Featured & New Tasting Notes

Quick tasting note before I take a walk down to my nana’s, I’m going out with her for lunch. I’m also going to Weight Watchers tonight and have an appointment at the dentist’s, so I’m not sure how much tea I’m going to get drank on my only day off this week! Next Monday and Tuesday are the last days of January and the last of my drink-a-thon, so it might end up being a sprint finish if I can’t find the time sooner.

I estimated the temperature while I was distracted, and think I might have brewed this a little too hot, since the liquor is a darker colour than I expected and there’s a tiny hint of astringency right at the back end of the sip. It’s not too noticeable, and doesn’t bother me, but still I feel like I could have done this more justice. The squash comes across to me as a cake, cookie or muffin sort of flavour, and along with the vanilla and cinnamon the overall effect is one of a cinnamon cookie, which is just fine by me! The sweet, earthy, starchy squash is the most prominent note in the body of the sip, mingling with the vanilla note which helps make it more sweet than savoury. The soft cinnamon comes through at the end of the sip like a blanket, covering the mouth with a natural, comforting spice which makes me suspect this tea would be perfect for curling up in front of a fire in the Autumn. I added my usual half a sugar, and now the vanilla and cinnamon notes are more prominent and the squash less so. I do wish this tea had a thicker mouthfeel to match the creamy starchy flavour, but it’s very enjoyable nonetheless.

ETA: As it cools the muffin comparison gets stronger. It’s reminding me strongly of a muffin I can picture quite clearly which I used to have often as a treat when I was younger, but I can’t quite remember where I got them or the context around them. What I can picture quite clearly while I’m drinking this is the colour, texture and flavour of the muffin, right down to the gooey, sticky glaze on the golden brown top and the spongy but dense feel of breaking off a piece to pop in my mouth while the coating got stuck to my fingers. I was originally going to rate this a 76 but I’m going to have to raise that because yay for muffin tea!

This is a nice sheng. Sweet from the beginning with little bitterness and some astringency. The tea had a darker color than you would expect for a new sheng. It had a nice taste to it including a positive flavor note I failed to pick up on specifically.

I steeped this tea eight times in a 150ml gaiwan with 9.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. Overall this tea was quite good. I could have kept steeping it but want to drink something else.

I haven’t had hongcha in awhile, so I pulled this out. The dry leaf is long fuzzy gold and black tendrils with a smooth light milk cocoa aroma. I take another inhale to grasp at salted caramel and malt. I warmed my gaiwan up and placed what I had inside. The scent deepens to Hot dark cocoa and marshmallow. A burnt sugar note peeked through alone with grapeskins. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste is very smooth and sweet. The brew is a little thin, and the tones are not as powerful as I had thought, but it was good hongcha. The tones and smooth malt with some cocoa and base of caramel. A good tea, but I wouldn’t call it great.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPdFghLg7Wh/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

So I have had a comedy-level cold over the weekend. The whole shebang, with sneezing, stuffed up voices, and coughing. Bleh.
I’m much better today, but now my face is sort of chapped, and I’m still not back to 100% tasting.
But I’m going to coax my tastebuds out with this, one of my favorite blends. And ahh, there are my tastebuds again.
I’m really in love with this tea. One of my favorites, to be sure. And its just nice on a morning like today!

This tea didn’t have a name in a traditional sense so I used the description as a name to add it to the database. The name may look spam like but it is not. It is a cheap ripe sold in 100g cakes by Han Ecological Tea Group on Aliexpress. They didn’t give a year specifically either but a range of one to three years for age so I just guessed this was a 2016 tea. I only paid $7.46 each for these, now it has gone up somewhat in price. This turned out to be a nice tea. It had a fair amount of fermentation flavor but that flavor was neither unpleasant or fishy. It had a sweet note from the start with virtually no bitterness. Overall it was a very nice tea. I am not sure how to characterize the sweet notes in this so I won’t try. Didn’t notice any chocolate notes but then again I wasn’t really paying attention. The taste of this tea was a pleasant surprise to say the least.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 160ml Ru Kiln Shui Ping teapot with 11g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min.

Checked my notes – ‘Tastes like varnish wooden fruit, by steep 10 I thought yiwu’

Yeah I wont give up my day job to review tea quite yet. ..

I found this to be quite straightforward with its flavour & experience. Each steep did its thing, which was that aged varnish-bitter woody fruit taste (only way I can describe it), without much fuss. ’Twas ok. The front of the sip was the same as the end, not much in the way of a taste journey. It lasted throughout the day, and I particularly liked the later steeps when the taste changed to a hot-dark-milky/rounded base with some sour bitter lift.

