Ever had a tea where you tasted something entirely different than you were supposed to?
This could be either flavored or straight tea.
My example is a straight black tea. It’s supposed to taste like baked bread and sort of fruity — which all of the tasting notes reflect — but I get a … meaty flavor. Like I’m drinking beef gravy! I’ve had it several times now, on different days, and I didn’t have anything to eat or drink recent before the tea. It’s bizarre!
(But I’m not complaining. I only get to have gravy twice a year — Thanksgiving and Christmas — so it’s not such a bad thing to have gravy tea ;) )
Anyone else have strange experiences like this?
Yes…
But I would say ‘supposed to taste like’ doesn’t actually exist. Just because you sometimes get a different experience from other people, it doesn’t mean that your experience is any less true. If you thought it tasted gravy-y, then it was gravy-y. There are no right and wrong solutions to this.
You are the only person who can taste with your tongue and smell with your nose. Therefore you are the only person who could possibly say what it tastes or smells like for you.
Basically what you have encountered here is a shining example of how we’re all built differently. :)
I guess my wording could’ve used a little work! :) I fully agree that everyone’s tastes are different and there is no right or wrong answer. We can only taste with our own tastebuds afterall! :)
I guess what I was going for was “where you tasted something radically different from expected based on others.”
Definitely, though I really enjoyed it.
Others were picking up deep cocoa flavours and I got the most delicious umami <3
It was also with a black tea…
yes. I (now) love sheng pu ehr. thought it would give me the same mellow, earthy taste of a shou, but I have tasted chocolate notes, lemon notes, anise, spinach, raisins, etc…. each cake is different and at times takes me by complete surprise.
It has become one of my favourite teas. Drink them rather young (1-2 yrs)
I tried Monsieur by Lupicia before I read what was in it and I thought it was strawberry vanilla. It was blueberry vanilla.
I had an oolong that tasted like manure smells and a green that tasted exactly like asparagus.
I feel like I go through that every time I try a new tea. I try not to look at reviews until I have written my own now as I am so easily guided by the descriptions of other people. It can be especially interesting with flavoured teas as Rachel says – you feel it tastes like one thing when the company was aiming for something else entirely.
Buddha’s Blend by Davids Tea tastes almost exactly like Peach Drink from Tim Hortons for me, for example. I doubt that is what they were aiming for though. :)
I had one tea from Whispering Pines that tasted like tomato soup. It was not supposed to be anything like tomato soup. (I haven’t re-tried it since to check if it was a one-time thing). Also, Chocolate Phoenix Chai from Verdant has tasted like salty chicken broth to me more than once, which is gag-inducing. I think in that case, it’s a strength/temperature issue.
Starbucks used to have a coffee that tasted like tomato soup. And I’d forget which one it was and keep accidentally ordering it. I still don’t remember.
Maybe it was Sumatra. That one is really weird, and tends to be the most hit and miss brew — aside from Kenya but that’s one very citrusy so I doubt it’s that one — with the customers.
Or it could just be me and my coffee hating tendencies, but that one stood out especially as a weird one to me.
This has happened to me a few times. One was Sun and Cloud Mist from 52 Teas. It had the flavors I was expecting, but was expecting more of a ‘marshmallow lemon’ then the sharp lemon I got.
I try not to look at the reviews too before I drink it, but sometimes it’s hard not to.
A while back I got a sample of a white monkey tea that I swear tasted like tabasco sauce! lol
Login or sign up to leave a comment.