New Tasting Notes

Wow, surprised no one cares for this tea. Yes, it smells amazing-could be a potpourri of apple and cinnamon. I tasted the apple, cinnamon, and tea all pretty well and they seemed nicely balanced and flavorful. Better with a teaspoon of sugar, but tried not to do that too often. I liked to use this as an after dinner dessert tea in the fall-goes great with a graham cracker dipped in it (the missing crust!). When spring comes around it feels a little heavy and tastes out of place-so don’t overbuy.

I have tried to make matcha I want to be able to make matcha – I watched videos, I read steepster reviews, I am seeing conflicting information and so I went for it and did 1/4 c water 2 scoops matcha powder that didnt work was too dark and murky and tasted odd. ( I have had matcha a few times so have a little bit of an idea what it should taste like ). Then I tried less matcha more water … no go. I just don’t know what I am doing wrong and which video or review to believe on how to make it. No rating – not the matcha’s fault. I also tried two different brands this and one from enjoyingtea.com

Did a sipdown today. Only had about 2tsp though Rishi recommended 3-6tsp. First steep at about 2:40. Very pleasant and traditionally Keemun-tasting-not like that super strong first steep I get when I put in 6tsp.

Second steep-very good. Little noticeable change in flavor. Time 3:15
Third steep-weakening flavor, but drinkable. Time-2:20

If I buy this tea again, I won’t mess around with 6tsp to get my 5-7 steeps. 3tsp to get 2-3 steeps works out about the same without that overpowering first steep

I bought this to see how it would compare with Davids’ Oh Canada, but they are just so different! Davids’ is like rooibos and MAPLE, and this one is a bit more subdued. I actually didn’t expect to like this one so much. The smell of the tea is like a light black tea with a background of maple, it smells sweet and lovely. The taste is kind of like maple-vanilla perfectly blended with black tea. It’s just slightly malty and sooo delicious. I could see this being a great morning tea. I get a little astringency, but not much. The aftertaste verges on bitter, so I take another sip of the tea haha.

well, if you guys want me to be honest then I’ll have to say that I forgot that I had some of this left! I still have about 5-6 pots of this to go before it’s out. I don’t think I’ll repurchase this one. Like the earlier blend I reviewed, this has a lot of other stuff instead of oolong. It might say ‘oolong’ but really it’s more of a half/half blend with rooibos (checked this time! lol). I really wouldn’t mind it if they did tell me it was a blend, so I don’t understand why they leave it out when advertising it. What I’ve found truly odd is that the blends that I have enjoyed most from this company are also their cheapest. Go figure right?
This smells very warm and familiar. I have rated it pretty highly in the past. There are hints of big red type cinnamon in there. While trying to smell it really closely it actually brought something to mind which I’m sure is the lynch pin of why I enjoy this. It smells like sugar/cinnamon toast. That used to be a favorite after-school snack of mine.
The dried fruit play a larger part in the flavor of this tea than I remember. It does smell sweet, cinnamon-esque and overall pretty good. It does take me back and I do find that this is not overly aggressive once blended.

Love to watch this tea expand and almost bloom like a flower. Rich taste, giving multiple steeps.

This is slowly becoming a strong favorite. Recommend it not only for breakfast or lunch but for all day. Just a teaspoon of rock sugar for me and the tea is great.

This is actually pretty good :) It’s not just tea with milk it is much more creamy and thick, kinda like a strong iced tea latte. it was originally a chai recipe that my hubby made me tweak to his liking because he don’t like any of the spices in the original recipe and wanted it made different lol, he drinks it cold and calls it by this name :)

For how long I waited to even get this tea from sneekpeeq, I took even longer to try it. It reminds me of the mug I ordered nearly 3 weeks ago and I don’t know what they’re doing, making it just for me? I need it now because it has my favorite car on it.

Anyway. I think I used too much leaf and too hot of water. My water was probably 185-190 and the tin says nothing about temperature, so seeing 167 is like oh wow thanks for printing that elsewhere.

It’s not bad though, it just makes the green tea flavor a bit sharp. It’s a nice fruity flavor, but I imagine it’s better cold…or made with cooler water. Greens with some mix of fruits are always good when you can taste the base tea, and this is no exception.

I dunno why this tea is rated so mediocre-y, it’s one of my favorite decaf blends. I mean, it’s full of coconut, cardamom, pink peppercorns and cacao nibs or something! It’s kind of an ugly, murky color, but it has such a wonderful scent, like mexican hot chocolate or cake. Tasty on its own, delicious with milk and sugar.

David very kindly included this, at my request, as a sample in my last Verdant order. I’m not sure I’ve ever tried a straight black loose-leaf tea before, so this will be a new experience! I really felt like trying it tonight because of the Chocolate Chamomile Curiousity Brew I had yesterday and today that has Laoshan Black as an ingredient.

I accidently brewed this with less-than-boiling water; hopefully that won’t be an issue. I’m not sure what the temperature was exactly, but somewhere around 200F. ~5g of leaf in my 250mL infuser.

The aroma of the steeped tea is very malty and bakey. Perhaps slightly sweet, but only just. I’ll admit that when I initially smelled it steeping, it almost smelled icky and fermenty to me. I’m not sure where that was coming from, and I still get a hint of it, but I can deal with it.

The flavour is definitely very baked-goodsy, ending with a sweetness that reminds me of… malted barley? Beer? Oh, perhaps that roasted malted barley they use for “chocolate” beer? (I did try some, on a recent brewery tour.) Actually, that’s kind of what the whole sip tastes like. I’ll say that there are some hints of flavour that remind me of, say, a standard bagged black, but it is much different, and a pleasure to drink unaltered.

Oh – I should note that there is not a hint of bitterness or astringency. None.

Also just realized I lied :D My first loose leaf straight black was actually from the DavidsTea advent calendar – David’s Organic Breakfast. Although I think that was a blend.

Anyways, this exceeds my expectations for a straight black tea! It’s complex and interesting, malty and a bit sweet. I don’t think I’d be likely to order this or keep it on hand; I’d more likely go with a flavoured black, but I’m SO glad I had the chance to try it and know what all the hype was about! I can definitely see why black tea lovers like it; my palate just prefers oolongs and greens :)

ETA: Figured I’d go for multiple infusions the next day. Why not! Second – boiling water, 3 minutes. The flavour is pretty similar, just a bit weaker, but still quite tasty. I’m definitely getting a burny sort of flavour this time; don’t recall it from last time, but my memory isn’t great. This is also still quite smooth, except at the end of the sip there’s a lingering sharp bitterness in the back of my tongue/roof of my mouth. Haven’t experienced that before. It’s a little odd. Third infusion – boiling water, 4 minutes. Considerable loss of flavour, although it’s still the same flavour that’s there. Same weird lingering bitterness. I should note that it’s not a problem though, and it’s nothing like the bitterness from oversteeping, although that could be the cause? I don’t think this tea has anything left now though, but I think it’s good for two solid infusions!

After trying this one at home with milk and sugar added, I think I know why it isn’t a favourite of mine. Self-confession time, I’m the type of person who begrudgingly eats all the cake first to make the world happy while I’d be happier with just a plate of icing. I eat it separate so that nasty cake stuff doesn’t pollute the best sweet sugary part. This tea makes me have to have them combined, and honestly my inner five year old sits back and doesn’t wanna. Sorry birthday cake tea, I think I’ll go back to faking a love of cake to cover an addiction to icing.

A new tea store opened in my town – much to my surprise since we’re mostly a Tim Horton’s coffee kind of place, in my opinion. I checked them out and they’ve got a pretty decent selection – not so many single-estate teas, but lots of good blends.

This one is great as a good, basic chai tea. The base is a robust CTC black and the spices are well balanced. Nothing too special but it’s a good, solid tea and goes great with daal pakoras. I might try doing a traditional-style chai latte with it next time.

I finished off the last of my stash of this tea last night. Just coming off a rather bad stomach flu, so I decided to celebrate the end of my insanely boring bland diet of the past few days by making this.

I brewed it Jingshan style, which is by far my fave way of making greens. 7g of tea (in a brewing basket) to 12oz of water in a tall glass. Brewed five times, starting at 20 secs and increasing as I saw fit. I split the tea with my sister, who was at my place last evening, and saved a glass for sticking into the fridge.

Dry leaf smells deeply vegetal and crisp. Impossibly dark green and curled little leaves. Wet, the vegetal note expands into a buttery goodness that is just mouthwatering. My sister actually ate some of the wet leaves. “Tastes like the tea,” she offered. Well, not entirely specific, but it made us giggle.

And the flavour, oh the flavour. This is definitely a tea to brew correctly – oversteeped the taste is a little bit overwhelming on the vegetal notes, and the sweetness doesn’t come out to play.

But I was firing on all barrels last night. Vegetal, yes, but buttery and even nutty. I was reminded of biting into a salted (and perfectly buttered) corn on the cob. The tea itself isn’t salty, mind, just an image in my head. You’ve got the savoury vegetal notes at the forefront, buttery and delicious, fading into sweetness as the sip ends. I’m not sure I ever picked up on the cocoa, but that hardly detracts from the beauty of this tea. It’s more that I’m still training my tastebuds to find things. ;)

Not sure how I EVER confused the Laoshan Black with this, by the way – the liquor is a perfect clear and light jade. Everything about this tea is so green and beautiful!

One of those teas I need to keep in my stash at all times, I think. Though I may wait for the spring harvest to arrive before I reorder, and the anticipation is already killing me!

~

PS – I have to thank Krystaleyn for the word “savoury” for greens! Definitely apt.

I’ve got way too much tea I haven’t tried, so I put everything I haven’t had into its own box, so I can pull out new things to try, like so.

I got this as a sample with my order ages ago. I became attached to thepuriTea’s gunpowder tea through a sample so I don’t know why I haven’t had any of the others I got until now.

This is different, I’m so used to jasmine with green or white tea! When I opened the packet, it smelled really good and very unique. I had to look to Steepster for now to steep it, so I went with 4 minutes like most of the reviews said.

