1433 Tasting Notes
I’ve no clue how old this is because somehow I never made a note (I’ve had more than one bag across time). I think this is a reblend (so not from 2015 :P). This particular sample size sat sealed with me for quite a while now – waiting for a special day when I get over my hoarding (the sun is out and today is that day).
I find some green oolong and jasmine have a banana note and this tea capitalizes on that to create a more vivid floral-banana (slightly under-ripe) with a hint of cream. The tea is not the freshest anymore (slight funkiness), but it’s still lovely and satisfying my banana cravings. Subsequent steeps smooth out this tea’s weird bit while still remaining incredibly flavourful – maybe it was just the oolong complaining about the “first steep without a rinse.”
Steep Count: 4
EDIT – looking at past invoices, I see I picked this up around May 2021 (this year lol)! It was likely a batch from the 2020 Christmas reblend, so it’s not that old. Time flies.
Flavors: Creamy, Floral, Grass, Vegetal, Violet
Preparation
Mariage Frères Advent 2021 – Day 1
Combining green tea with the red fruit notes of Marco Polo is a nice way to kick off a Christmas advent. When it was still piping hot I thought there might be mint; there is something “fresh” about how the (straw)berry and green base interacts (assuming Chinese Sencha by the flavour profile). Although not one I’d purchase myself, it’s pretty tasty. It became sweeter as it cooled and left the most delicious candied berry aroma in my empty cup.
I’m not too sure how this one would vary from Thé Vert Marco Polo, except there’s no blue cornflower here.
Steep Count: 2
Flavors: Berries, Cream, Grass, Kale, Kiwi, Raspberry, Rhubarb, Strawberry, Sweet, Vanilla, Vegetal
Preparation
Dammann Frères Advent 2021 – Day 1
I can’t believe it’s already December. I’m not mentally ready for this. I’m finishing up a physical geography course right now (a prereq for Teaching PDP, which I’m working towards… slowly). That, coupled with our regional events have left me absorbed (with rivers. fragility. life). This tea is a nice way to kick off festivites though. Also, I won a TV today (don’t need but it’s nice to get lucky once in a while) through Save On Food’s something, something Hockey-themed event. So, life is good for me right now!
This tea smells lovely. I forgot how perfumed French teas tend to be which can be as decadent as it can be overwhelming. The citrus oils are bright and what dominates this blend for me. There are also hints of ginger, almond, and baked goods. Seeing Evol Ving Ness’s note and the size of the black leaves (small frags), I added milk to my cup and I’m not looking back (I can tell this would be a lot without milk).
This blend is sort of cookie-like but the almond-fruit sweetness and their related “bitter” traits recall marzipan as opposed to a true gingerbread cookie (at least the North American grocery store “snappy” versions. It does have a “cake” profile though). I love marzipan (it’s my weakness) so am pretty happy to get a whiff of it here.
Flavors: Almond, Bread, Cake, Ginger, Grapes, Marzipan, Orange, Wood
Preparation
I hope you’re enjoying your course! I always loved my geography courses!
Hurray for your lucky streak! Boo for the tough things! There is only so much nonsense one can take, and we have far exceeded it already lately.
What is PDP? And yay you for chipping away at the courses! More tea needed :)
Funny that you are finding the almond/marzipan here. Maybe that was the funky note I was detecting?
It is true—this tea is a bit much in that French bit much kind of way. My batch is over the top with citrus, especially orange. Maybe even more shaking of leaf needed. Milk helps.
Also, was this your day one? Mine is Merveilles something something.
Yes, I’m enjoying it a lot! Kind of wish I’d taken some geography during my undergrad now; it would’ve enriched and complimented my anthro/archeo-heavy load in a bunch of ways. Hingsight, always (also, better late than never).
PDP stands for professional development program. I need to complete some course recs and volunteer/work hours before applying but covid stuff has encouraged me to slowly meander through my way through it, lol.
We have different advent day teas? Yesss, I love it when they’re mixed up (yeah, this was my day 1) :)
Imho, Almond/nut can be funky and bitter in tea, but so can a lot of oils if they’re over the top (ex- the sweet orange here). They need to be diluted by something for my taste buds. Luckily, milk and the tea bag size to teapot ratio got it to a point where I’m pretty happy with it! Shared it with another person and they were thoroughly disappointed when the pot was finished (steep 2 didn’t work out well beyond being a thin orange cake thing).
I kinda wish I had discovered Holistic Education as an undergrad (MEI and Women’s sTudies), not while doing my MEd, which damn near killed me. It’s more convenient to consider that all things arrive when you are more fully able to appreciate and incorporate them into previous experience.
