185 Tasting Notes

92
drank Citrus PILEDRIVER by 52teas
185 tasting notes

You know, I’m really not getting much of a lemon flavor…

Okay, I kid. This is very lemony. Although, the lemon is done very well, because it still has a… even keel to it. How to put this. There’s a lot of lemon in this here drink, but it doesn’t cause your face to implode due to unwarranted sourness. Nor do you get that twingey thing in the back of your jaw like you just flossed with an electric eel.

Its very lemony, but its sweet, and you can still just taste the grassiness in the background.

I am impressed with this tea for it’s lemony depths, it is quite good. I kind of want to mix this with some straight tea and have the most eye-widening Arnold Palmer ever.

Thank you to Sandy for this sample. It is delicious!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
TeaBrat

wow – I thought this tea had a lot of caffeine in it, will you be up all night??

Kittenna

Miscredit! Read your fiancee’s tasting note :P

Dylan Oxford

Hehehe, what’s wrong with being up all night? IT’S FRIDAY!

Dylan Oxford

Thanks Krystaleyn… I’ve fixed it now… no one will ever know…

TeaBrat

what a rebel you are… :0

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drank Caramel Spice by DAVIDsTEA
185 tasting notes

Another big thank you to Krystaleyn for all of the samples!

We may not have got to this tea in time to save it. See, while we were brewing this tea, the toilet mechanism downstairs magically broke. A trip to the store and a amateur home repair job later, and this tea is kind of a cold, bitter orange disaster. I kind of want to give this tea a second chance sometime (it’s orange and cinnamon, what’s not to love?). But today was not it’s day.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

Too bad….

Kittenna

I feel like you would like it if done right. It’s similar-ish to Glitter & Gold, but definitely caramelly. When I steeped it up the last time, the smell emanating from my used teaball had me drooling the whole time I was in my office.

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91
drank Glitter & Gold by DAVIDsTEA
185 tasting notes

Another sample from Krystaleyn, thank you!

We really, really, really, really wanted to try this tea. I thought it was going to be a lot like MarketSpice, only tarted up a bit.

So let’s get to the important part. IT LOOKS LIKE AN AWESOME SWIRLING GALAXY IN MY TUMBLER. CALL CARL SAGAN!

What’s interesting is that the glitter… it’s like some sort of anti glitter. Shine a light on it, and it sort of fades into the tea (just making it look like your tea is dirty). But, without direct light on it, it totally sparkles. It’s awesome.

The scent just makes me think of a Christmas candle. It has this sweet clove candy smell that is just fantastic.

The flavor is… well, exactly how it smells. It’s a very clove, candy, vanilla taste to it. Sweet, but with an almost artificial flavor to it… like… Christmas lip gloss. It doesn’t really ruin the tea, it’s just a worthwhile point to mention.

I am a little saddened that I’m missing both the orange and the cinnamon in this blend. The cinnamon starts peeking through a little bit as it cools, and the glitter begins forming this patina over the bottom of my cup. So every time I take a drink, it forms this like… gold line.

This isn’t so much a tea as it is an experience. The flavors lend themselves to Christmas very well, and the presentation does too. I’m totally going to have a gallon of this unloaded on the pile of unsuspecting guests at my house this year. It will be awesome.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Kittenna

I’m surprised that you’re not picking up on any cinnamon! That was definitely a dominant flavour for me. Orange not so much, though.

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79

We got our box from Teavivre today, so a big thank you to Angel and the rest of the Teavivre team.

I should start this off with a bit of a disclaimer that I wouldn’t consider myself much of a white tea fan. They tend to be subtle and contemplative teas. Maybe more useful to someone with a more discerning palate than my own.

However – this is by far the best white tea I’ve ever had. The flavor itself is still a little subdued, but the heavier feel of this brew really took me for surprise (actually, I’ve felt that way about both of the Teavivre teas I’ve tried now… it’s probably a mark of quality).

There’s a little sweetness to this, and a very… fresh, spring, vegetation taste to it. A light tea with a grassy flavor, and… something, like cucumber skin, or maybe sprouts on the edge. Very very fresh tasting. At the end, there’s a spicier, maybe light peppery flavor to it, reminds me of that same somewhat leafy, peppery taste from a golden Yunnan tea. Not sure if that makes sense.

I don’t think this one is going to make it to the ‘keep’ list, but I’m glad that I tried it. Thanks again Angel!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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79
drank Toasted Walnut by DAVIDsTEA
185 tasting notes

Our first sample from the wonderful Krystaleyn. Thank you!

First off, I just have to point out that in our sample there was a big, fat half-walnut. I’m not sure if Krystaleyn did that intentionally, or there are just that many walnut pieces, but it was kind of awesome. Just sitting there, all non-chalant, giant walnut smothering some tea leaves, nothing to see here. It amused me.

This tea has a light fruit smell to it, but not overpoweringly fruity like many other flavored teas. It’s actually very pleasant.

(side note: Missy and I are passing this back and forth like a peace pipe as we discuss our reviews. It’s hilarious)

The most noticeable flavor to me is the pineapple, though it took most of the cup for it to start tasting like ‘pineapple’ and not ‘nondescript fruit essence’. The walnut pulls up in the flavoring after that and leaves a lasting, dark roasty, almost buttery flavor to the sip, eventually tapering off to a very, very light vegetal green tea flavor.

I’m thinking of this tea in my head as like a starter gen mai cha. A little more interesting, not as upfront with either the toastyness, and lacking the seaweed-y flavor of Japanese greens. Plus a little fruitiness to tie it all together.

Overall, a very pleasant tea. At the moment, I don’t think it’s a tea I want to stock up on… but we’ll see. I think if i put in an order when it starts getting cold again, I may have to think about picking some of this up. Maybe ;)

Thanks again Krystaleyn!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec
TeaBrat

But can you smoke it?? :)

Bonnie

Hum I had this today too and no real walnut but more coconut and the fruit and no toastiness. Maybe the big piece helped. It was good tasting though.

Kittenna

I don’t honestly recall putting it in there intentionally, so it’s probably just that there are lots of walnut pieces in the bag :) I mean, it is called toasted walnut :P I like this one steeped for about 3 minutes, but be warned, it can go bitter quickly and be gross. I see you only steeped for 1 minute; probably an excellent decision :)

Kittenna

Also, sorry for the so-small-you-have-to-pass-back-and-forth samples :P

Dylan Oxford

Oh no, the sample wasn’t too small at all! We just have a different tea in each of our cups :)

Kittenna

Ohhhhh, so clever :) I guess I did that once upon a time too.

Missy

It’s a bit easier to get through samples if we just share cups. Besides it’s more fun to pass the cup around. :D

ScottTeaMan

You could smoke tea leaves, and probably grind them into a fine powder (matcha), and snort them if you wanted too. I am officially not endorsing or recommending this, but I’m pretty sure I can be done. :))

Bonnie

Gross thought if you sneezed!

Missy

You know I may have to find a peace pipe to hang on the wall right here. Perhaps above a shelf with a couple of cute tins…

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85
drank Sinharaja by Golden Moon Tea
185 tasting notes

Tried this one with a little longer steep time today, bumped it up to four minutes (we usually do our blacks at about 2-3). It made this one a little more heady, and definitely a lot more malty. Upped the astringency notably as well, but that is to be expected. Still quite a good little black tea from Golden Moon. Quite enjoyed this one from the black sampler.

If you should find yourself looking for the black tea sampler from Golden Moon though… stop. Don’t do it. You can buy all four of the teas in the same 1 oz packages for about $6 cheaper than buying the sampler itself. Granted, if you do that you’ll be able to stop and go “Why the heck am I paying $9/oz for tea?”. I think they really just want to discourage people from getting samples. For $42, you can get one ounce each of four black teas. For $52, you can get four ounces each of those same four black teas, in handy little tins. The math just doesn’t work out.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 0 sec
Sandy Stith

That’s why the stupid Groupon was better math, right? We got 8 one ouncers for what? $26? So you know, now that I’m off for a week, I’ve lost my ability to do math.

CHAroma

I noticed ESP Emporium does this exact same thing. The pro of buying samples should be that you get to try a smaller version for cheaper so you know if you want to invest more money or not. Otherwise, it defeats the entire purpose, doesn’t it?

Kittenna

Completely agree. The price per ounce need not be the same for the sampler pack as for the non-sample-packed tea, but it has to cost less than purchasing the teas outside the sampler pack. Verdant is a wonderful example of excellently priced samplers – I’ve gone through and checked prices, and in some cases it’s cheaper to purchase the sampler, in others it’s about on par or a dollar or two more.

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drank Guayusa by Runa
185 tasting notes

I do not think this Guayusa thing is for me. It has a sweet, grassy taste that, while not altogether unpleasant… just isn’t something I strive for in a drink.

The smell and taste are very reminiscent of a fresh cut grass clippings, from that first cut in the spring where you’ve never really had enough days in a row for the grass to get dry. So you kind of struggle through the clumping, wet grass, so that you can get a handle on the lawn. That’s what this reminds me of, wet clumpy grass.

The second batch of this sample that we brewed, we included some Ssssspicy from SerendipiTea, and it did improve the flavor some (which means to say that the spices drowned out some of the grassy flavor).

