91 Tasting Notes

I have tried this before and I guess I forgot to report on it! My first time tryng it, I enjoyed it quite a lot. The dry leaf is very clearly chocolatey, which I enjoyed. And the hearty, malty flavor of the tea itself was very pleasant. I remember thinking it would be fun to try with some milk and maybe sugar like I would other breakfast teas (despite the bit of pu-erh mixed in).

Well, I tried that today…. it was quite a failure! This is definitely superior when it is consumed as-is!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85

Just enjoyed more of the Assam this morning. Took it in a travel mug prepared with milk and sugar in advance. This was exactly the right way to wake myself up this morning! Delicious, malty, and creamy (though you have to admit, it had to be the milk that added the creaminess! ;) ).

In any case, much like my previous commentary on this, it’s just a very nice, delicious tea to start the day! Moving my rating up a wee bit to account for my increased regard for this one.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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81

This is everything you could want in a peppermint tisane. It’s crisp, minty, and full of natural flavor. It wasn’t stale or too mild at all. I got exactly what I was hoping for out of this option.

Thanks to Two Leaves and a Bud for sending along this sample!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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94
drank Yue Guang Bai Cake by Unknown
91 tasting notes

Had this just this morning in my Yixing pot and it was delicious! Same flavors as previously, just this time with the small amount of additional earthiness from enjoying out of Yixing.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 30 sec
TeaBrat

I want to get a xiying just for puerhs, but then again I want a lot of things… ;-)

Dinah Saur

I’m totally the same, Amy! I only have the one Yixing pot and I want to get more so I can have dedicated pots for different teas. Someday!

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89

Backlogging from a couple days ago. Didn’t have time to take down notes then, so will be trying again with a chance to take notes soon. In the meantime, general impressions are that this is delicious, herbaceous, and had a lightly sweet after-taste.

Thank you so much to Ninavampi for sending along this sample!

Ninavampi

I am glad you enjoyed it! :) it is one of my favorites!

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93

I really said most I can in my first review of this tea, but I want to repeat one thing in particular.

This is still the most perfectly jasmine-scented tea I’ve tasted. I have come across so many that are just over-scented and over-flavored (in some cases), and it has historically put me off jasmine teas.

Thanks to TeaVivre for proving to me that jasmine teas can be done right to suit my own palate, which seems more sensitive to flavorings and scentings.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 45 sec
ScottTeaMan

I’m gonna try this one when I place my order with them, for sure! :))

Dinah Saur

Definitely do! I’ve never tasted a more delicately and beautifully scented jasmine!

Bonnie

I’ll keep this in mind to try. I find Puripan Organic White Jasmine is also delicate and elegant.

Dinah Saur

Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll look into it next time I’m buying. :D

ScottTeaMan

I’ve only had one or two White Jasmines, and they were more delicate.

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85

After reading my initial review (really more of a horror story) about my experience trying the Tamayokucha green tea from Two Leaves and a Bud, I received an email from the Marketing Coordinator of the company. She was sad to hear about my terrible experience and wanted to ensure that I had an opportunity to make the tea myself for its full true effect.

I just received the package today and was excited to see more than just a few samples of the Tamayokucha, but some of this Assam as well as the “Better Rest Blend” herbal tisane. As I have been quite in the mood for a black tea lately, I picked out one of the Assam samples and brewed it up.

The liquor is a lovely deep amber color and gives a nice malty, bitter aroma. I first tried the tea plain and found it surprisingly smooth. The bitterness in the aroma was mellowed quite a lot and left more of a sweet after-taste than I anticipated. I added some sugar and milk and this was transformed even further into a particularly delicious breakfast tea for me.

Despite the fact that it is a bagged tea, it actually rivals some of the loose breakfast blends I have. Well done, I say!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Tina S.

Now that? Is how customer service should be done. Yay!

TeaBrat

I agree, that was very nice of them!

Dinah Saur

Seriously!! Once I’ve sampled even more of their teas, I am definitely planning on wring a full review of the company on my blog. I want to share with as many people as possible how much they honestly care about not only their products, but their customers… even if they are indirect.

Very good experience and I honestly am amazed with how nice their teas are, even in bags.

Invader Zim

That is amazing customer service!

ScottTeaMan

Next to quality tea, customer service is #1 to me. Actually they go hand in hand. That is why I continually order from Upton Tea. They lack selection in a few teas-Puerhs especially. Their CS makes up for it. I do have to order Puerhs this year for sure!

LiberTEAS

Kudos to Two Leaves & A Bud for their customer service. I’ve always had a pleasant experience when I’ve dealt with them. They are top-notch.

Customer Service is very important to me too. I don’t care how good the teas are, if I get lousy customer service, I won’t shop with that purveyor again. I think companies should value their most important asset – their customers.

Dinah Saur

I agree 100%, LiberTEAS and Scott!! I have experienced bad customer service at places that have prevented me from returning. And I have experienced phenomenal customer service at places with slightly lower quality product, but kept returning as a result. This particular situation just makes me happy overall!

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52

I received a sample of this tea with my order for the early release Zealong Black. So thank you to Jo for sending it along!

The dry leaf is large and full. It has a sweet malty flavor that I find very pleasant. The wet leaf is smoky and reminds me slightly of a Lapsang Souchong. So at this point, I’m perhaps a bit concerned. I detect a semblance of the same aroma with the liquor.

The liquor is a very light amber. It is much lighter than likely any other pu-erh I’ve indulged in. The first infusion definitely carries the smoky flavor I was smelling earlier. It is woody and reminds me most of a hardwood, I would say.

I can’t say I’m overfond of this first infusion. It leaves too much of a malty, smoky aftertaste for me. With more than a moment, there is something mellower that comes out, but I can’t quite identify it.

The second infusion smells more strongly of smoke, but the flavor in the tea is certainly more mild. The maltiness comes to the forefront and this has become a much smoother tea already. I would almost say mildly chocolatey undertones are present as well.

The third infusion has lost the maltiness, but not the smoke. It is sweeter and of a more crisp flavor now.

Overall, I suppose this isn’t my favorite tea with too persistent a smoky flavor. Yet I did enjoy trying it out and can think of a few friends who will enjoy trying this with me sometime as well.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 45 sec

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drank Monks Blend by Tea Era
91 tasting notes

I went ahead and picked up a sample of this tea along with a number of others from Tea Era when I saw that their samples are just $2 each. I’m an absolute sucker for a tea vendor that sells samples. I’m much more likely to purchase from you in the first place, and infinitely more again in the future.

I’m not normally one for flavored teas, but that was the bulk of their offering, so I decided to give a few of the more intriguing ones a whirl. I love pomegranate, so threw this in the lot!

I decided to prepare this tea gong-fu style. Now, if you read the steeping instructions, you’ll now know that I directly disregarded them. There’s a very good reason for that…. I felt like using my gaiwan. I KNOW! Best reason ever, right?

The dry leaf is perhaps a bit too tightly packed into the sample pouch and the leaves, which are already a bit smaller than I have come to expect, have broken a bit from the pouch. They have a sweet fragrance, though. I’m pretty sure it’s the vanilla and pomegranate. The wet leaves are especially fruity. You don’t really get any of the vanilla, but all the pomegranate. However, I keep saying “pomegranate”, but without reading the description I would not have pinpointed that. It’s almost more… citrusy than that.

In any case, I did at least brew this for longer than I would a typical white tea, closer in accordance with the instructions. Unfortunately, upon tasting, I feel like that was perhaps a mistake. The liquor is a nice amber color and has re-captured the mellowing vanilla. However, it’s a bit bitter and astringent from brewing overlong on my part. For now, I’ll leave it without a rating since I clearly was the cause of the poor flavor. I’ll get it better next time!

And I’ll even follow their posted instructions some day, too!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec
ScottTeaMan

I had a Monk’s Blend years ago and really enjoyed it, but I don’t remember enough about it to review it.

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I’m your standard nerdy girl in a lot of regards, from my taste in music, books, and movies to my penchant for getting completely wound up in various activities and hobbies. One of my hobbies that never seems to fade away is my joy in writing.

I’ve written a personal blog, a tea blog, and an adventure blog, all of which recently have been brought together to a single location – A Chomp at Life. The Fun and FlirTea section is dedicated to introducing tea to and enticing today’s younger, coffee-drinking generation. It’s a fun place to learn about tea and hopefully start meeting more tea-lovers as well!

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