For me, this tea is a bit much too. I wonder if time will better or worsen the situation. Time is usually not kind to nut-like teas. Now that the eggnog is finished, I am diluting the straight tea with bites of white chocolate pistachio truffles. That’s working out well too.
2021 Spring Harvest
High Mountain Green Oolong types are an easy favourite, and one’s from the Shan Lin Xi area are an easy if expensive sell. I thought I’d made notes on more of them than this but they have a tendency to not stick around long enough for that! The aroma of the dry leaf and broth is (as expected) beautiful, rich, and aromatic – it’s a mixture of floral (honeysuckle), honey, and fruity notes, along with something that is quintessential oolong. Pure ambrosia.
Cream, floral and fruit components are at the right balance for me here, creating a well-rounded profile. The fruity component is kind of like pineapple and the honey-sugar qualities of persimmon. While at it’s hottest, the finish has a zesty-sweet heat. I second Daylon R Thomas’s suggestion of “ginger lily” (it’s a bit of both, ha). There’s a suggestion of creamy banana and/or persimmon as a lingering taste as well. The sweet-grass/vegetal notes, which gain prevalence as it cools, also lend to the persimmon effect.
Western Steep Count: 6
After the second steep I went to bed and carried the session into today. I think steep 4 onward tasted a bit like a natural Jin Xuan (you know that subtle vegetal cream) but with more floral. Next time I’ll try for an uninterrupted session with gongfu so I can draw it out more!
Flavors: Creamy, Fruity, Ginger, Honey, Honeysuckle, Mineral, Nectar, Pineapple, Sweet, Warm Grass, Tropical
Preparation
I’m worried the tangy cream aroma is starting to age so added a shot of Bailey’s to really build that Irish Cream flavouring. It’s nice. Maybe too nice.
Flavors: Cream, Irish Cream, Tangy
Preparation
Haha! We may be the same person.
The easy way for me to get around ATM withdrawal charges, which are hefty because of credit union banking, is to get cash back at grocery stores or LCBO. Bought a bottle of Bailey’s at the latter just last week.
An excellent choice! ;)
I’m also with a credit union so I know this pain.. sort of (I live close to my Credit Union now but not always).
Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Sunday, November 28th: National French Toast Day
I didn’t steep this long enough. Also, I’m nowhere near finishing it off but it’s National French Toast day – so here’s a cuppa! :)
I used eggnog today to make up for the weak steep. Double eggy toast.
Flavors: Bread, Cardamom, Cream, Tangy
Preparation
Spring 2021 Harvest
Ok, I’m trying this one gongfu style, because why not? I’m only two cups in and already encountering some vivid oddball flavours. Its like an Apple-Cherry Cobbler with a potato base, dusted with cinnamon (sort of hot fruity baked granola bread, but also with potatoes).
Continued…
No.3 smells and tastes like tart cherries. Like in my Western Steep note, I think this tea has major flavour blend potential. No.4 is still very cherry with powdered sugar, but also hints of cranberry. My good friend Roasted Oolong Ice Cream Cone is also back. No.5 is lightly cherry tart with mineral notes. No. 6 sees the return of apple (maybe pear?) and some of the cinnamon, along with the ever-present cherry. No.8 is like potato or coconut oil – thick but kind of flat except for some minor stonefruit notes; strangely, it reminds me of Potato Pancakes & Applesauce from good old Butiki.
Gongfu Style Steep Count: 9
Flavors: Apple, Bread, Cherry, Cinnamon, Coconut, Cranberry, Grain, Lime, Malt, Mineral, Pastries, Potato, Powdered Sugar, Stonefruit, Tart
Preparation
Simple but sweet. Also decent resteep value for the vanilla flavour.
Steep Count: 3 (prefer the second steep to the more earthy first steep)
Flavors: Bread, Caramel, Chocolate, Earth, Honey, Malt, Milk, Powdered Sugar, Sweet, Vanilla, Yams
Preparation
This sounds really nice! Has your area dried out yet?
We got more rain all evening and this morning but my community and the ones most adjacent to me are all alright! The community 33 miles away (Abbotsford) is still in dire straits though – 90 more properties evacuated today (on top of people and livestock still displaced). There is a natural drainage basin that area wants to reform (Sumas Lake) and all the infrastructure used to remove it 100 years ago (pumps, dyke) were in poor shape before this – so perfect storm :|
Everyone “milk panicked” last week but that’s ok too now.
Glad you’re well. Praying for some sunshine for you!
Thanks gmathis! Hope everything is well in your neck of the woods too :)
CrowKettle, all this must have been very stressful for all of you. yikes! I’m glad you are ok. I did not realize that you were so close to the very much at risk areas. Yes, more sun and drainage needed.
