30 Tasting Notes
I am drinking the last of my small stash tonight. I have a new tin of Kusmi Rose Green, and while I like the Kusmi, I don’t love the Kusmi. The green astringent tea fights the rose, whereas the Butiki Oolong is perfection. I love this tea so much, I have been looking for a special, beautiful, airtight container to put it in. I will hoard it like medicine. The winter is fast upon us, and my poor chapped soul will be needing brewed rose sunshine desperately, very soon. ♥
Clove. Without any sweetness in the ‘spice backup ensemble’ to round it out. Just a clove solo. It’s ok, but not well rounded. Glad I got this in the sample tin, not a full size tin.
I believe it might be a better tea for after a meal, to counteract the sweetness of dessert. This is the first tea I’ve ever thought to myself…. ‘better with a biscuit’.
In fairness, I must note that all tins in the 5 pack sample kinda smelled alike. They don’t come with an inner plastic liner, just the tin- sans freshness seal—stacked in plastic tamper sealed tube. Don’t know if that matters, but I thought I should take that into account. Maybe the 4oz sealed tin would be better? or am I making excuses for a brand I love? Merry Christmas, but I’ll stick with the eminently perfect ‘Petrushka’
the only tea I’ve ever returned to the store. YUCK it stinks like a wet tiger.
You know, years ago, before the interwebs, when tea in this tiny dirtweed town was limited to the grocery store, I tried a box of something from CS that was good, it had a built-in sweetness, and I liked it, went back for a second box, and they’d discontinued it. I even called the company, but it was gone forever. Wish I knew what herb they used to make it sweet like that.
So I picked up a box of this junk and it was sincerely dreadful. Took it back to Safeway and never bought their stuff ever again. That was about 10 years ago, and I can’t believe this ‘tiger wee’ is still available, but my mystery blend isn’t. But then again, I might turn my nose up at it now… and I certainly would have to hide it if I had any, as I wouldn’t be caught dead with Celestial Seasoning in my kitchen
{ebay item 270977273179} single flavor. Or part of sample pack, same seller. See review of sample pack at http://steepster.com/teas/chang-yun/30775-premium-mini-tuo-cha-puer-assortment-2012 4. Jasmine Raw
Really very tasty, and this comming from someone who doesn’t particularly like green/sheng tea. This would be great with Chinese takeout, instead of the icky teabag they toss in with your order :)
“Broken Apart for a single serving”? are you CRAZY ?? They’re called a ‘brick’ for a reason !!!!! just brew the whole thing, it’s delicious. See my tasting note under the mini tuo assortment http://steepster.com/teas/chang-yun/30775-premium-mini-tuo-cha-puer-assortment-2012 5. Special Brick {ebay item 270977325224 single flavor}
Preparation
When I first discovered I could get tea off teh intertubes, I found English Tea Store. This was one of the first teas I ordered, and I loved it. Before that, all I had for mint tea was Stash’s mint leaf tea. I enjoyed the substantial body and mouth feel to this blend, as opposed to the thin pale water of regular mint herbal.
The next time I needed to buy mint tea, I bought ‘Moroccan Mint’ elsewhere, I don’t remember exactly where, I think it was Taylors of Harrogate. But I distinctly remember being annoyed to find it was made with green tea! And further annoyed to find that everyone who sells ‘Moroccan Mint’ uses green tea! So I had to rack my memory of where I found this blend with black tea, and I am right back to my ‘Moroccan Madness’ from English Tea Store. I really do prefer it.
So my latest Kusmi order showed up today. So far, this is my new favorite brand of daily drinkable tea. I like that they don’t try to turn the tea into candy. I have always liked the idea of Apple tea, but it’s one of those things, I keep searching for one that lives up to my idealization of an actual apple flavor. Not Jolly rancher apple candy. Not air freshener. So, this is why I decided to go ahead and trust Kusmi with the dreaded Apple quest. The last apple tea I ordered (whittard) got tossed out. Pieces of apple bits for my eye to see did not trick my tastebuds.
