New Tasting Notes

Interesting how steeping times and water temps can vary the taste. A very short steep makes a delicate aromatic cup. Longer steeps get the “bitter” medicinal brew. I get e twofer out of it: one short for pleasure, then the long bitter for what it’s worth.

Not sure how I feel about this tea. Not a big fan of the ammount of cardamom in this.

Argh. I’m having tea fail this morning. I can tell this tea is going to be yummy, but I keep forgetting about it when I’m steeping it, and making it bitter. Which is so sad.. I can see this will be good, but I keep messing it up for myself.

The bag smells like a cross between wildflowers and sugar cookies. Sounds strange, but it works quite well. When brewed, smell is more like sweet caramel. It’s a very light dessert tea, naturally sweet. The vanilla and caramel are about equal in their intensity. This is my first tea from Good Earth; I’ll definitely be trying more.

Brewed for 10 minutes.

Green Tea – Flowers – Pineapple sums it up!

My last serving of this from the Den’s sampler. I like this one and will probably order more. It’s got such a nice balance between the vegetal and roasty flavors, and a lovely level of natural sweetness to it. And, I’m finding it equally good in the afternoon as it is in the morning – gotta love versatility!

Second pot of the day is youngest DD’s favorite! A very nice tea, and my favorite Irish Breakfast so far.

This is an ok silver needle, but then again my sampler has been sitting around for ages, so time has probably taken a good amount of the flavor that should be there. It’s still drinkable enough to finish out the tin, but I probably won’t go crazy on the re-steepings.

This one has a little more heft to me than some Ceylons. I think Ceylons are delicious and smooth, most have strong honey notes and this one is not an exception. But there is more body to this one, I believe, and perhaps some additional toasty tones? Good with milk and sugar, enjoyed it with some sharp cheddar which always seems to sweeten the taste of tea!

Mental note: Don’t take sip immediately after eating apple cinnamon graham crackers. It’s not at all pleasant.

Lively and tart; you can definitely taste the lime. Republic of Tea has done a great job with this line. After the tangerine, this one’s my favorite. I brew for 10 minutes.

Iced chai latte today, and it’s actually pretty decent. Usually iced tea with milk somehow tends to go terribly wrong for me, but the frothed milk here worked out well. A nice late summer beverage

Ahh, the last of this tin, just means there’s more room for new tea. Good strong cup of tea this morning, but next time I get Twinings Irish Breakfast, I think I’ll stick to buying the bags. The loose tea is just so tiny, every cup ends up having a bunch of dust in it. I usually prefer loose to bagged, but this is one of those teas that’s better off staying in the bag.

Somewhat buttery, deliciously fruity. I did 4 infusions and probably could have done more.
I don’t have a lot of experience with Oolongs (especially green/non-roasted ones), but it was very good. I don’t know if I’d buy more, but only because there are so many Oolongs out there to try.

Happy Monday Steepsterites! I know I am definitely suffering from “a case of the Mondays” or maybe I am getting sick from the annoyingly fall weather we have been having here in NJ. It is hot during the day (like need the air conditioning and a fan) and then cold at night (as pile on as many blankets and cats as you have to keep warm). That mixed with my hectic work and activity schedule means I am run down. I asked for some honey for one of my many other teas from my co-worker and was offered a bag of this to try and help. How could I refuse? I have never had this and might as well get a tasting note out of it.

Well I have never had “camomile” – I have had chamomile, but never on it’s own, always with green or black tea as an additive for soothing and comfort, never just straight.

The tea bag has literally no aroma. Nothing. I put it in my mug and poured some hot water over and waited. I allowed the bag to infuse for 5 minutes. Slightly grassy aroma, something like weeds and flowers on a warm spring day when all the flowers are blooming and you are overwhelmed with pollen. The flavor: Blech. This tastes like nothing. That’s not true, it tastes like something, I don’t know what, but not what I pictured. Leave the bag in the tea for another 5 minutes (10 minutes total). Now I am getting the grassy flavor, a little like the dandelions or other random flowers – nothing I would call tea (then again, I should not call it tea, it is herbal tea, meaning no actual tea). It is however soothing and calming, the throat pain is melting away, good, but the taste, I am going to have trouble drinking the rest of this…

Have no fear! I got honey for a reason, added a teaspoon to my tea. Now it tastes like warm honey followed immediately by the floral-grass taste. This is not much better, but just enough that I should be able to finish my mug, as for any energy from this, that is not going to happen, but as long as I feel better…

I will hold out on an actual rating because I do not like this, this is not something I would normally drink, but all of my senses might not be 100% either. Furthermore, if it actually soothes and calms and I feel better it would get a higher rating because it did what was advertised, so until then, enjoy!

Tweak # 1. Added half a packet of Sugar in the Raw to see if that would help this any. It actually seems to have dulled the flavor somewhat. And the aroma. So that’s apparently not the answer. So do I try white sugar next or move onto something else…?

I am sorry about this – I have made this confusing. I couldn’t believe this was not on here, and then AFTER I submitted the tea entry, I realized why it was not in here…“Chamomile” is spelled differently (from everywhere else I have ever seen it) as “Camomile” There is already an entry.

I do not know how to delete this Tea Entry…Sorry again.

See my actual tasting note under the correctly entered tea – Pure Camomile.

I have really been slacking on my steepstering lately and its needs to be remedied – haha! I have been drinking tea but forgetting to log it.

First off – thanks Rachel for the opportunity to try this tea and congrats on being the steepster select today!

This tea smells a little different than normal earl grey which I like because I don’t really like earl grey but I like earl grey with additional flavors. I immediately smelled cinnamon and earl grey when the water hit the tea which intrigued me.

I had this tea with a splash of milk and I really quite enjoyed it. The earl grey flavor was mild and I can’t say that I could distinctly place the cinnamon and vanilla flavorings, but I was doing other things while drinking it. I can say that there was a certain complexity to the tea that is most likely due those flavorings. Very enjoyable cup!!!

We have a bunch of errands to run this morning, but I actually took a few moments to brew a cup of this to take with me in my travel mug. This doesn’t happen often.

Yummy… rich… this should (hopefully) wake me up and get me going!!!

I steeped for 3 minutes this time around. Slightly more raspberry than when brewed for 5 minutes, but the bergamot is still so very strong and overwhelming that you have to consciously try to taste the raspberry. It seems almost sacrilege to steep a black tea for less than 3 minutes, but I’ll try this one for two. Tomorrow. Noon has now come and gone, and caffeine consumption must cease.

Finishing up my last little bit…nice and strong!

Can’t wait to finish off the tin of bagged tea I have of this blend so I can try the loose kind that seems to be so much better! Today I brewed it for a long time, hoping it would be a bit spicier, but no go. It’s not terrible, just dull.

For some reason I am always surprised by how smooth this tea is. Good cup every time.