15534 Tasting Notes
Meh. So this is ok…but I wouldn’t call it white tea or really blueberry…it just kind of is. If someone dropped this in front of me I would drink it…but I wouldn’t bask in the glory of whatever this tea is. I’m sure ther are better “in a pinch” bagged teas out there.
Rather than talk about how long this has been in my cupboard before trying it…let’s just move on to YAY I’m drinking it now! Actually part of what inspired me to have it this morning, was a comment someone made on one of their tastings about saving verdant teas for when they can truly sit and enjoy them. I realised at that moment, that it was kinda what I had been unconsciously doing. And at the same time i realised that if i kept doing that, there might come a day when i regretted having saved that one tea for a special occasion that never happened. So i’m MAKING time to enjoy this tea, even if it’s on the subway in to work or in the middle of a huge project that makes me want to scream. So this morning, this morning it was the village chai. I don’t have time for a re-steep this morning, but it will wait for when i get home.
So on with the tea… this is a wonderful chai! It reminds me of those flat spice/ginger cookies that we used to bake in the fall and dunk into plain old boring red rose tea. I was super little then and didn’t like tea except when i could dunk these cookies into my mom’s tea when she wasn’t looking. She usually figured it out when the partially disolved floating bits of cookie popped up haha. Anyway, this is sans milk or honey – just straight up and i LOVE it. One of these days i’ll have to try it with a bit of milk or honey.
Love that story about dunking cookies- makes me crave that this morning, even though I’ve never had it before!
I also really agree with your opening sentiment.. if you’re saving something for a special occasion, that might never come. But if you make the tea, then you’re making that moment a special one.
oh man…dunking cookies in hot tea is great! In australia…“apparently” the thing to do is to bite the ends off a Tim Tam and use it as a straw to suck up coffee… then nthe cookie and chocolate and coffee get all melty together. mmmm…
Wow- that sounds yummy!
Any other recommended tea+cookie dunking combos? We love cookies and tea at our house, but we rarely combine them. I need to take notes from the pros!
My favorites are any malty tea’s like Laoshan Black too and a big ginger cookie or molasses cookie and put a little cookine in your mouth, sip a little tea and chew slowly letting the two blend. Urrrrr! Even my granddaughters love this!
haha my favourites for dunking have always been the “dad’s oatmeal chocolate chip” cookies and ginger snaps. Just need to keep it to the hard-er cookies since the hot beverages really quickly soften them up. If you start with soft cookies they pretty much just fall aprt in the tea haha
i think you could probably get some really intresting flavor combinations happening too depending on the tea/cookie. I’ve always done it with normal boring red rose tea but there are some amazing teas i’ve had not that i’m more “enlightened” that could be interesting… hmmm…
I definitely had Dad’s Oatmeal cookies tonight with my tea!
I do the exact same thing with Verdant Teas: hold on to them waiting for that time when you can really enjoy them. I’m going to go brew one now! :)
Thank you Azzrian for my first Joy’s Teaspoon tea!
This is a really nice tea…especially since I don’t have many without caffeine. I really like the raspberry and vanilla combo. I couldn’t drink this all the time, or even often because it’s a little much for me in the flavour combo but it’s a nice treat. Especially as my first tea from Azz and JT :)
It appears that my revie of this one failed to save last week. I’m going to hold off on giving this one a number, if only because I seem to dislike pu-erh. I feel like I should love this tea. The coconut and tea provides a rich bold flavour that screams delicious! I also love the deep color of this tea. However, when I try and drink it – ther is something within the tea that I just can’t get past. I’ll be honest, part of the reason I asked for this as my sample from the Tea Merchant was to try another Pu. I’m not holding that against this tea as I do think that this is something that people can get behind. I just may not be a pu person. I’m going to have to try it again to see if maybe I simply did something weird in brewing it. I do want to thank the tea merchant for this opportunity to sample it though. Thank you! If nothing eke I’ll be passing this off to a friend who loves Pu, so that it can be appreciatedby them :)
You know, there are different kinds of Pu. Some are earthy and some not. Try a sheng if you’ve only had shu. Try one of the white’s or something like the Verdant Yabao which looks like buds of wheat in a way and totally different than a shu or sheng. This catagory of tea is vast and varied. (a little encouragement not to totally throw in the towel)
Thanks Bonnie! I’m thinking I may have to spend some time going through reviews/asking for suggestions at some point to see if i can find a variety that I like. For now, I’m ok putting this on hold a bit since I’m still working on “tea” in general and have matcha on the way haha.
I’ll take a look at what you’ve suggested :)
I broke my taste buds… no seriously. This tea, tastes nothing like chocolate and strawberries as I drink it…but if i hold it in my mouth and swish it around under my tongue…then it’s like HELLO chocolate and strawberries. It’s weird. I’m disturbed. i also know it’s just me…‘cause i made the other half try it and he’s like ooh chocolate and strawberries. So I’m just not going to rate this tea. Apparently i’m not allowed to taste it properly haha
So this is a really subtle tea, but it really is caramel apple! I am so digging the apple notes in this tea, especially since it’s not IN YOUR FACE apple…and it’s not that weird fake apple you get when you have apple candies or whatever…it tastes like apple and caramel. There’s a bit of a cinammon taste in this but i’m not sure if it’s ‘cause i didn’t clean up my finum from the last tea. I’m kinda doing a bunch back to back in between wipes tonight (playing WOW).
Preparation
Go go first tasting note! Looks like another sample that i’m first to hit. I’ll be honest, part of why I chose this one in my samplepack/facebook win is because i’m fairly close to deciding that “pu” is just not for me. I’m zero for five now? I’m hoping that this one might be one that works for me.
I added a bit of extra to this one, to make it a bit stronger as I’m finding Della Terra teas a little on the soft side for flavours. Not a bad thing, I’m just trying to adjust accordingly.
Soooo first smell? Cinnamon. Kinda reminds me of cinnamon hearts. After a few sips, conclusion is…i’m missing the chocolate and this is more of a cinnamon tea than anything. Someone more versed in Pu would be able to comment on how well it does that aspect of it..but this is not such much chocolate or the chai that i’m used to. It’s not a bad tea, since I happen to like cinnamon, but it’s totally not what i expected from this one.
There can only one….