184 Tasting Notes

85

This tea is growing on me….ok not literally (weird mental picture) but the first time I drank this, I didn’t know exactly how to categorize it in my head….I’d never had Golden Monkey and my tasting experience with Yunnan was minimal. I am now fully immersed in exploring Yunnans and other Chinese tea, so I see this tea differently than I did 3 weeks ago. This is smooth, but not “just” smooth. This is subtle, but not “just” subtle. The assam kicks the Golden notes up to the top of the flavor profile and fills in the bottom with strong malt and cocoa/caramel notes. This fills one of those “gaps” inbetween teas, when you don’t want an assam, but need more than a “golden” tipped tea. Lovely.

Flavors: Caramel, Cocoa, Flowers, Honey, Malt

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
Sami Kelsh

Ooh, this sounds really pleasant!

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85

After yesterday’s weak steep (made more ironic by the fact that this tea came with a badge that says “No Weak Tea” on it), I had another go. I have a .8 finum TeaControl that holds 16 oz. I used 3 hefty teaspoons. There the flavor is!!! This tea is smooth. Michael Bublé smooth. Notes of yam, grain, cocoa and malt blend smoothly like brilliant dance partners, to the point where you almost can’t separate the notes. Is that good? I think that for a morning when I’m not at work and all I want is no dramatics for a change, this tea fills the bill. On an extra note, I truly got a second steep from this tea, which is rare for me. Because I drink only black teas, if it’s watery, I’ll chuck it down the drain. This tea held it’s water for the second steep. Very impressive.

Side note: tin #138 out of 150. If you’re thinking about ordering this tea, might want to consider soon…

Flavors: Cannabis, Cocoa, Grain, Yams

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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85

Dry, this tea smells light and delicate….it made me wonder if I needed to use 2 teaspoons instead of one, but I went forward with DamnFineTea’s recommendations. Wet, I am getting that cannabis note again, but not as strong as I do with Laoshan Black by Verdant. I smell some sweet potato and a bit of baked grain. Sip! Oh. I should have used 2 teaspoons. Using DFT’s steep recommendations, I’m getting waaaaaaaay more smell than taste, which is quite disappointing…..like when a tray full of great smelling food goes by your table and you haven’t even seen your waitperson yet. What CAN I tell you from my cup? The tea is smooth….not much astringency at this point….and that I have high hopes for my next cup! Sorry, not much info, but if you have this tea, I’d say scoop heavy-handedly! I will revisit soon.

Flavors: Cannabis, Grain, Sweet Potatoes

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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85

I received this as a sample from a Tea Expo, not from Upton or In Pursuit of Tea….it was just a benign little silver packet with “HIMCOOP Kuwapani Tea Plantation” on a label. it is the SFTGFOP version of their Orthodox black tea. No steep or temperature info…so today I was in the mood for something “else”, and I steeped this for 3 minutes western style at 212 degrees. I take milk and sugar in all my tea, and before I added anything I sniffed the tea. It was like a plank of oak came up and hit me in the face. BAM! Ok, this should be interesting. Not a note that the teas I’ve tried usually have, but let’s do this! The tea is a bit weak with the steep parameters I used to truly stand up against the milk and sugar, but I can tell you I’m still getting the woodsy oak, a bit of cocoa, some astringency and a touch of maltiness. Considering my steep was a crapshoot, this could be a really nice tea. I like the idea of buying tea from Nepal, so I may look into their teas a bit more and get some good steeping info if I ever get another sample!

Flavors: Cocoa, Malt, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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90

Cruel cruel allergy drugs have taken my sense of taste from me for the last week. Whether it’s the Dymista or the Pulmacort, I know not. All the same, this has kept me away from my “good teas” and relegated me to my “easily replaceable teas” for my for morning pot. But here it is Sunday, and I’m with my teatime companion Pooter http://instagram.com/p/oHY1MignD4/ so I couldn’t resist a large cup of Crimson Horizon.

Some notes are there. The baked bread is…. The light maltiness….So is the smoothness. But the asparagus and a few of the finer notes in this tea are lost to the drugs. I fear I was premature in returning to the tea I love. Rats.

Flavors: Bread, Malt

Preparation
1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
Butiki Teas

Sorry to hear about the allergy med dullness. Awww, cute pic!

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91

Dry, in the packet, this sample smelled really appealing…..very “tea”-ish and already complex. I steeped this western style, 3 minutes at 190 degrees (using a meat thermometer…i hope that counts!). There is a delicate earthy balance as a bottom note to this tea. It sounds like an oxymoron to have a delicate earth note (they are very overpowering in many keemuns) but the earth note in this tea is like the tail to a kite….it gives support and a touch of weight so that the rest of the notes in this tea can…well…take flight in your mouth, I guess! There is a sweet potato and grain note that marries well with a malty flavor that is hitting the underside of my tongue. I love when teas activate different parts of my palate!! I’m not detecting much astringency in this cup, which works for me on most occasions, as I don’t usually like much of it anyways.

