247 Tasting Notes

53

I bought this one from iheartteas through the out of retirement effort with 52teas.

It smells tart. I can definitely smell raspberry, but the watermelon isn’t yet present.

170/3 min. The sencha tastes divine. It has a richness that blends so well. It’s thick and slightly buttery. The tea is very tart from the raspberry. Very tart. It makes me pucker. I cannot taste watermelon. I’m going to try again at a shorter steep time.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec
RachanaC (Rachel)-iHeartTeas

The watermelon is light but it is there. Maybe try 170 at 2:30 just a thought and if that doesn’t work the iced is great. Just a thought :-)

Tabby

Love this tea dearly. <3

QuiltGuppy

How long do you steep it? I was thinking of dropping to one minute to see if it reduces the raspberry tartness.

Tabby

I never noticed any tartness, and I think I steeped for the same time…

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88
drank GenMaicha by Sanctuary T
247 tasting notes

Another one of my little BYOTea packets. This one, however, surprised me. It has to be one of the messiest teas to try to get pinches into the little bags. I’m not convinced that this is the best tea for this system, not only for that reason, but also because the bags themselves don’t seem to allow the matcha to dissipate completely into the tea. Since I love genmaicha regardless, the absence of the matcha doesn’t disappoint me all too much. The genmaicha is really good. It tastes very nutty and savory. It’s slightly vegetal tasting, but not too much. I boiled the water and let it cool about five minutes or so, then put the bag in. It steeped for about four minutes. The result was pretty good overall.

Preparation
4 min, 0 sec

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81
drank Spring Harvest by Sanctuary T
247 tasting notes

I have this one in the BYOTea set. It’s the first one I’ve tried, even though I ordered the set a few months ago. If you haven’t seen it, it’s pretty neat for people on the go who like loose tea, but may not have the equipment with them. (Think vacation, work, commuting, etc.) It comes with 10 biodegradable tea pouches to put 3-4 pinches of tea in. I found that four works best for my travel mug. The tea is kept in these plastic folded pouches that remind me of a clutch handbag. When it’s folded up, the plastic seals shut and the tea is kept safely inside. Ingenious, actually.

I’m in class right now, so I warmed the teapot almost to boiling. I’ve burned myself so many times, that I’ve been working on guesstimating the temperature of the water and stopping it before it boils. I’ve got it down to sound, however, since I’m not all that certain of temperature, I’ve left it off. I did let it steep for about three minutes.

The tea smells fresh and fruity, both before and after steeping. The taste is refreshing. The green tea is somewhat grassy, but not like a really green, green tea. It complements the tropical fruit nicely. The passion fruit provides a fullness to the flavor. It’s not a weak taste, nor is is sickly sweet. I’d say it’s rather realistic. I also taste pineapple, although it could be my tropical imagination getting the better of me. I’m really thrilled with the convenience of these little packets of tea.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec
KeenTeaThyme

I hadn’t heard of this before your review. Sounds pretty cool – I’ll have to give it a go. :)

QuiltGuppy

The packets are nice, but the tea’s shelf life won’t be as long as if it were stored in a tin. It’s still a neat concept. My students all crowded around me as if I had made some new discovery, so it added to the atmosphere of exploring something new.

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90
drank Dan Cong by thepuriTea
247 tasting notes

Dry, this tea reminds me of long, dark fingers. Some of the leaves are as long as my pinkie finger. It smells so wonderful, nutty and floral together.

195/3 min. The tea is a medium reddish color. Its scent is bold with a fruity undertone. I smell the nuttiness still and almost a chocolate like flavor. More like cocoa. The taste is phenomenal. Fruity and nutty, and definitely a cocoa note, like unsweetened dark chocolate. I am particularly drawn to the fruitiness in the tea because as it cools, it becomes more and more pronounced.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85
drank Four Seasons by Tula Teas
247 tasting notes

In the packet, I’m not picking up much of a scent.
195/3 min
This is a nice midday oolong. It’s not very strong or intense in any way. It’s floral and somewhat delicate. As it cools, it’s very slightly sweet, but just a hint.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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40
drank Milk Oolong by TeaCuppa
247 tasting notes

Yet another milk oolong. This was one of three teas I ordered from TeaCuppa (the company who listed the tea as incense on the customs form.) The first tea was disgusting and I was so worried this would be the same, especially after reading the reviews. The scent was buttery, but not a natural butter scent. I was a bit worried.

