296 Tasting Notes
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This was the most festive tea I had, so I served it up in my antique cream white and green teacups, a la a Irish breakfast.
I may have underleafed here, because the flavor was lacking. It was thinner in body than I had hoped, and there was not much to it. Maybe some wildflower honey and bread crusts? But all very subdued.
Sigh. I will have to try this again at elevensies.
Tried half of this sample grandpa style at work. The greener twisted style oolong makes me think that it is a pouchong or a baozhong. The coconut is spot frickin’ on, like a toasted macaroon. This is hands down the best coconut oolong I have had yet. Towards my third cup, I added a teensy splash of vanilla extract. It brought the milky, creamy oolong and the toasty coconut back to life and made it downright desserty
So putting this in the wish list :P
Flavors: Coconut, Cream, Green, Smooth
Yayyy Kombucha! I have yet to brave into the great frontier of making my own, (I really don’t know why I have not done that yet…) so in the meantime, I guzzle down overpriced bottles from Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, and the like. Kombucha is really the only other thing I drink, besides making my own hot/iced teas, and water. I wonder if it even counts?
I admit, I like my cold drinks fizzy. So for people looking to kick the soda habit, I think that this is a better substitute than actual tea. Yes, it’s fermented, but my dear soda drinker, don’t let that scare you. Depending on the brand, kombucha can be sugary sweet, or almost like a beer.
I am only giving this a lower rating because I think that there are better kombuchas out there.
This falls under the ‘almost like beer’ category. If I wasn’t told that this was supposed to be a root beer substitute, I could not have told you. It’s like drinking a non-alcoholic IPA. Which sounds odd, but I quite like it. It’s got a lot of probiotics, which I don’t really give a damn about, (I poop just fine thank you!) but it is really nice on an upset stomach. There are better brands out there, (Try Dr. Brew, Bucha! And GT’s) and better fake ‘root beer’ kombuchas as well. But I like to switch it up every now and again.
I have been surprised by white teas as of late! I have been so “eh’d” out by white peony and bai hao that I thought I would be sworn off them altogether. Not so with white teas coming from Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Kenya! Which really surprises me.
This is like the malty, caramel-y, and sweet potato-y Rara Willow White that I have had from Nepali Tea Traders. Or should I say that that tea is like White Rhino? I don’t want to get into the chicken-or-the-egg debate, but both teas are quite comparable. I wasn’t able to get this tea while Butiki was still (alive?) but if anyone is looking for a substitute, look to NTT for their whites. This a great “I want black tea but all my brewing vessels are dirty except my glass gaiwan and I don’t want to burn myself” tea. It’s rich and thick with very nice bread and potato notes. There is a bit of classically hay and floral top notes of a white, but the dominant flavor is the malt. Ah, this is a nice tea! Thanks once again Roswell Strange for the generous sample!
Flavors: Hay, Malt, Sweet Potatoes
Have you tried the Glenburn Estate’s Silver Needle? It’s one of my favorites. So very flavorful. I’m a big fan of Indian & Kenyan white teas.
I have! I think I like Silver Needles from Kenya better. Something about the punchier floral and smoothness. Nepal makes all of my favorites though :P
I realized that I have cold-brewed this twice without actually giving it a chance hot. Damn, we could have had so much fun together! I could have used my French teacups with the birds on them, and ate Madeleines and croissants… (I think that would be considered cannibalism for me, but damn that would make for a hell of an afternoon!)
All that aside, I really quite enjoyed the cold brews that I made! This blend and another one that came in my February Amoda box reminded me of how much I used to love all things pear. I think I even had my mother specially order a whole bag of just pear Jelly Belly’s for my birthday one year. Of course I ate the whole bag in one sitting and promptly threw it all up on a dog, but that is a story for another tasting note!
The green that Palais des Thes uses is nice and light and slightly grassy, not clashing with the pear flavoring that they use. idk if this is a blend that I would purchase, simply because they don’t sell it in reasonable sizes for tea addicts like me. Ah well, the tin looks cute!
Thanks Roswell Strange for the ample sample!
Flavors: Pear
Preparation
One of the last samples of tea from Roswell Strange! I think? She sent so many, it’s Cray cray.
