296 Tasting Notes

80

Hmmm. I feel like I am missing something from this tea. It was much too grassy for me this morning. I got slight peach notes from the thick broth. After the third steep, it mellowed out quite significantly. This is just my kind of oolong, but I wasn’t digging it today. I hope it’s just the moon phase, or my allergies.
Thanks cookies for the sample!

ETA: I grandpa brewed this at work today with much better results. Much more complex and mellow. You’d think that a gaiwan would be ideal, but hey. Some teas ask for different parameters!

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83

Got this a while back from Ost’s stash sale. I have had it a couple times before reviewing this, and I quite like it! It is meatier than the Meleng Assam that I got as well, and this is my preferred tea for making chai with. It has a sort of spiciness to itself that lends a wonderfully helping hand to my own personal chai mix. It’s perfectly good as an iced brew as well, especially if I have some leftover chai already made. Which almost never happens :P

Flavors: Malt, Raisins, Spices

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87

Cold brewed a bit of this for work today! And man, did I ever need that caffeine boost today. Sundays are a shitshow for brunch places, and with the weather being so stupid and perfect, I was going full-tilt for over 10 hours. I really think that the only thing that kept me going was the jet fuel tea latte I made early that day and a quart and a skosh of this wonderful, delicious, uplifting brew.
I love the bright and grassy, bold and brassy guyausa in this blend. It never gets astringent or bitter, no matter how long you brew it. I have to get my usual mate to the exact amounts, or I will have an undrinkable bitter brew. The creamy, dreamy notes and the tangerine hug each other in a smooth, refreshing embrace throughout the infusion. I made it a little on the light side, but I think that was really what I needed.

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39
drank Serene Tea by The Honest Leaf
296 tasting notes

Ugh. I’m sorry Amoda this was not a tea for me. I have had more enjoyable blends with almost identical ingredient lists and with better names. I am so worn out with the chamomile-mint-lemon-lavender combo. Nothing great, nothing horrible. Just eh. Apple dust from the chamomile, floral soapiness from the lavender, slight minty aftertaste. I drank a cup of this to help me fall asleep. It worked, and now I think I will put this blend to bed from my cupboard.

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62

Today was a perfect day for iced tea! I really needed something thirst quenching, and this was the sample I grabbed from Just Organic. I cold brewed a quart of this overnight (okay, like 5 wish hours) and I swear to all that is hibiscus, this is a perfect imitation of TAZO’s Passion. I have had my fair share of that tea in it’s natural iced form, and it’s like drinking steeped juice.
The hibiscus is definitely the forefront of this brew. I typically enjoy iced teas with hibiscus in them, even if I am not one to actively seek it out. The citrusy notes of myrtle and orange peel are there ever so slightly, and the cinnamon is a brief reminder. It is pretty tart, so I took this with half lemonade to mellow it out. It helped a great deal, and brought out more of the citrus undertones. While I would never seek this blend on my own, I enjoyed the juicy tartness that for sure felt hydrating.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Citrus, Tart

Just Organic Tea

Great feedback – thanks for the review!

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75

One of the CTC’s I grabbed from Marzipan and her latest stash sale.
This Crush Tear, Curl style tea is surprisingly much smaller in size than the Jalinga CTC. It’s a blended tea, and I can tell by the varying sizes of the little balls of malty goodness. Although the Jalinga is a better cup, I think I like this one for making lattés at work. Yes, I still have a LOT of the Tea Guy’s Assam to go through, but I am confident that my lattes on the weekends will really help to deplete it and I can get some much nicer (If there is such a thing) mouse poop tea.
First serving of this tea had the awful remnants of Witches Brew Chai, and my gravity steeper made it taste like nothing but cumin. Blech. The next time I had it was a much better experience.

