New Tasting Notes

Gongfu Sipdown (2321)!

Finished this one off yesterday with some bright, sweet, and creamy lemon meringue bars!! The bars are definitely richer than this oolong, so I’m mostly sticking with small bites in between steeps so that it doesn’t overpower the tea. I’m definitely not a huge fan of dancong in general, so it’s taken me a while to finish this one off. However, I found it quite smooth today with a soft minerality and more of a dark plum-like fruitiness with hints of lychee and plenty of heady floral undertones. For sure one of the nicer sessions I’ve had with this particular tea, even if I didn’t necessarily taste osmanthus at all.

Side note, I picked up this teacup while in BC earlier this summer and it’s just realllyyyy amusing me today how much the colours are channeling lemon meringue. A particularly golden and toasty lemon meringue, but lemon meringue nonetheless!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuuVVCkuOQC/?img_index=2

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0FPUF6B5R0

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Sipdown (2322)!

It rained all morning today, and it looks like it will rain all evening too – we even got tornado warnings for the area!! However, for a brief window in the afternoon, the rain stopped, and everything was still. It was the perfect moment of calm to enjoy the lush floral notes of this naturally sweet and floral white tea while surrounded by the fresh aroma of petrichor in the office garden!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CupnwX3u45O/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCtSDDlkxq4

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Kaylee

Love that you have an office garden!

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drank 2023 Lapsun by white2tea
15575 tasting notes

Gongfu!

Typically, I would probably drink this tea from the yixing teapot I’ve been seasoning exclusively with smoked teas for the last five or so years. This morning, however, something was telling me to brew it in a glazed gaiwan. It was interesting to switch vessels. After so many years with such aggressively smoked teas, my yixing tends to really give back a lot of those smoked notes. It’s something I usually love greatly. With the ceramic gaiwan, I did get a lot of upfront smoke but with deeper notes of cinnamon, raisins, and malted grains that pushed through the smoke in a really beautiful way. I imagine that it might be kind of what eating a slice of really good cinnamon raisin toast would taste like if you had just smoked a cigar. In the nicest way, of course!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cum5t8SuNXs/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJv4Zo5jdcU

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Split my bag of this so that I could send some along in the SVTBB. It’s just such a bizarrely fruity tasting candy cane blend that I needed to share it and get some other perspectives. I did enjoy this cup I drank of it a few nights ago, though! It was lightly sweet and, yes, it did taste a bit like strawberry candy but also it had such a great cooling peppermint note that did bring the flavour back around again to more of a Candy Cane sort of place.

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Just popping in a second tasting note for this so that my “cups drank” in my cupboard is accurate – but I had this can back to back with my last one, so same thoughts as my first tasting note!

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Picked up a four-pack of this a few days ago because I thought it might be nice to have some more summery kombucha flavours on hand in the fridge! Thinking about it, orange isn’t a kombucha flavour I’ve seen a whole lot which is maybe a little bit weird since it seems like it should work so well with the more acidic notes. Sure enough, this is bright and a little bit tangy and sour but ultimately REALLY tasty. It’s a bit like a more adult version of a Sunny D or a Tang instant orange drink powder. Juicy but not overly sweet, and just super lively and sunny tasting.

I’ve actually already had half the pack! It’s just been very nice having this to reach for, and it’s a surprisingly chuggable kombucha…

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Edited to add:

After trying this western instead of gongfu, I can say this is most likely an aged Taiwanese red tea. Really nice chocolate and cherry-scented tobacco aroma with that wintergreen character present in Ruby 18s. Much more interesting gongfu!

What a ride! Is it an aged raw tea? Is it an old oxidized white? Is it a sun-dried red? Is it a GABA oolong or simply an oolong? The only thing I can feel confident declaring is that I have no idea how this tea was processed! Is it a forgotten relic, stashed away in some dark corner for years? Is it an experiment gone wrong, or rather oh-so-right? Like the Indonesian Yellow that Liquid Proust sells, this tea defies all preconceived notions of any specific processing. Most of the material is one leaf picking like Baozhong oolong and it’s well oxidized.

Taste- and aromawise, it starts out with humid aged nutty and forest floor notes, then moves to barnyard and mushroom, then to something almost malty, then to something lighter and fruitier like pear, then to pure watermelon-cucumber and yellow cherry with light grape skin tannins.

Several characteristics are apparent throughout all steeps: a welcome sweetness, a refreshing wintergreen-type quality, seamless transitions, an inability to be oversteeped and a complete lack of bitterness no matter what temperature water is used.

So much complexity wrapped up in ridiculous longevity. Did I mention watermelon?!!

Thank you for sharing, beerandbeancurd, you lovely creature.

Flavors: Barnyard, Caramel, Cherry, Chocolate, Cucumber, Cumin, Forest Floor, Grape Skin, Malt, Mineral, Mushrooms, Musty, Nutty, Pear, Pine, Salt, Smoke, Smooth, Spring Water, Tobacco, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Watermelon, Wintergreen

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 5 tsp 4 OZ / 110 ML
beerandbeancurd

Ahh, I’d quite forgotten about this one! Thank you back for the journey.

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85

Thanks Derk!

Insanely fruity for flash steeps gong fu. I’ve been letting it sit no more than 10 seconds in the first few rounds and letting it sing. 4th round, I just let it sit for about am minute.

I’m not sure how to describe this one other than fruity, tannic, and a little bit of mineral and malt. Like everyone else, this definitely leans more in black categories of notes, but it’s also got the florals of the Dancong. The texture and the brewed leaves kinda look like a Laoshan Black, and even some Himalayan Oolongs. Reminds me of hibiscus a little bit-not the tea version-the other flower that is named that. I do get pineapple and banana for sure, but I kept on getting a red fruit in the taste too. It’s like the sweetness in a strawberry or raspberry right before they go tart. Better yet, cherry in smell and taste. Now that I looked at the note on the page, I can’t not think of it. It tastes like yellow cherries and red cherries.

I would have gotten a decent sample of this when I was first getting into teas, yet I’m really happy that I only had a single sample. It’s got the butteriness that I associate yellow teas with, and it’s fruity like some blacks and oolongs. The tannin is actually welcomed, thought it can be a little bit too much tannin for me sometimes. Longer steeps brought out more cherry and more malt and tannin. Shorter steeps was definitelty the way to go for me. This is a nice break from the usual black and oolong I drink.

Flavors: Banana, Butter, Cherry, Cherry Wood, Floral, Fruity, Malt, Pineapple, Tannic, Tannin, Tropical Fruit

derk

beerandbeancurd’s generosity allowed me to pass this interesting tea to you. It is tannic but the combination of tropical flavors is really something different.

beerandbeancurd

I bought a grip of this, haha — happy it’s making the rounds!

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55

Dammann Freres advent calendar day 11. Day 10 has gone missing! I have searched high and low to no avail. I don’t know whether I drank it and forgot to take notes, moved the teabag for some reason, or the bag has gotten lost inside the calendar. It definitely makes the part of my brain that needs to do things in order feel itchy, but I’m trying to just accept that I might never find it and move on. 

As soon as I opened the packet for this blend, Day 11, there was a strong whiff of almond-y alcohol. The teabag itself smelled nicely of almond and soft vanilla, so I still had high hopes for this when I brewed it up in a spacious mug. It does taste like almond, with a nice lingering vanilla note. However, there’s a jarring alcohol aspect with that almond that just throws the whole thing off for me. Which is a bummer. because these are flavors I really enjoy otherwise.

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80
drank Blackberry Maple Oolong by 52teas
2285 tasting notes

I absolutely love the maple used in 52teas blends. This tastes best at room temperature. The maple is so clear and authentic. I also get a bit of a berry note. My only criticism is that I would have preferred a different tea base because I feel like the oolong didn’t contribute much. It led the drink to be a bit thinner than I’d prefer. Still, with milk and sugar, this was a real treat.

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78

An excellent daily drinking Matcha. This tea is processed well and has a sweet vegetal flavor like fresh snap peas, slightly bitter lettuce, and sweet with a mineral note that keeps it interesting. One of my favorite value for price paid matcha teas.

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 2 g 2 OZ / 60 ML

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drank Li Shan by Spirit Tea
61 tasting notes

Now this is good stuff. Starts out light and buttery as popcorn, as I lengthen the steep time the later steeps turn spicy and sweet, with a thicker, juicier texture. There’s a cooling aftertaste that reminds me of Ruby 18 black teas. Very mild and drinkable without being overly subtle.

Flavors: Brandy, Mint, Popcorn

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95

Sipdown! (41 | 239)

This tea…

Just so delicious and tranquil. A perfect marriage of smooth but flavorful spring sencha and dried sakura. Both are present in roughly equal measure, and they just complement each other so well. Love the delicate, ethereal, gently sweet, subtly fruity, yet slightly savory floral notes of the sakura with the rich sencha base.

Love it, love it, love it. Happily, I have another 25g pouch plus some sample packets from the subscription. :)

Flavors: Cherry, Cherry Blossom, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruity, Sakura, Savory, Smooth, Spinach, Sweet, Thick, Umami, Vegetal, Viscous

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 0 sec 10 g 16 OZ / 473 ML

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Strong and comforting sweet and grainy aroma with a prominent cocoa note. First steep is sweet, grainy and nourishing. Second and third move into earthy territory with dominant tobacco and rye tastes as tannins and complementary bitterness present. A great breakfast tea.

It’s been years since I’ve had a straight up Yunnan gold tea. Thank you Whispering Pines for including this as a free sample with my order :)

Flavors: Beer, Burlap, Cactus, Cantaloupe, Cocoa, Earthy, Eggplant, Ginger, Grain, Leather, Malt, Malty, Orange Zest, Pine, Roasted Barley, Rye, Savory, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tannin, Tobacco, Vanilla, Wheat, White Grapes, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 0 sec 4 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge – “A breakfast tea”

I don’t have a lot of breakfast blend-style teas in my cupboard (though I do have a couple of teas with “breakfast” in the name), so I figured this was a good time to pull out this tea from Andrews & Dunham that I bought at the end of last year and hadn’t yet tried.

I have to say, I think this is my least favorite of the teas I’ve tried from them. Not that it’s bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it does taste a bit like a generic Sri Lankan tea to me. It’s actually not Sri Lankan, it’s from Iyerpadi Estate in Nilgiri. It does have a bit more depth to it than a Lipton-style tea, but is still quite metallic with hints of bread and hay and a somewhat astringent finish.

So not a favorite for me, but still happy to have it because of the gorgeously graphic tin. Eventually I might try drinking through this one with milk and sugar in the cooler months.

Flavors: Acidic, Apricot, Astringent, Bread, Hay, Metallic, Musty, Tannic, Tea

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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75

I have a lot of GI issues related to my chronic migraine condition, so having a ginger tea around is a must. Grabbed this blend from my local grocery and actually preferred it to the brand I’d been buying, Twinings of London’s Lemon Ginger. The lemon flavor doesn’t taste as artificial/cleaner-esque in this tea compared to the Twinings, and while I know most people abhor licorice root, I’m not one of them, and I like the inclusion here because it takes a little bit of edge off ginger spiciness while still allowing a nice amount of healing ginger. Sadly it has been perpetually sold out on every subsequent trip I’ve made to the store, so I had to restock the Twinings that I don’t like as much. This was definitely my first choice, though.

Flavors: Earthy, Ginger, Lemon, Licorice Root, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 350 OZ / 10350 ML
Kaylee

Hey, my migraines give me GI issues too! I thought it was just a weird quirk of my body.

Mastress Alita

Nope, it’s a normal part of what happens in the neurology of the brain (and part of why I get so annoyed when people think a migraine is “just a bad headache” when it is a neurological disorder that has many symptoms, including but not limited to head pain).

Kaylee

Same! My symptoms are a whole complicated constellation, which means that treatment/symptom management has to happen on multiple fronts too. For what it’s worth, in case it’s helpful, my hands-down favorite migraine blend is Triple Goddess from Calabash Tea for loose leaf and Harney Ginger Lemon for teabags. Neither is exceptionally cheap for a ginger tea but I tend to buy my ginger tea in bulk, which helps with cost.

Mastress Alita

I’ll have to try those out! I tend to just grab whatever is easily on-hand at the grocery store but they often aren’t “favorites” when it comes to ginger teas. My favorites (both loose leaf, and both currently not on hand for my cupboard at the moment) are Rishi’s Tangerine Ginger (not recommended to hibi-haters) and Davidson Tea’s Tulsi Ginger Lemon.

