123 Tasting Notes

85
drank Dragon Eye Oolong by Revolution Tea
123 tasting notes

I drank this last night at PF Chang’s. Normally I don’t bother to log the teas I drink in restaurants, but this oolong was so good that it deserved an honorable mention. I didn’t think to ask for the brand while at the restaurant, but thanks to the magic of Google I was able to track it down.

Revolution Tea uses pyramid-shaped bags for their teas, and the Dragon Eye Oolong is packed full of fruity goodness. I was really impressed with it; normally you can tell right away if a tea is bagged or loose just based on the strength of the flavor, but I had to open up the teapot and confirm visually because it tasted so good.

It was a balanced tea that was quite peachy, with a bit of tartness that I attribute to the apricot. Compared to many peach teas I’ve had, which tend to be super-sweet with an aftertaste of orange rind (several American brands) or cloying, Dragon Eye Oolong had a more adult flavor. More subdued. More smoky?

Anyway, quite good. I plan to buy this one soon.

Bethany

I adore this tea. It’s one of the few bagged teas that I really, really like. Agreed with you on the taste.

Suzi

I was so pleasantly surprised! I expected this tea to be absolutely nothing special when I ordered it.

Angrboda

I’ve had that brand twice, once at a hotel breakfast and once at a cafe for brunch. Both times I was really pleased with it. And I love the little boxes they come in, that’s so sweet.

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34
drank English Breakfast by Tea Forte
123 tasting notes

So I’ve never actually drank an English Breakfast before. Hmm. Well, I suppose I did when I was in London a few years ago and had tea every morning in the hotel dining room. That was certainly breakfast tea, and it was certainly an English breakfast, but was it officially an English breakfast tea on the label? I mean, if you’re in England wouldn’t they just call it breakfast tea anyway?

But I got this teabag in a giftbox of assorted flavors, so I’m trying it out. It’s nice. Kinda generic. Assam is the generic black upon which most flavored teas are built upon, right? I’m so ignorant about the various black tea…

I do tend to like flavored teas above regular black teas, so this tastes very uninteresting and plain to me. If I had honey or sugar I’d mix it in, but I’m at work and I’ve got nothing.

Meh. That’s all I’ve got to say.

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63
drank DeTox by Yogi Tea
123 tasting notes

A spicy, peppery brew, but slightly sweet. It makes me think of root beer blended with cinnamon, which ain’t much of a surprise since one of the ingredients is sarsaparilla root. It’s not bad. In fact, I suspect my boyfriend would enjoy it quite a bit as he’s a huge root beer fan. There’s also a strong licorice note.

It’s a bagged tea. A bagged tisane, I should say, since there aren’t any tea leaves here.

I’ve got a persistent cough at the moment, so if this could just pull out whatever toxins are causing the cough, that would be just swell!

Suzi

As a follow-up, I feel that I should mention that
A/ Coughing did let up for several hours after drinking this tea, although this certainly could be merely the effect of warm liquid on a sore throat
B/ I did not notice any increased cleaning out of the internal system, but the package advised something like 5-6 cups of this stuff a day, and I had only 2.

takgoti

My brother and I used to like to get sarsaparilla root beer in the “real” bottles so we could stumble around and pretend that we were drunk. We did it in a restaurant one time, and I think that we thoroughly offended a couple of people by making them think our parents had let their 7-9 year old children get staggering drunk. Helped that my brother’s always been able to burp on cue.

I’m not sure how I feel about root beer flavored tea, though. I think I’d miss the carbonation. Hope you’re back to 100% soon!

Hyrulehippie

@Suzi- For whatever reason, you’re starting to feel better, so that’s definitely good!

@takgoti- That’s an amusing story. I don’t think I even knew what alcohol was when I was that age.

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99

I received a little package this morning from auraTeas this morning with six little tea samples in it. The first one I picked out to try – the tea that had sparked my interest in the company – was the Formosa Natural Wuhe Honey Black Tea.

This has the smoothest mouthfeel of any tea I’ve ever tasted. It’s amazing – it almost feels silky! There is sweet honey, but it isn’t cloying at all. It’s very delicate, and blends wholly with the black tea. There isn’t a hint of bitterness!

I feel very peaceful and blissed out as I drink this. It’s just so…balanced. I’m definitely going to have to order more – my sample’s already all used up!

takgoti

Ooooh, that sounds delightful! Now I’m going to have to give this vendor a look.

Suzi

It’s really nice! I usually don’t go for resteeps but I think I’m on my third infusion for this tea, and the flavor’s still quite good :D

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79
drank Chinese Restaurant Tea by Dynasty
123 tasting notes

So this is hardly an epic, awesome tea (Dynasty teas simply aren’t ever going to appear with such words attached to them) but I just LOVE the name. Chinese Restaurant tea.

Many of the Chinese restaurants around here will serve jasmine tea or oolong tea with your meal…not wishing to take any chances, Dynasty blends a mix of oolong and jasmine with a bit of green tea tossed in for their teabags, and I would swear to you that at least half the restaurants around here (the ones on the cheaper end of the scale) use the Dynasty blend. This leaves me wondering which came first. Did the Dynasty brand base their ‘Chinese Restaurant’ flavor on what Chinese restaurants are serving, or are all these Chinese restaurants serving Dynasty’s tea because the name implies it’s exactly what they should be serving? Chicken or egg?

