709 Tasting Notes
Okay. When I first bought this I knew very little about white teas and foolishly assumed it wouldn’t be very different from the black teas I knew and loved. Now, however, I know more. For example, I know that I’m not a huge fan of white tea. It’s too subtle for my tastes and far too fussy in terms of steep temp. and time. However, I am revisiting this one in an effort to give my teas a more even spread.
Used hot water from spigot at work, let it cool 5 minutes, then steeped for 2 or 3 (didn’t do the “flash steep” as it is flavoured and I don’t know if it would work so well.) The flavour is sweet with a hint of under-ripe melon rind. It sort of reminds me of 52Teas Peach Cobbler green which I hated and swapped away. I can drink this, but it still isn’t a favourite, possibly because it seems SO sweet. Might like it more if I removed the dried cantaloupe pieces, but that seems like cheating. Sometimes white and green teas make me feel nauseous, hoping that isn’t the case with this one…I don’t know that I’m ever going to appreciate white teas, at this rate.
EDIT: As with my initial tasting of this tea, I find the smell a little off and I don’t like that. The taste is not objectionable, but the smell sort of brings it down a bit for me
I just lost my post. : (
In sum: This is still delicious. Bought 100 grams of this which stays at home (the beau and I both like it) and the sample stays at work. Reminds me in taste of Joy’s Teaspoon’s Lemon Zest but the mate aspect really makes it stand out. Naturally sweet, but not cloyingly so (I find myself averse to too sweet tea lately). Highy recommended! (Disclaimer: I have no discernible reaction to caffeine and the like, but I’ve hear this one can be pretty “energizing”.)
Awww, I’m sorry! I usually write my notes in Word so I can spell check, format, and re-read it a million times till I get it just perfect. I know the feeling when you write something and lose it. You can never re-write it exactly the same way. So annoying. :(
No! I hate that!! :(
Sometimes I type them up in Outlook if I am at work and just transfer it over, but today I was (foolishly!) typing online. Oh well, there was nothing profound. : )
I know I go through this all the time, but I have found the Saigon Chai sweet spot! I had another 50 g tucked away somewhere and brewed a cup today. Only 2 or 3 minutes to steep and I shook out the dust beforehand. I find this batch has fuller leaf which means less bitterness off the bat. I added a tiny bit (maybe 1/8 tsp) of sugar to my Perfect Tea Mug, and it’s great. For now. Historically, it gets worse as it cools, but I’m hoping this cup holds up better. Raising the rating, for now. Really need to do a proper stovetop chai with this sometime!
I love Saigon Chai. It definitely sets the bar to which other chai blends are measured against.
My last batch of it was really not that impressive, it got bitter after 2 minutes of steeping and was very crumbling, so it would over-steep unless I used a T-Sac. This is more like what I wanted though!
Re-visiting this one again today. I’ve been feeling very under-whelmed lately with my tea options at work so I have been bringing in bits and bobs from home. Of course, it doesn’t help that I seem to have no idea what I want, but I persist in my quest nonetheless. This tea is a bit unusual in my cupboard, I don’t think I have any others that feature bamboo and honestly not that many that are strawberry. I remember enjoying it quite a bit during the summer so I am hoping that enjoyment is still there.
Dry, the leaves have an odd smell (almost reminiscent of melon or white tea – I don’t know where I’m getting that from) but there is a strawberry sweet note as well, sort of like strawberry candy. I steeped two heaping teaspoons for 7 or 8 minutes, and the result is a liquor that smells almost exactly like the dry ‘leaf’ – sweet but something off about it.
The taste matches the smell. It’s pretty much like I remember it. Sweet artificial strawberry, with the taste of the bamboo coming through as almost hay or oat-like. Right on the top of the sip I get a note that is almost like dark chocolate which really boggles me. I’m enjoying this at the moment, though I think I might prefer it iced (rare for me). Glad I only bought 50 g, as it doesn’t quite have the lasting impression I hoped for.
Still no spicy note. Bringing down the rating from 93 to 80s.
EDIT: Soooo, I accidentally posted this as Lime Bang – I really meant Lime Gelato. Whatevs! : )
Oh, Lime Gelato, you flirty fool. Today you are lovely and rich with sweetened lime aroma and taste. I think you would make a lovely mixed drink, were I not at work. To be honest, it’s a bit sweet for my mood at the moment, but that could have been from too much ‘leaf’ or too long a steep. I’m really shying away from overly sweet teas at the moment and this is falling into that category, but I am sure that my preference will change again soon. A fault of the drinker, not of the tea!
Wow, is this ever tart today. I used recomended amounts and steep time, and it is very tart. I also noticed rooibos in my cup, possibly for the first time. I hate that discontinued teas disappear from the Davids Tea website as I have no way of confirming the ingredients list now, but I swear I see rooibos. The things I don’t notoce sometimes..
Well, it is classified as a rooibos tea here on steepster….Also, I am crazy sad that this tea is no longer around, it looks amazing!
I really like this one. Except this cup which is a bit crazy, but so delicious on the aftersip. The berries are really in your face. I feel like I like Bear Trap a lot too, and I think that one is still around?
When I was looking the other day Bear Trap was still there.
This is so intriguing. I have some experience with unflavoured blacks, but this is a totally different universe. I get a really rich thick liquor, almost brothy. I get what I refer to as cocoa notes, but I don’t know that it is cocoa per se. At first I wasn’t sure what I thought, but it grew on me through the cup. I wanted to use words like grainy and roasty and even malty, but I don’t know if those are associations or just words that got stuck in my head. Won’t rate until I’ve tried it again as this tea demands attention.
The beau pointed out that it has honey notes and I didn’t get that in the tea itself but in the aftertaste. Dark chocolate in the sip (but not at all bitter!) and sweet honey in the aftertaste.
