New Tasting Notes

Iced!

I’m still enjoying this flavour quite a lot, but to be honest I feel like my initial fascinating with the bright, zesty and tangy lemonade-like flavour has slightly waned. I’m honestly not sure why that is, but the Strawberry Hibiscus flavour has subtly grown on me in tandem with this one ever so slightly becoming less “unique” feeling. Doesn’t stop me from slurping back the giant water bottle worth of it in, like, three big gulps though! I was very thankful for the ease in making this over the past week given how low energy I was due to covid…

Iced!

I sort of slowed down a bit on drinking through these because I’m getting dangerously close to a sipdown, but this past week I was quarantining at home due to covid and I had very, very little energy. Popping two of these stick packs in a big water bottle and shaking it up was so easy and convenient – I had no energy to fuss with loose leaf tea most of the time but I did want to keep hydrated. Anyway, this flavour has grown on me. I like the tangy, tart strawberry notes a lot – maybe, even, more than the Lemon Ginger? Weird how tastes flip flop like that.

(But it still doesn’t taste like Pink Lemonade, like Blume claims.)

Gongfu!

I decided to go with a mini of this hong cha just to keep things as simple as possible since I still have virtually no energy. Even lifting my kettle feels tiring right now. Steeps today were very, very long and unmeasured but it’s working for me – especially since the lingering congestion I’m experiencing is making everything taste just a bit more flat/dull then it would be normally. Even still, I’m getting a nice mix of malt, golden raisin, and allspice notes – the overall profile really makes me think of spice cake. Dense, and comforting. Plus, bonus points for not getting super bitter and astringent even with my arguably botched steeping. It’s a baby step in getting back to a regular routine after a relatively miserable and long feeling week of being sick.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7ErEkPuV66/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCKGe7kePcU

Gongfu!

I’m dealing with covid for the third time and I have absolutely no energy, so this is probably the only bit of gongfu I’ll muster for the next little while – this was exhausting to steep. However, the slick and jet black liquor of this ripe pu’erh was so soothing on my.raw throat; like the tea form of a salve. The super starchy, straight forward sticky rice notes with this very brothy and earthy-leaning tea was very grounding too, with a relaxing taste overall. I have such a love of Nuo Mi Xiang (sticky Rice herb); it’s a deeply comforting flavour and I wish it was more commonly utilized in scenting or blending with teas – I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it used with a black tea, for example, but the combo would be divine I’m sure!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7AIne0OtLt/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KJxZlwfYmI

Usually my shou consumption tapers off a little in the Spring and Summer as the weather gets nicer, but this week I was hit with such a strong craving for shou seemingly out of nowhere. This is such a smooth and naturally fruity tasting tea with lots of earthier notes of potting soil and petrichor to go alongside dense, gentle flavours like date cookies, figs, and carob. Though it’s surprisingly quite clean tasting for a tea with a moniker like Worm Hands, there is something nostalgic to the muddy leaning earth notes that makes me think of making dirt pies or “potions” while playing outside as a kid growing up – particularly after a heavy Summer rainfall.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C69f_9GO2mM/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_k48nwUNTM

Had a sample of this tea at the store near the Eiffel Tower, it was quite nice! Got 100g of it as a souvenir :)

Having this on the hotel floor with some Bonne Mamman lemon tartellets, so it’s lemon galore!

Boiling,5g,120mL,100C
Rince (2-3s)

1st (2-3s)
Oh so light and incredibly sweet, this is a really nice your puer.
Slight vegetal notes that are very pleasant, very light. This might be the tea to reconcile me with young puers ! pleasant earthiness, although I sense some bitterness coming.
2nd (5s, 90C)
Some astringency on the front that will cause me to probably let my water cool down to 90C, For now however, it is still an excellent young puer, I’m getting tobacco and smoked meat.
3rd (10s, 90C)
The astringency doesn’t evolve as badly as I thought, we’re getting more of that delicious smoked meat and tobacco.
4th (15s, 95C)
Going to 95C with this one.
A bit more woody. Overall the same flavors, and I expect this to be a generous tea, giving us probably about 11-12 very good steeps.

