807 Tasting Notes

85
drank Brigitte's Blend by Harney & Sons
807 tasting notes

Sorry to have been a bit absent lately.
I have something strange going on with my nose. lol
Feels like someone punched me in it.
Started to hurt on the right side then went over the other side effecting my entire nose bridge.
Doctor gave me a script to which I had an allergic reaction to. Not a shock I am allergic to almost every pill one can imagine.
Anyway – between that and trying to get ready for our four day excursion which is like packing for a month long cruise with our health issues between my daughter and myself, I’m beat.
Alas the tea … Thank you ashmanra a nice black tea is what THIS doctor ordered! :)
Slightly malty, with a full mouthfeel which I love.
Roasty, a good coffee replacement especially if one were to make it with extra leaf!
Mmmmm a nice one!

Kittenna

:( I hope your trip ends up being fabulous to make up for all this stress!

Azzrian

Thank you! :)

Hesper June

I am sorry about you nose! That sounds painful,glad you are getting better.
Hope the trip is fun.
Don’t forget to pack the tea!:-)

ashmanra

Oh no! Any idea what went wrong? Selma sort of cartilage infection? Or sinus?

TeaBrat

hope you feel better!

Azzrian

Thank you Hesper June, Amy oh, and ashmanra.
The tea was one of the first things I packed up – then repacked – then switched to a larger bag LOL
Well the doctor didn’t “officially” diagnose me. Sort of said it could be this or could be that. But said the antibiotic would fix either thing. We thought it could be cellulitis since I have other markings for it, or could be sinus related perhaps. I didn’t think of a cartilage infection! Doctor didn’t mention that one. I should google this! I don’t like going to doctors but sometimes you just have to. They never seem to tell you what you have. They just toss a prescription at you and cross their fingers. I do believe in this case though I did need the script. Now waiting for a new one since I had an allergic reaction to the original one.

ashmanra

My daughter got infected cartilage when she had her tragus (hang-y little flap by ear hole) pierced and it took a long time to heal. If you haven’t had any cartilage pierced, I suppose it is unlikely to be that. :)

Azzrian

I have a pierced brow but have had it for years now. Could it happen long after it is done?

ashmanra

I suppose it could but would be likely and you would feel it near the piercing itself I think,, and I don’t think it would travel that far to other cartilage. The trouble with cartilage infections is the lack of blood vessels in the area, so once infected it is hard to get medicine moving around in there except what you can do topically.

Hope you are all better soon!

Azzrian

Thank you so much. I am better since taking the one pill – still waiting to hear on the other script though. Plus taking aleive for swelling, and some benedryl – already helping a TON!
:)

Missy

Hope you feel better and enjoy your trip!

Azzrian

Thank you Missy! :)

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74
drank Bamboozled by DAVIDsTEA
807 tasting notes

This tastes almost exactly like Mango and Friends from The London Tea Room!
LOVE IT!
Sorry short note tonight – not enough time in the day.
VERY fruity – like fruit juice you drank as a kid. Not really tea though. Still I love it!

Kittenna

I find it’s a bit less intense than Mango & Friends, and a bit more…. refreshing. :)

Azzrian

Yes not as thick and not quite as strong but wow SO close it was shocking – I had my hubby take a drink without telling him what I thought and he said “mango and friends” so even he nailed it!

Kittenna

Quite fruity!

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drank Long Life Oolong by DAVIDsTEA
807 tasting notes

I am sitting here in anticipation of this tea which is politely steeping just feet away from me. I believe I have sampled this before, or maybe I did not. I know at one point someone said that since I liked Happy Kombucha I would also enjoy this.
I just got my first ever David’s Tea order in and am very excited! This is the first one I am steeping.
The smell in the bag is A MA ZING!
I love a really strong peach flavor.
Almonds are a true love of mine in teas as well.
So much fruit I had to pour the bag into a bowl to be sure there was any Oolong in there!
I found it.
I just hope that the oolong flavor can come through with all this fruit and nut!
I am also really hungry right now and have not made time to prepare any food so this is going to be food for me right now as well.
Yes, why I could be making food instead of writing this up while my tea steeps but come on Steepsters you all have done this a time or two right!?
There are about 20 things I should or could be getting done right now but alas, I had orders come in today. Which would be an excellent excuse if I didn’t have orders coming in almost EVERY day.
OH OH Its done BRB!
Ahhhh my tea is not resting beside me in a cup – cooling just a little before I indulge.
Well so I was saying … I have orders coming in almost daily.
That will be stopping for a while as we are going to St. Louis for a few days soon and I didn’t want precious teas sitting in the hot weather or getting snached up off my porch.
I would have my mother bring them in – as she will be here many times a day to check on things but I don’t need her seeing that many boxes so I cut off all orders and to police myself send any money I get into my PayPal (which is where all my earnings come through) right to the bank so I can’t play with it!
First sip:
hum a little on the weak side. :( Maybe I didn’t use enough leaf although I used what was in he directions.
I will let it cool a bit more.
No no I fear this won’t do.
The only thing I didn’t do was steep as long as it said to.
Well I was within the parameters but I could have let it go a bit longer.
I decided to pull the basket out of my Breville, grab a steeping basket, put that in my cup and took about half the leaves out of the basket from the Breville and put it in the strainer basket in my cup. This has to steep longer. If it still is not flavorful I will not be a happy camper.
I feel this tea is far too expensive to be this weak so this MUST be an operator error I pray.
There was just not enough time to think so this was the best thing I could come up with.
Maybe there is a way to lower the basket into the Breville longer without reheating the water – as I didn’t want to burn the leaf.
I just don’t know how to if there is but that is something to look into soon.
Regardless I did not want to waste two cups worth of leaves since the Breville only brews in two cup minim therefore this was my plan.
We will see.

Well okay … now we’re onto something here.
This is MUCH better and the leaves are not burnt – much more flavor now, I do get the oolong which is lovely and the peach.
Still you know I guess Im spoiled but for as much good looking yummy stuff is in this dry blend I guess I was expecting to be BLOWN out of the water.
I am just enjoying floating on this nice little raft here but certainly not blown out of the water.
I am withholding the rating FOR NOW because I never believe in rating when there is an operator error. I mean its not fair to the tea right?
I will try this again soon and see what comes out of it.
For now I would give this around a 70 and would not pass it up if offered but I would not re-stock based on this steep.
Total steep time was 6:30 minutes between Breville steep and basket in cup steep.
Brew temp 200f
As for comparison to Happy Kombucha – from what I recall anyway I prefered Kombucha!

Lucy

I like Happy Kombucha much more too :)

TassieTeaGirl

I prefer Southern Belle for a peach tea, the flavour is more intense, and I think the black and peach mix was better than oolong and peach. I think for the delicate tones of oolong to be preserved, especially across multiple steeps, it needs to be paired with more delicate flavours than peach. But it was still nice.

Azzrian

@Lynne-tea yup me too I am sure.
@TassieTeaGirl Hummm where is that from? Will look it up.

TassieTeaGirl

Its another DavidsTea one. I got a sample 40g bag last September when it was tea of the month, I’d happened to mention to the lovely Natalie it was my birthday so she put it in as a present! Have been stocked with it ever since.

Azzrian

Aweeee :) that is awesome! I will add it to my shopping list!

Babble

Did you not post your Davidstea order, or did I just miss it? There were no coupons or anything, right (lol, I have to ask)

Azzrian

Hummm I sure thought I did but maybe I didn’t I know I mailed Kittenna about making my order – I thought I would have posted it as it was my first ever order. Maybe in the excitement of telling Kittenna I forgot.
No, there was no discount code, from my understanding they don’t do codes, coupons, discounts etc.

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77

I am going to GUESS this is a Ceylon base but I have to confess I do not consider myself very versed in identifying black teas yet.
Its a nice cherry flavored tea.
I have not had too many cherry black teas yet although I have been trying to find a really great one.
I would say this is very good, maybe not GREAT but I have nothing to really compare it to. Thus far however I am quite pleased with this in my cabinet!
Its a nice blend that is not too sweet but just sweet enough.
No astringency, not bitter, nor tart.
I did add an agave stick because I got them in today from David’s in my first ever David’s order and had to give one a try. This seemed to be a good tea to try them out with.
I do like the added sweetener to this tea but it was nice on its own as well.
There may be a slight “artificial” flavor in this tea but I am not sure if that is the tea itself or if it is the agave that I am just not used to yet.
Regardless a nice tea.

EDIT:
I made a mistake and logged this under Compass Teas but this was from Caraway! I have since changed it in the database.

Babble

Too bad you have 4 oz of it, eh? That’s the one problem with ordering so much tea at once. I know it’s a good price, but if I don’t like a tea, I feel so bad having so much on hand (this was also before swaps were commonplace, though..)

Azzrian

Oh but I like it. I mean its not DA BOMB lol but its nice. Its the best cherry tea thus far as for black teas. I am going to try it out cold brewed too and since that takes twice the leaf I don’t feel I have too much.
However you are right – with swaps and such its not like we have to sit on something when we don’t like it.

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85
drank Cinnamon Roll Honeybush by 52teas
807 tasting notes

I had my doubts about this one due to the smell in the package being SO SO cinnamony – it was pretty intense. So I was fearful that Cinnamon was ALL that I would taste in the steep. HOWEVER this is SPOT ON for a cinnamon roll and I am quite happy to have this in my cupboard!
What a nice little nighttime treat!
I am backlogging and was very tired when I had this so will update later with better tasting notes after another cup!

