437 Tasting Notes
The scent of this tea has a bright citrusy note of lime mixed with pear. The gunpowder base produces a creamy, sweet, fresh tasting vegetal tea base which is slightly grassy which is overlain with a fruity mix resembling a blend of lime, pear, and pineapple. Quite nice and resteeps very well.
As noted before this tea is pretty fantastic. I would gladly keep it in my cupboard.
The liquor is reddish brown and is scented with stewed strawberry, vanilla, and a faint pastry/sugar cookie scent. There is an initial taste of cooked sweet berries, vanilla and a hint of cinnamon, followed by shortcrust pastry and a faint hint of woodiness from honeybush. There is a faint feeling of tartness and dryness at front of mouth. The balance of vanilla fruit and cinnamon is very nice.
A 2nd steep has more cinnamon, is sweeter, and leaves the fruit less defined.
A really nice tea. I slightly prefer the creaminess in Nina’s Gemini, but I would gladly rotate between the two of these teas.
The tea brews to the colour of a lighter cherry wood and smells of malt, cocoa, and a citrusy fruity note.
A lightly bitter malt dominates the taste, along with notes of cocoa, something vegetal and a powdery floral. The tea is smooth with no astringeny. This batch had very little natural sweetness and tasted a little thin compared to some assams I have had. The leaves were pretty broken, perhaps this batch is slightly old.
This is probably my lightest bergamot earl grey, but it is also my most versatile as it is easily drunk on its own but also blends very well with other teas and flavourings.
The tea brews to a translucent copper colour and smells of a light bergamot over a dark chocolate base.
The bergamot tastes of citrus, mild spice, and floral notes and mixes nicely with a sweet slightly citrusy and lightly astringent tea base which has hints of cherry.
The tea feels bright and lively to drink, despite having heavier malt and cocoa undertones. It has an aftertaste of sweet tea with citrus and spicy floral notes. It is a medium bodied tea. The flavour is pleasant and good for blending with other teas as the bergamot here is quite mild and blends at just above an equal balance with the natural flavours of the tea.
A nice earl grey for those who dislike strong bergamot or who want a tea for blending.
The dry leaves are a mix of colours ranging from olive to light to charcol brown and smell of fruit, bread and a sweet lily.
I brewed this tea at 40, 50, 60 70and 80s. The steeped tea ranged in colour from light straw to light peachy orange.
Through out two brewing sessions captured scents and flavours of fruit ranging from plum, peach, marmelade, dried apricot, banana and lemon , grain notes ranging from sweet corn, toast and sugar cookies, spice, cinnamon and faint nutmeg, cream, vanilla, and light floral notes ranging from a sweet lily to honeysuckle. The tea also had light sweet vegetal notes and a light astringency in the front of the mouth.
Many of the leaves of this tea were broken, however the pieces were fairly large and the tea was not bitter. It maintained a creamy mouthfeel followed by a light astringency in the front of the mouth through all the steeps.
Overall the tea was pleasant with a lot of complexity in flavour. The flavour was not excessively sweet or intense. However I think I enjoyed the TKY in this series more because I enjoyed the spiciness in it more.
Unlike the first tea I had from this company this tea actually has a good deal of scent and flavour. The dry leaves actually smell like strawberries coated in vanilla sugar and have obvious fairly chunky pieces of vanilla and coconut.
The tea brews to a transluent copper colour and smells slightly like blanched almond and cocoa over a powdery floral sweet note.
Over the first sips there is a hint of cocoa, vanilla and coonut and a slightly spicy woodsy powdery floral note similar to some insense. The first half of the cup lacks the fruity notes that rum usually has, and has slighty bitter vegetal base notes blended with cocoa. It is moderately astringent. There is a slight reference to cream and an
aftertaste that references a dark toffee without the sweetness. As I sip the flavour has some of the slightly woody tones you get from the home made cane alcohol I had in Ecuador. As it cools it develops more fruity tones of strawberry and bananna above the cocoa. The final aftertaste and feel in mouth is of having eaten dark bitter chocolate.
The tea has an interesting mix of flavours it doesn’t quite reach the taste of the commercial rums we have in North America but it does reference a cruder rum flavour without a hint of the alcohol. Overall I think Davids version does a better job of capturing the taste of buttered rum. Having said this, the tea is pleasant enough that I will finish the tin.
This tea from Bolivia really requires one teabag per cup of water otherwise it brews weak. The tea smells like apple cider minus the spice, a bit like a warm version of cidre douce. The flavour is fairly mild sugar may help to strengthen the apple flavour. There is a faint hint of tartness you can feel on your teeth and a taste of diluted boxed apple juice. Its true to its flavour but the flavour could be a bit stronger for me.
This bagged white tea has a soft lemon scent leaning towards the smell of lemon verbena and cream. It brews dark for a white tea and tastes silky and sweet, with soft flavour of first cut light hay mixed with a soft baked goods lemon flavour with a hint of spice (referencing lemon thyme and thai basil) and wildflowers. Taste reminds me of a lemon custard or pudding, but not as sweet.
Preparation
The smell of this tea reminds me of the lemony aspects of patchouli or of lemon mixed with a drop of juniper essential oil. The tea underneath is sweet but its flavour is mostly hidden by the fruity flavour above. It tastes of lemon and orange dried fruit with a touch of rind over a spicy bergamot. The tea base is lightly astringent with a touch of bitterness. there is a faint touch of something soft and floral. The tea is quite light in body. pleasant in the afternoon but not a must have for me.