- Flavor Complexity: 25/30 – Great Complexity, a very full tea with a lot to offer !
- Brewing Forgiveness: 13/20 – Definitely forgiving, though I wouldn’t expect it to hold well to anything other than gong fu style and Near-boiling temperatures.
- Consistency Across Infusions: 20/20 – This is a very consistent tea !
- Overall Enjoyment: 22/30 – A very enjoyable young puer, I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did, I definitely recommend it, got 50g in the 2024 w2t tea club !

Brothy, numbing, refreshing, powerful

Incense utilized as medicine by the ancients, that luscious floral bitterness present in the most beckoning blood-red rose, the earthy spice and smoke of myrrh resin on a freshly lit charcoal, a numbing kava bitter-root emulsion, the musk of oily fingers dusted with cumin, dried apricots and fresh cream in the distance, tobacco base, stonefruit overtone

A cool swallow, the mouth waters, sweetness returns as a sticky date wrapped in cinnamic shiso leaf

Lavender flowers and blueberry skin on the breath

Quite grounding yet the body floats, the spirit uplifted

A hauntingly beautiful tea

A rule of thumb for me. Every time I try a new vendor, I have to try a bunch of samples from them of stuff that looks interesting that I have never tried. And this is one of them. I mean seriously, how could I turn down trying something called Fairy Tea. I think of me as a kid sitting under a tree in the park reading The Two Towers. I would have killed to have been able to drink something called Fairy Tea. :)

I struggled a little trying to figure out how much leaf/bud to use. It does not really expand with steeping and I kept thinking of it like a rolled oolong. So the first steep may have been a little too light. For the second, I added more leaf.

And here I am again struggling to describe the flavor I am getting. I’m missing vocabulary.

On the first steep there was a flavor element there that I just could not describe. Not unpleasant, but just at the edge of reminding me of something that I can’t place.

One thing that stood out is just how sweet this is. I wouldn’t call it fruity or honey like, but I can understand the comparison. Maybe I’d call it more nectar like? Would be fitting for the name. :)

First steep the flavor was a little light, but I suspect some of that was from me using a little too little. Added more for the second steep and it made a big difference.

The mouth feel was lovely and viscous. This did wane a bit the more steeps I did, but it was still going by the 3rd steep. After that it dropped, but was still there by the fifth along with the sweetness which was still going pretty strong.

Overall, I am pleasantly surprised. I just wish this hadn’t been such a hectic day so I could have spent more time enjoying it. Will be buying more, but will likely try to wait until there is a sale.

On my phone so this log will be lacking details!

The hotel we’re staying at offers us tea, so this was a godsend after 20km of walking in a single day (yay Louvre!)
We are sharing a cup with our feet up, after a nice Italian dinner and anticipating tomorrow’s activities

It tastes the way one would feel dressed in a creme coloured ballgown during Spring in a botanical garden. Classic, sweet, and soothing.

Cold and with enough sugar added, this is drinkable, but it’s really not a good tea. It’s overly tangy and tart. It’s just sort of fake and strange.

Finally trying another of my loose leaf selections from Murchie’s. I keep getting distracted by the cute teabag boxes sitting in front ha ha…

This is quite lovely though. Very citrusy and bright on a somewhat smoother base than usual – maybe the Darjeeling and Nepal black teas are helping curb the Ceylon a bit. I will say, it lacks that distinct piney note that I associate with yuzu, and because of that it’s reminding me more of a mix of grapefruit, orange, lemon, and bergamot. But I almost prefer that really, as sometimes I find yuzu to be a touch overbearing when it’s very prominent.

