150 Tasting Notes
John and I had this tea with just oatly yesterday. I steeped the tea for 4 mins for mine and 5 mins for Johns and the flavors were actually pretty different.
Preparation: Western with oatmilk
Tasting Note: My tea (4 mins) banana notes more prominent. It was creamier and lighter. John’s tea (5 min- I tasted a couple sips) cinnamon and richer bread notes more prominent. Banana flavor wasn’t as noticeable at this time. I would say this is one of the better adagio honeybush blends.
Flavors: Banana, Bread, Cinnamon
Preparation
Had this one late last night, while winding down for the night. I have been working on spreadsheet to organize all my tea beyond just tea category (black, puehr, oolong, green, white, herbal, etc) and tea type (straight, blended). I have been specifying what is in the blend more specifically and what tasting notes are in the straight tea.
Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: This tea is a heavy rose flavor with some vanilla. I don’t get a lot of lemon or any osmanthus flavor but it is possible those ingredients have mostly settled to the bottom of the bag. The rose used is a bit cloying which, isn’t my favorite but the vanilla is interesting. I think this tea is best served hot. I would not purchase again probably.
Flavors: Rose, Vanilla
Preparation
In a “pie” mode this weekend, last night for dinner I had a cornish pasty and an apple meringue pie. This morning when I looked over my sipdown themes from the discussion forum, I saw “pie flavored tea.” So here I am, more pie.
Preparation: Latte
Tasting Note: So I added a little amount of honey and oatmilk (oatly) to this tea. I am not an avid chai drinker but I wanted to try some different blends to see what spices I like which ones I am not so keen on. So with this blend the cardamom is the strongest flavor which is really nice. Cinnamom is more in the background here and the coconut provides a creamy sweetness that I can still slightly detect. Overall, I really like this blend it is simple and slightly sweet and warming. I think this could be a contender in a chai-off tournament for my cupboard.
Flavors: Cardamom, Coconut, Cream, Spices
Preparation
And I wish every company had their recommended steeping parameters on packaging, too! I have greens that say 175 and others that say 212 on the website but if it isn’t on the package I usually go with my default of 185 for green. Keemuns, etc. like 190 instead of 212 usually. I get really annoyed at having to stop and look things up just as I am ready to make my tea!
I have found I typically always prefer my own “default steeping parameters” over whatever is printed on packaging, and so I always ignore it. I find they always recommend water warmer than I’d use, way more leaf than I prefer, and steep times way longer than I can handle. Maybe everyone else likes bitter tea, but not me. If the cup is abysmal, then I may try with their directions later.
Ha I always make nice green teas at work because the hot water that comes out of the water cooler thing makes the perfect green tea. I wish I knew its temperature so I could use those parameters at home too!
This is from my first order from 52teas. I heard a lot of good things about them and am excited to try more in the future.
Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: I am enjoying this tea so far. It is bright but also a little pithy from the lime. I makes me think of a green earl grey in a way. I think this was the first time I have had dehydrated lime in a tea and I really liked it. I taste a little coconut creaminess when the tea cools down quite a bit.
Flavors: Bitter, Citrus Zest, Creamy, Lime
Preparation
Preparation: Western
Tasting note: I tasted this for a moment before I added oatmilk and honey, it pretty much tasted like black tea and the slightest of marshmallow flavor. There is rice krispie cereal in the blend but I don’t think it does much of anything to be honest. I was hoping that we would get some puffed rice like a black genmaicha but I was sorely disappointed.
As soon as I added the milk and honey, this tea was pretty plain, the marshmallow flavor had been covered up so it tasted pretty ordinary. I think I would try to brew this tea a little lighter and not make it as a latte in the future.
Side note: Hopefully, I can hunt down the marshmallow treat or strawberry marshmallow treat blends in the future, they are currently out of stock. I think that a roasted rice blend would be much more interesting and closer to the intended dessert.
Flavors: Marshmallow
Preparation
I picked this up out of curiosity last year. I hope I haven’t completely stepped into “old lady” territory with this one. (I am starting to like medicinal tasting things more and more in my late twenties).
Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this tea tastes sweet. The description mentions it is related to a lychee. I would say this reminds me of something medicinal, like tea made from prunes or dried apricots maybe? While I probably would’ve hated this tea as a child, it doesn’t bother me now. I was sort of attracted to this tea as it was said that like raisins these fruits have lots of iron in them.
Flavors: Apricot, Prune, Sweet
Preparation
Cup #2 for the day. Sipdown Theme: Tea from a woman-owned business. I had a few to pick from for this theme: Hella tea, Paru, the Necessiteas, Call Me Sweetea, 52teas, Smoremermaid, Friday Afternoon, the Tea Girl and probably some more that I don’t realize.
Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: This is a weird little tea, I like it, which is was I find even more weird about it. It is sweet, the candied ginger and sugar added to the blend make it more than enough sweet on it’s own. I think all the flavors are there: ginger, pear and chocolate. I think what this tea reminds me of is a chocolate covered crystalized ginger piece more than a cake. The ginger in this tea reminds me a lot of gingerbeer without the fizz. So then there’s the chocolate… I don’t think it over powers the ginger of this tea in any fashion but it is there and I don’t hate it but I think it limits the tea to a very specific mood. A part of me wishes this wasn’t a green tea so I could see how this faired as an evening tea.
Ultimately, I think I like this tea, it is interesting and reminds me of the holidays in a off-the-beaten path sort of way. I wouldn’t have it all the time but I have never had anything like it before and I think it still works. I can’t recommend it to anyone else though, I am pretty sure they would say I am insane and spit it out on my shoes.
Flavors: Candy, Cocoa, Ginger, Juicy
Preparation
Preparation: Tiny tea pot (aka longer steep with less water so sort of gongfu)- straight tea
Tasting Note: I would say of the most popular tea types (oolong, black, green, white and puehr, (sorry yellow you are so scarce in these parts)), straight black and pu’ehr are some of my smallest collections. This tea happens to satisfy both categories. I am really enjoying that sweet grainy and vanilla taste that reminds me of breakfast cereal. I know in the past I have gotten the slightest bit of smoke from this tea as well. I was using a different, smaller tea pot today so I may have oversteeped it a little bit. It still manages to be really good anyways.
Random thoughts: I heard about this tea on Geek Steep, so thank you Marieka/RoswellStrange for sharing it!
Today is going to be a little busy in the afternoon so I won’t get to check the new Witcher episode but I am really excited for it. I finished season 2 and ended up hunting down stickers for a journal layout when it came out. Maybe I can come up with a good planner layout this weekend…
Flavors: Grain, Sweet, Vanilla
