464 Tasting Notes
Cold-steeped of few tea-bags of this in a pitcher for about 24 hours. This is a tasty, sweet, and pleasantly tart brew. Yes, the hibisus is there, but it’s not overpowering. The citrus is nice and strong. I get a little bit of spice from this too: Maybe a little cinnamon? This very satisfying on a hot day. I would brew this again!
There is a new health food store that opened up near my office and they have a HUGE organic tea section. Most of them are bagged, but they all look pretty high end. I was intrigued by the combination of Cinnamon and Rose, which is something I’ve never heard of before so I bought this one at lunch.
I laughed when I opened this up because the description describes this tea as “delicate”. I would not describe the aroma or taste as delicate at all! It is strong. You can smell this very far away and my co-workers were remarking on how great it smelled. It reminds me of herbal teas they sometimes give you in spas (not that I’ve really been to many).
I can make out the cinnamon and tulsi immediately. It takes me a while to find the rose in all of this. I couldn’t help thinking “Poor, rose! You’re a little bullied by these other scents and flavors.”
I had intended to leave the bag in my cup (I can be lazy about my tea at work), but the smell and taste got so strong I had to take it out after about a minute. The taste is very sweet and like the aroma, the cinnamon and tulsi take the front seat. Rose is there, but it just adds a light headiness to the tea. It supports the other flavors rather than standing on its own.
Overall, I found this a pleasant sweet tisane, but I don’t think I would have it often and only in small amounts. Tulsi is a bit overpowering! It might be interesting to try iced to see if it mutes the flavors some.
I’ve been thinking about trying everything iced lately! :-) 90 degrees today!
I found this to be a much smoother blend than the other Earl Grey in the sampler (The des Lords). This one is less astringent and the bergamot seems more prominent. Yunnan still seems a little bland to me, but I did steep at boiling. I will try this at a lower temperature next time.
Whoa! To say this tea was a strong start to the day would be an understatement! Full-bodied, earthy, malty, and tannic- do NOT oversteep this! I need to try this again steeped for a shorter time.
First sip tastes like bitter mushrooms. As it cools it gets slightly less bitter, more malty and tannic. The earthy mushroom flavor stays and it gets sweeter. Some honey tones start to come out. Surprisingly though, it doesn’t leave me with a really dry mouth.
I’m wishing I had some milk or something to add to this tea because it could definitely use it. Maybe I can find my co-worker’s secret stash of honey since she’s not in yet? I don’t keep sweeteners at work.
Another Momo box tea. This tasted exactly like cinnamon gum! The artificialness of it kind of just turned me off from this even though I kind of like cinnamon gum. I couldn’t really get into it. I swear there was a little of the dreaded soy lethicin in there too. I think it upset my stomach a bit. Yarg! Oh well! My mother liked this tea and my sister wants to try it, so the rest of the leaf I have will not go to waste.
I think trying Verdant’s oolongs have made me spoiled. This is an ok oolong, but it is definitely not as complex as Verdant’s. It had the typical creamy, smooth oolong taste, but it was comparatively bland. There were no fruity or floral or spicy notes. It was just ok.
I cold-steeped this overnight and it seemed to reduce the rooibos, coconut, and citrus flavor that I thought made it taste like amaretto sour. The reduction of rooibos and citrus helped the flavor, but I wish the coconut creamy aftertaste was still as strong. Overall though, I like this better than I did hot though.
