New Tasting Notes

Thanks to amandastory516 for sharing this tea! It tastes mostly like marzipan with a bit of light black tea. I wouldn’t have minded more complexity/flavors going on here. It felt like it needed something. It was all right sweetened with milk and sugar though!

Sipdown! (28 | 280) (added 19 ship-downs!)

I’m not big on plain Earl Grey. I don’t know why, I like bergamot, but I tend to enjoy it much more when there’s some other element, be it cream, extra citrus, or other fruits. But I do love this one plain. I think it must be the smooth Chinese black tea base combined with the relatively subdued bergamot. I can still taste plenty of bergamot, but it doesn’t hit me over the head. And it’s also a very citrusy bergamot (yes, I know bergamot is a citrus, but sometimes it tastes more floral or sweet or fruity), which helps its case.

So anyway, I found myself enjoying this more and more as I sipped through it, and now I’m a bit sad it’s gone. Happily, A&D seems to have this one in stock almost all the time, so I should be able to restock easily when I get to that point. :)

Iteaworld quotes this tea as “The Strongest-flavored Black Tea in China”. It is a lovely black tea, perfect for the mornings with its wonderful, strong taste. It has flavours that reminds me of roasted cocoa.
https://iteaworld.com/products/yunnan-black-tea

Just finishing this tea, it was pretty good and definitely unique with that roast. Given the price, I would buy it again.

I found this tea to be surprisingly good. I had some underwhelming oolongs from their tasting pack, but this really seemed the deal. Notes of stone fruit like apricot were accompanied by a lightly pine smoked aroma. This faded away as the session developed, with heavy longan sweetness making itself apparent. And what a huigan!! This is no light praise coming from someone who is very well acquainted with Wuyi black teas. My only criticism is that of quality control. On my second pack, I found a hair in my newly opened package and was disheartened. However, this is not an issue with the tea, but rather the company and I am only reviewing the tea in itself. iTeaworld responded responsibly by taking this into account and improving quality checks, while also promising to send a new sample. Website: www.iteaworld.com

Cold steeped.

This is nice, but a bit weak. The pineapple flavor is nice, it reminds me of canned pineapple specifically. Mildly sweet with a touch of tartness as well, even though there’s no hibiscus here. I taste a touch of the lemongrass but not much else.

Pleasant tisane. Maybe the flavor would be stronger if I had steeped it hot and then chilled it. Not one I would reorder, but I did enjoy the pitcher and it was quite refreshing in this heat.

2023 Ode To Tea – Part II – W

Not a bad peach tea! Bonus if you’re craving a white tea. I wouldn’t mind having this one around.
2023 sipdowns: 76

I need a clapping emoji for this tea. I clap forking hella clap adore CLAP this clap clap clap clap stuff.

Toasty, with some high mountain delicacy and florals and green. Good centering in the chest and upper back, I think. I’ll be saving the rest of this and the Hongshui to savor in a quieter and more focused environment on down (up?) the road.

Solid JJM. Good malt and cocoa and toast — generally a nice warming profile for the morning. Bought this on a whim when all the blacks dropped in spring and will be happy to pour it for wake-up cups.

Rinsed. The initial aroma coming off of this rinse is somewhat smoky with dark woods. Tasting at 10 seconds. Hot. T_T How do they taste when it’s so hot? Tastes like burning. But with smoky notes and olf 1800s house. The longer it is steeped the more astringent twiggy notes come out. It is full of smoky notes but also has some sweet undertones. Sweet wood. I lost count of what steep I am on. Six maybe? The flavors have mellowed out a bit.
Second session. It’s hot out and I am finding trouble breathing while outside. Me thinks volunteering will be short today. But I was feeling some tea and decided I should sip down this sample. Still plenty of wood notes. Dry wood. And old 1800s house notes. Makes me want to get back to ancestry searching. I tell you guys it’s so addicting. First steep: Vegetal note to begin, green beans, and spinach perhaps. Wood notes follow and then the astringency. I wish I could say I am finding a palate for the ripe pu ers but mostly I am just not a huge fan. I will gladly try whatever I can to expand my palate but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to buy said pu ers. Which is wy I am not leaving a rating.

Thank you to beerandbeancurd for this sample!!!