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82

This tea is unique and interesting. I can’t say it was what I was expecting it to be but it was nonetheless very delightful.
After a day of sampling many very strongly FLAVORED teas this one came out to be far more natural in its flavors and perhaps I could have easily dismissed it as not being flavorful ENOUGH however this tea has depth and character which is a lot better in my opinion than teas with no depth or character and tons of artificial flavor.
There is a blueberry element to it but subtle on my palate.
The tea base itself is what makes this tea so wonderful and the slight blueberry flavor is just this nice little treat that sneaks up on you now and then.
It seems that there are a lot of varying opinions on this tea but to me that is what makes it more mysterious and enjoyable.
I had a sample of this but I will for sure buy some so I can unfurl more of its mysteries in the near future!

Kittenna

This is one I want a sample of!

Azzrian

Well when we place our combined order you will get some. :)

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87

Another definite re-order here! I’m not going to say that every tea from Compass has been this good – but this and Apple Pie are absolutely getting stocked again!
This is so spot on to a good strawberry non chemical flavor – and champagne!
This last steep (this is a backlogged) was left to steep too long as I became distracted by other things and I was so angry with myself to ruin such a wonderful cup of tea but even though it was burnt and bitter those good strong flavors came through. Unfortunately the leaf was burnt and I lost the wonderful champagne flavor and the tender white leaf was in horrible despair … I felt bad for the leaf!
Regardless this tea really is one of the best strawberry champagne teas I have tried yet!
I should not this is not my first time having this tea. I just never did log it before.
My first experience with it was so blissful I ended up cuddling up with it on the sofa and not logging it.

Josie Jade

this sounds really good! i love a good champagne flavored tea, and the strawberries are a bonus!

TassieTeaGirl

Ah, excellent, this has given me an idea for our swap…

Azzrian

@ TassieTeaGirl Oh nice! :)
@ Miss SweetTea yes this is very lovely!

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93
drank Apple Pie by Compass Teas
807 tasting notes

Backlogging – I have to say ABSOLUTELY for sure this is a re-order – it is SO accurate to what it is named and so so good.
If nothing else this is a reminder to self BUY THIS!

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78
drank Bananas Foster by 52teas
807 tasting notes

Really very nice. I prefer it far more cooled with sugar.
The banana comes out more when it is cooler and has some sweet in it.
I used German Rock sugar.
It cooled to room temp but would be so so amazing iced!
Hot, without sugar, there was just a little too much cinnamon for my liking.
I was not really getting much Rum flavor.
I am going to keep playing with this one though.
This rating could very likely go up once I find the perfect steeping parameters, and mess around with cold brew, different ways to sweeten etc but this has a lot going for it right now already.

Babble

I’m just so uneasy about banana flavoring (although I do love bananas).

Azzrian

Yeah I am the same.

TeaBrat

This is tempting, I like banana flavored things!

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95

Wowza – I guess I didn’t log this yesterday but I had this lol. Today I am re-steeping it and it is so interesting but after being allowed to sit out on the counter all night and all day today it is peachy, VERY peachy and jasminey of course.
I had to do a double take when the peach flavors hit my mouth. For a moment I was not sure I was drinking what I thought I was but then the jasmine came through – of course still not totally convinced I had to check my leaves. Still uncurling too! So many more steeps to go with this one! Upping the rating because it is so yummy AND very resilient!

tigress_al

Super pearls to the rescue!! lol

Babble

I got this in my sample package from Teavivre that arrived. Looking forward to trying it!

Azzrian

Steep it when your ready for multiple re-steeps lol I got about 9 before I had to set it aside and have something else!

Babble

Thanks for the tip. I’m always impressed at how many resteeps you can get from jasmine pearls. You’d think the floral flavoring would eventually wear off!

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Profile

Bio

Most of my reviews will be “snippits” of full reviews that can be found at http://sororiteasisters.com/
Posted every evening at 6 EST.
I usually try to post the exact date that the full reviews will post however sometimes post dates need changed so it may not always be correct. Generally the dates are correct however.

About Me:

Most of my reviews, although not all, will be quite favorable of the tea. This is not because all tea is excellent, but more so because I generally will not waste my time on an inferior tea. If I do not care for a tea I won’t continue to drink it let alone spend time reviewing it. If you see a review by me you basically know it is a quality tea. Granted it may not suit your specific taste buds, we all like different things, but as for a tea on the whole it is a good one, from a good company.

I am a spiritual advisor by profession.
I have two “young adult” children.
Four cats and three dogs.

Some of my hobbies include gardening, essential oil therapy, natural perfumery with essential oils, and cooking.

I look for complexity overall in any tea, dimensions to the flavors.

I believe tea should evoke a feeling, thought, emotion, or attitude.

I enjoy most all oolongs, blacks, whites, and greens.

I always love to try a good yellow tea.

I favor unadulterated teas but I do have my longings for a good flavored tea now and then so I don’t rule them out by any means!

I enjoy green rooibos don not like red rooibos.

Find me on facebook and twitter – Azzrian Visions

Location

Kansas

Website

http://www.azzrianvisions.com

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