4183 Tasting Notes
Yet another from the TeaboxB! There is a bit of this one in the box. An actual Butiki blend I haven’t tried yet! Probably because it is newer! I LOVE Butiki’s guayusas though. The flavor is so smooth and Butiki knows how to add nice flavors to the bases. This one is lovely! It doesn’t have too much creaminess to it, other than the smoothness from the guayusa itself. The tangerine is definitely tangerine! It doesn’t overpower the guayusa which is nice. I added some of the Adagio sugar crystals also from the teabox, suggested by Butiki. I wish I had tried a sip or two before I added the sugar crystals to see that the difference is. But obviously sugar would help it taste more like a creamsicle! One of my favorite ice creams happens to be the orange/vanilla swirls. The second steep was over nine minutes accidentally – too much, though it didn’t ruin the tea.. it was just earthy, more vegetal (green beans?) and the creamsicle was gone. I’m not sure if I will take the couple remaining teaspoons out of the teabox or not…. Also, I can’t wait to see all the new Butiki blends I saw mentioned yesterday… and what everyone comes up with for the contest!
Teabox B! This definitely had an element that made it different than a typical rooibos… but I’m not sure that I would say it was bergamot. It seemed like a hint of grapefruit for one sip. It definitely wasn’t just a plain rooibos though, and it was a good one! I really need to get filter steeping bags for rooibos though.
Another from TeaboxB! I had to love this one right? I have some form of S’mores often… either microwaved or just bites of one giant marshmallow with bites of chocolate and bites of graham cracker cereal. Always delicious! I love the pomegranate flowers in this blend… it looks like the closest thing to fire flames in a “fireside” blend. After two teaspoons are steeped for five minutes with almost still boiling water, the marshmallows didn’t really melt… hmm. Marshmallows impervious to boiling water? But the fragrance of the tea itself is lovely and sweet. The cup color isn’t very dark, it’s a light amber… so the flavor shouldn’t be that dark but somehow is… I think it’s the chocolate… malty dark dark chocolate. Maybe the hazelnut also helps there. I thought that since there is white tea here, it might be bitter with such a long steep time and hot temp, but it tastes awesome. I wouldn’t necessarily call this tea S’mores flavored but I’m loving what this DOES taste like! The second steep was not good at all – I steeped for a WHILE – uncountable minutes but the flavor did taste more like white tea this time – oversteeped white tea and oaky. I think I’ll just make the first steep exactly the same next time and not bother with the second. I think I steeped it perfectly. Marshmallows still didn’t melt. First steep: awesome. Second steep: eh, I dumped half of it. I think I’ll keep the other few teaspoons of this one from the teabox since this one is either a hit or miss with most people.
Another from TeaboxB. I honestly had no idea if this was a black, green or white tea. It looks like a green or white but the description calls it a Darjeeling. I thought Darjeeling was black? A search for ‘Okayti’ on Steepster brings up all sorts of teas. Anyway, I let the water cool a while and steeped for three minutes. The cup color looks like a white tea. The flavor is very light with a hint of apple that shows up more as it cools. It’s a very delicate flavor otherwise, that may be too subtle for my palate. It’s decent though! I think this is a white tea, just based on the fuzziness of the leaves. I really don’t like the fuzzy white teas anyway, since this one left a ton of tiny fuzzies floating around in my cup and sitting on my throat. There really isn’t anything Darjeeling about it anyway. Oh well. There is plenty of this in the teabox for everyone else to try to decipher!
Teabox B! The green base flavor here seems completely different than the usual Adagio blends. It seemed to remind me oddly enough of mustard! The raspberry was nonexistent.
I sipped this one while watching The Avengers (yes, I’m slow with movies, but Shield is on in two days and I will never ever miss a Whedon show.) This one seemed to be above and beyond all the individual movies… or is that just the power of Joss Whedon?
A sample from Teavivre! Thank you so much! I may have let the water cool too long.. and I also forgot to boil enough water for a rinse, so I wouldn’t say this steep was by Teavivre’s parameters. I did use the suggested two teaspoons though.
First steep // 1 min 30 sec // water cooled around 20 mins
I can tell this one could have done better with hotter water and a rinse. The flavor seems oaky somehow. I definitely expected a little bit more chocolate flavor… there is a hint. It’s a good cup but I know it can be a lot better if I steeped it correctly. (I recently tried the Bailin Gongfu and it was ridiculously better when I steeped it by Teavivre’s parameters.)
Second steep // 3 min // five mins after boiling
This is much deeper and darker and what I was thinking of. I wouldn’t necessarily call it chocolate though.. I’d just call it a deep dark flavor! No longer oaky. Very good! The second steep was supposed to be only for two minutes but I wasn’t going to resteep the leaves.
I will try to get it closer to Teavivre’s steeping parameters next time but this is still a delicious tea. I really like this blend. I’d call it in the middle of some of Teavivre’s teas – it isn’t quite sweet potato and it isn’t quite dark chocolate. Teavivre has a tea for you no matter which flavor profile you love… I just happen to love all of Teavivre’s teas!
Another from Momo’s TeaboxB! I love to be able to try so many… but it seems like I didn’t even make a dent in the box yet! (Though I will be taking out more than just random teaspoons.) This is a nice green. It is reminding me of mustard again like the green tea I had recently. Maybe it is my infuser? But otherwise it has lovely flavor — a bit nutty, a bit tangy. It’s mild though, after a two minute steep.
Yet another from Teabox B. I love basil, so I was hoping for a ton of basil in this… not really. There is so much stuff in it though. It’s supposed to be white tea, but there wasn’t very many white tea leaves either. Tons of pineapple though. And a tiny blackberry! After steeping for a few minutes at boiling (though the instructions said for shorter time and lower temp since it is supposedly a white tea), the cup color looks disasterously red (hibiscus). But the flavor isn’t overly so.. it adds a nice tartness but that is probably the pineapple toning it down. There is a berry flavor. And something that was mildly mint. If I added sugar, it would seem like punch. Not a bad one from Teavana!
Teabox B! Sadly, I actually have no idea what this fandom blend happened to be about. But I will try it regardless! The flavors sounded nice together: cherry, blueberry and cream. I don’t think I’ve tried any of the Adagio fruit flavored blends yet. I may have oversteeped this cup and I feel like some of the flavors may have been lost in the black tea base. Very strong but delicious! I think I got a hint of blueberry, cherry and cream. I could try everything from Adagio!
Another from Teabox B! This is a very earthy pu-erh kind of strong after three minutes! The dry leaves smell like wonderful sweet orange… the steeped tea loses the orange a bit since the pu-erh is so strong. But there are hints of orange anyway! You can definitely tell it is blood orange and not the usual orange. I like this one, but I can tell many won’t like the tough pu-erh. Lower steep times and temps would help. One teaspoon left in the teabox! I think it will stay in there unless I don’t have room.
On another note, I almost don’t want to say how embarrassingly ridiculous my cupboard looks. I just did a quick count though and I think 94 teas in my cupboard have one MAYBE two teaspoons left (off the top of my head… is it bad I know my tea collection that well?) Then most of the others only have at most a few teaspoons. I also did a book count and I actually have less books to-be-read than I thought. Less tea and books than I thought… that makes me feel better!
