865 Tasting Notes
Ugh… Idk why, but my entire body has been extremely sore since yesterday afternoon. I need something comforting. So I went for my matcha bowl and whisked up a double batch of thick matcha. 6oz water/2 scoops matcha. The warm matcha warms my body and gives me “warm fuzzies”. It temporarily releaves my pain, I just hope it lasts.
Preparation
I didn’t actually drink this, but I’m logging it anyway. Harney & Sons (the store) really went above and beyond the point of generosity. Emeric sent me some teas they decided they didn’t care for and not only did they not want anything in return, they sent me a sample of one of their senchas and… LAPSANG SOUCHONG CHEESE! I completely flipped out when I saw this.
I decided to christen my taste buds w/ a simple grilled ham and cheese so I didn’t over power the cheese w/ a bunch of other flavors- a thin layer of mayo on each side of the bread, cheese on each side of the bread, and one piece of ham on good french bread and toasted in our George Foreman machine.
I think this is the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. Honestly, I’m not too thrilled w/ the cheese right from the wedge because the cheese itself is a little strong for my personal taste (I have no clue what kind they use), but when melted it’s perfect. Both the taste of the cheese and the tea (although I wish they’d use a little more) hold up to the sandwhich instead of just being a glue that you can’t really taste. Normally the only cheese I put on grilled cheese is pepper jack so I think next time I’ll add just a pinch of red pepper flake to my sandwhich. And maybe some cooked red peppers. I normally put roasted red peppers (the kind in the jar) on it, but I think the brine would be too much. I served this w/ a 2nd infusion of maple sugar black tea and it paired wonderfully w/ not only the smokeyness of the lapsang souchong, but the flavor of the cheese itself. I’ll wait til I can actually rate the cheese individually, but this cheese gets a 100 in my book!=D
Amazing! I plan to visit the tea room in upstate NY this spring – I have yet another delight to look forward to – tea cheese!
It’s another planet there, isn’t it? Bacon tea, LS cheese, etc.
I’m not much of a cheese fan, but I do love it melted. I think that this product would be quite brilliant. I’d try it with on grilld tomatoes, I think.
Robert, I’m not a cheese fan either- only on hot sandwhiches, mac n cheese, pizza, and of course fried! I saw a grilled egg plant, zucchini, tomato, and basil sandwhich on tv I want to try- this’d be killer on it.
Argh, LS cheese… sounds lovely. I can almost taste it. They don’t have it in their online store! :-(
Mmmm….everything in this tasting note sounds wonderful! Truly wonderful! I need to get in good with H&S like you!
2nd infusion. Starting a new tasting note because I have to point out this is AMAZING w/ a grilled ham and cheese using Harney & Son’s lapsang souchong cheese!!! I went simple because I didn’t want to mask the cheese- a very thin layer of mayo on both sides of the bread, cheese on both sides, and 1 piece of ham on nice thick french bread and put in our George Foreman machine. The sweetness of the tea balanced the smokeyness perfectly. Quite possibly the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. Would be amazing w/ tomato soup as well.
Preparation
Our tea cheese is pretty much the bomb.. right? hehe
-Emeric
I’m not sold on the chai one (cinnamon and cheese?), but I must try the matcha one next.
You may have it confused. The Chai and Matcha are with the ice cream!
Oh ok, I thought you had those 3 varieties of cheeses… although you really shouldn’t have corrected me cuz now I’m craving ice cream! Hehe;) Fat free frozen yogurt versions would be even better.
Breakfast was ready when I got up so I had this 1st instead of my matcha. Served w/ 1tsp sugar free maple syrup and chocolate chip waffles and breakfast sausage links. Yum!
Preparation
drool sounds like a great saturday breakfast combo!
Haha, it is! And the maple syrup adds less than 3 calories- can’t beat that w/ a stick.
Nice review does this tea really taste maple like or is it too sweet?
It tastes VERY much like maple, but has a nice tea base which I demand from my flavored teas. It also doesn’t get too sweet even when I add 1tsp of maple syrup. This is really the only tea I sweeten. It doesn’t really sweeten it, but it does round out the flavors.
