New Tasting Notes

My local grocery store has Stash teas at $1.78 for 20 bags. Perhaps it’s time to revisit Stash and hope that their other teas are better than their chocolate and vanilla ones. Since I know this one is good, I grabbed a box. I’ve been told by a very trustworthy lady that the orange spice is good for sun tea, so I may try that (when there’s light again. Goodness, Washington, why do you have to have so much fog this year?).

I think I’m addicted to lemon myrtle now. I want to drink it in everything.

I first tried the Citron Oolong ages ago, probably in one of the first rounds of tea-buying we did, but I didn’t actually pick up any until this past weekend, when the Legendary Collection packs were on sale. I have no idea why I waited so long because it’s frickin delicious. Sweet and fresh and lemony, but a smooth and clean oolong underneath. Just have to be careful about oversteeping this one because it can get bitter a lot faster than a straight oolong.

So, I steeped this in a frothy water-and-milk mixture today, and it was way better than steeped in regular water. Sweet and creamy, like a breakfast tea, with butter and maple notes. I haven’t had good luck with 52teas so far but this one is pretty good

When I opened the sample bag I could smell the lovely complex aroma. I brewed this in a Gaiwan. It is complex and bold yet it is not bitter. After the first cup I always smell the empty cup to further determine the quality and this has to be one of the most beautiful aromas I have ever had the pleasure to smell. It was truly ethereal. This is a beautiful tea. . The dried leaves are already turning brown and it appears to be more mature than it is. I will say without hesitation this is one of the best Sheng that I have had. The liquor is a golden hue and the flavor is absolutely sublime….

The leaves are HUGE! Very fuzzy and giant. They really are a beautiful thing. This tea definitely has a hay or grain-like aroma, like some have already pointed out. I always have to get myself past that smell, for I think I won’t end up liking what it tastes like. But this is so light and flowery, I’m also tasting some honeysuckle notes. This is a really high quality Silver Needle tea. It may not be my favourite kind of tea, but I bet if you’re a Silver Needle nut, this will impress you.

I finished the last of my sample of this today. What a sweet pleasant floral tea. I tasted everythign I stated in my previous note.

Backlog:

This is the seventh tea of christmas! YUM! Great choice, Frank!

Here’s my article: http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/12/20/on-the-seventh-day-of-christmas-52teas-sent-to-me/

Awww yeah…see previous notes :)

I was totally addicted to this stuff for the longest time. Lately I’ve been gravitating away from flavored tea but I still like it. Lots of coconut and just a little bit floral. Creamy and lush….

This is better than I was expecting judging from the ingredients.
This does taste good after a heavy or a really sweet meal (or dessert). This and detox are similar I find, not something I would drink everyday, but I would keep it around for the medicinal properties.

For a green tea, I thought that it was pretty good. After a weekend at the in-laws and a lot of eating, this tasted really good. Not too sweet, but a little hint of sweetness.
I find it similar to The Skinny and I guess it serves similar purposes.
It isn’t something that I would drink everyday, but something I might keep on hand for those hang-over (from food or drink!) days.

Great chocolate smell with every sip. The chocolate taste is subtle however. It was a nice mixture of flavors. Good, but not great.

The fact that they gave me the tea for free with my purchase made it even better.

Y’all. Seriously, y’all. I got this at my grocery store. A 20g tin. For $3.00. No, not even for $3.00. For $2.99. I kid you not. Teance has this on their site for $37. (As does In Pursuit of Tea… are they the same company?) It’s not out of date or anything. It’s just really, really cheap. Someone was obviously smoking something when they priced this. I knew this tin was a good deal; that’s why I picked it up. I didn’t realize it was that good of a deal. Anyway, on with the show!

Have I ever mentioned that I’m scared of matcha? I would sell my first born for a limitless supply of shincha (Yutaka Midori, please) yet for some reason, matcha freaks me out. The first time I had it was at a tea ceremony my friend was performing at our high school’s culture festival (文化祭) many years ago in Japan. Ryoko, said friend, told me when she invited me that “even the Japanese don’t like the tea in the tea ceremony.” Stellar recommendation. And the tea served totally matched up to expectations. Ick. I think that’s why I’ve not been a big matcha girl. Then, when I finally found the cajones to try matcha again, it was some that I received in a swap and had been sitting on my counter for months, getting icky and not-green, as I tried to get up the nerve to try it. Unsurprisingly, that tasted icky, too. I did have some iced matcha at Teavana at one point. That was okay. But it was iced… and from Teavana. So that was sort of discounted as a typical matcha experience. But when I say this at the store marked $2.99, I figured I’d give another go. Three bucks for potentially nasty tea isn’t that big of a deal. Which brings me to what is currently in my cup…

OMG, WHY was I afraid of matcha??? This is lovely! It smells like a fresh sheet of crisp, sweet, toasty nori. And the taste!! The taste is so mild and creamy and sweet! It’s like sencha, but dessert sencha instead of pungent dinner entree sencha. I know why people make ice cream out of matcha now – it’s so creamy! I could mainline this stuff!

Okay, okay, it’s never going to replace my love of a deep steamed sencha – I just love the rich pungency too much and this is no where even close to pungent. But this is so good. SO. GOOD. Yeah, it could be more complex but honestly, who doesn’t like sencha taste coupled with smooth, creamy and sweet? Green tea ice cream without the cold or the calories, that’s what this is. This is sencha dessert in a cup. With caffeine. And that caffeine is the only reason I’m not making myself another cup RIGHT NOW. And another in five more minutes. And another five minutes after that.

Looks like I have to make an emergency run to the grocery store. I think they had three more tins of this, all at $2.99. Time to stock up!

Day 18 of my advent Calendar

I’d like to start off by saying that i am not a fan of Chamomile teas.

dry leaves smell like chamomile, lemon grass and i’m noting a spiciness too.

Steeped it smells really lemony but i can still smell that darn chamomile, Liqueur is a nice amber color.

Time to taste: tart but not too much, chamomile and the licorice there at the end leaves a sweetness on the tongue.

I don’t think that this tea is for me being that i am not a chamomile lover, honestly i don’t think i’ll even finish my cup, but for someone who enjoys chamomile this is a winner.

I like this flavour, and I am sure it would be way better as a latte with some sugar, but I really like to drink my teas straight. Good creamy, almost fruity taste.
This is a good cream earl grey but I have another cream earl grey that I like way better.

I really like this one, very nice apple flavour, and the cinnamon isn’t too strong which is good.
I think it tastes a lot like apple pie!
Green is not my favourite though, if it would have been herbal I think I would have liked it more. Still….probably one of the best greens at Davids!

Nice! To me, this tea smells spicier that it tastes (which is a good thing.)
I agree 100% that the orange is missing almost completely.
I would love a little of the citrus flavor to come through to taste like a truly wonderful tasting holiday-like tea.
Steeping too long makes the spices way too intense, I tried steeping for a shorter amount of time in a smaller mug and the taste was much better.

Having another cup of this before sending the rest to a friend. This is a great one if you like stronger black teas! Woot!

Floral and fruity. It’s not peppery like the peach detox. I haven’t noticed any benefits to my skin but I’m drinking it more for my liver than anything.