22 Tasting Notes
I’m baaaaaaack until I get busy again which will probably be three hours from now lol. College has been a bear recently and I haven’t been drinking a lot of tea recently. Coffee is a lot easier to drink. However, I started thinking about tea again when my ENT informed me that for the next week I cannot have any green tea for the next week. I’m getting allergy tested next week and as green tea affects inflammation, I’m temporarily banned. And of course, I now want to pick up some matcha and make a latte.
Update on the ever so absent OMara. After a few more hospital visits with my grandmother and some missed classes, I haven’t had time for tea. GASP. I’ve been running around like a chicken with no head…I’ve been catching up on school and I’m in a drama program for Christmas so I haven’t been drinking much tea. However I’m endeavoring to drink more tea especially as I got a teavana tumbler for my birthday.
So this is actually just a note to the lovely people who follow me on Steepster. I know I’ve been gone for a while, but I have my reasons! School got super crazy stupid busy, then my grandmother was in the hospital (I live with her), then I was on vacation, then I was back at the hospital with my grandmother, and now I am home. I really haven’t been drinking tea, because when I get busy, I forget to make tea. Which stinks. I’m hoping as I settle back into my normal schedule, that my tea intake will come back up. :) I’ve missed reading all of the reviews and forums… So I guess I’m saying- “I’m alive!”
I made this tea a loooong time ago when I first found Adagio and I was trying out their tea blend page. I never thought it would go anywhere because I wasn’t even trying to sell tea. I had never even tried it. Then two people bought it. I was ecstatic but I also was slightly nervous that it tasted horrible. So when I discovered that I had a gift certificate, I bought the sample tin. Its actually pretty good. The black tea provides some body while the peppermint and the cocomint green provide chocolatey mintu flavor. I probably need to drink some more to provide better tasting notes.
Flavors: Chocolate, Mint
Preparation
Brewed some of this up to drink while I eat lunch and watch a tense episode of Psych. (Hands down one of my favorite tv shows.) I brewed it a little too long and probably with too hot water. (I wasn’t paying much attention) Anyway, despite being a bit bitter, it was great watered down. I had some mango and my tea really complimented the fruit. It’s amazing how much the leaves unfurl. My grandmother (who drinks only tea bags and loose tea is still a new area for her) is amazed by all the big leaves. She really likes this tea, which is rare for her to like a loose tea. She enjoys black tea and pu’erh but says that everything else has no flavor. Well, I’m off to finish this episode and I really ought to edit my English paper. I’m going to need more tea
Preparation
I tried out this tea this morning while eating breakfast with friends. I brought my tea tumbler (totally just spelled that tumblr at first) with me that I had already put tea leaves into. I’ll be really honest, so far I’ve loved all of my yunnan tea samples from Adagio. Sooo much so that I want to drink them all the time and all day long. They’re more expensive than what I normally drink so I was hoping that I’d hate this tea. I didn’t. I love it so much!!! It’s dark and fruit y and sweet and mellow. I love that I can brew yunnans for a super long amount of time and they still taste delicious. This tea re-brews extremely well. The appearance of the dry leaves is so pretty but I love watching the unfurled leaves as they float around in my tea. Flavor wise- spectacular. Sorry for the randomness and the jumping back and forth on topic, but I get pretty excited when I find a tea that I fall head over heels for. Its a modern day love story. (lol)
On a side note, does anyone have a good recommendation for yunnan black teas? I like to keep it affordable though I really want to try Whispering Pines golden snail.
Flavors: Fruity, Honey, Malt, Sweet, Wet Earth
Preparation
Just some random ramblings and updates. I’m super sorry that I haven’t been on here for a while. Been super busy with school and semester exams. Then on Tuesday, I had a tonsillectomy and a sinus surgery, so I’m sort of not drinking tea right now. I’ll be awol for several more weeks.
This tea literally smells like liquid smoke. It’s almost overpoweringly so. The leaves are really long and curly especially when compared to a loose Earl grey. Just ran up to go pour my tea. I’m using my tasting set from Adagio. Alright, onto the flavor. I only brewed for two minutes so the flavor is very light. The beginning is very mellow but it ends with a smoky tinge. It’s very interesting. I really don’t know whether I like it or not. I’m so used to the mellow sweetness of black teas like English Breakfast, so I don’t know what to make of Lapsang Souchong. Okay, I just added this with a four minute brew and added in some honey. The honey (I’m guessing) took some of the odd bitter weird note. It still smells like I’m drinking a campfire though. I have no idea what to think. I know! It tastes like Mesquite smoke from barbecuing. Where I come from, bbq is big and we use a lot of mesquite and that it what this tea tastes like.
Flavors: Ash, Campfire, Smoke
Preparation
I bought this tea before Christmas from my local Home Goods, which frequently has an amazing selection of bagged and loose tea. I just got home from the city, and I decided to make this in my new tea tumbler. I got it from World Market on sale. I had been wanting to get it for a while. It’s very similar but smaller to the tumbler from Mandala. As I’m writing this, I’m listening to my parent’s dog patter around the house. The dog is now living with me and my grandmother as my sister just found out she has pet allergies. Back on topic. This tea is really nice. It’s a very light green tea, accompanied by a floral taste. I really enjoy floral teas, so this is perfect for me. I can definitely taste the orange flower and rose. This makes me really want to try the The du Hammam black blend. Unfortunately, I really don’t care for the price, so I doubt I’ll buy any. I’ll savor this while it lasts.
Flavors: Berries, Orange, Rose
Preparation
Sooo tired. And it’s only 6. and I have to do school reading. And write a paper. Whatever. I love this tea. I bought it hoping that it would be similar to Lemon Lift (Bigelow). La La Lemon has a light lemon overtone accompanies a nice black base. It’s citrusy but not punched with citrus. This would be amazing iced! Or sweetened, if you like your tea sweet. I don’t really sweeten my tea much unless it’s agave or splenda, and I don’t drink sweet iced tea. My main reason? Hypoglycemia. I really love lemons, so I really love tea. Other than that I don’t have much to say.
Flavors: Citrus, Lemon