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Another of the teas I got from Takgoti. The dry leaves are long, dark and wiry, I supposed I’m used to seeing my black teas more broken-looking. The scent is interesting in that it’s not what traditional black tea smell – actually it reminds me more of a Yunnan tea than a Indian tea.

The flavour is a bit like Yunnan too, sort of malty but with tannin undertones, although it lacks the strength and smokiness of the Chinese teas. However at the very beginning I’m also tasting something that reminds me of berries, but it’s quite elusive and it disappears quite quickly. I’m not sure where people are getting ‘sugar’ and honey’ from because I’m not really tasting it, although I think there’s a bit of sweetness on the tail-end of each sip.

I sent out a bunch of teas to people yesterday. $20 in postage – oy! So if anyone requested tea from me you should be getting it in the next couple weeks.

As for this tea, go read my older tasting notes. ;)

This was another random loose teabag that I fished out of my cupboard – I wanted something quick and non-caffinated so it got popped it in my mug.

From what I can tell it has two distinct flavours: First there’s the tart flavour of the dreaded Hibiscus Monster. Then it’s followed up by the sweet taste of licorice root. It’s interesting how the two flavours hardly mesh at all. It’s like tart….beat…beat…sweet. It seems like a failed attempt at making a realistic ‘ripe berry’ flavour.

2nd steeping of these leaves. The white tea is more pronounced, vegetale and nutty-tasting in turns. The candied cherry flavour has morphed into a sort of sugary, syrupy taste with no real flavour apart from ‘sweet’.

Not a tea I’m going to rave about, I think, but still very nice all the same. I need to try more of this to be sure what my opinion on it is.

Another tea from the lovely Takgoti.

The scent of this tea reminds me of cherries, but not the fresh, juicy sort; it’s more of a candied smell. It brings to mind those sugared blossoms that are sometimes used to decorate cakes.

Taste-wise mostly what I’m getting is the white tea (which is quite nice, BTW) with a hint of something floral and sweet at the end of each sip.

Thank you Takgoti for getting me more of this tea. I’m going to be a sad puppy when it does eventually run out. :D

I’m drinking it with some skim milk this time around and it does nicely emphasize the cream flavours in the tea aswell as take off some of the astringency of the tea base without overwhelming it. I’m a bit disappointed that the strawberry flavour wasn’t similarly emphasized, but then again, I hate those over-strong, fake-tasting flavours tea companies sometimes use.

I had this with milk this morning. Since I’ve pretty much already said all that there is to say about this tea, you can go back and read my past tasting notes.

My last cup of the Lavender Basics Russian Caravan and I’ll forever be kicking myself for not having bought more while I had the chance. * mourns *

This tea has just the right amount of smoke and its tannin level is low enough that it can be drunk with or without milk, but at the same time it makes its presence felt. Farewell good tea, I’ll miss you.

This tea is an interesting mix of regular-looking black tea and CTC teas. It still smells sweet and vanilla-y when it’s dry but when I was steeping it the smell actually reminded me of Adagio’s Sweet Potato Pie!

The taste is also still rather astringent even though I added some milk.

The smell reminds me of Starbucks lattes, and while I’m not a fan of drinking coffee, I do love the smell of it. Sadly, the tea itself is bit of a letdown, as is often the case with incredibly smelling teas. I mostly get a light ‘tea’ taste with a nutty flavour that makes me think of hazelnuts and walnuts, and the vanilla only comes in at the very end.

None the less, it’s a nice, easy-drinking tea. I’ve been looking for a decaf tea that doesn’t involve rooibos to drink at night. This isn’t precisely the Holy Grail of decaf, but I’m willing to settle for now. ;)