513 Tasting Notes
Whoa! Note to self: this travels extremely well in the Timolino. A hot blast of cinnamon greets my nose as soon as I unscrew the lid, and the scent mingles perfectly with the cinnamon tea as I sip. When I look for a tea that will travel to work with me, it needs to be one that:
1) does not lose its beauty in the timolino (this takes several teas out of the running, because they are far too beautiful to be caged so);
2) Can withstand a bit of sloppy and inconsistent steeping and still yieled consistent results.
And this one wins on both counts!
I added in a splash of cream, and one tsp of rock sugar. Wonderful.
Aside from the fact that I burnt my thumb while preparing tea this morning, my morning was actually quite lovely. I’m reading “The Night Film”, and enjoyed a banana muffin and a cup of this over breakfast. A perfect pairing, and very likely a morning staple. Four and a half minutes, two tsp of rock sugar, some cream, and this lovely resulting magic. I just love how the vanilla rounds out every sip, giving the entire tea a thick, creamy mouth feel. None of this watered down business.
All this pressure to make the millionth tasting note on a given tea interesting. I fail in this department today. I am tired and am thankful that a friend cancelled tonight’s dinner plans, as I’m far more inclined to pass out on the couch under a fuzzy blanket than keep up an enthused chatter over dinner on a rainy, drizzly day.
Some drama at work has kept me busy this afternoon, so that’s helped to pass the time. But yup, looking forward to going home. As usual, this tea was wonderful, with lots of gingerbreadiness. Lots of cream thicken this up beautifully, and I really hope they’ll be bringing this back next fall. Really, this blend is ideal for winter as well.
It was actually Mr. Keychange who requested a cup of this yesterday afternoon, and I lit right up: blustering around the kitchen preparing the mug just so, insisting that I knew exactly how he’d like it. I again used a teaspoon and a half of leaf, 8 oz of water, two tsp of rock sugar, and a splash of cream. He loved it, and was even happy that I’d ordered more! He’s typically one of those people who think most tea just smells better than it tastes (which I found extremely insulting), but was wanting more when his cup finished! I had a sip as well, and was also glad I’d placed another order. Delish.
ETA: 100th tasting note!
I’ve already waxed poetic enough about how delicious this tea is, but I thought I’d remind myself anyway. Also, this tea tastes better and better as it cools. Sometimes, when your first sip is scorching hot, not only do the flavours not shine as brightly; your tongue is still reeling from the shock of such a hot beverage.
I have a question for you guys, though. How do you keep track of your own tasting notes? Supposing you are looking for a tasting note about a particular tea, and you know that in that tasting note you’d included brewing instructions for your personalized best cup—how do you go about finding that on steepster? Just wade through all your tasting notes and hope for the best? or, find the particular tea and read all the reviews until you come to yours? I think I’m missing something. Both sound very time-consuming.
anyway, I’m feeling more optimistic than I’m used to feeling on Monday mornings, and although I don’t know to what to attribute it, I’m not going to complain. Have a great day!
I am not sure how everyone else does it, but I go to my cupboard and select the tea I am looking for to check my notes. There is probably a better way, but I am not sure what it is. :/
It is difficult sometimes to find your review of a particular tea, especially when there are pages and pages of other reviews. Unfortunately I have yet to find a way to find them quickly, all I can do is go through each page until I find mine. Maybe we should ask Steepster for an option to find our reviews quickly. :)
Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Nightshifter, doesn’t your cupboard take you to the tea overall, but not necessarily your review?
I think I may also just store my reviews on my computer as well, although I’m not nearly organized enough ugggh.
I try the two methods you suggested above, but it’s basically fumbling and hitting Ctr-F to type my name and see if my note shows up. I’ve started an Excel sheet to track ALL the teas I’ve had an summarize my thoughts about all of them to make it easier when I get ready to buy more, and so notes about temperature etc go there too. It’s time consuming, but I started it when I was at 100, and that’s better than if I’d done it when I was up at 150!
Oh, that’s a good idea, too.
I’m annoyed because I’ve been feeling mildly ill for the last few days, but my symptoms aren’t, like, naturally progressing into a full-blown illness, which fine, I get it—noone wants to be “actually sick”, but now I just feel generally crappy but not nearly crappy enough to miss work or not deal with household things, and it’s like seriously, just get sick and get it out of my system already. None of this mildly ill business.
This tea is pretty much perfect for every occasion, and is a tea I will restock forever. There aren’t too many teas I feel fall into the forever restock category, and I feel lucky to have discovered a few so early in my tea journey.
I know what you mean, its like either get sick or get over it. This fall has been the worst. I have been tired with a runny nose for about 2 months. But it never developed into anything. Getting annoying.