It was ok – didn’t set me alight with complexity but its a cheap cake, so yeah recommended for the price – it also might be in sheng limbo-age, I don’t have enough data to know how this will progress when stored for a good few years nicely. Cheap enough to give it a try though :)

Sipdown. Sad to see it go, but I’ve got to make room for the hundreds of samples I seem to have in my possession right now. I’m hoping to go back to Seattle in the next year or two, so I will pick up some more of this next time I’m in the city.

Some final notes on this amazing yellow (black?) tea
-very rich, creamy, malt, cocoa flavours but not bitter at all
-never astringent, bitter, sour, or anything else unpleasant
-no vegetal notes at all, this isn’t a green/unprocessed yellow tea
-very, very smooth
-taste of minerals that IMO accompanies the classic “tea” flavour, no hint of salt, moss, soil, or fermentation
-thick mouthfeel
-slightly toasty
-lots of flavourful tannins, tastes like a high grade black tea (because it has the flavour of an oxidized tea), but is a tiny bit toasty and less brash
-resteeps very well, I did 3 pots of 700 mL today and there was no loss of flavour from the 1 tsp of leaf I used. Yet it doesn’t get bitter or overly tannic! Yay for good quality tea leaves!

A dessert tea with breakfast?!?
I didn’t care. This was exactly what I needed. Not the best tea I’ve ever had, but this morning I kinda wanted less than perfection. So yeah I’m very happy with this simple, clearly caramel, overly astringent black tea. Good with or without milk (because creamy caramel). And if it wasn’t for the mouth puckering sour astringency, I’d boost up the rating. A lot.

I really enjoy Korean green tea; they have wonderful aromas. I don’t remember where I got this, but I discovered it a little bit ago. The leaves are vibrant and loosely rolled with a warm scent of dried seaweed, roasted chestnuts, almonds, and kale. I warmed my kyusu and scooped some inside. The directions said really light and really short steeps, but I disagreed. The drink was a nice pale jade with a roasted aroma. The taste is very very thin and sweet. The brew lasted about two steeps and yielded a cup of light grassy notes and slight florals. The base was starchy and roasted corn, but it was very faint. This is a very easy drinker, and it is nice for night time sippin, but I wouldn’t get any more of this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPftdLNgmRI/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Well, I ended up staying on a double shift at work. I knew that would happen! So my tea-drinking has been pushed back to tomorrow, or possibly later because I’m having to book an emergency appointment with the dentist to have my wisdom tooth removed. I hope they can fit me in, because I’ve been in agony for a week now and it only seems to be getting worse. I was determined to fit at least one tea in tonight, though, and I went with this one because it’s one I’ve been staring at for days now wanting to drink.

This is delicious. I am in total agreement with those saying it’s their favourite Butiki pumpkin tea. It tastes exactly like a pumpkin spice latte!! I can’t even begin to pick apart the notes because my brain is just screaming at me ‘pumpkin spice latte pumpkin spice latte pumpkin spice latte’ over and over again. I didn’t want to risk adding sugar, so I’m not sure how that might have affected the flavour, but I bet it would be sooo good. I want to try this tea so many ways. I want to cold brew it, make it into a latte, make tea syrup, add sugar, add honey, add maple syrup and golden syrup… I wish I had more than 1/2 an oz because I’m already sad that I won’t be able to try most of those things. The butterscotch is the least prominent note and adds a little syrupy sweetness, but the pumpkin and coffee flavours blend together seamlessly, neither outshining the other. Honestly if I closed my eyed and ignored how much thinner the liquid is, I would truly believe I was drinking a pumpkin spice latte. Happy sigh.

Basically, pumpkin spice latte pumpkin spice latte pumpkin spice latte.

You know, I’m starting to rethink my snobbery regarding bagged tea. I started a new job this month (praise God!) and one of the fringe benefits is the company provides free coffee and free tea via boxes of Bigelow tea bags. At first the tea snob in me said I’ll just brew my own tea at home and bring it to the office in my thermos. But, my daily commute entails a 30-minute car ride followed by a 30-minute train ride followed by a 10-minute walk to the building, each way. I wasn’t quite ready to lug my five-cup thermos on my daily travels yet, so I decided to give the Bigelow tea bags a chance.

I steeped the standard paper bag for about five minutes using the office Keurig machine’s hot water setting. As common with brewed bagged tea, I didn’t notice a strong odor, but I could detect the bergamot with this one.

When I started sipping the tea, my taste buds were infused with enough Earl Grey flavor to scratch the itch. The flavor had no bitter twinge to it and the bergamot complemented the black tea taste as you would want and expect of any Earl Grey, bagged or loose leaf. I had no problem with the tea-heavy aftertaste either.

