43

So. Funny/possibly not so funny story. Last night I brewed up 9 cups of tea (yes, 9) and brought them upstairs. Six new 52teas, resteeps of Kamba Berry, Premium Taiwanese Assam, and the Premium Taiwanese Assam Upgrade. I tried all six of the new teas (so I thought), and didn’t drink the others. So, just now I went to finish everything off… and discovered that I had put one of the cups on a shelf that was hidden from view while lying in bed… and… it tasted like a rooibos. A fruity rooibos.

So. I’m about 99% certain that the tea I identified yesterday as PB Cup Honeybush was, in fact, a re-steep of the Premium Taiwanese Assam Upgrade. I mean, I should have known – it didn’t even taste rooibosy, just very plain. And now that I found this fruity-tasting rooibosy cup, I’m thinking that I misidentified Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Honeybush as well, and the tea I reviewed as SRPH was, in fact, PB Cup Honeybush. In which case, it was delicious!

So! My apologies for my temporary terrible rating of this one, as it was my own stupidity/tea brewing excess that caused the problem! I will clearly have to give this another shot later, and pay more attention to which cup I put it in. What I find somewhat amusing, though, is how I was able to convince myself that a peanut butter cup tea tasted like strawberry rhubarb pie. Also, I swear I was tasting the slightest bit of peanut in that assam. The powers of the mind, right? Yeesh.

ETA: Flavourless re-steep as well (the right tea this time). Ah well.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more
Dinosara

You’re not alone. You might not have been around back when I did my main 52teas trials, but suffice to say that I, like you, have trouble with the flavoring for some reason. I always wished it weren’t so since 52teas has so many awesome flavors, but I now know better than to try again. :(

Kittenna

Well, it looks like I made an epic mistake in identifying which tea was which last night (see completely updated note), however yeah, the flavours just aren’t always what I expect/hope for. Especially in the case of the new genmaichas… neither of those was misidentified last night, and the smell of the Browncoat Genmaicha is actually still making me gag.

Indigobloom

LOL nice, I’ve done that before. Tea musical chairs… which one will get drunk first, and will it end up where it’s supposed to? heh!

Dinosara

Haha well ok then! Glad you got it somewhat sorted out. :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

Dinosara

You’re not alone. You might not have been around back when I did my main 52teas trials, but suffice to say that I, like you, have trouble with the flavoring for some reason. I always wished it weren’t so since 52teas has so many awesome flavors, but I now know better than to try again. :(

Kittenna

Well, it looks like I made an epic mistake in identifying which tea was which last night (see completely updated note), however yeah, the flavours just aren’t always what I expect/hope for. Especially in the case of the new genmaichas… neither of those was misidentified last night, and the smell of the Browncoat Genmaicha is actually still making me gag.

Indigobloom

LOL nice, I’ve done that before. Tea musical chairs… which one will get drunk first, and will it end up where it’s supposed to? heh!

Dinosara

Haha well ok then! Glad you got it somewhat sorted out. :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer