drank Shamrock Tea by 52teas
6111 tasting notes

I’m valiantly trying to get through my swap samples from everyone to get a bit of a handle on my tea stash! It’s crazy, really. My roommates were contemplating an intervention of sorts, where they were going to lay all my tea out on the dining room table and invite people over to take some away so I’m not so overwhelmed. I think it’s just a plot to steal my tea >.>

Anyways, I decided to go for a one-cup sample tonight, so I can “remove something from my cupboard”! Woo! Missy and Dylan were lovely and sent me just the one cup’s worth of this (and a couple other 52teas mint blends) I asked for, because I’m always willing to try one cup, but don’t want to waste someone’s tea if I don’t like it, and mint is one of my least favourite flavours (but I’m just so darn curious!) Also, it’s nice to “finish something off” – need to feel good about something, since I’m sitting here alone in my house (roommates out dancing… I was too tired earlier) being all depressed about being single after over 4.5 years of being with my boyfriend (we broke up nearly 4 weeks ago… I am far from over it). :(

Sob story over. Onto the tea.

The aroma is pretty pepperminty. Enough pepperminty to make me wrinkle my nose and go “egh”. I don’t have high hopes, but I’ll drink this one cup at least (barring it being absolutely disgusting!) Ok… first sip, definitely very peppermint. I can taste spearmint too, which I have less of a problem with, and luckily there’s a really nice creaminess in there as well to negate some of the icky peppermintness. I’m not tasting any green tea at all though, so this is really coming off as more of an herbal tea. I must say though, this is definitely not a tea for me. Drinkable, yes, and the creaminess redeems it a bit (I love creamy), but I reaaaaally don’t care for intense peppermint flavour, and there’s just too much of that. I would drink it if offered though, and would be surprised if any peppermint tea-lover didn’t enjoy this! Withholding a rating because my peppermint bias would lower it to somewhere in the 60s, perhaps, and I think this is more of an 80s tea.

ETA: Second infusion (82C/4? min) loses most of the redeeming creaminess. Don’t think I’ll finish this one.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Erin

huuuuug i broke up from a long-term relationship about 6 or 7 weeks ago, so i know how you feel :(

Kittenna

hugs back Yeah, it’s pretty crappy, isn’t it :( I remembered reading about someone who had, but the name hadn’t stuck in my mind.

TeaBrat

Wah! i hope you feel better soon. It sucks but you will be okay. I got over a marriage of over 12 years a while ago and that was not very much fun. Take care of yourself…

Kittenna

I am also hoping things get better… it has been pretty tough so far. I’m sorry you had to go through something like that too (although now you’ve completely thrown into question my judgment of your age, as I definitely thought you were in your 20s, but that now seems unlikely :) )

TeaBrat

lmao – I’ll be 44 in August!

Kittenna

Haha, whoops :D Guessing ages is not my forté. Take it as a compliment?

ScottTeaMan

Finally…….logged on-ssooo slow!

Krystaleyn, I can see why you’d assume that. Just looking at Amy’s pic and her shiny coat, she does appear to take good care of herself. :))

Kittenna

Seriously, I never would have guessed beyond early 30s, even seeing pictures…

tigress_al

Oh no. Break ups suck :(

Kittenna

Oops, sorry tigress_al – this must have been a case of a post bumping up because I edited it. Luckily this was over a year ago, and I’m now happily dating someone else :)

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Comments

Erin

huuuuug i broke up from a long-term relationship about 6 or 7 weeks ago, so i know how you feel :(

Kittenna

hugs back Yeah, it’s pretty crappy, isn’t it :( I remembered reading about someone who had, but the name hadn’t stuck in my mind.

TeaBrat

Wah! i hope you feel better soon. It sucks but you will be okay. I got over a marriage of over 12 years a while ago and that was not very much fun. Take care of yourself…

Kittenna

I am also hoping things get better… it has been pretty tough so far. I’m sorry you had to go through something like that too (although now you’ve completely thrown into question my judgment of your age, as I definitely thought you were in your 20s, but that now seems unlikely :) )

TeaBrat

lmao – I’ll be 44 in August!

Kittenna

Haha, whoops :D Guessing ages is not my forté. Take it as a compliment?

ScottTeaMan

Finally…….logged on-ssooo slow!

Krystaleyn, I can see why you’d assume that. Just looking at Amy’s pic and her shiny coat, she does appear to take good care of herself. :))

Kittenna

Seriously, I never would have guessed beyond early 30s, even seeing pictures…

tigress_al

Oh no. Break ups suck :(

Kittenna

Oops, sorry tigress_al – this must have been a case of a post bumping up because I edited it. Luckily this was over a year ago, and I’m now happily dating someone else :)

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Profile

Bio

I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

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