New Tasting Notes

Finally trying another of my loose leaf selections from Murchie’s. I keep getting distracted by the cute teabag boxes sitting in front ha ha…

This is quite lovely though. Very citrusy and bright on a somewhat smoother base than usual – maybe the Darjeeling and Nepal black teas are helping curb the Ceylon a bit. I will say, it lacks that distinct piney note that I associate with yuzu, and because of that it’s reminding me more of a mix of grapefruit, orange, lemon, and bergamot. But I almost prefer that really, as sometimes I find yuzu to be a touch overbearing when it’s very prominent.

Lovely extra-citrusy Earl, and it’s making me miss Troika from Kusmi. :P

Sipdown! (16 | 29)

Cold brewed. This one is quite nice actually, it has a good amount of tartness to it, even though there isn’t any hibiscus. I assume it’s from the apples. I don’t know that I would go “aha, this tastes like guava!”, but knowing that’s the intention, I can see it. It almost tastes a bit like passion fruit as well. The strawberry is nice and doesn’t taste like candy, which I guess makes sense given there’s no strawberry flavoring, so it must be coming from the dried slices.

Really nice and refreshing, and doesn’t need any sweetener. Will definitely consider ordering more, though there are still a lot more Tealyra fruit blends that I want to try. :D

Way too floral for me, but at least that dies down after a steep or two. I wish I could get more of the sweeter notes that I expected, but at least the creamy, buttery finish comes through. I still think it’s an excellent tea that holds up over many steeps and has nice flavor development, it’s just not my favorite.

I’m going through these dragon balls slowly, since I know Bitterleaf is sold out of them. So good! Definitely honey notes, a bit of caramelized sugar, and a starchy, bread-like finish. It goes strong for many steeps – I got seven good ones (and a weak eighth because I always try to go too long to get as much as I can out of a tea that I can resteep). Thoroughly enjoyable, and comforting to have since I’m on the last bit of All Day Breakfast, which I will miss greatly.

Pretty cool tea. It is quite a savoury one with strong umami and flavours of green vegetables and fern. The aroma also reminds me of matcha, mint, spinach, leek. There are also floral and woody notes of fresh tree branches.

You do have to take care with the steep of this one as it’s pretty strong – and it still has that drying end touch in the throat, I don’t like high astringency type. This is all herbal and the fruit notes are great, but there is something about the mixture that can be overbearing. This time I brewed less than 1 scoop in a large mug for 4 minutes. Herbal generally encourages longer steep but not with this one, something in it is simply too drying.

I don’t know why I feel compelled to keep trying candy cane teas, I always seem to find them disappointing.

This has all kinds of nice-sounding ingredients, like candy cane pieces, mini marshmallows, cacao shells, and white chocolate and vanilla flavorings. But in the end, I still mostly just taste rooibos and peppermint. And I don’t particularly love red rooibos, so…

I guess I just really like the idea of a peppermint bark type of tea, but all the ones I’ve tried have either had weird additions (cinnamon, why?!) or just lack the extra creamy/vanilla element. I guess the closest I have is B&B’s Peppermint Cream. Ah well, I’m sure I’ll continue trying new ones, as I can’t seem to help myself. XP

Wanted something quick and different, so I grabbed this bag out of the ancient random leftovers I save to spring on my Sunday kids. By ancient, we’re talking several years, so I wasn’t expecting much. The fact that the flavoring hasn’t turned to pure chemicals is notable. None of the three fruits stands out singularly, but together, it’s a nice little fruit punch blend for a spring evening watching the cottonwood snow on the back yard.

So this is a caramel and vanilla black tea with pine needles. Although, I didn’t really see any needles in my sample jar… :(

I’m finding it just okay. It’s honestly a bit bland overall, both the tea base and the flavoring. There’s a touch of sweetness from the flavorings, and I can taste a little of the vanilla, but not specifically caramel. The base teas like a tannic Ceylon, with those metallic and acidic notes.

Meh! I wish the pine was actually present, that would make it more interesting.

This single teabag was from Cameron B – thanks very much! Since it is in a teabag, I don’t think it has the “full rose buds” that the loose leaf description claims, but the cup was tasty anyway. Hints of rose, hints of fruit, but I really can’t tell what type. I would guess raspberry. It’s decent for a teabag, but I bet the loose leaf is much better.

Getting back to some Murchie’s teas… Too many tea purchases lately, I can’t keep up! :P

This is nice enough. The black base is a touch biscuity and fairly smooth today, and the apricot tastes natural enough. I do wish there was more apricot though, it’s a touch subtle for a tea where it should be the star.

So not a reorder for me, but would love to hear some recommendations for apricot teas!

My first experience of this was from DavidsTea as a limited item. At the time I marked it as enjoyable but likely would not repurchase, especially since it was so expensive. I lied. :)

As time went on, I kept thinking about it. Enough so I went to hunt down where else I might find it. Thus the Steeping Room.

Its been long enough that I can’t directly compare the two in my head. However, my feelings are very similar. I am enjoying this though not in a daily drinker kind of way.

