drank Checkmate by DAVIDsTEA
818 tasting notes

It boggles my mind how different this tastes at home versus at work. The microwave at work, combined with some half & half, makes this taste like delicious toffee tea, while the variable temperature kettle at home, with some soy milk, makes this a lame black and white tea mixture. Too many variables, I guess. Is it the water? The choice of milk? The way the water is heated? The steep time? (I confess I steep this longer at work…too much distraction!) I don’t know!

Bonnie

Might be the water and probably the milk. Even with great water, I keep a water filter that’s attractive (from Target) just for my tea. I think it also extends the life of an electric kettle by removing minerals. I use condensed milk (poured into a glass bottle with a lid cuz I hate the can!).

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Bonnie

Might be the water and probably the milk. Even with great water, I keep a water filter that’s attractive (from Target) just for my tea. I think it also extends the life of an electric kettle by removing minerals. I use condensed milk (poured into a glass bottle with a lid cuz I hate the can!).

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Bio

Another profile facelift! My tastes have changed a lot from when I first discovered loose leaf tea.

I can trace my tea journey back to October 2012, when I discovered DavidsTea. Before that, I had the occasional cup and enjoyed high tea at An Afternoon to Remember, which has since closed.

I went through a period of wanting to try all the teas, and was really into flavored teas, especially dessert blacks, but my tastes have substantially changed over time.

I still enjoy the occasional flavored black or rooibos, but I’m more into unflavored black teas right now and recently, puerh. Chinese black teas are amazing…with their notes of chocolate or sweet potato, who needs a flavored tea? I had a much steeper learning curve when it came to puerh. I used to dump out cups of puerh for tasting like leather. Now, I am really enjoying them. I think it took finding good quality puerh and steeping them gong fu style to really enjoy them.

I also, on occasion, enjoy a good oolong, white, or green tea.

Favorite tea companies right now include: Mandala, Teavivre, Butiki, Golden Moon, Lupicia, and DavidsTea (for teaware mostly).

Just a note: I don’t rate my teas numerically because my iPad doesn’t like the scroll bar. Maybe someday that will change…hint hint, steepster! ;)

P.S. My profile picture is of one of my 2 cats, Holly, who is a little princess but very photogenic, and she loves boxes, including those that bring me tea! :)

Location

San Francisco Bay Area

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