2291 Tasting Notes

drank Pineapple Oolong by DAVIDsTEA
2291 tasting notes

While this one isn’t really ‘cheap’, it’s so accessible I don’t feel bad about making it iced in my Contigo mugs.

Having that today, and it’s delicious. The flavour comes through well when iced, and I don’t need to add any extra sugar other than what’s already in the candied pineapple.

Yummers.

Might need to get some more, as I can see this (or something like it – any less expensive options?) being a summer staple.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Bear With Me

Go out and get some bulk candied/dried pineapple, and blend it with a light straight base (whatever you prefer). It’s basically what I did to replace Banana Oolong (only with banana chips instead of pineapple, haha)

OMGsrsly

Haha. Of course! Then I can get an inexpensive-yet-decent oolong and add as much fruit as I want. :) I’ll have to try it!

Bear With Me

it’ll take a lot of trial and error, but I found it to be worth it with my banana mix. Mine worked out to be a 1/3 vanilla orchid, 1/3 Teaopia milk oolong, and 1/3 of a random TGY with about 1/3 that total volume of crushed banana chips. I definitely suggest cutting/breaking up the pieces of pineapple, because the candied outside seals in a lot of the flavour. Cutting/splitting it up means more surface area for the water to get to, and more fruity goodness to suck out. Good luck!!

OMGsrsly

Thanks! :) You definitely have more oolongs to play with than I do. I might end up doing another Tealux sample order, or finding somewhere with a smaller minimum for free shipping…

Bear With Me

haha, I have WAY more tea than any sane person should ever have in their personal collection! And it wasn’t so much that I had more to play with, it was more that I knew I like the flavour profiles of the ones I picked, and thought they’d pair well with banana. Then it was a matter of finding which one, or in this case combination, created the flavour I was looking for. It was definitely worth it in the end though! I ended up liking my personal blend better than the bought one because it had some of the things I felt were lacking in the other one.
Might I suggest something like a dong ding to pair with pineapple? as much as I like TGY with it, I think dong ding (or as DAVIDs calls it, tung ting) would work even better! Hmm, maybe i’ll hit up the local Bulk Barn, and do some experimenting with other fruits…? Dangit, look what you went and made me do! ;)

OMGsrsly

:D Report back, please! I love hearing about this sort of thing.

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Yum! Got me through my meeting this morning.

I really like this tea, even though I think I underleafed it. It’s hard to measure these gigantic leaves!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec
JustJames

mine came in the mail yesterday…. i’m trying to pace myself, lol.

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I’m SO disappointed that it doesn’t work for me. It smells like creamsicles for real, but once steeped all I can taste is the hay-like guayusa, and apparently I really don’t like that flavour. I’ll just sit here with my nose in the bag, OK?

:(

In other news, I’m sitting on a $50 shopping cart at DavidsTea. Persian Apple (for the BFF), Merry Cranberry, and Ever Green. I’m not sure about the Merry Cranberry or the Ever Green, but I really really really want to try them and this seems like it’s the only way now.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 min, 0 sec
TeaLady441

That’s too bad. Do you have a lot of it? Maybe you can swap it for a sample of Merry Cranberry? (Well… that’s a long shot).

OMGsrsly

Haha. I got 1 oz or whatever the minimum was as I was the only one who wanted to try it in the order. The Apple Cider is OK, as the spices kind of hide the hay a bit. :) Taste and learn, right?

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drank Eau Blanche by TWG Tea Company
2291 tasting notes

Thanks to CrowKettle for the sample.

Umm. It’s a white tea. It smells really nice and fruity and sweet – almost perfume-like. It tastes fruity and sweet, but I can kind of tell it’s flavoured, as it’s not exactly super subtle. IDK.

I think I brewed it wrong because I am getting some bitterness and it’s drying my mouth out. White teas aren’t my favourite, so I want CrowKettle to try this tea so I can copy her brewing methods. :)

(1 tsp in 8 oz, because I can’t find instructions anywhere!)

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Crowkettle

Oh, boy! My hopes are not high for this one. I’ll go make some asap.

OMGsrsly

It smells so pretty! But I’m not a fan of the taste. It’s no Watermelon Xylophone… :D

Crowkettle

Ok, I drank it but I don’t feel like making a note right now. It’s pretty meh.

OMGsrsly

Oh no! That is not promising. The black tea was pretty meh as well. Decent enough, but nothing special. I went and made a list of the cheap teas I’d consider trying from there, but I’m kinda reconsidering.

OMGsrsly

I do want the $5000 tea pot, though. One of these days. When I win the lotto. :)

Crowkettle

I think this tea may be over-flavoured but I’ll need a couple more sessions with it and see how it resteeps first before I figure out what I don’t like about it.

I loved their pots and teacups too, and also hope to win the lotto one day. :)

OMGsrsly

I can’t imagine what that nose-burningly scented one would taste like. And the price. Yeesh!

