390 Tasting Notes

90
drank Crimson Horizon by Butiki Teas
390 tasting notes

this tea does not possess patience as a virtue. it does not coddle someone new to the tea world in the least. it is impatient and demanding. while it would be very nice for you to recognize its impressive aspects, the presence of ‘crimson horizon’ doesn’t really require it… it stands very well all on its own whether you recognize its brilliance or not!

absolutely caffeinated. it taps its foot waiting for you to WAKE UP!!!
quite a dark tea… a non tea equivalent might be in the neighborhood of guinness.
aspects of bread, brown sugar, nothing floral, a sense of astringency that doesn’t evolve…… a Credible Threat! lol.

very nice. as smooth as an outright call out can be (this tea is a scrapper).

and of course it came as a sneaky sample in my order- enough for one steep and one resteep. stacy, how do you do that consistently!!??

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp
ohfancythat

I loved this tea, must order someday. Great with breakfast!

JustJames

indeed. gives a solid kick in the a** with an impatient ‘hurry up!’ – perfect for breakfast!

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95

i have a new obsession.

depending on my mood this becomes fresh apricot preserves (with more sugar) or fresh apricots off the tree (less sugar).

brilliant.

very smooth, no astringency. i have experimented with standard and double (though not less than) amounts of leaf as well as longer steep times…. it has not gone bitter and i have not had negative results!

predominantly apricot flavour, though a very mild floral aspect after-the-fact. the tea base is the perfect compliment to the fruit component… warmth with very little malt, just enough to differentiate it from the blend assertively.

this is awesome.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
boychik

I love fresh or preserve apricots( halfs, not jam). Do they sell online?

JustJames

they do! http://www.specialtea.com/ i think they have 400 blends? it’s the most amazing place. all blended in the store. the vietnamese OP1 black is amazzzzzzzzzzzing.

boychik

Good to know James! I have to check them out.

Terri HarpLady

When I eat preserves, which is rare but does happen on occasion, I always go for Apricot or peach.

JustJames

i prefer apricot… oddly i frequently get an element of tobacco with peach =0/

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85

this seems to be the experimental blend this season….

i’ve tried a few and this is the best so far! they all smell great dry, but fall short on the evolution after steeping. this one was balanced and soothing (for evening) but also lively!

can’t think of a time of day it wouldn’t be good…. might be even better cold steeped. =0)

doing a back flip into classes again tomorrow….. a whole five days off. wow. g’night! lol!

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
TheTeaFairy

This tea smells like pickles to me but it tastes good!! I’ve had it cold brewed only.
Have a good five days off :-)

JustJames

sadly, they are gone…. but they WERE nice, lol….. in between all the chores. sigh. (reminds self “you signed up dummy”)

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90
drank Casablanca by Special Tea Inc.
390 tasting notes

if we are friends on FB you have already seen the image i uploaded as the avatar for this tea (seeing as i didn’t have one, lol). the store itself is so cool the owner let me snap a pic when i explained just how much of a tea nerd i am =0).

an acquaintance at school mentioned a great tea place ‘special tea’, downtown on fort street. she looked at me a bit askew when i let slip i hadn’t heard of them. now that i’ve been there i completely understand the look! david’s teas before special tea?!!!! i committed a crime. =0(

the owner was great, very personable and funny… i learned some neat stuff too! (i love it when that happens). i told her about my allergies and she just kept a running tally in her head of things she checked off: ‘nope, nope, nope….’ and made some great suggestions within the scope of a) the things i had mentioned i really like and b) the things she knew i could have.

i am so impressed! at no point was i rushed, talked down to, hassled and i am loving the blends i came away with!

this is very smooth. i did it with cream and sugar because i got sunburned yesterday and am feeling sucky, but it could happily be done without. there’s a tropical/exotic element but the combination of roses and strawberries keep it grounded to a hot summer north american day versus coconuts in the caribbean .

predominant flavour for me is a subtle passionfruit followed by the strawberries and rose. the ceylon is the constant baseline.

this is great! can’t wait to try the rest!!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
Sil

this isn’t the same place SB likes to go is it?

JustJames

…. oooh. dunno!? =0/ lol! might be?

OMGsrsly

There’s Georgie’s, and also Janet’s Special Teas out in Sydney…

Sil

i’m probably thinking of janet’s special teas…SB goes there.

