592 Tasting Notes
I went to the coolest place for dinner today. Chefs from awesome restaurants in the area all contribute a sandwich recipe, and they are all offered at this cafe. Anyway, seeing as it is a weeknight, I decided to order the mint peach iced tea over an alcoholic beverage. It was a bit too minty for my taste, but it was a nice sweet tea. Plus, it was refreshing on this very warm evening. Just thought I’d share :)
The first thing I noticed was that this sample packet was a lot fluffier than the others. When I opened it up, the dry leaves are just as shown in the picture: big, flat, whole tea leaves! That was pretty exciting. It also smelled kind of like someone took a bunch of crunchy autumn leaves and roasted them. Actually, that’s kind of how I would describe the tea flavor as well. The roasted flavor is a bit light compared to some other teas that I have, but it is nice and pleasant. Overall, this tea has a clean taste, which makes me think that it will do well as a cold brew. I guess that will be my next adventure!
Cold brewed a couple teaspoons in my water bottle for 6 hours in my fridge. I’m glad I kept my eye on the time this time around because I feel that keeping it in longer would have ended up with bitter tea. The tea was grassy, but also sweet. And it had a very clean, refreshing feel as a cold brew. As the weather continues to warm up, I’ll likely finish off the rest of this tea via cold brewing.
I have to say I was worried that this one would taste like grape medicine. As soon as I opened the packet, though, it smelled like grape Jolly Ranchers. Something about the candy-like smell reminded me of some flavored Lupicia teas that I’ve had, which is not a bad thing! The tea also tasted like liquid grape Jolly Rancher. It sounds odd, but it was actually really tasty. I think this one would do splendidly as a cold brew, so I’ll probably go stick some in the fridge when I wash out my water bottle. Thanks Stephanie for the sample!
I decided to break open this sample of Da Hong Pao from Teavivre, and I’m so glad that I did! It has that nicely roasty taste that I love from dark oolongs. What surprised me was the thick, creamy mouthfeel that I got from this tea. It was perfect for this cloudy morning. I also resteeped a few times, and the flavors and texture are holding pretty strong! I’m really impressed by this tea, and will definitely savor the rest of what I have!
I’m pretty confused by this tea so far. The first time around, I remember it was sweet, smooth, and a very nice green oolong in general. The second time, there was something damp-tasting about it. I’m getting that weird dampness again this time around. I know that’s not really a taste descriptor, but I really can’t think of how else to say it. I do have an unopened sample, so maybe a fresh start will help? So far, I’m just chasing after that first time, hoping it will come back around again.
Backlog. I left some of this cold brewing in the fridge. As usual, I totally let it sit there and steep for longer than I should have. So this time around, it was less sweet, more grassy, and more bitter. I never even thought to cold brew a bancha before, but I’m not gonna rule it out after this. I think I just need to keep a better eye on it.
I cold brewed this one because it just sounded like a tea that wanted to be cold brewed. I have to say, when I first opened up the bag, I was hit with this strong smell of maybe cardamom? I’ve only ever had a subtle cardamom flavored ice cream, so I don’t really know what to expect from it. Anyway, after cold brewing, that strong cardamom smell toned down just a tad but was still very overwhelming. I couldn’t even really taste anything other than that. It was also a perfume-y tea in taste, which put me off. So, in conclusion, this tea was really not the tea for me, but I will leave it unrated due to my limited knowledge of cardamom. Thanks to Pyroxy for sending me some to try out!
Sipdown (116)! I brought the remaining bit of this to school today. I overleafed a bit, so it was roastier than usual, which was a pleasant surprise. All in all, a very nice tea to have had in my cupboard. It will be missed (but not too much because I have so many other houjichas!).
That sounds very cool!
nice :)