79 Tasting Notes
What deceptively cute and non-threatening little leaves! This packs a punch. I haven’t had many straight black teas, but upon reading about this I decided “go big or go home” and went for it. I’m glad I did! I steeped for about four minutes and had it with a bit of honey. It’s very earthy, malty, and a bit bitter but not in a foul way. Just hovering in the background a bit. I might try steeping three minutes next time just to see, but that’s more of a curiosity rather than trying to correct anything with this.
This could definitely work for those especially lethargic mornings. I think we’ll get along just fine, Kenyan Tinderet.
… I’m finding it increasingly difficult to assign number ratings. Like my “scale” is inconsistent. So… to heck with that for now.
The more I have this, the more I love it. I’ve decided I really don’t know what bergamot is “supposed” to taste like, the more I drink this and then switch back to ye good ol’ Twinings Earl Grey. I think it’s that this isn’t so citrusy, but more… floral? Smooth and cooling? I don’t know. All I know for sure is I love this tea in the morning.
How can they do this to me! I was simply popping in to restock a couple staples and David’s Tea was overrun with delightful Valentine mugs, heart-shaped tins, a sampler with 90% teas I want to sample, and this tea. I tried my best to ignore it all, but be damned if they didn’t give me a sample cup, and here I am with 30 g now (I refrained, I know I have issues with preparing black teas and didn’t want a tin full of black tea that I can’t prepare properly).
Anyway. The smell is beautiful. I wish I could bathe in this. Tea bathbomb? … I really like this. It’s chocolatey in a way that isn’t too in-your face sweet and pairs perfectly with the delicate floral taste. This is the first floral tea I’ve had and I have to say I’m quite taken with it and trying to refrain from throwing out an enthusiastic hundy. I will be buying more of this, guaranteed.
Eh. It’s almost a strange relief to find a tea I’m really not thrilled about because it means that’s one less to get a larger bag or tin of. Means I can put my student budget back towards food! Huzzah!
Anyway, this just really didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I had it a week ago, wasn’t particularly anything about it, then today kind of forced myself to give it another shot. And I’m still not particularly anything about it. It’s not especially caramel-y as I’d hoped, I do get the salt, but in absence of the caramel it’s a bit lonely. It tastes fine and all, just indistinct to me.
I’m just going to say it and get it out of the way. It looks like swamp water. To be more graphic, this tea is what my grandfather would’ve called baby-shit green. You’re lucky you smell so good, Mulberry Magic! As a fan of nuts in general and macadamia nuts in particular, I really liked this. Tasted like a macadamia nut cookie (this was with the addition of honey), and some green and leafy flavour that I really can’t put my finger on. Maybe once I’ve tried more tea, I’ll be able to peg what that is exactly, but for now it’s just “leafy”. My immense powers of deduction tell me it’s probably the mulberry leaves (I know, right?!) but I’m not sure what it’d be best compared to. It isn’t too brazen at least, it isn’t like grass clippings or anything, so I found it to be quite a nice sip nearing the end of the day.
… I munched on a dry leaf and it kind of reminds me of broccoli, of all things.
It took a bit of struggling to find the sweet spot, but at 3 minutes this turned out perfect. I like rooibos because I don’t have to worry so much about steeping for too long, but with black tea it feels like if I let it go just a second too long, the tea goes “lolnope”. Such a fickle mistress!
Anyway, I had this with just the tip of a spoon of honey and it’s quite nice. It’s very smooth, and the smell is fantastic and I really wish I could smell like this cup of tea. … Also, I kinda wish there was a little more pronounced bergamot to this, but I really can’t complain because I’m quite enjoying this cup anyway. It might be disappointing as an Earl Grey if someone is really gunning for that bergamot.
Took a hot cup of this with honey for my free birthday tea from David’s. My first pick was Bubbie’s Baklava, but the girl there informed me that they won’t be restocking it, so I decided I really rather not get hooked on something that is going away.
So onto the tea. It smells fantastic. Smells very chocolatey (a-duh) and a bit like hazelnut. The taste is exactly, almost disconcertingly, like a chocolate macaroon, and the coconut is really nice in this. Usually I find I don’t really taste coconut but just get the smoothness of it, but I could pick it out here in a nice way. I’d definitely like to get more of this next time I come up with an excuse to swing by the mall!
I’m firmly on the fence about this one. Sometimes I drink it and find it soothing and tasty, other times I’m bothered by it being a bit on the weak side. I think it’s mostly that it’s well suited to relaxing, rather than being on the run. So when I have it in the morning when I need a firm kick in the ass, it just doesn’t rise to that occasion.
I added some vanilla almond milk to my latest cup and, to me, that seemed to highlight the cinnamon. Only downside of that is I could no longer see the pretty little sparkles, which looks fantastic in the new glass travel tumbler I snagged!
Neo-Citran. A refined Neo-Citran, but Neo-Citran nonetheless. Which, I suppose I should’ve seen coming. I don’t know. It does perk me up so… maybe I’ll keep the rest on hand for exam time. I’m glad I stepped out of my “zone” for this and gave it a shot though. Citrus is just a tricky one for me.
Yum! I love coffee, I don’t drink it any more, but sometimes I get a jonesing for it. So when I saw this I knew I had to try it. I like it. It’s just enough taste of coffee to appease random coffee cravings, and I can still taste the tea so it doesn’t feel like I should have just had a coffee instead. I had it with 1/2 tsp sugar, kind of wish I’d gone with honey, but oh well. Next time. I’ll probably be keeping a bit of this around.
