818 Tasting Notes
Still getting an overly powerful rum flavor here. Must be the combination of the vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon? I know everyone seems to love this one, but I feel like it’s missing the cookie part. Maybe something bread-y or earthy to ground it? I do enjoy it, but to me, it doesn’t taste exactly like a cookie.
This tea was fantastic this morning! In the past, I thought the banana made it taste less smooth, but I think now, that it may have been how I prepared it. This time I steeped it for less time. I also had to use the microwave at work, so the water probably wasn’t quite at boiling. Maybe banana teas do better at lower temperatures for less time? I’ll have to try this with banana dream pie now. Anyway, I could taste more walnut, and like I said, it was a lot smoother on the tongue. Went great with my maple nut oatmeal! It was super foggy this morning and this tea made me feel so cozy!
After I steeped this, you could smell its deliciousness far outside my work cubicle. Hope I didn’t bother anyone, but really, who wouldn’t like the smell of s’mores?! I think it fares better steeped properly at home though (sans microwave), because the flavor didn’t seem as strong this time. Still fantastic!
Had this first thing in the morning! Yes, you can have cake for breakfast! So delicious. I think I got more brown sugar flavor this time. Shared some with a coworker, who loved it as well!
This was yummy. At first I really wasn’t sure about this tea, especially from the smell of the dry leaves. It was delicious though. Chocolate is definitely the dominant flavor, and it’s kind of a nice dark chocolate. The chili adds a slightly spicy heat to the background. I really liked it, and the second steep wasn’t bad either! I don’t think I’ll have a problem finishing the bag :)
This was the last new tea I had to try. Hmmmm, what should I do now? ;)
Order more!! :D
Nuts, I should have compared this to DavidsTea’s Chocolate Chili Chai. Will have to fish out my bag of it and give it a shot before winter’s gone!
Terri – I think I WILL! Not sure what yet. I think I need to try more caffeine-free teas, so I have more options later in the day, but I really love black teas! It’s so hard!
Kittena – I’d love to get your opinion on that! Every time I’ve tried the DavidsTea one, its been in store, and they just don’t steep their teas long enough for my taste.
I so wanted to like this tea. I loved Grand Amour, and this one has such a cute name! Unfortunately, it wasn’t the tea for me. Once steeped, it tasted like an apple jolly rancher and very astringent black tea. I was surprised by the astringency because Grand Amour was so silky smooth. Not sure why this one was different. Oh well. I appreciated the sample, Laurent!
With a lot of French teas I find that if I cut the steep time by about a minute and take the temp down to about 195F it really smooths the base and takes out the astringency. I know you probably don’t have any more sample to steep this time, though. That is what I had to with sme of my Dammann Freres teas, but once I changed my parameters they were wonderful. Others were just fine at five minutes with boiling water.
Ya, too bad I don’t have more sample to experiment with! I still don’t understand why grand amour was so different though. I used the same temp and steep time.
Thanks, Alphakitty, for fixing the picture! This tea wasn’t up yet, and I wanted to put it in my cupboard. :) Anyway, I finally tried it out this morning. Managed to squeeze in steeping a cup prior to a long set of meetings. This tea smells very much like pear and it’s a little perfume-y. I think it smells like when you first open a box of pears from Harry and David, not that anyone sends me those…. ;) Anyway, I liked it, but I think it would be better iced. Not bad for my first pear-flavored tea.
Yep, I love this one!