911 Tasting Notes

97
drank Gyokuro Green Tea Uji by Teance
911 tasting notes

I should have used a bit more leaf – I only used 3.5g for my 6oz – so this isn’t as strong as before. But this tea is still so good. Clean, sweet and fresh tasting. The tastes makes me picture lush green hills, a cloudless sky and temperate weather with a slightly cool breeze. Delightful.

Preparation
140 °F / 60 °C 1 min, 0 sec
takgoti

I ordered a kyusu. That is all.

Auggy

You are a horrible tease! MUST KNOW MORE!

takgoti

http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/kikumaru.html

I’m ridiculously excited. Between this and the sorapot, I don’t anticipate needing to make any more teaware purchases for a while, so no one show me anything cool, okay? And someone get those cups out of Steepster Select.

Cofftea

Gorgeous

Auggy

Ugh, I know! I want those cups. But I officially have no more room in my tea paraphernalia cabinet. I had to even ask the husband to stop by the store to get a couple of more hooks for it so everything I have now would (basically) fit. Steepster is evil! (in the most delightful way)

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97
drank Jasmine Pearl by Samovar
911 tasting notes

A pretty tea both visually (love the little balled up leaves) and taste-wise (mmm). Soft with a good jasmine taste that melds effortlessly into the taste of the tea. Beautiful.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec
Ricky

Why is it 99 out of 100! Is it not the best jasmine pearl you’ve ever had!?!?

Auggy

I doubt any jasmine tea could get a 100 from me!

Ricky

I’m sure one day Jasmine will win your heart over ;D

Micah

!!
Really? Is jasmine just not your favorite thing out there? I hope Ricky is right and that you find a jasmine worthy of your 100.

Auggy

I like jasmine but I think because I’ve had some less than positive experiences with it, I distrust it. For that reason, I must hold back a wee bit from utter love and devotion of any jasmine tea as I have a slight fear that one day, while I am sleeping, it will stab me with a spoon.

Teafreak

Agreed, my first few experiences with jasmine tea were awful. The tea was so awful that I think they used the jasmine to cover up the quality.

Now that I’ve found some reputable jasmine tea dealers though, my outlook has changed significantly.

takgoti

I would like to something get stabbed with a spoon.

Also, I’d say 99 is pretty damn good for a person who distrusts jasmine, you silly people!

Auggy

Thank you!
See people! Takgoti says you have to stop picking on me! :P

Ricky points finger in some random direction * He started it!

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63
drank Royal Palace Pu-erh by Samovar
911 tasting notes

Quick rinse then brewed. The smell is very sweet – very much the sweet hay smell I seem to get from pu-erhs. It’s pretty potent, in fact. Maybe a little too strong for the not good mood I’m in right now though. But as it cools a little it seems less… syrupy sweet hay and more dry sweet hay and not as potent so I could be okay with this today. We’ll see.

Sipping and wow. This is nothing like the smell. I mean, it is, but I was expecting something thick and (maybe too) sweet and glaze-like. And it’s not. There’s an initial sweetness but it isn’t heavy and then there’s a warm taste that gives it a hint of spice and then the sweetness falls off – not so much that it is bitter or tart – to something more earthy. I can’t get the espresso or chocolate taste from Samovar’s notes but that’s okay. This is sweet without being syrupy. Rich without being heavy. Smooth without being boring. This is very good for a pu-erh.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 0 sec
teaplz

Good pu-erh all around! Yay for no fish! I was really surprised overall at how sweet pu-erh can be. Sweet is something that I associate with whites and greens… not with blacks and beyond.

My mood keeps fluctuating as well, so I’m with you on that. :( Hopefully some tea makes you feel better!

takgoti

Yay! Did you re-steep it? Because this starts producing magic for me around steep 3-4. Happy you enjoyed it!

Auggy

I finished at 3, I think. I will definitely have to spend some more time with it when I’m not so grumpy!

