379 Tasting Notes

88

Some more notes:

1:47 am and decided to finish up a package and my crazy (Cameron said bananas lol) Sunday went into Monday and now entered Tuesday! I accidentally printed the shipping label on an Avery label sheet (the kind with lots of little labels) instead of a plain sheet of paper and made a typo in my own name. Oh man.

I’m going to make another order with White2Tea soon and thought I’d revisit this. I like it. Hardly any fermentation flavors, and it’s a good daily drinker. Sweet, smooth, chocolatey. I have a cake of it but these mini disks are just way cute (and convenient) but more expensive per gram, of course. Ugh lol. I’m a slave to cuteness. I’m trying to talk myself out of it. If anyone would understand, I know you all would lol.

7g mini, Yixing gaiwan, 212°F, rinse, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s (this is where I’m at right now).

Flavors: Cocoa, Creamy, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Wet Earth

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
Cameron B.

I’m also a sucker for cuteness, like dragon pearls! :)

Mastress Alita

My chou kawaii weakness it looking at teaware on Etsy, sometimes for hours on end… T_T

Kawaii433

hehe to the both of you. I knew I was in good company :D

Cameron B.

@Alita – Looking is better than buying. ;)

Kawaii433

Top 5 of my favorite words:

Oniochalasia – buying or shopping as a method of stress relief or relaxation,

/cry

Cameron B.

I can so relate. A little online retail therapy always makes me less grumpy… ❤

Kawaii433

lol @Cameron B.
And you’re right… The looking part is better than buying.

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93
drank Bananas and Cream by 52teas
379 tasting notes

Finally made the right one. ^^

It’s really good. It’s a natural banana. The vanilla notes go with it very well. Reminds me of the banana pudding that I loved growing up. A nice woman, we all called grandma, in our neighborhood would make it from scratch for us kids. It was loaded with vanilla wafers. This is yummy.

Flavors: Cream, Fruity, Vanilla

Preparation
3 g 11 OZ / 325 ML
Cameron B.

Yum, I wish there was something like this in the permanent collection.

tea-sipper

Oh I’m glad you finally tried this and like it. :D

tea-sipper

*I don’t know why I said “finally” when it was the same day. Yikes. haha

Kawaii433

@Cameron B: Tell me about it, I went to see if it was available and it’s gone already. bleh

Kawaii433

@tea-sipper: You’re right though. It’s a good banana!

Mastress Alita

At least you know I will never be responsible for selling out the nanner flavors. I just buy out all the Foggy Coconuts like a big jerk-face. :-P (Yes, I will finally come out and admit it was me, Cameron! I’m SORRY! It’s my favorite tea! T_T)

Cameron B.

@Alita – I understand, don’t worry! One sampler pack was enough for me. :)

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90
drank Grapefruit Green Tea by 52teas
379 tasting notes

So it’s affirmative, my crazy Sunday has bled into Monday. I swear I reached for the Bananas and Cream since Tea-sipper said their banana flavor is good… I opened my thermos (Mandala’s glass thermos is awesome btw, no leaks either. Still testing it daily.) and I smelled a lovely grapefruit aroma. Whaaat? Citrus? Is there tangerine in it? No no, it’s definitely grapefruit! This isn’t banana. Sipping it I tasted a nice green tea base with a bittersweet, somewhat tart, grapefruit flavor. btw, I’m a grapefruit nut. A bag of them is always in my fridge. My continued crazy thinking: Wow, this is great but it’s definitely not Bananas.

I went to check which one I actually put in and I saw their grapefruit green tea package in the front. Oh man, Kawaii, you’ve lost it. Anyway, their blend is of organic Chinese green teas: Yun Wu, Chun Mee & Gunpowder with dried, organic grapefruit wedges. It’s very smooth, light, natural grapefruit notes (slight bitterness like grapefruit has) with a nice smooth green tea base with a delicate sweet finish as per the usual profile of decent Yun Wu green teas.

Flavors: Bitter, Grapefruit, Sweet, Tart

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 11 OZ / 325 ML
Cameron B.

You’ve gone bananas!