I’d just been eating some of those Cadbury mini eggs, and I hadn’t even noticed if there was the remains of any before I took a sip. It was like I had just eaten one again! This is chocolatey and floral at the same time. The black tea and the jasmine are really well balanced. I’m always afraid of jasmine taking over, but it’s perfect here.

The last note of the tea is pepper, and it almost tickles the tongue as the taste fades away before you just really need another sip.

In the future I may purchase some of this, because it’s really enjoyable and even relaxing.

We went kicking around a local asian supermarket today in search of a gaiwan (no luck) and any other random gems we could find. So we picked out a couple of things to try.

I have to say, the price of this jasmine green is really the only reason I picked it up. 150g for sub-$3, in a neat little blue tin. The tin probably isn’t airtight, and I don’t exactly have the faculties (or patience, really) to test that… but the seal is pretty darn impressive.

This tea is exactly what I expect from a Chinese restaurant, which, well, is because this is probably the exact tea I get from a Chinese restaurant. A light floral flavor, the green tea barely coming in at the end of the flavor, a mild but noticeable astringency. Compared to the Jasmine Pearls I have from Mad Hat, the flavor of this tea (particularly the Jasmine flavor) is much more subdued.

They had four different Jasmine teas by Fujian tea, one in a yellow square tin as pictured, one in a red square tin, the blue cylindrical tin that I bought, and then a green cylindrical tin. No differentiation other than a serial number up top that might mean something (mine is 2063). Well, and all of the writing that I don’t understand may mean something too, but I just assume it says Jasmine Tea in Chinese :).

I might keep this around. The quality definitely isn’t that of the pearls from Mad Hat (and I’m eventually going to want to try the pearls from Teavivre), but man… at this price… SO CHEAP. IT IS SO INSANELY CHEAP. Sorry, had to get that out.

Well, this was a surprise. I forgot I even had it. I was looking for something to drink with a light supper of steamed potstickers and spotted this.

I did not expect to like it. My experience with green teas has not, overall, recommended me to them But I did enjoy this Lipton! For me the orange and jasmine were much stronger than the passionfruit. I sweetened it lightly and it was just right with the dumplings. I’m going to try another cup with cookies and call it a night.

Mm, I had a long sleep last night, and it was the kind of thing where you were so exhausted and you wake up feeling refreshed but also all your joints still remind you of how exhausted they were. Usually I only have that kind of sleep after getting back from a long trip (it’s definitely a post-jet lag sleep as well), so it’s kind of funny to get it in the middle (well, toward the end) of such a trip.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to a nice cup of Earl Grey, which I haven’t had in 3 weeks. This one I boiled some fresh water for in the little water-boiler-thing, so the temperature should be about boiling. Like the Pomegranate Rose from this company, the tea base on this is nice and smooth. I do love a Ceylon-based Earl. This one is kind of middling-bergamotty… it’s not very strong, but it’s not too weak, either. It is probably the minimum acceptable amount of bergamot for me. :) I like mallow blossoms in Earls because they often add a slight richness and sometimes almost a sweetness. This tea could almost be a little stronger, so maybe I will steep it for 4 minutes next time. It’s still tasty and definitely a good, solid Earl. I won’t have any problems drinking up the sachets I bought.

I’d been drinking this for a few weeks, then my local store took their sweet time restocking it. I went about two weeks without it and wow, was there a difference. I hadn’t noticed my improvement, but I sure noticed my decline after stopping. The probiotics are the best thing. Seriously. It tastes great, but that’s just a perk.

I used this up! I made this into an iced beverage. So refreshing with some tartness to it.

This is good, but it’s not as full of cranberry tartness as I would prefer. If I didn’t know any better, I would just call it a “berry” tea. It has a hint of sweetness, and a hint of tartness. I know this is a holiday tea, but it’s good for any time of year.

I used a little over 1 tsp because I use 8 ounces of water and I never know if steeping recommendations are for 6 or 8 ounces so I just added a little more tea. I also steeped for an extra minute so even if that was wrong it is a forgiving tea!
This tea is JUICY! It makes your mouth water and the flavors are really quite wonderful! I could not detect any artificial flavors even if they are used and I am pretty sensitive to artificial flavorings.
I am also not typical a fan of apricot flavored teas but this one is soooo good!
I think the sweet raspberry – not tart which really helps to mellow the usually more pungent earthy apricot and while I do like earthy teas, apricot and I do not normally get along.
The aroma of this tea is super sweet super yummy with this almost vanilla aroma to it.
No sugar is needed to add to this tea its really quite perfectly sweet and balanced all on its own and I can only imagine adding sugar would make it all the more decedent or dipping some sugar cookies into it but I have had my allotment of cookies for today lol.
I am impressed – I purchased some 52 teas that had been revived from iHeartTeas.com and this was included as a free sample! This lovely lady blends her own teas and I give her two huge thumbs up – if only I had more thumbs!
Try her teas people they are dang good! :)

I’m studying for my boards exam, which is tomorrow! I decided to brew this up! I realized I only had a tiny bit for one last brew. Finished it up!

This tea is fruity and has calmed down in scent in comparison to when I first opened it up. I love the flavor of this now. I like how it isn’t tart, but the fruitiness is strong.