New Tasting Notes

I have been meaning to try this brand of chai and I happened to find a variety pack on clearance at REI. This is tasty. Very creamy and sweet. I am not a huge fan of chai mixes that have milk and sugar already in them. But thankfully what is in there isn’t nearly as bad as some of the chai mixes I’ve seen. I’ve seen some that have 27-30grams of sugar for an 8oz serving! The flavor of this is really nice the cardamom brings a very refreshing sweet flavor to the chai and is not overwhelming. I also love that this chai mix disolves completely so there no mix sitting at the bottom of the cup at the end.

Sweet aroma, and a grassy flavor like most Sencha and Gyokuro teas. It has a nice green color. I think I might have steeped it for too long. I’ll have to try it again next time with maybe only 1-2 minutes.

I love Dragonwell from Teavana, but this one didn’t quite meet my expectations. It’s still good, but it doesn’t have the same sweet grassy quality.

Sipdown, back to 154. I got my monthly Lupicia newsletter the other day and this was the sample.

Lupicia’s fruit flavorings can smell very candy-ish, and this one is no exception. However, I find that they taste more authentic than they smell, at least to me. This one is strongly reminiscent of the plain strawberry tea, with added vanilla. In fact, it’s almost somewhere between Strawberry and Fantasy. It’s quite nice, really, especially given that I’m not usually a fan of strawberry-flavored things. Also I always find it funny now when people talk about Lupicia’s flavorings being light, and the black tea being the main thing… to me, this is nicely flavored because I can still taste the black tea base (which in this case is nice and smooth), and I would not call these flavorings light at all.

Very similar to Monkey Picked Oolong from Teavana. I just recently made the switch to arbor teas b/c it’s based in my home state and they organic fair trade tea so I thought I’d support them! Light floral aroma and taste, but not too much. I only bought a sample, and I will definitely plan on getting more.

I have a sixth sense about teas that I know I will absolutely love. Without a moment’s hesitation, I plunked down the dough to get 16 oz of these pearls without ever tasting a one!

They arrived on Saturday (fantastic service, thepuriTea!) with 3 nice samples (thank you!)!

I am trying them for the first time today (4 pearls, about 9 oz water, 3 min) and wow – they taste exactly as I hoped. Molasses-y on the first steep, and oh my god the second steep is so dark chocolatey that I had to pause and blink! (blink, blink! Oh this is good!).

I’m sorry but I have to end this note. This second steep is so good that I don’t want to do anything but drink it!

Thank you moraiwe for the hot tip!

Working my way through some swap samples today. I don’t even remember who sent me this one, LOL! Happy Monday everyone. Back at work, boo.

Monday? Is that you already?

Tea of the morning here… I always know I will like this when I steep it up. Today it reminds me of graham crackers dipped in milk. Truly scrumptious!

This is the fourth and final tea from Adagio’s Silk Road Sampler, and another one that I’ve gone back and forth on. With this one, I think knowing what to expect helped a LOT.

The leaves, which are dark and rolled up, smell quite sweet. However, the tea tastes very different than it smells. This was my first Chinese black tea, and the malty, slightly earthy/mushroom-ish flavor caught me way off guard the first time I tried it. Now that I’ve grown to like malty, I can see it becoming one of my standard breakfast teas. It’s slightly earthier than Adagio’s Yunnan jig, which makes it a bit less of a favorite. Good stuff, nonetheless.

So I’m going to put it out there and say this is a 12 days of Christmas worthy blend. Frank wasn’t lying when he said this was going to be a major crowd pleaser. I think the lemon pairs perfectly with the chai, and this blend could be drinkable on any sunny day at any time of year.

The black base is rich, and the spices mingle well with it. And then, mid-sip, you get a shot of light, delicious, sunny lemon. Which really is highlighted by the cardamom in the tea. I’m sure those who missed out of this one (because it went fast!) will be disappointed because it is one of the best new black 52teas blends that has been released in a while. All the more reason for a reblend in the future.

i love apple teas. i didn’t know i loved apple teas, but one day i looked down at my tea drawer and realized i had a lot of them. all different and similar at the same time. apple this apple that apple apple apple.
it has a nice fresh apple smell in the cup. and the apple flavor is mild. i can definitely detect caramel notes, but it doesn’t taste caramel flavored per se. this is a good thing! it really is a apple tea, not an apple flavored tea. if you catch my drift.

Scheherazade!! thank you for making my monday a little brighter.

And I thought yesterday’s morning cup of creamy earl grey was aromatic. Wonderfully strong vanilla and black tea. The bergamot is barely detectable until the cup is cool then it still remains in the background. Though I prefer my EG with much more bergamot this is still a very nice cup.

We went to DC this weekend. My friend lives right next to the Capital Teas in Bethesda, and she took me there since she knew that I loved tea so much. It was a tiny shop, but they had a whole wall full of glass jars with the teas in them to smell. I loved that because I was able to see the tea and also smell it so I knew what I wanted to purchase. This one definitely stood out to me, it smells richly of dried fruit with just a little hint of spiciness. The tea itself has a sweet cherry and black tea aroma. The flavor is very sweet and fruity even without sugar and there is a strong cherry aftertaste that lingers. The cherry aftertaste kind of reminds me of cherry cough syrup, which I don’t love. Adding sweetener takes the flavor back to a fruity cherry instead of a mediciney cherry. I added a little milk and it became a nice and smooth, creamy cup. This was my first tea from Capital Teas and it’s a winner!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with large dried cherries and pieces of dried fig.
-Dry leaves smell of rich dried fruit with a hint of spiciness. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet cherries and black tea.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color.
-Sweet fruity flavor and finish. Strong cherry aftertaste that lingers.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Very good tea. Rich and smooth fruity flavor. Candy cherry taste.