New Tasting Notes

Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure! Zeitfliesst doesn’t care for this so he passed it on to me. I love both carameled and sour apples so I’m on an endless quest for teas flavored as such. The trick; however, is that I don’t care for black based flavored teas and they are more common than green or white based flavored teas. I definitely realize that everyone’s taste in tea is different, but there are a few (like Ricky’s cocomint/nail polish comparison LOL) that I just can’t fathom or understand… someone not liking this is another. Oh well, maybe I’ll understand by the end of my cuppa.

As soon as I opened the tin I can smell both the caramel and the apple… infact mom said she could smell it steeping from the other end of our house. Because of the flavorings I decided to measure this by volume (1 heaping tsp) instead of weight. Infact, it smells so good I decide to skip the steeping all together and just grab a spoon… lol! Kidding. It’s tempting, but I decide to steep it anyway. I didn’t have any steeping suggestions, so I just used the general “here, this is a green tea” suggestion. I’m further questioning what could possibly be wrong w/ this tea…

The liquor is kinda cloudy due to the flavorings and the aroma is almost as strong as the raw leaf.

Craaappp… So this is what he was talking about! Have you ever been so excited to try a tea that when it failed to meet your expectations you were almost brought to tears? This is one of them. This tea is bitter. But, and this is a 1st for me, it’s bitter and weak. Weird. Don’t get me wrong, the flavor ratio of green tea/apple/caramel is pretty decent, but it’s just very weak across the board. And bitter. I feel bad giving this tea such a low rating because, except for a little bitterness, the flavor that is there isn’t bad… there’s just not much there to be bad… Now what to make to cheer myself up?

The cup of this that I am sipping right now is so good and so full of chocolate flavor that I would, if blindfolded, assume I was drinking hot chocolate. Not even exaggerating.

I went heavy on the blend since I’m nearing the end of the bag — 4 teaspoons in 1 cup of boiling water in a pot on the stove — and I threw in a small (read: very small — one ‘triangle’) piece of actual chocolate (Scharffen Berger 70% dark) once the water was hot enough, along with some turbinado sugar. I topped this with two cups of 2% milk and brought the whole mess back up to steaming-hot, then strained and poured. The result is phenomenal. I definitely like my hot chocolate…I’ve got gourmet and artisan tins of that on the shelf above my tea…but I don’t really care for how drowsy the sugar-bomb of it makes me. The fact that I was able to get pretty close to that kind of indulgence with this tea makes me pretty happy.

Also, on that note, I’m looking for dessert tea recommendations. It seems I’m more prone to getting a sweet tooth when the sky is grey and everything is cold, and since I live in Boston…well, you do the math. ;) Need some alternatives to actually pigging out on junk food!

A nice, full-bodied green. Steeped just a little too long. Rating pending; hoing to try again now.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag
Additives: none
Water: 135 F hot water spigot, 1 mug full
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: jasmine, floral, grassy
Steeped Tea Smell: jasmine, floral
Flavor: Smooth floral, followed by grassy
Body: Light
Aftertaste: grassy, vegetal, slightly bitter
Liquor: dark translucent honey brown

Still have the stuffy nose / head cold so things may be stronger than I think.

This was a gift from Janefan.

Not too bad, I also wasn’t expecting much from a bagged tea. For a go to bagged tea at work this is a good green tea. I don’t think I’d buy this – but I am glad to have a stash of it for now. Next time I think I may sweeten it and steep 2 minutes instead of 3.

Post-Steep Additives: none

Finished up the last of my sample this morning.

A very different Ceylon tea – deep dark and mysterious with hints of dark chocolate, dark molasses and a hint of floral. Milk makes it more mellow – delicious!

Surprisingly, I really liked this tea. The rhubarb saved it from being too seet and the base tea – Chinese Dragon Well is excellent.

Very good blend,floral with lemon. No one taste stands out, just all around very good taste on a a quality grren tea base

I’ve received this tea yesterday, along with one Japanese green and three puerh samples. The dealer claims it to be from Ujeon (first flush in Korea), but I really doubt about that. Still, it’s worth reviewing.
Price: 12.69 euro for 50 grams
Dry leaves are curled into less or more measured spirals, resembling something between Mao Feng and Vietnamese green teas. Very interesting. However, the smell is more Japanese-like, sweet and with fruity tones.