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78
drank Fujian Baroque by Adagio Teas
911 tasting notes

I’m attempting simultaneously to be productive and relax today. The relaxation part is where this tea comes in. A smooth, comforting tea that is dark and strongly flavored, but not stout – perfect for relaxing. But not too sure about how it’ll mesh with the productivity portion of today’s program.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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61
drank Monk's Blend by The London Tea Room
911 tasting notes

Last night was on of the first nights in quite some time that I’ve gotten a good night’s sleep. Because of that, I don’t need a comfort tea this morning so I brought this one out for a few reasons. 1) Because the husband loves grenadine so I thought he might enjoy this. 2) Because I want to see how it is with zero sugar and milk. And 3) I still can’t reconcile the fact that grenadine is pomegranate.

I love pomegranates. The husband does not. However, we tend to go through those giant bottles of grenadine fairly rapidly – and I never use the stuff. I suppose though, once something is so processed that there is no actual fruit in the syrup, it no longer tastes like what it is supposed to come from. But that still doesn’t prevent my mind from saying that grenadine is fake cherry, even though I now know it is wrong.

So aside from the flavorings of this tea messing with my head, what else can I say about this tea? Without sugar and milk, it’s not really super-sweet. There’s no bitterness or anything – it’s just not as sweet as I was expecting. And the grenadine flavor comes through more on the front smell when I sip and the aftertaste once I swallow. It doesn’t really show up in the middle that much. I can’t specifically taste the vanilla, but I imagine the lack of an edge I feel to the tea is due to the vanilla addition. The flavors are strong but not smack-you-in-the-face strong – but at the same time, not a whole lot of just ‘tea’ taste going on.

I put a tiny bit of sugar in the second half of my cup and while it didn’t really increase the sweetness that much, it seems to bring out the grenadine flavoring and makes the overall taste of the tea taste lighter, somehow. I think I might prefer it with that little bit of sugar.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Bethany

What do you use the grenadine for? I tried my first Monk’s Blend yesterday and loved it!

Auggy

The husband puts grenadine in pretty much any type of soda that comes into this house. A LOT of it. Like, tint-the-Pepsi-red lot.

Bethany

Mmm, that’s an awesome idea. I saw a recipe for homemade grenadine today and I kind of want to put forth the effort and make some.

Auggy

Me too! Especially since I know what it’s made with! The stuff the hubby drinks is pretty much corn syrup so I have to think that the real stuff would be pretty awesome.

Hyrulehippie

Wait, what? Grenadine is POMEGRANATE?!

I just don’t know what’s what anymore.

Auggy

I know, right? Jillian was the smart cookie that pointed that out the first time I had this. But it still blows my mind!

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55

The dry leaf smells like honeydew rind. Distinctly melon but not very juicy or as sweet as the meat of the fruit. Brewed, the tea smells more like very ripe cantaloupe.

Taste wise, it’s very melon-y on the front and transitions to a sweet nectar taste at the end. It’s very sweet. I mean very. Melon and nectar. There’s not a lot of depth to the flavor as both tastes are pretty high and sweet. Honestly, I think it may be a little too much for me. At the same time though, as this cools, it’s less super-melon and more… buttered melon. Melted butter instead of creamy solid butter.

I can get behind the buttered melon thing, but the initial hot taste of melon and nectar is just too sweet for me. Maybe if paired with a darker tasting white tea, this would be more my thing as the melon flavor is very nice. But ultimately, too overpoweringly sweet for me.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec
takgoti

I totally get that. If I weren’t so addicted to Midori, which is super sweet, I’m not sure I would like this as much either.

teaplz

It definitely is more of a Midori-melon sweet. I can’t believe I drank this one up, though, because I hate melon. It tastes ridiculously authentic, though!

Auggy

Agreed on the ‘ridiculously authentic’! And I sadly have never had Midori (somewhere along the way I have totally lost my alcohol tolerance and one glass can get me buzzed so I pretty much avoid it) but I can see how that crazy sweetness would go in something melon-y alcoholic.

takgoti

My alcohol tolerance doesn’t exist. It’s flown the coop. It doesn’t even take a full beer to get me buzzed, so the fact that I can handle midori sours is saying something. They are awesome. You should try one. This tea isn’t nearly as sweet as midori actually is, but it is pretty sweet.

I’m still trying to decide whether I want to order a tin of this. Hrmmmmmm…

teaplz

I’m actually a huge fan of the amaretto sour myself, although midori sours I can handle in small doses. But I rarely drink, pretty much, so I have 0 tolerance. 1/3 of my way through a vodka and cranberry and I’m already giggling and acting like an idiot.

Hyrulehippie

I’m terrified of me+alcohol (I act like a drunk person anyway), but I had a sip or two of a midori sour and loved it. Tea that tastes like that is quite appealing to me.

cry steepster is so bad for my credit card.

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73
drank White Licorice by Golden Moon Tea
911 tasting notes

I don’t like licorice. At all. It’s evil. Oddly enough, I don’t anticipate liking this tea. But I’m a glutton for punishment so we’ll give it a quick go.

The dry leaves smell horrid – exactly like licorice. The juice smells like someone dropped a licorice candy in my tea to dissolve. Those bastards. It’s not as strong as the dry leaf but still smells like licorice so it’s icky.

But oh my gosh. The taste is… good! What the what what? There’s a faint sweetness and a little hint of licorice but not actually licorice. Not icky licorice. A sweetness that lightly melds with the (silver needle-tasting?) white tea giving it an almost dark nectar-y, somewhat floral taste.

I’m really really shocked at how delicious this is. I don’t know if this needs to go on the ‘to buy’ list but it has potential. Sadly, I only had enough leaf for one cup but I’ll see how the resteep goes. Because this was really quite yummy!

ETA: The second steep was more licorice tasting but not in a bad way. It was more identifiable but without the cloying… stickiness that I associate with licorice. Really surprising how good this one was.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 30 sec
Cofftea

I can’t stand licorice either- you give me hope for this one:)

Ricky

Must try and torment myself with this tea tomorrow :D

Bethany

I LOVE licorice, so once again I find another reason to order the GM sampler..

Cofftea

@Bethany, yep- there are 31 of them!:)

takgoti

This review may give me the nerve to try this once I order my sampler. It’s the only tea that really scares me.

teaplz

I was really terrified of this one too. I loathe licorice! I think the trick here is that it’s not really licorice in the tea, but anise, which has a slightly different flavor. And somehow, it WORKS. And tastes really good. It’s bizarre on many levels!

Erynn

I can’t stand licorice, and it’s in so many tea blends out there! Anise is more tolerable by a smidge. Star anise is very nice, though, so I really think it’s a matter of proportion and sweetness. I find licorice utterly cloying and will avoid teas containing it like the plague.

teaplz

Looking at it, I think star anise is what’s actually in this tea. Delicious!

Auggy

Anything even remotely licorice is evil in my book… except this tea. This was good. I don’t think I’ll be getting a full tin of it, but I am wondering what size their sampler is… I’m guessing it’s larger than the one or two cup envelopes in the 31 tea sampler set but not 100% sure. Does anyone know? Because I’d like to have like… 5 cups of this on hand.

Ricky

My guess is that the samplers are these little packets.

Auggy

Boo. I need a few more cups to figure out if I think this is good because it is licorice and not evil or if it really is super-good. Or both. (At the moment, I’m leaning towards both, but I need confirmation!)

Angrboda

That sounds like something I would love to pieces!

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87
drank Sinharaja by Golden Moon Tea
911 tasting notes

The leaves are so pretty. Dark and almost velvety looking. And they smell like cocoa? Of course, I just ate some clementines so my hands smell like them and that could be throwing things off.

The tea itself smells like it has been sweetened with honey. It smells light and fruity and sweet. And wow. The taste is… like maple or cane syrup. The end tastes just like raw sugar. This is really sweet and almost rich. I was so surprised that I called the husband in to make him taste. After one sip he gave me a shocked look and grabbed the cup back to have another sip. He said that it tasted like there was cream in it. After another sip, I’d have to agree. The smoothness gives it the feeling that it has been spiked with a little milk.

This is really good. All sorts of sweet, natural tastes combining into one yummy tea. This is probably going on my ‘to order’ list!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec
Angrboda

This sounds really awesome! I’m getting more and more intrigued by that sampler thing they’ve got. It’s definitely something I’m going to try to figure out in the new year!

Auggy

Hopefully they offer shipping to your part of the world because it is a way cool sampler. Sure, there are a few misses in there but the fact that it is their entire tea catalog and they have more good teas than bad (so far), it’s definitely a good purchase.

Carolyn

I’m so glad you like Sinharaja. Until this week it was my favorite tea. (Now it is one of my favorite two teas.) It is my comfort tea when the world has obviously conspired to make me unhappy. I bought a half pound bag and keep nervously checking to make sure it isn’t getting close to gone.

Angrboda

They don’t at the moment iirc, but I have a couple of people in mind in the US that I might be able to convince to buy it for me and have me reimburse them via paypal or some such. We’ll see if they trust me enough for that, but it’s worth a try to ask them anyway. :)

takgoti

Oooh, yay Sinharaja! I’ve got about 1 cup left of what Carolyn sent me, so it’s definitely getting ordered this week.

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66

Haven’t had this tea in forever since the husband isn’t a fan of it. But I had a sniff of it the other day and the smokiness appealed to me so I’ve been waiting to have some. Smelling this, it’s probably not a big surprise that I like lapsang souchong because this Keemun is smoky and a little meaty smelling. Taste-wise, however, it is a lot milder and pretty meat-free. I don’t know if I’d say it has an orchid-like flavor to it though. It is sweet but I see it more as a honeyed or nectar-like sweetness. And while it smells smoky and a little bit meaty, it doesn’t taste it.

I think this might have actually benefited from being ignored in my pantry for a while – it seems to have gotten smoother. The husband agrees on the increased smoothness, too, and he no longer hates it – so YAY! I’d have to say I like this one better than Rishi’s now which seems to fight a sometimes overwhelming pine bitterness/rawness. Maybe the Rishi’s just needs to be ignored for a while, too.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

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90

I’m probably going to regret this in an hour when it is time to go to sleep, but I couldn’t end on that sad sencha note. I had to bring something out that reminded me why sencha was yummy. Even though this is old, the leaves are still prettier. It’s at the very very bottom of my tin so there’s a lot of broken leaf. It’s actually pretty close to what I just had. But with this tea, the smell actually exists as does the taste. The juice is a little darker yellow with a little cloudiness. There’s a bit of a fuzzy taste to it. Not a very full-bodied tea, but thicker than water (or the previous sencha). Mild with spikes of sweet and buttery and fresh and a tiny hint of astringency that gets nowhere near bitter but instead coats my mouth with a thin layer of dryness that doesn’t build into saltiness or unpleasantness. Milder than it normally is, in fact, since I cut down on the leaf since I had just had some sencha and it’s pretty late. Using more leaf increases the potency of the flavors and the mouth-feel, which is quite nice.

Sadly, my cup is now empty. Time for a second one!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 45 sec
teaplz

Yay! At least you made up for the awfulness with something that tastes WAY better. :)

Auggy

And I’m SO caffeinated now! WHEEEEE!!!!

Ricky

Wohooo, caffeine at night! Were you bouncing off the walls?

Auggy

I was! I ended up going to sleep after 1 which was a lot later than I wanted. But then I also thought it was Sunday for a good portion of last night so I was anticipating an early morning. But once I realized it was Saturday, I had a second steep. :D

teaplz

Dragonwell kept me up until around after 4. No more caffeine that late! Haha! This is why I bought lots of decaf… silly me.

takgoti

I’ve been staying up LATE and sleeping until noon. What can I say? It’s break. I don’t care!

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Profile

Bio

I’m trying to be a better tea logger and actually post semi-regularly again! I’ve let my tea tasting senses become too complacent – it’s time for some focused and attentive tea drinking!

Sometimes my notices for PMs and such have been questionable. Email me at your own risk at aug3zimm at gmail dot com.

1 – 10 – Bleck. Didn’t finish the cup.
11 – 25 – Drinkable. But don’t punish me by making me have it again.
26 – 40 – Meh. Most likely will see if the husband likes it iced.
41 – 60 – Okayish. Maybe one day I’ll kill off what I have in my pantry.
61 – 75 – Decent. I might pick some up if I needed tea.
76 – 85 – Nice. I’d probably buy but wouldn’t hunt it down.
86 – 100 – Yum! I will hunt down the vendor to get this tea!

Not that anyone but me particularly cares, but there it is.

Location

Texas

Website

http://pinkness.danzimmermann...

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