371 Tasting Notes

40
drank Vanilla by Adagio Teas
371 tasting notes

Nope. And I’ll give this the benefit of doubt in that it’s another older sample. BUT. I’ve noticed in quite a few flavored teas that have an almost “rubbing alcohol” taste to them. I don’t know what the deal is, but I guess it’s part of the process of adding some flavors. If a tea has it in it, then it’s very hard for me to ignore. It’s one of the reasons I’ve moved away from the more “flavorful” and creative tea blends. That aroma just spoiled this tea for me. M

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90

Oh — this was an awesome surprise! I had several cups two days in a row, and really loved each and every one. I wish that I could describe it better (it’s been several days since I had it), but it seems like this would be my ideal breakfast blend. Complex without being obnoxious. This is another one that (if made available again), I’ll be tempted to purchase a larger tin. TG

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67

Unfortunately, I oversteeped my second cup, to the point that after three sips I had to toss it: bitter, bitter, bitter. Just basing this off of my first cup, it’s fine. It’s more earthy than I typically like. I’d say that if you were looking for something earthy with oomph, then you should definitely check this one out. M

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85
drank Paris by Harney & Sons
371 tasting notes

I have been very curious about this tea for quite some time — so I was beyond thrilled to discover that I had ordered a sample of it a few years back. Even with it being a bit older, this tea is pretty freaking amazing. I have to admit (and feel free to express your horror at this) I don’t like chocolate. I overdid it as a child, so a little goes a very long way for me and anything with cocoa in it.

But this? This is a pretty incredible tea. Of all of the samples I’ve been trying as of late, this is the one I’m most tempted to add to my cupboard. I mean, the aroma was absolutely lovely and it lingered for quite some time. If I was a chocolate fan, then I’d likely move this into the “teagasm” category. NE

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75
drank Russian Country by Harney & Sons
371 tasting notes

I was cleaning out my tea cupboard when I came across a whole set of Harney & Sons samples I had forgotten about from ::mumblemumble:: years back. So I might be reviewing a bit more in the near future. However, I must note that even though the packets are air tight, this tea is a few years old and therefore maybe not the most accurate.

Not a lot to say about this tea. If it were my first smoky tea, then I think that I wouldn’t be very impressed. It’s fine and held up after I oversteeped it a bit. It has a distinct earthy aftertaste — not bad. It’s fine, but I won’t order a full tin. NE

Preparation
4 min, 45 sec 4 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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90

Wow — a lovely Steepsterite contacted me (you know who you are) to mention that I should come back and check out how great the site/community’s doing. Seriously: wow! She wasn’t exaggerating.

I don’t know how active I’ll be on here — there’s a lot of wonderful things going on in my life. I’ve really settled down in my tea routine so I don’t have a lot of new notes to give. I tried to sip-down my tea cupboard, but finally gave a very lucky coworker almost all of my tea.

Georgia Tea Co. gets pretty much all of my tea business now (I rotate between this original Cancer Fighting Tea — called Teavite now, I believe, and the Lavender CFT one). I enjoy that every cup is slightly different and it just makes me feel a bit healthier when I drink it.

I felt it worth writing a new review for this since my last rating was 80 – I bumped it up to a very strong 90. Also, Georgia Tea surprised me in a wonderful way: their packaging is now top-notch. They started off using these food-grade bags…I don’t even know how to describe them — like a paper version of those coffee bags that you roll down the top of and push over a twist tie to seal it. Then they used those same bags but with a nicely sealed plastic bag within it so you’d get it, open the tea and put it in the bag if you’d like. I have several nice containers that I put my tea into, so I never used any of the packaging, and it never bothered me.

This last order their new packaging was revealed and it’s now on par with the best companies that don’t use canisters. It’s a quality ziplock-type bag — just perfect. I think that this packaging really retains the fragrance so much better. I still put my tea into its normal container, but the first cup I had was almost bitterly intense in terms of taste and fragrance which I’d never experienced with this tea before. In the future I’ll definitely cut back the amount I put in my strainer before I head to work.

I mainly wanted to add a new review to congratulate Daniel and company on the fantastic new packaging, and make others aware of it.

__Morgana__

Yay! So great to see you Rabs! You have been missed.

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70

I’ve been following a hard-core “not allowed to buy new tea unless it’s the one I’ve been drinking non-stop for months” rule. And I’d been doing really good too — until this tea.

I stumbled across the tea after checking out the Sisters of the Black Moon’s essential oils based on an online recommendation. And I love me some smoky tea, so I bought it on an impulse. I’M SO GLAD THAT I DID!

It’s a small amount of tea for the price, but after my first cup (about an hour ago) I bought two more tins.

It’s like two of my favorite teas (Rosy Earl Grey and Black Dragon) had a tea-baby. It’s wonderfully smoky in a perfect smoky-way, but the bergamot — OH the bergamot! This is a deliciously wonderful smoky floral tea — I didn’t know such a thing could exist. It’s done the rare thing where I feel like in the after-taste the underside of my tongue goes “squee!” I just get an overall wonderful taste sensation (gosh, that sounds like a terrible tv ad) that is crazy-rare for me with tea.

If you like smoky tea and have some extra tea money, then I cannot recommend this enough. Seriously, it got me back onto Steepster after another embarrassingly-long absence from Steepster. TG

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89

Happy Halloween Steepsterites!!!

I just received my most recent order of this tea — prompt shipping and amazing service as always. I don’t know if I can give all the credit to this tea, but so far I’ve remained the healthiest I’ve been all year ::knocks on wood:: It most likely is the combo of this tea, good vitamins, and my Adrian Monk-level of germaphobia.

KeenTeaThyme

Happy Halloween! :)

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89

I just placed yet another 16oz order of this tea — yes, I’m going through it like crazy. I made a few discoveries re: this tea this past month that I thought I’d share here:

1. You can oversteep this. I hadn’t thought you could, but the other day at work I forgot that it was steeping (either 1st or 2nd steep) and it came out astringent. Still drinkable, but it was the first time that I wrinkled my nose at it. Subsequent steeps were fine.

2. I’ve been using the Finum Permanent Filter to steep my tea — it’s great. Anyhow, I was noticing that all the green/white tea would float to the top. The easiest/least messy way to deal with that is that I really swirl my spoon around in the water to mix in the honey, and while it swirls I lower the filter in at an angle. This submerges the tea beautifully, and by the 3rd steep it’s a good blend. I also shake the filter over the cup after steeping to blend the teas more and get excess water out.

That’s all — exciting, I know ;)

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89

I’m still drinking this almost non-stop in my 18oz mugs along with my echinacea tea — and so far (knock on wood) I’ve remained healthy despite my weakened immune system (and working with the public)! I had another blood test today, so if there’s anything worth mentioning when I get the results, then I’ll share them here. NE

Rabs

Nothing but happy news from the doctor! :D

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Profile

Bio

Proud all-around nerd, designer, fibromyalgia manager, and Assistant Library Director/Creative Director.

After being a barista for almost a decade it wasn’t until 2010 that I discovered loose leaf tea. Now I’m hooked.

I’m quite loose when it comes to tea prep. I also ended up using Steepster to find my “daily” teas which I mostly have accomplished.

There’s really nothing remarkable or noteworthy of how I rate teas. I do take it a tiny further step to help clarify the muddled middle grounds for myself. TG is a definite repurchase. Anything below that is less and less likely.

TG=Teagasm
NE=Nice Enough
M=Meh
GA=Gods-Awful

Location

Midwest, USA

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