1353 Tasting Notes

Ah, real breakfast tea. This one is a mix of Ceylon and Assam and we have it milked.

It’s hard to really write a proper post on a milked tea, because for this sort of cup it’s mostly just a question of, “Is it good and strong, yes or no?”

The answer is yes, and unlike those emergency twinings bags, it can be resteeped.

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I haven’t had an LS in such a long time that I can’t actually remember.

Oh heavens, yes.

That is literally all I can find to write about this right now.

Or maybe more something along the lines of, yaaaaaaaaaaaassssss!!!

I so needed this.

ashmanra

I discovered that I love lapsang souchong with a bowl of ice cream. I love LS already, but pairing it with ice cream made for a very bad enjoyable habit last winter.

Angrboda

I can well imagine that, actually. They’re both quite sweet.

dreamloomer

My thoughts exactly when I drink LS after a long time. :)
Fun fact: Several years ago, when I was drinking LS at home, my wife came from work and asked suspiciously “Were you eating sausage?”. (I’m a vegetarian.)

Martin Bednář

My first experience with LS was:
“Who have THAT much stinky socks?”
Actually it tasted and smelled like that. I think it was Greenfield brand tea bags.

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So I got this as a free random sample with a previous order. (I still haven’t heard anything about my most recent one and have now tried to chase them in what I’m hoping is not an impatient sounding way)

It’s basically just a strawberry black with tiny sugar hearts in it. In which case I’d have rather just had a regular strawberry black to be honest. Those little coloured sugar additions whether their shaped like hearts or stars or unicorns have always felt rather gimmicky to me. They add nothing of value.

Luckily they don’t actually make it taste like it’s got sugar in it, because I don’t like sugar in my tea. Some people find that a little sugar in a flavoured tea enhances the flavouring. I find sugar in tea, any sugar, just adds a weird sort of nearly astringency and a kind of cloying syrupy mouthfeel.

When viewed as simply a strawberry tea, it’s not bad. Tastes rather strongly of strawberry and a bit of toning it down probably wouldn’t hurt it, but it’s not overwhelming either. It’s okay, but not something I would order. I would just go for the strawberry tea, plain and simple, and leave the unnecessary sugar and colouring agents for someone less curmudgeonly.

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drank English Breakfast by Twinings
1353 tasting notes

A week ago I ordered a new supply of breakfast tea, but it hasn’t been sent yet. Presumably this is to do with the pandemic and so I’m not going to pester them for the time being.

In the meantime, we bought a box of this. Emergency rations, guys. Our supermarket only carries Twinings in bagged form and Husband finds one bag for a pot of two large cups is fine. Whereas my instinct says one bag for a cup and two for a pot.

Probably as a consequence it’s rather thin. I feel like I’m drinking hot water with milk. It’s not good. I have asked him to try and make the next pot either with two bags, or with a significantly longer steep, just so we can at least find out if it really is that poor and lay the dosage discussion to rest. (I’m pretty confident in my two bag theory, though)

On a different note we are both healthy. Husband is working from home for the foreseeable, whereas I still have to go to work. (I work in a hospital lab. We are important for diagnostics, and so essential personnel.) The Outside, on my commute, is nearly deserted. Looks like I’m travelling in the middle of the night. Otherwise we are staying in and being careful. As an introvert, I feel like I’ve been training for this my whole life.

Jason

I can so relate to your post! My work shut down on Thursday but I didn’t go in all week as it’s a non-essential store. I too am practicing self-isolation. Like you, I am also and intovert and am not living much differntly than I usually do! Stay safe and stay healthy!

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drank Babusca by Carstensens Te-handel
1353 tasting notes

Hey, I never wrote about this when I got my latest lot of flavoured teas and made a return to the site. I must have forgotten. I’ve had it several times since then, I believe, and whenever I see the tin in the cupboard Kate Bush starts singing in my head.

This is a citrus-y one. Although it does contain bergamot oil, I would say there’s not really enough of it for this to qualify as a member of the EG family. It also has lemon, lime and orange blossom, and maaaaaybe a bit of orange flavouring as well? I’m not sure.

The result is sweet and citrus-y, with a creamy sort of texture to it. I feel like lime is the most dominant flavour here. I suspect the bergamot oil is actually working to temper the tartness of the lemon and lime. This is also why I think there might be some orange flavouring added to it apart from just the blossoms. It feels too sweet for there not to be anything to balance it out.

