drank Follow Me by TWG Tea Company
6106 tasting notes

Sipdown! 9/365

Dang. Waited too long on this for sure. It’s noticeably stale, or at least, I think that’s the flavour I’m getting out of it. I can also taste the metallic tang of a too-old green tea base. I think I can get a whiff of pineapple if I sniff the tea really hard, but the staleness overwhelms anything in the flavour. Too bad, this is probably one of the only cups of tea I’ll actually dump out. I even drank yesterday’s Sencha because it had some redeeming qualities… this has none. Oh well. At least there was only a cup’s worth.

ETA: I see from other reviews that there is ginseng in here. I’m not overly familiar with ginseng in tea, but it’s possible that it’s contributing to the flavour I dislike here.

Mastress Alita

I don’t like the taste of ginseng, myself. Was the taste you found unappealing sort of musty/earthy/medicinal-tasting? That is what ginseng tstes like to me.

Kittenna

It was musty, possibly earthy. I’ve had ginseng oolongs before and only recall them being sweet and pleasant. This was downright bad. I can honestly say that other than some teas where the coconut has gone off, this was probably the worst-tasting tea I’ve had!

Mastress Alita

Ya, I have a ginseng oolong, but usually they are powdered in licorice, so they taste… sweet and pleasant. Not musty and downright bad. The ginseng oolongs that look like the little pebbles are the only ginseng teas I can drink, but then, I am a huge licorice root lover. :-P The sweetness and the oolong base tempers out the ginseng grossness in those.

Kittenna

I bet that’s it then. I dislike ginseng! I actually did not know that it was powdered licorice on the ginseng teas I’d had before (I’ve only had the tiny, powdery, pebbled version, and only a couple times, I think). For science, though, I think I’ll need to try another ginseng tea… :/

tea-sipper

Aw, I tried this tea when it was older from a tea box and I really liked it… I just just tasting a great pineapple flavor.

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Mastress Alita

I don’t like the taste of ginseng, myself. Was the taste you found unappealing sort of musty/earthy/medicinal-tasting? That is what ginseng tstes like to me.

Kittenna

It was musty, possibly earthy. I’ve had ginseng oolongs before and only recall them being sweet and pleasant. This was downright bad. I can honestly say that other than some teas where the coconut has gone off, this was probably the worst-tasting tea I’ve had!

Mastress Alita

Ya, I have a ginseng oolong, but usually they are powdered in licorice, so they taste… sweet and pleasant. Not musty and downright bad. The ginseng oolongs that look like the little pebbles are the only ginseng teas I can drink, but then, I am a huge licorice root lover. :-P The sweetness and the oolong base tempers out the ginseng grossness in those.

Kittenna

I bet that’s it then. I dislike ginseng! I actually did not know that it was powdered licorice on the ginseng teas I’d had before (I’ve only had the tiny, powdery, pebbled version, and only a couple times, I think). For science, though, I think I’ll need to try another ginseng tea… :/

tea-sipper

Aw, I tried this tea when it was older from a tea box and I really liked it… I just just tasting a great pineapple flavor.

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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.

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