ToiToi

Thanks to Shadowfall for letting me try this tea.
Scorpio is my zodiac. Scorpio is known to be “passionate & jealous”
Combined these two factors, I was so curious about this tea. Would it be really bitter? Would it be really sour? Just when I think of scorpio, it’s definitely not something sweet or smooth :)
When I brewed it, I smelled smooth, somewhat sweet scent of rooibos. I was surprised that they chose to use rooibos as base, but then, more surprised that it was vanilla flavored — When I drank it it was very smooth vanilla rooibos tea. Really? Scorpio & Vanilla? Just..unexpected combination.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked this tea. Just name did not work for me :)

Again, thanks to awkward soul for letting me try this tea.
I had good experience with long life oolong from david’s tea so I guess I was expecting a bit much from this tea. It kinda tasted similar to long life oolong tea to me, but just with less flavor. I couldn’t really feel “carrot cake” from this tea, but maybe it’s because I haven’t had carrot cake for so long? lol
It is decent tea, but just nothing for me to wow! about :)

Thanks to Awkward Soul for letting me try this tea.
I got this tea from meetup yesterday. (OC steepster meetup) I received so much tea from meeka and awkward soul! :) I tried couple of them already and trying to write a tasting note.
When I first saw this tea, I was like… “corn…O.O?” I have never seen any tea blend that uses corn so it caught my eyes. Following up, blending seemed like they put a lot of different things together. I brewed it, and could smell some tarty fruity scent. Couldn’t feel the corn after it was brewed lol When I drank it, it tasted somewhere between white & green (as you can expect from blending)
Honestly, I wasn’t really impressed by it. I could feel some bitterness from white tea, and mix of white & green wasn’t working for me. :/ Nothing impressive.

No notes yet.

This was a swap from Rachel. It’s been awhile but I have not had a chance to drink this matcha. Finally today, I sat down to try this matcha.

First of all, I do not know how to properly brew matcha.. I don’t really know how much water or oz to put so I just put 1tsp of matcha and put a bit of water, and when color looked fine… just drank it. I was expecting somewhat of bitterness, however it did not taste bitter at all. However, I couldn’t really tell the taste of tiramisu – except creamy flavor at the end. Maybe that was it..?

I guess I’m still at experimental stage of matcha. :)

Thanks to cteresa for sending me this!
I love mariage freres tea, however never tried their teabags.
The muslin teabags looked so cute!

When I opened it, I smelled something very fruity.
I couldn’t wait to try it so I brewed in a pot. Maybe I added too much water?
When I brewed it, I couldn’t smell much fruits anymore.

In terms of taste – it was very mild, easy to drink.
No bitterness, just very mild green tea taste.

Overall, I liked it! I just wish I brewed it better.
Interestingly though, after I finished a pot and smelled a pot, it smelled just like the tea leaves. I don’t know why I couldn’t sense the scent when I was drinking.

Thanks to queenoftarts for this tea! I got this tea since I love good jasmine tea, and it is my mother’s favorite tea. When I tried it, it feels just like jasmine. Small pearls of rolled jasmine leaves looked pretty. Nice, mild floral scent you can find in jasmine was definitely there with mild, refreshing and clean taste. I liked it! I brewed in just my usual pot but I think I wanna try using gaiwan next time and see how it goes :)

Thanks to Dinosara again for swap!
This is another tea that made me wonder why della named it apple&herb. When I opened it, I mostly smelled spices, barely any apple. Even looking at the blending, it made me wonder if this is blending for chai. In fact when I brewed it it smelled and tasted like mild chai. I liked it, but just feel like name would be misleading for buyers?

Thanks to Dinosara for swapping the tea :) I tried this tea after Apple & Herb, up on request of my mother. (I will post review for apple & Herb soon) When I smelled it, it kinda felt like apple pie rather than nut&honey which surprised me. In fact it reminded me of gwendalina’s baked apple from Tea Gschwendner, which got me excited. However when I tried it, despite of wonderful fragrance, it did not have sweetness of gwendalina’s baked apple. It was mild, typical rooibos flavor. When I brewed it it had a golden color, which was pretty :) but with rooibos I usually see more red color so perhaps I put too much water? It was still good tea, just not sure if I like it enough to place an order for it. (and I wonder why they named it nut&honey crunch when it was more like.. baked apple.)

Thank you to CharlotteZero for sending me this tea to try. It is actually my first verdant tea to try, I picked it up since I have never tried Dancong Black so it got me curious. I was surprised when I looked at tea leaves – it looked very dried compared to most of tea I see. When I smelled it, I sensed very smokey and roasty smell, which reminded me of Keemun. Since I am somewhat picky when it comes to smokey tea, I got worried – however it was unnecessary! I actually ended up leaving it steep longer than I wanted but it didn’t leave me any bitterness in flavor. It was very mind, and there was unique mild smokey flavor. Overall, I liked it! :)

It was a swap from queenoftarts. Thanks for the generous portion! I love good oolong tea thus namegot me ccurious. When I brewed it (just using teapot, not using gaiwan) not the typical way I brew oolong since looking at the tea leaf it seemed there are more other stuffs rather than oolong itself. Also it seemed pretty red – so it got me confused a bit. However when I brewed it it smellef nice. Very mild taste and somewhat fruity scent.

Final verdict: I liked it. It is not for people who wants to try classic oolong but work for people who wants some twist- or simply beginner for oolong tea.

This was sent by cteresa, along with the swap list. Thank you so much for sending me extra sample teas for me to try.

I have been really curious about this tea as this was one of top seller for harney and sons. Personally I find harney and sons just ok brand; nothing bad but nothing impressive either. I love their hot cinnamon tea but paris was slightly good and bangkok was just not my cup of tea. I tried vanilla comoro with my sister but it was just mediocre. Couldn’t really smell vanilla much and tea taste was mild. I’ve had better vanilla tea in my opinion :)

Final verdict: nothing horrible but nothing impressive so I’ll pass for future purchase~