75
drank Warm Maple Cream by 52teas
1217 tasting notes

I normally won’t brew anything caffeinated after 6 pm, but since this is a houjicha/white mixed base, I’m hoping it won’t carrying enough oomph to ruin my sleep schedule. It sounded like the perfect companion to the slice of tiramisu I got for dessert for my Festivus Feast tonight (I ordered a big ol’ Garlic Roasted Chicken pizza, topped with lots of veggies and basil! It was delicious and I have leftovers for days! The kitty got a salmon dinner wet food.)

My whole kitchen picked up the aroma of warm maple as this steeped. I smell maple and a wonderful, warm cardamom aroma wafting off my new “Merry Everything” mug I was gifted with some edible goodies from my workplace (I can’t help but think I’m the reason they gave everyone “Merry Everything” mugs as I’m fairly certain I’m the only employee that doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but honestly finally feeling that little bit of inclusion after all these years really touched me!)

The base is surprisingly not as full/roasty as I was expecting, so perhaps it is much ligher in houjicha than I thought, or maybe this spoonful just didn’t have a very good distribution. Mostly I just taste maple and cardamom, which is a lovely flavor combination (I still miss the Coconut French Toast with Cardamom Maple Syrup tea, and don’t know how I miss getting it into the advent teabox vote every single year…) There is a very mellow woody/nutty flavor in the background. Warm and pleasing, and it does pair nicely this with sticky, sweet tiramisu. Man, I haven’t had a slice of tiramisu in years, it feels so indulgent!

Flavors: Cardamom, Maple, Maple Syrup, Nutty, Spices, Sweet, Wood

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 12 OZ / 350 ML
Mastress Alita

My cuppa this morning (made with double leaf and slightly more water — 6g to 500ml) is even better than the one last night, so I think ingredient distro definitely played a factor! Mainly, it looked like the cinnamon sunk to the bottom and got hidden by the bulk white tea leaves, and now that I have some of that in the cup, I definitely am tasting both spices with the maple. Not really getting any different flavor from the base, but it just feels fuller/thicker in mouthfeel this morning, as well.

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Mastress Alita

My cuppa this morning (made with double leaf and slightly more water — 6g to 500ml) is even better than the one last night, so I think ingredient distro definitely played a factor! Mainly, it looked like the cinnamon sunk to the bottom and got hidden by the bulk white tea leaves, and now that I have some of that in the cup, I definitely am tasting both spices with the maple. Not really getting any different flavor from the base, but it just feels fuller/thicker in mouthfeel this morning, as well.

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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