45 Tasting Notes

95

Writing a paper about Shakespeare’s sonnets with this tea as my companion. First steep is as good as ever. On the second steep I notice some very nice floral notes and a faint buttery taste/feel in the aftertaste.

Lovely.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 15 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90

First off, Den’s Tea is a wonderful company. If you’re considering ordering from them, I say “Do it!” Timely delivery and they included their catalog, a pamphlet about the health benefits of green tea, and a magazine about Japanese cuisine and culture. It’s the small things, yes?

Of course, all of this would be nothing if they didn’t sell high quality tea.

I’ve tried all four teas I bought from Den’s and they’re all absolutely delicious. (More reviews coming soon!) Today me and my housemates celebrated Christmas. It was wonderful. We all went to church, had breakfast together, opened presents, ate a fantastic homemade dinner (each person made one part of it), and, finally, played cards together. No homework, no stress. Just quality time. And I don’t have school tomorrow! (That’s the cherry on top, my friends.) In any case, my housemate Shane got me an awesome elephant teapot. The tea comes out of its trunk! Love it! In fact, I just finished an elephant of Fukamushi Sencha Special.

According to the Den’s Tea webpage fukamushi sencha is steamed at least two times longer than regular sencha. I believe this is the first deep steamed sencha I’ve had. The dry leaf smells full and fresh with light fruity notes. The flavor is deep and complex. Pleasantly grassy with hints of ripe fruits and brine rounded out by a wonderful taste of milk at the back. The aftertaste is milk then fruit.

I think I’m starting to get a hint of what good sencha can be.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

5
drank Honey Pear by Golden Moon Tea
45 tasting notes

I really wanted to like this. I really did. After reading several reviews of it I thought it would be nice. I like honey, I like pears, I like black tea. Honey pear black tea? That’s a no brainer, right?

Wrong.

The dry leaf smelled weird. Extremely vegetal with a sweetness that just seemed not to belong. A tragic foreshadowing….

The smell of the liquor was nauseating. I don’t know what it was. It smelled bitter, flatly sweet, like it had splenda or sweet and low in it. And it had that bad vegetal smell to it. Like boiled weeds.

I sipped it twice before dumping it in the sink. Tasted like sweetened bitter greens. The Flavor was muddy and disjointed with a slight whisper of pear dropped in there somewhere.

I wish this tea would have been good. I really do. I don’t know what happened but it was just awful…

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Suzi

Bummer! :(

takgoti

Dang. Now I’m a little scared. I shall have to proceed with caution.

teaplz

Oh no, Micah! I’m anticipating this one, which is why I haven’t opened my packet yet… I hope it’s okay!

Micah

I really hope you both enjoy it and something just went singularly and horribly wrong with my cup. Godspeed, good travelers!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

Ratings bump! I drank this last night while doing homework and I was very impressed by the floral notes in this tea. Fruity and flowery with the occasional and very welcome milkiness.

Good for at least five steeps!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
drank Vanilla Jasmine by Golden Moon Tea
45 tasting notes

Life is starting to become busy again but I’m not sure I’m ready for it! Winter session Shakespeare class for one more week and then the regular semester starts. And I finally have a job. At a coffee shop that sells Rishi tea! I’m kind of excited about that. Maybe I can get a discount or something.

In any case, I’m fully stocked up on tea for at least the next couple of weeks. Orders came in from Red Blossom Tea Co, Den’s Tea, and the famed Golden Moon sampler (so I can finally ship my swap box to you, takgoti! Sorry for the wait, it’ll be shipped tomorrow!). There’s almost too much to take it all in and I’m enjoying it very much.

Last night I pored over The Merchant of Venice and drank somewhere in the neighborhood of half a gallon of tea while doing so. I haven’t done the homework & tea thing since high school! It was great.

Anyway, I’m slowly making my way through the Golden Moon sampler and it was either Vanilla Jasmine or Tippy Earl Grey tonight and my housemate chose Vanilla Jasmine so here we are. The dry leaf has a very warm vanilla scent to it. Not too sweet but just nice and rich vanilla. While brewing the scent was lovely. Light jasmine robed in vanilla, not competing but complimenting nicely.

The flavor is full and robust. It’s dominated by vanilla but with nice floral jasmine notes throughout. The vanilla flavor is wonderful. Rich and creamy and the overall flavor of the tea is perfectly balanced. My housemate loved it too.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec
teaplz

Another GM sampler recruit! Welcome to the club! Isn’t the box and everything in it adorable?

Micah

I know! I love it!

Ricky

Woah, three orders at once? Can’t wait to see more reviews.

takgoti

Noooo worries. I’ve delayed just as much. If not more. I won’t get these suckers out until tomorrow, I suspect.

I need to get started on that sampler pack. Maybe today shall be the christening. I feel like I need to smash a bottle underfoot or something. Hopa!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95

Absolutely wonderful.

That is what I have to say about this tea.

The leaves are beautiful. Long and twisted, downy in spots. They brew a very pale tea with a heavier scent than its taste. It smells almost like sweetgrass. The flavor develops beautifully as the tea cools. It starts out like a very light pi lo chun. I don’t really know how to describe that flavor but its definitely akin to that class of teas. It tastes like a light chinese green, I guess. I don’t pick up on many other notes until it starts to cool and then it comes alive. This tea doesn’t relax me like a pi lo chun does. Instead, it refreshes. The flavor is delicate but lively. It has a faint grassy note but not like japanese teas. It’s more like sweetgrass. This tea is just so revitalizing. I couldn’t stop smiling while I drank it.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec
takgoti

Smiling tea ftw, for sure. We all need at least one smiling tea in our lives.

Angrboda

Smiling tea, that sounds like you’ve stumbled across a celebration tea. :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Green Kukicha by Den's Tea
45 tasting notes

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Green Kukicha by Den's Tea
45 tasting notes

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Green Kukicha by Den's Tea
45 tasting notes

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

55

Fairly robust. Lots of good vanilla flavor. Delicious with cream and a little sugar.

I wish it had more body, though. And a heftier mouthfeel. (A vanilla scented yunnan would be so good!) Maybe I didn’t steep it long enough?

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 45 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

Loose leaf since high school. I drink mostly greens and oolongs but will try and probably enjoy anything. University student. 3rd year. University of Montana. Studying: English Teaching. ~ Music: Bat For Lashes, Broken Social Scene, Camera Obscura, Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, Fleet Foxes, The Knife, Mirah, St. Vincent, Vivian Girls, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. ~ Interests: food, tea, coffee, literature, music ~ Books: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura. Thomas Hardy

Location

Missoula, MT

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer