Kittenna

Decided to throw some of this in a travel mug today, and it was kind of a nice change to drink as the mulberries made it quite sweet, whereas most teas I bring along are not overtly sweet. Tasty. Gave the second infusion a very long infusion and it’s pretty good as well. I don’t think I’ll restock this tea though. Too expensive for what it is.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm yes you are so delicious, my Chocolate Pumpkin Pie tea….

Thanks to Raritea for sharing some of this with me (via Ellyn!)

I couldn’t detect any aroma whatsoever from the dry tea, so really had quite low expectations for this blend, but I am getting flavour, and it’s actually not bad! I don’t distinctly taste cucumber (which is completely ok, because the one time I purchased cucumber water it made me gag! Not that I don’t like cucumbers though) and I’m not tasting as much kiwi as I would like, but it’s quite a refreshing blend. I’m actually kind of tempted to purchase it for myself if there’s another 52teas sale in the future, while it’s still available. I can definitely also taste the distinctive flavour of honeybush, which I do actually kind of enjoy, sometimes.

Thanks again you guys – this was a blend I’d been wavering about purchasing for a while, I just wish I’d gotten around to trying it sooner!

I opted to eat the two jellybeans in my infuser prior to steeping this tea… figured they’d be better off in my mouth… haha. Anyhow, this tea still reminds me a lot of Swampwater, but without the icky, scummy floaty stuff. And I did actually like the flavour of Swampwater ok, just kind of tropical fruit-y, which is what this one is as well. I suppose I can perhaps taste some coconut in here as well as a bit of creaminess, but that’s it. A decent blend for the evening, but there are far better options that I’d rather drink.

Yep… mint when tempered with vanilla and chocolate is actually rather enjoyable to me! Although… I’d definitely rather have a honeybush base here, as I can taste a bit more of the rooibos than I’d like.

No notes yet.

Ack, I am struggling with myself not to buy this one online. It’s just SO expensive :/ Enjoyed a delicious travel mug-full of this yesterday/today. On that note… I totally picked up two more Contigo mugs from Costco on the weekend, so now I can prepare 5 mugs each morning… hahahahahahahaha. I definitely went to work this morning with all 5 full of tea….

Sipdown! And a good thing too, because this tea is dead, haha. Gone is the tasty fruity flavour. There’s still tasty oolong (even though this is oversteeped), but yeah, spending an entire year in a plastic baggie was not kind to this tea. Ah well.

Pretty much the same opinion of this as last time: a good solid dark oolong with a pleasant woodiness and slight sweetness. I could drink this regularly quite happily! Thanks again to Azzrian for letting me taste this one!

Ok… this is more like “Froid Les Marrons” at the moment, or however you say “cold” in French…. but it’s yummy! Lupicia definitely has some good teas. Thanks to Azzrian for the generous sample of this one!

Thanks to momo for this sample! I have some from LiberTeas as well, but went with the smaller sample (with a huge banana chunk!) so that I’d be just that little bit closer to a sipdown, haha. One cup left in this baggie though.

So, this is pretty darn tasty. There was a huge banana chip in the infuser, and I would have to assume that some of the yummy banana in here is because of the chip (so I probably won’t taste it quite as much next time). I’m also LOVING the hojicha base, which I totally steeped like a black, hahahahaha, whoops. Let it be known that this tea withstands 2.5 min at boiling without developing any astringency/bitterness! (LOL I did the exact same thing the first time I infused this one too! Why don’t I read my previous tasting notes beforehand…)

Anyhow, while last time I compared this to Monkey Fart, this time I’m definitely getting more of a coconut banana cream pie sort of flavour. As in, there’s definitely creamy coconutty goodness in here. Mmmm. And the base! This is so fantastic, because it’s light and toasty, but full-bodied, and perfectly complementary. Fingers crossed Frank makes another hojicha blend sometime soon? :D Upping my rating a bit because I’d probably buy a pouch of this. I imagine it would be amazing in a travel mug.

ETA: Second infusion = more toasty hojicha goodness but still enough flavour. I think I kept the leaves to try a third infusion sometime later.

Sipdown! Thanks for letting me grab a sample of this one, Sil!

I only took a cup of this one because I figured it would be reasonably similar to most blueberry blacks (but I was curious anyways). Turns out I am pretty much correct. It’s pretty tasty, with a definite blueberry flavour on top of a slightly astringent black base which doesn’t seem to add a great deal to the tea. Nothing overly special, but a perfectly good blueberry tea. I personally prefer the blueberry cream teas of 52teas (I seem to have a thing for cream flavour in teas), and I also think the blueberry flavour may be a touch stronger in those, but if you just want tasty blueberry, this would fit the bill well enough!

Yum, I really do enjoy this blend. Makes me think that I should get going on drinking up my other yabao blends + the straight yabao I still have kicking around from one of my early Verdant orders.

Anyways, I still think that the fruitiness of the pear is a perfect accompaniment to the piney yabao. Delicious!

