58 Tasting Notes

73
drank Cherry Ripe Tea by The Tea Centre
58 tasting notes

This one has mixed reviews but I love coconut so was pretty sure I’d like it and I was right.

The cherry aspect of the “cherry ripe” (from the cranberries I suppose) is lacking, you could get away with calling this one “bounty bar” as it is mostly coconut and chocolate. That is fine with me but I can see it would disappoint some.

This is a tea to snuggle up with at night. With or without milk.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

75

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

68
drank Earl Grey by Henry Langdon
58 tasting notes

This was an emergency tea purchase at the supermarket because I ran out of tea before my next order arrived.

I’ve had had Earl Greys that pack a lot more bergamot punch than this, but often those teas loose some of the citrus complexity and taste a bit like washing up liquid. This tea has a nice balance, it is has a slight burnt sugar fragrance and lovely citrusy bergamot flavour with just a hint of caramel.

The more I sip this one the more I like it! Natural bergamot makes such a big difference to Earl Grey.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 45 sec
Sil

Running out of tea…how awful ;)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

49
drank Lotus by Tlicious
58 tasting notes

If you love floral teas and are looking for a tea with strong floral notes you’ll probably really enjoy this. The problem I have is that I don’t love floral teas and this is a particularly strong floral.

The black tea base has a nice full flavour too so it isn’t just a mouthful of orange and jasmine flowers. Although I do enjoy the odd cup of this, because I prefer so many other teas I’m finding this a bit of a chore to finish. Again, I think that just comes down to my personal tea preferences and isn’t a reflection on the quality of the teas at Tlicious

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 15 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

60
drank Milky Oolong by T2
58 tasting notes

I’ve been interested in trying a milk oolong for a while. My understanding is that the famed milk oolong is made only from a particular cultivar of tea and the milky/creamy flavour comes from the leaves. On closer inspection milk oolong this is not. Well maybe it is made from the milk oolong cultivar, I have no way of knowing but I do know it is a flavoured Oolong, the ingredients on the package make that clear enough. Flavoured with what though? I assume (happy to be proven wrong) that it is artificial flavouring as T2 will generally list the names of natural flavourings on their packages rather than use a vague term like “flavour”…

The taste? I can taste oolong in the background and some kind of sweet caramel flavour which is quite strong. It is nice enough but I can’t help but think that a darker oolong would bring more richness to whatever the added flavour is. A nice departure from caramel/vanilla flavoured black teas that are everywhere but the caramel/vanilla taste left in the mouth is exactly the same as these inexpensive flavoured black teas. I think most people would enjoy this tea even if they don’t like oolong but at the same time much better quality oolongs can be had for the same price or less. I guess I’m a little bitter because I think the naming of this tea is a bit deceptive, perhaps Creamy Oolong would have been better…

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 30 sec
TheSurfinSipper

My thoughts entirely Alice! A ‘real’ Milky Oolong is hard to find (and T2 certainly doesn’t deliver the goods). At least, however, they are honest enough to list ‘flavoring’ on the ingredients, unlike many Chinese producers/distributors. You could try the Jin Xuan (pinyin for Milk Oolong) from Tea & Sympathy: http://teaandsympathy.com.au/collections/oolong-teas/products/jin-xuan-milk-oolong I wouldn’t say it is THE most delicious Milk Oolong I have ever tried (but then again I can’t even be sure that the ones that have topped it most in China were free from additives themselves), but it is pretty ‘true to type’ with a few interesting characteristics of it’s own. Not cheap mind you… I’ll post a review soon.

alice

Thanks for the links TheSurfinSipper. I just bought a bunch of new teas but will add jin xuan from tea and sympathy to my wish list :)

TheSurfinSipper

No problemo, I’ll let you know if I come across any other good ones in the meantime. A good jin xuan is a tea worth getting to know!

alice

I noticed teavivre have two, one flavoured and one unflavoured at good prices but I’ve never purchased from them before. They seem to have good review on here though.

I’m in a pickle at the moment. I moved to perth and didn’t bring much tea, not realising how long postage to Perth takes so now I have a large amount to tea in the post but absolutely none on my shelf. It is so tempting to order more but once it arrives I’ll have too much haha.

TheSurfinSipper

Too much tea? No such thing! Welcome to Perth btw!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85
reviewed One Touch Tea Maker by Breville
58 tasting notes

I’ve had this kettle for a few months and feel like I know it well enough to give it a fair review now. First of all I probably would not have bought this for myself but of course I didn’t turn it down when someone offered to buy it for me and I’m glad because it is a wonderful machine.

If you drink a wide variety of teas then this won’t replace your teapot. Because it is a bit hard to clean I prefer to brew ‘pure’ teas in it and keep a separate teapot for flavoured teas. I made the mistake of brewing a chai mix in it when I first got it and it took a week before the taste of cinnamon stopped finding its way into every cup of tea I made.

When I’m not using it as a teapot it makes a great variable temperature kettle, and secretly I’m glad it hasn’t made my teapot collection completely redundant. I haven’t seen variable kettles on the market (at least in Australia) that allow you to heat water in 5 degree increments and I really like that control.

I’ve lowered the score just a little bit because although I do love it, I’m not completely comfortable with replacing the ritual of tea with a magnetic basket. For that reason for me it is primarily a very expensive (and very good) kettle and just another teapot in my collection.

Sil

Your logic is why i bought the variable kettle instead of the actual tea maker :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

77
drank China Keemun OP by The Tea Centre
58 tasting notes

This is my everyday black tea at the moment. It has a nice strong flavour and perks me up in the morning and during the day. It is not the most exciting tea but great for daily drinking.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

75

I was looking to buy T2’s toasty warm oolong but they are sold out everywhere and the sales people seem to be confused about whether it has been discontinued or not. This is a nice alternative, the oolong base is more on the green side than the T2 version which is nice but I’d prefer it without the addition of flowers.

I had this in store so only had the one steeping. I’m interested to see how the flavour might change with multiple brews.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I am fond of tea and tea paraphernalia.

Location

Brisbane, Australia

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer