681 Tasting Notes

58

This is Not Good. I really need to try it cold brewed next time because hot it’s like licking a barnyard floor. As the cup cools the lime and cola start to peek through, but it’s definitely a challenge to drink hot. Note to self: COLD STEEP THE REST OF THIS!!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Courtney

Barnyard floor haha! I wonder if that’s the guayusa? I adore it (Blackberry Lime Guayusa from Butiki was one of my favourites), but I find it has a rainforest scent/flavour/feeling.

ashmanra

I don’t think I have ever had guayusa. Might keep it that way…

Nattie

Courtney – I think it might be the Linden leaf, because I’ve had a few guayusas and they’re not my favourite but none of them have tasted like stables to me before! I have that Butiki tea too (:

ashmanra – I don’t love guayusa, but it’s not usually that bad, I promise!! :P

tea-sipper

I had Butiki’s Apple Cider Guayusa a couple days ago. :D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

34
drank Pear Drops by Bird & Blend Tea Co.
681 tasting notes

I recently picked up Bird & Blend’s ‘Jasmine Poached Pears’ tea, and was quite impressed with the pear flavour in that one, so it’s a shame that this blend fails so miserably at delivering on the ‘pear’ promise. If the pear flavouring used there came across here, it would be waaay better. As it is, I feel like I can maybe get a whisper of pear in the background if I really think about it? I don’t hate it as much as I did in my previous note – maybe it’s mellowed with age – but I certainly wouldn’t choose to drink it again. I stand by my original assessment that this is basically a plain rooibos with liquorice root sweetness at the back of the sip, but I don’t think it’s as offensive as I found it back then, so will raise the rating just a little bit from 30.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79

Brewed this up because I wanted something tart and fruity, but it’s not very tart and actually not all that fruity. Mostly it’s a sort of aromatic combination of coconut and lemongrass, though the pineapple is quite juicy in the back of the sip. I don’t think I like this as much as I used to, but I will admit it is one of the only pineapple teas I can stomach. I’ll have to try this cold brewed in the summer, I think I would prefer it that way.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

89

Yay, happy to have restocked this old favourite while I was in London! Such a lovely soothing tea. I’m happy to find it’s just as good as I remembered it.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90
drank 1994 Aged Bai Hao by Butiki Teas
681 tasting notes

This tea has held up better than me, who is also ‘1994 aged’. Robust honey and chocolate notes, a little bit dusty at the end of the sip. I must remember to gong fu steep this next time. I’m still yet to try it that way.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Martin Bednář

Hm. One year older tea than I. I need to get some 1995 stuff.

Shae

Hahaha, I love this! As some of my Teavivre teas so profoundly say, the aged the better. ;)

Nattie

Martin – I will keep an eye out for you!
Shae – Haha, as someone who just found her first grey hair (and cried in the hotel bathroom) I appreciate the sentiment!

Shae

Aww, hugs to you!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

78

Somehow I’ve never written a note on this one, and it’s not on my tea spreadsheet so I don’t remember who I got this from, but thank you to whoever it was! I’m drinking it as a latte tonight, and it’s tasty but I need to remember not to use maple syrup as sweetener in these lattes as it always comes off as sour when combined with the milk. There’s prominent apple, the hazelnut less so but it is still there lingering in the background. It’s giving me a sort of toasted honeyed granola impression, and I’m not mad at it.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

51

I used 1tsp for this as suggested on the packet, and the flavour is very, very mild. Not like a robust black tea with a slight hint of flavour added, but the base tea itself is very thin and weak. I steeped it for 3 minutes at first, but after tasting it put the leaf back in to steep for another minute. It’s a bit better now, but still on the thin side, and I’m having to chase the flavours in order to taste them. I find the coconut more prominent than the banana, which I’m not mad at since coconut is one of my favourite tea flavours, and I’m not the biggest banana fan in general. Both are very natural-tasting, I just wish it was stronger. I’ll try with more leaf next time and see if that improves things, because I so want this to work out, but right now I’m just not getting enough from it and it’s kinda a disappointment.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

83

After having Della Terra’s Cherry Cola and Cake this afternoon, I decided to try this cherry cola tea which I picked up on my trip to London last week. I cold brewed it for a quick couple of hours, and YUM. I genuinely wasn’t expecting to enjoy it this much. I thought there’d be less cola flavour and more hibiscus, but I think the stevia does a good job of tempering the tart hibiscus just enough. It’s still sour, but in a good way, like fizzy cola bottle sweets! Both the cherry and cola are quite prominent in the cold brew, which I was pleasantly surprised by as the other Bird & Blend cola tea I’ve tried, Lime Cola Guayusa, didn’t taste at all like cola to me. I added a little maple syrup to see if it brought out the ‘cola bottle sweet’ feel a bit more, but no, it actually brought out a touch of cinnamon which I hadn’t noticed before. It’s still really good, but I’m not sure why the cinnamon is there, and I definitely preferred it without that being noticeable. Overall though I’m really happy with this purchase, which I wasn’t sure about at the time, and would probably pick up more in the future. I’m also very happy with my decision to cold brew it, because this is really tasty! A very different take on ‘cherry cola’ to the Della Terra tea I had earlier, but both very very enjoyable.

