New Tasting Notes

Sigh, this tea is almost gone and such an excellent tea. Smooth with caramel notes and so easy to drink. I wonder how much the golden monkeys get paid to pick it.

Hubby and I had these while shopping at our local Target. I tried mine with no water, and it was quite creamy. I think it’s much more spicy when it has water added. I think I’ll keep drinking it that way. Or just keep drinking my full leaf bags at home with a splash of cream and a packet of splenda. I haven’t found a loose chai blend I like better than their full leaf yet. I’ve tried a few, just haven’t tried Rishi or Samovar’s yet.

Yum!

This tea is really great!
It has a strong but smooth taste with an earthy aroma.
Does not need anything added to it at all. Taste great as is.
Lives up to the great reviews others have given it.
Thanks to Jenny for sending this to me:-)

This tea turns very buttery when iced. Or maybe I just didn’t notice it when I last drank it hot. Buttery is not something I really enjoy in my greens, I haven’t found a time where I crave that attribute. Iced really brings out the buttery notes, just not what I was craving from these flavors. Oh, well, on to the next one.

Wonderful smell! The scent is full of the aroma of berries. Watching the tea bag infuse in my glass teapot was also exciting as you could actually see the dark tea steeping out into the water.
The taste left something to be desired. It tasted much more like leaves (and not tea leaves either). The berry taste simply was not as prominent as I was expecting.

Had this today at work – I’m on call! Ugh. Used the hot water from the coffee machine. Not bad, an I got to drink some tea as opposed to coffee.

Update: I HAVE FOUND THE SECRET RECIPE, MASTER! MASTER, IT IS ALIVE!
[/end Frankenstein’s Igor voice] …Ahem. Yes, I am odd.

Try this so-called tea, double bagged, in combination with Tazo’s Decaffeinated Chai, a little half & half, and some Splenda. The inscription of “herbal supplement” on the box should really mean “do not drink this without real tea,” because if you pair it with a strong black, then I don’t think it’s not half bad, kiddles!

Great this morning with a chai honey stick. :)

It is what it is. Strong, robust, malty, and caffeinated. Cream and sugar round out the flavor. It goes down easy, and is helping me to stay awake this morning. Kept the bags in the teapot, and the tea did not get bitter which is a major plus. Yes flavor is an important factor, however I’m willing to bet loyal drinkers of this tea do so for strength and systematic buzz to keep them going. Happy to be balancing my cupboard with dependable heavy caffeinators. Love the effectiveness of this tea. :)

Using this weekend to (once again) focus on finishing up drips and drabs of teas that I have tucked everywhere. This is the third one I have managed to finish off since yesterday. Gotta clean out the pantry some so I can buy more tea!

I wish I could taste a bit more Keemun in this one. I think I’d like it more then. Not a bad afternoon type tea but I think Lupicia’s Afternoon Tea definitely wins.

I love Puer and this one is particularly good. pressed into a brick for countless infusions. I think I’m still infused from last night

This tastes like a natural raspberry that I’s sweet yet abit tart with a pleasant green tea,

Savoring Jackee’s sweetness again, this morning. I wonder if this is a blend of Keemun teas or just a single estate or varietal? Something about this is special. I never knew I could appreciate a seemingly simple black tea as much as this! My eyes have been opened to the possibilities! I am currently in frantic acquisition mode ordering more Keemun teas to compare against this gold standard.

Mokalbari Estate was my morning black tea today. A strong Indian tea with a heady and delicious taste, I could recommend this as a reliable daily morning brew. The resteep help up and was strong but not bitter, even though I gave it a couple of extra minutes.

In very broad strokes, I tend to think of a new tea in four broad categories: 1) intoxicating and I want to reorder it immediately, 2) very impressive and I’ll keep it on my list to reorder. I want to drink it again, 3) What’s all the fuss about? This tea is OK, but I don’t get the rave reviews or the outpourings of adoration. I can live without it, and finally 4) What fresh hell is this? What travesty has ended up in my mouth?

Mokalbari Estate is certainly a 2. It inspires me to try more Indian tea and to move away from drinking too much tea that has Count Chocula, Froot Loops, and Kiwi Pineapple Breadpudding Wine overtones.

The American Tea Room provides really speedy service. I know that I’ve said it before, but it bears mentioning again.

