4170 Tasting Notes

83

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox Round #3 – Tea #3
Wow, this is a surprise from RoT. I like this one! Somehow this is an agreeable decaf. I couldn’t even tell – the black tea doesn’t have a lot of flavor but it also doesn’t have an odd flavor. I’m suspicious that it actually IS decaf… I wish whomever added it to the teabox could confirm! Maybe it was mislabeled? The blackberry flavor is full and ripe. If it’s artificial, I don’t care. It’s delicious. I sipped this with some strawberry &blueberry shortcake (that was my dinner). I REALLY like blackberry shortcake so the tea worked out well. Triple berry! I’m glad I gave this one a try.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 4-5 min

jeweledthumb

I’m pretty sure it was me, but I’d have to check the thread to be sure. If so, it is indeed decaf. :)

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84
drank Starry Night by Art of Tea
4170 tasting notes

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox Round #3 – Tea #2
After making the list of teas, it looks like there are 30 teas I want to try and a few I can remove for later. Somehow the teabox arrived before I set up the next shipping order! I was much better with that last time. Round four signups are in the discussions if anyone is interested (in the US).

This tea certainly requires some work… the stars look hand tied together! Into my infuser went two of the stars that are about the size of a dime and a teaspoon of the black tea. I can appreciate that there is a vanilla black tea base with the stars, since the stars themselves don’t seem to add much flavor, even steeped at a few minutes after boiling. The black tea base has a lighter brew color, but it somehow looks syrupy before tasting and actually is more syrupy in texture! I love vanilla teas and this one is lovely. Very smooth. The second steep is almost the same as the first. So happy to try this one!
Steep #1 // few min after boiling // 3-4 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

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78
drank Jane's Garden by Harney & Sons
4170 tasting notes

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox Round #3 – Tea #1
The teabox is back again! The hope works because it made it through three successful rounds. Amazing! I’ll try to write some tasting notes for the teas in the box, even though Steepster is wacky… but it looks like I’ve been getting close amounts of ‘likes’ that I normally get, so I guess the tasting notes aren’t disappearing entirely. I don’t mind if Steepster isn’t doing so well right now, just as long as Steepster doesn’t disappear completely! I think Steepster is a vital site to many people now.. more vital than most.

First up, this one. Bancha with rose petals. I would have guessed sencha though I honestly don’t know the difference. The green tea is buttery, fresh, sweet, delicious, a little marine-like. I don’t taste anything other than the green tea though: no additional flavors from the rose petals. The green tea is great though!

mj

Agreed! Very vital to me :)

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93

Another sample from KittyLovesTea! Thank you! This just might be my favorite green or white from Bluebird. The dry blend kind of brings peace in itself it is so nice looking- yeah, tea nerd here. I mostly smell spearmint in the dry blend. The flavor is lovely, mostly spearmint and super sweet jasmine from the actual jasmine buds in the blend. The green or white teas aren’t terribly noticeable so everything must be blending nicely! Very refreshing and the name is fitting. A great combination! My Bluebird order COULD be ridiculous.
Steep #1 // 30 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // 30 min after // 3 min

Flavors: Jasmine, Spearmint

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80

Thank you for the samples, GoodLifeTea.com! I’m usually not much for hibiscus blends, but this is one done right. Four minutes at boiling seems to result in a perfect cup. Maybe three minutes would be better if you wanted less hibiscus. It’s quite a refreshing cup on a hot day. I’m not exactly sure what the ingredients are here, but they are tasty. It’s pretty tart but not as unbearably tart as some hibiscus blends can be. There is actually quite a lot of sweetness and smoothness. It’s almost like there is a hint of sugar in the blend… I can only imagine that is the apple. It’s almost syrupy. The color of the cup is a lovely rosey pink. I was in doubt with this one, but there are much worse hibiscus blends out there.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 4 min steep
GoodLifeTea.com

Cheri

I don’t know why, but I love the name of this tea.

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95

I received this one from KittyLovesTea a while back! Thanks so much! This one seems inspired. A fruity spicy blend… first sips remind me of a fruity chutney of some kind. I’m always thinking of chutney but I’ve never been able to try any! Right away, the scent of the coconut does seem a little old. I think Bluebird should stop using the coconut because this is the second tea I’ve had from them today where the coconut wasn’t fresh enough. No fault of theirs, but I like treasuring the good teas and coconut seems to go bad fast. Otherwise, I can smell something like apple which is in the flavor and some other fruits. There is also some chili powder that adds some heat… the perfect amount of spice in the two teaspoons I used for this cup. I didn’t really notice much flavor from the typical chai spices. The rooibos isn’t the tiny throat busting kind, so everything else in the blend is more noticeable. The second steep had nice flavor too. A fruity spicy cup is very unique and this one is tasty!
Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // just boiled // 4 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 10+ min

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83

I received this one from the mystery bag split Marzipan, Mandy and I did. Thanks! The dry leaves here actually smell exactly like root beer. No idea how! There is also some marshmallow root that I also love to see, though for a root beer float tea, there probably should have been more. The flavor is definitely root beer, though it is paired with the black tea I’m not fond of. With some flavors, it’s more tolerable though! I’m surprised there isn’t ginger or sarsaparilla in this blend though. There isn’t too much flavor from the mallow root. I don’t mind this one hot like some others, but it would probably be even better cold. I’ll definitely be drinking this tea with dinner or something, when I don’t want to crack open a soda. :D
Steep #1 // just boiled // 45 second steep
Steep #2 // half mug // just boiled // 2-3 min

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94

Thank you so much for the samples! I wouldn’t call the oolong in this vacuumed foil pack as green as the picture on the site shows. The leaves are more yellow green than jade. They have a creamy milk oolong type fragrance to the dry leaves. I used two teaspoons for my 12-13 ounce mug, as the only suggestions on the site are 194-203 degrees.

Steep #1 // 12 min after boiling // rinse// 1 min
The flavor is very nice, creamy vegetables. Not quite milk oolong as the flavor sways over to savory slightly more than sweet. There is no astringency like I added too many leaves, but I probably could have went with 1 1/2 teaspoons and had a flavorful cup anyway.

Steep #2 // just boiled // 2 min
The brew color is a slightly brighter yellow now and the flavors are similar yet stronger (no astringency though). There is also a hint of floral flavor. I love my floral oolongs!

Steep #3 // just boiled // 2 min
Another full flavored cup, slightly more floral while losing some of the creaminess, still no astringency. So much of that lovely oolong flavor I love! I think the third cup might have even been the best one. I think this oolong could have went on for many more steeps. I’ve never seen my brew basket so full of leaves before… this oolong must have been rolled very tightly… the brew basket seems like half a pound now! A very lovely oolong, though I wish Green Terrace would sell a smaller amount of leaves at a time.
GreenTerraceTeas.com

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76

Thank you Maria for the sale! I’m not much of a drinker at all, but I have to admit buttered rum sounds delicious. I’m not sure how these flavors are here if this blend is organic, but it does taste and smell a little buttery and a little rummy. The coconut is the raw looking stringy type and I can’t say if it adds much flavor. There is a slight plastic flavor that is a little odd, but otherwise the blend is okay. It basically matches the name of the tea, definitely. I only used one teaspoon and probably should have used a teaspoon and a half as suggested. Not my favorite from David’s tea… honestly, I haven’t tried too many blends I didn’t like from them.
Steep #1 // couple min after boiling // 3 min

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70
drank Rooibos Yerba Mate by Samovar
4170 tasting notes

I have no idea why rooibos would be paired with yerba mate. Rooibos: night. Yerba mate: morning. Unfortunately, this one definitely tastes like mint now that it was stored in the same pouch as some mint teas. There was only one teaspoon left anyway. The flavor wasn’t too bad, though the dry blend was mostly rooibos. I’m not sure if the mint was disguising the rooibos, but it wasn’t too overwhelmingly rooibos with the flavor. Not bad, but this is an odd one.
Steep #1 // 25 min after boiling // 2 min steep
Steep #2 // 20 min after boiling // 3-4 min steep

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Bio

Hi! I love tea and trying new ones – it adds a bit of variety to my day! Books, music, TV & movies are my thing… and tea, of course.

Some of my favorite tea shops (still operating):
birdandblendtea.com
teavivre.com
52teas.com
svtea.com
whisperingpinestea.com
justea.com
harney.com
Dammann Freres
fusionteas.com
Javateaco.com
Lupicia
Octaviatea.com
Davidstea
eco-cha.com
what-cha.com
singleoriginteas.com
teasenz.com
tealyra.com
Mandala
verdanttea.com

Favorite tea shops (RIP):
butikiteas.com
steapshoppe.com
steepcityteas.com
aquartertotea.com
dellaterrateas.com
zentealife.com
angrytearoom.com
theteamerchant.net
joysteaspoon.com
tealiciousllc.com
Rivertea
Specialteas

My icon photo is Richard Mayhew from the graphic novel ‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey & Glenn Fabry.

Most of the teas listed in my cupboard are actually sample sizes. I don’t really have 2,000 ounces of tea around here! Many of my teas have only one teaspoon left… maybe two. But I like keeping them in my cupboard list for reference to what I could be sipping. Usually, I write tasting notes once for each tea. I’m still drinking them, just not writing tasting notes each time!

I’m always in search of: Hattialli, Qu Hao black, Jin Jun Mei, teas using marshmallow root.

My dislikes: hibiscus, ginger (unless in chai), turmeric, bee pollen, charcoal type flavors

My ratings:
95-100 – Super awesome deliciousness favorites – cupboard essential
80-95 – Also pretty delicious
65-80 – Pretty good
50-65 – Okay
1-50 – Probably won’t want to sip it again

I’m planning on being a Steepsterer as long as there IS a Steepster, so if you’re not hearing from me, that means something happened to my health… if you know what I mean. (Or as evidenced by the great computer hiatus of 2019, something happened to my computer… I have a dumb phone so can’t access internet on that. As of 12/20/21 my wifi might start getting unreliable.)

Happy sipping!

Location

USA

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