Cameron B. select Send Message

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

Blegh, I’m feeling slightly nauseous after that Choconut Oolong… And I don’t think it’s because it’s a particularly bad tea. I really think I’m getting less tolerant of flavored teas, and I certainly don’t drink them often anymore. I’ve pretty much settled in to drinking a bunch of straight blacks with a few flavored varieties, so now that I have this box with a lot of flavored things, my stomach is getting unhappy with me. I may have to keep this a day longer than I had planned, just because I don’t really want to drink four or five more flavored teas today, and I don’t think my stomach can handle it. I was planning on sending it out tomorrow, but it may have to be Thursday now.

ANYWAY! I confess, I thought this was a white tea (I mean come on, with a name like White Monkey…). It’s apparently considered a green tea. The shape of the leaves remind me of the “wild” style black leaves – medium size and very twisty and tangly. They smell mostly of hay and alfalfa with a grassy edge. The package recommended 180 degrees, but I did 175 (partially because that’s my standard for greens and partially because my kettle has 175 and 185 buttons and I was lazy).

The aroma is sweetly vegetal and very light, with hay and grass notes. Tasting this, I find it similar to the Drum Mountain I tried earlier today. I could see it being the result of a cross between green and white teas – it has the vegetal taste of a green (albeit a lighter version) along with the distinctive hay note from a white tea. Very lovely! There’s also a touch of grassiness (green) and just a tiny hint of floral (white). And I can taste a little bit of a light grain note, especially if I slurp obnoxiously. ;)

Quite lovely, one of the best (or the best) I’ve tasted from Adagio.

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

Hooray, another David’s tea! This sounds delicious and I have recently discovered a love for dark oolongs, so it was a no-brainer for me. Dry, it smells quite coffee-like. Definitely hazelnut coffee with some mocha in there too. I happen to like coffee, especially as a flavor, so not a problem for me! David’s seems like it’s been hit-or-miss for me so far, but I have high hopes for this one. I did 5 minutes at 200 degrees, using the whole sample, which was about 1.5 tsp.

The brewed aroma is very nutty, which is amazing! There’s definitely chocolate there too, but the nut is the main event. The taste is also centered around the hazelnut flavor. The chocolate is a lovely complement, and I also pick up on caramel and cream notes. There’s still something quite coffee-like about the whole thing, perhaps because the cocoa beans are roasted combined with the oolong base (it doesn’t specify the type of oolong here, but it’s very dark and I would assume roasted from the taste).

My only issue with this tea… LICORICE. HOW DARE THEY ADD LICORICE TO THIS! It doesn’t make any sense here and it makes the end of the sip have that weird creeping sweetness that reminds me of artificial sweeteners. I dunno, the licorice might be a deal-breaker for me… There’s just no reason for it to be here. >:(

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I don’t have a lot of experience with white teas, so I figured I’d try the few that are in here! This one looks different than any other white tea I’ve seen – it’s a combination of fuzzy silver buds and small leaves of multiple shapes. Similar to bai mudan, but on a smaller scale. It smells of alfalfa and hay, mmm… For some reason I find that scent comforting.

Whoa, the brewed aroma surprised me. It smells very similar to sencha! Vegetal with squash and spinach, but there’s some hay in there as well. Interesting! The taste is quite similar to the smell. It’s like a combination of green and white teas! It’s vegetal but in a lighter way than sencha normally is. Then there’s also the white tea side of it – creamy, light, with hay and alfalfa notes, and maybe something a little bit floral. And even a little bit of sweetness! Overall, I like this a lot! :)

Another Yunnan from (who else?) Nicole. The leaves definitely have a lot of gold in them, mine are almost all golden. So that’s a good sign! :) I can’t comment on the dry scent because mine kind of smell like Maple Moose Chai, hah! Which is my fault, not Nicole’s. I did my usual Yunnan method – 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Aw, man… The aroma is very earthy and woody with smoke undertones. Sad face. Another forest floor Yunnan! The taste is basically the same as the smell – earth, wood, and smoke with some malt. I guess leaf color isn’t everything! Kind of disappointed by this one. :(

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

Another one from 52teas. I tend to enjoy honeybush blends when they’re done well, so I figured I’d give this a try. Supposedly there are cacao nibs in it, but I didn’t see any in my cup’s worth. Just looks like honeybush with flower petals in it. It smells kind of alcoholic, which is odd.

