Yeah, I chose a bad time to brew up four new-to-me black teas from 52teas, since I brought them upstairs and promptly fell asleep for who knows how long. And I’m being a terrible grad student writing these notes up, because I have a TON of work to do on my poster, and am showing it to my advisor tomorrow… eeks! Anyways, this is another from CHAroma!
The aroma of this one is definitely mapley and good, and upon sniffing, I was brought to memories of maple syrup-laden pancakes, so there must be a pancake element in there that I’m also picking up (I’m not actually a pancake fan, so maple syrup doesn’t typically evoke such memories).
… I’m pretty impressed, to be honest. I’m getting enough maple to know it’s there (but nothing like Oh Canada! from DavidsTea, which is fine), and a bit of pancakiness, which I have NO idea how Frank did. And also? No real astringency. A pleasure to drink. I’m enjoying the base tea here, even though it’s not the fabulous new base everyone’s raving about. CHAroma – I’m not sure if you didn’t like this one or what, since you sent me the leftovers from your packet, but I’m kind of thrilled to have more than two cups of this one. I don’t think it’s one I’d buy, but I’m really enjoying it for what it is right now! And did I mention, this one’s also cold?? :P
Also, does anyone know if marigold petals/cornflower petals do anything other than make the dry tea pretty, and get hopelessly clogged in one’s infuser? I definitely love the look of them, and am just fine with them in blends in spite of the clogging thing, but I almost feel like I like (black) teas that contain them more than teas that don’t… but maybe that’s just coincidence.
Preparation
Comments
Well the marigolds definitely aren’t for scents or taste, I learned the hard way today that they smell vile. I wouldn’t want to eat them based on that smell.
I’m wondering if there are ones that smell better because these sure don’t. I always wondered why no bees seemed to go near them and today I understood!
Oh, it’s a weird smell. Like petunias have a weird smell. My mom always plants a marigold border along the edge of the garden. Apparently they’re supposed to keep slugs away (although that was only a problem in our first few years in Saskatoon, IIRC).
Those petals sure do look pretty though. I thought they had something to do with flavoring. This is another blend by 52teas that I really wanna try!
I’ve been hearing good things about this blend. I’ll have to give it a try when I get a chance.
Also, grad students represent!!! What are you going to school for? I’m about to finish my masters in Library Science.
HAHAHAHAAA!!!! You really made me laugh! First off, I love this tea. I just had a second bag of it in my cupboard. So, I decided to give you the tea in the original packaging instead of transferring it all to a ziplock. (I also added a bit more tea from the new bag to make sure you got good flavor and not old, bland leaves).
As for the marigold petals, they do actually contribute to the taste, just not in a big, overwhelming, hey-I’m-in-here! kind of way. So basically, that makes them the opposite of hibiscus. I had to try lots of different teas with marigold petals in them to really be able to pick that out apart from the other flavors. It’s hard for me to describe what it tastes like exactly, but it does contribute to the overall flavor of the tea.
Well the marigolds definitely aren’t for scents or taste, I learned the hard way today that they smell vile. I wouldn’t want to eat them based on that smell.
I like the smell of marigolds! Summer memories. :P
I’m wondering if there are ones that smell better because these sure don’t. I always wondered why no bees seemed to go near them and today I understood!
Oh, it’s a weird smell. Like petunias have a weird smell. My mom always plants a marigold border along the edge of the garden. Apparently they’re supposed to keep slugs away (although that was only a problem in our first few years in Saskatoon, IIRC).
Those petals sure do look pretty though. I thought they had something to do with flavoring. This is another blend by 52teas that I really wanna try!
I always thought they were there to hold the flavorings and make the tea look pretty.
I’ve been hearing good things about this blend. I’ll have to give it a try when I get a chance.
Also, grad students represent!!! What are you going to school for? I’m about to finish my masters in Library Science.
Nice! I’m in Plant Agriculture in genetics/breeding :D
HAHAHAHAAA!!!! You really made me laugh! First off, I love this tea. I just had a second bag of it in my cupboard. So, I decided to give you the tea in the original packaging instead of transferring it all to a ziplock. (I also added a bit more tea from the new bag to make sure you got good flavor and not old, bland leaves).
As for the marigold petals, they do actually contribute to the taste, just not in a big, overwhelming, hey-I’m-in-here! kind of way. So basically, that makes them the opposite of hibiscus. I had to try lots of different teas with marigold petals in them to really be able to pick that out apart from the other flavors. It’s hard for me to describe what it tastes like exactly, but it does contribute to the overall flavor of the tea.
Ahhh, I getcha :) Thanks for that! I’m all for sending tea in the original packaging to save on plastic bag waste, if it’s possible!
I’ll keep trying teas with marigold petals to see if I can pick out what flavour they contribute!