1118 Tasting Notes
I had a sudden craving for Genmaicha, so I went digging through my samples until I came out with this. I love the samples Zen Tea throws in when you place an order, and I really love that they’re in foil lined pouches. It makes it easy to tuck them away until I can fully enjoy them.
This is a very good Genmaicha. The savory toasted rice flavor is wonderfully strong. The green tea gives a grssy note and a sweet finish to the sip. The tea also resteeps very well. My second steep gave me a cup that had less of a toasted rice flavor, but the toastiness and the grassy notes from the green tea seemed to blend much more. Even though both steeps were good I enjoyed the second one even more than the first.
Genmaicha is something I only drink on occasion, but when I want it I really really want it! I’ll put the rest of my sample away to be enjoyed the next time a craving strikes.
Tea of the morning. I decided to finish off this sample that Jackie T sent me months ago. As previously noted the tea does not taste like eggnog or rum, but it is a decent vanilla tea. I added some sugar and milk to my mug which enhanced the vanilla and gave the tea a wonderfully smooth and silky texture.
This isn’t a tea I’ll be ordering, but as a swap tea it was great. Thanks, Jackie T!
Wow, this is good! Lots of mango flavor. The base tea is hard to pick out when the tea hot because the mango is so strong, but it’s such a delicious fresh fruit taste that I don’t mind. Plus, this tea is decaffeinated, so it’s perfect for night’s like this when I should be sleeping but am browsing Steepster instead.
I’m trying to work my way through the smaller samples I’ve received in trades. I actually have two separate bags of this one. I know one came from the Here’s Hoping tea box, but I have no idea who sent me the other one. So whoever the generous tea giver was, thank you!
This continues to be a tea with lots of peach flavor but no oolong. It’s easy enough to drink, and if I didn’t know it was an oolong I’d assume I was sipping on a basic peach flavor black tea. But since I do know it’s oolong I find myself really wanting more (any) oolong flavor.
I think I’ll cold brew the rest of this tea. Who knows, maybe that will coax more out of this one.
Tea of the morning. I had to be out of the house earlier than usual, so I grabbed the first sample I laid my hands on and decided it would be in my travel mug asap. This cup wasn’t quite as good as the last offering from this sample. The vanilla doesn’t seem to be as strong. Still, it’s a very nice cup. Strong, smooth, and sweet. I can think of worse ways to start a Monday.
I steeped this at 195 degrees for 90 seconds, and the resulting tea was very pale in color with just a slight grassy flavor. I should have trusted my instincts and steeped it longer, but I was worried about bitterness. I do have enough tea left for one more cup, so I’ll give it another try with a longer steep.
This is a lovely earthy tea. Given the light color of the liquor I wasn’t expecting such a deep full tea, but it was a nice surprise! Initially there was an earthy forest floor note with a sweet dark caramel flavor at the end of the sip. I did get a little astringency, but no bitterness. Really, really nice.
I was expecting a mint tea with a hint of lemon, but this turned out to be a lemon tea with the faintest hint of spearmint. To be fair, this was made from a sample, so it’s entirely possible that a lot of lemon peel ended up in my infuser. That said this was a very nice cuppa. It was very clean and bright with the lemon tasting perfectly natural. This is a tea I’d like to try again and will consider ordering at some point in the future. I’d like to see if the mint, which was such a slight flavor in my cup, is as good as the lemon. If it is then I’d love to have this in my cupboard on a regular basis.
Backlogging from yesterday.
First cup of the morning. I’ve been holding on to this sample for a while, but when I was thinking about having a pastry and tea for breakfast I knew it was a perfect time to give this one a try. I chose to be lazy and have tea and toast instead of getting dressed and driving to the bakery. Some Saturdays are meant to be spent doing as little as possible.
Really good. Lots of honey flavor at the front of the sip with the cookie/pastry note coming after. There’s a very slight spiciness – something like cinnamon – that is really pleasant. It doesn’t overwhelm the tea in any way, but it really enhances to the cookie flavor. The honey flavor is strong, and this is a sweet tea. I didn’t see a need to reach for the sugar bowl. This is a definite plus in my book. I love having dessert teas that are satisfying and completely guilt free.
One more tea added to my shopping list. This is a good one.
