865 Tasting Notes
2.25g/6oz purifed water. 2 infusions 2 & 3 min respectively.
Tried to get a yellow liquor out of this so bumped the water temp just a bit and backed off on the steeping time by a min. Didn’t work. Just a slightly lighter cup.
Preparation
Yeah… I know… I’m probably gonna regret this, but I haven’t slept in 3 nites and mom decided to do all her Christmas shopping tonite and then we need to wrap presents so I won’t be in bed til late. I needed a matcha that was sweet and smooth so I went w/ this again. Not to mention the dull color matches my mood. YUM!
Preparation
2.25g/6oz purified water. The raw leaves are so pretty! Some are twisted and others are so scrunched they almost look like they’re rolled. The liquor is a lot darker than I expected. Other than that I can’t tell you much cuz I’m still sick. Although I gave it a pretty high score because I could actually taste it a bit inspite of my cold.
Preparation
I want to try this one. . .
www.favatea.com For some reason it isn’t in their on-line catalog so just give them a call. They’re great!
Maybe they ran out? teasmecafe.com has an intriguing description of this tea. . .a Buddhist Monk Specialty!
No, cuz I looked for it as soon as I came home on Monday after buying it so I could put a discription in the tea profile. They still have it, but I know they’re going to discontinue it and replace it w/ another yellow (they used to have 2 on their website) so maybe that’s why.
Thanks for looking for a discription!:)
ya, i was curious! First I wanted to know what Kind of tea this was. . . cuz it sounded like an Oolong. . .and now i must have some!
2nd infusion, 4 min. Liquor is a redish brown, almost clay in color. And I think it’s a bit sweeter… I think… hard to tell w/ this dang cold.
what temp. do you use? I usually keep mine low for most teas. .
My log says 180 cuz that’s what the tea shop recommends.
3rd infusion 5 min. It’s not really weaker, more mellow I’d call it. But then again what do I know when it comes to being able to taste tea today?
4th infusion, 6 min. I’m more sure of the increasing sweetness now.
do you keep all of these at a constant 180?? . . hope you feel better soon :)
Yep.
5th and 6th infusions, 7 and 8 min. I have no clue why they call this yellow tea. The raw leaves are brown and green, the wet leaves are green, and the liquor is reddish brown.
…personally I am not very fond of yellow tea. To mild for my taste…I am surprised that you get so much infusions out of one portion…YOU…the most demanding tea drinker that I ever had the pleasure to come across…;-)
Must have been very fresh leafs then…I guess
Demanding? How do you mean? I don’t want to assume you mean that as an insult.
…no.Why would I want to insult you,young Lady?
You are very particular about taste of teas…which I find hard to enjoy with a yellow tea.That’s why I was taken by surprise reading you exciting comment.But of course: different people, different teas,different tastes…maybe I simply haven’t met THE yellow tea that carries the ability to blow my socks off…
Ok, demanding just has a negative connotation here.:) Actually I’m much more demanding (or I like to say “type A”) in how I prepare tea vs what I like. Now that I’m getting into pu erhs I pretty much like anything that isn’t red rooibos or has fennel, licorice, or anise. I also do not prefer blacks. I have yet to try green rooibos, yerba mate, and honey bush, and I hope to one day enjoy rooibos.
…you don’t like blacks but you are getting in to Pe-Erhs…have to digest that first. Well, we certainly could argue now about the taste difference between blacks and Chinese red teas…no mood for…feel a bit week today.Guess a fever is on it’s approach (…plus except for a redicolous Peppermint ‘Tea’-bag this morning I didn’t have anything propper to drink…grrr…)…but,yeah sorry, I start to drift away…The questions I actualy was about to ask:are you drinking green pu-erhs?
Keemun, yeah I can’t figure it out. As much as I don’t care for non chai blacks, I’m quite surprised I like cooked pu erhs as much as I do, but that’s probably because as dark as they are, they aren’t blacks. Although I do prefer raw pu erh (to answer your question) based on the one I’ve tried… but that’s because raw pu erhs are like green oolongs, whites, and greens, not blacks and dark oolongs.
My last herbal and last bagged tea for the day. Although I think I may make myself some ginger water and chill it to have w/ my dinner. Hearing about light tea bags really has me doubting bagged teas even more. This one ways 1.43g. It is very light by weight, but not in flavor so I’m not sure I’d want it much lighter unless I steeped it for only 5 min (it suggests 5-7).
Preparation
I used to drink this daily and I really need to get back into it. But, YAY! I have a couple left. Bagged is easy for me today so that’s another plus. This is an herbal blend so I normally steep this in green or white tea, but I don’t need the caffeine and I don’t wanna putz around w/ it so I’m just gonna have it plain. Minty and slightly medicinal (kinda like ginseng). Just what I need. I’ve been sucking on green tea latte candy between my tea, but I still can’t stop coughing.
Preparation
Whoa, tea from Arbonne? Is it pricey like their beauty stuff?
It’s $20 for 14 bags, although I became a whole sale customer back when the discount was 35% (now it’s 20%). I haven’t looked into any other detox blends(although I’m looking for a good loose leaf version), but like any other high quality tea it is more expensive than dust in a bag. Product quality for anything, like beauty products or tea, costs more because fillers are cheap.
Wow, steeping herbal tea in green or white tea, I never thought of that. I’m learning so many things on here!
@Peggie, that’s because while I enjoy the flavor some herbals I drink tea not only for the taste, but also the health benefits. Steeping them separately also allows you to steep each of the blend components in the amount you want, in the temperature you want, and for the time you want.
I think it’s a great idea! It inspires me to think outside the teabag. :-)
Got this in a tea swap from Ricky. He must be completely crazy though, I don’t know why he’d ever want to part with this!:) Oh well, I’m definitely not going to complain. I just hope that this sets w/ my stomach.
Observations opening the tin: It’s in a silver bag and I can see this resulting in not only a big mess, but also wasted matcha and I DON’T want that. It’s darker and duller in color than Den’s Tea’s Matcha Kaze- olive green. It’s also finer.
Now onto the tricky part. I VERY carefully dump the contents of the bag into the tin which I placed in my matcha bowl to collect the mess then dump what fell out in the tin. Success! Very little waste. But it didn’t help my cold… the fine powder went up into the air a bit and made my cough worse.
Preparation: 1 scoop/8oz water
When I wisk it I notice the dullness in color as well, it’s not as vibrant as Matcha Kaze. I also realize that it’s more fragrant- just like the tin says. A nice sweet aroma. And what’s that…? Foam! Yes it’s wimpy thin foam mainly around the edge of my bowl, but I actually got it to foam.
Now for the real test… taste and texture. The sweetness isn’t just in the aroma. It definitely carries over to the taste. The mouth feel is also smoother than Matcha Kaze. Maybe that’s because it’s thinner so it whisks together better and thus gets less chunky.
Conclusions: I’m not going to say this is better than Den’s Matcha Kaze, but it is different. It’s sweeter while Matcha Kaze is more… savory? Umami? I’m one of those people who can’t tell what is or isn’t umami so is matcha is supposed to be umami? I also like that it’s not only from a company who deals exclusively w/ Japanese greens and teaware like Den’s Tea, but is actually located in Japan. It’s kinda hard to compare since this one didn’t get a full foam, but I think this matcha is closer to Rishi’s than Matcha Kaze which is neither good or bad as I love all 3 of my matcha experiences. -Except I really prefer a bulk container instead of indivual servings like Rishi’s
Preparation
Haha, I used up most of it already :D, sharing is caring. It’s okay, I plan on getting some of Rishi’s matcha soon. I’ll share too when I decide to purchase it :D
Gotta love the 25% sale right now.=D I haven’t prepared Rishi matcha before- but I have had it prepared for me at a cafe, that was my 1st matcha experience. They have MUCH better luck w/ foam than I do.
I just purchased myself one of these :D
I’m planning on getting some matcha to make myself some green tea latte.
