Jillian Send Message

This isn’t one of those mild, whimpy little chais, that’s for sure! The tea is wonderfully fragrant, smelling mostly of cloves and pepper, but I can tell that there are a few other things mixed in there too. The flavours are similar aswell – this tea doesn’t do subtle I’m thinking!

Interestingly, the base isn’t particularly harsh despite the bold flavours. A lot of chais use a really crappy base because the sellers know that it’ll mostly be covered up by the spices. But in this case the tea is quite smooth, I don’t particularly feel like I have to have this tea with milk in order to make it drinkable (although I’m sure it would be nice).

First cup of tea of the morning (well it’s early afternoon now). If you’re curious go read my old tasting notes on this tea.

Another tea I got in a trade with Lena. I have to say the impossible has happened – I’ve found a Zhena’s Gypsy tea that I actually enjoy.

The smell of the tea was lovely and frnagently grassy – no stales leaves here. I was pretty conservative with the steeping temp and time not wanting to botch it up. I’d rather have tea that’s a little bit on the weak side rather than tea that’s so oversteaped it’s undrinkable.

The taste has the typical sencha grassy notes with a touch of astringency, which I noticed mostly strongly when the tea was hot. It’s not too mouth-drying though thankfully; some greens and darjeelings make me feel like I’m having all the moisture sucked out of my mouth. There’s also a bit of a smoother, sweeter taste that creeps in as the tea get cooler – it reminds me of something, but I’m not quite sure what yet.

I also got a decent resteep out of the leaves (2 min) and again could probably get another couple more out of it.

I got three good steeps out of this tea and I’m pretty sure I could have gotten at least one or two more. The flavour has great staying power.

Five minutes might have been a bit too much for the CTC tea in this blend. I added some milk and I am picking up a trace of vanilla this time, but it’s an accent rather than the focus of the tea. It’s not a horrible tea but it doesn’t really do much for me – I think I’ll put it up for ‘adoption’.

My last cup of tea of the night/veeery early morning. I love how yummy and dessert-like it tastes.

Fruity and light with just enough ginger in it to be warming and refreshing. :)

The two steepings (1st @ 3:30, 2nd @ 4:30) I coaxed out of these leaves were both smooth and with a slightly buttery/milk note to them, complimenting the vegetale flavours and the slightly floral notes.

As the leaves unfolded I was surprised to see a lot of stems and even things that would qualitfy as twigs in with the leaves. I’m rather impressed at how tightly the manufacturers managed to roll up the leaves with all those pokey bits in there – aren’t the leaves supposed to be removed first?

Yum, this tea smells deliciously cherry-like. Cherry and mango are my two favorite fruits and sadly there don’t seem to be many (good) cherry-flavoured teas out there. The flavour is mostly that of a nice, mild Russian Caravan. I’ve found that a lot of Russian Caravan blends are too heavy on the Lapsang Souchong, but this one is quite pleasent.

I’d like maybe a touch more cherry flavour, though. Right now I’m just getting a slight hint and a bit of an aftertate. Still is makes for a nice variation on a common tea blend like this.

This tea is exponentially better with a bit of milk added to it – it really cuts down on the bitterness and it nicely smoothes the taste out. I am picking up a bit of smoke this time but mostly I’m getting a more malty sort of flavour. Upping the rating. :)