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Came home, with headache again. I was drinking so less? I had whole thermos of tea. Anyway, time for caffeine tea. I took this one I received from Derk. TY!

When opened strong cinnamon aroma struck my nose. It reminds me some kind of sweets, or some tea – Harney and Sons I had few years back in train? I wonder, but it smells familiar. Brewed for 4-5 minutes, nice darker golden (maybe honey) colour. In aroma it is very sweet wtih cinnamon. Maybe little notes of “fresh” – peppermint.

Anyway when it comes to flavour – it is artificial, sweet with little notes of cinnamon. Black tea non existent. I don´t say I don´t like it, but it is not really my cup of tea – as I am drinking teas plain. It tastes like two cubes of sugar are in. I hope I don´t get heartburn. Somehow unlucky tea day today.

Anyway, quote is quite nice: “Ignorance of certain subjects is a great part of wisdom” Hugo de Groot (1583 – 1645)
But I can ignore that sweetness Mr. de Groot.

Sample provided by Derk, thank you again!

Dry leaves smelled wonderful, though I am not really sure what I noticed. Like air before rain. You just know it is coming, air has specific smell, you have find some shelter if you don´t want get wet. Preheated gaiwan.

Okay, 10 seconds rinse, 15 seconds first steep.
Bit weak, but yeah, expected. Tastes good, bit of raisins. Wet leaves smell like some shop with construction materials, but it is quite pleasant. Not really funky.

Another 15 seconds, it is starting to break, colour become dark copper and more red than usual “copper” colour. Aroma is woody, strong and pleasant. Maybe bit of cocoa. Taste is wonderful. Certainly cocoa and of vanilla. It is relaxing. Lingers for quite long and it is smooth.

3rd, 30 seconds. Broke completely, colour dark red. Another relaxing aroma, stronger than last one. Taste is going from cocoa to chocolate, still smooth and lingers.

4th, 40 seconds. I am writing a postcard (postcrossing), colour is really dark red, it doesn´t change much. It became bit more bitter though.

5th, 1 minute. It is almost same, no signs of being weak, rather opposite, still smooth, with pleasant aftertaste. I am noticing energy boost.

6th, 1 minute. In a hour my train leaves, so I have about 40 minutes left maximum. Hmm, again bit more bitter, but still it is good. Chocolate notes are dying a bit. No signs of dying.

7th, 1:15. Colour is lighter than last steep. Taste is weaker too. But not so much. Still very enjoyable. More typical pu-erh taste.

8th, 1:30. Wet leaf before adding water smells bit like tobacco with sweet after"smell". Let´s see how is the brew though. Thermos is empty, I am done. I do not have time left too. Anyway, good time with great tea! This steep is again lighter. I guess it is just time to stop it now. As we say: “V nejlepším přestat”. It means something like “when it is best, it is time to stop.” It became quite weak, like second brew or something between first and second. Still pretty tasty with dominant sweetness. Not really sweet from sugar, but complex sweet. Enjoyable!

Conclusion: Well, it took 8 steeps, while last ones were quite long. I have enjoyed the smoothness of this tea, as well the taste of dark chocolate. I have no idea what to expect, as my teaste buds aren´t really so precise as someone else. Anyway, I am glad that I can try it, as getting anything from Crimson Lotus is quite expensive for me as a student, not saying that the shipping is going to be another story as we don´t have e-packets yet here.

I am now full of energy, which is great as I have courses to 7 pm, so I have to stay awake whole day. Now, let´s go to the railway station.

PS: YAAAAY, 50th tasting notes! I wanted something special and this was certainly one of the best teas I ever had I guess.
PPS: Thank you for reading whole, quite long tasting note. If there is some English mistakes, please let me know – I am not native speaker.
PPPS: Really thank you Derk!

Suggested temperature was 100 °C for green tea? That does not sound right. So I have used about 90 °C I guess. The bag itself when dry is opaque, so I could not see the leaves. But when put in water, it became transparent. Leaves are quite nicely green, not so much brown flecks. They are about 3 milimeter long :D – but for tea bag I think they are quite big. Not just real tea dust as it is common in some other brands. As I have found out tea is from Sri Lanka, imported and packed in Russia and then I bought it here in the Czech Republic.

Anyway, to the tea; I steeped it for suggested 3 minutes nad colour is light yellow-green and apparently very clear. Aroma is of hay, grass and that is all. Taste is pretty basic, green tea. But quite fresh, without any weird tastes. Overall bit above average.

I wonder if loose leaf version uses same quality of tea.

Dry aroma was surprisingly rather fruity and mostly pear. It reminded me a bit of Hong Shui oolong.
While steeped, aroma changed to quite woody and bit of honey I guess. It has changed the colour of water quite quickly too and it looks like dark copper, maybe with red notes. Quite nice one I have to say.

Taste, is unfortunately bit bland. Yeah, it is still rooibos as I remember (who knows when I had last). So it is woody with little vanilla notes. Apparently I expected something more from this one. I think because of big sachet. Drinkable, but far from something phenomenal. Just very good I think. The flowers do not change anything I assume. Only that bag is not so empty.

Preapared in preheated gaiwan, 85 ml, 80 °C

Dry aroma is strong, floral, roses, fruits.
Lots of rose petals (about 1:1 ratio) with Ti Guan Yin oolong. Few cascara cherries, which makes blend quite interesting.

Wet aroma – creamy oolong with rose notes. Maybe bit jasmine. Overall it is nice.

Liquor specs: Colour changes from slight pink – green colour towards more green, can´t say if clear – because loose petals weren´t strained :) so does bit of dust. but overall it is nice.
Aroma: Really similar to wet leaf aroma, while rose and cream is stronger.
Taste: At first it was bit tart, but now it is creamy easydrinking tea with bit of rose. I never tasted rose though. Floral.

Not really my cup of tea, but it is not so bad and I like it. TGY is getting stronger each brew while roses are disappearing. Leaves itself aren´t so big, but usually they aren´t broken anyways, nor bitten.

This is very interesting tea. Thank you Derk for small sample, so I can try it!

Douglas firs aren´t common in my country, they are usually planted as park trees. And I really like their aroma.

Visual: light green, clear liquor
Aroma: really strong! Finnish forest, lemons, citrus fruits, sap
Taste: Unique, lingers for really long; firs, lemons, citrus fruits. But really dry. Sap taste as well. Needles.

I was keeping the bag in a cup for whole time I was drinking it. Maybe I will try to make another steep later. Lovely experience which brought me to Finland.

This was disappointing.

Actually there is nothing, but temperature suggestion on foil tea bag. So I had to google, their website did not say anything too. Than I found an importer website – where was 2-6 minutes. Quite variety for black tea bag.

Anyway, in the mug it comes. As dry it smelled like fresh lemons with hints of bergamot. Pretty straightforward. While others prepared their morning coffee, I used same water (stovetop tea kettle). I think it has about 90 °C.

After three minutes steep, tea was dark, opaque and with oil spots. I thought that it is quite enough, so I took the bag out. Aroma was quite strong of crushed tea with little lemon notes. Taste – it was so bitter it was really hard to drink, with biting lemon notes. The lemon probably smooths a bit that bitterness. But overall it was unpleasant.

I am not looking forward to next three tea bags I have from this company.

6 PM, certainly time for not caffeine tea. I was not sure if fruit one, or caffeine-free. Then I picked this one.

Colour is dark red; well hibiscus is in. And rosehips. Well more like herbal blend than fruit blend.
Aroma: good work, it smells after ripe raspberries and no funky notes. Though nothing else but raspberries.
Taste: sweet raspberries like mixed with sugar. Just cream is missing :-) For me too sweet.

Overall: Pleasant, yet quite plain. Good for easy-drinker in the evening, when you don´t want to care about noticing aromas and tastes.

And thank you Derk

Well, a loose leaf sample from Derk. Thank you again.

5 grams, gaiwan 85 ml, steeps 15/30/45/60/75/90 seconds

Trying to describe it somehow, but maybe my brain is working on standby yet (7 am), or it is so complex? Oh, by the way, this is spring 2018 origin.

Anyway, colour is wonderful, clear, dark golden. Really lovely!
Aroma: dried fruits, maybe bit smoky, bit tobacco (but very nice), bit sweet, floral, of course really smooth.
Palate: here it is going even harder than in aromas :D – fruits, malt, lingers for very, very long. Bit woody, spicy (3rd). Maybe bit like Darjeelings? I do not know again. Ah, I think I know now (4th) – grapes! Probably red ones. I did not noticed any chocolate notes, nor alcohol. But it is completely okay.

I like it!

Thank you Derk for variety of tea bags, as well for loose leaf.

I just came home from University, so I really wanted something simple – as well I am having a terrible headache. I took this, as it is a green tea with mint so I thought it could work together.

Honestly I am disappointed. The tea is having brown-green colour, without any dust, which is good. Smell is artificial lemon, and taste is not better. Maybe bit of cardboard. Something does not work as I have expected. More over, I think there is much more lemograss than actual tea, so it is not so good.

Well, at least I tried something new. And that is always nice.