New Tasting Notes

Backlogging…finished this up the other night and forgot to log and take out of my cupboard

backlogging only 1 serving left

I prefer loose leaf tea, but this isn’t bad when I’m out :-)
The directions say to steep for 10-15 minutes but I think that’s a little long.
I normally steep for 3 and it comes out just fine.

The scent of this tea in the tin is absolutely amazing. I hope that the taste is as good or even better. I’m not sure I will be able to rate this tea correctly as I don’t remember ever having had a plum, so I don’t know what it is supposed to taste like.

This tea brews up to a great pink color which reminds me of pink lemonade. The scent of the liquid is the same as the dry tea, but slightly muted. This is actually pretty good. It has a very nice, light, yet slightly spicy flavor. I think I may really like this, but only time will tell. If I can get at least 1 more infusion out of it, a boost to the rating will be in order.

Today seemed like as good a day as any to try this one, and I must say I rather enjoyed it.

The dried leaves smelled a little like a junior mint, strongly minty and refreshing. There is no hint of green tea. Brewed hot, three minutes, no additives. The brewed tea smells even more strongly of mint, and at this point I am excited.

The green tea is subtle, the mint is strong, there is a mint flavor up-front, green tea taste and then the cooling mouthfeel of the mint after the tea was swallowed. The green tea is completely a base here, it is hard to pick up at all even, it is not vegetal or grassy, there is no reason to even believe this is green tea except that the package said so (of course, the color of the liquor and the lack of flavor tells me that it is not a different type of tea).

Would definitely like to try this iced. Also, hot and sweetened. Also, I think it would make a fantastic mojito if I infused the tea in rum, but I am going to have to buy more to try these all out. :) Until then, enjoy

This may be a dream come true. This is my first “Earl Green.” I love earl gray—and more specifically, bergamot. I’m eager to try more of these.

Alright tiny pot, here we go. 1 level tsp/4oz water. I did rinse the leaves with boiling water, for about 10 seconds, but I’m going under the recommended temp here because the leaves look pretty green and I’m desperately afraid of cooking them.

Steep 1: 2-ish minutes, 195°F
The first steep, hot out of the pot, smells like the most delicious butter I have ever tasted. A little bit cinnamon, a little bit cream. It tastes buttery too, and something else I can’t put my finger on (of course). It’s strikingly like drinking a soft buttered dinnerroll, in any case. There’s a sweet floral aftertaste though, very pleasant. It’ll be fun to see how this one goes.

Steep 2:
2:45, 185°F (I didn’t warm the pot as well this time). The color has been a bright yellow-green for both steeps; still smells very rich and buttery, though the scent fades as the tea cools.

Steep 3:
3:30, 200°F Should I be smelling chocolate in an oolong? I’m getting chocolate more than butter on this one. The color is a deeper yellow this time, probably due to hotter water. The flavor is starting to get a little more vegetal, but only a touch.

Steep 4:
4:30, 195°F Still good color, but the flavor is starting to weaken a bit – I’ll up the steep time more on the next. Definitely getting more vegetal tastes.

Steep 5:
~8 minutes, 205°F Seemed to still have some caffeine in it, which I didn’t expect. A bit bitter, but plenty of flavor left. These leaves probably could have done more, but I am well pleased.

I grew quite attached to this as a caffeine-free tea for bedtime but it’s all gone for now. It is a tea that grew on me over a period of months. It would never be a favourite but it’s perfectly satisfactory

I like this tea because it has the awesome sweet flavour of cinnamon (which i’m not too much of a fan of only because it can be over used in products). The cinnamon flavoured is nicely balanced with the black tea based. The only sad thing is that i can’t used the same teabag twice D: I recommend it for any cinnamon lovers out there. :)

The first time or two I had this, I thought it was, quite simply, terrible. To the point of almost setting off my gag reflex.

But since I tried it so early on in my tea travels, I couldn’t be sure the problem was with the tea. That and being a glutton for punishment led me to try it again. I’m actually getting to the point now where I’m finding it ho-hum rather than awful.

For one thing, it is vastly improved with shorter steeping time. Three minutes is far better than five. For another, it takes some getting used to. At first, the vanilla tasted somehow detached from the tea, which was dark-tasting verging on bitter. Detached, beany and fake, all at the same time. The last couple of times, however, the vanilla has been more integrated with the tea and sweeter without the fakeness, and the tea less bitter. It does still smell better than it tastes, both in the bag and as brewed. Though I can’t see buying this again, I can see finishing the box.

I got a free sample of this tea with a Republic of Tea catalog (Yay!). It smells nice in the package, stinks to heck while steeping, but tastes lovely when you add milk and sweetener. I like it.

Well, this is a shame. The first tea since I’ve had since Monday and I suppose I wasn’t quite ready for it. It tastes funny. No, correction: I’m tasting funny. I thought I was enough on the upswing from the cold that has literally knocked me out since Monday to have some tea. But no. And to add insult to injury, this cup empties out my tin of this. Really wish it would have had a better send off. I can taste some of the nuttiness and vegetal flavor that I enjoy about this tea, but they just aren’t sitting cohesively on my tongue. Bah. Back to orange juice it is.

This has become my everyday tea:)
Smooth flavors, no after bite.
I did do something today that will probably send shivers down some tea lovers spines…I added a hazelnut creamer to my cup. The result was really good. I love the taste of hazelnut and sometimes wish I could have that flavor profile with this tea. The use of the creamer solved that problem. Much creamier than 2% milk. I think I actually like this better than Adiago’s Hazelnut. My hubby will be glad about that since he thinks I have too much anyway…LOL…can you ever have too much tea?? I think not:)

Got my Samovar order today, trying the lychee before tackling the Four Seasons. Let me just say – the glass oolong pot is adorable. It also seems to hold heat better than I expected, only about a 10°F drop in 3 minutes

Samovar’s description is good: this is light, sweet, and a smooth. It’s also floral. Read the description carefully and you’ll note that lychee flowers, in addition to the fruit, provide the flavor. I don’t mind, I like floral teas, I like the sweetness you can get from flowers of most types, but if you dislike rose teas you won’t like this either. The flavor is quite strong, almost perfume-y. The fruit is more noticeable if you take a big mouthful and swirl it around – there is a bit of a sour/berry taste.

I like the 2nd steep (5 minutes) at least as much, if not better. Less flower-sweet, more fruit-sweet.

The pomegranate flavor is very subtle, which is good because it’s not like green tea has hte strongest flavor in the world. Someone on the adagio website mentioned to make sure that you get a seed in with the leaves when you brew it, which is good advice.

Really long steeping time because I got distracted.

I didn’t know what I wanted this afternoon so I picked this one on a whim. I like that this is minty, but not like a piece of gum. It is a bit different from a plain minty herbal, this has a slight grassy quality that adds a bit of depth. I’m still not sure if I would purchase this, but it is nice in the afternoon. I bet it would be nice after a meal also.

JacquelineM put this into the traveling tea box and when it came to my door there was only one scant tsp. left. But I am the kind of person who appreciates the labour of love that trudging through the snow can be. The best way to honor JacquelineM is to thank her for her efforts and not allow this tea to travel to a potentially less appreciative home.

I am going to need to place an order with Premium Steap. I like coconut teas and this one is so utterly true and pure and rich. There’s been no compromise whatsoever on flavor. It’s Full Metal Jacket Coconut with no frilly little nods to the tropics. So many times the exquisite flavor of coconut gets lost in a marriage with chocolate or in a threesome with chocolate and pineapple or into a tropical melange of flavors. The purity of this tea really allows one to focus on the coconut and the satisfactions it offers.

This flavor is excellent. Coconut has taken rather a bashing with all those synthetic shampoos and soaps and sun-lotions. This is not a Copper-Tone kind of coconut, but rather a Tea at the Savoy kind of coconut. I could imagine the Queen of England sipping this whilst murmuring endearments to her corgi dogs.

This is an exquisite tea that I will need to keep in stock. It’s a tea for grown-ups. I added a tiny crystal of brown sugar and an ort of milk.

Very minty aroma (think Doublemint gum). Prepared with sugar. Minty flavor with a bit of an ashy kick at the end (the gunpowder?) Deciding whether to steep a second time. Moving on—

Today was the day I found a white tea I enjoyed. This tea is pleasant, brews to a more full bodied cup than the handful of whites I have had guts to try. And it doesn’t have that grassy hayness to it that leaves me wondering what the heck I am sipping on. Much more tea like. Maybe I just needed the peach, as I seem to be very forgiving to teas that contain peach. But this tea had a smoothness to it, almost a silkiness to the taste, not quite buttery but still slippery and delicious. Great to unwind with this afternoon. I may have to toss a few bags with cold water into the fridge and see how it does iced.

Thanks Soccermom for sharing this wonderful tea with me. Definitely will be purchasing more of this!

This morning I added the water to the teabag and stared at the cup in a zombie-like state without realizing I’d forgotten to set the timer. I guess that’s a sign that I really need the caffeine! *head-desk *

Brewed tea smells complex like pepper and sandlewood. The taste is mellow honey, pepper and oak. mildly astringent. light amber in the cup.