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65
drank Rwanda Rukeri Estate – Discontinued by Tealyra (formerly Tealux)
217 tasting notes

I gave this tea a second chance this morning, and must say it is better this time. It’s not great, but perhaps my prior discouraging remarks were based on poor water or a bad day for my taste buds. Todays infusion was a deep clear orange color, with a subtle generic black tea flavor, light astringency, and okay aftertaste. Previously brewed with tap water in a different city, now back home using alpine spring water. As the cup cooled, the tea darkened somewhat to a nice brown hue and became less astringent. Frankly, it’s comparable to a Lipton black teabag. Increasing my rating to 65, the same rating I give to that Lipton.

Flavors: Brisk, Tea

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 8 OZ / 236 ML
1 comments
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Also, last night I used this tea as a base for my own concoction, following a conversation elsewhere with @Roswell Strange about use of tamarind in tea. I prepared a blend consisting of:
2g tamarind pulp
2g tangerine rind
2g tangerine supreme (juicy part)
2g Rwanda Rukeri Estate
8oz boiling alpine spring water
Steep 5 min.

The result was a bright orange, crystal clear liquor. Aroma with notes of tangerine and black tea. Flavor of sweet & sour tartness, notes of tangerine, solid black tea base. Some astringency. Nice long finish. A lump of sugar in the warm last half of the cup enhanced the tangerine flavor and brought the sourness under control. A single re-steep had lighter shade but same hue, with reduced flavors all around, and was still enjoyable. It was a fun experiment and I may use the tamarind pulp elsewhere, too. This tea blend would go well with rich foods.

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TeaEarleGreyHot
Delete

Also, last night I used this tea as a base for my own concoction, following a conversation elsewhere with @Roswell Strange about use of tamarind in tea. I prepared a blend consisting of:
2g tamarind pulp
2g tangerine rind
2g tangerine supreme (juicy part)
2g Rwanda Rukeri Estate
8oz boiling alpine spring water
Steep 5 min.

The result was a bright orange, crystal clear liquor. Aroma with notes of tangerine and black tea. Flavor of sweet & sour tartness, notes of tangerine, solid black tea base. Some astringency. Nice long finish. A lump of sugar in the warm last half of the cup enhanced the tangerine flavor and brought the sourness under control. A single re-steep had lighter shade but same hue, with reduced flavors all around, and was still enjoyable. It was a fun experiment and I may use the tamarind pulp elsewhere, too. This tea blend would go well with rich foods.

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Life is too short to drink bad tea!
Pan-American: Left-coast reared (on Bigelow’s Constant Comment and Twinings’ Earl Grey) and right-coast educated, I’ve used this moniker & Email since the glory days of AOL in the 90’s, reflecting two of my lifelong loves— tea and ‘Trek.

Now a midwestern molecular biologist (right down to the stereotypical Hawaiian shirts), I’m finally broadening the scope of my sippage and getting into all sorts of Assamicas, from mainstream Assam CTCs to Taiwan blacks & TRES varietals, to varied Pu’erhs. With some other stuff tossed in for fun. I enjoy reading other folks’ tasting notes (thank you). I’ve lurked here from time to time and am now adding a few notes of my own to better appreciate the experience. Note that my sense of taste varies from the typical. For example, I find stevia to be unsweet and bitter. My dislike of red rooibos may be rooted in the same genetic palatum divergence, which impacts perceptions of many flavors, from asparagus to stevia to cilantro.

I don’t work for a tea vendor, and I’m not a professional tea sommelier. And I don’t taste every nuance, hint of flavor or note of aroma, nor am I trained to describe those that I do detect. But I taste enough to have opinions, and do my best to be descriptive. Sensory preferences can shift from day to day and person to person, so numerical ratings are kinda bogus, especially between and among various people. But there are individual trends, and I try to reflect that. As reference points for my ratings, I give Lipton Black Tea bags “orange pekoe and pekoe, cut black” a score of 65 because it is widely available and profoundly consistent. I view it as just okay. I would give plain, hot, quality spring water a rating of 25, and I buy Crystal Geyser brand for brewing because my local well water is stinky and discolored, and my filtration & softening system leaves it salty and unpleasant. Tea should make the commercial Spring Water better, not worse, so a rating below 25 speaks for itself.

I am conversationally friendly but absolutely not here looking for dates or money, nor to sell anything. If I’ve started to follow you, I don’t mean to be creepy, it only means you recently posted something I liked reading, or it was about an interesting tea or event. And I’ve recently discovered that the Steepster system only notifies me of new posts written by people I follow. If you follow me, I won’t assume anything. If I do not follow you, it isn’t a snub—you’re still a good human being!
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Avatar:. Arrival in Athens, Greece, on vacation.

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