New Tasting Notes

Sipdown! Had the last of this cold-brewed over the weekend. I’m sad to see it go, though. It’s one of the few fruit teas I’ve managed to find that has absolutely no hibiscus in it! I’ll definetly be looking to Tea Palace again when I’m in the market for a fruit tea. Great stuff!

My only complaint about this is that I wish there were more info about the teas in this ‘most traditional tea blend’. Love the sense of history you get drinking it, and obviously, love the taste (strong, smooth – very smooth – and just the smallest sweetness as the sip goes down), although there isn’t really “more” history to this than any other tea. Never mind! Like my imaginings as I’m sipping. I’ll probably end up prodding the nice guys at PAT for a breakdown, just out of curiosity. Wiki says Keemun, Oolong and Lapsang Souchong, but that still leaves a lot of territory, and probably isn’t true for all Russian Caravans anyway.

Makes a great breakfast tea, as do both PATs breakfast blends, which I’ve enjoyed and will note soon.

So I was wandering around London and I came across the original Twinings merchant store, from 1706! Inside they have a little bit of a museum and of course a fairly awesome store, and the tea lover in me was in heaven! Even though I don’t usually drink Twinings, I can recognize their importance in tea’s history!
Anyway, in all honesty, I bought this one because it comes in such a pretty tin, and I really like pretty tins…I wasn’t expecting to be a huge fan as I rarely am of blacks that are not super fruity or super chocolatey, but in my loose-leave deprived state I got a lot of enjoyment out of this cup! It is a mild and smooth black with a yummy malty finish. No astringency (which I can’t stand in a black), just good old yummy tea!

sweet,but spicy taste

Here is another one that Sil shared with me. When asked what I would like to try, one of my requests was for some Assam or other. It’s a funny region for me. I really want to adore them, but I’m just not quite there. Nine times out of ten I’ll go for a Chinese but every once in a blue moon the Assam just strikes me as the most desirable tea on the planet.

And then I usually haven’t got any.

Lately I’ve been having some small Assam-y thoughts again, though, so it was a fairly obvious request. (Project Assam…? ponder ponder ponder )

I’m making this in the big pot to share with Husband, who opted to not have it milked. When it’s any other tea, I usually just serve it as it is, but sometimes I get confused about what he would prefer. He always drinks it without additives at home, but as soon as he sets foot on English soil he reverts to preferring his tea milked. I don’t know… maybe it’s a geography thing. (I hope he doesn’t think it’s because I won’t let him milk it… O.o )

Now, let me see. I’ve been carefully timing this, because one of the things that stops me from being all over Assam is how finicky they are. You can pretty much abuse a Chinese black from now until Christmas and it’ll still produce a drinkable cup. Sometimes rather stewed, but still drinkable. An Assam however will not put up with that sort of treatment. It will turn around and bite you back.

The aroma is quite malty, but it also has notes of raisins and honey in there. Mostly raisins. Whenever I’ve had an Assam that hasn’t been completely ruined, it seems to have always had a raisin-y aspect to a smaller or larger degree. Less so with honey.

Normally when describing something as malty, I would automatically started searching for a grain-y aspect, but I can’t really find that here. It’s more sort of wood-en for me. (And bright red, my at times weird brain supplies)’

Over it all there is a note of something that smells thick and creamy, almost… like if it had a smidge of vanilla flavouring. I’ve found that Assam generally works great for me as a base for vanilla flavouring, although peculiarly my Perfect vanilla isn’t Assam-y. Now I’m beginning to wonder if that works so well because the flavouring in those cases enhance a note which might already be there, if you know what I mean. It makes a vanilla flavoured Assam taste more natural than really flavoured. If you know what I mean.

But I digress and this tea, for the record, is not actually flavoured with anything at all.

