New Tasting Notes

Considering all of the tarty-berry ingredients as well as the hibiscus and rosehips this doesn’t have an overwhelming tarty-fruity aroma (or at least one that I can’t handle)

The color scares me! Mostly because it goes from purple to grey-purple to red to red-purple, etc thanks to that dreaded hibiscus!

Oddly…this doesn’t taste too bad!

WOW! I’m shocked! This is pretty good! Even with that “H” word in there! LOL

It says a blend of Raspberries, Strawberries, and Cranberries! That in itself seems to be happening here! The Raspberry and Strawberries are juicy and plump but are toned down by the cranberry notes of slight bitterness. The all play well together. I can also taste the apple a little. It’s a nice touch. The hibiscus seems to work well here. This is good hot but even better cold!

I’m impressed!

Nummy Nummy Nummy, Soo good. Perfect for a picture of ice tea on a hot day, nice light flavours and sweet too!

I got a 25gr sample if this tea to see if I wanted more. I was warned that 90% of the people didn’t like it and the 10% that did were mostly Russian customers. Something in my Russian heritage must have come alive because this is a wonderful find.

The aroma is quite strong, pungent and a little smoky. The fist infusion was little light but the flavors were noticeable enough to pick out some hints of what was to come. The second infusion was fantastic, like a hickory smoked meat or cheese but without the saltiness.

You can really taste the age of the tea, the woodiness has a little more kick to it. There isn’t much if any fruity notes that I have found in Shengs even as old as 2003 so I think that speaks to the wet storage speeding up the aging, creating the darker, richer brews. The liquor was a deep orange, Grade B Honey hue.

I’m 10 infusions in and not going to quit any time soon. This has high potential for my Puer class menu!

A review of Dieter’s Herbal Drink Tea (Natural Green Leaf Brand) by PC Teas Company

This is another tea that I use from times when needing to clean the body; for purification and for managing weight.

I have very hot boiling water already and I take one tea bag and place it in my mug. I then add the water to it; leaving it to steep for nearly ten minutes. I like it strong and dark when brewed longer.

This is an all natural tea, it is soothing and relaxing and highly recommended for those desiring to maintain their weight or the management of weight.

The tea is natural sweetened since it contains the Stevia and persimmon leaves (yet, stating honey may be added to sweeten the taste). It is very creamy and smoothness in the body, which can be describe as having a full-bodied tea, since the taste does not waiver. It is steady taste from first sip to the last sip.

Overall this is a very good tea for the maintenance of weight.

A review of 100% Natural Green Tea by Market Basket

My cup is already pre-heated since I have just rinsed it with boiling water. Using one tea bag from this box of tea, I place the bag into my cup and fill it with the already boiled water and steeping it only for less than two minutes.

This green tea brews always a golden color and smells astringent and has a clean fresh taste to it. It is funny to mention freshness when having a cup of tea at end of day prior to retiring when freshness is not needed necessarily; but a cleansing of sort; purification over night to ridding the body of wasteful excess.

A review of Bilo Chun (Pure Spring Green) Tea by In Nature

I am spending another day with Bilo Chun Tea. I am finding it to be what I need at this time, or do I mean this moment in time. This pure high grade, loose green tea has taken hold of my soul.

I wake up wanting for nothing but a cup of this tea. I take fresh cold water and let it boil slightly and placing 1 1\2 teaspoon of leaves into my cup, I then pour the water. The freshness of the leaves as they are unfolding is very heady; a green leafy smell…that wetness that comes when outside after a heavy rainfall.

It is a slow day for me; nothing can get me out of the rut that I am in, so this medicinal cup of Spring Green Tea is my remedy and comfort when times are hardest on me. As it has been and worsening.
As I sip my tea, I read the box’s label…Green Teas may assist: slimming, Detoxify, Cancer prevention, Prevent osteoporosis, and Heart condition, Anti-oxidant, Anti-bacterial, and Anti-Stress.

A small prayer is to be said: I am thankful for green teas; specifically this Bilo Chun…a bestowing of thankfulness!

Azzrian sent some of this to me and it smells AMAZING! Thanks so much!

I can’t get over how much I am mesmerized by the aroma! Ah!!!

This has just the right amount of strawberry and the green tea base is sweet and even.

It’s fruity without that dreaded hibiscus! YAY!

This is really wonderful! Both hot and cold!

I rarely review this tea but a pot is made almost daily in this house. This is my youngest daughter’s favorite tea and she drinks it just about every day. I buy it by the pound, and still sometimes run out and have to borrow some from a friend while waiting for my order to come!

I served this yesterday as my never-fail back-up tea in case my new guests didn’t like the others. The young lady (age 12 going on 25) liked this one best. It is a very smooth base and the vanilla is well done, not artificial tasting. There were vanilla bean specks in the pot when we were done!

Delicious!

Backlogging from yesterday: This is the tea that was the raison d’être for yesterday’s tea party.

My student mentioned during a lesson that she and her mother used to drink tea with a Moroccan lady who had moved back home, and said her mother really missed the fun they had. I invited them to come try some of my tea!

She said that the tea smelled identical to what her friend made, but her friend used fresh spearmint in hers so it may have been a little different. She seemed to really like it. I love it. I didn’t add anything at all to mine, but she and her daughter added White Gold honey and liked it.

I enjoy spearmint more than peppermint in my area and wanted to grow some, but by the time I got around to going to the nursery they we sold out. Maybe next year!

Backlogging from yesterday: We had an extra tea time this week, as I found out that the mother of one of my students is friends with a Moroccan lady who moved back to Moroccan. This mom has been missing having Moroccan Mint with her friend so I invited them to have tea with us. We made Moroccan mint and I tried to choose other teas that I thought they would like.