Wow… I went over 24 hours without tea! Actually, it was probably more like 36-38. It just didn’t end up happening. So now I have a wicked headache, and it’s either dehydration or tea withdrawal… both of which of course could be solved by drinking some tea! (I fail to acknowledge that there are other possibilities. My boyfriend agrees that “there is no other explanation” :P)

Trying to drink a few things down tonight, and so I grabbed some of this. Such an appealing-sounding blend, but it just doesn’t work for me. Sure, it’s chocolatey, but I only get the barest hint of spice (and only sometimes), and there’s nothing whatsoever in here that would lead me to label it a “chai”. At least it’s halfways decent as a chocolate tea, because I still have probably 20g of it left, as I was given a 50g bag last Christmas.

Sipdown!

Finishing off the last of my sample of this one. I gave it a 1-minute infusion this time, as I seemed to recall that someone suggested it was best that way, and it is reasonably tasty. It tastes much like banana + nuts to me, not really whisky, although to be fair I haven’t ever drank whisky. Overall, it’s tasty, but falls into the category of being too expensive for what it is (e.g. a white tea blend that doesn’t even taste like white tea!), so this will be the last time I’m likely to drink it. Also, I’m pretty sure it was just discontinued, heh.

ETA: Second infusion was tasty enough. Not super sad that I’m out of this one.

Sipdown!

Reading my previous tasting note, it seems that I am definitely enjoying the last of this sample much more than I did the first cup! I used the remaining ~half of the sample in about 8 oz. water, and gave it my standard oolong treatment (3 min in just below boiling water) and the result is creamy (but not milk oolong creamy), sweet vegetal, and absolutely delicious! I’m really not sure what went wrong last time; I would definitely love to drink this again, although I think the price point may be out of my range.

Thank so much to Tea from Taiwan for this sample! Hopefully I will eventually be able to make a delicious oolong order, and pick up some of this and the other oolong I enjoyed.

Ok….. my bad. I left this tea waaaayyyy too long (in the opened packet) before going back and finishing it, which I haven’t yet even done, and then when I finally brewed some up today, I definitely didn’t follow the brewing instructions, just made up my own. Oh well… It’s still tasty – I can taste the green tea (which is a bit astringent), and absolutely delicious fresh, tart cherry flavour, though it’s a bit mild. I have to say that this tea tastes a bit old, which like I said is entirely my fault, but I imagine that proper brewing parameters may have also helped! Luckily though, it’s still tasty enough to drink and enjoy, so I didn’t completely ruin it! This reminds me a good deal of Butiki’s Strawberry Oolong, and I have a feeling that my mom would really enjoy it… so one day, I should acquire some to give to her!

ETA: Got a decent second infusion here with a 1.5 minute steep in 70C water. Not too astringent, as some people have been remarking the second infusion tends to be (although my first infusion parameters were not standard anyways). The first infusion is definitely infinitely better though.

Hrm. I’m really not getting much from this tea other than a sense that it’s flavoured, and some astringency. Perhaps 4 minutes was too much? I guess I’ll have to give this one another proper shot later! This is drinkable, just… nothing really tasty/special at all.

Thanks to Azzrian for this sample!

Sipdown!

Ha, I love when I follow my own advice without even having read my previous tasting note! I cut 1:15 off my infusion time, and this is much better. Still a touch astringent, but definitely drinkable. And it seriously tastes exactly like liquid fuzzy peaches. The jasmine is really not much of a factor here, which is good, but I’m unfortunately missing the nice lingering “tea” flavour that I am used to getting in higher quality blends such as those from Butiki (and even Kally and the like).

Another tea to cross of my list – glad I tried, but won’t be drinking it again!

Definitely enjoying this one quite a bit more than the first time I tried it – this time the sickly sweet smell has transferred to the flavour, and it’s quite tasty! As momo mentioned, however, it’s kind of a maple-y flavour, which doesn’t really scream “red velvet cake”. Either way, this is a tasty cup, and I’ll happily drink up the last of my package another day, but yeah, no need to pick up more.

ETA: I’m somewhat shocked – actually got 2 decent additional infusions out of these leaves! Half the water, as I typically do for subsequent infusions. It was mostly the mapley flavour that was lingering around, but it was quite pleasant.

Used 2 teabags for an underfilled Timolino, and it was definitely nearly if not as good as the loose version. I have no idea why I adore this chai so much… I love it plain, with no milk and sugar, but there’s just something about it that really makes it stand out from other chais I’ve had.

Also, it stands up well to being oversteeped, and just gets more peppery. Mmmmmm.

Mmmmmmmmm, so heavenly. It’s the raisin notes in this tea that I crave so much! Gotta have this one around at all times!

Oh no, almost out of this one! I think I’ll force myself to drink up any other milk oolong samples in my cupboard before I let myself pick up more, though. Even though I will be sad if I can’t take this to school once a week or so :(

Hmm. I wonder if this is a bit too old now… there’s really not much flavour beyond “flavoured black tea”. As in, it’s kind of malty in a flavoured sort of way. And I can tell it’s a black tea. Not particularly bad or good… but I certainly am not getting anything remotely like milk OR cookies here. Ah well. I have a bit more to try again, but I’ll withhold a rating here as I suspect age is a factor. Sigh!

Thanks for sharing some of this with me, momo!