1271 Tasting Notes
Another from the reddit travelling tea box
Hmm. This herbal is really similar to DavidsTea’s Forever Nuts. I haven’t had Forever Nuts in a long time, but I feel Nutty Almond Cream is a bit more creamy. Bit of tart apple flavor too and kind of watery. Not bad, but I don’t like the wateryness. Maybe I need to play with the steeping times.
Preparation
From the reddit 2014 travelling tea box!
I got the box at like 630pm, just enough time to squeeze one cup of caffeinated tea. I went to take pics for the tea blog and my battery died plus my spare battery wasn’t recharged. Pretty sure my memory card is bursting full too. Crap. So much for getting stuff done sooner.
This tea, I think, is from Tea Guys technically. Anyways I got sucked in with the maple leaf on the package – miss you Canada! This one has a nice maple flavor, woodsy, smokey, malty and sweet. The maple isn’t as intense as say, DavidsTea’s Oh Canada, but it does come through. Only weirdness to this tea is the oily film floating at the top of my cup.
I hate ginseng oolongs, but this one is okay. This ginseng oolong has a rolled appearance instead of the dust chunks. I made it iced, but found it to be mild on the elements I dislike with ginseng oolong – weird licorice notes and sweet. It’s a buttery, clean, vegetal oolong with little floral. This oolong made for some good iced tea with multiple western style infusions.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/july-simple-loose-leaf/
Preparation
From the July Simple Loose leaf selection club!
This herbal was interesting – very colourful dry leaf, lots of refreshing citrus and lemongrass flavor, but with a medium warm spice finish. I made this iced, and the spice made my mouth feel warm, like being in the summer sun! Another way of thinking of this herbal is it’s a tropical citrus chai.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/july-simple-loose-leaf/
Preparation
I got this tea from my inlaws, who purchased it while they were on a river cruise through Russia! They had a tour guide find a tea shop and translate to get good loose leaf and this is what they reconmended.
So, this is a black grown in Azerbaijan. The instructions state to steep in 200ml of boiling water for 7 to 8 minutes. It surprisingly did not come out like thick bitter death, but a raisin, honey, malty and coppery flavor with lots of dryness. Very dry!
Overall, it was really cool to try a tea like this (I couldn’t find it for sale on amazon or ebay). It’s too dry for me, but I’ve been putting samples in all the traveling tea boxes I’ve been participating in for others to try.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/azerchay-black-tea-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
OOOOOH YEAH new pu’er from Mandala Tea! Love the name of this tea!
Very smooth! Also very interesting notes of lemon curd, fresh mint, bell pepper skin and floral – with a nice creamy body. Later on, a dry cheeked astringency appears which might be a little much if you aren’t into dryness or new to pu’er. No smokey notes.
I did a low temp at first, and followed what others did and ramped up the temperature at the 11th infusion.
Mega invigorating too! So much tea drunk going on here!
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2014-autumn-song-puer-mandala-tea-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
Far out! What a treat to log in to Steepster and find this post. You are right, super young tea. But… good news is that I’ve had this tea in the hands of several, shall we say, sheng purists and they have all agreed that this is going to age like a champ. Considering the pressing was just done in March, things are coming along pretty nicely with it.
I’ve been sipping the mao cha alot in my tea thermos at yoga classes and it does the trick! Namastea!
Thank you for taking the time to write this up, my friend. One of these days, we shall sip the same tea, on the same day, at the same time, in the same room, from the same pot. It’s true.
I have a sample of this sitting on my countertop, calling my name, asking me to prepare it. Thanks to your review, it is getting moved up in the queue!
An elegant, buttery sweet milk, liliac and lilies and snap pea vegetal oolong! I personally prefer a more oxidized or roasted oolong, but this green oolong was pretty good. I love the thick flavor and the high volume of steeps I got with gongfu short infusions (9!). Four Seasons oolong was pretty sweet – I think this would be a great dessert tea for the tea drinker that prefers unflavored teas.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/four-seasons-oolong-single-origin-teas-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
THIS TEA HAS REAL BACON IN IT
With bacon jerky right in the dry leaf, this maple black and lapsang souchong tea blend also has plenty of chai spices. The result? A savory, smokey bacon tea with a spicy flavorful chai base. Kinda like a steeping of bacon, maple syrup and spicy french toast. Really good with amber agave to enhance that maple flavor.
The only downfall? This tea tastes best piping hot. There is a film on the top that gets oily once the tea is cool.
In the end, Country Breakfast sounds really weird of a tea, but it works. I’d say this is the best bacon drink I’ve tried out of all the other bacon teas and sodas.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/country-breakfast-tea-teafolks-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
Hmm did steepster eat my review? I did a blog post about this matcha http://oolongowl.com/coconut-matcha-red-leaf-tea-oolong-owl-tea-review/ and don’t see my post or cupboard action. Maybe I forgot? Anyways, check my blog review for straight up review of this matcha.
Today I did something amazing with this stuff – I did a smoothie with coconut matcha, Taro drink mix and soymilk. SOOO GOOOD! Better than the Taro Coconut bubble teas at the Boba shop. Now, if Taro mix was cheaper I could have this all the time!
Preparation
I dunno if I’m logging this in the right place. I’ve had malt barely teas before (kinda meh) and I’ve bought a few korean barely teas and they’d come out flavorless. I wanted another go though and was happy to find Korean Barely Tea in the Here’s Hoping Teabox 3.
Awesome timing too, a blogger I met at the World Tea Expo recently made a post on steeping this grainy roasty tea http://thirstyfortea.com/2014/06/13/korean-barley-tea/ and I used her directions of boiling it for 20 minutes. I then put it in the fridge and served cold.
Really good stuff – sweet, roasty with a bit of corny flavor. A sweeter dark roast houjicha. I think I’ll buy more of this stuff next time I’m at my local Korean grocery store (love going there, they always play G Dragon)
