171 Tasting Notes
Merry Christmas! It’s the last day of Advent, and the end of my calendar from Sara.
This is a very minty tea, and the lavender is strong too. There are other floral notes too.
I do like lavender a lot, but I think it’s a little strong for my taste in this tea. It tastes a bit too… astringent? Like when jasmine tea has too much jasmine and seems like perfume. But not as bad as that.
I could see this tea growing on me though.
Edit: Okay, four minutes was way too long. I retried with two minutes, and now it’s minty with a hint of lavender and rose, and that astringency is gone. It would be great iced too.
Flavors: Floral, Lavender, Peppermint, Rose
Preparation
The penultimate day of my Advent calendar from Sara.
I went out earlier today and had a fancy shou pu-erh. Came home and pulled out of my advent calendar… a fancy shou pu-erh. I guess it’s that kind of day. :)
The scent is very mild and earthy. I brewed it western style as I’m not set up for gong fu at home, and I’m so out of it that I forgot to do a wash first.
So far, I like this one better than the 9016 Shou Pu-erh I had earlier today. I taste fruit and honey and a little earthy tone, in a nice balance.
The second steep has an even better balance. You’re walking in the woods. There’s no one around, and your phone is dead. Out of the corner of your eye you spot a falling leaf. There are falling leaves everywhere! They fall to the ground, honey colored, and somehow honey scented, and there is a variety of fallen fruit on the ground.
There is a hint of malt this time too.
The third steep is similar to the second. I kept meaning to rake the leaves once they dried, but then it rained again. Finally I raked them up wet, and it smelled kind of like this.
I’m going to keep steeping this until the flavor is all spent. I’ll comment if it changes.
Flavors: Earth, Fruity, Honey, Malt
Preparation
I drank this at Hidden Peak Teahouse in Santa Cruz today, gong fu style, with boiling water, 30 seconds a steep. It was $35 for a pot. I also enjoyed appetizers and dessert.
The first first steep was very grassy and a bit vegetal, so grassy that I began to question my life choices. But I remembered that it would probably improve with further steeps, and I was right. The second steep was earthy and slightly malty, with a grassy note at the end of the sip. The third steep was malty and grassy. The fourth steep was nicely earthy and malty, while the fifth was similar, with a grassy note at the end of the sip.
I’m happy I gave it a try. I want to try more fancy pu-erhs.
Flavors: Earth, Grass, Malt, Vegetal
I’d be happy to part with some of mine for your enjoyment and education.
How many total steeps did you take it through?
Thanks derk, I would happily accept! I could give you a few teas in exchange. I did the fifth steep after closing time while we were dealing with the check. They closed at 3pm today for Christmas Eve. So only five steeps.
I will get something together for you early next week. Send me a message with your address and any flavors you like or dislike unless you just want some surprises. That’s a shame your session was cut short. The puerh was probably just getting started.
23rd day of Sara’s Advent Calendar!
It’s Christmas Eve Eve, and this is a nice spiced tea that reminds me a bit of Hobee’s tea, a blend they serve in their restaurants and also offer in loose leaf. The cinnamon and clove waft off the cup and are the prominent flavors. I can also taste the rooibos and a subtle note of the orange peel. It tastes sweet too. I like it hot, and I’ll bet it would work great as an iced tea too.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Clove, Orange Zest, Rooibos, Sweet
Preparation
Ya, it always made me think of a sweeter, more natural-tasting version of Hobee’s tea as well. While I frequently ice Hobee’s tea, I actually prefer this one warm; for some reason I don’t like red rooibos iced. Something about it cold brings out certain medicinal notes I just don’t like. But I drink it as a warm evening herbal all the time!
22nd day, not much left of my Advent calendar!
I am told this is the best of Sara’s calendar. Based on the smell already, wow. It smells like honey.
Whoa. I remember thinking lapsang souchong tastes like sipping black tea around a campfire while the wind blows smoke directly into your face. Thankfully someone thought to put out the campfire.
It’s very honey-tasting. There’s a strong black tea flavor, but not very astringent. There are notes of raisins, maple syrup, and chocolate too. Oh and malt near the end of the sip. How can this much flavor be in a pure tea? It boggles the mind. I wish it had come up sooner, would have ordered some as a present for my son and daughter in law. Heck, I might still. Wow, Sara, I can see why you love this tea. Wow.
Edit: I have ordered some.
Flavors: Chocolate, Honey, Malt, Maple Syrup, Raisins, Tea
Preparation
The malty flavor at the end of the sip makes me crave a soda pop I got into on a visit to Venezuela called malta. It’s malt-flavored by the way.
Simply the best. <3
I haven’t tried this particular Wild Lapsang yet, but of the two I have had, both had a very malty based with strong cocoa and mandarin orange notes. I also remember getting honey sweetness and a spice note. One of the two had a strong floral rose note, so it has been my favorite of the two… it was like dark chocolate paired with oranges and roses, so good! I believe I did both gong fu. May have also tried them western finishing up the little sampler packets I had of those.
Sara’s Advent calendar, 21. It’s old enough to drink. Tea.
Ooh, this is a Taiwanese oolong… from Adagio, okay. Wow, it smells nice, a bit grassy. The taste is nice, grassy and vegetal and buttery and a bit sweet. It feels very smooth going down. I wonder where they sourced this from. It’s very nice. I also wonder how well it would steep gong fu style. I’ll bet someone here has done so… yes, sounds like it does well.
Flavors: Butter, Grass, Sweet, Vegetal
Preparation
Get ’em started early, mix tea into the milk and put it in the bottle. ^_~
I still need to gong fu this… So hard for me to find the time to do gong fu sessions! I need to dedicate more time to them because they are a great way to experience tea in a new way.
You two are silly.
It’s already the 20th day of Advent! Thanks again to Sara for the custom calendar!
This one smells like pumpkin in the cup, not just spice! Since this is a chai blend, I brewed it in water and added enough vanilla almond milk to cool it down so I can drink it right away. It’s probably not to most people’s taste, but I like doing it that way.
It’s actually more pumpkin than spice! I can taste a little cinnamon and clove or allspice. I checked the ingredients, and no allspice. So it must be clove. Oh hey, now I found a ginger note at the end of the sip.
I think it would be fine w/o any milk too.
If you like your chai to have a big kick of spices, you might not like this one so much, but I love it. It’s warm and soothing.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Pumpkin
Preparation
The best pumpkin chai. It’s mellow enough it doesn’t need to be milked, and it actually does have a pumpkin flavor, not just spices. I’ve tried a lot of pumpkin teas and it is still one of my favorites. Has a nice vanilla sweetness from the vanilla bean in the blend if you drink it plain, too.
Sara’s custom Advent tea calendar, 19th day!
The leaf smelled strongly of ginger and turmeric.
The turmeric and ginger are pretty balanced in the beginning of the sip, while I taste licorice root at the end of the sip. The taste lingers a bit after the sip, mostly the licorice root, but it doesn’t burn. This is milder than I thought it would be, with all the delicious spices. But it is strong enough that I’ll bet it would work great as a latte too.
Flavors: Ginger, Licorice
Preparation
Usually turm/ginger teas burn my mouth to pieces. Does the licorice really balance it that much? Huh! I haven’t tried this one yet!
Try it! Not a hint of burn for me… so perhaps a slight burn for you, but shouldn’t be bad! That TeaCrush ginger that was too much for you, I could really detect the kick, but enjoyed it. This one should be up your alley.
The Turmeric Ginger Pear Teacrush I was fine with (my favorite!), it was the Cayenne Pepper one that was too much for me! That one was… hoo boy, ya. Tea Chai Te has a turm/ginger tea that I can only drink if I infuse it directly in coconut milk, not water!
Oh that’s right. I mixed them up.
It’s the 18th day of Advent already? Time for another tea from Sara’s calendar!
This tastes like “golden” to me! I also notice honey and cinnamon notes. It kind of feels rich and light at the same time. I can taste the black tea also. I’m really impressed with this one.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Honey, Tea
Preparation
Ya, Golden Monkey is a great tea. I often get cocoa, apricot/peachy/stonefruity notes, and sometimes sweet potato, though brewed Western usually it’s the cocoa, honey, and spice that stands out me. So sweet and smooth, I don’t think I’ve ever had a hint of astringency from this stuff.
I couldn’t even taste the lavender last time I made it, hahaha. I only got the mint and rose. Granted, I like mint and rose, but I figured the next time I may have to add more lavender on my own. I didn’t taste any of the jasmine, either.
Also, this tea is blend of white tea and jasmine-scented green tea. If it tasted astrigent, it may have been from your tea leaves releasing too much tannin rather than lavender-astringency (though I have tasted that before too, it’s nasty). Try dropping the steep time on your retry packet for funsies and seeing if it makes a difference, if that is the case it might help.
Yeah, four minutes was way too long. Two minutes was a great amount.
I can confirm this tea cold steeps like a champ for amazing iced tea.