Lynne-tea

Alright so I’ve given this tea a shot in my yixing the other day, and I was underwhelmed.
I could hardly taste anything! I didn’t understand what was happening…

I really can’t rate it simply because the ‘tea’ tasted like water basically, though it was colored. Ah well.. I am going to try again soon.

Holding off rating for now

I got this tea for my birthday in February.
The leaf quality isn’t extremely high, but it’s still decent I would say.
I added 2 heaping ‘perfect teaspoon’fulls and used 160F water for 8 seconds.
A light and lovely brew results that reminds me of apple custard with vegetal notes to it oddly enough.

I am enjoying this for sure! Perhaps I will try a cold steep and see how that tastes. I have my beloved Silver Buds cold steeping right now.. can’t wait <3

What? No way. I haven’t reviewed this yet?!
I’ve only got 5 bags left! I could have sworn I reviewed this.
I’ve mad it for many friends and my mom – all have loved it. It reminds me of caramel brule.. vanilla caramel brule. Delicious and perfect for a late night cuppa.
mmm I need more!

I’m trying to get a grasp on this tea, but it’s not really doing anything really special for me.
Sure I can appreciate some zing and juiciness in it with a hint of cocoa and smoke, but it’s really not full bodied enough for me.
What am I missing?

I rinsed, then did a 5s steep using 5g leaves per 250 ml just under boiled water.

It’s good. Just not something I reach for or crave or want more of often.
It’s meh.

I get some smoke, some honey, maybe some green oolongish flavours.. possibly slightly similar to a big red robe with a mineral note.
I’m underwhelmed. HMPH.

EDIT.. wait. I just found a mouthful of caramel on my 3rd steep (10s)… Delicious caramel. Not overtly sweet, but creamy. Super creamy cream caramel. Yummmmm.
Ok original rating: 79..
new one.. well, whatever it says.

Mmmhmmm.
Had a cuppa this this morning to get my bum out of bed! (and to warm me up)
Delicious as always.
Sweet, malty with a touch of smoke. Truly a favourite tea of mine (aka one that I don’t feel guilty about mass consuming due to price, and taste)

I had this lastnight in order to not consume caffeine immediately before bed.
Definitely reminded me of sweet and sour pork.
Tangy, sweet, a touch bit spicy with an edge of bitter.
I didn’t think I’d like but but I kinda do…

Onto my second steep now. Again.. I kinda like it. I would definitely not have purchased this on my own as I like TEA tea.. but eh, I’m not upset I have it now. It’s interesting.

It’s been ages since I’ve had this tea and all I have been wanting to drink lately is black tea.
Possibly because of the weather? Usually oolongs are my favourite, but I am finding myself disinterested in green oolongs. Perhaps the summer will turn this around. I’m still stalking the Verdant tea website waiting for the Laoshan Black to come back in stock ;( Hmph.

Quick smell of the dry leaves gives a nice sweet malty note.
First steep I get sweetish caramel notes with smoke. Definite smoke. Delicious. A little bit of a harsh edge mid-sip, but it is very lovely still. The smell is delicious. The lingering taste is malty raisin.

I’m in Edmonton right now to meet my grad prof for my Masters… and I GOT IN!
It’s the lab of my dreams and I am so excited that all of my hard work paid off and I’m actually getting to do something I’ve wanted to do since grade 6!

Im staying with a dear friend of mine, and I shared this tea with him two nights ago. His expression was priceless:
“I feel like I should be chewing this. It’s that good. I just want to eat this. I can’t believe this is tea.”
There I was smiling ear to ear, so happy I found a tea he adores. It’s definitely one of my favourites and will forever be one of my favourites. So much love for this tea with its clove, pumpkin, cinnamon spice flavours and creaminess.. like drinking a pumpkin pie. <3

This is okay. It’s been a while since I’ve drank it… which was when I was just getting back into loose leaf tea.
This time around, it’s got an added element of dirt to the flavour profile.
Not sure where that came from. Maybe it’s because I left the leaves to sit out in their brew basket before using them to steep. (aka.. I put them in the basket, but fell asleep and didn’t brew it until 2 days later…)

oops. You win some, you lose some. I won’t change the rating simply because the flavour could be attributed to oxidation from being left out for a while. I would rate this steep a low 70s though.

It’s taking me a while to get to like this tea.. but I’m finding its growing on me slowly but surely. I’ve been steeping these nuggets for about a week now and they’ve only just broken apart today. Crazy business!
One rinse was done for these nuggets. First steeps brought a nice unsweetened angel food cake taste with vanilla and definite white starchy spongy cake taste (though again, unsweetened so it throws you off a bit)
Mid steeps introduce a nice maple syrup caramel aspect which is delightful and surprising… it accompanies the angel food cake. Definitely my favourite steepings.
Later steeps (current) bring about more of the angel food cake flavour, with the maple, and a nice silky mouthfeel.

