New Tasting Notes

Mmm… okay, a tea from that S&V order that is actually quite flavorful! The tea has a rich almond flavor, both on the nose and the tongue. It has a very sweet, nutty note… it reminds me a bit of TeaSource’s “Roasted Chestnut,” though not as toasty as that tea. There is a sweetness to it, but it isn’t that syrupy, marzipan sort of flavor often in almond dessert teas… it’s more of a rich nutty note that lacks some of the earthiness you’d expect with that flavor. So it doesn’t really remind me much of an almond cookie, persay, but it is tasty. It makes a nice latte, but so far my favorite preparation has been warm with just a little honey, which helps bring out the sweetness. It’s tasty as a plain cup, as well, with a little bit of brassiness to the black base that lingers on the tongue. This tea is a good option for hitting a nutty craving without being too cloying.

Plain it was a bit bland (too much water?). But a bit of sugar later and it was lovely.

all the ahmad black teas kind of taste the same to me. not bad tho!

Took a short walk over noon today with a thermos of Goishi Cha, just to get step away from all of the Black Friday noise for a moment. I still fell for some sales regardless, though. This funky fermented Japanese heicha tea was a very nice break, though. It’s got such a tart and tangy top note and body flavour that at points I almost felt like I was sipping on a warm cider, though I suppose with a bit of a briney undertone. It had those same yeasted bread and hops note you can get in a really nice hard cider, though.

I know we’re not at the end of the year just yet, but investing time in learning more about these lesser known styles of Japanese teas was definitely something I’m really glad I did this summer!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRnWuLrEvTd/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcIXcrgUROc

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!

I recently ordered the Murdoch Mysteries collection from Murchie’s, and this is one of two additional teas that tagged along for the ride. I honestly don’t generally enjoy either marzipan or coconut flavors in tea, but for some reason I felt compelled to try it anyway. Maybe because I’m a sucker for a holiday tea, and I’ve tried all the others.

Anyway, I’m actually enjoying it! It actually tastes a bit like an almond-flavored butter cookie to me, with a touch of creamy coconut. It brings to mind a small, round buttery cookie similar to an Italian wedding cookie, but rolled in a bit of sweetened shredded coconut. The marzipan isn’t so strong that it becomes cloying, and the cookie quality helps there too I think. So an unexpected success!

Today, I checked up on this tea, which is slowly reaching quite a mature stage, certainly aging slower in my storage than beforehand. I found it quite refreshing, bitter, earthy, metallic, herbaceous, and bit fruity and funky, including some flavours like pumpkin and beetroot.

not the flavour profile i usually go to, but pretty good for a fruit tea!! when you first sip it it has an almost lemony aroma, then as that fades you feel the blackcurrant/blackcurrant leaves come through. at the end theres almost a bit of a minty finish.

drank this in my green & brown ceramic mug while doing exam prep cue cards.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – November 2025 Tea #4 - Nov. 28 – Black Friday: drink a black tea
I just happened to be drinking this one today, in time for this prompt.  I’m not sure if this had a sour note originally or it just has it now (it’s old). But I guess I never really rated this one very highly anyway. Unexpected for a Golden Monkey from Teavivre. I don’t think I’m doing TOO much black friday shopping… 

additional notes: I thought this was a perfect choice of tea for Thanksgiving evening. Hope you all had a good one. :)

This is from Cameron B! Thanks so much, as always. I thought yesterday would be the perfect occasion (hope all that celebrate had a joyous Thanksgiving). I love the variations of these Noel teas. They are usually so different from each other! Visually, we have some jasmine flowers. Tastewise, there is some delicious grapefruit. Then when the cup cools, I notice some houjicha. What a great combination. Perfectly steeped cups x2, I think. But wow are the flavors I’m noticing not picking up on the nuances from the description. IS this even houjicha? “Jasmine green tea” it says. I am not noticing bergamot, passion fruit, mango OR pineapple. Maybe they are all melding to create grapefruit… though there should also be citrus here anyway… though maybe I can notice mango in the background when I’m thinking it should be there. I am perfectly content with the grapefruit anyhow!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 23 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

Since I first reviewed the 2020 harvest, this tea has become something I order from Wuyi Origin every year. It’s managed to remain quite consistent, and while it will never supplant their Floral Lapsang Souchong as my favourite, it has an important place in my lapsang rotation. This is the 2024 harvest. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is a cozy blend of sweet potato, lemon, and squash. The first couple steeps have notes of squash, sweet potato, lemon, and wood. The most striking thing about them, however, isn’t the flavour, but the incredibly thick, silky body of the tea and the persistent aftertaste. The next two steeps add bread, violet florals, oakwood, pine, orange, and some tannins on top of the lemony, squashy background. Steeps five and six transition into a more oaky, bready profile with a nice tannic backbone. The next few rounds focus on bread, malt, maple syrup, oakwood, lemon, and tannins. The final steeps have notes of earth, minerals, malt, tannins, wood, and lemon.

This tea isn’t as gloriously over the top as the Wild Lapsang, but it’s elegant, well balanced, easy to drink, and, based on my limited experience, representative of the type.

I’ve seen a few posts about lapsang here lately, and I’d say Wuyi Origin has some of the best. They even have a sale that I’ve noted in the annual BF post in the discussion section. I think it’s important to support, if possible, great vendors like Wuyi Origin that may be losing money due to the chaos in the U.S. market right now.

I do have a new gaiwan, as the old one suffered an accident and lid shattered into a milion pieces. So, I took this a freebie sample from my last Siam Tee Shop order (of Advent and Vietnamese oolong) — Thank you! to test it. It is a little smaller (just 100 ml) but it seems it works same, or maybe even better; considering that the lid is a little more sunken than the other one. Of course, I feel bitter about that gaiwan, but a new one is also very nice.

I am writing this note two days later, as Steepster was rather funky, not mentioning my busy life and no time to write it before.

I wonder if Leafhopper is aware about TaiTung oolongs?

Anyway, to the tea. I think you will be surprised it tastes quite like a black tea? Strong malt notes were there, followed with ripe fruits and brown sugar. Smooth as a honey, so does tastes like it; and it was very aromatic dry and wet too.
Although it is heavily roasted, there are just a little roasty notes for me, and definitely no bitterness or rough notes from this process.
It has got a wonderful mouthfeel, as already mentioned and very long-lasting.

I just wish to have more than this 5 grams sample.

Steeped roughly 40s/30s/40s/40s/60s and some random steeping times.

very bitter even though i didn’t steep it long. bitter and dirt-y

Matcha… pop!?

This was a bit of an odd one out compared to the rest of the matcha I had this week. I whisked up the matcha and then floated it on top of a mug of sparkling seabuckthorn juice. It was super bright and juicy with a BOLD citrus and tropical fruit flavour. Honestly, a decent amount of the matcha flavour got covered – though not all of it. And still worth it in my opinion, since at the very least I got a bit of a caffeine bump.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRk2b4xknBk/?img_index=1 (Seventh Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1lyjmLM6o0&list=RDA1lyjmLM6o0&start_radio=1

I suppose “Yule Log” is much more festive, but since this is essentially just a chocolate/cocoa flavoured matcha I do find it a bit curious the choice to not name it as such. Though, on the flip side, I’ve never had a good chocolate flavoured matcha so maybe I would have skipped it over if that had actually been the name…

Whisked up, this tea is BROWN. Not brown-green. Brown. And, looking at the ingredients, it’s easy to see why. This is fairly close to just being cocoa powder. Not a lot of matcha going on here compositionally. That said, it’s a very tasty cocoa powder. But as I sipped this out of my matcha bowl I have to admit that I felt kind of silly. It just really gives hot chocolate and not matcha. I suppose that’s the way the got as rich a chocolate flavour as they did, since a majority matcha product or one relying solely on chocolate flavouring wouldn’t have delivered as sweet and tasty a flavour.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRk2b4xknBk/?img_index=1 (Sixth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ8HyJ3ljwo&list=RDKJ8HyJ3ljwo&start_radio=1

Iced Latte!

A classic for a reason! Whisked this one up and it was super smooth and frothy with that French Vanilla flavour I was looking for when I pulled it out. There are so many flavoured matchas from DT that it’s easy to get focused on some of the other fun and creative flavours, but it’s also nice to remember to revisit these solid standards every now and then too.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRk2b4xknBk/?img_index=1 (Fifth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNeEVrjlYy8&list=RDiNeEVrjlYy8&start_radio=1
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Iced Latte!

I was curious about this tea because the website photos are VERY pink. More pink that I would think you could naturally achieve using a blend of beetroot powder and matcha. However, tasting and seeing it in person I now realize that the colour is as vibrant as it is because there’s actually very little matcha in the formulation. So, you’re not getting that weird brown colour that pink and green usually create together. Not sure how I feel about that, since it is gorgeous and definitely fitting for a Hello Kitty collab. But if I wanted the matcha part of this matcha, I’d maybe be a bit bummed out…

Taste wise, she’s delicious though. Obviously making it as a latte adds a ton of creaminess and richness to the mouthfeel, but the apple notes and cinnamon are carrying their wait. Definitely a rich, sweet baked apple profile and the coziness of the spice that combined do make me think of apple pie. Thankfully it also doesn’t really taste earthy and beet-heavy either. It’s very pleasant.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRk2b4xknBk/?img_index=1 (Fourth Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI0NDsh2b8k&list=RDVI0NDsh2b8k&start_radio=1

Iced Latte!

Definitely feeling like I’m much less into this matcha with milk than on its own. It’s naturally a bit brighter with a sweet, vegetal note that comes off strongly to me of garden peas. I like the tasting note in isolation, but with the creaminess of the milk it was a bit less desirable for me. At least with where my current matcha focuses have been.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRk2b4xknBk/?img_index=1 (Third Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esu1zQy995o&list=RDesu1zQy995o&start_radio=1

I really enjoy the Kotobuki matcha I picked up from Cultivate earlier in the year, but lately I’ve been really enjoying Yame matcha for it’s most roasty and nutty taste. So, I decided to pick up this matcha and give it a go – I’ve really only had good experiences with Cultivate.

It’s honestly very nice! Sweet, a bit naturally sweet and with a toasty and warming flavour that really reminded me of sunflower seeds/butter. I think I’ll enjoy drinking this matcha a lot!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRk2b4xknBk/?img_index=1 (2nd Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Rii5upUwo&list=RDk3Rii5upUwo&index=1