jlandsborough

It feels like it has been a while since I have had a black tea, so I went for this one. I seem to always enjoy this one when I make it.

I thought I have reviewed this tea before. Apparently not. Unfortunately I did not approach this tea with the goal of reviewing it or sharing my thoughts.

If that is what you are reading this for, go ahead and skip this note. It is not going to hurt my feelings. There is nothing of some significant value here. Seriously. For real, I am not even going to give a rating! That will come later.

I had it with the goal of drinking some warm tea. I am feeling quite sick today, and had a higher than normal desire to drink something warm, and just warm water did not seem very appealing. The desire probably has something to do with the fact that my throat hurts. As a result I had 4 cups of tea (hint: it was this one) over the past hour or so.

I also tried to avoid/minimise caffeine so I could go to sleep earlier and hopefully recover from whatever I have faster. So, I did not drink the first infusion, since I have heard that most of the caffeine is in the first infusion, and any caffeine is seriously diminished after that. Obviously I have not done a study on this to confirm.

The second and third were both made with the recommended steep time and temperature (see preparation details). More so due to the fact that my TriniTEA goes up to 7 minutes…

Although my nose is running (so I cannot really smell), and my throat is sore (which will prevent me from tasting it normally), I can say that the second infusion was better than the third. The third one seemed stronger than the second. Or maybe I am just going insane too. We will see. We will see.

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I originally purchased this tea because it comes from the same region of Japan that I stayed in when I went there a few years back.

This tea has the perfect amount of grassiness for my preference, at least compared to other green teas I’ve tried so far. Once this tea cooled down, it was very good. None of the flavors were very sharp, which I like. It all seems to mesh together quite well.

I do see one problem however. I only made two cups worth, and I am starting to think that was not enough! This might qualify for a re-steep.

Decided to under-steep this time around, see what happens.

Pretty good, not as good as the usual 3 minute steep time though. Seems a bit more of a bitter taste than the longer steep time, somehow… Must have used more leaves than usual.

I was quite amused with the wisps of steam arising from my cup though.

Quite good.

Seemed to hint at some flavors that are completely beyond my ability to identify.

I like how it is not quite a strong as a black tea, but seemed to be stronger than a green tea.

This is the first Oolong I’ve had (at least in loose leaf form). Will definitely keep drinking this, but I’m also now curious about other varieties to try.

I like this tea. It’s really smooth. The flavor is very mellow and not overpowering. It makes for a nice tea-drinking experience.

I prefered it best when cooled off a little, but not quite room temperature (I finished it before it got to that point ^_).

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Pre-midterm tea.

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Drinking this tea and listening to classical music while doing some homework… I feel fancy.

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Re-steeped the leaves I had earlier. 180 (degrees F), 2 minutes, 2 teaspoons leaves, 2 cups water.

Still enjoyed it this time around. :)

Wanted something familiar (so I wouldn’t have to think too much about it) and really enjoyable while working on a programming assignment. This was the choice!

Was feeling this today. Good solid cups of tea.

Had this with some egg whites and some tasty, but very messy, “9 grain” toast.

First of all, these are the infusion parameters I used this time:
4 balls, 2 cups boiling (212 degrees F) water, 5 minutes, first steep.

It was quite good. Not amazing, but good.

Quite smooth for a black tea. Everything seemed to blend well together (or I couldn’t distinguish any particular flavor, anyways). Not much in the way of bitterness either.

I didn’t really allow my cup to cool much while drinking, so I can’t say how it did as it cooled. Last time I had this with 3 balls/2 cups, I didn’t like it as it cooled down then (it was ok warm).

Will continue tweaking with parameters values as I use up my sample, but this time around it turned out quite good.

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Had this one yesterday.

This was one of the first loose leaf teas I ever tried. It was my favorite of the ones I tried back then and I still really like it today.

There is a grassy flavor, but it isn’t very strong. There’s something else about this tea that I can’t quite describe very well. When I was drinking it, I remember thinking that it was almost sweet, but not in the sugar kind of way.

This tea smells great. As soon as the hot water hit the tea, I could immediately smell it from a few feet away.

I had two cups of this (I tend to make at least two cups at a time whenever I make tea).

With the first, I was actually eating some indian food (Chicken Tika Masala and Whole Wheat Naan). The spices seem to overpower the actual black tea. Very distinctive cinnamon taste. Can’t say I know what cardamon tastes like, so I don’t know how much of a presence it made.

I also tried it with milk (fat free though, since that is all I have at the moment). Seemed to smooth the flavor a bit, although regular milk may work better. I don’t usually put milk in my tea though, so I don’t know if that is the case.

One thing I noticed, is that the flavor seemed to dull as the tea cooled off.

Pretty good for when I want some black tea, but don’t quite want it to taste like a black tea.

This tea was really smooth. Not a strong flavor. It was a very mellow tea, and quite good.

Love this tea. Got some more recently, should be set for a while. :)