Sounds like a perfect way to start a weekend!
Especially when it won’t be a good weekend.
I’m sorry to hear that it won’t be good. My weekend is going to be much better than yesterday. We were robbed, came in by breaking out a window in the back door, my husband is just now finishing the repairs on the door, I have my new laptop set up (had to have it for work), and I’m going to be installing programs for much of the day.
We’re so lucky they didn’t take any of the other computers or the second TV. They even left some jewelry that I had sitting next to my computer.
Oh my gosh! Praise God you’re safe! A few weeks ago a former teacher’s house was invaded while the family (he, his wife, 2 small kids) slept.
Ok, I know I’ve written 2 different tasting notes for the same portion of leaves already, but I think this is worthy of a 3rd. This is infusion number 11 yes, 11! Steeped 15 min. Very light liquor, but it’s still totally drinkable. It’s back to being very sweet. I think I’m gonna take a cue from the liquor rather than the flavor and call these leaves dead. Finally
I got this from Harney & Son’s (The Store) purely out of curiosity and, quite honestly, fully anticipating to hate it because, save chai, I don’t care for black tea and I hate beer- the only way to make beer worse to me would be to serve it hot, and I drank this hot.
New Conclusions: I really wish we could rate different aspects of teas individually. My rating stands as I don’t think this tastes anything like beer except for the 1st infusion, and even that is severely lacking. That being said, as an unflavored black tea I’d easily give this one a 100. My 100 isn’t the average person’s 100 though. I give this black tea because it does not act, smell, or taste like a black tea. I love how it morphs from a black tea, to almost dry wine-esk, then back and forth between a white, oolong, and raw pu erh. This isn’t what it’s advertised as, but it is AMAZING!
Preparation
i feel like you’re just getting drunk off it now. X-P
Haha, you’d think based on my tasting notes!
Hmm, very interesting! I guess it’s a good thing it doesn’t taste like beer… but then again, I don’t like beer. But even if I did, I don’t know if tea tasting like beer is a good thing… haha.
If you are enjoying the base that much, I should tell you that for the Beer tea, we used a single estate Nilgiri black tea. We use it in all of our flavored black teas, but for most we also blend in some Assam for body. I didn’t want the Assam to overpower the light beer flavor in this one, so we left it out.
Nilgiri teas are my personal favorite black teas. They are high grown in the blue mountains and similar to Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) teas, but in my humble opinion, even better.
4th infusion using leaves from last nite, steeped 8 min. Still oolong in taste- aroma and flavor much like the 3rd infusion. Yum!
Preparation
5th infusion, 9 min. Liquor is lighter and more dull this time. The flavor isn’t weaker, but it is more sweet.
6th infusion, 10 min. Ditto on the liquor and flavor of infusion 9. This is almost like a white tea or cooked pu erh!
7th infusion, 11 min. Whoa… darker liquor this time. Wasn’t expecting that. Almost a brown mustard color. Slightly stronger flavor as well. It’s still sweet, but there’s more body to it.
8th infusion, 12 min. Almost exactly like infusion 7 in every way.
9th infusion, 13 min. Lighter in liquor, but not flavor.
10th infusion, 14 min. Lighter yet in liquor, a golden color now. Same flavor though.
For personal reasons, this is one of the most horrible days of the year for me. So I turned to my matcha bowl. Desperate times call for lots of thick matcha. 2 HEAPING scoops (1.75g each!) matcha in 6oz water. Unfortunately this bowl doesn’t froth as much as it usually does, probably because it’s so thick. Now this is the perfect cure to a bad day! Thick, grassy, sweet, w/ a hint of orange. The only bad part is the last sip- it’s so thick that I need to add a little bit more water to get it down, unusual for a matcha that I normally hardly have to wisk and leaves my bowl clean. All in all a lucious, comforting bowl. Unfortunately, I don’t have anyone to drink tea w/ today- anyone care to join me in having a bowl of matcha virtually? I love reading matcha tasting notes!=D
Preparation
I hope your day gets better, Cofftea. I’m also curious about matcha and do want to try it sometime. You make it sound so tasty!
