790 Tasting Notes
This is toasty, caramelly and sweet but the tea base is still discernable. I don’t think it has sugar in it but since there are no ingredients listed I can’t say for sure. It’s a nice blend.
I unpacked this after the trip and couldn’t remember why I picked it up. I don’t look specifically for decaf teas nor do I look much for flavored teas these days. Occasionally I get a craving for flavored tea but not so often that I’d go out of my way to buy some sight untasted so to speak. I remembered after steeping it and sitting here for awhile with it – they were sampling shortbread cookies made with this tea and they were awesome! It wasn’t steeped in the liquid, but ground up tea leaves mixed in with the butter. That will be a project this week – trying to duplicate those cookies!
Preparation
This was one of two samples given out by Silk Road at their fantastic tasting session at the Northwest Tea Festival. This and a Dragonwell sample. I let Mom have the Dragonwell since that is one of her favorite greens and chances are good that with my black balanced palate these days it would just be wasted on me. :)
Hay, malt, dust, scent like smoke in the bag but cocoa once steeped. Lightly sweet. Not as over the top malty as some GM I’ve had. This is a more subtle cup with just a tail end hint of dryness – which could well be due to my Western style steeping. It is priced in the same range as Harney’s GM and even just a tad cheaper. I’m not sure it would replace Harney’s or Teavivre’s but if I were dedicated to getting the free shipping at Silk Road I’d certainly put this on the order!
Preparation
sounds lovely but your Mom is right too because dragonwell is kind of green heaven even if i am a “black palate” like you.
Well, she has more from another source so I’ll have to be sure to try it. :)
Hope you enjoyed the Festival.
It was very enjoyable, packed to the rafters and very instructive, thanks, boychik. Now I need to get to one in NY someday… :)
Next year, please. Oh it was so much fun. I think I will get VIP ticket to get earlier. The line was like all around the block and I came 1hr before reg ppl could get in. Was it crowded too?
The line was out the door and while we waited only about 15 minutes right at the opening, the organizers said some people were waiting up to 1.5 hours. They really exceeded all their expectations this year, getting their anticipated entire weekend attendance on Saturday alone. I haven’t heard back about what the attendance actually was but when visiting one of the exhibitor’s shops on Sunday evening she said they gave out 1400 samples of cake!
Of all the teas we were able to try at Vital Tea Leaf, this was my favorite. The gentleman who was steeping for us said that this wasn’t really a “yellow” tea but rather a red (black) but their website says it is a yellow so…
This was sweet, malty and dusty. Very unusual to me and I gravitate towards malty teas these days. This stands out. This is the one I chose to buy some of to bring home and I think I will want more sooner rather than later. :)
This was a beautiful tea! Nothing but rose buds. The scent was heavenly and the flavor was very light. I am not sure how quickly I would drink this one if I bought any but having it on hand for frou-frou tea parties would be nice. The dry “leaf” would definitely have to be on the table to admire!
This was my least favorite from our tasting session at Vital Tea Leaf. It was too sweet, almost in a saccharine way. I don’t think it has any sweetener – it’s just the lychee. Having tried a few lychee teas I am coming to the conclusion that lychee isn’t going to be a flavor I like much. :)
have you tried real fruit?
I haven’t. I don’t think I have ever seen it in stores around here. I’ll have to keep an eye out when traveling. :)
for me its like if you take of grape skins and eat, slippery, juicy and nutty.
Try getting the fresh ones if possible, not the canned ones (which are incredibly sweet). Just beware of the pit inside after peeling. I like them (juicy, floral, kinda nutty), but find longan (“dragon eye” because it’s round, translucent, and you can sort of see the pit after peeling, unlike lychees which are opaque white) to be much tastier and complex in flavour.
This was another from the tasting session at Vital Tea Leaf. I have only had Blue People one other time from another company and I didn’t care much for it. This still would not be one I would pick out to take home. I know it is the ginseng that I’m not liking. The quality of the tea seemed high and the ginseng was not overwhelming but could definitely be picked out from the flavors. My mother really liked it though and bought some to take home. So while it isn’t my thing, if you like ginseng oolong, this may be one for you!
My last cup of this will probably happen tomorrow. It’s been a long damn work week and I have needed tea!
I love, love, love the way this smells when steeping. Deeply fruity, sweet, malty… Man, this is a great tea! There will be an order placed soon to replace this one again. If I had time to spare this weekend on my ultra fast trip to Dallas I would beg a visit to the Single Origin office to pick some up. But I think we are going to be packed full of busy what with tea reservations & visiting new chocolate shops… :) So an order online soon!
I am changing my rating as well. I have discovered the sweet spot for me in steeping parameters and it is perfect!
Preparation
Finishing this one up at work the last couple of weeks. My previous reviews still apply and I still like this one enough to want to keep it on hand. But I have discovered that if I forget about it and oversteep it I get smoke out of it. Blech. :) But if you like a bit of smoke, oversteep this at around 5 minutes or so and you may get it!
