4843 Tasting Notes
Backlog:
This tea taught me something – goji berries are also known as wolfberries.
The description from M&K’s says that this tastes like: “like an apple met a cinnamon stick and got caught in a magical honey ocean.” and yeah … it does.
I love that the base is a green rooibos – which I prefer over red rooibos. Green rooibos is a little sweeter, lighter, and fruitier than the woodsy/nutty red rooibos.
Event though wolfberries = goji berries, I didn’t taste a strong goji berry flavor. Instead, I tasted honey, butterscotch, cinnamon and apple.
It was quite a wonderful tisane and I’m glad I tried it.
Backlog:
Of the various apple teas that 52Teas/SBT offered this past autumn season (and into the winter season) this was by far my favorite. As I sipped on it, it tasted like an Apple Crisp.
The apple and the Oolong used in the base of this tea are really a good match. The Darjeeling Oolong has a natural “crispness” to it that works well of the crisp apple notes. There’s a hint of warm spice and a touch of brown sugar to this too.
This tea gets a big YUM from me. I liked this one a lot.
Backlog:
I enjoyed this. I didn’t necessarily agree with the ‘chai’ part of the name, simply adding cinnamon to a tea doesn’t make it a chai in my book. Sure, I know tea = chai but for me, chai = spices. Cinnamon isn’t enough to make this a chai for me.
That said, it’s still tasty. The pu-erh is smooth and earthy and mellow and I thought that the cinnamon and licorice root complemented the earthy notes of the pu-erh. The peppermint gave it a lovely freshness and the vanilla gave it a soft, creamy note.
An enjoyable pu-erh blend.
Backlog:
I revisited this tea recently because it was part of December’s Amoda Tea Box. Yeah, that’s right! Amoda is back, baby!
I was thrilled with last month’s box, which included four sample sizes of teas, DIY loose leaf teabags (which are really unnecessary for me but I know that some people like them), tasting notes, a ‘Stellar’ story link which offers you song choices to listen to as you sip on the teas of the month, and a yummy chai infused marshmallow.
I like their new format – I like the size of the samplers, I like that there are four teas and I’ve always appreciated the tea vendors that Amoda chooses to feature in their monthly boxes. I’m not really into the whole Stellar thing mostly because as I say in my full-length review of this tea – http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/12/17/ball-chain-oolong-tea-from-indie-tea/ – I’m more of a Guns N’ Roses kind of girl than an indie music kind of girl. But different strokes for different folks.
This tea is still just as tasty as I remember it being. I love the flavor of the dates: it’s a good, strong flavor. A nice caramel-y note. The dark Oolong brings a touch of roasty-toasty, smoky flavor to the cup. It all comes together in a really lovely way.
Thanks Amoda!
Backlog:
This tea is worth it just for the dry leaf aroma – it smells amazing. The floral notes together with the creamy vanilla notes is absolutely delightful.
As I point out in the full-length review of this tea: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/12/16/reading-nook-tea-blend-from-plum-deluxe/ – the Plum Deluxe website says that this is “a black tea with an herbal taste.” That pretty much sums up the flavor of this tea, except that I would exchange the word “herbal” for “floral.”
This is a very floral tasting black tea – but not perfume-ish. The black tea is a mellow tasting tea – I suspect it’s a Ceylon. The floral notes really come through – and I like the way they do come through. It’s a bit like a dance on the palate and it’s quite lovely.
Backlog:
A tasty iced tea. I like that it’s sweet without being cloying.
While I would sip casually, this isn’t an obvious apple flavored tea. When I focus on the sip, I pick up on the apple notes, but as I sip casually, the apple doesn’t reach out and grab me.
That said, it’s really good and kept me sipping, not because I was looking for the apple but because I was really enjoying what I was tasting. The black tea seems to taste a bit smoother with the apple. It’s sweet but not too sweet and it has an invigorating quality without being bitter, astringent or too aggressive in flavor.
It’s a really nice iced tea.
Backlog:
The flavors are a little subtle – I was told ahead of time by Marty (who I’m guessing is the M in M&K’s) that the pine notes were pretty subtle in the pine teas from the winter teas collection. So I expected that.
Even so, I still can taste all the elements of the tea. Subtle mint notes, a sweet green tea note, berry notes that add a touch of tartness to the cup, a hint of honey. The pine notes develop as I continue to sip.
Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/12/14/mintberry-pine-green-tea-blend-from-m-ks-tea-company/
Backlog:
I’ve never made any big secret about the fact that I prefer loose leaf over the bag – I think most of us here do. So, when this tea was sent to me to review by Buddha Teas, I really had my doubts. Oolong teas just shouldn’t be in a tea bag, they need that room to expand.
But I tried to go into the review with an open mind.
The box says it’s a four seasons Oolong, but I would question that because I’ve had a few four season Oolong teas and they weren’t like this. This reminded me more of a Formosa Oolong. It was toasty and warm with more fruity notes than floral notes. The four seasons Oolong teas that I’m familiar with have always been more floral and vegetal than toasty/warm and fruity.
I thought maybe I steeped it wrong so I got another bag and tried again – and got the same results … this is definitely more like the Formosa Oolongs than the four seasons Oolongs that I’ve known.
It’s still a pretty tasty tea – regardless of ‘name’ and even regardless of the bag. Sure, it’d probably be even better without the bag but it’s pretty good.
Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/12/13/organic-oolong-tea-from-buddha-teas/
Backlog:
I don’t want to jinx anything, but I may just get caught up soon. I’m getting ever so much closer. OH joy! It will be weird for me when I’m not writing tasting notes for other people’s teas anymore. But it will be a good weird. It will also be weird reading what other people think about my teas again. Again … a good weird (at least I hope so!)
I think I enjoyed this more than some of the other tasters of this tea here on Steepster. That’s based solely on the numeric rating that I saw as I scrolled down while I was waiting for this page to load. I thought this was rather yummy.
I think I liked that I could really taste the black tea prominently. It tastes rich and there’s a touch of malt to it and the black tea melds nicely with these flavors. The toffee maybe brings out the malt a little bit. There is some astringency to this but it’s not an overpowering presence of astringency.
More chocolate would be good here. Not a surprise comment from me, right? The toffee is sweet and buttery.
It’s tasty.
Backlog:
I love LiShan Oolongs! And Teavivre is one of the best companies when it comes to awesome Taiwan Oolong teas!
As I said in the intro of my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/12/11/nonpareil-taiwan-li-shan-oolong-tea-from-teavivre/ – I knew I was going to be a happy sipper when the first sound I emitted when I tasted this tea was “mmmm” and the first words I uttered were, “Oh my goodness, this is lovely!”
And lovely, it is!
Creamy, smooth, sweet. No bitterness or astringency. Sweet, warm cream notes with hints of orchid, and whispers of peach, melon and apple. Later infusions became more unified, creating a medley of the fruit notes that meld with the lovely florals. Still creamy, the creaminess becomes a little subdued and mingles with the other flavors.
A definite must try!
