New Tasting Notes

My favorite bagged tea from Twinings. Just the right kick of Assam in the mornings.

Not bad – I like the regular Yorkshire Tea in the bags more than this. I haven’t had this in some time, recall it was a little milder than the red label Yorkshire blend.

This is amazing. I’m brewing it gong fu style, and each steep just gets sweeter and sweeter. The dry leaves are dusty and brittle, and rolled tightly into balls. When they soak into the water, they unfurl into large, rubbery leaves which have a typical sort of “oolong” scent to them. The flavor starts out roasty and a little nutty, and the third infusion is where it really starts to get going and the sweetness comes out. Fantastic. I’ll definitely order more of this!

Tea of the afternoon. I tried this out in my new yixing pot and really should have known better to not try a new sample this way and that this particular yixing pot isn’t well suited to gongfu brewing. Too big, too bulky and it has a loose lid due to the strainer and that it is likely mass produced.

I bought the pot and it’s matching cups for their color and design (sage green with a dragon and phoenix) but it seemed a shame not to use them. I decided Dan Congs in general would be a safe bet to season it with, as I would likely always have one in the house, but like I said this pot is just not meant for it. So new oolong, I’m sorry, it’s not you it’s my pot. Luckily I still have half a sample left.

In all honesty the tea was still pretty good, not ruined by any means. The first few steeps were the best and they reminded me a bit of the oolongs I tried this weekend (my first Rou Gui and Tung Ting, both lovely, both brewed much better, because of proper tea ware at Essencha) in that there was a cassia note and some unami, but I also got pretty distinct orchid, honey and peach notes with mineral sweetness throughout. Must get gaiwan ASAP, followed by a tiny yixing pot or two.

Update sipdown: this smells so delicious, leaves a fantastic taste in my mouth once swallowed, but the taste before that? A bit disappointing, it’s green and slightly astringent and just doesn’t deliver on the promise of the smell which is so complex and roasted. Ah well.

FINALLY A NEW WHITE (or mostly white) Davids’ Tea. Seriously, it’s been a while. And yet another tea that contains hibiscus, so sorry, hibiscus-haters; the girl at my regular spot and I joked that management must’ve bought a big old bag of hibiscus this spring, with the amount of teas it’s been popping up in. This is light, floral and a teeny bit tart on the finish. It reminds me of a fruitier White Tiger, which is a good thing. Just took a cup to go so will have to see how it comes out after a home-steep, but so far, so good.

Finally getting around to rating this one. I think this is the third time I’ve had it now, and I’m just getting around to reviewing it. Just poor timing on my part, methinks.

The scent of this brewing is heavenly, but it’s a more warming scent than an overpowering one. Mint, you walk into a room and go ‘Wow, it smells minty in here!’ This, you walk in, give a soft sigh, and think ’wow, it sure does smell pleasant in here". I have no idea whether that distinction makes any sense whatsoever.

Then you take a drink, and this sweet, ginger elixir just glides over your tongue. Its a soft, sweet ginger flavor, as opposed to a spicier, peppery ginger. It has very little bite to it, which I think compliments the sweetness of the bai mu dan. After the initial sweetness, the bergamot flavor begins to sort of… blossom, for lack of a better term. I definitely taste the ginger and the white tea first. But by the end of the sip, the bergamot feels much stronger than at first. It rounds off the sweetness very well. This is just an extremely pleasant cup of tea, it is so darned tasty.

This really makes me wonder why I don’t see any ginger flavored Earl Grey’s around. The combination is so perfect in this tea.

I got lucky here too. I almost missed out on this tea, and if it wasn’t for Frank having the free white tea sale, I would have. This was kind of a throw-away. I wasn’t expecting to like it… and it’s so, so good. He was nice enough to put a double package back up on the website for me to buy more, as well. I figure I’m probably going to end up buying one of these a paycheck until he runs out.

Maybe I should lower the rating until I can buy it all… hrmm…

You know how instructions for iced tea always say to brew double for a cup? It never occurred to me that I could do this for a smaller amount, so I could have just 8oz, until today. I feel extremely dense.

So that is what I did to go with my childlike dinner. Still love this for iced tea so much because it’s so quick to make. I think I still have 10 sachets left somehow and I’ll be enjoying all of them soon since we just completely skipped spring apparently.

This does not taste good. I wanted an iced latte, but I wanted to take a sip while it was hot. PURE CHEMICAL TASTE.
Dumped it. Tried again, going all the way through for the latte this time…it’s still there, although now it’s relegated to a strong aftertaste that still makes it hard to drink. My tongue hurts from it.
I guess that might be the last time I pick “distinctive” flavoring. I’m going to brush my teeth now.

And the worst part is I got the royal matcha for it and it’s entirely ruined by this horrific aftertaste.

I REALLY hope there is just something wrong with this, I’m gonna email them now.

