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Some people bang themselves over their heads with 2×4s. I keep trying flavored green teas. When will I learn?

I placed this order for samples from The NecessiTeas mostly to try some of their flavored blacks since my success rate with their greens had been so low, but while I was at it, I went ahead and ordered samples of the greens I hadn’t yet tasted. There were only three, so it didn’t seem overly masochistic.

Having experienced more and different kinds of green tea between my original set of samples and this one, I can now make some observations about the tea I wasn’t prepared to make then. I now recognize the green base (at least for this tea) as sencha. It has the leaf shape, and yields the green/yellow liquor color with little particles suspended in it I recognize from my Den’s sampler experience.

This tea, however, doesn’t have anything like the flavor that the Den’s had. There is no juicy, vegetal goodness — it’s just a green whisper in the background. The main flavor is strawberry, but it isn’t a robust strawberry, certainly not the strawberry I would expect in a daiquiri. It, too, is a mere whisper. To be more precise, it’s not even really strawberry so much as a vague strawberry-flavored sweetness, like a Jolly Rancher that’s been dissolved in at least a bathtub’s worth of water. This is unfortunate, because in the packet, the dry mixture smelled promising — a strong strawberry flavor and an identifiable undercurrent of rum.

There was no appreciable difference in flavor after steeping 1.5 minutes as opposed to 1 minute.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec
Rabs

Well, I for one am glad that you went the masochistic tea route vs. banging your head repeatedly ;)

SoccerMom

Ugh I’ve been looking for a in your face strawberry tea too and haven’t found it yet!

Shanti

Strawberry Sencha by TeaLuxe was pretty strongly strawberry, if you’re still looking :) then again, the cup I tried was severely oversteeped….but it seemed like it would be strongly strawberry flavored even if it wasnt oversteeped :)

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Rabs

Well, I for one am glad that you went the masochistic tea route vs. banging your head repeatedly ;)

SoccerMom

Ugh I’ve been looking for a in your face strawberry tea too and haven’t found it yet!

Shanti

Strawberry Sencha by TeaLuxe was pretty strongly strawberry, if you’re still looking :) then again, the cup I tried was severely oversteeped….but it seemed like it would be strongly strawberry flavored even if it wasnt oversteeped :)

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Bio

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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