761 Tasting Notes
I finished the last of this today, and it is all gone. I had held onto it til I could get more milk oolong locally I liked as much, which I have. Neither are quite as good as this, but they come close, so I am good with that.
But this tea, oh, it makes my heart sing. It is one of the few teas I own that I don’t sweeten because it is amazing on its own, and I enjoy the sort of salty, brothy, vegetal notes in this layered with a creaminess that is subtle on the tongue.
Am I sad to see the last of this go? Yes I am. I have enjoyed it greatly, and thank Angel at Teavivre for this generous sample. On the other hand, I can now move on to some of the other samples from my last shipment.
Trying this one hot…made it for my babe. My best friend has a fever of 101 and everyone is asleep except for me, since I am 3 hours behind her (she is in Florida and I am on the west coast of Canada). I didn’t want caffeine this late even though I am doing the late mall closing shift tomorrow and could handle a mildly caffeinated tea, so I chose this, because even though I have only had it iced thus far, I had been intrigued to try it hot, to see if I could get a pie like feel from it.
It tastes about the same hot as it does iced, though I think I used too much mix and it is a little tarter than I like…somthing I am able to handle better when iced. I might try this again but with less mix. I might also just sip what I can and add some water to dilute some.
All in all, not bad for a hot herbal tea at the cusp of fall. It feels summery to me still, but not quite fall or winter.
It’s pretty good, but it isn’t my favorite tea. It is light and refreshing, though I think this is still best hot. I think I still prefer Long Life or Happy Kombucha, but those are both darker oolongs, and the nice think with the Pineapple Oolong is that it is a lighter base, so I do like that. I probably won’t repurchase as I like the milk oolong better overall.
Really trying to give this a fair chance….I really want to like it. So, I had this iced today, at the suggestion of the SA who has only had it iced. I think I like it better this way, so I am upping the rating just a bit. It is still pretty mild, but iced, it was refreshing. I was told that overstepping could have been the cause of the lemongrass being dominant in my last steep, but it might have been just the selection of stuff in my steeper since I did not get a lot of this to try.
Overall, I think I will get a larger amount to play with, but, if all else fails, I will ice it.
Tonight I used two bamboo spoonfuls of tea and let it steep a long time. It is definitely stronger now, but I have more lemongrass coming out than I’d like. I’m gonna continue experimenting with amounts and steep time to see of I can maximize its potential before I chalk this one to the disappointed pile.
Sigh…I am glad I got only 16g of this. It’s too floral. I am gonna try the last of mine iced, and see if maybe that does the trick, but I pretty much only taste the rose, so I am definitely not getting anymore. I’m debating whether I should just give the rest to my friend, but since there is really only enough for one more cup, I think I will try it iced.
This tea smells AMAZING, but the taste is so much more subdued, considering there’s a whole produce department in this tea. It seems incredibly mild for something with so much in it. I do get cherries and apples and watermelon and sort of a fruit punch vibe, but it is so light and mild, like, you really have to close your eyes, take a sip, try to block out everything else, and really pay attention to what your buds are telling you. And even then, it is like slightly fruit essences hot water. I think I may increase the leafage/fruitage a bit on a later steep, because I am struggling to catch the flavour here. I am wondering how this will be iced. I suspect it will be juicier and possibly more flavourful, though I was hoping this tea would be like Big Apple in that it is equally amazing hot or iced (since I feel some teas are better hot and others are better iced, and some are good either way).
I’m a little disappointed, but I’m gonna have to rate it lower tan I would have liked to…maybe a stronger brew will bring up the rating.
I’m upping my rating on this since last year…when I had this for the first time last year, I had previously had Saigon Chai in my cupboard, which is rather potent, so this paled in comparison. I admit that I haven’t had any Saigon Chai since last year (I’m not sure why…probably just trying lots of new things and rotating I guess) and upon having this tea this morning, it was quite good. I will still say that it is mild for a chai, and the pumpkin is kind of muted, but it is still rather pleasant and comforting. It does, however, taste stronger than last year, and I’m not sure if the blend has been reformulated, or if my taste buds have been reformulated since I didn’t have the stronger and spicier Saigon Chai prior to this. Now that I have mastered the art of the home latte a la microwave, I am going to try this as a latte again though I might try stove-top chai method too, and steep it straight into the milk. Again, this is one I might get the special tin.