195/3min. It’s not so bad. Frankly, it’s not the best tea I’ve tasted, however, it’s certainly drinkable. The milkiness is not very profound, not what I’d expect in a typical milk oolong, but I do like the floral aspect to it. It’s not perfume-like in its flavor, but more natural. That I do like. So, not a total flop.

Second steep: No flavor at all is left. It’s wasteful to buy a tea that’s only good for one weak steep.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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93

This is so extraordinary from the moment I opened the container. I actually got this for my husband, who loves the Spiced Ethiopian tea we normally drink. It’s such a pain to clear the basket of the leftover leaves, so I bought this in sachets. It arrived today and I decided it was a good night to try it. Wow! Am I ever glad I did. It’s fabulous.

205/6min – It smells of cinnamon and oranges and the taste is the same. The real magic, however, occurs as this tea cools and an entirely new flavor profile emerges. It becomes sweeter and sweeter as the temperature drops. My favorite point is when it’s just lukewarm and tastes like a sweet and spicy cinnamon delight. It’s really a great tea!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 6 min, 0 sec
teawing

The hi-octane version is just as good. It reminded somewhat of Market Spice from Seattle. The first leaf tea I ever tried.

teawing

I am curious about Ethiopian Spice now…

Indigobloom

sounds positively delish! Spicy teas are so hard to find, have you tried Exotica from David’s tea? I think you’d like it :)

QuiltGuppy

I’ll send you some, since I’m sending other teas, too, to each of you! I’ll send some of both so you can compare this to the Ethiopian tea, which is superb, too.

QuiltGuppy

I haven’t tried Exotica yet. I was going to order the Orchid Oolong, but didn’t have my credit card and the next morning, I logged in and it was sold out! :( I hate when that happens. I’m a little miffed at DavidsTea for having popular teas that sell out.

teawing

I think you should change your name to “Tea Queen” or “Tea Goddess” :)
Who blends the Ethiopian?

QuiltGuppy

Blue Nile – it’s a local restaurant’s brand that is really outstanding.

Indigobloom

I second Teawing’s notion!! Tea Goddess… ;)

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79

I received this tea in a swap with Ottawa Tea… thanks!

It smelled like cinnamon in the bag, sweet and spicy at the same time. 195/3 min (plus another minute afterward because it was too weak)

The scent and flavor remind me a lot of Forever Nuts, however, in order to achieve that, I used nearly double the amount of tea than I normally do. I’ve found that some of Teavana’s teas just have so much stuff in them that the tea to stuff ratio is seriously off and requires adjustment. This tea is no exception.

Hot, it tastes of apples and cinnamon, but as it cools, it takes on more of a nutty sweetness, like an apple crumble or apple cobbler. It’s quite good, but I don’t think the cost it would take to produce a pot of this (with needing to double the tea amount) would be worth it in the long run.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec
IllBeMother221B

Thank you for the heads up. I find a similar problem with their teas too.

QuiltGuppy

It is frustrating. I went in to talk with them about it, moreso to be annoying than anything, and they acted like either my water or the temp or steep time were off. Then, at the end of the conversation, the woman told me that they have to adjust their tea amounts, too, or add more of TKY to some of the oolongs to get a more pronounced oolong base.

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92
drank Sweet Lily by Teavana
247 tasting notes

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64
drank Pouchong by Canton Tea Co
247 tasting notes

This was my wake up tea. I love the sample size packaging of the Canton Tea Company. It makes it so convenient with using the Breville. Enough for a cup at home and a travel mug.

I forgot to make notes about the dry leaf scent; however, nothing remarkable either way stands out. (I set this one up the evening before I drank it… and it was a long night for my sleepless toddler.) 195/3 min.

It smells floral. I can pick up on that as I come close to the teapot. The taste confirms the floral notes. I’m not certain, but I’m picking up an aftertaste of plastic. I’ve had this happen to me before with certain floral teas. This one is a delicate oolong, so I guess I’m not surprised. Still, it’s a nice tea. I like the slightly sweet finish.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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Profile

Bio

I’m a middle school teacher of French, Spanish, ESL and reading intervention. I’m also a mom to two young children.

I’ve always been a tea lover. When I lived in France during college, I really loved the tisanes. Over the past couple of years, I’ve branched off into loose teas. I’m not very knowledgeable about teas, but I’m really loving the learning process!

Location

Michigan

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