536 Tasting Notes

86

Smell: Very smoky, like you’re next to a campfire.
Taste: smoke, malt, earth, liquor-ish finish, astringent at end
smoke lingers
I enjoyed drinking this tea.

Flavors: Earth, Malt, Smoke

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML

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75

I took this to work because tea bags are easier to use there. And that’s also where teas that are just okay go. Brewing is more slapdash because the water at whatever temperature coffee machine makes and I don’t time things. It’s a decent tea. Black with mulling spices.

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85
drank Gingerbread by Do You Tea
536 tasting notes

Smell: ginger, cloves, cinnamon
Taste: bread, cinnamon, ginger, clove
Continues to taste like gingerbread throughout the entire cup.
2nd steeping: as good as the first, I get more ginger from this steep.
Very warming cup of tea. The ginger is hanging out at the back of my tongue in between sips.

Flavors: Bread, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML

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90

I really like this tea. Currently my go to oolong. Floral, creamy, nice mouthfeel. I can usually get two or three steeps from this.

Flavors: Cream, Floral

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 6 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML

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17
drank Bora Bora by Tea Market
536 tasting notes

Backlog:
Bought this tea from their store in June, but is not available on their website.
Dry leaf – smell pineapple, see pineapple chunks, strawberry. Leaves are pretty broken.
During steep: get more strawberry.
At first sip, flavors aren’t too bright, pineapple strawberry. As it cooled, pineapple disappeared and I only get strawberry. I got a odd taste at the back of my tongue.
Not sold on this tea – odd taste makes me not want to drink again. It coated my mouth with freshness in a bad way.
Ended up drinking a beer to get the taste of it out of my mouth. Also brought tea drinking to an end on a sour note.
I am concerned about drinking more of this tea and as I’m remembering drinking this tea. I think I might just discard the rest of it. There’s way too much good tea out there to deliberately subject myself to the bad ones.

Flavors: Pineapple, Strawberry

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72

Bought this in June from their store, but it doesn’t show up on their website currently. Flavors : lemon, basil, oolong. Flavors are faint. I hope that doesn’t mean that the tea is old. As a first tasting, it’s fine. I need try again. Maybe I’ll add more leaf.

Flavors: Herbs, Lemon

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 45 sec 2 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML
Nicole

Purchased in June, it shouldn’t be old at this point, I wouldn’t think.

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50
drank Youthberry by Teavana
536 tasting notes

Sipdown
I thought I used to like this. Basically added what was left in the tin to my steeper. Bad taste followed by tart raspberry. Really astringent at end. Blah…I’m so glad this is gone. There’s supposedly white tea in here, but I can’t taste it at all.
Not restocking.

Flavors: Astringent, Raspberry

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89
drank Bai Lin Kung Fu by Shang Tea
536 tasting notes

really smooth, little sweet, little bit earthy
tastes good
Nice go-to red tea.

I need to re-stock. I only have a little bit left and I really like this tea.

Flavors: Earth, Smooth

Preparation
2 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML
Nicole

One of my favorites from Shang.

hawkband1

I need to go back to his store. I had such a good time talking tea with him several years ago.

Nicole

It’s a great tea place. Fantastic people and excellent tea.

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70

Seriously minty smelling black tea. Hit you in the face with mint.
Taste – not as strong as smell, but still has a lot of mint flavor.
I can still taste the black tea underneath the mint.
I think for me there’s just too much mint. I’ll finish drinking what I have.

Flavors: Mint

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML
TeaTiff

This has been on my wish list from Gong Fu for awhile. Do you normally like mint tea?

hawkband1

Usually yes. This tea is very pepperminty, which I tend to find harsh. If it was less intense, I’d like it better.

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80

Smells like the name, ginger is very strong.
Taste not as strong as the smell.
I get sweet orange, ginger, then mint. I had to check the ingredients list because it was very sweet. I was was surprised that there was no stevia or other sweetener added to this tea. Just naturally sweet. It’s nice I like it.

Flavors: Ginger, Mint, Orange, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML

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Profile

Bio

I started my tea journey with Stash/Celestial Seasonings tea bags years ago. All loose leaf, unless I’m sick or traveling.

I like black, oolong, white, herbals, and raw/ripe pu’erh. I don’t drink green tea often.

I play video games, read, and do pottery. My current favorite tea mug is one I threw and glazed.

I generally review teas twice – initial and final steeps.

My cupboard is completely out of date. I have a spreadsheet (it’s current!!!) that’s over 300 teas. Pretty equal amounts of black, white, oolong, raw, & ripe with a little bit of green/herbal.

Ratings
85-100 are teas that I loved and want to keep in stock.
71-84 are teas that are good. I may or may not get them again. Source for daily drinkers/work teas.
60-70 are teas that I didn’t like. I’ll finish what I bought.
Anything less than 60…nope.

Location

Iowa

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