New Tasting Notes

80

I enjoyed a takeaway cup of this while on my honeymoon. We had just left the Louvre and were walking through an underground passageway filled with shops when I spotted a Mariage Frères store! I immediately went inside and bought some Sablés au Thé in Marco Polo flavoring and a cup of this tea. :) I didn’t take notes while I drank it, but I remember it being a lovely green tea with delicious yet natural flavoring.

I wanted to buy more tea, but food and drink abroad was significantly more expensive than we had anticipated or planned for. The shop itself was fun and different. It was super high-brow. The men who helped me pick a tea were separate from the cashiers, who sat in a little windowed area near the door like a box office at the theatre. And they even served my to-go cup of tea on a platter! Hahaha, it was quite the experience.

Ahh, it’s so nice to be home drinking tea again. France was full of tiny, overpriced shots of espresso. I did try (and buy) some tea while there, but I found that I really relied on multiple espresso shots to get through the day. It was A LOT of walking! We climbed just about everything there is to climb: the Eiffel Tower (we climbed down, not up), the Basilica of Sacré Cœur, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Catacombs, and St. Paul’s Cathedral (in London).

It was a fantastic trip, but we are happy to be home again. We definitely live in the best country by far. Go America!! We left the day after the government shutdown started and returned home the night they passed the budget to re-open it. Since I’m a federal employee, I got paid for my time out and didn’t have to use any of my leave! How’s that for timing? I’m still upset the shutdown happened, but there’s a silver lining to everything.

Bonnie

Much love and happiness to you! Not a bad silver lining!

Josie Jade

Sounds like a wonderful honeymoon, and with perfect timing! Congrats on being a newlywed! :)

teataku

Congrats to you! Sounds like a fantastic time! :)

CHAroma

Thanks all! ;)

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80

The dry leaf aroma is strawberry fruit roll-ups! OMG YUM!! The flavor is a soft green tea with a light, natural, strawberry flavor. It isn’t quite as intense as the aroma, but it’s definitely there. I added a little agave and that really made the strawberry pop!

I’ve only recently discovered agave. It’s like honey but different. It’s less viscous, not quite as intense, and sweet in a different way. Like more of a green, vegetal type way. I think I like it more than honey! Mmm, it is a delicious addition to this tea. Thank you to Shmiracles for giving me this sample!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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I came across this recipe for making iced Thai Chai. It calls for a homemade coconut milk creamer, which I had to make a half batch of, just to try it out. While I was making it, I started thinking how nice a hot latte would be, & so this tea became the first latte.

The coconut milk has a pleasant oranginess to it, which goes nicely with the Bergamot, & I added a little more sweetness to the cup. Not something I’ll be drinking regularly, but fun to try. I’ll let you all know how the iced chai comes out once everything cools down.

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85

I received this as a free sample from Yezi Tea. Their samples come beautifully packaged in color coded foil packets which don’t seem to allow scent leakage. The whole unboxing experience was very neat and clean. The samples came in a tiny flat box, which was actually small enough to fit into my little apartment mailbox, and there were all sorts of cute thank you notes and notes about “red tea” as a name for black tea and smiley faces and stuff. They seem very promising for a starting tea company, and I hope to place another order with them soon.

The tea: On their website, they call this “I can’t believe it’s not scotch”, but as with the butter substitute, I certainly can believe it. I actually get some sweet, fruity notes from this tea. It has the lightest kiss of smokiness and an undercurrent I can’t place… It’s like a combination of pollen and nuts. The first steeping was a beautiful mahogany, which darkened to a deep raw umber with subsequent steepings. From the scent and the color, I was expecting a heavy handed tea that smacked you upside the head with flavor and smoke and depth, but the zheng shan xiao zhong was actually very delicate and light. All things considered, it was a pretty positive tea drinking experience.

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80
drank Coconut Cream Pie by 52teas
1113 tasting notes
from the Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box

I got my first traveling tea box today from Tea Sipper! I had to go to the post office to pick it up on my lunch break. I haven’t had a chance to look through it all yet, but I found this near the top and I’ve always wanted to try it!

Well, I’m always happy to try a 52Teas blend without having to commit to an entire 2oz pouch. This one lives up to it’s reputation! This is one of the better 52Teas blends I have tried. I love coconut! This one is very creamy and the black base is mild and unobtrusive. There isn’t a whole lot in the pouch so I’ll probably leave the rest in there for other Steepsters to try. I just wanted a cups worth for sampling purposes :)

BrewTEAlly Sweet

Mmmmmmm…I hope this gets.resteeped soon!

tea-sipper

I hope you find a few you like in the teabox! :D

Stephanie

I did find many things to try! I separated the samples I took out into my own little baggies, and it will be heading on to BrewTEAlly Sweet TODAY! I hand wrote out everything I added and took out, but I will type it all up ASAP!

BrewTEAlly Sweet

Cheater! Your supposed to enjoy the box. But this is very smart too. I should just do that now with the teas I have left to try in my box since this one is heading my way already :)

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Now that the weather is cooling down, the boys are drinking more tea again, reminiscing about our past Adagio fandom orders, & all that. Drew has all of his classes on Mon, Wed, & Fri. Leif’s classes are on Tues & Thurs. Everyone has been fending for themselves for breakfasts lately (we have a rule in my house, which I call, “Find it, Kill it, Cook it, & Eat it”. Of course, nobody in this house is killing anything, but we have had that rule for a long time, & all of my kids know how to fix food because of it). Leif is on ‘Fall Break’ from his college, so the 3 of us had a nice breakfast together, which included a huge sweet potato that I dug up yesterday! Leif selected this tea & brewed a big pot, which we all enjoyed. It’s a light tasting cup, with a very bright, tart, & fruity flavor. I still haven’t tried it iced, but I bet it would be tasty that way.

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79

This is another free sample I received from Little Red Cup Tea Company in exchange for a review. Wow! This is night and day from the previous tea I drank. This is flavorful and delicious! The leaves themselves seem to be in much better shape too. They’re wavy, fuzzy, whole leaves varying in color from white to dark brown.

I’m going to disagree with most of the other reviewers on here and say that this does taste like a green tea. There’s a soft but apparent grassy note followed by a naturally sweet, vegetal aftertaste. In my opinion, this is a common flavor profile of green teas, while white teas are less fresh cut grass/buttery vegetables and more dry hay/sunshine.

This is a yummy green tea. I’m really enjoying it! Thanks to Little Red Cup for providing a generous sample so I can enjoy it again later. :)

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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92

**Another review of Premium Green Tea by Stash—cold brew

Company: Stash Tea Company
Tea Name: Premium Green Tea
Tea Type/Varietal: green
Region:
Steeping Vessel/Amt Leaf: cup/ tea bag
Liquor Color: golden
Leaf Characteristic:

Steeping:

1st Steeping:
Water Temp:
Time:

I am having this tea not steeped with hot water but with cold water instead. As I was heading out of the doors for the day, I took one of the Stash Tea bags with me, and a bottle of water which I used while at this small deli in Boylston, MA. I simply placed the tea bag inside my bottle of water and let it steep for 5-10 minutes, turning the bottle over every now and again. I am enjoying the coloring that is emerging; that golden color and anticipating the taste of this tea cold.

I had placed an order of fries and once they were brought to the table, I decided to try my tea and took a large gulp of it; and yes there it is, that distinct ‘umami’ aroma/scent/flavor tingling my palette. That fishy aroma was there to meet my nostrils as I remove the cap from the bottle and upon taking sips and more sips of this tea, I am met repeatedly with that mouth watering sea weed in taste. I try the fries and they are nicely hot and slightly salty. I eat the fries, at times dunking them in the little ketchup holder, and by the end I opted to have them plain with no ketchup and they were still hot right to the very end. I sip of my tea between mouthfuls of the fries.

I am trying to explain the sheer delight with this tea and having it with French fries. And they go quite nicely; I should say this was not planned either.

Overall tasting notes: fresh like the ocean on a day when the sea weeds are piled on the shore

Cup’s characteristic: ‘umami’ good with salty food like French fries

Liquor color: golden

Taste: wonderfully pleasant green tea; exceptional even. I had been drinking Trader Joe’s Specialty Green Tea and it is nice tea with that green grassy taste and nothing of this ‘umami’ flavoring or aroma.

I am saying to truly experience green tea; if one had to categorize them or give another examples of what to expect, than I would have to say: Green tea can either be like of Trader Joe’s grassy good cup of greenness or liken to that of Stash Tea where the palette is wooed by this ‘umami’ salivating saltiness found in sea weed, or that offensive (only to myself) Parmesan Cheese in a nice way.

I should say that I continue to enjoy the tea bag even more when I found a water bubbler where it contained hot water and I filled my bottle with this while the tea bag still remained in the bottle. The water bottle being nice and warm against my fingers, as the shape of the bottle sort of warped from the heat of it. Anyhow, when I sip of the tea it is samely pleasant as before except it is hot tea now.

Preparation
8 min or more

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92

**A review of Premium Green Tea by Stash Tea Company

Company: Stash Tea Company
Tea Name: Premium Green Tea
Tea Type/Varietal: green
Region:
Steeping Vessel/Amt Leaf: cup/ tea bag
Liquor Color: light golden brown
Leaf Characteristic:

Steeping:

1st Steeping:
Water Temp: 170 Fahrenheit
Time: 2-3 minutes

I purchased this Stash Premium Green Tea at Walmart (www.walmart.com) in West Boylston, MA one morning while shopping and waiting for the bus. Walmart has all sorts of teas to choose from, so I selected Stash since I had not had their tea for over a year now.

