307 Tasting Notes
This is NOT the version available through DavidsTEA.
I got this one at a Fantasia Coffee & Tea store. For those unfamiliar, it’s a coffee/tea/milk tea cafe with several locations in the SF Bay Area. $19.95+TAX.
I have two types of tea steeping thermoses, this and one from Barnes & Noble (~$15). The B&N one is also a 18/8 stainless steel tumbler but it has a fine mesh basket tea infuser and it doesn’t have a sipping lid. The DavidsTEA timolino has a fine mesh basket tea infuser that is attached to a sipping lid that has larger holes, plus another lid.
THIS timolino has a fine mesh on the sipping lid, but it doesn’t have the basket infuser. I’m totally ok without the basket infuser, I usually use my thermoses for grandpa style infusing anyway. The reason why I went for this one over the David’s tea one is that there’s no plastic in contact with the water except on the sipping lid/strainer. (The B&N thermos’ infusing basket is also stainless steel, and removable.)
I’ve heard such good things about the timolino. I was pretty disappointed. It’s not even because of a bad design, it’s pretty good for what it is, it’s just ANNOYING.
The thermos functions OK as a thermos, it keeps tea warm for a few hours, but not nearly as much as I was expecting. I expect alot out of my thermoses. But the biggest problem would probably be that it’s really really hard to get a good stream of tea out of the sipping lid. _.
I admit it, I take pretty big, slurpy sips usually. And as soon as the tea is not scalding, I drink it down pretty fast. I have to keep my drinks outside of the lab, so when I want some tea, I’m outside for 1-2 min for my hydration and then I’m busy again. For better or for worse, this fine mesh sipping lid FORCES you to sip. For me that wants my tea NOW that means going slowly, and losing time and even enjoyment. The problem would be because the fine mesh interaction with the water makes a type of vacuum inside of the thermos because of the capillary forces of water on the mesh not letting air into the thermos at the same rate I want the liquid to be coming out. So even as a portable teapot this is not really working for me because I’ll be able to pour out an oz maybe, then the flow stops, I’ll blot the strainer to remove the excess and the cycle begins again. It is impossible to get a nice steady flow of tea from this thermos until you have no more liquid inside, unless the lid is completely dry. Why not just bypass the sipping lid? Well then, what’s the point? I don’t know if the DT timolinos have this problem or not, at least no one has mentioned it to my knowledge.
Where this would be a PRO: driving, I totally see how this slow flow model would be helpful when driving and sipping. BUT the cup is too slim to fit into at least my car’s cup holders, and have fallen from the cup holders onto the car floor more than once.
So PROS/CONS versus the DavidsTEA timolino: It doesn’t have an infuser basket, so once your tea leaves are in there, there isn’t a way to take them out unless you clean out your thermos. This is basically made for grandpa style brewing. This can be either a pro or con based on your preferred style of brewing. Pro for me because lack of plastic in contact with the water and I don’t mind this style of brewing.
The sipping lid holes are fine mesh. From what i’ve observed, the one on the original DT timolinos are pretty big holes comparatively. If you drink alot of small leaf teas or herbals like rooibos, this could be a pro. No tea bits in your mouth! But yeah, results in that awkward sipping enforcement. I’m told though that the new DT timolino Carry Mugs have fine mesh on the sipping lid as well, so it might be the same.
It’s an OK item for what it is. I’ll keep using it, mostly because I like the color. But I won’t be purchasing another. I have two B&N ones though- I really like them, and if they had more than two colors, I’d be on it.
Admittedly when I was brewing this I didn’t remember what kind of tea is was and I was too lazy to look it up. It DOES NOT say on the tin. Oolong? Huh. Well, I got this as part of a gift set (to myself) purely because someone reviewed THIS tea, and I felt the set was the best value. I’m a sucker for sales and sets. I probably should mention that I got it in the mail a couple of months ago now and am only just getting around to it. =(
I was ALSO trying out a new infuser cup, and thankfully this tea has pretty large leaves because the ceramic infuser has pretty large holes. It also gets really really hot. But it has a panda on it and I couldn’t resist.
It really is more on the dessert side of the Mandarin. I don’t remember the review very well at this point, but for some reason when I brewed it up I was expecting something a bit more citrusy and crisp. This is like Mandarin creme cake, all the way- still very yummy but not what I was expecting.
This has held strong through 3 resteeps, boiling water, 3min each.
I think I’ve been drinking this tea for pretty much the past three days. Thank you to Albertocanfly for sending this to be through the Tealephone.
