592 Tasting Notes
I had this with a meaty, spicy lunch today, so I will rate later when I can taste the tea fully on its own. Anyway, the dry leaves look kind of like thinly sliced cucumber and some spinach leaves. The taste of the tea is accordingly vegetal with a clean texture. I think it goes well with food because of that clean taste. This was my final new sample from the Den’s Tea sampler. I believe this one was included because it was the tea of the month when I ordered it. I think I prefer this one over the Sencha Fuka-midori but less than the Houjicha Gold. Although it is a little bit of apples and oranges since they’re different types of tea.
So this seems to be my go to tea for my outdoor adventuring lately. Today, I brought this in my tea tumbler while going on a hike. My tea tumbler still retained some apple flavor from a previous tea, so I had a lightly apple flavored houjicha today. It was actually quite nice. The houjicha has a roasted, earthier flavor that balanced the light apple taste. It’s giving me ideas for blends in the future! Anyway, I now only have enough to make this tea one more time, sad!
Brought this in my tea tumbler to class today. The candy-apple smell is so strong that I could smell it through the lid (most flavored teas, I can barely smell). Anyway, it has a wonderful candy apple taste that kept me peppy all day. It did get bitter toward the bottom, but nothing too unbearable. I will say that I prefer teas with a cleaner texture, but I think this slightly buttery texture was supposed to be evocative of the crust part of the pie.
Edit: The apple smell/flavor is kind of stuck in my tea tumbler after washing regularly, so I’m going to have to clean it using a stronger method.
While I do not like getting up early, it does give me the opportunity to drink more (caffeinated) tea. Hooray for silver linings! Anyway, I’m starting off the day with this sample from Yezi Tea. When I opened the packet, I could immediately smell the jasmine. The tea was a nice cup of jasmine green tea. Very fragrant with a clean taste. I have to say, though, it left the back of my throat pretty dry, which was a bit hard to get over. I don’t believe I will be ordering more of this, but if you really love jasmine teas, then this is worth checking out.
I admit the only times I’ve had chai are at Indian restaurants with tons of sugar. So I ended up killing time at Starbucks again today, and I thought I’d try something new. I ordered the chai latte, and I am pretty disappointed. I don’t like ginger in general and am pretty sensitive to the taste. Unfortunately, this particular chai seems heavy on the ginger to me at least. I won’t rate it because it’s not the tea’s fault that I don’t like ginger, but I guess this note is to remind myself that this one was a no. It also leaves that sticky, sugary aftertaste in your mouth. The kind you get after eating too much candy/chocolate. At least it’s keeping my hands warm on this chilly fall day.
I’m spending my lunch hour at Starbucks today because I’m just sick of our cafeteria. Anyway, I got this as a latte and they accidentally sweetened it. Starbucks employees today have been a bit off their game. Anyway, it’s a decent black tea that holds up in the latte. I have to admit that I’m spoiled from trying a bunch of different high quality black teas in the last few months, so buying tea at Starbucks has become more of an excuse to take up a table for a while than for the tea itself. So my overall conclusion is that I won’t be buying any of this for myself to steep at home, but I’m perfectly fine buying a cup every now and then to justify hogging tables :)
I was in a hurry this morning not to be late for a presentation, and I goofed. I didn’t fully close the basket infuser in my Aladdin tumbler, so most of the leaves fell to the bottom and have been steeping for a while now. Because it’s my first time with this tea, I will refrain from rating until I can steep it properly.
Anyway, it has a very grassy taste and smell. Not sure how thrilled I am about that, but it is a straight green tea after all. To it’s credit, it’s not very bitter even though the tea leaves have been sitting in that water for a couple hours. Good thing the sample size from Den’s Tea has enough leaves for more than one try!
Another oolong sample from Yezi Tea! When I opened up the packet, it smelled sweet and maybe a little nutty and buttery. I’m still pretty new to oolongs and identifying smells/tastes in tea, so this may be confusing.
First steep: Steeped for 45 seconds as recommended. Has a buttery texture. It’s sweet, but not as sweet as I remember Li Shan being. Also tastes a little nutty. There is also a floral taste toward the end. As it cooled down, I started detecting a slight bitter aftertaste.
Second steep: Tastes pretty much the same except a little less buttery in texture. I’m sure there are nuances that I’m missing out on, but to me, it tastes good and that’s all that matters, haha.
Third steep: The water was definitely not hot enough, so I didn’t get the flavors as strongly. Aaand I don’t have time to steep any more, sad.
Overall, I did enjoy this tea. I think I prefer the Li Shan (also Yezi Tea) over this one because this was a little more bitter if I’m remembering correctly. Yay for exploring oolong!
The theme of this morning’s unhealthy breakfast is sweetness overload! I’m sitting here sipping on this deliciously sweet tea and eating cider donuts that I brought home from yesterday’s apple picking. Anyway, the dry leaf immediately hit me with a velvety, sweet smell. Smells the way that cake should! I was worried that this tea might not live up to the hype, but it really does taste like red velvet cake! And it has a creamy texture that tricks me into thinking it’s more solid and filling than it actually is.
Not rating for now because I don’t think I got any chocolate chip pieces in my teaspoon, oops! I’ll rate when I taste again with the full experience.
Backlog from yesterday. I brought this with me when I went apple picking. At first, I was tempted to bring Mom’s Apple Pie from Davids, but I figured I might have an apple/sweetness overload. I’m glad I realized this ahead of time because this hojicha was the perfect roasted, savory complement to all the sweet apples, cider, and cider donuts I had throughout the day!