For me personally, it’s not real matcha if I don’t use the proper utensils. I have a nice matcha set that was fairly expensive (at least for my budget at this time of year) so I’ll stick w/ that. I think I just need more practice. And I don’t really miss the foam.
FINALLY got my catalog so I’m drinking and logging this as I page thru it. Based on the reviews I’m not expecting much, but a free sample that’s easy for me to make when I’m sick is always good. And I’m hoping at least the name of it will give me some comfort and joy.
Observations: FREE +, convenience for 1st infusion +, convenience for multiple infusions -, bagged (not my personal preference -, environmentally friendly bag +, bag that’s difficult to fish out w/o an aid -, comes w/ a catalog +, tempts me to buy things I shouldn’t -, weight – (way too light for a 6oz cup especially considering spices take up some of the weight), contains licorice -.
Serving: in 6oz water. Hot and clean.
I’m absolutely SHOCKED at how dark the liquor is based on the weight. It looks just like black coffee. Maybe this won’t be bad after all- considering I’ve already had 1 tisane today that had licorice in it and wasn’t bad.
As for the aroma, I smell the black tea, the spices, and the apple. This smells more like an apple chai than Adagio’s apple chai does.
Hmmm… interesting… It’s not nearly as weak as I expected it to be based on the weight and the flavor is definitely in good proportion to the liquor. I taste all 3 components: the black tea, the spice (but no licorice thank GOD!), and the fruityness you’d expect from a chai w/ apple in it… if someone had given this to me w/o telling me what it was I’d swear it was MarketSpice chai because the fruityness is citrus- orange. Not what I expected, but good!
Conclusions: Good free tea. Nice to have around for when you aren’t up to making loose tea. Full of surprises in strength of flavor and in what flavors you get. If you don’t mind that it’s an orangy and not an appley chai, you’ll really like this one. Not sure how it’ll taste w/ milk because MarketSpice chai tastes like a hot dreamscicle when I add milk.
Preparation
So continues my “I’m too sick to make loose leaf so I’ll use up the bagged tea that I have” day. Unfortunately that means a lot of 1st infusions (I don’t resteep bags). So I may not sleep tonite… and I had to edit that because I typed “steep” lol.:)
Observations: Bagged -, convenience for 1st steep +, convenience for additonal steeps -, no licorice, anise, or fennel +x3, rum +.
Inspite of this being bagged, I’m REALLY excited to try this because I’ve never had a prepackaged chai w/ rum in it before.
Serving: 1 bag/6oz water… dang, forgot to weigh this. Hot and clean.
The aroma is light and a little sweet from the rum and so is the taste. I’m not sure this would stand up to milk. The only 3 improvements I’d suggest is adding a pinch of chili flake and vanilla bean, and making it loose leaf.
Conclusions: VERY good for a bagged chai, but since it is that contributed to a lower rating. Not sure if it’d stand up to milk, which also contributed to a rate reduction. VERY good if you’re looking for a unique bagged chai that you don’t neccessarily want to add milk to (deserves a 100 for that). If I find a loose version I may want to try it w/ a tiny bit of brown sugar.
Preparation
(whines) When am I ever gonna get better? OK, I’m done. But seriously, I’m on day four (I think) of this cold and today is the worst. I couldn’t even go to Prayer + Share this morning so that makes me even more depressed… I’ve got a couple bags lying around and while it’s not my preference, it’s a quick and easy way for me to make tea. Put this in my coffee (6oz) w/ 1tsp sugar free hazelnut syrup. A touch on the sweet side but pretty darn good. The only thing I can’t figure out is why the heck they’d put chamomile or licorice root in it??? I gave it a pretty low score, but if you like rooibos/herbal blends and/or pumpkin spice, I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.
There’s one I use for sore throat/cough stuff too, Throat Coat. It also has a licorice taste, which I don’t like, but it is very sweet, and it has a long steeping time, so it gets very viscous. A little weird, but my throat always feels so much better, that I drink it down! Hope you feel better soon!