1541 Tasting Notes
Much tamer than the Nepal Jun Chiyabari Himalayan Shiiba I had from another vendor several years ago. Lots to discover here. Magnolia nose. Within the soft texture is a mid-toned tropical jackfruit taste and a cool, quartz-like mineral element. Complex fruity aftertaste morphs with each steep, bringing out notes of peach, pineapple, banana, plumeria, lemon, cream, ginger, passionfruit and grapes.
This harvest reminds me of Nilgiri high mountain black teas. I think it has to do with how the density of flavors are expressed within the texture. Like those teas, the character of Himalayan Shiiba really shines in glass teaware.
Thank you Martin for another generous sample of Nepal Jun Chiyabari tea!
Flavors: Banana, Bread Dough, Caramel, Cream, Floral, Ginger, Hazelnut, Honey, Juicy, Lemon, Magnolia, Milky, Mineral, Passion Fruit, Peach, Pineapple, Plumeria, Silky, Soft, Spinach, Tangy, Tropical Fruit, Umami, Vanilla, Vegetal, White Grapes
Preparation
2nd flush, June 2022
Classy and elegant yet strong and rich with a dense aroma. Big hands with scratchy palms, firm squeeze, soft touch. Teak and tobacco, malt and prune. Such a classic black tea.
Assam teas don’t often find their way into my cupboard, usually because they’re too abrasive and without much nuance. This one, on the other hand, I’d be happy to buy again when the Assam itch needs scratched.
Flavors: Astringent, Balanced, Berries, Black Pepper, Blackberry, Cherry, Chocolate, Coconut Husk, Cream, Dark Wood, Dried Fruit, Fruity, Gooseberry, Green Bell Peppers, Leather, Malt, Malty, Mineral, Molasses, Oregano, Pine, Prune, Red Wine, Rich, Smooth, Soft, Tangy, Tea, Tobacco, Tomato, Woody
Preparation
This came from a Twinings herbal sampler box that somebody left on the counter next to the water dispenser. It’s newer but called Bedtime Blend. Did Twinings switcheroo the names again?
I don’t know that I could tell the difference between this and Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime.
Flavors: Chamomile, Herbal, Lemongrass, Meadow, Spearmint, Sweet, Tangy
Preparation
Smells like red jello and vitamins, tastes sweet-tart. This one’s too sharp for me. The pomegranate flavor is pretty spot on, though. I like Twinings Holiday Berry better. It has more of a darker red fruits flavor. I also seem to be in the minority for not liking this tea.
Flavors: Acidic, Artificial, Bright, Floral, Pomegranate, Red Fruits, Rosehips, Sweet, Tart
Preparation
Tastes like strawberry jello liquid with a little something extra. Not too sour. Strong aroma. I’m not particularly fond of these kind of hibiscus-based strawberry jello liquid teas but for those that like this “red fruit” flavor profile, I do recommend. Hehe.
Flavors: Acidic, Artificial, Berries, Fruity, Jam, Pleasantly Sour, Red Fruits, Sweet, Syrupy
Preparation
I was editing my review for this tea to add a few tasting notes. While I had the pop-up window open, I accidentally swiped right or left on my touchpad and that deleted any history of my review. Except I can see that a “review”# still exists in the admin site but the accompanying “note”# is gone. I wonder what is the difference between a “review” and a “note” in Steepster’s programming.
So to anybody who swears they’ve reviewed a tea but “Steepster ate the note”, this might be how it happened.
Boo >:<
Flavors: Almond, Astringent, Beer, Broth, Brown Sugar, Brown Toast, Camphor, Caramel, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Citrusy, Cocoa, Geranium, Grapefruit, Honey, Juicy, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Malt, Malty, Oak, Oily, Peanut, Rose, Rye, Salty, Soft, Tannin, Tea, Vanilla, Wood
Looks like the ingredients for this have changed since I last had it. It now contains ginger rhizome, ginger rhizome essential oil granules, moringa leaf, turmeric rhizome, caraway fruit, cinnamon bark, ginger extract. That’s a big difference compared to the old formula with ginger rhizome, blackberry leaf, stevia leaf and lemon myrtle leaf.
I like it better now but I like turmeric. That’s about all I taste — ginger and turmeric, none of the other stuff. It’s spicy and rooty but not overwhelmingly so. Thin. Came in handy this past week at work when I felt like hot garbage.
Flavors: Ginger, Roots, Spicy, Thin, Turmeric
Pagoda Tree flower buds. Very interesting! The brew smells savory like marinated then grilled skirt steak and a dash of cocoa with soft cinnamon? The tea is a golden color, sweet and thick and creamy with some background complementary astringency. Very floral perfumey and nectarous — they are flower buds after all. Nutty like sesame-honey candies. Then a flash of that cola flavor. It feels very warm going in but then this most excellent cooling feeling emerges and lingers long with the perfume and natural nutty sweetness.
I never prepare Verdant’s teas according to their parameters because they’re so generic but this time I did. 5g to 8oz, 175F for 20s. This turned out very well in a glass mug with glass infuser. Steeping the second cup now for 30s.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Cocoa, Cola, Cooling, Creamy, Floral, Honey, Nectar, Nutty, Perfume, Sesame, Sweet, Thick
Preparation
5g of flower buds is a lot. Made 3 cups last night and still going this morning. I will switch up the brewing parameters to see how little material I can use to make a brew that tastes as good as this first attempt. It tastes so much like something that I can’t quite figure out. Honey-nut-cinnamon-cocoa-floral something.