Featured & New Tasting Notes
For most of this cup, this really didn’t taste like anything. I mix it with cold milk, so maybe that isn’t the best preparation. Or perhaps I should have used less milk (these advent samples seem to each do best with a slightly different amount of milk). During my last few sips, I was really searching for the flavor, and I tasted a bit of…something. Mild spices, I guess. It tastes pleasant, but it should be several times stronger. Maybe I get a bit of orange too, it’s just a bit frustrating to have to search for the flavor like this. I didn’t even taste the matcha.
Sipdown! (32 | 187)
This one was fast-tracked to be sipped down just because I like some of the other Old Barrel blends so much more.
Not that this is bad, it’s not. In fact, it’s quite good. I think my problem with it is that overall it’s just quite sweet. The puerh base is nice, it doesn’t go too earthy/funky like some other flavored puerhs I’ve had. Just the right amount of darkness and depth, and then the cinnamon and pecan remind me of coffee cake. It doesn’t specifically remind me of pecan pie, mostly due to the cinnamon.
Would highly recommend for pecan and dessert tea lovers though! Really, really good example of a flavored puerh.
Flavors: Butter, Cake, Cinnamon, Earthy, Nutty, Pecan, Smooth, Sweet
Preparation
Cold-brewed this and took it outside with me for an al fresco work session this afternoon. I’m not sure the chili added much, honestly… the spice felt a little out of place! Maybe if it had just been a mango-chili blend, rather than blood orange AND mango AND chili? I dunno.
Flavors: Chili, Fruity
Sipdown! I didn’t actually plan to finish this off today, but I had too much leaf for one cup and not enough for two so I made a large mug as an oat milk latte. The dry leaf smells of cinnamon and brown sugar. For some reason I also sensed something spicy, like clove, but there’s nothing like that in here. Brewed up, it tastes of cinnamon, brown sugar, and a bit of maple. It’s got an almost chewy creaminess that feeds into the cookie butter effect. I think that’s coming from the interplay of the oat milk and the coconut. Huge thanks to Cameron B. for sending me this! I wouldn’t have bought it myself but I’m really glad that I got to try it.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Maple
2023 sipdown no. 70
This tea has a very savoury scent once steeped, with hints of saltiness – almost like a Ritz cracker. There’s hints of stewed fruits with a maltiness cut through and a fascinating savoury-sweetness in this tea. It’s difficult to describe, but a lovely tea from MS.
Preparation
A sipdown! (M: 4, Y: 32)
Another very sad sipdown; however it was necessary somehow. It is 2021 harvest, so certainly… quite old and I just wanted to finish another tea before tea festival; so I picked this one, which was last session worth.
At least I thought so, because I haven’t weighted the remaining leaves. Western method of steeping used
I have oversteeped this a bit, as I was busy preparing ice cream for my family members; but it seems it wasn’t a trouble.
A rich cocoa notes, strong flavours of it with caramel and malt notes; a little astringency in the background.
Well, now I have to go and get another bag of this.
Sipdown!
A very pleasant spring tea. I think this is one of my favorite genmaichas from 52Teas—something about the interplay between the toasty rice and the sharp berries is very pleasing to my palate. I also get a smidge of pillowy creaminess, even though this isn’t one of the marshmallow treat genmaichas.
2023 sipdown count: 36
Flavors: Berries, Creamy, Marshmallow, Raspberry, Toasted Rice, Vanilla
A warming tea with good depth. It is sweet, woody, savoury and a bit sour. Predominant notes are those of honey, bourbon, nectar, wood, spices, cherry and a mild metallic scent.
Flavors: Bourbon, Cherry, Honey, Metallic, Nectar, Pleasantly Sour, Spices, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
Happy 101st tasting note to me!
IT’S FINALLY TIME! I’ve finished all the opened samples of my Japanese greens, so i can treat myself to a new spring 2023 tea! WOOOO. This fukamushi is remarkable – it was chewy and intense for the first three shakes of my kyusu, and kept it’s savory twang until steep 5. The wet leaf was very interesting as well, reminded me of my favorite shrimp chips. I know, sounds gross, but it propelled me to make another round as soon as the first leaves were spent. yayyy tea!
Flavors: Egg, Freshly Cut Grass, Salad Greens, Seafood, Seaweed, Viscous
Preparation
A sipdown! (M: 3, Y: 31)
For two days (!) I want to log this sipdown of this beautiful tea that is produced in the US, but nada in thoughts. derk, thanks a lot for sending me some!
I still remember those last 5 grams in my 300 ml cup. It was just plain delicious, for first time sitting outside, enjoying the sun, seeing insects flying all around, including one of the biggest bugs Meloe proscarabaeus in my country.
And as I wrote, tea was great too. Very “black” tea like, but with complexity; as I have noticed tannic note closely followed by woody note. Tea was cooling down and new notes as rye bread and grains overall appeared.
This harvest was great. Maybe new ones aren’t so good? Maybe I overleafed it and it worked well?
Preparation
I’m sipping this tea while catching up on tasting notes and saw that Courtney also just reviewed the 2022 harvest… and after reading her comment, all I can taste is rose! XD The power of persuasion.
I drank it yesterday as well and found it very mild and soft, but not particularly sweet. I’m really struggling to pick up on any honey notes. Today I’m also getting something slightly acrid? Strange. Maybe I overleafed it today.
Flavors: Floral, Rose, Soft, Sweet Potatoes
In contrast to Roswell Strange’s experience of sweaty body odor and bile,
I am eating this straight outta the bag with a spoon.
It’s that good.
I want to make a thick syrup out of it for drizzling on something. Jicama, grapefuit and avocado salad? Papaya? Unsweetened yogurt? My body? Was that too far?
It is passion fruit, after all.
Flavors: Passion Fruit, Sweet, Tart
I nearly spit out my tea at “my body” lmao! Sounds wonderful though, I love passion fruit everything.
Haha, yeah this definitely seems to be one where I’m the odd one out. Even though I know it’s a common association w/ the actual fruits, I don’t usually get the body odor kinda thing from tropical fruits so I was surprised I got it here. Glad everyone else is enjoying it, though!
LOL. Rishi seems to have some good teas.
Leafhopper: and some which tastes and smells like paint; not kidding, I remember writing it into tasting note
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – May 2023 Tea #7 – May 20 – National Pick Strawberries Day
No. No I did not forget to have a strawberry tea yesterday. I only forgot to post about it. AND it’s the tea I seem to fill a prompt for in almost every month of the sipdown challenge…. Jelly & Ice Cream! That must be because I have a ton of it, despite the coconut. It IS my favorite strawberry tea. AND the only berry tea I brought in my gallon bag for the trip, so there you go. Glad Steepster is healthy again.
We had one of those spring days that was warm and chilly all at once…perfect for yard work, especially when the riding mower is in the hospital on life support waiting for a new carburetor and you’ve got to use your own horsepower. Husband trimmed around our 100-plus-year-old maple; that’s a half mile in itself; it’s an Ent just waiting to break loose and trudge down the block.
I tackled the tilty, tippy, ditchy part of the yard with the push mower, and was walking about as slow as an aforementioned Ent by the time I finished. This light little cuppa, courtesy of derk, was perfect for putting up the aching feet and surveying the acreage.
While steeping, it looked a little like cooked spinach and mulch from the push mower, but the coloring and flavor palate was much lighter. Definitely some sweet hay in there. Ashmanra mentioned a little mineral in there—I got that, too.
Not one to wake up with; not one to wind down with; just one to savor when you have a few delicious minutes to put your brain on autopilot.
I love your day! If Steepster had pics, I’d ask to see that Ent!
I have been wishing for a maple mature enough to make maple syrup! If I buy one now and live to be 105….
A few years back, we had to have one branch taken down because it would’ve hacked our house in two during an ice storm…just the branch had 84 rings.
We had a similar day this weekend and it was just so lovely. Gotta savor these in-between days!
I recall loving this tea! This one and London Breakfast. I was excited to have the opportunity to restock it recently after years of going without, but they aren’t quite how I remember them. I used to use cream and sugar in my teas and have gotten out of that habit, especially with the sugar. I think both these teas really benefit from that addition. It took two small scoops of sugar and some cream to get this cup to a good state. Once that was accomplished it was a good breakfast tea and I cup I’m enjoying. Most hearty teas fit into that category once you add enough cream and sugar, so I’m not sure why I was so taken by this. Maybe time and exposure will change my mind back. Maybe my palate and preferences have outgrown this tea.
Preparation
Not a builders brew by any means, don’t brew this when you are in a hurry. But if you wait for it and allow the cup to cool, malty, yeasty chocolate is your reward. I’ve had dragon pearls that were easier to brew and drink, so I don’t know if I need this in my cupboard, but I’d be tempted to add it to an order.
Flavors: Chocolate, Malty, Nutty, Yeasty
I like this too, but it never gets quite strong enough to suit me—-how many nubbins did you use in your cup?
Oh, I didn’t count, but dumped the 5 or 6 left in the sample pouch into my cup. The front taste is so subtle I don’t know if adding more pearls would help. Seems you just gotta wait for the tea to cool and the aftertaste to kick in :)
Oh. Patience. I’ll have to work on that! ;)
Y’know, someone asked me on IG recently what my favourite teas are from DT that are currently being sold that are part of our core/year round assortment. After really thinking about it, I realized (to my own surprise) that I think this is actually my second favourite tea in our core assortment!!
