Decaf Muscat

I got some of this from Auggy, so I made some last night as I was trying to trudge through some reading for school. I was eager to get a concentrated muscat [muscadine?] flavor to see if I was correctly identifying it in darjeeling, and it seems that I was.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

Muscat is a flavor that can go bitter on me easily. I don’t know if it’s the flavor, or the combination of muscat with tannins or other black tea compounds, or what, but the tipping point seems to be very delicate when it comes to muscat for me. Therefore, erring on the side of too-short for the steep time does me favors.

I have not had muscat gummies, but I have had grape fruit snacks, and this reminds me of that a bit. Someday, I’d like to get my hands on some muscadine grapes to see what the natural flavor tastes like because right now this particular species of grape is associated with very artificial flavors to me. In fact, I’m not only associating it with fruit snacks, but popsicles, those icee things that come in plastic sleeves, and children’s tylenol. In fact, that is what the flavor reminds me of most – children’s tylenol. And also, flavored vitamins.

Muscat is something that I can see myself liking, but I need to establish a foundation for it outside of that distinctly chalky-powdery not quite sweet grape-like bitter-ish finish taste of tylenol and vitamins. Perhaps ordering those gummies sooner rather than later will do the trick.

For now, this is okay. I’m very glad that I got to try it because it helped set a baseline for that flavor for me, and actually, the flavor isn’t consistently present [it kind of fades in and out for me], so I don’t think I’ll have any trouble finishing it off – even before I start building good muscat thoughts.

Decaf huh? Not a big decaf drinker but I had a strong tasting dinner and then (stupidly) used mouthwash so my third steep of oolong was… horrid and flat and gross. The leaves still smell good so I’m going to hold on to them for a bit but I want more tea so I’m giving this one a shot. Something that will hopefully compete with the remaining mouthwash-ness going on.

This tea smells awesome. Like the Muscat gummies I’d always get at the Japanese grocery store before they went bye-bye (the grocery store, not the gummies – Amazon has them, see: http://bit.ly/cZPFVs ). Best. Gummies. Ever. Even the tea brewed up smells like muscat gummy. Warmed muscat gummy. Mmm. I could just smell this all day. Juicy, sweet and muscat-y. Seriously, 100 for the smell.

Okay, the taste is milder than the smell (not hard – the smell is awesomely strong) but very true to the smell. The first taste is soft muscat gummy, then warm black tea with a light sweetness and then it finishes with a poof of muscat. I’m still dealing with a little mouthwash taste so I’m not getting all the nuances but I don’t care. This tastes of muscat gummy but without the teeth-hurting sugar levels and plus a nice tea base.

I really like this tea but my taste buds are a little strangled by stupid mouthwash so I’m not getting all the details that might be there. So this rating is tentative. I don’t think it will go down at all but there is a good chance it will go up.

Muscat gummy = ♥

Second steep @ 5:00. A slightly lighter version of the first steep. The muscat still smells wonderfully gummy-y and the taste of muscat sweetness surrounds the tea. I’d be interested in seeing the difference between this and the full octane version (if there is one).
^4.7g/12oz

Interesting!
It seems this has picked up some of the scent from one of my other teas… so the taste/smell are a little muddled.
That said, I can still taste some of the muscatel notes and they are pretty good! drying like a Darjeeling but juicy like a grape.
I just wish the grape note came through a little more.
Thank you for the sample Bonnie!… I could see this one becoming a favourite

This was a free sample with my latest purchase. I also received a sample of regular Muscat, which I just drank. So, now I’m going to compare the caffeinated version to the decaffeinated version.

The dry leaf aromas are identical: sweet, sugary, grape fruit snacks. The brewed tea, however, is noticeably different. The muscat flavor is much more downplayed and less sweet in the decaf version. It’s still delicious, but not nearly as flavorful or robust.

I might actually enjoy the caffeinated version more even though I’m not a huge grape fan. There’s just something about this subtler flavoring that isn’t quite to my liking. It reminds me that this is a flavored tea, whereas the other one was more natural. If you really enjoy grape, then you’re probably going to want to go with the caffeinated version. But honestly, both are great.

They’re both well-balanced, expertly blended, and very smooth. It’s basically a toss-up, but I’m going to rate the decaf one point lower. Also I agree with what Bonnie said here; the reviews on this tea are lower than they should be. So, don’t be misled. This is a great tea!

Last night I had a cup of Earl Grey Chocolat before going to bed, and I was unable to sleep after rolling in the bed for 2 hours. So I decided to have decaffeinated tea tonight before sleep…

I picked this tea bag from The Book of Tea for Ladies. I loved the smell of the dry leaves and liquor – juicy, sweet muscat! Hmm actually I have never tasted real muscat, but at least that’s how muscat gummies smell like! Sadly, the liquor had nothing to do with fruitiness or sweetness. It’s just a bland black tea… I wonder if the lack of flavour has anything to do with its decaf nature (I don’t have much experience with decaf tea). Every sip is a disappointment – you can smell the cheerful, sweet muscat fragrance as you hold the cup to your mouth, and this leads you to have a certain expectation about the tea… but after you have taken a sip you realize that there’s so little taste in the tea. Aargh.

I bought this some time ago at the Valley Fair store in California. This was the first large TEA store I had ever been in and it was so amazing…set up with hundreds of tea sample jars set in a U shaped formation on angled holders…so you just walked around sniffing to your heart’s content. Well, one of the tea’s I purchased was this Decaf Muscat. I had worked for a Winery and enjoyed dessert wines from some of the older grape growers who often made flavored muscat’s. This tea does have the very sweet muscat grape flavor. If you eat fresh muscat grapes (they are small clusters and can be a blush color or almost a pink yellow) they are very sweet and sticky. The aftertaste is like honey wine. You could not get a closer flavor to the grape than this tea. Because of the black tea you get tannin so don’t oversteep. You should have sweetener in this but milk…I wouldn’t. Iced with some orange soda in the Summer could be good.

Have you ever had those muscat gummies? I bought a package of them from the Japanese department store at Epcot once.

Anyway, this tea tastes just like those. (Well, what they would taste like if you ate them with tea!) If you like the gummies, definitely try the tea. If you don’t like the thought of candy flavored tea, maybe you want to stay away from this one.

My cousin donated this for me since I don’t have tea at my parents’. I’ve never had a black flavored tea before. It’s much more fruity than black teaish.

I got this as a sample. I prepared it iced and wasn’t expecting much because I typically only drink black teas that go well with milk. Just black tea and a bit of sugar – what a pleasant surprise! The grape flavour was juicy and crisp without being cloyingly sweet. Just enough sweetness. I agree with the grape gummy candy mention. I don’t know if I’d go out and buy a bag of this, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Haha, most of the reviews suggest this tastes like those Japanese Muscat Grape Gummies and it really does taste like that. It certainly smells like them, and in taste it’s a little more mild. This was an interesting and fun choice, the kind staff member at Lupicia hooked me up with a free sample when I was buying a bunch of other stuff. It was good, I’ll probably buy some more next time I am there. The cool thing is that this is Decaf, and I need some more tasty decaf options for the evenings. Fun tea, and would definitely get some more.