309 Tasting Notes
Scent from a distance is very cough-syrupy, but when you get your nose down into the dry leaves the amaretto scent is a delicious single scent.
The steeped scent has amaretto sweetness and a bitter tone of perhaps apricot pit and alcohol mixed. It smells like a mixed drink.
There isn’t a lot of taste on the tongue itself. You get a smooth or buttery consistency on the inside of the lips and the middle of the tongue. There is a flash of the bitter+amarretto flavor/scent in the nose as you swallow. The tisane feels full in the mouth.
Im not familiar with honeybush and not huge on tisanes, but must say that if you are into either this is worth trying. This does give the feel of the name in its taste.
Preparation
4.5g to 12oz water.
Little to no scent.
The taste is quite odd and yummy, both. It is very vegetal over-all and has a faint taste like dirt in the back of the mouth. This may sound not-good, but no, it just makes it an interesting cup.
This tea is also quite astringent under the tongue and in the back of the throat.
I will tinker with steeping times. This one is quite different.
Preparation
Third steeping.
It has turned very vegetal and puts one in mind of fresh mown grass -but in an oddly pleasant way. So far I’ve yet to find anything distinctly non-pleasing about this tea; each flavor that comes out is enjoyable.
I’m not sure I can stretch this to another steeping, but will give it a try.
I put 13 in my 12oz steeper cup.
The color is very clear, but with a cream hue.
The scent is sweet with a strong berry tone.
The taste is very lightly sweet with a hint of berry through the nose area, with a green and hay-like roundness in the mouth and back of throat. It has a medium and light finish.
This is my second white tea, after a Drum Mt. White; my spouse bought me a sample of each of Imperial Garden’s whites. I wasn’t quite sure about whites after the first one, but curious to try more. This makes me glad I tried more. It’s just lovely.
I look forward to fiddling with steep times and such; it’s a very pleasing tea… you could scarf it down if it wasn’t just so good you want to sip it.
Preparation
Nope, didn’t like it NOR think it’s good quality.
The smell of the steeped tea is lovely; all black tea and richly raspberry.
The taste has no raspberry in it, is all bitter, stinging black tea. The Ceylon isn’t even pleasant in this. The whole of it would be more suited to nasty medicine than a tea.
Preparation
Another case of “I liked it but wouldn’t buy any more of it”.
The dry and steeping scent is of apple & cinnamon sweetened oatmeal or maybe apple crumble.
The taste is much the same, but weaker. I’d steep it for longer next time to see if that strengthens the flavor, as it was at 4 minutes it was a little watery.
It tastes mostly of apple, red apple flesh in this case, with a hint of cinnamon sweetness in the nose and a toasted flavor around the cheeks just as you finish your sip.
It’s much more an apple drink than anything else. Would likely be loved by those big on fruit tisanes, but I’m not one of those. Again, I think it’s good as a fruit tea but I, personally, wouldn’t get any more of it and will be trading a lot of it.
Preparation
I cold brewed this for 23 hrs.
It is very floral but in an artificial/perfume way. It has the dark taste that tends to go alOng with black teas, that somewhat generic “tea flavor”.
Overall: not good. I could t finish the cup.
This tea is generally disappointing so far.
This time made with 4.5g to 12oz water, steeped 1 minute.
The smell has a stronger “muscatel” fragrance than other Darjeelings I’ve had. Slightly sweet.
This one is best drank warm but not hot. When truly hot the flavor doesn’t yet come out fully.
It’s a richer Darjeeling than I’m used to. It doesn’t have the (much loved by me) daintiness of others I’ve had.
It’s very round and filling in the mouth without hitting one particular area for flavor/feel. I’m not getting any of the pineapple or such from this. It’s a fairly flat tasting tea.
I’ll try this cold-brewed and see what I can get out of it that way.
Preparation
I made this with 2tsp to 12 oz water steeped for 2 minutes. Wasn’t greatly impressed. It came across as a fairly middle-of-road Darjeeling. It was nice tasting, very pleasant, with a lovely aroma but nothing I’d put on a must-have list.