New Tasting Notes

Haven’t tried this particular tea from Golden Moon Tea in a while, and it’s just as delicious as I remember. When brewed, it has a nice caramel aroma which is further intensified upon tasting. It’s a great after-dinner tea with a good balanced flavor.

I’m really enjoying this one in my tiny yixing or late evenings at work. The tea is mellow, floral, a little spicy, and I cannot begin to think how it could have inspired someone to think of duck poop as they prepared or drank it. It’s just too nice a dan cong!

Checking the now fully hydrated leaves (at infusion 8 or 10 or so), it looks like I put in enough leaf to fill the pot halfway when fully expanded. I’ve tried this one with denser packing and that risks a degree of bitterness that I do not enjoy, so I go more dilute for full enjoyment.

Edit to add: I forgot to mention fruity! the late infusions, when it is closing in on ‘sweet water’, still retain a delightful peachiness. If this is duck poop, the duck is laying golden peaches instead of eggs.

From the Bits and Bops Basket. This is another one with a name that sort of appeals to the imagination, isn’t it? You may remember that I previously had a tea, procured in the same way, by the name of Ancient Forest which gave me a similar experience.

Apparently this is a black, which sort of surprises me becuase the leaves are unbroken. They’re large and pretty and rolled a bit and all in all look identical to a dark type oolong. A little further investigation shows that in the Steepster info from Norbu itself it says the tea has been 70% oxidised. Well, there you have it. It is in fact an oolong and Norbu doesn’t have a proper grasp of the tea types. Tut tut tut. Norbu, for the record, if it’s not a 100% oxidation, it’s not a black tea. Regardless of the colour of the leaf. Oolongs do actually come in other shades than green.

Now that we have that settled let’s move on. The aroma of this is quite surprising. I’ve come to expect cocoa notes primarily from dark type oolongs, but this doesn’t have that at all. It’s sweet and a bit malty, but also sort of broth-y somehow. It’s a small note but it’s there all the same, lurking at the bottom of the aroma profile. Odd. That’s definitely a first for me.

The flavour profile is a bit odd as well. It’s sort of weakish and strong at the same time. The different notes in it doesn’t quite seem to mesh which gives it a watery thin topnote and something darker and stronger below. Like a sauce that separates. Given a little more time to develop, everything seems to come together again and I get a fuller flavour. That’s a bit easier to work with.

It still doesn’t have any of those cocoa notes, though. It has retained the sweetness from the aroma and a touch of maltyness. It’s not entiremly impossible that there’s a touch of raisin on the aftertaste, but it isn’t really much. It’s more an association than an actual flavour note. The jury is out on whether or not it’s there or I’m just hallucinating.

Norbu says that there should be a mild, pleasant astringency in this cup, and I can sort of catch the hint of a glimmer of one. If there is astringency to be found here, then yes, it’s certainly mild. So mild, in fact, that it’s almost not there. Not quite gone, but not quite there.

I’m finding this quite different from other dark oolongs I’ve had, and I wonder if I’ve hit upon a regional difference here. This one comes from Taiwan, where all other dark oolongs I know generally comes from China. This is the oolong that makes me wonder what the result would be like if someone in the Assam region decided to make a dark oolong. Or someone in Sri Lanka, for that matter. And what would happen if those two were blended?

In conclusion, it’s not the best dark oolong I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s a fully functional one.

Steeped with a touch of agave. I love the subtle hints of fruits and flowers in this rooibos. It’s a very smooth, well rounded tea to sip before bed. I love that it’s full of antioxidants and minerals – makes me feel like I’m doing something decadent for myself.

Whoa, this tea is great! It really tastes like a toasted marshmallow! Yum, yum, yum!!!!

Okay, this tea has totally blown my mind and I can’t find the words to describe it right now. More to come later!!

