New Tasting Notes

Mmmm, a peachy flavour with a hint of something else. Nom. I have no idea what a kombucha is or what it tastes like, but if this tea is an example of it, sign me up? I love sipping this one with a dash of agave. And it doesn’t matter, hot or cold, it is always delightful.

The last two times I tried this, I ended up with a “punch you in the face” jasmine flavor since I always overestimate how much tea to use with pearl-type teas. This time was a lot better though. This is definitely not a jasmine tea if for someone that only kind of likes jasmine. Very floral. It’s also a bit finicky — it’s really good if you hit that sweet spot of time/temp and then it tastes lovely and light and sweet. Anything at all out of that range brings out the bitterness.

Day 53 of my 101 days of DAVIDsTEA challenge.

I used up the rest of what I had of this — it was probably a bit more than one cup’s worth, but nowhere near enough for two, so I dumped it in my two-cupper and filled it up for tea for one and a bit for the pot.

The taste reminds me of bumbleberry pie, which makes sense with the mixed berry theme. Hot, it was wonderful. I didn’t like it as much when it cooled—the dessert-i-ness seemed to fade with the temperature.

Resteep, again, wasn’t bad hot, but not as good once it cooled a bit.

Glad I had a bit of this left — I can see why it’s one of the more popular teas. Definitely worth a sip, in my opinion.

I couldn’t think of a better way to start the Year Of The Dragon. I made this superfine super strong and it’s a beautiful thing. Enough said. Be well my friends….

Finally got around to making a pot. I haven’t had this tea in several years, and I feel like my tastes have matured since then. But naturally, I’m going to like an assam/ceylon blend.

It’s a good tea, don’t get me wrong. It’s strong and a little bitter, but it just doesn’t have a lot going on. I guess I’m starting to lean more toward Chinese black teas? Or maybe I’m just having an off night. I’ll give it another try before I consider my rating final.

ah yes, the second sample I tried. Really good!! Buttery and vegetal, it really stood apart from the first tea. Oh and not too heavy either, yet still lighter than the Ben Shan. I can’t recall much more than that though. If only I’d remembered to write it down! does the leave it to beaver fist swing

I HAVE A GAIWAN!!!!
Yipeeeeee! I’ve wanted one of these for SO long, and when I discovered that TD was down to their last few sets, and weren’t likely to be getting more anytime soon… well I could not resist. My tea ban is on “tea” not tea*ware* so I haven’t broken the rules yet. Right?!??
And the price was pretty darn good to. $26 is good, isn’t it? (I need to double check, maybe it was 36? my receipt is downstairs)
Aaaaaanyhow, about the tea. I sampled three kinds today so forgive me if I mix them up. I’m pretty sure I did get these out of order!
I can tell you that I tried a Ben Shan, a Buddhas Palm, and a… err, was it White Needle?? Frank, if you end up reading this, please help!!
Oh yes, let me introduce Frank! He is the lovely tea guru who was so kind to brew the tea and share with me :)
Now, if am not mistaken, this was the last one I tried. It was quite light with a hint of fruitiness, and very sweet. More sweet than the other two I tried.
My least fave of the three but still very good! Incredibly smooth, esp compared to anything I’ve tried before this.
I am rather new to actually enjoying green oolongs so I was pleasantly surprised by how different they can be. Before my ‘bud flip, I was a serious dark oolong girl who typically shunned the green side. and now? I cannot get enough! go figure.
If you are ever in Toronto, be sure to stop by the shop. It’s halfway between Wellesley and Bloor on Yonge St.

Sadly I think I’ve just encountered the first Zingerman’s product that I didn’t absolutely love. To be fair, I don’t have the right equipment for this tea — you have to use so much of the tea for each 8oz of water that I literally don’t have an infuser big enough to prepare as directed. Thus, unsurprisingly, the tea is watery and doesn’t taste like anything. Too bad, because I generally enjoy Zingerman’s products and am sure this would be good, but I’m not going to buy new equipment just for this!

This came about as a recent swap with Amanda. Even though she gave it less than stellar reviews I wanted to try it anyway, plus I am always looking for some more caffeine free things.

I don’t love roobois much so I was thinking I might hate this but I did have a strawberry rhubarb tea once from Lupicia that I really liked.

Steeped for 5 minutes with boiling water in my $4 Daiso teapot.

Yeah the smell of this is pretty funky. It’s like a yogurt that went bad. I don’t think it quite smells like butt but maybe… feet? The flavor isn’t quite as bad though thankfully. I don’t quite know if I taste any rhubarb in here. I think it needs something. It was definitely better with some soymilk. And maybe it needs a pinch of sugar. Well I will find some way to make it more drinkable but I won’t be buying any…. :)

Dry leaves smell almost of dark roasted chocolate. Moist they have the characteristic fresh grassy smell. Mostly broken leaves they deliver a mild and pleasant but heavy flavor, lacking high, bitter or grassy notes.

