New Tasting Notes

And the oddness continues. Seriously there are strange things afoot in this tin!

I shall tell you why.

If you go check my other two posts about this one you will find the first one in january where I said that it was surprisingly fruity and sweet for a black tea, that it had a raisin-y note, and that if I hadn’t known otherwise I would have believed it to be a flavoured black.

The second post was the other day where most likely due to a slight over-steep it had turned totally smoky, and I couldn’t understand how that had happened, but I liked the tea better for it and gave it a few more points, from 76 to 80 if memory serves me right.

Then this morning I made a little pot for my travel mug. I wanted some of that smoke. And what did I get? Well, certainly not anything remotely smoky! Instead there was that distinct cardboard-y note that you’ll find in Assams. It was still a strong cup and I drank it with unusual haste, but it was still the third of three completely different cups.

And it is the same tin. I’ve checked.

I can’t for the life of me understand what’s going on here. Can tea-leaves have multiple personality disorder?

No matter what though, I can’t ignore the impulse give it some more points again.

I wonder what it will taste like tomorrow?

Brews up a pale amber with a slight greenish-yellow cast. Smells of the ocean – salt and seaweed. Taste has a mellow sweetness of grapes. Seaweed returns in the finish. Smooth mouth feel. Very little astringency.

Originally fixed a pot of this to drink hot but we were lucky enough to have a nice warm day so we switch to drink it iced. What a delight!

Richer than the pale color would suggest. Cooling backnote, refreshing.

I’m never very impressed with Tazo teas, but I have a gift box that I need to go through,lol
Normally when I order this from Starbucks it is too bitter for me to drink.
Today I steeped it at home for only about a minute and it’s actually pretty drinkable:-)
Not my favorite black tea, but it will do.

I’m having a cuppa this after my lunch…still hungry…sigh…

My Lupicia order came yesterday! I finally caved and bought a bunch of teas I’d been eyeing for a while, and ordered enough for free shipping and a catalog. :D

This was the one I was most excited to try. It’s got caramel and almond flavoring, two of my favorite things!

The dry leaf smells very sweet, to the point where I was a little bit cautious about it. However, brewed, it doesn’t smell quite as sweet. The scent of caramel is the most obvious, but there’s black tea behind that. It smells YUM. I can hardly resist drinking it as it’s cooling. But I must resist, or my tongue will burn. :P

It doesn’t taste nearly as sweet as it smells, but it’s got such a wonderful balance of flavors, and a lingering sweetness on the tongue. YUM.

Jackee and his compadre Thomas arrived chez Ca’ dei Gatti late yesterday afternoon. My first morning choice was Jackee. I had read the reviews and the mention of “smoke” enthralled me. I love “smoke” when it comes to perfumes, teas, salmon, prunes, paprika, nuts, and scotch. “Smoke” has got to walk a thin line between enhancing and highlighting that which is smoked and overwhelming it.

Jackee Muntz is a fine, rich, deep tea with a smoke that does manage to evoke the burnt sugary taste of caramel—but I liked to linger on the smokiness. I thought of an excellent poem I read recently called “Shopping List” by Anna Adams. The premise is that “all of life /
is hinted at on strips of scrap”. The imaginative mind can take a simple shopping list and go places—dig deeply like an anthropologist or archeologist.

“Cornfields come with the brown bread rolls,
orchards with apples, and the sea
heaves, vast, around the herring shoals,
and China swims in Lapsang Souchong tea.”

A tea that wakes me up, makes me think of poetry, and which unfolds layers of taste and meaning is a great one. I’ve already re-ordered.

I need to become a serious Buddhist to cope with all of the limited edition teas I’ve fallen in love with. I’ve wept buckets when books and perfumes go out of print, Jackee, my man, you’ve reversed the ill-effects of a bad night of sleep.

Finishing up the last of my stash of this as well…I’m so hungry today and this tea just increased my want for food…so I am heating up my lunch early…a lovely veggie rice dish!

Brewed up my sample cup of this tea to take with on the way to work. WHAM, it is one strong tea. Great malty flavor after a 3 minute steep. Wish I would have paid more attention to this tea as I think it was quite good, I just don’t remember what else I tasted.

Today is an exciting day! My Vanilla Assam is ready for consumption!!!

I took about 3 oz of Very Good but Nothing Earth Shattering Like Dear Thomas Assam (Premium Steap’s Assam Khongea FTGFOP-1) and cut into it a vanilla bean (one Extremely Intoxicating Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Vanilla Bean). Let sit for 3 weeks to a month, shaking whenever you remember, to infuse. When you make your tea, steep the vanilla bean pieces along with the tea leaves.