My littlest teapot definitely isn’t about the size of a gaiwan. (I really need to invest in one… maybe.) It holds maybe a full 8oz, or thereabouts. I think I’ve gotten through maybe 7 steepings, but while there is a little bit of flavor left if I leave it to steep a long time, it’s mostly just colored water at this point. Steeps are 212*F, starting at 1min and adding 15 secs for each additional steep…. with a little bit of lag time for me walking back to the pot and pouring it out. =)
So, the dry leaf smelt fruit, and it was still really compact, not too many loose leaves.
The fishy puerh smell didn’t really fade until maybe the third or fourth steep, but the liquor was smooth and nice throughout. The liquor was a very saturated red at first, and it gradually got lighter in saturation, but it’s still on the red-golden color. It did really come out to be as red-gold, I think the name golden peacock is very apt.
I’m glad this came in the Tealephone, I probably never would have tried it otherwise. Thanks again Albertocanfly!
Backlog because Steepster was broken Thursday night/Friday morning. Just as the package leads you to believe- it tastes of berries and cream. The berry taste is sort of generic, a mix of strawberry and other berries. White chocolate curls lend the taste/feel of cream, but do no impart much if any sweetness. The rooibos is thankfully not very prominent in this blend- only just enough to leave the taste refreshing instead of heavy.
Thank you Green Terrace for this sample!
Today was not such a good day for me. I was having such horrible abdominal cramps that I actually left work early, I think it was probably a food reaction. Either that or I’ll be having a very unpleasant week. I came home and napped the afternoon away and then woke up to make tea. =)
Usually the honey tea I’m familiar with is from Milk tea shops. In which case I doubt it has the same type of ‘honey tea’, usually I think of it more along the lines of milk tea+honey+tapioca pearls.
Color me very surprised when this tea brewed actually reminded me of that taste, although thankfully without the sweetness. I set to brewing it, and then forgot about it for awhile as I took out the trash and watered the plants. I brewed at about 190*, which is lower than normal for a black tea, but the result was a really smooth and beautiful light black tea with honey notes. A touch of floral and a touch of creaminess was laced throughout the sip and it wasn’t at all drying. I’m really glad this is a pretty big sample, but even if it wasn’t, this would be on my ‘buy’ list. I can’t wait to try the other two samples.
Preparation
Well I wouldn’t exactly call it decadent, but for me it is warm and familiar. I just sat with the cup under my chin as I was browsing the internet, taking in that beautiful jasmine green tea aroma. Yummy. Oddly usually 2 minutes is plenty to draw out a good flavor from the green tea, but this particular blend didn’t impart much at two minutes. I would try it again at 3-4 minutes.
The leaves are quite small AND tightly curled, so if you’re brewing in a teapot a fine strainer would probably be nice. I brewed in a Kati cup today though so that wasn’t much of a problem for me.
From the Small Big TTB
WOW there is soo much tea stuffed in that little box. Because half the samples were wrapped in foil that actually forced me to actually go through the entire box to find things. I ended up sticking labels on the outside of the foils for easier access, but it’s actually a pretty smart idea, it forced me to look at what I was looking at instead of just wandering through the box randomly or skimming just the top of the box.
Mango green. Sadly it seems after a few months on Steepster I’ve developed this view of Adagio in my head that isn’t entirely complimentary. The least of the offenses I’ve heard them cited for was under-flavoring and entirely artificial tasting additives. Well this tea didn’t entirely dispel those ideas, but the result wasn’t as bad as I had feared either.
I was distracted and boiled water. I think I had intended to make a black tea but for some unknown reason went with this instead. Surprisingly the results didn’t taste burnt at all. So ~210*F for 1.5min, then into a happy little thermos. I told you I was distracted. Usually the thermos is pretty leak proof… but not so when the lid isn’t properly secured. Hot water all down my leg. Ouch. Surprisingly I didn’t lose that much tea, but I decided that hot water wasn’t my friend this morning. I had some cold tea from the fridge and came back to this later.
So it’s a mild green with milder mango flavoring. Honestly I could barely smell the mango, and I pretty much didn’t taste it at all. The tea was still hot, so it’s not like its composition changed all that much in the time I left it in the thermos. That being said, it’s so entirely average that I would be hard pressed to call offensive. It has no WOW factor, and lacks even enough interest to consider it as a good daily drinker (for me). I might offer it to a child or someone that doesn’t like strong teas.
Great info!