58 Tasting Notes
I’m adding another note for this one and increasing my rating because it was SO SO GOOD this morning.
I steeped it for 5 minutes in my favorite ceramic travel mug, added 1 heaping teaspoon of sugar and two teaspoons of very upscale coffeemate original liquid creamer and headed off on my hour long nightmare commute.
With my tea thus fancily prepared, I took a sip. And it was heavenly. (Heavenly the way Dunkin Donuts coffee is heavenly, but heavenly nonetheless). Thick, malty, and overly sweetened and ‘creamy’, just what I needed to go sit in bumper to bumper traffic and contemplate how much I dislike my job.
This has replaced PGTips for my strong morning cup, it brews up less minerally and I’m quite taken with the beautiful color.
Preparation
Brewed 2 bags of this at once today thinking it would improve it as the flavor was weak. Instead, it made it twice as bad.
I might be angry at this tea.
Mediocre but unoffensive tea. Annoying to brew because it is dust and resists water. No pervasive flavor, nor delicious aroma. Tastes pleasant cold. Would be a good base for other teas or fruits.
Short sentences today. Finally finished taxes.
Preparation
Would you like some hibiscus with that hibiscus or perhaps maybe some hibiscus? If that’s not pleasing, we also have hibiscus! No? Hmm. Did I mention we have hibiscus?!
I love this tea with ridiculous globs of honey when I have a bad cold with a sore throat. When I’m reasonably healthy though, it tastes terribad. I have it at work because I bought a heap of it the last time I was ill. I need to drink it, and it isn’t even getting finished there, where mud would be a reasonable beverage choice.
I like this one, but I’m typically a black tea lover and I think I like this tea because it’s strong and doesn’t taste like anything I’d put into a soup.
This would be a good base for blends, it would stand up against what was added to it nicely and give a noticeable straight tea flavor.
Also this is the first rolled tea I’ve tried and it’s so cute I can’t stand it.
I keep giving bad reviews lately and I’m not sure if it is because my job is utter shite and my home life stinks or if I’m just picking the wrong teas.
I blame the tea this time. I wanted so much to like this one. It’s local, it’s adorably packaged, it’s three of my favorite flavorings all rolled into one. And it doesn’t really taste like any of them. The tea comes in individual foil bags, which keeps it fresh. Tearing one open releases the unmistakable smell of…bazooka joe bubble gum. What.
It brews a weak reddish tea. The bag is tiny so no surprise the tea is weak- it would take a few for a hefty mug. The tea is kind of innocuously artificial tasting. If this tea were a person, it would be someone who tries to please everyone by being sweet and inoffensive and agreeable, but ends up alone and wondering why. Without milk or sugar, it is a weak scented black. With it, it gets better, more desserty and reminiscent of watery hot cocoa, but still nothing like the flavors it purports to have.
I tried this more than once to see if it was my admittedly wretched mood. I wanted to love this tea and love this company and have more bagged options at work. But, no.
Preparation
I took a look at your ratings and it seems that you’re not all that thrilled with Upton or bagged tea’s. Maybe you just need a change.Try a swap with someone or a company that people like a lot. There are lists of favorites in the discussion boards. If you want natural flavor, Butiki Tea is very good and the service is great with added free samples. Hope I’m not butting in.
Not butting in at all, I love recommendations and if I didn’t welcome comments I wouldn’t post tasting notes! I think I’m just too particular. I got 8 teas from Adagio and liked 3, I’ve tried 10 from Upton and liked 3. I have a ridiculous sense of smell and I can often taste every nuance of a dish- so it follows that I’d be picky about tea.
I like Upton’s sample availability and variety and I bring bags to work for convenience. But you are correct, I am planning to try another retailer for my next order once I’ve gotten through some of the teas I already have and finished the rest of my samples.
Thanks!
I’m sensitive also which is one reason that I’ve cut out artificially flavored tea and only drink naturally flavored. (One reason that I suggested Butiki Tea or Verdant or vendors like them.)
I have tried some divine blends from Adagio, but some of their flavored teas do taste kind of comical. My newest discovery is Harney & Sons, whose flavors are nuanced and intriguing (and excellent).
Thanks, I’ll try them the next time I’m in NYC. I can’t order anything until I drink some of this vat of leaves I’ve accumulated!
Last time I brewed this, I brewed a pot of it, the day after using the pot for peppermint tea. I thought this tea tasted minty, but blamed it on the sullied pot and made a mental note not to brew mint in it again.
Well, I just brewed it in an utterly mint-free infuser and it still has this little undercurrent of menthol that stays on your tongue and tingles your lips. It certainly isn’t bad, but it is unusual- for me at least, I’m an oolong newbie. (And a convert, this is a nice alternative to black or green.)
Is this normal for an oolong, unusual but not unheard of, or is my oolong contaminated?
Preparation
Not unusual, especially if the Oolong is Taiwanese, in my experience.
I’ve only tried a few different oolongs, but I do find that they can vary greatly. I know I have tried one or two that leave a similar sensation on my tongue and lips (almost like a buzzing feeling, if that makes sense). Other oolongs that I’ve tried are soft and creamy. So I wouldn’t say it’s unusual, but if you don’t like that feeling, I think it’s comforting to know that not all oolongs are like that. I’m not sure if I went on an oolong tangent there?
Thank you both, I feel less crazy (but probably shouldn’t). This one is almost mentholated, I even got a second opinion, “tingly”. I don’t dislike it, but am happy to hear it isn’t characteristic of all of them because I won’t often crave coughdrop water.
I’m drinking this tea with generic S’mores poptarts while my dog finds and eats all the stinkbugs in the house, cause we’re c-l-a-s-s-y.
I like my tea astringent, but following the brewing instructions on this one yields a tea that cools into some sort of paint-removing-acid. Don’t steep it for 4 minutes unless you need to have a chemical face peel or something.
This tea is nice, though unexceptional. It has a sort of dusty undertaste without sweetener or milk that isn’t great, but otherwise it’s a nice, full-flavored tea. With milk and sugar, it’s very good and has none of those pesky salad flavors I’m always complaining about. I have a relatively big can of this, and I’m glad because it will be a good tea for breakfast. I mean, it’s pairing with my fake poptart dinner smashingly.