Using freshly boiled water I put one tea bag in my cup and left it to steep for several minutes. The tea’s aroma is freshly clean and light brown in coloring. It is more like honey. When I sip of the tea there is a slight astringent in the cup and the more I sip of tea it seems to lessen.

I do not find the tea to be sweet at all, instead I find that it has that fishy, marine algae aroma and taste.
-————————————

Overall tasting notes: a good example of that ‘umami’ flavoring on the palette, making for a “pleasant savory taste."

Cup’s characteristic: fresh and fishy like that of marine algae or sea weed greens

Liquor color: golden

Taste: not astringent or grassy in the taste but tasting more like sea weed

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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62
drank Green Ginger by Tazo
1186 tasting notes

Wake up tea at work. Not in the mood for my guayusa blend as I had it yesterday, not feeling Stormy Night (too cozy) so this one it is. This might be a sipdown? I will have to look when I get home. Blargh, bitter as usual. I imagine this one is better without boiling water, but meh. It’s a hardy tea bag. And it will wake me up. Haha see previous notes on this tea!

ETA – Not as bitter once it cools. Slowly waking up, although some matcha might be in order lol.

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75
drank Maple Bacon by Man Teas
14 tasting notes

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90
drank Redberry Tonic by DAVIDsTEA
32 tasting notes

At the suggestion of a DAVIDs employee at their Moncton, New Brunswick location, I purchased a cup of their Redberry Tonic in store…and I tried it ICED! Excellent suggestion! I told her that I would prefer something fruity with little or no caffeine and she advised me that this particular tea had a taste similar to red Kool-Aid. If I hadn’t already placed and paid for my order, I would definitely have added some Redberry Tonic. Adding it to my shopping list for my next order.

Preparation
Iced 5 min, 0 sec

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60

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This is one of those sad sipdowns, where I’ve been hoarding the last cups-worth for awhile. And now it’s gone. I drank this last cup with a touch of Maple syrup, just cuz it’s so damn good that way!

Today is 22 days since I’ve ordered tea from anywhere. I’m at 214, or at least that’s where I think I am, lol. I’d really like to order more of this from Stacy, along with some of the newer things she has, but I’m still really trying to be good!

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50
drank Cocoberry by DAVIDsTEA
251 tasting notes

Dry: Brown mix of what appears to be coffee beans, powders, and dried fruit. Smells like strawberries (on the artificial side), cocoa, and maybe roasted mate? I’ve never had mate before, so I am not sure what it is supposed to smell or taste like.

Steeped: Very cloudy brown liquor. Smells like coffee scented with berries in the teapot.

Taste: Straight up, this one has a weak roasted coffee flavor to this former coffee drinker with a mix of medicinal berry aftertastes mingled in. It isn’t horrible and I can tolerate it straight, but it is more enjoyable to me diluted with a good bit of milk more like a latte. I wouldn’t personally buy this to have again, but glad I was able to sample it. I’d like to try more mate blends at some point for comparison, but this one definitely didn’t hold a candle to my good teas.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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My first tea of the day, which is from the BBBBox, thanks to Tasty Brew! The main feature of this tea is a gutsy grapenuts kind of taste. I always liked grapenuts. :)

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83
drank Ruby Pie by Butiki Teas
2145 tasting notes

One of my favorite pies has always been strawberry rhubarb, I grew up with my grandfather making it for us every Friday throughout the summer, so I knew that I had to try this tea. It smelled absolutely delicious steeping, although it was more sweet than I expected. I think the bunny grahams were a great addition, they add a real pie crust aspect to this tea and I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much without them. Although, I should have known better than to make this in my ingenuiTEA, they’re going to be a pain in the rear to clean out of it. I just wasn’t thinking this morning when I made this. I’m home with a sick toddler and was crossing my fingers that I’d have enough time to make some more tea before he puked on my bed again. That was not how I wanted to wake up this morning, it looks like today is just going to be one of those days.

Anyway, enough discussion about gross things and back to the tea

The strawberry tastes almost candy-like to me, even with the hibiscus added to give it a tart rhubarb like note. While most companies go overboard with the hibiscus, this is a great example of how to do it right. Thanks for including this in my order Stacy, I’m really glad I got to try it and it has certainly made my day a little brighter.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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30

5g / 90ml celadon gaiwan.
wash/15s/20s/30s/40s/3m/7m

Hm didn´t like this very much. Kinda bland. The texture was of. hm kinda hard to describe but the balance of the flavours wasn´t good. The rest will go straight in the bin. so guess this was a sipdown.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec

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