream and sugar. Wow, it’s really like a light-bodied hot chocolate now, but just enough tea flavoring in there to make it different from that. A little bit of yeasty/bready flavor in there too. I like this a lot!
Preparation
I’ve tried a couple different pu-erhs, and some I’ve really loved, but don’t have a whole lot of experience with this tea, so I’m looking forward to see how this compares. I’ll definitely be doing more than one steep with this one. The loose leaves are dark, dark brown and have a fruity/spicy aroma to them. Promising!
1st steep: 3 minutes, 200 degrees. Dark brown, coffee-colored liquor. Not super strong taste-wise, but interesting. I’m getting spices (cinnamon and clove) and the telltale fermented flavor of pu-erh; not sour or yeasty, just earthy. So far, so good.
2nd steep: 5 minutes, 200 degrees. Just about as dark the second time around, but the aroma has really been toned down. The flavor is mild but still earthy, and retains some sweet/fruity/spicy notes. The combination of them all is a little like chocolate – an interesting effect.
Preparation
I love jasmine pearls, so my expectations here might be too high, but what the heck. Opening the packet I get that lovely scent of jasmine blossoms, sweet and for this variety, particularly juicy. I’ll plan on doing a couple steeps and see what develops.
1st steep: 2 minutes, 190 degrees. The pearls are semi-unfurled, and look like little caltrops with their spikes pushing out in all directions from the central core. The liquor is a clear, light golden-green, and the scent is jasmine but with an unusual note that reminds me of a chemical sweetness, almost like acetone/nail polish remover. It’s enough in the background though to not be bothersome. The flavor is light and sweet, with the distinctive perfumed aftertaste that I really like about jasmine pearls. Just a hint of butteriness, too.
2nd steep: 3 minutes, 190 degrees. Now I’ve got a kelp forest in my little pot, with long green fronds gently waving about in the currents of hot water. The liquor is a little cloudier this time, and a little duller in tone. The aroma is still distinctively jasmine. The flavor is much milder this time, and I’m not getting any new notes that weren’t there the first time.
Overall, I’d call this a good but not outstanding example of jasmine pearls.
Preparation
After the last attempt with Imperial Oolong, I was looking for something to cleanse the palate of the lingering taste of lightly-toasted, semi-rotted wet leaves, and chose this one.
Whew, quite a perfume there on opening the sample packet! Very peary, pear-squared, pear upon pears. This should do it… Looking at the ingredients, I’m wondering if the pollen in the mix is the only additive to contribute the honey flavor?
After four minutes, I’ve got a clear, medium-dark brown liquor with great clouds of pear scent coming off of it. The taste is overwhelmingly pear, but now we’re getting into “too much of a good thing” category. It’s moving in the direction of pear incense or perfume (pearfume?), i.e. a little too artificial or at least overpowering. I’m going to add some cream and sugar to this one to see how it works out…
I think that’s better. The honey flavor is coming out more now, and combines well with the pear. Still, the pear component is a little too ramped up for me. I’d have another cup of this if offered, but won’t go out of my way to order it.
Preparation
This one is really making me question my understanding of Oolongs. The dry leaf smells innocuous enough, and the liquor is an unassuming clear medium-brown. Surprises await though, first in the scent. I’m getting a mix of, strangely enough, popcorn and mulch in this one; could that be right? The first sip confirms it. I’ve never had anything quite like it, and can’t figure out if it’s just an acquired taste that I haven’t yet acquired, or if there’s something amiss with this particular batch. After a few sips, the aftertaste is particularly unpleasant, so I don’t think I’ll be finishing this one off. Too bad! I’m going to leave off rating this one, as I really think it could be an off batch.
Preparation
Wow, that does seem like it was an off batch. I went back and re-read my note and still couldn’t really recall this one. I think that I used the term “musky cedar.” I don’t think that I did an initial rinse on the leaves, but maybe this one needs it. Apparently I did 4 steeps and got some sweet, but overall I think that this was just okay. :(
I don’t recall this one being that different from other darker oolongs. I agree it sounds like an off batch. Or an off taste bud day. ;-)
It’s fascinating to me how taste is so subjective, so much about the relationship between the taster and the tasted. Yet despite the fact that we all come from different backgrounds, some of the teas we taste still rise towards the top and some drift towards the bottom of the rating scale.
So many teas, so little time to try them all!
Really looking forward to this one, to see what distinctive notes I could find in this Assam variety.
First thing, I’m learning a lesson here: I will no longer store anything next to previously opened (even if zip-locked shut) bags of tea flavored with coconut. The scent is too strong and recognizable to me, and it clouds my ability to tell what else might be in there.
So, I’m relying on the steeped scent of the tea (slightly fruity) rather than the dry leaf. The liquor is dark, clear brown, even after barely three minutes. In fact given the depth of the color, I’m surprised by how mild the flavor is. There’s a good mouth feel, a little bit of astringency, and a pronounced peppery note that I like, woven into some more subtle dry fruit flavors, somewhat akin to Darjeeling. I like it, but I think I’ll try steeping it a bit longer next time and see what else appears.
Preparation
Others have commented on the beauty of finding little pink rosebuds in the mix, and I was also happy to find these miniature beauties floating around among the long white tea leaves and tiny shards of coconut. Nice smell to the dry leaf – coconut is definitely there, and I find that such a strong smell that it’s hard for me to get at what else might be present.
I gave it 2 minutes at 180 degrees, and think that was just about right. I love coconut, so I don’t mind that the taste tends to take over. I’m not getting a whole lot of vanilla in the tea itself, or rose for that matter, but that’s perfectly okay with me. The roses should be there just because they look nice. Next time I make up a pot of this I’m going to try to suss out where the vanilla is hiding.