309 Tasting Notes

60

Dark, heavy clearly Assam black tea. Black and dark oranges on back of throat. Apple reds around the middle sides of tongue. Moderate bitterness. Very astringent in the finish.

Dark and chewy in texture.

This is, indeed, a very heavy black. Not as much as could be, but Heavy.

Feeling of a round fruit in my mouth that presses against the roof of my mouth. Sort of like an orange in the back of my mouth. No orange fruit flavor, just that size and texture.

And yes, continued astringent finish.

2.25/6oz

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Round

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec 2 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

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85

Floral, almost jasmine. Crispy but not clearly noticeable black tea underneath. It’s rich and dark after a few moments before the floral flavors come back up over it. The taste flows and switches. It’s nifty.

A back of tongue/throat bitterness comes through after a while as a blackness. The floral is purples and yellows and poppies and petals. It’s a weird bouquet sort of flavor in the flower tastes.

The finish is long and the flowers stay on the front half of the tongue and wraps around the sides towards under it. The light black flavor seems to float inside the mouth above the tongue and throat as it ends.

This is a very good tea. But at the same time I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe that’s why it’s as good as it is.

2.25g/6oz water. Since the rating here doesn’t show decimal amount.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Floral, Flowers, Jasmine, Round

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec 2 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

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81

Am so glad on this first cup that I grabbed this at the Coffee&Tea Fest.

Dark, red rust, greens underneath, round and full in the mouth. The browns are on the medium and lighter sides at the top half and roof of the mouth. Tiniest pinpoint of black in the front of me. Richer red over the top and sides wrapped around rather than sitting on or touching.

The greens, browns, that pin prick of black, all of them are behind and supporting the rust flavor. Rich and full, yes.

Mouthfeel is round.

Glad to buy it.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec 2 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

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92

Follow up after a bunch more drinking:

This may indeed become a favorite. Still frustrating how much is needed to make a cup, but I’m finding it much more resteepable thoat first day of drinking it. So very expensive but a highly enjoyable flavor. Still, so very pie crust and sweet fruit behind it.

Not any kind of intense sweet, as said it’s rather like pie: that first flavor in a sip is flakey crust and then that fruity sweet mildly.

I’ve been drinking this and other teas at the same time, switching between due to steeping times and temps and my need to get a ton of fluid in each day.

I’d now definitely describe it as “nummy”.

Flavors: Apple, Fruity, Nuts, Pastries, Toasty

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

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45

Grabbed this on basis of liking a coupla samples of their other teas I liked.

I’m not thrilled with this one. The smoke is moderate and so is the black tea… It makes a watery cup, to me. Pretty blah.

Flavors: Smoke

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 3 g 8 OZ / 251 ML

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92

Just grabbed at the NYC Coffee&Tea Festival and liked the sample enough to pay the large amount. Worth it.

Yup, worth it. Like other tisanes it doesn’t rebrew a ton of times and more than tha is suggested for the water amount. I learned on first brew to added more, but the taste when it does is delicious cookie or pie with the almond and fruit.

Very yummy when I’m not one who really goes much for these sorts of things. The almond make a clear pie crust flavor to me, the apple is in the front fruit flavor and that’s how it balances – first the almond makes a brittle and crumby and sweet sort of taste forming a crust, then the fruit comes in second like a bite of pie would.

Great stuff!

Flavors: Almond, Apple, Brown Sugar, Butter, Cookie, Fruity, Nutty, Pastries, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 5 g 8 OZ / 251 ML

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90

Have had this tea for a while now and can’t figure out why I’m still working on the first ounce still from buying it. It is so intense, with bitter greens that fill the middle to front and top back sides of the mouth and throat. In a rich way, not too strongly where it’s negative.

I’m sure it’s lasted this long because it is so intense; it’s not an all the time tea for me. But it’s a great one that I’ve grown to enjoy more and more as time has gone on. I think I got it at the coffee and tea festival a year or so ago, but I’m not sure if I did or online…

In any case it’s strong, dark and bitter greens. Stronger than dark veggies I can think of, but I rarely have plain greens of heavier sorts, my dark vegetables usually have mixed in other vegetables, fruits, sauces, whatever’s. I’d make a guess of collards or kale from loose memory.

Anyway, I suggest grabbing some either trading samples or buying it direct and giving it a try. A nice full flavored heavy green for days you want something more pushy.

Flavors: Bitter, Green, Kale

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 30 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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22

Im not really liking this one. It’s a mix to me of black tea acrid and fishy. And as I drink it it hasn’t grown on me

It’s just black in my mouth. That’s all I get really to describe, it’s black in my mouth. (Color, not referring to the type of tea)

Flavors: Fishy

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 15 g 41 OZ / 1200 ML
Kittenna

Fishy? Bleehhh.

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95

Got this as I am still seeking the right Keemun Mao Feng for me.

This is nicely smokey and rich with underneath deeply below a pleasing black tea acrid feel in the back of the throat. Sweetness and honey colors at the roof of mouth. Moderate astringency.

This is a dark rich tea without being. Too heavy. In fact, I’d like a bit more weight so I may try later brewing with a bit extra leaves. But this may really be the perfect balance. Experimenting is good, though.

Very nice. Might be a standard for me.

Flavors: Heavy, Malt, Smoke, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 15 g 41 OZ / 1200 ML
Doug F

It’s always been a standard for me. It’s as good as many more expensive Keemuns.

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88

Welp, follow up. Went and had it again without remembering my previous tasting.

Loved it on first mouthful.

Came back to leave a review and reread my old one. This is a really tricky one, for sure.

I’ve ordered more since this one was a all from a sample tin. Quite an oddly indeed.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 14 g 41 OZ / 1200 ML

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Bio

I live as a nomad now and my cupboard is no longer huge, it goes from bare to maybe 3 or 4 at a time – whatever I can easily carry in my rucksack. But am ordering samples from places so I can keep trying new stuff or more easily carry a variety for my moods that’ll fit!

Note to those who read my reviews:

I only about a year ago learned I have synesthesia and that is why I’ve always wrote my reviews primarily in colors. Clearly, if you’ve read any recently, that’s still how I write most of the time as that’s still how I best describe flavors. Today I realized that may be worth putting out there for folks who come across my reviews.
Moving on:

Unless otherwise noted, I use 2.25g of tea to 6oz of water for my tastings.

Geeky, vegan, dominant, serious, non-gendered, childfree, eclectic, alternatively-styled, friendly and open-minded are good descriptors of me, I think. Also: extremely introverted, but not at all shy.

I grew up on bag teas, mainly Lipton, at my father’s and great-grandmother’s homes. I loved getting up before everyone else and sitting with a hot cup and reading or watching some quiet tv in the morning.

I didn’t bother much with tea for the years of my teenhood because of no longer seeing either of these people and my mother’s house wasn’t one for tea… more coffee drinkers, instead.

During my adulthood I started drinking it again, but still mostly bag teas like Lipton, Tetley, and some herbal mixes. I enjoyed these but went no further…

…until I was at a restaurant one night and ordered a Darjeeling tea to give it a try.

I fell back in love with tea and have since been trying all sorts of loose leaf and some bag teas.

I’m currently delving mainly into white teas, but my tastes wander.

Not sure what else to say here… if you like my notes or are interested in chatting about something, do feel free to send a note. I love meeting new folks, especially since we share at least one interest, being on this site and all.

Location

SE Asia, at the moment Bangkok

Website

http://wanderings.world

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