3650 Tasting Notes
October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a flavored green tea
I finished my tin of the black tea version of this, and now the green is getting low. Both versions of this have marvelous flavor and I love them both for breakfast – the most common time I reach for them. They would do well at any time of day, though.
This is definitely a tea I would repurchase. The fruit flavors are balanced by the vanilla and caramel notes, and the base for each type is very nice.
October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea you prefer with additions
I thought this was going to be waaaaaay more chocolate-y than Mocha but I do not find it so. When I first opened the bag there was a big lump of cocoa powder that I had to break up.
Because there is so much chocolate, I overleaf just a little to be sure I get the “coffee” taste as well.
I like it a lot, but I do like Mocha, Vanilla Nut, and French Roast more. And this always gets a bit of milk and some sugar. It was smashing with oatmeal pecan tea cookies.
Sipdown
October 10 Sipdown Challenge Prompt – World Mental Health Day: drink a tea that calms or soothes you
We made a little road trip to the coast today and I don’t like to have caffeine when I am going to be on the road for some time. I was shocked to see that we have very little of this tea left and next time will be a sipdown. There is about a heaping teaspoon left, but I decided this will be a sooner rather than later re-order. It makes a wonderful nighttime tea when I want something light instead of Teecino.
The chamomile has such fresh, bright apple notes. It is sweet and tastes a little similar to their Carrot Cake Cupcake tea, but without the vanilla/cream cheese frosting vibe.
I wish they offered smaller sizes of these, I need to try this one!
Cameron B. – I will be happy to send you some!
Cameron B. – final two teaspoons are on their way to you! I hope ot is enough to give you a good idea of whether you like it enough to order. Finishing it gives me a great excuse to restock my SV tea must haves!
Thank you! I tried it but I mostly got chamomile, and only a hint of strawberry. Will definitely have to give it another try at a later date. XD
I wonder if that was because it was the very last of the batch?
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I probably should have been shaking the bag! Every pot of this has had plenty of chocolate flavor, but this last three teaspoons had so much chocolate that I had to pour, wait for the water level to go down as the chocolate melted, pour some more…over and over.
As you may guess, this is extra extra chocolate-y today. I don’t add anything but I bet milk and sugar would turn this into a chocolate bomb. I don’t like things overly sweet and I am pairing this with some top secret oatmeal pecan cookies that I am making for a gathering tomorrow night. The cookies are also not too sweet since one guest is watching both sugar and sodium intake, so they go nicely together.
I received a tea gift in the mail yesterday evening! Many thanks to TeaEarleGreyHot for thinking of me and sharing this lovely tea, packaged with a scientist’s attention to detail including labeled tin, tea in sealed bag in tin, and all tea info included!
Today was a biscuit day. I try to make biscuits for AliasHali about once a week and have breakfast with her, and today our hot and sticky weather is supposed to break and fall temps return, so with the cloudy skies dampening the morning light and the candle on the table lending a comfortable air, it seemed a good day for it.
To accompany my breakfast, I just had to have a pot of Diamond Jubilee after its long absence from my cupboard.
I remain convinced that this is Harney’s Earl Grey Supreme with grapefruit flavor added. The blend is uplifted by the addition of Ceylon Silver Tips and the bergamot is accompanied by the close cousin grapefruit to further intensify the citrus flavor.
If you like strong Earl Grey flavor, you would probably love this. If you prefer a dark and dusky base with mild to medium strength bergamot and/or citrus notes, this is probably not for you.
This needs no additions for me, but I think you could add sugar if that is what you like. I have trouble imagining milk in a citrus tea like this even though I love orange and vanilla Push Up type flavors and Orange Julius, so maybe milk would work? Perhaps one day I will experiment for the sake of having better information to give, but as for me, I like it plain!
Thank you, again, TeaEarleGreyHot!
I’ve had Royal Palace favourited for a while because of the grapefruit addition. :) I love a well-done tea with grapefruit addition.
