243 Tasting Notes

67
drank Purple Tip by Bana Tea Company
243 tasting notes

So been going pretty strong with this pu-erh kick, and here is another one. After reading Ricky a few weeks ago, I decided to order this sampler (7 different pu-erh teas) to give it a shot. The presentation is fantastic, individual sealed wax paper bags all housed in a silky drawstring bag, along with some pu-erh newsletters ad information sheets, lovely.

The tea itself looked actually purple, I am not sure if that is why this is named or there is another reason, but they were dark, very dark, practically purple. I used less tea than normal as I have been trying to get a few brews out of this, but a quick rinse (5 seconds) then two quick brews (1 for 20 seconds, 1 for 30 seconds).

The liquor is light in color, has a slightly earthy note to it, but barely any aroma at all. The aroma and then taste and mouthfeel is very light and pleasant, not what I have come to expect from pu-erh, at all. This one was definitely sweeter than others I have tried, did not have the overpowering natural smell, in fact I feel like either I could have used more tea or a longer infuse time.

Honestly, if this was my first pu-erh (Numi Chocolate aside) I would have never had any trepidations as this was sweet and light and gentle, with a slightly pu-erh-esqueness that I am familiar with but does not scream “pu-erh”.

Will brew up the rest and see if I can add more.

Ricky

Well each sampler is exactly eight ounces so it’s perfect for one cup of tea. From the color I think this is a raw pu-erh so it’s a bit lighter. I realized the raw pu-erhs tasted a bit like Ti Kuan Yins. Can’t wait to read the rest of your reviews =]

Cinoi

That makes sense, this was definitely lighter than I expected, I will use the rest of the sample on a cup and give it a better shot for the tea. Can’t wait to try the rest!

Ricky

I had the same issue when I brewed up Bana Tea’s Special. I used two teaspoons and felt it was super light. After that I just started to use the whole sampler. Maybe I’ll try this one this coming Friday.

Cofftea

LOL Ricky don’t you mean it’s 8*g*?

Ricky

WOAPS =P yep, eight grams. Eight ounces would be incredible though =]

Cofftea

8oz at 28g per oz would be 224g of pu erh! Since I drink 2oz cups, that’d be a 3rd of a year’s supply for me!

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84
drank Moroccan Mint by Golden Moon Tea
243 tasting notes

Today seemed like as good a day as any to try this one, and I must say I rather enjoyed it.

The dried leaves smelled a little like a junior mint, strongly minty and refreshing. There is no hint of green tea. Brewed hot, three minutes, no additives. The brewed tea smells even more strongly of mint, and at this point I am excited.

The green tea is subtle, the mint is strong, there is a mint flavor up-front, green tea taste and then the cooling mouthfeel of the mint after the tea was swallowed. The green tea is completely a base here, it is hard to pick up at all even, it is not vegetal or grassy, there is no reason to even believe this is green tea except that the package said so (of course, the color of the liquor and the lack of flavor tells me that it is not a different type of tea).

Would definitely like to try this iced. Also, hot and sweetened. Also, I think it would make a fantastic mojito if I infused the tea in rum, but I am going to have to buy more to try these all out. :) Until then, enjoy

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec

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67
drank Youthberry White Tea by Teavana
243 tasting notes

Fantastic day today, only seems fitting that this is what I had! I had an iced brew:

In a pitcher:
2 scoops Youthberry (Teavana)
1 scoop Peachberry Jasmine Sutra (Teavana)
1/2 scoop Rock Sugar
Add 1/3 pitcher of hot water, steep 3 minutes, fill with 1/3 ice to shock the tea and the rest of the way with cold water.
Refrigerate/Steep overnight

Drank this with and after lunch today. The Youthberry gives a fruit punch red colored liquor, it is tangy and fruity. The tang comes mostly from the rosehips and hibiscus, but the pineapple and apple are not helping to reduce the tang. The Peachberry blend helps to mild out the Youthberry in that the Jasmine, though entirely lost in the brew, will kill some of the tang making this palatable. The blend of kiwi, strawberries and peaches in the Peachberry, plus the green tea, add a slightly sweetened note to the brew. I am pretty sure that the Youthberry also contains grapes, as there is a slightly wine-y (not a word, sorry, essence of wine?) taste to it. Sugar also helps to make it palatable and I highly suggest adding some.

I say today was fantastic because I had my lunch and was still sipping some of my tea as I strolled into my local mall on my lunch hour and low-and-behold, as I window-shopped and hit my favorite store (Sephora) across the way, I saw a new store coming, and I bet you can guess what it was…TEAVANA! I do not know when it will open, but I can assure you that when it does, expect of flux of Teavana reviews!

Back to the tea: this blend is good, albeit still a little tart/tangy, especially if oversteeped in any way. I mean oversteeped hot or oversteeped as left in the fridge too long, either way will make it tangier. I do not mind the tartness of this, but it can get old making this a tea and tea blend I cannot drink everyday. As a note, neither tea is really all that great on it’s own, but blending them does make it better.

Another suggestion to combatting this tea’s tartness is to add Peachberry Jasmine Sutra AND a Jasmine tea, I suggest the Jasmine Pearls. But this will be another review.

PS Looking back, apparently I never rated this tea on its own, though I have a four ounce tin, how did that happen? I will write a rating of this following my usual format later on.

Kathryn Ann

I drank youthberry iced the other day as well, and it was delicious! I’ve always seemed to have issues with how to make iced tea well, in terms of steeping and putting ice in and whatnot, maybe i will try your method next time and see how it comes out! Interesting mixing it with the peach jasmine. nice tealog! :)

Cinoi

Thanks, yea, I have the cylindrical iced pitcher from Teavana that holds 34 ounces. So, take it for what it is recipe-wise. Enjoy!

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drank White Licorice by Golden Moon Tea
243 tasting notes

A while back I read the post about this tea that Auggy wrote, and I was ecstatic. I also, do not like licorice, however, during reading the review, I thought, well maybe I will like it, I should get some and give it a shot.

Much to my dismay, I do not like it. The tea was not bad, it was exactly what it said it was, white tea with licorice. I do not like licorice, and I did not like this tea.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec
JustDuckyInNE

Thanks for the realistic note. I often see licorice or licorice root added to teas and think that maybe I’m limiting myself.
I know they’re popular and even my family loves them but licorice & caraway seeds send shivers up my spine (even writing about them makes my mouth & tongue twist) so I can cross this one off my list. Ack! Slpppt!

Cinoi

Yea, I’m usually the same way, the licorice has to be very faint, I think there were two I was OK with, but this one was not one of them…

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drank Tippy Earl Grey by Golden Moon Tea
243 tasting notes

This is not a review in any way. However, I did make this for my fiance today, he was not feeling well, and said he wanted some tea. He loves Earl Grey, so since I was not planning on ever having this sample, I made it for him.

The smell, is much stronger, more fragrant, and maybe a little sweeter than other Earl Grey teas I have smelled/had. I did not taste it, but he said it was the best Earl Grey he has ever had. Take that for what you will, if you like Earl Grey, you should definitely try a sample of this.

Preparation
4 min, 0 sec

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83
drank Snow Sprout by Golden Moon Tea
243 tasting notes

I want to start by saying that I thought Snow Buds were white tea, but these are classified as green, go figure. Anyhow, the leaves are long and pretty, they smell light and faintly sweet. The sweetness is unidentifiable, it is not floral or sugary/caramel, but a natural, honey-like sweet aroma.

The brewed tea does not smell like much of anything, but I don’t mind that too much. The tea tastes very gentle, it is light and very white flavored, I would not have picked this as a green; there is no vegetal or normal green flavors. Oh well. The tea is sweet without anything having been added, it is smooth and light and goes down easy. Good for an easy-going, relaxing day.

Overall, it was very good. Brewed hot, three minutes, no additives.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec

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83
drank Body + Mind White Tea by Teavana
243 tasting notes

Bought this a few weeks ago and had it once, but it was not enough to write a proper review or give it a rating. I do remember it smelling and tasting very predominantly oolong. So hanging out at home and with the weather today I decided it would be a good time to brew some more of this up.

The leaves are an even blend of white, green and oolong leaves. The smell is the sweet oolong, with a hint of vegetal green, you cannot recognize the white by smell. The aroma of the brewed tea mimics this, mostly oolong with a hint of green. The white tea appears mostly in the liquor, the liquor is very pale green.

The first infusion, three minutes, hot no additives. The flavor is predominantly oolong. It definitely starts with the sweet oolong flavor, then comes the gentle white flavor, very neutral and clean, a hint of vegetal from the green, finished off by more of the oolong sweetness.

The second infusion of the leaves (hot, 2 minutes, no additives) all of the flavors were muted, not gone, but reduced by about 50%. I find this pretty disappointing because for one I usually use a lot of tea in my white and green infusions, so it seems wasteful, furthermore it tells me it would make a disappointing iced tea.

The bottom line with this tea is that it is good, very good, but the accent is heavily on the oolong. Personally, I like oolong tea, I do not mind that Body + Mind is heavily oolong, I would just classify this as an oolong and not a white tea, but Teavana has funny ways of classifying it’s tea. Overall, this was enjoyable and I will thoroughly enjoy the rest of my bag.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec

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85
drank Tiki Twilight by Teavana
243 tasting notes

I love this tea. A lot of people complain about the large amount of fruit in Teavana’s variety of herbal, white and green teas. I can understand why, there is a lot of fruit in there and they’re expensive, but I tend to enjoy fruity teas, sometimes.

This tea is a white and black tea blend. There are pieces of pineapple and hibiscus and apple, all which actually blend together very nicely. The flavor is an evenly balanced blend of the three: pineapple, apple and hibiscus, to make a fruity, sweet, yet slightly tart infusion.

The liquor of the tea is pink; if brewed hot, it will be pale pink, and if brewed cold, it will be darker pink the longer you allow infusion. I mention this, because it tells me that there is not a lot of black tea in the blend, that it is mostly white tea with the fruit mixed in and maybe a hint of the black tea.

