541 Tasting Notes
I was cleaning out my tea cupboard yesterday and found this in the back. I really don’t drink this one very often because for whatever reason, it kind of bothers my throat. When steeped today at 3min. it smelled really roasted with less banana than other experiences with it. mmm this blend tastes of cream, banana, and light crust. I’m really glad that I tried this one because I haven’t had any other chances to try flavored hojicha!
So I was actually really sad on my last Adagio order that the next Zodiac Series/2012 mix that I wanted (Scorpio) was out of stock. These have been a really great value and the presentation is just amazing. Another thing that should be noted about Adagio is that their shipping far exceeds Teavana’s. Adagio’s shipping for my latest order only cost me $4 and will be here on Monday; I placed my order on the 30th. Teavana’s shipping cost $7, order placed on the 28th, and I won’t get it until next Thursday. : /
Back to this tea! This reminds me mostly of the rooibos lemon cloud, but with many more herbal notes. I’m glad it got more toned down because the original mix was not something that I enjoyed. I’m really glad Adagio offers such inexpensive samples for most of their flavored teas because there are a lot of them that I just don’t care for and the ability to try it out cheaper before investing in a larger amount really helps me keep my cupboard clean. Overall I’d say this tea is enjoyable and a great value, but would suggest this mostly to people who already enjoy the lemon cloud tea and rooibos; as those are the dominant flavors.
I love this tea so, so much. I think this tea is what made me fall in love with dan cong oolongs. This has mineral, fruity, green, and sweet notes. This has a heady honey taste as well that really astounded me the first time I tried it. I highly recommend this tea for oolong lovers!
sipdown!
This one has mostly green and fruity notes to it. I’m very surprised that this one lasted so long in my collection, but it has been haunting my sample box for awhile now. This tea can be steeped 3-4 times and is just amazing for me. I like my Tie Guan Yin to be green rather than roasted flavored so that must be why I prefer this one so much. A great intro to oolongs for newer tea drinkers and a great addition to my cupboard.
Smelling this in store worried me a bit, but on sale I just thought, what the heck, I’ll try it!
But it is very intimidating. I can smell this one whole room away once it has been steeped. The aroma is mostly chili and odd fruit notes. But you know what? It really doesn’t taste bad! It smells so weird, but the flavor is instantly fruity. There is some warmth to it, less than I was expecting, but it is interesting to say the least. The pu’erh really grounds the tea in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Dare I say that this one is almost tasty? I don’t know how to describe the flavor very well, but it isn’t the worst tea I’ve had. When this first came out and I smelled it I thought it was an aberation. Now? Not completely terrible. I’d say for those who are interested to give it a try and don’t write it off before trying it.
Okay so at the sale I picked this up forgetting that there is more than 1 version of this tea. So now I have Six Summits+berry pieces and Six Summits sans berry pieces. The sales person didn’t tell me that this was a flavored tea and you’d almost miss it if you didn’t know it was there. The tea is green, sweet, and fruity. I may have used an excess of leaves, not knowing how much these guys would unfurl! This is another one of those teas that is good, but first, didn’t need the flavoring, and secondly, is not worth the high price tag. If this was an $8 tea I could see that, but $18 seems unreasonably high.
The rating is the one carried over from earlier tastings of the Six Summits+berries version. I’m lowering it a bit now to reflect my current feelings on the tea.
backlog
This was a gift from my mother! :) I was really surprised about this gift as she’s LDS and there’s a big thing about no tea drinking. I guess she’s coming around a bit. The tin itself is super attractive, but unfortunately it is tea bags instead of loose tea. The dry leaf smells a lot like cake.
There aren’t any instructions on the tin so I steeped this for 3 min. at boiling and it turned out really great! For being some gift company this tea is quite nice. The base and overall flavor remind me vaguely of pancake breakfast+Pineapple Upside Down cake from 52teas. The cherry (gernadine) flavoring is very light and reminded me more of the filling for those sheet birthday cakes. It is a pretty enjoyable tea and I am surprised at how nice the presentation is.
There is something truly romantic about this tea. This is a beautiful tea: full rose blossoms, candied violets, a giant piece of carrot (I think?), lavender, and tons of dark, as well as lighter, white tea. I actually looked on Amazon at candied violets and they are hella expensive! The sales person indicated that they really wanted me to have a lot of the “goodies” so she scooped me out extra violets and rose buds. I really wanted to try this tea before, but the $18 price tag really dissuaded me; so the sale was a special chance to try this out. I’m also dying to try this mixed with the Swiss Vervaine tea to see if I can’t mellow it out.
I’ve liked lavender teas before and it is one of the purely floral teas that I enjoy. Steeped this is a very pale yellow. The liquor also has a very green smell that surprised me. The tea itself has a very soft lavender flavor, much less than I was expecting. Lots of floral notes too, backed up by white tea. This is a pretty good tea and it is instantly relaxing to sip on. I didn’t pick up on any of the peach notes that other people were getting. I really enjoyed this! I think that it wouldn’t be an everyday tea for me, but it is very enjoyable.
This looks like a more official post for the dan cong so I’ll be putting the rest of my tasting notes here.
I steeped this a bit long today (~40 sec.). The liquor is a light amber color and has some really prominent honeysuckle notes to it. It also has some interesting nutty notes to it as well. I am really missing the mineral notes that are so unique that were in the Asha Teahouse dan cong. This is a really good dan cong and I can’t wait to try more varieties!
