66
drank Coconut Cumin Chai by 52teas
6105 tasting notes

I should have shaken up the bag before I scooped out this tea… not tasting any cumin, and I wonder if that’s why. The coconut is just starting to go off, but this is still pretty drinkable; however, I’m just not getting enough chai from it. Like, it’s weak enough that I feel it would be completely overwhelmed by milk. It’s also feeling a bit astringent to me, which I’m not a big fan of.

Some quick research tells me that this tea is at least 3 years old, so that’s probably partially why it’s not as flavourful as it could be, but I feel like it may not have quite been the chai blend of my dreams that I had hoped it would be. Have about a cup of this left, so will endeavour to finish it off quickly, and re-rate if indeed I can get more flavour out of it.

52Teas

This one is nearly 4 years old – I remember it was sometime in the fall/winter of our first year. :)

52Teas

And yeah, shaking it probably would have delivered more cumin flavor as the toasted cumin seeds would be responsible for delivering the cumin flavor. I remember this tea pretty vividly because I was a little worried that the amount of cumin might freak people out a bit – I love cumin and this was really heavily cumin – I toasted the seeds and crushed them in the mortar. And it was really strong. However, since it was fresh spices that were delivering the flavor, because this is nearly 4 years old, I would think that some of the spices would have lost their impact by now. :(

I’m sorry that the flavor didn’t work out for you.

Kittenna

They can’t all be winners! We’ll see what cup #2 is like, which will happen soon because coconut. Reading other reviews, I’m fairly certain age has had a big impact on the spices here. I wish I could remember exactly what I thought of it when I first tried it! (I do have a large stash of unposted tasting notes that I jotted down at work, and I’m hoping that I wrote about some teas I otherwise have nothing for!)

derk

Interesting. This is a coconut tea I could get behind.

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52Teas

This one is nearly 4 years old – I remember it was sometime in the fall/winter of our first year. :)

52Teas

And yeah, shaking it probably would have delivered more cumin flavor as the toasted cumin seeds would be responsible for delivering the cumin flavor. I remember this tea pretty vividly because I was a little worried that the amount of cumin might freak people out a bit – I love cumin and this was really heavily cumin – I toasted the seeds and crushed them in the mortar. And it was really strong. However, since it was fresh spices that were delivering the flavor, because this is nearly 4 years old, I would think that some of the spices would have lost their impact by now. :(

I’m sorry that the flavor didn’t work out for you.

Kittenna

They can’t all be winners! We’ll see what cup #2 is like, which will happen soon because coconut. Reading other reviews, I’m fairly certain age has had a big impact on the spices here. I wish I could remember exactly what I thought of it when I first tried it! (I do have a large stash of unposted tasting notes that I jotted down at work, and I’m hoping that I wrote about some teas I otherwise have nothing for!)

derk

Interesting. This is a coconut tea I could get behind.

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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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