First sip is sweet and honey-y. At the very beginning it was wood-y, but then it turned all sweet. I’m actually dithering a bit on the honey note, wondering if I think it’s more along the lines of toffee or something, but eventually I’ve come to the conclusion that I think it’s most like honey. Second sip starts me considering that question again. It’s almost like it depends on how I’ve sipped. Where on the tongue it hits first, how much I’ve been slurping, how long it takes before swallowing. At the very beginning, I think it’s like honey, but then it turns into something toffee-y and sweetie like. And I’m pretty certain it is actually the same note here. It definitely feels like the same note that changes.

So, apart from that weird sweet aspect that can’t decide what it is, we’ve got some wood-en notes to this like I found in the aroma, and they’re laying down the bottom of the flavour. It’s actually quite discreet, but it adds substance. There’s a hint of mild astringency here too, but nothing too dominating.

Now what about those raisins. peers into cup They’re in there. I know they are, because I can feel them. I just… don’t know where they are. They’re hiding from me, shouting coo-ee every now and then. I suspect the tea needs to develop a bit before I’ll find them.

The tea has cooled off a bit now, and I think we can safely say that this is one of those that only have raisin notes to a smaller degree. They’re out there a little more now all right, but nothing that makes me sit up and say ‘raisin!’. That creamy sort of milky note is very much at the forefront now and I’ve completely lost the honey/toffee/vanilla-y chameleon note. That’s a shame, because I was rather enjoying that. I liked this one best when it was very hot.

All in all, this was a highly enjoyable tea.

The tightly coiled pellets give off a creamy, sweet milky oolong scent. There were sticks/extra dried stems present, seen previously in their Fruity Sijichun. I don’t care personally, but thought it was worth a mention.

The tea is light apple in color with a faintly sweet, smooth vegetal taste. It has a heavy mouthfeel for an Oolong. At 5 minutes it smells overcooked, but doesn’t taste it. Bonnie is SPOT ON with her White Asparagus note, that’s EXACTLY what this reminds me of. Subsequent steepings became sweeter and more floral. This seemed like excellent quality, but I’m not sure Alishan’s are for me.

This was the tea that I drank the most of today, but today was my daughter’s first birthday and she was getting over a cold so basically between that and the ongoing crowd of people, I wasn’t able to let go of her the whole day. So, I couldn’t really make a lot of tea. :| I’ll live – it was a great day overall, and the baby felt better during the evening so she could visit everyone else.

I can drink all the other teas later!

Don’t like it hot very much. It is not bad but there’s something weird about it, but it has cooled now, and it is MUCH better. Interesting that the tea seems to be a mix of Vanilla Orchid and Coconut Oolong, only with a white base. Also, the coconut seems different in this blend than other teas like Checkmate, but it is like the coconut in Coconut Oolong. I don’t know if this is an ongoing trend or not.

I love this tea! I was happy to find this at the Mitsuwa near me! The packaging is super cute too.

I love the thin green leaves and the small pink flowers in this pyramidal tea bag. The smell is great! I love peach teas, and this one is a very good blend. I could taste the warmth and creaminess that the vanilla flavors give. The fruity and slightly floral notes play their tune as well. Delicious and refreshing!

A gutsy, earthy tea with just a touch of ginger. Perfect wintry tea.

Was looking for a caffeine free tea and thought why now?! Might as well try to keep my skin healthy while drinking healthy. The tart you usually get from hibiscus was not quite present. It had a hint of sweetness and a hint of the berry. While I’m not a huge fan of rooibos tea, this one was not as strong as most:) thank you for the nice brew before bed:)
http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8756648104

I got a free sample of this with my birchbox one month and finally tried it. The chamomile is relaxing and the citrus provides a little zing. I like it! I wasn’t in the mood for straight chamomile.

This smells nice, too! The bag has lots of whole chamomile flowers too. Cold it gets a little too citrusy for me. This is much better warm. Overall, I like this a lot! It’s getting me all chilled out before Monday morning comes. Oh gosh, feeling less chill… so much to do!

I’m an absolute sucker for this treasure. I loved the 2012 batch and finished it wayyyyy faster than I should, so when this came out I purchased it right away.

