226 Tasting Notes
LOL! Tea BLAH is over! WOOT! I got this as a sample along with my order from David’s Tea.
At least with this tea. I’m tempted to go back to DT’s site and buy 500 gr of this, and trust me…that is highly unusual for me. I say that much because it seems this is a seasonal tea, and we are nearing the end of the season….unfortunately, I’ve put myself on a Tea buying hiatus due to all the things I need to save up for (Am semi planning to take advantage of Black Friday sales, and maybe 1 reasonable buy from DT…do they do Black Friday sales?? If they do that will assuage my guilt at least a little bit.) Anyways…had this hot despite the fact that it’s been a wee bit hot out, and it’s pretty tasty hot, but as it cooled down….I knew that it would be dynamite iced. From what I just read of the reviews, that assessment would seem to be right.
I am going to try a 2nd steep, iced down….eh. not bad 2nd steep but not terribly inspiring.
From KeenTeaThyme
Meh. Not sure if I am just going thru tea blahs still, or if I just havn’t had a new tea that I really like yet. Or maybe it’s both, hmm?
This tea is not bad, and as it cools noticing a little bit more flavor…like a peanutbuttery taste, but not terribly distinctive. Thinking I might want to send this on, but I give it a few more shots to be sure.
Preparation
From KeenTeaThyme:)
I was hoping that this was the tea that I had started getting at my favorite tea shop. I had the thought that if they went out of business (I hope not!) that I would still be able to get this tea.
Hmm. The flavors are very similar. Has I think the same ones. But it doesn’t quite match up to my memory of the other tea. I think I would have to do a side by side comparison, with same amount of water, tea, sweetener, salt.
Yeah that’s right I said salt. :) I know it may sound weird but the salt helps bring out the flavors more.
Hmm. I just salted this cup, didn’t seem to do much.
You know, even with a side by side, I think I’m going to think that it’s a no with these two being the same tea. Pity. The shop owner also told me that she was considering not getting this tea again because it didn’t seem to be selling well, but a few people had asked for it, so she did. Well maybe if she does stop selling it she would be more willing to tell me what company it’s from.
I actually had this tea last week, on Friday, but I didn’t feel up to writing a note about it.
I adore orange tasting things, but have yet to find an orange tea that I really like. (Except for Constant Comment.) I think I have a mild like for this tea, but whether I would get another bag of it….only time will tell.
I am feeling kind of annoyed and impatient with summer. I mean I love that it’s warm, but lately it’s been to warm to enjoy my tea hot. I make do with pouring it over ice, and that does somewhat satisfy the craving…but not much emotional satisfaction.
So even though I don’t want to deal with Winter (LOL) I can’t wait til Fall. One of the suggestions for this tea is Maharaja Chai Oolong, which makes sense considering the Spiced Mandarin smells like a chai.
Preparation
Funny how some things change. When I 1st reviewed this tea, I was less then impressed. And even though I was flip flopping back and forth about whether I liked it, I thought I was strongly leaning towards not getting it again, and so it went into the give away box. But I discovered something weird.
I discovered that it had a certain….pluckiness to it. Even dare I say…funkiness. Now if I were to pair up mint with a fruit I would have picked Peach, Grape or Strawberry, not just because those are my favorite fruits, oh and Raspberry too, but because they have a more…Dominant taste that I think would be better balanced.
But anyways, when I finished off this bag, I found myself thinking “Maybe I should give this another shot…I mean this particular cup is the dregs of the bag…more loose bits then anything.” And so I convinced myself to go ahead and get another bag. I am thinking of making a pitcher of this blended with a silver needle tea, considering there is not much actual tea in the bag. Though maybe wait til tomorrow considering Mondays is my caffeine free day. (Due to having to wake up early on Tuesday mornings.)
Preparation
Another from Queen of Tarts:)
Argh. My 1st tea from Della Terra and can’t say I care for it. It’s not terrible, and I’ll most definitely drink it again, (Though might hold off til Fall.)
I do love S’mores, though it’s been years since I’ve had them. In the cup, the only tastes I’ve gotten is marshmellow. and the black tea base.
You know, with the exception of the Orange Creamsicle rooibos tea, I don’t think there has been a dessert type tea that I’ve liked.
Preparation
From Queen of Tarts:)
Gah. Got up later than I intended. Decided that I wanted to try this 1st thing. In reading the reviews about this tea, I am a bit jealous of the things people got from it. I got a bare hint of buttery crust, and more cinnamon than apple, which I am not crazy about. Though I do like Apple pie, (In the Fall, preferably at Thanksgiving. Pumpkin I wouldn’t mind having year around! Both with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.) For some reason the taste of apples and cinnamon combined can be kind of weird for me. I like both individually…in fact LOVE both, lol anyways…while I’d be ok finishing this bag, even if it hadn’t been discontinued I highly doubt I would buy this tea.
Preparation
Got this from Queen of Tarts:)
I woke up in the mood for a lemon tea, but the 2 that interested me didn’t have caffeine, so I thought I should save those till later. So picked this instead. I like it well enough, though this is only my 1st cup of it, I think I might be inclined to order more when it’s done. But we’ll see.
It’s light, and sweet. A little bit grassy. Last taste on my tongue is some astringency, but not a bad thing. Something tells me that this tea would not make a good iced tea. Probably wouldn’t be terrible….just uninspiring.
It is raining outside, was going to go grocery shopping, because not much food in the house, but with the weather, I’d rather stay in, drink a few cups of tea and do some writing that I keep putting off.
Meh. It’s stopped raining. I guess grocery shopping is in the cards afterall. Probably just as well…need food.
Preparation
Seems like forever since I’ve done a tea tasting. Heh.
brewed this hot then dropped a few ice cubes in a glass and poured this over it. Wish I had let this cool more before doing that…I splashed some of the liquid onto my hand. Glad it wasn’t a liquid that was close to 212!
Anyways: This sort of reminds me of Teavana’s Chateau Blanc, though like a weaker version. Though at the beginning of testing the Chateau Blanc I liked it, by the time I gotten to having 3rd and 4th cups at a later time, I had trouble even finishing the cup! This tea though it has a similar flavor it seems to be more pleasant, but at this moment I cannot see myself getting another bag once this is done. Now if this was a tea at the shop I like in Plymouth, (For over $10 less in the average tea they have!) I would be more inclined to at least keep this around for iced tea.
This is the last of the Winter Collection Sampler I got for my birthday. Truthfully I had forgotten about it and then when I remembered I was going thru an anti banana mood. For me bananas are really touch and go, I have to be in the right mood to enjoy bananas or banana flavors. (Interestingly enough I alot of times enjoy artificial banana taste even when not in the mood for actual bananas. Yeah I know, I am weird;))
Only by adding more Apriva and a big dollop of honey was I able to make this tea drinkable and since I havn’t finished the cup yet, I still may end up throwing this out. As for the chocolate in the tea: As of yet I have not had good luck in finding a chocolate tea that I like. Most of the time it just tastes like heavily watered down hot chocolate. What doesn’t help is that my desire for chocolate has really gone downhill in the past 5 years or so. It is possible that I’ll be inclined to finish this bag, or see if my Dad likes it. If he does, then he might be inclined to order more, and maybe I can add to his order! LOL. Though I need to try more samples of theirs 1st, because without being able to sniff a tea before buying, it’s hard to convince myself to buy 50 grams or 1-2 ounces of tea. And not a lot of the tea that I want to try is in a sampler set. (Like so many that I took well over an hour going over each section and writing down the ones I thought looked good and the list in a ‘Tea File’ on my harddrive, got similar for the other companies I am interested in.
Last year DT did not have any Black Friday sales.
Woohoo!
And yeah – DT doesn’t really do anything for sales. :| THey had some things on sale for Boxing Week, but that was just CHristmas related tea. I was in store a few days ago and I noticed they had signs for a summer sale – 40% off? I’m guessing that’ll be for some of the summer teas/tea ware.