6105 Tasting Notes

95
drank Laoshan Black by Verdant Tea
6105 tasting notes

Travel mug tea #4 for Easter outing

Classic standby. Actually drank most of it at Easter breakfast; also a good accompaniment to sweet treats!

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79

Travel mug tea #3 for Easter outing

Tasty enough in a travel mug; mostly tastes kind of like a roasted oolong. Good accompaniment to sweet Easter treats.

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100

Travel mug tea #2 for Easter outing

Delicious as usual. Always a hit in the travel mug; the flavour stands up really well.

As a side note, I ended up mixing together resteeps of a handful of teas I’d brought with me (this, Vanilla Orchid, Sechong Oolong, Lemon Pound Cake) and it was really delicious. I could pick out the individual teas in different sips, which was unexpected and neat. I need to try blending teas more often.

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77

Travel mug tea #1 for Easter outing

Long time no post. I’ve been busy and going to sleep early, also suffering from frequent headaches, which is really no fun at all. Not migraines, just headaches… not sure if it’s dehydration, sleep deprivation, or something else entirely. Oh well…

Anyhow, this was my least favourite of the 6 teas I brought along. Too much chocolate and not enough lavender (but that’s probably because I really just wanted a lavender tea).

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79

Note for the Anne version.

Boo. This tea seems to have lost a ton of flavour, because I previously (2 years ago) enjoyed it, and now, I couldn’t even figure out what it was when drinking it, as it tasted more or less like a straight black tea with some vague flavouring. Bleh. I had quite liked it, too.

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82
drank Smokey Black by Unknown from China
6105 tasting notes

Couldn’t find another entry for this; this is for the tea that Sil brought back from China all those years ago! ;)

Anyhow, I expected to be adding milk + maple syrup here, but I sampled it before adding them and was pleasantly surprised at the smoothness and flavour, as well as the balanced level of smoke. Tastes like a Chinese black (duh), with maltiness and chocolate, and light smoke. No astringency, acridity, just a great, flavourful cup of tea. Thanks Sil!

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85
drank Banana Pancakes by 52teas
6105 tasting notes

This one fell flat for me today. I think it was oversteeped, and oversteeping kills the flavourings. Sigh.

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77
drank PMS Oolong by 52teas
6105 tasting notes

Not enamoured with this one. It was okay today; a tropically-fruity oolong (bonus: you could actually taste the delicious oolong), but something about the flavouring just wasn’t doing it for me. Perhaps it was just more mildly flavoured than I wanted. Couldn’t pick out specific fruits, though I wasn’t paying much attention while drinking it (I believe I was watching the baby crawl around/puke on the floor).

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90
drank Shui Xian by Verdant Tea
6105 tasting notes

Yum. Travel-mugged tea. Can’t comment on it specifically, just that I enjoyed it.

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100

I still love this tea, but something wasn’t quite right when I had it a few days ago. Not sure what I did wrong. I do know it is prone to both overleafing and oversteeping, but thought I’d been careful about those. Perhaps it was just because it was in a travel mug. (And the second infusion was oversteeped.)

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Bio

I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

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