Steeped 3/4 tsp in smallish gaiwan with boilling water for around 3 minutes.
I hVe a couple of gaiwans and have used them a few times, trying to observe traditional methods. How do you manage not to burn your fingerprints right off? Unless I really leave that cup to sit a while, I get scalded!
I’ve observed when I go for tea tastings that they don’t heat the water up to boiling most of the time…
@ashmanra – the honest answer is that you develop calluses over time. but you can also avoid the brim getting too hot by not filling the gaiwan all the way up. fill to 3/4… although with tightly rolled oolongs in particular the abundant leaf material can make it hard to avoid filling it all the way up. I tend to burn my fingers most when I’m doing a lot of consecutive infusions of a rolled oolong. my calluses are gradually developing and making it easier though.
I actually did burn my fingers this time as some of the water opted to come out the side. : ( It has taken me a couple tries to be able to pour it without a whole lot of pain, but I definitely still feel it and move quickly. I do use boiling water for my black teas, but I also (as Geoffrey said) don’t fill my gaiwan to the brim, so it’s not too hot right at first. I still spill occasionally, or have to set it down for a second so I don’t start swearing. : )
Thank you! I simply trained myself not to fill my gaiwan up very far and assumed it was a deeply imbedded Asian lesson teaching about the evils of greed! LOL! I have read about trick cups from way back that are still being made that will not permit you to get any liquid if you overfill them. I think someone linked to them long ago on the discussions threads.
This is part of a sample I purchased from David’s Tea in July when this one came out – and I am finally getting to it! In aroma (both dry and steeped) the juniper berries and mint are the stars of this show. They were actually so potent as to make my eyes water when I brought the tea too close for a sniff. I know that might turn a lot of people off, but I LOVE mint and have a distinct fondness for juniper berries, so this is exciting. I am a little worried about how those elements will work out with the apples but these are all ingredients I love independently.
First sips are a little underwhelming. Hint of something fruity sweet at first, with minty ‘burn’ at the end. Nice, nothing very show-offy about the blend. I wonder if perhaps there aren’t too many ingredients and they are muddling a little bit. I’m definitely enjoying this (especially the coolness of the mint) but I’m not quite as impressed as I’d hoped. I was thinking this might be an okay Mojito replacement, but I don’t think that will work. I’m not sad to have this, but I don’t see the need to buy more. A nice middle of the road tea.
As I get further in the cup I almost wonder if I would like it better sans apples. Although then it’s pretty much just mint and juniper berry. I think this one was meant to be iced, and I imagine that would create a totally different set of flavours altogether. I think this would be great for when I have a cold. I just got over mine, but hopefully I’ll remember to dig it out next time!
(Cooler cup yields stronger apple taste, tempered by Juniper with mint in background. Very strange, especially with the apple sweetness. Very very weird.)
Do the juniper berries give it that Christmas tree taste?
Not for me, but I really enjoy Juniper – I didn’t really notice much juniper here though. Except right at the beginning, it was really just apple and mint, which didn’t play so well together as it cooled. There are Juniper berries in Detox from David’s as well, if you haven’t tried that.
I actually haven’t had any David’s! :O I had been waiting b/c the shipping was so high but now that it’s only $5 I’ve been trying to scope some out to try for my birthday later this month :D
Mmm, Birthday tea!! Honestly, I would suggest passing on this one unless something about the idea of it really grabs you. For David’s, this is a bit of a flop and kind of forgettable. In my opinion, at least!
This type of review is exactly why I like this site! I love seeing why people don’t like a particular tea tells me a lot about it. :p And birthday tea is awesome!!!
Oh my gosh a birthday tea David’s order!!! Definitely scope around the reviews and see if you can find something that tickles your fancy, oh that’s exciting :D
Oh I’m excited! I’m really tempted by that lychee I saw the other day b/c it’s my favorite fruit. Today I took a peek over there and they have their new line for winter. The Alpine Punch though looks an awful lot like Teavana’s Zingiber though. My husband wants to try the Buttered Rum and he isn’t even a huge tea person.
Buttered Rum for sure my dear, it’s a favorite for almost everyone – even tea haters!
If you like mint and chocolate, Read My Lips tends to universally satisfy!
mmm, Uniquity that one sounds good too! Basically all of them sound good. :p the long life oolong and the milk oolong also keep catching my eye. I don’t know how anyone can live near these places and not buy the whole shop!
This was one of the 60 plus samples I received in my box of goodies from LiberTeas via Tea Trade. It seems similar to a few chocolate teas I have come to love so I was really looking forward to trying it. Like Fusion Tea Room’s Chocolate Mint Rooibos, this seems to have some fruit pieces in it (I am assuming Apple?) which lend a distinct “natural” sweetness to the blend. I also spy some red peppercorns, though I don’t ‘feel the burn’ so I don’t know how much they are contributing in terms of taste. As for that taste, I get sweet chocolate, with the fruit pieces really standing out on the sip. That said, it is a bit sweet for my tastes but still yummy to taste. Sort of like chocolate covered raisins, only without the raisin. I almost feel it might have done better with a stronger base – I am partial to flavoured blacks – though I can see the advantages of using rooibos with this.
As a fun aside, I am typing this up in outlook as I don’t have time to log in to Steepster at the moment and Outlook doesn’t think that rooibos is a word!
I’ve had issues with Bai Mu Dan from 52Teas before – but I haven’t tried any other tea companies’ bai mu dan, so I don’t know if my taste buds are anti-bai mu dan or it’s something else. Glad to see I’m not alone… I’m super picky about white teas. The only one I’ve tried that I like is White Christmas, bagged, from Stash.