…sorry, I couldn’t resist. ;)

Kawaii433

hahaha :P

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Thank you Cameron B. ^^

Sipping this… It’s decent but not for me. The aroma is really strange to me. It’s probably the coconut. I can eat raw coconut all day but I’m not really into coconut flavored anything. Like, I don’t like those snowball cookies with coconut. I don’t like Mound candy bars. Eww. I always traded that with literally any other candy bar during Halloween time. lol So take that into consideration with this review. I won’t rate it to be fair.

I do love a good Thai curry that has the coconut milk base though. :D

It’s creamy and that’s a plus. It has nice chocolate notes. I think the marshmallow is what is making it creamy sweet.

Flavors: Chocolate, Coconut, Cream, Creamy

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec 3 g 11 OZ / 325 ML
Cameron B.

Oh no! Did I miss that you don’t like coconut? Sorry, dear!

Kawaii433

Don’t worry about it. <3 I actually just added it to my profile after this. It’s a learning experience for me. It wasn’t bad, and I don’t mind a little :)

Kawaii433

Ohh speaking of dislikes hehe. I thought I read somewhere you don’t normally like ginseng but I did include the Mandala ginseng tea in your package. I figure if you don’t like that particular ginseng tea, you’ll hate them all lol. ^^

Cameron B.

I don’t have much experience with it, but I’ve enjoyed the ginseng oolongs I’ve tried in the past. :D

Kawaii433

Ahh ok. Geez where did I get that you didn’t like ginseng. lol Ooooh, ginger. Doh. My crazy Sunday is becoming a crazy Monday. Great, I hope you enjoy it then. It’s my favorite ginseng tea up to date.

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85

Another sample from Cameron B. :D

I love the name of this tea. I’ve been thinking of making a B&B order soon and this one piqued my interest the most. Since I recently began trying flavored teas, I’ve been wondering if there is any tea that tastes like a real banana. I know banana candy have that issue too. The artificial taste problem. I love a good banana with a slight green tinge in it, but every banana chew tastes nasty to me.

So, I had this yesterday as I went about the town to do errands… And this one is pretty close to a banana flavor. It’s not the overripe oversweet banana taste. The base is malty and it goes very well with the banana.

I look forward to trying this again.

Flavors: Malt, Smooth

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec 4 g 11 OZ / 325 ML
Cameron B.

Banana teas always have a little bit of candy-ness to me, but some are closer than others!

Kawaii433

I agree with the little experience I’ve had, Cameron :D

tea-sipper

52Teas has a great banana flavor.

Cameron B.

@tea-sipper – I do have a sampler size of Banana Pancakes to try out! :D

Kawaii433

@Tea-sipper: I just recently got a package of 52Teas :D. I will try that one soon.
@Cameron B: I sent you a little bit of all the 52Teas, including the Banana Pancakes.

Kawaii433

@tea-sipper: I also got the Banana & Cream 52Teas taster.

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84

What a day. lol I rushed to get to the post office with minutes to spare and well… It’s Sunday. That’s one thing about working from home a lot, the days just kind of mesh together. For meetings, I just have to remember one or two days per month lol. Anyway, thank goodness for those self-serve machines. I was still able to send it and thankfully, for once, I actually packaged it at home since they don’t have tape nor pens there.

The post news Lupicia frenzy has me tasting and re-tasting all their teas. Trying to decide which one to hoard is like asking to choose only one type of food to eat the rest of your life if you’re stuck on an island. lol I thought I’d chill with some good pu’er. I used to be a sheng girl but am shifting to a shou girl…

So my “out of sorts” day continued… I messed up royally while testing this tea. On the 3rd infusion, instead of 15 sec, it became 15 minutes. Ugh lol. So here are some notes on it: It’s a good daily drinker type. A clean shou for the beginners, no strong fermentation flavors. It has nice notes of molasses, brown sugar, walnut, slightly sweet. Has a nice smooth mouth-feeling. It has also had notes of wet earth, caramel, cocoa. The liquor is dark but 15 minutes of any pu’er would give you a dark syrup looking liquor I think lol.