I liked this tea. It did satisfy me enough during the work day to keep me focused on my job (and the price is right!). I can’t deny that I miss my favorite robust loose leaf morning teas that I’ve enjoyed and depended on during the last five years. I will eventually bite the bullet and start hauling my thermos into work and home each day. However, until I get ambitious and motivated enough, this Bigelow tea will keep me from becoming tea-deprived.

HEY! I JUST NOTICED THAT THIS IS MY 200TH TASTING NOTE!!! IT ONLY TOOK ME FIVE YEARS TO GET HERE! THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON THIS FUN JOURNEY!

I feel like I am coming up for air.

For a long time we have been helping to take care of my dear precious mother-in-law. Sometimes this meant 24/7 having someone by her side and sometimes it meant having a meal schedule to help feed her. I was in charge of ordering her medicines and delivering them, helping with the schedule, and all doctor appointments and discussing hospital procedures, along with a sister-in-law who attended part of the appointments and did lots and lots of bedside sitting. Lots.

She passed away last Wednesday and now there is a big hole. All the things that used to be hard to fit into the schedule are gone, but now we are in the phase of getting everything reported which is a little harder because her husband was retired military so there is a bit of government paperwork to do as well.

But for now, I can sit and drink tea and see my best friend for the first time in quite a while.

This tea had gotten lost in the jumble of a big box, but it is going to be a frequent tea for while because I really like it. Easy to steep, adorable gold-wrapped heart-shaped tuo cha, and delicious mushroom and rice flavor.

I raise my cup to Mima, a great mother-in-law, a dream grandmother to my children, and a wonderful woman.

Last week I went to an interview for a promotion. Didn’t think I’d get it because I was up against people who have been there for 10 years, but.. my skillset and ambition were seen by the three people who interviewed me and I got the promotion!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPknX7AAtYt/

Really excited about getting to a position that I’ll be in with only 10 months at my company. Next step is training and then a presentation for my MBA; which they pay 100% of admission!

Anyways, I pulled out this tea with my bestfriend over. We started it up and it was like a melted old candy bar. Pretty smooth, some nutty and chocolate tones underneath the interesting caramel notes. Not the pleasant type of sugary drink, but that ‘oh this is interesting’ type of drink. Good, but if you don’t know what you’re drinking it can be very confusing as I tried to experience it with my best friend who doesn’t drink aged oolong at all. The end notes came through quite salty which let me know it was dying out.

A decent amount of infusions off of this. I think the quality of the leaf wasn’t that great which is why it was aged and all; one can tell by the shape, size, and tearing of the leaf as it brews out. Would love to find a larger leaf Muzha that was aged because those tight curls over time could retain some stronger notes which I also want to find with an aged dongding or shanlinxi.

Enjoyable session.

Silly me didn’t realise this one was a jasmine tea… but you know..i’m always up for trying anything. What’s nice about this one is that it’s not SUPER in your face jasmine. It’s still probably too much jasmine for me, but i could take out a few of the jasmine pearls next time to try that out. I do really love the concept of this tea though…asteroids and mini fragments heh. I have a few friends that might really enjoy this one so i’ll be sharing the rest of this and leaving a few for me to play with. Not rating this one as i’m not a jasmine fan but i think those that enjoy jasmine would like the execution of this one. It was neat! (also i drank almost the whole cup so that speaks well to the tea!)

Sipdown (211)!

Thanks for the sample VariaTEA!

So, this pretty well does taste exactly like an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, complete with light cinnamon pastry notes and vanilla notes. Is it a good thing that it’s so accurate? Eh, debatable. I’d probably enjoy it a lot more of I liked raisins. I’ve come around to them a lot since first joining steepster and even enjoy raisin notes in my black teas (Darjeeling/Keemun specifically) quite a bit now BUT I’m a long, long way from appreciating them in real life and I think the fact this reminded me so strongly of ‘real life’ raisins and not ‘raisin notes’ in tea was what made it somewhat conflicting.

I still enjoyed it a lot overall, especially the soft cinnamon notes and really subtle pithy lemon undertones – but couldn’t completely get into it.

I had planned to attend my local march today. The conspicuously-timed stabbing migraine I’ve been fighting since yesterday morning had other plans. So I am stuck at home, trying to rest and not dwell on the frustration of having my body betray me or the guilt of not being in the streets with my friends and colleagues. What does one even drink on a day like today? Why, Butiki of course, for this is a day for dwelling on what we have lost and remembering what we still have. I’m pairing it with Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

This blend has held up quite well. I may have added too much sugar to the first steep, resulting in an imbalance between the almond and maple flavors. I didn’t really get any waffle flavor, though there was a nice thick mouthfeel and no driness. I’m on steep 2 now and the flavor of the base tea has come out to play, sort of bready and just a touch bitter. This is a wonderfully soothing, dessert-like blend that I’m happy to still have a little of.

