New Tasting Notes

From the brunch box.

Another nice grapefruit tisane from Sips by. This has a very realistic sweet-tart-bitter grapefruit flavor to it, along with a bit of an artificial chewable Vitamin C tablet sort of citrus note. It’s quite sweet, I guess it must be from all the candied fruit.

I do think I prefer the Elderflower Grapefruit Nectar from Tiny Bee to this one, just because this is very sweet. But both have nice grapefruit flavor, with just a touch of bitterness.

From the autumn box.

Wow, this is spice overload. It’s a combination of sweet cinnamon flavoring and quite a lot of anise, along with an odd earthy/rooty note from the chicory. None of those are things I dislike per se, it’s just a bit much all together. Plus there are half a dozen other spices mixed in as well.

Too sweet, and too much going on for me. Then again I did use quite a lot of leaf, as I always do. I wish I could taste the oolong or the gunpowder green tea.

I’ve drunk so much of this over the past three weeks. Since I can’t take NSAIDS, herbal remedies are my only anti-inflammatory option short of steroids. Like I said in my Adagio peppermint note, I like their straight herbals better than their teas/blends. This has a good amount of gingery bite and heat, which I like in my ginger tea. Will note here also that I quite enjoyed their candied ginger.

A real sipdown. I dumped all of the remaining packet into the cup, which means about 20% more than recommended, and got the best steep of the whole sample. A nice juicy citrus vibe without being too tart; beautiful ruby red color in the cup.

I see that it’s no longer on the Teamaze website. Seems to me that teas that take tons of leaf to get noticed just don’t sell well, especially when they’re pricey to begin with.

To be honest, I’m usually not a fan of Adagio’s blends or camellia sinensis teas. I just typically find them poorly balanced or on the meh side, respectively. But I’m finding that their straight herbs are pretty good! This peppermint has a clean, crisp taste that made it very easy to finish off the three-serving sample pack. Another last-minute September sipdown from yesterday!

Just noting that this was a sipdown yesterday, just in time for me to be able to make my own tea again. Will have to restock caffeinated DavidsTea teabags with my next order!

Sipdown! (2 | 363)

Saved the best for last ha ha. This is definitely my favorite blend from Mulberry Creek. Woodsy but light, with such a nice combination of bright berry notes, crisp and earthy cedar, and woody honeybush.

Just really well-balanced and perfect for autumn or fall. I see a larger bag in my future… :P

“Lu Ya” brand Hefeng tea
Hubei Hefeng Zhengyuan Tea Factory

Little 5g packet from a hotel in Rongmeizhen, the Hefeng county seat. Brought a packet home and had grandpa style which is customary there. It did have the flavor of the region’s green tea (chestnut and soybean) but was pretty unremarkable; probably old.

The hotel room was more provocative than the tea. A tryst room in a government hotel. How convenient that the large red lights atop the hospital across the street lit the room such a sensual shade. The sheer curtains softly filtered the color of passion onto a painting of a half-naked woman, and below it, the round bed low to the floor with a gold fabric padded headboard curved to fit. I had never slept on a round bed before that. While comfortable, it was difficult to keep the fitted sheet on even without salacious activities.

This tea from the Reddit TTB had terrible packaging – teabags sitting in a thin cardboard box. They’re all dried out and sad looking, but I figured I’d try one anyway. The only ingredient is lemon balm, and it looks like this operation is run from someone’s home, which is fun. I’m drinking it cold, and I’m happy to say that the flavor is actually super fresh and nice. It doesn’t even need sugar. It’s plant-like in just the right way. I’m glad I saved a few bags for later.

Still delicious – picked up from chicago tea house, just too lazy to bother with adding a new tea since it’s essentially this one. lol

For anyone curious, this is “O’ Connor’s cream” but since chicago teahouse is no longer Tea Gschwedneder they have renames a few of their teas. Picked this up a few weeks back on a much needed quick break from the insanity of 16 days away from home for work

Another sipdown, and a likely re-order. need to get through a few of the teas that are close to being done so that i can pick up some more tea if there are any worthwhile sales in November.