I’m trying this tea whilst sitting beside the Serpentine within Hyde Park. As I sit I’m watching the swans preen themselves, people riding horses on the far bank and listening to the Queens Guard bellow orders in the distance.

It’s a brisk morning and my partner and I needed a warm cup of tea to warm our bones. Earl Grey (my favorite) should do the trick.

The first time I tried this tea I found that although a balanced tea it is, it lacks the ompf I’ve come to expect from my Earl Greys. After brewing longer it’s starting to come out but it’s not quite there. In saying that I do enjoy it as it’s a ‘pure’ example of Earl Grey. It’s unadultered by citrus, rose and anything else they care to add.

It also is nice for an organic as most I find are selling karma not tea but that’s an aside.

Despite the fact I’m sure my enjoyment of the tea is biased by the cold and locale I’d still rate it highly. In short a good traditional tea in a country built on both tradition and tea.

Got a box of this from a friend as starbucks was clearing out their old stash to make way for the new one. I am still trying to wrap my pallet around this one. I can’t seem to get it to taste like anything other than a generic black tea. I think I may have over steeped this because it was on the slightly bitter side even after I sweetened it with my usual rock sugar. I am going to keep trying and adding milk and lessening the steep time.

Not really an ‘experiment’ this time, per se, but a quick cup. This weekend has been an end-to-end slog of geekery of the highest order, capped off, two nights in a row, with a night out at a noisy bar with about 12 other people all conversing over the noise, and then a drunken collapse into bed (alone, not with 12 other people).

I am hoarse. I am raw. I’m exhausted. And I am about to do it for night #3.

No time to make a full chai, I steeped 1 teaspoon of Samurai Chai Mate and 1 teaspoon of Samovar’s Masala Chai (which I have mysteriously not written a tasting note for, yet?) in a quick 16oz. of water, and threw a tiny bit of milk and sugar at it. I need the caffeine from the mate if I’m going to survive.

Reminds me, as it usually does, of a holiday tea. I’m at a point where I think I really need to get some yerba mate that isn’t dressed up as a chai so that I can try it alone, prepared in a gourd and all of that good stuff. I’m not sure I’ll like it, but there’s no denying that the impact of the caffeine from mate kicks the pants off of the caffeine from almost anything else I’ve tried (though I did manage to get an interesting, refreshingly mellow mood lift from the pu-erh I’ve been drinking, after prolonged periods of sipping — something I can thank takgoti for pointing out).

Anyway…today, back to the con. One last day, one friend’s b-day dinner, and then rest…sweet, sweet rest.

The dry Sencha, toasted rice and corn are powdered with Matcha and have a vegetal/grainy aroma. The lime-green infusion has the toasty aroma and flavor of grains, a bit sweeter in taste, less vegetal than some greens. More brothy in subsequent infusions; the Matcha diminishes, of course, but the remaining Sencha remains smooth and tasty. A keeper!

My sister gave me this tea as she was emptying her apartment and moving out. I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it. You can taste the peppermint and cinnamon very distinctly. Its really yummy.
Its a bit strong though, so i have to be very careful about the steeping time. Tastes yummy with sugar.

Wonder what anyone else thinks!

I was trying to arrange my tea tins into some semblance of order, and my husband came over to sniff at the tins. He loved the smell of this one, so I made a pot. Mmmmmm. Yummy oolong and burnt sugar. In no way cloying. I usually have this one at work, but I’m finding it’s a great lazy sunday tea. I am going to keep the leaves in my teapot and keep brewing throughout the day!

EDIT: After writing this tasting note, I realized that I had two papers to finish – no way was I having a lazy sunday! So I threw some water over the leaves and cold brewed it until dinner time. It’s very tasty cold! Sweet and a little nutty, a little floral. I prefer it hot, but if I ever get busy and can’t do more hot steeps, I will certainly do this again! This tea is too good to not take advantage of the multiple steeps :)

Wow! I now know why they say you will either like this tea or you will not. BIG smoky flavor! So smoky that you will not taste the tea in the first infusion. Oh, but the second, third, and fourth infusions are great !!! After the fourth infusion, you really don’t get much out of it. I began by brewing this 3 minutes at 185°, which is not as recommended. The recommended temp is 212°, which is fine if you like astringent tea. I do not like astringency, so I cut the temp to about 195° and that seemed to be perfect for me. I would suggest that if you try this tea and you do not mind the taste, but just find it to be too overwhelming, toss your first steep and try it at the second or third steep.