Farewell delicious tea! you were an enjoyable cup this morning.

Over the course of twelve steeps this turned from a bitter sheng to a fairly sweet sheng. I would not use the word apricots to describe it’s sweet notes as this tea seems to have started to age. For the first six infusions it also had a strong and bitter aftertaste. If you bought this tea and brewed it Western style you would hate it. But brewed gongfu it turned into a nice sheng.

I steeped this twelve times with 8.7g leaf and boiling water in a 150ml gaiwan. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec,7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes. I could have definitely gotten a few more steeps out of the tea leaves but I had had enough at twelve steeps.

I dumped the rest of this into a small jar with water and left it in the fridge for a few days. Poured a little into a cup, added a shot of Treaty Oak rum and some agave and I have myself an almost perfect drink. There is a little bite in there that I don’t care for which is likely due to overleafing, but there is a ton of tasty watermelon flavor in there! Vodka would have had a cleaner taste that went better with the watermelon, but the white rum isn’t bad either. Could probably use an ice cube to dilute it a little. Eh.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Six – Tea #13
I used two of these teabags, but somehow the flavors that were supposed to be here were still pretty weak. I would have no idea what the flavor even was. The green tea wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t the best. I don’t think any spices could really shine in a green tea anyway. I love how the description says “rich plum”… I don’t think there was any plum here. I was going to try some of the Perennial Plum but upon looking at the blend, it looks like the Della Terra plum blend, which I have a ton of… so I’ll leave that one for others to try!

Bought this the other day at Clipper Ship Tea Company. It is thick, rich and definitely buttery from the added caramel. I can’t really taste the vanilla. This is an overall nice puer tea for western steeping. I don’t know how the flavors would hold up gongfu style.

I steeped this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for three minutes in boiling water and 3 tsp leaf.

This is a queued tasting note.

Drank this one at work during my week without internet access…

I feel like I genuinely liked this one more the second time around; both the maple and marshmallow notes just seemed richer/stronger to me. The roastiness could have used a bit of a boost to compete with the sweetness of the maple, but it was still a very solid cup. For some reason it tasted a touch boozey though?

Also shared it with my two assistant managers: one loved it, and even asked for the website I got it from. The other not so much; he didn’t like the pairing of such sweet flavours and roasty Genmaicha. Buzzkill…

This is probably one of my favourites from Butiki’s final batch of teas, and sadly one of the ones I have the least of. Luckily for me it resteeps very well!

The raspberry flavour comes across the most prominent, followed by the Sparrow’s Tongue, and then ends on a creamy cashew note which lingers. I wouldn’t exactly say it’s ‘jam’ or ‘butter’ reminiscent, but raspberry and cashew for sure. The raspberry note is fresh and juicy, and the creaminess of the cashew goes with it beautifully. I am so glad it uses an oolong base rather than a green, because I’m not the biggest fan of greens in the first place but I think many of them would have been too savoury here. The oolong is a perfect alternative. It’s naturally sweet and buttery, which goes so well with both of the main flavours, and it’s just so darn robust. I got three fantastic Western-style steeps out of this, the third being mostly oolong but still with a hint of cashew and a lingering note of raspberry. The first and second steeps were virtually indistinguishable. I’d love to try brewing this gongfu, but sadly I don’t think I have enough leaf. I bet it would have been wonderful.

It’s the turn of apricot today. I’m coming towards the end of my matcha samples, which is incredibly sad for one special reason. I was just going to place an order with Matcha Outlet, now they stock sample packages and ship to the UK. That was until I realised that the shipping was going to cost $47, and seems to be flat rate. A few small samples of tea powder absolutely do not cost anything like that to post, and I don’t have that kind of cash to splash at the moment anyway, so that’s off. It’s a real shame, because Red Leaf/Matcha Outlet have the best flavours, and at the moment there’s nothing comparable in the UK. It’s sad face time, boys and girls.

This latte, though. I’m actually liking this a little more than I did last time, although it’s there’s still a touch of soapy floral that’s hard to ignore once you’ve tasted it. Having said that, it’s mostly apricot, and that’s all good with me. It’s not the most natural tasting apricot, admittedly, but it’s pretty good. It’s actually reminding me a little of…something. Some kind of gummy sweet? Wine Gums? Were there orange wine gums? If there were, then that’s what I’m tasting. Sweet, slightly syrupy, artificial apricot. It’s nicer than it sounds.