29 Tasting Notes

55
drank Lychee by Chado
29 tasting notes

Daily cup of tea! I’m now going to try to cut down on all the drinks in hopes of losing a couple pounds before summer officially begins (I know it’s here for some, too bad I’ve summer classes, booooo)

The dry leaves look okay, doesn’t smell like anything special to me, but my roommate assures me that the lychee smell is there, albeit very very faint.
The brew is a very nice looking reddish brown color, still doesn’t smell like lychee, although I can now smell a little of it in the damp leaves. When drinking it, you get the typical black tea flavor up front, but as you swallow, your mouth fills up with the aroma of the lychee.
Adding some sugar helped a bit as it made the lychee pop more, but not by a lot. Not bad, but not good either.

It’s not what I expected, I was expecting more lychee upfront instead of having to fish for it.
Overall okay as a flavored black tea, nothing too wowwy (huh?), and just not my cup of tea.

EDIT: Okay, so I didn’t pay attention to time and the tea cooled and I took a swig…OMG this was not the same stuff I started with. The lychee flavor is now more prominent and it’s like drinking lychee juice, thought it’s less sweet.
I’m going to bump up the rating simply because this is quite good when cooled. Should make a nice cold brew or iced tea, yay!

Stephanie

I’ve been switching to unsweetened tea for the same reason!

Hikari

woot! stay strong fellow weight shaker! Although I’m having some trouble with all those flavored teas in my stash that I want to try..

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100

I’m an absolute sucker for this treasure. I loved the 2012 batch and finished it wayyyyy faster than I should, so when this came out I purchased it right away.

The dry leaves are a pretty dark green, the leaves are well retained, and give off a faint caramel sweet scent. When brewed, the leaves expand quite a bit, filling almost to the top of my David’s Perfect Mug (I know, I know, this is gaiwan worthy but I’m just too tired) infuser even though I only used a teaspoonful of leaves.
The tea is light green in color, with a light, sweet aroma. When drinking, you get a little vegetal feel, but just a little (which I blame on the fact that I may have overbrewed it). The rest is just a subtle, mellow sweetness. It wasn’t as sweet as I remember it, (possibly because I overbrewed it ,sob) but it’s still awesome.

I love this tea. I would marry it if I could.

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54

Woke up super early (well, for me anyway) today, and decided that since I have some time before my lunch date I’ll be having a peaceful tea session:)

The dry leaves give off a pleasant black tea smell, with a little bit of smokiness.
It brews into a fairly dark brew (I’m sure I didn’t leave it in for longer than 3 mins), and smells like black tea (okay, that was lame).
The taste..to be honest, all I’m getting is normal black tea flavors, which kinda disappoints me since the package says its a blend of different black teas.
I added a bit of milk and sugar to see if it would be any better, which it did, but I still didn’t wow me or give me that tranquility that ooglongs and jasmines give me.

Not a bad tea, but not special either.

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72

Allergy attack! Throat hurts like crap and my sense of smell just walked out the door thanks to runny nose barging in. This tea seems appropriate for, I don’t know, colds and stuff in general so here’s to hoping it helps some.

The dry tea…smells very potent. The ginger and lemongrass is strong to the point it makes me want to sneeze. I never had honeybush so I’m not sure what it smells like, but anyway it seems to be covered by the ginger and lemongrass.

The brew has a slight honey smell thats similar to when you add honey to hot water. I’m getting more hopeful by the second here…

The flavor is surprisingly milder than expected. The ginger is soft, unlike the smell, and only has a slight sting/burn to it. I’m also getting the lemony taste from the lemongrass here, and it sort of freshens things up a bit, making this taste lighter. The honeybush…I’m not sure what that is supposed to taste like but I’m getting a sweetness here which I’m assuming is the honeybush.

After drinking this, my throat has become slightly better and I can actually breathe through my nose again. Really soothing tisane, great for stuffy noses and sore throats. It’s now my official go-to cold tea!

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70

Had an awesome BBQ party today! Since we didn’t have any desserts, I’m indulging in some tea now to make up for it.

The dry tea has a cinnamon smell, and you can see little bits of dried apples and raisins.
The brew is the typical black tea color, smells like apples and cinnamon, but I’m not associating it to apple pie. The tea tastes wonderfully like apples, with just a hint of the spices, not sweet but leaning more towards savory.

Nice tea, will be trying this sweetened someday to see if it gives off a more apple pie taste.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec

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73

Okay, so this was the sample that came with my last Teavana order, so here goes.

The dry tea is full of, and I mean FULL OF fruit bits and sugar crystals. There is, like, a pitiful amount of tea leaves, so ignore the “White/Herbal” label. However, despite my disappointment in the lack of tea leaves, the dry mixture smells really nice. Very citrusy and sweet, in a desserty way.
The brew for some bizarre reason is red, probably because of the berries or something. It still smells citrusy, but its toned downed and a bit more..substantial.
It tastes like warm fruit juice, which sounds icky but actually isn’t all that bad. The fruity notes are very prominent, but not overwhelmingly/disgustingly sweet even though it had sugar added (or that may be because of my sweet tooth, or the fact that I may not have scooped as much sugar than I thought).

I’m not sure how this is going to taste without the sugar, though.
Maybe if I resteep it, it will taste more like the sugarless version since there are no crystals now? Hmmmmm…

Not something I would buy, as I usually hate fruity/flowery teas, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Still not something I’d pay to have though, but free….

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Overslept so was in a hurry to get out of the house.

The dry tea looks peculiar, but then I’m finding this true for a lot of Oolongs.
The brew is a light yellow color, and smells a bit sweet. You can definitely taste the creaminess, but I’m not sure if I oversteeped it or steeped it with the wrong temperature, but there was a certain, I don’t know, sourness? Bitter and weird aftertaste.

I will leave this for now, and come back when I’ve time to steep it right…

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67

The dry tea smelled really delicious. Smelled strongly of apples and chocolate, with a little bit of caramel.
The tea itself was surprisingly refreshing, the apple more prominent, the chocolate more of an aftertaste.

Nothing too special, but overall a nice chocolate tea that doesn’t overwhelm.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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75

Studyyyyyyyy timeeeeeeeeeee!
Since stats aren’t fun, I’m having this to help make it better. Chocolate covered strawberry just sounds like a winner right now.

Dry tea smells chocolatey, with a fruity, berryish smell. Can’t really tell it’s strawberry, although the strawberry emerged right after I poured water over the leaves. Smells yummy!
I’m getting a lot of strawberry from this, the chocolate however is mostly smells.
This tea totally changed my mind about teas with strawberries. I used to hate them so much (although I can’t remember why), but with this tea, the strawberries aren’t overpoweringly sweet or tart, but a combination in between. Which is great!

This is my first Della Terra tea, and I’m looking forward to trying some of their other flavors :)

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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51

Rainy dismal day.

The dry tea smells really strong, and for some reason, not tea-ish (?). I know this has a bunch of other flavorings, but it doesn’t smell like the flavorings either. Weird.
The brew looks a bit muddy, a bit like apple cider when you add caramel to it.
The taste…I get the allspice and the cinnamon, and there is a little sweetness (very minimal), but I’m not getting any teas out of this. More like a flavored water than flavored tea to me.

Not a big fan, but I’ll keep it around for when I crave Apple cider but can’t get any/

Preparation
5 min, 0 sec

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Profile

Bio

Taiwanese :) we have awesome bubble/bobba tea:)
Prefers unflavored, more “traditional” teas (plain oolong, black, green, etc.), but trying to expand into the flavored categories :)

Ratings:
90-100: THIS. IS. HEAVEN
80-90: I can drink this everyday, it’s THAT good
70-80: Quite impressed
60-70: Eh, it’s alright
50-60: Meh…
below 50: Not my cup of tea

Junior majoring in Psychology at IU Bloomington.
Enjoys reading, drawing, and Chinese calligraphy.
Recently into Fountain pens and ink:)

Location

Bloomington, IN

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