807 Tasting Notes
When I ordered this I was not aware it was decaffeinated – I guess I missed that. Thats okay though I need more decaf for my late night tea cravings! The smell both in the can and after steeped is A M A Z I N G!
It smells like cake batter!
Strangely enough the very fist sip tastes of all things FISHY! What the??
Its also a tad bitter. I think next time I will only steep for 4 minutes and see how it turns out.
Proceeding sips not nearly as fishy – to the point that maybe I am no longer tasting that at all.
Honestly however, I am not enjoying this at all.
Going to add some sweetened condensed milk.
Okay thats better. Not a TON better but better.
Well now it actually does taste like cake batter.
Let it cool down some to see if this helps.
I just don’t care for it as much as I would like to.
Its slightly bitter, without the creamer I was not getting much of the intended flavor.
It looks beautiful in the bags, smells divine but it has a bitter after taste, the flavor is not that great, still a bit fishy, and leaves the mouth dry.
I really wanted to love this.
Bummer.
Will try again another time and update tasting notes.
Preparation
I was tempted to raise my rating because this is such a dependable standby. Creamy mouthfeel, no astringency, excellent aftertaste, and the smell is wonderful, reminds me of that tanning oil I used as a kid before I knew how bad that stuff was for me.
The only real issue I have with this tea is that the green tea flavor itself is understated and no matter how natural and wonderful the coconut flavor is – without that flavor, the creaminess, it would be like drinking water.
With that aside I do enjoy this cup when craving something creamy and coconutty.
Edited to add: Oh and I decided NOT to raise the rating due to this!
Preparation
Yummy!
This is my first experience with any Iced Wine tea and I love it!
Makes me want to order some right away but also makes me want to explore other brands as well. However based on the tea logs here it looks like this company has it down pat!
I would not mind it a bit stronger but this is really enjoyable!
I have not drank alcohol for over three years now for health reasons (type 1 diabetic for 40 years) but I have missed a really good wine now and then!
This is very accurate to a merlot flavor with no bitterness, the right amount of sweetness and a cooling feeling even served hot!
I definitely want to explore ice wine more!
Preparation
I just ordered the blueberry merlot from Tea forte For the same reason I miss a glass of wine once in awhile ( Not diabetic ) supporting husband. Thanks
That is excellent that you are supporting your husband in his non-drinking! My hubby also stopped with me and it makes it so much easier! I hope you enjoy it! I will have to check out the blueberry merlot too! :)
Oh where have you been my love?
Words can not express my devotion to you.
From the first time I saw you – I knew you were something very special.
I want you in my stash … always!
So okay now that I got that out of my system lol ….
The only possible down side was upon brewing it had a strange smell of burning plastic and I actually thought I had done something screwy and burnt up my tea kettle but alas after another moment or two I got the buttered popcorn smell!
This tea is nutty, ever so slightly sweet, complex, buttery, creamy, smooth, and I love it!
Its so earthy yet it gives me that need for a little sweetness as well. Its perfection!
I really do not get the vegetal flavor but thats okay.
This is the second tea of my permanent stash!
I love that I am starting to discover those that are THE teas I cherish!
Thank you to Den’s Teas for this sample – I didn’t even realize I had ordered this sample pack and ordered another last night! My mind IS going going gone! Regardless, I will be ordering a big stash of this as soon as income allows!
And with a 15 to 30 second brew time LOL wow what a quick fix!
Preparation
Well I read Amanda’s tasting note earlier and I had this tea waiting for me to try it as well. I was going to wait a day or two as not to be persuaded by Amanda’s note but since I could not sleep at all last night and I really have little decaf selection I decided to go for it.
I agree with Amanda on one thing for sure and that is the smell. I do not care for the smell in bag or brewed. It does smell a little chocolatey though. I would love to add some sweetened condensed milk to this but have just got comfy on the sofa – laptop in lap – on top of me.
Never mind that – I had to get up for an unrelated reason so grabbed the condensed milk on the way back.