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93

Ugh, I forgot how much I love this tea. It’s such a shame I can’t easily stock up now that Della Terra is no more. It doesn’t seem like cherry cola and cake should go together, but they really, really do! The cherry cola is very accurate and prominent at the front of the sip, and the vanilla cakiness comes through at the end of sip and lingers. Adding sugar brings out the cherry cola even more. I’m definitely going to have to up my rating on this one from 80, because I’ll be really sad when it’s gone.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
tea-sipper

Don’t forget: https://www.eastindiescoffeeandtea.com/ Shop coming early 2023 it says! Now I won’t forget…

Nattie

I bookmarked it!! I will most definitely be placing an order if they sell in smaller than 2lb bags, lol.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

77

Mainly writing this tasting note to serve as a reminder to myself not to follow the recommended 1.5tsps. I haven’t drank this in a long while, but in the past have always used 1tsp and it’s came out fine (as far as I can remember). This cup, I followed the recommendations and used 1.5, and it is not good . It’s bitter and astringent and I can’t pick out any redeeming notes. I also typically use a larger mug of around 10ish oz, and this was definitely a smaller 8oz cup. That has to be it, because I don’t know what else could have caused such a drastic change in experience. Not changing the rating partially because I never rate down, only up, but mainly because this is almost certainly user error and I hope to avoid making the same mistake next time. So yeah, don’t overleaf.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 15 tsp 80 OZ / 2365 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I first got into loose leaf teas when a friend of mine showed me Cara McGee’s Sherlock fandom blends on Adagio a good few years back, but they weren’t on sale in the UK so I started trying other kinds instead and have been hooked for almost three years (and have purchased several fandom tea sets including the Sherlock one I lusted over for so long).

Flavoured teas make up the majority of my collection, but I’m growing increasingly fond of unflavoured teas too. I usually reach for a black, oolong or white tea base over a pu’erh or green tea, though I do have my exceptions. I will update my likes and dislikes as I discover more about my palate, but for now:

Tea-likes: I’m generally easily pleased and will enjoy most flavours, but my absolute favourites are maple, caramel, chestnut, pecan, raspberry, coconut, blueberry, lemon, pumpkin, rose, hazelnut and peach

Tea-dislikes: vanilla (on its own), ginger, coriander/cilantro, cardamom, liquorice, pineapple and chocolate

I am a 25 year old bartender, English Literature sort-of-graduate and current student working towards finishing my degree. I am hoping to one day complete a masters degree in Mental Health Social Work and get a job working in care. Other than drinking, hoarding and reviewing tea, my hobbies include reading, doing quizzes and puzzles, TV watching, football/soccer (Sunderland AFC supporter and employee of my local football club), music, artsy weird makeup, and learning new things (currently British Sign Language).

I should probably also mention my tea-rating system, which seems to be much harsher than others I’ve seen on here. It’s not always concrete, but I’ll try to define it:

• 50 is the base-line which all teas start at. A normal, nothing-special industrial-type black teabag of regular old fannings would be a 50.

• 0 – 49 is bad, and varying degrees of bad. This is probably the least concrete as I hardly ever find something I don’t like.

• I have never given below a 20, and will not unless that tea is SO bad that I have to wash my mouth out after one sip. Any teas rated as such are unquestionably awful.

• This means most teas I don’t enjoy will be in the 30 – 50 range. This might just mean the tea is not to my own personal taste.

• 51+ are teas I enjoy. A good cup of tea will be in the 50 – 70 range.

• If I rate a tea at 70+, it means I really, really like it. Here’s where the system gets a little more concrete, and I can probably define this part, as it’s rarer for a tea to get there.

• 71- 80: I really enjoyed this tea, enough to tell somebody about, and will probably hang onto it for a little longer than I perhaps should because I don’t want to lose it.

• 81 – 90: I will power through this tea before I even know it’s gone, and will re-order the next time the mood takes me.

• 91 – 100: This is one of the best teas I’ve ever tasted, and I will re-order while I still have a good few cups left, so that I never have to run out. This is the crème de la crème, the Ivy League of teas.

I never rate a tea down, and my ratings are always based on my best experience of a tea if I drink it multiple times. I feel that this is fairest as many factors could affect the experience of one particular cup.

I am always happy to trade and share my teas with others, so feel free to look through my cupboard and message me if you’re interested in doing a swap. I keep it up-to-date, although this doesn’t mean I will definitely have enough to swap, as I also include my small samples.
Currently unable to swap as I’ve returned after a long hiatus to a cupboard of mostly-stale teas I’m trying to work through before I let myself purchase anything fresh

I also tend to ramble on a bit.

Location

South Shields, UK

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer