150 Tasting Notes
Tea swap: Cameron
Finally back to reviewing my teas after multiple swaps and multiple advents are underway. Definitely realizing I am an inconsistent reviewer.
Prep: Western (no additives)
Tasting note:
Love the black base on this, I think it is similar to cookie in that it has the rich, heavy maltiness. Lupicia USA doesn’t list the tea ingredients on the tea’s page so I am not exactly sure if it is an assam or not. The tea definitely has a sweetness, some nuttiness (marron maybe?) and a creaminess. Also getting a faint fruity note too, like a raspberry or strawberry maybe. Must have another cup to determine more.
Not sure yet if I will buy a whole tin of it yet but thank you, Cameron for the sample.
First time trying and brewing burdock root, at least as it’s own thing.
Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: I’ve noticed I am starting to enjoy straight or single ingredient teas and herbals more as I get more practiced (or older?). I know definitely as a kid, I would have loathed this because it had a radish’s pepperiness and not at all sugary sweet. As an adult, I definitely enjoy the earthy pepperiness and is a nice more savory, root vegetable herbal.
Since this is my first time trying burdock singularly, I can’t say how it stands up against others but since the root was harvested in February 2022 and it still smells very aromatic, I suspect this is decently good one.
Ooh I love gobo! I don’t think I’ve tried it as a tisane though, I’ll have to put it on the list to try sometime…
I think it is also partially due (fault of?) Amerian cuisine. We stuff juice, soda, etc in kids faces. I’ve limited the amount my kids drink because of the amount of sugar and how I see it correlating to cavities, acne, etc.
Sipdown theme: Japanese Tea
Not a sip down yet but I will be working toward it this month.
Preparation: Straight
Tasting Note: This is certainly a grassy, bold matcha. I tried it straight this time but maybe I would see how if fairs as a latte. It wasn’t as smoothly, silky textured as the previous Cultivate tea matcha I had, which was “Seihou” I think. So it had a tiny bit of grit which puts it a little lower on my scale. I also prefer sweet vegetal, floral, citrus, creamy or nutty matcha profiles so this is not hitting the mark for me right now. The color of the matcha was pretty vivid still. Again, it seems that the aluminum sealed tin cans really do a good job of keeping the tea fresh over time. I am impressed this tea was in my cabinet unopened for over a year and the tea still looks vividly green.
Side note: It is my first year purchasing Tea advents and I think I may need to come up with a creative way to drink them. I bought two matcha one and two loose leaf ones and I think that is probably waaay too much caffeinated tea for me in one day for 24 days. Maybe I will save two of them for January? Or start them early, if I get them in November *(No spoilers I promise, to keep my notes offline until their official release).
I loved doing the advents last year! I hope you enjoy it just as much! We had to get creative with our jelly advent – no way we are going to manage to eat toast every single day in December, so we started it early and finished it by the end of December.
For tea, I plan to do one of them very strictly and the other with a lot more freedom since it is identical to one I did last year. I will also try not to post any spoilers!
Ha, I buy several advent calendars each year because it’s a great way to try lots of flavors. Then I spend the entire year drinking them.
Glad to know there is the strict and not so strict approach to advents here.
Preparation: Western with oatley
Tasting Note: I added some oat milk to this blend this time and had a pretty different experience than last time. This time I get strong pastry and almond notes with a slight bit of peachiness. Like last time the black tea is strong enough to stand up to some oatmilk and doesn’t feel overly watered down. I am enjoying this as a nutty tea for this month’s sipdown theme.
Sipdown theme: Vegetal tea (In progress)
Preparation: Straight and with a whisk
Tasting note: So before opened this matcha, I noticed in the bottom of the tin it said best by sept 30th, 2022. I had bought this last year around this time and was expecting dull, green matcha when I opened it. I was pleasantly surprised. It was still a very vivid green. The tin was originally sealed with one of those peel back lids (like some tuna cans have), so that really must have saved the quality over this year. Now that i have opened the can, I am trying to have matcha everyday until it is gone.
Anyways, this slowly becoming one of my favorite savory matchas. It has a really distinct sesame nuttiness and is very creamy. It foams up a lot easier than some matchas too. I like that the sesame-nuttiness balances out the bitterness nicely. It is a pretty pricey matcha but considering how long it lasted sealed and that it is still nuanced enough to drink straight everytime so far, I think it has been worth the money for me.
Side note: We are finally going to visit Japan (hopefully er of 2023)! Cities that we will be in is still TBD but I think so far the group has agreed upon Osaka as a stop on our trip. If anyone has any tea house/tea shop reccomendations in Osaka, feel free to comment or DM me. Will keep you’ll updated when we soldify other locations. :)
Flavors: Creamy, Sesame, Umami
Preparation
Ooh so exciting! I don’t have any tea recommendations for Osaka, but I do have some for Tokyo so let me know if you end up adding that to your list. And tea ceremony in Kyoto is a must!
Uji and Wazuka are also very close to the Osaka/Kyoto area and are famous for growing tea!
October Sipdown!
Preparation: Western, warm
Tasting Note: Very mild, gentle green tea blend which I wasn’t expected from previous blends. I have been stuck on the thought I was wishing for more tart pithiness with this tea like the cranberrry lemonade or an earlier 2021-2022 blend with lime pieces. The lemongrass and blueberry were very faintly sweet. I think this would have been a nice late afternoon tea and possibly better iced.
SVTTB Tea #2
I got the tea box on Wednesday and since I am in wedding celebration crunch time (Sept 24th), I decided to take samplings of teas that piqued my interest, add my contributions and send it on its way again so I can enjoy the samples over a longer period of time. I managed to find two types of Kusmi tea in the box: Tsarevna and Anastasia. This is my first time trying Kusmi tea and I am pretty excited; it was one of the companies on my “want to try” list.
Preparation: Western
Tasting Note: Really nice smooth base, lots of deep floral notes and the citrus/bergamot wasn’t over powering. So far I can see why people like Kusmi tea’s blacks. Would drink again if I had more. :)
Preparation: Western with oatmilk
Tasting Note: Didn’t drink a lot of the tea without the oatly. With oatly (oatmilk) it reminded me of a rye bread sort of. It had a roasty toasty spiced notes and was interesting. To be steeped again for more detail or maybe just more certainty.
Theme: Breakfast tea (again-not quite a sipdown)
Been struggling to get an actual sipdown the last few days because, I keep flopping between teas. Hopefully my tastes settle down soon.
Preparation: Western
Tasting Note:
Brisk with a subtle sweetness. The black has a nice body which is a nice change. A lot of black tea blends from some other companies, I have had lately have weak or low quality black bases and it is nice to finally have something rich and malty. Lightly creamy from the marshmallow root possibly, its a nice morning blend.