Well – its a little better now. No huge difference but better. I think it does bring out the white chocolate a lot more.
I appreciate that the flavors are not chemical though. I respect that the flavors do not drown out the flavor of the rooibos too.
I don’t care for the way it seems to dry out my throat in the back. Some teas do this to me for some reason.
To be fair, I am not a huge fan of chocolate flavored things other than chocolate itself.
The aftertaste I am getting is vanilla rather than chocolate – its a little medicinal.
This is not one I will be buying again but I will drink the rest of it when I need to stay away from caffeine.
Preparation
I’m going to get chocolate syrup to see if that helps it out, but condensed milk I may have to try too.
Let me know how that works out – I am afraid all you would have is watered down chocolate after that. I don’t think that tea is strong enough or complex enough to support it. I may very well be wrong though. Curious to hear back on it!
I have become fond of green teas lately, even though I said I would begin my loose leaf tea journey with black teas. Maybe this is why I did not fall in love with this tea the way others have. Now don’t get me wrong, it is good, very good, but it lacks some of the complexity and of course earthiness I have come to love. I realize I should not compare apples to oranges here but I wanted to give a baseline for where I am coming from.
Now as for this tea. I do not find it to be shockingly good but it is very good. Flavors are well balanced, I get the blackberry, and the vanilla flavors but I found it to be a little dull even still.
I added some condensed milk to add to the creamy idea I had in mind before sipping it and it really woke this tea up for me.
The sweetened condensed milk really brought out all the strong points of this tea and even gave it a bit of depth and complexity.
For me however, in a perfect world, we need not add anything to our tea to get these feelings about a tea. I do not mind adding different types of sweeteners, milks, etc but if this was as good without sweetened condensed milk as it is with, I would rate it higher.
I do give props however for a good blackberry flavor that does not taste artificial!
This tea has a lovely aroma as well.
Preparation
This was one that I “designed” on their site. I don’t recall why now but for some reason I ended up speaking to the man at design a tea. He was extremely nice, helpful, and made good suggestions. I liked his positive energy. The tea itself was good. I am always concerned about flavor additives in anything, especially teas. While I am not sure how one gets a “natural” amaretto flavor this tea was very good. Neither of the flavors seemed to take over each other nor did they take over the oolong itself.
I suppose I would have liked it even a little more flavorful but I would not say it was lacking in flavor. I did add some sugar in the raw on the second cup and it did bring out the flavors a little more.
The first sip reminded me a bit of a Cherry Mash if you have ever had one of those. Except without the chocolate. The cherry came through nicely without tasting chemical or fake, and the nutty flavor was subtle but present.
While not an “in your face” flavor I appreciate its simplicity and that it was very pure and clean in taste.
Preparation
This is my first Dong Ding Oolong so I can’t compare it to others but I can say that I am enjoying it. It is earthy, vegetal, and even a little what I call “skunky” but for me that is not a bad thing at all. There is a zing or a ting feeling on the tongue and it is very light not as in tea strength but just as in fresh tasting. I really love this one and hope to experience more Dong Dings so I can adjust my rating score if needed when I have more knowledge of this tea. I really wanted some matcha tonight after having it for the first time ever at House of Cha’ yesterday. I really wish I had purchased some there but ended up ordering on line tonight. The reason I decided tonight to drink this Oolong is because I wanted that earthy natural flavor. While this is not matcha of course and is not exactly what I was craving it has satisfied me enough and will probably be gone by the time my matcha order arrives! I am hopeful that the matcha I ordered from enjoyingtea.com is as good as the matcha I had at House of Cha’ – it was REALLY REALLY GOOD! But it was also my first time with Matcha. I could go back to Lawrence and get the matcha at House of Cha’ but it is pretty pricy! I will have to wait until a payday to go get that.
Anyway back to this tea … lol … I am happy that I bought this Dong Ding Oolong – it is very satisfying and I will probably buy this again – but will try from another tea company first just so I get more knowledge.
