3478 Tasting Notes
I can’t believe this wasn’t listed in my cupboard considering I keep it on hand most of the time. I am going to be a bit boring and use this for the “favorite ice cream” prompt for July.
Vanilla is not necessarily my favorite ice cream, but every Friday morning I make homemade vanilla ice cream and that evening Ashman and I have a root beer float. Homemade vanilla IS his favorite, and I do like it a lot, especially since there is so much you can do with it, adding nuts, fruits, syrups, and more.
Just as homemade vanilla ice cream (made with homemade vanilla extract) is a staple in our house, this tea is a staple for our evening cuppa since we have started having problems with night time caffeine.
It goes very well with cakes, cheese and crackers, and most other snacks we can concoct. Loose leaf is far better than the sachets in my opinion, and a long ago steepsterite recommended storing your loose leaf upside down back when it came in one pound bags only, so the vanilla bean seeds stay well distributed. It might be a good idea for the tins, too.
A new tea that I had high hopes for, but feel like something is missing. July prompt – a pineapple tea
The description is mouth watering – green tea with coconut, pineapple and rum flavor. All things that scream summer and should be delicious iced.
The coconut is too mild here for me, the pineapple could be stronger, and I taste no rum flavor, though I do smell it a little. Will try again as a sweet iced tea and see if it improves, but right now I would say you need to add actual rum to this if you want it to really have rum flavor.
When the month began I had neither a lime tea nor a mango tea to fulfill the next prompt. Then a neighbor offered me a box of this tea because the shop where he works has decided not to carry it. I initially turned it down because I don’t like spicy tea, but decided to give it a try and share the rest.
I drank very little of it because I didn’t want to get hyped up by the rhodiola root. The aroma is sooooo fruity – all mango! The taste is what I expected more or less – so much ginger heat, with chili pepper heat right on its heels. I did one or two sips hot and flash chilled the rest because it is miserably hot and humid, and if the mango was the lead flavor I would have loved this. Instead, it was a cold sip followed by unwanted hot spices. Down the drain it went, but chili chai lovers will probably like it. I tasted no lime, but I didn’t take the time to try.
I am finally going to start adding notes for the July sipdown prompts. Hopefully I can keep them in order so I don’t confuse myself.
I must have purchased a pound of this tea a long time ago and split it with a friend, because it is not in a Harney tin and once upon a time it was only available in sachets or by the pound. It is that old. I am glad it is available in small tins now.
The leaves are very long, flat, and thin, and still a nice, bright green. Sencha? But I think Harney uses a lot of green Assam for their flavored greens. This is so very fruity and makes a wonderful base for a tea smoothie that is almost an Icee – this tea, frozen blueberries, a little ice and a little sugar if you like it sweet sweet like the Ashman does.
We drank it hot for breakfast this time, however. It was good with our blueberry waffles and blueberry syrup, but I was surprised to find that the very last bit in the pot was a little astringent. I haven’t really noticed that before so I don’t know if I oversteeped, overleafed, or if it could be age related.
It still reminds me of grape Dimetapp for some reason. I LOVED grape Dimetapp as a kid, so no wonder I like this tea.
I had this hot for breakfast and the remainder iced for lunch. It was a sample I received with an order.
I am honestly disappointed in this one. Maybe I don’t know what white peaches taste like, but after the powerhouse of apricot flavor yesterday from Harney’s Celebration, this one was really mild, both the tea base and the peach flavor. And not just mild, but rather odd tasting.
I did just treat my Kamjove for an odd smell, but I don’t think that was what I tasted because I really felt like the odor was gone in the Kamjove. It should be. I used an Oxiclean soak (pretty much the same thing as Smart Soak), then white vinegar, then baking soda, then a day outside in the sunshine, which really seemed to fully freshen it up. The day of sunshine was yesterday, so all cleaners should be very well cleaned out and any smells dissipated, and I did check Kamjove and found it ready for use.
The color of the steeped tea was pretty light but the bag says it is Momo, not Momo oolong or darjeeling. This is a pretty new sample, so the problem is not due to age.
In other news, I know very well that I had an entire pouch of Momo Vert years ago and there is not one single review from me. Strange. I wanted to compare and see how I liked it.
Merci Milles Fois remains my favorite peach tea from Lupicia for now.
Reviews for this one are all over the place. I only bought it because it was on sale for $4.40 a tin and the tin is pretty, plus it would be something new to try that I thought both Ashman and I would like.
These are sachets and Harney recommends 12 ounces water for their sachets, and I resteeped and combined. I had the first cup as a hot tea with breakfast, no additions. I was having oatmeal with a pinch of brown sugar and some freshly ground cardamom. The first sip was like a burst of fruity sunshine. The apricot flavor really was the star of the show and it was quite enjoyable.
I put the remaining tea in the fridge and had it unsweetened with lunch. Again, this was a really good, really fruity tea. I have their plain apricot tea and this isn’t terribly different to me so far, but perhaps when I am paying more attention I will pick up more hazelnut.
All in all, this was a good investment. I didn’t get any of the astringency that some people mentioned.
It seems utterly impossible to me that there is no note for this tea. It was a gift from a former student just a couple of weeks ago and we have already finished it. I drank the 1st cup hot right after I got it and it had lovely champagne flavor with a hint of berry. I was so sure I had posted a note.
Ever since Thursday, we have been drinking it as a flash chill tea. It makes an incredible amount of foam and even after you drain your glass the foam stays for a very long time. In fact I don’t think I have seen it break down yet .
Making this way, shaking the hot tea in a cocktail shaker with ice, the champagne flavor is very strong and the berry flavor is practically nonexistent. In fact, the three of us who tried it could only detect the berry flavor in the aftertaste and then we had to look for it. The champagne flavor is so good, however, that it is going to be very hard for me not to immediately re-order this one. It is an awesome summer flash chilled tea that tastes great with no sugar.
For the June prompt an iced or cold brew tea: part 2
I bought this for the fig and stayed for the lemon and vanilla. I still don’t taste fig but this is so good as a sweet iced tea that I might be tempted to purchase it again just for that. Today I am getting more vanilla than lemon but a bare hint of fruitiness is there. This was paired with dinner – a zucchini variation of moussaka with harissa. Good stuff. The black tea base holds up very nicely and the strength of it gives me a Queen Catherine vibe, sans the natural smoky aroma of the Queen.
Last month I had fun going through the prompts multiple times, but I did overdo it when I attempted a fourth passthrough. (And made it!) That was my fault! I love the Sipdown Challenge, though!
Since I have finished early, I will proceed at a leisurely pace to use it as inspiration, and this African tea was a brilliant option for today.
Heat index yesterday was 107F, or 41.6C. (Thank you, Alexa, for converting that for me.) Today is supposed to be several degrees hotter and we are under an extreme heat advisory.
This tea is brilliant, and I think if at all possible it is going to be a cupboard staple for me. I have steeped it three times now. The first two steeps had auch rich caramel flavor. As I went out to the garden to make periodic short, planned strikes at the work that needs doing there, I could still taste that thick brown sugar. The color of the steeped tea is a very rich amber/brown.
Good golly, I love this tea. Thank you, Superanna.
I love making root beer floats! What a lovely routine!
MMM homemade ice cream. Don’t forget the homemade caramel for the after float days.