Anyway, I like it. This is the flavor of tea I was exposed to when I was a child. I grew up on it. It’s a good, strong tea that cuts the grease and tastes great with most kinds of food, so it makes me happy.

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3
drank YMY 1690 Pu-erh Tea by Stash Tea
123 tasting notes

Oh, this smells funky as the teabag soaks. Like fish. That’s really a nasty smell for my first cup of the day. I hope it doesn’t taste like fish or I will have one seriously unhappy mouth.

The tea itself isn’t that bad…definitely tastes like dirt but with an almost sweet note. But ugh, that smell! Every time I lift the cup to my lips I am grossed out by it. I’m gonna go dump this out.

(I can’t remember if I’ve had Puerh tea before, but this Stash teabag is NASTY and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone!)

LENA

consider it AVOIDED! send some to Auggy…she likes the odd fish-tea taste sometimes. :)

Suzi

LOL, luckily I only had the one bag from a sampler or something :) Now I’m drinking a Sencha from Cost Plus that tastes much better :D

Ricky

I mean she likes bacon tea, fish is a close relative…. * whistles *

Auggy

Hey! Why’s everybody picking on me?? Sure, I’ve had a few cups of fish tea (or even tea that makes me want to eat… well, eel) and bacon/smoked ham tea is good! But I don’t know if I’d go for a bagged fish tea. So hats off to you, Suzi, for being brave enough to give it a go!

Ricky

Picky on Auggy? Neverrrr! Not in a million years!

LENA

we pick because we care….and want cookies.

Suzi

Auggy (and everyone else) – can you recommend a non-fishy Puerh? :) Or at least a better-quality one?

Also, I second Lena. We want mistake cookies!!

Auggy

Haha! The coworker I had to explain my laughter to requested some as well! Peer pressure! Peer pressure!

As for non-fish pu-erh, I do not recomment ROT’s Imperial Pu-erh. It was like sweet smoked fish. Not bad. But still, fish. Takgoti sent me some Samovar’s Maiden’s Ecstasy which was nice and non-fishy. She also sent me some of their Palace pu-erh which is supposed to be a grade above ME’s so I would think it would be even better (though somehow I haven’t tried it yet – maybe I will tonight when doing some Christmas cooking!)

teaplz

Awww, this sounds so ICKY. I really liked Golden Moon’s Pu-erh, which is smooth and smoky and sweet and earthy. No fish whatsoever! I’m so sorry your first experience was baaad. :(

Suzi

teaplz – I might have to try Golden Moon once I work myself up to drinking pu-erh again :)

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100
drank Psychic Herbal Tisane by SBS Teas
123 tasting notes

This is my knockout tea for night-time. When I can’t sleep, I just brew a pot up and by the time I’ve finished my first mug I’m groggy and off to bed.

It’s got a strong herbal flavor; I can really taste the mint and the citrusy lemon but beyond that the flavors all blend together. (That and I’ve never tasted most of the ingredients individually so I couldn’t tell you what they taste like, anyway.)

It’s called ‘Psychic’ because this tisane is supposed to open your mind to higher knowledge, or something, but it’s not an effect I’ve noticed. It gives me very lucid, vivid dreams though. That’s pretty cool.

Preparation
7 min, 0 sec

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95
drank Carol by Lupicia
123 tasting notes

This was the free tea with Lupicia’s December 2009 newsletter. I’ve had it before – it’s one of their annual Christmas blends – and a tin of the decaffeinated Carol currently sits in my tea cupboard. But here I am, thirsty at work, so I might as well use this Carol teabag for a refreshing drink!

The strawberry flavor is pretty strong. Lupicia teas tend to be very fruity and heavily perfumed; Carol is no exception. When brewed I don’t really taste much vanilla, but the strawberry is rather creamy and I assume that’s the influence of the vanilla? Maybe?

I’m debating whether I want to buy a tin of the loose tea because the tin is so cute. Is that a silly reason to buy tea?

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26

Every few weeks I’ll spot this in my tea cupboard and think, “That was rather expensive, I’d better give it a go and see if I can prepare it better this time.”

It never works. It’s always a bitter tea, no matter how carefully I watch the clock and fuss with the temperature. I tried following the instructions suggested by johnquix, two minutes @ 175 degree, and still bitter. Ugh. I really ought to swap this one away.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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86

Last night my boyfriend’s aunt put a box of this tea in my Christmas stocking. I was so touched that she actually remembered that I like tea :-p Maybe she just asked my boyfriend behind my back, but it was still a great choice!

So I don’t have a refined tongue that can tell the difference between one sencha or another, but this is definitely the best I’ve had in a tea bag form. The flavor is strong with only a single minute’s steep, which is fantastic. It’s green and vegetal, with that fabulous roasted grass flavor. (Well, that’s the best way I can think to describe green tea to other people :-p ) I imagine drinking this tea with milk and I think it’d taste like green tea ice cream. If I had some milk, I’d try that out right now.

It’s really neat to see how the tea leaves expanded in the pyramid bag. When it was dry, the little leaves barely filled a third of the bag’s space. Now, after soaking for a minute, they’re pushing against the walls of the bag on all sides. There’s a lot of little fannings, but there’s some nice big leaves too. Pyramid bags are so cool – you can see all the action clearly!

I mean, loose leaves should always be the way to go, but for convenience it’s hard to argue with a teabag, and this World Market store brand ain’t half bad.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 15 sec

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