Ooooooooh it’s FANTASTIC! If you are a vanilla lover, you HAVE to try this! I guess because I used an entire high quality vanilla bean, the tea is just making me swoon with deliciousness! So much vanilla bean flavor and that slight smokiness. BUT – because it has no extract or flavoring, it’s delicate and really lets whatever tea you use shine. It’s old fashioned and home made and just wonderful. It is sublime for drinking and I think it would really be great infused into a vanilla tea buttercream frosting. I’d also like to play around with different vanilla beans with different origins – e.g. Tahitian Vanilla bean instead of Madagascar, and different teas.

My taste buds are still overly sensitive and wacky today but I figured I’d just go ahead and embrace it by having a strong tea, but at the same time I didn’t want to waste a really good tea (Thomas Sampson or Russian Blend, which were the other contenders) on my wonky taste buds. I did add a little extra sugar and half + half to smooth out the extra wonky and, all in all, it was a good plan. It was a bit overly strong (my fault, not the tea’s) but eventually my taste buds were beaten into submission and I was able to enjoy my first real morning tea in days. Yay tea!

Yeah, this hit the spot so much yesterday that I’m starting my day with it again.

This is a really tasty black tea that has a fresh, light taste. Brewed well, it made for a great daily drinker that literally gets gulped down.

OP (Orange Pekoe) teas are pretty much the most basic form of black tea. It is pretty much a medium grade of tea, making it affordable. Upton is charging only $5.20 for 200 grams for this tea. A good deal on a tea that makes a fantastic breakfast tea. There is nothing remarkable about this, but at the same time it manages to satisfy in a way that some better teas cannot. There is some special about “normal” teas like this that we find particularly satisfying.

We drank it plain, without milk or sugar and found it very refreshing. Drinking a pot of this was a great way to start the day.

For an inexpensive, everyday tea with a very fresh taste, this one is recommended.

I’m almost out of this and honestly, I don’t think I will miss it much. I would like to keep a breakfast tea of some sort on hand, but this just isn’t it.

The Tea Set sent me a FREE SAMPLE for my birthday. When they first emailed me about it they told me they were sending me one of their Organic Sexy Samples. When I got it in the mail yesterday there was a small designer tin in the shade of a light mustard yellow…very cute! There was no name/flavor on it but on their website the teas are in color coded tins…so my Yellow Tin MEANS Herbal. I then matched up the loose leaf in the tin with the blends on the site and the Secret Elixir For Wellness Tea was the closest match. So…here goes!

I’m totally jazzed about the FREE BIRTHDAY SAMPLE, btw…awesome idea for a tea company!!! Kudos to TTS!

The dry blend smells mostly herbal with slight fruit undertones. The coloring after infused is a purplish-pinkish-red. The liquid after infusion smells fruity.

Based on the color and scent after infusion I was afraid…Hibiscus??? Oye! I think that’s Hibiscus! Eeeek! But it’s actually not bad…yes, it’s a fruity herbally tarty type but it’s not too much to handle. I’m drinking it HOT right now but I think it would be brilliant ICED.

As for the after taste I’m getting an apple likeness…actually, it reminds me of cutting up apples and putting lemon juice on the slices so the “apple-meat” doesn’t darken…

This is pretty good…and this is coming from someone who usually doesn’t like fruity/tarty/herbals…I think it’s because it’s not over the top! Thank The Tea Gods!!!!!

This is a tea from Teaplz’s plea to take it away. I’m trying to find a decent rooibos tea or two as I’ve heard good things about rooibos helping allergies, and tis the allergy season. (Not that that matters for me, as I have them year round, but hey, if it means not having to take a pill that makes me feel drowsy and puts my sniffer out, I’m for it).

Looking at the leaves, I see the wood chip looking red rooibos and mint leaves. The dry leaves smell sweet.

Once steeped this tea smells sweet and minty with a touch of fruit. I taste a bit of sweetness, can definitely taste the mint. I’ve never had minty rooibos before, but there is definitely more going on in this tea. Looking at the description, I definitely get no chocolate. I want to like this because of the mint, I enjoy mint when I want it, but there is something tart that doesn’t go quite well with this mix.

Hrmmm…I think I like my teas less complex than this. This tea is trying to do too much in my mouth.

If anyone cares to try this, I have about an ounce in a baggie I could pass along.