Meh, I wouldn’t really call this pumpkin brownie… There’s a bit of spiciness and maybe a small amount of pumpkin. I definitely don’t get any chocolate, but I guess that makes sense if I didn’t get any cacao nibs. To me, it just tastes like honeybush with a very light spice cake flavor. Not terrible, but not worth trying again.

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I just noticed that I totally missed my 200th tasting note milestone! So hooray! Anyway, this tea. Dry, it has a very powerful scent! Whew. Very strong watermelon-ish scent with a lot of mint. The tea itself is a mixture of a bunch of huge dried fruit chunks.

Yum, I actually like this a lot more than I thought I would based on the smell. I did add sugar, by the way. The front of the sip is watermelon, and it’s very juicy and convincing. Maybe a tiny hint of tart which just exemplifies the juicy flavor. The mint shows up midway through and dominates from then on. It leaves a nice cooling sensation through the aftertaste, which lingers for some time. Very nice, and would be fantastic cold!

Off-topic time! I have signed up for madametj’s traveling tea box(es), and it’s been requested that I get some verification posted from the several people that I’ve swapped with. So if you’ve done a swap with me, please reply to my recent post in the “I would vouch for [username] – tea swap credibility” thread, or send a private message to madametj. Please and thank you! :)

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I’ve been rather curious about Steven Smith’s teas. I have browsed his website many times and there are definitely several things I would like to try. I was excited to see that my local The Fresh Market has a sampler box of his teas, but it’s different from the one listed online and it’s missing a couple of the teas that was really interested in trying. So poo! This was actually one of the teas I was curious about. Luckily for me, there was a single individually-wrapped sachet in the box! Sorry guys, I had to try it. :P

I really really like this tea! It’s a lovely mix of the soft hay-like flavor of bai mudan and the lightly floral honey tones of chamomile. I have no idea what osmanthus tastes like, but I definitely get an extra floral element in here. I’m finding this extremely delicious with a little bit of honey! I would definitely buy this as a nice calming evening option.

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

This is the first tea I’ve tried from 52 Teas. Theirs flavors seem interesting, but it’s not something that’s high on my tea priority list. I’ve also never had a Darjeeling that I know of… Looks like black tea leaves with a bunch of pieces of dried orange peel. It smells very orangey in an orange peel oil sort of way – more sharp than sweet. I don’t know much about Darjeeling, but I’ve heard it needs to be steeped at a lower temperature, so I did 190 in lieu of my usual 200.

This tea is…interesting. The orange is very present, and it’s definitely that same sharper orange oil flavor. There’s a touch of sweet and creaminess from the vanilla. And the base is giving me this interesting herby spice flavor, similar to what I’ve tasted sometimes in some Yunnan teas. Fennel seed, maybe? It’s definitely a savory spice. Overall, I feel like the flavor combination of this tea wasn’t that well thought-out. This is definitely the wrong type of orange flavor to go with vanilla. A sweeter, more juicy orange would have worked better for a dreamsicle tea. Overall, I did like it, but I kept coming back to its shortcomings…

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I’ve been wanting to try some teas from David’s for a while now. I wish they would add smaller size options to their website! This smells quite similar to Della Terra’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and there are even little pieces of candied pineapple in there. It has the same butter/cake flavoring scent. At first I thought there was only one serving in the sample package, but it turns out there’s enough for two. Yay! I steeped for 4 minutes.

This tastes very similar to Pineapple Upside Down Cake too. It has the same artificial butter and cake flavors that I don’t love in that blend. I definitely wouldn’t describe this as coffee cake, there’s no spice element. When I think of coffee cake, I picture the kind with cinnamon and sugar streusel over the top. Yum! But this isn’t it. Boo. :(

Pass the Stash TTB 2.0

I really should have looked up this tea before I tried it, hah! It’s in sachets, so I don’t pay much attention to what the tea inside looked like. I just smelled it and thought it was kind of fruity and sweet and tart. Steeped 5 minutes like I always do for Harney & Sons teas.

Turns out, this is basically liquid hibiscus and rosehips… Of which I am not a huge fan. There’s some berry flavor in there, but it’s hard to differentiate because of how strongly tart this tea is. The addition of the mint is interesting, I can taste it just barely at the end of the sip, and it’s nice and refreshing.

Overall, I would suggest not trying this one unless you like hibiscus and rosehips. Those two combined are definitely the bulk of the flavor here, and even with sugar it’s quite a tart tea. Drinkable, but not something I would ever choose. Luckily, there are several more sachets in here, so I don’t feel too bad for trying it! :P