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Dessert tonight was this pretty little tea; the fifth in my series of flavored green tea samples from The NecessiTeas. In the packet, it smells quite nice. The prevailing aroma is of jasmine, though there’s a berry tang as well. The berry smell becomes more obvious upon steeping, becoming clearly raspberry. Depending upon how the spoon fills up, the raspberry aroma can prevail over the jasmine after brewing, or it can be fairly evenly balanced. The raspberry part of the fragrance is sweet, not at all pungent or artificial smelling.

The tea itself is nice as well. When the dried raspberries reconstitute, they plump up considerably. I ended up with something close to a whole berry floating in my cup. The flavor is delicate, and the raspberry and jasmine are each distinguishable, and nicely blended and balanced. The tea itself is barely noticeable, and not bitter. I’d prefer a bit stronger presence of the tea, but also prefer barely noticeable to bitter (by a lot).

I would not pass this up if I were offered it again, though I think I’d prefer to drink it after a workout and a shower, where something clean and subtle would hit the spot. I’m much more in the chocolate lava cake camp when it comes to dessert than I am the raspberry sorbet.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec
Cofftea

LOL! I love your last sentence- I’m a fan of both:) I bet this would be amazing iced.

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Cofftea

LOL! I love your last sentence- I’m a fan of both:) I bet this would be amazing iced.

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I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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