New Tasting Notes
Part of a sampler set I bought at the Chicago Tea Festival.
Dry Leaf: Some are slightly twisted and open, while others are twisted a bit more tightly. Long leaves. Dark brown with a few silver buds.
Dry aroma: Milk chocolate.
Quick rinse because a friend of mine said all Chinese teas should be rinsed. He’s also Chinese.
Initial aroma: My mouth is watering. Hot chocolate. Chocolate mousse. Plums. Wood.
Flavor: Ooo… DANG! That’s so good! Chocolate notes, some Palo Santo, and other woody notes like oak and cedar. If this were a cedar chest, it would be a really nice one.
Mouth Feel: Incredibly smooth.
While this one can be steeped in a mug, I highly suggest a gaiwan. You’ll get more satisfaction.
Smooth, thick earthy caramel taste with complex wood and herbal notes. It’s also warming like being able to experience a campfire without any of the smoke. The leaves have a comforting old forest smell with hints of herbal flowers.
Flavors: Caramel, Earthy, Herbal, Woodsy
Preparation
10 years later, I’m reviewing this tea again.
A new batch, of course. (Though I’ve been known to still enjoy tea several years past the best before hah.)
Sweet potato with floral and citrus notes. The mildest bit of astringency at the back of the tongue, not unpleasant at all.
The citrus note is providing some focused energy, which is nice and quite helpful while recovering from flu/grief symptoms.
But I find myself wanting the comforting cocao notes of the Teavivre Golden Monkey. I know what tea I’m having tomorrow.
A thoughtful work friend brought me back a little souvenir from a tea shop run in Springfield, Missouri (Chabom Teas + Spices). This is a new-to-me brand.
The Holy Grail of Decaf Black Teas does not exist. It is a myth that I will chase down until my poor old heart gives out. It’s either next to the pot of gold under the rainbow or with the black sock I’ve been trying to hunt down for two years. Ty-Phoo Decaf is the only tea I’ve tried that’s a contender.
That said, this one isn’t bad. Like all unflavored decafs, most of the flavor has been leached out in the treatment process, but it has a nice color and a nice, hefty body. Puts a little weight on your tongue. With an additive—little milk; little mint; little something—it might just fool me.
Decaffeinated by Harney tastes almost just like full strength black tea to me!
I might be the only one but I can’t tell the difference with most decaf teas. I just brew it a bit longer, usually. I was going to say that I usually drink Yorkshire or Typhoo decaf when I want plain decaf black and I find them pretty good compared to the regular versions. My vanilla comoro from H&S is decaf and it tastes identical to me compared to the regular version.
Day 12 of the Inoki Bathhouse advent calendar. This was pretty but I found the flavor a bit meh. Sort of a generic “Chinese green tea” flavor with maybe a hint of floral if I really look for it. I really liked the flowering rose, but this one just didn’t have that same vegetal-floral balance.
I feel like flowering teas are meant purely for aesthetics, they always taste so bland and similar to each other.
I got some jasmine flowering green when I was in Taiwan and, while it wasn’t the absolute best I’ve ever had, it was a solid jasmine that held up well to grandpa-style brewing. I haven’t had that experience stateside, though. Maybe it’s also a freshness thing?
I had some flowering teas from Teavivre that were pretty decent!
Day 11 of the Inoki advent calendar. This is a nice ginger – zingy with a hint of sweetness. It reminds me of Fever-Tree ginger beer, just without the sugar. It even resteeped well, which doesn’t always happen with ginger. Just needed a long brew time on the resteep.
Sipdown
I like this one best full strength and not making a resteep and combining the two. You seem to get more rich chocolate that way. Some teas I don’t notice a big change in flavor doing the “two steeps and combine” method, but I do with this one.
I am not the world’s biggest fan of Earl Grey but I do like it on a Keemun or other base with deeper notes, and I also like it with orange, cream, or vanilla flavor added. The chocolate was good, too, and I shared a sample with a friend who adores almost all Earl Grey and she really loved it.
I recently added a random weekly tea selector to my spreadsheet, which chooses two random teas when I reset it for the week. This is one of the two chosen for this week!
I haven’t had it in ages, so it was fun to see it come up. Full-size teas that I’m not actively trying to sip down tend to get neglected in my cupboard, at least until they’ve become old enough to make it into my oldest teas basket LOL. This is pretty close actually, being from fall 2022.
Anyway, I really enjoy this flavor combination. The oolong has both fresh green and toasty grain notes, and strikes a nice balance of the two. The blueberry reminds me of the dried version that I used to enjoy in Blueberry Morning cereal, and is quite sweet with a syrupy, concentrated quality. I do taste a hint of banana, but it’s mostly adding creaminess. Still reminds me of some kind of blueberry granola!
Flavors: Banana, Blueberry, Dried Fruit, Floral, Fresh, Grain, Green, Milk, Oats, Silky, Sweet, Syrupy, Toasty
Preparation
Sipdown! (5 | 82)
Wasn’t a big fan of this (and it looks like I’m not the only one). I find it a bit harsh as green teas go – it does have some beany/vegetal notes but there’s also a lot of mineral and smoky flavors going on, and a bit of astringency. It’s also a bit bland overall?
Was interesting to try, but it’s not one that I would repurchase.
Flavors: Astringent, Dry Grass, Earthy, Grain, Green Bean, Mineral, Sharp, Smoke
