350 Tasting Notes

I was inspired by Brenden’s “Art of Darkness” blend to try mixing this with Tisano cacao shells. So, I started with 1.5tsp of this shou in a brewing basket and gave it a quick rinse with boiling water. Then I added 1.5tsp of the cacao shells, put it in my 10oz tea mug, steeped western-style with boiling water. I did… 4 steeps: 3min, 5min, a long time (I walked away and forgot about it), and 10min. It was really delicious – chocolately and creamy and a bit earthy. I’ve steeped cacao shells with chocolatey black teas like Laoshan Black, and it’s pretty good, but I think this is my favourite combination so far. Highly recommended!

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85

I’m finally breaking into the Wymm Tea samples I got a while back. :) I have to agree with everyone who has complimented the packaging – it’s just lovely. 6g in the gaiwan, one rinse with boiling water, and I think the first steep was boiling too, then 90 degrees after that. A whole bunch of roughly 10 second steeps, and now I’m up to about 20-25 seconds.

This is a lovely clean and fresh-tasting sheng. It causes a bit of tingling on my tongue, maybe a slight bitterness that’s more of a refreshing feeling than anything unpleasant, and then gradually a sweet aftertaste has been building up in the back of my throat. I’m having trouble identifying any specific flavour notes besides “delicious sheng” but I’d say there are definitely some grassy and maybe some fruity notes in there. I’m pretty sure I’m at least 8 steeps in and this is still definitely going strong. Yummmm.

Christina / BooksandTea

Oh man, I loved this one. I restocked when they had their Midautumn festival sale.

Lindsay

I bought a bunch of samples during the midautumn festival sale. :)

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drank 2015 Poundcake by white2tea
350 tasting notes

I have nothing new or insightful to say about this, just that I’ve been drinking it all day, and it’s lovely. :)

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83

This is a very nice chai blend. I tried it straight at first, at it was quite good – robust, malty assam CTC base, good blend of spices (lots of cinnamon, cardamom, a bit of heat from the ginger and pepper). Then I added some sweetener and milk, which made it even better. Tasty tasty. :)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 295 ML

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90

Off topic: You guys, I am SO obsessed with the Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording right now. Ugh, go listen to it so I’ll have someone to geek out with. :)

Instead of buying more Whispering Pines tea I thought I’d drink some of the stuff I already own. This is an interesting and delicious blend – I love the roasted cedar and vanilla.

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80
drank Black Beauty by Mandala Tea
350 tasting notes

Another sample from Nicole! I had this earlier today, and it was a good mid-day pick-me-up. It’s a very rich, dark, flavourful tea (I also steeped the whole 3.3g sample at once in my 10oz mug, so that might have contributed to the intensity). To me it tasted malty, earthy, spicy, a little fruity… quite complex and interesting. This one might be an eventual order. :)

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 295 ML

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85

YUMMMM. Oh, I really like this one. :) The dry leaf smells intensely of vanilla, sugar, marshmallow. Once the hot water hits, that continues but the roasty toasty notes of the genmaicha are added in. The aroma translates well into the flavour, and the tea is quite sweet (I actually pulled up the website to see if there was some kind of sweetener in this) and creamy and delicious. The green tea base is subtle and in the background – no bitterness or astringency.

Flavors: Creamy, Marshmallow, Sweet, Toasted Rice, Vanilla

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 4 g 10 OZ / 295 ML

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This is a pretty good cold steep, tastes (unsurprisingly) like ginger and pear, with some apple and cinnamon in the background. It tastes like a fruit tisane though – there’s enough going on flavour-wise that I think the white tea is just drowned out. So, I’m not sure I’d buy it again, since there seems little point in paying extra for white tea in a blend if you can’t even taste it.

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66
drank Maple Sugar by DAVIDsTEA
350 tasting notes

I cold steeped this one and it was pretty good. I think the name of this tea is totally wrong though, it should be called Apple Crisp, because that’s what it tastes like – apples, cinnamon, brown sugar. It’s not really very mapley at all.

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70

I cold steeped this overnight and it was quite smoky. Like, not quite lapsang levels of smokiness, but definitely maybe-this-got-contaminated-with-some-lapsang kind of smokiness. It was ok, I had it with some sausages and veggies for lunch which kinda worked out, but… meh. So then I took the steeped leaves (probably 4-5g) and decided to try resteeping them with boiling water (10oz mug steeping) and after 3min I had quite dark, malty, smoky, slightly piney brew. Not bad. Then steeped them again for 4min, and it was very similar but lighter. I don’t know, it’s ok but… I’ve had other keemuns I like better.

I guess it doesn’t matter too much since Teayama seems to have gone quite decisively out of business. They might have actually been sued out of existence by Teavana for trademark infringement! (http://www.cba.org/CBA/sections_IP/IP_CLS_2014Sept/Default_Judgment.aspx) Fascinating.

keychange

My goodness, what corners of the earth has teavana not reached? also, I’ve never thought of cold-steeping a smokey tea! interesting.

Lindsay

When I picked it out to cold steep I was thinking, “there’s a black tea I haven’t had in a while”. So I was a bit surprised by the smoke, though I definitely noticed it last time I had this tea as well. :) I like blending smoky teas with chai or spicy teas, which might be what I try next with this one.

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Profile

Bio

Well it has been over a year and everyone I know thinks my tea obsession is a bit out of hand, so… I guess I’m not a total newbie anymore. :)

I’m drinking a lot more pure tea these days, though I still love a good flavoured blend too. Current favourites: Chinese and Taiwanese blacks, fresh Chinese greens, oolongs both green and roasted, sheng puer.

I really love companies that buy directly from tea farmers, and have an emphasis on quality and sustainability. Favourites: Verdant, Whispering Pines, Eco Cha, White 2 Tea. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, so I buy almost all my tea online.

For hot tea, I’m usually brewing in either a 100ml gaiwan, or a 10oz mug with a steeping basket. For cold tea, I cold brew overnight in 500ml mason jars.

My cupboard on Steepster doesn’t include small samples, just the ones I have at least 15g of. So if you see something you’re interested in, I probably have enough to share. :)

Location

Northwestern Ontario, Canada

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