I have been so tempted by this tea ever since reading tasting notes from CameronB and other folks. I didn’t buy it partly because of my sipdown goals and partly because I am not a big fan of ginger or clove when they are too strong and they will put me right off a tea. If the pieces are big enough and the tea is good enough, I will pick out these ingredients as best I can.

I saw an ad for a new-to-me Harney tea and went to the website to check it out. Definitely not going to buy anything! I noticed that the large Royal Palaces style tin of this was on sale for 8.95 but told myself “no” and moved on. I didn’t buy anything!

The next day I had an email from Harney and Sons with a picture of this tea and a coupon to come back and try it with an additional $5 off, which I could instead apply to a different product if I wished. Believing that this was a tea Ashman would love, and in view of the fact that he has just started having tea instead of milk in the mornings on workdays, I reasoned that I should buy it because the sachets would be and easy for him to make so early in the morning.

My total was $3.95 for a tin of 30 sachets. Free shipping always with Harney and Sons in the US. It would be almost criminal not to use that coupon, right?

The aroma is worth $5 at least. I had braced myself for a clove assault, but all I got was sweet molasses cookie. Worth it.

Drinking it sans additions, it is not at all cloying or super sweet. Molasses leads the flavor and after lots of sipping the clove and ginger are building up in the aftertaste but they are mostly just warming and not hitting assault levels. This will be really nice in cold weather.

With a heat index of 110F (43.3C) today, I decided we should finish the rest of the pot as a cold latte. I added a little sugar and milk to the now cooled tea. Awwwww yiss. This is absolutely delicious. I think this is how it will go, hot or cold, from now on. Ashman loved it.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – August 2023 Tea #4 – A CTC tea

This must be one of two CTC teas that I have left in the cupboard!  I don’t know why… I like their strength and don’t mind any CTC in the cupboard.  This one is GOOD even still.  It definitely tastes like assam.  I love a chewy tea in the morn.  I’m not in a rush to finish this one! I’m actually surprised my rating from many years ago is only 71. I thought it would be higher.

This came as a sample with my order last Fall. I noted that the “best by date” was last week so I made myself a mug this morning. Yesterday I was watching a video about the history of using mint leaves for medicine/health through the ages. I know I definitely feel better with a good strong mint tea.
There is a nice minty scent to the tea while steeping. It’s a strong peppermint but I like it. The tea feels fresh and smooth. It definitely tastes pepperminty with a bit of sweetness too. I’m the only one in the home that enjoys mint but I cold see myself reordering this one when I’m purchasing tea again. After so many disappointing reviews, its nice to have a good one to write!

Hmm I’m not a big darjeeling person, though this one didn’t seem to have the usual qualities I would expect. Actually, it was a little bitter/harsh for me. With milk and sugar, it was okay, but I wouldn’t choose it. My friends at afternoon tea really liked this one, so I left most of the pot for them.

Peanut M&Ms: roasted peanuts, darkly toasted peanut skins, milk chocolate.

I’m perfectly content to drink this, but I’m a little shocked at how underwhelmed I am by it. It’s solid and feels good, just not my bullseye cuppa. I will, also, always have my heart’s eye trained squarely on FL’s Lala Shan Hongshui. Guh guh guh guh. Not all Hongshuis, turns out!

I blind-bought this cake on an impulse. It’s not a smart time for me to be splurging on tea, but here we are. This hasn’t been with me long, and I think it needs more time to adjust… but I did want to jot down first impressions so I can come back and have my mind blown later. No pressure, little cakey-poo.

Impressions are not much, honestly. I felt like the entire session had a straightjacket on it, the leaf being pleasant enough but not really offering up anything in the way of distinct or interesting tasting notes. Classic Bulang tobacco, if I may be so bold, but muted. I read over Tea_Ass’s 2yo note just now and it feels like we drank different teas. This one’s going in my crock, then up the mountain, then into a sunny window… and then I’ll pull it back out in a few months. Qi is nice enough; I do feel more grounded and relaxed than when I sat down with it (a function of the ritual or the molecules, hmm?).

I drove up the mountain and signed all my papers today. Keys in two days. Met some super cool neighbors next door, and one across the way who lives alone and reminds me of Eeyore and I love her. Met some other townsfolk, too, and feel like they’re my people. I’m excited and a little dreading how much work moving + prepping our current place to sell is going to be all at once. But. Excited.