985 Tasting Notes
The last of my goodies from Fairyfli! This was so fun!
Carribean Flair is really good….lightly chocolate and very coconutty! It definitely satisfies the need for dessert. It tastes very sweet and the cream comes out with a little sweetener. Luckily, I have at least one or two more trials of this!
My second pouch from Frank’s Oops Week. As far as spiced teas go, this one is not bad. I would have expected maybe a little more citrus with ‘ultimate’ in the name. It did have flavorings, citrus peels, and lemongrass to add to the citrus flair. Then there were the spices you would normally associate with a tea of this type….kind of a cinnamony, clovey? touch. I am not usually a person who likes spiced teas, but this one with its more overpowering citrus notes, and lighter spice notes works for me.
Cup #6 in SimplyJenW’s Tour of China blacks:
This one is kind of a side trip. I have been primarily focusing on Fujian black tea because the cocoa notes of tea from that region have me always wanting more. But this is a Keemun. I have only had a few of these, but the cup is generally more astringent, bolder, and smokey. It is more of a ‘wake me up’ tea than a ‘relax me out’ tea. I am not super versed in English Breakfast teas of all makes, but there are many that have Keemun as some portion of the blend, or they are a straight Keemun. Me personally, I can’t drink Keemun without additions. After the first several sips of this one, I had to sweeten. This one is in the mid range as far as price for a Keemun at Upton at a little over $7 for 125 grams. Now I am wondering how this compares to a more expensive one, but since it is not my black tea of choice, I may never know.
Preparation
If you want to try a keemun that needs no sweetening, I would recommend Harney and Sons Keemun Mao Feng. It is milder than most keemuns and because it is harvested so early and contains so many buds (which are higher in glucose) it is sweeter than many keemuns. I, too, LOVE Fujian province teas – they are my favorites! But several keemuns are dear to my heart as well. Harney’s Keemun Hao Ya A is rich, bold, and cocoa-y, and with afternoon sweets tastes pretty good with no additions, though at breakfast I nearly always add milk and sugar to any tea I am drinking.
Yes….I will try a bunch more Keemuns at some point…and Harney tea is always on my shopping list. How does Harney’s English Breakfast compare to the ones you mentioned? It is also a Keemun. The Adagio English Breakfast which is also a Keemun is definitely smoother and less astringent than the one I tried today after sweetening them both.
Keemun Hao Ya A is definitely the strongest of the three. Bold, rich, cocoa! And that hint of smoke that you usually find in keemuns. English Breakfast would be in the middle, I think, with Mao Feng being the mildest and sweetest of the three. I have English Breakfast or Queen Catherine practically every morning, and Mao Feng for afternoon tea time. I only had a sample of Hao Ya A, but I plan to get a tin on my next order. I think it will probably be an afternoon tea with guests as well.
My evening cuppa. My little taste of that rooibos blend from the store that starts with T reminded me that I had tasty rooibos in my own cupboard! I had completely forgotten how much I liked this blend. It is a great warm you up tea. Ther are hints of apple and cinnamon, and the caramel flavor just kind of intensifies the rooibos base. It resteeps well, too. Yum!
My first tea from Praise Tea courtesy of Fairyfli. Thank you so much for sending me a taste! This is really good. Strawberry and cream flavors all on a black tea base. Lovely and very relaxing. If I did not have two other strawberry varieties in my cupboard, I think this one would defintely be on the list to purchase. It kind of reminds me of Marco Polo!
Preparation
Cups #4 and #5 in SimplyJenW’s China black palate training course, of sorts:
Today I decided to do a side by side. I wanted to see if I could taste the difference between a high cost black and a low-mid range one. Bai Yun Shan is my lo-mid range. It is about $7 for 100 grams. My high end choice was ZP99 Imperial Black Golden Needles. It runs over $20 for roughly the same amount (thank you for offering samples, Upton!) I can taste a difference, but it is oh so slight to my untrained palate. The Bai Yun Shan is a good solid black. It does taste slightly more smokey. Brews up about the same color, but maybe slightly darker. Bai Yun Shan’s leaves are stranded and golden tipped, with lots of golden tips…definitely about 50% golden. The leaves on the Golden Needles are probably about the longest I have seen, and are mostly golden colored, probably about 75% golden. The liquor on the Golden Needles is a little thicker, if that is possible, richer tasting. It is smoother and sweeter than the less expensive variety. So I can definitely taste a difference side by side, but I am not sure I would notice much of a difference if I prepared them at different times. Since the one is three times the price of the other, do I really enjoy the more expensive one three times as much? Not really. But this will be an incredibly cool exercise to repeat in a few years!
Preparation
I admire your palate training. I’ve never even properly considered drinking unflavoured teas…though I don’t entirely know that I want to! :)
I like the flavors, too. I just found I was gravitating toward the China blacks, so I wanted to see how different price ranges really tasted, and if my extra cash was well spent on a premium tea. So far, I am liking the inexpensive ones just as much. And that leaves plenty left over for more flavors. Wheeeee!
I am continually amazed at how different various kinds of straight-up blacks and oolongs can taste when there’s nothing but tea!
Mmmmm. I completely had to remind myself that I was drinking tea (well, mate) and not coffee! Wow, this one is really close to coffee. I am not an avid mate drinker, but I used to be a huge coffee addict, so this is a real treat. I definitely taste chocolate along with the coffeeish taste. Mine is sweetened and with milk added. Thank you to FairyFli for sharing! (Yeah, she sent me some real gems this week! There are at least two more!)
Preparation
Another great sample from Fairyfli. Thank you!
Admission time…this was actually my first cup of Teavana. I did lightly sweeten the cup. I have to admit, it was pretty tasty. Sweet and dessert-like, and a rooibos done well. Maybe a little over the top with all the flavors going on, but when you are thinking dessert, it totally works. (I use teas like this as a subsitute for sweets….I know some blends have a little sugar in them, but it is minimal in comparison to real dessert!) I am happy that I have enough for one more mug. I may even make it into my local store one day.
Thank you to Fairyfli for sharing her Harney Son’s Chocolate Tea with me. This tea has been in and out of my cart at the Harney’s website so many times….and now she has put me out of my indecision! What a relief!
The base seems very similar to Florence, but I can taste more chocolate than from Florence (which is kind of obvious, right? As there is not any hazelnut in this blend…) It does taste like chocolate and tea together, but nothing like hot cocoa. I do like this, but will hold off on a rating for a few more cups since she sent me a healthy trial! The only addition was sweetener. I am finding milk just ruins smooth teas for me. I will have to reserve the milk for the bolder teas…..
Preparation
My afternoon cuppa post workout. I tried the first steap with milk. That did not work at all. The tea base is a little too delicate to stand up to milk. Drank it down and resteaped….and the resteap actually tasted more of chocolate than the first because I did not ruin it with milk. Both cups were lightly sweetened.
This tea is chocolatey and delicate. The black base is a good quality black kind of along the lines of a mid range China black. The chocolate flavor really amplifies the cocoa notes in the tea. Think a China black with cocoa notes on steriods. I am trying to decide if it is going on the rebuy list along with my Vitality Herbal from the Tea Spot.
Love good coconut tea!