411 Tasting Notes

38
drank English Caramel by Teapouro
411 tasting notes

Found this place downtown, and picked up some of this tea because it smelled nummy. Brewed it up in my zarafina.

Boring. the caramel isn’t very strong (I LOVE caramel, and wanted more) and even though I added extra leaf and choose “strong” on my zarafina it was weak. Meh.

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82
drank Red Dragon Pearl by thepuriTea
411 tasting notes

Got a new shipment of tea last night from the puriTea. Wow – that was a lot for not very much money.

This tea is neat and yummy. I need to play with it a little more to learn more about it, so I’m going to hold off on rating right now, but get dark cocoa from it and wow… very yummy.

Only problem I’ve found so far – the label direction say 5-7 minutes while the on-line say 3-5. That could cause issues.

thepuriTea

Sorry! We need to update the labels. Please use the online recommended steeping.

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80

Earlier this week I mentioned that this tea might even get my husband who doesn’t like puerhs to like it.

Today, he tried it. And he pretty much liked it. Cool. :)

Rijje

Awesome!

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79
drank Four Seasons by Samovar
411 tasting notes

Been drinking a lot of this lately. Had a batch yesterday I got 5 steeps out of. This tea’s good for warm weather.. and Kansas City’s been REALLY HOT lately. Slightly bumping this – I’ve been liking it a little more.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec

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80

My puerh experiences are getting better and better. First I’ve found green puerhs, which I think I’ll need to explore more, and now this one.

This puerh takes that dirt or fishtank flavor that you find in other puerhs and transforms it into something mellow, smooth, and really tasty. If I had this puerh without every trying other puerhs, that description wouldn’t make sence. I might come up with rich and slightly earthy, but not dirt

I like this a lot. I might even be able to get the hubby (who has not liked a puerh, ever) to like this.

If Canton ever has another free shipping sale, I think I might buy this. (Note, if you’re reading this O! People from Canton Tea Co, please wait a while! I need to clear some cupboard space. :)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec

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89

Had this last night to test my new Perfect Steeper by Eight Cranes to see how well the filter worked with the tiny rooibos pieces. And it reminded me why I love this tea. Lemony and creamy and just darned good.

And the Eight Crane’s Perfect Steeper worked REALLY well on the Rooibos.

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec

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63

I am having problems getting this tea to be much other than astringent and little bitter. I’m playing with the parameters, but since I’ve only got a sample I won’t get much experimental room. I do get hints of floral and citrus.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Thomas Smith

Are you rinsing your leaves? Traditional oolongs like these benefit greatly from a short infusion prior to the brews you will drink either poured off immediately or settled for a couple seconds and then dumped. Mellows out the astringency, liberates wet aroma you can take in prior to your kept infusions, further preheats the tea and pot, removes very small tea particles from the leaves, and opens up the leaves a bit to improve extraction balance.
DanCogs and YanChas really shine when you use a lot of leaf for a relatively small amount of water and a short steep time. Hard at first since brewing with a flat 3-5 minutes using 4g per 150-200ml produces something astringent and bitter, so it may seem counter-intuitive to increase the amount of leaf. But if you bring it up to 6-8g for the same amount of water, use steeps of 1 minute or less (15 seconds at high concentration), and keep water temperature below 90 degrees C, you will get these really lovely, milder infusions. First two may seem a little weak but by the third the character of the tea really starts coming out without the harshness.

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80
drank Plum Harvest by Teavana
411 tasting notes

Bumping the score because I finally had this iced with enough leaf and a little sweetener. NOM. It’s lovely.

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec

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75

Wow. I tried their Tangerine Blossom red tea earlier today and loved it. So I thought I’d try this Orange Blossom White this afternoon.

Not a fan. The leaf is goregous, but very sour and very bitter. I actually dumped out the first cup. And I’m barely making it through the second (I thougth a second steeping might be less… intense). The sweet orange of the last tea has been replaced by something I’d rather clean counters with. BLEA.

Teafreak

How did you steep it (temperature and time)?

wombatgirl

I don’t remember exactly, but it was a lower temperature, shorter time steep.

Teafreak

hmm… because I just had some recently and didn’t experience the sour bitter taste that you are experiencing. If you still have some more give it a second chance because it might surprise. Typically when I go to Shang Tea, he uses just under boiling water (208) and brews the first steeping for no more than 30 seconds.

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Profile

Bio

I’ve got a lot of interests: sushi, science fiction/fantasy, medieval recreation, cooking (specifically medieval cooking), reading, British science fiction (Doctor Who!), hand sewing and now TEA!!

My favorites tend to be oolongs and flavored black teas. I like highly flavored teas more than delicate ones. Rooibos tends to taste like dirt to me, and hibiscus is very sour to my palate. But I’m always up to try all sorts of things, and will often find things that I really like which I thought I’d hate.

Location

Kansas City

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