865 Tasting Notes
My body, stomach, and tongue is calling for something light and smooth so I’m going w/ this. Unlike last time I’m cutting the steeping time down to 3 min, the time I prefer for most jasmine teas.
The liquor is an odd color… almost a dingy yellow, like I used my cup several times before. The aroma, while light, is both of tea and jasmine. It’s flowery, smooth, sweet, crisp, and clean.
The flavor is much like the liquor. While substantially lighter, the jasmine is definitely there and remains in your mouth for a while. Bumping it up!
Preparation
For some reason I’ve been achey from head to toe since I woke up and have had an upset stomach off and on so I treated myself to a half bowl w/ True North Almond Crisps. Yum!
Preparation
Sorry about feeling bad. :( But that Mandarin Matcha sounds pretty tasty!
It is! I’m gonna cry when it’s gone.
I hope you feel better soon! I really want to try this—I hope it’ll be available again!
Or at least I hope they come out w/ other flavors soon!
Oh no! Feel better soon! My stomach was terribly upset yesterday, so I feel your pain.
Those almond crisps are addictive!
The only place I’ve found them are walgreens and they’re discontinuing them! :(
Are you near a Wal-Mart? Ours carries a few True North items; might try there.
I’ve seen a few True North items there, but not these :(
I’m behind on my tea drinking! I woke up at 8:30, but ended up having a 2 1/2 hr convo w/ someone who may end up to be pretty special. After he had to go, I had this thick (1 scoop/3oz water). I hope the day continues to be as good as it started!=D
Preparation
yay at special guys!
But what is it w/ me and LDRs? This’ll be 3 for 3.
Nothing wrong with LDRs
Except they’re really hard (and expensive) and obviously they haven’t worked before.
True, they can be hard and expensive at times, but if you can make it through one, you can make it through anything in your relationship with that person. Finding new things to do in an LDR definitely helps make them less hard and helps them work out. I’m currently in one, and we always find new ways to spend time with one another.
I’m guessing “long distance relationships”. :-)
Good luck on the LDR! On a positive note, some of them do work out!
Garrett- “we always find new ways to spend time with one another.”… how do you do that long distance?
Well, the time we spend “together” is online, mainly video chatting (both of us having macs makes things a lot easier). There is one function with our computers, we have a screen sharing feature, so a lot of times one of us will play a movie and share our screen with the other person, so we can watch movies together and talk to eachother (even though we can’t see eachother during the movie). We play video games online together (usually flash based video games or things like that). Plus it kinda helps that during winter and summer she has breaks from teaching, so we kinda get to see eachother at these times. We talk everyday even though there is a 16 hour time difference.
I don’t normally put 2TB of creamer in my tea or coffee, but I just couldn’t resist in indulging by putting 1TB each chocolate caramel and white caramel creamers in this. Steeped it in 4oz water then added 2oz coffee concentrate before adding the creamer. OH… MY… GOSH… This is sooo good!
Preparation
Wishing this was Japanese sencha in base… does anyone else find that mango and papaya type fruits come off tasting strawberry/watermelony in tea? W/ the currant I was worried it’d taste like really watered down hot kool aid, but I can definitely taste the sencha.
Preparation
I bought this because it looked weird. I love weird teas. Unfortunately I was a little disappointed when I got it. It says on the packaging, but not the website, that this is red chili pepper- not the red bell pepper I assumed it to be. Yeah, yeah. I know what happens when I assume. Speaking of the packaging… I bought the bag, not the tin. When sealed, it’s definitely protected from the elements buuut… once opened (it needs to be cut) it is not protected at all. I’m sorry, but a company that expects me to pay more for the same amount of tea to be protected from the elements for the entire time it stays in my cupboard is quite underhanded. That annoys me.
Anyway, back to the tea. Steeped as suggested except that I didn’t bring the water quite to a boil to preserve the health benefits. The liquor is a dark brown w/ reddish tones and the aroma is earthy and toasty.
Now if you freaked out as soon as I said chili pepper, don’t. This is not as spicy as 52teas Mayan Chocolate Chai. The chili leaves plenty of room for the depth of the oolong to come out. It would; however, pair wonderfully w/ a chai spice mix to make an oolong chai.
Preparation
2nd infusion, 3 min 20 sec. Liquor is quite a bit lighter and orangy. Flavor is lighter as well, both the oolong and the chili. Roastyness is very light making a sweeter cuppa.
3rd infusion, 4 min 20 sec. Slightly lighter liquor, but same flavor as the 2nd infusion.
A lot of the peppery chais also have licorice in them, which I don’t like, so this might be pretty tasty.
This one has no licorice:) and neither does Mayan Chocolate Chai.
“…a company that expects me to pay more for the same amount of tea to be protected from the elements for the entire time it stays in my cupboard is quite underhanded.”
Interesting that you’d understand it that way. I really appreciate it when companies offer non-tin tea refills cheaper….it saves money. The idea is that you only need to buy a tin the first time, and afterward you can save money and space by buying the cheaper refill.
Or you can empty it into another container, say Adagios?
FYI, the Lupicia tins aren’t really tight. So I wouldn’t even use them to hold the loose leaves in the first place. You need to use a rubber band or something to keep it sealed.
True, but my current storage isn’t condusive to tins. And I don’t prefer tins either.
Ricky, that’s exactly why I don’t prefer tins. I could, yes- (If I had one, which I don’t) but I shouldn’t have to. The option of the bag or the tin is nice- I’m just asking that the bag option keep the tea safe from the elements.
Oh and rubber bands won’t work- I’m allergic to latex:(
I don’t get it—you don’t have to buy the bag! You’re supposed to buy the tin, and the bag is a refill and is discounted as an added perk for repeat customers. It’s kind of strange to bash a company for providing you a discount!
Cuz I didn’t want the tin. I’m not bashing them for providing a discount. I’m saying I wish the bag would close after being opened. That’s it. End of story.
Hair ties, scrunchies? Whatever feminine products you guys have? =] But it’s a shame that you’re allergic to latex. I had a teacher once that wanted to be a doctor, but she was allergic to it, poor her.
I thought you were suppose to buy whatever is cheapest. You get what you pay for =] I think the pouches aren’t resealable because it’s the same ones they put into the tin. It wouldn’t make sense to have zip lock pouches and a tin that’s seal-able.
I too wish the bag was resealable, but since I have the tins I didn’t really think that, but I’m sure I would if I didn’t.
Couldn’t resist getting this because they don’t tell you what it is. Steeped as suggested 5oz water/3min. The bag weighs 3.22g so I’m expecting a nice strong cup. The smell increases my expectation of that. It looks like it’s black in base and smells heavily of orange and passionfruit or mango.
Yep. It’s a black. The liquor is a very dark translucent brown w/ reddish tints and the aroma is still very fruity.
The flavor is much like the aroma. A smooth, heavily fruity flavored black tea (although now much more passionfruity/mangoy than orangey). A little like unset jello.
Preparation
Drank this w/ dark chocolate peanut butter on graham crackers.
Even though the weight (3.5g) is on the bag, which is really nice, I decided to weigh it and was surprised that mine is actually 3.74g! Yay!
6oz just shy of boiling water. The liquor is very dark and it definitely smells of strong cinnamon. To my relief, it does not taste of cinnamon red hots though. While strong, the cinnamon is smooth and blends w/ the strong tea base. There’s even almost a sweetness to it. This; however, is not what I think of or want when I drink chai. It’s simply a cinnamon flavored black tea.
2nd infusion, 4min. Liquor is less dingy, more buttery. Flavor is nearly the same as the 1st infusion
3rd infusion, 5min. Lighter liquor, less (but still) jasminey and more sweet.
I haven’t tried this one by Adagio, but the last jasmine I had, from Chado, seemed best with a minute or so per steep. Depends on the base tea, I suppose.
It was a limited special (only available a few hrs). I can’t imagine doing a 1 min steep w/ a white or oolong…
4th infusion, 6min. Almost identical in liquor and flavor to the 3rd.
5th infusion, 7min. Ditto on the last 2 infusions.