1216 Tasting Notes

83

Holiday Tea-son! I got to try a sample of this from the last Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox, so thank you to tea-sipper for organizing and any and all participants!

This tea really nails the aroma, as it has a very sweet, spicy aroma that does make me think of gingerbread cookies set out to cool, with perhaps a hint more emphasis on the clove. Steeped up, the tea had a lovely gingery orange color, and the aroma had a warm sweetness of cinnamon and clove wafting from the cup.

The body of this tea is a Chinese black (my favorite!) so I found it very smooth with no bitterness or astringency. The flavors are very rich in this tea! The tea itself is on the sweeter side, much like a gingerbread dessert, but the flavor profile has a strong spicy note. A medley of ginger, cinnamon, and clove tingle along the tongue with every sip. The start is a bit sweeter, tasting a bit stronger of the cinnamon and ginger flavors, but the finish holds a very strong burst of clove. It’s a spicy tea, but at the same time the subtle sweetness of the tea keeps the brew very balanced; it isn’t nearly as potent as your typical Indian chai blend, and while you probably could add milk to create a more creamy mouthfeel, I never once felt the need to (as I often do with chais!), as the flavors were so smooth.

While the tea does have a nice natural sweetness, I decided to try a small cup with a dash of sweetner for comparison (though I don’t really sweeten my teas in general these days), just to see if I could bring out more of a gingerbread feel from the brew, and that actually helped a lot! Just a small dash of sugar mellowed out the spices just a bit, allowing the sweet base a little more emphasis, and making the flavor profile feel a little more dessert-like. The spices just seemed to balance a little better with the slight addition of sweet. This is one where a small bit of sugar or honey seems to do it justice.

A tasty spice tea that does remind me of gingerbread with a little sweetner added and leaves a very warm, cozy feeling in the stomach, which is really perfect for setting the mood during cold winter weather.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Clove, Cookie, Ginger, Smooth, Spicy, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 12 OZ / 350 ML

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67

Holiday Tea-son! Third tea from my advent calendar, which was one of Bird & Blend’s holiday blends from last year. It’s one of those hibi-hip spice blends so I imagine everyone else is going to hate this one, but I happen to love those. The dry leaf smelled heavy on the orange and spice and reminded me of a blend I’d sipped down just a few months ago when I was fighting off a minor throat cold, Tea Chai Te’s Orange Zephyr, which was an orange/tangerine flavored hibiscus ginger blend. I always loved that tea on my throat. Though this tea smells a little more heavy on the clove than the ginger.

My teabag apparently didn’t have much hibi in it, since my steeped tea was very weak in color, it looked a pale lavender color. I’m sure this news will make every other person on Steepster rejoice, since I’m apparently one of about five people on the whole site that actually likes hibiscus, but if I knew it was going to be like that I would’ve cut the bag open, put it in my gravity well infuser, and added a bit more hibi petal from my stash myself. Is it really supposed to look like that? * checks their Instagram * Nope, definitely should be a nice, deep red. Welp, nothing to do for it now but drink it as is…

…Yup, it’s really weak. Needs the hibi. It’s like the whole base is just missing. It tastes too oily and watery without it. I’m getting a strong orange flavor, and a nice spice mix, but there is no substance. I wonder if I tried steeping a bag of hibiscus into this cup of already steeped tea, if I could somehow salvage this, because this is pretty much undrinkable as is…

Blech. I’ve got to try.

Alright, 1/4 teaspoon hibi is going in the cup until it turns a proper red. Fingers crossed.

The cup has turned a slightly darker red just from adding that small amount of hibiscus and is no longer that that pale, pale lavender… and the taste is already drastically improved. She has a pulse! It actually has a base now! Honestly, I probably should’ve added a bit more, but I wasn’t sure what the actual blend was supposed to have and didn’t want to over do it and drown out the flavors, either. But now this is actually drinkable! There is a slight fruitiness to bring out that orange flavor and for it to mix with, so it doesn’t just taste like oily orange water, and the clove and ginger compliments it very nicely.

