94 Tasting Notes
I am trying to soothe my conscience from a tea-buying spree with a sip down project. Budget, schmudget— I can feel OK as long as it all fits into the tea cabinet, right? The one with three huge drawers that I thought would not only hold my tea and but have plenty of extra room for storage. The one that now is now covered with must-sip-downs and has nary any room for three impending international tea orders… blush
This is surprisingly good for not only a bagged but really ancient tea from the cupboard. Not tasting much from the green, mostly passion fruit with a hint of ginger, but it is very pleasant and not overly artificial-tasting as I thought it might be. It’s a little light on flavor, but that could be due to age. This would be great iced, and cold-brewing would use it up…that’s happening.
Flavors: Ginger, Passion Fruit
Using up the 2014 Christmas sampler. As others have said, this is more of an infusion than an oolong tea— mostly fruit and nuts. Once brewed, nuts, cinnamon, and a hint of rose definitely remind me of baklava. A stronger honey flavor and I think it would be spot on.
I stocked up on Santa’s Secret and for some reason Eggnog (what was I thinking?) from DT, and while this is enjoyable I can finish it off without regret.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Rose, Walnut
Beautiful dark cup of tea— the color of maple syrup— aroma is toasty dark chocolate with a hint of heat from the chili. To me it like a bar of gourmet dark chocolate with chili pepper. I prefer the second steep, though, the chocolate flavor lessens and makes room for other, more subtle flavors— the depth of the “heat” which I thought was all chili but turns out to be partly from cinnamon. I keep thinking of saffron— had to check the ingredients, and it is the safflower. Very nice tea— I love how complex the August creations are, never what I expect.
Flavors: Chocolate, Cinnamon, Pepper, Saffron
Argh I added a bit of cream to the first cup because, hey— berries and cream— but it curdled. :( second try I oversteeped this (10 min or more) so it was a whole lot of berry flavor. No time for third try. But it is a nice berry flavor— artificial berry can taste soooo bad. I look forward to trying again.
