New Tasting Notes

The dry leaves smell like berries – I’m reminded a bit of the aroma I get from the dry leaf of Republic of Tea’s Blackberry Green. I really enjoy the Blackberry Green, so I consider this a promising sign. Once the tea is brewed, it still smells fruity. I’d say the aroma is more reminiscent of currants than of berries at this point. That’s still good – I like both berries and currants.

The flavor of the tea, though, is not particularly strong on either currant or berry. Bergamot definitely seems to be the dominant flavor. The base is quite smooth, and it does come through reasonably well. I don’t taste much in the way of berries, but I am getting a mildly fruity aftertaste – more on this later. I’m not getting any vanilla whatsoever, nor do I notice anything that particularly strikes me as caramel. There is that sweet, fruity aftertaste that I don’t entirely care for – I almost feel like I’m left with a sticky coating in my mouth, as if I’ve just eaten something sugary. Maybe that’s meant to be the caramel? I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea with caramel flavoring before, so it could be that my expectations are a bit off. I’m not usually a huge fan of teas with more dessert-y flavors, anyway.

I really want to like this one, but this particular mix of flavors just isn’t doing it for me. I definitely prefer plain Earl Greys for those times when I need a bergamot fix, but I’m happy to have been able to try this tea as it’s one I’ve been curious about for some time. Thanks to ToiToi for the sample!

Looks like it’s coconut day here on Steepster (at least on my feed!) And I made this cuppa before I looked at it. :-)

I love the rich, buttery taste of this oolong and the thick mouthfeel, along with the natural tasting, strong but not overpowering coconut flavor.

Sipdown! I haven’t tried any new teas in a couple of days, because I’ve got a really heavy cold. I’m mostly drinking lempsip, but it’s the perfect excuse to finish up a couple of teas that have been in my cupboard for a while. I’ve tasted this one so many times before, I can remember what it’s supposed to be like even if I can’t taste it all that well at the moment. A fond farewell to this one — it’s been nice.

First cup of the morning. I need something strong to wake me up today! Yesterday we had a costume contest in our running group, so I spent a good part of the day gluing feathers, etc. to get ready. My running friend and I ended up winning, so it was worth it. :) We’re keeping one of my mom’s dogs this weekend, so with 3 dogs, our 2 cats, and 5 foster kitties, it was a little busy in the house last night and I didn’t get much sleep. Today is another busy day, but I’m thankful that it’s Friday!

I’ve had this tea for awhile, and I can’t remember anything super special about it, but I haven’t rated it yet. The dry leaves are very pretty, with a mixture of black and green leaves and small pretty blue blossoms. The aroma from the dry leaves is heavily of bergamot. The tea itself smells malty with a hint of sweet citrus. The flavor is floral and malty with an unfortunate slightly bitter bergamot finish. I added a little bit of milk and sugar and that eliminated the bitterness. Overall, this is a very lightly flavored Earl Grey with just a little floral note. It’s nice, but I wouldn’t consider it an exceptional Earl Grey. It did the job nicely this morning, though!

-Dry blend has medium black and green tea leaves and twigs with small blue petals.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of bergamot. Tea liquor aroma is malty with a hint of sweet citrus.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium golden brown color.
-Floral and malty flavor with a slightly bitter bergamot finish. Light citrusy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Light Earl Grey with a small floral note.

I’m on the fence about chocolate teas, so what do I go and do last week? I ordered some chocolate tea samples… it seemed like a good idea at the time. Personally, I blame my sweet tooth.

I won’t lie, I am an absolute chocolate snob. I have no problem paying $5+ for a quality chocolate bar and savoring it slowly over the week. I didn’t dislike this as much as most of the chocolate teas that I’ve had, but I found the chocolate creme a little offputting, I’m not sure why they included it. I did like that they didn’t add sprinkles to it and choose to use mini chocolate chips, I’ve never understood sprinkles in tea.

I tried this hot and didn’t bother with a resteep. I don’t see the point in resteeping chocolate teas since the chocolate chips all melt into the first cup and leave the second bland.

