818 Tasting Notes
Thank you to Stacy for this sample! I was excited to try another tea with the same base as my favorite maple pecan oolong. I could definitely taste the base here. I also get some citrus and spice, but they are pretty subtle. It smells delicious. I made sure to take a good whiff every time I sipped. It’s good, but overall, I would have liked a little more flavor here.
Enjoyed two delicious cups of this first thing in the morning yesterday while steepster was down. Then I didn’t have any tea all day (except for some Thai iced tea) because we went to picnic day at UCD, and a movie. Fun day, beautiful weather, so I can’t complain. ;)
As for laoshan black, it’s always good on its own, but I think I like the chai and genmaicha blends better!
Enjoyed this tea without any additions this afternoon. Not even a little sugar! And I could still taste the marshmallow sweetness! I think it’s growing on me!
Okay, so my tea tastes are evolving, and therefore, this tea has lost a bit of its charm. It’s a delicious dessert tea, but it’s fake-y sweet. Sometimes that’s what I want, but I more and more am losing interest in that sort of tea. Hmmm.
Yeah, the same thing is happening to me too. A dessert tea that I liked a lot a month ago is suddenly not so great anymore. I think I’ve become a bit spoiled from all the high end teas I’ve been drinking lately!
I gave Strawberry Shortcake such a glowing review a while back, but now I don’t know WHAT I’m going to do with the rest of my package (I had thought I was out, but discovered I had more) and when I finished off the Pumpkin Chai a little while ago, I swear it tasted like chemicals and when I first had it, I loved it.
This is why I have a mix of teas every day. :) (I’m also leaning towards more subtle or unflavoured teas. I’m adding less sugar, too. So weird!)
Yeah I’m sure if I tried this last year I would have fallen for it, but trying it just a couple months ago… eh. Toooooo sweet.
OMGsrsly – me too. I’ve been having a mix of both sugary sweet and more natural teas on a daily basis . :)
@Incendiare
That’s me too. I’m almost completely growing out of flavored teas. I either hate them at the get go, or a few cups later it’ll taste too sweet for me. Even the Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish that I raved about after the first cup a week ago I’m finding too sweet already.
Funny how that happens over time! I can only drink one steep at a time of the sweet ones now
I’ve done the same thing. I think sweet dessert teas were my gateway into tea, and now my tastes have grown up. I still enjoy those flavoured teas, but I rarely re-steep them, while I try to re-steep and savour the unflavoured straight teas. I still have a great sweet tooth so I don’t know that I’d ever phase these types of teas out completely, but I mix them up so I can alternate between that and another (less sweet) tea at the same time.
For a long time I didn’t drink anything flavored, & most of the time I still just prefer straight. Most flavored teas tend to have a chemical/fake taste, but once in awhile I enjoy them anyway. That’s also the reason I rotate through my crazy collection, so that I don’t drink the same thing too often.
There’s that one company that uses fruits and spices and no flavours for their flavoured teas… http://www.steapshoppe.com/ I want to see what their teas are like.
OMGsrsly – I tried steap shoppe, and their cinnamon swirl bread tea is amazing, but I didn’t really like the samples of black teas I got.
Oh right! I remember seeing that. That tea is on my to buy list. :)
Got this in teabag form as a sample the last time I was in the Lupicia store. I thought I was in the mood for this one this morning, as I usually like dark berry flavored teas. I may have pversteeped it, since I’m used to steeping parameters for loose leaf rather than teabags now. It got dark really fast. The dark berry flavor was very pronounced…good, but not as well rounded as i would like. Unfortunately, it turns out I really don’t like the Lupicia black tea base. Oh well, at least I know that now!
Phew! Finished a crazy work day! Time to relax! I tried the rest of my little sample of this tea gong fu style, since brewing it western style was an epic fail. This was the first time I’ve tried gong fu style, so keep that in mind! I steeped the leaves in 6 oz. for each infusion.
10-second steep: it tastes really burnt and woody.
20-second steep: the same, except it’s a little sweeter, and a bit fruity.
30-second steep: I identified the fruitiness as citrus.
45-second steep: woody citrus.
1-minute steep: more citrus, less woody, and more smooth.
1 1/2-minute steep: same as previous infusion with a little spice in the aftertaste.
I’m bummed that I didn’t taste the same notes as everyone else. Where’s the caramel and hazelnut? Made me think that they gave me the wrong tea, or my palate is too unrefined. :( Overall, this tea didn’t meet my expectations, and since it also isn’t good western style, it won’t be on my shopping list.
Shoot, Were there a ton of leaves in the cup? For my gawain, which holds barely 4oz empty, I put in how much leaf I would need for between 12-16oz western style.
Ya, there was a lot of leaf. I figured their samples are about 2 large cups worth, and this was what I had left over from my previous try. It was at least half of the sample. Do you think I overdid it?
Oh no, If anything I worry about underleafing in the gaiwan. But I’m also pretty new to it. That’s too bad. I haven’t had that one so I have idea what it’s supposed to be like. On the bright side, not liking it saves you some money!
That’s true! Haha!
Next time, watching the videos is helpful.I learned from them myself. Also, the tasting notes are great…but I don’t always taste whats mentioned either.
I ended up buying a scale, since I had no clue what 5 Grams of tea looked like.