The dry leaves are a pretty dark green, the leaves are well retained, and give off a faint caramel sweet scent. When brewed, the leaves expand quite a bit, filling almost to the top of my David’s Perfect Mug (I know, I know, this is gaiwan worthy but I’m just too tired) infuser even though I only used a teaspoonful of leaves.
The tea is light green in color, with a light, sweet aroma. When drinking, you get a little vegetal feel, but just a little (which I blame on the fact that I may have overbrewed it). The rest is just a subtle, mellow sweetness. It wasn’t as sweet as I remember it, (possibly because I overbrewed it ,sob) but it’s still awesome.

I love this tea. I would marry it if I could.

OK I decided that I’ve had enough flavored black teas for today. So I pulled out this one from the box that JackieT sent me.
HHHmmmmmm what do I think… It’s strawberry, but I think of it more as red licorice candy than strawberry milkshake. I think that it is a little bit too sweet, candyish. I wish it were a little bit more tart. I like it, this is more of what I’m in the mood for.
Thanks Jackie for letting me try this.

I just posted a note for Verdant’s Dong Ding Oolong and I have a cup of this too for comparison. I steeped it for less time than I did before, but I seem to pick up a slight mineral flavor that I only detected in the second steeping last time. I think I only notice it now because I am comparing it with the other tea, so it stands out more (though it could also be because the water temperature was 5 degrees higher than last time). I still like this one and my rating remains the same, but I like Verdant’s a bit better because it is more savory.

Update: I gave my husband samples of both too and he likes this one better than Verdant’s. Guess I’ll be keeping both in my stash now :)

I ordered a sample of this after my husband said he liked Dong Ding Oolong. He previously tried a sample from thepuriTea, and I ordered that one too. I wanted to compare them. They are very similar, but this one doesn’t smell floral at all and it is slightly more savory than thepuriTea one.

Thank goodness that Verdant clarifies the distinction between mainland and Taiwanese Oolongs. So far, the only green Oolongs that I like are from Taiwan and I never made the association before. I really do like a delicate floral aroma (I didn’t used to) but I don’t like floral flavor so much (who knows, maybe my taste for that will develop too). What I really like is savory. yummy. (^o^)

This sample courtesy of Laurent at Nina’s Paris.

I grabbed this out of my cabinet without knowing what it was and simultaneously realized that it’s a genmaicha AND decided to prepare it as a black tea. Not sure what I was(n’t) thinking. So boiling water, 4 minutes.

This stands up just fine to boiling water. It smells lovely, all toasted rice and sweetness. It tastes basically like every other genmaicha I’ve had, except with a touch of sweet that I couldn’t quite place until I read that the ingredients include caramel. That’s definitely what I’m tasting here. Not picking up on the vanilla at all. The black tea is contributing maybe a touch of astringency, though I’m not sure whether that’s actually there or the ingredients list is influencing me.

Overall, this is quite tasty. Still, probably not something that I would actively seek out if other quality green tea is available. I can’t quite say why, except that genmaichas taste pleasant enough but just aren’t my favorite type of tea. Nice, but not a staple.

HA. YES.
Because I’m a nerd and I love Doctor Who.
A mug is a mug! This one is very special because… DISAPPEARING TARDIS OKAY.

When I ran out of PG Tips (which I often drink for my morning tea when I am not interested in subtlety, but just need to wake up), I saw a small box of this at the tea shop and decided to give it a try to compare. I’m gonna stick with PG Tips. This is decent, basic black tea in the same sort of style, but it doesn’t have as much flavor to me. I’m just more fond of the PG Tips.

2 heaping tsps in 12 oz

Have had this a few more times since my last note. It is soooo good. I’ve decided that the texture reminds me of miso soup. It is so rich and comforting.

One box I got tasted okay (not super high quality but drinkable) and the next was soooo smokey. It was like someone had been chain-smoking while rolling the pearls. Do not recommend.