This is Kusmi, and they do their flavor with subtlety. I love that about them. So. Today’s order of 3 more tins, and after aquiring enough Kusmi tins to supply a small restaurant… I now own Apple as well. It is the first one I brew today. And I am pleased. This is tea first, with apple second, and it isn’t sour, it doesn’t hit you over the head. It doesn’t contain little bits of apple. It has more of the flavor of biting into an apple. I get that certain quality in the apple peel… I am looking for the word… the mustiness ? that a fruit skin naturally has. It looks like I have found an apple I can drink. I will use this tin up!
So the score for Kusmi is 7 winners out of the 8 I’ve bought so far, but there’s two more in this shipment to try. I have more confidence with every tin I open, that Kusmi won’t let me down.Preparation
If you also have kusmi’s caramel, try a half and half mix of apple and caramel. I thought that was awesome.
oooh, great idea! I will definitly try that :)
tried that, yup, is good!
:) There’s something waiting at the post office for me to pick up, by the way. I believe it might be the bourbon vanilla.
This is the first rose tea I’ve ever had that actually TASTES like rose. When you put your nose over the edge of the cup in the process of taking a sip, you smell rose. OOLONG is an excellent choice as a delicate and ridiculously expensive essence like rose should be paired with a delicate tea that will complement and not overpower it. That shows a profound understanding by the Artist who blended this.
The teas with rose that I have tried up to now have all just had a few petals thrown into black tea. They get swallowed up in the blackness !
This is a stunningly beautiful, delicately nuanced tea blend. It calls to mind lace on a wedding dress, or wings on a butterfly… I could wax poetic over this tea.
Oh Stacy is going to LOVE your review! She is Artistic! I’ve always liked this…so girly.
This tea has me thinking that I need to keep a large jar of it as a pantry staple, for the same reason that I have a bottle of Rose Hydrosol from mountain rose herbs on my dressing table at all times. It’s amazing what a spritz can do for your mood, long about February. Not to mention the power to keep you lady-like in sweltering August. Authentic Rose fragrance has supernatural powers to fight depression, I am certain of it
I think so. Since I live by myself, it’s hard to feel pampered or even girly when nobody else sees you that way. Flowers have that ability, especially roses and violets.
I am not a huge floral tea fan but this one was so elegant and arsenic-and-old-lace. Liked it immensely. Need to have a long swirly full skirt on to drink it ;)
WOW. That is all.
Ok, I’ll elaborate. When I set the parcel on the countertop, I smelled blueberry. When I opened the shipment of 5 items + 2 samples, I smelled blueberry. I dug through the box until I located the small packet labelled blueberry and made it IMMEDIATELY. With a fragrance like that, how could you not? I dumped the whole 1/2oz packet into the finum filter and brewed 1 liter. Wish I had not got the water so hot, but nevertheless… I select a bone china mug with blue forget-me-nots on it, because this tea requires something blue. The liquid is even blue—in the purple way that blueberries are.
And then the sip. slightly astringent—my fault. I did not do any research before boiling, I just jumped in with both feet as soon as that fragrance hit my nostrils.Second sip. Must say, NONE repeat—NONE of that hideous fake blueberry flavoring. I have a few blueberry plants in the yard, I pick them every July. I know what a blueberry smells like and this is the real deal. This is a beautiful cup I would serve to guests in a heartbeat, and know for a fact they’d still be talking about it tomorrow. HA.
This is a work of art.
second steep and still enjoying the same 1/2 oz of tea, although next time I would do things differently, I’d use half the package and lower temp water and make two pots, live and learn.
Oh wow, you used the whole bag! If you add more water, it should lessen the astringency. We actually do use a ton of blueberries in this tea. We crush them up, so only a few blueberries remain whole.
:p I think my tongue is probably blue !
Hahaha :)
You have me sold. Sounds wonderful!
am I wrong if I say you love violet very much ?
you could say that :)
Poor chapped soul. I like that. Come January and February, that would be me! (Don’t do winter well.)