'Sweet taste'
So, I’m very new to tea. I hear a lot of people saying that some teas can be sweet. Like I recently tried a sliver needle and lots of people have said that its sweet and floral…..Sadly, I haven’t gotten any sweet notes…. Also, when I talk about ‘sweet tea’ I’m talking about the natural flavor of the tea without anything added to it..
When people refer to sweet notes they do not usually mean as the sugar you find in say hot chocolate. It is a little more refined than that.
Yup, it’s a sensation more than actual sugar sweetness
yeah, & also if the tea has so little bitterness or sour or salt or umami, then the sweet seems enough to be cloying, ive had some with pretty much only honey or cotton candy flavour. Some Oolongs get like that
Do you have any good recommendations for a any sweet or sugary teas? I’m really looked for that natural sweetness
Try Arizona or Snapple
I had a high fired dahongpao with lingering sweetness today…really very nice
I would try something like:
Golden Lily – Whispering Pines (when they have it back in stock) – I get tropical fruit salad flavours. Its so nice
http://steepster.com/teas/whispering-pines-tea-company/69050-golden-lily
Vietnam Red Buffalo – What-cha – ‘honey water’ I think i described it as
http://steepster.com/teas/what-cha/54244-vietnam-red-buffalo-oolong-tea
I finf these teas ‘sweet’ There is also another cotton candy one but I cant remember what it was
I think that many black teas have a sweetness to them, even in their aroma.
Of course, it’s not a heavy sweetness like a sugared beverage, just something that you can pick up.
I’ve found “mi xiang” (honey aroma) jin jun mei and dianhong to be quite nice. Dianhong often has some very nice rich smokey notes. Jin jun mei is usually more subtle and delicate in my experience. I’ve also had an organic black tea from Guangxi that is quite sweet, with a very chocolatey aroma. I don’t know if it’s sold outside of China though?
Good light oolongs can have a natural sweetness to them, or different mild Chinese style black teas, but it comes across differently. I’ve noticed a trend in some tea bloggers to talk about options for sweetening tea initially then later drop all that and never add sweeteners to tea. It’s easy to miss that a transition from soda and sweet tea (black tea with loads of sugar), or coffee with a lot of sugar, might not naturally enable appreciation of the more subtle levels of sweetness in tea. It’s a different effect anyway, not coming from sugars.
In places like this people would mostly advocate adjusting to the taste of plain teas by trying them, and sticking with them, since that’s the page they’re on. Some few might still relate to floral blends and such. Even if someone did drink tea with sweetener in the past, or even blends, it wouldn’t fit well with tea enthusiast culture to bring that up. As far as I remember once I started on loose tea I mostly just switched over, but then I’d been drinking tisanes / herb teas for a long while previously, and wasn’t adding sugar to those. More astringent black teas might make sense with sugar but it’s not so hard to adjust to the rest, but again if someone is drinking beverages at soda-level sweetness that might change initial expectations. I don’t see a problem with adding some sugar to a tea but it’s somehow more of a defilement if it’s quite good tea. Starting out with a modest Thai Jin Xuan (light oolong) and working through natural sweetness versus slight addition of sugar might not seem so bad. It doesn’t take long to adjust palate and preferences to relate well to decent quality and properly made plain tea, maybe even just one cup for the case of that Jin Xuan, but that sort of thing varies by person.
Since I’ve started Gong fu brewing, I’ve tried to stop putting honey in my tea. I still can’t quite taste any sweetness in a Silver Needle or an Oriental Beauty….Maybe it’s because I’m new to tea…
the tea never would be sweet in the same way black tea prepared with lots of sugar is, or sodas. Silver Needle isn’t usually as noticeably sweet as other types, with white teas in general more interesting for different reasons, for a different type of subtlety and fullness. Oriental Beauty versions typically are a bit sweet. beyond natural preference curve shifts, which people would experience in different ways, individual preference varies. lots of people experience similar end points, preference for similar types of teas made in similar ways, but even related to that people go in vastly different directions. it might work to use stevia to bridge the adjustment period, although I’ve not tried it myself. I’m the opposite of a tea snob, open to people doing whatever makes sense to them, but all the same it’s hard to not feel a disconnect related to someone adjusting the flavor of really exceptional versions of teas. even though it feels a little odd to say it explicitly I will: there is no shame in adding honey to your own tea, it’s your tea.
I agree with John. I don’t add sugar to good tea, but I drank canned and bottled teas in NYC pretty much all the time. Do what you need to. A lot of people are used to sugar in their tea and it takes a while to transition away (if ever).
Now I want an Arizona or Snapple for real.My concern is that I’m not getting any natural set notes in the teas I’m drinking. I’d rather not sweeten it. Any I unable to recognize the sweet notes because I have poor quality tea?
Gabby, yes, that’s entirely possible. I have no way of knowing what your tea is like without trying it, and ideally with your water!
Could be! – most OBs ive got lean more towards spiced & woodsy notes, while others have a honey sweetness that comes through. The same with Silver Needle, they arent all the same!
This is part of the charm of tea drinking & why people go nuts for certain years/seasons/harvest numbers etc. The difference in the same tea that was picked in spring/summer/autumn/winter can have a profound effect on the taste & aroma, and what the weather has been like that year (or even on the day it was picked)
I came from drinking tea without & coffee with, & not much of a sweet tooth person, but it also takes time for your taste to adjust – I remember when I started adding sugar to darjeeling – bought a jar of stevia too, now collecting dust as my tastebuds adjusted & didnt need it anymore.
Then you have the wonderful journey of getting used to odd tea like heicha & puerh. I’m only just really embracing the sheng puerh taste (i mean really really appreciating it) & i’m on my 3rd year of serious loose leaf tea’ing
Also, lots of my first bought teas are collecting dust as well, dont buy large amounts, get samples & try everything! Its fun :)
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