This morning, I made myself a cup of this with a lot more leaf than I’ve used before, and I am getting some flavors I hadn’t noticed. However, it is still not quite raspberry. I’m reminded of Harney & Sons’ Paris, which I also found disappointing. I think the note I’m picking up in this tea is similar to the one I’d passed off as bergamot in Paris – it’s quite perfumey. But I don’t think Framboise does have any bergamot (not that you can really tell from Lupicia’s frustratingly vague ingredient lists). Anyway, my rating is staying the same – I still find the tea passable for what it is (whatever that is…) but wish it had lived up to its name.

This tea is nothing short of amazing. The tangerine citrus taste is apparent and there’s an underlying creaminess that works so well with the guayusa base. The guayusa adds a certain subtle earthiness to the background. I’m really enjoying this as my morning tea today. I may have to order some in my next Butiki order.

For those unsure of guayusa I highly recommend this as the guayusa taste is quite subtle compared to the other flavours. I quite enjoy guayusa, but with these flavours, I don’t mind that the actual guayusa base is subtle.

thank you for moar teez whatshesaid!!
i’ll write notes soon…

thanks to whatshesaid for this cup!
i’ll write details soon.

An enjoyable herbal blend to drink at any time of the day. I like it specially in the summer, when I often drink it cold. It can be quite acid, so a bit of sugar won’t hurt it.

Nice flavor

Good tea

This is one of my Adagio favorites. Sweet and creamy. Had a little steeping snafu this morning…the Hot Shot I use for quick morning out-the-doors was decidedly tepid. So I had to run water through the microwave and throw the steeping basket back in for a bit.

Reinforces the theory that this does better with cooler water.

This is actually one of my favorites. So I can’t understand why I haven’t written about it yet. I normally avoid oolong’s like the plague. I don’t hate them, but they just aren’t normally for me. I smelled this one in the store and immediately bought a tin of it. I’ve refilled that tin twice. I am sad they are not keeping it. It’s creamy and nutty enough to balance out the floral taste of the oolong. This was the first oolong to make me brave enough to try other oolongs.. I must say.. I was sad to see it didn’t make the cut to be a permanent tea :(

I love to wake up with this! It’s sweet, smooth, and helps me slide into consciousness on these early mornings. Of course, half the fun of drinking Earl Grey is teasing my husband – he tried it for the first time because it was Captain Picard’s favorite tea. He tries to be all stoic engineering major, but sometimes, when he’s enjoying this with me, I think he’s really imagining himself at the helm of a starship.

Aw man. I’m so depressed lately. Teapressed. I have a million teas to try and drink but lately not only do i have to limit my caffeine consumption but (cover your ears) I just don’t even feel like drinking a ton of tea. I’m sad because all my zillions of flavoured teas seem to be turning me off and since I’m limiting my intake I really want to focus on the ones I love. Figuring out what I feel like having is a nightmare these days!!

So I’ve been MIA and it sucks and that’s why.
As this was one of my old favourites from back in the day I decided to have some this morning. But something is wrong. It seems like I can just taste fakeness. It’s still tasty but this new development is both distracting and disappointing. I am unsatisfied :(

I also watched the end of the Tenth Doctor recently and that only added to my depression.

Sorry guys.
I want to keep reading everyone else’s reviews and maybe that will encourage me. I was also in Maine for 4 days so I had no tea! Just one crappy bagged tea from Dunkin Donuts. I threw it out.

And it’s chilly and perpetually rainy here so I can’t even make myself drink my new Davidstea herbals cold brewed! Wahh!

I’m a downer, my apologies

I’ve been using the tea randomizer (jaydeee.net) to pick my morning tea. It’s fun, and I’ve been drinking teas that have been lingering in the back of my cupboard. Sometimes I get so focused on my newest teas that I forget that I have a bunch of other tasty options that also deserve to be drunk.

Today’s choice was blueberry green. I really do like this tea. It’s still one of my daughter’s favorites, so I’ve been leaving it for her, but I should drink this more often. It’s a really lovely green tea with a great blueberry/floral flavor. Nothing overwhelming, just a nice light cuppa.

Drinking some of this today at work and decided it’s the perfect green tea to leave here. It’s gotten some interest so far but mostly from people asking if they are real snails…DOH!

They re steep rather well so an infuser can do 3 cups with good flavour.

This tea is nice but nothing special so I will probably not replace it.

