New Tasting Notes
Out of curiosity I steeped this longer to see if I could maybe get a bit more cherry flavour out of the tea. In the end all I got was stronger white. Actually that does seem to be a quality of flavoured white tea. *shrug *
Preparation
Well, it’s officially too late to drink an actual tea, so I spent some time leafing through my tisanes and decided to try another of the ones Jillian sent me. I wasn’t really in the mood for ginger, but the tasting notes for this all seem to agree that the ginger’s quite weak.
The bag looks… ehr. Weird. Bread-like pieces and leaf shreds, and it smells dusty but herbal. Brewed this in my little teapot, but decided to test out the beautiful handmade mug (and matching tiny dish which I now designate as my teabag/teaball holder) that I got from a nice lady vender from the setup on-campus today. She sold her own-made clayware (and some pieces from friends with permission) as well as her knitwear (and again, a few pieces made by friends with permission). When I walked over there, she was seated and knitting another scarf. All organic wools.
Brewed light. A pale gold colour. It looks like just plain water in my mug, because it’s such a deep maroon colour.
…Ehr… Smells… I think there’s some ginger in there. Smells hot and sour and musty to me, though. Like… one of those ‘wellness herbal potions’. I’m afraid. There’s smells I recognize, but I don’t know from what. Sour smells, though.
It… pretty much tastes like it smells. A bready mustyness, with slight ginger… And lemon. Lemon without the tart, actually, which I assume must be the lemongrass (I’ve never really tasted lemongrass by itself, so I don’t have the experience to pinpoint it exactly).
It’s not BAD, at least. It’s actually quite calming to sip. Although the taste and smell are pretty much identical, it’s better as a taste than as a smell. I don’t like the whiffs I get before I take a sip. I’m not getting the tart and pucker mentioned. It tastes like it’s ALMOST sour—or at least trying to BE sour—but doesn’t quite make it. Also, I taste the mint as an aftertaste. Well, really more of a coolness on my tongue. But I definitely BURPED mint there.
Otherwise, I don’t know. It’s not… bad, but in personal opinion, it’s not really for me. Hurray for my first experience with Might Leaf, though! I’ll finish this pot, but after that, it was only a single teabag, so it’s gone from my cupboard. I don’t think I’ll attempt a second steep. I’m not sure yet. Get back to me when I finish this one.
Preparation
Don’t be fooled by its delicate, flowery scent — this tea is bold. It makes its intentions known immediately, turning a cup of hot water from clear to cranberry-red within seconds. Usually, I add honey and lemon juice to my tea to get a balance of sweetness and tartness, but this tea held its own in the tart department.
On a more random note, rose hip is supposed to be good for your skin. Next month, I’m in a community musical, and with up to three shows a day and goodness knows how many makeup changes, I’ll probably be drinking this tea a lot in the days to come.
Preparation
I got this when I was hunting for an apple flavored herbal — it’s not what I was looking for, as the overall experience is more cidery than appley, but is nice in its own right. The dry rooibos mix has a smell that I think might be rum, though I am not much of a hard liquor drinker. In any case, it’s an alcoholic beverage I’m smelling. That aroma mellows out some to a more appley, hard cider sort of smell once brewed. Interestingly, this aroma doesn’t come through in the flavor of the drink, which I thought, being a dominant smell, it would. The apple in the flavor is fairly subtle, but it isn’t masked by the cinnamon as I’d feared it would be. In fact, the cinnamon takes a back seat, which is unusual in my experience. Usually if cinnamon is present in the ingredients it isn’t shy about announcing its presence. The fact that it doesn’t here is a nice a change. The apple comes through the most in the aftertaste.
I can’t comment on the rooibos aspect, as I’m still not sure I know what rooibos tastes like. I’ve only had flavored rooibos blends. I’m going to have to get some unadulterated rooibos so I can have a frame of reference.
Preparation
Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp (entire sample)
Additives: none
Water: 26 ounces filtered boiling
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer
Steep Time: a little over 10 minutes (7 was too weak)
Served: Hot
Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Pears, Woody, and something else I can’t quite place
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, pears, and that odd something else
Flavor: funky (marigold?)
Body: Light
Aftertaste: sweet
Liquor: translucent reddish-orange
I realize I should have done less water, but that was the pot that was out and it needs at least that much to cover the tea.
This was a free sample from The Jade Teapot, which I really appreciate in my quest to find good caffeine free tea.
Sadly this tea is just too weird, there is that flavor I can not place, and the pear is a very light flavor, although the sweetness was wonderful, no additives needed!
Post-Steep Additives: none
images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/jade-teapot-loose-leaf-rooibos-tea.html
Preparation
Okay, so this stuff was making me nuts! There was something about it that I just couldn’t put my finger on! So tonight I did a little experiment. I have seen this tea described as a dessert tea, as sugar cookies, etc. but I was picking up something familiar – and beloved – and I think I have it. This tea reminds me of pure maple syrup. In the best way possible, too. I actually heated a tiny amount of maple syrup, stuck my finger in it and tasted, and alternated tasting the syrup with deeply inhaling the aroma of the tea. As I combined those two experiences, I not only detected some maple scents in the leaves, it also seemed to make me zero in on a bourbon-type aroma in the dry leaves like a fine bourbon vanilla. Just heavenly. Not sickly sweet, at least not to me. This stuff is great. Oh when will my big bag arrive? Sigh.
Another one from the quiet life!!!
This tea contains everything but the kitchen sink, yet it doesn’t taste like much more than cinnamon and rooibos! How is that possible!? It was quite enjoyable with a touch of honey, but I just don’t understand where the flavor of the apple pieces, peach pieces, pear pieces, rose buds, mallow flower blossoms, rhubarb bits, red currants, almond slices, and vanilla went to! I used an extra teaspoon and a half of tisane – I was forewarned – but it just made it extra cinnamony. I will certainly enjoy the rest of my sample, but it’s not different enough from plain rooibos where I would seek it out.
Preparation
I guess that’s the problem if they use a lot of an aromatic ingredient like cinnamon or mint – it drowns out everything else.
I’m sorry it was disappointing. :\ I found that the fruity taste came in the end as more of an aftertaste than with the actual sip. It’s kind of a weird tea. Smells good and looks pretty, though. :P
the quiet life – I very much enjoyed it as a cinnamon rooibos :) I was amazed to see such a great variety of ingredients including beautiful rose buds but so surprised not to be able to taste any of them. Loooove the Zingiber tho!!!
I really disliked the decaf version of this, but I like this one – it has the right amount of vanilla for me (maybe too much for those who like their chai’s spicy).
It’s a decent prebagged tea (my 1st)- just curious as to what’s different about the decaf version.
I don’t know – I just recall not liking it… maybe it tasted “flat” the say decafs sometimes do? Or maybe it was jut an old bag. Or maybe I’m misremembering. I’ve had this (full caf) twice recently and liked it better than I expected to each time, so some how my previous experience with the decaf biased me.