This is a wonderful Keemun that I will be buying again…..and looking forward to it!

Flavors: Earth, Malt, Sweet Potatoes, Yams

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 7 g 1 OZ / 29 ML
looseTman

A meat thermometer! Here’s a tea-specific one: http://steepster.com/teaware/davidstea/36677-thermometer-and-timer

Or, alternatively:
http://steepster.com/teaware/bonavita/39130-1-liter-variable-temperature-digital-electric-gooseneck-kettle

A like your kite analogy and TeaVivre Keemuns – YUM!

donkeyteaarrrraugh

looseTman I can’t seem to locate the thermometer and timer ad David’s teas….. can you?

looseTman

They were recently on sale for 40% off. It appears they may have discontinued them as they’re no longer on their website. You can contact them to double check:
- [email protected]
- 1-855-702-3006.

donkeyteaarrrraugh

Drats. Sold out.

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87

I haven’t had this tea in awhile because I am always struggling to measure it…the leaves are so dang big! I hate to break them to get an accurate teaspoon, but gave in to the “NEED” today. :) The lightness of the liquid in the cup always surprises me with this tea, as I always think of it’s big flavor palate and think I’ve surely steeped it wrong….shouldn’t it be darker? Nope. Just like Goldilocks says, “It’s juuuuuuuust right.” I always get the raisin note first, then the yam note, then the baked note. The rest come in together and make me happy. Enough said.

Flavors: Bread, Raisins, Yams

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 4 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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90

As an imperfect steeper, I know this won’t be the best review I do of this tea. For me steeping is trial and error. I tried to go through the reviews of this tea for the most recent that showed steep times and temperatures, but THAT was an exercise in frustration, as the reviews don’t come up in any logical sequence! So I just steeped. 2 tbsp. (as recommended on packaging) and off the boil water. 3 minutes. Ready? This tea is NOM!!!!! Smooth, bakery tasting, quiet cocoa notes, Tinge of yam skin….I’m not getting much caramel, but for me that’s good….and it may come up as the tea cools more. I thought I’d crossed a new “tea lover” line by ordering directly from China (it felt…different, somehow) and perhaps I have. But with great results. It’s seriously hard for me not to gulp this down in mouthful after yummy mouthful..but then it would be all gone and I’d be sad. That’s the kind of tea this is. It MAKES you savor it…. very recommended.

Flavors: Bread, Cocoa, Malt, Yams

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 30 sec 4 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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89

This is still my “old reliable”. I woke up not feeling very well and needed something not hugely exciting, but more like a comfortable favorite sweatshirt….this tea does the trick for me. No surprises, no HUGE notes….just the right combination of assam and keemun for a day when “no more surprises” sounds fabulous. That is today, as my poor medically fragile cat just barfed for the 11th time this morning… sigh….wish us luck.

Flavors: Earth, Malt

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
boychik

So sorry:(

Suziqzer

Yuck.. :( Sorry… that’s crummy.
The name of the tea made me think of McCormick’s seasonings and it’s hard to imagine this just being a blend of black teas.

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78

I’m in Vegas for a few days, and it was handy that I had this tea in sachets to grab and stuff into my carry-on. I got to my first Starbucks and just ordered a $.54 cup of hot water…. And got the best drink I’ve had in a Starbucks cup ever! It actually tasted like tea leaves! Life away from home is different, so I don’t ever expect a good cup of tea… I expect reasonable. These Harney sachets are good…. Not fabulous, but good. A bit malty, a bit loamy… Just good. Good to travel with, good to rely on for a good cup of tea. I will keep these stashed in my cupboard for exactly this reason.

Flavors: Loam, Malt

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
boychik

have fun;)

Marzipan

Oo are there any fancy tea stores in Vegas?

donkeyteaarrrraugh

Marzipan, I didn’t see any…. But I was primarily there to help my mom get around to meet her high school girlfriend…. All I saw was a teavana, and I try to avoid the vulture/carrion feeling in that store!

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Profile

Bio

Spot or pot, I love a cup!

I learned to drink tea while living in Dublin in the early 80’s, so as you can imagine, I am a hearty brew lover, and take tea with milk and honey. I am trying to expand my horizons with tea….that is why I’m now on Steepster! Joined in January 2014.

Currently loving strong black teas that hold up to milk and honey well. I have a curiosity about keemuns and yunnans, but smoky ones are out. Green and white teas are off my radar, but making little forays into oolong and darjeeling tea. Herbal? So far only cacao tea has gone into regular rotation in my tea routine.

I do like some naturally flavoured teas…almond, vanilla, cardamom, ginger. This seems to be mostly in the cooler months…but mostly I’m an unflavoured tea drinker.

Life is too short for bad tea and bad bread.

Location

San diego

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