I tried this on my way to work this morning. It was good! very much like the Budla only stronger… a tad bitter, maltier, and bolder however I don’t get nearly as much “marshmallow”.
Oh and it didn’t set my jitters off this time, which I thought was odd since I’d eaten a tiny breakfast so I’m wondering if there is less caffeine in this brew? I know that bolder coffees are roasted more, and thus have less of the stimulant in them, so perhaps tea follows the same principle. Who knows? (someone reading this, I am sure haha)
Anyhow, I’m not sure which I prefer between this and Budla. I’d like to try the DT counterpart to compare before really passing any judgment on it.

Had a matcha latte at Wegman’s tonight – I’ve had it before but can;t find it on here…not sure who they go thru for their matcha…I’m thinking it might be RIshi. Regardless it was quite FAB…frothy, creamy, with a hint of natural sugary goodness!

A lovely herbal infusion, this mixes well with just about everything I’ve paired it with. The peach flavor isn’t too intense (so as to taste artificial) or too light (so that it leaves you wanting more). I never make it on it’s own though; I need some sort of tea-base, even if it’s just a basic white tea.

My favorite combination though is equal parts with green jasmine pearls, iced, just lightly sweetened.

After drinking until 2 with the Decatur kids at Republic, I needed something both refreshing and caffeinated to go with me on the ride to midtown the next morning. This was perfect. It was like an iced coffee without the sharp aftertaste or the wicked case of the shakes.

This is my first impression of my first ever silver needle. I enjoyed the aroma of the infused leaf, in which I detected a hint of pine. The tea was good for several steepings in a porcelain gaiwan. I detected a slight grassiness (not unpleasant) in the first few steepings. Thereafter, the natural sweetness became more pronounced and the pleasant aftertaste more pronounced.

This was . . . interesting. It was more maple than caramel, and as with most of the new DTs, the smell is better than the taste. Steeped it for almost eight minutes and still tasted pretty weak. Not seeing this as a need-to-replace, but a cute gimmicky tea.

I made an iced latte out of this, mixing 300 mL of strongly brewed tea with ice and almond milk. It’s absolutely delicious! A heavenly treat without caffeine but with the kick of coffee.

My tea of the evening. I love that it resteaps so well. The vanilla and almonds are a good match to rooibos.

3tps for 3 cups water. The leaves were red small with bits of vanilla. You could really smell the vanilla.

The liquid is light amber and you can smell the vanilla. I’ve never tried a rooibos and this is very light flavor. I don’t really know what to write. I like it but I think I should have added another tsp of leaves. I think it might be better a little stronger. I keep thinking I want to sweeten it but it doesn’t need to be sweetened.

I received a sample of this in silken sachet form with my most recent order from Harney & Sons. (I didn’t realize how much I had ordered until I started unpacking the box. It was like a circus car full of clowns.)

When you first open the packet, there’s a burst of a bright and fruity fragrance with a bit of tang. This was a perfect representation of pomegranate at its most ripe state. The sachet was full of bright green rolled oolong nuggets.

Upon steeping, the leaves plumped so that the bag was almost bursting. The fruity and nutty fragrance was strong and wafted from my desk; no need to get your nose into this tea.

The tea brews to a very pale champagne color and the fragrance in the cup is even more nutty.The tanginess of the pomegranate compliments the butter and nut oolong very well. The lingering aftertaste of the fruit was a little surprising since it wasn’t overly prominent in the tea.

Usually the free samples from H&S don’t do much for me but this one goes on the reorder list!

I took a better picture, but I cannot get it to load. Sorry:(
This tea is mild and really good. The price point is affordable and the customer service from Strand Tea is outstanding!
I have drank this tea everyday since it arrived.

Picked this tea up from Davids the other day, not really knowing how to feel about this one. I like popcorn however not sure how I would like it as a tea flavour (although I do like popcorn flavoured jelly beans). It actually is quite pleasant. It tastes as it smells so if you don’t like the smell, it probably isn’t for you. I’m not picking up too much green tea taste here which is great. Not sure making it was a good idea though because now I have a craving for some kettle corn.. Mmmm…