658 Tasting Notes

64

Oh, Steepster. My life is slowly returning to normal after a harrowing few days, and I feel that a tealog is a good step although I’m not feeling particularly eloquent. I spent a night in hospital thanks to a medication I was taking for a medical trial combined with a faulty insulin pump, and then the weekend trying to prevent myself from needing further hospitalization! My tea drinking has mostly been well-loved, comforting herbals while I was recovering from ketoacidosis which entails extreme dehydration (thanks, rooibos!).

Immediately before I got sick on Thursday, I picked this up at DT near work. Last night I thought I’d finally give it a try since my constitution had recovered at least partially and I needed some help getting the rest of the way. Turmeric is wonderful for inflammation, so this sounded about right.

It’s not terrible. It’s very earthy and very herbal, but I think it avoids tasting medicinal. I don’t like licorice but it doesn’t bother me too much in here. Mostly I get ginger, citrus, and spice. It also cleared out my sinuses, which I didn’t realize were at all congested, and made me feel pretty clear-headed. So that was nice. I think I would maybe buy some more to keep on hand when I need the help or think I’m getting sick, but it’s not something I would choose based on flavour. The man of the house didn’t want to finish his cup, but he ended up doing so anyway.

KeenTeaThyme

Ohmigosh! I hope you start feeling better soon. :( Sorry to hear about this!

Erin

That sounds terrible :C I’m glad you are recovering. Keep drinking lots of tea!

Indigobloom

oh no, I hope you’re off the trial now! and I’m glad you’re feeling better xx

Kay Kanada

I am taking your log on steepster as a sign of health! Hopefully you will never have to repeat that experience again!

nomadinjeopardy

Thanks everyone! On the mend. :) Thank heavens for tea and an amazing doctor!

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78

This was a nice and interesting change. I added a tiny bit of coconut sugar and some coconut milk powder to this to make it milky. The puerh made for a nice, earthy, solid cup of chai. I love the balance of spices that Yogic Chai uses, so it was pretty much a guaranteed success.

Also, it made my kitchen smell awesome!

Kashyap

I worked for years to find just the right base for my roasted butternut squash/chai pumpkin soup, trying to find the perfect balance of roasted autumn squash flavors, chai spices, and tea, where all the flavors could co-exist and layer in the mouth. Assams, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Keemun, Lapsang, bohea…on and on….then one day I stumbled upon the combination of tou cho pu erh and chai spices, fresh shreaded ginger, and brown sugar and wham! Squash chai synergy….with no “pumpkin pie mock flavor” or ‘chai’ dominance…fantastic that you have found this

nomadinjeopardy

Wow! That sounds phenomenal. I improvised my first squash soup this week (with buttercup squash, coconut milk, and dashes of nutmeg/cinnamon/tumeric). It was absolutely delicious, so I can’t even imagine how good something with such a finely-tuned base must be! If you feel inclined to share your recipe (if you have one), I’d love to see it.

Kashyap

i will be happy to pass it on

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66

I got a pre-packaged pouch of this some months ago for $1 during a sale, and I’ve had it a few times now. The man of the house seems rather taken by it, having made it last night before bed and then again for me when I got home from work today. I’m not complaining when tea is being made for me (and having him prepare tea means some of the non-faves that are lingering in the chaotic tea corner get used up), but I find it exceedingly dull. That’s about it. It’s lemony. It’s herbal-tasting. I think I’m starting to stray away from lemongrass. It’s too overbearing these days.

De

I agree about this tea. It was just okay. It was lemony. Tastyish. Just kinda meh.

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86

I was really surprised by the scent of this tea, opening the package. I’ve had a fair number of very nice jasmine teas and dragon pearls at this point, and my previous aversion to what I thought of as a soapy flavour has been overturned. With slight variances, they largely smell and taste the same. This one, though, instantly came across very markedly sweet. Very floral, but with a candy-like sweetness. It translated into the flavour in what is probably the freshest-tasting, least perfumey jasmine tea I’ve had to date.

I still don’t find this the most exciting type of tea, personally, but Teavivre’s is the nicest dragon pearls I’ve had. Several pearls yielded three great big flavourful infusions, too.

Plunkybug

This is the one I’m most scared of trying (the only one I haven’t) because I am sensitive to florals. Bet then, I’ve had jasmine teas before, and lived, so why am I scared? It’s just tea. And I have a supply of headache meds. So maybe I’ll try it soon.

nomadinjeopardy

Oh, no! I get illogical fears about trying some teas, but thankfully none have given me headaches. I hope it works for you if you try it!

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100

Oh, wow. The autumn harvest is incredible. I don’t remember the summer one terribly clearly aside from really enjoying it, but going from my notes on it I would say I’m finding this richer, and the toasty-grainy notes are more at the forefront here. It’s sweet but less so, still astoundingly smooth. I’m thinking honeyed, roasted barley with cocoa.

Complete love. I’m not often taken aback by a tea at the first sip like I was by this one!

Stephanie

Ackk!! Must have!!

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90

Yep, no disagreement with all the glowing reviews of this tea! What a great Fujian. I find this type so calming for a black tea.

I needed to quickly snatch up a tea on my way to work to brew in the bottom of my infuser glass. Black is never really an option for that, but I had a susupicion that this one would hold up well. Indeed it does. It’s been hanging out at the bottom of my glass for two infusions over 45 minutes, and it has been consistently honey-sweet and delicious. No bitterness! just a nice, slightly roasty depth. I find it quite cocoa-y, which is really complementing the coconut flour brownies I made last night. Delicious! The lovely little packets are also perfect for work-brewing, but I’m hoping to try this one in my gaiwan soon. Thanks again to Teavivre for the samples.

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80

I finally got to trying my sample of this tea this morning. I had a really hard time getting out of bed and wanted something gentle to wake up with. I’ve found Huang Shan Mao Fengs to be pretty great for that type of craving in the past, and this one didn’t let me down. There’s something very round and fluffy and comforting about it.

The dry leaves smelled wonderfully green, buttery, and sweet. They were also fascinatingly rich green and fresh-looking. I steeped it in the Breville for 3 minutes, which yielded a nice mellow cup. I was worried about bitterness at 3 minutes, but there was none in sight. Less buttery and more floral than I was expecting from the scent. A very nice stand-by. I do wish this had different packaging rather than coming in an not-reseable bag. I’ll have to drink this quickly since I have no spare tins at the moment, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

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79

I’ve gone through most of a tin of this, so I’m not sure why I’ve never logged it!

I like it. I can’t say that I’m particularly drawn to it based on its flavour profile, but it is an excellent wake-up tea, especially in the winter. It’s bold and spicy. I don’t find the cayenne too overpowering. So the depth and earthiness clear my head but, most usefully, the cayenne clears my sinuses when they’re stuffy and painful due to the awful dryness that keeps my humidifier cranked up seemingly around the clock this week!

Daddyselephant

That dryness is why I reached for an iced tea at the Annex DT yesterday, prompting my father in law to look at me like I’d grown two heads XD. Cracked me up, he was so confused by it. But when I’m dehydrated, I want cold tea. It’s more refreshing to me.

I feel you on the humidifier front too, my cats are obsessed with my penguin humidifier and why it seems to be on all the time now.

nomadinjeopardy

Yeah, my cat is pretty perplexed by the humidifier at the beginning of each season when I first bring it out!

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89

I don’t have much time to log this one, but wanted to record that I really liked it! I knew I would from the instant I opened the sample packet; the aroma was candy, cookie-sweet and intoxicating. The sweetness carried though the flavour through a couple infusions, and was accompanied by fresh, creamily floral deliciousness. I think I’ll need to grab some of this to try gong fu style since this one was, again, brewed bottom-of-the cup style today!

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89

I finally made it into Tea Dynasty on New Year’s Eve. It was really lovely. I’m glad Toronto has it, but wish it was in a part of the city I frequented these days! I’ve been wanting to try black dragon pearls for some time now, and was happy to see them there. Unfortunately they are rather pricey. I decided to use three of the pearls (they are much larger than any green jasmine pearls I’ve seen) in my 100 ml gaiwan.

I took my habit to an all-new level of out-of-control this Christmas in asking for a Zojirushi, so I was excited to break it in today with this tea. It’s so great for quick re-steepings!

As for the tea: nice and chocolatey. Very mellow and earthy, with sweetness increasing over the course of the four infusions. I could see this one becoming a favourite if not for the price.

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