1154 Tasting Notes
Circling back to Day 1 of the Kiani advent calendar so I can finish it off. My partner drank most of this because black tea often doesn’t agree with me, but I tried a little so I could write it up. It was surprisingly smooth for an English Breakfast! A bit dry, sure, but more bready, sweet, and comforting than aggressive like I tend to expect from breakfast teas. Plus, glitter! Totally unnecessary but always fun.
Day 23 of the Kiani advent calendar. For some reason, based on just the name I assumed this would be a straight mint tea. Which, there already was a straight peppermint earlier in the calendar, and I would have remembered that sooner if I hadn’t taken almost a year to finish this! Once I opened up the packet, I realized that it’s a mix of peppermint and cacao shells. I had no idea that After Eights are a specific thing – apparently a British mint chocolate candy. So I can’t judge how close this blend is to the flavor of the candy it’s named for! I am enjoying the pepperminty-ness of it, though I wish the cacao shells had a more potent taste. It’s not just a matter of age; I went back and looked at my note for the straight shells 11 months ago and found those weak too.
Day 22 of the Kiani advent calendar. Hoping I can finish this by the end of the week.
I had to steep this gong fu because all my Western-style steepers were in the wash and I didn’t have the energy to hand-wash them. The dry leaf smells like prunes and very jammy, with maybe a hint of chocolate. Steeped up, it tastes of prune and jam. It’s tannic, astringent, and dry on the palate. This isn’t a flavor profile I typically reach for, but it’s interesting and it works well on a cool, overcast day. By steep 3, it’s still a bit dry but the astringency starts wearing off while a woody note comes peeking out. Didn’t count exactly how many steeps I got, probably around five?
Just marking a sipdown of this tea. It’s one I tend to restock but somehow haven’t made a tasting note for? I hadn’t realized that and didn’t take notes last week when I finished this off. Will try to remember when I have this next time. But generally speaking, it’s a really solid bai hao.
It’s my mom’s yarzheit and I have a pretty bad migraine, so I just needed something easy and caffeinated and comfy. Almost out of this, so very glad I got another coconut oolong from the TTB. Apparently “good coconut oolong” is a tea type I just need to keep in regular stock now.
Thanks so much to Roswell Strange and VariaTea for organizing this TTB! I had a lovely time with it, and it will be moving on to AJRimmer tomorrow. I made this hojicha from the Strange VariaTea TTB a few times and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I can say that the sarsaparilla’s root beer note is very strong when this is cold, in a nice and almost tingly way. Hot, I just really struggled to describe the flavor or even decide whether I actively liked it. Jury very much still out. I ended up keeping it because I couldn’t get the box closed without taking out another tea, so I chose this one because a) I like hojicha a lot, b) I definitely like it when it’s cold, and c) I’m intrigued by how difficult it is for me to describe it when it’s hot.
Another T2 from the Strange VariaTea TTB. I think this might be my favorite of the three I’ve tried. It’s like mango nectar with sliced cucumbers in it. Very sweet, but in a way that’s true to the mango flavor rather than feeling excessive. I bet this would make a great mixer!
Another from the Strange VariaTea TTB. This is both finicky and just not Deb’s best blend. I accidentally overbrewed it the first time and it ended up tasting mostly of hibiscus (which I like, but is notably not anywhere in the name of the blend). Brewed up properly and latte’d, I do like this but am not wowed. It’s reminiscent of the Hojicha Berry Shortcake, which is maybe intentional given the names of the blends? They have pretty similar ingredients too. I didn’t love that one, either. It’s just sort of a generic berry flavor that is fine, but only fine.
Strange VariaTea traveling (herbal) tea (powder) box? I’ve been wanting to try Rishi for a while, so it was nice to see this in here. The powder itself is kind of a muddy and unimpressive yellow, which made me apprehensive. As soon as the water hit it, though, a glorious, spot-on aroma of passionfruit wafted up. My apologies to everyone after me who won’t get to drink this because I will be keeping it. It made for a really great morning latte. Bonus: the excellent and very specific kind of sweet-tart of passionfruit brought back pleasant memories of fresh fruit on our Taiwan trip earlier this year.
