90

Tasting note number two! I should probably add as a side note, I don’t really know how many of these is normal to do. Do I do it once for each tea, or every time I have a cup? (That would take a HELL of a lot of time, as I have like maybe 5 cups per day…

Anyway, on with the tea! This is the second cup of Martha I’ve had today, and I’m feeling a third coming on pretty soon. Martha was the first I tried from the Doctor Who sampler, mainly because she was the first tin in the box, and oh my goodness I had like 5 cups in a row. Not too strong in flavour, but a perfect mellow tea for when you want to relax. Steeping, the tea smells EXACTLY like maple syrup, so much so that I had to double check the ingredients to be sure it wasn’t actually maple flavoured. When drinking, I found the flavours to be quite similar to Nine, so I guess that when you add caramel and sesame it kinda tastes like chestnut? I’m not complaining, anyway, because Nine is probably my favourite of the entire set.

Plain – lovely and caramelly (definitely a word) and cosy and just yummy. Definitely more caramel flavour than anything else, although the sesame adds an interesting note. Sweet enough to have plain, even if you prefer your teas with sugar.

With Sugar – the flavour of the sesame is heightened a little, but the flavour is mainly the same, just even sweeter.

With honey – because of the maple scent/flavour, I thought honey would be good. Boy was I wrong. SO much better with sugar than honey, if you like it sweet. It was like my tongue was confused, wondering why I had honey and maple syrup at the same time. Does taste more of maple than caramel, though.

Sugar and milk – pretty much exactly the same as just sugar, but really good if you want something creamy. Kind of reminded me of a really good caramel muffin I get from Costa sometimes. Sesame comes out pretty strong, but as I said above tastes sort of like maple syrupy.

So… Um, yeah. That’s about it.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Sil

the beauty of steepster is that “normal” is whatever you want it to be..it’s there for YOUR enjoyement. There are some who log every single cup they drink…others who do a full review on the first cup and then subsequent notes are less about teh tea and more about moods/life etc… some who only ever log a tea once and then come back to update it as things change. Steepster is what you make it :) Welcome to the madness! :)

Nattie

Haha thanks! I think I’ll do weeny little ones for my first cup of each tea per day, and big ones for new teas :D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

Sil

the beauty of steepster is that “normal” is whatever you want it to be..it’s there for YOUR enjoyement. There are some who log every single cup they drink…others who do a full review on the first cup and then subsequent notes are less about teh tea and more about moods/life etc… some who only ever log a tea once and then come back to update it as things change. Steepster is what you make it :) Welcome to the madness! :)

Nattie

Haha thanks! I think I’ll do weeny little ones for my first cup of each tea per day, and big ones for new teas :D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I first got into loose leaf teas when a friend of mine showed me Cara McGee’s Sherlock fandom blends on Adagio a good few years back, but they weren’t on sale in the UK so I started trying other kinds instead and have been hooked for almost three years (and have purchased several fandom tea sets including the Sherlock one I lusted over for so long).

Flavoured teas make up the majority of my collection, but I’m growing increasingly fond of unflavoured teas too. I usually reach for a black, oolong or white tea base over a pu’erh or green tea, though I do have my exceptions. I will update my likes and dislikes as I discover more about my palate, but for now:

Tea-likes: I’m generally easily pleased and will enjoy most flavours, but my absolute favourites are maple, caramel, chestnut, pecan, raspberry, coconut, blueberry, lemon, pumpkin, rose, hazelnut and peach

Tea-dislikes: vanilla (on its own), ginger, coriander/cilantro, cardamom, liquorice, pineapple and chocolate

I am a 25 year old bartender, English Literature sort-of-graduate and current student working towards finishing my degree. I am hoping to one day complete a masters degree in Mental Health Social Work and get a job working in care. Other than drinking, hoarding and reviewing tea, my hobbies include reading, doing quizzes and puzzles, TV watching, football/soccer (Sunderland AFC supporter and employee of my local football club), music, artsy weird makeup, and learning new things (currently British Sign Language).

I should probably also mention my tea-rating system, which seems to be much harsher than others I’ve seen on here. It’s not always concrete, but I’ll try to define it:

• 50 is the base-line which all teas start at. A normal, nothing-special industrial-type black teabag of regular old fannings would be a 50.

• 0 – 49 is bad, and varying degrees of bad. This is probably the least concrete as I hardly ever find something I don’t like.

• I have never given below a 20, and will not unless that tea is SO bad that I have to wash my mouth out after one sip. Any teas rated as such are unquestionably awful.

• This means most teas I don’t enjoy will be in the 30 – 50 range. This might just mean the tea is not to my own personal taste.

• 51+ are teas I enjoy. A good cup of tea will be in the 50 – 70 range.

• If I rate a tea at 70+, it means I really, really like it. Here’s where the system gets a little more concrete, and I can probably define this part, as it’s rarer for a tea to get there.

• 71- 80: I really enjoyed this tea, enough to tell somebody about, and will probably hang onto it for a little longer than I perhaps should because I don’t want to lose it.

• 81 – 90: I will power through this tea before I even know it’s gone, and will re-order the next time the mood takes me.

• 91 – 100: This is one of the best teas I’ve ever tasted, and I will re-order while I still have a good few cups left, so that I never have to run out. This is the crème de la crème, the Ivy League of teas.

I never rate a tea down, and my ratings are always based on my best experience of a tea if I drink it multiple times. I feel that this is fairest as many factors could affect the experience of one particular cup.

I am always happy to trade and share my teas with others, so feel free to look through my cupboard and message me if you’re interested in doing a swap. I keep it up-to-date, although this doesn’t mean I will definitely have enough to swap, as I also include my small samples.
Currently unable to swap as I’ve returned after a long hiatus to a cupboard of mostly-stale teas I’m trying to work through before I let myself purchase anything fresh

I also tend to ramble on a bit.

Location

South Shields, UK

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer