390 Tasting Notes
sitting in the library waiting for hours five, six and seven of classes to start and thought i’d play catch up.
if i go light on the word count i could stop at ‘wow’. add to that ‘damn’ (because i just got a sample size), and ‘jam’ or maybe ‘more!!!!’……. do exclamation points count as extra words?
i have no idea what’s going on with ATR. i don’t now if they’re refining, reviewing, tweaking- all of the above? pretty sure it isn’t my tongue. needless to say they have impressed me immensely lately whereas before they were interesting, but not incredible. goes to show businesses improve and bring their products along for the ride.
this blend is apricot jam. a hint of the stone is detectable, convincing me that it’s fresh in my cup.
awesome. now for some last minute reading……
Preparation
huh!
when my atr order came in as always they stashed extra goodies. i stopped when i got to this one. i had flashbacks of the last vanilla mint puerh i’d had which i would STILL swear was heated pepto bismol…..
honestly, i had real concerns. i fiddled with the package and flipped it over… cinnamon. cinnamon? and mint? i still had doubts, just for a different reason now. mint and cinnamon? there was a potential for ‘ew’.
american tea room- this was a great cup! i really enjoyed it! thanks so much =0). no hint of pepto, (sorry i pre-fretted)…. the cinnamon really did the trick! i added cream and turbinado sugar.
i haven’t even been into puerh lately, truly my compliments!
Preparation
i received a sample of this from the ever generous angel teavivre a few days ago.
this is an uncommon dragonwell! with a 4 minute steep it packed more punch than many greens. there are hints of a tieguan yin… but also mixed with a fermented aspect of nuts. it also appears to my palate that there is more caffeine in this green than others.
very nice! quite unlike any other green i’ve ever had.
Preparation
i just finished the last of this, finally. i am sad to see this go =0(
lovely as a latte, lovely clear… entirely unique, bright and fresh….. hmmm i have 3 14 week classes that have to be accomplished in 7 weeks apiece. (the rationalization begins…..)
yeah- it’s about that time. thinking of you, btw- ordered in some matcha, chucking it into smoothies every day. dropped 12 pounds! =0)
this is an interesting blend. i plan to use the last of it in a cold steeping experiment….
very vanilla, with green echoes of tie guan yin…. which always makes me think of lychee… =0)
a nice vanilla green- not outstanding, but i cannot explain why. the separate components are great, together they are less so. hmmm.
Preparation
okay 1.5 teaspoons in a new ‘normal’ teacup. 5-6 minute steep….. not melon, full on fig. i’ve been snacking on the fig since the steep….. OMG.
AMERICAN TEA ROOM HOW DID YOU DO THIS?!!!!!!???
I ADORE THIS…… must buy more. dammit, think i missed your sale too…… sigh. number’s going UP. wow!
i actually have a hard time drinking it- all i want to do is walk around sniffing it. get to the stage where i add water takes me an age, lol.
Ha ha! Funny! It’s kind of like me and with Butiki’s Golden Stars sample I had…they were so pretty to look at. It took me ages to actually brew them.
golden stars? …..oh! now i need to go and look. and seeing as i have’t even heard of that one i bet it doesn’t exist anymore. lol.
i find american tea room usually has a different approach to blends- i don’t always like them, but i do appreciate the variation. this one is is mind blowing.
Thanks JJ – we freshly source most of the ingredients for this from our exclusive grower in Morocco – they make some amazing sesame and the dates and figs are the best anywhere.
again, thank you for all your extra work for helping to make this order happen. So much appreciated…. i believe i will be placing an order for this brilliant tea shortly (no intention of waiting as long as i did with tangier, lol)
Yes. It was a sample I got with an order…
i finished off the last bit of this sample i’d been saving for ages from my swap with ifjuly in my new tea cup! well, cupS if you want to be technical.
i was wandering walmart when it occurred to me that although i love the giant size of my teacup (it’s a veritable STEIN) it is narrow at the bottom and has a finish on the inside that seems to invite everything to stick to it. very annoying.
i meandered down the cup aisle and there were tons on clearance! brightly coloured, some that looked very boring on the outside but then had teal glass glazing on the inside all for 2$ (my giant annoying tacky one was 10$). perfect. then my eyes wandered… they were offering whole dish sets (really cool ones) for 40$. i don’t know what’s been going on, but ours have been coming out of the dishwasher broken, have been getting dropped……
so we have a cupboard full of new dishes, lots of new cups too…. all for under 100$ incl. tax? happy day! especially seeing as they don’t look cheap. sorry…. Value Priced. lol. they look really smart. next is cutlery…..
the tea was lovely, i will miss it, but not enough to pay the fortune to buy more. a lovely treat in a fancy cup =0).
thanks so much ifjuly!
thank you so much MissB for passing this sample my way!
i’ve had it kicking around since our last swap, saving it for a night when i wanted solid sleep… tonight’s the night!
very coconut, an odd cheesecake flavour thought definitely there. no metallic taste for me… but what i would describe as a ‘curl’ from the honeybush. i think this is a very nice blend! quite graceful, comforting.
thank you MissB, so kind for sharing. lovely indeed.
we’re happy you’re happy….and yes we do refine some of our blends from time to time….most recently Choco*Latte – thanks for noticing :)
per my palate i detect your schedule as more frequent than ‘from time to time’! quite excellent! love it love it love it.