Hope your day gets better! I have a few days in the year like that so I totally know what it is like. I would have a bowl of matcha with you if I wasn’t at work.
Laura, it’s really the best ever:)
It’s not matcha in my cup. But I raise my cup to you virtually and wish you a nice day ahead.
i’ve never had matcha, too chicken
I, too, was cautious about purchasing matcha and a full matcha set (matcha itself can be expensive and I wanted to do it right) but after having it at a cafe (only a $2.50 investment) I was in love!
I may have to try the cafe route, the entire kit is so expensive I’d hae to invest to find I don’t like it. Overall I don’t enjoy greens as much as blacks or reds. I am on the fence with whites.
AmazonV, regular green tea and matcha are quite different, so give it a try. I’m on a budget so I have yet to buy a full matcha kit, but I’ve tried some when visiting other people and it’s quite nice. I’m not a big fan of green tea but I love matcha.
You both should check out the matcha kit thread, there are some great economical kits out there!
There’s a matcha kit thread? Thank you for letting me know! I’m really on a budget this month (perhaps also the next) because I had to buy a new camera, and I’m trying to hold off on buying teaware until I move in the Fall, but… doesn’t hurt to start looking now!
My 1ST MAN TEA! Well if you don’t count Mayan Chocolate Chai, because that’s a cross over. Emeric from Harney & Son’s ordered it and decided it just wasn’t his cuppa, so he passed it along to me. I really think that our tastebuds are created differently so we can bless others by giving them things we don’t care for.
I’m prefacing this by saying that, save chai, I’m just not a black tea person. And I hate beer. That being said, when it comes to tea- I have to try pretty much everything. The weirder it sounds, the more I want to try it. And if beer tea doesn’t sound weird enough, how’s hot beer tea for ya? Ummm… Yeah…
So anyway, 2.25g tea in 6oz water just below boiling. This is too funny… now this may be because I microwaved my water (microwaving does funky things to water), but as soon as the water hit the tea leaves, it foamed like beer! I’ve seen that occassionally, but unlike other times, when I ran my finger over the foam after decanting it was much thicker. My finger wiped away the foam where my finger had been but left the surrounding foam unaffected. Strange…
The liquor is a basic dark brown that you’d expect from a black tea, no reddish tones. The aroma is mostly of the black tea w/ a very faint hint of beer.
When I taste it, I’m surprised. The flavor profile is exactly like the aroma- mostly black tea w/ a hint of beer. There’s also a lot of dryness to the mouth feel. It reminds me of a very dry wine. It almost makes me feel like there’s sandpaper on my tongue or that I need to brush my teeth.
Conclusions: Very good dry black tea w/ a hint of beer. I don’t think the flavor of beer is strong enough as I’m not sure I could define this as tasting of beer if I didn’t know it was supposed to be.
Preparation
HAHA! Awesome! I’m always to scared to purchase anything this out of the box. Maybe I need to “man” up ;-)
I’d purchase it just to see it foam! LOL
Yeah my tongue has more balls than most guys. I was visiting my ex out in Seattle one time and watched a quad rugby scrimmage (the Spokane team) and went to the wing bar near campus. I ordered a hell wing (you have to sign a waver for it) and none of the big macho guys did. The were all looking at me like “Oh my gosh, you’re awesome- I’d never do that!”. It was worth almost dying for:)
I MUST try this one! I love beer. Mmmm! And the fact that it foams is outstanding.
2nd infusion, 4 min. No foamage Liquor is quite a bit lighter, and reddish. The aroma is dry. This infusion is more like a wine than beer. The mouth feel is still very dry but the flavor is sweet.
oops, 2nd infusion should read 6 min.
Whoa… what the heck? Now this is strange… 3rd infusion, 7 min. Liquor is a burnt orange color, almost like an oolong. And what’s even stranger, is that it tastes like an oolong too! It’s not dry at all and is extremely sweet. Yum! Not being a black tea lover I normally resteep twice at most, if that- but I love this so much I’m going for another! (Gomer Pile voice) Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!
I bet my husband would like the first infusion, and I would like all the other ones!!
I wish they still had some of this because I would love to try it.
I KNOW! I’d buy it by the pound next summer for iced tea.
