2170 Tasting Notes

92

Day 3 of our Advent Tea Swap. From amandastory516.

Oh my goodness, this tea smells amazing. It seems so familiar, but I just can’t place it. The taste is something I know I’ve experienced before, but I cannot figure it out. It’s floral maybe? Reminds me of some of the teas I’ve tried (and loved) from Satori Tea.

I’ll be honest – I was nervous to see what looked like hibiscus in the blend. I like it on its own but not always when it’s blended with other teas. It’s just so tart. I didn’t get any tartness in this cup at all. It was just amazing. Not to mention there were sparkles in the dry blend so that’s a win for me.

Amanda – I love this tea so much. It’s my favorite so far! I’ll be purchasing some for sure. Thanks for introducing me to something new to love!!

EDIT: Just looked this one up and they are peony petals, not hibiscus!

Flavors: Floral

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
amandastory516

Yay! I’m glad you loved it. The Whistling Kettle has some great blends.

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55

Day 2 of our Advent Tea Swap. From amandastory516.

The name of this tea is so perfect! It’s cold here so when I opened today’s advent tea I was super excited to see a tea called Fireside Snuggles. It just makes me really happy.

With fire in the name, I thought this might be a smoky tea but it’s not really. I do get just a hint of that smoky flavor but not enough I think to call it a smoky tea. And maybe it’s not really meant to be. I do know that I should have used 2 teaspoons instead of using only one because it’s really light in flavor. I’ll hold my rating on this one until I can try it as a stronger cup. (I also let it steep for too long. Got distracted at work again.)

Honestly, I’m enjoy it more and more as it cools. Maybe this would be a good one iced!

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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drank Gold Rush by DAVIDsTEA
2170 tasting notes

The dry tea smells very sweet and consists mostly of dried mulberries. In fact, I did a heaping teaspoon and only had two leaves of tea in my whole cup! I expected this to be sweet after steeping, but it really wasn’t. Adding some honey helped, but really this just tasted like your average herbal. Not impressed. This is an older tea though, so that may have more than a little to do with it.

Flavors: Cream, Sweet

Preparation
1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML

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drank Lime Gelato by DAVIDsTEA
2170 tasting notes

Lime isn’t my favorite tea addition, but it’s one of my husband’s favorites so I try to purchase some lime teas for him when I see them. The aroma straight from the tea bag is primarily lemongrass, but there’s some lime there too. Since this is meant to taste like creamy gelato, I thought I might make it into a latte. Lattes make me nervous when there is citrus involved, but I had no trouble with this one. No weird textures or curdling. I think I probably did add too much milk, but I can still taste the tea coming through. I used 2 teaspoons tea steeped in 1/3 cup water. I then added a cup of frothed milk, a teaspoon of maple syrup, and a 1/4 teaspoon vanilla (based off this rooibos latte recipe – https://www.ohhowcivilized.com/rooibos-latte/).

It’s lightly sweetened and mostly flavored milk, but I’m still enjoying it. :)

Flavors: Lemongrass, Lime

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 3 OZ / 88 ML
AJRimmer

Yeah I find that lime often comes out tasting artificial to me. I’m glad this one is good though!

Shae

Not sure how it tastes plain, but it was good as a latte!

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75

Day 1 of our Advent Tea Swap. From amandastory516.

I’m so excited to kick off our Advent tea swap today! Though I’m not typically a fan of green teas, Amanda has kindly sent her steeping suggestions in the hope that I’ll be converted. That’s my hope at least! I have so many green teas (from past subscription boxes) and would love to really enjoy them.

I hadn’t heard of The Steeping Room before so I’m excited to learn about a new company that I might enjoy ordering from down the road. According to their website, this tea is the most popular one they sell. It does have some great reviews there, though not many reviews here on Steepster.

I’m not sure if I am associating coconut with pineapple, but I do smell pineapple in the dry leaves. Coconut too. There are some small pieces of shredded coconut mixed in with the long green tea leaves which is nice. The coconut aroma isn’t as strong once steeped, though I can still smell and taste the flavor. Mostly I taste the green tea so I do wish the coconut had been stronger. I’m enjoying this more as it cools to room temperature. Perhaps that’s where I’ll find my love of green tea – in the iced versions.

My husband really enjoyed his cup of this one and commented that he could really smell and taste the coconut.

I’m so glad to have tried this tea and hope to try others from this company later on. Any recommendations from The Steeping Room?

