268 Tasting Notes

drank Li Shan (Taiwan) by Educational TTB 2
268 tasting notes

This oolong is a mix of light and dark green leaves that are tightly rolled and they smell vegetal for an oolong. The brew is a light yellow green and the taste is all cream, cream cream to me. The taste is somewhat like a very subtle milk oolong with a hint of vegetal taste and a very thick mouthfeel.

Flavors: Cream, Vegetal

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

This oolong has nugget-shaped leaves that are dark brown with reddish “highlights”. They brewed up a golden rod yellow with that characteristic oolong scent. This oolong is heavier than any oolong I’ve ever had! It almost doesn’t taste like what I think of as an oolong. It starts with a burnt sugar taste that morphs into a leather-like taste. Is that even possible in an oolong? It leaves a salty aftertaste. I can’t say that I enjoyed this one, but it was interesting, I’ll give it that! Thanks again to Stacy for this box!

Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Leather, Salty

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Mission #2 for this TTB: try all the types of oolongs! Today, my goal was to try all the Taiwanese oolongs. The leaves are tightly rolled and very dark and have a characteristic oolong smell. Brewed the smell is much the same and the liquor is a pale lemon yellow. The taste is very nutty and buttery with a woodsy quality (NOT like the dreaded rooibos woodsy taste, it’s actually pleasant). It has a very creamy mouthfeel and the sip ends with a light sweetness. Despite having so many teas to try, I had to go back for a second steep with this one!

Flavors: Butter, Creamy, Nutty, Sweet, Wood

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Silver Needle #1 by Educational TTB 2
268 tasting notes

The leaves were long and plump and I could definitely see why they might be called needles. The color was a light grey-green with some fuzz. They smelled sweetly vegetal and brewed up and an extremely light yellow liquor. The overall characteristics of this tea were a really light, sweet taste that I enjoyed quite a bit. It was also a little vegetal and a little mineral. As it cooled, it developed a buttery quality and a really nice mouthfeel.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Another white from the wonderful Butiki Educational TTB 2! The leaves of this one were darker green, some spindly and some flat, with white fuzz on them. The smell was pretty vegetal, much more than expected, and it brewed up a pale greenish-yellow. The taste was also quite vegetal, much like a very mild green tea. It had a really nice sweet, clear finish that made me like it much more than I would have otherwise.

Flavors: Sweet, Vegetal

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

I’ve been lax on my tasting notes this week. I just haven’t been in the mood for some reason, so I’m catching up now!
I have in my possession the wonderful Butiki educational traveling tea box #2 and I’m super excited to get to try so many varieties of unflavored tea. It really is an excellent opportunity to learn so much! Thanks Stacy!
I decided that mission #1 was to try all the whites because I know very little about white tea and I started with this one. The leaves are greyish-green and have an almost hay-like texture (not a criticism!). They smell strongly of hay when dry, which is a smell that I like a ton and they liquor comes out a pale yellow, the color of real key lime pie (no, it’s not green!). The smell did not lead me astray as the taste is also all sweet hay with a tiny bit of mineral-ness hanging around. It finishes really cleanly with a cooling mouthfeel. The rest of my notes on this tea just say YUM. That about sums it up! This was my favorite white from this TTB. So sorry to the people after me, but there was only enough for one cup when I received the box, so it’s gone now.

Flavors: Hay, Mineral, Sweet

Cheri

There were a few where there was only a cup left when I got the box. One of those I finished, but I think I skipped the others. Isn’t the box amazing, though?!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

84
drank Champagne & Rose Cream by Butiki Teas
268 tasting notes

I got this tea in a swap from Cheri. Thanks Cheri, this was one that I really wanted to try! This tea is just gorgeous with all the petite little rosebuds in it. Brewing, this tea smelled overwhelmingly of rose in a perfume-like way (I know, what was I expecting with a rose tea?). At first taste, the rose was a little overwhelming to me as well and I didn’t think I was going to like this tea. However, after it cooled a bit, the rose really toned down and I enjoyed it so much more. The rose is at the forefront of the sip above a creamy sensation. It’s not really a creamy taste, but more of a sensation. It leaves a tingly feeling on my tongue that is reminiscent of champagne.