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71

Thanks Stephanie for passing this along to me! I haven’t had any Lupicia blends yet, and this one sounded really lovely.
Little did I know there would be coffee in this blend. Le sigh. that kinda ruined it for me. This would have been so nice if it wasn’t for the coffee! I got a light cinnamon kick somewhere in each sip, but the coffee was like, “Hey! look at me!!”
Although I did not like this blend too much, it did remind me of early mornings at my grandmother’s house. Every morning, at around 5:30, she would wake up and brew the biggest pot of coffee known to man. Whenever my family visited, there was always at least 8 or 9 people going in and out of that teeny tiny farmhouse, including the 4 or 5 of us. She would always put cinnamon in her brew, and this is exactly what it smelled like. She would let the percolater do it’s thing while she went back to bed, and in an hour or two, everyone would be up, eating the usual breakfast of rice and beans with eggs and listening to the radio or watching the news on a small 25inch TV screen with DIY rabbit ears.
A nostalgic brew, just not one I am into. Thanks all the same steph!

Flavors: Cinnamon, Coffee

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84

I really liked the combination of ginger with this shou. The spicy lemony ginger is really nice to the earthy slightly smoky puerh. My only problem with this blend was that the ginger pieces made a righteous mess in my gaiwan. Perhaps western style would have been better. Ah, I used the whole 5g sample. Well, it was tasty nevertheless!

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85
drank Houji-Cha by Takaokaya
296 tasting notes

This was the tea that brought me into the wonderful and interesting world of tea! I had gotten this and a sencha in teabag form from a cousin who just came back from Japan. I must have been like 11 or 12 at the time. I remember sitting on my kitchen floor and just sniffing the box for a few minutes before actually making a cup. I had tea before this, but nothing quite piqued my interest such as the smell of houjicha. I thought it was a crazy concept. “Wait. You mean to tell me that this toasty, toasty, cup of goodness is green tea?? Like this neon green one I have sitting next to it on my shelf?!”

Man, little did I know I was in for a crazy ride.

Haveteawilltravel

That is the coolest memory :D

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77

Another iced tea review thanks to the peeps at Just Organic Tea!

I like Ceylon as an iced black tea. It has all the right malty and bright raisin/citrus notes to make it a great refreshing drink with no fuss. I added two little drops of liquid Stevia and a slice of lemon in one of my glasses, and one with nothing else but the brewed tea. Both were great in their own right. The lemon brightened up the brew and added a bit more acidity to the glass and introduced the raisin and citrus zest to the forefront of the flavor. This would make for killer sun tea, classically prepared as my family has always made it: lots of fresh squeezed lemons and a good amount of cane sugar or honey while brewing. My favorite so far!

Preparation
Iced

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Profile

Bio

I dream in tea.

My name is Maddi. I like to take boiling hot showers and meditate in my closet. I think and talk about tea so much that it has become a punchline of sorts with my family and coworkers. Besides my unhealthy obsession with the drink that gives me life, I do yoga frequently, I make green smoothies out of any vegetables and fruit in the nearest vicinity, I am obsessed with Korean Dramas, I run as a form of moving meditation, and play video games with my easygoing and forgiving boyfriend. I used to cook for a living, and I almost always eat at least one waffle a day.

Favorite types of teas:
Aged Oolongs hold my heart. Sneaking their way in are Korean Greens. Roasted oolongs and I are not on speaking terms as of late. Black teas of all types, but especially Fujian and some Yunnan are nice indulgences more often than not. I know and love Japanese greens more than any kind, while Chinese greens bore me. Certain White teas thrill me, but most have me changing the channel. I love using my Yerba Mate gourd, we have become steadfast amigos. Puerh and I are still getting to know each other, and while sheng is playing hard to get, shou is there to hold my hand when no one is looking. I sometimes make my own functional herbal blends, and if there is a hell, it is filled with Rooibos. Above all else, direct – trade tea is my favorite.

LEAST Favorite Flavors/Flavorings
Hibscus
Lavender
Herbs, if they are out of place (I’m talking to you, thyme)
Strong Bergamot
Berries
Chocolate (added flavorings)
Cloves/strong cinnamon
Nuts

MOST Adored Flavor Profiles
Smokey
Floral
Coconut
Majority of chai
Caramel
Vanilla
Grassy/Vegetal
Earthy
Citrus
Stone fruit/melon

“Tea is naught but this:
First you heat the water.
Then you make the tea.
Then you drink it properly.
That is all you need to know.”
- Sen No Riyku

Location

Denver sometimes, Las Vegas some other times

Website

http://sororiteasisters.com/a...

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