First infusion: nutty, creamy with tones of milk and pleasantly sweet. Color of infusion is bright green, resembling Tamaryokucha both in taste, smell and look. Very refreshing. The aftertaste is very deep and creamy.
Second infusion: smell is very similar to the first infusion, the taste somewhat resembles sweet banana; first tones of bitterness are present.
Third infusion: smell of the leaves now resembles Chinese green teas more than Japanese; fruity tones are slowly fading, some new vegetal and woody tones are present. Bitterness is similar to the second infusion. Infusion color is more yellow.
Fourth infusion: no sweetness left, completely outbalanced by mild astringency and graininess. However, there are still the original milky tones in smell of the infusion, which I haven’t noticed in third infusion. Smell of leaves is somehow “wild”, resembling good Vietnamese green teas more than anything else.
I made a total amount of six satisfying infusions. In the end, it really is a very good tea, having all what I expect from middle-grade Korean green.
Definitely pleasing.

Yiiiick, I just made the mistake of throwing two teabags of this into a too-small pot. I thought it was big enough for two, but apparently I was wrong. The tea got bitter FAST (four minutes!?), and it was STRONG. Very bitter and too strong, and yuck—even with milk and honey, there was nothing I could do. Never again shall I use more than one teabag. Not unless the pot exceeds four cups capacity at LEAST.

I received a package (plus) of this from Samantha today!!!! Thanks Samantha! It’s a somewhat mild strength/flavored black tea with strawberries and creami-ness to it. It smells every bit of the name! Lovely to sniff!!!! Very malty and creamy to taste, too. This is a pretty good flavored tea and I am very glad that Samantha sent me some to try! Thanks again!

After a too-weak second steep attempt with Kashmiri Chai (I did 5 mins, but next time, I’ll do it longer, and hopefully that’ll work better), I thought I’d try this one! :)

The leaves just smell sooo yummy. Mmmm caramel. Still smells like caramel when brewed, but there’s definitely still some black tea scent in there.

And the taste? Smooth, black tea with a hint of caramel. It’s got a light sweetness to it that doesn’t overpower the tea. It’s yummy! I can’t complain. :)

I did knock the steeping time down to 3 mins from Adagio’s suggested 5 mins. That steeping time definitely seems to work, at least for me.

I really, really love this tea.

It’s light and refreshing but still has taste, it’s sweet without being cloying, the aftertaste is fruity and well flavoured with no trace of chemicals like I get from some other ‘scented’ teas. I’ve found myself reaching for it a lot.

Having this iced today for a quick break. Cleaning the apartment and really in need of an iced tea.

Made up a pitcher of this using 10 scoops of tea, 32oz almost boiling water and steeped for 9 minutes. I added about 2 cups of ice to a pitcher and poured the hot steeped tea over it.

The liquor is such a dark vibrant fushia I was a bit scared to try this one. First sip was quite potent, I think I used too much tea. Usually when I make one serving of this (16-20oz) and use 3 scoops of tea it is a light hibiscus pink color and not quite so tart. Added a tad of simple syrup to my mixture and it is ok. Probably could resteep the leaves for another batch, but with so much fruit in there I’m not sure the taste would stay.

Less tea next time for sure.

I’m not impressed, which saddens me a litle because I like Rington’s other teas. It’s very grassy and light, so someone else may adore it but I prefer deeper and more malty flavours from an oolong. It’s drinkable though, so I’ll finish the rest of the bag.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag
Additives: none
Water: 150 F hot spigot water, 1 mug full
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes (using Steep.It)
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: candy cane, mint
Steeped Tea Smell: mint, spice
Flavor: minty
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: warm spice
Liquor: light translucent yellow brown

Still have my head cold, so smells and tastes may be more potent than described. I am not picking up the orange or vanilla. The cinnamon and clove come in more toward the end, as the mint hits you first.

Now that I hunt for it, I can bring out the orange, not getting it strongly though.

This tea does as advertised and does bring to mind Christmas (with all the mulled drinks and cookies and candy canes).

I would say you need to want a mint tea, and like mint tea for you to enjoy this. The tea does bring in some spice to the end but it’s a complimenting note and not the main flavor.

