147 Tasting Notes

87

Ok….last cup of the day…well caffeinated cup. Gonna make me an iced herbal next…then bed time.

I really need some nice creamy, hot herbals to go to sleep with…all I have are fruit herbals…and I’m not a fan of entirely fruit herbals..it’s like hot juice…weird.

Anyway…lemme tell you, this one REALLY expands in the steeping basket. It would probably love a tea pot because my basket looked a little crowded.

It smells really good. Really oolong. And almost sweet. Comforting. I can’t wait for it to cool enough to drink.

It is kinda rich. I don’t know exactly how to explain it. It does have a strong oolong. but it is sweet. Not incredibly milky…well,,,there is some dairy aspect to it…and it is sweet…but the oolong lends a pretty strong vegetal. It’s really good tho. Sort of has a thick texture…I mean if tea can be thick. I dunno…it don’t find it as sweet and buttery and creamy as some others I’ve had. I think it’s the oolong base. It’s strong. I brewed it as directed on the packet…and I think I will brew it another time at a lower temp…maybe that would change it. It is a little drying to the mouth…not bitter but kinda dry……
But the flavor is good….just maybe not the best one I’ve ever had.
Hubs took a sip tho and he says wow…it’s like tea and milk…haha!
Still a tasty one. I’ll give it another go at lower temps and see if it doesn’t change the intensity of the base. Because I think it’s overwhelming some of the other creamy characteristics for me. So no rating for now.

Ok as it cools it starts getting a lot better…I do pick up more of the sweet creaminess left over…lingering in the aftertaste. And it starts to get sweeter….gonna sip on this one slowly for the rest of the night…let it unfold it’s magic…and then try and go to sleep with all this caffeine. HA!

Edit: Oh baby…the closer you get to room temp the sweeter and creamier it gets…it just kind of goes from “i dunno” to better…and then better…just gonna keep sippin’

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

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88

A sample I got in my very generous sample bag from Teavivre today. I’m so giddy. Opened up the package to find so many goodies! And I’m so glad I was given an herbal. I end up drinking most of my tea in the evening and night. So herbals are what I usually end up stocking up on around here and I was kinda bored with my current stash.

I open it and the dry fruits smell PRETTY. I mean yes, fruity and pineapple…but PRETTY pineapple. :)

I am going to drink this iced…because I can…and sometimes the idea of drinking warm pineapple and fruit just weirds me out. Unless it has a crust..(ya know…pie crust)…warm fruit is just unnatural. Anyway…

So I went ahead and steeped the whole sample packet and I’m going to put it on ice. I really enjoy drinking my fruity herbals this way. It’s so refreshing and brisk.

Anyway….back to waterlilies….

It’s brewed and it still smells…PRETTY!. :)
Sipping on it warm and it’s still pretty…but in that slap you in your face with too much lip gloss kinda pretty. It’s sweet, and fruity and good but woooooweeeee! That’s tart. Like lemonade tart! Gonna have to put this on ice for sure! But I will say it is PACKED with juicy flavor. It’s juicy and good but watch out for the tart…

So on ice….

It’s like KoolAid red!

But mmmmmm….so good. It’s like the most adult fruit punch I’ve ever had…adult in that it isn’t too sweet…but my god don’t add sweetener! And the tartness has mellowed a bit. It’s fresh pineapple and def apple. I don’t get too much of the rose hip…well maybe a little…maybe that’s why it feels like a grown up fruit punch and not my 4 year olds juice box.

I mean seriously…I really like it. It makes a really nice fun, fruity drink…like juice but the most refreshing juice ever… I find juice to be too thick and sickly sweet….this is great. It’s not like flavored water which is what happens to some of my other fruity herbals on ice…it holds it’s own in that icy glass.

I recommend as a fun fruity summer beverage on a hot day.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

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90

Got my Teavivre samples in the mail today…and some cookie cutters too…so it was a pretty awesome mail day to be sure.

Anywhow….I had so many options I didn’t know where to start so
I left it up to the fam. My 4 year old told me to try the peach jasmine becuase it’s named after princesses….can’t argue with that logic.

I brewed 1 tsp for 8 oz, 2 min. It’s very light. At first when it was steaming hot, I thought I had done something wrong. It didn’t smell very peachy and I couldn’t taste much…of course I did practically scald my tongue so that probably doesn’t help…but I was too excited.

Anyway, if you let this cool to normal human consumption temperatures it does start to develop a fruity peachy taste. Still light. And there is an aftertaste of Jasmine that kinda lingers. But most def not in any way too pronounced. It whispers.
What surprised me most was how balanced the green was…I’ve had my share of greens and this has to be one of the lightest and non-grassy green I’ve had yet. It all works well…nothing overwhelming any component so you get the entire range of ingredients in your sip…you can taste peach, green tea and jasmine all its own but complimenting each other.
A good sip.

Trying it iced….
I’s so light in color.

I think I like it best iced actually…all the flavors just become enhanced. The peach gets juicer.

Oddly there isn’t anything about this tea that screams PEACH! In fact dry, I was kinda worried by the smell of PEACH when I opened the sample. But that’s just not the case. In fact I might think about steeping more pearls at once next time.

Anyway, a very light, crisp and refreshing green.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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76

Republic of Tea sent me a sample of this in the mail today…Random….but cool. So I thought I would brew a cup and have it before dinner.

Surprisingly good. I mean I opened it and dry it smells really delicious. But lately I haven’t been real thrilled with RoT and I’m not sure why…Maybe because I’m too engrossed delving into the boutique tea companies….but it is good. Like all RoT teas I find I have to watch the steep. It has a tendency to get bitter on me when I steep the full 5. No exception on this one either. Steeped it the full 5 and it was just a smidge on the end of bitter…but I tried to see past it to get to the flavor of the tea itseld. It has a pumpkin flavor which surprised me because most pumpkin teas I have had are just teas that taste like pumpkin spice. I almost expected it to be sweet but it was not. Not even a little. But it isn’t heavy on the spices which is a nice change too. It makes me want a chai tea really bad tho…just smelling the spices…

I also tried it iced and it isn’t too bad that way either. But I’m thinking a splash of milk…little sugar…could be a good holiday treat.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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66

Ok this isn’t my absolute favorite “sleepy time” kind of tea. The mint in this is very apparent. And the (what is it? hibiscus?) is also kinda less than relaxing to me. But, I was kinda wound last night for some reason or another so I gave it a shot. I really needed a relaxing tea. Well the flavor and aroma of the tea in itself is ok…nothing amazing. The mint gave me kind of a sour stomach….but I DID fall asleep within half an hour so…I guess it’s effective. Just wish it was something I loved to slowly sip and savor for a relaxing tea. I kinda ended up chugging it down…not a slow sipper for me. It’s meh. Hubs likes it tho.

Preparation
Boiling 6 min, 0 sec

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I’m a cookie and dessert blogger from Texas….sort of. I love tea…always have…but since my husband and I cut out our nightly glass of wine the tea obsession has begun. Now I can’t get enough tea! I’m so glad I found this community. I learn a lot and it’s really fun.

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http://www.alibeesbakeshop.com

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