So yeah. Not my cup of tea-like-herbal-beverage, but I kind of guessed that going in, so I don’t think it’s quite fair to give it a lower rating. If I did rate it though, it would probably be… 60s or so. Like I said, it isn’t offensive, it just is far from desirable.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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80
drank Yunnan Jig by Adagio Teas
185 tasting notes

It kind of seems like I’m having a straight-black-tea-a-thon lately, doesn’t it?

We received our black sampler from Adagio today, from the sneakpeeq deal with the IngenuiTea… so a big thank you to whomever posted that on the forums! I’d go look it up… but… no.

This is a very smooth tea with a dark, coppery color in the pot. The smell is… well… about what you expect from a straight black. The beverage itself has a somewhat medium weight to it, it isn’t thin by any means, but it doesn’t have that mealy thickness that some teas get. Not that mealy thickness is a bad thing, by any means.

There is a malty, light grainy flavor to the tea, with a somewhat noticeable honey flavor in the aftertaste. It’s a fairly solid tea, and I could see it being kept around. I would compare this to the tarantulas from Teavana that I have made a few times before (really, my only straight Yunnan comparison). I think the tarantulas were a slightly higher quality and richer flavored Yunnan than this one. Though, this isn’t a discontinued product… so it should probably* get a couple points for that.

*it doesn’t.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

Oh a rainy weekend, Alfred Hitchcock and copious pots of black tea sounds stupendous!

Missy

This would be the perfect area for that. I love Washington for the rain.

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72

We’re slowly making progress through all these samples, woo!

For a straight black tea, this is very, very light and sweet. There is some honey flavor to it, but nowhere near the flavor that I associate with the Sinharaja from Golden Moon. This one is much… well… less of everything. Less flavor, less sweet, less worth buying again, methinks.

It’s not bad, really. It’s just not… striking. And it is a bit spendy for a middle of the road tea.

Caesar gives thumbs down.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

Awe hail caesar, this is caesar salad!

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89

It’s late, and I’m slowly turning into a pumpkin, so I’m going to give this a much quicker and less detailed review than it truly deserves. I’d backlog it in the morning… but… no. That probably wouldn’t do a lot of justice for any kind of masala beverage anyway, let alone a kangaroo.

The most noticeable flavor at first is the clove. While the clove does definitely take the center stage, it isn’t an overwhelming level of clove, present, but not domineering. The cardamom comes next, with a hint of ginger and pepper at the end, rounding off into the natural woodsy-ness of the kangaroo base. The clove flavor lingers quite a bit, and really blends in nicely with that lingering bush flavor that always seems to stick in my throat with a kangaroo blend.

This blend claims to have cinnamon in it… but I seem to be losing it in the clove somewhere. Or, I may have waited too long, as this is quite cool by now.

Overall, a very strong kangaroo chai, and we’ll be keeping this one around. I would want more cinnamon, but that is always, ALWAYS the case. Missy has threatened to sweeten any tea I drink with Hot Tamales before.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 7 min, 0 sec
ScottTeaMan

Ahhh, it seems you and Missy are closer in time and space than I first realized! Yes, it must be serendipity! :))

Kittenna

Ehe. Will not tire of hearing about kangaroo. Endlessly amused (I’m rather lame, aren’t I).

Missy

hehe not lame you are just able to appreciate our goofiness :D

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Profile

Bio

My fiancé and I are beginning to enjoy tea infusion, and it’s slowly becoming an interesting hobby that the two of us can share. Maybe not slowly… it’s somewhat amazing how much tea you can buy when everything looks shiny and new.

Tea Rating system:

90 – 100: This is a tea I will always have on hand at work, and at home. I will leave it on altars as offerings of perfection.

80 – 89: This, or one of it’s close cousins, will likely be in my cabinet at home. When this tea runs out, I will buy more. I’ll always wonder if there is something better, but be too afraid to look to stray from home to find it.

70 – 79: Definitely good, but not a clear winner. I enjoy it, I’ll finish it, but I probably won’t buy it again until I’ve exhausted all other versions of this product from any reputable retailer. Though, it may enjoy a resurrection for custom blending.

60 – 69: This tea is okay, but definitely not something I’m going to brew again. I’m going to give what I have left away.

30 – 59: I didn’t finish drinking this tea. I actually poured it out, and went for something else. I’ll still give this tea away, but I’ll do it with a warning and a plead for forgiveness.

0 – 29: This tea is riding securely towards an iceberg at the helm of the failboat. I’ve taken this out of my tea tin, and laid it on a napkin as potpurri. I do not consider it fit for human consumption.

Location

Tacoma, Washington, United States

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