391 Tasting Notes
There was only one bag/ serving offered during the December 2024 club (?) which was too bad. There was a hint of ginger-orange-chocolate. I brewed this bag in an 12oz mug, half full of water, 212F, & 5-minute steep time. Perhaps this one needed a heavier hand with the tea to bag ratio.
I acquired this sample from Tea Share during their second month of their tea club. I’ll have to review their club offerings in more detail (I thought about starting the ol’ YouTube channel up again, however, it requires a lot of motivation), but I’ll try my best to add the information here! The overall samples from the second month were good and have only improved since that month’s club; however, they have been solid with their monthly offerings.
Aroma: Oregano, seaweed, basil, & cooked mushrooms.
Tasting Notes: Grassy, nutty, smooth, & viscous
Flavors: Basil, Grassy, Mushrooms, Nutty, Oregano, Umami
It was a chaotic week at work, so I didn’t get much time to work on the sip down pile as much as I would’ve liked (here’s looking at you, coffee). Unfortunately, the W2T club – sometime last August – only had 15g of this red. As I’m both grateful to have had the opportunity to try this, I’m a touch sad that there was only so little. That’s life – never enough, but enough to be happy. Lol
Aroma: Black pepper, toast (not burnt but almost), & cocoa powder.
Tasting Notes: Citrus, grapefruit, zest
Flavors: Black Pepper, Citrus, Cocoa, Grapefruit, Roasted, Toast
Backlog March 26, 2025
Aroma: Dark chocolate, sweet potato, nutty (pecans? walnuts?), & hops.
Texture: Oily at first but thinned out after the third infusion.
Tasting Notes: This is an example of a perfect red tea for the tea beginner. There’s plenty of complexity to test the palate for the long-time and newer tea heads! It’s smooth, never bitter, and seems to have the ability to take higher water temps. I added, “notes of sweet potato casserole without marshmallows, but add some pecans soaked in pine needle sauce (lol).”
Flavors: Pecan, Pine, Sweet Potatoes
Sipdown & Backlog – March 5, 2025
I made the final half of this tea as an iced tea. With the recent weather changes, from cold to warmer, I went through an iced tea craze, which is particularly nice to have on hand during in-office days.
Aroma: Cocoa, dark chocolate, floral, & malt.
Tasting Notes: Slight notes of dark chocolate, floral (rose?), & a maltiness in the forefront of the palate.
Sipdown
Aroma: Burnt sugar, powder sugar, & funnel cake (a little overcooked)
Color: Medium orange
Tasting Notes: Pleasantly sweeter than expected with ever slight hints of the roasting. Not bitter in the slightest.That’s all I wrote about the session, as I was working through some system issues at work on Friday, and hadn’t been able to properly session the tea.
Aroma: IPA, citrus, hops, & nutty
Color: Lightly orange
Tasting Notes: There was a hint of roasted notes toward the start of the session, which died down after the second or third infusion. The lingering aftertaste stole the show with notes of cooked peaches and Juicy Fruit gum. This is one of those teas that West China Tea offers that knock it out of the park.
Flavors: Fruity, Peach