I keep expecting vegetal or floral notes but I am detecting neither, at least not with my usual steeping parameters. I’m having a hard time coming up with the words to describe the flavor, but it is rich, warm, and maybe malty (I don’t have a great grasp on what malty is yet), though not like any of my black teas.

Five pearls for my little 8oz pot seems to be working well. Resteeps like crazy.

My friend received the Solstice Tea Traders “ultimate tea sampler” but isn’t a tea person so he re-gifted it to me. This was the only tea in the set I don’t like, so I decided to finish it off first, by making my own Moroccan Mint cold brew with it… just 5g of the gunpowder and a single teabag of Twinings peppermint left in a liter of water overnight. Which was fine and didn’t have the tobacco notes I find so unappealing in gunpowder green. Not sure how this would’ve tasted straight up, but as a Moroccan Mint base, it was fine.

Ashmanra sent this my way a while ago, and I saved it for an afternoon pick me up cuppa. It’s sweet and floral, but not cloying. There is a savory note here too, a well balanced oolong that doesn’t taste too green. What a nice cup, thanks!

This isn’t as strong as some ginseng teas, so I added sugar and milk and liked it better that way. Usually ginseng doesn’t need sugar, but this one did. It was still a little bright, but not as nice or high quality seeming as some.

Un bon thé vert d’origine

Freebie with my latest order — thank you!

I don’t remember much about this either. I followed Song Tea’s brewing parameters for this tea and it flattened all the high notes. It was smooth, sweet and a little dry-roasty. Overbrewed yet pleasant. I would need more and prepared with my own parameters to see how I feel.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about this. It was lightly oxidized and lightly roasted. Lots of orchid-grass-marshmallow floral creaminess in the first few steeps, then it turned bitter, tart and brisk.

Hmmmm…

So this is an oolong with fruit and floral flavors. I guess I was assuming the “floral” part meant the chamomile, rose petals, and butterfly pea flower that are mixed in. But there is definitely some kind of floral flavoring going on here as well, and it’s reminding me of hair conditioner or something. It doesn’t taste awful or anything like that, it just has a distinct sweet and perfumey floral note that makes me think of bath products. I don’t really get fruitiness? Not sure what the fruit is supposed to be, as they don’t tell you.

It’s drinkable, but I am far from a floral lover, so this will be going into my rehoming box.

Spring 2023: Another lovely black tea from YS at a great price! I get amaretto vibes from this tea with nice woody notes akin to a shou mei tea. Hints of caramel, chocolate, and spice, plus even some red grape winey notes creeping in. Good lingering aftertaste as well. Not too light, with some oomph that makes it a decent breakfast-style black tea. Warning: I do not use any additives in my tea, so a “strong” tea for me might not satisfy somebody who wants to add milk etc to their tea.

Another tea I picked up in my last (impulsive) order, heh heh… Somehow I ended up with three oolongs.

This is a nice enough tea, but to me, it doesn’t really fit the name. The cream part is definitely there, and it’s quite rich and vanilla-y. However, I don’t really get orange at all…? Which makes me sad, as that’s the part I was excited about. The oolong base here is very oxidized and also somewhat roasty, and has some woody notes that do pair very well with the richer vanilla ice cream flavor.

But I wanted orange… T.T

The first to be tried from my Winterwoods sample order! Their samples are a bit expensive but come in adorable little glass jars…

This is a pomegranate and lemon black tea. The ingredients list juniper berries, but I didn’t see any in my little jar. It’s pleasant enough, but I mostly just get the lemon part. I think it’s partially coming from the lemon slices, as it tastes quite natural and has a touch of tartness to it. The black base is a little tannic, and the lemon is accentuating that quality a bit, so the finish ends up being quite drying.

It’s fine, but nothing I’m too excited about. A bit imbalanced perhaps, but still an enjoyable lemony black tea.

A sample from Nichole!

I made this today simply because of the name. I am tutoring some young ladies and they requested that we use the book Tintenherz (Inkheart) for our passages. The antagonist is called Capricorn so I just had to make it, even though one of the girls hates coconut.

We had Triple Berry Blend as well so there would also be a tea that she liked! We had Lindt Blueberry truffles and they brought Belgian Butter Crisp Waffle Cookies, and it was my first time having those cookies. Recommended for tea time! They were purchased at Lidl but may be available other places as well.

The coconut hater did try this tea like a champ, but disliked it as expected. Her sister and I found it good hot, but when my cup grew cold it was rather astringent. It really tasted like moderate strength black tea with a lot of heavy coconut flavor, and I didn’t pick up the other things in the blend.

I didn’t expect to like Triple Berry Blend because of the hibiscus and rose hips, which I usually only take cold and sweetened, but I thought it was pretty good. I definitely didn’t mind drinking it. It wasn’t sour enough to cause a permanent pucker anyway! I am not going to do a separate review for it because when I look for it on the Adagio site nothing comes up with this exact name, so I am guessing it is discontinued. My no-coconut student enjoyed it very much with sugar.