Dinosara

Much thanks to Angel and Teavivre for this sample to review. Another busy busy day so this will have to be a tad short, but I will try to do it justice. Fortunately I have a few more servings for future tastings.

I used half the sample pouch with 12 oz of water. After two minutes it was a nice light yellowy-amber color, with a light nutty-sweet aroma. Even with a fairly light flavor (I might use more leaf/more time next cup), this is super delicious. So sweet, and oh so nutty. It is way chestnutty, with soft vegetal notes behind it, and perhaps just a hint floral like lilacs.

I am reminded by this cup that although I am losing interest in flavored greens, a high quality unflavored green like this can be heavenly. This tea really is “without parallel” among green teas. I looked at my tasting notes for the regular Huang Shan Mao Feng that I had from Teavivre a while ago, and although I really liked that one, this one is quite amazing. I think I have a love for Huang Shan Mao Feng I never realized before!

Backlog again. This was my second cup of the afternoon. It was quite nice, creamy and a tiny bit caramelly, and then nicely floral. I am noticing this time around that the base oolong is a bit boring for a green oolong… I mean, it’s fine, but it’s also less buttery and even less floral than I might have expected. Still, this was quite tasty and a nice blend of these flavors… I do love vanilla orchid blend.

Backlog from yesterday. Too busy! I made a cup of this one because I have only had it in sachet form in my travel mug, so that is less than ideal circumstances. I got my current sample of this one from toitoi, thanks!

There was a ton of tea dust in my cup of this one, although this wasn’t the bottom of my sample or anything. The apple in this is very crisp and green, and definitely not a fakey candy green apple flavor. It reminds me of the smell of a granny smith apple when you are chopping it up. The green tea base was buttery and a bit grassy, and reminded me once again that I am not enjoying hot flavored greens so much anymore. But I’m sure I would enjoy this as a cold brew, so I will take it home for that!

I made this cold brew (2 sachets steeped for 8 hours in 16oz of water) and it was DELICIOUS. So tasty! Fruity and quenching and lovely, without any of the too-strong, too-grassy green tea flavor that some flavored greens get when cold brewed. I will likely fly through the pouch I got in my happy bag this summer because this is definitely a tea I want to come back to.

Have had this tea for a while but never got around to tasting it. I think it came from a swap with Azzrian, but I can’t quite remember! But thanks for sending it along.

I often go along with odd steeping instructions from trusted retailers (like Butiki) but I cannot for the life of me bring myself to steep a green tea at boiling. So I didn’t. The resulting tea smells green and a bit nutty. The flavor is very smooth and pleasant. Sweet, a hint floral, buttery, and a bit of savory-umami notes. I am quite enjoying this one! The flavors are light and subdued, but present enough to make a tasty cup.

Mmm, fruity, caramelly, a hint floral. If it wasn’t for Paris and Tower of London from Harney, this might have a permanent place in my stash. As it is, I feel like it is a very similar flavor profile to those two blends, but a tiny bit rougher around the edges. I think the black tea base is a little bolder, and the fruits possibly a bit more candy-ish. It’s certainly tasty, but not as well nuanced as either of the other blends, I think. Still, I’m happy to have it!

Sipdown, 165. Thanks to Shmiracles for this sample!

Got back, exhausted, from DC, and wanted a nice comforting tea. I asked for a sample of this from Shmiracles because even though I dislike cherry-flavored things, I trust Dammann to blend it right. Nevertheless, I was a bit hesitant to try this for a while.

Well I drank one cup of it, and then immediately decided: I want to have another cup. So I brewed up the rest of the package. There is certainly cherry in here but it is not CHERRY to me. This is actually one of those blends where I can’t quite suss out all the flavors. They are just there, and well blended, and I want to keep drinking. I do taste a flavor that reminds me of the Melange du Cherubins that I had a while ago… Dammann’s chocolate flavor. It is perhaps not the most chocolatey of chocolate flavors, but it is pleasant and nutty and slightly cookie-ish to me. So all in all, quite a tasty blend to me.

The boyfriend’s nose says (knowing nothing previously about the tea): smells like flowers… then chocolate… and maybe some fruit. Haha, I am training his nose at least, even if he doesn’t drink the tea!

I grabbed this one at Teaism after my work day was over to relax with on the bus on the way to my friend’s house. It was floral and buttery, but it suffered from both a paper cup and a paper tea sac. Mmmm paper. Blech. Still better than having no tea, but I am so sensitive to papery flavors in my teas.

Sipdown, 166. Backlog, cold brewed this sample from the traveling tea box.

I have had this tea once before hot, but I decided to grab this sample out of the tea box to cold brew because I love earl grey cream cold brews and I haven’t had one in forever. This was pretty good, though it did have some kind of off taste to it that got worse as it warmed up. I can’t really put my finger on it, but I wouldn’t necessarily go for this one again.

Traveling again! A quick two-day trip this time. I am in DC and got up way earlier than I needed to this morning because the friend I’m staying with had to be at work way earlier than I can arrive at the museum. The place where we had breakfast didn’t have any tea, but lucky for me this tea shop is very near the museum.