Post-Steep Additives: none

Once upon a time I had a ginseng oolong from Chaplon. They said that it had a licorice-y aftertaste which was what pulled me in. And it did! It was quite nice, actually. But it must not have sold too well, because the last time I visited Chaplon’s website, the same ginseng oolong was now being sold as ginseng fertilizer!!! Underneath it said ‘ginseng oolong’ in smaller font. I looked really hard at the pictures, and I read the description. I am positive that it’s the same one. Fertilizer.

I wish I was making this up, Steepsterites. Srsly.

This one from Nothing But Tea, however, was included in my oolong sampler pack from them, and it looks like I remember the Chaplon one looked. I believe that may actually be the reason that it didn’t swell very well. This tea has the most bizarre looking leaves ever. They don’t even look live leaves. They’re all rolled up and covered in ginseng powder, so that what you actually get are little tiny pellets with a smooth surface. They look like pebbles. I can imagine that this was not entirely pleasing to the conservative danish eye.

Interestingly NBT’s offering is apparently quite popular according to their site…

The aroma is rather difficult to decipher. It’s a sort of mix between cocoa, butter and something like fresh wood. Like if you break a twig off a tree and smell it. It’s not really one note over any of the others but it doesn’t feel like an equal mix of the three either. I don’t know what ginseng is supposed to smell like, but I expect it’s probably ginseng I can smell.

Tastewise, it’s pretty watery. I winged the brewing of it and it definitely tastes like I did something or other wrong. My immediate guess would be not enough leaf combined with not long enough steep. As it cools a bit, flavours start coming out more and it gains an almost pu-erh-y flavour. Dark and earthy. And yes, there it is. The vaguely licorice-y note at the back of the throat on the swallow.

I’ll have to remember to only make half the pot with the half sample I have left, because it definitely tastes like it could have taken a huge benefit from being stronger here and it’s actually not very difficult to imagine what it might have been like if brewed better than this.

Is it better or worse than the fertilizer from Chaplon? I can’t say. It’s been four years since I had that, so I can’t really compare there. But either way if I were to get more or this, I would definitely go for Nothing But Tea’s. Mainly because even though it is the same product I absolutely refuse to brew up and drink a tea that has been sold as fertilizer. (Also Chaplon’s is only sold in 800g batches…) I don’t know, though, whether or not this is something I want to buy. It’s good, but it’s not brilliant. I’ll have to think about whether or not it’s good enough.

Also, unrelated. Mentioned in a PM conversation today how I could really do with some more teapot storage space, so hey, have a couple of pictures! (These should also explain without the need of words why Adagio’s plastic offerings or even the Sorapot don’t appeal to me. I prefer a classic pot.)
Pots in use: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30057436@N04/4387919808/
Pots no longer in use: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30057436@N04/4387920294/

A little smoky when I first opened it but it then faded away…smells like typical Rooibos. Taste pretty much like that too. I can taste the Papaya, a little. Not bad but not memorable either.

After receiving this sample from TeaEqualsBliss, I was super excited about trying this one. I mean really…look at those ratings! Nice! Now the down side. Last night I received bad news about a friend of the family’s sudden failing health and I needed something comforting this morning. I’m out of Almond Cookie. Boo. :( Anyway, on to the tea.

I honestly wasn’t too impressed with my 1st cup. The dry leaves and spice mix looked very appealing to begin with so I was kind of confused. Of course I added milk and sugar as I tend to do with most of my chais. After the 1st steep, the leaves were fully expanded and that’s mostly what I tasted…black tea. The spices were fairly bland and very much in the background. As much as I like spicy foods, I don’t particularly care for super spicy chais. I mean “spicy” as in “heat”…NOT the cardamom, cinnamon, peppercorns, etc. This one did not have a “spicy” feel to it, but it was still kind of lacking. Regardless, I finished my cup and decided to steep again.

Take two. Now this is better! The liquor is much MUCH lighter, so I skipped the milk and sugar. NOW I taste the spices. Mostly cardamom…but that’s cool. At least this tastes more like chai! I’m not sure if my traditional chai preparation method would improve this blend or not. In my opinion, chais need that rolling boil to crack open all of those pods and make the spices come to life. I think the black tea was either too strong for the spices or that the company used too much leaf in relation to the ratio of spices. Or maybe I just like my chais WAY to freakin’ strong. Oh well, it’s not bad by any means. Just mild.

Sorry about the rambling post. My mind is kind of scattered at the moment.