@ashmanra, It pleases me to bring “jubilence” to others! Some time I’ll post a review of this tea myself, though yours here hits the mark perfectly! Today I prepared both Keemun Mao Feng Premium (a straight black from Tealyra) and Diamond Jubilee (a flavored blend from Harney) side by side. The Keemun was ready in 2-1/2 min., whereas Harney directs a 5 min. steep. And as you noted, this reflects the difference in “boldness” between black teas, with the fast-infusing, punch-in-the-face wakeup of the keemun, vs. the lighter yet complex character of the base in the Jubilee. I really enjoy both of these!
“Second Summer” has concluded here in Chicagoland as this morning I had to fire-up the furnace, and am noticing leaves beginning to turn. Soon we’ll be seeing the autumn “frost on the pumpkin”, and chores will shift from grass-mowing to leaf-blowing. And hot teas will carry on!
Courtney – I am shocked to see that I haven’t tried that one! I think I had it mixed up with Royal English Breakfast, which I had many years ago.
TeaEarleGreyHot – I await the cool evening with delight. We have been raking pinestraw for a few weeks now, and we will be dealing with leaves until late November or early December. There are far more pines than hardwoods here, but we do have maples, dogwoods, and a large pecan tree, whose leaves smell delightful to walk through.
Meanwhile, the counter is covered in ripe tomatoes and I have about forty more on the vines to bring in over the next couple of weeks! Summer is winding down but we will have hot days off and on all the way through spring.
The tea exchanges on Steepster are so cute :3
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October Sipdown Challenge – a fall spiced tea
Ten years ago I said this puerh smelled almost exclusively of dirt. That’s not a bad thing – I love the smell of freshly plowed fields and even the crawlspace beneath the house. For some reason I said I would be making cold steeped tea but I think I actually had two pouches of this and somehow this one was never consumed.
A neighbor had given me a ziploc bag of unknown(to me) spices and origin a while back and said it was for chai. I could see lots of fennel, some cinnamon chunks, some whole cloves, a few tiny bits of ginger…but no tea. Super! I can add it to whatever I like!
Since our last two mornings have been cool, I was in the mood for a fall spice tea anyway and added some of those spices to this puerh, making a big pot yesterday with multiple steeps, and again this morning.
Ashman enjoyed it and I did as well. There is a little tingle on my tongue but not an unpleasant heat. It is warming and feels comforting and it really dressed up this last bit of this puerh.
The baggie has 1304 written on it. She remembers buying it from a local health food store. This chai spice blend would be something nice to have around in fall for cool (or cold) mornings so I may restock when this bag is gone.
October 3 Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea that makes you smile
So many teas make me smile! What to choose? As I was picking my breakfast tea, I asked AliasHali, “what should I drink today?” She told me I should drink a tea I have been hoarding and that’s when I remembered that today is a specific prompt day.
This was the perfect choice because 1. it is a sipdown, 2. it makes me smile and 3. I have hoarded it and the last time I made my note it was for the prompt to drink a tea you hoard.
This is a simply gorgeous tea. The golden rings mixed with brown promise a sweet cup and it is a feast for the eyes before you ever even steep it. The steeped tea has wonderful clarity and it resteeps well. The bergamot is natural and not too strong.
Sipdown
This is a very sad sipdown. This is a delicious blend that leads in flavor with caramel, vanilla, and toffee but in aroma with fruits. It resteeps well. It will most certainly be on any DF order I place in future. I still have some of the green version of this as well as Coquelicot Gourmand, so I am not quite desperate yet.
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The sage in this tea reminds me just a little of the rosemary in Sakurambo in that it adds a familiar savory note in a fruity tea. The biggest difference is that the sage here is more subtle than the rosemary of Sakurambo. This is a very good tea, usually enjoyed at breakfast time and one of the growing number of black tea blends that Ashman likes without additions.
The sage gives this tea a fall and winter vibe to me, but we do drink it throughout the year.
Sample sipdown
I bought a couple of bags of the six cup sample of this to try with my coffee loving neighbor. Based on the name, I thought it would have some of the truest coffee flavors of their blends, but he and I both prefer French Roast or Dandelion Dark Roast if looking for real coffee flavor.
This was fine with milk and sugar for me, and he drank it black, but neither of us will be buying more. It isn’t bad, we just like other flavors better.
