865 Tasting Notes
On Earth Day Rishi was giving a box away every hr. for being the 1st to correctly answer a trivia question and I was the 1st to respond w/ their 11 World Tea Championship winners.
16oz. cuppa Made as directed (using Fat Free Smart Balance Milk) except I heated the milk in the microwave instead of on the stove.
Ok, what? There’s lemon juice in this? Why? Weird. At least there’s no anise.
Not bad… nothing especially tea like to it… but… wait… there’s a strange sweet burning sensation. Anise! But there isn’t any in here… is it the lemon juice? Eh. Extremely greatful to Rishi for being able to try it, but I’ll never buy it. But then again I don’t really like concentrates anyway. Not worth the 270 calories though.
I’m determined to figure out Koicha. So far I’ve tried 3 scoops and 3.75g (not the same thing even though wiki says it is) per 40ml of water. Today I tried 1tsp instead of using my matcha scoop. The result was a thick liquid that didn’t whisk well and was almost too bitter for my taste.
TTB Tea #5:
I love Adagio’s loose ginseng green so I was excited to try this- and just the tea for the morning. It was picked at random so God must have really known I needed it.
1 bag (2.33g) 6oz purified water.
I steeped it for the full 4 min (2-4 suggested) because I wanted to see if it got too bitter/medicinal. The liquor is a surprisingly dark golden orange, but aroma is just as surprising because it isn’t as strong as I expected (feared?). It’s vegetal, yet smooth and sweet. When I take sip, I’m even more curious as to the base that is used. This is not the over steeped cuppa I expected. It’s vegetal, smooth, and sweet. There is a slight bitterness from the ginseng, but it’s not overly bitter at all. Happy tongue!
Preparation
TTB Tea: 4
I’m doing a “grab and drink” method so I didn’t do any research as to the type of green tea used so it’s general steeping parameters: 1 bag (1.7g)/6oz water served clean and hot.
The liquor looks sooo strange… I mean “Take-me-to-the-ER-I-have-a-UTI” weird. Luckily it smells vegetal, slightly lemony, and a bit bitter.
The flavor is what I expected from the aroma. The lemony notes aren’t there in flavor… but there is something I can’t place… maybe it’s just the bitterness…
Preparation
TTB Tea #3:
This tea terrifies me because I absolutely hate rooibos… but I love white tea so I gave it a try hoping catering to the white tea for the steeping parameters would be beneficial to the rooibos as well. While it is not the most disgusting rooibos I’ve ever tasted (slightly lighter and more smooth), I dumped it. This would be a fantastic tea for rooibos lovers who want the health benefits of true tea.
Preparation
TTB Tea #2
1 bag (2.22g)/6oz purified water served hot and neat.
I originally set the timer for 5 min (they suggest 3-5), but by 3 min the liquor was a quite dark burnt orange-ish brown so I decided to stop there. That wasn’t too surprising since the tea began smelling strongly of peaches (in they jelloy sense) as soon as the bag hit the water.
The flavor, thankfully, is not jelloy. Yes, there is a strong peachy flavoy that does in some aspects remind me of unset jello, but the oolong base is quite strong which saves it from being hot jello. A very good tea- one I appreciated drinking and would willingly drink again, but due to the vast aray of teas out there I won’t be adding this to my staples or even my “rebuy eventually” list.
Preparation
I think this is the first oolong I’ve seen in a bag. But I don’t get out much. ;-)
lol! I’m just about to review an unflavored one… stay tuned! (P.S. Stash has several)
I love this one. Definitely one of my favorite bagged teas.
I like this one, and absolutely LOVE the coconut mango oolong teabag from Stash. I get anxious if I run out. If you’d like to try it, we could swap.
Thanks, but I only took one bag from the TTB and even if I had another one I can’t stand coconut.
2 bags (from the TTB), 6oz almost boiling milk, 6oz water, 1TB creme brulee creamer.
HOLY FLIPPIN ANISE! I’ve never had teabags that have smelled so much like anise. Nasty. When steeped the tea and spices aren’t holding up to the milk for some reason this time either… weird.
Preparation
Puerh Sample set 1: Tea #2
The leaf is lighter, less dense than I anticipated with an ever so slightly fecal aroma, but not as dark as shu.
3g/3oz just below boiling water, 15 sec rinse and 20 sec 1st steep.
The rinse is light yellow in liquor and light and sweet in aroma. The flavor is that of the liquor w/ no peppery notes that are typical of Yunnan teas- a personal yay for me. :)
Preparation
Could you please explain how a tea can be rated a 100 while also having a “Slightly fecal aroma”?
This is important.
Because it’s pu erh- it comes w/ the territory.
I was wondering that too.?
A bit of the barnyard is pretty much standard in pu’erh!
Hmmm I always get fishy not barnyard.
Fecal aroma : )
Still smiling. I know what you mean the more I think about it.
Question—does it taste good, even when you can taste…feces? [I’m considering trying the Chocolate Puerh]
Shanti, I do NOT like fecal tea but the fecal taste is so extremely light (and in the 1st infusion only) that I really do enjoy this… and there so NO fecality in the chocolate pu erh. The chocolate pu erh is amazing all ways- neat, milk, creamer, coffee, etc. I much prefer sheng over shu, but even w/ shu I notice that the fecality is greatly reduced w/ shorter steeps. That’s why I still can’t fathom 5min shu steeps lol.
Made a gallon of this chilled for our weekend service trip in Milwaukee. Unfortunately I was the only one that tried it, but it is AHH…MAZING!!! I think the BEST cold tea I’ve EVER had- a bit better than hot and also a bit better than Adagio’s white cucumber- although I love the white tea base.
