nomadinjeopardy Send Message

This is the first Gyokuro I’ve ever tried. It was nice, but not astounding. It tasted like a nice but standard sencha to me. Light, buttery, slightly grassy. I’ll have to try some other Gyokuros to compare. Also, why am I following package instructions lately? It’s not working for me. I went with 2 minutes and this was starting to turn bitter. It would definitely have been nicer starting with shorter infusions.

I am a sucker for group-buying deals related to tea, and so bought a Groupon a while ago for Teaopia that wasn’t a remarkably good deal and that I didn’t really know what to do with. I finally wandered into a Teopia for the first time on the weekend to use it. Entering new tea stores is so overwhelming!

I asked for some popular blends and most didn’t really jump out at me, but this seemed interesting. The title ingredients are pretty unusual and I’ve been on a fresh fig kick lately, so I went for it. I couldn’t tell what I should expect as it just smelled pretty unabashedly sweet. And, the taste pretty much follows suit. I can taste the sencha base, though, which is nice. It did come out a touch bitter at 3 minutes, so I wouldn’t go that long next time. Apart from that, I mostly just get sweet and unexpected flavours. I don’t think I can identify any fig in there, nor the earthiness mentioned in the description. I guess the “cactus” is the lead here, but I don’t know what cactus is supposed to taste like. It does taste like a cactus candy I had a few weeks ago, though. That’s all I’ve got to go on.

Not bad, would probably be great iced.

A lovely Assam! It brewed up dark and bold-looking but is remarkably smooth. Smooth enough that I haven’t added milk as is customary in my morning tea. Malty, astringent, a little woodsy, and a little sweet. I find this one has a lot less of the pepperiness I usually associate with Assams. Depending on my mood I can take or leave that kind of spiciness, so this is a nice surprise. I have another Mangalam Assam (though haven’t had it in a while), but this one seems smoother. Actually I just checked my tasting note for the other and see I commented on it being peppery. Interesting! I don’t know when/what harvest either is from.

There are lots of golden tips in the leaf. Also, it is quite dusty. Why are Assams typically so dusty?

I wandered into Herbal Infusions last night during Nuit Blanche, and they kindly provided me with a couple samples. This one was first to be tried as I was trying to wake up this “morning”. I drew a bath and settled in for a soak with a cup of this.

This is really nice, and a good choice for waking up with after a long night. It’s both refreshing, with the bold flavours, and calming, with the smooth black base. The lime is very potent-smelling in the dry leaf, reminding me of a lime popsicle. Once infused it’s a little more subdued (not much!), and more natural-tasting than I expected from the scent, thanks to the lime peel I imagine. The coconut of course takes a back seat here but it does chime in, lending a sweet creaminess. I can’t help but compare this to DAVIDsTEA’s Cocomama Lime, which I had high hopes for but was disappointed by, so I’m happy that the coconut holds up in the flavour of this one. I think it compares very favourably.

This also did well in a second infusion (I got out of the bath to resteep my tea; is this going too far?), which I tend not to try with my black teas. It was less tart and more sweet and I may have actually preferred the second steep. Final observation: this tea is begging to be made into an alcoholic beverage. Margarita, perhaps?

This was another sample in my order, and gave me the chance to try this hot. I’ve only had it iced from the store. Still really lovely, light, and delicate. The floral and citrus is balanced remarkably well here, I think, as either can tend to be overpowering.

A sample of this came in my recent order, and I gave it a spin this morning. Not bad, but didn’t leave a particularly big impression (however, I ate some kimchi before drinking this and my taste buds were likely overwhelmed). It was nice and refreshing but also a little more peppery than I was wanting. I went on a bit of a Darjeeling streak a couple months ago and perhaps either over-did it or became accustomed to the greener first flush varieties I was drinking.

I think I’m with the consensus here. I was really excited for this one (I bought two packages, shh!) but I’m not really getting either pumpkin or cheesecake from it. At all. It’s still decent and nice with a hearty helping of milk, but not what I expected. Also, I seem to have a thing with the cinnamon in 52Teas teas. I’m not sure why, but the cinnamon in these usually seems sharp and unpleasant to me and it does something weird to my throat. I remember feeling the same about the Apple Vanilla Chai. Also I had a piece of pumpkin pie on the weekend that did the same. But, it hasn’t happened with the other chais and the Cinnamon Roll honeybush as I’d expect it would. For the most part I love and adore cinnamon so this was off-topic and not a well-formed observation, but I don’t really understand what’s going on. Milk in this tames the cinnamon to a very drinkable level.

This one has grown on me. I ordered 50 g and am thinking I might even need to get more before it leaves! With a little coconut milk and maybe even a tiny bit of coconut sugar when I’m feeling indulgent, this is perfect in the evening. The boyfriend is also quite the fan. He likes most teas I put in front of him but can’t tell the difference between them, so this is big!

So, everyone is right and this is a cool tea. It was interesting; such a familiar taste after all my flavoured rooibos blends, but still totally different. Green-tasting but sweet. I think it’ll be fun adding assorted herbs and spices to this one.

So delicious! Water/coconut milk on the stove top. This really blows away all the other chais I own. It’s just so much more potently spicy without being sharp or causing that weird feeling I can get in the back of my throat from cinnamon. I guess it just tastes fresher. I can taste each of the spices and they’re perfectly balanced. The coconut is understated but I love what it adds to this.