Still as good as the last time I drank it. I also noticed that along with the malty flavour there’s some fruity notes in the tea that make me think of sweet raisins.
1427 Tasting Notes
There’s just something about the taste of this tea that reminds me of Buckley’s cough syrup – the one that has the slogan “It Tastes Aweful. And It Works” for good reason. Its ingredients include things like camphor and pine oil, and maybe it’s purely psycological but I swear I’m tasting those things in this tea. It’s not all bad, I’m geting a nice, fruity kiwi note in the aftertaste. But let’s be honest, the only time I want to taste Buckley’s is when I’ve got a bad bout of the flu.
So that’s the end of this tea. I know I said it was a fairly average chai, but I have noticed that it has a smokey quality to the leaves. So either they’ve been contaminated with soemthing else or the blender used a Russian Caravan or some other smokey tea for the base. I still don’t think that makes this tea rave worthy, though it tastes good enough with milk and honey stirred into it.
This tea has a really interesting scent being very herbal and sweet with hints of fruit and spices. I can totally tell there’s ginseng in there as there really isn’t anything else that smells like ginseng does.
The flavour of the tea seems to go in waves, first lightly fruity, then there are hints of cinnamon, then it finishes off with the rather herbal-tasting ginseng and the licorice root, the later leaving a sweet aftertaste in my mouth. There’s not really one ingredient that really comes to the fore – not even the ginseng – instead it all just sort of blends together. It makes for an interesting mix of flavours, but not an unlikeable one.
I was quite excited about this tea as Frank’s cheesecake blends tend to be a big hit with me. Unfortunately while I can smell the cheesecake flavours, they aren’t really present in the flavours. And it seems to have the same problem that the Pumpkin Pie black tea had in that you can’t really taste any of the actual pumpkin. Instead the flavour is mostly what I’d call pumpkin pie spices, like cinnamon and cloves.
I’ve got to say I’m rather disapointed. :(
I’ve discovered that a little bit of agave nectar really brings out the sweetness in this tea. You also get a lot more flavour out of it with a longer steeping time. So all in all, not bad.
Not bad, I was afraid the rooibos wold ruin it but I can barely taste it. The citrus flavour makes a great counterpoint to the cool mint and it doesn’t come of as being too herbal-tasting. There’s a nice low-level sweetness too, so I don’t think this tisane needs any sweetner. It would be a great tea to try iced methinks, too bad it’s not really the time of year for iced tea anymore where I live.
With the last of this sample I decided to experiment with a lower steeping temperature which I don’t often do with a black tea. The result is a smoother, more gentle tea which still retains its malty qualities.
I got three good steepings out of this tea at 1 min, 2 min, and 3 min respectively. It was really neat how those little, tightly curled-up dry leaves unfurl into whole, good-sized leaves once they’re in the water.
It’s a malty tea but it also has a hint of bitterness to it, though not the sort of bitterness you’d get from cheap tea or oversteeping, it’s more an inherent characteristic of the tea.
This tea also goes quite excellently with a milk at a higher steeping time, I’ve discovered. The Nilgiri base instead of the usual Ceylon was a great choice for this tea – it supports the vanilla and gives the tea body without becoming too strong or astringent and drowning the flavours out.
This tea looks so neat with its little gold and black coils – I’m used to only seeing green teas rolled like that (the usual Bi Luo Chun) so this is an interesting change. The first steep was only for 1:30 minutes but still yielded plenty of flavour – if the strength of the tea was any indication I wouldn’t do the initial steeping for any longer. It has what I’d call a typical Yunnan flavour, a mix of malty and smokey flavours with a hint of bitterness. It’s got quite a punch to it, so subtle this tea most definitely is not.
The second steeping at 3:00 minutes was more mild but still very flavourful. I imagine I could get at least two more steepings out of these leaves if I had the time – unfortunately that experiment will have to wait for another day as I have to run off to work right now. :(
You know I could have sworn that I’d already written a tasting note about this tea, but clearly I’m mistaken.
A longer steeping time seems to do well for this particular blend. It’s a pleasent mix of the lightly sweet honeybush and tart raspberry – and it actually is raspberry not hibiscus in disguise. The cream cheese flavours are more subtle but they’re in there, hanging out in the background, and they’re particularly noticeable as the tea cools off.
I think this tea is a great end-of-the-day blend for when I feel like something a little sweet but without the caffeine or calories.
Much better with a longer steeping time. I can taste more of the peachy and citrus flavours although they still don’t shout out to me, but at least I know they’re actually there. ;)
Yum, this tea is a good one. The smell alone could have told me that – it was a real, raw-vanilla scent rather than something artificial. The tea itself is wonderfully flavourful and the creamy vanilla is nothing short of delicious. The tea is full-flavoured without being bitter or astringent and I have no problem drinking this cup without milk.
De-cupboarding this tea and I’m sad to see it go. This one was a real winner from Frank and I’m glad that it’s part of the permanant collection so I can get more when the mood strikes me. :D
Well, this whole experience started out quite nice – I really enjoyed the smell of the dry tea – fruity with an intriguing hint of booze (vodka?) to it. Too bad that all got drowned out by the hibiscus. I suppose I’m biased but I can’t bring myself to enjoy a tea this sour, particularly since none of the flavours of the other ingredients in the tisane manage to rise to conteract it. I think there wouldn’t be a whole lot of difference tastewise between drinking this and drink straight hisbscus.
Ah well, at least it’s good for me (supposedly).
It has a very nice scent – peachy mixed with citrus. However in terms of flavour it’s the green rooibos that I can taste the most prominently. It’s an interesting flavour, slightly herbal, slightly woody (though nowhere near as bad as red rooibos). The fruit notes are sticking to the background, though I wonder if steeping the tea longer might not bring them out.
Dear god, is it it true??!! Could there possibly be a cranberry-flavoured tea out there that doesn’t taste like it’s loaded with hibiscus?!
This tea is berry-flavoured with just a hint of sourness and it actually tastes like real cranberries, though they keep the flavour subtle. I’m also picking up the hint of almonds other people have been talking about, and while it seems like it would be mis-matched with the cranberry the two flavours actually blend together quite well.
De-cupboarding this tea – I’ve noticed that all the spices like to settle to the bottom of the bag, so the last few cups had a quite a kick to them!
There’s a noticeable tannic note when I drink this tea plain, so I think I prefer it with a bit of milk even though it clashes with the mint a bit and the tea doesn’t really have the strong spice flavour I’m used to associating with chais.
It turns out that this tea stands up nicely to having milk added as well without losing any of its rose flavour. This is a still a girly tea. ;)
This goes really nicely with those Adagio Tea cookies, I’ve discovered. Together they make for a wonderful, caffeine-free (well mostly) dessert.
These cookies have a surprisingly spicy kick to them, rich with the flavours of cloves, cardamom, and ginger just to name a few – very chai-like. The addition of the candied pineapple was a nice surprise it gives the cookies a little pop of sweetness to balance out the spices. I think out of the three kinds of tea cookies these ones are my favorite.
I liked the smell of this tea, it’s sweet and fruity and reminds me of blueberry pie or cobbler. Sadly the sweetness is mostly confined to the smell and right as I take my first sip I can pick out the tart hibiscus. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as horribly sour as some blends (I’m looking at you Stash’s fruit teas) but it’s still kind of unecessary as blueberry isn’t normally a tart fruit to begin with. There is some actual blueberry flavour there too, thankfully, but I’m not really feeling the sage and mixed with the tartness of the hibiscus it gives the tea a bit of an acrid, unpleasent flavour.
Sorry, this one isn’t a winner.
