564 Tasting Notes
Another one from Jennkay! This is really nice. The passion fruit is the star of this one (yay!), with the jasmine lending a soft, sugary note to the overall flavor. This is a very fluffy jasmine and not overpowering or perfumy at all. This also brews up well at high temperature; I had no idea there was green tea in this until I looked at the page, and yet after brewing it like a black there’s no bitterness or burned flavors at all. I would definitely restock this.
This is a sipdown but apparently it wasn’t in my cupboard so the number stays the same.
Cold-brewed in the fridge for about 12 hours, 3 tsp plus a little/12 oz. I don’t know how to feel about this tea. It’s not horrible—definitely drinkable—but it’s not really good either. There’s a sort of gummy peach flavor and then that’s it. There’s very little oolong taste to it at all, and I also found out yesterday that the leaves are broken up and small. Not getting this one again.
Sipdown. This is not like the sencha I’m used to at all. Tiny broken leaves, and it brews up yellow instead of light green. I’m struggling to find something good to say about this, actually, and I almost always try unless it’s just completely horrible. What I was expecting was a middle-grade green that I wouldn’t purchase; what I got tasted like overcooked asparagus (yes, that tastes as bad as it sounds). There’s some sort of a note that’s trying to be sweet in there but it doesn’t make it. It’s also moderately bitter, not enough to make me dump it but enough that I would never drink this again.
ETA: This gets more bitter as it cools, so it looks like I will be dumping it.
I have no idea what a plum pudding tastes like, so I can’t make a comparison there, but it is delicious. I’d say instead of plums this tastes like golden raisins, with a very nice oolong with strong stone fruit notes underneath it. There’s also a hint of spice, but not enough that I’d call it a spice tea. It is amazing and I wish I had a really big bag of it. I’ll have to check out the base oolong, too.
I found the chocolate! Cold-brewed in the fridge for about 20 hours, 3 tsp/16 oz. It tastes sort of like a genmaicha chocolate bar, which sounds strange but it’s actually really good. There’s a nutty rice flavor, and then a sweet kick of chocolate. It’s like a mix between milk and white chocolate, but it’s definitely there and recognizable. I wish this flavor came out in the hot brew.
Sipdown. I was more careful this time but it’s still astringent. I guess for some people that wouldn’t be a bad thing but it’s not to my taste. The caramel flavor is good but it’s diminished quite a bit by the astringency. Dropped the rating earlier and it’s staying where it is.
Sipdown! Sadly. I really like this one. It’s just roasty enough to be comforting but there’s also an intense sweetness to it that I’m amazed is natural. I would definitely buy more but four ounces is a lot of one tea that isn’t a 100 for me… It’s also expensive to buy in that quantity so I’m still wavering. I guess once I sip down about 150 samples (yes, really) I’ll decide what I really want to keep around.
This cup is seriously astringent and I barely steeped it two minutes. It’s still good but not nearly as good as I remembered it, and I’m wondering if I overleafed slightly. The caramel is there but the lemon is all astringency and not an actual flavor. I’m glad this is close to a sipdown because I’m not sure I’d get it again.
Cold-brewed this last night. I like it better this way but it’s nowhere close to a favorite. It’s just too roasty. This way the dark chocolate notes come out much more strongly, so it’s like drinking a dark chocolate bar mixed with a really dark oolong. Maybe my problem with this tea is that they don’t seem to blend together? I’m really not sure, but the remaining little bit is probably going to the swap pile.
