30 Tasting Notes
I’ve come to love oolongs as my favorite tea in general, but, I think I may have found my new favorite. Even over the Tie Kuan Yin first grade oolong that I got to try a little while back.
The smell is intoxicating, it’s hard to place, and even with the possibility that it’s simply the suggestion from the name and the label it definitely evokes images of cream just from the smell. The first sip I was greeted with a smooth light tea, that hid the tea flavor rather well. It’s not quite milk, but, definitely gives hints of the taste. As you drink it’s easy to discover multiple flavors in this tea, like dairy combined with a light oolong and just a hint of floral taste; the label says orchid, I’m not sure I agree that’s what I’m tasting, but, eh, it’s flowery! :)
I’m definitely taking this to the next tea party I have.
Preparation
Very mild taste, it wasn’t unpleasant, but, at the same time, I don’t really know what Lichee tastes like. So, can’t really critique this one much. It’s from a batch of inexpensive teas I’ve bought form a local asian grocery. It’s quite drinkable for what it is.
Preparation
I keep meaning to check out the Asian grocery store near me. I would think they’d have some interesting teas.
It depends on the store, mine has a lot of teas, unfortunately, a good deal of them are very low quality and not very tolerable. That being said, the ones that are tolerable, are so cheap they allow me to have tea all the time without worry that I won’t be able to afford the next batch. :P
An interesting blend of roasted brown rice and green tea. I didn’t really know what to expect when trying this, and wasn’t really sure what I thought after my first cup. I went off to do research, learning that genmaicha was originally consumed by poor Japanese and became known as the “people’s tea”.
I had multiple cups, playing with the steeping time and temperature, the most successful of which is to use boiling water, steeping for anywhere between 30 seconds to a minute, pouring into a cup and letting it cool for a bit. The resulting tea has the scent of the roasted rice and the flavor is difficult to describe, but, it’s smooth and delicious to me, in this particular blend I can barely taste the green tea, most of the flavor is of the rice. After the 7th cup of this or so today, I think I have to allow myself to like it because I keep drinking it…
Preparation
This is one of the best oolongs I’ve had the pleasure of tasting, a delicious floral bouquet to it. Sipping this tea it’s much like the description from the company. It’s buttery and smooth, I don’t much detect the smokiness described, but it does have a green floral taste, a little bit of green-ish flavor.
It’s delightful to drink and the smell is intoxicating. It’s got to be one of if not the best I’ve had so far.
A very tart, delicious herbal tea. Quite citrus-y in taste and smells incredible. It’s very good, but, at the same time, I haven’t found anything special about it. It’s a nice and sweet tea.
It definitely grows in taste as it cools. It’s a deep red/orange color once steeped. Very attractive to look at.
This is another tea that hasn’t quite reached a certainty. At first I didn’t like it, but, as it cooled and I continued sipping it was a bit more acceptable. I think I need to try it more often to see if it grows on me.
It’s a very spicy smelling and slightly spicy tasting tea. The cinnamon and cloves is very noticeable. At current, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything special with this, it does have a slight creamy aftertaste and almost a little bit like earl grey too.
I still struggle with pu-erh’s. I found this one in a vietnamese store near where I live and just decided to get it on a whim. It’s not as bad as the other pu-erh I had and I watched a video describing how to brew pu-erh from a cake. Break off a chunk, wash twice, brew for short periods.
It had a mildy woody taste, maybe even a little bit of a smoky flavor, not sure. It wasn’t as bad as previous attempts at brewing a pu-erh tea, and the 2nd (4th?) steeping was actually pretty decent. I still feel like I’m missing something in regards to pu-erh teas though.
I have trouble with this tea, but, mostly cause it’s so popular and I was drawn into the trap of reading what other people had to say.
I like it. I don’t know if it’s because my palate is unrefined and incapable of detecting certain things, or perhaps I simply taste something different when I drink this tea. I love the smell of the tea and it tastes lightly sweet because of the vanilla flavoring. Sipping and slurping the tea in almost leaves a slightly salty flavor on the tongue for just a second before being washed away by vanilla and tea.
So far I’ve not managed to brew a great cup of tea out of this stuff. I’ve tried everything I know how, but, haven’t been able to drink enough tea to try all the options on steep time. The directions on the label say 4-5 minutes, but, so far every variation on temperature and steep time I’ve tried has left me with something that’s not quite that good, I’ve yet to explore some of the shorter times. It’s not bad, but, it doesn’t have the sweet almost chocolatey taste that I’ve gotten out of some of the other oolongs I’ve tried, leaving me drinking some slightly weird flavored water. I might be doing it wrong. :|
