987 Tasting Notes

Backlog from last night: I went to David’s Tea and bought a WHOLE LOT of fruit tea as part of their 20% discount if you buy an iced tea pitcher. Sooo much tea you guys – around 400 grams.

I also got a new flavour of theirs to go – Goji Green tea (https://www.davidstea.com/ca_en/goji-green/)

I don’t really know what goji berries taste like, but this tea was distractingly artificial-tasting. Almost like cough syrup – just that sweet metallic hint behind the leaf.

However, I’m glad I tried this to go, because now I know I don’t like it.

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Sipdown.

I fished this sample out of the Great Canadian Travelling Tea Box last summer and then promptly ignored it. For a year! Well, I realized I needed to do something with it, so recently I took the last of this, brewed it up strong, and then froze it into ice pops.

Most of the flavour floated down to the bottom of the mold (the tip of the popsicle), but eh. Hibiscus, floral, sweet – I just wanted to finish this off.

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I first made this chai back in February, but hadn’t touched it since. It was going to go bad in about a month (according to the best-before date on the label), so I decided to turn the rest into a base for chai-flavoured popsicles.

It turned out pretty well! A mix of chai, honey, coconut cream and soy milk. Mmm!

Full recipe at http://booksandtea.ca/2016/07/tea-popsicles-made-chaiwala-chai/

Evol Ving Ness

Inspired idea! Well done.

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The leaves here had a very soft texture, and were a medium sage green colour with the occasional white fuzzy tip. The texture was reminiscent of grass clippings: tangled, curly, piled up.

The aroma is what really sets this tea apart: it smelled very much like a Bai Mu Dan tea, with notes of flowers, peach, and pears. There was a slight mustiness underneath, but that just enhanced things.

I used the full packet of dry leaf but brewed it with 1 litre of cold water rather than 2.

Of the white teas I’ve tried by Nepali Tea Traders so far, this was by far the sweetest and most delectable. Floral, soft, and mouth-coating. This one is a winner.

Full review at http://booksandtea.ca/2016/06/iced-tea-nepali-tea-traders/

(PS: I’ve redesigned the site. Take a look!)

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The leaves on this tea are a pale spring green with some white fuzzy tips. Overall, they’re beautiful, picture-perfect spring buds. The aroma is sweet but vegetal, like spring peas — somewhat nutty, like a very light dragonwell tea, but also somewhat floral.

I took the entire packet and cold steeped it in 2 litres of water in the fridge for 2 days. The resulting brew was a pale clear yellow, lighter than straw, and very refreshing: it tasted nutty, like the aroma of the dry leaf, but there was also a vegetal note underneath. It was very soft and clean in my mouth, and went down smoothly — no astringency or strong aftertaste.

Full review at http://booksandtea.ca/2016/06/iced-tea-nepali-tea-traders/

(PS: I’ve redesigned the site. Take a look!)

caile

The new site design looks good! :)

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I bought this last year as part of Amoda Tea’s Black Friday sale. It was sitting in my cupboard all winter. When I saw that Nepali Tea Traders sent me a white Sandakphu tea to sample, I thought it would make sense to review them at the same time.

However, that plan didn’t come to pass very well — I finished the white tea before I had a chance to drink the black, so I couldn’t do a side-by-side comparison. However, I will say that the texture of the two leaves appears very similar, with that piled, tangled look.

The dry leaf here smelled sweet and woody, kind of like cherries. I decided to have this one hot rather than cold, so I brewed a heaping spoonful with boiling water for 3.5 minutes. Brewed, the flavour was fruity, woody, and somewhat haylike. I also got a sensation of malt and cola, I think.

The profile here was fairly similar to other Nepalese black teas I’ve had in the past, with a faint sour note underneath the wood. I don’t remember detecting such a sour note in the white tea, which is interesting.

Full review at http://booksandtea.ca/2016/06/iced-tea-nepali-tea-traders/

(PS: I’ve redesigned the site. Take a look!)

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Curled, tangly leaves with a mix of green and white tips. I also noticed some brown twigginess. It smelled mild and nutty but for some reason I just wasn’t a fan of the nuttiness of this tea once it was brewed. I used only 1 L of water to make the flavour stronger, but I think that wasn’t the best strategy here.

Full review at http://booksandtea.ca/2016/06/iced-tea-nepali-tea-traders/

(PS: I’ve redesigned the site. Take a look!)

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Sipdown!

This was one of my go-to teas to drink before leaving for work in the morning because it requires such a low brewing temperature. Cooler tea = I can drink faster = I can leave for work on time.

That said, while I appreciated how soft a flavour it is, I really wish that the orange peel was more prominent.

Nepali Tea Traders sent me some of the base green tea to try on its own, so maybe that will be my new morning go-to until I finish it off.

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I got this in the mail from Teavivre earlier this week – yay!

The tin that I had set aside for it wasn’t quite large enough to fit all of the dry leaf, so I took a big pile (about 6 grams) and set it aside for a gong-fu session this afternoon.

Rich, malty, bready! The spent leaves had a really sweet aroma to them, like coffee cake. However, I have to admit that I like this tea brewed more western-style. There, it seems like the tea has more chocolate notes.

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Sipdown.

Ubacat gave me some of this in a swap last summer, and I’ve been slowly drinking it down. However, I’ve never noted it until now. Weird.

This definitely has a green, vegetal taste, but there’s an earthiness to it underneath that reminds me of moss. I have to admit that I’m not as big a fan of green tea as I used to be, and nutty, beany teas like this one are part of that shift.

The best part is that I was able to take the tin I stored this in and re-use it towards housing that big-ass bag of Golden Monkey Black Tea that I got from Teavivre earlier this week. :D

Ubacat

I was having this tea this afternoon too! I need to drink it down to cross it off my tea list.

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Profile

Bio

Updated March 2016:

I’m a writer and editor who’s fallen in love with loose-leaf tea. I’ve also set up a site for tea reviews at http://www.booksandtea.ca – an excellent excuse to keep on buying and trying new blends. There will always be more to discover!

In the meantime, since joining Steepster in January 2014, I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on my likes and dislikes

Likes: Raw/Sheng pu’erh, sobacha, fruit flavours, masala chais, jasmine, mint, citrus, ginger, Ceylons, Chinese blacks, rooibos.

Dislikes (or at least generally disinclined towards): Hibiscus, rosehip, chamomile, licorice, lavender, really vegetal green teas, shu/ripe pu’erh.

Things I generally decide on a case-by-case basis: Oolong, white teas.

Still need to do my research on: matcha

I rarely score teas anymore, but if I do, here’s the system I follow:

100-85: A winner!
84-70: Pretty good. This is a nice, everyday kind of tea.
69-60: Decent, but not up to snuff.
59-50: Not great. Better treated as an experiment.
49-0: I didn’t like this, and I’m going to avoid it in the future. Blech.

Location

Toronto, ON, Canada

Website

http://www.booksandtea.ca

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