I’m quite happy with this one. It’s delicious as a post-lunch tea.

I also rather enjoy Kate Bush on occassion, but I could live without the earworm. :)

ashmanra

Ah, Kate! Breathing is a favorite of mine. So many good ones, though.

Angrboda

See now you made me go and listen to that song. :)

ashmanra

Did you know it already? That and Wuthering Heights and…and…

tea-sipper

I JUST listened to a Kate Bush song minutes ago. I love them all. All of them.

Angrboda

Oh yes, I know that song. I have a weird weakness for The Dreaming as well. That whole album, to be honest, but particularly the title track.

ashmanra

Its so nice to run into Kate fans! They are rare where I live.

Angrboda

I don’t think I’m familiar with a sufficient quantity of her work to really call myself a fan. It’s a bit like Tori Amos. Something that I get reminded exists every now and then and then pull it out to listen to for a bit.

tea-sipper

I’m 1,000% also a Tori fan.

Angrboda

I suspect there’s generally a lot of overlap with those two. :)

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This one is hazelnut and chocolate. I’ve mentioned earlier that I’m always on the lookout for a hazelnut tea, but it’s difficult to find one that’s just hazelnut. This one is sort of close enough given that the chocolate isn’t really all that prominent. I’ve tried both with and without milk, which is carries well, but the chocolate remains very shy. Which… a name like that, I expect some sort of chocolate spread sort of flavour.

The hazelnut is on the forefront here, lending quite a bit of nutty, wood-y astringency. This is probably why it takes milk so well. So that’s great! It’s not precisely what I was searching for, but what I was searching for I seem to have got. How’s that for a bit of luck.

Now that this need has been satisfied, am I going to get it again? Maybe not next time I visit the shop, but in future probably yes. Provided of course that I remember all this the next time I find myself searching for hazelnut teas.

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drank Påske te by Carstensens Te-handel
1353 tasting notes

I have had this a few times now, and I’ve never managed to make it taste anything other than just middle of the road generic black with some flower petals adding an idea of creaminess. Then Husband made it the other day and somehow managed to make it have a strong vanilla note. Sort of custard-y even. I suddenly got the description of ‘eggnog-y’ and my thoughts went all yellow.

So I quizzed him. For a pot I tend to use three slightly heaped spoonfuls plus a bit and he uses four level ones. So that’s probably about the same. Maybe he uses a little less leaf than me but it can’t be very much off. He also uses a little less water than me, but if he also uses a little less leaf then it shouldn’t really matter.

Maybe it’s a personal touch kind of thing. So I tried making it the way he does, fat lot of difference that makes, and well… It’s got a bit of that custard, but not nearly as much as the other day. It’s certainly a lot more interesting than the initial impression.

I do wonder how it might carry a bit of milk, though. I don’t normally milk anything other than breakfast tea, but it might be an interesting experiment.

(Come to think of it, he had been working from home that day, so it’s possible it may have been a resteep, although I don’t think it was.)

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Hanging out on the Explore page at the moment, tidying up spam bots while watching the latest episode of Critical Role. A futile endeavour, I know, but on the other hand, every little helps. I was a little amused earlier today by the spam bot that posted it’s spam in the ‘spammers on Steepster’ thread.

So I’m having a cup of this tea and I’ve (somewhat accidentally) made it good and strong. Good and strooooooong. I can see the flavouring oils on the surface of the tea. This is one of those blends that means I’ll never get the tin clean again because it’s going to be so very very sticky.

At this strength, the elderflower aspect isn’t really too present, It still smells strongly anise-y despite not having anise in it (unless it’s black ops anise, of course), but it still isn’t the sort of off-putting sort of pseudo-anise. I mean, it’s hard to explain.

I’m not sure I’ll (purposefully) make it at this strength again. This means I’ve now tried it at regular strength and super-strength. I wonder what happens if I make it intentionally quite weak? Maybe that’ll make it super elderflowery? It’s worth a shot.

tea-sipper

Yep, it’s very helpful when the spammers post in the spam thread. :D

Angrboda

Maybe they thought it was where they belonged? :p

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peers at cup

Why does this taste strongly of banana today?

It’s walnut! It has never even seen a banana!

I want a banana now.

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Introvert, crafter, black tea drinker, cat lover, wife, nerd, occasional curmudgeon.

Contact Angrboda by email: [email protected]

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Bio last updated February 2020

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