191 Tasting Notes
Evening tea. I’m going to float away tonight, this makes three liter size pots of tea today, though the husbeast did have a cup of tea out of this one.
Yikes, I’m tired and can’t think of anything interesting to say. It’s tea. Yay! Go tea! There, I said something.
Preparation
My after work beverage. I’m having this, so I have enough energy to still fix dinner. If I had the other beverage I was considering, a beer, all I’d have energy for is a nap. So tea it is. This is a damn soothing tea. I do enjoy the jasmine.
Preparation
With a three minute steep, the black tea base is better than at the four minute mark. Definitely something to keep in mind for future steepings. I’ve been nursing my travel mug of this all morning, since it is my only while I’m here at work. Do you ever have one of those days where you kind of have this gut feeling that you’re in imminent danger of collapsing under the sheer weight of keeping information organized? Yeah, today is that kind of day. If only all email were gmail. It would be a lot easier to keep things straight.
So back to the tea. The black base isn’t as annoying as it is at a four minute steep, but I don’t get the flavor hit like I did on a four minute steep. It isn’t a bad cup, mind you. Just not really pancake breakfast. Oh well.
Preparation
I was in the mood for something strongly scented and earthy, and this fits the bill. Earthy isn’t quite the word I’m looking for, since it is most definitely floral, but the chun mee gives it a definite kick. I guess it is smokiness, someone else once commented on the smokiness of the chun mee, so maybe that is why “earthy” springs to mind. It has a somewhat heavy mouth-feel to it. Lots of body.
I’m still rather on the fence about this one, but since I keep drinking it I must not find it that offensive! It definitely isn’t going into the “replace immediately when gone” pile of goodness, but it isn’t bad. I do definitely see the resemblance between this tea and rose scented soap. Great, now every sip is going to remind me of soap. Nice going!
Preparation
So this isn’t really a breakfast tea, but rather like breakfast itself, we’re breaking all the rules. Breakfast? ’Twas a bit of cake, a bit of hummus and pita, a bit of sweet onion relish, and a dab of chankliche cheese. And a bit of pasta w/ pesto. And a persimmon (my god, the persimmon was good). Anyway, it sounds like a bigger breakfast than it actually was. And back to the tea.
Fruity and mildly spiced, its a good, gentle, welcome to to the world sort of tea. Rather like one of those clocks that uses gradually increasing light to wake you up, instead of the vile blaring of an alarm clock. Anyway, I’ll probably wish for the vile blaring of a strong black tea in a few hours, but for now this will do.
Preparation
No spectacular cherry flavor here, just a nice white tea. I wasn’t entirely suprised to get no cherry from the flavor since there weren’t any cherry chunks in the dry mix that I brewed, and I don’t have a fantastic record of tasting these out-there flavorings that aren’t tea-flavored. I’m definitely going to have to try more white teas in the future.
Preparation
I got a sample of this from Charoma—also, backlogging from yesterday morning, since I was too lazy to write. I enjoyed this tea, the smell of it especially, as with all 52teas. The strawberry taste is rather lost to me on the drink, but it did seem to be a decent green tea base. I’m glad I had the opportunity to try something new!
Backlogging from yesterday. This was the second tea of the day. Not bad. Not bad, especially as it cooled. I get more flavor from the tea as it cools, which probably means I need to stop drinking it hot (but I like it hot! No fair!). I still pick up a bitterness—I think I might be confusing the walnut flavor for bitterness, since sometimes walnut does that to me. I also got banana on the cooler sips, which was nice. Not too bad, not a repurchase, because I’m over my 52teas fangirliness. However, I’ll enjoy what I have.
I made a pot of this and then chilled it using half the sample I got from Caligatia. I definitely oversteeped it—I think I did a five minute steep, if I recall correctly, so the tea is bitter. Even with the bitterness, though I do get hints of mango on the drink, which I’m pleased about, so I didn’t completely ruin the tea.
Preparation
I got a sample of this compliments of ChAroma. The dry mix smells delicious, as all 52teas blend do. I think I used too much water in my brew—I wasn’t paying attention when I put water into the Breville. So it probably is needlessly weak. Another of the perils of a ridiculously early morning, botched tea. I can taste the oolong in this, and little hints of maple. No cheesecakey notes, but I’m rather not surprised. No rating, since I appear to have botched the preparation.