768 Tasting Notes
And Steepster is back!!
I drank this one quite a while ago, like over a week, so I don’t remember it very well. It came in that “advent calendar” in which the teas were just jumbled in a box with no day designated. The tea was nice. A pleasant tea but not memorable for me. I believe I would be glad to drink it if a friend served it, but I have no burning desire to order more.
I made a pot of this tonight and drank it out of my fancy teacup from Taiwan. This tea never disappoints me. Soon spring will be here and then I will want my fruity teas. But it is -1 F right now, so I will get to enjoy my spicy teas for a while longer.
I received a bag of this from gmathis. I’ve just gotten over whatever tummy bug has been going around (an entire family at church had succumbed, plus a couple of other people. I suspect I picked it up there) so I’d been drinking some ginger teas and peppermint teas in the evening. This was my first regular black tea in quite a while. It had a robust body and strong flavor. Sometimes a tea like that will turn astringent or even bitter at the end of the sip. This one didn’t. Because she warned me it was strong I stepped it for only a minute and a half. That may have been a mistake. My second steep had a fuller flavor. I think that very short steeping time didn’t give it a chance to fully develop. The second cup was just about perfect!
I have two packets of this tea from the holiday (or winter?) collection I ordered right after Christmas. I enjoy a good, plain herbal mint tea. I mean, how can you go wrong with peppermint? In my experience, it doesn’t matter if it is a cheap grocery store bagged peppermint tea or a fancy, organic peppermint tea. This one does stand out though, over my usual Stash peppermint tea. It is very fresh and the cooling sensation of the mint is pronounced.
This was a reward to myself for getting through this latest round of CT scans. Those were yesterday, and today I saw the oncologist to talk about what the scan showed. There are two areas they want to watch: a 4 mm nodule on my left lung and a dime sized spot near my tailbone. The dime sized thing has not grown in 6 months so he doesn’t see any reason for concern with that. The teensy tiny little nodule on the lung may be cancer or it may be totally not related to the cancer. Dr. W says we will watch that one too. So I have my next set of scans in June. We will see if either or both of those problem areas change or grow in the next three months.
Meanwhile, I need to drink up more tea. We are in a blizzard warning for the next 24 hours. So perfect tea drinking weather!
Generally, I agree—if it’s decently fresh, most peppermint does the trick, price point notwithstanding. Traditional Medicinals has one that stands out to me…a little sharper than most, which is helpful for tummy trouble or stopped up nose.
Glad you are home and safe. Praying that the little nothings are nothing!
@gmathis I wish we had a “like” button for comments. I’ll check out the Traditional Medicinals peppermint tea. It sounds like a good one.
@Maddy Barone So happy for your good news! Seconding gmathis!
@gmathis: I will check out that peppermint tea. Superanna loves mint and might like to try that one.
If I don’t count home-grown peppermint, I can recommnend two leaves and bud peppermint.
Anyway, better to get checked now and then than leaving it without watching at all, IMO. As a person with benign tumor, I have been checked at least twice a year until it has “dissolved” completely.
@Martin That is awesome!
Surely peppermint is a de-stresser, and therefore anti-cancer tea!
I received my 52Teas order yesterday (which was super fast shipping!) and decided on this one for my evening cup. I really liked it. I didn’t get the woody undertone that is sometimes present and the orange flavor was bright and natural. I didn’t really get the chocolate, which is a shame, but probably due to my faulty nose. There was no bitterness. It even re-steeped a second cup very nicely. If you want something yummy and without caffeine, I can recommend this one.
Preparation
My David’s order came!! Woot! I got 50 grams of Santa’s Secret plus their winter collection. I remember loving the cardamom french toast, but I put that aside for a cold winter afternoon. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of such afternoons to come! I decided on this one. I was pretty sure I’d had this one before, like a sample from a previous order, but I don’t see a tasting note for it. So here goes:
It brews up nice and dark. I don’t taste much of anything, so it’s not sour or bitter. It has a nice mild flavor, I guess. It is certainly drinkable, but I wouldn’t bother with a separate order of this. It looks like a lot of people really enjoy this tea, but it doesn’t do anything for me. To each his own. I give it a recommendation because it is pleasant enough and if I had a sense of smell I would probably find flavors to enjoy.
I had this tea again last night as my evening cuppa. I really do like it. This time the licorice flavor was strongly present. It cut through the mint and brought a new dimension to the sip.
Back on December 14, I placed an order at Davids Tea. I ordered 50 grams of Santa’s Secret and a sampler of their Winter Teas. I didn’t expect it in time for Christmas, but I did expect it to be shipped sooner than today. Oh well, It’s not like I don’t have plenty more tea to drink up.
Wanna hear something funny? I mentioned to my brother that I have so much tea I can’t keep track of it all. He said gasp that I should go through it and throw some away!
Same, I placed an order on Dec. 8 – that included holiday gifts – and even though a shipping label was finally printed on Dec. 23, it hasn’t actually shipped since then! Their fulfillment is kind of a mess right now, unfortunately.
Your brother’s reaction is hilarious. I think my partner would be so happy for the kitchen space if I threw some away, but if nothing else I shudder to think of how much money I’d literally be throwing in the garbage.
throw out tea! I don’t remember ever doing that… though I probably should once in a while if they are really old or just not good tea…
Oh my gosh, I went through my tea drawer and sorted through them. I am -eek!- throwing away four old pouches that I’ve had for years and didn’t like. Then I have a small-ish gift bag full of teas I am going to share this weekend at my SCA (historical recreation group) meeting. My drawer has room in it now! Good thing, since I just placed a small order with 52Teas!
Throw out tea?! Blasphemy!
This was last night’s tea. It is part of the holiday combo I bought. I really like the rooibos cinnamon tea from Good Earth called Sweet N Spicy, and wondered if this might be as good. It wasn’t. It wasn’t a bad tea, just much milder than the Good Earth, and the cinnamon gave my mouth that drying sensation that I dislike. The flavor, as I said, was milder, but a little sweet, which I like. I have another 11 tea bags of this, and I don’t think I’ll have any trouble sipping those down . So, this is getting a recommendation from me
Just got home after supper out. Yes, I went out for supper on Christmas Eve. My sister, her daughter, and our brother were coming to my place for Christmas, but due to the nasty weather, no one is coming. This made me a bit sad, although having my semi-clean apartment to myself will be kind of nice. Anyway, I rarely eat red meat (it’s hard to digest when a portion of your intestines have been removed) but had a steak tonight, along with green beans and garlicky mashed potatoes. I feel stuffed. Uncomfortably stuffed, so I decided to have a cup of this tea.
Ugh. Mistake. Not because it doesn’t taste good but because a plain peppermint tea would have been a better choice for my unhappy tummy. Sheesh.
Note to self: lay off the red meat!
