58 Tasting Notes

First time trying this and I think I let my tea leaves sit in the cabinet for too long as I’m not getting a lot of flavor out of this.

The tea leaves look beautiful with the big chunks of walnut and banana. I broke mine up to make measuring easier. Brewed, it’s relatively light. It smells wonderful, like a banana nut muffin.

I’m withholding a numerical ranking on this one because I’ve had it a long time, not kept airtight, and I think the weakness is likely my own fault. The taste that is there is nice, and brightens with sugar.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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10

Awful. Package says lemon tea with lemon peels. Upon opening it, the scent of lemon pledge rushes out of the package. While big chunks of lemon peel are visible in the tea, the brewed flavor is medicinal and harsh. I poured out a full pot and threw away the rest.

I was hoping I’d be able to bear some of this chado order, but so far the best of it has only been mediocre and the rest undrinkable.

yyz

Yikes sounds like an earl grey Ceylon I had once. I tried but in the end it to smelled to much like pledge or another innocuous lemon cleanser.

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80
drank Vanilla Caramel by Bigelow
58 tasting notes

I finally have a new tea to review!

I got this for the office, AKA teabagtown. My coworker had just heated up a bowl of what must have been musty feet and trash from a seafood restaurant. I dropped this teabag into the cup and the most wonderful smell came out, saving the day. It smells like butter toffee.

The black tea base is nothing exceptional, but the flavoring is great (but mild). Not very artificial and really helped along by that sweet buttery smell, like cookies in the oven. I’m glad this was on supersale at my last grocery run because it is so much better than expected.

greenteafairy

I was pleasantly surprised by this one too!

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85

Mmmmmmm. This is lovely. Not cloyingly artificial, and not wimpy and untealike. Assams are my favorite and I’d hoped that the maltiness would go well with the caramel/vanilla, and they really do. This tea beats the pants off some of the other vanillas I’ve tried. I quite like it.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Sil

welcome back :)

Anyanka

Thanks, I was feeling bad but I’m ok and back to teadrinking again.

ifjuly

I missed you! I’m glad you’re back. (:

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This is one of those teas where I know, objectively, that it is a fine tea, carefully blended and well balanced. But, it isn’t for me. I got it to see how I feel about chocolate and tea and I feel bad. I feel really bad about it.

However, I won’t give it a bad rating, because it doesn’t deserve one. The base is nice, deep and not at all sharp, and the flavors layer nicely. I just prefer chocolate to stick to milk/coffee/cocoa.

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29

I’ve started coldbrewing this sack of hibiscus and drinking it iced with sugar, and I dare say, it’s almost good.

So I’ve discovered I can enjoy this tea two ways:
1. When I have the flu.
2. Cold brewed and sweetened.

Since I get a flu shot, this is kind of a revelation. Now, when I accidentally get some hibiscus masquerading as a consumable drink, I can cold brew it and almost like it.

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11
drank Orange Blossom Oolong by Chado
58 tasting notes

Tastes like I tossed an old orange rind I found somewhere in a cup of water.

I’m seriously fed up with my Chado order. I’m throwing most of these samples out after one cup. I was so excited when I ordered – I chose many teas I thought I would like. When they came, they were attractively packaged and the samples were all well over an ounce. Now I wonder if the generosity wasn’t to make up for the tea. (Full disclosure, I like the over-cinnamoned christmas tea and the banana tea so far, but by comparison to the rest of my Chado order, not by comparison to the rest of, well, tea.)

This tea is tasteless. So tasteless I actually chewed a few leaves to see if they had any taste. They did, but only barely. Also, it had very little tea aroma dry and no aroma (or flavor) once brewed. I’m guessing it is stale.

I don’t care for being so universally negative, but this tea is just not working out for me.

ifjuly

Yeah, I’ve noticed your low ratings for Chado over and over…yikes! Sorry to hear. When I’m disappointed by a tea but don’t actively find it disgusting, I throw it in a bin marked “for icing”. I have a much lower bar for iced tea flavor, partly ‘cause I can’t taste things as subtly when cold and also ’cause I often spike my iced tea. Just a thought.

Kaylee

Ha! What do you spike it with?

Anyanka

Yes, I do need to dedicate a spot for teas only suitable for icing. So far, I’ve only tossed the ones that have a flavor that’s just unbearable (or in this case absent).

Tealizzy

Ya, my order’s been a bummer too. Oh well. One less tea place to buy from!

ifjuly

Kaylee, usually homemade lemonade and vodka. I want to experiment more though ever since that recent thread on tea-infused cocktails yielded that recipe for Arnold Palmer where you steep gin with tea overnight first, and make it fizzy. That drink is awesome, and now I wonder if using some of my junkier/more boring teas that way will work.

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81

Yum. This is a nice hearty blend. Not too astringent, no weird flavors, just smooth quality tea. This could become a favorite.

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64

This is growing on me. The more of it I drink, the less overwhelming the smoke. I chose it this evening because I was watching Elementary.

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10

Too sweet for me and tastes of wet cigar and mystery fruit.

Tealizzy

Ooh, yum, wet cigar :P

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Profile

Bio

Here are the things I drink: Tea, water, coffee, beer, whiskey, wine.

I’ve been drinking tea since I was a little girl, but only recently began learning about tea and drinking loose leaf.

I prefer unflavored tea to flavored, tea leaves to tisanes, but I’m not inflexible and will try nearly anything.

I’m still learning, so thank you in advance for your patience and your help.

Also, I had to come up with a way to quantify my ratings because I was being really inconsistent:

100-90: Delicious, must keep in stock.

89-80: Excellent, a definite reorder.

79-70: Good, an occasional reorder.

69-50: Pleasant, but it was a one night stand.

49-30: Not good, but drinkable.

29-20: Bad, but I finished the cup.

19-10: Terrible. Couldn’t finish a cup.

10 and below: Undrinkable, requires mouthwash and counseling.

Location

Maryland, USA

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