Flavors: Coconut, Pineapple

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML

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90
drank Strawberry Vanilla by Coffee City USA
2170 tasting notes

A favorite for me. My husband bought a huge bag of this when Teavana closed its doors, trying to find a good substitute for Strawberry Slender. This isn’t exactly the same, but it’s the closest I have had.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
gmathis

Good strawberry teas are hard to find! I have been hoarding the last few bags of my favorite-ever brand (Traditions/Good Young Tea Co.) Somebody please ask me, “So are you ever going to get around to using them before they get way too stale?”

Shae

They really are! He bought me I think 5 different kinds to try, but I’m still searching for the perfect one.

ashmanra

I just tried Carol from Lupicia and it was great! Thinking about ordering their other strawberry vanilla black.

Shae

Oh I will try that one! Is the other one called Lume? I tried looking that one up too.

ashmanra

Shae: yes, that’s the one! I have had the chocolate strawberry puerh and it is very good. The chocolate is so strong it barely tastes like puerh, so that can go either way depending on how you feel about puerh.

Shae

That does sound good! I’ll add that one to my list too.

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55
drank Mulberry Magic by DAVIDsTEA
2170 tasting notes

I’m just not a fan of this one. I wanted to be. It has a pretty good rating here. I do taste the spinach as others mentioned. There is a buttery flavor that is enjoyable. I think part of it is that I just recently decided that I don’t really like macadamia nuts and I can taste those here. To me, macadamias taste stale – even when they aren’t really supposed to be. So I taste stale macadamia nuts in this tea. Plus greens and just an overall herbaceous quality that I wasn’t really wanting tonight. Also, soap? This is a real miss for me, and unfortunately I have a whole bag of it. If this is a favorite for anyone, I’m glad to send it to you!

Flavors: Butter, Herbaceous, Nuts, Soap, Spinach

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML

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drank Assam by Joseph Wesley Black Tea
2170 tasting notes

I’m struggling to stay away today after yesterday’s Thanksgiving festivities. Everyone had left by 6 pm and I was in bed before 9:00, but I’m still fighting to keep my eyes open. Caffeine it is. Enter this Assam by Joseph Wesley. I added just a bit too much honey, but this is really a very flavorful cup. Rich and chocolaty.

Flavors: Chocolate

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 7 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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86
drank Pumpkin Chai by DAVIDsTEA
2170 tasting notes

Having another cup of this one with my brother since I loved it so much before. I used more water this time around so it wasn’t as strong. I think I prefer it with the lesser amount, but this was still a good cup. He really enjoyed it too.

Flavors: Cloves

Preparation
8 min or more 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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Profile

Bio

Lifetime student. Lover of books and paper and ink. Kitchen dweller. Aspiring herbalist, excessively proud cat lady, and tea fanatic. Thirty-something elder millennial. She/her.

I love flavored black teas most of all, always with cream and honey. I enjoy floral and fruity teas, as well as flavored or scented ones. I’m not overly fond of green or white teas, but I’ve found a few that I enjoy.

I’m open to tea swaps and/or just sharing what’s in my tea cabinet! Please reach out if you see something I have that you’d like to try. I do my best to update my cupboard regularly.

Favorites
Any and all black teas, smoky teas, raspberry, strawberry, red fruits, bergamot, chai spices, floral teas, caramel/toffee, jasmine, rose, vanilla, peaches, plums, valerian root, cinnamon, cardamom

Not a huge fan
White teas, green teas, artificial sweeteners, sarsaparilla, licorice, lemongrass, lavender, hot hibiscus, hibiscus in black tea blends

Rating Scale

1-20: By far, one of the worst teas I’ve tasted. I most certainly will not finish my cup and will likely “gift” the rest to my sweet husband, James, who almost always enjoys the teas I dislike (and vice versa).

21-49: This tea is not good, but if I mix it with another tea or find another steeping method I might be able to finish it.

50-69: This one is just okay. I might drink it again if someone were to give it to me, but I probably won’t be buying more for myself.

70-79: This is a consistently good tea. It’s reliable but not necessarily special.

80-90: This one is a notch above the rest and I would gladly enjoy a cup of it any day of the week. I’ll likely be keeping this in my cupboard, but it isn’t one of my all-time favorites.

91-95: One small change and this tea would be perfect. I’ll definitely have a stash of this in my kitchen if you come over for tea.

96-100: No words can describe this tea. It’s an experience, an aha moment. Closed eyes, wide smile, encompassing warmth. Absolutely incredible. Perfect.

Updated May 2022.

Location

Alabaster, Alabama

Website

https://www.goodreads.com/sha...

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