6106 Tasting Notes
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.)
Review for the Frank version of this tea.
Second last cup; I’m quite sad, as this is one of my absolute favourites (upped rating from 83 to 86 to reflect that). I also have one or two bags of the Anne version – my previous tasting notes are mixed as to whether I thought it was as good as the original or not. If I think about it, I’ll compare the two.
Unfortunately, I oversteeped this today because hockey games are distracting. I don’t even like hockey, really. But my husband does, and it was the last 6 or so minutes, and the Leafs were winning, and it was game 5 of their playoff set with the Bruins… one can get swept up a little, sometimes. But yes, there’s delicious flavour, but there’s also bitterness due to the oversteep. Sad.
I think I oversteeped this. It had a good combination of spices, but was astringent and I didn’t particularly enjoy drinking it straight. Mostly tasted like a pumpkin spice tea, not a butter cookie, but I think it has the strength to take additions well, so I’ll try some in the future, hopefully.
Hmm. I am really surprised that I don’t like this more than I do, given the ingredient list. But it honestly tastes like the sunflower seeds, or something, has gone off, and that’s influencing the whole blend. It smells a bit play-doughy as well. Apparently I thought something similar last time, too.
I’m so confused, because this should have been a complete hit for me, but it wasn’t :( Maybe it needs a bit of sweetener? I’m not sure how much that will help, though. It’s just kind of… bland, with some play dough flavour…
Unfortunately, I didn’t rate this tea before, but luckily, it’s still rather good! The leaves are strangely fluffy, like… dried pork fluff stuff? They’re all ground up, so despite the recommendation on the package to use extra leaf as it’s a fluffy tea, I went with less leaf than normal (3/4 tsp for 8 oz) because I was worried it would be potent like a Japanese gyokuro. I was wrong. It’s so smooth, I clearly could have used more leaf, and will next time, though it was certainly flavourful even with a reduced amount of leaf. The flavour was a bit mariney and sweet, somewhat vegetal. Still tasted fresh, and not like an old green tea, which it is (I’d estimate 4-5 years in my possession).
Anyways, I should have tried this sooner. It’s yummy.
I’ll admit, this one is looking a little old and sad. Lucky for me, it still tastes ok, nice and creamy mint. Probably the only peppermint tea I’ve actually truly enjoyed drinking. (Also, I had thought I had some of this in my cupboard, I just couldn’t find it earlier. Sooo one more added to the Butiki count.)
This is actually surprisingly delicious. Yes, it has an aura of fakeness around it, but really, since when are strawberry daiquiris not made with syrups and other manufactured products, even if they toss in a few mashed berries for extra flavour? So, I’m unbothered by that. Tastes to me like there’s lime in there too, but it’s kept to a very low level so it blends instead of overpowers. Really beautifully done, actually. I had thought I didn’t much care for this one, but if every cup tastes like this, I want more.
Side note: I’ve been brewing basically everything at no hotter than 205F lately, mostly because it seems that using 212F water might be detrimental at times. It might be making a difference for the honeybush/rooibos, at least.
Sipdown! 129/365!
Haven’t had a lot of tea in the past few days as I’ve been busy and exhausted (still am; I’m running on fumes right now), but I have a few backlogged items to input at some point.
Anyhow, I figured this was going to be similarly gross to the Coffee Chai (or whatever is was) that I also sipped down recently – and the aroma from the bag suggested that. However, it is much, much less disgusting, and in fact, reminds me a little bit of coffee-flavoured Jelly Bellies (why yes, I do have a container of Jelly Bellies from Costco in my cupboard). While they aren’t my favourite, they’re not too bad, kind of like this tea. There’s a lingering sweetness again here that bugs me, but it’s not as prominent – the initial flavour in the sip actually tastes quite unsweet, which is just fine. Probably yummy as a latte, if you can make it strong enough. It doesn’t come off as being a particularly potent tea to me.
Not a tea I’d pick up again, but certainly one of the better coffee-flavoured teas around.