Thanks Evol Ving Ness! Yeah, Abbotsford (and Chilliwack), for all the farming imagery, is not the boonies! They’re like a hairline from being considered part of the Metro Vancouver Regional District and are considered so informally by many anyways (MVRD area is only 2,882.68 km2/1,113.01 sq mi so we’re pretty tiny compared to other greater city regions in North America).
Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Thursday, November 25th: Thanksgiving – Cookies
~also October 2021 Tea!
Sipdown. Is it a Thanksgiving cookie? Yes? No? Maybe? All I know is I tend to eat a lot of gingersnaps around this time of the year, although far less since the border closure preventing my sister from going to Trader Joe’s and buying more of “the favoured ones” (I eat hers, yes). May the gingersnaps return soon.
This has excellent ginger flavour which will be sure to dismay as many as it delights (probably a little more dismayed as ginger is one of those ingredients). The apple is a bit of a fun twist though and, while it works well, kind of comes across as a zesty apple crisp (the Darjeeling base concurs with full throttle fruit). Still good but not entirely a full cookie experience. It’s particularly nice when your throat is sore though.
Flavors: Apple, Brown Sugar, Candy, Fruity, Ginger, Malt, Muscatel, Spices, Sweet
Preparation
President’s Choice used to have amazing crystallized ginger cookies. A-ma-zing. I hope they bring them back.
Their gingersnaps are good. My mom just came back from a trip to Trader Joe’s and brought back some delicious peppermint meringues. Highly recommend if you like sweet things.
Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Thursday, November 25th: Thanksgiving – Pumpkin Dessert
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating today! (and a happy last Thursday of November to all us us who aren’t. November speeds by so quickly.) I’m thankful of all the amazing people in this little community – you all rock. :)
While I’m not doing anything special today, I thought it’d be fun to try to “recreate” a Thanksgiving dinner via tea sipdowns. Except it seems I’m starting with dessert (typical). I’ll probably end it with dessert too, if I actually end up drinking up more than one tea (unlikely).
I was initially a little conflicted with this tea, but then remembered that with the pre-Anne 52teas I used to understeep them for preferred results – especially the “cheesecake black teas”. Change the steep time to 2min30s @ 205F and magic! My tea now contains all the smooth tangy cheesecake notes I desire without a good portion of the tannins and bitters from tea and spicea (cheesecake is still subtle but something my brain consistently reads as cheesecake; mileage may vary though). It doesn’t need milk like this; it already tastes creamy, with an assortment of spices. It’s a pretty good way to finish this one off!
Steep Count: 3 (all around 3min and all quite good).
Flavors: Cheesecake, Cinnamon, Cloves, Creamy, Ginger, Lemongrass, Nutmeg, Pepper, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Spice, Tangy, Vanilla
Preparation
I tend to understeep all black teas too: lower temperature and fast-ish. I do probably use more leaf too as I measure using a heaping DT’s perfect spoon, which is likely designed for tea which contains heaps of non-tea.
My leaf measuring varies so much from cup to cup… This cup, I think, was slightly underleafed. XD
That’s a good theory about DT’s “perfect spoon” (I always thought it was a ploy to work through more tea quickly).
I think both are true. I used to be quite frugal with leaf, but now the norm for me is a heaping DT’s perfect spoon and fast cool steeps. Why do you underleaf and why does it vary?
I sometimes overleaf too, and it all pretty much amounts to laissez-faire measuring practices (what I “feel” looks right). It often depends on the tea company (52teas I usually underleaf because I don’t want too much flavour; this dates back to “old 52teas” preferences), the tea type (leaf size, fruit pieces), or whether or not I want a milk cup or not (milk gets more leaf).
I don’t always use a spoon to “measure out” tea leaf either. I’ve shaken it out directly from the tea package before (ex- to avoid breaking big, long leaves). I’m definitely not exact XD
This one was underleafed because I reached that awkward end of the bag amount lol
Thanks for clarifying.
Ah, that’s when I haul out my Keemun Classic to make up the difference. Or if not black, then I just overleaf to avoid having to deal with the awkward amount (or make a little tiny cup).
I would need to look it up, but I think I reblended this one last year for the 12 Teas of Christmas box.
Oh, yeah – I stopped being lazy and looked up my order invoice – May 2021. This is still new-ish, which is why it’s still pretty good! You switched from the tan to the black packets since this batch though :)
Also, relieved to know I wasn’t hoarding it that long :P
Yeah – when I placed the order around this time last year for the pouches – the tan Kraft pouches were sold out – so I had just enough of the Kraft pouches to process the 12 Teas of Christmas box. So that was the switchover time. (Incidentally, I had to switch over because the Kraft packaging was sold out at the time. I need to order pouches again now – so hopefully my Kraft packaging is available now.)