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drank Pistachio Ice Cream by Butiki Teas
2291 tasting notes

Hmm. This is good, I like the flavours a lot, but the base is no Dragonwell. I prefer the Grapefruit Dragon and With Open Eyes just because I like the base tea more.

YMMV, etc. I just apparently have very specific green tea likes!

The second steep is very nice as well. I did 4 mins at about 180F.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 30 sec
Plunkybug

Must not read Steepster til I get my Butiki stuff. :p

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drank Alfonso by TWG Tea Company
2291 tasting notes

I got this at The Urban Tea Merchant.

Hmm. So far not terribly impressed. I can’t find any steeping instructions on their website, so I’m going with my general black-tea-brewing-parameters: 2 tsp, 16 oz water just off the boil, 3 minutes.

The tea smells delicious. Mango and other tropical fruits kinda attack the nostrils when opening the bag.

After steeping, the tea still smells of mango, with a strong black tea base in the background. 3 minutes worked perfectly as the tea is completely drinkable as-is. The mango flavour is a little odd, and seems to get a little lost in the strong base. I added a little sugar, sipped, shrugged, and added some soy creamer.

The mango is mostly lost, sadly. I can smell it, and sort of taste it, but I’m mostly getting a breakfast tea taste from this, only a little fruitier.

I’ll have to try this one iced and cold-steeped. Not something I’d rush out and buy more of, but I don’t have another mango tea in my cupboard, and I think that this one, as is, will be a good morning travel mug tea.

Edit: As it cools it’s getting more floral. IDK. I’m ambivalent.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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92

I’ve been out of this tea for a week, and I’ve really missed it. Yum, berry juice! I got a tin stuffed full, so hopefully this will last me a little longer…

(Hot brewed, poured over ice.)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec
TeaLady441

Mmmm… it smelled so good too!

OMGsrsly

This is one seriously addictive fruit tea.

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O. M. G.

(Yeah, I’m going to be fangirling Butiki for a while. I got a lot of teas from them, and I want to try one a day (at least!).)

This one. When I was splitting the package last night, my thought was, “Can I have this as a perfume? This is what I want to smell like.” Sadly, I am not made of tea (yet), and tea scented perfumes are hard to come by at the local Sephora, so drinking it will have to suffice.

Steeped, I smell that quintessential tea smell, with honey and, yes, hay. Sweet hay.

Drinking it it’s surprisingly floral and fruity. I’m not really sure what flowers and fruits..

This tea is completely unlike anything I’ve tried before. I haven’t had a Darjeeling in YEARS, to begin with, and this one is so green and it brews up so light and yellow. It’s a little astringent, but barely at all. It doesn’t need any additions, as the flavour is so lovely on its own.

I will gladly drink it all up, but I’m not sure I’ll buy more.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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69

Sipping this iced as I log the teas that have come into my house today. Umm. In my spreadsheet. I’ll do the spreadsheet first, then I’ll update Steepster.

I bought/was given 11 teas. That wasn’t really the point of today, but I’m not going to say no to moar tea!

Oh yeah. This tea won’t be getting a great rating from me even though I repurchased 100g today. I’m really undecided about it because it is everything I dislike, yet it’s so refreshing I keep drinking it. Weird, I know.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 7 min, 0 sec

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Aww yisssss. Smells like Jolly Ranchers, only better. I was finishing portioning out the Order of Doom tonight, and this tea has called my name, even though I a) don’t like watermelon or, uhh, white tea (why did I get 0.5oz?!) and b) it’s 11:40pm.

I’m brewing it as directed, with a couple rock sugar crystals. Fingers crossed!

Uhh, yum. So glad I went for this tonight. It’s delicious! Tastes almost how it smells, but the white tea (which is honestly the best white tea I’ve ever had) really shines.

Conclusion: I’m really glad I got 0.5oz of this one. I’ll have to convince my BFF to have some, because it truly is nice. (I think she thought it smelled too much like candy. Doesn’t taste like candy.)

Note to self: If you leave your kettle open for 10 mins after it boils, it reaches 175F.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 4 min, 30 sec
JustJames

LMAO @ your last comment.

OMGsrsly

It’s important to know how long to leave the kettle for! I should have also noted that this was my full 1.7L kettle. :)

Chizakura

I loved this one too. Sooooo sweet and good. :)

But eek, drinking this at 11:40PM? Dx I wouldn’t be able to sleep all night. If I drink white teas at 7 or later, sleep doesn’t happen.

OMGsrsly

I’d had a nap, and wasn’t planning on sleeping soon anyways. :) Went to bed about 3:30, so that was ok. I’ve done 3 steeps so far, and although the watermelon is fading, the white tea just keeps giving. So good.

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I mostly drink black tea.

Also: A map of tea places in Vancouver. I’ve been to some of them, but not a lot. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!
http://goo.gl/maps/gXsKK

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