AJ

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I’m finding this one astringent and drying, but considerably less bitter than my other attempts. Although it hasn’t quite cooled enough to when I REALLY start tasting the bitterness, so I could be wrong. I’ll just have to drink it faster before it cools then.

Overall though, finding this cup to be considerably more enjoyable. Reminds me of drinking it in-store. Mmm.

Also just ordered samples of Dawn, Firefly and Honeybee from The Simple Leaf. All at once. I think I’ve strained my tea-budget enough for a while. Damn, I was thinking of ordering from 52Teas too. No! Next month! Must resist.

Rating’s going up.

As soon as I took the plastic off I smelt a very wine-like pomegranate. Once brewed, the water turned a deep magenta colour, very bold, and the smell was less of wine and just strong pomegranate with blueberry. The blueberry meshes so well with pomegranate though (surprising!) that it’s almost just one whole new scent. This smells delicious and I want to try it iced.

On that note, I found litchi juice at Shoppers. I wanted to get it. Mm.

The taste is not as strong as the smell (figures) or colour, but there is a sharp tangy aftertaste at the back of my tongue at the end of every sip (the lemongrass? You’d think so, but this also contains rooibos, hibiscus, and apple, so it’s most likely either the hibiscus and/or the apple). I smell blueberries when I breathe out. The tangyness gets stronger as it cools, although the pomegranate is there. …Sort of. A little bit. Blueberry is there less-so, especially since it meshes so well with the pomegranate as to be barely detectable.

I haven’t tried very many fruit tisanes, honestly, so I don’t know what I should expect, but I like this I think. Kind of wish the blueberry was stronger. I think a blueberry-pomegranate juice would be pretty tasty. I wonder if there’s some place that sells that.

Sipping this one again tonight and finding that it’s got a sort of sickly sweet aftertaste in the back of my throat. Otherwise I still like the tea, but the way the taste just sticks at the back of my throat is a little… ick. I don’t know if it’s the chamomile or the flavourings for the honey or vanilla.

You know, I think I am beginning to enjoy mint. In tea, at least—I don’t seem to like it anywhere else.

This brewed oddly dark, I think, but it’s nice and refreshing—I’ll admit, I compromised my taste buds a bit by having a saltastic bowl of instant noodle soup right before this, so this probably won’t be the most in-depth tasting note, but this tea is light and refreshing. I taste the mint (or rather, feel it, I think—that sort of coolness that is more of a sensation than a taste), with green tea, and a sharp secondary taste of something else. The lemongrass, maybe, since I haven’t much experience with how it should taste (…like lemons?).

This’ the last of this, and to that, I shed a tear.

I couldn’t remember if I’d tried this with milk and sugar yet, although I vaguely remember an instance in which I added too much, so I decided to add a bit to my first cup from the pot. Just a very small splash, and a touch of sugar. It doesn’t need much, and the milk makes it as smooth as silk. It’s actually very enjoyable this way—all the flavours come through quite strongly. Perhaps even moreso than without the additions. Very delicious, even if I think processed white sugar has a weird taste to it. I prefer honey, but I think that would disrupt the flavours here.

So I’ll be removing this from my cupboard, because my tin is now empty (although I plan to resteep, at least), but this’ still on my shopping list.

Taking the rest of this without sugar or milk. Mm. This cup came out slightly strong, since I was using up all the rest of it, and most of it was quite a lot of small leafcrumbs. Thus, perhaps just a tad bitter without milk, although it’s oddly bitter but smooth on the tongue.

Thanks again to the quiet life for sending this one to me.

Having this with a bit of milk and sugar this morning. Didn’t actually add enough sugar to make a different, but the milk pretty much covers up the vanilla taste rather than bring it out.

I would also like to report, I see NO pretty vanilla bean chunks like in the picture.

It’s nice. The vanilla isn’t very bold, and the tea itself is quite mild. I’m sure milk would bring out the vanilla a bit more, but I think the tea taste would be lost.

When I first started sipping it I found it a bit bitter, but that seemed to fade with cooling.

Sipping this right now. I added a bit more leaf this time, but I found that the tea taste is stronger while the lychee is weaker.

Added milk and sugar again. Very nice.

And that’s the end of that, sob. I had just under half a teaspoon left, so I made it with about two ounces of water. I will miss you, delicious maple. I will have to pick up a 100g bag next time I visit Tealicious. But I promised myself not to spend away all my money on tea. It’s so hard.

Just used up the last of my sample today. Slightly different steeping parameters, and I made much more than I was initially going to because my mother spotted me making tea and wanted in. She has never tried an oolong before; hopefully she will enjoy it.