Kaylee

Ooh. I have been meaning to try Rishi out, will keep this in mind!

Martin Bednář

Hm. I should tell that my brother that during migraine GI issues can happen and they are normal.

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95

Very nice!

I recently tried a sample of a jasmine dragon pearl tea (from Goartea), and I was amazed at how smooth and light it was. But I felt I was mostly tasting the jasmine scent, without much character coming through from the green tea. Definitely a high quality tea, though, because the overall feeling was just so nice.

This tea I feel is almost just as smooth, but there is more body there from the pouchong tea, which I love. There is a vast price difference between this tea and a typically dragon pearl tea as well, I think mainly because you aren’t paying for all the labor expenses of having people tie the tea up into little pearls. I’m even getting a decent second steep from this one, so I think it is a winner.
Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 5 g 16 OZ / 473 ML
ashmanra

I like their Winey Keemun and Irish Breakfast. I have had this one but it was a long time ago. I love Teavivre’s Premium Dragon Pearl Jasmine above all others now. All of their jasmine teas are so good, though, if you ever get a chance to try them!

Keemunlover

Hi Ashmanra, thanks for the recommendation. I’ll have to try that one!

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71
drank Phoenix by Shab Row Tea Emporium
1233 tasting notes

What a fascinating tea. From the first sniff to the first taste it is a flavor explosion exploration all over the place. The dry leaf aroma starts out very perfumey but then you find a hint of campfire smoke and cedar wood. All very northern woods smells. With the first sip I am tasting some smoky notes along with perfume, woody highlights that dance with resin and lacquer, both become a bit unbearable the longer the tea steeps. Not quite sure I would call this … nutty. Wait. There was a mouth feel and an aftertaste of walnut. But the perfume is still overpowering everything else. The sweetness sort of reminds me of stevia. But not as overpowering. The mouth feel is soft with a slight bit of astringency. Though it is unique and good it is one I find that I wouldn’t buy again. It’s not bad just not quite my taste.

beerandbeancurd

Erg, why must these flavors you describe draw me in so ruthlessly, even as I see the mediocre score you gave? It’s a curse.

Skysamurai

XD I know what you mean. When I get back home from CO I can send you some to try if you would like. Hey we can do a swap!

beerandbeancurd

I would love that — hit me up when you’re back!!!

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81
2023 Ode To Tea – Part II – A

I’m back with my tea collection at home again! For a couple months anyway. I went to steep this one up today and thought.. “heeeyyyy, hmmmmm, this starts with ‘A’, maybe I should do another alphabet challenge to get a lightning round of sipdowns in”. So why not?! This is a very decent apricot tea. I am just not sure I NEED an apricot tea in my cupboard. But this was a very awesome sample anyway.
2023 sipdowns: 56

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We went to a really good teppanyaki restaurant while we were in Taiwan – so good that we kept going back. The only problem is that it puts everything like it back home to shame. We’ve got hibachi places but they’re the standard fare. I love that, I grew up on it being the fancy “going out” meal for my family, but now I’ve had better and I want more of THAT. They served buckwheat tea with our meals. Tea-averse partner was super into it, so I bought him a couple of buckwheat teas from Yunomi to try out at home. What I really want to do is find out whether I can brew up the buckwheat that’s in my pantry cabinet, but that’s an experiment for another time!

So this tea! It is really hot right now, so I made a cold brew pitcher. It sat in the fridge for a few days because tea-averse partner kept drinking other things (insert eye-rolling emoji and crying emoji). Eventually I just started pouring mugs of it and putting them in front of him, mostly because I wanted to try it too! The great news is that this really can’t oversteep. It just gets deep, nutty, and roasty. Basically tastes like childhood. And really nice as an iced tea on a hot day. Partner approves too!

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60
drank Strawberry Almond by Nelson's Tea
2285 tasting notes

This tastes mostly like artificial fruit flavoring. Combined with the rooibos, it wasn’t that pleasant. I get maybe some almond in the aftertaste. It was okay cold, I just wish it weren’t so sharply artificial!

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78

This is pretty peachy and nice with some sugar! It was served hot, but I bet it would be great cold. The fruit is a little tart, but not overly so.

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85

No notes yet. Add one?

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 5 g 16 OZ / 473 ML

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