New Tasting Notes

This one smells really sweet as it steeps. There is a goldish color to the liquid. I can smell the papaya and really want to just eat it out of the cup. The taste is very smooth with a little tang to it. There’s a lot going on, at least it seems there is but all of it is really yummy. So glad I opted to get some!

I don’t know why people here judge this brand of iced tea because, overall, this isn’t tea. It’s basically a refreshing drink with extracts of tea flavored ice fishing. Anyway, Nestea is an inescapable easy to find. When I’m too lazy to go to the grocery store, I stop at the corner store to buy some Nestea bottles. It tastes the same as Brisk but you don’t say anything about it because it’s a Lipton brand. That’s it.

What’s this? A tea not from Paris? No, this one’s from London. I suppose this one is a little unusual for me recently; I mean, I like apples, but I don’t currently have any apple teas. In fact, a spiced apple tea was the very first tea that I drank and what allowed me to get into tea, but I haven’t drank any in quite a while. I’m not sure what it was about this tea that made me buy a bag of it at this shop (well, I’m guessing it was the aroma, but I’m not sure why an apple tea called to me that day). I think I was intrigued also by a non-spiced apple tea, since so many of them seem to be. The dried leaves are indeed full of hunks of apples and small pieces of strawberry leaves. It smells like warm, sweet, juicy apples, not bright crisp tart ones. It almost seems like there’s a caramelized or brown sugar aroma to it, like a baked apple (but not one baked with spices, just baked!)

The brewed tea has much more of a black tea aroma to it with an underlying appley sweetness. The taste is nicely appley in a juicy way, but it’s not overly flavored. It mostly tastes like a black tea with a bit of apple. There’s a warmth to the tail end of the sip, again kind of like a baked apple flavor, and a bit of what reminds me of apple skins. It’s a well-rounded apple flavor that works nicely with the black tea. And, since it’s summer and I can’t stop thinking about iced tea, I bet it would be really good iced as well.

Yep, I ordered tea from India on a Friday and it arrives Tuesday morning as I’m trying to decide which tea to start the day with.

This smelled delicious and appropriate for helping me get productive after an unofficial long weekend of lounging and birthday celebrations. It’s quite tippy and brewed up a lovely dark ambery brown. It’s nice and deep and malty and very smooth on its own but I couldn’t help adding a little milk a few sips into it.

This smells awesome prior to infusion/steeping. Great mix of berries and plum scents were coming through before I added the water. Major blackberry smell coming from my cup post infusion/steeping. I’m not really tasting the mint or apple. There’s always a fix for that add some more! I really like this. Very refreshing and it will hopefully get me to 4pm. If not there’s always the Oolong I have too!

My sweetheart told me that a friend of him drinks four cans of it a day because, first, it tastes really good and, second, you get all the vitamins C you need by doing it. Personnally, I think that this drink is very refreshing. The ginseng and the honey together give an aftertaste of tobacco, but it’s perfect like that! And all above this, my kitsch side, the design with the blossoms is really cute!

I received this as a sample with my latest ATR order. It seemed very interesting, very citrusy. By far, the strongest scent in the dry tea was the orange. It wasn’t a pleasant scent, but instead reminded me of orange flavored cough syrup. I was a bit worried…

165/2 min. – Definitely the orange takes center stage. (Reminds me of the liqueur Cointreau.) The taste mirrors the scent. Orange, orange, orange… and lemon. The citrus flavors are so overpowering that I cannot taste the bai mu dan at all. I was worried that the flavor would be a lot like Cointreau or orange cough syrup, but it is very smooth and not medicinal at all. As it cools down, it becomes quite nice. Frankly, this tea would make a great tea for those who are nursing a cold. It screams comfort, but in a sick way. (Now that didn’t come out correctly. Hm.)

Thanks, Ricky, for this tea in my Hoppitea surprise! (And after reading your review for it… gee, thanks a lot.) ;)

Dry the tea smells slightly tart. It’s a fresh green, with a hint of ginger. 165/1.5 min. The steeped tea is somewhat cloudy. I can definitely pick up on the lemon scent. It’s the most pronounced flavor in the taste as well. The ginger is there, but it’s very light. It would be nice if it were a bit stronger. The green, however, is really good. It’s a leafy taste. The lemons pairs well with it. This is a terrific afternoon pick-me-up tea. Very nice.

I ordered the sample of this again – this is my third time! The first time I bought it I thought it was far too strong! I didn’t think I would ever develop a taste for something like this. The second time I thought it was good, with lots of cocoa notes. This time I am not really enjoying it. I added milk and sugar after realizing that it wasn’t growing on me. It was a tad bitter, and I think I may actually have oversteeped it since I was making three pots of tea at once. (Daughters want different tea from each other and me!) I will try it again tomorrow side by side with Hao Ya B and see what happens, and I will be more careful this time!

I’ve been one entire summer to drink this tea in cans. I bought almost two packs of twelve cans a week. It was a drug, litterally. For the ones who want to try it, you won’t regret it. But I got enough of it and I saw a big difference in my bank account thereafter. It’s totally addictive!

I found my tin of this towards the back of my cupboard, I forgot I had it. I call this tea the “Shrek” tea due its color and its name. Nice tart fruity taste, very enjoyable tea.

I’m usually unimpressed with Twinings. This may be the favorite I’ve tried from Twinings but ONLY because it is a chai tea. But the black tea here is weak. The cinnamon is stronger, but it doesn’t even seem like a real cinnamon. And the ingredients even list an ‘artificial vanilla’. What does that mean? There isn’t much vanilla here anyway. And it leaves sort of a starchy filmy taste in my mouth! There is another odd flavor too.

I’m so excited about all of the new teas I have to taste and rate! The every lovely QuiltGuppy was kind enough to send me a cash of super exciting teas to sample. All I sent her was a scoby to get her started brewing kombucha, so I think it’s clear who’s the big winner here. I’m the big winner!!!!

Is it any surprise that the first tea I decide to try is a fruity black? Nope. I’m nothing if not predictable. Passion Fruit Black Tea from thepuriTea is just lovely! It has a vivid passion fruit flavor without having a perfume taste that can sometimes accompany lesser quality tropical fruit teas. The black tea is strong but very smooth. I’m drinking it hot with my breakfast, but I suspect that it will taste even better iced. Thank you QuiltGuppy :)

This was not bad. It’s a little like a few other ‘butter’ or ‘cream’ flavored black teas that I’ve had, but it does have a nice smooth taste. There is some sort of aftertaste that I wasn’t crazy about. The aftertaste was a bit smokey. Maybe it was the way I steeped it.

This one has a zingy gingery lemon zest quality, especially on the finish. The straw colored liquor has a touch of green to it. Aroma of sweet nectar, floral qualities, but decidedly graham-crackery sweet smelling. On the palate it has some astringency, not as smooth as the other samples…the acidity is also coming through much more…the green grassy notes as well, almost like sorrel. Also an almondy nutty note. Not quite what I’m looking for with a green oolong, but the acidity is fascinating. The differences between the samples is amazing.

2nd infusion
Not as candy like but darn good! Flavorful! Sweet and creamy…not as buttery tho…
Still Great!

My go to day to day steep, of all my greens, this one is the most drinkable. Trying to conserve my Pu-erh reserves.

Also known as ‘tung ting’ or ‘frozen summit’ this is a wonderful tea from Nantou area of Taiwan ( a varietal export from the Wu Yi mountains in China) and one of my favorites (that I always keep in stock). This is the first time I’ve had chance to sample this tea from a direct Taiwanese importer like Naivetea, having usually gotten this from other sources. I am used to this tea having a very rich, buttery, vegetal sweetness with a deep, sweet and clean undertone. So I saved this sample for the last after having gone through an amazing sample box kindly sent to me by this company. I wanted to make my last cup from this beautiful gift woven with one of my favorite teas.

Dong Ding Oolong ~ naivetea
Dry Aroma: rich, intense nose, elements of toasted wood, soft smoky hint, and buttery vegitables that causes the palate to salivate
Wet Aroma: woody spicy and smokyness, deep vegetal and puffed rice
Appearance: Dark olive green, tightly rolled (almost pinhead gunpowder) leaves with some hints at orange/copper stems – a much tighter roll then I usually associate with this tea.
Cup:
1st extraction: A deep luster of rich honey yellow and green umber hued liqour. A smooth, butter sweet creamy body, clean- refreshing finish with layers of wood, toasted rice, and hints of kiwi flesh. Sweet lingering finish and without astrigency. Steeped for 3 minutes in 190 degree water.
2nd: a resonate yellow-green olive oil color. Toasted, woody, spicy notes with a finishing sweetness. Very expressive and layered with clean, full bodied finish. Steeped for 4 minutes in 180 degree water.
3rd: deep green olive with nearly cat-eye orange-yellow color. notes of toasted bamboo, vegetal spicy, fleshy fruit mouthfeel, and developing astringency. Steeped in 170 degree water for 6 minutes.
4th: pale yellow extraction. Soft Genmaicha/Hojicha taste with body still present and mild flavor and color. Steeped in 170 degree water for 8 minutes. The leaves are when fully hydrated are much smaller, curved and the stems much thinner and twisted then I’ve seem from this tea. The leaves color is very dark green and seem very well picked and crafted.
My final comments are that this is a wonderful tea and very worth the purchase. It seems to be very well cared for in its processing and its oxidation and is amazingly uniform in its final dried shape. I normally relish the rich buttery, deep vegetal flavors I get from ‘frozen summit’ teas and so was a bit surprised by the almost puffed rice/toasted/smoky flavors, but the overall balance succeeded in making this a great tea, just not what I usually expect from this region and this style of tea.
Many Kudo’s to the people out at Naivetea for their amazing gift and I look forward to more from them.

Method: 3grams of tea in a 6 oz traditional Taiwanese gawian.

I should also say, that considering this tea varietal is from Wu Yi Mountains in China, I have to admit this is probably the first time I have tasted distinctly this link…the flavors were very similar to some I would expect from teas from both regions…very neat.

I’m super stoked on this tea. Ive been looking for it ever since I first tasted it 3 years ago. The longer you steep it the better it gets. I kind of wish I knew who makes it since I got it at a small Tea Shop in Canada and I doubt they mix it themselves.

Found a bit of this sample left yesterday, and made a brilliant batch of tea brewed up with osmanthus blossoms. Fruity delight.

Still one of the best teas that I have had, to date.