Having just tested Adagio’s Coconut (black tea), this is as good of a time as any to test this one. The aroma in the bag is more green leaves, less coconut, but it’s there. Brewing this up, the leaves really expand and are very pretty.

Sniffing the brewed tea, where did the coconut go? I smell melted butter. There’s no coconut taste either… ok, maybe a teensy tiny little bit in the aftertaste. The tea itself (if not expecting coconut, ha) is pleasant enough. At least it’s not bitter! Not tasting buttery (like it smells). This might be one that can grow on me, so it goes into my “try again later” pile (which is growing rapidly). If you’re expecting a strong coconut flavor, you will be disappointed. If you want a pleasant, light green tea, this may fit the bill.

ETA: I got busy with something else, and this tea cooled down completely in the cup. Now the coconut is showing up more, which is causing me to up the rating a bit. Will want to try this cold again.

The second half of the giant blooming tea tin that my Mum brought back from the US is filled with this peach-scented white.

See my note on Teavana’s Strawberry Misaki for my feelings about blooming teas in general.

The dry tea smells like peach candy, but not in an offensive way. It’s more delicate than some other fruity scents.

The ball bloomed fully in 4 mins. It was pretty spectacular – I like the ones with long finger-y extensions. Reminds me of an alien. In a pretty way.

The infusion is pale yellow and still has a nice peach aroma.

My first sip… I burned my tongue. Badly. Now, I’m not gonna blame the tea itself for that, but the experience overall has been somewhat tainted now. ;-)

After letting it cool down a bit, like a sensible girl, the tea is pretty weak. Like drinking peach-scented water, because I’m fairy certain that most of what I’m tasting is actually the scent. If I were to plug my nose, it would probably be pretty close to plain old hot water.

Maybe I would let this one steep a while longer the next time to see if I could draw more flavour out of it. I doubt if a second steep would yield anything worth drinking. At the price these little guys go for, I would be pretty disappointed with these results – if I had paid for them myself, that is. As it is, with these being gifts, it’s is a fine experience, but not remarkable.

I probably won’t be looking to re-stock this one when I’ve gotten to the bottom of my tin, but may entertain some folks with a pretty display until then.

Thanks Raul for the sample.

Okay, this is my first venture into the world of Yerba Mates…so this could change my desire to try others…but then again, I should try others to make a full decision on yerba mates in general.

Having stated that…
I didn’t care for this tea. I love lime & pistachio. And I love green rooibos. But just didn’t care for them in this combination. I brewed a pot with the sample given to me & I followed the steeping directions. The tea smelled good in the bag. I got the lime. I didn’t get much of the pistachio. And during brewing it was a lime smell mostly…but it seemed to get more faint & not more strong as I would have expected.

I added a little Sugar in the Raw thinking it would help bring out the flavor. Nope. I even added a fresh slice of lime. Nope.

But I did get a funky aftertaste like I would had I used Splenda as a sweetener. Is that normal for yerba mates? I don’t know…

Overall, I’m glad I got to try this tea, but I wouldn’t buy it. Sorry. Not my cuppa tea.

I looOooooOOooove it!
Look like most of people dont like..dont understand..
Never have enough..
Made a provision..

I got some of this with my last order from puerhshop.com, this is the second time that they started sending me stuff with my orders i guess i made enough orders with them to get freebies now and thats cool with me, Anyways I would not have ordered this on my own but It was actually a Super Good tea i liked it alot, wonderful jasmine sent and just realy good overall. I recomend you try this one :)

Me and Adagio’s flavored black teas do not seem to get along. I ordered many to test the base teas that are used in the blends, before even thinking about making one (if I don’t like the ingredients, I won’t like the blends). This one smells amazing in the package (if you like coconut). Based on past experience, I decided to lower the steep time on this one (by 30 seconds), hoping it wouldn’t end up bitter like the rest.

The brewed tea has lost it’s strong coconut aroma, but it’s still there…almost buttery now. Gosh darn it, I’m still getting a bitterness with this (like all the other Adagio flavored blacks), but it’s not as bad (so maybe it helped to lower time). The coconut has morphed into an almost almond flavoring, if that’s possible. I added some honey, so that’s probably my fault.

Overall I’m not liking this, because of the bitterness. I’ve found so many other teas that aren’t bitter …

Waaaooow. So so tasty!! I’ve been craving a Chinese black tea for awhile and I guess this hit the mark.
Cocoa was really at the forefront here. It wasn’t grating at all, the way I found it last time.
I have maybe two more steeps of this left. Looks like I have a sipdown on the way!!
If only I hadn’t been given a few tea samples for my cupboard today to replace it ;P