2575 Tasting Notes
Leftover teabag from a TTB. This was much better than I would have guessed! The black base was hearty enough, and the spices were pretty well balanced, though I can’t tell for sure what I taste most strongly. I enjoyed it with sugar and milk and would drink it again if I came across it, though I wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase it.
This has Earl grey vibes. It’s a little lemony and creamy. It goes well with milk and sweetener. I think it tastes best cold. The final time I had it, I mostly noticed spices that hadn’t been present in the rest of the cups – I guess they had all settled to the bottom! I never noticed the strawberry.
The strongest flavor is licorice. It’s quite sweet. There might be a bit of other stuff in there, but it’s really mostly that licorice. It’s not bad, but not something I would choose. It doesn’t need sweetener. Since this one is a bit boring, I find myself choosing it when I just need hydration and am not paying attention to flavor. I unsubscribed from their subscription box a while ago, and I think this was the last tea I had to finish!
I had no idea what to expect for this one. The flavor was mostly slightly celery-ish chamomile plus a hit of ginger. Plain, I didn’t love the combination. Sweetened with milk, it was better, though not great. I considered adding flavoring syrup since it was a little plain.
This smells like almost rancid coconut even though the bag is only a few months old. Luckily I couldn’t taste the coconut, but I also didn’t taste much of anything delicious either. It’s basically just kind of metallic black tea. I added milk, and that vastly improved things. It actually does remind me of a float! The quality of the black tea is sort of like soda, and the coconut and vanilla give the milk an ice cream vibe. This could be done better, but it’s not bad! I’ve been drinking it as a work tea, and I’ve ended up really enjoying it cold each time! It’s weird, but I’ve grown to like it.
I got this 4 oz bag from an eccentric tea shop owner in San Francisco in March. We got to learn about and sample all sorts of teas, and this was our favorite. I’ve learned since then that puerh is too caffeinated for me, so though I find this delicious, even the resteep makes me feel bad. The flavor is quite smooth, and it tastes like you’re drinking high quality hot chocolate. I always add plenty of milk and sugar, though when we tried it in the shop, it was still super good plain. It’s nice hot and even better cold. The only ingredients are puerh and cocoa nibs, but that’s all it needs!
I love choco-puerh combinations, and the shopping experience sounds like a hoot!
Vital leaf is an awesome place to visit, I try to stop by every time I’m in San Fran :)
Every tea we tried was super good! If they sold them in smaller sizes, I definitely would have gotten more!
I wouldn’t call this a chai. I taste the anise most strongly. I also taste clove. When it was hot, I tasted almost nothing at all. I thought a longer steep would do better, but the second time was the same.
Actually, I never really understood — what is supposed to be the primary flavor of chai? Cardamom? Cinnamon? Clove? C. sinensis? I understand that in some languages the word for tea IS just “chai”.
For me, it’s a strong spice flavor, which this was unfortunately missing!
It totally depends on the tea, but in my experience Indian chai blends tend to be cardamom-forward.