I enjoy this one a two main different ways:

1. As an iced tea, alone or blended. Start with double the amount of tea you would normally brew, add hot water about 1/3 of the way up the pitcher, add sugar if you like, allow to infuse for 2 minutes, add cold water and some ice to shock the tea and stop the infusion.

Suggested blends: Youthberry, Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls, Thousand Mountain Jasmine. When I blend the teas, I use 2 parts of the Tiki Twilight to 1 part of the other, that way the additional teas offer a hint of flavor but do not overpower the Tiki Twilight that I enjoy so much.

2. As a hot tea, brewed 3 minutes, no additives needed. You will still get a light liquor and more sweetness than tartness when brewed for this short of a time. If brewing longer, the tartness comes out more, so you might need some sugar.

Overall, I think this was one of the better fruit blend teas from Teavana, and though it is mostly white tea if any tea and not a lot of the black tea, I still think there is enough tea, with the generous amount of fruit, to call it a decent tea.

Ricky

Hey! =P

How would you brew this white/black tea!?!? The temperatures seem to be totally off.

Cinoi

Yea, they actually list the brew time as a black, which I think makes the hibiscus too strong/tart. In all reality, I consider this a white tea by all accounts.

Shanti

When I read about teas like this, I just want to buy a tin and pick out the hibiscus :)

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85

No particular reason why I wanted this, I just felt like giving it a try.

First I rinsed the cake, 40 seconds allowing it to unfurl. The 40 seconds may be a bit long, I understand, but it got rid of the soil, earthy, fishy smell. Then I steeped the cup I was going to drink for 20 seconds. The liquor is very very dark, cannot see through it at all, there is the slightly earthy aroma still, but you do not taste it. The flavor is very light, but it is the mouth feel that is impressive. There is a slight sweetness and an earthy, rich tea taste. This flavor comes across as light, but the tea itself feels heavy, almost like it can coat your mouth, a viscosity not common in tea, but more often in thick juices or milk. Though this mouth feel is not offensive, it is difficult to describe.

Would not want to waste a perfectly good pu-erh cake, so I steeped one more time, 30 seconds, the liquor is much lighter now. The flavor nor the mouth feel seem to have been changed, they are still light, sweet, and earthy, with a thick mouth feel.

Going to infuse a fourth and probably final time. Will update if anything changes :)

Overall, this is very good, and for my first pu-erh cake, I am impressed. I cannot wait to try more pu-erhs.

Preparation
0 min, 45 sec
Stephanie

Yay for pu-erh! :)

Madison Bartholemew

wooooo! I knew I could get you into these!… I jus got in the lapsang I want to share with you…. and a super special puerh I can’t wait to try! Knowing you’ll be excited too is awesome!

Cinoi

We drove in this torrential rain all the way to Whole Foods to get more and they were out :(

Ricky

It’s so windy out too!

Cinoi

I know, there are trees and electrical poles down everywhere here…

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86
drank Lapsang Souchong by Adagio Teas
243 tasting notes

Cold, rainy weather…check. Long, rough day at work…check. Strong desire to get new samples of tea…check.

All of these things mean it is time for some comfort, coming tonite in the form of tomato soup and Lapsang Souchong from Adagio. I have had a few other samples of the souchong since I wrote this first review, and I have to say, that I am finding this to be different than my first brew, probably because of shorter infusion time. This cup went 3.5 minutes with no additives. The tea was still slightly sweet up front, full bodied black in the center finished off with the warming, smoky flavor.

Absolutely delicious, going to brew another cup right now.

Preparation
3 min, 30 sec
Ricky

So where did you end up ordering some tea from?

Cinoi

actually bana tea company, got the pu-erh sampler. gonna try and go through some more of these adagios too so i can clear up some space…

Ricky

Ohhhh =] great sampler! Can’t wait to read the reviews from it.

Cinoi

Can’t wait to try them :D

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Profile

Bio

I am a sarcastic perfectionist, a computer nerd, a game geek, an avid reader, a gadget guru, a wine (and tea) enthusiast, and (in my spare time) a chemist.

As I mentioned, I am a chemist, research and development to be exact, so when evaluating tea, it is much like evaluating my products: I will find the flaws and do my very best to fix them because it is what I love to do. Along those lines, nothing is perfect, but can have perfect qualities, I will highlight those also.

I made a preliminary guide to my rating scale:
0-19 – Did not like anything about the tea, feel it cannot be saved without being reformulated.
20-40 – Did not like the tea, it can be saved with extreme amounts of tweaking (i.e., sugar, milk, honey and or blending with another tea)
41-60 – Neutral about the tea, it can be helped or hurt by additives or blends, varied temperatures and steep times
61-70 – Decent tea, needs a little bit of help to get it in the place I like it, but definitely not out of reach
71-80 – Quality tea, liked it, will try again
81-90 – Really enjoyed the tea, high quality, will continue to drink the tea, not looking for something better
91-100 – Loved the tea, will continue to brew and drink and spread the word about the tea to everyone

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NJ

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