2113 Tasting Notes
ADVENT DAY 11, tea 2/3
After steeping and drinking this tea I realised it’s a tea for tomorrow! Whoops, I guess! So tomorrow I will drink tea for today. Let’s see what is it.
I am actually fan of rose teas, but it wasn’t always the case! They used to be too floral, somehow artificial, but then I got to try some good loose leaves and better tea bags and voilá I like it.
This one is Yunnan black tea and just scented with oil instead of petals. Adding a few would make the visual much better though. It was a bit boring.
Not a surprise, this one is very aromatic. After rose, naturally. A little peppery in the scent.
The flavour was just great… as a quality base was used. Malty and chocolate base, with some earthiness too. Strong and enjoyable. The rose level was just right, not too strong, but also not too weak. A little more and it would be peppery, which is disliked by some (I personally would like it), and not too little to search for any rose in this.
In conclusion, it’s not so expensive, so it has got a good chances to buy a pouch of this one day.
Preparation
ADVENT DAY 11, tea 1/3
After opening the sachet today morning in the office I was struck with boozy chocolate notes, followed with very sweet notes of carob and cocoa nibs.
After steeping for approx. 5 minutes I took the bag off my mug and smelled it. It wasn’t that bad and the booziness was gone in aroma.
Sadly, after first sip I found out that it stayed in the drink and luckily I don’t sweeten my tea… because that would be too much. It’s very sweet, but I don’t think it’s from caramel. That one I didn’t noticed at all in taste nor in aroma. It was just a boozy Hershey’s chocolate topping in the cup.
Another weird choice as there was a chocolate cake tea in the Advent already; and that one was much, much better.
Preparation
ADVENT DAY 10, tea 3/3
Absolutely agree with Kelmishka who wrote 3 years ago that this is 100% buttery red rooibos. Probably the rooibos base is better than hers, as it was quite smooth and woody a bit, not syrupy at all. Sadly there was nothing that I would expect in popcorn named blend.
Fine, but nothing I need to try again.
Preparation
Wait wasn’t there already a popcorn blend ha ha? Seems like an odd thing to have multiples of.
But that was caramel flavoured popcorn. With popcorn flavour. But definitely I’m with you. Many flavours I am not generally fan of. And they have so many good sounding blends. Or some plain breakfast blend. They have so many choices… yet they have decided for another popcorn. It’s not even much festive, huh?
Yeah, strange choice lol.
ADVENT DAY 10, tea 2/3
This small tea bag contains only rooibos and 5 % of vanilla pieces. That’s amazing 0.075 g of vanilla!
Well, truth to be said, I was excited when I saw it contains so much vanilla. Then I realised, that the bag is rather a baggie, and in fact it contains so little of that precious ingredient.
And well, it is evident in the flavour. The rooibos was one of the better ones, woody and not medicinal at all as some are… but there was hardly any vanilla in flavours or scents. I had to dig deeply to find it.
So yes, another example to not judge the tea by its cover.
Preparation
ADVENT DAY 10, tea 1/3
Another tea from Laos and again a tea I will need to buy to try it again steeped in different ways. Today I steeped it western, all 5 grams / 300 ml; steeped for 5 minutes.
Even dry leaves are very aromatic after raisins, red grapes and wine; along with cocoa and malty notes.
The mouthfeel of this is amazing, smooth and long; sweet cocoa with red grapes, dates and raisins. Malt isn’t much present in flavours, but sweet grape flavour lingers long in the mouth and rather longer steeping time did not hurt the tea nor my stomach.
Vendor suggests brewing in clay tea pot, but sadly I don’t own any… maybe I will just look after some soon-ish. And putting this tea to wishlist, so I know I just want to try it again. It’s not the cheapest tea, but definitely worth more session and more focus. And yes, it seems it is another winner. And now I am indeed glad I decided to give this calendar a try.
Preparation
ADVENT DAY 9, tea 3/3
I would love to hear story behind blending this blend. Maybe they thought that the German name is nice play with words? And what is Galangal?
It seems that today is a meh tea day. Honestly, this was like a ginger infused water, with some eastern food notes (that’s the galangal I assume); and ginger was also very tamed by licorice root. Nothing that calls turmeric as last root used in this blend.
Preparation
What is Galangal?! Well, the comment rang a bell in my mind and sure enough I find in my spice cabinet a small jar of powdered galangal. Wikipedia tells us that it is a rhizome plant related related to ginger. My jar of Penzeys spice says “Galangal is used in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The flavor is flowery and intense, but small amounts combine well with ginger & lemon grass in Thai cooking, stir fry, or mixed with black pepper/cayenne for meat/poultry.”
And it is quite aromatic! I would describe the flavor as a strong ginger with a peppery and earthy quality. I have not used it yet in cooking, but now I plan to!
It was rather a rhetorical question; as I am able to search on Wikipedia too! But yes, I think it was somehow flowery and intense (though I had more intese “normal” ginger teas). I can imagine it in the meals with lemongrass.
But thank you anyway!
ADVENT DAY 9, tea 2/3
This one was kind of meh. Moreover the list of teas says cheery Cheesecake, with same ingredients as this Cheesecake; and I doubt there is any difference.
Honestly everything was meh with this tea. Base was boring, simple Ceylon (I assume), with nothing but tannic notes. And then there were cranberries. Noticeable in flavour — slight tartness was there. But no cherry, no cream cheese, no pastry… nothing that reminds me cheesecake at all.
Just meh.
Preparation
ADVENT DAY 9, tea 1/3
Two green in a row? Well, it is because skipped day…
Anyway, this was just… weak. I steeped 3 grams in 300 ml, used 90°C water as suggested and my white tea that I had yesterday was definitely more flavourful. But steeped leaves of this smelled nice.
I wonder if I should steep it longer than 2.5 minutes, but I was preparing as suggested by vendor. Just the ratio was a bit lower… but I just expecte it more flavourful. I guess that remaining 2 grams I just need to steep gongfu, in lower water qty and with long(er) steeping times.
Without the rating deliberately.
Preparation
ADVENT DAY 8, tea 3/3
For a tea bag white tea this tea is one of the finest I ever had! Very mellow, yet distinctive aromas and flavours, sweet and a little bit of bitterness here.
I think there was some spice note — but now, writing this note a bit later, I can’t point out what was that.
Preparation
ADVENT DAY 7, tea 3/3
All 5 grams in my gaiwan ready for 90°C water (as suggested) steeped 60, 20, 60, 120 seconds. Sadly I don’t have softest water, instead quite hard water.
I had a preheated gaiwan (well… I have cleaned it and then I just put tea in); and there were lots of grassy and umami notes.
1st steep, 60 seconds
Strong in umami, slight grassy notes and very sweet. Sadly the mouthfeel was rather short.
2nd steep, 20 seconds
Definitely strong in umami again, followed with grassy and some seaweed notes, not so present, but present buttery notes; not so sweet cup this time. Hints of astringency!
3rd steep, 60 seconds
Umami has finally weaked, but it’s full of seaweed now, quite salty and buttery, in aroma freshly cut grass, zucchini.
4th steep, 120 seconds
This steep is again flavorful, cut grass, zucchini, less of seaweed and salty taste… probably I like this one the most?
Long mouthfeel, mouth coated with that grassy note which I have expected.
Now I just want to give this tea another chance and probably steeping in colder water. Because the last steep was definitely with colder water than the others; as I could drink it much earlier. Used leaves smell after kohlrabi, and I think they are indeed “done”.
Available directly from Japan from: https://www.the-tea-crane.com/ — there is no collaboration between them and me :)