This is sooooooo amazing cold brewed. Sooooooooo amazing. It tastes like heavenly snow. Like lilacs and winter. Smooth and sparkly and so delicious. I can’t describe it. I can’t compare it. Nothing compares. It would cheapen the tea to be compared to any other scent or flavor. I tried comparing up there, but it all falls short. So tasty.

It’s also soooooooo expensive. Sometimes, I wish I were like those people who can’t taste the different between lipton and high quality looseleaf. Or maybe I should just wish to be rolling in money?

Anyway, my sample is gone now. Bye bye delicious tea.

I randomly chose this out of my herbal pile. Yum!
The first few sips were really MEH but then as it cooled the honey I had added mellowed out the tartness and a creamy aspect developed. Oh yes this is so tasty! thanks again Ninavampi!! XO

I just about don’t drink flavored teas. But this and Twinings’ loose-leaf earl grey are I supposed my guilty pleasures. I don’t even like cinnamon, but I love this.
I only make it with milk, however (and then make a liter and drink all of it and feel gross), so I can sort of pretend it’s just really tasty milk and not flavored tea. I purchased this after having Blackflower and Co’s Signature Chai, which seems like it’s more or less the same sort of thing. Both with that rich-in-oil sheen on the leaves, and those little bits of orange. I’d also heard of it all over, but never realized that it was from right here in Seattle (I live nearby).
If you almost-but-don’t-quite like this tea with water, I strongly recommend making it with milk. 1tbsp/8oz of milk. Mmmm.
You will, however, want to daub off the little sheet of warm-milk-stuff/oils. It comes off in one piece, though, and is also sort of neat and weird.
It just tastes all warm and snuggly.

I’ve had this in the cabinet for a while, and feel this need to drink everything I can’t give away. It’s alright. I don’t have a super refined palate (yet!), but the mangosteen and peach are pretty indistinguishable, just a light “fruity” flavor.

This is what they serve at the local Mexican Restaurant. It is kind of reminiscent of Snapple. Sure it could be more complex. Then again you could do a lot worse. Beats the heck out of the Con-Tea that Arbys sells.

sigh

Lookeee what I bought!! HEHEHEEEEE Yes I am giddy :P
My Tea Master has been sitting unused for months because I couldn’t get the tea stains/tannin taste out… it’s two years old now and that is supposed to be the life span of a plastic product anyhow so I am thinking of tossing it, or just hoarding it in the back of my cupboard for emergencies.
I am SO glad that there is this baby to replace it! but then I am also sad because the reason I got it for half price is also the reason my fave local tea shop is soon to go bu-bye :(
Oh well, I might as well enjoy it while I can. Nothing good lasts forever right?

Hey, Steepster, been a while! I’m back with a post I wrote a few days ago on my iPod.

I’m having this iced and unsweetened at a new cafe in Decatur, Cozee Teas. It’s so new that I can’t even check in on Facebook and frankly, though the place is cute, it’s seemingly very low budget, and I worry that it won’t be here long. It’s almost empty of customers, and a bit cluttered, decorated with some new and some vintage furniture. Plus, a glass of iced tea cost me more than four dollars, and that disappointed me a bit.

Anyway, the tea tastes like a Ceylon blend. It’s very fruity, and pleasantly sweet on its own. The fig flavor is stronger than the apple, which sort of rests in the background. Something about it also reminds me of black cherry. It’s refreshing, but I feel like it needs something. After a little agave nectar, the fruit flavors are even more bright, but the black tea is more muted. So I’m not sure if that was a good choice or not. But all around, this is a nice, tasty fruit tea… but not really worth what I paid for it…

I did take a camel ride in the middle east once but I’m not sure I could tell you what their breath smelled like. This tea with its shitake mushroom and peat smell might come pretty close. I did a 30 second first steep. First steep is light and soupy with a hint of caviar at the end. 2nd infusion 45 seconds and much darker, thicker and soupier with a sharper aftertaste.

Oh hey this is amazing!! not exactly what I was after… but really good nonetheless!
With milk and sugar, it was just like banana pudding, with a hint of chocolate for good measure. Now, this would have garnered a rating of 94 if it was like that on it’s own, but I had to add TWO packets of sugar to get that flavour. I never add that much sugar…
And thus, sadly, I must downgrade the rating here.
Still, I am tempted to buy some. I’m on a dessert tea kick lately, I dunno what’s gotten into me. It wasn’t long ago that I hadn’t touched a dessert tea in months! Ah well.
Now, I am on the hunt for a great chocolate herbal tea (rooibos or otherwise).
Trouble is, I don’t want any other notes besides chocolate to mess with it. That means no mint, no spice… or banana. I just want CHOCOLATE! You’d think that wouldn’t be so hard to find. I’ve had no issues finding caffeinated chocolate teas… le sighs
Stay tuned for my note about my teaware purchase!! YAY!!!

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yummmm

A solid every day bag. Wins the wars of the roses marginally for me.

One of the best you’ll find in the supermarket. Makes a nice strong brew.