That’s exactly it. There’s nothing quite like trying to function at 100% when you have mild but not nearly “bad enough” flu symptoms.
Every time I see this tea I have to check and make sure that it’s on my shopping list. :) I loved it and was sad to see my last cup.
It’s a wonderful, wonderful tea.
Enjoyed a cup of this with breakfast this morning. When I restock, though, I think I’m going to get the loose tea instead of the sachets, because although the sachets are convenient, I really think the tea is more flavourful when the leaves have proper room to expand and aren’t just floating in a cluster. Nonetheless, great tea.
Not much more to say about this tea that hasn’t already been said. Perfect cup of warmth on a rainy afternoon, safely settled in my kitchen while I hear cars splash through puddles outside. Chatted to a good friend on the phone, and so far it’s shaping up to be a relaxing afternoon. Definitely think I’ll be getting four oz of this tea next time I order. Oh, it’s so, so good to have no expectations of myself or anyone else today.
I am impressed.
And I’m not really even a huge pumpkin spice person. I don’t mind its flavouring, but I don’t lose my cool over everything that even remotely hints that it was in the vicinity of a pumpkin patch at some point in its existence, you know? I didn’t even order this in my sample pack; I had actually ordered Fireside Spice, but they sent this one instead. I’m assuming Fireside Spice was out of stock or something. I dug this out of my “haven’t tried yet” pile this morning because it felt appropriately fall-like, and set to work brewing it up.
In the bag, this smells very similar to David’s tea’s pumpkin spice chai. It has that same thick, bready, almost waxy smell to it that I’ve come to associate with pumpkin spice everything. I actually think I really like the smell. anyway, in the bag, the two teas smell nearly identical to my nose.
It called for one teaspoon for a 6-8 oz cup, so I settled for a teaspoon and a half, added in cream and rock sugar, and inhaled. It smelled just as strong after it had brewed, which is always a good sign. But the really awesome kicker was revealed to me after I’d taken my first sip. I could not only taste a whole hell of a lot of warming pumpkin; I could also taste the black tea base! and that, my dear tea friends, is what I love so much about my two favourite dellaterra teas—the fact that you can actually taste the black base coming through (I’m thinking of Minty Cow, which I also love). I definitely prefer this one to David’s tea’s version, and if you’ve liked David’s version but want more pumpkin, more spice, and more of a detectable black tea base, you must try this at once. I even considered restocking it, actually, and may still do that. I’m just not nearly as big a pumpkin fan though, so I might just stick to a huge stash of minty cow instead.
A great first tea of the morning!
Can you actually taste pumpkin in this? Or is it more about “pumpkin spice?”
Hmmm, that’s an interesting distinction. I’d say it is far closer to genuine pumpkin flavor than, say, david’s tea, but like I said, I don’t eat pumpkin things all that often so I might not be the best judge of that. It tasted pretty authentic to me, though. And I caved and ordered more! I’m also really happy because I could taste the black tea base, and I love black tea.
I enjoyed this one far more than Fireside Spice, so I’m happy they mixed up your order. I’m glad you enjoyed it – I found it was superior than DavidsTea’s Pumpkin Chai as well!
Oh, you’ve had fireside spice? well, I’m glad they mixed it up too, then. Their description of fireside spice sounded so good, but you never know until you taste it right? I really, really liked this one as well, so am glad it all worked out.
Who, me? Oh, no big deal. Just had my schedule all but cleared for the afternoon; just a few edits to a memo I’ve been working on, and then hometime!
Drinking this was like having a gingerbread house built inside my mouth, complete with vanilla cream frosting and like, gingerbread towers and maybe even a mote. Nailed the proportions perfectly again, and I know I picked a winner for the winter. I hope I never fall out of love with this tea. I’m feeling a bit evangelical about it. If any of you guys want some, hit me up!
Hahaha! You feel the need to spread the gospel of tea?
I do! Would you like to join me? We can stand on various street corners and preach the word of the leaf! haha
I must say I’ve made a few converts out of my preaching over the years, but one could always improve by joining forces with others, right? Too bad you’re in ontario, I would join you in a heartbeat for this good cause :-)
Maybe we should organize a nation wide church of the leaf and then have national conferences! LOL. Omg, can you imagine a national steepster meet-up?
Can’t go wrong with a cinnamon tea like that! I have one that’s similar that I enjoy in the evenings. The only thing that makes me a bit anxious is how strong it is. I always wash my infuser out immediately because I’m afraid it’ll make everything else taste like cinnamon too.
It’s still worth it.
I hear you on the worry about it making your whole life smell like cinnamon forever. I immediately sent my timolino lid to the denture tablets to try and rid the smell. Absolutely worth it though!