I say second because my favourite was obviously Blueberry Jam, as it has been for nearly a decade now. With this tea, I feel like I almost tried not to like it because I disagreed with the name and positioning so much when it was first launched. It just tastes so damn good though, and despite not caring about the detox properties at all I find myself frequently coming back to this. It’s great hot, iced, cold brewed, with lemonade. So, it fits my unspoken criteria for favourite teas being really vesatile in how they can be steeped…
I made myself a mug on Thursday just to, like, give myself a pulse check after this realization and… yeah, I think this is my second favourite core DT blend. Huh.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Well, hello there, dashboard, I missed you!
The Anna Marie’s dessert teas I’ve tried up to this point have been superlative. I temporarily have to back this one off to really, really good, but I’ve only had one cup and I may have underleafed it. The strawberry is strawberry-hard-candy quality (but tasty) and the chocolate gave off a little chemical vibe, but I think there’s some room to tinker with the leaf ratio, and with milk or ice. Aw, shucks, I guess that means I’ll just have to make more…
I didn’t know it was back! I just refreshed the Browse page. Yaaaaay!
Ah, sometimes you realize how helpful things are when they go away for a little while. It’s the little things that are easy to take for granted. I am thankful that steepster is still going after all these years :)
Every time it goes down I worry that this is the end of the site and it makes me sad. Glad to see it’s back up and running!
I always forget right up until I measure out the tea leaves that this is a green mate instead of a roasted mate, and every time I have the same thought of “Oh, this works much better than a roasted mate” as I take those first few sips. It just really, really lets the malted milk notes comes through more than they would with a darker and more masking roasty base. It’s smooth, creamy and very approachable.
Yum. I don’t have much to add to all the wonderful flavor notes here, but I enjoyed this gong fu session much-much. I am beginning to feel cozily familiar with the young-to-middle-aged sheng taste of (vaguely) apricot/astringency/hay. There are shengs that hum more and less beautifully in that range, in the way “oolong taste” can leave me waiting at the bus stop or vibrate me right into a heap of pleasure. This is Vibrational Sheng Taste.
Of course: I say vibrational and then go and admit that I didn’t ackshually get much vibey qi outta the thing. Okay by me, though — the flavor profile and steeps-for-days kept me pretty darn happy.
I do kind of wonder what this is, right? I find W2T’s marketing incredibly visually and emotionally appealing, but then equally frustrating from an educational and knowledge-building perspective: What regions and factories do I find delicious? Well, uh…
/points at sexy-lip bing
/shrugs
derk. thank you once again for your generous sharing. <3
Sometimes if you ask Paul directly on IG for the region he’ll tell you.
I found it really frustrating at first when he stopped explicitly listing the regions – not sure at what point it stopped bugging me as much. Maybe when I started noticing the overlap of tasting notes between the teas I was liking? It’s definitely one of his most polarizing sales techniques, though in some ways it’s freeing.
I’m probably buying sheng from regions I would normally skip because of negative taste associations I have with their region or because they’re not my “preferred” region. …but on the same hand, not knowing that doesn’t allow me to challenge those preconceptions.
Good points! I do like the “blind tasting” aspect of it, as it takes away any expectation or judgment. But being able to take the blindfold off once you’ve found something you love also seems valuable — so much potential delight and surprise! It’s a tough one.
A sipdown! (M: 2, Y: 30)
An office tea is gone. I just used very last bag in my mug today and I am sad. This was, considering it’s a tea bag, great Earl Grey. Nice level of citrusy notes, great and robust tea base from Rwanda. Yes, two minutes steep is sufficient.
Now, I need to get plain Rwandan tea to try that too.
Preparation
Have you tried any Tanzanian tea? A colleague brought some (plain black tea in bags) and it was tasty. And Harney sells a black looseleaf Assamica grown in Colombia, which was decent, too! At some point I’ll make an order from the startup in Mississippi (USA) which also has a well-tended fb page.
I don’t think so! Getting decent african teas is quite hard. And if I ever make order from What-cha again; it means customs fees and duties, which is, quite annoying.
I will put some African teas in the TTB :)
Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | May 2023 | National Eat What You Want Day: Drink what you really want!
I’m a day late with this prompt, but oh well!
This is barely a sipdown because the sample I grabbed from the TTB last year had just two small servings in it. But I’ve been saving that final tiny serving!
As I was rooting around in my box of caffeinated teas this morning, I couldn’t decide what I wanted. Nothing appealed. And then, suddenly, I knew exactly what I wanted! It took me a moment to find where I’d stashed this packet, but now I am drinking this tea at my desk with the window open, listening to the birds chirping and singing loudly right outside. The tea is just as good as I remember it.
I just saw a goldfinch, the first of the season! It’s sunny and warm and it feels like spring. I’m happy right now.
2023 sipdown count: 34
Flavors: Mineral, Smooth, Sweet Potatoes, Wet Earth