Higher steeping temperature, I think, may be the reason this looks darker. But it also might just be because I poured into a mug rather than a small teacup. I can’t quite remember how this tasted the last time I had it (I’m not going to cheat and read my old notes), but it’s pleasantly light in the vegetal taste, a stronger floral almost sweetness coming through with a sort of milky aftertaste. Sometimes I think I might be getting a nuttyness as well in there somewhere. And occasionally there is a sort of sweet yeasty ’bakey’ness, but it’s hard to pick out as a flavour on its own—I think it’s more of the taste I get because of how the other flavours blend together. Hmm. Especially since otherwise there’s no way I would consider this tea at all ‘bakey’. It’s light, maybe buttery, sweet.

I still think ‘magnolia’ just smells like jasmine, but it’s much lighter, so it’s nothing like A&D’s Jasmine Green, which seems to be much too strong for me to handle.

I plan to resteep this a few more times and enjoy my book. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke) if anyone wants to know. I’ve been reading this book on and off for four years. I love it, but I just can’t seem to finish it.

Giving this an actual RATING now, because I realized I hadn’t given it one before.

This sips like a good book-reading tea, I think.

And for the record, my mother really likes it and came back for a second steep. This second one seems to have a slight tang to it, I think, but otherwise I’m not finding any significant difference.

I recognized the powdery sweet, fruity smell of lychee when I sniffed the dry leaves (we’ve gotten them in the store where I work at in the past, so I know the smell, although I’ve never tasted one before so this will be new for me).

The smell transfers to the brewed tea, although there’s also a somewhat green smell as well.

Huh. The taste is very unique. I’ll have to buy the fruit one of these days. The black tea taste is there, but so is a sort of sweetness from the fruit. It’s very interesting. I can’t really pin down the taste of the lychee, mostly because I’ve never had the fruit (I decided to take a chance when I bought this tea). There is, though, something about it that reminds me about Marco Polo. I wonder if that includes a bit if lychee in it then.

There is a touch of dryness on the tip of my tongue when I sip, and then a burst of perfumyness before the black tea taste, and then a bit more perfume in the aftertaste. But not a floral perfume. Hmm.

I like it, but not enough that I think I would get it again in the future. I find that it is a bit watery (I did three teaspoons to two cups of water), so maybe I’ll try a bit stronger next time.

I added a bit of white sugar to my next cup (I usually add honey, but it seemed like it might overwhelm this flavour), and I think it does bring out the lychee slightly more. I added milk next, and it’s actually quite nice with milk. I didn’t think it would be able to stand up to it, and although I lose a lot of the tea flavour, the lychee is definitely more noticeable now. And it reminds me even more of Marco Polo.

Overall, quite enjoyable, although I want to test making it stronger next time. It’s light and very nice with a bit of sugar and milk.

No notes yet.

I keep meaning to log this one.

I’ve had it a few times. It’s rather nice. Strong assam, malty. I was a little disapointed when I opened the tin to find that the tea was broken up rather small, like common Breakfast blends, but I just used my super-fine infuser. Although the smaller pieces mean more volume when I scoop, because there’s less pore space and I measure via the teaspoon because I don’t have that fine of a scale. Plus more surface area, and thus overall a stronger brew, so I tend to use a little less to compensate.

Not too outstanding, although I haven’t really sat down and sipped it with Steepster in mind, so I can’t remember too many details. I’ll do that next time.

Had this this morning. I have less than a teaspoon left, bah.

Ended up adding milk to the second steep because I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to wait for it to cool down enough to drink. Quite tasty with milk. Although I added a little too much, the maple flavour was still fairly evident.

This’ the last of this. Thank you to Jillian for sending it to me.

Nutty and wine-like, and quite enjoyable.

I proclaimed this to be a Finish Up All Samples and Singles day. Although yesterday I proclaimed that today would be a Go To Winners And Buy Hazo Teas day.

I might still do the latter. I don’t know how well I’m doing with the former. I don’t really have any more samples I can finish up in one cup. And I’m unable to consume 8 cups + of tea in one day.

I let the water get a little too cold, and I guess as a result there wasn’t much of a pear flavour. It just tasted like white tea. Still nice, though. Tasty.

I’ve had this a few times since I got it, but haven’t logged it.

I remember REALLY liking this when I had it at Murchie’s, so I came home with two ounces. Only to find that it… tasted quite different. I’m guessing it was a difference in tastes from the bagged fanning-form that they serve, and the loose that I went home with.

It was a bold, black tea flavour with this faint green sweetness/vegetalness underneath, just enough to compliment, and then a hint of smoke. I brought it home, and all I got what a bitter, burnt charcoal taste. Very bitter, green, not nearly as much bold black, and burnt not smoky.