Flavors: Creamy, Rose

Cheri

I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Virginia

Every single I’m on the website, I look at this, put it in my cart, and then take it out. Then put it back in, and take it out. And repeat. I know I don’t like things that taste like roses but the picture and the name make it sound SO GOOD that I’m like “YES, I WILL BUY YOU” until my guilt kicks in haha

mj

Thanks Cheri, I definitely did :-)

Virginia, if you don’t like things that taste like roses, this is definitely not the tea for you! It is the most rose-y of an rose tea I’ve tasted. It is Butiki though, so you know it’s well done! This is a rose tea like the lavender chamomile is a lavender tea :-P

Virginia

shudder

Well now I know that the best way to put me off of any tea in the world is to mention Lavender in the same paragraph lol.

Cheri

It’s really good, but honestly only if you like roses and floral teas. This is quite floral, but it is so yummy.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Sakurambo by Lupicia
268 tasting notes

This tea was pleasant enough but nothing really special. If you are obsessed with cherries…..hmmm, never heard of anyone like that on Steepster ;-)….. you might like this a lot. The cherry taste is definitely tart cherries rather than candy-like or medicinal, which I think is always a danger with cherry flavored anything. That being said, although the cherry was nice, it didn’t blow me away and the base was pretty boring honestly.

Flavors: Cherry

Cheri

I prefer tart cherries, which is hard to find in tea.

TheTeaFairy

Lol…who could you possibly be talking about??

You absolutely right Sil, It’s actually the only flavoured cherry tea I like!

Virginia

Well. Said.
Yawn.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Berber by Tay Tea
268 tasting notes

So I’ve got three green tea-mint blends on hand right now and I’ve decided to do a head to head comparison: Berber by Tay Tea, Moroccan Mint by Teavana, and North African Mint by David’s Tea. One of the few green teas I’d like to keep around would be one with mint, so I’m trying to pick which one. Both Berber and Moroccan mint are just spearmint with gunpowder green tea, while the North African Mint has cardamom, peppermint, ginger, Japanese-style Hojicha green tea, licorice root, fennel, clove, and black pepper. So, it’s not really a valid comparison, but this study doesn’t have to pass peer review so it’s happening :-P.

This one is is the most minty in both smell and taste. The spearmint really dominates in an almost toothpaste-y way. I can’t taste tea at all, except that the mint is a little softer than it might be on its own.

The winner for me is, shockingly, the Teavana version!

The link to the Moroccan Mint review: http://steepster.com/teas/teavana/2028-moroccan-mint?post=252648
The link to the North African Mint review: http://steepster.com/teas/davidstea/6039-north-african-mint-organic?post=252647

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

83
drank Moroccan Mint by Teavana
268 tasting notes

So I’ve got three green tea-mint blends on hand right now and I’ve decided to do a head to head comparison: Berber by Tay Tea, Moroccan Mint by Teavana, and North African Mint by David’s Tea. One of the few green teas I’d like to keep around would be one with mint, so I’m trying to pick which one. Both Berber and Moroccan mint are just spearmint with gunpowder green tea, while the North African Mint has cardamom, peppermint, ginger, Japanese-style Hojicha green tea, licorice root, fennel, clove, and black pepper. So, it’s not really a valid comparison, but this study doesn’t have to pass peer review so it’s happening :-P.

This one is the most well balanced of the three, so you can taste both the green tea and the mint. This tea doesn’t come off as a toothpaste tea at all. I like the gunpowder because it’s not really vegetal to me and it adds some depth to this blend.

This one wins! I’m surprised since it hails from Teavana, which is not my favorite vendor.

The link to the Berber review: http://steepster.com/teas/tay-tea/11700-berber?post=252649
The link to the North African Mint review: http://steepster.com/teas/davidstea/6039-north-african-mint-organic?post=252647

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

Tea-obsessed, book worm scientist.

I love black tea, especially Chinese black tea- I’m looking at you Fujians and Yunnans! I also enjoy Indian teas, mostly first flush darjeelings (and a select few assams).
I think I’m recently starting to like oolongs better though- gasp! I’ve been cheating on my black teas with all these lovely, alluring green floral oolongs. Sorry I’m not sorry.
White tea gets a lot of love too! I am particularly fond of silver needle whites.
I can’t seem to appreciate green teas and rooibos is foul, IMO.

Other interests: Books! Board games! Nerdy entertainment like Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, all the nature documentaries, etc etc. Also Disney!

I’m up for swaps!

Follow me on instagram if you like tea, food, and animal pics plus some other randomness:
http://instagram.com/mj1851

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer