176 Tasting Notes

99
drank Dawn by The Simple Leaf
176 tasting notes

I just finished up the last of this. This chocolatey goodness is sure to become a staple in my cupboard! It’s a perfect day for it too, all rainy and dreary, which as far as I’m concerned is wonderful!

Stephanie

I’m still lamenting the fact that The Simple Leaf closed! I miss Dawn! I wonder if there’s a way to buy some directly from the tea farm?

Erin

Me too, I wasn’t even aware that they had closed until a month after the fact. So sad… Did they do a big store closing sale event or anything?

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86

I am back… kind of.

Okay, Steepsterites, I can explain! I know I’ve been away for a long time, and I know you missed me (hardehar). But you don’t understand…

Texas is hot. Like, really hot. And I’m not used to this. I’m used to being able to go outside and do things. I am not used to stepping outside, vomiting from heat exhaustion, and subsequently having to spend all summer all day inside.

So I really didn’t drink tea all summer. Once again, I know. I miss drinking tea. So as soon as we had a cool(ish) day, I grabbed at the opportunity. This was about a week ago. It was rainy and it almost felt like a normal New Jersey summer day in terms of heat. I got out my old teapot and favorite mug, cleaned off the dust, and reintroduced myself to my tea cupboard. Man, I have a lot of samples in there!

This tea was delicious as usual, no surprise there. See my other tasting notes if you want more detail. It reminded me of just how much I love tea and winter and things not Texan. I miss tea and I miss home.

So, Steepsterites, I guess I’ll see you the next time it’s semi-cold! Until winter!

Cofftea

Do you not like iced tea? Welcome back! :)

Erin

Thank you! And I kind of like iced tea, but for me, the experience isn’t the same somehow. I’ve always been a fan of cold, snowy days and hot beverages. Hot days and cold beverages just doesn’t seem… right.

Cofftea

Haha… I definitely get ya w/ missing the experience although I do like hot tea on a cold day. But as the only beverages I drink that are not tea are 1 cup of milk (which counts since I have it w/ chai lol) and OJ (which, again, counts since I have it w/ matcha) every day and I was w/o A/C the entire summer, that means cold tea for me. Anywho, welcome back- you were missed!

Caitlin

God I was dying in NJ heat I can’t imagine Texas!! I am glad its finally cooling off!

Cofftea

I actually lucked out… Even in WI we normally get a couple days where the actual temp is +100… but this year we just had a few days one week where the heat index was +100… and even more fortunately that was the week before the Extreme Makeover Home Edition build took place.

teabird

I’m sure it doesn’t compare, but it was 90s here (in central Massachusetts) all last week, so I finally made a big batch of iced tea to keep in the frige… and then it cools off overnight. Argh! Iced tea isn’t the same experience for me either, I know what you mean there, but every now and then I’ll make a half-gallon and just take a week or two to drink it :P

Cofftea

LOL tea bird, if I made a half gallon in the summer I’d have all but 8oz gone in 1 day. :)

Lori

I am from Louisiana and it has been INCREDIBLY hot this summer and last. Much more so than previous years. But I know what you mean about warm beverages. Iced tea – while delightful- just doesn’t inspire tasting notes. Sort of I guzzled some mint tea today, guzzled from fruit-flavored green tea today, lemon grass white tea, etc.

Hopefully, we are in the home stretch and the blistering, smothering, sauna like heat is over,,,,

Cofftea

To each their own I guess- I do tasting notes on iced all the time:)

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86
drank Hot Cinnamon Sunset by Harney & Sons
176 tasting notes

I haven’t been around Steepster lately, as you may have noticed. The weather turned blisteringly hot seemingly overnight (don’t they have spring here?) and I just cannot cope. I’m not as fond of iced tea, so I’ve been drinking less and less tea. My job is keeping me spectacularly busy as well. I hardly have any free time, but I do have more money to my name than ever before (I don’t mean to brag, just simply to tell you how strange it is to buy stuff without feeling guilty). It is burning a hole in my pocket, just itching to be turned into tea leaves and teacups and teapots. I’ve already converted a large portion of my paychecks into books – I now need another shelf.

Thank you Doulton for sending me this tea a while back. It’s stormy and not nearly as hot today – only 74 degrees – so I don’t think I’ll suffer heat exhaustion if I enjoy a cuppa. Hopefully.

The aroma is that of an apple pie baking in the oven. This storm has both my dog and myself on edge, so the first sip felt like sinking into a warm, cinnamon scented bubble bath.

Doulton has made me a liar! This is really hitting the spot, so I’m not going to be able to have just one cuppa today… I made myself another pot and this time took it with milk, just as an experiment.

Either absence (of tea, in my case) really does make the heart grow fonder or this is an exceptional tea. The milk adds a whole new layer. It is now like eating a cinnamon bun but without feeling like one is simultaneously developing type two diabetes. Thank you, Doulton, for helping me to remember what it’s like to take a metaphorical chill pill in the middle of my day.

Cofftea

Our Mays are kinda like that here. It alternates between 60s and 80s every other day. Literally. It’s crazy.

gmathis

Bottle up some of that weather and send it my way!

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74

This was my free sample that came with my latest Republic of Tea catalog. The aroma is interesting… it smells like artificial peaches and… chlorine? I find that any artificial fruit flavor or smell will have a chlorinated edge to it. The steeped tea came to a lovely light orange color.

The first sip is pretty good. I’m not getting very much green tea or ginger, mostly just peach. It doesn’t taste like true peaches, but rather a peach flavored lollipop. It isn’t bad, but if you’re looking for a real peach taste, don’t get this. I’m picking up just the slightest hint of green tea in the aftertaste, so this would be a good tea for people who don’t exactly like green tea. As for the ginger… I can’t find it at all. Darn. Still, this is decent.

Preparation
2 min, 0 sec
Meghann M

Exciting to hear a new catalog is out :) I love getting their samples in the mail!

Caitlin

republic of tea free samples are awesome

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85

I’m in need of a good comfort tea today – I’ve been wallowing a whole lot lately and it’s starting to get pathetic. So hopefully this will blow my mind and make me forget where I am.

The smell of this was divine. It was a whole lot of burnt sugar and caramel. Now, I much prefer caramel to chocolate; it is probably my favorite sweet out there. So you can see why I chose this tea today.

Right away, I taste the oolong. It’s one of those nice buttery, creamy oolongs, so it is complemented very nicely by the caramel. The caramel doesn’t come out and assault your taste buds, but rather it very gently massages them into submission until you’re lost in the taste. The longer I hold the tea in my mouth, the stronger the caramel becomes. It’s not the sickeningly sweet caramel you would pour over ice cream; it’s almost like there’s nuts added.

This doesn’t come right out and scream “Desert Tea!” It isn’t sweet enough, so it’s perfect to have around as a comfort tea. Which is what I needed right now. I bet after a couple more infusions I’ll be wondering why I was ever in a funk in the first place.

This has nothing to do with the tea, but it just started absolutely pouring. Like, the kind of storm that sends my poor dog running under my bed with her tail between her legs. It was perfectly nice out a minute ago. The weather is so weird here…

EDIT: Oh, lovely. Now it’s hailing, too. And raining sideways.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec
Cinoi

As of late I have really grown to love this tea too. Great review. Feel better!!

mpierce87

Oh, I better go finish mowing the lawn…we’re supposed to get the rain in a couple of hours supposedly. Texas weather is a beast, huh?

Stephanie

Blech, wind rain and hail! Sounds like a day to just cuddle up with a book and some tea! Feel better soon!

Rabs

::Hugs:: This note brightened my day — I hope that this tea brightened yours! I’ve been craving this since I had my sample and it’s on top of my “must order after I finish my GM sampler.” I enjoyed living vicariously through you even if it was for a moment.

And I love “The caramel doesn’t come out and assault your taste buds, but rather it very gently massages them into submission until you’re lost in the taste.” ::sigh:: That captures it perfectly. :)

Erin

Thank you all for the virtual hugs and well wishes!

Azure Luna

i like your description of the tea it was interesting and i think i might find this tea to try it my self

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93

I love melons, and Rishi’s Honeydew Melon is one of my favorite teas. I’ve heard that this is quite similar, so I’m expecting to like this one very much. I took this unsweetened.

The scent of this one is like baking bread. It’s yeasty and almost smells a little like beer. The melon in this is pretty subtle, not surprisingly. It blends perfectly with the white tea in the background. This is a very light tea that would probably be sublime when iced. It leaves practically no aftertaste. I feel that the addition of sweetener would make this too sweet.

I can’t decide if I’m tasting muskmelon or honeydew or both, but whatever it is, it is good! Another winner from Golden Moon!

EDIT: In case you were wondering, I think I like this better than Rishi’s version. Rishi’s is still excellent, but the melon is a hair artificial. This wins by a mere 3 points.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec
Cofftea

Baking bread from a melon tea…weird! The discription of this says it’s “somewhere between honeydew and cantaloupe”. P.S. So gald I’m not the only one that calls cantaloupe “musk melon” some people get really upset at me for it or try to prove me wrong. Little concerned about this one since I LOVE muskmelon (I want to blend this w/ Adagio’s white cucumber for a spin on 52teas’ green cucumber melon version)… but I do not like honeydew… although maybe in a tea it would be kinda cucumber-esque?

Erin

I heard someplace on the Food Network that what we call cantaloupe here in the states is actually muskmelon. The real cantaloupe is really hard to get in the states. Ever since then I’ve been determined to call this so-called “cantaloupe” by its real name – muskmelon.

AmazonV

you make me drool – hoe does it compare to honeydew by teas etc (if you’ve had it)

Cofftea

Erin- exactly. My grandmother worked in the produce dept of a grocery store for 20 years and told me the same thing.

Cofftea

Erin, serving suggestion- Make some and then use that to make some matcha. You might need it pretty strong (like the amount of leaf you’d use for 16-8oz cup of tea w/ the amount of water you’d use for matcha which for me would be 1.5-3oz). I haven’t tried it yet,. but I have sprinkled matcha over musk melon before and it turned out REALLY good.