So I started experimenting with my steep times and temperatures. I don’t know what temperature their water is, but I steeped it at around four minutes and it was good. No bitterness!

This time around I brought the temperature down to 180F, the steep time to 2:30, and replaced 1/4 of the tea I used with Murchie’s Assam tippy golden.

There’s a difference, and it’s a difference for the better, although I don’t like how watery it tastes with the reduced steeping time. But I know if I steep it any longer it’ll go bitter (especially since I added Assam black). Maybe I’ll have to buy a little box of their bagged stuff. Damn.

Enjoyable, though. Blacker in taste—closer to the bagged form that I remember—with a bit of a bittergreen taste, and then a faint burnt not-quite-smoky taste.

Drank this to stay awake to work on projects. Still good. A strong bergamot flavour, but the tea is also strong; neither drowns out the other.

Funny story! I was cleaning my room quite thoroughly, and came across a box under my bed containing one half Christmas decorations, and one half Tazo’s Awake and Chai (and a small amount of sweet orange). So yeah, I’ve got a lot. I remember my neighbour giving it to me (along with the Christmas decorations).

We’ve always had Tazo in the house, but the few times I tried Awake it was very bitter and gross right through the milk and sugar. And now I’m going to try it with nothing!

Not as bad as I remember. No bitterness at five minutes steeping. Then again, when I drank it in the past, I just left the teabag in.

It’s not remarkable. I’m getting a dryer taste at the back of my throat, but it’s nothing like I remember. It’s probably been in that box for quite a while though, and my neighbour’s probably had it even longer.

Edit: As it cooled it got more astringent, but then I noticed something else. There’s a very faint hint of cherry.

I have been trying not to drink this, in fear I will exhaust my sample, but it’s hard to stay away. It’s very delicious.

Still a little hot. I’m impatient. Light and berrylike. Mmm. I should try it with milk again, but I’ve never been much for milk, and I’m really enjoying it just how it is. Next time!

I’m almost out of this! I have three, maybe four teaspoons left. I should get more next time I’m over there, stuff’s delicious. I think I’ll add it back to my shopping list right now. 1001 Nights too, because last I checked I think I’m starting to run low on it too.

Plus, I want to try Tealicious’ Cream Earl Grey. …And vanilla. And blueberry. I wouldn’t mind finding a vanilla black staple. The ones I’ve tried so far tend to fall flat. I love my bold vanilla flavours. Same with blueberries.

This tea is a bit mouth-drying today, but still lovely. Sipping it before I go to campus and dive into my statistics work. Maybe I’ll stop off at Tealicious on my way back? If I don’t stay too late. Or maybe just on Friday.

Trying this again at home. The smell is stewed spinach, and really isn’t all that appetizing. The colour is much lighter, a sort of pale gold.

To reiterate, last time there was a horrible gas aftertaste (yes, GASOLINE). I think I smell it again, but it mixes well with that vegetable smell, so I can’t know for sure. I’m really rather afraid of trying this again. I think the smell is giving me a headache.

Hold on, give me a few moments. I can do this.

The taste isn’t anywhere near as strong, luckily. Tastes like vegetables.

I think… I don’t know. I THINK I can still taste something akin to the smell of gasoline when I breath out, but not much. Getting a weird taste on the tip of my tongue.

There’s somewhat of a baked, bread/yeast taste to it as well. Almost.

Still getting a headache, though.

It’s ALMOST enjoyable… I don’t know what to think. It’s a HEARTY tea. It doesn’t taste faintly of steamed vegetables, it’s like vegetables fresh from the pot, broccoli and asparagus and then with spinach. And I didn’t INTENTIONALLY make it strong, I made it with a good amount of water (in my huge beer mug, again).

Hrm.

Bought this when I ducked into Shoppers to purchase a large glass XXI Olympic stein (I’ve been waiting for them to go on sale because I wanted one as a sort of Olympic Memorbilia thing, as I never got any awesome Canadian gear [I DESPERATELY wanted the Bay’s scarf, but it sold out too soon]). I am sipping this tea from it right now. Because this is exactly what I bought it for.

The dry teabag smelt wonderfully of blueberries and tea. The brewed tea smells of tea and faintly of blueberries, but… tastes like nothing but white tea. Not bad white tea, though. It’s nice. Mild, very slightly grassy though.

I didn’t bother with the steeping instructions on the package, which read boiling water, 4-5 minutes. I did 180 water, 4:30 minutes. May try boiling next time, but this tea is light, so I think it’d ruin it. Perhaps a longer steep time would do it good, though, so I can actually get SOME sort of blueberry taste out of it.