98 Tasting Notes
Made a cup of this tonight…it’d been a while and I needed something cozy. It’s quite nice—I appreciated that the cinnamon didn’t burn my mouth like with some other ones (Bengal Spice if you let it go too long). It’s sweet, but not as sweet as some other cinnamon teas (once again, I’m looking at you, Bengal Spice). I’m going to try to resteep this to see if I can get good results like others have. Mmmm.
Preparation
Brewed some of this up for class this afternoon…during most of the class it was too hot to drink because it was in my double-walled mug (which is uber great, by the way), so I spent most of the class time holding the open mug under my nose, alternately blowing on the tea and deeply inhaling. I started to realize that this smells like Thin Mints (my mom’s favorite Girl Scout cookie), and as I sipped the delicious peppermintiness I thought about combining it with some Azteca Fire. So I scampered back to my room and did just that. Boiling water for the Azteca Fire, steeped it 10 min, adding the bag of Candy Cane Lane when it was about 175 F. Each tea steeped about 10 min each.
Still too hot to drink, but I’m saving it for dessert in the aforementioned mug. I tasted a teeny bit and…omgomgomg. I never type like that, so this is notable…this is the most heavenlydelicioussweettasticamazing thing I have ever tasted. aaaahhhhhhhh. Candy Cane Lane is still on sale for 2/$5 at the co-op…
I think I’ll get some more to hoard.
Preparation
Got this with my Green Sampler from TeaSource when I decided to try a bunch of greens on a whim. Since green tea has never been my favorite, I thought I should work on acquiring the taste! I really enjoy TeaSource’s Popped Rooibos, which has toasted rice in it (as well as almond brittle, which makes it all taste caramely), and the girl working there, one of my favorite people, recommended I try Genmaicha. She gave me a sample of it too—now, in addition to my sample from the pack, I have another one. Yay! Anyway, the actual tea…
Smells like popcorn dry. (As a college student, I’ve smelled a lot of popcorn…) Roasty, a tad burnt in a nice way, blended together with a fresh green-smelling note from the tea. I like how one smell doesn’t overpower the other dry. When it starts steeping, the roasty smell takes over, and upon sipping, I feel the roastiness all over my mouth, followed by a fresh, slightly sweet green tea taste. It’s delicious and savory, and it’s just what I was looking for this morning. Can’t wait to steep it a second time!
Preparation
It’s that time of year…got excited when I saw the holiday CS display at the co-op and picked some of this up to try. Opened up the box—got a heady whiff of gingery spices, something that smelled, somehow, like Asian food (maybe it’s the mix of the ginger and the barley?), and cookies. I was intrigued. I’ve had good spiced teas from Celestial Seasonings that smelled a little odd dry, so I continued on. While the tea was steeping, I scanned the comments on Steepster, and after doing so I was kind of prepared to not like this for all of the reasons people posted—weird barley taste, watery tasting, etc. Also, I tried an herbal this summer that was just plain roasted barley and was disgusted. (I may have to give it another try. That, or cook the barley.) I started to sip and was very very pleasantly surprised! This is a nice blend of spices, not overpowered by the taste of cinnamon red hots like some other spiced teas, has a very true gingerbread cookie aroma (just sniffed the empty mug…mmmm), and has a lingering sweetness that remains between sips. I can still taste it…and that quality is one of the most important to me in a tea—that I can taste it even when I’m not drinking it. This is a nice, light, sweetly spicy blend…a lovely holiday excursion in a cup.
Preparation
Finishing a paper, so I busted out the black tea (that seems to be a pattern). I love the smell of this…it swirls around me with coziness and makes me feel like it’s Christmas from last year (which was the best Christmas of my life so far, by the way). Just sipping it now, so many memories come flooding back. Tasty. I love this tea.
Preparation
This was part of my TeaSource Green Sampler. I decided on a green this morning, and I had smelled this one far more often than was necessary, so I decided to finally try it. What a fantastic, fruity, tangy aroma…this needs no sweetener, by the way; it’s perfect as it is. I was a little concerned the “tartness” it advertises would be more like the super-super-sour feeling that I get when I try teas that claim to be tart. But no—this was just nice, fruity goodness, and the smooth, tasty green really comes through here. A perfectly flavored green tea—which I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. A great way to start my day—I’ll be getting this again.
Oh, and this re-steeps like a pro.
