124 Tasting Notes
This tea tasted like a pretty standard black tea to me, with some extra flavor (but no single one or two that I could easily identify). I made it with a bit of rock sugar and had two sips just like that, and it was fine. It was a nothing-special black tea. I added a small amount of half-and-half afterward, and then it basically lost all flavor, which surprised me.
In sum, a dull black tea, not very exciting, not super tasty, but not awful either.
(Tea from silentrequiem. Thanks!)
I have nicknamed this “spermy vegetable tea,” because the leaves are in the shape of sperm and the tea smells like vegetables (broccoli, I think).
Fortunately, this tastes better than it smells. The taste was actually just fine; it’s very light and soft (no spices, no bitterness). But the scent that reaches my nose as I’m sipping the tea is a turn-off; it would taste much better without the smell.
I don’t have a huge stash of non-caffeinated teas so it’s nice to have one more to choose from, but the other ones I have are much better so I doubt I’ll use this much. I anticipate I’ll have at least another cup or two in the future when I need something mellow, but otherwise this is not a get-again tea.
(Tea from silentrequiem. Thanks!)
I tried this for the first time today and it was SPICY! I put in just a smidgen of rock sugar and some half-and-half, but the spices overpowered the sugar. It tasted like Indian food (which I love and ate just two nights ago, but it was weird to have it in my tea). The spices were a little too intense in that first cup and I wasn’t sure I’d want it again.
But I resteeped the leaves, again adding sugar to the leaves and half-and-half to my cup, but this time I used more sugar. It was DELICIOUS the second time. A near-perfect cup of masala chai. The spices were softer, either because of the resteeping or the added sugar. The rock sugar was perfect and gave it that sweet-spicy-creamy Indian flavor that makes masala chai so good.
Black teas can taste very dull to me, so I really liked how this one was flavored with rose and nuts. I had it with a little bit of rock sugar and it was perfect. (I debated adding half-and-half, but I think that would have masked the flavor.) I look forward to having this again.
Also, I think I resteeped this (without adding more sugar)… I honestly can’t remember. It was only about 12-13 hours ago. My memory has become pathetic lately. Anyway, if I did resteep it—and I might not have—I think it was just fine because I don’t have a “yuck” memory. (Although I don’t have any memory! But lately I’ve been giving everything a second steep for the hell of it, so I most likely did that with this as well.)
(Tea from silentrequiem. Thanks!)
Surprisingly, I’ve never had early grey tea before… It’s funny that my first time trying it is as a white tea.
I steeped this three times. The first time I made the water too hot and it was a little bitter. My reaction to the first sip was, “WHAT! What is this?” The bergamot oil was a totally novel flavor to me, and I actually didn’t like it. But with each sip, I enjoyed it more… To the point that I was loving it by the end of the cup. The second steep was delicious (better water temperature), and I think it actually tasted the best after the third steep! This is a tea I look forward to having again.
(Tea from silentrequiem. Thanks!)
I like green tea and I like chai spices, so this piqued my curiosity! The spices are strong and the green tea flavor is subtle, so I mostly tasted the spices. The first cup I had was quite good, and I had it without sugar or cream. I resteeped the leaves, this time adding rock sugar and some half-and-half. The spices remained strong after the second steep and the tea had a classic “masala chai” flavor, but the green tea taste was barely detectable. In the future, I’ll probably only steep this once. I’m looking for a good masala chai to get regularly, and of the two I’ve had recently (small sample, I’ll admit), this one is in first place.
This is good, but nothing special. I steeped it with a little bit of rock sugar, and decided not to add cream (I don’t think it needs it, and I think that would dilute the flavor). This is the first time I’ve had Assam tea. I just read on Wikipedia that English and Irish breakfast teas usually have some Assam leaves. Right now I think I like this much more than the breakfast teas I’ve had bagged (no surprise). I’m not sure if this is because my feelings about black breakfast tea are changing, or if loose leaf is simply that much better than bagged tea. Despite my positive impression of this, I don’t like it as much as chai, green, or mate tea.
(Tea from silentrequiem. Thanks!)
Teavana had a free coupon for a cup of this tea mixed with another (a peach tea; I can’t remember the name). It was good, and when I smelled them separately I decided I only wanted to buy this one. That was months ago… It took me a long time to make my own cup of this!
I like it. It reminds me a lot of Winter Berry Spice (which I really like. After the first sip, I thought perhaps I’d accidentally made the wrong tea), but unlike that one there is definitely a rose flavor here (which is quite good). The dry leaves have a champagne smell to them, but I didn’t really taste it. And like many other people here, I can’t see why this is called an oolong tea. I couldn’t find any oolong pieces in the dry leaves (if they were there, they’re small) and it doesn’t taste like oolong, either. It tastes like an herbal tea. But still a very good one! I look forward to having more of this.
Most of the oolong I’ve had to date has been flavored, except for Teavana’s Monkey Picked Oolong. That makes this the second regular oolong I’ve had. The flavor is good overall, but it has an extra taste that’s a little burnt, smoky, or something else (I don’t know how to describe it). The monkey picked oolong has the same basic flavor, but a light airiness and a silky quality that makes me think of gems (I don’t have synesthesia; these are just the weird things that come to my mind). Compared to that, this oolong is not as good. I’ll have to try more regular oolongs (I have at least two others in my cupboard) and then reevaluate this one.
(Tea from silentrequiem. Thanks!)
This is the first pu-erh tea that I’ve tried, and I like it! In the past I’ve disliked plain black teas (although I might be changing my taste), and pu-erh is reminiscent of black tea but definitely has a richer, more complex flavor. For my first cup I had it with some rock sugar and it was great. For my second cup I resteeped the leaved (without adding more sugar) and had some cream, and it was okay; either I didn’t steep it long enough or I just don’t like it with cream.
I’m excited to try other pu-erh teas now. I’ve also been to Yunnan, China, which makes this kind of fun (although I didn’t have any pu-erh tea while I was there! Only green and jasmine, I think).
(Tea from silentrequiem. Thanks!)