Still a little unimpressed to get such a bad blend in my teabag, though. Of all the people to receive that teabag, I was probably the one person to not enjoy getting a hibi cider with no hibi, while everyone else would’ve cried tears of joy if that happened to them. Go figure.

(On the plus side, I’m probably also the only person able to fix that problem, since I own plain hibiscus flower, and no one else would…)

Flavors: Citrus, Clove, Fruity, Ginger, Orange, Spicy, Tangy

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML
lizwykys

I also have plain hibiscus! So. Much. Hibiscus. I bought a big bag from an herbal tea vendor a million years ago, and it goes so far and lasts so long, I will never ever ever not have hibi. I will be passing down antique hibi for generations to come. :P

Mastress Alita

Hahaha! Yes, write that hibi into your will for your grandchildren, I’m sure they will appreciate it! _ hands out your “Welcome to the Hibiscus Rescue Habitat Society” badge We are a select few on Steepster. Cherish it.

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70
drank Holiday Blend by CitizenTea
1216 tasting notes

Holiday Tea-son! Saving my Bird & Blend advent tea for this evening, so I brought this tea with me in my work thermos today. I got it as a freebie with a Citizen Tea order back in January of 2018, and have just been saving it since then.

It smells quite spicy, but the flavor actually has a pine sort of flavor to me. I’m not sure what is giving me that sort of flavor, though. I do get a sort of orange citrus, but mostly there is this strong pine note, and then a bite of a sweet spice toward the end of the sip. I’m not picking up on any of the vanilla or nut notes that should be in the blend, but for what it is, I don’t mind it; the pine and spice flavor at least does make me think of the winter season. Could it be the bourbon alcohol flavoring causing that taste to me, since I don’t really drink alcohol? Who knows! I wish I was getting some of the vanilla, but it’s alright otherwise. I like that the black tea itself is coming out very smooth, since my last few blacks have turned out on the bitter side.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Citrus, Orange, Pine, Smooth

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 14 OZ / 400 ML

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55
drank Union Jack by Lupicia
1216 tasting notes

Holiday Tea-son! This was included in a Lupicia holiday sampler of some sort that came out last year, and I picked up on the super-cheap from a mottainai sale last April! It’s just a classic English Breakfast black tea blend of Indian, Kenyan, and Sri Lankan black teas, but the packaging of the sampler is all cute and golden and covered in snowflakes and Christmas ornaments and a puppy with some sort of holiday-colored collar. Eh, whatever works. Good enough for me to count it under the theme, and it’s a quick-and-easy sipdown. I do enjoy an English Breakfast during my Doctor Who episode viewing. Feels so… thematic.

This was a very robust blend. It was quite malty, with very strong citrus notes, creating a strong lemony flavor, with a light peppery note at the end of the sip. The strong citrus flavor combined with the hint of pepper reminded me a bit of yuzu (just with a more subdued peppery taste). Even though I used my typical brisk steep, the black tea produced a fair amount of bitterness and a strong astringency on the tongue. Enough so that I decided to add a bit of honey to this one.

All in all, not my favorite breakfast blend. I’ve had several that came out very smooth, that I could drink plain just fine, and since I don’t really go for a breakfast blend because I want to add milk and sweetener, those are my preferred sorts of breakfast blends. This would probably be more suitable for those that like the robust sort of black blend that is more suited to adding milk and sugar or honey.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Citrus, Lemon, Malt, Pepper

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML

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68

Holiday Tea-son! Second tea from my advent calendar, and another of their holiday seasonals for this year. The cinnamon and orange notes are coming out strongly in the dry leaf, so I’m imagining this will be a bit like an orange spice black tea?

It brews up a pretty burnt sienna tone, and the aroma is a very enticing combination of cinnamon, orange, and some sweet notes that smell a bit like a more subdued amaretto; a little nutty, a little cherry, but not overbearing or syrupy-sweet.

The flavor comes out with a very forward cinnamon note, and then follows with a very sweet almond taste; a bit like marzipan but not as strong or as syrupy as most teas that go with a sweet, desserty almond taste. I keep my steeps pretty brief to try to cut back on possible bitterness/astringency that I don’t like coming out in my blacks, but this Ceylon is pretty strong; it’s malty, and most of the fruitiness of the tea seems to be present back in the base, where I’m getting the orange peel, a bit of a subtle cherry note, a little citrus tang, and there is a moderate black tea astringency after the sip. Even with my short steep, it still comes out a bit bitter beneath the sweet cinnamon/almond flavor.

It’s fine, but nothing that excites me overly much. Mostly because it just tastes too bitter/astringent for my particular tastes, despite the flavoring.

Flavors: Almond, Astringent, Bitter, Cherry, Citrus, Fruity, Malt, Marzipan, Nutty, Orange

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML

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99

My last of the three TeaCrush flavors that I shipped back to Idaho… and now they are gone. Boooooooo! Curse you TeaCrush and only selling these in the Bay Area! I really love this one too; I like this one almost as much as the Turmeric Ginger Pear. It’s very sweet, with this really nice pina colada flavor, but has this sharpness to it from the sparkling water/carbonation factor to the iced tea/juice combo. There is also a mild grassiness that almost gives me a slight pear-like note mixed with the pineapple flavor. This one does have to be shaken very well to free up the settled matcha at the bottom of the bottle, but it’s really refreshing.

I might actually try to create a sort of “homebrew” mockup of this one, because I frequently buy a mix of pineapple juice and coconut water in big bottles because it’s one of the few things I find that settles my stomach, and I have plenty of matcha. I figure I can use my same recipe I use when I make matcha lemonade, and substitute the lemonade for the pineapple juice/coconut water and see how it goes. Probably won’t be a perfect match for the amazingness that is Teacrush, but as far as flavor, I’m sure it will be close and still be tasty, and at least scratch that itch since I can no longer get Teacrush anymore…

Flavors: Coconut, Grass, Pear, Pineapple, Sweet, Tangy

Preparation
Iced
TreeGal

I am saddened on your behalf, but I am also intrigued by the idea of pineapple juice and coconut water…

Mastress Alita

I’ve seen a few different brands. I buy one made by Minute Maid, and Tropicana also makes one. Those are sort of larger jugs I’ve seen in the juice isle, but I’ve also seen a smaller “travel” size by a VitaCoco brand.

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74

Holiday Tea-son! New month, new theme, so this month I’ll be trying to crack out all the random holiday blends I have sitting around my house from years past, as well as working on my advent calendars (I didn’t go like, Cameron B. crazy on them, so I only have Bird & Blend’s 24 day one and 52Tea’s 12 Days of Christmas one). I don’t have an abundance of what I would consider holiday blends, so I might just throw in some flavors that seem to fit, or finally put progress toward the ol’ sipdown goal. My New Year’s Resolution is to make some major progress on sipping down my tea collection and freeing up space on my tea wall, and cutting down my tea spending by half (or more) next year.

So this is my first Bird & Blend advent calendar tea, an Irish Cream coffee inspired blend. Unlike most tea drinkers I know, I am not coffee adverse, I drank it for a good decade or more… in fact, I’m new in the scheme of things when it comes to the tea game. I had to go off of coffee to determine if caffeine was one of my migraine triggers, but I was so used to that “warm” drink in the morning I bought a bunch of bagged herbals from the store to make those few months of hell easier. After one month of worse headaches from caffeine withdrawal, one month off, then month three reintroducing caffeine, it was determined it had no effect on my migraines at all: didn’t trigger them, didn’t make them better (it can do both). So I could start drinking coffee again. But I’d been so impressed with the variety in tea, I just stuck with tea, and started exploring it’s caffeinated options at that point. I still can (and will) drink coffee, and like the taste. So there isn’t going to be any “Oh boo, coffee evil!” from me here. In fact, they absolutely nailed the aroma of Irish Cream here (at least, the flavoring, I’ve never had proper Irish Cream in coffee… alcohol definitely is something that gives me migraines!)

The flavor is quite nice for what they are going for… it does have that slight liquor sort of bite at the end of the sip, it’s quite sweet with some creaminess, very mild cocoa notes, with a nice roasted coffee flavor. But the coffee flavor is making me want a strongly caffeinated cup, so I’m a bit confused why this is on a rooibos base… perhaps the sweet/honeyed rooibos made the flavors pop more, since black tea would be quite malty and dominate the flavors more? It just feels like an odd juxtaposition, since my brain associates the coffee flavor with a morning drink, but the rooibos blend with a relaxing evening herbal. I’m sure all the blender was going for was trying to mimick the flavor as faithfully as possible, but sometimes practicality needs to stump ingenuity.

I enjoy the taste. But I have other blends with coffee beans in them, and they are on black, pu-erh, or roasted yerba mate bases, and I prefer them more as they know what they want to be: caffeine rescue drinks. This is little more than a novelity.

Flavors: Alcohol, Caramel, Cocoa, Coffee, Cream, Roasted, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML
Cameron B.

I’ll take that as a compliment. ;)

tea-sipper

I will be enjoying reading the advent notes from everyone who bought them. :D

Mastress Alita

I’ve been enjoying reading them too!

I bought mine back in November and have had them stashed away, heh. I made an Advent Calendar using teas from my collection and gave it to a friend for his Christmas present. :-D (Hey, that gets rid of some of my over-abundance of teas, and isn’t bad for a DIY Christmas gift, especially since he seemed to like it!)

tea-sipper

Oh that IS a cool idea to get rid of excess teas. haha.

TreeGal

Hee hee, “didn’t go Cameron B. crazy!” I’m same as you, although I never received my 52 teas one. I got Tea Revv and T2. I considered this one but am glad I didn’t because this first one sounds like something I’d like to like, but wouldn’t. And I hate when the first one out of the box is one I don’t like…I’m looking at you, Tea Revv…

TreeGal

And I feel the need to mention that I’ve not actually communicated with 52 Teas yet, so please no one consider my comment as a negative one against them. If it was sent, someone probably swiped it off my doorstep because that has been happening some in my otherwise nice suburban neighborhood. But I don’t want to imply any shadiness or lack of help from 52 Teas!

Cameron B.

I fully understand if everyone wants to unfollow me for the month of December, LOL!

Cameron B.

@Mastress Alita – I love your idea for a homemade tea advent calendar! If I’m still around next year, maybe I’ll organize a secret swap sort of deal where we all exchange calendars… That sounds fun!

Mastress Alita

The 52Teas ones haven’t been shipped out yet, TreeGal. They are 12 Days, not 24, so they are on a later schedule. Also Anne got hit with some menangitis in the middle of November that set her back quite a bit. She was in the hospital for a week straight at one point.

TreeGal

Oh, how awful! I’m extra glad I hadn’t contacted her yet! Thanks for letting me know so that I wasn’t adding extra stress!

Lexie Aleah

@Cam I was actually considering posting about doing a swap where people make their own advent calendars and send them to people.If you did that next year I’d totally be in!

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76
drank Toasted Walnut by DAVIDsTEA
1216 tasting notes

Autumn Harvest! I got this DAVIDsTEA sampler from Ost’s cupboard sale, so thank you Ost!

Since I don’t work tomorrow, I thought I’d indulge and have a green tea tonight instead of my typical evening herbal. The leaf has a very inviting sweet, nutty aroma! Steeped up, the tea has a pale gingery yellow color and smells very buttery and nutty. The tea is quite light-bodied and sweet, with a somewhat buttery and slightly creamy mouthfeel. The flavor is definitely more of a nut-flavored dessert than roasted nuts, and while I do taste notes of walnuts, I’m actually getting a much stronger almond flavor; not the typical marzipan taste I’m used to in almond teas, though, this actually tastes like almond-flavored cookies, sweet, buttery, delicious almond cookies. I think the coconut flavor is coming through just enough to bring out a bit of creaminess and a note of toasted coconut as well, but it compliments the overall cookie flavor I’m getting well. But then, I love cookies covered in toasted coconut too, so maybe that’s just where my mind is at right now.

Enjoyable as a sweet-tooth night cap.

Flavors: Almond, Butter, Coconut, Cookie, Creamy, Nutty, Sweet, Walnut

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 16 OZ / 473 ML

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40
drank Cran Marnier by Art of Tea
1216 tasting notes

Autumn Harvest! This was another sampler I had from a holiday sampler pack from Art of Tea. It was described as “a warming caffeine-free blend of cinnamon, cloves and sweet tangy cranberries with a citrusy finish, reminiscent of Grand Marnier” but since I’ve been alcohol-free for decades due to my chronic migraine condition, I have never had a Grand Marnier and have no idea what it is even supposed to taste like. I only know this should be a cranberry-forward blend, and it’s harvest season, and I want some cranberries, so let’s do this!

The dry leaf smelled very strongly of spice, particularly of clove. It steeped up an unsurprising deep rooibos red color, and the aroma still smelled overwhelmingly of spice. It also tasted overwhelmingly of spice, too, with cinnamon and clove leaving a very strong impression on each sip. The tea reminded me more of a spice cider than anything else; it left a warm, cozy, by-the-fireside feeling from the cinnamon-clove spice, but if there were any other flavors in the tea, they were completely lost beneath the strong spices! Where in the world was the cranberry? I mean, I could see them in the leaf, but there wasn’t so much as a hint of it in the flavor! There isn’t even so much as a fruity note to this! Hell, I don’t even really taste the honeybush/rooibos base all that much, too be honest. The tea is sweeter than if the delivery vehicle for the spice were a black, sure, but even the base feels really drowned out in spice. Meeeeeeeeh. Just a bad blend all around.

You can’t call yourself Cran Marnier and have no cranberry!

Flavors: Cinnamon, Clove, Rooibos, Spices, Spicy, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 3 g 350 OZ / 10350 ML
TreeGal

I guess I’m glad to hear this, since based on their description it would be one I’d have to have! And I definitely don’t need any more tea right now!

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78

Autumn Harvest! Well, I found a bunch of other of my Tealyra blends on the D&B website looking for this particular one when I wanted to add it to the Steepster database under the proper source (it’s also from Germany, and now that I know Tealyra uses D&B as their wholesale source, I pretty much knew this was a D&B blend) but it appears it’s been discontinued… I double-checked on Tealyra’s site as well, and yup, it’s been removed. Another discontinued D&B blend, baaah! Hopefully it won’t be as amazing as Date Shake. Since I have no way of knowing the original name of the blend (Tealyra tends to rename the teas) I’ve put it under Tealyra… but there is no mistaking this is a Dethlefsen & Balk tea.

It smells very orangy, more like a creamsicle tea than something that makes me think of pumpkin, though the citrus has a very sharp, tart aroma. Steeped, it has a light tangerine color, and actually suddenly smells pumpkiny… how odd! The strong citrus in the leaf really mellows out in the steeped aroma, and it actually smells more squashy, but also quite creamy. The flavor of the tea still tastes very orangy, though. I do make out some pumpkin notes, but also tangerine and a slight tartness toward the end of the sip like green apple skins. There is definitely some vanilla, too, which brings a sweetness about midsip. It doesn’t quite taste like a creamsicle, because the orange isn’t as pronounced, but it does sort of evoke that citrus/vanilla flavor combo. I am happy to see the pumpkin flavor wasn’t completely overwhelmed, but at the same time, it isn’t as pronounced as I was hoping, since citrus is such a dominating flavor. It is quite tasty, though.

Next time, I may just try making a really strong infusion, and going latte with vanilla almond milk.

Flavors: Apple Skins, Citrus, Green Apple, Orange, Pumpkin, Sweet, Tart, Vanilla

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
Todd

Sounds worth a try. Congrats on 400 tasting notes!

evol-ving

Date shake! Loved that one.

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Profile

Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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