309 Tasting Notes

94

Floral, green, light playful bitter perfume taste on main flat of tongue. The tiniest tinge of sweet but not sweet in the back of the throat.

This so very does not taste light a black tea. It has a Darjeeling feel. Black but not black.

I wouldn’t call this a solid tea at all, taste-wise. Delicate, light,

It has some noticeable astringency that is stronger than the rest of the above flavor description but it doesn’t overwhelm those parts. It all ties together into a structure of greens and pinks and yellows. Light greens to the flowers and bitter greens to the astringency.

My first sip went, “yum”.

If I keep enjoying this sample packet I’m gonna order some of this. It is great for a day you want a black tea but not a typical or Strongly Black one.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Floral, Flowers, Green, Perfume, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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98

Second time with this tea a couple months later.

Still thick mouth feel and chocolate underneath. It’s round, brown, green, and gentle – low to almost no astringency for me.

This second time this really grabs me as a gentler black tea. I’d say it has a charcoal feel with zero of the burnt or acrid tastes that many blacks have.

Yup, like it.

Flavors: Chocolate, Green

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 30 sec 2 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

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71

This is front of tongue dark. Orange hard in back top of throat. No middle tongue. The smoke in this is medium to light… A nice level for me as I like lapsang souchong but so often the smoke strength is way too much for me.

Purple-pink but solid, not light soft of pastels, and reds starts to spread more in the back top of the throat as more and more sips are taken.

It has a short finish in the mouth, but smoke lingers in your nose.

This is a gentle lapsang souchong. Not empty, not lacking, not light…but gentle. There is a richness that is soothing and while no invasion feeling.

I’d recommend this. It doesn’t touch the middle tongue but the front and back of the mouth get plenty.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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98

Thick taste and full mouth feel. I see those hints of chocolate described.

It has that acrid undertone of blacks, in this one it is quiet. It’s just a touch at the base of the flavor.

Since the format of the new review popup doesn’t allow for decimals I’m going to start listing at the top my steeping info: 4.5g to 12oz of filtered water for 3 minutes.

Something makes me think of the dark flavor of the skin of red sweet cherries. Not the fruit themselves, just the skin.

Greens that are dark like broccoli or collards mixed with a brown dress.

Light sweetness in the back upper right of the throat.

It rolls over the tongue in texture and flavor in a very nice way and the first sip hits your mouth hard.

The flavor comes up from the mouth into the sinuses in a way you can physically feel. The finish is about medium-long and focuses on the brown dress and black of charcoal or lava fields. That is what the brown is, largely: that of the trees I’ve seen left over in the lava fields I’ve walked.

It’s a very strong and rounded tea in each sip. All dark tones in taste, but a very enjoyable mix of them. Balanced. Rich, I’d call it.

Am gonna resteep a coupla times for more impressions, but on first steep this is easily a new favorite I may need to buy for home beyond my samples.

Thinking on it further, part of what I’m tasting in the finish is the flavor of redwood trees. Both the look and the actual taste when you put a bit of the bark in your mouth.

I found I had to send the email suggesting flavors on trying to add them on this review.

Flavors: Bark, Broccoli, Green, Thick

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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87

This hits with melon in the back of the throat and it’s nice, where I am generally not a fan of melon tastes. The melon has pink and yellow tones, almost swirls. Then a vibrant green into medium but sparkly yellow roll over the tongue and underneath.

The flavor and scent breathing in during a sip is sweet and more yellow and pink melon. It’s definitely the main tone going on here.

Underneath that all is an earthy dark tone… Shale, crumbly light brown dirt, and the water that comes down the layers of sedimentary rocks of New York Fingerlake gullies. That gray and blue and ground -texture rock and dirt flavor when you drink it. That stabilizing and solid base for the sweet and light flavors above it.

Pinks, yellows, greens, and greys.

It fills the mouth nicely. A lovely sweet and diversely flavored tea. I’ll have to drink more over a few steeping a and all, but so far I’m really likening this!

Flavors: Dirt, Earth, Green, Melon, Sweet, Wet Rocks

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 30 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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75

A very pleasing green tea. Not one I’d drink often, but rather one I’d enjoy once in a while for a special difference.

Dark green with mild bitterness around the top of the mouth and in the throat. Light green with hint of gold near the tip of the tongue. The color red comes to mind tasting it but nothing specifically tastes that color.

Rich, full mouthfeel. Great body and long finish. The dark green lingers in the back of the throat and underneath the tongue where it meets the bottom of the mouth. Yellows in the bitterness when the sip is over and that finish is all that’s left.

Gentle on the tongue in general.

Gold but not like the lighter hay color many have or the tan of it… Again more rich, like the rest of it.

Balance of rich, dark colors and gentleness… It’s not too bold but not light enough for everyday. I like it.

Flavors: Bitter, Green, Thick

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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65

Sweet, golden, sunshine, moderate jasmine, underlying green tea isn’t blocked out.

Grey flavor around inside front of gums.

That golden roundness is the main body and taste and creates a form in the mouth. The finish is the jasmine.

Not one I’d buy again, I don’t think, but it was a nice one to sample.

Flavors: Bitter, Floral, Flowers, Green, Jasmine, Sweet

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 30 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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47

Strong, strong scent. I have the cup on the floor a little from my feet since I’m sitting on the couch doing my nails. Even from here I can smell it. It is distinctly oolong, with also a hay and raisins tone.

Taste:

Thick, dark, gooey (which is weird, I know, for a flavor description).

The dark is a tan and black, almost burnt but not that far. Under the tongue is juicy. Red and green and brown on the center-back of the tongue and throat.

I’m not a big fan of oolongs in general and that’s the same, still, here. But I do have to say that if oolongs are your thing it’s worth a try. It’s definitely pleasant.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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47

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97

This has an initial strong berry sweetness.

The black tea flavor doesn’t have at all the pleasant burnt edge to it like most have… While I love that in some, this tea’s taste is wonderful without it.

The back top of my throat gets a rich round berry black flavor… Hard to describe but full in it’s fell and taste.

It has a green around the inside edge of my gums… Not green tea, green color flavor.

The darkness comes in later, after it starts to cool some and my mouth adjusts to the rest of it’s manner.

This is so nice. On immediate first mouthful this was a WOW for me. From there this review unfolded as I drank bit by bit more.

Am thrilled I got this sample. I’ll be buying more in plan. Mental and here note.

Flavors: Berries, Berry, Green, Round, Sweet

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 30 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 354 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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