307 Tasting Notes
UGh, I’m sure I need to try this one again because I kind of made it and didn’t sit to enjoy it like I do my other teas. I got not much flavor profile and mostly other sensory profile during this first impression, but I do have a whole box of this stuff so I can try it again.
This was such a miserable week for me, and I made this yesterday when I came home. I was frustrated, grumpy and sad. Mostly I needed something to calm me down, and since I had finished off the last of the Tazo Calm (and I haven’t seen a sale recently), which is my usual standby, I tried this one because I wasn’t in the mood for straight camomile and dealing with flower heads in my tea cup.
I don’t like it as much as Tazo Calm. It sleeps much more herbally, and reminds me of the Badger Sleep Balm if you’ve ever tried that. It’s also got a lot less inherent sweet than the Tazo version. BUT it is much lighter on the wallet and it did force me to calm down. I do mean force, it’s quite strong I think. I only had two small tea cups before I really didn’t want it anymore, and that wasn’t because it tasted bad. It does taste not too appealing cold.
I do know that I don’t like the packaging. I just prefer tea bags that are individually wrapped I think. Honestly I thought the tea bags stuffed in another bag and sealed with resealable glue… was a Trader Joe’s thing because I had never seen another company do it. I think it kind of takes out the portability of the teabag, which is why I still buy tea bags from time to time. This seems like it won’t keep the tea fresh for very long at all, and I don’t think I’m going to go through this THAT quickly. I suppose that’s one way of keeping the costs down though from company perspective.
I combined the Sleepytime with a vanilla I had around. I actually have no idea what brand the vanilla is. One of those thing you throw in a nice tea tin and stupidly write vanilla and swear to your self you’ll remember what it was. Duh! But it helps make it much more interesting. My vanilla is a loose leaf and the Sleepytime is a bag. I throw both of them in the brewing basket together and it works out fine for me.
Haha, when I started reading your comment I thought you meant vanilla extract, and then I had to go back and read it again. I don’t think I have any straight JUST vanilla flavored teas, the closest I have is probably an earl grey cream. I did pick up Sleepytime Vanilla when I picked up the Sleepytime though and I’ll try that another day.
I was actually really surprised not to find this on Steepster. From a Google and Amazon search, this is the first one I see, and it’s the one I can find stocked at pretty much any Asian grocery I walk into. I was also really surprised that the company says that this version is made with green tea, where from other Thai teas I expect black tea. It retains the sweet thai tea smell even without added sugar.
This is a fairly coarse ground tea, it honestly looks like coffee if you’re far enough away. The way I’ve learned to make thai tea is to boil the mix in water for awhile, as in keep it boiling, until you reach the desired strength. Usually I add half a measuring cup of mix to a 5 quarts (or 4tbp into a medium pot) of boiling water, boil for ~15min, and add sugar to the cooling mixture. For ice I’ll pour that over equal volume ice, and then refrigerate overnight. For hot tea, I’ll decant into a container, and then dilute it with hot water in a mug whenever I’m in the mood. You can just less leaf to water if you have the time to boil it. I’m just impatient and don’t like waiting/minding the stove.
This mix is special to me because it isn’t pre-mixed with sugar and creamer, which means you can customize it to your individual taste. Personally if I’m serving it to others I make it medium strength without cream and only enough sugar to taste. I like it balanced, but I think most people are used to it being super sweet, like you get at milk tea places. I like it both hot and iced.
The coloring is a bit strong though, so if you aren’t a fan, maybe rinse the leaves a bit first, but that orange color and sweet smell is characteristic of thai tea- I don’t rinse my leaves with this one, but I tend to make a strong brew and dilute it to taste.
It also makes a nice base for tea flavored cookies, because the color and taste/scent is so distinctive, but next time I’d probably grind the leaves before I add to my cookie dough, they’re a bit big for that right out of the bag.
Preparation
I made two pitchers of this tea iced because I got a little too excited about my new Takeya flash-chill tea pitchers. So I’ll be drinking it for awhile.
It’s good iced, with just a hint of sugar. I like it cold, room temp, and of course warm!
Warm, the lychee flavor comes forward strongly, a little tart with just the right amount of fragrance. More like the canned version you buy to make desserts though, not as sweet as fresh lychee.
It’s a lovely everyday, anytime type of tea. I always wash the leaves first though, or the first steep is overwhelmingly strong. The leaves are good for several steepings, but oversteeping makes the lychee taste/smell much more chemical. My sister enjoys making milk tea with this one.
Flavors: Lychee
I had my grandmother over for lunch, and I put a few bits of this in the mini-pot. I’ve learned! Because 1tsp of this is wayy to much, even for my medium tea pot.
Rinsed the leaves first. One pot is literally only enough for two tea cups, so it go refilled multiple times, but had the same nice smooth consistency throughout. It works well this way. The leaves still expand to be nice and big, but because there aren’t too many, they aren’t squished inside and give off too much to the brew.
Color of the liquor is based on how long you brew it, but tends on the green-tan side. Not green like sencha and not too tan like a darker oolong.
Fond memories of this tea. Admittedly in high school and even continuing into college I drank this with an obscene amount of sugar. Like 2-3 tsp/mug. And always Sugar in the Raw, or a stick of sugar cane. It doesn’t taste as nice with white sugar.
It doesn’t have the same effect when unsweetened, but I mostly don’t mind. Camomile is a tea I can deal with in a tea bag. Mostly I think because the loose version…. little flowers floating in my cup kind of freak me out. I vaguely wish for a loose version because I really like the blend, but I probably would stick it in a tea or strainer to avoid looking at it.
Yet another lovely tea from Zen Teas that seems impossible to oversteep. This one has actually been in the big thermos since yesterday and is still going strong, despite adding more water 2-4×.
It does have a caffeine element to it, which I wouldn’t expect because the tannins weren’t particularly strong. It contributes a nice mouth feel that isn’t overly sweet nor bitter, and not at all dry. The coconut in this one is lovely, and really not quite the same as in the Coconut Oolong, but I’d have to sit down and have a tea session with this one to isolate it. It’s been doing good as a workhorse so far though. Interesting enough to enable commentary, standard enough to not have to think twice about. The green tea is the main note, but the coconut is still visible. It’s actually kind of cute how the little pieces of coconut keeps escaping the thermos into the cup.
I woke up because I thought I heard a baby crying last night. But with the oddest stops in the sound. Turns out the cat wanted attention.
My friend was over yesterday and I let her choose the tea. She selected this one. This genmaicha is mostly short skinny leaves and very tiny brown rice kernels. They look like broken rice, but brown/toasted, that’s how small it is, but once brewed the kernels puff to a normal rice size.
The first and second brew liquors were extremely green. The third brew not as much. The smell starts out very creamy and floral smelling with a creamy green flavor, the second brew was more green smell and taste and the third was more roasty smell and taste.
The only thing that annoys me about this one is that the brew temp is extremely low comparatively.