I like icewine. I like ice in my wine. So fucking sue me. I went to a fancy culinary school and went through all the pompous sommelier training and hated it. I even tried to not get smashed during the tastings, but I was much younger, and getting drunk was still fun, because I never got a hangover. But! I am a seasoned veteran, and … Okay, I can’t physically finish that sentence without busting up laughing. Who am I kidding? I don’t drink alcohol, let alone anything else but tea. Who has time for that? Nothing tastes as good. It’s all boring as hell. Sometimes I am so inclined to add tea to my booze, and even then I am wishing that I was just drinking the stupid tea instead.
So! I liked the idea of this tea, just not the actual tea itself. I brewed this up in my CS porcelain-lined tumbler for work and hastily wrote down some notes for later. I remember this tasting like Welch’s white grape juice. And my Aunt’s perfume that she used very liberally ever since I was old enough to remember. There was a bread quality from the black tea base, which I think may have been way better on it’s own.
Flavors: Bread, Perfume, White Wine
This smelled really nice! I cold brewed half of my sample from the fabulous Roswell Strange and did not leave enough for a hot version. Duh.
Not to worry! While the hot brew was weak, much to my fault. But the juicy tart raspberry still whispered at me from the cup, as well as the floral that complimented the raspberry super well.
But the cold brew was really great! Nothing was dulled by the temperature. There was fresh raspberry, tart in the best way possible, and ever so slightly sweet. The floral was in the background, but not to be subdued, the bouquet was full, but not in-you-face. The two samples I got from Ros from this company have been pretty good. Two for you Tea Desire! You go Tea Desire!
Flavors: Floral, Raspberry
Thought I would hate the apple pieces in this. Nope! Its everything I ever dreamed. Coconut? Check. Cream? Check. Mint? Check. The mint is lighter in this, but that may be because of all the other stuff crowding my infuser. Yes, folks, this is a keeper for me! An shameless, frivolous, fun, and non-caffeinated keeper!
Flavors: Apple Skins, Coconut, Cream, Mint
From the Amoda Monthly Box – February 2015!
I finally got around to finishing my wee sample from last month’s box! Now that this month’s is probably on it’s way :P
I really like how balanced this is! There is a distinct profile for each flavor in the title, as well as the base tea. The gunpowder lays down the light and sweet, almost nutty greenness for the profile, like a picnic blanket. The dishes set on that blanket are arranged in a way that makes sense together. The green tea base leads up to a lovely and distinct hazelnut flavor, with all it’s buttery sweet goodness and a spiced pear note. The pear is quite distinct, I can even get a sense of a spiced poached pear, with it’s tender flesh melting in my mouth.
The last time I brewed this tea, it definitely overstepped it. But I think I happened to be eating a bit of something chocolately while drinking it, which made it that much better :)
I was bummed to have ruined the last cup, but hey, it was really good the first time around! I am happy to have tried it. I don’t know if I would be in the mood to repurchase, but I sense a sample coming back my way in a future Amoda order.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Hazelnut, Nutmeg, Nutty, Pear, Spices, Sweet
This was a sample sent for review from Just Organic Tea Thanks guys!
I brewed this according to the package directions, which is not how I would normally do my iced tea, but it turned out really well! I used a big ole quart mason jar and steeped it for 4 minutes in hot ass water. I served it up over a glass of ice and sipped on it while making dinner and doing general chore type stuff.
I didn’t really like the fact that it was in a bag, I was tempted to take it out and steep it how I would normally, but I decided to humor the tea. The company said that it would be sold in loose on the site anyway, which is a plus for me. Now, I usually cold brew my tea overnight, (or 8ish hours) strain and go, but I didn’t want to wait. I may cold brew the next samples they sent, just to see how the bag holds up.
I quite liked the base they used for the tea, it has been a hot minute since I have had an iced black tea. It was smooth and not astringent at all. It went down smooth. The strawberry flavor I did not care for, but I knew that coming in. It may also need noting that I did not use any sweetener. It was ever so slightly sweet on it’s own.
Although I would never reach for this tea by myself, I would definitely dig the black tea on it’s own, which I see that there is a sample of it included in my package from them. Hmmm, I think I know what I will try next….
Flavors: Citrusy, Strawberry, Tea