636 Tasting Notes
I’ve seen some good reviews for this tea so I had my hopes up but honestly I am not enjoying this tea at all. Maybe I just added the wrong amount of ingredients in my cup but the taste I am getting is not buttery or any hint of maple syrup. Maybe a bit citrusy with a weird tropical splash of coconut.
With a name like MASCULIN I’m sure no one knew quite what to expect with this one. To be honest I really thought it was going to be a Lapsang Souchong. Either way I don’t like this one or the later mentioned tea. But I’m going to drink it all because we could all use a bit more vitality in our lives. If tea were a man this would be him. Mix him with Lapsang Souchong and you’d get a real outdoors gentleman. For once the rooibos isn’t the star of the show. Generally, rooibos takes over whatever is put in the tea bag with it. Even the ginseng is somewhat undertoned by this woody flavor. I’m assuming it must be the maca.
This has been in the avoid pile for awhile. The only time I eat grapefruit is when I’m sick and even then I somewhat loathe it. A citrus bomb of bitterness. Currently drinking this cold because I was eating it with Cajun shrimp and it’s hot out. If you like the taste of grapefruit you will enjoy this. As you open the bag the grapefruit aroma immediately hits your nose. The grapefruit flavor is spot on. No artificialness here. Green is the perfect base for it. If you don’t enjoy green tea don’t worry, you can barely taste it.
Brew briskly, taste briskly, love briskly. Actually, I don’t really love it. Don’t hate it but I find it to be somewhat bland. Briskly bland. It is a CTC blend so it’s not wonder that there is a loss of flavor. For those who don’t know CTC means cut-tear-curl (or crush-tear-curl) as apart of processing the majority of many commercial tea leaves . Anyway, I can see this is a good tea for those who like to add milk. In fact, I’ll add some right now to see what happens. Ok Milk has been added. Still has that weird citrusy after taste and mouth feel. However, it does help cut down on the briskness and adds a touch of honey flavor to it.
This went from fruity to slightly bitter in thirty seconds so watch your steeping time and sip often. I could see being tasty in a real sangria or an iced tea. Good muscetal notes along with some hints of citrus which extends into the after taste. Not the most silky mouth feel because of the citrus but all the flavors work together fairly well despite that.
Ah Tikuanyin, you most mysterious temptress. Sometimes you toast lightly with the most interesting slightly woodsy notes and other times you are more like your green brethren with grassy flavors abundant. But this time darling you seem to be somewhere in the middle. A bit of wood, a bit of earth, a tad of hay,
If you generally aren’t a fan of rooibos because of how overpowering it can be then you may want to try this. It’s very well balanced. The rooibos created a creamy atmosphere for the apricot and berries. The honey helps keep the generally over powering flavor of the rooibos in check. Also need to add that the aroma of this one is very nice. Would make a great was melt scent.
A unique blend. Darjeeling is a hard tea to blend with others because its characteristics are so unlike other black teas. I seem to be having trouble getting the steeping times right with this one. Either that or it’s just because I’m a mom and should use a timer but keep forgetting. A woodsy blend with earthy after taste.