I’ve probably done about 25+ steeps on these leaves and they’re still giving. Definitely was a delicious investment..
Boiling filtered water, short steeps initially (10s)… midsteeps were approximately 20-30s, late steeps 1-2 minutes

No notes yet.

See previous notes…
I haven’t had this in a while, and I don’t know why. It smells beautifully of butter and rum. Go figure.
Steeps up as a rather mellow black tea, but the buttery rum flavours definitely shine through with a hint of vanilla.
Yummeh

Now on a side note- I have 7000 words to write for my research paper by 1 pm tomorrow (23.5 hrs). Expect a lot of tea notes and a lot of tea being drank.

I love this tea every time I drink it! Sweet malt with a touch of smoke. What’s not to love?

My first official logged sipdown!
I’m going to try and drink as much tea as possible tonight and wash this lurking sickness out of me.

Initial dry notes: vanilla citrus with a touch of cream
Liquor: creamy custard vanilla with a nice citrus. Not a very strong ‘oolong’ flavour coming through.. Which is okay sometimes.

Overall it’s not too bad. I would buy this again possibly if my entire stocks of tea get low.. but I also would like to try the new Vanilla oolong DT has before I’d commit to a 50g bag of this (judging by the rate at which I drank my 15g sample…)

Tea Desire Chai mix with Tea Desire Chocolate Christmas Loops black tea…

I added extra star anise, cloves, candied ginger, cinnamon sticks, cardamon, and peppercorns.
Made with almond milk (unsweetened) and 1 tsp of honey.

The result is a delicious, sweet cinnamon/clove/cardamon/chocolate brew that’s perfect for the morning!

What the heck?
I definitely wrote a note for this. But where did it go?!
This has been a love of mine since discovering DT… why? Here are my reasons:
1. I love popcorn
2. I love caramel
3. I love caramel popcorn
4. I love caramel apples
This tea features all of these delightful flavours and more! .. such as maple syrup. Let’s not get sidetracked by that though.
I iced mine, added a bit of raw sugar and some salt. This beats any juice I’ve ever had, and hence why I love tea.

No notes yet.

Delicious…
Chocolate, caramel, wuyi mineral notes, and malt.

I’m In LOVE.

I do enjoy this one… but It’s not my favourite varietal of black tea that’s for sure.
I crave maltiness in my black teas, and this is not strong in the malt factor.
I get notes of raisins, orange and almost a candied ginger note?
A sweetness develops on the second cup for me (gongfu style with ~86˚C, 30s).. it’s nice and accompanied by a slight drying at the back of the throat.

I like it.. I don’t love it.
Thank you Angel for the sample.

First tea of my birthday… even though I haven’t slept yet so it’s not officially the day of my birthday.
This was one of the first DT’s I fell in love with. It’s been a while since I’ve had it, but my golly it’s so so so good. All sweet and vanilla cake like. Scrumptious.

Now hopefully this tea knocks me out so I can get to the laboratory early tomorrow…. hmmph.. I’m no early bird thats for darn sure.

I’ve been icing this.
SO GOOD. Holy bananas good. Sweet nectar with yummy sweet pea, honeysuckle and green bean flavours. Layers of thick honey too.
Crazy delicious

I’ve been trying to give this tea the benefit of the doubt, but it keeps leaving me with something to be desired.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it… it’s just.. missing a key element. Not that the tea is bad, maybe it’s just not my preferred oolong. It’s my first shui xian. I do love Wuyi oolongs though.
I’m on my 3rd steep from leaves I used last night. I am finding the waffle cone flavours.. and almost a vanilla custard oddly enough.
Still not absolutely blown away though.. I don’t know why.

(oh yeah.. Steeping parameters: 10s, 206˚F, ~5g, 5oz… increase time 1s each sequential steep.)

Holy Hannah This Stuff IS GREAT!
Smelling the leaves is heavenly! Definite chocolaty notes with malt and buckwheat.. I was so excited to try this tea.
I rinsed/steeped at 205˚F for 4 seconds and 2 ‘perfect teaspoonfuls.’ Delightful. Chocolaty malt and definite buckwheat.. all tied together with a dark honey of sorts. mmmm
Second steep was 8s. The buckwheat and malt notes are sticking around.. the chocolate has gone, but now there’s a thickness thats developing.. melting like butter almost. I would say this steep was half as sweet as the first.

Loving this Yu Lu Yan Cha!

Oh my gosh..
I made an iced version of this by using two small handfuls (~10g) of leaf per 4oz of filtered water. Put this in the fridge overnight and the color is a beautiful light and bright greeny yellow.
It tastes so magnificent too! Nicely sweet with a green bean like flavour, except delicate veggie flavour.. perhaps it’s delicate because it’s been mellowed by the lovely sweetness on my tongue. The lingering flavour is like a baked banana caramel dessert with vanilla bean ice cream and a graham cracker somewhere in the mix at the end.

I have a feeling I’ll be drinking LOTS of this. It’s still cold outside and I prefer black teas for comfort during the cold days… but this a nice drink for in-between tea sessions is perfect! (And I’m still consuming tea! ^. )