New Tasting Notes
I’m new to drinking tea, I’ll readily admit it. When I open my tea and smell it, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be looking for in terms of scents. My nose knows two settings: Good Smell and Bad Smell.
Even so, I was quickly able to tell that this tea is definitely lacking.
“What do you smell?” I asked my boyfriend, who knows even less about teas than I do. “Because I can swear that’s chocolate at the very bottom. Maybe nuts? It’s kinda bland smelling.”
“I don’t think my nose is any better than yours,” he told me. “It just smells kind of run-of-the-mill tea to me. Maybe a little chocolate but it’s faint.”
“Faint” is definitely the word I’d use. Everything about the smell was faint. Even so, I started to steep it.
Aaaand there was not a lot going on. The instructions said to steep a tsp for two minutes at boiling for 6-8oz. (They didn’t say much else, mind you.) The water wasn’t boiling (but close), but I steeped it 3 minutes. I stuck my nose into the mug, but it smelled even fainter now. Maybe straw? If I smelled really hard, I could almost get the scent of chocolate again. I’m fairly sure I was imagining it, though.
It tasted liked it smelled. I could almost smell the malt prior to steeping the tea, but I wasn’t tasting it at all. It was pleasant enough, but nondescript. I didn’t taste any of the subtlety that people cite when talking about oolong. It was just kind of… there. There was almost an aftertaste to it that seemed like it could have been pleasant, but it was faint.
I thought I might have under-brewed it, so I put the tea ball in for another minute before continuing to drink. It certainly tasted stronger, but now it tasted overwhelmingly like straw. Too much brewing?
I had to chuck the whole thing out. I tried brewing the next cup similarly to the first cup, only at four and a half minutes, but all I tasted was water with a hint of tea. Not one for multiple brews, then.
On tossing the contents of the tea ball, I noticed the leaves smelt of damp cardboard. Ugh. Maybe they sell musty tea.
Maybe I’m doing it wrong. And if I am, please correct me. I want to learn! But for me, this tea rates as a mindless drink. Pleasant, but shallow. Alternatively, a good oolong to mix with other teas!
PS – To make sure my and my boyfriend’s noses don’t actually suck at picking up subtlety, I rummaged around the cupboard to sniff our Rishi Chocolate Chai. We could definitely pick up a lot of scents. Sure, we could just suck at picking it up in plain teas, but we don’t have any plain tea to test that theory, apart from the Heavenly Tea Leaves oolong sampler. Mystery for another time.
Preparation
I haven’t the foggiest what’s in this stuff. Lemongrass, because I can see that. And green tea because that’s what it says it is. There are some other leafy bits of some sort mixed in that I don’t know what are. The actual green tea looks rather a lot like this kokeicha I had from Nothing But Tea once, except here they are tiny pellets instead of tiny needles. The kokeicha, for those who wonder, is matcha is made into a dough which is then kneaded and passed through a machine to create these uniform little needles, which are then dried and subsequently brewed same you would regular green tea’
It’s rather dark in colour, but it turns out that although the leaves, the word ‘leaf’ used in the broadest possible interpretation of the term here’ look like kokeicha, they can’t be because they haven’t disintegrated into dust. They just really are this mangled from the beginning, it seems. CTC green? O.o What a travesty.
The aroma is somewhat spicy. There’s definite lemon there, but also notes of something that I can only describe as coffee-ish. I believe my views on the various coffee blends out there are well known. Yuck to the nth degree. Nothing can ruin a good tea like a coffee bean. Just the thought of what happens to a tea if served in a coffee pot. Blech and blech again. There is a reason all the literature out there will advice readers to avoid teashops in which they are also grinding coffee. The aromatic oils of the coffee ruins the tea, there is just no two ways about that. Fact.
So yeah, one thing is coffee notes in a black tea. That’s bad enough. But in a green? Wow, that’s just unthinkable. How is it not punishable by law?
There is also a pseudo-lemon-y note from the lemongrass which I assume is what the ‘citron’ in the name refers to. I have a problem with the use of the word ‘citron’ here. I am aware that this is not danish, but ‘citron’ = ‘lemon’ in danish. As in the actual yellow fruit. So even though I know this is an english languaged tea with a ditto name, and I can’t expect it, that name makes me expect actual real lemons. Not lemongrass or verbena or whatever other pseudo-lemon flavoured stuff you can think up. Certainly not this other weird citrus fruit that the word apparently covers in english. Lemons. I can’t help it. It’s probably because I had never heard of citrons (as in the english meaning) before.
And this is very definitely not lemon
Obviously. It isn’t supposed to be either, is it, but that’s what I, try as I might, can’t help but expect.
The taste of it is a little closer to my expectations than the smell though. The first sip is heavily lemon-y and slightly astringent, so my very first thought was one of relief that I wasn’t about to have something that just totally didn’t come anywhere close to my expectations.
And then halfway through the sip, it turned so bitter I couldn’t swallow it with a straight face. I can’t tell if it’s the flavouring that does that or if it’s the nature of the leaves. I’ll have to experiment a little further with that before I can tell for sure. Right now it tastes like a combination of all of the above.
It’s not very nice. The first bit of the sip, where it still tasted nicely lemon-y, that was pretty good and refreshing, but the bitterness it turns into so quickly is just destroying it so utterly. For something lemon-y and refreshing, I believe I’m way better off sticking to the Lemon Oolong from Nothing But Tea.
I wish I had never bought this. I think it’s related to China Pai Mu Tan. Leaves and the tea looks and behaves the same and I hate both teas. I also think Aloe Vera disagrees with my taste buds. I like citrusy flavors so I don’t think the problem is in grapefruit flavoring or lemon peel. But under the added flavors is the same Pai Mu Tan which I dislike. I’m probably gonna toss this one.
Preparation
So, the only time I’ve had this hot was an in-store sample. They said it was steeped quite lightly and it was alright but I wasn’t a huge fan. The warm + lime kind of bothers me.
I cold-brewed some today and am quite enjoying it. It’s really light and brewing it hot and then icing would lead to a more flavourful tea, but this is really refreshing and tasty and the right amount of lime for me.
Drinking this again this evening (morning). I had treated myself to my first coffee after giving it up for Lent. Needless to say I’ve now found coffee is overrated. So I needed to wash the coffee taste out of my mouth.
So I went for one of my fav. berry teas to enjoy. I love the berry flavor and the soothing feeling it brings.
I was in Tealish buying a Mother’s Day gift and that wall of tins of teas I’ve never tried was too tempting. I decided to explore the rooibos choices and ended up taking a bag of this home. It smelled incredible in the tin.
This smells incredibly tart and potent once steeped, but it was actually quite nice and creamy. A little bit sweet, but with just the right amount of tartness. Very flavourful but smooth and not artificial tasting or chemically. It’s a blend of red and green rooibos but I actually didn’t get any rooibos flavour at all. Just creamy lemon.
I had this in the store today, served cold with tapioca. THIS is my happy place.
In fact, many of my friends would say that it’s bubble tea, specifically that of Ten Ren’ s which started my love affair with looseleaf (I would disagree)
This particular tea, Osmanthus is one I come back to time and again… and for years was the only flower base tea that I ever savoured. It has such delicate notes that draw me in… so much so that I don’t even realize half the cup is gone until someone points it out to me.
I love how it smells like a floral bouquet, yet tastes more like candied flowers instead… not all sharp, pungent, or bitter the way I find Jasmine and Lavender can be. It reminds me of magnolias, which also happen to be my favourite flower.
Funny how memory can link things like that together dont’cha think? :)
Finishing off the last that I have of this tea. You can read my full-length review of it here:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/04/22/formosa-mingjian-green-tea-from-aurateas/
This is an amazing tea. Very floral, very aromatic, with a silky mouth feel and mellow flavor. I picked this up in San Francisco over the Christmas holiday, and wasn’t letting myself open it until we moved in to the new house.
I’m so glad I decided to treat myself today – this is lovely.
Bought this on a whim when I had a cold a few years back. It has depth in its mintyness from the combination of eucalyptus, peppermint, and menthol extract. Somehow they added 60% DV of vitamin C, and 50% DV of zinc. The tea is… medicinal. The stevia leaves in it add a little sweetness which is slightly off-putting for me, but this is the tea I always reach for when I’m sick, not especially for the taste, but for the blend of medicinal ingredients and the comfort of old habits.
Preparation
Know as the Five Color Tea. First time I had this tea tea was at tea tasting at the the Tea Haus in Ann Arbor. Love it then still do now. A slight woodsy taste with fruity undertones. This is even after brewing several times.
Preparation
Yesterday, a friend and I tried the mini high tea at Adonia Tea House in Vancouver, BC. It’s a quaint little place with a 2 page menu of teas and very delicious little sandwiches and desserts. Once we were done, I bought the chai that I had there and this latte macchiato tea to try at home.
The ingredients listed are black tea, coffee, yogurt crispies and flavouring. The yogurt crispies freaked me out a little, but it turned out that they’re “flakes” of yogurt. Another thing…if you’re a tea house that’s selling loose tea on the side, it’s a very good idea to label the amount of tea to be steeped and the steeping time.
Turns out that this tea is really, really good. Only a slight hint of coffee and a nice creaminess from the yogurt flakes. It really does taste like a latte version of black tea, even with just a tiny bit of added milk and a teaspoon of sugar (because I wanted something sweet).
I’m really curious about if this tea is imported from Germany as is, or if the tea house makes this blend in house. It’s all repackaged with the store branding, so I can’t figure out who the original manufacturer is.
Preparation
Gorgeous! The leaves are obviously fresh, as they’re that lovely deep emerald green colour you only find with really fresh green tea. It also tastes amazing – as only fresh green tea can. A little bit sweet, a little bit creamy even, and re-steepable. Delicious.
Preparation
This blend is genius. Seriously. My husband saw me with a bag of tea with actual marshmallows in it and said “So have you officially given up on drinking real tea?” I had to explain that the marshmallows scared me at first too- but that this was genmaicha, and that the toastiness of the genmaicha (it has toasted rice in it) works remarkably well with the marshmallow. As I explained, he considered the notion and agreed that he could see how it might, just maybe work.
I love this one. It’s an utterly surprising blend- the sweet and the nutty/toasty genmaicha go really well together. The sweetness of the melted marshmallows really is very mild- I don’t sweeten my teas and it’s acceptable for me :) This is truly, truly creative. Bravo!
