863 Tasting Notes

96

Iced tea season is never REALLY over for me, but the weather is changing enough that I’m wanting to reach for hot tea about as often as cold.

This is still as awesome as the first time I had it iced – it has a creaminess without needing any additives and the sherbet really pops with my typical iced tea ratio of sugar.

I have a couple of these left and I’ll be hoarding them.

BrewTEAlly Sweet

Mmmmmmmmmm making my mouth water

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97

And just like that, its pumpkin season.

Literally overnight the weather has cooled off and the days are shorter. Even a few days ago I wouldn’t have been reaching for a pumpkin flavored tea but it’s kind of nice to see the seasons changing.

Even if I do like summer and wasn’t quite ready to let go of it yet.

I made this with milk and got mostly the spices rather than any actual pumpkin, but I’ve had it for a while and that could be why. I think the flavor overall is a little weak but next time I’ll compensate by adding more leaf.

Anyway, it was a great introduction to fall this morning!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec
teataku

I also found that this tea lost considerable pumpkin-ness over time. Sad, really. :(

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100

Backlog from yesterday morning.

I made this extra strong yesterday accidentally, but it was a good accident. Probably the best cup I’ve ever had: really strong on the blueberry, creamy and desserty. I ordered an extra pouch of this with my candy corn tea (because CANDY CORN!) so that I would always have some on hand.

It’s one of my favorite teas ever.

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80
drank Butter Pecan by Compass Teas
863 tasting notes

Tea of this morning.

Prep notes: 1.5 tsp. leaf, 10 oz. water, milk, some sugar.

Mmm. I’m not an ice cream person but I make an exception for butter pecan. Seeing that butter pecan tea was a thing? Yes. Please.

As far as a tasting note, though, I’m not really sure I’ve got too much to say- it is absolutely dead on butter pecan, balances well with the black tea, and I finished the cup pretty fast. In general Compass Teas have been 100% on point with all of their tea blends, so if you are wanting to order from them you will definitely get the flavors they’re promising!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

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97

Backlog from yesterday – my birthday tea!

I woke up and my stomach was really upset for some reason. This always steers me toward green teas or mint teas, and I saw this first so into the infuser it went.

I still think the directions on this are really confusing – they say 5 grams to one quart, which is what – 1/2 tsp. to a cup? Still at boiling for two minutes. I can do the boiling water and the 2 minute steep time (hesitantly!) but anything less than 1 tsp. would surely be too weak for me.

I went with the 1 tsp. and yeah, I can’t imagine doing less leaf – as it was I got a light vegetal green but I think it would have been little more than tinted water if I’d followed that recommended amount. This was very soothing and there were some roasted undertones that did give it an oolong-ish character. I had this with honey in Hawaii, but yesterday it was just plain and it was more than drinkable.

It is unlike any tea I’ve had before – I don’t know if that’s because it was grown in such a unique climate or what, but I’m going to be sad when my small sample is gone. Guess I’ll just have to move there so I get it more frequently! :)

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
mrs.stenhouse12

Happy belated bday! Hope your stomach got feeling better!

Sil

neat!

Fjellrev

Happy happy birthday!

OMGsrsly

Happy birthday. :)

Sil

i’m such a noob…totally missed that it was your birthday! Happy belated!

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73
drank S'mores Chai by 52teas
863 tasting notes

Prep notes: below parameters, some milk and sugar, 8 oz. water, 1.5 tsp. leaf.

Tasted like a generic chai. Maaaybe some marshmallow but I think that’s more creaminess from the milk. No real chocolate or graham cracker notes. All the spices were there but there wasn’t anything really notable. Guess I’ll play around with this a bit more.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 15 sec
CHAroma

Is this from the recent re-blend?

JoonSusanna

Yep – I’m going to let it settle a bit more and then see what happens!

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85
drank Turtle Cheesecake by 52teas
863 tasting notes

Am I really the first person to log this?

I got this based on how much I love cheesecake blends, and that caramel turtle blend a while back. I figured that no wrong could come of two flavors I liked separately.

Prep notes: 1.5 tsp., 8 oz. water, 2 oz. milk, some sugar, at my standard parameters for 52teas black teas.

This blend wasn’t bad – I could taste the caramel and chocolate first and foremost, with some nuttiness a bit more as an afterthought. There was sort of some cheesecake present only in the form of a background tang, even less present than the nutty flavors. There was a lot going on here and that easily overwhelmed the black tea base – I didn’t really feel like I was drinking tea during the whole cup. That really isn’t a bad thing and I should have expected it given how much this blend has going on.

Eh. My first taste of this wasn’t bad but I’ll let the flavors sit a bit to see if they become a bit more cohesive. I got all of the elements separately but if they truly combine to taste like turtle cheesecake this rating will increase for sure.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec

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97

Bought this while on Mauna Kea for the summit tour on the Big Island. (How is my vacation over already?!)

Anyway, I was not about to pass up tea grown on the mountain I was currently standing on – I mean, how often does that happen? Once I got it back to our rental house, I realized the parameters were pretty atypical for a green – boiling water and two minutes. The leaves were pretty atypical for a green, too – there was no uniformity, some were as long as grass shavings, others as small as mint leaves.

As is typical for a vacation brew, I guesstimated at amounts and steeping times. This didn’t suffer from the lack of precision, though. It reminded me most of an oolong, probably since it was a dark roast, but there is a notable vegetal flavor too. Mostly I’m surprised that the leaves held up to boiling water without turning into an astringent mess.

I’m rating this high for now partly because of the nostalgia factor, but I have enough left to give it a try at home and judge it a little more carefully then. It was pretty fabulous to be able to get tea so close to its source – if only that could be a permanent thing (sigh).

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 30 sec
Sil

awesome!

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98

UM. I have to say, the smell of this dry IS A&W Root beer. How does it manage to smell like carbonation?!?

So normally with 52teas I like my black teas at 4 minutes, 212 degrees, 1.5 tsp. for 10 oz. water. That tends to be my default so I started from there.

I wasn’t disappointed! Once steeped, the liquor smells of creamy rootbeer. Slightly less of a carbonation smell, but then, adding ice cream tends to dull that in a real root beer float. The cream note also rounds out what would probably be a slightly astringent tea base – next time I’ll go a little less on the steeping, though this is fabulous even with the over steep. It would also probably be amazing with milk and sugar but it doesn’t need it.

Soooo glad this got restocked – it’s definitely one of Frank’s best!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
Janie Teo

Hi there, i understand that you are a big tea drinker. i also love to drink tea but not as huge fan as most of you here. Instead i am a big teabags collector. i only collect the empty wrappers and i have about 12000 different wrappers from all over the world. i am desperately looking for teadrinkers who can help me to keep the empty wrappers for my collection and have it trade with other collectors too. So can you help me out with keeping the wrappers for me. My email address is [email protected].

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78

Finished off this sample today – bringing me down to 71. But then 52teas and that Turtle Cheesecake! So that plus a S’mores chai and I’m back to 73. Under my goal, though, so that’s something!

This was one of the teas I sent to a friend and it was one of her favorites of the lot. “Damn good” was the description I got. Along with “loose leaf tea really is better”. This was from a person who two months ago decided she was not a tea person at all. I am quite proud. :)

I will miss this cup, though. I feel like you can never have too many black teas and this one is one of Upton’s best. Doesn’t hold a candle to Frissy, but it’s not a bad option. And it’s super cheap, too. Judging by the lower rating I have here it must have grown on me, too, so if you have this and weren’t wowed – maybe a second cup will change your mind?

Oh, and does anyone know what distinguishes a Scottish blend from an Irish or English one?

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
gmathis

Not sure about the composition of the tea breeds themselves, but Scottish breakfast I’ve tried is much milder than English/Irish breakfast blends.

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Profile

Bio

My tea habits:

*I am an unashamed Lipton iced-tea drinker (mass quantities, year round).
*I like hot teas but only in cold weather (and occasionally late summer nights or mornings).
*I love Japanese greens (the more seaweed-y the better) and good strong malty black teas.
*I do NOT love smoke in any form.
*Vanilla, cinnamon, or lemon anything will usually pique my interest.
*I’m working on pu-erh but it’s definitely going to take some time to grow on me.

(updated September 2015)

Location

Medford, OR

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