4183 Tasting Notes
MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #9
I could smell this through the baggie and it smells like buttered popcorn. Must. Steep. Now. I would have guessed it’s an oolong since it is rolled up like an oolong, but it is actually a green tea. By the flavor I would have guessed green, so there you go. It’s a mild green flavor. I know some oolongs have that veggie flavor, but not many. Most of the flavor is just like the fragrance: buttered popcorn. So kind of like a milk oolong if the base was green. The second cup has the same level of buttered popcorn but it seems like the base is more like oolong now rather than green tea. Sheesh, most of these teas in the teabox have a high 80 rating on Steepster. I hope what I add to the tea box does it justice! One teaspoon left of this one for someone to try!
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // 25 min after boiling // 2 1/2 min
Steep #2 // 20 min after boiling // 2 1/2 min
MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #8
Oh the first cup of this was what I had wished the Single Origin Nilgiri tasted like the other day – very sweet, mid-level depth of flavor, mostly cherry with a hint of hay. So delicious and thirst quenching! I would love to have this in stock in my cupboard. But the leaves sat over night and somehow the second steep was really odd… it had a plastic note to it and everything from the first cup was gone. I don’t think I steeped it in a weird way. Such an odd flavor I didn’t find in any tea before. The rating is for the first steep!
Yeah, this blend does seem a little bananas. Orange, banana, rooibos? Eh… I won’t say no to a banana blend from 52Teas anyway! But they have so many banana blends I wouldn’t necessarily go for this one. The dry leaf is super strong scented. It’s mostly rooibos but one fruit piece went into a T-Sac. It’s supposed to have both oranges and banana pieces. The flavor isn’t bad… equal parts sweet orange and sweet banana… I think the orange should at least be tangy to counteract the sweet banana. Maybe this one would be interesting iced.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp // couple min after boiling // 1 1/2 min steep
MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #7
Another nice keemun! Again, not really smoky… I could swear keemun is supposed to be a little smoky but it seems none of them are. I love the scent of dry keemun leaves. The flavor is on a mid level – tangy again. It seems only keemun have this tangy flavor I’m talking about. I wish I could describe it better. It was almost like the Andrews & Dunham Spring Keemun I had a few days ago. I also had this tea a couple days ago, which is why my note is more terrible than usual. Whoops. Not a bad two steeps (the second cup was similar) but I’d prefer my keemun darker.
I’m still looking for my perfect keemun.
I have seen both of you sampling Keenums. What are your favorites? The Pine Peak for WP just peaked my curiosity enough to start exploring. (as if I need another type of tea to explore).
I’m afraid to even try that one. I already have a WP problem
I wanted to love that A&D one and I just didn’t. I tried.
I feel like I haven’t tried my perfect keemun yet (though I’ve heard great things about the WP keemun and that one would probably be it). Butiki once had a couple nice ones which I don’t think they have any more (which might be why I can’t find my favorite keemun now – Butiki’s high standards). I suggest trying the four from Teavivre and finding which one you like more. I just bought some of the Grade 1 and actually had some today… I think the Grade 1 is my favorite at the moment. Also, Zentealife.com’s China Keemun is good and I think they have a new one. I’m probably forgetting some!
TeaSipper/MzPriss If you guys need a sample of WP let me know I can pass a cup or two along. Teas from Zen Tea are stacking up on my wish list so I might have to order a sample of theirs soon, same with Teavivre. I don’t remember seeing anything on Butiki’s sight but I will have to take a closer look. Thanks TeaSipper.
Thanks Tiff. I may have done a small little WP order last night and included the PPK in it :)
Not all Keemuns are smoky, and they’re not smoky to everybody. It’s a naturally occuring note, so it’s quite subjective. To me it’s sometimes smoky but also sometimes floral. I believe that this is actually the very same note that just comes across differently to me. I’ve found that for me higher grade Keemuns are usually more on the floral end of the spectrum, while lower grade Keemuns are more on the smoky end. I tend to prefer the lower grades. :)
MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #6
I hope I’m logging this under the right ‘noble’. There are three! I’ll definitely be adding a plethora of pu-erh to the teabox. Mostly ripened because I prefer them anyway! I didn’t want to use all of this one, there is a little bit left. So I ended up with using not quite a teaspoon and not filling the mug all the way. I’m sure it would have been much better if I used my usual teaspoon and a half because the darker pu-erh is, the better! The leaves here are a brown color that remind me of milk chocolate… no black leaves like the pu-erh I’ve been drinking lately. The leaves here actually look like already steeped leaves with the color and shape they are. haha. The flavor is nice: actually like the chocolate it reminds me of. Not as dark as I’d like, so yeah, milk chocolate! It’s just everything a pu-erh should be: smooth, sweet, bready. The second steep is very nice too and I could keep steeping… I hardly never meet a ripened pu-erh I don’t LOVE. So many of them lately… I guess taste testing them for teaboxes!
MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #5
I’m sad to inform all future participants of this teabox, that the Jun Chiyabari is sadly already past it’s prime… too much traveling, I suppose. I just wanted to try a little bit to see if it was still the same flavor I remember when Single Origin mailed samples to me, and luckily was the first tea I sampled as soon as the package arrived. The flavor is still muted here, just only but not as much as the sample they sent me when I tried it again months later. This tea is the most sensitive to age that I’ve ever tried. It is the most amazing tea in the world, but it needs to me enjoyed FRESH. It’s like that flower that only blooms one day a year or something. So so sad. I really suggest everyone try a little bit of this tea as fresh as possible. The second cup at boiling was too bitter to drink. I don’t recommend boiling this one!
Steep #1 // 15 min after boiling // 2-3 min
Steep #2 // half mug // just boiled // 3 min
Awwwww :( I LOVED this, but I was the first one that got it
Yeah, I kind of guessed this would happen. And I wanted to taste test it just to tell everyone it is usually way better. If I bought it, I’d probably drink it every other day until it was gone. :D
Very unfortunate. I hope the other teas in the box travel well.
I didn’t want to ruin the tea for everyone, but it is a HUGE difference that I thought I should mention. Or maybe it’s just the difference in harvests? But I know from cup #1 to #2 of my own sample from Single Origin, it ages very fast.
I doubt that the quality would go down like that because of harvest difference. I’ve noticed that some of higher rated teas I got in swaps didn’t taste all that great after I received them…..
Bummer though! Are you going to remove the rest of this one?
Oh, I’m definitely not removing the rest, just wanted others to know it’s much better fresh.. if they read my note of course.
I might try some experiments where I already package the teas into 2 oz bags? This way the tea is only exposed to the air once.
Its already kept in a climate controlled room with air-tight tins so I’m running out of ideas on how to better improve the teas!
I’ve got access to a -80 freezer at my work….hmmm.
Thanks for all of the replies to my tasting notes! I think this tea is just the most sensitive tea I’ve ever had. I think the idea of packing them into two ounces would help, but I noticed the packaging that the teas were in are still paper but at least now they have the reclosing top. With this tea, I love it so much when it’s fresh that I would pay for individual serving amounts in their own sealed packaging, kind of like how grocery store teabags are each in their own plastic wrapping? This tea fresh is worth the packaging that way.
MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #4
I knew this one would be a comforting cup! I accidentally let this one steep about 6-7 minutes about ten minutes after boiling and it didn’t ruin the cup at all… just more chocolatey. No astringency at all. Golden Monkey is a lovely tea. Chocolate and honey and I’m pretty sure Golden Monkey is used for Black Dragon Pearls everywhere. The steep color is a dusty darkness. Thankfully, you can’t really mess up the Golden Monkey unless it just isn’t chocolate enough!
Steep #1 // 10 min after boiling // 6-7 min accidentally
Steep #2 // half mug // just boiled // 5 min
Thank you Marcel Duchamp for swapping some of this one a while back. I should be focusing on tea box teas, but a headache means a peppermint tea. Somehow this one seems more like a spearmint tea though. The rooibos base in a T-Sac is really smooth… no scratchy throat affect at all. I can never taste tulsi in any blend, and I really wish it would taste more like fresh basil. I love basil. The chocolate isn’t very strong… it made itself known more in the half mug second steep… but that’s because the second steep went for about twelve minutes. I like this one, but it isn’t really a go-to for headaches if it seems like it’s more spearmint than peppermint.
MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #3
I don’t even think this one is on Steepster yet. I had to look at what ‘kennin’ meant, it actually means it’s a Japanese matcha made with Japanese green tea. It kind of makes me wonder what the usual matcha is made out of. I made this matcha in my “no tools, no fancy” process: a mug and a spoon. I added matcha to the mug & slowly pour water that has cooled about thirty minutes after boiling while mixing it with the spoon. I could be imagining things, but it does seem like this matcha is different than usual: looks different, smells different, tastes different. The green color of the matcha seems like it is more of a sea foam green, but maybe that is my imagination since it actually smells more marine like that a usual matcha and also tastes more marine. But not in a bad way.. it’s a different flavor that I’m not describing very well. Seaweed, yum! That’s better, right? It just reminds me of seaweed. But I need a vacation. Well, it’s ground up Japanese green tea and it’s delicious… nutty, grassy, vegetal, very sweet. Very tasty and very healthy and I definitely think it’s slightly different than the usual matcha from Red Leaf. If it wasn’t for Red Leaf tea, I would have no idea where to get matcha. thanks!
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/kennin-matcha.html#.U8BlRMjD_VI
Red Leaf tea just started selling ceremonial matcha labeled by source. I bought some during the initial sale. I really liked it but decided to share because I seldom see matcha in tea boxes, but it seemed perfect for this box.
I appreciate you sharing it especially since I liked seeing the difference in flavor that the usual matcha!
MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #2
Oh if only this tea had the flavor notes for me like they did in Kimquat’s tasting note. I’m gonna just copy & paste them right here: “Flavors: Butter, Caramel, Dark Chocolate, Fruity, Jam, Malt, Sweet” That sounds like my favorite tea ever!! I was hoping some would be left when I got the tea box! Sadly, if only the tea had a deeper, darker flavor, it would been a better fit for me. The cup is actually the color of honeybush, so this is as light of a black tea that you can get. I even used two teaspoons. It’s probably the lightest black tea I’ve ever tried, except for some of those golden yunnans but these leaves aren’t gold, they are very dark. So disappointing. It was a sweet cup though, just not enough flavor for my tastebuds to distinguish. The second steep I filled half the mug at boiling and it had a similar flavor. I’m not sure if Kimquat and I were even drinking the same tea, but I sure wish I was!
Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 17 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 min?
