Alas and alack. My jasmine blueberry sample is devoid of blueberries. Seriously. I looked for them everywhere and it appears not a single one made it into the sample. Sob. Sniff.

But the dry leaves do smell like blueberries, and of course, of jasmine, though these are underneath the cough syrupy thing that the Tropical Green also had. The tea steeps to a dark yellow and has, as Stephanie said, a blueberry aroma — that distinctive, tart smell that comes from berries that have been baked into something and are fresh from the oven. There is jasmine mixed in as well, which brings to mind breakfast outdoors under a vine-adorned arbor.

I am disappointed with the lack of blueberries. I don’t feel I can evaluate this properly without them. The tea is tasty enough, but I’m left with the feeling that what I’m tasting is just the blueberry flavoring, and wondering what the taste would be like with the actual berries….

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

Oh how sad there were no blueberrries! :(
My sample only had about two. So, maybe they’re really just there as decoration? But even those two really added an “authenticity” to the blend.

To the maker of this tea, wherever you are, —please add more berries! :)

LiberTEAS

I don’t know if this helps or not… but the actual dried berries in the blend would add very, very little to NO flavor to the actual taste of the tea. The additions in tea (such as dried fruit chunks or berries, flower petals, pieces of nut, etc) are there generally for aesthetic purposes and the flavor that you taste in flavored teas is achieved through flavoring oils (or in the cases of floral teas such as rose or jasmine, in layering the young tea leaves with the flowers during processing so that the tea leaves can absorb the essence from the flowers).

__Morgana__

Thanks, LiberTEAS, for the info. That does help. Still, I don’t feel comfortable assigning this a number. Even if they are primarily aesthetic, the fact that they aren’t present affects my impression of the tea.

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Stephanie

Oh how sad there were no blueberrries! :(
My sample only had about two. So, maybe they’re really just there as decoration? But even those two really added an “authenticity” to the blend.

To the maker of this tea, wherever you are, —please add more berries! :)

LiberTEAS

I don’t know if this helps or not… but the actual dried berries in the blend would add very, very little to NO flavor to the actual taste of the tea. The additions in tea (such as dried fruit chunks or berries, flower petals, pieces of nut, etc) are there generally for aesthetic purposes and the flavor that you taste in flavored teas is achieved through flavoring oils (or in the cases of floral teas such as rose or jasmine, in layering the young tea leaves with the flowers during processing so that the tea leaves can absorb the essence from the flowers).

__Morgana__

Thanks, LiberTEAS, for the info. That does help. Still, I don’t feel comfortable assigning this a number. Even if they are primarily aesthetic, the fact that they aren’t present affects my impression of the tea.

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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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