894 Tasting Notes
Mmm fudgey, chocolate, vanilla and malt. A very tasty, smooth way to start my morning.
Thank you so much for sharing, Lindsay! I can see buying some of this someday, when the Canadian dollar is stronger, but I can definitely live without it for now, especially since I have Tippy’s Not So Vanilla.
Flavors: Chocolate, Malt, Vanilla
Preparation
Another sipdown.
This smells amazing. It’s all sticky, sweet, caramelized sugar smells. The whole room smells like a carnival booth.
Sticking my nose in the cup, the smell mellows out and there’s a bit of woody rooibos.
This has a mild and sweet cotton candy flavour. Pleasant and accurate but not something I’d need around.
Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Cotton Candy, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
Another sample sipdown from Dexter.
While my tastes are drifting away from flavoured teas, this one is still excellent. It’s got a definite pumpkin pie thing going on, not just black tea with spices. Finishing this up with some milk and sugar, though it’s already pretty sweet on its own.
Very glad to have tried this one, and I could see picking up more, someday when my cupboard is smaller and I’m not burnt out on pumpkin themed teas so much.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Cream, Nutmeg, Pastries, Pumpkin, Sweet
Preparation
I sipped down the sample that Dexter sent me a while back. Made a strong cup with the rest of the leaf and then made it into a latte with lots of sugar. Probably more sugar than I would have normally needed, but I had this right after eating two bowls of Lucky Charms, so my sugar meter is way off.
I think this had lost some flavour due to poor storage on my part, but it was still very tasty.
Flavors: Cardamom
Preparation
If I’m looking for more flavor I sometimes will crack a cardamom pod or two and add it to the leaf for a bit more of a kick – but I LOVE cardamom. :))
LOL I quite often add more cardamom to chai blends too…. especially if they are cinnamon or ginger heavy – I feel it smooths that imbalance out a bit…
Continuing with my slow exploration of post-fermented teas.
I steeped this twice, western style over two days. Broke off 6g of leaf and orange peel for 8os of water. I rinsed twice and then steeped for 1min in boiling water, and then a second steep for 6 minutes.
This is musty and earthy, with just a hint of citrus. Slightly sweet and quite smooth. A pleasant cup, but nothing remarkable or deeply nuanced. I’ll give this another try soon, gongfu style.
Flavors: Citrus, Earth, Musty, Sweet
Preparation
Thank you Sil, for this sample!
I am a sucker for golden Yunnan teas, and this one is delicious. Rich and malty, with notes of dates, plums and slightly alcoholic tasting. Faint astringency, no bitterness.
I think I measured out 2g of this, and steeped it for 4 minutes at 96C.
Flavors: Alcohol, Dates, Malt, Plum
Preparation
yeah i hadn’t been swapping for a while…. yours was the first in a bit after i got burned by someone not swapping back :(
Boo, that sucks. I’ve only had one swap go bad, and I think the package coming to me must have got lost in the mail, because the person sending it had several other successful swaps under their belt. Sadly, they stopped being active on Steepster and so I was never able to follow up with them.
I haven’t sent out your package yet – I’m waiting for sample sized bags to come in the mail, as I ran out without realizing it, and they’re non-permeable, so really nice for tea.
Awww that’s so sad :(( I would be more than happy to send both of you a care package to makeup for the “lost” swap packages.
Aww that is so sweet Dexter. Don’t worry about me though – while I was looking forward to trying the teas I was swapping for, I’m not overall too worried about it. I have more tea than I know what to do with. And once I get organized, we will be setting up a swap anyway :)
Someday, when the dollar is stronger, you and I should share an order again to save on shipping. :)
Sounds like a plan!