Lovely extra-citrusy Earl, and it’s making me miss Troika from Kusmi. :P

Sipdown! (16 | 29)

Cold brewed. This one is quite nice actually, it has a good amount of tartness to it, even though there isn’t any hibiscus. I assume it’s from the apples. I don’t know that I would go “aha, this tastes like guava!”, but knowing that’s the intention, I can see it. It almost tastes a bit like passion fruit as well. The strawberry is nice and doesn’t taste like candy, which I guess makes sense given there’s no strawberry flavoring, so it must be coming from the dried slices.

Really nice and refreshing, and doesn’t need any sweetener. Will definitely consider ordering more, though there are still a lot more Tealyra fruit blends that I want to try. :D

Way too floral for me, but at least that dies down after a steep or two. I wish I could get more of the sweeter notes that I expected, but at least the creamy, buttery finish comes through. I still think it’s an excellent tea that holds up over many steeps and has nice flavor development, it’s just not my favorite.

I’m going through these dragon balls slowly, since I know Bitterleaf is sold out of them. So good! Definitely honey notes, a bit of caramelized sugar, and a starchy, bread-like finish. It goes strong for many steeps – I got seven good ones (and a weak eighth because I always try to go too long to get as much as I can out of a tea that I can resteep). Thoroughly enjoyable, and comforting to have since I’m on the last bit of All Day Breakfast, which I will miss greatly.

Pretty cool tea. It is quite a savoury one with strong umami and flavours of green vegetables and fern. The aroma also reminds me of matcha, mint, spinach, leek. There are also floral and woody notes of fresh tree branches.

You do have to take care with the steep of this one as it’s pretty strong – and it still has that drying end touch in the throat, I don’t like high astringency type. This is all herbal and the fruit notes are great, but there is something about the mixture that can be overbearing. This time I brewed less than 1 scoop in a large mug for 4 minutes. Herbal generally encourages longer steep but not with this one, something in it is simply too drying.

I don’t know why I feel compelled to keep trying candy cane teas, I always seem to find them disappointing.

This has all kinds of nice-sounding ingredients, like candy cane pieces, mini marshmallows, cacao shells, and white chocolate and vanilla flavorings. But in the end, I still mostly just taste rooibos and peppermint. And I don’t particularly love red rooibos, so…

I guess I just really like the idea of a peppermint bark type of tea, but all the ones I’ve tried have either had weird additions (cinnamon, why?!) or just lack the extra creamy/vanilla element. I guess the closest I have is B&B’s Peppermint Cream. Ah well, I’m sure I’ll continue trying new ones, as I can’t seem to help myself. XP

Wanted something quick and different, so I grabbed this bag out of the ancient random leftovers I save to spring on my Sunday kids. By ancient, we’re talking several years, so I wasn’t expecting much. The fact that the flavoring hasn’t turned to pure chemicals is notable. None of the three fruits stands out singularly, but together, it’s a nice little fruit punch blend for a spring evening watching the cottonwood snow on the back yard.

So this is a caramel and vanilla black tea with pine needles. Although, I didn’t really see any needles in my sample jar… :(

I’m finding it just okay. It’s honestly a bit bland overall, both the tea base and the flavoring. There’s a touch of sweetness from the flavorings, and I can taste a little of the vanilla, but not specifically caramel. The base teas like a tannic Ceylon, with those metallic and acidic notes.

Meh! I wish the pine was actually present, that would make it more interesting.

This single teabag was from Cameron B – thanks very much! Since it is in a teabag, I don’t think it has the “full rose buds” that the loose leaf description claims, but the cup was tasty anyway. Hints of rose, hints of fruit, but I really can’t tell what type. I would guess raspberry. It’s decent for a teabag, but I bet the loose leaf is much better.

Getting back to some Murchie’s teas… Too many tea purchases lately, I can’t keep up! :P

This is nice enough. The black base is a touch biscuity and fairly smooth today, and the apricot tastes natural enough. I do wish there was more apricot though, it’s a touch subtle for a tea where it should be the star.

So not a reorder for me, but would love to hear some recommendations for apricot teas!