Absolutely loved this tea the first time I had it. It wasn’t too minty, in fact I found it needed a little bit more, and would add just a little extra mint leaves. I loved it so much that when I went to restock I grabbed a 200g tin of it that was on sale. This time it’s super minty, almost to much for me. Hours later and my mouth still has a minty feeling! Chocolate in this batch is very subtle as well, I may add some in hopes of balancing the mint.

Water: 8oz Boiling

Leaves: Medium size slices

Steep: 10m to 15m

Aroma: Sweet Berry

Color: Light yellow

Taste: I decided to buy this tea after watching a YouTube video on Chinese Beauty Secrets.The video provided me information on just how healthy this tea is for you! I did my own research as well. After I went to my local Chinese Supermarket and picked up a bag for about $2.49! Even the lady at the check out lane told me how good it is for you! A day or so later I decided to give it a try it had a nice sweet berry scent.I used 5 pieces in 8oz of water. The tea has a bit of tartness with a very flavorful berry taste! You can even add a bit of honey if needed, I did it the flavor is still great!

I’ve tried this sample once before, but as I didn’t record my tastings and couldn’t remember what it tasted like, I have picked up a second sample today. What is a Stockholm blend of tea supposed to actually be? Do they even drink tea in Sweden? My in-depth research – in other words, two minutes on wikipedia – seems to indicate that coffee outsells tea by 60% and the Swedes are eighth in the world for coffee consumption per capita. Several tea suppliers sell a blend called “stockholm” but the only similarity seems to be the mix of astringent fruits and various flowers.

This is nice enough but it could go either of two ways – viz. it will grow on me, or I’ll rate this as just another fruity and floral blend like any other and never given another thought. That’s not to say it is bad, just not particularly remarkable. The tea base is fine, although the colour of the black tea is somewhat brownish and earthy which is not exactly ideal. Prior to infusing, the leaves are small and uniform BOP flecked with a few petals. I can smell and taste the orange and there is an underlying sweet astringency of peaches although I can’t detect the flowers which is probably a good thing as I’ve gone off floral teas in a big way of late.

At any rate, I will have to see if this grows on me. The Tea Centre also sell a Stockholm blend in both standard black and blended with Pai Mu Tan which might be worth trying.

Sipdown! 778.

Drinking down my last cup of this so that I can pass the remaining cup’s worth onto Raritea. Due to age, the watermelon flavour has dissipated a bit, but it’s certainly still there, both in aroma and flavour. I opted to try a 1-minute infusion for the dragon well instead of the recommended 2.5 minutes, and I think that it helped to bring out the flavouring and tame the dragonwell a bit. I see that I noted that I should try it with a bit of sugar this time, but I don’t really feel inclined to. I like it as it is. At some point I’ll try Watermelon Xylophone with sugar instead to see how it brings out the watermelon flavouring.

Sipdown! 779.

I keep craving this one, and lucky for me, based on the facts that a) it (was) stored in a plastic baggie, b) there was only one cup’s worth left in said baggie, and c) I chanced across it tonight while migrating baggied samples downstairs and airtight packages upstairs to encourage sample drinking, I get to finally satisfy that craving! Wooooo!

If you like flavoured black teas… this tea would be an excellent purchase. Just saying.

Sipdown! 780.

Well, it took me 11 months to get back to this one, but I have. And again, I got the most deliciously buttery aroma from the brewed up tea (which was unexpected, given the age and storage conditions). I just took a sip of it hot (hotter than I’d like), and I’m finding it difficult to discern anything other than black tea (with a characteristic 52teas older-blend flavour), so I’ll let it cool down a bit before I sip again.

10 minutes later… second sip. I’m still tasting classic 52teas black base and not a great deal more than that. I cleverly avoided astringency with a 2-minute infusion this time, so it’s perfectly enjoyable to drink, but I’m just not getting much in the way of flavouring. If this ever returned as a re-blend and I managed to nab a sample of it, I’d be curious to give it another shot when fresh, instead of well-aged.

This tea solidifies that my taste buds have become distinctly more fond of Ginger in the last few years. Its a lovely peach and ginger hybrid when it comes to flavor. Something I could drink daily. Its not terribly darkly colored, or overly flavored. Incredibly well done blend.