This tea was the favorite of the daughter, and I think her mother liked all three very well, but she must have liked this one a lot because her husband mentioned it when I saw him later.

I am liking this more every time I drink it, and I have decided it has to be on shelf at all times! I may order it from Gurman’s, but if Tin Roof Teas gets their delivery of Fuzzy Navel and it is the same, I will purchase it there. I am pretty sure it will be the very same tea, as the description is identical and both are sourced from a German distributor.

Fresh, smooth, sweet, delicious, and pretty darned near perfect. I can find no fault with it.

Sending a bit to Emilie as I put the finishing touches on her package :)

I thought it was only fair to come back to this, now that I have tried three other Bai Hao’s. It was a sip down and my fifth session with this tea. It has been a bit hit or miss and I really wish I could recreate the first time. This really did best with a 3 min steep, which is what I should have started off with today, but apparently I never learn. There was a fair bit of dust at the bottom of the tin and the leaves were on the choppier side. This yielded a more smokey, fiery experience, but there is also floral and sour notes. I’m lowering the rating, not that it makes a difference. No one else has tried it as its only available in a gift set with what I’ve come to realize are not so great teas. So, farewell my first Formosa, thank you for encouraging me to seek out the greater world of tea, beyond the tea wall.

Sending the rest to Liberteas and Emilie
Oh! I do LOVE this one!

Special Thanks to Tommy The Toad for this one! I got a nice lil package from him today! Woot!

This certainly is CRAZY Dark Brown in color!

I don’t really know why I was thinking it was going to be slightly bitter or super malty…it’s quite different than I expected once I saw how dark it was!

It doesn’t have much for aroma but the taste is pretty good! It’s a nice, solid medium strength black tea with a thick texture. Full bodied and rich, even.

As it cool as room temp for about 2 to 3 minutes it seems to get stronger! Interesting and bold! I like it!

Loved this one. I ordered because I see ‘sweet’ and it basically calls for me in my dreams. It is a sweet Oolong and less floral than TGY but not lacking of it. As far as the ‘thicker’ feeling in the description, it wasn’t as obvious to me at first. It felt like one of those characteristics that you can notice after comparing to others rather than an apparent characteristic.

I like the sweetness of the liquid and the green of the leaves as they steep. Vivid green with barely darker greens. They have a bit of nutty smell and the after taste is similar to that of eating mango. If you like the sweeter TGY but sometimes can’t handle the floral this is the tea for you.

I’m going through a toasted/roasted tea thing right now so I was excited to try this. I am thoroughly enjoying my sample package from TeaFrog, which arrived yesterday.

This tea definitely has an overtone of roastiness from the rice that takes me back to my Puffed Rice cereal/rice cakes days. While those two foods annoy the heck out of me (as Styrofoam should) the rice in this tea doesn’t. Instead, it adds an interesting dimension of aroma and flavor, along with a pleasant lingering aftertaste.

I was thinking this tea came along because someone, long ago, wanted roasted green tea without roasting the actual tea leaves, but the story I’ve read is that it was accidentally created when monks roasting tea leaves in cauldrons that already had rice in them ended up liking the combo. I like it too. Time for cup #2.

Now that it’s insanely hot over here I think I need something to help me cool off. Yep this will do that :D

I am a fan of rose teas, and this one is no disappointment. I like how the chocolate softens the rose. I’ll have to order it again in a few months when it is cooler so that I’ll have more non-melted white chocolate pieces in the blend.

I can see why this one is compared to Blueberry Jam, but I like it nonetheless. I do get the maple notes, and the dark oolong base doesn’t bother me like I would normally expect it to (i.e. Carrot Cake).

A good tea but I guess it’s not for me.

I bought this tea thinking of getting more chocolate notes out of an Oolong. This is a good tea that I greatly appreciate. It has the buttery sweet nuttiness of the TGY with a heavier maltier base. The chocolate is lighter than Da Hong Pao and its missing some of that smoky maltiness that identifies it.

It takes several infusions with out problem and good if you want something with chocolate roasted hints with out being over powering.

Pre-release sample graciously provided to me by Epi Tea!

I really love the convenience of pyramid bags, and it makes me happy that the bags are biodegradable and the teas are organic. One less thing to feel bad about!

The rooibos here is well-balanced with the berry. It’s tart, but without the overpowering hibiscus that a lot of berry teas have. I like hibiscus, admittedly, but it can get tiresome. I don’t particularly like red rooibos (or rooibos in general, but give me green any day) but this is surprisingly tasty. I’ve added a bit of local honey and left the bag in while it steeps.

The only thing I wish about this tea was that there was more rooibos in the sachet, or that I had a second sachet to double the strength. I feel like this tea would make a fantastic summer iced tea. All in all though, it’s a solid offering, and a promising beginning!

Thanks Liberteas!

I can taste the roasted aspects thru-out that is for sure. The Yerba Mate is strong. I can taste a darker type chocolate – certainly NOT milk-chocolate. I can’t really taste the vanilla.

This is ok…

I’m getting a LOT of roasted flavor but little of the rest.

I got this at the Japanese grocery store a few weeks ago, I am planning to do a blog post on Matcha soon because I have a really nice matcha bowl now. This particular brand of matcha I got more for blending into smoothies in the morning. Today I’m having it with blended with banana, pineapple and hemp seeds and it’s terrific! I have a Blendtec and I use it a few times a week for an easy breakfast or dinner. I will wait to give it a numerical rating until I’ve had the chance to try it plain.