Shadowfall select Send Message

Tea #3 from Traveling Tea Box C Round 2
I’ve never really had much luck with green teas. I generally don’t like them since they taste like stewed veggies/grass clippings/seaweed/etc. But I thought ‘what the heck it’s in the box’ when I grabbed this one out to try. It smelled pretty good in the package at least.
Brewed I was surprised how ‘dirty’ of a tea this was. Lots of dust at the bottom of my mug and even floating along the top. The smell was strongly toasted rice.
Taste wise this was unpleasant for me. Very grassy/veggie to me with an overlay of toasted rice. And the sip was sharp like or gritty from all the little floaties at the top of my cup. I didn’t get more than a few sips in before I had to dump the whole thing.
I guess I’m just a black/oolong type of girl. Lol.

Tea #2 from the Traveling Tea Box C Round 2
So this one smelled kinda similar to Eight Candles, though because my package of Eight Candles is still sealed (And I’m not opening it just to smell compaire. Lol), I can’t say 100%. I did compare it to the Love in a Cup I had and it’s similar, but not really since Love has chocolate and this has pumpkin. It gives it a spicy-esque, almost nutty kind of smell to it.
I’m pretty sure I should’ve used 2 tsp for my 8oz instead of the 1 1/2 since this was pretty weak/watery tasting. I didn’t get much of what I would associate with pumpkin either, but it might be because it was so light tasting. Again it was very similar to Love in a Cup (Which I’ve had recently so I remember better) and Eight Candles (which I’ve had not so recently so I don’t have an entirely firm grasp of the taste anymore). Lol.
Kind’ve caramelly and sweet, with a marshmallow-esque hint to it. Maybe a slight bit of spice if I hold it in my mouth and think about it for a moment.
I did find this much better with a bit of Truvia, while unsweetened it was kinda blah and even weaker.
I might get this in a try-me pack one day to taste again with a stronger measure to see if the pumpkin stands out, but for now, I’ll stick with the Eight Candles I have. It’s close enough for me right now.

Edit – Just a note to those who may use a plastic steeper (ingenuitea/DavidsTea Steeper/etc). This left some funky dregs in the bottom of my cup, not to mention gunky red stuff/a film on the sides. Probly from the sprinkles, which I’m pretty used to from other teas I’ve drank that had sprinkles. But I know that this stuff can be a pain in the butt to clean from the plastic steeper, so if you have a metal filter, maybe try that instead. /shrugs/ Just wanted to put that out there. Lol.

Tea #1 from Travelling Tea Box C Round 2
So I picked out this big pile of teas to try from the TTBC R2 and it’s a bit overwhelming on which to start with, so I pretty much closed my eyes and grabbed one. Lol. This came up first.
I wasn’t sure about the measurements so I kinda winged it. A heaping tsp in 8oz of water, 195* (it went a bit hotter than I intended. I had been aiming for 185*) for 3 min.
Overall I don’t really taste anything special about this tea. It’s kinda just an everyday roasty tasting oolong to me. Maybe a bit bitter (though I think that’s because I used too hot of water), but nothing amazing.

Another sample from Cavo. XD
This one is….strange. I really have no better words for it. It smells strange, like old chocolate and nuts, but not in an unpleasant way. Just odd.
Taste wise it’s also strange. Kinda nutty I guess. And that could be chocolate if I ponder on it. But generally it’s all kinda vague/bland/there-ish.
I can say that this was one of the few teas I’ve had with the cinnamon accent in it where the cinnamon didn’t take over and scream HERE I AM! XD
So I guess overall this one was a ‘glad I tried it but still a no-go’ sort of tea. But still…strange.

So I’ve been sick but since colds generally don’t mess with my sense of taste, I’ve essentially been too lazy to make tea. Lol. Now the cold is mostly gone, I’m just coughing up stuff still and I’m sick of being sick. So I decided to make some tea and the cold be damned. Lol.
I got this one from Cavo from when she placed a large Adagio order through me awhile back. I figured the spice was familiar enough that I’d be able to tell in the off chance that the cold was messing with my taste.
This was….so-so to be honest. Really I’ve never been too impressed with of the blends with chai/with spices/etc in them. This one was what I’d expect from something with oriental spice in it. Unfortunately I didn’t get any of the tiger eye in this. The cinnamon and spices kinda overpowered everything. But again, especially from what I’ve experienced with other similar blends from Adagio, I wasn’t too surprised by this.
I still found it good, especially after adding a bit of cream and sugar, but I’m glad I was able to sample this and didn’t buy a bag of it first. Then again, I’ve learned not to buy entire bags of any sort of chai-esque blend from Adagio since they’re generally not my cup of tea.

Made this last night since I’ve had it forever and I wanted to see if it’s still any good. Originally I picked this tea up from a little shop about an hour+ drive from where I live. That was….geeeze, at least over 2 years ago. x.x; But since I haven’t had much luck with ‘newer’ tea, I wanted something simple. It’s one of those teas that you like, but not really enough to drink everyday. So it gets shifted around until it’s at the back of your cupboard, then you find it one day and you’re like ‘Oh I love this tea!’. Lol.
Onto the tea. It’s a neat little tea that has curly leaves and little red sugar crystals mixed together. Not sure what type of tea it is since I wasn’t into tea like I am now when I got it, so I didn’t think to ask. The smell is a simple sugary vanilla.
Brewed this has the same smell as the dry leaf, and the taste is lightly vanilla and black tea. Not malty or peppery or tobacco or whatever, just a nice straight black tea taste with a vanilla highlight. Even with all the sugar from the crystals, it’s not really as sweet as you might think. I actually added a smidge of Truvia and it made it very nice.
I’m almost out of it now, but I don’t even know if the shop is still there or if they still carry Star of Persia anymore. Lol. I’ll have to check around online to see if someone carries it since I’d hate to be without it honestly.

So I actually made this last night after my disappointment with the Caramel Vanilla Assam. Wanted something new and different and I remembered I had pulled this from my Dec Steepster box to try.
Opening the package I get a peppery, oddly minty smell. Which I wasn’t expecting at all. I had to give it another sniff just to be sure.
Since there was 2tsp/2.5 tsp, I just used the whole package with 12oz of water.
Steeped this at first had a….dusky smell to it is the best description I can come up with for it. Maybe hay? Chocolate? Something cooked, but not exactly smoked/burnt/roasted. Hard to describe exactly. I could probly just keep smelling the brew to figure it out. Lol.
First sip is sweet, but not in a sugary sort of way. I get the peppery taste that people mention. And definitely what I’m guessing is the tobacco. (Not having any sort of contact with tobacco/stuff of the sort I couldn’t say that this is what I’m tasting.)
At first I thought that ‘well, this isn’t bad’, but the more I’m sipping at it, the more ill drinking this tea is making me feel. So the cup ended up being poured out not even half drunk. Which is disappointing, but so it goes.
I probly should have but I didn’t even try a second steep since the first made me feel so rotten. Bleh.

I am going to murder my tastebuds. They’re making everything taste different now.
So when I first got this tea, I adored it. It’s one of the few teas that I ordered a most likely absurd amount (at least in terms of everything else I had in my cupboard) so that I could have it because I loved it so much. Because of the cost I had intended to make it only for special occasions/as a treat sort of thing. But I have so much tea and it doesn’t stay good forever so I resolved to drink it more often.

But the last time I made this, it wasn’t as amazing as I remembered it. Still good, but not the blow your mind tea drinking experience I remember. I chalked it up to something I did or my mood and moved on.

I made it today and it’s very different from what I remember. And not exactly pleasantly. This brew is kinda bitter and blah tasting straight. Like, I still get the caramel and vanilla scents that I recognize. And the taste is kinda vaguely caramel/vanilla. But where I used to not have to add any sweetener to make the intended flavors come out, this time I had to use far more than I had expected.

I think my tastebuds are changing, because I heard that they do that (like my allergies that came up suddenly and supposedly will go away just as suddenly….can’t wait for that). But this is going too far. /cries/ The thought actually crossed my mind that I should just sell off the unopened 1oz bag that I had gotten last time this was on sale to refill my tin when it emptied enough. Which months ago would’ve been blasphemy. sigh

Alright. FInally trying this out of the Steepster box I got, errmmm, back in January. Lol.
Ended up using the entire pouch for 12 oz, which might or might not have been 2 tsp if I had heaped the spoon. As it was I took one tsp out intending to just do 8oz, then measuring to see how much was left. Then just went screw it, and dumped it all in there and went with my usual 12oz. Lol.
Kinda smokey/earthy sort of smell with a hint of something vaguely malty to it? I need a list or something so that I can pick descriptions off it.
Sipping at it I definitely get a bit of smoke, but it’s not like ‘Ugh!’ sort of smoke. It’s actually very good. And I get earthy, mulchy sort of taste which again, isn’t unpleasant. It’s kinda astringent after the sip, but I don’t mind it that much (which is rare since I detest that feeling you get from even most mildly astringent teas), at least not enough that I’ll be pouring the cup out instead of drinking it. And there’s a faintly fruity aftertaste to it, but nothing strong or specifically identifiable.
It’s a little tart and slightly bitter (which goes along with the astringency), but not unpleasant enough for me to want to dump the cup.
About halfway through sipping at it trying to figure it out I added a bit of Truvia, which got rid of alot of the bitterness and I can taste a but more fruitiness coming through on the sip instead of just in an aftertaste.
I can say that the longer I drink this tea, the more the astringency seems to be building up. Which now makes it a tea that I’ll be happy to finish off the second pouch of, but nothing that I was seek to buy.

Ehhhh. I got a half oz of this last time I was at Davids. It sounded good on their website and I figured why not? Lol. I don’t have any exprience with puerh tea ough, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect aside from what I’ve read.
It said to use 1 1/2 tsp, but the leaves were so fluffy I had to estimate. Since I was making 12 oz, I used about 2 heaping tsp (as best as I could figure), steeped at 185* for 3 min.
I have to say that while the dry leaves didn’t really have much of a scent, the brew smells like the water in my aquarium. Fishy. Ugh! Makes me want to pour the whole mug out but since it’s brewed, I might as well try it.
Taste wise I only get a bit of ‘fishy’ taste but that might be from smelling it as I drink, and it’s kinda grassy tasting. Maybe seaweed? I think someone else had mentioned seaweed, so I guess it makes sense. I still find it unpleasant though.
Maybe puerh just isn’t for me. Or I just haven’t found the right version. Who knows.
The package does say that in a year or so this tea will get better, but I’m not sure I want to even give that a shot. Not to mention I’m not sure if this should be stored sealed up like other teas or open like I know puerh is supposed to be stored.
Likely this’ll go into the swap bin, or possibly into the Traveling Tea box I’m considering throwing together.