Skye Comstock

This sounds great. I’ll hafta try it once I get some of the ones I have already drank down. I’ve put myself on a little bit of a pause with buying tea at the moment since I have bought so much already :)

JustJames

i have done the same =0).
i have some butiki coming in- and really that’s all until september.

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5
drank Lotus Green Tea by Tealux
390 tasting notes

NOPE! musty spearmint mixed with….. something. absolutely not. there is creative license and then there is just gross. }=0(

dammit, i paid for this too! at least it was just a small one.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
TheTeaFairy

Lol, I so agree, that one was so gross, I threw it out. But a friend bought me a lotus tea when she was in Asia, and it’s really good. It’s a floral tea with sweet vanilla earthy notes, very pretty. Tealux’s version just tasted like soap!

JustJames

the word ‘appalling’ comes to mind. vanilla dn earth were nowhere near this. yuck! this one goes to my wisteria!

Dexter

When Tealux gets flavors right, they can be very good – but they also get them VERY wrong. Sorry you wasted money James, but life is too short – dump it and move on.

TheTeaFairy

Yes, purge.

JustJames

agreed and agreed…. good bye! wait, i suspend the ‘good’…… ‘bye!’

looseTman

Another nominee for the “Hall of Shame”

Whispering Pines Tea Company

And I’m over here sulking in the corner because I liked this one…haha

Whispering Pines Tea Company

I got mine from Art of Tea though, and I’d assume they are the same since they have the same exact description. Haha

TheTeaFairy

LooseTman, I fully support and vote for its entry to the Hall of Shame. Brenden could always buy a ticket and go there if he ever feels the urge of drinking it again!!

Thanks Brenden for sharing this crucial information… Mental note: NEVER BUY ART OF TEA LOTUS TEA!!!!
;-)

JustJames

brenden…. i haven’t chucked mine yet…… i can ship it to you. heh heh. we could do a tea swap! lol

Whispering Pines Tea Company

Eh, it’s not something I would repurchase, but I did like it! :P

I’d be down for a tea swap except for the fact that I only have 2 more teas to finish and then I’m going to be starting my “tiny tea” collection, where I never buy more than an ounce, only buy the most amazing stuff I can find, and only have 16 spots available at any given time…though I might make that 8 instead :)

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95
drank Dragon Lychee Pearls by Tealyra
390 tasting notes

grabbed this with the father’s day discount….. soooooooooo worth it! proper review will have to come later…. essay calling!!!! (48 hours from now i’m free for 5!) that didn’t used to be a big number….. somehow that changed?

LYCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
TheTeaFairy

I’m glad someone else finally tasted this tea, it is sooooo gooood!

JustJames

i loved it! so awesome!!!!! teafairy? you’re magic…… can’t you do something abut my essay? (=0) puh-leez?

TheTeaFairy

Haha! Well unfortunately, my powers don’t reach to BC yet, I would have to be a much wiser and older fairy for that… But I can wish you good Fairy luck, it has been know to work…sometimes ;-)

JustJames

you are a very kind fairy…. i’m tired. i don’t feel like writing 1200 words of sociology. i don’t wanna. i could be persuaded to write about tea…. =0) maybe. in exchange for a lovely cup. lol

TheTeaFairy

But you must :-O
Oh, I’m sure you’d wish you had more than 1200 words if you’d be writing about tea!! I know I could write countless words about it :-)

JustJames

gender, race, sexuality, inequality, parity, inequity and sexual identity. oof. no original thinking. all regurgitation from the text. i just don’t want to. i’m tired, lol. and obviously- i’m whining!

TheTeaFairy

Me think you need to regurgitate some tea instead of existential words, just stop and have a nice cup :-) :-) :-)

Stephanie

Sounds good!

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93

this seems such an inappropriate way to classify this amazing tea!!! huge thanks to MissB for this. she surprised me a few weeks back with a lovely package and i’ve been saving it for crunch time (ie now).

she included 4 big black pearls simply listed ‘chinese black’……. they were black blooming teas! i have always thought if you see something that is supposed to have colour and brilliance in black or grey, consider yourself warned. the rule absolutely applies to this tea! ….i chucked in 2.

beautiful black prongs, a ball of claws unfolding…. this tea smells beautiful and looks mean. just what i needed to lock in my 35% final mark in geography! lol. i did a quick poll of FB friends, OMGsrsly told me to knock it off and stop pushing the word limit. CelebriTea said something similar. 1778 when your cap is 1500 isn’t too bad…. right? (what kind of a picklehead gives that weighty a project such a low cap anyway?!!!)

the prof did not like me. this they knew (as did i), however he was looking very forward to the interview i’d managed to get…. and i’d managed to build some models i was fairly certain would impress.

end of the day? 90% …. apparently it would have been higher but i bungled something in my citations. sigh. IN ANY CASE i drank this pokey black tea all day! it was awesome! MissB, if you tell me where to get it i’ll grab more in a heartbeat…. i stopped at 7 steeps? and the flavour was still solid.

smooth black, cocoa notes, light on the malt. light elements of underlying vanilla. no fruit tones, no vegetal tones….. somber, serious. reminds me of verdant’s zhu zhong and laoshan blacks combined but with an almost sparkling element.

i will always affiliate this tea with that win.

one more essay. 2 days…… what tea shall i choose?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9F6zGP3kkc

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 295 ML
OMGsrsly

:) 90% isn’t too shabby…

JustJames

nope! not when it holds up 35% of your mark. although he was a bit snippy saying i’d non-specifically botched something in my citations (my constant bane) and had i not my mark would have been higher.

i am happy with 90. he also said it was very interesting. originally i had to convince him to even let me choose this as a subject. …… noticing a theme? i don’t seem to like easy roads. sigh.

OMGsrsly

Do you use citation software? I use Zotero, which is FREE. :) Saved my butt on a lot of occasions. Much better than trying to do everything by hand.

JustJames

yeah! i do! i use bibme. honestly- i’ve washed my hands of it. i am out with an overall A, keeps me happily in the running for ‘my’ scholarship. i’ve let it go. 90% is nothing to cry over. especially seeing as i haven’t been able to read much.

OMGsrsly

:) Do you have Kurzweil? Highly recommended. The main problem my friend has is having the resource centre scan everything in a timely manner. But it works great for journal articles.

JustJames

i am just experimenting with tech. i’ve been approved already…. i’ve tried read/write gold. i have to start into kurzweil. i have to evaluate and pick one. R/W gold is pasky for reading my e-texts. =0(

gmathis

Never tried a black blooming tea…for that matter, I’ve never seen one on any vendor sites. Cool!

JustJames

me neither! MissB has a knack for finding stuff ;0).

big pearls too— 3/4 inch? beautiful. awesomely lethal looking!

yyz

I’ve seen some on some aliexpress sites. Probably not this tea though as the most recent one were like traditional blooming teas with flowers and stuff in them. Yay!

JustJames

=0)))

everytime i knock down a class and finish with an A i feel like i won. i have no clue if i’ll get the scholarship- but i do not want to excluded from getting it because my grades dropped.

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88

i loved this tea….. very refined, very…… graceful?

has an emerald essence. light green, no nuttiness, also no marine! very clean, very deep without imposing.

no sugar necessary.

thank you angel! sorry i’m so behind in my reviews…. so much schoolwork!!!!

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
Indigobloom

I love Dragonwell when the farm catches a late frost. Makes things super sweet!!

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87

i have like 2 minutes, then i have to get back to my final project. don’t believe the number other than mine! lol. this blend is great! very biscotti, very rich, satisfying. funny…. i like it more than the full sized bags i bought. typical!

i have the rest of the sample set aside to go to yyz! hope she likes it?

they sent me a sample…. cucumber mojito…. sounds whacko, tastes great. i need to review my decision making skills.

bye again!

Preparation
2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
yyz

I’m sure I will. Good luck with your project!

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68
drank Blackcurrant Cassis by Tea Guys
390 tasting notes

oh no! i just caught sight of miss ifjuly’s review!!!! usually we are so evenly matched in our tastes, lol!

i like black currant. i like the aromatic nature of this blend and the slices of plum cut into it. i don’t get smarties, lol…. i do get a sense of the candies people carry in their purses somewhat though.

i really like this tea! i have every intention of doing a cold steep— i think it will be brilliant. oddly i do not like this blend in between hot and cold— it is LESS impressive when it is just warm, though i cannot say why.

smooth, fruity, aromatic, elements of deep mulled wine with black currant and plum.

i will also say that after i went to check out i was hit with an astonishing 29$ shipping rate….?WTH??!!!!! i made a call. they knocked 10$ off and put it in a bubble envelope instead of a box, packed it carefully and made it affordable.

(i’m okay with 19$ shipping for 38$ of tea given today’s prices) thank you teaguys for making the effort!

Preparation
2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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’It’s chaos, be kind.’~ michelle macnamara

“I said: what about my eyes?
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