122 Tasting Notes
To start, a note about the tin. I could NOT get it open! I got the Russian blend mini-tins and for some reason this one was super sealed. I asked my boyfriend for help opening it and he went into Berserker mode. The tin is destroyed! I’ll have to store this another way. Ah well, at least I get to try it now.
It smells great! I detect more spicy notes than citrus ones. It brews up into a dark brown tea. The taste is wonderful – characteristically smooth like Kusmi’s other black tea blends. The tea is supposed to have the scents of bergamot, orange, and mandarin but I am only tasting the lightest bergamot flavor. Perhaps a more refined palette than mine could detect the citrus. I wish they had included orange peel to enhance the citrus side of the tea.
This makes a wonderful breakfast tea, if you like your teas on the milder side. It’s possible I under-leafed this, too. I’ll have to play around. All in all, this is another solid blend from Kusmi!
This is wonderful with a splash of coconut milk. Yum!
I got this tea as a sample tin of this by adding the coupon code ‘bbmini’ to my Kusmi order. Thanks, Kusmi! I was really wanting to try this, but did not want to buy a full size after not liking their detox tea. Opening the tin, I was hit with a lovely, fresh grapefruit smell. My friend said it smelled the best of all my teas and I have to admit it does have a really yummy scent — fruity and delicious. I’ve heard grapefruit is used to induce euphoria in aromatherapy. It may be working!
It still has a great grapefruit aroma when brewed and a light, tart taste. Not tart in an unpleasant way, but it may get that way if oversteeped or cooled down. I am really liking this tea, as are my friend and roommate. This is refreshing and nice. It’s also keeping us awake for our midnight marathon of Arrested Development – yay, new episodes! Hopefully this BB tea makes our skin look nice even though we’re missing our beauty rest. The resteeps are delicious, too. Try this tea! It is super yummy. I guess I’ll have to keep drinking it to see if it works on my skin!
I chose this as my sample from Butiki because I thought these stars were so cute. I was not disappointed – they are super cute! Picture: http://instagram.com/p/ZwdcMNRM3t/
The suggested steep time produced a very light brew that was buttery and sweetly vegetal. I liked it, but had a feeling I should do a longer steep. This was much better – it tastes much more full bodied and even more buttery. Slightly drying, but not bitter.
This is my first tea from Kenya! A generous sample from Stacy at Butiki Teas. Thank you! My first steeping was okay – lightly sweet, but not too flavorful. I read in other reviews that the second steeping is better, so I’m looking forward to that. It’s my first cup of the day and I hope it perks me up a bit. So far drowsy city.
The second steep is a smoother cup, with a lot more familiar white tea flavor. I steeped a little longer this time. The color is very light. This is a nice cup of tea that really expands on the second steep! I’m feeling a bit more awake the more I sip, thank goodness.
Third steep is also good!
I’m trying this for the first time as a looseleaf tea. I got two boxes in the mail today — one impulse buy from Kusmi and a lovely Verdant order. I wanted to try at least one more tea before going home today, smelled them all, and this was what appealed to me. Perhaps because I am hungry and this has notes of fruit, vanilla, and spices.
It smells nice as it steeps. I imagine this would be a good holiday tea due to the spices. Cloves always remind of me Christmas because my mother used to make dried clove oranges to scent the house with around that time. This tea is bringing back childhood memories!
This has a slight metallic taste, but that could entirely be the travel mug I made it in. After I finish this tealog I’m heading home to my puppy, boyfriend, and roommate. I’m so happy it’s Friday and we have a long weekend!
Sorry, back to the tea. This is another solid Russian blend by Kusmi. I don’t love it as much as Anastasia, but it’s good. The tastes all mesh really nicely, I can’t really pick one as being more powerful than the rest. It is a masterful mix. If the ingredient list appeals to you try it out for sure. Kusmi hasn’t let me down yet (except when they use licorice — yuck city).
After transferring this tea from the bag to my tea tin I was struck with the bright green color and delicious smell of these leaves. They are practically bursting with life! I am so excited to try this tea.
It is immediately apparent to me that I did not buy enough. Another Verdant order? So soon? It’s very tempting.
The tea smells like nothing I’ve smelled before. Amazing! It’s so hot, but I want to drink it so I’m scalding my mouth. I need to slow down and savor this.
While I sip I’m reading the article on the verdant website about visiting Master Zhang’s fields. It’s a lovely experience and I almost feel transported there, until it gets too noisy outside and I’m abruptly brought back to real life.
This tea is delicious — almost perfect, I’d say! I am filled with gratitude that I discovered steepster and that steepster led me to Verdant Teas. Verdant, you have a huge fan on the west coast! I know you are opening a tea room, but what about a traveling tea caravan or food truck? There was a traveling van that stopped by Occupy Oakland that was giving away free tea. I’m not saying you should give it away, but you could travel the whole continent and share your lovely teas!