Oh man…

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Caramel, Chocolate, Earth, Molasses, Nuts, Nutty, Smooth, Sweet, Walnut, Wet Earth

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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74

I thought I might as well try their last “Detox” blend. Some reason I thought this was going to be blueberry. I guess because of the name lol. I should’ve read the ingredients: Green Tea, Mate, Mint, Natural Pineapple Flavor, Rooibos, Stinging Nettle Leaves, Sunflower Petals #DOH

It’s minty alright, but the pineapple was the best part about it, but it was mild. I agree with Cameron that there needs to be a lot less mint and more pineapple. :)

Flavors: Mint, Pineapple

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 11 OZ / 325 ML
Mastress Alita

A lot of things in life would be better with MOAR PINEAPPLE.

Kawaii433

lol :D Too right.

Cameron B.

@Alita – Yeah, like where tf did that Pineapple Oolong run off to at Lupicia?

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78
drank Banane Chocolat by Lupicia
379 tasting notes

It’s good but there was a lot more banana than chocolate. I think that’s usual for chocolate flavored teas? Not sure. I taste far more chocolate in some good non-flavored teas hehe. The banana was good, not too candy-like but still not authentic and it was on the strong side and rather sweet (at least to me). It was a creamy tea and overall a nice cup of tea. If you love sweet banana, I think you’d like this one.

I love bananas but I like them on the green side, and so while this was decent, it’s not a favorite. There are some floral notes as well.

Flavors: Chocolate, Floral, Malt, Sweet

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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80
drank Jingle Bells by Lupicia
379 tasting notes

If this tasted like the aroma, I think I would’ve liked it much better. It wasn’t bad. I liked the grapefruit notes but the grape notes were a little candy-ish to me. Maybe it was the perfumey notes. Not sure. I’m still getting used to flavored teas but I favor those that taste more naturally I guess. I’ll try again soon. ^^

Update: Tried it again, and wasn’t as perfumey. I had it grandpa style and it was much tastier. Upped the rating.

Flavors: Candy, Grapefruit, Grapes, Perfume

Preparation
3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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88
drank Sakurambo Vert by Lupicia
379 tasting notes

I loved their grapefruit green so I had a feeling I’d like this one too. The cherry isn’t medicinal tasting and more importantly, it’s tart. The way I prefer cherries. Yum! It’s really good hot or iced.

I should buy another one… Oh man. #HoardCity

Flavors: Cherry, Tart

Preparation
3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML
Cameron B.

Yassss #hoardcity! I ordered two packets of this because I like the black version so much. ;)

Kawaii433

haha Cameron. Yeah, I think if I don’t, I’ll dread the way I’ll feel on the “last cup”. I’ll probably order it lol.

Cameron B.

To be fair, this is one that you could almost certainly order from Honolulu if it comes to that.

Kawaii433

Good to know! Ty :)

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Profile

Bio

Longtime casual tea drinker. In the past, mainly Matcha, Gyokuro, Sencha, Genmaicha… Etc. I like all teas: Green, oolong, black & pu’erh (prefer ripe over raw).

Chanoyu (for matcha prep) and Gongfu cha (for other types of tea) are the main ways I prepare my tea (Gaiwan, Yixing teapot, Kyusu). I drink all tea… Usually unflavored. This past year, I’ve tried many flavored now because of all of you lol. As long as there aren’t artificial sweeteners, it’s all good.

Favorite stores: TeaVivre, What-Cha, Mandala Tea, 52Teas, Whispering Pines, Bird & Blend, Yunnan sourcing, White2Tea, Lupicia.

The flavors I dislike: Artificial sweetener, lavender, violet, any strong floral-perfumey tea; cantaloupe, papaya, honeydew, rose, licorice, anise, jasmine, any mints, leather.

Favorite flavors: Citrus fruits (especially grapefruit & tangerines), granny smith apple, bananas, guava, mango, tamarind, watermelon, stonefruits, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, milk, cinnamon, creme, bread/pastry, nuts, toasted, roasted.

I generally don’t add anything to my teas unless they are flavored, then I may add a splash of milk.

As I explore, my ratings may shift. 90+ generally means I’ll keep it on my shelf.

Location

USA

Website

https://www.facebook.com/kawa...

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