Erin

AmazonV – Sadly, I haven’t had the Teas Etc. version.

Cofftea – Also sadly, I still have yet to try matcha! Can you believe it?!

Cofftea

GASP! Hehe;)

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80
drank White Licorice by Golden Moon Tea
176 tasting notes

From the looks of it, I’m one of the few people here who actually like licorice. The dry leaf smelled quite delicious. The tea smells more herb-y (as in parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, not the horrible Lindsay Lohan movie with the talking car) than licorice-y.

This is very pleasant! The licorice doesn’t smack you in the face, so there is no need to fear this tea. Up front there is just a taste of general herb. The licorice is only a very quick note on the tail end. It leaves your tongue feeling heavy and tingly (and in my case, happy).

I could certainly see myself buying this again. It’s light enough to enjoy as a hot summer tea, but the mouth feel is curious and heavy enough to enjoy this in the winter, too.

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec
LiberTEAS

This is my favorite Golden Moon tea. I LOVE licorice!

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78
drank Honeybee by The Simple Leaf
176 tasting notes

My job keeps me even more busy than my classes did! It looks like during the summer I’ll only have time to log tea on my days off. This was a tea that the lovely Takgoti sent to me. Once again, I’m using my tiny oolong teapot from Samovar for this tasting.

I rinsed the leaves, then got down to some serious oolong business.

The tea is a medium brown color. It smells sugary sweet. The one taste that stands out the most is (obviously) honey, and this is a pretty light tea. It also tastes slightly doughy, yeasty, or “bakey”. It’s a good combination!

This is the second tea I’ve had from The Simple Leaf. I love Dawn, and I like this. Thanks, Takgoti!

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec

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80
drank Hawaii-Grown Oolong by Samovar
176 tasting notes

This is another fabulous Takgoti tea. I wanted to wait until I had a decent chunk of time on my hands to really give this tea the tasting note it deserves. This is a special tea! Not many teas are grown in America, so I feel honored to be able to taste this. I’m using my new teensy weensy Glass Oolong Teapot from Samovar for this tasting, as well as my new Lotus White Teacup from Rishi. The teapot is so cute! This is how small it is in comparison with my hand (and you can also check out the unique shape of the dry leaf): http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4598524179/ Upon steeping, the leaves unfurl to epic proportions: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4599146076/ I rinsed the leaves first and then made my first infusion. Here is the finished first infusion in my new Rishi teacup: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47736372@N04/4599148028/

First infusion: This tea has the kind of buttery, smooth mouth feel that I associate with a white tea, such as Samovar’s Downy Sprout. The texture is like a white tea, but the taste is a strange cross between an oolong and a sweet green. It is just slightly grassy, but I also taste a tree-like note (and reading what Samovar has to say about this, I think I’m tasting the pine or evergreen) like how a Christmas tree smells. It is less buttery and more sweet as it cools down.

Second infusion: The mouth feel has become a lot lighter; it’s not nearly as buttery anymore. This infusion tastes more like an oolong instead of a green/oolong/white hybrid. After each sip, the aftertaste makes me think that I just ate a few grains of sugar.

Third infusion: The color is beginning to lighten up a hair. The taste is starting to get more sweet and flowery, and the Christmas tree taste isn’t as prominent anymore. The buttery feel is no longer existent.

Fourth infusion: Color is even lighter now. The Christmas tree taste is just barely there, but the floral taste is now the most noticeable note. It continues to get sweeter, but everything is starting to taste a little watery.

Again, I want to thank Takgoti for this experience!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 15 sec
mpierce87

That teapot is adorable!! Aww, I may have to get one now. I would probably hardly use it as I like to make larger amounts of tea at a time, but I think I may need it just because it is SO cute!

SoccerMom

Erin, I have the lotus white Rishi cups to and LOVE them!

Rabs

In my mind the teapot is normal size and you have giant hands. ;)

Seriously, that is redonkulously cute — almost on the verge of painful.

Erin

SoccerMom – Yes, they hold the perfect amount of tea for multiple infusions.

AmazonV

so cute and tiny!

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96
drank Caramelized Pear by Art of Tea
176 tasting notes

I didn’t steep this cup as long as I did last time. I tasted mostly the caramel and not as much juicy pear, which was upsetting.

However, I love this so much that I ordered a full tin for myself!

Lori

This is a great tea! I have always wanted to try the green tea verion of this one…

Stephanie

The Jade Teapot offers this one too and they sell it cheaper than Art of Tea!

Erin

@Stephanie – Dang! I bought a tin of this 2 days ago from Art of Tea! But I did have a $5 coupon, so hopefully that evens things out a bit.

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I have recently been forcibly transplanted from Princeton, New Jersey to Burleson, Texas. I’ve been recovering from culture shock ever since. When I’m not dodging scorpions and pickup trucks, I’m a college student, drummer, lover of music and animals, Harry Potter freak, and a vegetarian. I just got a job at a bookstore, which is the perfect place for somebody like me.

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