4185 Tasting Notes
Holiday tea #3
Dexter3657 sent some of this one over! thanks so much again! This is a N0S4A2 blend. I love that 52 Teas has created some book inspired blends. Two of my favorite things: tea & books! And I intend to read N0S4A2 at some point… it sounds awesome, but there are just so so many books I have to get to at the moment. At least this one is holiday themed! This blend sounded perfect for this book too. Gingerbread & smoke! I love smoky teas… not so much ginger. But this is actually a great combination. Not overpowering smoke and it’s actually very sweet tasting, so this would actually be a perfect start to those who haven’t tried smoky teas yet! There is just enough ginger to make it different. I like it! Back to the books!
Is it bad I know what I’ll be drinking for Christmas Eve (Verdant’s Earl of Anxi – it has frankincense!), Christmas Day (Butiki’s Hattalli Golden Lion Assam – my favorite) and New Year’s Eve (that new Butiki champagne tea I’ve heard about.. I don’t have it yet, so hopefully it gets here by then!)
Holiday tea #2
Oh wow… I’m pleasantly surprised at this one! I thought it was an old sample (the only tasting notes are from three years ago). And since it’s a green tea, I expected it to be terribly old. No way! Maybe because the sample was unopened? The flavor is still a buttery sencha with plenty of pear flavor. Though at times, the pear flavor does seem like it’s flavored like the stem of a pear. Anyway, I had to look up what partridgeberry is. Wiki is telling me that that partridgeberries look like cranberries but don’t have much flavor other than a hint of wintergreen. I was seeing things that looked like dried cranberries in the blend, but I can’t say I noticed a difference in flavor. Very surprised this isn’t a waste of a steep! I’ll happily drink the rest of this sample as long as it tastes this good. It gives me hope for some of my other older green teas!
Holiday tea #1 An unintentional back log of three holiday teas starts now!
Momo sent this a while back for a sale – thank you! I’ve had some before this cup, I’m just making a tasting note for it now. I love this one! It’s a sturdy black tea base with enough mint to be nice (though it doesn’t look like there is much mint in the mix.) I love the tiny candy cane sprinkles! I’m not sure if the candy canes are actually mint. I thought that was the reason for a slight creamy flavor, but looking in the infuser it doesn’t seem like they melt very much. The creamy flavor is my favorite part of this tea! I seem to like this black base more than some others from David’s. It also says “spices” on the bag but there only seems to be mint… I wish I knew what kind of spices were supposed to be here, since it doesn’t taste it.
Additional notes: Sample sipdown! Many teaspoons went into this cup, after I picked out the hibiscus (not much here actually), and a bit of sugar. I’m not sure WHICH berries these are, since there are a few in the ingredients list.. the tiny dark ones, but this cup is like a berry juice. The cup color is VERY dark. So good and the perfect amount of tart! This sample was old but tasted just as good as I remembered. This is just the perfect fruit blend. I wish I had ordered a couple more fruit samples with my order. The rating stands. I shall miss it!
Additional notes: Note to self: Waiting over a half hour for the water to cool on this one is too long, but just boiled is not the way to go either. I’m finding that though Teavivre’s teas rarely are astringent, they require exact teaspoons/time/temp to taste PERFECT, and Teavivre’s steeping instructions usually know what they are talking about.
Additional notes: It’s around Christmas and I have a headache.. I need a mint tea, so time for Christmas mint! Not that this tea needs improvement, but this description promises candy cane and I don’t see many pieces, if any. So I had the awesome idea of adding a candy cane right in the mug after steeping! It is amazing!! One second I look in the cup and the candy cane is all spindly. The next second the candy cane is GONE! I felt like I was in an M. Night Shamalan (spelling?) movie. Hopefully they aren’t THAT bad yet ‘The Case of the Disappearing Candy Cane’. It’s so sugary, creamy, minty though.. perfect with this tea blend!! The only improvement would have been using a candy cane that wasn’t so old. :D
Additional notes: I was thinking of buying some of this one (which I really shouldn’t!) but luckily Dexter3657 sent me a few extra teaspoons in that awesome package so it will prevent me from buying some at the moment. :D thanks so much! This time around it doesn’t taste like Yunnan, though at the time I thought I was projecting what I wanted it to taste like anyway. It is tough to describe how this DOES taste other then Kenyan tea. Kenyan tea actually has its own flavor profile, especially if it isn’t processed in the CTC way and you can actually taste anything through all that astringency. But this is unique & nice.
i just got my christmas order from these guys…. can’t wait to try this one. they gave me two beautiful samples of it! most kind.
Additional notes: Sip down! Yes, I overleafed (I don’t even know how many teaspoons). But I have to sip down some of these things. I’m still amazed with the ingredients in this lovely. I just could have done without the hibiscus. I even tried to pull most of it out before going in the infuser. Sadly, the flavor is still mostly hibiscus. I miss the creamsicle flavor I noticed last time, and the dry leaf fragrance. It has so much here… why does it still need the hibiscus? It would be such a nice herbal without it.
Also! I looked up the actual winter solstice and it is December 21st! (I guess I do not normally need to know when it is, but it means longer days and I am wishing for a vacation that will never happen… at least the sun will stay up longer… not necessarily ever out from behind the clouds though.)
Two tasting notes for WINTER teas today!
Thanks so much again, Dexter3657! This is my perfect apple tea! Everything is on the lighter side here. Even though the black tea was steeped just after boiling for a few minutes, it is very subtle. The apple and cinnamon are definitely present, but also subtle. But it works very well anyway, in its lightness and subtlety. The apple is perfect – very sweet! I’m intrigued by this tea shop… I’m sorry I don’t have much more to say on this one.
Another one from Dexter3657 – thanks so much again! Another chai to try, I say in glee. :D I looked up more info on the site for this one, and there is a wonderful list of ingredients but to me this mostly looks like black tea leaves mixed with CTC black tea leaves. Even after a few minutes, this tea is surprisingly smooth for a CTC. There are hints of ginger and not much else. The picture looks exactly like the blend I have, actually, so I guess this is an accurate batch of this blend. But I love how smooth this is and it has a bready flavor.. not astringent at all! I really wish there were a billion more spices here, but as a black tea it’s good stuff anyway.
I’m not avoiding Steepster notes any more… apparently my Amoda box went missing in the mail. :/ I guess I will just ruin the surprise if it just happens to happen.