I’ve never had a golden dragon tea before, though if it’s Chinese and has “golden” in the name I’ll try it. This is pretty tasty. I can feel the energy slowly flowing into my body as I sip it. It’s a bit malty with a kind of earthy note toward the end of the sip. As I drink more its definitely reminding me of some kind of black tea-puerh hybrid. Not entirely my thing, but decently tasty nonetheless.

Sipdown, 167.

When I started this note I was angry at having not gotten my car back from the mechanic even though he promised it to me today, but I just got a call and it’s done. This is especially important because I am driving it to DC tomorrow!

Anyway, this tea was made to soothe me… This time I made it strong with milk and sugar and it is deeeelish. So so chocolatey, and more mousse-like now. An indulgence, but a slightly less indulgent than actual chocolate mousse.

Got some vegetable planting done today, and now I am going to relax with this tea this afternoon. I was super excited to see this in the may reserve club package because I love a good dian hong golden bud. The leaf on this is cute, rolled into little semi-balls. It has a hint of cocoa to the smell, but also a bit of rich hay and honey.

Brewed gongfu. I drank my rinse, because that’s how I roll with black teas. I can never rinse in less than a second anyway, it must take me at least two. The rinse was quite light but sweet and flavorful still. Definitely wildflower honey notes, along with a slight buttery sweet-starchiness of a sweet potato chip. Later steeps intensified those notes with a smooth, creamy texture. Quite a nice dian hong and a pleasure to have today.

This was a surprise sample in my swap from Shmiracles! Thanks for sending it along!

Coconut oolongs, and coconut pouchong/baozongs in particular, are pretty popular, and its one of those things where people always wonder if they are coming from the same source. I think I have actually only tried Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong, but I love it so much that I’ve never sought out another. Of course I also haven’t had that one in my stash for forever (and won’t until my stash gets smaller), so I rarely have one. When I opened the pouch for this one it smelled not just like coconut but toasted, baked coconut, and I always associate that smell with coconut macaroons. It also smelled a bit more floral than I remember the GM tea smelling, more like the bao zhong base.

Haha, it just occured to me that Shmiracles sent me the macaron tea from MF, but she also sent me a macaroon tea as well!

Anyway, this is quite a delicious example of this type of tea. Sweet, creamy coconutty but not raw coconut. Toasty coconut, like a cookie, which is really the best kind for me. For tea, I guess, because I love raw coconut to eat, but it sometimes makes me ill in teas. Not this one, it’s all deliciousness all the way. The bao zhong is a bit floral here as well, but not enough to be distracting. Quite lovely, glad to have a sample!

I got a sample of this a while ago from Lazey, but just found it in one of my tea boxes recently. Thanks!

Also I went through my cupboard and discovered two teas in there that shouldn’t have been there, thus I am down to 164. Woohoo!

So this fits into my recent trend of disliking most flavored green teas, particularly sencha bases. Especially when I sipped it hot, it was too peppery and savory, with a strong grassiness as well. As it has cooled down it’s mellowed, and the bergamot is coming out more as well. Definitely better cool than hot, and probably better still cold, which is probably what I will do with the rest of my sample.

Hmmm, I can’t believe I forgot to write a tasting note for this one. Backlog sipdown, 166. I cold-brewed the rest of this one the other day.

It was quite tasty! Cold brewed, the lychee is more floral and rosey, but that is a good thing for me since I love those rosey notes. I love an iced lychee black, and this one was no exception. If I ever get my tea cupboard down low enough to buy specific teas for cold brewing, I will definitely always have to keep a lychee black for that!

Sipdown, 167. Just was notified that my Verdant Reserve Club box is out for delivery today, which means 4 teas added to the cupboard. Even though I know my cupboard will definitely go above 170 later this month when I get my larger Verdant order in, I don’t want to go over today! So I decided to take the opportunity to finish off this dragonwell, especially since I have a few others in my stash.

I’m using a lot of leaf and brewing semi-gongfu, which is to say in a mug with an infuser, but with short steeps. This is, as usual, very nice, although there is a lingering perfumy raspberry stuck in my mouth or the infuser, or something. Hopefully the later steeps will clear it out. Quite a nice dragonwell it would certainly be a great one for an everyday green tea, if you were an everyday dragonwell kind of person. :)

Sipdown, 168, another from the Traveling Tea Box. I wasn’t going to pull this one at first, because Adagio. I’ve actually never had an Adagio black flavored tea because I kind of skipped over them when I was starting my tea journey (but only just, because I remember thinking of ordering samples from them), and then became uninterested because everyone seems to complain about the quality of their black base for blends. Being quite picky about my base teas, especially now, I wasn’t going to go for it, but this tea actually has decent ratings, plus I needed to free up some weight in the box for the teas I included, heh.

When this was brewing I caught a whiff of it and it smelled almost dead up like Land’o’Lakes Raspberry Hot Chocolate. We always buy those LoL individual serving hot chocolate packs, and they come in a lot of flavors. It’s not the most authentic raspberry in the world, but it is tasty anyway. Fully steeped it does smell quite a bit like that hot chocolate, although the tea is making it smell like a slightly darker chocolate.

Having just had quite a nice very dark (so, slightly bitter) chocolate tea, this is a bit of a letdown. Yes, it’s chocolatey, and the raspberry is definitely there, reasonably tasty, but man if this isn’t bitter! I could really use some milk and sugar, and then I’m sure it would quite quite tasty, but plain? Blech. So bitter. Ah well, I kind of expected it anyway!

Sipdown, 169. A few tea samples into my cupboard from the traveling teabox (which left my possession today), a few teas out that left with the tea box. This was a sample I took out for my evening tea.

This is decidedly fine. The flavors are muted, and it’s just kind of fruity. Not medicinal, thankfully, but not distinctive either. I drank the whole pot, though, so I guess it was tasty enough.

My Internet dropped off today at work so I never got around to posting a note for this one. This will be short, but thankfully I have enough of this for a proper note later. Of course, thanks again to Shmiracles for this sample!

I love florals but I’ve never really been into osmanthus. But I’m also pretty sure I’ve never had a osmanthus green oolong, and this one is super delightful. It really seems floral only in the way that green oolongs are floral, not like added florals. It’s sweet and buttery and just lovely. A really treat.

Let’s see how this one goes! Thanks again to Shmiracles for samples of these teas.

I was quite shocked by how many cocoa hulls are in this tea. I swear it is like half hulls and half black tea. As such, it smells soooo chocolatey dry, and also steeped. I steeped this one a bit cooler than I have previously with MF teas, hoping to combat any potential bitterness, although yes, I know, not all of their black bases are the same.

I seem to have a had some success! There is no doubting that this is chocolate! Quite a nice dark chocolate, and the base is smooth. There may be some tiny bitterness here, but it is like the bitterness of fine chocolate, like eating a really dark chocolate bar. Hmmm, I just got a sort of semisweet sip that was quite nice! This really is one of the most authentic chocolate-tasting teas I’ve tried, so major bonus points for that. Unfortunately for me, I’m not the biggest dark chocolate person. I know! I do enjoy it, but I also much prefer milk chocolate… I just don’t like bitter things, even bitter sweet. On the other hand, dark chocolate is better than no chocolate, so I am still enjoying this cup. Thanks again Shmiracles!

I nabbed a sample of this to cold brew from the Traveling Tea Box (A) before I sent it off today. I have very little interest these days in flavored green teas made hot (with a few exceptions), but I do enjoy them cold.

The cold brew was pretty decent, although at first it was a little perfumy. It just occurred to me now that it was kind of a dead ringer for this DKNY Delicious green apple perfume that I have. Probably good I didn’t think of that then. Anyway, after a few sips the perfuminess faded a bit and I was left with a decent green apple tea, though it was somewhere between green apple candy and actual granny smith apples. But I love green apple candy, so it worked for me.

Oh my oh my. Dammann, I love you so. This tea is just so delicious.

First off, thanks to Shmiracles for sending me some of this. I had initially wanted just a sample of the Mariage Macaron tea, but she offered a sample of this one and I am SO GLAD I took her up on it. I should have known!

Dry, this tea smelled like caramel heaven. Once its steeped up it also smells like caramel heaven, but also a little nutty and a teensy bit fruity, almost like a caramel apple? Don’t know where that is coming from, since there isn’t any apple in this blend. I think there must be some fruity note in the base tea that is coming through.

The tea is suuuper smooth, sweet, and rich. It tastes like caramel in the sip, but the real treat comes immediately afterward when I could be convinced I just ate a sweet, buttery piece of toffee. I do get a hint of a fruity note still, but it is exceedingly light and it works with the richness somehow. This is one of those delicious cups of tea where I want another cup immediately after the first one is gone. Love you, DF!

TTB-A sample! I accidentally put too much leaf in this, but it’s a rooibos, so can you really overleaf it?

I realized why the mint rooibos appealed to me, because this has a medicinal almost minty smell of the dry leaf, and it appears in the taste as well. It works ok in this because this is chocolate so mint it errs on the minty side instead of the medicine side (like some fruity rooibos blends). I mean it isn’t super chocolate but it’s enough, and it kind of reminds me of a minty white chocolate truffle, sure. Pretty decent overall but having tried this and the mint one I think I prefer the mint since it really owns the mint flavor. Maybe I’m just suggestible but my throat is getting a bit of scratchiness in the back like Kittena described after drinking this, so that’s a bit unpleasant. Eh, rooibos.

Yum yum yum. After having the macaron tea by Mariage Frères, I thought of the two macaron teas I have from Dammann. They are on a green base, so quite different from the MF blend.

I said a fair amount about this one in my previous note, and I drank it earlier today while working, so I don’t have any specifics right now. But as much as I haven’t been feeling flavored greens lately, this is the exception. Sooooo delicious… Violet and cassis (black currant) are such macaron flavors, too. They pair perfectly with the light almond cookie-ness. Mmmmm.